The Transfer

Posted on 28 Sep 2015 @ 11:20pm by Lieutenant Commander Temerant Bast & Captain Harvey Geisler

1,397 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Rude Awakening
Location: USS Black Hawk || Various
Timeline: MD2 || 0830 hours

It was a dark time for Starfleet in the Gamma Quadrant. Infiltrators and traitors had found their way into the upper ranks of Gamma Command. Thankfully Captain Terlexa and her staff had managed to identify and arrest the conspirators on Deep Space 11, but a number of vessels had fallen to what was now rumored to be called the Consortium. Some had been destroyed, but others had escaped.

Temerant couldn't remember ever seeing corruption on this scale in Starfleet. It was with this in mind that he received his transfer orders to the USS Black Hawk, as Chief Operations Officer.

He'd been assigned to Deep Space 11 on the Operations staff for close to seven months now. During this time, he'd become better acquainted with his new duties, since transferring from Engineering had been a bit of a challenge. But more importantly, it had given him time to integrate with his symbiont. The memories from the previous hosts were a latent presence in the back of his mind, and helped him gain a new perspective on things. The recent upheaval had been unsettling, to say the least. On some level, he was grateful for the opportunity to get away from station politics.

The transporter beam faded away, revealing the Black Hawk's transporter room. A young Bajoran Ensign was manning the console. Temerant walked up to him. "Good morning, Ensign…"

"Hayn, Sir," the young man identified himself.

Temerant nodded. "I'm Lieutenant Bast, the new Chief of Operations. I think your pattern buffer is out of alignment, the materialization took a few seconds longer than normal. I'll send a note for Engineering to take a look once I get settled in." He gave the man a friendly slap on the shoulder, and headed out into the corridor.

"Computer," he asked, tapping his combadge. "Locate Captain Geisler."

"The Captain is in his Ready Room," came the reply.

Temerant walked into the nearest turbolift, and instructed it to take him to the Bridge. Once there, he walked to the door to the Captain's ready room, and pressed the door chime.

Harvey was about to exit the Ready Room to embark on his daily tour of the ship, only to be surprised by the door chime. Pulling a tall, steel mug of coffee out of the replicator, he turned to face the door and said, "Come."

The doors parted instantly, revealing a gold collared Trill bearing Lieutenant's pips. Having met the new Security Chief the day before, Harvey could only assume this was his other replacement in his senior staff for the position of Chief Operations Officer. "Morning, Lieutenant," he said just before taking a sip of the hot elixir of life.

"Good morning, Captain," said Bast, saluting. He could smell the Captain's coffee, and it was stirring up a craving deep within him. He pushed it aside and focused on the moment. "Lieutenant Temerant Bast, reporting for duty. I was just assigned here as Chief of Operations."

"Captain Geisler," Harvey greeted, unsure of what to think of the salute. The Captain respected formality, though he was never one to exercise it himself. He took a couple steps towards the lieutenant, only to stop near him at the open doorway. "Welcome aboard the Black Hawk."

"Thank you, Sir. I'm sorry I wasn't able to fully familiarize myself with the ship before reporting here, but I only received my transfer orders from Commander Stanton about fifteen minutes ago. He ordered me to report to you - forthwith."

Harvey had received notice from Gamma Command in the same timeframe, which hadn't been long after he formally requested a new Chief Operations Officer. "Then you're in luck, Lieutenant," Harvey said, gesturing out the door with his coffee mug. "It's time for my daily inspection. Care to join?"

Temerant smiled. "I'd be honored," he said.

The Captain then exercised a well-honed skill, drinking coffee and walking, as he led Lieutenant Bast across the bridge to the turbolift. "Deck Six." Once the turbolift began to move, Harvey asked, "Been in the Gamma Quadrant long, lieutenant?"

"About five months," replied Bast. "I was assigned to DS11 just after I was Joined."

"Then you probably saw everything first hand," Harvey remarked. He'd only heard about the event months after it happened, and only when the Black Hawk was approaching Deep Space 11. There had been something odd about the extra levels of clearance they had to pass through, likely additional security measures implemented after that time.

Temerant shifted his weight uncomfortably, and looked away. "That was a difficult time," he said finally. "But yes, I was there. I mean, I wasn't in Ops when it happened, but we felt the repercussions just the same. Commander Axam was well-liked. It came as a shock to everyone. No one expected him to turn his back on Starfleet the way he did."

Harvey grunted. Sure, Starfleet had rubbed him wrong more than once, but he couldn't imagine mounting or participating in an insurrection. Harvey would surrender his uniform before resorting to such drastic measures. And not a single word of that was still worth uttering to a member of his senior staff, much less one he'd known for less than two minutes. "I can imagine," was all that he uttered, just before taking another sip of coffee. "Our last voyage out of spacedock was quite an adventure. Wound up being attacked, boarded, stripped of all computer operational software..."

The doors parted, interrupting his little speech. Harvey immediately stepped out, not looking to see if the Lieutenant was keeping in step. "We rebuilt what we could, and now that we have a fresh install, we're finding several bugs left behind from both our temporary patching and gaps from forgotten upgrades from over the years."

"Yes, Sir, I imagine you would," said Temerant, keeping in step with the Captain. "And it's my job as Chief of Operations that all those bugs get fixed as soon as possible, and as efficiently as possible."

"Good," Harvey said, turning a corner. "I can't imagine Starfleet wanting to keep us docked for longer than necessary. Therefore, sooner is better."

"Aye, Sir," replied Temerant, smiling.

Turning another corner, Harvey led Temerant into Primary Computer Control where a handful of technicians were at work at consoles, programming and troubleshooting. Harvey was quick to notice phasers holstered on a couple individuals. It was clear that the new Security Chief wasted no time in getting involved.

"You'll also need to know that I've authorized Commander Rosario's request to create a cybersecurity division. It appears that he works quickly."

"That's fine, as long as they don't get in the way," replied Temerant, settling down at one of the workstations. He logged into the computer, and accessed the computer system. Within seconds, he had catalogged the various patches missing from the computer, and identified six essential upgrades that the Operations staff had missed.

He pointed them out to Captain Geisler. "Did I mention that my previous host was a computer expert? I've picked up a lot of tricks along the way."

Harvey nodded with a smirk. "Looks like you'll fit in quite nicely," he commented, still standing near the doorway with his coffee. Harvey recalled one of his early days in the lab when a fellow researcher had dared to bring in a cup of water. That same cup was accidentally spilled twenty minutes later, ruining equipment and six months of research. Though Harvey did not consider himself accident-prone, he knew there were certain things one should never do, and that included never bringing liquid near vital electronics.

"And it appears you have much to do. Any questions before I leave you with the team?"

Temerant tapped the console to access the installation plans for the required patches, and identified some that were in conflict. "I think I've got this under control," he said. "If I do have any questions, I'll be sure to let you know, Captain," he said.

He looked at the armed security guards, who were hovering just a bit too close over his shoulder. "Gentlemen, I'm sure you can do your job just as efficiently by standing over there," he said, indicating a position along the rear wall, about six feet farther away from him.

Continuing to smirk, the Captain silently nodded to Bast before leaving the room. It appeared the Lieutenant had everything under control, and Harvey had an inspection to resume.

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