Kammus Corelli

Alex may have been a fun-gi, but he sure does have questionable morels. Unfortunately, many mushroom puns are in spore taste....

Excellent job everyone.

((Main Shuttle Bay – Deck 10 – USS ‘Oumuamua)) A new ship. A new ship because someone had decided to break her old ship. Sasha still wasn’t sure who to blame, but she had a sneaking suspicion it was all Greaves’ fault. Even if it wasn’t the idea of having someone to blame helped. Of course, she didn’t *really* blame him, she just felt better if she at least pretended to blame him because it was something to throw a dart at. She’d forgive him. Eventually. And for the moment she wasn’t exactly thinking about it. Okay, that was a lie, she *was* thinking about it. The poor Thor, that beautiful ship out of commission for a complete refit. Sasha had been tempted to stay behind and help work on the girl, but the invitation to join the Oumuamua had been met with surprising enthusiasm from an unexpected source - Zarah. If it hadn’t been for her, in act, Sasha likely *would* have remained behind to work on the Thor and any other ships that came through the doors. The evacuation and subsequent crash had shaken Sasha to the core. The idea that her baby girl might have not made it out, or fallen into the hands of a Founder or clone or whatever rattled her. When Sasha had indicated that she would accept an assignment at Starfleet’s base on Earth, however, Zarah had prodded into why, and then eagerly encouraged her mom not to turn down the offer from Commodore V’Airu. If Sasha had thought the experience would frighten Zarah into a ‘safer’ posting, she had another think coming. The girl’s reasoning may not have been the most sound, but over it all, they both loved the Starfleet life. Sasha had married and eventually learned her way into the life. Zarah had been born into it and planned to continue to the Academy. Both of them thrived on it. Despite the dangers, despite the fears, they both couldn’t ignore the call - and so they didn’t. Sasha accepted the reassignment. And pretty much the very first day, Kammus got into his own frenzy. Well, not a frenzy. When Sasha walked into Engineering, she found him with a far away expression on his face. For a moment, she pondered poking him in the side to see if he was ticklish, but in the end decided against it. It probably wouldn’t do to annoy the Chief Engineer, even if she was his senior. Well, not senior by rank or position, but she was older than he was. She could lord that over him. And probably would at some point while enjoying a pint of beer with him. Johnson: Starfleet to Lieutenant Corelli, come in Lieutenant Corelli. If he didn’t respond she really was going to poke him. Her mouth stretched wide at the private thought. Corelli: Oh excellent! Right, when the others get here, we’ll get started. Any PNPC: Response When others got there. Well, technically it wasn’t the exact time he’d ordered them to be there, Sasha was a little early. She took a moment to get a good look at her new shuttle bay. Compared to the Thor, the Oumuamua was a doll. Far smaller, she was still impressive, but they were going to have to do some creative configurations to outfit her in a manner that would make her not only an exploratory vessel, but one that could bite back when needed. Back and forth, people made their way, doing this and that. Mostly Operations crew, a scattering of others could be found, but all those assembled before the mighty Kammus simply gathered around their fearless leader, waiting for him to put them to work. Except they couldn’t do that til it was all cleared, hence the buzz of activity and the criss-cross of paths from various officers. Finally, the last shuttle exited and they were given the all clear, which meant it was go time. Turning back to Kammus, Sasha found him in his own little world again. Dark eyes narrowed in a playful glare. One arm stretched out. A single finger made its way toward him and… And he straightened up before she could make contact. Pulling away, Sasha made a silent vow - next time. She would get him next time. The last remnants of officers scrambled into place and everyone received a notice on their PADDS. Taking hers from its holster, she peered at the assignments listed just as Kammus planted himself in the centre and lifted his voice to address them all. Corelli: We have a huge job ahead of us. You all have your assignments. I will go through the major engineering points, each team lead will facilitate distribution of assigned tasks. The MACO’s are counting on us to get this done before we leave. Kammus had barely finished speaking when someone’s PADD beeped. Glancing over toward the sound, Sasha recognised Ensign Ulasso, a Saurian that hadn’t been on board for long. She hadn’t really had much interaction with the guy, even though she knew who he was. It was hard *not* to know who he was - he was the only one of his kind on board. Ulasso: Master Corelli, the transporter pads are staged outside the ship and are ready to be brought onboard. Johnson: Good, we’re ready for them. Any PNPC: Response Grumbles. There were always grumbles. It was times like that Sasha wanted to take her PADD and smack someone upside the head with it. Doing so would likely get a mark on her record. Maybe an assault charge. But oh it would feel good in the moment. Corelli: I know this job isn’t fun, and you would much rather be on bridge rotation, but logistics is important! We’ve got 113 two meter transport pads coming through that door, and its your job to make sure they all get here without disrupting the rest of the operations on the ship. Johnson: Hey, if they don’t like it, they can clean out the holodeck filters. Sasha smirked. That was one of the worst jobs on a ship, among several others. Kammus of course was head honcho when it came to Engineering, but she wasn't without *some* authority, especially with the ensigns that decided they didn’t want to do an assigned job. Then again, a good smacking was quick and effective. Down girl. Any PNPC: Response With things ready and people milling about, it was time to get to work. Kammus thought so, for he raised his voice, and no one could say they didn’t hear him. Corelli: Right, lets get this deck plating up! Ulasso: I'll start having them stage the transporter pads within the shuttle bay. Before anyone could respond, a clang and thunk reverberated from outside the doors of the bay. All eyes turned toward it, and the PADDS of the Ops officers lit up brightly in response. Oh that wasn’t good. Without missing a beat, Ulasso turned and darted while Sasha inwardly groaned. And how far back was that going to set them? Hopefully no one was injured, and likely they weren’t, but her immediate reaction was annoyance. Well, until the transporter pads were assessed, there wasn’t much to do, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t nothing to do. Turning to some of the other engineering officers on her team, Sasha called them together in order to go over the various assignments and make sure everything was understood and everyone knew where they were supposed to go and what they were supposed to do. A few minutes later, the doors to the bay opened and Sasha glanced up to see Ulasso returning at a slower pace and he approached the Chief. Ulasso: Any way we can make this work with ::checks padd:: 103 transporter pads? Sasha barely managed to stifle a groan. Really? Ten pads damaged? Johnson: We’re going to have to rearrange all of them, and do some fancy configurations. Corelli/Engineering PNPCs/Ulasso: Response Sasha scratched at her cheek as she peered at the original layout. Ten entire pad. That was a significant difference - almost ten percent. One, two, even five would have been annoying, but *ten*. Johnson: I don’t know, that’s going to severely hamper everything. Corelli/Engineering PNPCs/Ulasso: Response Sasha tapped on her pad, working out a few different configurations, trying the various options, then finally shaking her head. It was a big setback, that was for certain, but the best bet, in her opinion, would be to take a step back and deal with the issue before trying to move forward. Johnson: Maybe, but my personal recommendation is that we recalibrate the teams and work on repairing those transporter pads. Corelli/Engineering PNPCs/Ulasso: Response

Kammus took a drink of whiskey, staring off into the black through the window in his quarters. The rounded edge was warmed by his breath has he slowly ran the rim past the little dip in his upper lip. He was totally lost in thought. Garrard set opposite him, awkwardly leaning on the edge of the softa. “Its today isn’t it”, whispered Garrard. Kammus slowly nodded, still holding the glass to his lips. He took a long, slow breath in through his nose. The room was still, but the hum of the environmental systems permeated the silence. “You never told me the story”, Garrard said, as he stood to pour himself another drink. “You always say fourteen cadets, but I’ve known you 10 years. Ever year, we play this sad drinking game of remembering their names, but are you ever going to tell the whole thing?”. Garrard wasn’t annoyed, and as long as he had known Kammus, they had been friends. Kammus wiggled his glass back and forth with the twist of his wrist in the direction of Garrard, who got the hint. He grabbed the decanter, and moved to fill Kammus’ glass. The faithful ice cubes began to give up their life in the exploration of deeper flavor. Kammus watched the water radiate outwards, mixing with the alcohol. Taking one last sip, he placed the glass on the side table, wiping his hand on the pant leg of his uniform to clear the condensation. “You never really forget a thing like that,” Kammus spoke softly. Garrard slowly shifted his eyes, wondering if the whole story was going to come out now. He moved softly around the room to resume his seat. “We were nearing completion of the USS Robin, a prototype experimental vessel. Cadets from Farpoint academy had been assigned to engineering as a culminating learning experience to get field training. I was overseeing the initial startup of the warp core, everything was going smoothly. Suddenly, without warning, engineering exploded into chaos. Everything went black, and we were all thrown against the bulkhead”, said Kammus, standing. He started to pace around the room, whiskey glass in hand. “When I opened my eyes, the emergency lighting painted a pretty grim picture. A coolant leak was filling the compartment from above with toxic vapor, a plasma fire was burning out of control, and the emergency blast door had been jammed half open by the explosion. The warp core was offline, but that didn’t stop the matter injectors from sticking open. Raw deuterium was spilling out of the hole where the reaction control chamber used to be. I started grabbing anyone I could find to drag them out of engineering. Alex, Joans, Kaidan, Max, Miles, Quinn, Alura, T’ren, Q’pok, Clara, Burton, Drids, Elix, Colrin” he continued as he motioned with his arms, dragging in the air. “One by one, I tried to get them all out. All except one. Alex was closest to the core when it exploded. He was still conscious when I got to him. The plasma fire ignited the slush deuterium and a wall of fire burst into my face. My hands were in so much pain from dragging those kids out.”. “You were just a kid too, don’t forget”, interjected Garrard, now sitting wide eyed at the details of the story. “The heat was so intense; the texture of their shirt… I’ll never forget the way it felt in my hand that day,” Kammus finished, running his empty hand over the front of his own uniform. “So you saved 13 lives. That’s kind of a big deal.” Replied Garrard. He stood still for a moment, remembering the pain, the texture of burnt fabric. Kammus shrugged quietly, shaking his head, and turning the corners of his lips down as he tried so very hard to hold back a tear. “Accidents happen.” He raised his glass and nodded his head towards Garrard, “To the fourteen.”. “The fourteen”, answered Garrard, taking a deep and final draft from his glass.

From Lt. JG V'Len Kel - Who let the engineer out? Kel: =/\= Kel to Greaves. ::beat, heavy sarcasm:: please tell me the lights in my sickbay are yellow because it’s a nice sunny day and you wanted to let us know. =/\=

One time I got to design a plate when I was in school, and I still have it. I never imagined that I would be ON a plate! How exiting!

Thanks everyone for the welcomes! I am happy to sim with you all.