A Knight In Shining Armour

Posted on 04 Nov 2023 @ 11:17pm by Lieutenant Aria Rice & Petty Officer 1st Class Lysander Octavio
Edited on on 06 Nov 2023 @ 1:40pm

1,613 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 18 - Cold Station 31
Location: USS Galileo-A - Deck 3, Corridor
Timeline: MD19 - 1150hrs

[ON]

They had taken his wine. His. Wine. When he had signed up for this tour he had been assured by those old gold braided fools at Starfleet Command that with would be the ultimate feather in his cap. That exploits on this frontier would be remembered and rewarded with extreme generosity and Federation wide notoriety. Now he'd arrived to a tin can with barely a Mess, martial law or something with regard to alcohol and he'd heard rumours of daily PT. PT! It would not do. It would not do at all.

Hush, an internal voice said softly, there's always an angle. Yes. There always is an angle. Lysander maintained his dashing smile, he continued to project confidence and to own his surroundings. What really would not do would be to go to pieces when he had yet another opportunity to climb up to the top of the pile. Those stupid old admirals were surely watching, and ensuring he came out on top here would grab their attention. He'd be on the gravy train for life then.

He stopped in the corridor. He had been heading to his assigned quarters but... that Andorian had mentioned a system test. It would not do to miss even a second where he could be establishing his reputation. The crew did not yet know a hero of the Federation was aboard.

Lysander tapped his communicator and requested the location of the seniormost security officer aboard. "Corridor 3C, 40 metres away." his grin widened, what a stroke of luck. He quickly glanced at a map on a console, then made pace towards the location.

After only moments of power striding, he could see a woman wearing with black hair wearing the classic mustard collar of a security officer. Luck was always on Lysander's side so he did not hesitate to call after her when he was within polite range, "Sir, my apologies," he rushed forward as she reacted to his words, extending a hand and brandishing his winning smile, "Petty Officer Octavio, just embarked."

Aria looked up at him, with some confusion as she met the Betazoid's dark eyes. Well someone looked like they had just stepped off the holodeck romance novel, that was for sure. "Aria Rice," she said after a moment, taking the hand. She knew there had been some transfers, her new Deputy was evidence of it. "Welcome to the Galileo, afraid you've caught us just before a ship wide test."

"Charming to meet you," his eyes glanced at her collar, "Lieutenant." He squeezed her hand lightly in the shake then released. Highly professional. "Yes I met Master Chief Vral only minutes ago and he informed me. I thought I would rush down here post haste to assist in any way I can," he smiled widely and spoke with a practiced tone of deep sincerity.

Aria took a moment to think, because it had been busy. "Torpedoes," she said and motioned for him to follow her. She might as well take him there before she headed to the security office. It would give her a chance to talk to him, something she had missed with her Deputy. "Do you know much about this ship, Octavio?"

Work smart, not hard was the prevailing principle that the Octavio family had long laboured beneath. Lysander had always taken this to heart and tended to prosper from it. While the briefing pack he had received enroute had languished and gathered dust, he had made sure to get himself updated on the headlines about the Galileo herself.

"I examined the specifications, sir, and it looked state of the art, for the scientists at least. If you don't mind me saying it looked a little light on the armaments," he glanced at Aria, his smile glinting, "Given the rigours of getting an assignment here I can only assume an elite security team bridge that gap."

"Two per shift, three shift pattern," Aria said, and she was so glad that it was that now. She wasn't sure what had changed, but she was grateful for it. "I'll put you on shift with Ensign Turell after this. We also have Petty Officer Stark, who is on shift with Lieutenant Ghemora, my Deputy, and Petty Officer T'Paaru is on shift with me. As it is a system's test, we are all hands on deck." She hadn't commented on his statement, more because she was not sure how to answer it. "This is a scientific ship, what we do is light policing when necessary and ensuring the away teams are safe."

Lysander nodded, "Very practical," a small team would mean more opportunities to... gain prominence, "I am in luck then, it will be good to make acquaintence with the whole team at once, even in the throes of a system test." He kept pace with Aria, trying to get a bit of a read on her. It obviously wasn't an ideal time to board, with everyone so busy, but he had to make the most of it. He was sure he'd have a chance to measure her up properly at a later moment. "Well Lieutenant in my experience aboard such a ship, scientists seem to be the officers most prone to finding trouble on away missions," he laughed lightly, "No true exploration is done without a bold security officer standing in the background."

"Less standing in the background, more trying to convince them not to go completely off the rails," Aria said as she glanced at him, a small smile coming to her. She had always been a perky Security officer, but he seemed...almost like a holonovel character. "And what experience do you have?" she entered the turbolift. "Deck four," she looked at him, finally meeting his eyes and holding them now they were standing still.

He returned her gaze, his obsidian eyes shimmering with confidence. "A broad range. I was a part of the Betazed resistance as a teen, worked off the grid managed to score a couple of intelligence coups for the Federation ahead of the liberation," he carefully stroked a hand through his immaculate hair, "then I thought I'd join up and see if I couldn't keep fighting the good fight." He gave what he thought would appear to be a noble expression, "Since becoming a security officer I've ended up in a lot of sticky situations, defending a science station from abdulian hornets, infiltrating a rogue breen prison camp to save a handful of officers, using a shuttle to intercept a rogue automated missile, to name a few. My file should have a good record." He continued smiling, his mind lightly probing Aria to get a sense of her first impression, "All supported by marvellous teams of course," he added, Starfleet types liked a nod to the team no matter how irrelevant they were. "Then I spent a couple of years advising the admiralty - you know how out of touch they can be," he laughed lightly, "and then, well, here I stand."

Aria held his eyes, listening to him list off his achievements. No kidding. That wasn't the record of the sort of security officer who ended up on a science ship. "Sounds like you belong on the Enterprise, not the Galileo," she said almost playfully and led him out as the turbolift doors opened. "Whose tea did you spit in to land you here?" And there was almost something honest in that question. Aria's career had been promotions and demotions, being temporary assistant and Chief and everything inbetween. She had been idealistic, shouting at Chiefs when she was Ensigns. She had been part of dangerous away teams, first encounters, been a scapegoat and teller of tales to keep children from adopting tribbles. But that was nothing at all compared to what the man who walked beside her had been part of it by the sounds of it.

Lysander laughed once again, the slightly lyrical sound reverberating around the corridor, "An amusing way to put it Lieutenant, but believe it or not I chose to come here of my own free will," he gave her a winning smile, "Call me sentimental but I felt like I needed a slice of life on the frontier. The Enterprise wasn't a famous name before the strange new worlds, civilizations and all that. Perhaps the Galileo will be the next big thing."

"You're optimism is..." Aria looked at him before she smiled gently. "Well, I'd almost say adorable." As if the Galileo would ever be recognised up amongst the hero ships. She led him to the torpedo launch system. "I want you to monitor here, should we go to yellow or red alert, report to the security office. This is all automated, but I am not sure what this system test might throw up or what the bridge crew wants us to do. So if you're here, I can at least say that we already have someone there. But like I said, if we go on alert, report to the Security Office."

Adorable. He could work with adorable. "Of course, Lieutenant, I shall observe these torpedos as closely as a Ferengi watching over his latinum vault," he winked and stood to station, "I will be ready for anything."

Aria looked at him, a small smile coming to her. "Good," she said, before letting out a breath. "Good luck," she added, because on this ship, even a simple systems test could prove to be quite interesting.

[OFF]

--

Petty Officer 1st Class Lysander Octavio
Security Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Vala]

&

Lt. Aria Rice
Chief Security Officer
USS Galileo-A

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