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Posted on 26 Dec 2013 @ 10:18pm by Petty Officer 3rd Class Ellsworth Hudson & Lieutenant Min Zhao

1,176 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Episode 05 - Solstice
Location: San Francisco, Earth
Timeline: MD 10 - 1430 hrs

[ ON ]

Ellsworth rolled his eyes at the PADD in his hand. It was beeping furiously with another message from the personnel officer assigned to him at Starfleet Command, probably reminding the young petty officer that he had not yet presented himself to his department head on the USS Galileo. Of course he was well aware of that, and the situation hadn't changed since the last time he'd spoken with the personnel officer...three hours ago. He had no idea where Lieutenant Amril was and it didn't seem like the computer had a clue about the Vorta's location either. Not that the personnel officer cared. He just had some file he needed to unflag, and there was probably some higher-ranking bureaucrat above him sending him messages every three hours about it, too.

Ellsworth heaved a sigh, rolled his eyes again for good effect and activated the message on the PADD. Shockingly, it seemed to contain something different than the previous messages. It began with a repetition of his deployment orders, indicating he was assigned to the USS Galileo as Quartermaster...blah, blah, blah... But near the end, the form letter had been changed. "Report to Lieutenant JG Min Zhao, Assistant Chief Operations Officer, as soon as possible for duty assignment."

He shrugged and weaved his way through a crowd of passing cadets to the nearest computer terminal, accessing the Starfleet Personnel Database. "Computer, locate Lieutenant JG Min Zhao, USS Galileo."

The computer beeped an acknowledgement and then moments later displayed a map for him. "Lieutenant Zhao is currently at San-Francisco Fleet Yards.

=-=-=-=-=

[Fleet Yards]
[Holodecks]

Min shutdown the shuttle simulator and stepped out into the hallway. She'd spent the past hour practising for her Waverider Type certification. She was used to the smaller craft though she'd flown runabout size craft during her time as a civilian.

Leaving the simulator facility, Min stopped to look at the Galileo. From her vantage point on the ground it looked so large and yet compared to her previous posting, was quite small.

Ellsworth had needed to transfer the lieutenant's location to his PADD in order to find her; San Francisco Fleet Yards was an enormous facility with which he was poorly acquainted. On his own it would have taken him days to locate her, but with the computer's help he'd been able to wait patiently outside the simulator facility for her to emerge.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" he said, sidling up beside her. The difference in their height was about as significant as the difference in their rank. "I'm PO3 Ellsworth Hudson, the new Quartermaster for the Galileo. Personnel Command asked me to check in with you as ACOO."

Min nodded. "You're reporting for duty on the Galileo I assume?"

Ellsworth nodded. He tried to keep the look of annoyance off his face as he explained, "Yes, ma'am. I was supposed to report to Lt. Amril, but I can't find him. Not that Personnel Command cares. They've been pretty insistent about it until today, when they finally told me to report to you."

"With her undergoing an extensive refit right now, most of us are on leave. Probably why you can't find Lt Amril."

"I guess that would make sense. Well, uh...is there anything I should be doing during the refit? They didn't exactly give me extensive duty orders. They mostly just told me to report to you. Do we just have time off until they finish the refit?" He tried not to sound too hopeful, but being fresh out of advanced training he had little idea about how things actually worked outside of the classroom. He was sure there were a thousand things he could do aboard the ship, but would they even clear a lowly PO3 to board the ship?

"The ship is undergoing a deck by deck refit so there's very few crew stationed aboard right now. Best I can suggest is make yourself available to the dockmaster and if they don't need you, you're free to occupy yourself as you see fit."

Ellsworth nodded. Right, the dockmaster. That seemed to make sense. He rocked on his heels next to the ACOO, gazing up at the ship looming before them. It wasn't that Ells was poorly socialized or unfriendly, but 'Small Talk with Your Officers' wasn't a course covered in enlisted training. Not to mention he couldn't quite get a read on the tall Asian woman next to him; his initial impression was that she was serious, but the baby bump told him she definitely wasn't serious all the time. Her mind seemed preoccupied, but that's where he limited his telepathic investigation.

"Soooo," he said, continuing to rock on his heels with his hands clasped behind his back. "Have you been posted to the ship long, ma'am?"

Min shook her head, no. "I'm a recent transfer in. Officially joined the ship once she docked. Actually haven't been aboard her myself either. Been spending time working on my pilot certs for the ship's auxiliary craft."

He relaxed a little bit. "I've only gotten my basic certification. They don't give you a lot of time to work on things like that at the enlisted school. It's mostly a lot of yelling. And running. Sometimes both at the same time."

"If you're interested and have the aptitude, I can make inquiries into getting you trained Petty Officer."

For the briefest moment, Ellsworth's suspicions were aroused. Not in response to any sort of deception detected telepathically, but merely out of reflex. His life had been brief thus far, but throughout it he'd learned the hard lesson that not many people did things out of altruism. Adjusting to different attitudes and personalities in Starfleet would be...challenging.

"Yes, ma'am, I'd appreciate that," he said. He let a moment of silence linger in the air, hesitant about pressing his luck. "Would it be possible to receive some transporter training, too? I don't have any certifications, but my duties involve a lot of cargo movement. If I were certified to deal with some of it myself, I think it could make me more efficient. Theoretically, I guess."

"I still have to familiarize myself with the departmental roster but I'll keep that in mind while I review yours. If it looks like it's of benefit, I'll see about getting some training time scheduled for you. Deal?"

"Deal. And thank you, ma'am. I think I should get going. I'll go over and see if the dockmaster needs any help," Ellsworth said. Thankfully, he remembered the PADD in his hand and the persistence of his personnel officer. He extended the PADD toward her. "Um, could I get your print here? They want it to be all official-like, I guess."

Min placed her thumbprint on the padd, giving her official approval the Petty Officer had reported in.

[ OFF ]

PO3 Ellsworth Hudson
Quartermaster
USS Galileo
[ PNPC by Dr. Olsam Mott ]

&

LT JG Min Zhao
Assistant Chief Operations Officer
USS Galileo

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