Allow Me to Introduce Myself

[Tachyon 0]

“Allow Me to Introduce Myself”

Ensign Scott Coleridge

Stardate 0802.20

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“Come!” the deep, ominous voice boomed from behind the door.

 

Scott reluctantly entered the chief engineer's office, noticing immediately the new, stark decor. He certainly hasn't wasted any time moving in, Scott thought to himself. Then it occurred to him that he didn't even know if the new chief engineer was a “he.” “He” could be a “she” or an “it” or something else entirely. Not only had Scott not met the new chief engineer yet, but he didn't even know the new chief engineer's name.

 

The irony of this situation was not lost on the poor Ensign. Still somewhat green, Scott had transferred to Aegis partly in order to work with Lt. Cdr. Zhu, whom he had found to be both unorthodox and interesting. Soon after his transfer, what happens? Zhu leaves! Not only did Zhu leave, but every senior member of the engineer staff was reassigned, leaving Scott as the senior-most assistant engineer to oversee the enlisted crew.

 

Their new chief engineer had arrived last week. He—for lack of a better pronoun—had contacted Scott via a terse note through Aegis' comm system. Subsequently he had sent Scott another note, this one instructing him to convert all of the station's internal timestamps to Cardassian scientific notation.

 

Now Scott was excited. Finally he would be able to match a face to the na—wait, that would require a name. Well, Scott would be able to match a face to a . . . writing style. Yes, that would have to suffice.

 

“Ensign Coleridge, reporting as ordered, sir,” he said.

 

The office was dark, its illumination on the lowest setting. The effect cast shadows in almost every direction. The ordinary Startfleet-issue desk had been replaced by a large wooden desk, probably constructed from several trees. Behind the desk, the chief engineer sat in a high-backed, luxurious padded chair. It was turned away from Scott so that the back obscured his view of the new chief; all he could glimpse were the shadows of the arms.

 

In the same deep, generic voice, the chief engineer said, “Step away from the door and enter the office.” Scott did as he was told, approaching the desk. He stopped abruptly when the voice said, “Stop. That is close enough.”

 

“Um . . . okay. May I inquire as to your name, sir? Call me old-fashioned, but I find it easier to work when I know the name of my superior. . . .”

 

“My name is irrelevant. You may address me as 'sir' or 'chief', Ensign.” While somewhat threatening in demeanour, the voice seemed egalitarian in tone; it placed equal emphasis on the three titles, as if the chief did not care whether Scott was an Ensign or a Fleet Admiral.

 

Scott shrugged. “Right, sure. Sorry.”

 

“I would like a status report on your current projects.”

 

Scott glanced down at the PADD he had brought with him. “Okay. The internal timestamps project is on hold, since Commander Brown specified that the conversion of the diplomatic section has top priority.” He paused for feedback.

 

“That is correct. Continue.”

 

Scott said, “Well, I only got as far as beginning to analyze the internal timestamp's storage system to determine how best to convert all timestamps to Cardassian scientific notation. Further study is needed.

 

“As for the diplomatic section—well, that's a different story. It appears that Deck 7 is a write-off. There was an accident sometime after the initial construction of the station that was never properly dealt with. So now I have to deal with it. I have a time clearing out most of the debris and decontaminating it now. After that's done, the Build Team's going to tour the deck and draw up preliminary blueprints.”

 

The voice asked, “What is the estimated time of completion for this project?”

 

Scott skimmed through the figures on his PADD. “Hmm . . . depending on if we hit snags in the cleanup or design processes . . . probably three weeks, maybe a month. Those will be the hardest part. Once we have the plans done, building it will be fairly quick. We have the raw supplies on hand and the labour to do it.”

 

“That is acceptable. Consult with the current diplomatic representatives on Aegis as to their needs prior to completing the blueprints. Once you have the preliminary blueprints, clear them with myself and the command staff, and then you may proceed. That will be all.”

 

Scott blinked. The new chief engineer may be paranoid, secretive, and reclusive, but he certainly knew what he wanted. “Aye . . . aye, sir.”

 

This was going to be interesting.