First Arrivals

Posted on Fri Oct 9th, 2009 @ 5:37pm by Captain Benjamin Byrne

Mission: They Arrive on Tuesday...
Location: Endeavour Airlock
Timeline: MD02 0900

Ben had gotten up at oh-eight-hundred as he made to get ready to see the first set of crew arrive on the ship. His last command, the New York and the Hendrix before that had already had the majority of the crew onboard when he had arrived - they had already been out of spacedock when he had taken command, whereas the Endeavour's maiden voyage would be under his watch. That on it's own was an exciting prospect for the Commander, but also the thought that he would be the first aspect of the ship after the exterior and schematic views that the new crew would see. First impressions were always important, but especially so when it was of their commanding officer.

So as he stood with his hands clasped casually behind his back next to the chief petty officer from the shipyards who would be opening the airlock from the inside, he waited with anticipation for his crew.

There wasn't much ceremony in the boarding at first; the airlock was opened, and the crew started to filter in, after having their identities and credentials checked by the computer upon passing the outer airlock door whilst they chatted amongst themselves. Benjamin was pleased to see that they were already starting to mesh together as a social community, and hoped that the same would hold true for them as a working team. As the first few noticed him standing there, the conversation on the inside of the airlock doors petered out, as they smiled sheepishly towards their new CO, whilst showing him their respect in that they put their social conversations on hold while they passed him. Ben on his part, nodded and smiled at each, making eye contact with as many as he could. He didn't know any of their names yet, and likely would never learn them all, but he would do his best to try and commit their faces to memory.

A few of them nodded in return to him, intoning 'Commander' in greeting, to which Ben quickly noted their rank pip and addressed them by rank in return. The vast majority of them were enlisted personnel, who normally had very little contact with officers over the rank of Lieutenant, and so Ben suspected that their humility was likely more to do with his rank than his demeanour or the way he looked to them. The officer ratio of the crew though was fairly high - the Sovereign class had more sophisticated automated protocols, and so less 'grunge work' was needed to be done, which meant that the total number of enlisted personnel needed who usually performed such was was reduced, though Ben hoped that his officers wouldn't shirk from getting their hands dirty, either.

It took quite a while for the first wave of crew - about 300 of them - to board the ship, but Benjamin had made himself a promise earlier that he would stand there and wait until the last one had reported aboard via the automatic recognition systems in the airlock entryway. As the last few of the crew passed through the airlock, one of the Endeavour crew, in operations gold, returned from his quarters where he had stowed his gear - Ben recognised him as one of the first to arrive onboard and was proud of himself for doing so, and relieved the chief petty officer from the shipyard in a formal manner, aware of his commander watching them. As the last crewman reported onboard and the chief left, with the airlock cycling closed, the crew member left with Ben turned and checked the wall-mounted console next to the inner airlock door.

"First wave of crew for the USS Endeavour have all reported aboard, Commander," he said, after making sure there weren't any missing. "Shipyard has begun to cede control to ship-board staff."

"Very good, very good," Ben replied, moving at last from the stance he had held for the last while. "Carry on, Petty Officer," he said, as he turned and headed down the corridor towards the turbolift. On his way to the ready room, he noted pleasantly how the ship was slowly starting to come to life with her crew now starting to arrive.

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Commander Benjamin Byrne
Commanding Officer
USS Endeavour NCC-86105