=/\= Bridge =/\=
Cyrin tapped his commbadge, “EnArrain t’Khellian please meet me on the bridge.” He had already checked the duty roster and noted that she wasn’t technically on duty at the time and neither was he. They could use the Operations Console behind the Captains command chair if needs be. Half running to a turbolift he directed it to take him to the bridge, for once he wanted to actually beat his predecessor there. Stepping onto the bridge once the lift stopped he headed to the secondary ops console shaking his head at a junior officer standing up to let him take control of the primary ops console.
Rhiana had just stepped out of the shower when her communicator beeped and Cyrin's voice requested her presence to the bridge. She pressed the badge as she begain to dress once more."I am on my way Ensign." she said simply as she stepped out of her quarters buttoning her tunic up and sliding her sash into place. She moved to the Turbolift and commanded it to head to the bridge. After a few moments she stepped off onto the Bridge pulling her long hair into a regulation formation and moved toward the console where Cyrin was standing.
Looking up he watched as Rhiana pulled her hair up into regulation style, “EnArrain,” he addressed her since they were on the bridge, his Rhiansu a bit rusty. He motioned for her to take a seat. “Lieutenant Tyrax has request I be a co-pilot with her and Captain t’Rehu on this away mission. So I am going to need you to keep an eye on operations for me. Yes, I already have an officer lined up, but she is a bit ‘green’ if you will.” He took a breath, “She also presented the communications idea to me as well, and I figured that we could work on that from here. At least to get the ships communications array lined up with the shuttles new implementation. And seeing as you are more knowledgeable at that than I am, I would prefer to have you do it. I would like to help out that ma’am. You helped to teach me a lot of what I know in operations, I should also be cross trained in communications as a whole and not a generality.” He was rambling, not because he was nervous but because he was excited. This would be one of his few shuttle piloting missions. He had only done a handful of simulations, but was qualified to pilot a shuttle. “Your thoughts EnArrain?”
Rhiana moved over to the offered chair and sat back listening to the young Ensign rant on and couldn't help but be impressed by his lung capacity."Well where should I begin Ensign? Yes I will of course retake over Operations in your absence. And I will indeed teach you what needs to be done in the Communications array for us to stay in constant contact with the shuttles inside of the Nebula. Alright the first step is for you to change the Array's setting to the Romulan transceivers I have installed on the shuttles." she said professionally to the excited young man.
"To do that you will need to open the panel on the left hand side of the console, In side you will find a diode with hash marks on it. Turn it until it reads four hundred and fifty Terrajewls. You will likely get a warning from the main computer stating that is exceeding operational limits..If that happens place this converter into the console's EPS relay system, and then tell Engineering to execute t'Khellian tango zed one." she continued.
He had a padd out and was jotting down the notes, “Four hundred and fifty terrajewls, got it. However, why not have t’Khellian tango zed one already programmed into the shuttle themselves. Seeing as it is on the shuttle itself?” He asked. He turned quickly and noticed one of his crew members in gold standing waiting for his attention, “Yes what is it?” he snapped clearly irritated that the Crewman could see that he was busy.
“Sir I was asked to give you this.” The young woman said handing him a padd.
Snatching it he quickly scanned over it, “Crewman this could have waited, put it on my desk. I will deal with it later. Dismissed.” He ordered watching the non-commissioned offer walk away, “That would be the ‘green’ operations officer I was telling you about EnArrain,” he mentioned off hand waiting for Rhiana to answer his question. Then it dawned on him, he was literally shoulder to shoulder with this Romulan and she wasn’t trying to kill him.
Rhiana eyed the young Crewman as she moved off having annoyed the Ensign she then returned her attention to Cyrin and gave a half smile. She was impressed how quickly he had figured out the solution to the situation with the shuttles. "I was hoping you would say that Ensign, Forgive me for doing it but that was a small test for you and you passed it. I'll have the codes embedded into the Shuttles as soon as possible." she said candidly as one would to a near equal.
She looked back at the retreating woman’s back and then back at Cyrin. "That is the young officer whom you've asked me to replace for the time being? Then this delivery of the padd was obviously to come and...How do the Terrans say it..’Scope me out?’ " she asked with a raised eyebrow.
Cyrin was a bit perplexed that his predecessor had been testing him, but then again she was Romulan. He smiled at her half smile, “Thank you EnArrain.” He said with a slight nod of his head. “Yes that was the young officer that I would prefer you replace until I return from the away mission. She came on when Commander Falcon and several other new arrivals boarded. She hasn’t exactly been delegated a specific position as I want to see where she is best fit, which sadly means having her work in all areas. Seeing the importance of this mission, I would much rather have a trained officer at the console than an untrained ‘green’ non-commissioned officer. As for her ‘scoping you out’ I am not sure. However, if that was her intentions I will handle her. I apologize EnArrain for her actions, and will see to it that it doesn’t happen again.” He said feeling like he had been undermined by an inferior officer. Especially one that needed to ‘learn their place’ in the hierarchal nature of the Charon.
She nodded to Cyrin and though of how well he had been proceeding since their talk. "Now when you get aboard the Shuttlecraft remember they will be more powerful than before. Lt. Xavier and I have placed new power cores in them as well as new Nacelles to handle the workload for the updated communications systems. The simulations we ran tell us we should be able to pick you up even in the densest part of the Nebula." she said as she pulled a ISD <Romulan version of a PADD> and handed it to him.
"If you familiar with fighter craft you'll note the shuttles maneuverability have been altered to match a fighter instead of a normal transport craft. Now let’s open up the Communication’s console and put the device in Ensign, Would you like the honors?" she asked offering the small hand held device that resembled a cross between an uplink and a black iron spike.
“About the only thing I am familiar with on fighter crafts is how to repair them. Flying them was never required, nor did I opt to do so. Shuttles only a handful of times. In the almighty words of Doctor McCoy, ‘I’m an operations officer, not a pilot.’” He added as he took the ISD, and the small device, “Well then I think we should make our way down to the Flight Deck EnArrain to get this installed on the Bellatora Fortis.” ‘This was going to be one hell of an adventure’ he thought to himself as he stood up and walked with Rhiana to the turbo-lift.
Rhiana accompanied him to the lift listneing to him speak and raised a slender eyebrow, "Doctor McCoy? Lenard H. McCoy of the Enterprise? Yes I have heard of him of course...But not that he was famed for saying he was an Operations officer instead of a pilot. I was under the impression that up until his most recent death Admiral McCoy was of Starfleet Medical." she said as the lift carried them to their destination.
Cyrin couldn’t help but laugh at Rhiana’s comment. “No, no… it is a twist on one of his more famous sayings. He used to say ‘I am a doctor, not an engineer.’ So instead of that I said ‘I am an operations officer, not a pilot.’” He added again shaking his head as the lift stopped. He watched as Rhiana stepped out and he followed the ISD and the device held in both hands. As they made their way onto the Flight Deck he couldn’t help but notice that it was a mess. This had Romulan and Starfleet written all over it. He looked to the Romulan, “What the hell happened here?” He asked. Many of his crew looking at him in dismay as well as he stopped dead in his tracks.
Rhiana remained stoic and looked directly back at the young Ensign and straightened her black duty jacket. In a clear sure voice she said."The young Engineers on beta shift obviously did this after Lieutenant Xavier and myself left. We left them careful instructions to clean up after themselves and not make a disaster area of your Flight Deck. As a Romulan and as a Klingon D'vanna and I would know better than to leave such a horrid mess laying around." she lied through her teeth with a straight face and stoic emotions that only a Tal'Shiar trained solider could manage.
Cyrin looked at her for a brief moment more, something about her demeanor had changed. She hadn’t answered the question like she normally would have answered. He shrugged it off and proceeded to the Bellatora Fortis with her in tow. Many of his flight deck crew was grumpily cleaning the mess, and shot the Romulan evil glares. Cyrin turned around and stopped at the shuttle, waiting for further instructions. Something didn’t seem right, he felt it in the pit of his stomach. Yet, he couldn’t put his finger on it. Clearing his throat, “Well…now that we are here, and my crew has more work ahead for them. Shall we?” He asked.
Rhiana nodded and moved up toward the shuttle with Cyrin and met the eyes of the head of the flight deck who was glaring at her. Her eyes radiated cold cruel malice warning the man away and then turned back to Cyrin. "Now Ensign we must finalize the uplinks.” she said as she took the small black device from his outstretched hand and broke it down into three smaller components."One goes into the Communication system on the shuttle, The next into the Flight officers Console's relay system, and the Final into the Charon's communication console on the bridge."
She handed the one for the shuttle to Cyrin and gave him a polite smile. "Do you think you can install this Ensign? The components have been upgraded with Romulan technology already so the installation in the shuttle should be fairly simple" she said softly to him not condescending him but asking if he wanted to try it.
“I would be honored. This is the first piece of Romulan technology that I have actually got to install. At least I have an expert here to guide me should something go astray.” He added the last comment with a smirk. In his career both in the Academy to present he had yet to encounter a piece of technology or device he couldn’t handle. Opening a hatch he placed the device in, and waited for something to happen. Seeing as she hadn’t exactly told him how to put it in. He could only hope he got it right.
Rhiana's eyes went wide and she shouted, "Oh Elements be merciful don't put it there!!" she said in a high pitched voice near a yelp. As the lights begun to flash and a high pitched whine started briefly.
He quickly withdrew the device, and looked to the Romulan and handed it back to her, “Perhaps you should do it.” He offered.
Rhiana laughed and shook her head and put her hand on his shoulder, "No no Ensign I was just playing a small joke on you that was perfectly natural. It was just saying that the interface was activating. When you put it back in turn counter clock wise and tap in zero zero two six on the small key pad. After that it’s just a matter of testing it and seeing if it works... However in seriousness make sure the EPS circuits are level with the control nodes in the Device..There can't be the slightest gap." she said after finishing her laugh.
Cyrin sighed with relief as he returned the device to its prior position, “Well that was close then.” He remembered the drill he had pulled on the Flight Officers a while back. ‘A Romulan with a sense of humor?’ he wondered to himself as he felt the device lock into place and the lights began to flash along with that obscenely loud whine emanating from the shuttle. “Now what?” he asked unsure of what to do next, “should we go ahead and program it to four hundred and fifty terrajewls, or are we going to program it with that command code?” he asked anxious and in his element.
"After you punch in the code turn the dial on the shuttles power matrix to the four hundred and fifty terrajewls. Make certain you watch for abnormal power spikes. If you see one make sure you cut the power quickly otherwise the communication system will burn out, but might also upset the artificial singularity in the power drive," she said now serious and back on the job now that the joke was over.
“Got it,” he pushed in the command code t'Khellian tango zed one then set the dial to four hundred and fifty terrajewls. Right afterwards he pulled his tricoder out and set it to constant scan just in case there was any abnormal power spikes. Looking at the readings he noticed several power spikes and showed them to Rhiana, “And these are within optimum parameters or exceeds that which we seek?” he asked.
Rhiana nodded as she stepped up looking over the read outs on the Tricorder." Yes these are within acceptable tolerances for the hybrid power system I've created." she said as she moved up toward the shuttles main console and logged into the communication matrix of the Charon. She typed in a few commands testing the relays “Everything looks likes it's working on this end Ensign now all we have to do is update the Flight deck's main command panel. If you follow the same procedure on it as you did just now remembering the precautions we should have this squared away in no time.” she said to the young man who was still sounding excited to be working with Romulan components.
“Excellent!” He admitted as he finished putting the panel back on the shuttle and making sure it was secure. He stood up and stretched his legs, “Well shall we?” he offered as he headed towards the Flight Decks main command station situated a flight of stairs above the actual Flight Deck itself. As they made their way up to the command station he noticed that Petty Officer Renalds had made herself quite at home in the office. Everything was neat and tidy, something his own office lacked.
=/\=
EnArrian Rhiana t'Khellian
Chief Communications Officer
U.S.S. Charon
&
=/\=
Ensign Cyrin Dicari
Chief Operations Officer
U.S.S. Charon
