Still Has that New Car Smell

Posted on Fri Aug 29th, 2025 @ 7:11pm by Lieutenant Commander Jethro "Jet" Romanowski & Captain Mac Sullivan

1,681 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Prelude: The Gathering
Location: Main Engineering - USS Proxima
Timeline: Mission Day 1 at 0000

Main Engineering on a starship was always a buzz of activity whether in spacedock or not. The constant thruming sounds from the warp core, the slight radiant heat from the injector manifolds, and not to mention the constant sound of buttons being pressed, spanners being turned, and orders being given, made for a scene of organized chaos. And it was in the midst of this organized chaos that the Proxima's Chief Engineer stood at the primary status board. Jethro Romanowski, or Jet as he is referred to, stood in his engineering jumpsuit staring at the main status board with his arms folded across his chest. He wore a slight frown on his face as he listened to the post shakedown cruise briefing being given by his division officers. Jet was no stranger to the goings on in engineering, but this was his first tour as a Chief Engineer. Not only was this his first tour as Chief Engineer, but he was the Proxima's first Chief Engineer. The ship was fresh out of the shipyards, and jet had been offered the posting by Vice Admiral Chernofsky after his tour at Starfleet Headquarters as the Admiral's yeoman. This was what he had always dreamed about in his career. Coming from the mountains of Montana, Jet had two passions in his life: mechanics, and exploration. He'd found that Starfleet allowed him to enjoy both passions simultaneously.

Jet had joined the Proxima when she was fitting out at the shipyard, and he'd been aboard her shakedown cruise to her new home base at Lambda-2. It would be here he would meet his new Captain, as the word had been spread that the new CO would be joining them soon. Jet wanted to be sure that he could report to his new Captain that the ship was in pristine condition, and ready to take on any mission thrown at them. Hell, she still had that new starship smell to her.

"Well you missed something in your maintenance cycle," Jet said after his Second Engineer had reported a slight decrease in the intermix ratio for the warp core. "The intermix ratio needs to stay constant when we are at a specific warp factor. Yes, there will be a slight decrease as the injectors wear, but a steady decrease in outflow is a sure indicator that the primary coupling is out of spec," he said.

"But sir, normal maintenance regulations don't call for recalibration of the injector couplings," Lieutenant Dawson, Jet's Second Engineer, replied.

"I know it's not in the regulations, but a steady drop of two percent when traveling at Warp 5 means that there is a outflow problem," Jet responded before addressing his officers in front of him, "Look, Proxima is a new ship. She's going to have some quirks that come up before she catches her stride. Its crucial now that we identify those quirks before they develop into larger issues down the road."

Arms crossed, Mac observed from the second level as his Chief Engineer intimated. A smile tugged at the edge of his lips, approvingly. With a purposeful stride, the Captain headed for the small one-man lift near the warp core, and with a tap, he descended slowly into view, while Dawson went rigid. Jet was facing away as Mac stepped up to the group, "Excellent advice, Mister Romanowski. I'd certainly be displeased if we developed a quirk at an inopportune time."

Jet turned at The voice behind him. The first thing that caught his eye was the white color of the man's rank strap. The second was the captain's insignia on said strap. He'd been told that his new commanding officer would be coming aboard shortly, but he hadn't been told a specific time. He came to attention as he faced the man fully. "Captain Sullivan. I wasn't told when to expect you sir. Had i known, i would've made sure the engineering spaces were ready for a proper inspection," he said quickly.

Mac chuckled, "Yes, I suspect you would have. You know it's not quite fair to the bridge crew that the Chief Engineer gets to prepare for inspections." Dark eyes twinkling, he held the engineer's gaze for a moment or two. He noticed poor Dawson had sweat beading on his brow and broke the tension with a smile. "I'm just giving you a hard time, Mr. Romanowski. Stand easy, good to meet you both." The Captain gestured to the warp core, "So is she ready to go?"

Jet had held the man's gaze for awhile before letting a slight smile creep onto his face. First impression's from his new captain were certainly going well. Time would tell as they felt each other out, but he already could tell based on the Man's relaxed posture that they would have a good working relationship. He turned and nodded to his engineers and dismissed them before he looked at the warp core himself. "She purrs like a kitten that's for sure, sir. She maxed out at Warp 7.25, but with a little refining of the intermix ratio, i can get that up to 7.5 in no time. The Engineer's at Utopia Planitia don't have the field experience like we do, but they did a good job with her install. I'd heard horror stories before, but they did this one right," he said as he crossed his arms in front of his chest and stared at the core with pride as the soft hum sounded.

Mac nodded approvingly at the assessment, his hands clasped behind his back as he slowly circled the thrumming core. "Seven point five would be impressive, Mr. Romanowski. Though let's hope we won't need it anytime soon." He paused, then with exaggerated ceremony, reached into his pocket and produced a pristine white glove. Several nearby engineers glanced over as their Captain made a show of pulling it on, flexing his fingers dramatically before running them along one of the auxiliary consoles.

He inspected his fingertips with mock severity, then sighed theatrically. "Spotless. You've robbed me of my time-honored tradition of finding fault with Engineering on my first inspection." He tucked the glove away with a wry smile. "I'll have to tell the Quartermaster these are useless on a ship this new."

The Captain's expression grew more thoughtful as he turned back to face his Chief Engineer. "I'm sure you've heard the scuttlebutt about tensions out here near the border. The Klingons are... agitated about recent developments, and our Gorn neighbors seem perfectly content to stir the pot while everyone's distracted." He lowered his voice slightly, though not enough to prevent the nearby engineers from overhearing if they were paying attention. "Starfleet wants us ready for anything - diplomatic missions, scientific surveys, or..." he let the alternative hang in the air for a moment, "whatever else might come our way."

Mac's gaze returned to the warp core. "So when you say she purrs like a kitten, Mr. Romanowski, I hope she's got some claws if we need them. How are we on defensive systems integration? Any of those 'quirks' showing up there?"

Jet at watched the spectacle with the gloves with a slight grin. The stunt performed by mac only ingratiated the captain even further in Jet's eyes. At the shift in the captain's tone, Jet's brow had furrowed. While it was true the Klingons were rattling the saber more than usual, the rumors had been flying. There was talk that the Klingon spies had stolen classified intelligence on the genesis device, and they were using this as justification for their recent grumblings. The Gorn Hegemony were just pouring gasoline on the already lit fire and were delighting in watching it burn. There had been talk down the pipeline about innovating Starfleet weaponry so they were more on par with Klingon technology. Jet had even heard rumors about a Federation special project on cloaking technology.

"All weapon systems are fully integrated and there are no concerns to report on that end sir. We did perform some gunnery exercises on our trip out and all systems reported flawlessly. Phaser emitters are now tied into both the impulse reactor regen systems and the warp power regulators. This integration allows them to charge faster and remain active even if one system is knocked out in combat. Photo torpedoes are now all autoloading with a 30% greater efficiency rating than previous designs. Deflector shield emitters were also redesigned to produce a 50% greater power factor," Jet said in response.

"In short sir, she packs a bigger punch and can take a bigger pounding than any other heavy cruiser in the fleet. In have a report on the gunnery results in my office that i was going to forward to our new Tactical officer once he came aboard, but i can provide it to you as well should you require one," he said.

Mac nodded approvingly as Jet ticked off the Proxima's capabilities, "I'm glad to hear it. No, I won't need a copy, myself. I'll leave that in Mr. Kirak's capable hands." Taking another look around the room, he settled his eyes back onto the chief engineer with another smile and nod, "Well, Commander, I'll leave you to it."

"Aye sir," Jet said before coming to attention as Mac turned and headed towards the exit. He watched the man go with a slight smile. before turning around to take in the spectacle around him. The impression that Jet got was that his captain trusted his people already, and they hadn't even left space dock yet. It spoke volumes about the man, but they were still in their honeymoon phase. Time would tell how they worked with each other, and the scuttlebutt was that their first mission would be a proper test for sure. Jet glanced down at the nearest panel and frowned slightly before bunching up the sleeve of his uniform and wiping the slight smear off the console until it shown from the lights. After all, he had set the bar pretty high on the first meeting.

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