Reporting to the CO

Posted on 20 Nov 2015 @ 12:43am by Commodore Da`nal of the House of Varal & Lieutenant Commander Alanna Wells

1,669 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: M13-C: Shattered Time
Location: USS Achilles
Timeline: Flashback....while docked at DS9

ON - Prior to leaving DS9

Alanna was excited about her new posting. She'd never been on a ship as large as the Achilles. It promised to be quite an adventure.

Her first stop after arriving was to meet the CO and report in. She found him in his Ready Room and rang the door chime.

[Ready Room]

Lance had just set another padd in front of him for his endorsement and Da'nal looked up. "You know how much I hate all this administrative nonsense. Tell me again why i don't just give you my authorization codes."

With a grin the long time yeoman replied, "Because I would take your ship and leave you on the nearest rock."

The bantering between the two came to an end at the sound of the chime to which Da'nal replied. "Enter."

Alanna walked into the room and saluted. She didn't generally stand on formalities, but this was her first visit to her new Commanding Officer and she wanted to make a good first impression. "Lieutenant Commander Alanna Wells reporting for duty, sir." There. Proper and formal.

Standing Da`nal offered his hand to the officer, "Welcome aboard Commander. I was pleased to see you request this assignment after the sudden departure of your predecessor. You don't plan on changing your mind before we depart do you?"

Alanna shook his hand and grinned. "No, sir. I'm looking forward to this assignment, so no, I'm not going to change my mind." Although she wondered what would make someone leave so suddenly. "Now, disappearing into a lab somewhere, that is entirely within the realms of possibility."

"Excellent! Looking to his yeoman, "This is Master Chief Petty Officer Lance Nelson. He has been my yeoman since I was a Commander at Deep Space 5 and got my first command. Somehow he has managed to survive..."

"Well sir, you make a nice big wall to hide behind."

Da`nal laughed loudly. "You would hide even if you had to! We can finish all that paperwork after I talk with the commander here."

"Understood." Nodding to the petite officer; "Nice to meet you Ma'am, you you need anything just let me know."

"Thank you," Alanna said. "Nice to meet you, too."

Da`nal motioned her to a chair. "Would you like anything to drink, Commander?"

"A pomegranate lemonade would be nice, thank you," she said, taking a seat opposite the Commodore's desk.

Her drink shimmered into existence on the replicator pad behind his deck and he slid it across his desk to her. He was experienced enough to know never to judge a person by their size but she was smaller than one would expect. Even as he leaned back his holo-monitor activated displaying her service record and he shook is head with a grin.

Waving toward the holo-monitor; "As you can see Lance can be very thorough, but any officer that has reached command levels is more than just words in a file." He deactivated the display before continuing. "Tell me about yourself."

"Always a loaded question," she said, smiling at the Commodore. "Let's see... I'm a bit of a tomboy. I love the outdoors and will occasionally spend a night camping. I also am a nerd and love to read up on ancient history and cultures. Sometimes I combine the two and will take a PADD camping with me so I can read by the fire." She took a sip of her lemonade. "My specialty, as you can see by my record, is history and archaeology, but I am fascinated with many aspects of science." She looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. "Is there something specific you'd like to know?"

From her initial reply she seemed like someone he would get along well with, but he needed to know something. "Actually yes. You are the first archaeologist that I have seen rise to the position of chief science officer aboard a starship. How extensive is your 'fascination' with the other sciences?"

"I graduated from Starfleet Academy in science, so I have a basic knowledge of most areas," she assured him. "I have a bit more extensive knowledge of astronomy and astrophysics, as well as chemistry and computers. But my expertise is rooted in the past. I find that history and archaeology and the other social sciences are not isolated, even though many think they are. They are firmly tied to many other areas of science and culture if you truly wish to understand who they were and what they accomplished. The Mayan people of Ancient Earth had am impressive understanding of the cosmos and their place in it, as well as an amazing grasp of mathematics and geometry." She paused and grinned. "Sorry."

Da`nal smirked. "For what. You picked up on my questioning of your abilities, either directly or indirectly, and you defended your honor. GOOD. I don't want officers that will tuck tail at the first hint of a little pressure. We will be entering the unknown and their is no way to know what we will encounter.

"Now that that is out of the way how do you intend to run your department?"

"I've found that understanding the history of a species helps you understand who they are now," Alanna said. She didn't want to mention that she had a stubborn streak, but she was pleased the Commodore approved of her standing up for herself. "As for my department, science is often hit or miss. We're either really busy, or we have time on our hands. What I would like to do is allow everyone in the department the opportunity to use the ship's science labs to work on a personal project when they aren't busy with a specific assignment. That will give them incentive to get their jobs done and will help foster new ideas and creativity. If possible, I would also like to have a backup generator and a separate computer database to hook into so that we don't take up ship's resources that might be needed elsewhere."

Da`nal had replicated himself a cup of Ra'taj and took a healthy drink placing it on his desk as she spoke and he thought just a moment after she finished. "Done. Have operations set aside the computer resources you need. Additional I will want you to handle any internal departmental issues yourself unless the XO or myself are absolutely needed."

Alanna smiled, pleased that the Commodore agreed so readily with her request. "I will talk to Operations, and I prefer to keep science issues internal -- unless they cannot be dealt with by me. So far I've managed." She took another drink and then asked, "Is there anything you wish of me or my department?"

He looked at her questioningly, "Well considering this is a mission of exploration there will be quite a bit placed on you and your staff...Astrometrics, Stellar, and Planetary sciences especially. Not to mention the other sciences. We can generate our own anti-matter so we can operate our replicators without having to ration or augment with food store like Voyager had to. However there will be opportunities for gathering specimens for study, even consumption. Eventually our stores of deuterium will need to be replenished and your department is going to be the one to have to find those resources. Of all the departments, yours will probably be the busiest. What do I want, the same thing I want from all my officers and department, do your duty to the best of your ability."

"If it's not set up already, I can set up some areas in hydroponics and the arboretum for experimentation. We can't grow enough to feed the crew, but we could grow enough herbs to take care of most needs and perhaps come up with a few exotic spices for variety. And we can have some starters ready to planet if the need arises. It'll give the botanists something to play with," she said. "I'm familiar with the needs of an exploratory vessel. My question was more that I would like to know if there's anything beyond what is normally expected of science that you would like me or my department to work on."

Nothing came to mind at the moment. "I have no intentions of micro-managing yours or any department. Your projects are yours to conduct and assign. If there are needs you need met prior to our departure..see that they are met. If you need Commander Stone's of my approval to get those needs met, get us that information as soon as possible. If, during the mission, you identify any items, resource that you thing we need don't be afraid to speak up."

Alanna nodded. "Yes, sir. I will have a better idea of what I need -- if I need anything -- after I have a look around the department. I will definitely let you and Commander Stone know of any needs as soon as possible."

Standing Da`nal glanced down at the stack of padds that still needed his attention and a low growl rumbled in his throat. ere Looking up he motioned to the door. "Well let's go show you some of the many resources at your disposal."

Alanna stood and nodded. "Thank you," she said, smiling at her new Commanding Officer.

[Present]

The day to day activities aboard ship came to a halt when their commanding officer's voice sounded across all three ships and announced the loss of Commander Pike. It was expected that they would lose people along thought the mission, but so soon was a shock to all.

Alanna was in hydroponics when the announcement came over the comm system. She paused, slowly letting go of the planet she was checking. Death was something they were all trained to expect, but it was still sad. It was doubly so when it came as a result of an accident. "The poor family," she said quietly.


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Commodore Da'nal
CO

Lieutenant Commander Alanna Wells
Chief Science Officer

 

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