Staffing Woes
Posted on 01 Dec 2017 @ 4:38am by Lieutenant Commander Darren Marian (Dec-Jan 2389 - WIA-TRNSFR to XFY Medical) & Captain Akio Tachibana & Lieutenant Nimh Ahressa (Dec-Jan 2389 - TRNSFR, Bre'el Dip. Msn.) & Lieutenant Tyler Fallon (Dec-Jan 2389 - TRNSFR, Bre'el Dip. Msn.) & Lieutenant Junior Grade Jula Danz (Dec-Jan 2389 - TRNSFR, Bre'el Dip. Msn.)
Mission:
He ho'omaka hou 'ana - A New Beginning
Location: XO's Office
Timeline: 25 Dec 2388 - After Senior Staff Briefing
Darren Marian sat at his desk rubbing his temples staring at the message from the Starfleet Personnel Office liaison.
Lieutenant Marian,
We have received your communication and regret to inform you that, due to unforeseen circumstances, LT K'lara Korat has been moved to another assignment and removed from the manifest of the USS Hawaii.
We apologize for any inconvenience.
"Damn bureaucrats," Darren said, standing up and pacing. Here they were, setting off to what could be a warzone and they had no Chief of TACSEC. What could Starfleet be thinking making a decision like that? And why hadn't they informed Command ahead of time they would be lacking such a vital officer?
Darren tapped his commbadge. "Lieutenant Nimh, please report to my office as soon as you can."
On my way, sir. Came a reply.
Moments later the summoned bajoran was stepping through Darren's office, PADD in hand. "You sent for me, sir?"
"Hello, Lieutenant. Thanks for coming so promptly. Have a seat," Darren gestured to the chair across from his desk and sat down himself. "It seems that we've got a bit of an issue with our TACSEC chief, namely that according to Starfleet Personnel we currently don't have one."
"I know what you mean. The change came through during the meeting. However, Personnel has come through for us. They not only sent us a replacement Chief, they also sent us an Assistant Aswell." Ahressa chuckled as she took a seat and tapped on her PADD, "forwarding their files to your PADD now. The Chief, Lieutenant Fallon has just arrived and Lieutenant Danz, the Assistant should be arriving on the next shuttle which is due to land any minute."
Darren couldn't help but breathe an audible sigh of relief. "That's excellent news, thank you Lieutenant. Lieutenant Fallon, eh?" Darren pulled up the new TACSEC's bio on his PADD and scanned the service record. "An officer on Deep Space 10 before being promoted to commanding officer of the Ajax, a Wallace class." He looked up. "I'm going to go ahead and order in advance no small ship jokes."
Darren dropped his PADD on the table. "He looks capable, I'll have to meet him when he gets here. Thank you for the good news, Lieutenant. I guess that's one thing we can check off our list."
"Now, Danz should be arriving soon aswell. We should inform Lieutenant Fallon so that Security and Tactical may begin work as soon as possible." Ahressa nodded.
"Good plan," Darren agreed. "How do you feel about going down now to tell him in person? Unless you're too busy with your other duties."
"I can spare a few minutes, Commander." Ahressa nodded.
Darren tapped his commbadge. "Commander Tachibana, this is the XO. I've just met with Lieutenant Nimh. We've got the TACSEC issue straightened out. We're heading down to meet him now."
"Wonderful news," Tachibana replied, noting the gender change. "Please have him meet with me afterwards. Don't rough him up too much."
"I'll try to be polite," Darren replied with a slight smirk.
Darren stood. "Shall we, Lieutenant?"
In the hallway he called up the wall computer. "Location of Lieutenant Tyler Fallon?"
"Lieutenant Fallon is currently in the main shuttlebay."
He looked at Lieutenant Nimh. "When you said just arrived I guess you really meant just arrived. Excellent. We can welcome him aboard."
Ahressa nodded with a smile, "I don't give out misleading information, sir." She chuckled inwardly at the irony of her statement.
Darren stepped off the turbolift and into the ship's shuttlebay, remembering suddenly how he himself had been there but few days before. It seemed like it had been much longer.
He thought he spotted their new TACSEC by one of the gleaming new shuttlecrafts. "That's him, right?" he asked Nimh, gesturing discreetly.
"Yes, sir." Ahressa nodded.
Darren walked across the shuttle bay toward the man. "Excuse me, Lieutenant Fallon? I'm Lieutenant Darren Marian, executive officer. This is our Chief of Operations, Lieutenant Nimh. Welcome aboard."
Tyler turned toward the voice, automatically depositing his duffel on the deck by his feet. "Pleasure to be here Lieutenant." He said pushing a smile to his face, despite the fact he still wasn't sure if he actually was happy to be here yet or now.
A Lieutenant as XO of a brand new Sovereign? Are we really that shorthanded out here? And being personally met as I step off the shuttle? Shit! Things must be bad. The thoughts flew across his mind before he could blink. This was going to be interesting and possibly not in a good way.
Ahressa merely nodded at the introduction. "Good to meet you, Mister Fallon."
"Pleasure's mine Lieutenant." Tyler said with a nod.
Darren signaled an Ensign to come over. "What's the status of the shuttle bringing a Lieutenant-" he consulted his PADD "-Jula Danz onboard?"
"Let me check that for you, sir," the ensign said before running off to a station across the bay.
"Truth be told we've actually got a bit of an ulterior motive for coming down to welcome you onboard. Your assistant chief should be arriving soon and we want to get you two introduced and off to your stations as soon as possible. As you might know we're on a bit of a time crunch here as we'll be departing shortly and we want to try and make sure we've got everything together before we leave."
"We won't, but its good to get what we can." Tyler agreed. "Tactical won't be ready until I do live fire calibration of all the phaser arrays and torpedo guidance control systems."
Darren glanced at the Lieutenant. Very frank, this one. "Of course, Mister Fallon. As I said, we're on a bit of a time crunch. As soon as we leave spacedock it'll be right into warp speed on our way to our first assignment. But I'll make sure we make some time for you to run the defenses through their paces. God knows we might need them."
The ensign came running back. "The shuttle should be arriving any minute, sir. They just requested landing clearance."
"Excellent."
"Gods but there's too damn many people around here." Tyler muttered with a shake of his head. "Sooner I'm in my quarters or office the better."
Darren nodded his head slightly in agreement without thinking. The shuttlebay was abuzz with activity. It made him miss his office, even though he'd only been away for a few moments.
"It only gets busier up top," Ahressa chuckled. She did know how he felt however. She was used to working alone or in small teams. Being part of such a large crew was a bit overwhelming for her when she first came aboard.
The small shuttlecraft passed through the shuttle bay door shielding and landed softly not far away from the three officers.
"Shall we?" Darren gestured toward the shuttle.
"If it moves things along, then lets." Tyler said as he picked his duffel up from the floor and slung it back over his shoulder.
"It should, definitely. Can't run things properly without your right hand, right?" Darren said as they walked over to the shuttle.
"Once I get used to this one." Tyler agreed. "Get used to a lot of things again." He hadn't realized JUST how used to the Ajax he'd become until he exited the shuttle. Shards, what had he gotten into?
Jula liked being on solid ground, she liked being on a station and she liked being on a ship. She hated being in transit. During her ride over from the Madras, Danz would soundlessly remind her that she was lucky not to be teleported over by a ship.
That would settle her down for a while, until the discomfort of feeling the movement beneath her feet got back up again. Part of her had wanted to pace, to distract herself, but the other part knew she'd just feel worse.
So she tried sleep, she tried meditation, she tried motion sickness shots. Each alleviated her discomfort only a little.
What alleviated it completely, was having her feet on more or less solid ground of the Hawaii, as the shuttle landed and opened its doors. Duffelbag slung over her shoulder, Jula stepped down the ramp and let out a sigh of relief as her senses stabilized and her world stopped being off the track.
She noticed three people lined up in view of the shuttle, likely waiting for...her? Three Lieutenants?
"Spirits, what's happened already?" She muttered softly to herself as she threw on a smile and walked over.
Darren put on his best command smile and held out a hand in greeting. "Hello, Lieutenant Danz. Lieutenant Darren Marian, executive officer."
"Nimh, Chief of Operations," Ahressa nodded. She just went from insecure on her feet to all the confidence in the world in ten seconds flat. Then the bajoran remembered that the trill carried an ancient slug in her abdominal pouch.
"Lieutenant JG Jula Danz, sirs, ma'am. Assigned as Assistant Chief of Tactical and Security." The Trill said with a slight accent as she straightened up fully, though not quite at stiff attention stance.
"Sorry to..uh..accost you like this right as you've arrived, but we're short on time, so we need you to get to your station as soon as possible. This is your department chief, Lieutenant Fallon."
Tyler shifted his duffel back slightly as he nodded. "Got in right before you did. They grabbed me as soon as I hit the deck." He said with a small, amused smile.
Jula nodded at him, "best way, to do it, sir." She said with some amusement of her own.
"As of now, we've got-" Darren checked his PADD "-about an hour to get this ship ready to leave spacedock. So I'd like you both to get your department prepared as best you can for departure."
"We'll do what we can XO." Tyler said reassuringly. "She won't be perfect, but she'll be ready enough to get underway."
"What do you want to start with first, sir?" Jula looked over at Tyler.
Eager too, as a, what do the humans call it? Beaver? Ahressa wondered as she glanced over at Marian.
"Tactical systems will be tested and properly calibrated once we're in transit." Tyler said with a nod to the XO. "So lets worry about internal security. Find the Master at Arms and check the armory. If there's any deficiency whatsoever, I want to know about it before we leave. I'll find the LPO and start going over the personnel roster. Join us in my office when you're done with the armory and we'll start work on duty assignments."
"Yes, sir." Jula nodded, taking the instruction as a dismissal too, "sirs, ma'am."
With that said, the small, dark haired woman quickly but effortlessly left the shuttlebay.
"Yep, Personnel definitely came through," Ahressa couldn't help but comment with a smirk.
"If you don't mind Lieutenants" Tyler said with a shake of his head, "I've got work to do myself. See you on the bridge." He nodded to the XO as he turned to follow his new assistant out of the bay. The XO wanted things prepped for departure, so it wasn't likely he'd say much about his departure without express dismissal. And if he did feel like his toes were stepped on, well that was the price of being in a hurry.
"Good luck, Lieutenant. Oh yes, by the way, after you get your house in order, please report to Commander Tachibana. He asked to meet with you."
"I'll make it a point to see him some time this afternoon or evening." Tyler nodded. House in order first meant it could take a while.
"Well, Lieutenant, thank you for your time," Darren said, turning to the OPS officer. "I'm sure you've got a lot to do. Let's get things shipshape so we can get out of here."
Ahressa nodded, "yes, sir." Well, if nothing else, 'May you live in interesting times's certainly applies here.
