===== Captain’s ready room, USS Chimera ===== Shane sighed as the door to his ready room hissed and closed behind the officer. This was slowly going tiresome, but Shane couldnt help that. He needed a complete senior staff and it was only up to the CO to build one. He looked in his diary PADD and seen that only one other name was still unchecked there. He tapped his commbadge: - - - - - - - - Meanwhile, down in engineering, Rick pointed in three different locations where he wanted people to working. "There, there and there," Rick said as he pointed. Despite the fact that this was relatively a new ship, Rick had, during the first few minutes on board, saw several “minor” problems that had to be dealt with before the Chimera set off. It was organized chaos, but organized none-the-less. “We’re sill getting feedback on those relays,” Rick said to Hawk Versey. “See what you and Hector can to about that, could you Hawk?” “Will do,” Hawk replied. Rick wanted to take care of all these problems himself, but he had to serve as the conductor to this orchestra of engineers. To an engineer, the music they made was sweet. +TAPS+ Guzman to Lieutenant Rodgers. Please come to my ready room as soon as possible. ‘Crap! Not now!’ Rick thought. +tap+ “I’m on my way,” Rick said, looking over the padd he held that listed the many problems that still existed. “I still need somebody to look at those plasma converters!” Rick yelled out to no one in particular. “I’m on it, sir,” one of the more experienced crewmen said. With that, Rick made his way to meet with the captain. - - - - - - - - Tretching his arms a bit Shane relaxed in the comfortable chair he was sitting in and looked out of the big wall window. There was not much to see yet ... case the Chimera was still inside the SB Bragg docks, but he expected that to change soon. He was eager to have his Chimera been taken out for her maiden cruise and all he lacked at the moment was the confirmation from his Chief Engineer that she's up for the ride. As the door chime sounded again Shane thought for a second about istalling church bells instead of the standart door chime ... it would be at last more interesting when hearing that sound for the fith time today. "Come in" he called and thought about recordning that words for later use ... “Captain, you wanted to see me,” Rick said as he remained standing at the entranceway. Shane nodded: "Thank you for coming Lieutenant. Please sit down. I am sorry for not letting you more time to spend with all those new toys of yours, but time is pressing and SSF Command is going impatient, they want us to head for our new mission very soon. Whats the ship’s status Lieutenant?" Shane asked. Before he took a seat, Rick handed Shane the padd that he had been holding since he first stepped foot on the Chimera-A. He had a feeling that this was why he was called in to see the captain in first place. “Nothing serious, sir,” Rick said. “There are some irregularities with the navigational deflector and plasma conversion is a lot lower than I’m comfortable with. I also wouldn’t push our slipstream drive until I’ve had a better look at her. All of our other problems are listed there. Those that are highlighted are the ones I’d like to get fixed before we get under way.” Shane skimmed quickly through the content of the PADD. He knew the function of all devices lister there, but it was 6 years ago since he left the academy and dechnical details were already escaping him. He noded: "Just as expected. When we first boarded the old Chimera, it took us more then a week to make her ready for the first cruise." Handing the PADD back to Rodgers he said: "But we dont have a week now, all I can give you are 12 hours but I promise not to use slipstream untill you've checked it" "But ...," Rick said before he considered his next words. "Yes, sir. Understood." Shane scratched his chin and asked: "What warp can you gve me in that 12 hours, Lieutenant" he knew that Rodgers would like to spend a whole week with adjustments and diagnostics, but SSF Command was on Shane's tail about starting with the new mission and that tail started to be hot already. "In 12 hours," Rick said. "I can probably give you Warp 5. Maybe 5.5." Shane grinned slightly: "Make it warp 6 and I will be content" He's got a small velvet box from his drawer and stood up from his chair: "Attention Lieutenant!" he barked suddenly out of the blue. He stepped closer to the ACEO and shok his head slightly: "I currently two problems in engineering. First I have no Chief Engineer and I dont like the collar you are wearing" he paused for a moment and did his best not to smile. Rodgers was taken by susprise most probably uncertain what was coming next. "Command dont think you are yet up for a Full Lieutenant rank and I dont like your LtJg. Pips. Ensign is a possibility" he raised an eyebrow and paused for a moment: "But then I would lack proper light reflection on your collar" He shook his head slightly again and continued: "I have no other choice then to promote you to Acting Lieutenant and assign you to the position of Chief Engineering officer with all the rights and priviledges that come with this rank and position." He replaced the Ltjg. Rank insignia for the Acting Lieutenant one and then offered his hand: "Congratulations Lieutenant" Shane answered a question Rick had been wondering about since coming back from the last mission. He had been wondering if he was cut out to be a Chief Engineer or not. The promotion, though, even if it was as acting Lieutenant, caught him by complete surprise. "Thank you, sir," Rick said, accepting the captain's hand. "And I assure you, the ship will be ready to go in 12 hours." Shane noded: "Very well then. Off you go Lieutenant and in 12 hours we are leaving the base. Dismissed!" ===== end of log ===== ALT. Rick Rodgers CEO USS Chimera-A & Cmdr. Shane Guzman CO USS Chimera