On Approach

Posted on 09 May 2014 @ 5:27pm by Commodore Harvey Geisler & Commander C. Kos

1,686 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Pursuit
Location: Transport Shuttle

Ezerin had forgot how slow time passes on transport shuttles, it had only been six days but it seemed like twelve and the Tellarite that he had to share quarters with didn’t make it go any quicker. He was constantly telling story after story about his glory days as a freighter captain, after the third day he could take no more, from that point on he spent most of his time in the mess hall catching up on reading that he had neglected over the last few months.

Ezerin was sitting at a table nursing a slightly warm glass of synthohol deeply engrossed in a research paper by Dr. Alora Renn on the inversion of subatomic partials when exposed to temporal fluctuation on the event horizon of black holes when he heard the com activate and a voce echoed through the ship.

“Attention passengers: we will be rendezvousing with the USS Black Hawk in 15 minutes. That is all.”

He let out a sigh of relief, he would finally get off this barge and assume his position as Chief Science Officer on the Black Hawk. He book marked his location and put the pad into the bag that was sitting on the floor beside his chair. He downed the rest of his drink, threw the bag over his shoulder and headed to the debarkation area next to the primary airlock.

On his arrival he noticed several other Starfleet officer waiting to disembark, other transfers most likely. He found a nice little spot across from a row of chairs and leaned against the wall. Glancing around the room he noticed most of the Starfleet personal there were wearing gold and a few like him were in blue but one was wearing the red color of command and her pips marked her as a Lt. Commander, He smiled when their eyes met.

He moved from his position and sat beside her and held out his hand,

“Lt Ezerin Vex, Chief Science Officer of the black hawk, or at least I will be once I assume my new post, and you are?”

She looked up from her coffee at a Trill man about her age in a blue-collared uniform, with his hand extended. She recognized him as the person she had mistakenly made eye contact with earlier. 'I should not have done that,' she said to herself.

"Lieutenant," she replied. "Lieutenant Commander Kos." She tried to say little to avoid furthering the conversation. She didn't mind socializing when she initiated it or she had some prior relationship with the individual(s) in question. In this case, she had never met this Lieutenant Vex until now, though she had gotten a message about his assignment to the Black Hawk.

Ezerin could tell from his century’s of experience with humans and plain common sense that the commanders body language and mannerisms indicated that she didn’t want to continue the conversation but he ignored them and kept at it, most humans unlike the Trill needed to be pushed in conversation in order for them to warm up and get familiar with new people and he liked to get to know new people.

“It’s nice to meet you commander and If you don’t mind me asking, what position will you be assuming once were on board?

He already knew of course once she said her name that she was the first officer, he had reviewed the black hawks manifest and transfer list on route, but he wanted to keep her talking.

"I would hope you'd have reviewed the ship's roster in anticipation of arriving Mister," Mac responded, using her best talk-down-to-people voice. "But since you seem to have avoided preparing for your new assignment... I am the new Executive Officer, which means you report to me." She added the last bit in an attempt to start a new persona about the BH, one in which she was a tough commander. It was largely a fabrication. She was generally too nice to be a hard-ass, except when necessary. But she wanted to start out strict so that she was taken seriously. Softening and opening up to the crew could come later. On her schedule.

"Now if you'll allow me to finish my coffee in peace Mister Vex..." she let her voice trail off, hoping that the Trill Science Chief would opt to remove himself so that she didn't have to explicitly tell him to go away.

Ezerin smiled and chuckled to himself at her comment knowing that at that moment she had just show more of herself than she would have wanted, so he decided to withdraw from the conversation. He looked down at his feet then began reciting her personal file word for word as if he was reading it from a data pad. When he was finished he looked her in the eyes.

“You jump to conclusions too fast commander, I am more than prepared for this assignment, if you had read over my file like i did yours, you would know that I have eidetic memory, I know the name, rank, and position of every crewmember aboard the Black Hawk as well as the personal files on all the senior officers as well as every crewmember in my department and can recite them like I did yours”

All of the conversations in the debarkation area were interrupted including theirs by a loud bang and the sound of air releasing not long after a voice than filled the room,

“This is your captain speaking, we have just docked with the USS Black Hawk, all passengers registered to disembarking, your belongings have been transported to the Black Hawk, cargo bay 2. Thank you for your patronage.”

Ezerin stood up and threw his bag back over his shoulder and let out a sye,

“I was mealy trying to get to know the new head of crew relations and if you don’t mind a piece of friendly advice from someone who’s been around a few centuries, You need to relax the reigns a bit or you may find that being a hard ass will get your crew to follow you, but few will respect you, It’s the Captains job to be the hard ass of the ship, the XO should be the one the crew turns too and I think you will find that few will do so if you always have your shields up.”

The airlock door had slid open and people were starting to file through it onto the Black Hawk, A large smile crossed his face as he turned and joined the people leaving the transport.

"Lieutenant! Get back here!" she called, using the authoritative voice she avoided using as much as possible. "You will check your attitude and smug sense of superiority immediately. I know that Trill, particularly joined ones, are plagued by arrogance. I strongly suggest you work on mastering that character trait. Its unbecoming a Starfleet Officer. Do I make myself clear?"

Before he could respond, a man in a red uniform with Commander pips stepped through the airlock. Mac recognized him as Commander Geisler, CO of the Black Hawk.

Harvey had been waiting on the bridge, again wading through more paperwork. The moment the transport was within range, he was thankful for a distraction and learned how truly eager he was to meet the oncoming crew.

The moment the shuttle docked, and after he gave orders to Lieutenant Sherman to begin the transport of cargo and fighters, Harvey entered the turbolift. It was customary for the newcomers to report to the bridge, but after three weeks of quiet activity, Harvey elected to 'jump the gun.'

Entering the airlock, he spotted a Trill in Science Teal and a human in Command Red, both wearing officer's pips. Though he had not studied faces, he knew automatically the identity of the woman, but was not sure if the Trill was the doctor or his science officer.

"About time," Harvey replied, cracking a half smile. He met both officers halfway in the airlock. Immediately, he felt the tension between the two. Before he could jump to conclusions, Harvey greeted both, "Welcome to the Black Hawk, Commander Kos. Same for you, Lieutenant..."

“...Lieutenant Ezerin Vex Sir the new Chief Science officer, and thank you Sir for the personal welcome, requesting permission to come aboard.”

Ezerin held out his hand in the traditional human greeting.

Harvey accepted the handshake. Once the hand was released, Harvey folded his arms. He nodded in the direction of Commander Kos, hoping she'd catch the message that he would speak with her after finishing with the Science Officer.

Now, with his attention fully attuned to the man in teal, Harvey spoke, "Permission granted, Lieutenant. I hope you're ready for the Gamma Quadrant, away from the usual Federation resources."

Ezerin smiled at the commander and adjusted the bag over his shoulder that had slipped with the hand shake,

“In fact Commander I’m looking forward to it, I have spent over four hundred years in the alpha and beta quadrants I can’t wait to experience something new, plus my last assignment was a three year deep space charting expedition so I’m use to operating on the fringes.”

"Good," the Captain replied. His expression was serious. "Well, Lieutenant, I don't want to keep you. The Black Hawk might've once been a warship, and though she's still a carrier, we have several state-of-the-art laboratories and equipment. Go get your gear stowed and we can meet again on the bridge when you're ready. Welcome aboard."

"Thank you Sir and I’ll see you on the bridge."

With that Ezerin looked over his shoulder at the first officer,

“A pleasure talking with your commander, we have to do it again some time.”

He smiled then left the captain and XO in the airlock, having memorised the layout of the Black Hawk he heading for Cargo bay 2 where his belongings had been transferred. He couldn't wait to get them stored in his room and get started.


To Be Continued in "Woman in Red"

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