A Force to be Reckoned With

Posted on Thu Mar 31st, 2011 @ 2:58pm by Master Warrant Officer Janet Greenfield & Commodore Samantha York

816 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: The Forests of Mythraeli
Location: Main Engineering, Deck 36, USS Calypso

Janet wasn't having a particularly good day. Within the space of two hours one of the Ensigns, probably Free, had managed to rearrange the duty roster a total of three times. Incompetence was too strong a word to describe these fresh-faced youngsters who thought they knew how to manage people because they'd taken a course in it. Albeit the academy course took four years, with an additionally two months spent on personnel management for those officers becoming shift managers, but it still didn't provide experience.

She was growing bored of the repeated messages to her PaDD indicating the change of rota and intended to sort it out once and for all. Having left the duty station she made her way past the pool table to locate the culprit O that was causing the problems.

Samantha was fidgety. She hated waiting for information and she hated having nothing to do. Both at once was driving her nuts. So she decided to prowl around her ship and visit some of the departments. Her first stop was engineering.

She walked into the department and stood just inside the door, watching the activity.

As Janet passed the pool table she rounded the corner towards the exit to deck 36 and staggered to a halt, finding a woman blocking her path.

"Do you normally stand in doorways?" she asked, abruptly, annoyed at the presence of the obstacle.

"Not normally," Sam said apologetically. She stepped aside quickly. "Sorry."

"What are you doing down here anyway?" Janet asked, noticing the woman was in fact the captain.

"Checking on the department," Sam replied honestly. "Getting a feel for how things are going, mainly." The other woman was giving off some very interesting emotions. She was curious to learn more about her. "I don't believe we've met..."

"I don't tend to get upstairs very often," Janet remarked. "Warrant Officer Greenfield, or Janet if you prefer."

"I prefer Janet. I also prefer Samantha, or Sam, but that's not always practical when you're Captain," she said. "I'll accept Captain or ma'am, if you must. How long have you been with the Calypso?" Much as she would like to know every member of the crew it wasn't practical.

"A pleasure I'm sure," Janet answered. "As for the time I've been here, too long or not long enough, I haven't decided yet. I was part of the refit team."

"What criteria do you use to decide if it's long enough or too long?" Sam asked, one side of her mouth quirking up in a half-smile. Janet may not be enjoying the conversation, but Sam found it entertaining.

"When I know all the fresh-faced officers by name, then it's too long," Janet replied and smiled back.

"A very good point," Sam nodded. "What is your job in engineering?"

Janet looked around and laughed a little, a smile beaming across her face afterwards. "I run engineering," she said with a very matter-of-fact tone.

Sam had too much respect for the jobs the enlisted performed to laugh. "That's good to know. And quite helpful with a new Chief who doesn't know the ship."

"He'll be fine," she said dismissively, waving generally towards the pool table. "He's got an office and some PaDDs, I even got him a nice chair."

"Excellent. I see you have things well in hand," Sam said. "Is there anything you need from command?" The woman was definitely a force to be reckoned with. This was both a good and a bad thing. But, as long as Lieutenant Ross was happy with the situation, Sam didn't have a problem with it.

Less interruptions from the captain, the thought shot through Janet's head onto her tongue which she bit just in time.

"Not that I'm aware of, I will let the Lieutenant know if there is anything that we need from upstairs." The words, although direct, had much less insubordination about them. "Do you need to speak to him while you're down here, ma'am?"

"No. I should warn you that I'm Betazoid," Sam told her with a benevolent smile. "I don't pry into other people's minds, but strong thoughts are equivalent to shouting." She considered reminding the woman that Sam was the Captain and could interfere where she saw fit, but refrained. "See you later, Janet," she said pleasantly before turning and walking out of engineering.

Janet shook her head. Betazoids, she thought. Get away with probing people's mind like some kind of thought police. How could people have an opinion if everyone knew what it was?

She shook off the thought before heading out of engineering and back to the task in hand, locating the idiot who had sent another two changes to the duty schedule since the last time she had looked.

OFF

Captain Samantha York
Commanding Officer
USS Calypso

MWO Janet Greenfield
Engineering Coordinator
USS Calypso

 

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