Running Errands

Posted on 06 Mar 2015 @ 12:53am by Petty Officer 1st Class Rebecca Williams & Commander Norvi Stace

2,287 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 08 - NIMBUS
Location: USS Galileo: Commanding Officers Office
Timeline: MD -03 1156 hours

[ON]

Replacing one of the pins in her ponytail, Rebecca took a moment to roll her shoulders and try to work out the kinks. The work was coming hard and fast, it seemed that there hadn't been a yeoman onboard in quite sometime and as a result there was no filing systems and the boss had thrown her in the deep end to get settled on her own.

Looking down at a standard report from security, she tried to break it down into bullets point for easy reading in order to avoid the commanding officer needing to read the twenty pages page by page. Her system worked as if a specific point jumped out at the the boss all he needed to do was pull up the relevant section. It allowed him to get through the unnecessaryly routine parts quickly and efficiently. It just meant that the yeoman's time was weighted down by the boring elements.

Stace stood to the entrance to her new ready room, brushed down her uniform and waited for the bio-sensor to recognise her signature. After the doors parted, she entered in, flicking her ponytail about her shoulders, and headed for the desk, noticing that Rebecca was already in attendance. The Trill smiled at her yeoman and walked casually over to her desk. "Hello, Ms. Williams. How are you doing today?"

Rebecca looked up for a moment as she tried to process this woman entering the room without first prompting to look for access. As images and names shifted through her mind, it only took a few moments for it to click into place. Moving to her feet, the yeoman stood at attention out of respect. "Commander Stace. Ops were very prompt in getting you set up for access to the ship's Captains areas."

"I stopped short of having access granted to the captain's quarters. But operating down from my office on deck four seemed a little too inconvenient." She smiled to her as she rounded the desk and stood behind it, placing the data PADD she was clutching onto its surface. "This mission should only take a few days, or so I'm informed, so you won't need to get too familiar with my ways. But that shouldn't stop us from breaking the proverbial bread. Would you like me to replicate you a drink or something? Coffee?"

Shaking her head, Rebecca indicated towards the Captain's desk which had been cleared of personal belongings and any information not intended for the eyes of the temporary Captain. "You threaten to make me redundant if you don't allow me to organise the coffee. Myself and Captain Holiday have a loose arrangement that I've use of his ready room during beta shift, when he's on the bridge anyway, and outside of this I use the admin offices on deck two. IF you prefer your privacy, I can move down permanently to deck two for the duration of the games."

"Ms. Williams," Stace replied, unable to fully grasp the tone of the woman, "it is only for a few days. Nothing need change more than my face about the place. But a coffee would be lovely, thank you."

She offered Rebecca a full and beaming smile. "It's been a few years and a lifetime away since I captained a Starfleet vessel. I can use all the help you can offer me."

Easily returning the woman's smile, Rebecca made her way towards the replicator, "How do you take your coffee?"

"Just black, please. And a little hotter than the replicator's standard temperature. I find it goes cold far too quickly."

Replicating the Commander's coffee to the requested specifications, Rebecca also replicated a white non fat mocha for herself before bringing both cups to the Captain's desk. "What did you find were your strong points and your weak points on your last opportunity to Captain a ship Ma'am?" Taking the seat facing the woman, the yeoman leaned over to her own desk to grab a PADD before properly settling herself.

Stace inhaled and then took her seat behind the desk, sliding the coffee over to herself as she offered the opposite chair to the woman. "I'm Joined," she added, taking a sip of the hot beverage and raising a knowing brow up into the air. "My previous host captained the USS Gilmore, a Galaxy class long now decommissioned. I can't quite remember whether the Joining bottle-necked me into coming back into the Fleet once the Symbiont was passed to me, but here I am, climbing the ranks again. And how about yourself? What's your story?"

She hadn't meant for this to turn into a questions and answers, Rebecca was used to being a sounding board and had hoped to put the Commander more at ease. Easily settling back into her chair, she decided to see where this ended up going. "I'd a love of languages growing up and seemingly my short hand is next to none. The easiest route was that of an enlisted as I don't care for the work involved to move up the ranks as an officer. Being a yeoman appealed to me as it gives me a little freedom in my down time and keeps me occupied during my up time." None of her story was untrue, the woman just choose to purposely leave out some information.

"Not everyone fancies climbing the ranks in a military institution," Stace agreed, thinking back to both of her own struggles. "And some people make the advancement look easy. But, it is, after all, a lifestyle. And you have to ask yourself what you want out of it. It sounds like you have got yours figured out." In truth, Stace came to the Fleet in a different manner altogether, and her opposite counter-part highlighted their differences perfectly. "Science is a different kettle of fish, to my mind. And that's why the Gally is perfect. I am first and foremost a scientist. And yet, Commander Kohl, is a Fleet officer who just happens to head up a science department. But that's what I love about Starfleet: The opportunities are endless."

"It sounds like you aren't being lead by your symboiant Ma'am that you're being lead by your own heart, heart, dreams and passion. Your focus is alot on science rather than the command aspect of things like the previous host." Rebecca leaned back in her chair as she took a sip of her own coffee, watching the woman over the rim of the cup.

"Having said that, look at me now." She motioned her arms upwards as she was sat in Captain Holliday's ready room chair. "These threads from the past always have a habit of needling their way back to the present... but I'm not unhappy with that. We cling to what we know, what we're used to. Even if it does come in the guise of something different altogether." She smiled as she inhaled a breath. "So what do you do on your time off? Do you suffer with hobbies and external interests?" Stace joked.

Smiling at this, Rebecca wondering if the woman was always this carefree in her day to day duty; she wasn't presumptuous to think that her presence was relaxing the woman and allowing her to let her guard down. "The job can keep me busy alot as aslong as the Captain is on duty, I usually end up being also. When I can manage some down time I enjoy running. I believe that the ship has it's own miniature gym?"

"I haven't used it, actually," Stace replied honestly. "And the ship doesn't quite lend itself to corridor running. Even on Deck 4." She shifted in her chair a little and then moved forward, closer to the desk. "I usually just use the holodeck for running. You can't beat some of the terrain on Trill to test your mettle. And as artificial as it is, you still get a sense of space and nature. And when you serve on such a little ship as the Gally that's important, I think. I actually think running is one of my favourite past times."

"Maybe I can join you sometime? With only two holodecks and an average of a hundred people onboard, it means us petty officers are fairly low down on the access list." Rebecca smiled a little as she said the stats off of the top of her head where she had spent time drilling them in.

"That sounds like a wonderful plan," the Trill lied with a smile. Truth be told, Stace was a solitary runner. Experiencing the outdoors and losing herself in the wilderness was one of the pulls that drew her to running such long distances. But she also understood the plight of the lower-ranked crew. "Do you have any programs of your own that you run?"

"I like a challenge...."Crossing her legs before she rested her cup on one knee, Rebecca studied the other woman for a moment, "....depending on my mood I can go from a leisurely warm-up pace to a up hill endurance through woods. Generally I just pick one at random, to fit my mood, and go from there."

"I'm the same way," Stace replied with a beaming smile. "I like to take off in an environment where I have a choice and then switch it up. I have to say that my preference is for leisure: Starting out in the dawn and not knowing where you'll end up by lunch time. I find it so freeing."

Stace nodded to herself with a knowing smile and then looked directly at Rebecca. "Next time I go, we'll go together."

There was something more direct about the woman's response this time which had Rebecca wondering but she figured that she may aswell give the woman the benefit of the doubt. "Well Ma'am, you'll know my roster before I will so I'll let you make the call on when."

"That's settled then," Stace replied with a nod. She took to her drink and sipped from the top, the acrid, burning liquid filling her senses. "How long have you been on the Galileo?"

Rebecca did the maths for a moment before formulating a response, "Bout twelve days now? So close on two weeks....Gally is so small compared to what I'm used to that it's been easy to get to know her well in a short period of time."

"That's one of the better attributes of such a small ship as the Gally. You get to know the layout and the crew relatively easily. Although it does still surprise me how I still come across unfamiliar faces after a couple of months. And its worlds away from the Sovereign I'm used to. Where were you previously posted to? And how does it compare?"

Rebecca smiled broadly at this she laughed, "Prior to this I was stationed as the X Oh's yeoman on Leto Colony. The colony itself was split into three seperate areas between the main city and then the lake and canyon districts, the federation had personel spread right across these areas. Approx 2000 Starfleet personel, 4200 enlisted, 200 marines and 1.95 million civilians. After that, even a sovereign is tiny to me."

"Ha," Stace agreed, flicking both eyebrows up in surprise. "I've never worked on something so vast. I imagine that that is a challenge and a half! How do you even cope with that amount of administration?"

Shrugging her shoulders, Rebecca shufted slightly in her chair. "It was difficult. Because I was yeoman to the executive officer, a lot of the administration was in relation to members of star fleet under the colony banner but the X Oh's responsibilities also extended to relations with the local civilians and ensuring everything was kept smooth. Everyday lead to different events and encounters so it was always exciting as you never knew what your day would bring."

"It sounds like the Gally will be a cinch for you in the upcoming missions then. I'm just glad that you're as experienced as you are since I'm relatively new to this. Well, old hand, but not in this guise."

"I'll do what I can to help Ma'am. I can't promise that I'll always have the answers but I can promise that I'll always be able to get them." Rebecca drained off the last dregs of her coffee before leaning forward to place her cup on the table. "The best advise I can give is to embrace this opportunity. You've a chance to lead a well established crew on a test drive and learn a lot from it which will only work to aid you when you go back to being the second officer."

"I'll keep that in mind," replied Stace, lifting up her cup and also drinking its last. "If you need anything, you'll know where to find me."

Nodding her head, Rebecca went to move from her seat but hesitated for a brief moment, "With the ship short in crew, if I can be of any help please don't hesitate to ask. I'm good with languages so if ever you need someone to step into communications or such I would be happy to."

"Thank you, Ms Williams. I'll keep that in mind. And thank you for your encouragement. It means a lot."

Smiling, Rebecca picked back up her cup, quickly throwing it into the replicator for recycling before exiting the office in order to leave the Commander in peace. That had gone better than she anticipated.

OFF:

Lieutenant Commander Norvi Stace
Chief Science Officer / Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

Petty Officer 2nd Class Rebecca Williams
Commanding Officer's Yeoman
USS Galileo

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