Welcome Aboard
Posted on Mon Oct 30th, 2023 @ 7:14pm by Commander Lorut Vila & Lieutenant Rowena "Rena" Campbell & Lieutenant Commander Jared Rush & Fleet Captain Maxwell Culver
1,201 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
First Contact
Location: USS Intrepid: Ready Room
Timeline: MD2: 1200 hours
Lieutenant Rena Campbell found the new Strategic Operations Chief in his office. She knocked once. "Hello, sir. Lieutenant Rena Campbell, ship’s counselor and I do all of our diplomatic work, as well," the Betazoid woman explained. "The Captain and Commander would like to see you in the ready room for onboarding things. Please allow me to escort you," she said. "Do you need anything? Are you settling in well?" She asked as they stepped into the corridor and to the turbolift.
“Ah, Counselor…nice to meet you. Jared Rush,” the Commander said as he introduced himself and shook her hand.
“Things are going well, so far. I think. My predecessor must have been very good at making things hard to find. Trying to find files in the database and it’s been a helluva thing.
But I’m holding my own. Thanks for askin’. Onboarding, huh? Didn’t think they still did that on starships, but any opportunity to discuss things with the Cap’n. I have some ideas he might appreciate,” Rush said.
Rena smiled. "Excellent. I think Commander Lorut is already seated. Please be aware that she's a bit...tough at first but I am sure she'll warm up to you. Eventually. She's finally started calling me Lieutenant Campbell instead of just Counselor, so that's progress," she said. "Here we are." She paused outside of the ready room and rang the chime.
A moment later, the voice of Commander Lorut rang out. "Bring him through, Lieutenant. Tell Culver to hurry it up, or I will personally throw him out of the airlock into the Bajoran wormhole," she sighed. She looked up as the Counselor escorted the new crewman into the room.
"Hello," she said. "Thank you, Lieutenant. Have a seat."
“Hello, Commander. I, uh, take it everyone had a good time last night. Honestly, that was the longest dinner party I’ve ever been to. Even back home on Earth, Thanksgiving dinner didn’t last as long. So, why am I here exactly?” Rush said.
“I’m gonna need you to take it down a notch, Commander Lorut. I’m not planning on going out any airlocks today. We’ve a new officer,” Max responded, showing he wasn’t exactly thrilled with her tone this morning.
Turning to Commander Rush, Max said, “It was intended to be a welcome aboard meeting and an idea about how you plan to serve the ship. We haven’t had a Chief is Strategic Operations Officer since our launch.”
“Also, if we’re going to have one of those days, I prefer you call me Captain, not Culver,” Max added.
Vila shot him a look of icy violence. "Yes, sir, CAPTAIN," she said, pointedly. "I didn't see you come in; the Counselor said you were on the phone with Albion again," she said. She turned her attention back to the stranger.
“Pleasure to be here, sir. A fine ship we have, from what I’ve seen of it. Obviously the goal for all of us is to have Intrepid operating at top efficiency. What I’d like to do is see all the department logs and reports from Security, Engineering, and Ops, along with the current duty rosters. Get a lay of the land and I’ll prepare a report with recommendations. No reinventing the wheel, Cap’n, I just want to see how we do what we do and make us better,” offered Rush.
"I currently handle all of those things. I think you'll find them satisfactory, I can beam them to you now," she said, picking up her PADD. A moment later, she sat it back down. "There you go," she said.
“That’s perfect, then, Commander. Can you get me some feedback once the leg work is complete? The most important part of strategic operations is being prepared for any eventuality, am I right?,” Rush said lightly. He then turned his attention to Captain Culver.
The Bajoran raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't know, my specialty is-was-Science," she said. "But yes, it should be the duty of ANY Starfleet officer to be prepared for any outcome," she conceded. "I will do what I can to assist." She picked up her coffee and sipped it, already annoyed, and it wasn't even two-thirty yet.
“Captain, with your permission, if we don’t already have one, I’d like to create a secure network to share with the Intelligence Department on the ship. A highly secure, encrypted station, to be accessed only by Senior Staff. I understand we have an Intelligence Liaison on board.”
“We have an Intelligence Officer aboard, yes,” Max agreed and slightly corrected the title. I would be surprised if Lieutenant Kerr isn’t already working on that. From you, I’ll expect to see fleet movements around us. I don’t need to Voyager us into every nemesis fleet we can fly directly into.”
“We’ve got the Klingon/Reman Alliance to worry about now, not to mention the rogue Romulans and whatever species we’ve not yet met behind the Romulan Iron Curtain. I expect you and Intelligence will be talking a lot and that type of information is what we’re going to need to stay intact and alive.”
“Of course, Cap’n. Fleet movements and corresponding activity will be top priority. I will reach out to Lieutenant….Kerr? We can share mutually beneficial information.”
Vila's eyebrows raised a bit at the man's suggestion. Interesting. This one was at least promising as a self-starter. She looked at Max-he seemed to be handling it fine, so she didn't interject anything. Truthfully, she had never really bothered to learn much about the workings of other departments-both herself and her ex had been science officers, and she'd immersed in that.
“I’d like you to observe Lieutenant Commander Chester Ripley. He’s what we would call a ‘Jack of all trades and master of none’. After you’re done setting up your department, I’d like you to watch him in action. He can transfer to any department in a flash.”
Vila snorted. She had other words for him, but she smiled tightly. "Sounds good to me, as well," she said.
“Very well, sir. I’ll be glad to. More than happy to compliment my team and get additional manpower. With your permission Cap’n, Commander, I’d like to get going and not have to burn the midnight oil,” Rush added. He stood up and prepared to take leave of his commanding officers.
Max stood from behind his desk and offered Commander Rush a nod. “Now, don’t go too hard on them. If all goes to plan, we’ll escort the Helivans to wherever they’re going and resume our previous course, in which we’ll have a few days of time to work and you’ll have time to set things up to your satisfaction,” Max told Commander Rush.”
“If you’ve got nothing else, consider yourself dismissed,” Max completed.
Vila shook her head to indicate she had nothing else to say. She stood up to follow Rush out of the Ready Room-she had other things to do, herself. Like run a Bridge.
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