Consulting with the expert

Posted on Wednesday April 20th, 2022 @ 10:30pm by Lieutenant JG Brolga

Mission: EPISODE 1: SHAKEDOWN
Location: Main engineering
Timeline: MD 1 -1700

On:

An intelligence officer being on any engineering deck would normally be cause for maybe a glance or two, and a few whispers, but Jason ignored any such frivolities to carry out his orders, The captain didn't show it but this new ship was a concern and Jason wanted too do a work up on this ship just in case things escalated.

As he rounded the corner too the main engineering he looked around. Now Jason didn't recall meeting the chief engineer earlier but that seemed odd since he learned the man was in fact a Klingon himself. Jason looked around seeing several technicians working away, he couldn't process the lack of presence of....He paused, Jason saw a Klingon, but not as tall as he had been expecting, Jason tossed any conception's about this man aside, he needed too pick his brain on the problem at hand.

"Chief engineer Brolga, I'm Jason Elliot, Intelligence can we talk in private?"

Brolga looked over at the man, standing at attention. Intelligence? What did intelligence want with him? Had he done something wrong? "We can talk in private," Brolga affirmed, setting down the tools he had been working with. He carried himself with a stiff formality, as he motion towards his office. "Would my office work? Or did you have some other place in mind to meet." Please, Brolga silently begged. Choose the office. He didn't know what was going on, but he wanted the familiarity and homefield advantage that came with knowing the room.

"Your office will be fine." Jason said as he motioned for the engineer too lead the way, the short walk followed by the door closing, "The Captain and I were going over some long range sensor images for our up coming mission and we found new images of this ship, we're certain it's a Vor'Cha variant but we can't figure out these weapon pods three ports fixed forward, but for what is question one." Jason made a motion as the classified images appeared on the wall display.

"I can take a look. It's definitely some sort of upgrade," Brolga commented as he took a seat at his desk. Vor'Cha class were already strong enough; the engineer didn't see why one would need additional weapons. The Klingon gave a slight frown.

"The armor plating along the nacelle pylons are beefed up, the dorsal armor is also slightly enhanced in a couple of spots nothing that would be out of the ordinary but the pods are the question." pausing too look at the pods again "Does this look like a torpedo launch or a disruptor emitter, sensor system maybe?"

"I'm not sure..." Brolga paused a moment to look at the pictures. "Do you have the thermal range on these images? Can we switch to that?" He asked.

Keying in a couple of commands "These are the only images we have, the pods do show some heat signatures." zooming in too the visible pod "is this remotely normal?" Jason was puzzled by this.

"With that heat signature they do look like some sort of disrupter." The Klingon moved closer to the screen, as if that could help him see better. "Which is unfortunate... for us." The Klingon looked over at the intelligence officer. Was he making this request of Brolga as a Klingon, or as an engineer? Did he think Brolga was just like those violent sort who might add extra disruptors to a ship? Brolga hoped not, but that didn't stop his heart from sinking a bit in doubt. Not that he would let such doubt show.

"I'm going to assume this is another variant too add in to the library, is there anything that stand out to you? My background with klingon technology is limited, I'm not an engineer just a historian." Jason said as he sat back.

Brolga shrugged. "Klingon ships are aggressive enough. If they are adding more weapons, they are likely expecting combat." The Klingon did not elaborate. He was loyal to starfleet, but still, it felt strange. He didn't like picking sides, and he didn't want to be involved in combat with Klingons.

Jason decided too test the waters "Normally a study like this would be academic but this ship is patrolling near our mission area, if I get any more images or data I may want to consult with you more,"

Brolga nodded - a stiff, formal nod. "I wish they were not patrolling here," he said simply. Things would be easier if the two just kept their distance. "If you need anything, sir, I will be here."

"At the moment I think your participation is much appreciated, I'm going to compose my notes into a report for the captain if you think of anything let me know." Jason said as he stood "It's been a pleasure."

"Will do," the Klingon nodded, before repeating back the platitude: "It has been a pleasure."

End

Lt(jg) Jason Elliot
Intelligence Officer
USS Oberon

Lt JG Brolga
Chief Engineer
USS Oberon