Yeah, right. The real reason is because he owes the Reaper money, and the Reaper ain't gonna let him go 'til he pays up. Old tavern gambling debt.

Happy birthday, my facelicking brother! Was great chatting with ya on the phone yesterday. I've missed you, and am counting the days 'til we can get together again! Love you bunches!

Thanks for the warm welcome! Dragon-soul, nice to meet ya and I look forward to getting to know ya. Tann, great to see you again as well, my friend! And GRUGGity! LONG time no speak, my man! I truly hope all is well with you these days. Let me know how you're doing! Catt, always nice to converse with ya; hope the new wee one is still doing fabulous and that your kids/football team are all well! Hehe.

As for me, I am coming to discover that convalescence is boring if you're not gaming, hehe. I've been doing some PC gaming, playing Divinity: Original Sin 2, which is an excellent turn-based RPG that plays a lot like some old-school Baldur's Gate. Also found Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines, made back in 2004 but still stands the test of time as a great RPG even now. Coincidentally, I'm hyped to find out that Bloodlines 2 is scheduled to come out next year.

And as an added convalescence bonus, my wife got me a PS4 a few days ago. When I play on my PC I can't put my feet up and they swell, which is bad juju for the wound. With the PlayStation I can play in my recliner. Been playing Spider Man and The Last of Us. The Last of Us is phenomenal; I heartily recommend it!

Anyhoo, good talkin' to you guys. Feel free to keep a-chattin' away!

Hi Innmates,

Long time no typey/readey.  So I've been stuck at home for the past month and will be for another few weeks due to a nasty wound on my foot that has me fairly immobile. Officially lost my job today, as I'm a machinist and required to be on my feet in steel-toed work boots for 60 hours a week. There's no hard feelings about it; this was bad luck and bad timing, getting this injury. I was still a temp at the job, less than a month in when it happened. And on the bright side, if they're still in need of folks when I am cleared to work again, they're willing to rehire me and start my contract over from scratch.

Anyhoo, I'll be lurking about the Inn a bit, but I'm hesitant to join a game because I'll just have to bow out again whenever I can go back to work. But given the fact that I'm stuck in the house and am not exactly being overwhelmed by visits, I'm happy to hang out here for a bit and visit with my beloved Innmates.

So feel free to holler back, and I look forward to lurking and talking as we can. Love to all.

Howdy all. I was going to attempt a post tonight, but seeing as how I have now dozed off at the screen three times, I think I am just gonna shut the ol' PC down, head to bed, and go comatose for a while. Starting a three-day weekend off from work, though, so I should be well caught-up by weekend's end.

So, I got caught up in work stuff before I could get Thorson's post up. My goal now is to have a post up late tomorrow night or Monday morning. Eol, I shall be in touch with ye, most likely on Messenger, to decide the details of doing our post. Loving everyone's entries so far, and I'm looking forward to a grand adventure with you all. As always, may your camel always be humpy.

Sure, I'll give it a whirl. See me whirl. A-whirling I go. Whiiiiirrrrrlllll.

What is your age? 44
What is your gender? Male
Where you are from? Northern Alabama, USA
What is your relationship status? Married, 5 years (My first marriage. Took me a while, I was picky. Hehehe.)
Do you have children? I have a 22-year-old stepson, no biological children
What sort of work do you do? I'm a CNC Machinist/Programmer
What is your dream job? To become a machinist with a commercial space company and help build spacecraft. Working on it.
What hobbies do you have outside of gaming? I'm an avid video gamer, I read a lot, mainly sci-fi/fantasy, I'm in the SCA but only get to events sporadically, I pursue my Star Wars/Star Trek/sci-fi fandom in various and sundry ways including fan club membership and activities, a wee bit of cosplay, occasionally writing fan fiction, etc, and I love scale modeling, although a few years as a bouncer, age and arthritis have all conspired to make that one more difficult in recent years.

Moving right along; good shtuff! I shall be getting a post or two up tomorrow. Took a couple of good knocks to the noggin while at work yesterday, so have been dealing with the Eternal Headache yesterday and today; the joys of working in manufacturing, hehe. Braining has been  a bit painful, but should be good to go after another good night's sleep.

Of course, if the Tuesday waffle wrench takes a few ratchet aardvarks in broccoli hang gliders...then my head may be worse than I thought.  

Yeah, that's the intention; Eol and I haven't actually connected about this post yet, but I'm figuring that after he has a chance to catch up and read up, we'll put a little something together. I also still intend to post the departmental meeting I mentioned in my post; hoping Haemis will be along and touch base with me so that we can RP Eric and Haemis's interactions during said meeting. So Haemis, whenever ya see this, send me a PM, please, and we'll see what we can come up with. Eol, hit me up as well, please, if'n ya want to have our little drinkin' and catchin' up session.

Both entries are, of course, backpostable, so carry on at will, grand poobah wizard pants.

Meeting post up.

Stardate 2365.02.19
USS Peregrine, Captain’s Mess – 1550 hours

Eric had spent the remainder of the afternoon in Main Engineering, doing what starship engineers had done since the days of Charles “Trip” Tucker and the very first human-built starships; namely, tweaking anything that could be tweaked to improve the Peregrine’s performance. She had her legs stretched now, loping across space toward the Trevil system faster than light itself, streaking through the cosmos like the Valkyries of old, carrying these explorers and warriors to their destiny. Eric snorted a bit of laughter to himself as he idly read a phase variance readout; he did get a bit dramatic in his own head sometimes. But after an afternoon of adjustments and wrapping up a scant few jobs left unfinished at the time of their departure, Eric now headed toward the Captain’s Mess for the 1600 meeting, looking forward to reporting to the captain that Engineering was in tip-top condition and the Peregrine was ready to face the mission ahead.

He only hoped that the same could be said for her chief engineer, when the time came to stand and be tested. Bah. Hope be damned. He would be ready.

Eric reached the small meeting area and greeted those already on hand. He took a seat to the left of where the captain would be sitting and touched his PADD a few times to get it ready to record the meeting. The engineer in him always had to try to have a record to refer to when things got hectic. Yet another of his tendencies that Tochi loved to give him good-natured ribbing about at any opportunity.

Moments later, Commander Drake entered the Mess, took his seat, and the briefing began. Eric smiled warmly and thanked the captain when he welcomed Eric back, adding only “It’s a pleasure to be back, Sir. Thank you for not exploding, imploding, rupturing or otherwise traumatizing my office.” Eric remained attentive as Drake briefly acknowledged, and moved right along past, his legal troubles of the previous days, named the new Second, and moved on to the meat of the briefing. As Drake revealed Starfleet’s orders for the Peregrine to patrol Trevil, and the patrol route they’d be taking, Eric was already mentally scheduling Engineering drills and making lists of materials and resources that would need to be replicated, stockpiled and organized. Over the course of his career Eric had served on his fair share of patrol missions, and then some. During his time serving under Captain Picard aboard the Stargazer, later aboard the Crazy Horse, and even in his relatively brief stint on the Peregrine so far, Eric had seen simple patrol missions go sideways in so many ways, and he was determined that he would bring his ship and his crewmates back safely from whatever they were to face in the days ahead.

As the meeting drew toward a close, Eric raised an eyebrow when Tochi mentioned the computer troubles that Lieutenant Sh’iraolnas experienced, and when the Lieutenant added “Engineering cannot find how this is happening though they have valiantly tried. All that we know at this time is that any digital trace vanishes from our system including reports.” Eric made a mental note to touch base with whichever of his people had assisted thus far, do some preliminary research of his own and compare notes to see if he could add any insights. He also knew Drake well enough to see the anger that arose upon hearing of the entire security situation. Eric felt a pang of sympathy. After what the man had just gone through, this was just unnecessary headache, like throwing ancient gasoline on a flame. Drake gave his orders regarding what he wanted done, and when he discussed the possibility of swapping out equipment he then turned to Eric: "Eric, if it comes to that, I want you to personally oversee the new equipment." Eric nodded. “Absolutely, Sir. Any new modules and equipment will go through full quantum encryption, both hardware and software.”

Shortly afterward the briefing ended. As the assembled officers dispersed, Eric caught Tochi’s sleeve. “Well, my friend, sounds like we’re about to be busy again. And we still have a bit of catching up to do. I’m going to schedule an Engineering staff meeting for in the morning, then clean up and grab some dinner. What say we meet up tonight around 2100? We have mead to drink and cards to play. See you then?”

((OOC: Tochi’s response; hopefully affirmative, ye understand, or how else are we gonna have us some RP? Hehe. ))

Eric made his way back to Main Engineering to have a last look around for the day and to send out a notice to the Engineering staff that there would be an all-hands department meeting at 0800 the following morning. Then, smiling as he looked forward to spending time with his quirky Trill friend later, Eric headed back to his quarters, grabbed a quick shower, changed out of his uniform, and headed to the Mess Hall for some chow.

So, due to some unavoidable issues on the home front, I've been kept from being able to post on these two days off. Very sorry about that. Stupid ol' real life.  Anyhoo, this now puts me being unable to post until Friday, as I have two days of 12-hour shifts coming up, plus being on call during my off time until then. Haemis, you feel free to pursue any Engineering stuff you have going on. When I do post, it'll be backpost to cover the aftermath of the staff meeting, plus a post to bring Thorson current with whatever is going on at the time.

I humbly ask for everyone's patience as I muddle through the next few weeks. In addition to a project deadline at work, there is also a good deal of stress and uncertainty in my home and family life right now. Without going into too much detail, I'll just say that between work stress and home stress, I find it hard to focus on creative outlets even when I do have free time. I don't want to take away from the fine work everyone else is doing, so if things don't get any better I may step away for a bit.

But in the meantime, I'll keep at it, and will have more posty goodness up on Friday. Hope everyone is having a good week.

Yep, great posts all.

I have been called in to the plant tonight to try to help resolve a crisis. Then I work regularly scheduled twelve-hour shifts tomorrow through Sunday. Won't get a Thorson post up tonight like I had intended, will be Monday before I can post again. Move as needed; I'll catch up.

Have a good weekend.

Here's a thought that makes me giggle: have the computer start suffering from Tourette's. The possibilities be endless, hehe.

=/= Affirmative. Outer hull temperature is --JACKED UP WEASEL TEATS!! =/=

Got another post up for Thorson. Still haven't heard from Haemis, so I left it open-ended so he can come back and dub in his part of the convo. Didn't take the post all the way to the 1600 briefing, just in case anyone might want to interact with Thorson, or have an Engineering need or somesuch, during the afternoon. Always up for some good RP.

Stardate 2365.02.19
USS Peregrine; Main Engineering – 1210 hours

 After his meeting with Drake, Eric had headed to his quarters, taken a brief look around and once again felt grateful to be home. His gaze took in all of his Viking artifacts, keepsakes and mementoes, and he felt an unconscious weight lift from his shoulders. This is home. Thank you, Odin. He tossed his duffel onto his bed, straightened his uniform, and had headed straight to Main Engineering.

Eric now strolled through the open doorway into Main Engineering, the doors hissing shut behind him. He simply stood in place for a moment, taking a slow and methodical look around the room, returning the frequent smiles, greetings and welcome-backs from colleagues as he did so. He noted that all of the status displays he could currently see showed various systems and subsystems running smoothly, efficiently and correctly. He even noticed that a few outputs and efficiencies were looking a few percentage points better than they had before he left. Now he looked forward even more to meeting this Lieutenant McTavish, who had, from all appearances and reports, done an absolutely astounding job after being thrust into the Chief Engineer spot with little or no warning.

As if on cue, Eric spotted Lieutenant McTavish just then rounding a corner, head together with that of one of the Engineering staff over a PADD, earnestly discussing the information displayed upon it. McTavish glanced up and spotted Eric just before he would have walked right into the Nordic man’s stout form. He broke off his conversation with the staffer as Eric reached out to shake his hand.

“Good afternoon, Lieutenant McTavish! I’m Lieutenant Commander Eric Thorson, reporting for duty. It’s a pleasure to meet you!”

((OOC: McT’s response))

“Excellent! I’m looking forward to working with you. I…suppose we should get the formalities out of the way.” He raised his voice just slightly. “Computer, confirm Lieutenant Commander Eric Thorson as resuming duties as Chief Engineering Officer, USS Peregrine.” The computer’s response was immediate:  =/= Starfleet orders confirmed. Lieutenant Commander Eric Thorson ordered to report as Chief Engineering Officer, USS Peregrine, Stardate 2365.02.19, 1200 hours. =/= Eric replied, “Reporting as ordered. Reset all Engineering command codes per regulations, transfer to my authority, and transfer all command overrides. Authorization Thorson Beta Tango, one nine seven four.” There was a brief series of beeps and the computer announced, =/= Command authorization and overrides have been transferred. Command change logged. =/=

Eric smiled at McTavish. “You really did a great job here, and I appreciate it a lot. Please, feel free to contribute any and all input you may have. And by all means, if you ever feel I’m making a wrong call, let me know. You obviously know your stuff, and I’ll always be glad to listen to whatever you have to say. I want us to have a good working relationship and to enjoy working together, and I’m sure you have a lot you can teach me. And if the fates are kind, perhaps I’ll have a bit of wisdom to pass along as well.”

((OOC: McT’s response))

Eric smiled and folded his arms comfortably. “So, catch me up. Anything in particular I need to know before I get to work?”

((OOC: McT’s response))

Eric nodded. “Sounds good. All right, unless something comes up that needs our immediate attention, you continue with whatever you were working on. Just holler if you need me. We’ll be getting underway shortly, so I’m going to babysit the warp core for a bit, make sure we’re ready for the next bit of shenanigans. I haven’t had time to look at today’s rotation yet, so I’m not sure when you get off, but have a good day until then. I’m guessing the Captain will be having a meeting some time soon. I’ll be sure to go over the highlights with you afterward.”

((OOC: McT’s response and any final remarks for now))

Eric smiled as McTavish departed. Seemed like a good fellow; Eric thought he was going to like working with him.

After a quick look at the warp core’s status readouts and power levels, Eric tapped his combadge. “Thorson to Bridge. Everything’s in order down here, sir. All systems in the green, warp speed available at your command.”

Shortly after Drake’s brief acknowledgement, Eric felt the familiar shift as the Peregrine leapt into warp. The mesmerizing blue pulses of the warp core shifted faster as power demand increased; it was a sight he never grew tired of. Eric stepped over to the master readout table and started scrolling through various power output displays, diagnostic results and status check results. Everything seemed to be running smoothly and without a hitch. Eric heard a ding from his workstation and stepped over to see the captain’s invitation to a briefing at 1600. Excellent. Even though Eric had tried to keep up with the news during his convalescence, he still knew that there was a lot he didn’t know, and he was looking forward to getting some gaps filled in.

In the meantime, Eric once again looked around the smoothly-running engine room and smiled. No denying, it felt awfully good to be back.

I've got most of Thorson's next post planned out, just waiting to hopefully touch base with Haemis in the next day or so to do any RP collab that might need a-doing as Thorson resumes his Chief Engineer duties. I'm planning on a single post to carry Thorson up to the dept. head meeting at 1600, so once ya see another post from me appear, I am good to go for the meeting and getting the "episode" kicked off. Once we're doing our thing, I look forward to hopefully taking part in some of this sweet collaboration action going on amongst everyone. Very good stuff! Oh, yeah, the point of why I rambled on with this post: goal is to have a post up by tomorrow night at latest, depending on how fast I can establish comms with Haemis.

In the meantime, got a buddy coming over, made homemade chicken stew, gonna watch a few picked-on-the-spot Trek episodes, then back to working on my replay of the Mass Effect games. All kinds of boldly goin' this weekend! I find it most agreeable. Hope y'all are having a good weekend as well.

Lick lungs and perspire! Ahem. I mean, live long and prosper.

...happy to be of service? I'm...going over here now. I feel unclean.

Wow, I'm not even on the list of the "Treksperts" anymore. I see how it is. Use me and throw me away. Pffftttt. May your camel's hump be deflated by a flying kidney. I'm going over here to sulk. Bring forth cheese for my whine.

Do we know Haemis's status? I kind of wanted to RP with him a bit for Thorson's next post, good opportunity to have Thorson and him start developing their rapport and all.

Speaking for myself, I can't post again until tomorrow. The only days I can and will be posting is my off days, so there will be times I'm three to four days between posts. And that'll be the best I can do. Meanwhile, was kinda waiting to see if Drake would be partaking in the convo in his ready room, but if we're moving on I'll get something together tomorrow.

Is there a way to decrease the space between lines on a post? Just to avoid wasted space and all.

Another post for Thorson up. Interactions with Tochi and Drake therein. Might get another one up tonight, but not sure yet.

Stardate 2365.02.19

USS Peregrine – Deck 3; Transporter Room 1 – 1152 hours

As Eric dutifully stood upon the transporter pad, he watched the operator comm the Peregrine for his permission to board. As soon as he heard the voice of the Peregrine’s operator give said permission, Eric immediately perceived the Starbase’s transporter room dissolving around him, instantly replaced by the fading in of the Peregrine’s transporter room – and a familiar, welcome face. And then, that irascible voice that Eric had wondered if he would ever hear again. “For frill’s sake, they’ll let anybody aboard a Federation ship, these days! I’m expecting Starfleet to send me a Chief Engineer and I get this! What’s next? Tribbles?!?!”

Eric tried and failed to keep the huge grin from his face as he saw Tochi approach the pad. “Well, they had to send someone to make you look smart,” he joked. “It’s a big task, but if we can keep Fleet from finding out you’re an Andorian ice monkey masquerading as an officer, we should be fine. You’re going to have to cut down on the poo flinging, though.” Both men laughed as Eric stepped off the transporter pad and enfolded his friend in a bear hug. “It’s good to see you again, my friend,” Eric said, wiping a genuine tear from his eye. “I’ve been keeping up with things as best I can from the news. You and Silas have to be the luckiest bastards I know.” He grinned as he said this and then added seriously, “And all of you pulled off something monumentally great. Well done, Tochi, to everyone. I couldn’t be prouder of you, or prouder to serve with you.”

((OOC: Tochi’s responses))

Eric gave Tochi a warm, friendly clap on the back as they headed for the transporter room door. “Yeah, I am headed straight to Engineering after I report in with the Captain, going to try to get back up to speed in record time. So good of them to tell me to report just when we have to get back on the road. I need to meet this McTavish, make sure he hasn’t broken my engines, find out just what you fiends did to my ship and what new quirks I have to find. Heh.”

Eric gave Tochi a final handshake as they entered the corridor and parted ways. “We still need a proper reunion, you realize. See if we can get the Captain to join us, have a medicinal sip or three. See you tonight!”

((OOC: Tochi’s parting remarks))

With a fresh spring in his step, Eric readjusted his duffel on his shoulder and headed for the bridge, and Commander Drake’s ready room.

Stardate 2365.02.19

USS Peregrine, Deck 1 – Captain’s Ready Room – 1205 hours

Eric paused at the Captain’s ready room door and touched the chime panel.

((OOC: assuming a “Come in”, “enter”, etc.))

He hefted his duffel and stepped into Drake’s ready room. “Lieutenant Commander Eric Thorson reporting to resume duties as Chief Engineer, sir!” he bellowed with exaggerated precision, and a grin he couldn’t quite keep off his face.

((OOC: Drake’s response))

Eric relaxed and set down his duffel, reaching out to give Silas a warm and heartfelt handshake. “It’s good to be back, Sir. I’m truly glad everything worked out for the ship, and especially for you. You were in the right, one hundred percent. They would have been fools to convict you. I’m glad they had sense enough to see that, too.”

((OOC: Assuming Drake asks Eric how he’s doing))

“So far, so good, Sir. I haven’t had any further…episodes…since that last one in Engineering, and all the doctors tell me that there should be no further issues. They were unable to find any traces of anything lingering inside me, and they seem pretty confident that everything should work like it’s supposed to from here on out. As for me, I am ready and able to go back to work. As soon as we’re done here I am headed to stow my gear and then to Engineering.”

((OOC: Any final remarks from Drake))

Eric grinned. “Thanks, Sir. It’s great to be back. I told Tochi that we need to have a more proper reunion later tonight; you’re most welcome to join us.”

((OOC: Drake’s yay or nay))

“Understood, Sir. Permission to get to work?”

((OOC: Assuming Drake’s agreement))

Eric grabbed his duffel and headed for the door. “I’ll contact you as soon as I see what’s what in Engineering and make sure we’re ready to get underway down there.”

I apparently overlooked the 1200 departure time. I will edit my post, no worries. Time stamp change incoming.