=Tarangor/Aeran Shipyard=
=Aeran System=
As Chloe Utley beamed over to the shipyard, she was kind of hesitant. Her
work relationship with Commander Rodgers was, at best, very unpleasant.
She had come to realize, after a great deal of thought on the matter,
that she had a bit of an inferiority complex when it came to the man
who at one time was her superior.
When Rick first arrived on UNITY during the opening days of the war,
he had not only taken her job as starbase chief engineer, but he was
assigned task force engineering adviser. Both were positions that she
had felt should have been hers.
Then there was all of the talk around the starbase from other engineers
that she had heard about Rick — his accomplishments and such — and
she became furious. She found herself actually hating the man.
Then there was the incident that led to Rick being sent back to Earth
for medical care. Chloe felt some sympathy for her former boss, but she
found herself more happy that she got her old job back as CEO. And
when he returned months later, she felt threatened. She was sure that
somehow he would again take over as starbase CEO. Then she learned
about starfleet's restrictions on him and she felt a little more at ease.
Still, she continued to hear talk that Rick, and not her, should be the
CEO. This upset her enough to keep her distance from Rick. After
awhile, though, she realized that having him around could only make
her look good. For example, with him getting the shipyard operational,
it reflected positively on her as she took some of the credit. After all she
was, technically, his boss, even though she never actually gave him
orders any more. She didn't need to, and she felt that made her job a little
easier.
As Chloe walked up to the large window that looked out onto the
drydock, she noticed work was well underway on the first Lancer. She
saw Rick, standing with his arms crossed, looking out at the incomplete
Lancer, the first to be constructed.
"Amazing, isn't it?"
"What is," she replied.
"All of this," he waived his arms around, then pointed to the drydock.
"Most of my career, my job was keeping whatever Chimera I serving on
together. It seemed non-stop. This, though ... this different. I get to build
ships. I never thought it be this satisfying."
"I could imagine," she said.
"What brings you here, commander?" Rick asked, still looking out at the
Lancer.
"I've got some bad news," she said. "There was an attack on a convoy
that was heading here."
Rick finally turned to face her.
"What kind of convoy?"
"It was carrying materials for the shipyard."
Rick closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"How bad?"
"All eight ships were destroyed. They were attacked by a Romulan
raiding party."
"What? A raiding party? What about that escorts?"
"There were none," she answered. "Starfleet was under the impression
that we needed this shipment right away, so they threw together the
ships and ordered them at high speed to UNITY. Starfleet didn't have
enough time to provide them with the proper escort."
"Who gave them impression we need right away?" Rick asked.
"I did."
"You WHAT?!?"
"With the shipyard operational, I thought the sooner we got those
materials, the sooner we could get the Lancers completed. There
was no way I could have known that starfleet would have left the
convoy unescorted."
Rick angrily shook his head and took another deep breath.
"We needed materials, but we could do without them a few days," he
said. "We need to have another shipment prepared."
"I have already contacted starfleet about that. They said it will take at
least three, maybe four weeks to gather the materials and ships for
another convoy."
Rick slammed his fist up against the window and cursed under his
breath. He then saw Lieutenant Proietti walking toward him.
"Lieutenant, how many Lancers can we produce with materials we
have on hand?" he asked.
The young lieutenant pulled out a PADD and tapped in a few
commands. Moments later, she looked up at Rick.
"Eight," she finally answered.
"Eight? We suppose to have three dozen built in next month," he
said.
"36 Lancers were a little optimistic," Utley said.
"Three dozen was easily doable," Rick shot an angry glare at
Chloe. "Damn it!"
He looked at Proietti, "See what else we can throw together. Ships
beyond repair, outdated shuttles ... we need to scrounge together
anything we get our hands on."
The lieutenant nodded and walked away as Rick closed his eyes
again and sighed.
"Commander, could you see what materials you can come up
with?" Rick asked
"I'll see what we have," Chloe said as she walked away, leaving
Rick alone again.
He looked out at the incomplete Lancer, but could no longer take
any joy in their efforts.
Commander Rick Rodgers
Assistant Engineering Officer
Starbase UNITY
and
Lt. Commander Chloe Utley (npc by Rick)
Chief Engineering Officer
Starbase UNITY
and
Lieutenant Proietti (npc by Rick)
Engineering Officer
Starbase UNITY
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