The new chief

Posted on Wed Jul 24th, 2019 @ 3:53pm by Captain Taliserra Tigran

2,778 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: The science of stars
Location: USS Wolff - Main engineering
Timeline: 5th March 2395

ON:

"Captain on deck." An enlisted engineer announced as she saw Taliserra come through the double doors into the Wolffs main engineering, he and several other engineers came to attention.

"Carry on." Taliserra said as she walked past.

The engineer turned back to his work somewhat amazed at finally seeing the Captain he'd spent the last few months working under.

Taliserra looked around for her intended target; Lt Voss but only managed to clap eyes on the brightly haired Ensign Larson.

"Good morning Debbie." She said to the young lady.

"Good morning Captain." Debbie replied. "If you're looking for the Lt Voss, if he's not in the office he'll be somewhere on the upper level.

"Thank you Debbie." Taliserra turned and took the small lift to the top floor of engineering.

Debbie was right. Voss was on the top level and when Taliserra arrived he was standing at a panel while one of his people had their head stuck down a Jefferies tube.

"How about now?" the tech called.

"Nope. Still five-percent shy," Voss replied as he tapped on the panel. "There's definitely something up with that ODN relay. Give it another go with the recoupler and if we don't see an improvement we'll add that ODN line to the replacement list."

"Great..." groaned the tech. "Only going to take us about six-hours to replace that."

Voss smiled. "That's why everyone wants to be in Starfleet, Chief, everyday is an adventure."

"Heh," said the Chief. "Yes, sir."

"Give it another go, and let's keep our fingers crossed we don't need to replace the line right now," Voss said as he turned back to the panel, his back to the arrival of the captain.

"More repairs Lt Voss?" Taliserra asked. "Problems from the nuclear device the Kurai used?"

Voss turned at the sound of the Captain's voice. "Oh, hey sir, didn't see you come up," he briefly turned aside then to call to the chief. "Chief, keep going with the repair, I'll check in later."

He turned back to the Captain. "Most of that's squared away, this one is just a faulty ODN line, or a bad coupling. We've got back up lines, but I want everything running at top spec," he replied to her question before he smiled and added. "Anyhow, I am sure you didn't come down for me to bore you, what can I do for you, Captain?"

Taliserra motioned towards the office and started walking.

"Back in a few Chief," Voss called to his man in the Jefferies Tube and then followed after the captain.

"Even after being given the antidote," Taliserra said as the closed the few metres to the chief engineers office. "Lt Navore hasn't shown signs of recovering from the virus."

Voss frowned. "I'd wondered, what's going to happen to him?" he asked quietly on the way to his office.

"Right now he is in stasis in sickbay until we can get him to a more sophisticated medical facility." As they entered the office Taliserra perched herself on the edge of the desk. "His recovery is very uncertain."

"Damn. That's going to hit my team hard, they liked Lt. Navore, /I/ liked Lt. Navore, he was a good boss," Jason said, as he leaned against the wall on the far side of his desk. It felt wrong to sit while the Captain was standing.

"Goes without saying if there's anything the department can do to help him or his family, just say the word and it'l be done."

"It is hitting me hard too, we were friends at the academy. I certainly hope he recovers but right now there is little we can do for him." Taliserra told him, she was glad that the other engineers had taken to Kallen and hoped they would do the same with their new chief. "As you might have suspected I need you to assume the position of Chief engineer."

Voss nodded. "He mentioned," he meant the connection between the captain and Navore. "I bet he was a real handful as a cadet," he added with a fond smile.

What came next wasn't unexpected, but now that it had arrived, Voss took a moment to let it sink in. Chief engineer on an explorer, that's what he'd set his sights on when he joined the Fleet, but if he'd had his choice he would have gotten here under better circumstances. Still, Voss doesn't hesitate long.

"You've got it, sir. Happy to serve for as long as you need me."

"Good, now." Taliserra said as she moved to one of the chairs. "As you're now a senior officer I would like to get to know you a little more, I've had a read through your file but I want to hear a few things from you."

When Taliserra sat, Jason plunked himself in the chair behind his desk as well. "Glad to hear it," he said at her reply. To the rest he nodded. "Sure, what do you want to know?"

"Are you settling in alright to life on a starship, I know you have spent the last few years assigned to starbase 54 after your injury." She asked.

"Yeah, I spent all that time on 54 dreaming of serving on a ship. I think that's what I'm meant to be doing, so, I'm good," Voss replied. "Haven't really got to know much of the crew yet though. I guess I've been throwing myself into the work to prove I could hack it."

"I would suggest you do get to know at least some of the crew quickly, especially some of the older hands, like Ensigns Larson and Raynada." Taliserra suggested. "They may be young but they know the ship better then a lot of the crew, especially after we lost a lot of the experienced crew to other ships during our refit, some of them even passed up promotion to stay here."

"Glad Larson stuck around for sure, she's been a real help," Voss said of the junior engineer. "And yeah, I guess the old hands would be the place to start, anyone else you think I should look up, Captain?"

Taliserra paused for a moment unable to think of anyone else. "You can certainly ask me anything you like, majority of my career I've been on this ship, started as the chief of operations, now I command the whole ship."

"Wow," Voss said. An officer being on the same ship for so long was rare, "So you must know the Wolff down to her bones. Well, if it's not too mundane of a question to ask, what made you stay? I am sure someone of your talents got offered other postings."

"Perhaps, though getting stuck in a temporal anomaly for 18 months and being classified as missing in action kinda blunted my career choices." Taliserra chuckled slightly.

"Wait, what?" Voss said as he blinked. Then he chuckled. "Oookay, you can just drop that one without story time. What happened?"

"Nearly four years ago we were exploring an at the time unknown system and we were pulled into a temporal vortex, only 4 months passed for us but a long time passed outside, it certainly an interesting experience for me and the rest of the crew." Taliserra explained, a lot of it was classified but she could tell him a little.

Voss whistled low. "Wow, yeah, I bet that messed with your options. Funny how even a little time off the radar suddenly blunts your opportunities, isn't it?" he asked. His situation was similar, the Fleet could be understanding, but you still had to move quickly if you wanted to get ahead. "But it sounds like you," he paused. "Well, both of us landed alright."

"I've done alright." Taliserra replied. "she's a good ship and we've been through a lot together. I just hope I can keep her together through the rest of it."

"Yeah, captain of an explorer, I am pretty sure that's what everyone wants when they sign up for the Fleet. Can't beat that," Voss said with a grin.

"I agree." Taliserra said, she paused for a few moments thinking how to approach the next subject on her mind. "Now I know this is about to take our conversation in a somewhat uncomfortable direction but I understand you are suffering Ptsd like symptoms after your accident."

Voss froze at the mention of PTSD but then slowly nodded. "If you mean the nightmares? Yes, ma'am," he said and absently fished an orion coin out of his pocket, fidgeting with it. "But I am dealing with it," he added.

"It's ok." Taliserra said with a calming voice after she noticed his reaction. "I know what you're going through, my own nightmares still haunt me occasionally."

Voss hadn't realized he'd taken out the coin until the captain's words dragged him out of his thoughts. He clasped his hand around the little metal disc, squeezing tight. A habit, to remind him he could still feel things with the artificial arm. He looked the Captain over, before saying, "Guessing you didn't get blown up like me, if you don't mind me asking, ma'am," he paused. "Do you prefer ma'am or sir?" he carried on. "What happened?"

"Either is fine." Taliserra replied. "What do you know of the mirror universe."

"Yes, sir," Voss said. Keeping it to one word for all superiors made it easier. "And I wrote a paper at the Academy about the transporter accident that sent crew from Kirk's Enterprise, but I am guessing you don't mean the technical side of things." Voss let out a breath. "I hear it's basically hell, just about everyone from our universe is there, but they're different and usually a whole hell of a lot more sadistic."

The pieces clicked together. "Oh god, is that what happened to the Wolff?"

"Not quite. this happened earlier, during one of the first missions I was on after I was assigned to the Wolff." Taliserra started to explain. "I can't remember how but the whole ship was pulled in and we were confronted by terran empire ships. I was kidnapped off the Wolff and the alternate me replaced me."

Voss blinked and then leaned forward. "Wow. What happened? How did you escape?" he asked.

Taliserra continued. "Eventually I was rescued by the marines we used to have onboard but not before I was tortured and.... abused by the guards."

Voss practically gaped. "Captain... what you went through that must have been horrible." He paused, understanding writ on his face. "So, you still go back there? In your dreams?"

"Not as much as I used to, the nightmares are not the only reminder of that time though."

Once again Voss looked Taliserra over, his own experiences telling him to look for physical signs of that trauma. "What else is there?" he asked when he found no obvious signs.

Taliserra rubbed at her shoulder a little, the wound had long since healed but the scar was permanant. "A big scar on my right shoulder, a deep seated distrust of men that has taken a lot of time to deal with... and Lashell, my daughter."

The scar is taken in stride. Voss nodded, beginning to say, "That must have hurt like a-" then the other part of the Captain's statement dropped and Voss shut his mouth only to open it a moment later to say. "Oh."

He took a moment to let that process before he looked up and offered honestly. "Captain, that's horrible, I am really at a loss at what to say."

"You don't need to say anything Jason," Taliserra said finally remembering the officers first name. "Just think that if I can manage the nightmares and feelings of all that, you know you can manage yours."

The sound of Voss' first name pulled him from his thoughts and he looked down, squeezing his coin again before putting it away. "You're right," he said looking up again. "Do you mind if I ask a question, sir?"

Taliserra nodded slightly "Anytime you want to ask anything, you go right ahead."

Voss nodded. "Thanks. Was curious, do you ever dream about how you were before? Before it happened?" he asked. "For me, those are the worst to wake up from. It feels so real and then suddenly you're just... yourself, with all the scars and baggage of the incident again."

"Occasionally," Taliserra replied after a few seconds thinking, the nightmares had been so varied over the years it was hard to pick out the more frequent ones. "but a lot were about how my life would have been if it didn't happen. I might have been in love and even married to someone by now if I let a man get close to me and trusted them enough."

Voss nodded. "Me? I get them all the time," he said. "And yeah, I get that too, like who would I be if the accident didn't happen? I don't know if it was the same for you, but before I was a different person, did different things. It was slow, but the accident changed more than my arm and leg. I really hate that, it feels like the real Jason Voss died in that explosion and I'm just someone walking around in his skin." He glanced down at his right side. "Well, mostly his skin."

Voss nodded again, this time in acknowledgement for her inability to be close to a man after what happened. "I can only imagine," he said. "It's not fair is it? Why'd we have to go through all this? Why were we so special?" he says before adding with a tight smile. "I know. I am sure your counselors told you the same thing as mine did, that thinking like that is unhealthy, but it's hard to shake, y'know?"

"It is hard." Taliserra replied "I did spend a lot of time thinking why they chose to kidnap me, instead of someone like the Xo but eventually I understood why. Why the guards did what they did to me is another question entirely."

"Why did they pick you?" Voss asked. "I mean if you want to share that." The other bit what the guards did, he left that be except to say, "People are bastards, especially over there."

"Being the ops chief I was important and had access to pretty much everywhere on the ship, the alternate me was a intelligence agent, she impersonated me and passed information on any plans the crew made to escape and with the Captain injured I was one of the next in command." She told him.

"Ouch, other you was clever, how'd she get found out?" Voss asked.

"She wasn't clever enough," Taliserra replied. "one of her transmissions got intercepted and tracked down to her, that's how they found out I had been kidnapped."

"Glad she was sloppy," Voss said with nod. "Wonder what my double is like? Not that I ever want to meet him. How'd you all get back?"

"I spent a lot of time in sickbay after I was rescued so I can't be certain but I think we were able to replicate the event that bought us there in the first place and luckily it put us back pretty much precisely where we left." Taliserra shrugged slightly, her memory of that time was cloudy at best.

Voss nodded, his mind already conjuring some likely scenarios, before he comes back to the present. "I am sorry you went through all of that Captain, I know I'm not an old academy buddy like Lt. Navore was, but if you ever need to talk, any time, I'm here."

"Likewise Jason," Taliserra said with a smile.

The Chief Engineer returned the smile. "I may take you up on that, sir," he said easily. "Anyhow, in the meantime anything my department," that still sounded weird to say. "Can do specifically to help things along?"

Taliserra shook her head slightly "For now just keep doing what you're doing, keep an eye on these engines, they've still got that new temperment to them."

Voss smiled. "I've noticed," he said. In truth he enjoyed the challenge. "Though she wouldn't be a wolf if she didn't bite from time to time. We've got a good crew though, we can keep her as tamed as she needs to be."

"That's the spirit." Taliserra said as she stood. "Let me know if you need anything Lieutenant."

Voss stood. "You bet, Captain. You'll be the first person I talk to."

Taliserra smiled and headed for the door, "Good day Lieutenant."

"You, too Captain," Voss said before getting back to work.

OFF:

Captain Taliserra Tigran
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Jason Voss
Chief Engineer

 

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