JL | Cmdr. Thelin & LtCmdr. Merlin | Santa Claus

Posted on Fri Sep 7th, 2018 @ 7:12am by Commander Evan Merlin & Commander Thelin th'Zarath

Mission: Lacuna
Location: Cold Station Theta
Timeline: SD 241709.07

It wasn't long after leaving the Admiral's office that the freshly promoted XO stuck his head inside Engineering and looked around for the Chief Engineer. Once he'd spotted Thelin, the rest of him popped in as well. "Commander," he said with a wide grin. "Do the Andorians have an equivalent of Santa Claus?"

Deconstructed once more, Thelin has his arm on his bench and was tinkering on it's internal workings, he'd been experiencing malfunctions, twitches and spasms that had nearly caused a couple of accidents and he'd be damned if he was going to let a piece of technology be his downfall, his head was bowed over the bench as his good hand worked with a tension screwdriver on one of the connections, he cursed in Andorian as the hand twitched and clenched into a fist.

Hearing the noise from the doorway, Thelin glanced up for a second, his antennae narrowing towards the familiar form of the XO who had introduced him to the depths of the station, his head went back down to his work and the hand on the table began to un-clench as he spoke, "Commander," he replied with a slight raise of his brow, "Andorians do not celebrate Christmas, midwinter is... just another day to us, every day is midwinter." he replied with a slight chuckle, a bead of sweat making it's way down his face and laying a lazy track down, "The Aenar do have a small gathering festival I believe, but it didn't survive much beyond the unification of our people and only those who cling to the heritage celebrate it, but there isn't a singular figure."

"Hmm… Now that you mention it, Santa Claus and other variations in Human culture do seem to be associated with midwinter and the returning of the light," the XO mused, staring in fascination at the work Thelin was performing. He had taken some courses in Engineering over time and knew his way around a toolkit well enough to occasionally come down here and lend a hand, but this type of precision work, on the crossroad of nano-engineering and bio-engineering, was beyond him. It was fascinating to look at. Judging from the colourful curse he'd heard upon entering (one he hadn't heard before and which he added to his collection with a mental note to look up the exact meaning), the Commander would not be in a mood to appreciate his fascination.

"Anyway," he coughed. "I was referring to a person bearing gifts. If you don't have anyone like that in Andorian culture, just fill in one of your choice. I just came from Admiral Red and she wants this station to be in shape. 'Bolstered and secured', as she put it. So…" he grinned again, "Tell me what you need in terms of materials and people and I'll get it done. One way or the other, we'll have to get this station running smoothly and ready for everything this part of the universe can throw at us."

"Manpower is something that every facility is crying out for in this day and age, especially out here on the ragged edge," Thelin replied as the hand relaxed fully and a smile crept into the corners of his mouth, he placed the tool down on the table and closed the small access port that had been open, "Materials, we can replicate the majority of what we need, our matter conversion and waste reclamation works as it should and efficiency is well within expected parameters," the final word was punctuated with a click as the arm was lifted and placed into it's socket in his shoulder, the sleeve of his undershirt was pulled over the connection and he flexed it a few times.

"We definitely need more engineers, we have enough to keep on top of routine maintenance and to make some level of improvements but we need a full construction team to even begin to make headway on the upgrades required in the deep core of the station and at the moment the construction crew is down at around half of it's useful strength." the Andorian was all business now with his arm back in place, the pain he felt from the cybernetic implant was concerning but also being handled by the medical team.

The XO pulled out a PADD and began to make notes. "Full construction team, okay," he said with a nod. "That's a temporary assignment, yes? Until the upgrades are in place. Do you need more people for long-term expansion of the Engineering department?"

"Partially," Thelin replied as he rubbed at the connection between flesh and machine on the left side of his chest, "I estimate that if we bring in a full construction crew for a facility this size, we'll need to keep at least twenty-five percent of them on as permanent additions to our staff to ensure we're able to keep everything running as it should," his antennae flattened against his head slightly as a twinge of pain shot through the damaged nerves and caused the smile to falter for a moment, "If this were a new facility, we could maintain standards with the staffing levels we have currently, however as it's a reclaimed facility it takes more manpower to cover the same size of facility."

"Does that make a difference in my request?" the XO asked. He noticed Thelin's twitches, but once again declined to comment. His long fingers hovered above the PADD, ready to make adjustments. "In other words, is there a difference between a construction crew and a regular member of Engineering?"

"There can be, part of the construction crew will be from the Civil Engineering Corps for the primary structure reinforcement for the habitats and civilian living spaces," Thelin replied with a slight chuckle, "The crew who remain and are bought on to our roster will be members of Starfleet."

"Oh! Civilian Engineering, that makes it easier to bring them here." The XO's eyes lightened up in enthusiasm. "They generally can be lured by extra incentives, which is a lot faster than trying to pull Starfleet Engineers to this end of the Federation. Then again, when there's an Admiral's signature under the request, that tends to open some doors, too…" He made a few additional notes. "Anything else?"

"Indeed, there are plenty of things to draw civilian workers to the far edge, as for Starfleet Officers, if they are available then the Admiral can request reassignments fairly simply." the Andorian felt his mechanical elbow twitch slightly and frowned as he straightened it out and cocked his head to the side to reach up and rub at the tension in his neck, "Other than the standard fare, things that can't be replicated like bio-neural gel packs and other biological agents, I can't think of anything else we'd need that we can't fabricate ourselves." he forced a smile to cross his face and a slight chuckle passed his lips.

He gave another nod, although his grin was slowly fading in the light of the other man's discomfort. "Just give me a list and I'll add it to the pile. By the way," he added somewhat quieter, "I can also put in a request for a cyber-engineer or cyberneticist. Might not be a bad idea regardless."

"I don't think it's anything that can be repaired unfortunately, I'm skilled enough and have the experience to maintain and repair nearly all issues but this seems to be due to age, it might be time to speak to the medical team about fabricating a replacement." the Andorian replied with a slight bow of the head, "Thank you for the consideration."

"Well, that just sucks," the XO commented. "Again, if there's anything you need along those lines, let me know. I'm sure of the many things the Admiral wants to be ship-shape on the station, you're definitely one of them. Well, you're not a thing. Obviously. But, you know what I mean. I hope." He shook his head, impatient with his own babbling, waved his hand in an attempt to disspel the words. "Anyway, wish list, here. Don't worry about whether it'll fit in a stocking or not. I'm sure we can improvise." He placed a PADD on the desk. "Anything else I can do for you right now?"

"I know what you mean, pink skin," Thelin replied with a laugh that rumbled through what remained of his chest, he patted Merlin on the shoulder with his right arm as he picked up the PADD and looked it over briefly before waving it in his direction, "I'll have this on your desk by the morning alongside an incident report, there was nearly an accident and it needs recording."

"I'll read it with great interest," the XO said, rocking slightly at the pat. Even though Thelin had very considerately used the non-mechanical arm for it, the man's size and strength made him formidable enough. "Anything I need to know about this moment?" Probably not, or the Engineer would've started with that, but assumption always ran the risk of being dramatically wrong.

The shake of the head was genuine and the antennae flattened out against the head with a slight hint of shame, "No, nothing serious but the arm did cause some damage to the support structure of a walkway in one of the storage areas, we've already had it replaced and tested but as with any damage, it has to be reported."

The XO grinned ruefully. "More PADDwork. I'll add it to the pile. Well, good luck, Commander. I hope for a bit more smooth sailing. I could try giving it a stern talk, but for some reason I think it'll be less effective than talking with the turbo lifts. Have a good day!" And with that, he turned and left, whistling something which sounded like 'Jingle bells' before the door cut off the sound.

(End Log.)

LtCmdr Evan Merlin
Executive Officer
Cold Station Theta

&

Commander Thelin th'Zarath
Chief Engineering Officer
Cold Station Theta