You Have The CONN

Posted on Wed May 18th, 2011 @ 5:49pm by Provisional Lieutenant Commander Narayn Ballard & Lieutenant JG Nessa Jenarian & Lieutenant JG Zam Stott [Byrne] & Captain Benjamin Byrne

Mission: Kingdom Come
Location: Main Bridge - Deck 1 - USS Endeavour
Timeline: Before the events of "Look Who's Coming To Dinner"

[ON]

Narayn Ballard. Provisional Lieutenant Commander. The thought still filled him with a mixture of immense pride and horrible dread. His seat in the Captain's Chair seemed almost completely alien to him. To go from a prison cell to the bridge of a Sovereign Class starship via a promotion straight to a rank that outstripped most of the crew of the ship would seem to most within Starfleet to be a matter of insanity. And yet... here he was.

Nessa was carefully checking the sensors. It seemed like it would be a rather boring duty shift, so her mind wasn't completely focused on the task at hand. Even less so with her recent discoveries of her heritage and the process she had to go through to take care of the issue that such heritage brought. Her eyes trailed over the rest of the crew present. New people for the most part, ones that she didn't know personally. Yet, every now and then she'd catch a glance in her direction or a hushed whisper when they couldn't be overheard. Some would even go as far as to look at her in reverence. "Is it just the purple heart?" she wondered. She was certainly ready to give it away if only people would stop looking at her as if she was already some decorated war veteran. Anyone could have gotten hurt during the bug problem and anyone could have gotten the medal.

As the science officer's gaze fell on the newly minted provisional officer, she paused for a moment to evaluate what she thought of him at present. She was certainly jealous that he got the position, after all, who wouldn't, but she also had to admit that he certainly had the skill for the job and would have been her first choice for the position.

Stott respected the captain's right to make the final decision on all ship matters, but he couldn't help but... dislike the most recent decision the captain had made. Making a Chief Petty Officer the First Officer? He understood that the man had experience, maybe beyond that of Stott's own, but he wasn't an officer. Perhaps he would feel better to having someone elevated from Master Chief to the commander's provisional rank, or someone progressed through the warrant officer system, but Ballard's promotion just felt so against the system that he had worked towards for years. He'd obey the orders the new first officer gave... but that didn't mean the Bolian officer had to like it.

The PADDs that sat around Ballard's feet left the command centre of the bridge module looking a little less than the epitome of Starfleet decorum that it should and perhaps would if Captain Byrne had been on duty. However, he would no doubt be up to his elbows in a replicator by now. Was it still possible to say 'slaving over a hot stove?' Ballard didn't know. Perhaps he'd drop it into the conversation and see how it went over. Anachronistic statements in polite company were something of defence mechanism for the new first officer of the Endeavour.

He looked around at the science station. Besides the Bolian Lieutenant Stott at the Operations console, the young Lieutenant Jenarian was the only officer that he was familiar with. Something he would have to work on in the near future. "How are things, Lieutenant?" He asked, not entirely sure of what he was asking. Was he asking a personal question, was he asking for a sensor report? Either way, he wasn't bothered. Any kind of conversation would have been nice.

Nessa looked up from her console. Ever since the incident, she kept checking the sensors for any problems. After all, during the first few days after they had finished repairs, they had a blind spot in the grid until engineering realigned everything the way it was supposed to be. The science officer considered what he could be asking, taking her time to formulate the response. "It's lonely at the top," the thought popped into her head as if it had come from someone else and she darted her eyes about her, afraid that there was someone close enough to whisper directly in her ear. When she didn't find anyone, her attention focused back on Ballard. "Things are going fine, Chi... errr, Sir. If there's anything to report, I'll make sure you're the first to know," she said out loud. "What the hell are you doing, Nessa? It's not very likely he's asking you about how you feel completely at random. He probably just needs a sensor report, not flirting." that thought was hers and the color of her face turned to a more pronounced pink.

She needed to go see the doctor again. Perhaps the treatment of her condition hadn't been as good if she was suddenly having romantic thoughts about crew members yet again. At least the urge to go and grab someone wasn't there at the moment.

"Something wrong, Lieutenant?" Stott asked, noticing Nessa's pink hue as he glanced over his shoulder, curious regarding her speech patterns. Disregarding the other officer's strange behaviour, he turned back to his console, and called up a brief status report with a few taps and beeps. "Actually, lateral sensor nodes one through six are slightly misaligned. Navigational sensors are off by point-three microns, and there is a small power fluctuation on deck twelve."

The science officer turned to look at the Bolian for a moment, rolling her eyes slightly. The sensor misalignment was far from dangerous and while it could be fixed, one would hardly call it a high-priority problem. Out loud, she spoke, "Doing fine, lieutenant. Probably just a little tired." Her eyes darted for a moment toward the command chair, trying to figure out if the other human present had noticed her flush. After all, he'd certainly be able to tell why it was happening unlike the bolian. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes for a moment in an attempt to calm her emotions before continuing, "I believe engineering is aware of the issues you pointed out and will take care of them as necessary."

Ballard did his best to stifle a sigh. The Bolian's desire to flap his gums meant that he near-constantly informed the bridge crew of the slightest fluctuation in any sensor, conduit or bloody console in their department. He was a nightmare to have a duty shift with- especially on a quiet day. There wasn't much point in taking issue with what Stott said. He was just as right as he was infuriating.

The First Officer checked the chronograph on the arm of the chair. Time to go, he thought as he clapped his hands once. As he stood up, he ran a hand through his hair. "I am expected in the company of the Captain. Lieutenant Jenarian, you have the CONN."

Nessa didn't react at first. Technically, she hadn't been given command before and her first reaction was to think that she wasn't ready. Then again, there was a first time for everything and she doubted other officers were supervised during their first time. "Yes, Sir," she responded, making her way from her console to the command chair. While being there wasn't a requirement, it did provide more information than her console would, not to mention that she had been wanting to feel it for herself. She had been told that the chair, while comfortable, could quickly become one of the most dreaded places to be, should something unexpected occur.

Stott just silently huffed. He could cope with Jenarian being the duty officer; she was a member of the senior staff, afterall. But even so, she was practically a raw recruit in the Bolian's eyes. She'd only just been raised from Ensign, and she carried a lot less experience than he did. In a few months, he would have served long enough to be eligible for full Lieutenant. Still, he supposed she was more eligible for the duty than the Chief.

There was a sudden frostiness from the Ops station. Ballard had been around enough pirates to know when one had designs on cutting one's throat when one wasn't looking. He watched Jenarian take her place in the command chair before turning once again to address the Bolian. "Is something the matter, Lieutenant?"

"No, nothing wrong," the Bolian responded, notably omitting the 'sir' that should normally have accompanied that statement when talking with a senior officer as he focused his attention on the functions of his operations console and the request for power flow to be diverted around a few plasma flow relay junctions for engineering to perform maintenance.

Nessa was listening to the exchange between the two. She was getting a bit of a weird feeling from the Bolian herself, but until this point she had thought it to be due to the racial differences. Her eyes focused on Stott for a moment, looking at him with mild curiosity before turning her head back to glance at the readouts on the command chair. There was nothing urgent going on, but still, the science officer felt a little out of place sitting there. She definitely needed more experience and she knew it, so she was grateful for being given the CONN, even if just for a little bit.

Ballard had had enough. He wouldn't have accepted this kind of nonsense from a non-commissioned officer so to stand here and have his rank ignored by some uppity officer who didn't even have the required skill-set to make the step up to Chief Operations Officer was a step over his own personal line. He walked over to the Bolian's console and put his hand down on it. "Do we have a problem here, Lieutenant?"

The science officer looked up at those words. Her eyes were focused on the two men while her imagination was busily going into overdrive. She could swear she could practically smell the hormones floating in the air as the commander established his dominance over the Bolian. Without even realizing it, she had stood up and was already thinking up an excuse to approach the duo while waiting to see how the events would unfold.

Stott wasn't one to not put in the effort to maintaining pretences. "Why would there be a problem?" he asked, his tone neutral.

"That's twice that you've failed to acknowledge my rank when addressing me, Lieutenant." Ballard leaned over the console. "I don't expect you to like me, Lieutenant Stott. I do- however- expect you to maintain an air of professionalism when you're dealing with senior officers aboard this vessel. Do we have an understanding?"

Stott, being smart for once during this encounter, decided that the best thing for him to do would be to give in. "Yes, Sir."

Nessa had made her way to where the human and the bolian were standing. Her breathing had escalated and her eyes were locked on the commander's back, staring at him practically from just a few inches away. She had the strange desire to reach out and grab just under his jawbone, but she had no idea why. All she knew was that she had to do it and then try her best to maintain hold. Her cheeks were flushed yet again. Her eyes darted momentarily toward Stott as she heard him admit to the human's dominance and that sent her into overdrive. "Um, excuse me, Sir, I..." she started to say, pretty much just a way to make Ballard turn toward her, ready to reach out and grab him the moment he was facing her.

Ballard stayed where he was and kept his eyes locked on the Bolian. "Take your station, Lieutenant Jenarian. Inform me if there are any problems." He stated coldly as he moved towards the turbolift.

The science officer looked dejected for about a moment before shaking her head and snapping out of the strange situation she had suddenly found herself in. Her eyes focused and she practically snapped to attention before whispering softly, "Yes, Sir." Heading back to the command chair, she almost started smacking herself over the head at what she had almost done. She definitely needed to see the doctor again and soon. It seemed like the simple medications treatment wasn't helping as much as expected.

[OFF]

Provisional Lieutenant Commander Narayn Ballard
Executive Officer

Lieutenant (JG) Nessa Jenarian
Chief Science Officer

Lieutenant (JG) Zam Stott [NPC - Capt. Byrne]
Asst. Chief Operations Officer
USS Endeavour