Reporting for Duty, part 1

Posted on Thu Feb 25th, 2010 @ 3:51am by Commodore Samantha York & Lieutenant Kaj Mikkola

1,030 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: What Lies Beneath?
Location: Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: current

ON

Commander Samantha York had received information that the new Chief Flight Control Officer had come on board. Wanting to chat with the officer before they left for Tiberius, Sam sent a message for Lieutenant JG Mikkola to meet with her in her office at his earliest convenience.

The message eventually found Kaj in the primary launch bay of the Orion. He was reasonably certain that his duties on this ship extended to launch control as well as ships navigation, and his experience and observation told him that whomever had loaded the support craft before he ever got there either didn't know or care about how small craft should be properly staged, or (and this was the more entertaining prospect in Kaj's mind) the same individual had been arguing with a significant other whilst loading the bay and the results lay before him.

No matter what he thought he also knew that it wasn't his decision alone and was about to try and contact both the chief tactical officer and the marine CO, who happened to to be the ships XO as well, when the call for him to meet with the CO at the earliest convenience, which in skipper-ese meant unless he was doing something mission critical it would be in his best interest to go meet with her.
So Kaj turned on his heel and briskly walked out of the launch bay, waving at the marines on duty as he left.
Walking through the corridors he took in the sights and sounds and even smells. Everybody he observed was bustling with some sort of energy which carried through not only in their movement but their voices with the seemingly unending chatter of what this upcoming mission may entail. Here and there he went through the occasional cloud of sterile air, but for the most part he could still smell the ionization as the dockside workers and shipside engineers went about fixing everything they could.
In short it was a sensation along the lines of the time he went boarding down the face of Olympus Mons, a miasma of excitement anticipation and a bit of uncertainty. It was a heady brew, although Kaj hoped that it wouldn't end like the Mons experience did; in a carbide cast on his left arm.

Stepping into the nearest turbolift he could, Kaj held the door for a rather attractive female civilian who was on her way up as well, just not as far. Jemma Stadi was her name, and apparently she was a waiter for the forward lounge who had just come aboard to get her belongings filed away as well as help get the lounge back in order.
Though he didn't get to talk much with her, he learned that she had been posted aboard the Orion for awhile and had decided it was a nice ship to serve on, and she had observed his odd colored eyes and gotten the explanation as to why they were the way they were.
She was the first to leave of course, but she left with a promise from Kaj that he would come by the lounge as soon as he could since the entire staff liked to meet new crewmembers.

With no more stops on the way and no obstructions he arrived outside of the commanders office. Wondering just what kind of meeting this would be he pressed the chime to announce his arrival.
The response was muffled, a fact of life when dealing with thick doors. Its the reason why most people adopted a sharp loud voice when the chime sounded in their cabin, and it usually was a signal to enter anyway.

Kaj duly entered and stood at a relaxed parade rest at a respectful distance and angle to the commander, hands clasped behind the back and gaze fixed upon a bulkhead nearby, all the while frantically going over the details of the greeting in his head.

Though he had read up on her, the records didn't say what kind of skipper she was. For all he knew she could have been the kind of hard-ass that Captain Belonski was aboard the Benfold or as informal as Captain Huckbein aboard the Cape Town, and to complicate things further he was completely lost as far as calling her by her title, rank, or any other honorary.

Still, he couldn't stand mute, so he decided on something that would most likely be the least off-putting. "Lieutenant JG Kaj Mikkola reporting as requested ma'am."

"At ease, Lieutenant," Sam said with a friendly smile. "Come in and have a seat. I like informality, if you don't mind." She led the way into her office and motioned to a chair opposite her desk. "Can I get you something to drink?"

If Kaj were the type to keep score then Commander York would have earned a lot of points at that juncture. As it was it spoke volumes to him and all of it was looking up.

"Mind? I practically run on informality, that and coffee flavored with cloudberry liqueur, which is what ill take thank you." he said as he sat in the seat that York indicated, noting that it was conspicuously comfortable and probably something that either her or her predecessor had ordered installed since the stock variety weren't that comfy.

"Well since we're both fans of informality and far removed from the bridge, please feel free to call me Kaj, which by the way was impressive since most people mispronounce it several times whereas you got it right on the first shot. Either that or Natch, been called that ever since flight training at the academy.
So what can I do for you ski... um, what should I call you for future reference?"

Sam chuckled. "You can call me Sam, Samantha or Skipper. Whatever is more comfortable for you." She got a coffee for Kaj and a cup of carrot tea for herself. So far she liked Kaj and thought he would fit in well with the rest of the crew.

(To be continued...)

Commander Samantha York
Chief Science Officer
Acting CO
USS Orion

Lieutenant JG Kaj Mikkola
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Orion

 

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