Chief Engineer - Part 1

The lower commercial district of New Ferenginar had a particular quality in the mid morning that the night market did not, quieter but not quiet, the kind of busy that came from people who were actually working rather than performing the idea of commerce for whoever was watching. The marsh smell came through stronger here where the development had not quite covered over the original geography of the place, damp and organic underneath the machine oil and the food vendor smoke drifting from the open stalls along the main corridor.

Zedd had found a spot at a low table outside a place that served something approximating coffee and ordered two without asking because Mei-Lin had not said no to coffee yet in his experience. He had his jacket on and his hands around his mug and his eyes doing what they always did in public spaces, moving without making it obvious they were moving.

Mei-Lin sat across from him with her PADD face down on the table which meant she was not working, a deliberate choice rather than an absence of things to do. She was watching the street with her particular quality of attention, reading the technical landscape, the age of the infrastructure visible in the conduit housings along the upper walls, the jury rigged power distribution nodes, the lighting panels in the covered section flickering at intervals that suggested a frequency issue rather than a failing component.

"The lighting in that section," she said, without pointing.

"I saw it," Zedd said.

"Frequency issue. Not the panels themselves." She picked up her mug. "Not our problem."

"No," he agreed.

Zedd checked the time. Their contact was not late yet but they were close enough to the window that he was starting to form an opinion about punctuality.

"What do you know about him?" Mei-Lin asked.

"Enough to make the meeting worth having," he said. "Not enough to walk in with assumptions. Someone who knows propulsion from the inside out and has a reputation for getting results when the situation does not cooperate. Former academy professor with multiple degrees and areas of study. Enough to be more than dangerous." He turned his mug in his hands. "The referral was specific enough that I paid attention."

Mei-Lin nodded slowly and looked back at the street. "That covers a lot of ground."

"It does," Zedd said. "We'll find out what it actually means when he gets here."

She picked up her mug and they sat with that and the street moved around them and Zedd settled in to wait.

Avery Morgan didn’t know much about Zedd Sykes, but when a non-Starfleet CO responded to his inquiry, it was enough to get his attention. He was given coordinates to meet on New Ferenginar. Morgan was bored. He had left Starfleet Academy on well enough terms, but the circumstances were not ideal. Some of his closest colleagues had either resigned after the war or were killed. Avery wanted action and this opportunity was a good place to get it. Morgan had the chance to read up on the ship on which he may be serving. A sleek, Sabre class refit. Metaphasic shields? Ablative armor? An engineer’s dream. Or nightmare, depending on how much trouble one wants to get into.

The smells distracted him slightly from focusing on the task at hand-picking out the person or people he was supposed to meet. The aroma of what seemed like coffee filled his nostrils. Morgan wished he had some raktajino, but he’d indulge after this meeting. Avery finally caught sight of two people seated at a table not too far from the coffee stall. That had to be Sykes. Sitting next to him was an attractive Asian woman. Morgan greeted them nonchalantly.

“You must be Sykes,” he said bluntly. “Avery Morgan at your service,” he continued putting his hand out as a greeting.
“I understand you’re looking for an engineer. I know my way around a warp coil.”

Zedd stood up. The first rule he learned as a Pirate was to never shake hands sitting down. "Zedd, Captain of the Dutchman." He returned the handshake. The man before him was tall, sturdy looking, and fairly chiseled, rivaling his own looks. "You look like someone we could definitely use, while Mei-Lin here has some experience, she doesn't quite meet up to the needed level for a Chief Engineer, if you want it. The ship I haven't had too long, about a week. We have some propulsion work that needs done and she needs new crystals. I think we have a contact for that, but either way, she needs another set of hands to look after her? Want the job?"

Mei-Lin had been taking in the sights herself. Avery was definitely handsome. She wondered what Lindsy and T'Vara may think, but didn't worry about it too much at the moment since she had her sights set on Zedd personally. She motioned over to the nearby stall for another coffee. "Have a seat, Engineering has been hell all by myself, for the most part. The Captain is good with computers but doesn't have time to be crawling throughout the ship."

Zedd flashed a grin "Mainly thanks to the dataport here" he said, pointing towards his neck. "Otherwise it's all patchwork for most of my experience."

“Hot damn! Haven’t seen one of those in a long time. Mind if I take a look?” Zedd tilted his head to the side and Morgan did a quick once over.

“This thing ties in directly to your neural pathways? Be careful to not get spiked. Have you seeing stars for a week. And I don’t mean the constellations. Ummm…to answer your question, Zedd, yes I want the job. Getting out into space and working on your shiny new vessel? I’m not gonna turn down that opportunity. How many crew aboard, Captain?,” Morgan asked. His eyes moved to his new engineering colleague. “Not counting the present company, of course.”