What Rolls Downhill

Posted on 10 Dec 2012 @ 8:06pm by Crewman Indri Chara
Edited on on 13 Dec 2012 @ 5:25pm

819 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Episode 02 - Resupply
Location: USS Galileo: LTjg Stone's Office
Timeline: MD15, 1540

ON:

The colony was beautiful, but Crewman Indri Chara didn't have time to appreciate it as she essentially beamed down, grabbed something quick to eat from the replicators, ate it, and then walked to the transporter pad located in a small tent outside the Galileo.

She would have been fascinated to take the manual landing ramp, but they were currently doing some kind of project on it, so instead she stepped onto the PADD with a salute to the maintenance tech and disappeared in a swirl of bright lights.

The Nova was a small ship, and the security department even smaller. Chara didn't have much difficulty locating the sec/tac department, and fortunately the designer on board had enough aesthetic appreciation to locate ... she looked at her PADD ... Lieutenant (JG) Jeremy Stone's office at the far end of the office. She strode up to the door and hit the chime.

Jeremy glanced up momentarily then went back to his PADD. However a thought trickled in and he looked back up. Why was there a Tellarite at his office door? Wearing gold? He looked at the chair, still propping the door open and remembered.

"Yes, go ahead and do what you need," Jeremy said, waving at the chair in the doorway. "Damned thing won't stay open and my programming overrides don't appear to be working. Just... let me know when it's fixed." he said, returning to his PADD.

"The briefing documents given to me en route instructed me to report in directly to you, since the sec/tac department is minimal on the Nova-class." Chara placed one of her PADDs at the bottom of the stack in her hand onto the top. "I'm Crewman Chara, sec/tac officer, officially reporting for duty." It was said somewhat curtly, but with the procedural enthusiasm only a green crewman could muster up. She nodded down at the PADD she'd shifted. "Transfer orders." Before turning to face him. "I can fix that," she offered, eyes sliding past him toward the door.

"A new transfer?" Jeremy asked, ignoring all the irrelevance of the crewman in front of him. He reached for the PADD he (she?) held out and looked it over. He flicked through screens on his and shook his head. "I was unaware of new security crew coming aboard." He called up her service record then sat back, sighing. I don't need this, he thought learning that he was sent a fresh from training crewman. Not to mention that the orders listed her as Beta shift. He didn't need more people on Beta shift. He needed someone on Gamma shift.

"Your duty shift will change to Gamma shift." He looked at his chrono and sighed. "Starting next week, you'll report to Petty Officer Smoak, or whoever the ranking Gamma shift officer is. This week you'll be in training. You'll remain in training until it's decided that you've learned enough to go on your own." He handed the PADD back to her.

"I have been trained," Chara responded, taking the PADD and looking down at the new rearranged times. "Gamma shift," she repeated, frowning discontentedly at the orders. Apparently, these comments were rhetorical, as they were followed with a simple, "Yes, sir."

Jeremy set his PADD on the desk and looked up, his frown not one of puzzlement but rather of irritation. "If those orders don't suit your particular preferences, Crewman, perhaps you'd care to file a transfer request. However, as the most junior member of this department you can't expect to get a 'plumb' assignment right out of training. Is that understood?"

Tell me how you really feel, Lieutenant, she snarked sarcastically to herself. The Inward Snark as she'd discovered was a great outlet. "Just my opinion, sir." Chara stared straight at him. "Aye, sir. I understand completely."

Jeremy stood, pocketing the PADD. "Keep your 'opinion' to yourself, Crewman," he muttered motioning for her to proceed him out of the office. "It's time for shift brief then you may have half an hour to get your quarter's assignment and drop off your bags then I'll expect you back in the office for orientation and to begin today's duty shift. Where you'll, most likely, want to reveal your history and life story."

"Not really, sir," Chara said wryly.

"Please be aware that I will not care to hear it."

"I got that impression."

Jeremy was already thinking of who to pass the crewman off to. Rhodes would be the shift supervisor so wouldn't be responsible for direct training. He sighed. He didn't know his personnel well enough to know who to saddle with this burden.

The short Tellarite walked with him out of the office, following him to wherever he was planning on going.

OFF:

Jeremy Stone
Indri Chara

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