A Welcome

Posted on 06 Jan 2026 @ 1:25am by Lieutenant JG Aerie Mak & Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale
Edited on on 06 Jan 2026 @ 1:30am

1,298 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Epitaph
Location: Operations
Timeline: July 15, 2390 || 1300 Hours

The Chief of Security should have been on the planet they orbited, letting some alien masseuse destress her stress away, but here she was, on the USS Black Hawk-B, heading to Operations to make a request for the plan she was putting together for the Commodore. She felt like a robot but shook it off as she stepped out of the turbolift on desk fourteen, a PADD in her left hand.

She strode past the break lounge, Science Complex, Computer Core and finally came to the Operations Center. She blinked her eyes and resisted the urge to rub them or rob the nearest replicator for a Raktajino. With a muttered curse in Sicilian, the ombre haired woman strode into the center and headed for the Chief Operations Officer's office.

Mak sat at his station reviewing the mission logs and the latest power distribution logs. He hummed under his breath, barely aware of it, as he reached for his Kava brew, his mother’s recipe, the bitterness simmering with sweetness. The first sip grounded him, earthy and robust, familiar in a way nothing on the ship ever quite managed.

PADD balanced against his knee, he scrolled through the next set of entries, the tune still looping quietly in the back of his mind as he hummed. The earthly smell of the aroma wafted past his nostrils and simmered.

Camilla approached the office and saw a Bajoran male sitting in the chair and briefly wondered why the other Operations Officer had gone. Then again, people left the albatross of Starfleet frequently, be it in a torpedo coffin, transfer or resignation. She switched his names in her head so she addressed him properly.

"Lieutenant Aerie?" she called from the doorway.

Mak looked up, nearly fumbling his PADD. As his quiet humming ceased, he instinctively stood to attention, inviting her in, "Yes? Come in. Uh, I cleaned before sitting down. It appeared neglected. Someone left an empty goldfish bowl upside down in the middle of the table. I assume someone left it behind?"

He studied her for a few moments, unsure what to call her. She wore the Gold uniform, which narrowed her down.

Camila wanted to tell him to calm down, but gave a quick smile instead to calm him. "It's okay. I'm Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale, Chief of Security. I came to welcome to you aboard and take some of your time, if you have it."

Mak nodded, "Yes. I got time. Coffee? Water?" He was drinking his sweet, semi-bitter Bajoran coffee and didn't want to make it awkward, as he was willing to replicate another liquid out of thin air for her.

"A Raktajino, please," she said with a grateful smile. "I promised myself I wouldn't, but it's my magical hot bean flavored go juice right now."

"Interesting," Mak's brows furrowed, approaching the replicator. He hesitated, trying out the word in his brain first before pressing the replicator, "Raktajino. Hot."

The replicator beeped, the Klingon coffee appearing in mid-air. Taking it, he offered it to her before taking his seat, "What can I do for you, Commander?"

"Thank you," the ombre haired woman said as she accepted it and took a drink before she sat it down and brought the PADD that she carried with her up and activated it. "Being the Chief of Security means it's my job to keep the crew and ship safe," she said as she handed him the PADD.

"I've recently made new changes to the Security protocols and I'm working with each department to implement these protocols for the new Enhanced Internal Security Architecture. These are the base requirements for them to date."

"Hrm," Mak accepted the PADD with deliberate precision, not wanting to fumble as he did with the last one. It lay on the floor next to his boot. He skimmed the Security Chief’s briefing, brow tightening in mild confusion before flipping the device over to orient it properly. He nodded after a moment, stating, "I can work with those and adapt."

"Do you have any questions or concerns?" Camila asked as she took another drink of the strong coffee. "I know it's a lot with you being new to the ship."

Mak shook his head, "Thank you, Commander. I will read it. No questions at the moment."

Camila frowned. "I would highly suggest that we go over them together, Lieutenant," she said, unsure why he wouldn't want to do it now and why he handled the PADD and everything like they were bombs.

Mak quietly nodded, "Understood, sir. We can review it." He looked over the PADD, skimming down the headers slowly until pausing before section four, he read over how the specs would affect his department. "Has Command approved additional Ops personnel?"

"It should only take seven or eight personnel per shift, Lieutenant," Camila said. "Operations has seventy-six personnel on the roster."

Mak paused, taking a mental note of her response. Leaning on the table with his arms on the surface, he straightened his back and scrolled up on the PADD, looking for the next thing. He asked his next question, "Are the gel-packs going to be overloaded?"

"It shouldn't be more than eight to twelve percent, including potential degradation," she said. "However, we're going to have to make do with what we have with supplies how they are. This is a requirement, though."

Keeping his data pad stable in his hands, Mak asked the follow-up question, “Are our supplies sufficient? Will it be be enough for the duration of our mission?”

She gave a shrug. "My job is to protect the ship and crew. I can only hope that Gamma Command felt that we were in need of supplies. Things have been stretched very thin lately."

“Hmm,” Mak commented, skimming the brief for a few seconds. He added, “Have there been any recent power losses or brownouts in Security systems?”

"This is the Black Hawk," Camila said. "We've had everything happen to us from being blown to another universe to being fractured in time. A loss of power? That's why I had backup generators installed at all the critical areas for force fields."

“Understood,” he noted, scratching the subtle ridges on his nose. He’d only just come aboard, still unfamiliar with the Black Hawk’s pacing. Touching the PADD screen, he flipped to the next section and asked, “How does Blackout Mode affect communications.”

"Encrypted communications only," she said. "Ship-wide announcements, personal subspace messaging and unencrypted internal comms are disabled."

“Noted. During Blackout Mode, does Ops retain access to environmental telemetry for sealed compartments?”,

"Absolutely," Camila said. "Operations maintains environmental stability in sealed sections, prevents cascade failures due to compartment isolation and ensures medical life-support overrides remain accessible." She liked the questions he was asking and began to hope he'd stay around, but this was only his first days aboard the Albatross and they were in dock

Mak nodded, lightly flipping the page up casually, “Understood. For security coordination, what alert thresholds are currently set for internal sensors?”

"It depends on the alert condition, but..." she gave him the technical rundown for each alert status, including Blackout.

He nodded, listening to her technical rundown for each alert status, his brain doing the mental checklist.

"Do you have any other questions or concerns?" Camila asked.

Skimming over the datapad one more time, he placed it on the desk. He shook his head once, "Negative, sir. I'll review the remaining sections on my own time."

The Security Chief gave a nod. "It's going live in three weeks, Lieutenant," she said. "Be ready." With that, she turned and headed off to the next department.

"Understood," Mak nodded, watching her leave. He exhaled, looking at his sitting datapad, waiting for it to move.

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