Noble Hands Hath No Place on a Flight Deck
Part II
Cyrin listened to the politician rant for quite some time. He hadn’t known that Lamont was a Commander in Starfleet. “My apologies sir,” his voice changed to show respect that was due to Lamont for his rank and stature. However, there was still a hint of unease due to the fact that someone hadn’t informed him of Lamont’s orders. “Ambassador…Commander,” he used both his titles unsure of what to call him now, “Everyone knows that my crew is running level one diagnostics on the shuttles here. However, five have been completed. I will instruct you. However, we will not be using this shuttle it has been damaged and now my crew needs to begin repairs on it. He instructed watching several flight deck personnel coming up to the shuttle. “I do understand just how problematic it is to upset the Ice Queen,” he had let slip a cruel name he had for the Captain, “I am sorry Captain t’Rehu.” He quickly amended.
Lamont’s eyebrow instantly pitched upwards at the nickname the ensign had for the captain. An accidental slip of the tongue on the ensign’s part revealed a glimmer of his opinions of the Charon’s CO. ‘Ice Queen’, Lamont repeated silently to himself. It was a fitting nickname for a woman bereft of compassion for her crew. It seemed that Ensign Dicari had witnessed or had fallen victim to the captain’s icy rule.
Perhaps he had something in common with Dicari.
“Indeed”, Lamont replied to the ensign’s verbal slip. “Then we have a mutual understanding.” There was some hidden meaning behind his last words. It was doubtful Dicari would pick up on the ever so subtle comment, however Lamont was intrigued by the young man. What other thoughts did he harbor?
“Ensign, I am grateful for your assistance. You have my thanks. Shall we”, Lamont asked motioning toward another shuttle as he again donned his tricoder.
Leading Lamont to a shuttle that had already been completed with a level one diagnostic, he punched in his command code and motioned for Ian to step in before stepping in the shuttle himself. “Commander…Ambassador. What would you prefer me to call you sir?” He asked.
“You may call me Ian if you prefer. I haven’t gone by commander in quite some time since transferring to the diplomatic corps. If you insist on using a title then Ambassador will do, but it’s formal. If we’re going to work together, I’d just assume we drop the formalities. They can become rather dull and I tend to see them as barriers between people.
“Very well, now what do you know of diagnostic levels?” He asked Lamont.
“I’m a little rusty on system diagnostic testing”, Lamont stated. “It’s been a few years, but the basics seem to be the same. The problem I have is I know virtually nothing about shuttlecraft. Piloting was not something I ever received any real training or instruction on during my time serving in the fleet.”
Cyrin nodded, he had not mentioned anything about hearing the subtle meaning behind one of his prior comments. He was a Betazoid after all, and the son of a diplomat. Smiling he began to treat Lamont as a first year operations officer. “Ian, I am going to walk you through this like any first year operations officer. I mean no disrespect by it. But if it is to be done right, it should be taught properly.” He commented letting the Ambassador know of his intentions, “And please call me Cyrin if we are going to drop the formalities.” He added before taking a seat at one of the chairs at the front of the shuttle and motioning for Lamont to do the same.
Lamont nodded and took a seat. “Very well Cyrin. Seeing as I lack knowledge on shuttle systems, any level of instruction would be most welcomed. Please proceed. “
“There are five levels of diagnostics, each one better than the next. A level one diagnostic is the most complex as well as time consuming. Typically there will be a three man team involved in this type of diagnostic on a shuttle. A level two diagnostic,” he pushed a few buttons and pulled up the menu “again is complex but takes a bit less time than a level one and typically only two people will be around for this. “ He pulled up the menu for a level three diagnostic, “a level three diagnostic is similar to a level one and two, but only requires crew verification, no one actually has to be present. Well someone does but not for the entire duration,” he added with a smile. “A level four diagnostic,” he added pulling up that menu, “is only used if there is suspicion of a malfunction. And last is a level five diagnostic, this is routinely done before doing anything. This include preflight checks, et cetera.” He added pulling up that menu.
“Now when running a diagnostic you need to specify what you want to run the diagnostic on. This can be done vocally, if the computer is active and responsive. Computer run level five diagnostic on the guidance system. Please display results and give verbal results.” He instructed and demonstrated for the Ambassador. A few seconds later the results began pouring out onto the screen in front of them, “Guidance system running at optimal efficiency.” The computer responded vocally.
“Now as you can see you have the option to display the data, this data is more inclusive as to what is going on if anything is going on. But as you can see,” he pointed to the screen “everything is running at optimal efficiency. It could be better, but that is something you need not concern yourself with.” He took a short breath and looked to the ambassador, “Any questions Ian?” He asked, saying the fellow officers name with an ease that was unusual for him.
Lamont listened to the ensign with particular interest. It wasn’t so much what he was saying that was of particular interest to the Ambassador as much as how he was saying it. Lamont was not a telepath, but he had honed his ears to detect the subtle inflections and tonal differences in speech that while vague and non-specific, was still valuable in his particular profession. He wasn’t sure just yet what to make of the ensign. He seemed to be at ease indicating a genuine desire to teach and instruct or perhaps there was something else. Lamont couldn’t form any opinions just yet. Nonetheless a certain affinity for this officer was slowly building despite their limited interactions.
“No, no questions Cyrin. Your instruction is quite thorough. Please continue.”
“Well I have pretty much taught you the generalities of system diagnostic. Next time please come to me first if ‘they’ want you to do something that you are not really sure of doing. I will be more than happy to help out.” Cyrin added, he watched the Ambassador do what was needed and helped him along.
== [ Several Minutes Later ] ==
Lamont finished storing the data he needed on the tricorder and holstered the unit. “Well that should suffice”, he said tapping the shuttle’s control panel to shut down the console. He turned toward Cyrin with a smile. “This data should keep both ‘queen’ and country satisfied.” The veiled reference to a certain person was carefully placed. Lamont was quite curious how Cyrin would respond, if indeed, he responded at all.
Cyrin smiled, “well perhaps country, but queen…” he let his thought slide away vocally, he wasn’t exactly sure how much he could say without Lamont reprimanding him. Since he was done helping Ian he smiled pleased with the Ambassadors success, even if the information Cyrin gave him was boring him. “Ian, I know that you were not exactly enthralled with your work duty. Especially being taught by a ‘lesser’ individual as myself,” he mentioned “if you have any more work detail left, see about getting it done in my department. I am after all the Senior Officer and can, ummm, get it done for you while you sit somewhere on the ship out of sight out of mind. I don’t agree with what ‘she’ did to you, if the rumors are true. Which I find it hard to believe them not to be true seeing as she nearly killed me as well.” He added. “Computer please send verification reports of Ambassador Ian Lamont’s activity on the Flight deck to Captain Shiarrel t’Rehu, Commander Quentin Calhoun, Commander Eithne Falcon, Ensign Cyrin Dicari, and Lieutenant Sakarra Tyrax.” He looked to the Ambassador, “that should help a bit,” he said as the computer beeped confirming that the report had been sent.
Lamont couldn’t help but smile. Offering his hand he shook the ensign’s hand in thanks. “Thank you ensign. Your help and..understanding today have not gone unappreciated. If there is something that I can do for you in the future please do not hesitate to ask. As for any future engineering tasks assigned to me I will endeavor to seek your guidance. I appreciate your offer, but sitting my duties out, no matter how difficult or loathsome they may be is not my style. However I will promise you that I will indeed seek help when needed to avoid any future accidents. As you can appreciate I have no desire to have the captain discover I have been neglecting my work and I would not wish to put you in a difficult position as a result.
Cyrin nodded, “The offer will remain open.” He said. “Perhaps someday I will take you up on that.” He added with a nod of his head.
Lamont nodded. “If you’re ever in the mood for a drink or just need a sympathetic ear ensign, feel free to drop by. I have a modest selection of beverages collected from around the quadrant. I do not get the opportunity to share them as often as I would like.”
“Hmmmm…the offer sounds enticing. I will definitely take you up on that…soon,” he commented with a smile. “Well hopefully we can change that. It has been an honor working with you. Not to mention you learn quickly and efficiently, that is hard to come by at times. And as for the minor accident with the shuttle don’t worry about it.” He gave with a smile.
Lamont stood and briefly offered the ensign a quick salute. “Thank you for your assistance again Cyrin. I need to return this data to engineering and clock out for the day so to speak.” Bowing slightly Lamont turned and made his way out of the shuttle.
A curious if not exceedingly fascinating individual this Cyrin Dicari, Lamont thought to himself as he headed toward the exit of the shuttlebay. It appeared he too shared some level of distaste with the captain even after a promotion. If Rehu had gambled she could buy the young officer’s loyalty and respect with a seat on the senior staff it appeared she had miscalculated. Or perhaps, she had elevated him so as to keep her eagle eye upon him? It was odd how she could so easily trust someone who had at one time attempted to kill her. Lamont filed the oddity for contemplation another day. He unfortunately had other duties to perform that were an interruption to his usual introspection. Engineering duties.
What truly amazed him was how comfortable he was around the ensign and vice versa. Lamont was curious to see where today’s developments might lead. Only time would tell.
All and all it had been a very enlightening and interesting day.
=/\=
Ambassador Ian Lamont
Diplomatic Advisor
U.S.S. Charon
&
=/\=
Ensign Cyrin Dicari
Chief Operations Officer
U.S.S. Charon
