The New Guy

Posted on 01 Jan 2016 @ 12:45am by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Greg Mitchell & Captain Jonathan Holliday

1,528 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 10 - Symposium
Location: USS Galieo - Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: MD22 - 1200 hrs

[ON]

Greg stepped onto the Bridge, duffle bag swung over his arm. His meeting with the Chief of Security went well, and he was looking forward to this new posting. The next job on his list was meeting with the CO and to get his quarters assigned.

As he stepped onto the bridge, he couldn't help but notice how small it was compared to the last vessel he was on. Of course, this wasn't too unusual, as the Star Angel also had a small bridge. But spending a lot of time on a Sovereign class after that got him use to the bigger luxuries. As he saw other personnel walking back and forward doing different tasks, he made his way to the Captain's ready room off to the side. Ducking by another crewman and nodding a greeting to them, he walked up to the door and pressed the buzzer to the ready room. Here we go...try not to mess up. He thought.

"Enter." Came the Captain's reply. Their arrival at Jupiter station had yielded a constant flow of communications and bodies in and out of his office as the various engineers and relief crew started appearing as the Galileo's own staff began a well-earned shore leave. At least, for those who were fortunate enough to not be a part of the command staff, who would soon be getting their own debriefing back at HQ.

Greg entered through the doors and walked up to the desk. Setting down his bag, he saluted and reported in. "Sir, Chief Warrant Officer Greg Mitchell reporting as ordered. I'm your new security guard, sir." He held out his PADD that contained his transfer orders. "I've met with my department CO, Lt. Benice already, and she told me to report here as well."

Returning the enlisted man's salute, and with an inner respect for Mitchell's apparent dedication to the more military side of life in Starfleet as evident from his salute, offered the chair opposite his desk as a seat.

"Good to have you aboard Mr Mitchell. I have a Tac/Sec background myself so you'll find I have a fondness for the work you do. And speaking of backgrounds, the transfer report I received from your previous posting made for some rather interesting reading. You like to get the job done come hell or high water it seems?"

Greg sat up straighter, slightly worried. He's talking about the transfer evals from 418. He HAS to be talking about those. Because if he's talking about the Ferengi incident on Jupiter Station, then you've screwed yourself over before even being on the ship a day. , he thought to himself. "Thank you sir. The report you mention, is that the one from my evaluation on Starbase 418 or the Ohio?" Please don't be Jupiter station. Please don't be.... , he begged in his mind.

Holliday raised an eyebrow as he attempted to recall the exact location the report had been published from. Reaching for a PADD he quickly pulled up the record and scanned for the subject in question.

"That would be the report from Jupiter Station security I believe. Some very interesting subject material involving some Ferengi swindlers and a rather terse use of language if memory serves me accurately?"

John scanned a few more of the pages to make sure that he was indeed referring to the correct event before he continued.

"I think you got your point across rather well, all things considered, don't you think?"

Well sh...., Greg swore in his head. "Yes sir, I feel I did. Just to clarify though, they were bound to cause a disturbance if they tried to sell to the wrong person. Namely a survivor of Romulus. I'll apologize for my over the top language if that's necessary, but I did what I felt I had to in order to get them to stop. Ferengi aren't known for giving up easily."

Greg remembered the talk the Lieutenant on Jupiter Station had given him. "Also sir, I just wanted to point out that's should be a rare occurrence for my record...."

"Settle down Warrant Officer, we all do a few stupid things cutting our teeth in a new role. I for one decided to go hand to hand with a Jem'Hadar straight after leaving the Academy - still have this scar to remember it by."

The captain replied with a smirk and a pointed finger towards the mark on the side of his face. In all truthfulness he had rather enjoyed reading the report, and indeed watching the security footage that accompanied it (the fact that he had watched said footage he felt he would keep a secret from Mitchell, at least from the time being) had reminded him of the brash man he had been in his younger days. With a ship full of scientists, it was refreshing to find someone else who was happy to reach for a phaser when the time came.

"Although if you could tone down the language around Lieutenant Benice I'm sure it would stand you in good stead. That said I do not believe we are scheduled to have any Ferengi on board in the immediate future."

Greg breathed a sigh of relief. The Captain seemed like a pretty decent gentleman, and he was glad he saw things from his perspective. "Yes sir. Like I said, it is unusual for me to do. The Lieutenant shouldn't have any issues with me." He relaxed his posture slightly. "So, if you don't mind me asking sir, where did you posted during your Tac/Sec days?"

"Here and there." John replied, initially giving little away, before seeing the desire for more information in the man's eyes and deciding to give away a little more.

"Right after the Academy I served on the Damacles supervising the withdrawal of the Dominion to their bases in the Gamma quadrant. After that I was assigned to the Hera as a Tactical officer, before ending up on Starbase 47 as a weapons specialist.

After that I had a stint at the Academy as an Instructor in Tactical training, before spending some time helping the Romulan resettlement efforts. Since then I've served aboard the Galileo. You could say I haven't stayed in one place too long."

That last detail caught Greg's attention. "You assisted the Romulan resettlement?" he laughed, "It really is a small galaxy out there. As you'll see in my file, I was on the Ohio along the Neutral Zone after the General Alert went out. Mostly boarder patrol or medical escort. A lot of vessels came through so it was fairly busy."

He remembered the Warbird and the attack on the medical ships. That thought always flooded in when he remembered the Neutral Zone. He pushed it out of his mind before he go too invested. "Always someone trying to make trouble here and there though. Thank the Lord for Ambassador Spock. If it weren't for his sacrifice.....the damage would have been enormous."

"Indeed." John replied as he thought back on the times he had spent on the front lines so to speak. There was little that anyone could have done to avoid the nova, but at least the damage had been kept to a minimum.

"But now we find ourselves on a mission of exploration. A slightly different set of challenges. Hopefully with less requirements for the services of you and your colleagues. That said the last time we thought that I ended up crawling with nanoprobes...hopefully not again."

"Nanoprobes...." Greg mumbled. "On a science vessel...do I want to ask sir?"

Greg should have known he was being lied to by Lt. Friar on his transfer eval just by his tone of voice. She's hasn't that eventful of a history, was what the man had said to him, Yah, uneventful my a... Greg thought to himself.

"Suffice to say my understanding of the Borg is a little more complete than it was a few years ago. Not an experience I wish to repeat if I can avoid it. Now - I'm sure you are going to want to get settled in and unpacked. I won't delay you any longer than necessary."

John in all honesty was still a little uncomfortable reliving his experiences with the Collective. The idea that his body still played host to some of their technology and indeed some of his knowledge had remained in his own brain still made him feel sick to his stomach. He however was not about to unload that onto any member of his crew, it simply would not have been correct protocol.

"You're dismissed Mr Mitchell. Carry on."

Greg smiled and stood up. "Yes sir. Thank you sir." He realized there was more to this vessel then he was led to believe. He was beginning to wonder if this transfer was as beneficial as he thought it would be. But instead, he just nodded at the Captain, "I look forward to working with you all."

[OFF]

CAPT Jonathan Holliday
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

&

CWO2 Greg Mitchell
Security Officer
USS Galileo

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