New Line Officer

Posted on Tue Oct 9th, 2012 @ 9:33pm by Captain Benjamin Byrne & Commander Gaius Ra-Xialii

Mission: Klingons on the Starboard Bow
Location: USS Endeavour - Transporter Room
Timeline: MD06 0900hrs

Commander Ra-Xialli stepped off the transporter pad into the clean transporter room of the Endeavour. A cloud of dust settled behind him, Cestus III was still a little rough. The quick change of temperature gave Ra-Xialli a cold chill up his spine. He had gone from almost blistering heat to air conditioning, even with the improvment, he wished it was another 10 degrees cooler. Xialli turned his attention to the man who was greeting him, his new CO.

"Captain Byrne sir, permission to come aboard and reporting as ordered." Xialli said, getting the two official sentences out of the way early. He outstretched a sun burnt hand.

"Permission granted, Commander," Byrne responded, taking the outstretched hand and giving it one firm shake. He'd managed to finally whittle down his candidates to replace Commanders Ballard and Andorzai as his first officer, and was glad that he'd been able to arrange for him to come aboard before they left Cestus, rather than arrange an en-route rendezvous. "Welcome aboard the Endeavour."

"Thank you sir, I must admit it is good to have deckplates under my feet again," Xialli said, with a smile. Xialli followed Byrne out of the transporter room and into the corridor, "I was suprised to recieve your offer, seeing that I thought the Endeavour had an XO already," Xialli questioned.

"We did until a few months ago," the captain responded, as the two began to walk their way around the ship. "Unfortunately, a number of our crew were reassigned to become permanent crew aboard Deep Space 19, and Commander Andorzai was one of them. We also lost Commander th'Ralik, our chief engineer and Lieutenant Madrat, our chief of security to the station, amongst others."

"That is unfortunate, any replacements on their way for those positions? Or is the old addage, get what your given?" Xialli said, knowing by now that where starfleet is concerned you don't always receive all of your requests. At least it wasn't as bad as the Andorian military, he mused to himself.

"We've already received our new chief of security," Benjamin responded. "A lieutenant from the Kingfisher. His service record seems exemplary, though I get the feeling that he's not going to be the most social member of the crew. I'm still waiting on work from Starfleet as to whether any of my candidates for chief engineer are going to be approved."

"Well if none of those pan out I have my best mate, Thomas Kitch dying to be chief engineer on a sovereign class vessel. I can give him a call. What about the rest of the crew? Anything I should know about sir?" Xialli continued, keeping in stride with the Captain. He took a couple of moments to take in the ship, its corridors, other personnel walking about, and the idea that he didn't know where he was going.

"I'll keep it in mind. One thing that you will need to keep in mind with the rest of the crew is that they've all had a bit of a dull tour just now, and a long trip back from DS19. I'd like to make sure that they're all on the top of their game before we encounter and of the Klingons." As he talked, Byrne led the pair of them into one of the turbolifts and ordered it to take them to deck 2.

Gaius recalled in his mind the layout of the Sovereign class, deck 2 usually housed the senior officer quarters, mess hall, as well as plenty of other places that the Captain and he could talk. So Gaius let the CO lead him to where they would talk.

"I can appreciate that Captain, I can bring my recommendations on training ideas. Otherwise, I suggest frequent scenarios, utilising at least 2 holo decks, bridge and engineering, against all possible threats," He felt like he was blabbing on. But didn't want his new CO to think of him as purely a tactician, "As well as relief and humanitarian coordination. Those are our primary aims in this sector correct?"

"That's right," Benjamin responded, as they stepped out onto deck two. It was the second smallest deck on the ship, followed only by deck one and the bridge, due to the sloping nature of the saucer section hull profile, and had only the one corridor circling its entirety, with rooms and the turblift access emerging off of it. It was only a few dozen steps before the door labelled 'XO's Office' slid open to allow the pair of officers to enter. "Lieutenant Zekkstrom seems very dedicated right now, so it would probably be a good idea to liaise with him on the tactical aspects of our preparation."

Standing in the centre of the room, Benjamin held his arms out around him. "This is your office, you've got all the standard equipment in here, and your quarters are just down the hall. The computer will be able to give you a layout of the entire ship if you need to study up on it," he said.

"Yes sir, thanks," Gaius said, looking around the room, "Drink sir?"

Gaius walked over to the replicator on the wall and ordered an Andorian Iced Tea.

"Coffee, black and sweet," the captain responded, moving to take a seat on the standard-issue couch positioned underneath the viewports.

Gaius replicated the CO's coffee and brought the steaming mug over.

"We're planning to depart from Cestus in just two days, so you have your work cut out for you in getting settled in, but it will take us another couple of days to enter the disputed area," the captain explained, getting once again back to the business and getting his new first officer clued in.

Smiling, Gaius looked to the Captain, "You aren't kidding," he took a gulp from his tea, "Anything I need to know?"

"Plenty," the captain responded with a grin. "Unfortunately, I'm due for a meeting on the surface." He placed his cup on the edge of the XO's desk as he moved towards the door again. "Petty Officer Blaise should be able to help you with anything you need whilst I'm gone."

"Understood sir," Gaius said. Curious about what meeting would require the CO on the planet, but said nothing, "Well Ill get settled in then, thank you sir," Gaius stood, outstretching his hand.

"I look forward to working with you, Commander," Benjamin said, taking Gaius' hand and giving a firm shake, before leaving the room.