Live & Learn

Posted on Fri Jan 13th, 2012 @ 3:22pm by Provisional Lieutenant Commander Narayn Ballard & Captain Benjamin Byrne

Mission: Deep Space 19
Location: Commanding Officer's Ready Room
Timeline: MD01 1300hrs

[ON]

Ballard sighed as he pressed the chime on the door. The moment he had been dreading since he became the Endeavour's first officer had finally arrived. He knew that Starfleet would never just let him jump to an officer's rank without actually taking some kind of exam but he had assumed he would be given more time on the job before it was necessary.

Now that they were stationary at their newly-discovered station, the fleet's academy had taken the decision to have him report to Starbase 332 to complete his training and do his final examination.

"Come," Benjamin called from within the chamber. He was standing looking out of his window, watching the slow rotation of the station they had discovered, small orange-tinted lights now starting to shine from odd windows in the upper superstructure. "I was wondering when we'd get this through," he said dryly after a long pause, during which the provisional commander had entered and the doors had closed behind him. The Captain was referring to the PADD on his desk which carried the orders for Ballard's transfer to Academy duties. The PADD sat next to a near-identical one relegating the Endeavour to stationary duty for the foreseeable future, and Benjamin to command of some derelict station made by who-knew-who.

"Well, you know what they say, Captain." Ballard said as he placed his version of the orders down on the desk. "It doesn't rain but it pours."

"That's true," the captain responded, before turning away from the viewport and walking more into the room space. "The anthropologists back there also want me to send you back with a few of the artifacts that we find, providing they're small enough and can be safely removed without damaging them or any connected systems." He sat on the edge of his desk and rested his palms on it next to his legs. "Captain MonRoe will be joining us here with the Antarctic in a few days to take you and the cargo back towards three-three-two, so you've got some time still."

"I suppose that's a small blessing." Ballard said. "It's one of those things I suppose. I'm not sure, now that it comes to it, I'm ready to go. We've been through so much with this ship."

Benjamin made an effort to switch into a more cheerful mood. "Well, as much as I can protest and grumble at their timing, I have to say that this is good for you, and afterall I did put you through for it. Once you've completed the course at the Academy, you'll be able to exchange that plate for a full set of insignia."

Ballard felt his hand go to his collar. Since he got it, the Provisional plate had felt like a noose in some situations but had allowed him to remain closer to his NCO colleagues than he thought would have been possible. He smiled at the thought. "I've always hated exams."

"Just think of it like an intelligence debriefing," the captain advised. "You're passing on all of the information that you have gathered, learnt and come to terms with onto a senior officer, who will in turn ask questions and clarifications on the matter." It was the closest analogy he could think of to something that his outgoing XO was most recently familiar with.

"Well, when you put it like that, I suppose it'll be a breeze." Ballard replied with a resigned chuckle. He'd given enough debriefs to Commanding Officers before to know that they weren't always as attentive as his current CO.

"Just try not to distract them with random and long deviations; I'm sure that it would be much more difficult than that to distract them from what they're listening to you for," the captain smiled, knowing that there were many ways one might try to distract a listener, so that even when something is said aloud amongst all of the natter, it gets missed completely.

"As usual, I'll do my best to follow your advice, Captain." Ballard said as he rose from his chair and extended his hand toward the man who had become his mentor. "It's been an honour serving with you, Benjamin."

"The pleasure's been mine, Narayn," Ben responded, taking his outgoing XO's hand and giving it a firm shake. "Good luck out there."

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Captain Benjamin J. Byrne
Commanding Officer

Prov. Lt. Commander Narayn Ballard
Outgoing First Officer
USS Endeavour