The New Guy in Town

Posted on 18 Jan 2013 @ 8:08am by Lieutenant Jacob Pendleton & Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm

2,448 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 02 - Resupply
Location: USS Galileo - Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: MD 15 08:30 hours

[ON]

Through the early morning Jacob had been unpacking his things and trying to decide what he wanted his room to look like when the alarm rang on his PADD reminding him of his appointment with the main woman herself: Captain Saalm.

He groomed and dressed himself as best as he had ever done. He wanted to make a great first impression after all! His uniform was tailored perfect for his massive form; and although Star Fleet always tried to de-emphasize the figure or form of any personnel whomsoever, there was no uniform anywhere that could hide the massive frame, broad shoulders, or huge muscles that were every part of this giant of a man.

Jacob walked confidently down the corridors of the ship. Some of the sparse crew that was milling about who happened to notice him did double takes; even some of the female cadets and enlisted actually watched him with mouth agape or had them giggling a little as they blushed in watching him walk down the corridor. As usual though, Jacob paid no attention to any of that as he eventually made his way to the Ready Room, he had a very important meeting to keep.

He stopped at the door, double checked his uniform for any lint or creases, took a deep breath and then sounded the door chime and waited.

Lirha sat in her ready room with a mug of hot chocolate in her hand as she browsed through the various PADDs on her desk. She had just started her shift not too long ago, and there appeared to be quite a number of new status and engineering reports to look through. Stretching her neck from side to side, she let out a soft yawn as she began her day's administrative work.

Not much time had elapsed before the door chime sounded and echoed throughout the ready room. "Enter." she called out, then looked toward the door to see who required her presence.

A large, human male entered the ready room. He was six foot, eight inches tall, very broad shoulders, large bone structures, and large, well defined muscles that were clearly outlined by his uniform. He had brown hair, deep brown eyes and might be considered to be quite handsome by more than a few females. His skin had a slight olive color to it given the possible hint that he was of mixed human races. His voice was deep and pleasant, "Lieutenant Junior Grade Jacob Roosevelt Pendleton reporting for duty as the new Chief Research Officer, Captain Saalm." He stood perfectly to code ready to be received.

Lirha blinked as a very large man entered her ready room, surprisingly wearing a blue collared uniform. Her first thought was that he had misplaced his security uniform, but after hearing him announce himself as Galileo's new chief research officer, she quickly dismissed her assumption. Finally forcing a friendly smile on her face, she nodded in reply as he stood at attention. "At ease, lieutenant." she said, rising from her chair and extending her green hand in greeting. "I'm Captain Saalm, welcome to Galileo" she added while looking up at him, then motioned with her other hand towards the nearby chair. "Please, have a seat."

Jacob went to the parade rest position and then when he was offered a seat he smiled at her and replied in his usual deep, but gentle voice, "Thank you Captain."

He looked around the room and commented, "This is a great space. It feels very comfortable here." He smiled again. As he took in the room and then regarded his new captain his thoughts ran a thousand miles a second. As he made direct eye contact with the Captain his heart skipped a beat. "Wow," Jacob thought, "Always amazed how the vast majority of the women who serve in Star Fleet are so incredible. They are strong leaders, accomplished officers, and beautiful on top of it all." Here was his captain, a gorgeous Orion female! Well, really, Orion and gorgeous were usually interchangeable words... Jacob caught himself before this thoughts went any further. This was his Captain, period! With all the respect and honor that title comes with and that is where his thoughts would forever have to stay.

As he quickly got his mind back into the moment at hand, he presented his PADD that held his documentation, his transfer orders, his bio and everything else required by protocol.

He said as he gave the PADD to the Captain, "You should find this is good order Captain. I am honored to be here."

Lirha took the PADD from him and placed it in front of her on the desk, then returned to her seat, noticing how the chair the man was now sitting in appeared woefully too small for his body. Hopefully he didn't get stuck, she mused.

"So, Mister Pendleton," she said in a light voice as she began a formal series of introductory questions for new senior officers, "What brings you to my ship?" she asked, wondering whether the man had requested a reassignment or simply been transferred. The details of his orders were obviously contained within the PADD he had just given her, but she preferred to hear his story in his own words.

"Moving on and moving up, Captain," Jacob began, "Seeking knowledge is what I crave, understanding things, solving the riddles of the universe. Your ship was recommended to me by friends and colleagues alike, Captain." He smiled at her, then noticed the chair was a bit small for him.

"Recommended?" she repeated with a hint of surprise in her voice and a raised eyebrow. Galileo had only been commissioned for about a month, and she was somewhat flattered that her ship and crew had built up such a positive reputation during that short period of time. "That's very generous of you to say, lieutenant." she finally added with a small smile, then paused to adjust herself in her seat and fold her green hands in her lap. "Have you ever served aboard a Nova Class starship before?" she curiously asked. Though not as tiny and cramped as a Defiant Class, Novas were quite a departure from the traditional, larger heavy cruisers which made up the bulk of the fleet.

Jacob shook his head, "No Ma'am. I am still in awe to be honest of this ship and all the technology enclosed within her. I have much more learning to do."

The captain nodded. So far, the man had presented himself professionally and with a certain humble quality and an enthusiasm to learn; Qualities which Lirha looked for in all of her senior staff. "Well, they say life is an ongoing process of learning..." she replied with a sideways grin. "As for Galileo, you will find that while she is a fine ship, she is rather small and lacking many of the facilities and amenities provided by larger starships. We have no gym, only two holodecks for a crew of one hundred, and a simple mess hall with replicators." she added, reciting from memory several of the common crew complaints of Nova Classes.

jacob smiled, "No worries Captain. I can adapt to almost anything. And I am a fairly good Holodeck program editor, so perhaps some of my creations could be enjoyed by everyone." His thoughts slipped back to his Academy days and his roommate and best friend Alex who had taught him how to create a decent Holosim. He smiled to himself at the thought, while remembering he needed to write a letter to Alex to see if he got that position he wanted aboard the Andromeda or not...

"Interesting...a holo-programmer..." Lirha mumbled to herself. If anyone was in need of a good R&R program, it was her. For some strange reason, the standard Starfleet-issue programs were never quite enough to satisfy Lirha's hedonistic appetite.

Refocusing on the task at hand, she was glad to hear that the research chief felt he could adapt to the small size of her Nova Class. Picking up the PADD in front of her, she began to skim over his Starfleet service record and profile, making several mental notes to herself regarding his previous postings. "Tell me a little about your previous assignments." she said, keeping her eyes focused on the PADD in her hands.

Jacob smiled, "My time serving on both the Wells and the Verne were just incredible. I really learned so much on both vessels that it would take quite a while to talk about all the great things I saw and worked on." He thought for a minute and then continued, "As you can see about some of the highlights of my time aboard both ships on my service record, but I have to say that the archeological dig on Qalad II was just so incredible," Images of the time at the ruins flashed in Jacob's mind, "Some of the artifacts we found were several million years old! The civilization that existed there was already theorizing about faster than light travel long before any established race we know. I can't tell you how wonderful that was."

Lirha's interest peaked and her green eyes came to life at the mention of an ancient civilization. Though she was not a scientist by nature and did not have specialized Starfleet science training, she was still fascinated by the unknown, particularly various cultures, old and new alike. "Several million years old...that sounds very intriguing." she replied, "Were you able to completely excavate the site? What else did you find?" she asked with much curiosity, making a mental note to do some further research on the Qalad expedition.

Jacob thought a moment, "I worked on that dig for a year and most of it was the usual finding some new building or bones, utensils or artwork, the usual things you can find at a dig but once in a while we found some extraordinary things. The team I was on unearthed some plates made of platinum that we theorized were data holding devices," Jacob then chuckled, "However, we couldn't decipher them to save our lives. I believe they are still being deeply studied on Starbase 68 or some where in that sector." He took a drink of his soda then continued, "As for recovering the whole site? Not a chance. The dig's main supervisor thought it might take at least ten years to completely excavate the entire city that we all thought was the capital city of that world."

Jacob smiled widely as he then added, "My team found a cave that was filled with all sorts of precious and semi-precious stones that I thought my be used for some kind of ceremony, some of the others thought it might be some sort of warehouse for certain valuable objects, but the team leader, she thought it might have been a vault of tribute gained through conquest of subjugation." Jacob's voice wavered off a bit as he thought about his former team lead. "Lynnia, that was her name.." He thought then he slightly felt like he was about to blush thinking about her. She was beautiful. A tall, red head, curvy woman about eight years older than him. He had always had a "thing" for her, but never had the nerve to ask her out.

Jacob sighed slightly and appeared to have a far off look in his eyes thinking about Lynnia, the dig and the experience as a whole.

Lirha was fascinated by the story and sat quietly as she listened, making subtle mental notes along the way in case her ship ever came across a similar civilization. After the research officer finished speaking, Lirha waited a long moment before speaking. "That is truly an incredible find." she finally commented with a nod of approval. "Perhaps Galileo will one day discover a civilization like that." she added in a soft voice, then reached up and pushed a stray lock of hair from her eyes and back behind her ear.

"Well," she continued, "I am pleased to have you aboard as the newest member of our science team. Your official position will be chief research officer and you will be a member of the senior staff, but you will report directly to Lieutenant Panne, our chief science officer. Your job will be to assist her with any research and development projects, as well as anything else she might need. I know Miss Panne is quite fond of anthropology and archaeology as well, so you might find that you two have a lot in common." she explain.

Jacob came back to the present quickly and responded, "Oh.. um, right Captain. I have read Doctor Panne's work and am very impressed. I will help her and the entire team in whatever endeavors we are pursuing. I assure you that you will have one hundred percent of my effort at all times." He smiled, tipped his glass towards her and drank the rest of his soda in one gulp.

"Excellent." Lirha replied, "If you have not already, please check in with her as well as my XO, Commander Holliday. In the meantime, do you have any questions for me?" she asked, affording him the opportunity to inquire about anything that might be on his mind regarding his new assignment.

"Just how might I be of assistance is all? I know Star Fleet loves their chains of command and their hierarchy and all, but I want to be flexible and dedicated to doing whatever it takes to make this Science department worthy of honors, respect and acknowledgement Captain. I just want the legacy of the Galileo to be remembered and looked at as a role model for other scientific vessels and researchers alike."

"Well Mister Pendleton," she began, "As long as you are punctual, perform your duties to the best of your ability, and abide by Starfleet regulations, I can think of no better way to serve as a role model." she finished, then looked back down at the PADD containing his transfer orders and pressed her thumb into the signature box before handing it back to him. "It appears all your affairs are in order." she added, then rose from her chair and smoothed down the front of her uniform. "If there is nothing else, lieutenant, you are dismissed. Welcome aboard Galileo."

Jacob smiled, stood at attention and replied, "Thank you Captain." He turned smartly on his heel and walked out the room.

[OFF]

--

CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

Lt. JG. Jacob Pendleton
Chief Research Officer
USS Galileo

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