Joint Duty Log - CO & CEO - Capt Carpenter & Lt Cmdr Rhodes

Posted on 241402.28 @ 1:30pm by Acting Captain Mark Rhodes & Captain Eric Carpenter

Mission: Where no man has gone before.

=/\= Bridge =/\=

Lieutenant Commander Mark Rhodes stepped off of the turbolift and headed for the CO's office. He hit the chime, looking over his PaDD, waiting for a call to enter.

Having only just finished unpacking the last box of personal mementos that he wanted in his readyroom, Eric wasn't terribly surprised at having a bong at the door. He was still awaiting the arrival of a Yeoman, and several other staff. This could be anyone really. "Come!" He called out, as he closed the last box, and put it in the replicator to recycle it.

Mark stepped into the Captain's Ready Room. "Greetings sir, my name is Lieutenant Commander Mark Rhodes. I am your Chief Engineer. I was just coming up to check in with you and let you know the Warp Core has been primed and the first initialization has occurred. We are currently under our own power, not using the power tap from McKinley station. We should be ready to take the ship underway by 0900 tomorrow."

"Excellent." Eric said, leaning back against his desk. "Any new ship niggles I need to be aware of?" It was fairly normal for a ship fresh out of the shipyard to have problems. Most of the time it was little quirks or failures in minor systems, a replicator produced cold coffee when it was supposed to be hot, things like that. Sometimes however, there were more serious issues, but as with everything else - they might not appear until the ship was underway.

"Well there is a section of EPS grid we have had to repair 3 times because it continues to burn out. Its not in a major section, some auxiliary science labs on the port side, but we have the section shut down until we can get the problem sorted out.

"Also, late last night the docking clamps for the Aquarius mysteriously shut down and no one noticed until the ship started to drift. I had to call in 2 tugs to get it back into place because I haven't powered up the ship yet. Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards declared the ship was complete when they moved over and docked it with us, so I am taking my time with getting over to her. My main focus right now is getting the Enterprise up and moving."

"All the same, if the clamps fail again, and we're moving, the Aquarius could drift off - or worse, sheer off at warp speed, causing damage to the spaceframe of the Enterprise and the Aquarius." Carpenter said, folding his arms over his chest. "I'm less worried about the EPS problems - science can cope without a lab for a while. I am concerned about the clamp issue."

"Oh as am I sir," said Mark. "Its not as though those thoughts did not come to mind. I have a crew of my own Engineering Staff as well as a contingent of the McKinley Crew looking into it. But they are actually speculating that the problem is tied into the EPS problems on Deck 13. Ive looked into the EPS grid set up, and someone really dropped the ball on that design. I am having them rerouting the system, so it makes more sense and also adding 2 more redundancy feed back loops to make sure it doesn't happen again.

"Some of the systems on this ship are weird how the designers decided to integrate them, but given enough time we can sort them out and set them straight."

"Is it worth delaying the departure, until the EPS grid is overhauled?" Eric asked, with concern. "Last thing we want is to break down on our maiden voyage." Indeed, the humiliation of the Enterprise being tugged home after her first stretch could be a career breaker - and not just for her CO.

"I wouldn't suggest a delay at this time. They should have the rebuild complete in a couple of hours. I will keep you apprised of the situation. But other then this hiccup everything appears to be falling into place. I still have about 15% of my staff to report in, I should be fully staffed by 1800 today. And we should be completely ready to depart with your deadline of 0900 tomorrow."

"You'll keep Commander th'Zarath informed of your progress, I hope." Eric said. "Also, I'd suggest having a team run a full systems test of Aquarius. Just because Utopia gave you a pretty certificate, doesn't mean the damn thing works."

"Oh yes sir, I meant to say I'd keep Command informed. And yes, Ill send a crew over to the Aquarius and get it cold started and run some diagnostics. Here's to hoping everything checks out over there," said Mark.

"Very well, keep us aprised of your progress, and any issues. Make sure the XO gets half-hourly reports on ships state prior to departure. If you are in any doubt as to our space-worthiness prior to launch, you make sure you say so, and your recommendations will be given serious consideration." The CO said. "If you can't get the Aquarius clamp situation resolved by 0900, I'll push back the launch."

"Understood sir," said Mark. "Ill head back down to Main Engineering and get back to work. It was nice to finally meet you Captain Carpenter and I look forward to working with you."

"Likewise Commander." Eric nodded. "Carry on."

--

Captain Eric Carpenter
Commanding Officer
USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-F

Lieutenant Commander Mark Rhodes
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-F