First Meeting

Posted on 18 Jan 2016 @ 12:58am by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Greg Mitchell
Edited on on 22 Jan 2016 @ 7:45pm

2,333 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 10 - Symposium
Location: USS Galileo - Admiral's Office
Timeline: MD 22 - 1120 hrs

[ON]

Having finished placing his things in his quarters, Greg decided to do the next meeting on his list: the Admiral of the ship. It was safe to say he was fairly nervous. He had never actually met an admiral before. He had seen them on the news obviously and military events. But he had never in his near ten year career met one face to face. So he made sure his uniform was properly in order, that he had all of his information about his posting memorized, and that he made his position on the ship look good.

Straightening his shirt one more time, he approached the office door and hit the buzzer. He was fairly certain he was going to blow this.

Lirha looked up from her LCARS console with a green upper lip coated in milky hot chocolate froth from the the drink she had just been sipping. Her red tongue lapped out and quickly swooped across the top of her lips to remove the obstruction, and she then focused on the visitor who was apparently outside her door.

"Enter," she called out in a mediocre voice, not sure which new crewman or command staff officer needed to speak with her. The surprise was part of the job, she had learned over the past year.

Greg heard the command, took a deep breath, and walked in. The first thing he noticed was that the Admiral was not human, which was surprisingly a first for him. The second thing he noticed was that the Admiral was and Orion, another first for him. Three first meetings all mixed into one. Of course, after his mix up with the counselor, nothing surprised him now. I really need to re-read that manisfest, he thought.

Externally, he walked in, stood at attention, saluted like he had to many first meetings with CO's in the past, then stood at attention. "Ma'am, Chief Warrant Officer Second Class Greg Mitchell, reporting as ordered. I'm here to fill the vacant security officer position." He rattled off. Remembering the PADD he had with hims, he unhooked it from his belt, "I have my transfer orders here if you would like to go over them ma'am." Well, the hard parts out of the way. You should be good from here, he thought again.

Lirha looked up at the man who had just entered. Short dark hair, brown eyes, mid-stature. Strangely, he looked very familiar to a couple other crew members who were on board, but she simply dismissed it as the 'Human phenomenon'. Often times they all looked alike to her.

"Hello, chief," she politely smiled, then reached out with her green hand to take the offered PADD. "Please have a seat," she added while gesturing towards the nearest vacant chair.

Greg, after handing over the PADD, walked over to the chair and sat down. "Yes, ma'am." He sat sitting straight up, hands on his lap, basically the most uncomfortable position possible for him. Putting on a professional face usually meant putting aside personal comfort. Of course, being on a ship this small meant comfort was going to be hard to come by. It felt just like the Star Angel, only a little bigger and a little more advanced. "Oh, also ma'am, I've already checked in with my Department CO, Lt. Gyce. She had briefed me on what to expect, the procedure of weapons aboard, and the procedure to interact with crew." Greg added all of that just to cover his bases.

The Orion nodded to herself then quickly browsed through the contents of the transfer request on the PADD, thumbing down through the screen and taking a mental note of anything which seemed to be of interest. As she always eventually did, she placed the slim device down on her desk and looked back up at the man.

"What brings you to Galileo?" she inquired with a light, neutral tone. Some of the details were obviously present in the transfer orders, but she wanted to hear the man's own explanation for his arrival.

"Oh, you know ma'am. This and that." Greg explained, trying to keep the specific reasons, the events on the USS Ohio, as downplayed as possible. "Spent my last two tours on combat oriented vessels. Wanted to see what a science vessel was like." Greg flashed a polite smile again.

"I figure there's still plenty of police oriented activities that need to be done around here. I'll probably have plenty to do."

Lirha raised her eyebrows with a bit of light-hearted amusement. "Plenty of...criminal scientists to arrest?" She couldn't resist poking a bit of fun at the new NCO, but also wondered exactly what type 'police-oriented activities' he enjoyed.

Greg embarrassingly laughed at the question. He realized he had been trying to over sell his qualification, so he decided to clarify. "Well, probably less likely on here then on a civilian or combat ship, but there could be other things. Paroling Jeffries tubes, checking for stow-aways, and I'm certain there may be a domestic or two on here. That usually happens when people bunk together. The Lord Himself only knows how many of those I've had to deal with."

He compared this posting to the previous ones he had been on. "But I don't think I have to worry about anything to major. No aggravated battery calls, no shots fired," He then whispered under his breath, "No inconsiderate Ferengi salesmen..."

He regained his composure, "But I always prepare for the worst. So if the worst does happen, ma'am, I will be ready."

"I would expect nothing less," replied Lirha who continued to look up at him. She folded her green hands gently into her lap and then leaned back in her seat.

"Are you familiar with a Nova-class starship?" she then asked curiously. it was quite different than most of the other Starfleet ships of the line, and definitely had their own distinctive quirks.

"Uh, no ma'am." Greg explained, "I did some research before posting, like crew compliment, mission, weapons, but nothing to in depth. I'm used to warships like Sovereigns, or patrol craft like Mirandas." That's why I'm more used to locations with stricter protocol."

He looked back at the door, "I noticed not a lot of people salute or follow protocol near as much here."

"We are a Starfleet vessel, Mister Mitchell...there is no need for pomp and circumstance in this small, confined tub. Standing at attention is respect enough for any senior officer." Lirha gave the man a wry grin and shook her head before continuing. "Spirits know, you will be seeing all of us very much so on a daily basis. You might develop a rotator cuff injury if you salute every one of your superiors whenever you see them."

"Ma'am, yes ma'am. I wasn't pointing anyone out in particular ma'am. I was just making an observation. It's going to be a hard habit to break." Greg smiled, "But hopefully my more...." he thought for a moment, What's the right word? Conservative? No. Militaristic? No.... "traditional ways won't annoy the other crew."

"I think you will find this crew to be less than 'traditional'. In many ways," she replied. "We lack many of the traditional amenities of Starfleet vessels, but our crew has learned to adapt to our confined situation and make the best of it." Six habitable decks crammed into a mere 180 meters made for a very long-term, close-quarters working environment. Even the narrow layouts of the corridors was a testament to the design philosophy which Starfleet's Advanced Design Bureau had adopted when the Nova-class was blueprinted.

Greg chuckled, "Yes ma'am. I should have expected as such on a smaller vessel. I noticed my quarters hold two people. That's a first on both ends. I was in a bunk room with a few crew members on the Star Angel, and the Ohio I had one to myself. This is something in between. It should be easy to adept to." At least it would be easier to adapt to then Starbase life, staying in ones spot for so long. "But I hopefully won't come across as too strict. I'm actually not. Just had the aforementioned protocol drilled into my head for years."

"I am sure you will adjust quite well to our family," replied Saalm before addressing the issue of quarters assignment. "Most of our available quarters are two-person rooms...you will be assigned a roommate and it will be up to the two of you how you wish to arrange your living space and co-habitate. In the meantime, do you have any questions for me?" she asked, wanting to afford the man the chance to inquire about anything which might be on his mind.

Greg thought for a minute. "No ma'am, not that I...." then he remembered. "Actually yest ma'am. Just a small inquiry." He put some humor into the question. He only ever used bigger words like "inquiry" when trying to sound not too serious, "Will we be patrolling anywhere near the Neutral Zone?"

Lirha's ears perked up a bit and she tiled her head curiously. "Perhaps. Why do you ask?" One of her first assignments as an intelligence officer in the fleet had been stationed aboard a starbase and tasked with observing Romulan activity across the disputed territory. She was very familiar with the region, and now wanted to know more.

"I...." Greg started, before the vision of Romulan refugees flooded his brain, causing his stomach to churn. "Nothing, ma'am. That's where my last posting was. If...." He thought of a quick lie on the spot, "...if you guys need any advice about the area, just let me know and I can help." he smiled, preparing to get up and leave when the time was right.

"If we are ever deployed within the region, you will of course be notified," the rear admiral confirmed. Something about his answer seemed to not match the candor of his question, however, and so she proceeded to dig a bit further. "Do you have experience working with Romulans?"

Oh come on Greg thought, "Uh, yes ma'am. The Ohio was in charge of border patrol after the nova. Nothing major, just a few ships coming through here and there." Liar he accused himself.

"We've had a couple of skirmishes. Nothing major." He then thought of making up a joke to change the subject. "I haven't really had much personal experience with them. I'll tell you what I have had though, Vulcans. Man, it is hard as heck to crack any kind of sarcasm around them." He laughed, "It doesn't help when you come from a Kentucky family, you use metaphors all the time."

"At least a Romulan will understand your metaphors. I am confident that the Vulcan government does not recognize 'Kentucky' as any sort of sovereign entity," she giggled briefly in return. Both of the species were inherently similar but had massive cultural differences, in her experience. But, at least the Romulans showed some sense of thought outside of logical paradigms.

Greg laughed at the thought of a Vulcan wondering why a person would put an emphasis on a certain location, a state, or a territory. No matter how long it has been since the formation of the Federation, some things just never change. Must be a human thing.

Wanting to avoid sucking his dark past history with Romulans into the conversation, Greg immediately pretended the subject was never brought up. "Well, ma'am. I better let you get back to work. I'm sure you are very busy." He smiled politely at the Admiral.

"Indeed," she replied, motioning towards her hot chocolate which was obviously of the utmost priority at the moment. "Have you had an opportunity to meet Lieutenant Benice?" she then asked, now that they were on the subject of work.

"Yes ma'am. I met with her earlier when I boarded." Greg responded. "She seems to be very professional so it looks like I may enjoy working with her."

"If I recall correctly, she is our former security investigations officer...perhaps there is much that you two might have in common?" she proposed. It was certainly a positive to have similar-minded officers aboard the same vessel. At least, so she thought.

"Perhaps," Greg replied, "I've never had much of an interest in the investigative position. Too much detective stuff. I'm more of the enforce the law, protect the innocent type. But her experience does seem to have given her a great interest of police work. And she probably had to be a patrol officer before making investigations. So I'm sure she and I would be able to 'read each other's minds' when it comes to police work if you know what I mean. So I look forward to being able to work for her."

Lirha nodded in understanding and agreement. "I believe she has extensive experience working on Bajor following the Occupation. No doubt she has some knowledge in the field that the two of you can share." She then reached out for her mug and took another long sip of the frothy drink. "Well...do you have any other questions for me before you begin your new assignment?" she then asked, in order to give the man a chance to bring anything to her attention which might be on his mind.

"No ma'am." Greg smiled, "Nothing else."

"Dismissed, then," she said in a light voice while giving the new NCO a welcoming smile. "Welcome aboard, Mister Mitchell."

"Yes ma'am." Greg saluted one final time, just as a final formality, then turned around and left the room. He walked out the door and headed back to his quarters to prepare for his first shift. He was definitely going to like working here. Different, but it looks more comfortable.

[OFF]

--

RADM Lirha Saalm
Mission Advisor
USS Galileo

&

CWO2 Greg Mitchell
Security Officer
USS Galileo

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