Not my monkey...

Posted on Wednesday October 7th, 2020 @ 11:42pm by Captain Tobias Bishop III

Mission: The Forgotten Outpost
Location: Various

Tobias was walking through the station, and with every bend in the corridor his disgust with the condition of the station magnified. He had gotten a notice that the Chief Engineer had arrived, so he decided to go looking for them.

The turbo lift got stuck six times during the interminable ride down the core of the station before finally depositing him in the bowels of the station, just outside main engineering.

He heard a pair of voices having an animated conversation, and decided to investigate.

"Hello?" he called out.

The blonde human woman was absolutely bewildered by the irritated Andorian she was talking to, as he approached.

"This isn't right. You're not even qualified-" The Andorian continued his irritated tirade.

"I don't care, stoooopid." The blonde woman retorted.

"Don't call me stupid!" The Andorian shouted.

"Don't call me unqualified. I'm your section chief. Clearly I'm qualified to tell you to stick it." The blonde shrugged. "According to Lyra's rules of appropriate conduct, this is a class six violation of the disrespecting a senior officer rules. Bad bad Lieutenant Junior Grade. Go home. Go directly home. Do not pass go. Do not collect 200 credits. Restricted to quarters when not on duty."

The blonde's attention was drawn to the approaching person. "Hello Mister Colonel man. How can I help you?" She said, as the irritated Andorian stormed off.

Tobias was momentarily struck mute by what he had just witnessed. "Um..Yes..I..I'm Colonel Bishop, the Commanding Officer of the station and I'm looking for the Chief Engineer?" His sentence trailed off in the rising tone of uncertainty.

"Speaking!" Lyra said, becoming more chipper by the second. "Lieutenant Walsh. Hello. It's nice to meet you." She added, brightly.

"Right fine mess we've gotten stuck with, Eh Lieutenant?" he asked with a small shake of his head. Her positivity was infectious, but he had a shuttle load of gloom to cut through first.

"Mess?" Lyra looked around, then quickly checked her uniform. "Nuh-uh! I'm not even dirty, Mister Colonel Bishop, sir!"

"We can do without the 'Mister' Lieutenant, by mess, I was referring to the current condition of the station."

"I haven't even seen the reports yet. I only crashed... Errrr." The woman paused a moment. "I mean, I only landed in the shuttle an hour ago. Lieutenant Junior Grade S'vai does not appreciate my piloting skills."

He noted the word 'crashed' but decided in the face of everything else, he should leave that one alone for now.

"And who is Lieutenant S'vai?" he asked, not having heard the name before.

"Mister mouthy Andorian man." Lyra gestured after the retreating lieutenant junior Grade. "He didn't even have to go to sickbay."

"Ah." the Colonel commented, "I'm presuming that's the officer you just banished to his quarters?"

"He was bad bad man." Lyra shrugged. "Just following the rules."

"I am not here to tell you how to run your department, Chief. I was only hoping for a status update."

"How should I know?" Lyra tilted her head. "I only got here an hour ago. It was not a nice trip. I was a bit busy for catching up on my reading."

"Understandable. When *can* I expect a status report?"

Lyra paused, then began drawing strange figures in the air. "Carry the 2..." She mumbled to herself. "With time for snacks..." She added, hastily doodling in some extra 3 somewhere. "...aaaaannnnnnnd...." She frowned. "I'm going to say a minimum of 3 days. It's a very big station. I don't know how detailed it will be but it can definitely be there in 3 days. Longer if you want me to actually start fixing things. Which is my job."

"Three days is acceptable. Is there anything you need from me?"

"Yes." Lyra nodded. "More time than that because that's just diagnosing problems. Not actually fixing anything. Wasting time on paperwork will impede actual repair work."

"I believe that the title 'Chief Engineer' would tend to indicate that you have a team behind you, does it not?"

"I do not know how big that is." Lyra shrugged. "Or if they are here yet."

"I need to know how bad things really are. If you take the time to stop and fix each thing you find, as you find it, you'll never finish the report." Tobias answered back. "You truly have a dizzying intellect."

"But if things are disastrously broken, Mister Colonel Bishop man, they will need fixing." Lyra retorted. "This is why I might need more time."

This woman was *really* begin to grind his gears. He understood cultural differences and idiosyncrasies, but this "Mister Colonel Man" business was going to require strong drink if it went on much longer.

"Once again, Lieutenant, I understand that, but I need a Master list of what's wrong. So make the list, and anything time sensitive or critical can see you dispatch someone else to repair it while you move on to finishing the list." he said, fighting to keep his tone neutral.

"Alright, fine, I guess." Lyra nodded. "You're the boss man."

"Yes, I am." he answered, maybe a bit more sternly that he meant to. "Off you go Lieutenant."

"Thank you, mister boss man." Lyra said, in what was plausibly sarcasm under her peppy tone.

Colonel Tobias Bishop III
Commanding Officer
Deep Space Three

Lieutenant Lyra Walsh
Chief Engineer
Deep space three