Chevrons and Pips

Posted on Fri Mar 15th, 2024 @ 1:45pm by Petty Officer 1st Class Xuan Chihyon & Captain Etan Kaz

Mission: 03-Guess Who's Coming To Dinner

Xuan wasted no time in locating the Captain. She even made no attempt to find her cabin, drop off her duffel bag. While she hoped the situation that she uncovered with that ensign near the airlock was a one-off, Xuan wanted to get involved with the Operations team as soon as possible. As she navigated to Deck 19, where the Station's Operations Center was located, she took personal note of the state of the station's refit, and the true condition of the base. K-17 was certainly a relic of a bygone era. But she definitely had some spunk and spark still within her, much like DS3 she'd recently left behind.

The Petty Officer soon found herself outside the ready room, where her right index finger moved to press the door chime. With her presence announced, all she could do was stand and await permission to enter.

To say that the Ready Room was a work in progress was an understatement. The space itself was, even originally, small and more utilitarian than many of the office spaces on K-17. A large desk took up much of the space in the centre of the room, with a small cot set under the a bank of portholes that spanned the length. The bulkheads, at the current stage of refit, were mostly open with exposed conduits and hanging wires. Even the automatic door controls were not yet operational. So when the chime rang out in the unfinished space, Etan had to stand from his spot at the desk and walk to open it manually.

As the doors hissed open, the Captain looked at the Orion woman before him, and spied her gold uniform and turned his back, returning to his spot behind the desk. "If you're here to work on the Ready Room, I need at least twenty minutes to clear the rest of my things out." Kaz was pretty used to dealing with the Engineering teams at this point, and wasn't afraid to let them know how it was going to be. He wasn't going to let his work be interrupted, outside of reasonable and unavoidable interruptions.

Xuan stepped inside and adjusted the duffel bag hanging from her shoulder. She took a moment to look around the room. Considering the shape of the rest of the station, this compartment wasn't in that bad of shape. "Actually, sir," she said, reaching into her bag to again withdraw the PADD that contained her orders. "I'm here to see you."

She stepped forward to hand the distracted Trill captain the device, even though she was concerned that she'd be adding another item to his already growing collection of items. "Petty Officer Xuan Chihyon reporting for duty as ordered by Starfleet, sir."

Etan looked her up and down. "Ahh, sorry about that PO." He took the PADD and gave it a quick glance. "I must say I'm please to have you." The Captain set the device aside and took a seat, gesturing for the woman to do the same on the opposite side of the desk. He pushed a storage container aside so that they could see each other. "We've lacked an Chief Ops for too long, and I specifically requested someone enlisted because, well...you noncoms know your stuff. "

"Well," Xuan said, somewhat impressed, "it's nice to know that someone on this station sees value in chevrons." She accepted the offer and took a seat in front of the desk. "You look like you're moving. Is it in or out?"

"Out." He answered, not ignoring her comment about 'someone on this station', but choosing to wait before asking."For a while, nothing above Deck 15 was fully habitable, and so this office served as my quarters as well as my primary workspace. Now that we're being refit this" He looked around the unfinished space,"will once again be for the Watch Officer. I'll be up on 9 for the most part." He explained with a weary smile. Truth be told, he was exhausted and had been since the incident with the Tzenkethi.

"Ah," the engineer noted. It seemed unusual, keeping the CO's office so far away from the starbase's nerve center. Then again, the K-class design was more than a century-old. Many older classes defied quite a bit of modern convention. "I'll admit that I haven't fully reviewed the station's layout. The nature of the refit was something I was trying to figure out first. The prior Ops chiefs did not do well with their record keeping."

Etan smirked slightly. "No surprise there. Staffing has been inconsistent since long before my time here. Although with the new confidence from Starfleet Command, we're hoping that will change." He admitted. K-17's reputation was far from secret, but the Captain truly hoped that recent event brushed away any lingering ill feelings towards the antique station and her existing crew.

Kaz leaned back slightly in his chair. "I feel I should let you know, though I'm certain you've figured it out on your own, you and your department are going to be very busy in the coming months. I'm hoping you're up to the task of overseeing the refit as well as the largest department onboard."

Xuan was not surprised regarding the Captain's comment about staffing. When was Starfleet ever consistent in its staffing? She'd heard even Picard's Enterprise had gone through multiple Chief Engineers in its early years before settling on Commodore La Forge. "Busy is something I can handle," she admitted. "And I know one of the reasons why I'm here is because I'm skilled with... older technology. The scope and scale of the refit doesn't concern me."

The Captain smiled warmly. It was good to hear that she was up to the task, a fact he'd known given the accounts of her former Officers in her file. "Good." He said. "The Corp of Engineers has been a pain in my ass since I got back to the station, it'll be nice to have someone else deal with that." He offered a sly wink.

She did not mask her chuckle. "What sort of pain in your ass, Captain? Pushback on deadlines? Operations? I think I knew a Tellarite once who was very particular about the color of the deckplates and refused to replace a batch of damaged flooring for three weeks until a shipyard would give him the right batch."

"Mostly deadlines." He admitted, "Also their tendency to bounce between no update reports and an excess of them." He rubbed his spotted temples. "I'm sure having an Engineer to report to will change their attitude, if only a bit."

"One can certainly hope," Xuan mused, not needing to be a Betazoid to sense his frustration. "If there's one thing I understand, it's a schedule. From what I see, you like to be aware of what's happening and not have to live in the details. That I can certainly accommodate. In your view right now, what's the top priority? Obviously there's a lot to be done."

"Once the main operations areas are complete, docking facilities are atop my list." Kaz wet his lips. "The sooner we can operate as a functional waypoint station the better."

Xuan considered his order, and considered her own experience with coming aboard the station. "Respectfully, sir," she countered, "we should consider prioritizing two of the primary airlocks, as well as two of the service access points. It would keep traffic flow as either inbound or outbound. Less chances for theft and incidences."

Kaz's mouth pulled into a smile. This was the type of thinking that he had expected from the Petty Officer. "I like the way you think." He raised a brow, impressed. "Make it so." He said, quoting the Biography of Captain Jean Luc Picard.

She raised an eyebrow, surprised a bit by the Captain's remark. It wasn't the first time she heard the catchphrase, especially since everyone she knew was reading Picard's autobiography. Xuan let it go, stating, "Will do. I'll drop this," she indicated the duffel bag, "in my bunk once I find it, gather a full assessment of the team and status, and get right to it."

The Captain nodded and stood from his spot. "We'll touch base soon, to make sure you're adjusting well. We can check the progress of the refit then as well." As a rule Etan liked to keep personnel meetings short and sweet, it kept his schedule relatively clear, and kept things moving for all departments.

Understanding that the meeting was over, Xuan nodded and stood. "Thank you, Captain." As soon as the words left her mouth, Xuan turned and exited the ready room, eager to get on with her assignment.