Best Selection This Side of Jupiter

Posted on 21 Dec 2015 @ 6:20am by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Greg Mitchell & Petty Officer 1st Class Taliesin Cynwrig
Edited on on 31 Dec 2015 @ 6:19am

2,325 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 10 - Symposium
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 3, Armoury
Timeline: MD23, 1115 Hours

[ON]

Shore leave had begun, leaving much of the Galileo quiet and abandoned. Many of the crew were already making their way deeper into the Sol System and beyond, eager to put the memories of the last mission behind them. They'd been through the looking glass, to hell and back, and deserved this well-earned respite. Some few, however, found solace in their work...or really had no other place to be.

Taliesin was one of those types. With the station he had grown up on long abandoned, no living family that he was aware of, no real friends from the past to meet up with just a long string of contacts and criminals he knew, shore leave was not something he had ever given much thought to before. This time around, though, was different. Earth was nearby, a chance to see his father's homeland, and maybe he knew someone who could play the guide for him. That was all to be sorted out later though; for now, he wanted to make sure all his duties were attended to down to the most minute detail. Lieutenant Gyce deserved nothing less from him. At that moment, Taliesin was running a final inventory on the hand-held weaponry on board the Galileo, PADD in hand, every cabinet and drawer open in the small room that was both his post and his sanctuary on board the ship.

Greg had finished all of his meetings for the day (finally) and had situated himself in his quarters. Before his patrol on Beta shift got started, he decided to have his own look around the armory to get acquainted with the weapons he would be using. He wasn't expecting too much trouble on a ship this size with a crew this small, but one could not be too careful.

He stepped up to the door which opened for him. As he stepped through, he noticed the Petty Officer already in there taking stock. He smiled and nodded as he walked in. "Sorry, didn't mean to disturb you. I just got on board and wanted to see where the armory was."

The initial reaction the intruder got was a very obvious look over, Taliein assessing him as a potential threat. Then, hearing the words, and seeing that this stranger was making no move towards any of the weapons, he relaxed...slightly. Then, and only then, did Taliesin take note of the rank on the uniform, "No apologies are necessary, sir. Is there something I can help you with?" The question was perfectly neutral, but there was something disapproving on this man's face; this was his domain, but he was too disciplined to come across as rude to a superior.

Greg caught the look of caution on this gentleman's face. Good. Greg knew that whenever weapons are involved, it was better to be safe than sorry. He also, however caught the slight look of disapproval. He already felt like he was interrupting when he came in, so maybe that was it. But then Greg caught the insignia on the man's collar. Petty Officer First Class. This immediately spurred Greg's memory.

After his....mix up with the counselor, Greg had RE-reviewed the crew manifest, starting with his own department. The fact that this gentleman was in the armory going through the weapons cabinets meant one thing...well, two actually. One option meant that he was an intruder about to steal weapons and commit an act of terrorism on a government vessel...which was bad. Greg figured, given the current status of the ship in Sol space that this was not the case.

The other option was that his current situation, coupled with his rank and the fact that there was currently one prominent Petty Officer in the security department meant that this had to be the ship's Master at Arms, Taliesin Cynwrig. That being the case meant that his attitude was understandable.

"Nothing specific, I'm Chief Warrent Officer Greg Mitchell. I'm a new Security officer aboard. I just finished my briefing and wanted to know where the weapons were kept on the ship in case of an emergency. My shift goes on in a few hours, so I was acquainting myself. Can I assume you are the Master at Arms?"

"You assume correctly," Taliesin closed the distance between them and offered a hand to shake. "Cynwrig, sir. Welcome on board." The disapproval had lessened now. Hearing that this man was not just his superior but also a crew-mate changed things. This was still his domain, and Taliesin might have some trouble with working on a team at times, but he did make the effort. "I'm in the middle of an inventory at the moment, sir; we lost a lot of our weapons stores with recent events. But with what remains..." He looked around the small room, an expression of pride plain to see. "I'd say we still have the best selection this side of Jupiter. Would you like to see?"

Greg shook his hand and smiled back at him and took him up on the offer. "That would be great, if you don't mind." He was glad to see the Petty Officer relax some more. He was also glad the man appeared to enjoy his work. Nothing worse than getting in a job you don't want to do. So seeing someone take pride in it was good. Of course he did think back to his comment "recent events." Having not been on board that long, Greg noticed a certain....depression among certain members. Something obviously had happened to this ship before he heard about it. Which meant that next time he was on Starbase 418, he was going to kill that lying Lieutenant "you should be fine" Friar....hypothetically of course. He also reminded himself to read any declassified history on the ship.

"You see a lot of action on a vessel of this type?" Greg asked.

Taliesin had turned first to the array of Starfleet standard weapons, the least interesting of the assembly of weaponry on board. There was the usual assortment of phasers, type I through III, though there were a number of gaps from the missing weapons he had mentioned. Nothing too interesting there. "You'd be surprised, sir," Taliesin said wryly. "I've only been on board a few weeks myself, came here after the crew transfers at the end of the war games. And here I thought a tiny science vessel would be pretty boring. Ha!" He shook his head and stepped further down the wall, preparing to show off something else, "So where are you coming from? If you don't mind my asking, sir."

Greg was impressed with the assortment of weapons that were in the room. Regardless of past events that plagued the ship, Greg felt he could do some good with the weapons that were still on board.

He did not, however, feel good about the comment about the science vessel not being boring. Oh joy. May as well have stayed on the friggen Ohio . He thought to himself. The whole point of the transfer was to get AWAY from the excitement for once.

"Well, my last posting was the Sovereign class USS Ohio. We did a few patrols on the Romulan border, nothing big. Before that I was an officer on a couple of other postings." He explained, following Taliesin down the wall, "Before that, I was a police officer on the Champaign Police Department in Illinois. That was fairly interesting. How about you?"

The Master-At-Arms had shown off the supply of photon grenades and the two isomagnetic disintegrators, but then he got to something he was obviously proud of. These were some of his own personal weapons he'd brought on board and added to the armoury, and though some of his weapons had been stolen or lost in the Mirror Universe, there were still some nice pieces left. An Andorian phaser, three Klingon disruptors, a Ferengi energy whip, and a Vulcan phaser rifle. Then there were the melee weapons, bat'leth, D'k tagh, teral'n, and mortaes from Merak II.

But what really grabbed his attention was what Mitchell had said at the end, "A police officer, huh? Small universe. Fifteen years as the security chief of the Toshvot Trading Station, which is a glorified way of saying I was the only law enforcement on a small civilian station plagued by con artists, thieves, smugglers, and occasionally worse." Taliesin grunted and even smiled just slightly for a moment, then shook his head, amused. "Looks like we got a good team forming up on this ship."

Greg looked amazed at the weapon collection Taliesin had gathered. The amount of work and commitment to collecting these objects must have taken some time.

"Yah, it had to be tougher than a city department. All you really have to worry about there is gang activity and the occasionally lazy guy who decides to rob a bank. Plus you don't have to worry about a lack of back up." Greg smiled, "Being on Earth had a plus, so I can safely say you probably know a heck of a lot more about dealing with non-Earth citizens than I do." He looked back at the weapons. "How long did it take you to collect all of these weapons?"

"I don't know about 'tougher', but it certainly had its moments," Taliesin replied wryly. "But I met a lot of aliens, sure. Still, I'd like to see Earth someday. Never been." Taliesin closed up the weapons lockers and paused for a moment to add in the final notations on his inventory report, then keyed the computer to deliver that to Lieutenants Gyce and Wyatt. "Hmm, well, some of these were my father's, but most of them I got while living on the station, so about thirty years or so. I gotta ask, sir. From what I hear, Earth is a paradise. What made you want to give up that for ship duty? Galileo might be a lot of things, but it's far from paradise."

Greg thought back for a moment, remembering his reason for joining up. "Well, after the attempted Borg invasion in '73, the Dominion War, and that little issue with the Reman's in '79, Starfleet was looking for more people to fill the ranks. I figured I would do a lot of good defending Earth from here. Things were calming down, till Romulus blew up."

He thought a little longer. "But I do miss Earth from time to time. I figure once the galaxy has another period of peace, I can ask for a discharge and go back to policing a University town." Greg saidm sarcastically describing the Champaign area. "I figure in about five more years or so, my tour will be over. I'll head on back then. Well...barring anything else from happening. You should definately try to see Earth some time. It's where we started, and it's where the Federation started. It would be similar to being an American in the 21's century and visiting Washing D.C., when it was the capital." Greg smiled at the thought.

"I certainly plan on it, sir," Taliesin agreed. "Sometime. Right now though there's plenty of stuff to get done, even if we're on shore leave. There's new munitions to take on board, training schedules to set up and get approved, and I wouldn't be surprised if Lieutenant Gyce decides to rewrite every Security procedure there is and come up with some of her own after what we've just been through." If anything, Taliesin looked rather eager for it. "Good times, to be in Security. Maybe I'll get a chance to head down to Earth this time around, but I figure its not going anywhere either so I'm not in that big of a rush." Taliesin glanced around his armoury and was satisfied everything was cleaned up and stored, good enough for an inspection. "Well, sir, I'm about to close up shop here. Was there anything else I can do for you?"

"No, nothing else. Thank you. I have a few other errands to run before my shift starts. You take very great care of your weapons. I remember a few officers back home who didn't even clean theirs. Bad move whenever you need to use it." Greg took one last look around on his way to the door, "Lord forbid we ever end up having to use them, but it's great to have them in perfect shape regardless."

Greg turned around and smiled one last time, reaching a hand out for a departure shake, "It was good meeting you Mr. Cynwrig. Thank you for the tour. I look forward to working together."

"The same, sir," Taliesin responded with a departing handshake and nod. He definitely approved of the man's law enforcement background, especially as it might help him learn more while he was on board. Plus, Taliesin wasn't immune to a bit of flattery over his weapons, and it was nice to know that his superiors recognized a good job when they saw it. In fact, the conversation had been diverting enough that Taliesin hadn't even sworn once; hopefully that helped to make a good first impression too. Putting his mind back to the job, he turned to finish his final tasks and lock up.

Greg left the room and tried to find a way to kill time before his shift started. He was very impressed with the status of the ships armory and hoped that should he have to utilize them in the future, then everything would go well. He looked forward to working with everyone in his department. He just hoped that the posting here would be more quiet then Mr. Cynwrig had let on.

[OFF]

CWO2 Greg Mitchell
Security Officer
USS Galileo

&

PO1 Taliesin Cynwrig
Master-At-Arms
USS Galileo
PNPC by Xanth

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