Getting more updates on the ship's status

Posted on Mon Apr 23rd, 2018 @ 2:49pm by Captain Andreas O'Shaunessy & Lieutenant Commander Anders Odegaard

Mission: New Ship, New Crew
Location: Various locations throughout the ship

Andreas was starting to feel somewhat antsy again. Most of the last couple of days had seen him meeting with the senior staff who'd already reported in and other than the brief tour with Captain Haught when he first came aboard and his trip to the Marine Facilities to meet the Marine CO, he hadn't really seen much of the ship yet.

=/\= O'Shaunessy to Odegaard. I'm thinking of doing a walk around of the Alabama. Would you care to join me and show me what has been done and what we still need to do? =/\=

Odegaard was manning the Bridge when the call came through. "Aye Sir, I'll see momentarily." The Commander then signed out of the Chair and looked at the CONN. "Synra'aa the Bridge is yours."

Stepping out onto the bridge, Andreas took a quick look around before nodding towards Odegaard. "Good to go, Commander?"

The Commander nodded. "Yes I believe so." He then motioned for his superior to go first. "If you need us Lieutenant we shall be doing the rounds, make sure you note it in the Log."

Synra'aa the Caitan nodded as he took the seat.

Taking the short walk up to the turbolift and stepping in once the doors opened, he turned to his XO. "How about starting in Engineering?"

"I would concur." Odegaard said as the doors closed on the two of them. "Main Engineering." The XO said to the computer as the Lift whirred into life. "We currently don't have a Chief or Assistant Chief Engineer according to the manifest." He chuckled recalling his previous trip to Engineering.

"There's more need for Engineering officers than there are officers right now, unfortunately. We'll make due until we get someone. I appreciate everything you've done overseeing the upgrades and refits both before and after my arrival, Commander. You've definitely made my job a lot easier."

The Commander nodded in appreciation. "Thank you Sir. It's all part of the job." The Lift then stopped opposite the doors to Main Engineering. Once the two of them were on the Deck Odegaard proceeded forwards and walked into Engineering. "Attention to orders! Captain O'Shaunessy on Deck!"

The Engineers all stopped dead in their tracks following the call of the First Officer.

Andreas walked in and scanned the room. "As you were, folks." He said before turning to Odegaard. "Commander, let's start with what's not done yet. What progress do you feel has been done and what can we do to expedite the completion."

"We've completed the upgrades to environmental controls at last and Gravity has been restored to Deck 17." Odegaard responded as he examined the console. "Sensors and Communications are almost upgraded but we've still got issues with the plasma flow regulators and antimatter controls."

Andreas nodded his head in appreciation of the work already taken care of. "How much longer on the Sensors and Communications? Is it a matter of adjusting the regulators, or should we have them replaced while we're on station?"

"They'll take at least another six to eight hours." A female voice called just to the left of the pair. "They can be adjusted but these things haven't been overhauled since 89 and you can't just adjust them without knowing their current state." She said approaching them. "Sir."

Turning towards the voice, Andreas glanced at the rank on her collar. "Fair enough, Lieutenant ... ?"

"Lieutenant Isabelle Collier Sir. Class of 88 and Senior Systems Specialist. " She said with a nod to the Captain and a momentary smirk towards Anders. "In the absence of the Chief and his Assistant I'm the next in line."

Andreas saw the hint of a smirk when the Lieutenant looked at Anders, but let it slide as he felt it was an inside thing between the two. "Thank you for stepping up, Lieutenant. We have a bit of time before our shakedown cruise, but I'd like to see these systems online and tested before we leave. While the cruise is meant to test systems and repair as needed, I'd still rather these two systems pooch out before we leave then after."

"I'll have to juggle my Engineers around and poach somebody from Ops but I can certainly see it being doable Sir." Collier said to the Captain. "You'll be pleased to know Tactical Systems have been calibrated and so is the Holographic interface system." She pulled up a schematic.

"I thought these were only assigned to Galaxies and Soveriegns for the time being?" Odegaard asked her as he examined the data.

"They were but Alabama is the only other Ship assigned to the Delta Quadrant with enough time for a refit." She uploaded the image. "You can now use holoemitters for subspace communications as well as project things like the EMH across the Ship."

"That's excellent news. Lt. T'Vash will appreciate that she's got additional backup with the EMH's portability." Andreas said. Turning to Anders, "Well, it looks like Lt. Collier has everything under control down here, Commander. Where should we head to next?"

"The Armory I think should next." The Commander then glanced at Collier, he would be having words with the Engineer. "If you'll follow me Captain I will brief you on our Weapons inventory,"

"Sounds good." Andreas said. Once they were on the turbolift heading towards the Armoury, he looked over to Anders. "Since we'll be working together for some time, we might as well get to know each other better. I won't beat around the bush and will get right to it. What brought you to a life in Starfleet?"

Anders figured it wouldn't take too long for the Captain to Enquiry about his backstory, if anything he was counting on it but not as soon as now. "My Parents." Odegaard said as he stared directly ahead. "My family have long been enlisted to a life in Starfleet it only seemed fitting I join them." He said to the Captain. "And don't worry Captain I took the liberty of looking you up before you arrived."

"Fair enough, Commander." Andreas said with a smile. "You have, have you? Did you have any questions?"

"No Sir I don't." Odegaard responded. "You're a highly skilled Security Officer and Diplomat so you know the fine balance between poking a sleeping bear with a spear and then a tranquilliser dart."

Andreas chuckled. "I've never heard it put like that, but I find that it's accurate nonetheless. I saw that you were under deep cover on Romulus. How did you find that assignment?"

The Commander paused for a second, it was only a matter of time. "Much of that is extremely classified outside the office of Intelligence and the Federation Parliament Sir, but the official public report is available for access." Odegaard didn't like talking about that part of his career it brought back too many painful memories and it was part of his old life, something he swore never to repeat.

"I understand." Andreas said as he noted the slight change in Anders' facial expression. "Some assignments leave us with a sour taste in our mouth's that are best left unspoken."

"That they do." He said to his superior as the lift halted just at the right moment. "You'll pleased to know that our Armory is full stocked." He said quickly changing the subject. "The Master at Arms and the QM have been hard at work making sure this Ship was ready to meet any threat." He handed him a PADD. "I've had all Rifles and Hand Units tested."

Andreas scanned through the information. "That's good. While our missions should be primarily non-violent, I'm glad we're kitted out to be ready for whatever comes our way."

Grabbing the nearest rifle, Andreas checked the battery cell and targeting sensor before setting it back down. "Excellent."

"I've gone over the compliment of Marine Fighters. They are in good shape, but I noticed that there are some Gryphon Class fighters at Iota Station. I'd like to surprise our Lt. Ch’Thorthaan by replacing 2 of their Razor's with 2 Gryphon's. What are your thoughts on that?"

Odegaard stroked his beard at the prospect of the Captains suggestion. "If you can persuade them to hand over 2 Gryphons then by all means Sir." The Commander made a note of the request. "I think we can sway it to our favour if we do a like for like trade." He approached the MSD on the wall and logged in. "Iota's Deck Officer put in a request for some Antimatter to fuel up the CAP for extra patrols but it'll take weeks to arrive luckily we can spare some."

"I like your style, Commander. Go ahead with the offer. If they accept it, we'll be good to go." Andreas said. "We've covered most of the main areas of the ship. I'm a firm believer that our crew needs to have a good place to go to relax off duty. Since we're on Deck 11, what do you say about going up a deck and check out how the Ten Forward Lounge is coming?"

"Very good Sir." Odegaard said as he signed out and began locking the Armory down. "Hopefully they've finished installing the furniture."

"I'll settle for the bar, a couple of stools and some synth ale right now." Andreas said with a sly look. Once they left the Armory, he found the nearest Jeffries Tube access panel. "Since it's only one deck, let's do a quick check of the J-Tube and ladders."

Odegaard nodded and motioned for the Captain to take the lead. "After you."

He removed the access panel and crawled in. "I hope you don't mind getting your uniform a bit dusty, Commander." He said over his shoulder. "It looks like it's been a while since someone thought of sending a cleansing beam through here. At least the rungs of the ladder appear in tact."

"I've wrestled Klingons, Andorians and Orions in my time Sir, I'm no stranger to getting my uniform a little dirty." He chuckled. "I'll have Victor Team sweep the Tubes of dust this afternoon."

Andreas nodded and headed up the ladder. Stepping out onto deck 10's hallway he looked around quickly. Once Anders came out and closed the access panel, they went to the lounge. They strode in and saw that there were a few tables scattered throughout the room and no bar stools. "Well, at least there's a bar with a working replicator." He said as he walked behind the bar. "We're still waiting for a bartender and lounge manager to arrive, so we'll be serving ourselves today. What can I get you, Commander?"

The XO looked at the Captain and raised an eyebrow. He didn't expect his superior to take over Bartending duties. "Well since I'm still on duty I shall have a ginger ale."

Andreas chuckled at the XO's reaction and grabbed a ginger ale and a cola for himself. "Here you are Commander." He said as he slid the glass across the bar. Leaning on the bar, he paused to collect his thoughts. "We're coming along nicely. Based on the reports you and Lt. Collier have submitted, I think we're pretty much ready to get our shakedown cruise started. I'm thinking 36 hours should be enough time to get our key systems up to snuff. What do you think?"

The Commander took a sip and nodded. "I concur with that estimation Captain." Anders said in agreement. "Given that it's a shakedown we can manage without some key personnel. I've proposed a preliminary Duty Roster with who we have, and I'm having a few Non Coms doubling as Section Leaders in the Absence of experienced Officers."

"Good to hear, thank you Commander. I'm not expecting any issues, but I want everyone, especially Tactical and Engineering, to be on their toes just in case." Andreas said as he took a long drink from his glass.

“Aye Sir.” Odegaard nodded. “I’ll work with Collier and Black to get up to snuff. I’d recommend we move people from the Night Shift and in the absence of a Second Officer currently it means Black or Lieutenant Saeed is filling in.”

"Sounds like a plan. Let's have Lieutenant Saeed fill in as Second Officer temporarily." Andreas said, finishing his drink. "I know this break has been short, but I think we should probably get back to it. Do you have anything else for me at this point?"

"No Sir." He shook his head. "Most of it has been covered already." Odegaard said before finishing up his Ginger Ale.

"Sounds good." Andreas said as he walked out from behind the bar. "Thanks again for the tour and the updates, Commander. You are doing a great job keeping things going."

"All part of the job Sir." The Commander responded as he adjusted his uniform and then picked up his PADD. "If you'll excuse me Captain, I have a request for some Fighters to attend to." The Norwegian Officer then nodded his head before departing the Lounge.

Andreas nodded as Anders headed off. Andreas took in the lounge one last time before leaving himself.

=======

Lieutenant Commander Anders Odegaard
Executive Officer
USS Alabama

&

Commander Andreas O'Shaunessy
Commanding Officer
USS Alabama