| Big Rigs |
| Summary: | Marine S3 needs something built. |
| Date: | 26 Jan 2042 AE |
| Related Logs: | Breach Loading |
| Players: |
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| Engineering |
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| Pipes, conduits, and cramped passageways. Heat and the smells of sweat and machine oil. Engineering is a maze of hallways that run deep into the aft of the Cerberus. Dotted with a few storage rooms, offices, and workshops, this section of the ship is constantly staffed by a huge team of professionals. From the main fuel tank feeds to the massive FTL drive room, no other part of the ship is more important than this section that provides propulsion and life support to every section of the battlestar. |
| Post-Holocaust Day: #334 |
"I just brought up the last shipment of gun cases from supply. I'm storing everything in the supply room just past frame 3-Alpha. All of the cases are on the port side, all the EVA equipment, with the exception of the suits, which are down with the deck, along the starboard." A crewman, by the pins on his coveralls, is standing not far from Ximena's desk, in the middle of handing over paperwork, to the seated woman, "Thank you, Shim. Do me a favour, and see if you can get me another copy of the manifest from supply? I want to have at least half a dozen extra suits, just in case we need to make any more adjustments to handle these marines." As the man wanders back along the corridors, Ximena turns back to the specialist sitting not far from her, "Sofia, how are we looking on the cutting equipment we'll need to be loading into these raptors?" As the two women settle back into work, Shim breaks the silence, a shout of pain and a clatter of metal and rolling pipes as the poor man tries to make his way out of engineering without setting off another disaster.
Sofia is seated! She smiles and listens. There's a wince at the sound of clattering and rolling pipes. Her eyebrows lift. "I hope he's okay…" Even the newly minted Specialist feels a twinge of sympathy. "We've got a pretty good amount, I think almost just what we need. They're just inspecting the last few, then we should have some more," She remarks. "After our new Chief Engineer almost set his shoe on fire when a hose was loose." Her nose wrinkles.
Enter one Marine Corps Lieutenant. Vandenberg is probably not smartly dressed for the location but she's every bit the officer. Dressed in her duty browns, the woman is sporting her MP brassard and helmet as she stalks down the corridors. There's an envelope tucked under her arm stamped 'Classified' in red ink. When she appears in the doorway to the Senior Chief's office, the woman wastes no time rapping knuckles on the door. Even her knock sounds official. "Senior Chief Alteris? I'm Lieutenant Vandenberg. I need a few minutes with yourself and some of your people." Her empty arm moves, taking up the envelope and waggling it once.
"Bloody h— no, I've got it!" comes a voice from outside, "Gods, Shim." Rolling pipes are audibly gathered up, replaced where they came from before Iszak makes it around to Ximena's office. "Chief? Ronny asked me to bring this up to you, it's the reports on— oh, 'scuse me, sir," he cuts off when he spots Vandenberg, and then lingers, in case he's needed.
There's a visible wince, at the sound of Shim's progress down the hall. Thankfully, Ximena has become, at least mostly accustomed to it, to continue on with her work. "Clearly, we need to break him in a little bit more. He'll be alright in the end." The new ChEng, not the hapless crewman. "Let me know when we have the whole list, including the backups. And the backups for the back—" A pause, eyes shifting first to the marine making her way in, who gets a salute, but for obvious reasons, not a rise to Ximena's feet, and then to the PO just behind her. "I'll take the report, you can take a seat, Pee-Oh-2." Back to Vandenberg, "What can Engineering do for you, sir?"
"Yes, chief engineers seem unfortunately flammable," Sofia notes quietly. Is that black humor or a sad observation? She smiles and nods. "Should be this evening," She promises. "I'll go check them soon too." She goes quiet then looks up. A stand and a salute then. Then she'll sit when given the okay. She looks to Iszak. "Hello there," She offers quietly, content to linger nearby too. "No one was hurt out there?" She murmurs.
Vandenberg nods to Iszak and doesn't look terribly miffed by anything. "As you were, Petty Officer. Specialist." She turns back to Ximena at the question and she nods. "I saw you were CC'd on the assault and entry plans. I know you are busy down here so I'll get straight to the point in case you haven't read it." Her eyes flicker to Iszak and Sofia. "We're breaching at the hangar doors. I've got a requisition in to Chief Damon for five-hundred forty pounds of RDPX explosive. What I need from engineering is a set of absolute precision mounting racks that will hold the linear shaped charges we'll be using on the doors. Additionally, I'll need at a minimum two of your people - or the Deck's - out there at the breach drilling and cutting holes for this rack. That's the hard part." There's obviously more coming. Assigning people for what's been subtly rumored to be a suicide run won't be easy. At least the Marine Lieutenant seems confident.
Iszak steps further into the office around Vandenberg to set the reports on Ximena's desk, a stack of slim file folders. He steps back and finds the other chair and takes a seat, turning to listen to the marine lieutenant speak. As she details what she needs his eyes narrow a little, and he flicks a quick sideways glance at the woman behind the desk to see what she makes of it.
"Fabrication falls under M&R. And in the absence of Lt. Parres," you know since she went to the big shipyard in the sky and all, "I am the most senior fabricator in engineering." There's no hint of pride in Ximena's voice. It's a simple statement of fact. And perhaps an explanation for why she was CCed on the memo. "If you can give us a precise schematic of your charges, we can build to suit." As for her people and Damon's people heading out on the mission? "It has been understood, from the beginning of this mission prep that both the Deck and Engineering would be providing personnel for this operation. Your Marines don't have the skills necessary to breach the facility, and we don't have the time to teach you." Again, a statement of fact. "I've already made a short list of personnel from Engineering that would have the necessary qualifications for the operation. I'm certain Chief Damon has his own."
Sofia peers up and watches for now. Her eyebrows lift at the requisition. She is quiet, glancing to Iszak and Ximena, to see their reaction. Sofia seems to believe in Ximena. She smiles a little. For now, she's silent on the issue.
Vandenberg does not seem like she is going to argue with any of that. She simply listens and nods at the end. "Fair enough, Senior Chief." The woman removes the contents of the envelope and lays them down on the Chief's desk. "Apologies for what its on, but I have no idea how to work the schematic software we have." The sketches are done on yellow legal pad. But they look fairly precise. All the angles and dimensions are there. "Additionally, we'll need fifty-four feet of pure copper plating quarter of an inch thick to be used for the liner - which will be what forms the jet and cutting plane of the explosive. Alternatives to the copper are possible but harder to come by." She pauses. "The mission is scheduled for ten days from now. I need this built in six. Think you all can do it and get me what I need?" She looks between the assembled Engineers.
Iszak continues to sit quietly and listen, looking between Ximena and Vandenberg. He shifts forward a little, trying to get a peek at the sketch the marine has brought. As for the viability of her request, he leaves that to his superior to decide.
Ximena takes the sketches in hand, looking them over, before she sets them out on the desk, so that both of the engineers with her can look them over as well. "Sofia can take care of getting the supplies we need," a pause, as she looks to the 3M-Roomba, "I think we can clear out space down in the aft storage in fabrication for the materials we need. "Six days." A nod, thoughtful, as she considers, "Doable, if we rearrange a few work details and add a few six and six shifts." That would be six hours on, six hours off. "I'l have Shim schedule time in once the mission is over to instruct you in how to use the software. This likely won't be the last time you need to draw up designs for us. And using the software means an easier port into our fabrication computer systems." Many of which are automated. "Thoughts?" And that seems geared towards Sofia and Iszak.
Peer. Peeeeeer. Sofia will peer then too! She nods. Roombas are good at fetching things, if not making sure storage is clean. She smiles, then taps her chin. "I think we can do that," She promises. "Um, that sounds good." She nods. "I don't mind, though I'm sure I will be running loops anyway." Roombas got work to do! Or Sofia's good at looking busy. 50-50 odds really.
"Sounds good, Chief. Make it happen however it needs to. I hate dictating orders across departments but in this case, time is critical. Pewter put that on us. just make sure you destroy those plans after its built and keep them locked up." No complaints from her, but its just for clarification. "If either of these two are intending to come with me on this trip, I have additional details and requests for them. Volunteers?" The Marine folds her hands behind her back, the look in her eyes challenging. Vandenberg probably loves that question.
Iszak lifts a brow as he's asked for thoughts, scratching at his chin as it lifts and offering after a minute, "Not sure how much copper plating we've got lying around these days, but we've got spare pipe and stuff we could melt down in a pinch. That's another job for 3M and the fabricators, seems t'me." At the challenge for volunteers, dark brows rise further and he looks at Ximena and back to Vandenberg and shrugs, sticking a thumb towards the SCPO, "Chief said she and the boss've got a list, El-tee, not my place to say if I'm on it. If I am I'll go, for sure."
"Orders really aren't necessary, Lieutenant. Our job is to do what needs to be done. Pewter already approved your plan, so his standing order is already in place." A nod to Sofia, "Once the rest of the supplies for the EVA are loaded into storage, get started on these requisitions. I'll take care of briefing the Captain on what's been requested." And then to Iszak, "If worse comes to worse, we can requisition supplies from the other ships in the fleet. We'll figure out a way to make sure we have what we need." Ximena trusts 3M-Roomba to handle the fine print and beat sticks. "Even if your name is on the list, the mission is strictly volunteer. At least from my point of view. Unless the Captain says otherwise, I won't order my engineers to their deaths. People who go willingly to whatever end grease the wheels a bit more smoothly than those who want to be anywhere but there." Despite the fact that pretty much everyone on that mission is going to be wanting to be anywhere but there at some point or another, "Was there anything else you needed, Lieutenant?" Not at all dismissive, more in the vein of making certain Vandenberg gets everything she needs.
Sofia's eyebrows lift. She looks thoughtful. "Okay," She smiles a little. "I will do my best," She promises. Roombas can inventory like mad! She at least, isn't wearing a red shirt. Sofia takes a deep breath. Might have to melt down some metal eventually. Good times! She settles into silence.
"Sometimes its what is called for. Seen a lot of people go there voluntarily, Chief. Seen a lot more under orders." The Marine's dark reply is probably in response to Ximena's remark about being ordered to their deaths. The S-Three is the one responsible for the entry plan is probably more acutely aware of the risks than anyone else in the fleet at the moment. Whatever the details of the op are, she seems supremely confident. "No, that's all I have. Keep me appraised on progress. Call me down when its finished so I can do the inspection. I should have the explosive ready for mounting by then. Thanks for the help." Vandenberg dips her head to each of them in turn before turning for the hatch.
"Sometimes, yes, but only at need. And it's not my place to decide when that need arrives." Nope, that's the ChEng's job. "Not a problem, Lieutenant. We'll have it ready for you sooner, if we can." Once the Marine makes her way out of the office, Ximena will return to the work on her desk. Finalizing EVA stuff with Sofia, files with Iszak, and then the plans for fabrication. Everything in order. "Get Shim to enter these plans into the program so we can get the preliminary mock-up ready." And so it goes. A working snipe is a happy snipe.