Day 1 [0830] Getting Settled

Cliff

Captain Batai Dhej sighed as he piloted the Runabout Currie into, what was basically, a que, to dock at Starbase Bravo. He’d decided to take the runabout himself, instead of taking the U.S.S. Sirona, which would be just sitting in space for five days, being bored. He knew they could handle things with out him, and that they would let him know if anything serious came up. As he waited, he wondered if he would be lucky enough to run into some officers he hadn’t seen in a while, and maybe even some old friends. He hoped the celebration wasn’t just a lot of speeches and cocktail parties, as he had never been a huge fan of those.

After almost thirty minutes of waiting, including ten minutes arguing with an overworked Bolian lieutenant, he was finally given clearance to dock. He had a padd shoved in his hand which apparently was a welcome package, itinerary and room assignment all in one. He wanted to thank the officer for their help, but was waved along as others lined up behind him. Bringing up the room details, as he knew he wanted to at least drop his bag somewhere before he began getting settled in, he saw that he was assigned to a double room in one of the docking rings. With a smirk, he thought about his days back at the Academy, and wondered who he’d end up bunking with. If anything it might be a good chance to get to know someone he hadn’t met before, or served with, which was always a good thing.

After about 5 minutes of wandering around, running into a few over-stressed officers and technicians, he found his room. Entering the access code on the padd, he saw it wasn’t anything fancy. Two beds, set up bunkbed style, a replicator, and a small bathroom. There were two small chairs by a table which he assumed would be used as both a desk, personal console, and dining table. Seeing as his potential roommate hadn’t arrived yet, he dropped his bag on the lower bunk, and sat in one of the chairs. Leaning his head back, he took a minute to reflect on everything that had happened in the past few years, both the good and the bad. He thought about how the galaxy had changed after the destruction of Romulas and the massacre on Mars. Shaking his head, as he knew thinking about such things would bring up a lot of tough emotions, he stood, went to the replicator, and ordered some jasmine tea. Re-taking his seat, he began browsing the padd, trying to get a handle on what this meeting was going to be all about.

muselessbard

About twenty minutes after he had settled in, Mei finally had an assignment in hand and headed up to the bunk she had been given. She took her time traveling up to the rooms. After all, she didn’t particularly need to get settled in. She had done her routine already, she just needed to drop off her bag. So, she found herself waiting in stuffed corridors for a few more minutes than she would have been used to. It was interesting to watch, and the more she stood around waiting, the more she remembered home. At least the busy days in the cities.

Soon enough, though she was in the residential corridors, and she found her way to her door. She hit the side panel and there was a pause after the chime. It had been a long time since she bunked with anyone – other than her twins. She took a breath and waited for the door to get the all-clear before it hissed open. She was lucky, at least luckier than some. She got bunked with someone in her own task force, which means they had at least crossed paths before. Though, for the life of her she couldn’t remember an exact moment.

Once the door opened, she felt a wave of nerves but pushed it aside. She let instinct and tradition kick in, as she adjusted the old duffle bag on her shoulder and stepped in with a quick and simple, “Ni hao ma,” She gave a rather standard greeting from home and a soft bow to the first sign of another officer she saw. The truth was, she wasn’t sure what to say or do. She hadn’t done this for decades. “Sun Mei Xiang, USS Shanghai-A. You can just call me Mei if I hadn’t said that to you sometime before now.” She added before her eyes found the clearly empty bunk in the room and she stepped that way to set her bag up on the bed.

arcticblast

Jonas had finally made his way to his room for the conference in habitation section C. It wasn't much, two beds, two desks with consoles on each, two chairs, two small closets with shelves, and a small lavatory. It reminded him of his room at the Academy. It had been a long voyage and was going to be a long conference. He decided to put his feet up for a bit. He didn't expect to get much down time.

Not thirty minutes had passed when the doors to the room hissed open once again, and through the doors entered a woman of Indian heritage in her mid thirties. She wore a red uniform and sported three golden pips on her collar signifying her rank as a Commander in Starfleet. Over her shoulder was slung a huge gym bag, which made it's way through the entrance before she did. Stepping in, she quickly pulled the strap over her head and set the bag on the other bed with a sigh before turning to face the man relaxing in front of her
"Commander Flanigan, I'm hoping?" She started.

Jonas looked over when he heard the doors swoosh open. He sat up and swung his feet to the floor. Jonas was a believer in being on his feet when he met someone for the first time. He stood up and saw that her uniform bore the same pips as his. He extended his hand, "Jonas Flanigan, formerly of DS12. They sent me to this conference with the carrot of giving me a command after."

Chandra extended her hand, taking Jonas' firmly and with a single shake. "Raksha Chandra, formerly of the USS Frontier. I'm here under the same pretences, as it happens. I wonder how many more of us they'll be bringing and send out on new vessels. They must be pretty serious about this whole thing if they're offering so many new commands to junior command officers like us. You hoping for any assignment in particular?" She asked rather casually. She seemed well-adjusted to meeting new people and was rather at ease with her new colleague.

He thought for a moment about his reply. It was a question he had pondered quite a bit as of recent. "I am an explorer at heart. I don't so much care about the science and engineering, both are important, but they aren't where my abilities lie. I joined 'To Boldly Go'. I want to be on the frontier. We've got a wormhole in Task Force 38 that opens about every ninety days. Whatever ship I get assigned, I hope to take it through to the other side." He paused. "How about yourself?"

Chandra smiled knowingly at the response. It was a mentality that was familiar to her, but not exactly alike. She relished the idea of difference though. Diversity is what made Starfleet so interesting to her. "Well I've been a command officer for a few years now,' she began, scratching her head casually as she considered her response 'but a large part of my heart still lies in engineering. Like you, I'm an explorer. I think all the greatest Starflight officers really are anthropologists, naturalists, archaeologists, and cartographers at heart. But I also love the joys of knowing just how things work, how they can be broken, and how they can be improved. From what I understand of it, I'll be working with Task Force 72 in the coming months at least, so it'll be interesting to see what the Alpha Quadrant has to offer. There's still so much of it we know nothing about."

Jonas nodded his head, "True enough, there is ample space to explore in each of the quadrants. Do you have any idea as to what these briefings are going to be about?"

"No clue,' Chandra answered, taking a seat on her own bed, 'with the post-Dominion war issues we've been facing, I wouldn't mind betting it's a large expansionist effort or a redoubling of our borders but who's to say? I'd say we've been far too quiet in the eyes of the Admiralty and the government these past ten years, so either way, I expect we're going to have our hands full."

"That's an interesting take, either way it would require a significant increase in starships and captains to command them." He sat down. "We used to always throw things at people when they said things were quiet. It's asking for trouble. I could see a borg armada coming out of warp on our doorstep, or some other big bad unknown. I always prefer to find them before they find us. That way you engineering and science types have time to build us technologies to deal with them before they get here."

Chandra nodded at this notion, before replying. "Part of what makes us engineering types so successful in the field though is our ability to adapt. I'd rather not wall off the Federation's borders for fear of incursion. We have enemies, it's true, and we also have things like the Borg to worry about it, but to dedicate all of our efforts and resources to building the biggest torpedos and the punchiest phaser arrays, or seeking out enemies across the galaxy... well, it makes me question what the point is at that stage."

"You're right, we don't need to wall off the Federation. As big as it is now, it'd be next to impossible. I do agree, though, these last ten years feel as if the Federation has become stagnant. With any luck, they will announce a new exploration initiative."

"Well, I guess we'll see, won't we?" Chandra shrugged. "Anyway, I'm going to try and get an hour or two's rest before this whole thing kicks off. Can't imagine I'll be doing much sleeping for the rest of the week,' she said, untying her shoes, 'don't worry, I don't snore too loudy Commander Flanigan, and I'll endevour to keep out of your hair."

--
A post by:

Commander Raksha Chandra
Task Force 72

Commander Jonas Flanigan
Task Force 38

Cliff

Batai looked up from the padd he was reading when the doors opened, and waited for the woman to finish speaking. Returning the bow, he said “It’s nice to meet you Captain Xiang, I’m Captain Batai Dhej, Commanding Officer, U.S.S. Sirona. It seems like we’re going to be roommates for a few days. Please, call me Batai.” Pausing, he gestured to the beds and added “I hope its ok I took the bottom bunk, for some reason I remember liking I more back in my Academy days.” Standing, he returned his mug to the replicator, and called over his shoulder, “Would you like to share a cup of jasmine tea before we get ready for the opening ceremony?”

muselessbard

“I would love a cup of tea, actually,” Mei spoke as she stretched up to adjust her duffle bag and straightened it up a bit. She dusted off the old bag and felt a smirk on her lips. “Captain Sun, actually. I tend to stick to the traditional naming structure of my homeland. Common mistake. Mei Xiang is my given name. I had enough trouble with it with young staff that I had to change the wording in Shanghai’s database.” She gave a shrug and turned back around towards him. “And I always had a top bunk in the old days. Benefits of being short, I suppose.” She eventually slid back to normal and gave a glance over to him. She had a hint of a bounce in her step, “How long have you been in the Fleet? Or Commanding Sirona specifically?”

Cliff

Ordering two mugs of the jasmine tea, Batai crossed over the small space and handed one to her. Leaning against the nearby chair, he sipped his tea and replied “I’ve been commanding the Sirona for going on around 13 years or so Mei. Took command of her during her maiden voyage and had some challenges getting support from the powers that be. A certain admiral at the time seemed to not be fond of having a Luna class ship take on medical and humanitarian missions, when there were so many other uses for them.” Taking another sip, he added “How about you? Have you been with the Shanghai long?”

muselessbard

She gave a small nod, taking the tea in both hands and having a quick sip before she answered. “Sort of. Shanghai was an Admiral’s ship back in the 2380s. Not a big name, or anything, but tasked with helping refugees resettle. I was on the Akira for four years, until 2386 when she got ambushed and heavily damaged. So, she got scrapped, and the Admiral got another ship renamed Shanghai, but then retired and gave me command not long after. That version was a Vesta. I commanded her back during the SoK invasion – and we got beat up pretty bad in Operation Gatecrasher. Enough that we used her for parts repairing ships in the Task Force. Devron wasn’t up and running, and we had a sheered nacelle, so,” She sighed, “I didn’t expect to see another ship with the name after that. But, Devron was finishing up a new retrofitted Galaxy to get us back out to the edge of Raeyan – and the Admiralty thought of me.” She paused for a minute, “I’m rambling, sorry. The short answer I suppose is about ten years, across three ships. I’ve only commanded her for about five or six – but was in command of two other ships for a few years in there too.” She took a sip of tea to shut herself up for a minute before a realization hit her, “Thirteen years. I suppose that makes you basically the most experienced humanitarian Captain in the task force, if not the fleet, huh? Medical background in general?”

Cliff

Smiling slightly as he took another sip of tea, Batai replied “I wouldn’t quite say that Mei, but I do have an extensive medical background which has certainly helped over the years. You never know when something will come up during a mission where you need to get into the thick of it at the spur of the moment.” Pausing, as he remembered some of the terrible things he’d seen when working with some of the survivors of the attack on Mars, and the destruction of Romulus, he shook his head slightly to clear the upsetting memories. Finishing his tea, he set down the mug and added “That experience however has apparently been noticed by some of the upper brass, who are trying to get me to consider other opportunities. Let’s just say that its been a bit overwhelming to know what to do.”

muselessbard

Mei nodded, "That is something I understand. I've had people asking where I plan to go after Captain," She smirked, "I don't know about you, but I have no intention of going beyond Captain. I think I'd rather retire than end up behind a desk again," She shrugged a bit and sipped the tea. That thought was a bit daunting to her if she was honest, and really it brought up plenty of thoughts of whether she was doing the right thing or if she was being selfish. She had noted the pauses, but couldn't think of any way to bring it up with any sort of tact. She changed the topic a bit as she thought on the scheduled event they were here for, "Any worries about whatever it is they dragged us all out here to do?"

Cliff

Shaking his head, he replied “Not yet Mei. I just know that I was content to have some shoreleave after our last mission, but then go the order to come here. As we both know, the brass tend to be less than forthcoming sometimes. I just am eager to get our briefing over, and have some time to relax, enjoy the amenities of the station, and try to make my own shoreleave.” Pausing, he finished his tea and said “Are you up for a stroll around the station before we get ready for our meeting?”

muselessbard

Mei gave a nod, "Sure, I could take a walk and check out the station." She wore a wide smile and nodded a bit. "I'm in the same boat, though, I'm going to have to burn leave to keep my kids happy." She shrugged and took a sip of her tea, finishing it off. She set the cup down on a table with shrug, "I've been here a bit, but haven't traveled much past the basics on the promenade - or whatever the station calls its sort of civilian area..." That was a decent start to the event, she thought, and she worried a lot less about this event now that she had time to realize she had a good roommate.