Reporting for Duty, part 2

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

1,210 words; about a 6 minute read

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

ON

[OLD]

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.

[NEW]

She set his cup in front of him and walked around to her side of the desk and sat down. She took a sip of her drink and addressed him again. "Tell me a little about your last assignment." She'd read his personnel file, but having him talk about his last assignment was a good way to get a feel for the type of person he was.

Before Kaj spoke a word he took a sip of coffee, and his recollection momentarily got sidetracked, heralded by a slight widening of his eyes. "Well for one the synthehol was not nearly as good as it is here, that's pretty close to the real stuff."

Kaj chuckled and set the mug back down before continuing. "Well the long and short form is I was one of the primary shakedown helmsmen and test pilots at Utopia Planitia. Take about one out of every fifteen or so new starships in the past four years that came out of there and chances are I took it out on its testing shakedown before the primary crew ever got there. And that's starships alone, not counting the new shuttle and fighter types that I was given.

The job was simple really, push whatever I was in control of at the time to its performance envelope and see if anything went south or shook loose, then give whatever subjective feedback I had to the incoming CO or pilots that the data recordings couldn't quantify.
The fleet ships broke down into two categories, the refits and the new types. Refits meant that the data collected was compared to data and reports of that ship's previous benchmarks, or something close to it.
The new ships were a whole new ball game, raw data, untested performance, all that stuff. I got to test not one but two brand new Anubis class destroyers before there was sufficient performance data to compare notes. Of course both of them tried to kill me by fully locking down helm control at about warp 8 and accelerating. Something about a screwy way the gel packs were arranged in the helm-injector circuit. I dunno, its all engineering-speak to me, might as well be binar since I don't understand any of that either."

He leaned back and crossed his legs, and a slight smirk gathered in the corner of his mouth before he spoke again.

"So how did my file land on your desk, was it the admirals or your choice? Don't get me wrong, I adore Galaxy class ships above almost all others and the Orion has one helluva reputation in this fleet, just wondering how I ended up here, that's all."

"To be honest, I'm not sure. I've only been in command for a few days. The former CO, Captain Montgomery, was called to Earth for a series of meetings and some additional training. I got back from a trip to Tiberius X and was met with the news that he was gone and I was in charge." Sam shook her head, recalling the way they'd been met by Commodore James when they got off the shuttle.

She shrugged and continued. "So, I don't know if Captain Montgomery requested you, or if you were sent here. Either way, I'm glad you're here. We'll be heading out in a few hours for Tiberius IV. It's a desert planet rich in dilithium. A cargo ship carrying miners and equipment disappeared about a week ago with no trace. A Federation shuttle was dispatched to investigate. They're missing, too. No debris, no communications. Nothing. So, we will need a good pilot to make sure we don't end up in the same predicament."

Kaj already had the mug in hand and was taking a sip when York had finished. Setting it in his hands like it was something precious and looking into the dark liquid, his eyes adopted a faraway and slightly solemn look before he looked back up and spoke again, the smirk having evaporated as soon as he looked down.

"Honestly skipper, I know my file and reputation precede me but thats only a small part of the story, especially in regards to the USS Capetown, but I was rarely the only deciding factor in those close ones. I've got to know and be able to predict what the chief engineer ops and tactical officer are going to do and vice-versa, and it all has to come together in such a way that a CO can rely on that synergy, especially when things get tight."

The solemn cast evaporated just as suddenly as it had appeared. "But, that shouldn't be a problem, and if it means anything I have a feeling that we'll have no personal or operational friction issues.
Is there anything you needed me to take care of specifically? I have most of the helm crew re-programming their console layouts as we speak, and I still have to speak with the XO and the chief tactical officer about the launch bay situation, but everything looks like its in good order."

"We're heading to Tiberius IV in a few hours. A cargo ship and a Federation shuttle have both disappeared without a trace. We're being sent to find out what happened. I have no idea what to expect. When we get there we'll do a complete scan of the planet to see if we can find anything. Then, if we need to, we'll send down an away team. We may or may not send down a shuttle, but I want you to be prepared just in case."

Kaj nodded in agreement.
"Yeah I looked at the mission overview on the way over here, Vice-Admiral Helb gave me a PADD personally before I boarded the danube at Utopia Planitia, said just as much. nothing new to report from his end. Given the kinds of trouble we could run into I understand why you'd want a shuttle on standby given how ominous the disappearances are."

He drained the last of his coffee, letting it sit on his tongue for a bit before swallowing, then set the mug down on the nearest corner to him.
"Well, skipper, its nice to have met you beforehand, thank you for the coffee and conversation, but I actually have one helluva mess to deal with down in the launch bays as well as a million other things that every new department head on a new ship has to deal with, so if you don't mind I'd like to get back to work. Oh and let me know if there's a specific type of shuttle you wanted on standby, or if its up to my own discretion."

"Talk to Captain Raine about the shuttle. He may have some ideas for you," Sam answered. "It's good to meet you, too, Lieutenant. Welcome aboard and good luck!"

OFF

Commander Samantha York
Chief Science Officer
Acting CO
USS Orion

Lieutenant JG Kaj Mikkola
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Orion

 

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