Meeting the Team

Posted on Wed Oct 3rd, 2018 @ 9:34pm by Lieutenant Commander Catrina (Cat) Tendai & Ensign Connor Turner

1,280 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Mission 1: The Return to Faltan
Location: Faltan - Chief Engineer's Office
Timeline: MD07 - 0815 hours

Catrina had worked harder in her first day (well, half a day) than she had in quite some time. But still, things were getting done, and she could slowly start to work on the checklist that was rather lengthy. This morning, though, she wanted to meet those who were working with her. It wasn't a huge team, but she wasn't going to let that stop anything.

Coffee at the ready, she sat behind her desk, looking over the list of things that she hoped would be done today. But, the meeting was first. Now she only hoped that everyone got the message.

Ensign Connor Turner was exhausted. He had been getting worked to death on projects and the staff seemed to be super low. Now, he had a new Chief coming in. Would the Chief even care about the fact that he might have only received four hours of sleep a day for the last two days? He doubted it.

Walking into the Chief's Engineer's office, he was immediately struck by the woman sitting behind the desk. He blushed immediately and looked away from her. In his British accent, he uttered, "Ensign, um, Connor Turner reporting, um, for, um, duty." Do they make any ugly women in Starfleet anymore? Someone's trying to kill me!

Glancing up, hearing the person who came into the room stumbling through words, Cat did her best to give a reassuring smile. But, he wasn't looking at her. "Are you alright, Ensign? It's just a meet and greet, nothing to worry about." She'd read over Turner's information before, but saw nothing about this side of him.

"I'm perfectly, um, yes, perfectly fine, sir, I mean, ma'am!" he responded, finding a spot on the wall very much more interesting than the Chief Engineer's face.

While awaiting the other meeting participant, Catrina tried to catch Turner's eye. "Ensign? You won't get much out of this meeting by looking at the wall."

"Ma'am?" Connor asked gulping and turning towards Catrina, now looking at the top of her head to try and keep himself steadied.

Kakie walked in and it only took one look at Connor and she pretty much had an idea of what had probably transpired. "Lieutenant Tendai?" she asked, while moving her eyes from Connor to the young woman sitting behind the desk.

Looking up as she heard the new voice, Cat gave a smile. “You must be Lieutenant Kahala, please come in. This is nothing really professional. Just want to get to know you two, strengths and weaknesses and such.”

“Yes, Sir,” Kakie smiled politely in return and moved up closer to stand before her desk.

Having spent several days now repairing systems with Lieutenant Kahala, he was slightly more comfortable with her than anyone else on the station. He gave her a small glance, looking for reassurance and then looked back over the top of Cat's head. "Um, uh, what is it that, um, uh, you would like to know, um, sir, or, um, ma'am?"

Hearing Connor stumble through words again, Cat tried her best to give him a reassuring smile. But, she wasn't sure he even saw it based on where his eyes were. "Sir or ma'am is okay. But I'm trying to get us working as a strong team so we can get this place properly up and running as quickly as we can. So, I'm looking for strengths and weaknesses. What you two are good at, all that kind of stuff."

Connor braved a look at Cat and squeaked out, "Computers. I like, um, computers."

Kakie gave him a smile, he was improving. “His specialty is computers…” and then returned to looking at the chief,“ And mine is mainly in damage control... although that hasn’t really been acknowledged...” she shook her head and then added in, “yet. I'm also really good on holographic systems.”

Smiling at them both, Catrina nodded. "And I'm a mix of engines, holographic systems, damage control, couple little other things. But I think we need all of us to get this place sorted out. You two did great with what little team you had. Now we've got parts and such, we just have to get them where they need to go." She waved her hand over to the wall full of parts in her office.

"I'm trusting you two to just do what you need to do. Help each other. We can do the whole team-bonding thing later. I just wanted to know that I am here if you need anything. You can bother me whenever you want, I'm not against it." She hoped one of them would say something, instead of just letting her ramble. So she stopped and looked to the two of them.

"Okay..." Kakie nodded, feeling as if she was going to really like Cat, "I haven't been given clearance to all of the damage reports and given the responsibility of assigning the damage teams." Her brows came together a little in confusion, "I feel as the Damage Specialist, that of course, I should be."

Knowing that getting Connor to talk was going to be tricky just by this small interaction, Cat gave an answer to Kakie. "Yes, you should have been. I've been here less than 24 hours, and maybe got half hour of sleep. You can have access to them, I've no issues with that."

"Um, uh, Lieutenant. Um, the Commander. Um, well, she um, was having us, um, look into the power cells. Said, um, there might be more than, um, just a normal, issue. Also, um, I believe she, um, nevermind....."

"Easy, Connor. Deep breath. Power cells are a good place to start from what I can tell." Cat tried to catch his eye, "What else was it?"

"Nothing, Lieutenant. Just, um, something foolish regarding, um, the Commander...."

"You can tell me if you want to. This has been a crazy few hours, I don't think much would surprise me."

"The report on the power cells has been turned in," Kakie simply said, inwardly sighing towards Connor.

Cat pinched the bridge of her nose. "I asked M'Mira if I needed to know anything. Of course, she forgets to tell me. I'm sorry, Kakie, it's likely in this pile here."

"No problem, Sir," Kakie smiled. "I know I can find plenty to do on my own, but if there is anything specifically you would like me to do?" she asked.

"Just..whatever we can do to get this place up and running fastest. Again, I'm trusting you guys to let me know if you need anything."

"Understood," Kakie smiled, and then looked over to Connor, tempted to elbow him to say something too.

Connor gave a brief look at Kakie, hearing that the report had been turned in. He gave a deep sigh of relief. "Um, uh, can, um, we, uh, be, well, uh, dismissed?" he asked Cat while staring at Kakie's feet.

She knew she'd have to get Connor to be able to be more comfortable with the team at some point. But now wasn't that time, too much work to do. "Go get your coffee or whatever you use to wake up and then get back to it."

As quickly as two lamb's tail shakes, Connor fled the room, trying to look dignified as he did so.

Cat stifled a laugh and looked over at Kakie. "Um, dismissed?"

"Yeah..." Kakie replied, a chuckle then escaping her as she stepped away. "It was nice meeting you, Chief." She gave one last smile before going out the door.

Shaking her head, Catrina sat back with a chuckle before finishing off her coffee and heading off to work.

 

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