Transition

Posted on 11 Dec 2015 @ 3:44am by Commodore Da`nal of the House of Varal & Commander Nicholas Means & Lieutenant Adani Mila

2,345 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: M13-C: Shattered Time
Location: Ready Room

[Freedom]

Adani was in the ready room on board the Freedom. She felt a bit awkward, this was her first command role, and now she had lost her first captain just weeks in to her tenure aboard the ship. She always felt conflicted in moments like these. In the back of her mind, the old Borg mindset was always at play. Death happens, you recycle the parts and move on. Her human side, which she was never quite sure how to control was on the verge of tears over a man she barely knew.

She milled about the room, packing up Pike's personal things. She figured it would not be too long before the new captain showed up. Means, she was told, was his name.

She picked up the last item, and was about to place it in the case, a photograph, it was a group of people around the same age. Pike's siblings, or friends. People who would be sad that he had passed. She sat down on the sofa and looked at the people in the photo. She had friends among the Mylarot, the people who had saved her from the Borg. She had acquaintances among her starfleet colleagues but she wondered who would miss her if died. She felt so out of place, having lived in three different societies over the course of a decade. She heaved a large sigh. She looked through her cybernetic eyes at her metallic left hand, a constant reminder of her "first" community. She looked at the very human people in the photograph. She placed the picture in the case and sealed it up. She moved it to the end of the sofa nearest the door.

Adani moved slowly toward the window looking out into the black of space, she could see that the Achilles had moved in closer. The Berlin was out there somewhere. She waited for word of her new CO's arrival.


[USS Achilles]

Once given the green light by medical, Nick walked with the groups CO as they neared the shuttle bay and he brought him up to speed on the overall situation. When Da`nal covered the situation with how Commander Pike lost his life he hung his head. "This isn't the way I wanted to step into command. I mean you expect to lose people in a fire fight but a transporter accident...."

"This is not an ideal situation, but your revival and taking command of the Freedom was never going to be ideal."

"True. Has the cause been found of the malfunction?"

"Not as yet. Engineering is still looking into it and has asked for assistance from astrometrics, which is strange in itself. Until Commander Adtanis reports his finding we are stuck using a shuttle to get you to your ship."

"I got no problem with that at sir. Is the Borg...I mean Lieutenant Mila still XO?"

"She is. Is that going to be a problem?"

"Oh no sir. I have no problem with recovered Borg, Jem'Hadar...that's another story."

Da`nal grinned and shook his head as they entered the massive bay and he looked over as Means let out a soft whistle.

"...the size of this place still is still hard to fathom on a starship."

Before Da`nal could reply their pilot came up to them. "Commodore, the shuttle is ready to go whenever you are and Commander Mean's personal effects have been materialized and stowed."


[Shuttle Barrett]

The trio left cavernous shuttlebay of the Achilles and entered the vastness of interstellar space and turned sharply to stay inside the ship massive nacelle. As the shuttle drew near he to the Freedom Mean's leaned forward. "Give me a circle of the ship then dock at the deck one airlock."

The young Ensign could understand a CO wanting to get a look at his ship but an airlock instead of the shuttle bay? "...Aye sir."

Noticing the hesitation in his voice. "Is that a problem Ensign?"

"No sir." For a little flare he fishtailed the shuttle into position and locked secured the docking collar in one flowing and definitely nonregulation move. Once his little maneuver was complete he turned to his passengers. "Here you are gentlemen. Please return your seats to their upright positions and I hope you enjoyed your flight.

As Da`nal and Means moved from the airlock to the bridge Means glanced to his CO. "I want him."

[Ready Room]

The doors opened at their approach and Means gestured for Da`nal to enter first. Once they were both in and the doors closed the introductions began.

"Lt. Mila, Commander Nicholas Means, your new CO."

Mila had been taken aback by the sudden entrance. She had been expecting some sort of notification that a shuttle had docked.

"Sirs, I was unaware you had come on board."She said as she wheeled around on her heels. "Commander, It is good to meet you." She extended her hand in the traditional human fashion.

Da`nal found her lack of notification puzzling as well. Someone had failed to do their job, regardless of the ID of the passengers, but Means was already on it.

Taking her hand Means addressed the issue. "Well, I'm sure whoever it was was either still dealing with Pike's loss or saw who was aboard and assumed it was shuttle traffic in relation to the investigation. No need to keelhaul anyone, just remind them of seriousness of keeping command informed of ALL incoming vessels."

Well there was no reason for him to remain so Da`nal excused himself. "You two have enough to do without me looking over your shoulders."

Means turned, "you are more than welcome here any times sir. Oh before you go I wanted to ask...Do you box?"

Now that was an unexpected question and Da`nal grinned as he replied. "Not regularly, my work out are usually more....spirited. But if you wish to spar I would be happy to accommodate you." Nodding to Mila, 'Lieutenant."

"Farewell Sir." Mila turned her attention to the new CO.

With the boss gone it was time to get down to business. Means moved to the desk and picked up one of Pike's mementos. "How is the crew holding up?"

"The crew seems to be handling the death of the captain in pretty good fashion. I think you will find them to be prepared for whatever comes next."

Replacing Pike's belonging back in the case he took a seat and motioned for his XO to do the same. "Tell me about yourself."

Miller took a seat next to, but not too close to her new CO on the Sofa. He was an imposing man, a little distance was comforting.

"About me Sir, well....There is quite a bit of that. I was living on a human colony not far from Klingon Space. We had broken off relations with the federation is what the Federation says. No family on Earth or anywhere else that I am aware of. Assimilated when I was six or seven. When I was about 16 I was rescued by a race called the Mylarot. They live in a small cluster of star systems on the far side of Klingon explored space. They'd had far too many run-ins with the Borg, but had developed some interesting work-arounds. Particularly in liberating people after assimilation. My synthetic bits, "She raised her shiny prosthetic hand, and then tapped her right leg, "are a gift from them. They rehabilitated me, and launched a mission to return me to my people. They had found reference to Earth in data packets they had captured from the Borg. They made me a part of the crew, I served as security officer on one of the ships in the convoy. First contact went really well, Starfleet was very pleased to get their data on their defenses against the Borg. I did't have family, space was all I knew, my Borg-ness was of great interest to Starfleet, so off to the academy I went. The rest of my history is known to you I am sure."

Mila took a deep breath, "Anything else you'd like to know?"

He huffed laughingly, but just slightly as he smiled and turned on the couch to face her directly. "That's all well and good but that is what happened to you and while that has an obvious effect it doesn't tell me who or what you are." Glancing down he popped the rank bar off his uniform and tossed it on the desk across from them.

"There, no rank, just two people talking. So who are you...what makes you tick? What do you like or dislike...do you have a nickname you prefer go by?" He leaned back, put his arm along the back of the couch as he waited.

"Well, that is a type of question I don't get asked a lot." Mila looked up at the ceiling for a moment. "I like hiking. It is restorative. I have developed a fondness for beer and wine. The 'pub' atmosphere helps me to loosen up a bit and socialize. I am fiercely loyal. If it were not for crewmates I would not have anyone in the world, so I depend on them, and I take care of them. People find my situational analysis skills to be a little too pragmatic. I am really not trying to be heartless, i just call it like I see it, big picture, long-game...." Mila wondered how much her CO was looking for. "Some people find my cybernetics to be disconcerting, for example, I can tell peoples thermal and blood flow responses with my optical implants. I usually know in advance if I am being lied to or if someone is about to do something risky. That apparently makes humans nervous. You sir, seem ice cold right now, no anxiety?"

Lifting his hand glancing around quickly. "What do I have to be anxious about? I'm in command of a fierce little ship that's apart of a historical mission. I have a crew that has already demonstrated themselves capable of self-sacrifice just by being here. It will take time for the crew to get used to me and for me to get used to the crew. Hopefully nothing critical will come up and give us that time. As to your answers, I think your ability to read people will be a definite asset to me and the Commodore as well."

He shrugged slightly. "I know what you feel about physical differences putting other off." Tapping his eye patch, "This thing can really make others uneasy. Most wonder why I don't have a artificial eye implanted while others wonder if I don't have an implant and I'm hiding it's abilities behind the patch....So we have that in common. Seeing the big picture is good, but we can't lose sight of the here and now either. The one thing I like best, even more than the interest in hiking, was that you take care of the crew. THAT alone can make a huge difference; when command takes care of the troops....the troops take care of those in command.

"Is there anything you want to know about me?"

"I am curious sir, how would you describe your style? Casual, formal, relaxed, laissez-faire.... I realize that is a loaded question, but I have noticed that some commanders like to know everything that is going on. Who is dating who, who was late for whichever duty shift, who sprained their ankle playing tennis.... Others are more relaxed about the flow of information on the ship, individual departments have some latitude, as long as they are functioning well." Mila felt like this was a loaded question but asked it anyway. "As the liaison between command and the departments, department heads are curious what to expect, and I doubt some will feel comfortable to ask you."

"I would hope they would feel comfortable to ask me anything, but that's a fair question. I like to keep an open door policy for all crew members so long as they follow the chain of command when needed. The last thing I ever want to be, or see from my officers is a micro-manager. Like you said some want to know the what, when, and why of everything. Me...as long as the job gets done, done right, and done without violating the Prime Directive, I'm good. Are there times when the rules need to be followed rigidly...yes. Are there time when the rules need to be bent a little...yes. The key for any officer is to know when to do one or the other. That said, I like to see my Department Heads handle their internal departmental issues within their own house as it were. I do this for two reasons. The first is that it keeps things off of both your plate and mine. Secondly, it trains the Department Heads to handle the issues they might face if they were an XO. Naturally they still need to keep you in the loop for input, approval, or to push things up to me if needed. Basically they can handle things; if they can't, you deal with it; if you can't, you get me. "

"Thanks for that, that is helpful. I really value knowing the command philosophy of my CO. That certainly was not something that the Borg worried about, and the Mylarot Deep Space service was much more homogeneous and rigid than Starfleet. The diversity of styles and cultures is an interesting challenge for me." Mila looked out at space for a moment and then, "Sir, is there any way that I can support you in the coming days?"

Nick leaned back and thought quickly. "Stay on top of the transporter issue, set up a meeting with the senior staff. I also want to met with the Marine detachment and MCO aboard the Achilles. Finally, I will also need you to keep things together here, seems I will have a trial to preside over."

 

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