The New (Acting) Chief Engineer

Posted on Fri Dec 20th, 2024 @ 3:53am by Lieutenant Commander Rynn Upland & Commander Jennifer Baldric
Edited on on Fri Dec 20th, 2024 @ 3:57am

Mission: Ramant
Location: Ready Room
Timeline: Current

A short woman with auburn hair and a engineering yellow uniform walked briskly through the hustle and bustle of the corridor on Deck One. The Sunfire was due to depart in the coming hours and lots still needed to be done. While the Sunfire had been lacking a Chief Engineer with Thriss on leave, the personnel lacking in Engineering had been supplemented with some of DS9's engineering staff as well as new arrivals to the Sunfire, with Rynn being the latter.

With her being aboard, things would move a lot faster. She felt she was capable of leading the department with Thriss gone. But the real question would be if they trusted her. She may have served under Thriss on the Varley, but nobody except Thriss knew her. He did trust her and maybe that meant something to his engineers? She didn't know. But she knew she had a job to get done while he was gone.

She continued walking towards the bridge as she had a meeting with Commander Baldric in the ready room. The newly minted Lieutenant Commander soon found herself on the bridge in front of the ready room doors, pressing the door chime.

Commander Baldric had returned from leave early to finalise the crew arrangements. Technically having only been on board a month or two she wasn't entitled to the same weeks off that the regular crew had been craving after months in the field.

"Come in" she called as she checked to see if there was a promotion for her waiting in her unread messages.

The redhead entered swiftly and snapped to attention. "Lieutenant Commander Rynn Upland reporting as ordered, sir."

Baldric carefully concealed the mental blank as she quickly looked through the transfers. "Ahhh right yes, you're taking over from Commander Kla'ren arnt you?"

Rynn relaxed her arms behind her back. "Until he returns ma'am. Officially I'm the new Assistant Chief Engineer" she said honestly. She wasn't replacing Thriss. She was merely filling in for him while he was gone. She was confident he'd return once he got things settled.

"Right, yes of course" Baldric stammered, mentally cursing for the slip up. "Please take a seat Commander" she indicated the vacant chair opposite, and leant back against her own. "I'll admit I havnt had time to read your dossier yet, how's about you give me the highlights?"

Rynn nodded before settling in the chair before her in front of the Commander. After thinking for a moment she started. "Well to start off, upon graduating the academy I was assigned to the USS Hood as a junior engineering officer. I served there for about four years before I transferred to the Varley as an engineering officer under Commander Kla'ren when he was a Lieutenant and Chief Engineer. Eventually I was promoted to Assistant Chief under Thriss before replacing him as Chief Engineer after he transferred to the Liberty" she stated.

"I served in that position for a few months until recently when I saw that the Assistant Chief position had opened up here. I know it was technically a demotion, but Thriss is one of the best damned engineers I've served under, and I couldn't pass up the rank promotion or the opportunity to work on a ship equipped with a transwarp drive" she admitted.

Jennifer smiled at the glowing accolade of her Chief Engineer. "Commander Kla'ren is indeed a brilliant engineer, we are grateful to have him on the Sunfire. If you've worked under him, and then assumed his position in his absence, you must be good yourself" she pulled up the file then closed it just as quickly.

"You've got some work ahead of you, we took a beating from the Borg in our last mission. There was some infiltration of our systems. I want to be one hundred percent sure that crap is gone before we ship out again."

"Yes ma'am. I'll be certain to triple check" Rynn nodded. "Thriss also filled me in on what systems may have been affected. I will also check the transwarp drive given the Borg use that kind of technology."

"I'd appreciate that. The crew are due to return shortly and I'm sure Command will throw something challenging our way. I want this ship in as good a condition as she can be for an old girl that's been around the block a few times." Baldric smiled and patted her desk. "She's got plenty of fight left in her though. I'll upgrade your access to Chief Engineer until Thriss returns. You need unrestricted access to all systems."

Rynn returned the smile. "Thank you ma'am" she said simply.

With a few taps on the monitor before her it was done, and Baldric was pleased with the capability of this new Engineer. She would miss Thriss but every soul on board brought something different to the table, and she was excited to see what Rynn would indeed bring. "There, all updated. I won't keep you any longer as I'm sure there is much you want to review before we ship out." She rose and extended a hand in the traditional Earth gesture. "Welcome aboard Commander."

"Thank you ma'am. It's good to be here" she said, rising out of her chair and accepting her hand before releasing it. After that, Rynn turned towards the door as it was her queue to leave.

Relieving the moment of tension Baldric sat as Rynn headed towards the door. It would indeed be interesting to see how this new officer blended with the existing crew.