Filling big shoes

Posted on Sun Mar 10th, 2013 @ 9:15am by Captain Jacob Lambert & Commander Aztala Germond

1,714 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 1B - Welcome Aboard Reboot
Location: USS Unification Bridge
Timeline: Day 1 - 1245

Materializing on the Unification's transporter pad, Aztala glances around at the seemingly random damage in the room. For a second, a worried look crossed her face as she wondered what kind of trouble she had gotten into. She could handle it though - she had to. The people of the Gamma quadrant needed her expertise.

Stepping off of the transporter pad, the transporter operator nodded to her. "Welcome aboard, Ma'am. The Commander is waiting to see you in his ready room. If you would like, I'll take your things to your quarters for you. I need to go get a toolkit to fix a few of these panels and it's on my way."

"Thank you Crewman. It seems unpacking will have to wait." Aztala hands him her duffel bag and walks out of the transporter room, noting other various damage scattered through the ship, including several broken screens and open panels. Reaching the turbolift without meeting anyone else, she entered and turned back to the door as it slowly closed. "Bridge" she simply stated. In response, the computer spit out a burst of broken static and the turbolift started moving. Seconds later, the doors opened to the bridge of the USS Unification. Not surprised at the condition, she stepped past a work crew intent on repairing a console and pressed the door chime for Commander Lambert's ready room.

"So many things to do before we can even turn off support from the orbital facilities here!" Jacob yelled at a monitor. "When I took this command I was under the impression something had happened to the previous CO, not the whole dam ship! We will be lucky to leave the system within a week, let alone perform any kind of run down cruise."

"I understand that Commander, however... Jacob held up his hand to the receiving end of his tirade.

"With all due respect Commander, you dont. Im expected to get this ship up and running within a week, you have no idea what its like here, so I dont think you understa..." The chime to the ready room chirped. "I have an appointment with someone else ", he lied, " I dont have time for this. Lambert out. Enter"

Entering, Aztala steps up to the desk at attention and recites a seemingly canned speech while handing a PADD to Commander Lambert. "Lieutenant Commander Aztala Germond reporting for duty. Here are my orders as well as copies of all paperwork regarding my status as an Orion in Starfleet as well as the information needed for the medbay to synthesize my pheromone suppressors and records of them being administered regularly. They're not required, but I find it relieves a lot of tensions with people, so I use them."

He sat there for a moment, observing his new XO. He then gestured to the chair so the Orion would relax a little. "Please sit Lieutenant Commander. If you are a Lieutenant Commander in Starfleet, I do not require your paperwork. As for your pheromone suppressors, talk to the CMO, they will likely have more idea what to do with them than I will. Besides that, at ease. Sit, relax. Welcome aboard." He walked to his desk and activated his desktop replicator. He tapped a few buttons on the panel and his drink materialised. "Care for anything commander?"

Sitting in the proffered seat and smiling wryly, Aztala relaxes noticeably. "Thank you, sir. Warm Orion Tea please, if it's programmed in - otherwise green tea. Sorry about the stiff formality. I've had more than a few commanders that seemed to have it out for me so i try to err on the side of regulation at times like this." Glancing around the office briefly, she continues, "The state of the ship isn't quite what i expected. I read a report of a skirmish of some sort, but the damages i've seen since coming aboard suggests more."

He tapped the buttons and it replicated a warm Orion Tea. He handed it to the seated Orion woman. "I completely understand what you mean. I myself arrived only a few days ago, and the circumstances surrounding the previous crew and captain are under wraps. Certain crew and the CO were removed from the ship and I have no idea why or what happened. We even have the marines on board working alongside the engineers to at least get us sustainable under our own power. We are still hooked up to orbital facilities for most of our life support."

Taking the cup, she smells the tea deeply, almost purring at it before taking a sip. Several people she knew at the academy said it tasted like grass they fed animals on Earth farms, but she didn't care. It reminded her of home, and it was a welcoming flavor in this far distant part of the galaxy. "It seems these are the circumstances we've been handed. I've been in worse situations and a lot of people out there count on us, so the way i see it, we'll just have to do our best and press forward. I'm not very good at engineering, but i can't see things being too dire with all the redundant systems Starfleet puts in ships." Smiling brighter, she looks directly at Commander Lambert. "After all, I doubt anyone could blow out enough systems to cripple the bridge completely in one go."

You would think that wouldn't you he thought to himself. "There is still a lot of things out there that can certainly do more than their fair share of damage to the Unification, indeed, any ship. But we expect to be self sufficient within around 4 hours. After that, we can concentrate on critical systems, then secondary systems then the support systems. Until we get the warp core operating at 100% efficiency, it is currently at less than 10%, we are stuck trying to enact repairs to systems that arnt even online, so we cant gage weather or not the are even as broken as we think they are." He took another sip of his tea.

Aztala looks into her cup thoughtfully, swishing the tea in it around a little before taking a slow drink. "It sounds like we have our list of repairs lined up well, at least. I'll have to check on our Chief Engineer soon and see if there's anything i can help with. I assume we're rather understaffed if marines are helping engineers in repairs. Has Starfleet sent any engineering teams at least? Or possibly New Bajor?" A sudden thought occurred to her and she looks up quickly, a worried look on her face. "Do we still have a Chief Engineer?" Not expecting a yes to any of her questions, she takes another slow sip of her tea, her eyes focused on Commander Lambert.

"Nice to see you taking such an interest already. Ill start from the top. We do still have a chief engineer. We also have several teams from New Bajor working around the clock. The total time expected before we are completely functional is about a week. That is with the teams working around the clock, hence my requesting marines, and several other teams from New Bajor to supplement the engineering teams. I want us to be able to at least leave orbit within 3 days. Do you have any suggestions?" He had suddenly turned this informal chat into an impromptu meeting.

Looking relieved, Aztala lets out the breath she didn't realize she was holding. "Well, thank goodness for small miracles then. If main power is back online in 4 hours like you said, and the engines aren't too badly damaged, I would imagine it would only be a matter of getting the main computer, navigational deflector, structural integrity fields, and EPS conduits in shape well enough to have a bit of a shakedown. Even if they aren't 100%, if we have the people, 3 days should be doable."

"Yes. The fact that people are running double shifts just to get the ship up and running is definitely working in their favour, showing that the crew care. And once we have the computer core running at full efficiency we can bring the warp core up to 100% and work on the systems we cant repair without full power." He took another drink and savoured the taste for a moment before swallowing the hot tea. "I think 3 days is more than enough time. I will send a message to Gamma Command that I plan to be on a small shakedown cruise within 4 days."

With a light smile, Aztala finishes the rest of her tea, setting the cup back in the replicator. "It sounds like we have a good crew. I'd like to go through the ship and familiarize myself with the Unification and her crew starting with the medbay and engineering, if that's ok. I've read over some documentation of the Diligent class, but this is the first time i've been on one. Is there anything specific you need me to get done while I run around the ship? Or shall I just keep my eyes open?"

"Just keep your eyes open for now, but focus on department heads. I want your evaluation of them 1 week from today. Once you get a feel for the ship and such, I would like a report on efficiency levels as well. If you have spent any time on Defiant or Nova class ships, you should find systems here pretty similar. Some of the modules are the same modules as those ships, so there will be familiarity. If there is nothing else?"

Standing and readying to leave, Aztala faces Commander Lambert with her hands clasped behind her back. "I've spent a little time on a Nova - I did notice that a lot of the consoles are the same setup at the very least. Anyway, I'll do what I can and keep you up to date on anything major. Thank you for accepting my application, by the way. I look forward to not just doing paperwork."

"Well your application spoke for itself. If that is everything, dismissed." He stood as she stood, then nodded, and left his ready room. Time to finish some of these reports He thought to himself. It finally felt like he was getting somewhere with them

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