Posted by Lieutenant Commander Vanessa Lofton (Counselor) in Nine Forward - A Celebration

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Kyle Anders (Chief of Security) in Nine Forward - A Celebration

Posted by Captain Emmeline Davis (Commanding Officer) in Nine Forward - A Celebration
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻

<snip>

Vanessa entered the room worried she should have worn her dress uniform. The captain’s message had contained no mention of it, but the ceremony was one that could go either way. She felt the tension between her shoulder blades, which she hadn’t realized was building, relax when she saw everyone in regular duty uniforms.

Her blue eyes swept the room, recognizing a few of the faces as crew members she had already met, recognizing some of the graduating cadets - Officers now, she corrected, since they have already officially received their commissions. - from her purview of their profiles. She settled on one figure by the buffet table she had not met yet. Lieutenant… Sapeth? she thought. Yes, Sapeth. She tilted her head slightly, pursed her lips, then straightened and approached.

“Greetings, Lieutenant” she said in Vulcan, nodding. I hope I got that honorific suffix correct, she mentally chided herself. “I am Lieutenant Commander Vanessa Lofton, the new ship’s counselor.” The shift from Vulcan pronunciation to English was severe even to her own ear, but she always felt strange trying to pronounce her name in Vulcan. “It is a privilege to be met by you.“

She paused, looking upward slightly with her eyes, and then laughed, blushing. “Excuse me, ‘to meet you.’ My Vulcan is a little rusty,” she finished in English.

Lt. Cmdr. Lofton - CNS

“It is nice meet you as well,” Sapeth replied in Federation Standard. “I must say, quite impressive Commander. Most people have a hard time getting the finer enunciations. Your accent is to be expected, but better then most.” It really was quite refreshing to hear someone who could actually make a good effort at speaking Vulcan. Most people tried learning it at one point or another, but they usually butchered the finer details.

Vanessa smiled and bowed her head. “Thank you, Lieutenant. I studied it as my language course in the Academy, and I try to keep it in practice when I can. Maybe it’s the counselor in me, but I think it can provide a better connection between people than relying on the universal translator.”

Kyle spun and arched an eyebrow at the new Counselor, Impressive, he thought to himself before walking over to greet the Counselor, “Good evening Commander,” he said kindly.

-Lieutenant Junior Grade Kyle Anders: Chief of Security-

She turned as the young lieutenant approached. “Ah, hello again, Lieutenant Anders,” she replied, smiling brightly. “Congratulations again on your promotion.” She gestured to the decorations about the room. “This celebration is partly in your honor; you should be proud.”

<snip>

Emmy surveyed the room, lightly chewing on her lip as she heard the murmurs of conversation between the crewmembers, the room a sea of the various departmental colors. After giving the group time to socialize a bit and collect food and beverages to sustain themselves, she murmured a command to the computer and a noticeable but non-annoying chime began to sound throughout the room to get the crew’s attention.

Ascending a small raised area, Emmy waited a beat for the quiet to stream throughout the room and then spoke, “first, I would like to offer my congratulations to our graduating cadets, many of whom Starfleet has already reassigned to other ships as their first postings. Their performance was exemplary throughout our recent… incident.. and they will be fine contributors to the Federation.” She paused a moment to allow a brief applause for the graduates.

“Now, I would like to welcome Commander Lofton and Lieutenant Walsh, who will be joining us for our next mission as our ship’s counselor and our Chief Medical Officer, respectively. Finally, I would like to recognize Lieutenant McMorran, who has received a promotion to full Lieutenant.”

Emmy paused again to allow the appropriate murmured responses and then spoke one final time, “please enjoy the celebration. Thank you.”

With that, she stepped down from the raised area and began to head toward the door.

Davis, CO

Kyle spotted his Captain making for the door and jogged over to catch her, he decided to look over the fact that he had apparently been missed off the list of congratulations, She’s a busy lass, he thought to himself, Not much time to congratulate everyone. “Captain,” he said in the best convincing voice he could, “Aren’t you staying for the party? It would be a shame for you not to bask in all of the hard work it took to put this together?”

-Lieutenant Junior Grade Kyle Anders: Chief of Security-

Vanessa raised her glass to the captain’s greeting, looking about the room as people looked her way in acknowledgement, and sipped the punch, watching the captain’s attempt to leave and the COS’s attempt to get her to stay. She gave a half smile and shook her head at his eagerness.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been aboard a starship,” she said to Lieutenant Sapeth as she chose a finger sandwich from the buffet; something that wouldn’t make her hands messy. “Bases are different, larger, and usually don’t have as many intricate relationships to weave amongst. This will be interesting.”

Lt. Cmdr. Lofton - CNS

“How so Commander? I’d assume that with a starbase that there would be more relationships to navigate, as there would be more crew members on board. Not to mention adding the complication of ships constantly arriving and leaving.

“With the smaller crew count of a starship, it would limit the number of inter personnel relations that could effect people.”

Sapeth looked at the sandwich that Lofton had picked up. “How, is it Commander?” He asked gesturing to the sandwich.

Lt Sapeth - CE