Lt. Hess

[CX]

Is there any mention of her in Season 4?

[Rigil Kent]

Actually, I think she was only mentioned like once or maybe twice to begin with. AFAIK, she is not mentioned at all in season 4. Kelby takes over that job, I guess.

[CX]

That's kind of hat I was thinking. I'm stewing over my next fic that I probably won't get a start on for a long while, and this might make it into it if that turns out to be the case.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

On a related note, many fan fic writers give ther the name Anna. Who started that?

My thinking is that Hess was too junior to fill Trip's shoes when he got reassigned, and Kelby had more formal training and more years in service than she did. That and that Kelby's dad was the chairman of the UE Senate Appropriations Committee!

[Rigil Kent]

My thinking is that Hess was too junior to fill Trip's shoes when he got reassigned, and Kelby had more formal training and more years in service than she did. That and that Kelby's dad was the chairman of the UE Senate Appropriations Committee!

For the most part, I tend to agree with that. As a lieutenant, Hess doesn't have the experience to serve as ChEng, so they went with someone who actually did have the experience. I guess I'm in the minority in that I really think that Kelby got a raw deal on the show: there's no way that someone of his rank would be as incompetent as they portrayed him ... so I blame his problems on Tucker's creative engineering solutions that no one but Tucker could figure out and an Engineering team who weren't entirely cooperating 'cause they wanted their old ChEng back.

[hth2k]

For the most part, I tend to agree with that. As a lieutenant, Hess doesn't have the experience to serve as ChEng, so they went with someone who actually did have the experience. I guess I'm in the minority in that I really think that Kelby got a raw deal on the show: there's no way that someone of his rank would be as incompetent as they portrayed him ... so I blame his problems on Tucker's creative engineering solutions that no one but Tucker could figure out and an Engineering team who weren't entirely cooperating 'cause they wanted their old ChEng back.[/quote]

I see Tucker as a well educated individual in many areas as would be necessary to keep a complex system such as the vessle presented functional in any much less battle circumstances. He would also likely have a intuitive gift for engineering solutions that surpass current practice.

Kelby, as Rigil mentions, is actually a competant engineer but does not comprehend Tuckers methods and being a well trained engineer and officer may balk at non by the book practices. This is not at all unreasonible as one may not be able to support something one does not understand. As a testbed Tucker is the perfect head engineer. As a ship of the line, should something happen to Trip, how can they maintain something only he understood that may or may not be documented?

Hess being trained under Tucker may have blossomed under his tutilage though junior. She may have been selected as most of the junior officers would be for her potential which would be noted in academic work and during training. She may have blossomed in the dynamic environment in ways that bely her youth and rank.

HtH

[Distracted]

I think Hopeful Romantic's the one who first named her Anna, but I could be wrong.

[ginamr]

I think Hopeful Romantic's the one who first named her Anna, but I could be wrong.

LOL. Either way, I like it and everyone else seems to use it, too.

Anyway, in my fics, Kelby was transferred to Columbia where his by-the-book attitude can be appreciated more. I really like Hess. I suppose I've turned her into a bit of my own character, but I think that someone whose worked with Trip so much would pick up on his optimism and sense of humor.