Stardate 2403.193, 0850 hours

Lieutenant Rockwall walked briskly through the crowds on Starbase Bravo’s upper docking level, giving way to antigrav sleds and the throngs of Starfleet crew walking in all directions. His pace fueled by several cups of coffee, he turned off through a side corridor, past the waiting lounge, and into the vestibule outside the boarding gantry doors. A small line formed where a base security officer quickly checked assignment PADDs.

Ian didn’t recognize anyone ahead, though he also hadn’t checked the crew manifest for other potential colleagues’ assignments. He’d been too busy poring over the Culver City’s deck plans and engine schematics overnight, and there’d be plenty of time for making acquaintances.

The queue proceeded swiftly, and Ian reached the security console. “Lieutenant Ian Rockwall, assigned aboard,” he said, as he handed over the PADD.

The junior officer tapped her fingers along the console, glancing between the PADD and the console display. “Yes…Lieutenant Rockwall…right, you’re marked present at docking, go across the gantry and talk to the supply officer aboard, she’ll have your next instructions.”

“Thank you, ensign.” Ian retrieved his PADD as the young security officer signaled the next person in line. He advanced into the long walkway, walking more vigorously than the other staff with cargo of all sorts. He had no baggage with him as he’d left everything in his old starbase quarters for site-to-site transport. It took only a couple of minutes to reach the opposing vestibule on the docked side of the gantry, now aboard the California-class USS Culver City.

The open space just off the docking doors was just as bustling as the starbase behind. A smorgasbord of crew filled the space in various forms of activity: some with standard-issue Starfleet duffles gathering to chat, others drawn as if by tractor beam into various corridors at rapid pace. Several others managing the assortment of cargo were clustered further in, getting their directions on where to take their items.

A group of taller officers handling cargo obscured a voice confidently dictating locations. Ian walked towards the voice, surmising that would be the supply officer he needed. The officers at the back of the group noticed Ian’s approach and stepped slightly aside to reveal a 1.75 meter Ferengi woman holidng a large PADD.

"…and those kegs go to Cargo Bay 8," the Ferengi officer commanded, using her stylus like a wand to point and direct items and movement alike. "And…HEY! Keep those kegs steady! We don’t want that root beer spraying everywhere under pressure."

Lieutenant Rockwall chuckled in delight under his breath, watching this forthright Ferengi ensign naturally cast logistical spells on those around her. The influx of Ferengi recruits had increased since after the Dominion War; Ian had worked with several excellent Ferengi officers, but hadn’t had a chance to work directly with one of the women yet. She was making brief notes on the PADD as Ian approached.

"Lieutenant Rockwall reporting in, ensign," Ian announced, still holding a small smirk on his face.

She interrupted her data entry to look up briefly for facial recognition, looked down and tapped a few different places on the screen to seemly switch to a roster display, then looked up again. "Rockwall, Lieutenant Ian. Good. I have here you need to go straight down to main engineering. The chief is expecting you there," she responded, in a gruff but amiable tone. She pointed with the stylus down a straight corridor. "Turbolift over there will take you down the pylon into the stardrive section."

Ian’s eyes followed the end of the stylus and recognized where he needed to go next. "Thank you very much, ensign…?"

She recognized his prompting for a name. "Hexalera. I’ll see you around, Lieutenant." The ensign gave a friendly nod but clearly went back to traffic control mode. Ian resumed his brisk pace to approach the turbolift for his final reporting.

Leaving the saucer section decks, Ian’s turbolift picked up immense speed down the starboard pylon, into the starboard nacelle, and finally landed close to the main engineering portal. Good inertial dampers make what would be a turbulent jostle down the starship into a smooth and pleasant ride; Ian had nary an issue with turbolifts but always hoped he was never in one if the dampers failed.

He walked the short distance in the corridor to main engineering and strolled in, stopping to behold the main work area and the towering warp core beyond. Though there was no low pulse of the engine underlying the soundscape, the workspace still resounded with the reasonable talk of engineers working amongst various workstations, pointing at screens and considering stacks of PADDs all over the input consoles.

And, as any good junior warp engineer would do, he looked up at the reactor core of the class-6 warp drive, considering how odd it was that the engineering space on a Cali-class seemed so cavernous and theatrical compared to the smaller workspace on a Galaxy. Nevertheless, he grinned, knowing this would be his "office" starting now.

Ian scanned the work area looking for any obvious "chief engineer," but failing to find them on his own, turned to an engineer’s mate at the door to ask. The midshipman gestured gently to the ubiquitous engineering "pool table" where several crew gathered around a tall man with salt-and-pepper peaked hair and a full-but-well-trimmed beard of the same coloration.

The tall man detected Ian’s approach and immediately offered a handshake. "Mister Rockwall, welcome. I’m Luke Olivarez, Chief Engineer." Ian matched Luke’s grasp and performed a quick handshake. Luke gestured to his right. "This is Xenn, your senior warp engineer." The Bolian man nodded, gathering up his PADDs in anticipation of moving stations.

"It’ll be right to work, lieutenant. The Culver City’s engines are in good shape, but we need to make certain she’s ready on all fronts for the CO. Head over to the core control console and start checking over the injector manifolds."

"Yessir," Ian responded, nodding to his senior cohort and beginning to walk away from the pool table towards core control."

"Oh, and mister Rockwall, make sure you’re off on time this evening. You and Xenn are with me at the Captain’s Table tonight."

Ian turned and raised an eyebrow. Not even a senior officer and he’s already scheduled for a hobnob with his new ship’s captain? Cool, he supposed. "Understood, sir."

After another moment of pondering, Lieutenant Rockwall nodded again to Lieutenant Xenn as they started again for their next console.