Station Life

Posted on Tue Apr 17th, 2012 @ 9:16pm by Captain Benjamin Byrne

Mission: Divisions
Location: Deep Space 19
Timeline: MD01 0900hrs

As the Captain walked past the viewports along the outer corridors of upper tower 3, he glanced out and down, towards the docking ring. The Endeavour was still attached to the first arm which they had been able to retrofit to be compatible with Federation airlocks, where she had been ever since the ship had docked again following the Tholian's arrival, two months ago. As he craned his neck, Byrne could see the front edge of the saucer of the Antarctic, on a lower arm further around the ring, similarly docked.

Since Captain MonRoe and his crew had arrived during the negotiations, Starfleet had ordered them to remain and assist the ever growing crew of the station in getting the facility operational and accommodating the Tholians - some of the crew had even been permanently transferred to the station. However, Captain MonRoe was as restless as Benjamin, and had refused to simply remain at the station for months and allow the Antarctic's mission to go by unnoticed; at present he and a number of his officers were on an away mission in a trio of shuttlecraft to perform a survey mission of a class-M planet that was on their original route.

Turning away from the spaceward view, Byrne carried on along his route, following the curve of the tower until the intersection which would connect him to upper tower one, and through the corridors that would take him to the Operations Centre.

The station, though clearly still very alien and largely unknown to the crew now operating aboard her, was starting to feel more like a Federation-run starbase; order and routine had taken over; people reported for duty shifts, they knew where they were going to be and what they were going to be doing, and Ops looked like the kind of room that one would expect to be the nerve hub of such a large facility; every officer moving about purposely from console to console, carrying out their duties. Benjamin only hoped that it wouldn't last.

Since taking command of the station upon its initial discovery, Starfleet had been promising him that they would find a full-time replacement as soon as possible to relieve him, and allow him and his crew to return to duty aboard the Endeavour. Already some of his senior staff he had been told would be remaining aboard the station permanently after the ship's departure, such as Commander th'Ralik and Lieutenant Keldan, meaning that Benjamin would have to start a search for replacements, but still Starfleet hadn't made a selection for a new base commander. They'd said that the new Tholian element that had been introduced after his negotiations with Metkonne had complicated matters, and that it would be difficult and time consuming to locate a Captain who would suit the role. All it meant was that the longer Benjamin stayed here as station commander, the less he thought of the station as something to study, and the more he wanted to turn his gaze outward.

"Captain Byrne!" Benjamin didn't look up at the sound of his name, knowing who it would be who was calling him. She seemed to have been doing her best to jump PO Blaise to the task of being the first to talk with him at the start of each morning.

"Ms. Harrows," the captain answered, as he continued on towards what he had adopted as his office. "How are Metkonne and his people today?"

"Paranoid, as always Captain," the intelligence officer responded, dryly as she did every time he'd asked since he'd made her the route of information from Starfleet to the Tholians living aboard the station. "And eager for more information. Are you planning on letting them see the data we're trying to retrieve from the level three computers? The room looks like some kind of analysis room, for all we know it could contain data very important to the Federation."

"Or to the Tholian Assembly, or to neither," Benjamin responded, calmly. "We won't know until we take a look at it, will we? And if we do look at it, and it falls under the terms of our agreement with the Tholians then yes, I intend to let them see it. Have a good day, Lieutenant." His finish was always poignant enough to indicate that the conversation was over and that she should return to her duties, and she was such a dutiful officer that she hadn't disobeyed once she'd come to understand the captain's quirks and meanings.

Sitting down at his spartan desk, freshly synthesised cup of coffee in his hand, Benjamin considered once again how long he was likely to end up here. He could grow to get used to it if he had to of course, it had the potential to be a good assignment. But it wasn't the Endeavour.

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Captain Benjamin J. Byrne
Commanding Officer
Deep Space 19