First Impressions

Posted on 18 Oct 2012 @ 8:35pm by Lieutenant Scott Parker & Chief Warrant Officer 4 Cyrus Kiwosk
Edited on on 18 Oct 2012 @ 9:03pm

2,470 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 02 - Resupply
Location: USS Galileo - Security Office, Deck 3
Timeline: MD 3 1530 HRS

ON:

The doors of the Security Department hissed open much to Cyrus's amazement there was so few people. You're not on a Galaxy anymore Cy...There aren't even marines here.

Tossing his PADD lightly in the air he made his way past the few officers on duty, who looked up briefly before looking back at whatever they were doing originally. Cyrus didn't pay them too much mind, but he noticed that all of them seemed to carry themselves very easily. They knew how to defend themselves, that much was certain. He glanced at a giant black man as he walked by and was surprised to see someone who was the same physique as the ex-marine. He couldn't help but chuckled as he walked past.

The CSO office was easy to find. Cyrus rolled his shoulders, cracked his knuckles loudly and took a deep breathe. He pressed the chime. The doors parted immediately, evidently unlocked or secured.

"CWO Kywosk here sir. I have a meeting?"

Parker, who was on his hands and knees searching for something at the other side of his desk, immediately popped his head up and glanced across the threshold at Cyrus. He blinked in surprise before hauling himself to his feet. "A meeting? With me?" Some confusion crossed his features. "Uh, I don't remember scheduling a meeting, Chief, there's - there's gotta' be some mistake here."

Cyrus stared a moment watching his soon-to-be CSO climb back to his feet. "No mistake here sir, I'm your new security officer." Kiwosk was suddenly getting the impression that the lieutenant was only recently arrived himself and might need some clarification. "The Commander said that I have to meet with the CSO...you are the CSO right?" Cyrus half expected a no, but knew the answer to the question already.

His eyes turned to where the lieutenant was crawling around. "Were you looking for something sir?" He asked as he stepped into the room.

"Uh, no, take a seat." Parker gestured to the chair before the desk, ending the line of questioning, and sat down himself with very little ceremony. He took a moment or two to look up his visitor's name on the station at his desk before focusing his attention on Kiwosk. "So you're a new addition to the team. Right, that makes sense, I guess. I'm, uh, Scott Parker - the CSO, like you said."

Cyrus sat down and nodded. He passed the PADD over to his new boss and rolled one of his shoulders. "I assume that you haven't read my file then?" He asked slowly. "It's all there. If you want the brief version, I have a dual trade in Security and Military. I completed both fields during my stint at the Academy and I have been recently transferred from the USS Fitzgerald under the command of Commodore Sturmgeist. I was a sergeant in the marine detachement stationed on board under the command of Major Fernandez, where I took a grenade to the face while on a rescue mission. The medical records sum up that little adventure." He spoke plainly, flatly. It wasn't something that he enjoyed recounting to everyone, but it seemed that he had to.

Scott seemed inclined to disagree and gazed with care at the muscle-bound warrant officer for a moment or two before licking his lips and scanning information on the tablet. "You were at the academy briefly, before the marine corps, I see. But no commission." He glanced up. "Not interested in becoming an officer candidate?"

He chuckled. "I thought about it, hell I almost had my name written down on the list." He took a long silence to put his words together carefully. "But I bumped into several officers who knew...less than what their records showed, heard the stories of officers forgetting what NCO's and lower ranks go through. Quite frankly, I wanted to know what the every day marine and sec officer go through before putting my name in for officer candidacy. The ones that forget, are the ones that lose respect."

Nodding thoughtfully, the security chief placed the PADD back down on the desk and fished for something in his drawer. After a moment or two of awkward silence, he produced a flat, metal tin of some kind and left it there before addressing Cyrus again. "So explain to me how you're holding your rank. I don't quite understand. You're - " he lifted the PADD again and glanced at it - "twenty five years old. Yet you're a Warrant Officer with a senior grade. How does a twenty five year old former marine acheive a rank that guys in their fifties and sixties - who've been with Starfleet for life-long careers - are denied on a constant basis?"

Cyrus couldn't help but chuckle. "Well do you want the long or the short of it?"

Parker smiled wryly and gestured for him to continue. He seemed genuinely curious, and with no malicious intent, but his eyes belied a sense of apprehension that Cryus intuitively picked up on. It was difficult not to take not of the tension in the room.

"I came out of the SFMC in the top three percentile. That already made me a popular choice I guess." He shrugged. "I never really put much to score results.

"There are only a few commendations on my file from my time on the Fitz and I only served a few years on board; however, I went on several missions. Some not mentioned on file." He sat up straight and the smile on his face slowly crept away, leaving a serious, stern look of a hardened soldier. "My first assigment right out the academy was the Fitzgerald, an Intrepid class the time, The Commander was impressed with my academy results he bumped me to Master Corporal, on the premise that I deliver. This was near the end of the Dominion War, when we tasked to investigate an abandoned Di-Lithium mining station with a docked Science facility. They were apparently doing tests on refinement or something, trying to get the stuff to last longer. The Marine CO, Captain Fernandez, took me along to investigate the facility only to find out that the Dominion were waiting for us."

He began to recline into the chair once again as he got comfortable with the story. "We didn't see a lot of action until the team of 8 split up into two teams: One would go to the bridge and attempt to re-establish communications, the other would go to Engineering and try to prevent the Dominion from overloading the core.

"I was on the bridge party with Fernandez when we began to encounter heavy resistance. We lost one man on the way to the bridge. By the time we got their Fernandez had made sure that we were the only noticed squad on board so the other team could get to engineering. Once we were there We held out for 8 hours of constant fighting. I cut the power to the lifts and barricaded the jeffieries to prevent anyone getting in, but shields were down on the facility. While the other member of the team tried to get the communications on-line I held one door by myself against the Dominion equivalent of a section. When the other marine got incapcitated I dragged him over to the bulkhead and held off both doors, and the transporting Dominion while Fernandez patched him up." he finshed.

"By the time everything was said and done we had exhausted all weapons, and the Dominion's entire soldiering battalion. I received a promotion to sergeant in the SFMC." He continued. "After that it was several minor missions, but I ended up being the favorite on aways and boardings, up until my last mission with the grenade and the prisoners." He sighed, it always came back to that damned mission.

"I pretty much sacrificed myself so the entire group got out. The Doc said I realy didn't have much in the was of skin or muscle, and the shrapnel was all through here." He gestured to the left side of his skull, neck, and upper chest. "I lost consciousness after that, but Fernandez said that I apparently was still up and killed the two that had got their hands on an Iso Disintegratior. They apparently were going to fire at the entire group, killing all of us, certainly the prisoners." He shrugged again. "I don't have any recollection of this, but after the surgery, I requested my transfer. Major Fernandez and Commodore Sturmgeist put in for my Promotion along with my list of achievements. Starfleet apparently saw something because this is the rank I received when I got here and into my yellows. I guess they felt that my SFMC record more than justified the rank."

Parker puffed out a breath through his nostrils. He was leaning on the table with his elbow, supporting his head with his hand, and looked somewhat disinterested. Satisfied that the officer was finished, he righted himself and shrugged. "Same old story. Marine fights well, marine gets a naval posting, marine joins a starship and thinks that he knows the drill. Why'd you let them move you?"

Cyrus leaned forward onto the desk, his elbows resting against the smooth service of the tabletop. "Security and the marine corps are two sides of the same coin. One side is hard, scratched, and dented while the other side is bright, polished and clean. Security isn't so much the blowing stuff up lifestyle I've lead, but it's the clean, proud side of Starfleet that I have always aspired to be in. I have fought hard, lived hard and almost died for this. I have done more in my time in Starfleet then most of the NCO Warrants have in their life-time careers. Sir I earned this rank, and if I need to prove to you, the rest of the security team, or even the Admiralty board I will." His face stern and his voice laced with heat. He smiled a big smiled and chuckled softly. "Besides, now I get to shoot them in the knees instead of the head."

Cyrus turned his head to look at the small tin on the desk. He decided against asking about it. He probably didn't need to know. "So when should I expect my first shifts? I'm ready to work whenever needed sir. I think they assigned me to Beta shift, figured I get the best work done there."

"I'll work the rota," said Parker, his mood shifting slightly. He seemed more wecloming at this stage and gradually leaned back into his seat. "Today, yeah, beta shift would be ideal. We're moving supplies on board from Vega. Terrestrial resupply is one of those awkward situations so it requires a keen eye."

He nodded. "Who will be the Officer on duty?"

"Ensign Rhodes this afternoon."

"Will I have any extra duties while I'm on?"

Parker sighed and looked at his new assignee with contemplation for what felt like minutes. He was drumming his fingers upon the metal case he had taken from the drawer. After a moment he seemed to snap to attention. "What do you know about the Master-at-Arms appointment?"

Cyrus's brows furrowed in thought. "I know that MA's are navel police. They uphold rules and reg's and conduct investigations when necessary. They keep discipline and order as their primary duty, but also are the first asked when being assigned escorts, protection services and if people require help in rehab or correctional programs." He thought back to the MA he saw on the Endeavor. "They are either really good at their jobs, or really bad."

"Yeah, I'd apply that term to most Starfleet careerists; officer or otherwise." Scott shifted in his seat and tried to think of a better way to explain it. "It's an appointment rather than a rank, usually held by the most senior member of the security staff, generally senior enlisted or warrant officers like yourself. It's like being a regimental provost sergeant - but for a starship. You'd be the overall security specialist. Hell, you'd be the department's enforcer. The whole security corps is a police force. In the naval corps, within Starfleet, we protect starships. An MA appointment means that you're the guy, y'know? The man. The dude who's first at the scene of the arrest, who takes care of the most sensitive security procedures."

He let the entirety of the situation sink in before he chose his next words. He sat there thinking. "Sir." He began. "Sir, wouldn't one of the other more senior officers be better?" He was at a loss for words at the opportunity that was being presented to him.

"There are no other senior officers. You have the highest rank in the department, technically speaking. I think you'd be ideal for the role," Parker explained, scratching at his stubbly chin. "Either way, as a security officer, you're going to need some on-the-job training. We'll need to brush you up on Federation law, fleet law, arresting procedures. I'd also like to get you up to speed on the tactical systems array. But as the Master at Arms you'd be the guy I want on the ground - or the deck - when the shit's close to the fan - so to speak."

It was beginning to make sense now. Lieutenant Parker wanted someone he could trust to get the job done. If things got heated, he wanted the one person that wouldn't freeze under pressure, or overreact, he wanted someone with Kiwosk's experience to fill the role of Master of Arms.
Cyrus nodded quickly and grinned as he realised that out of all the positions that were available in Security/Tactical, MA was possibly the most Marine-based job they had. "No worries sir, once I get caught up on the regs again you'll have your MA. I won't let you down, sir. " He added quickly.

Parker nodded and swallowed. "Just report here for beta shift and somebody'll show you the ropes. Take the rest of alpha to get some scran down your neck, meet a few people and see the ship. We'll go from there with some kind of training schedule and work you into the department rota before shore leave hits us."

Cyrus nodded "Yes, sir. That shouldn't be too much of a problem. "Is there anything else Lieutenant?" Cyrus asked, his eyes drifting back to the box that Parker had been tapping, then away as he looked around the room.

"Nah, that'll be all. I'll get a chance to talk with you later."

"Understood." He nodded and left the office.



OFF:

Jp between

Lieutenant Scott Parker
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo

CWO Kiwosk
Security/Tactical, Galileo

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