Meeting the XO

Posted on 09 Jan 2013 @ 12:42am by Ensign Jessica Wilson M.D. & Captain Jonathan Holliday

1,053 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Episode 02 - Resupply
Location: Executive Officer's Office, Deck Two, USS Galileo
Timeline: MD13, 1030hrs

[ON]

Her initial attempts at making it to the executive officer's office had been scuppered by the encounter with the ships diplomatic officer but after finishing the conversation she was well back on her way. Finally reaching a turbolift, empty she noted to her relief, and called for Deck 2. It was only a comparatively short ride from deck four up to deck two and as the door swished open she stepped out, sideways to avoid an enlisted crewman whow as getting on, she began to make her way along the deck, wondering how this was going to go. Although she had received the military training that she needed to be part of Starfleet this would be the first time that she was personally speaking to a senior officer outside of a classroom or similar environment, more to the point this was the executive officer of the ship to which she had been assigned. It was understandable that she might be a little nervous, this entire day had been one nervous encounter after another and personally Jessica would be much happier once it was all over and she could get some sleep at long last, at least she didn't have to share her quarters with anyone else like she had at the Academy. That was something at least.

Arriving at the Executive Officer's Office she straightened her uniform and rang the chime.

Again his doorbell rang to indicate the arrival of more new faces to add to the Galileo's duty roster. Keeping up with the influx of new crew members was enough to make Jonathan's head spin, each with their own abilities, training, history, all things that he should have an idea of in order to best command his crew.

"Enter."

Taking a deep breath Jessica stepped inside, the PADD upon which her orders were located in hand, and stood to attention.

"Ensign Jessica Wilson reporting aboard, Sir," She said formally.

"At ease Ensign. Take a seat." John replied, reaching out a hand for the PADD that more than likely contained her transfer papers. Something that generally was more of a formality than an actual requirement, but every officer still followed the tradition of bringing a copy with them to present upon their arrival.

"Welcome to the Galileo. I trust your journey went smoothly enough?"

Jessica passed the PADD over as requested before sitting down pensively in the seat indicated, personally she would have preferred to be in and out as quickly as possible, and thus remain standing, but it wouldn't be a good idea to refuse an offer from the XO.

"Yes Sir, just a short hop by Danube-Class Runabout," Jessica replied with a nod.

"Excellent. I'm sure you've already checked in with Dr Ni Dhuinn? I know she was more than excited at the prospect of expanding her staff during this repair process?"

Tapping a few commands, the XO flipped through the transfer papers, checking the usual items such as previous posting, authorised officers etc, before putting his own authorisation code in to confirm that he had accepted the transfer and settled the PADD back down on the desk in front of him.

"Yes Sir, I spoke to her when I first arrived before coming up here," Jessica replied, electing to not mention her rather embarrassing encounter with the Diplomatic Officer, given that she had almost been knocked over by him on the way up. "She didn't seem to be expecting me, it took me by surprise a little, almost thought I'd read the orders wrong or something."

"Dr Ni Dhuinn has been a little busy recently with her duties, I wouldn't take it personally. We used up a large proportion of our medical supplies during our last mission and there were substantial new deliveries to allocate and store. Crew rosters are most likely low on her list of priorities right now."

John sounded almost apologetic as he covered for the supposed surprise of one of his senior officers. Galileo had taken a sound beating during her last time out in space and the amount of resources that were needed to get the Nova-class back up to operational spec had been staggering even for one of the smallest ships in the fleet.

"I understand of course sir, I just couldn't help but wonder if i was in the right place," Jessica replied, herself apologetic. "Entirely my fault."

"No blame is necessary Ensign, we're all new aboard this ship at some point. Even I had to learn my way around the people on board here before I could start getting any real work done. On a ship this small you quickly get to know everyone around you. I trust you've been assigned quarters and been integrated into our little crew?"

"Uh, no sir, I've only been aboard for less than an hour and a half, most of those were spent with the CMO," Jessica replied. "I've not had a chance to head down to personnel yet."

"Well make sure you check in with Operations to get your commbadge registered on our system. They should be able to issue you with quarters and any other equipment you might need from the Quartermaster."

John felt a bit foolish for asking such a wide-ranging question of someone who had only just set foon on their ship - however without the time to review the datafiles for all the new crewmembers reporting aboard, the XO had no idea whether or not each person that stood in front of him had been aboard for hours or weeks.

"Anything else that causes you trouble report back to Dr Ni Dhuinn or myself."

"I'll do that once I leave here, before I turn in for the night in preparation for my first duty shift tomorrow," Jessica replied.

"Very well. In that case if there's nothing else you require from me at this time, you can consider yourself dismissed Ensign."

John gave a curt nod as he authorized the young woman's departure in a similar fashion to the last crew member he had been presented with only a couple of hours before in exactly the same location.

"Aye-Aye, Sir," Jessica nodded standing up and assuming a position of attention before turning and departing.

[OFF]

Cmdr Jonathan Holliday
Executive Officer
USS Galileo

Ensign Jessica Wilson M.D.
Medical Officer (Intern)
USS Galileo

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