Posted by Captain Jennifer Wallace (Commanding Officer) in Side Sim: One by One - R’han

Posted by Commander R’han (Chief Tactical Officer) in Side Sim: One by One - R’han

Posted by Captain Jennifer Wallace (Commanding Officer) in Side Sim: One by One - R’han
Posted by… suppressed (12) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Jennifer sat behind the desk in Ghu– no. Her office. It was very empty. She hadn’t moved her things from the XO’s office into here yet, and Ghubari had already cleared out. It was weird to think of the woman as gone. Not that Jenn had gotten much time to get used to her being here. But still.

She glanced down at the display on her terminal and let out a sigh. She didn’t feel like doing this. Not really. But it was good to know ones crew. She’d been working with them for a few weeks already, but as XO. Working with these people from the position of CO was probably going to be slightly different. With a new head, the family would change slightly. Konral was gone, so she’d have to find a new Chief of Security. Maybe she should discuss that with the Vulcan CTO. R’han. They’d had an uncomfortable first impression, but hopefully that could turn around.

Pressing the intercom, she paged R’han. =^=Captain to R’han, could I see you in the Ready Room? I have some things I’d like to discuss with you.=^=

Wallace, CO

=/\=Captain Wallace, Ensign Pease here, transporter room. The new XO just arrived and is on her way to your location. Pease out.=/\=

It didn’t take long for the half Betazoid to reach the bridge. Stepping from the turbolift, she took a moment to soak in the atmosphere. A few curious glances in her direction were warranted, the crew had undergone a huge change in losing one CO and being assigned another. Now they would have to get used to a new first officer too.

With a small nod at those her looked her way and an ‘as you were’, the Cmdr made her way to the ready room and palmed the chime.

—Anaar, XO

Wallace’s head snapped up at that message from the Transporter Ensign. She stared at the door, eyes wide. Holy cow. She had a XO. She was still staring at the door when the chime rung. “I don’t even know who my XO is,” she muttered to herself, then spoke loudly - “Enter!”

The ready room was a little bit of a mess, despite there being almost nothing in it other than the desk in the far corner and a wide table in the center. And a few chairs. There were places where the carpet was depressed slightly, or the walls were darker in a square. Dust in places that hadn’t seen light in so long. Signs of a decade of living, packed up and taken away.

All Jenn had moved in so far was a small stack of PaDDs on her desk.

Wallace, CO

The doors parted and Tello’s first look at the Ready Room brought her up short. She entered, dark eyes glancing around at the emptiness of the office. Finally, she focused on the woman behind the desk. “Captain Wallace? I’m Cmdr Tello Anaar, newly assigned to the Athena as her first officer.” Crossing the floor, she held out her hand in Terran fashion.

“I take it the change of command and your promotion happened more recently than I’d first assumed.” Once again her gaze roamed the bare room. “You were the Athena’s first officer, so might I make an assumption that your things are still in that office and those quarters?”

—Anaar, XO

Jennifer stared at the woman for a few moments, a deer-in-headlights expression on her face. Then, with a start, she blinked a few times and stood up, pushing the chair away from her desk and grasped Tello’s hand, giving it a firm shake. “Tello Anaar. Thank you. Welcome to the Athena,” she stammered slightly, stepping away from the woman once the handshake was complete. She clasped her hands together behind her back, having found that to be an effective way to prevent herself from fidgeting.

“You’re right about that. I’ve only just begun to move out. I mean, I only found out I was Captain… 18 hours ago? Last night at some point, I’m not really sure at this point, it’s been a bit of a blur. I’ve cleared my stuff out of my old quarters and into Ghu– into my new ones, so you can move into the XO’s quarters as soon as you like. But the office is a little more… slow moving,” she gave the woman a sheepish smile, then gestured to the chairs. “Please, take a seat. Since you’re here, it’s probably good for the two of us to get to know one another, right?”

Wallace, CO

“Thank you, Captain.” Tello took a seat and crossed her legs. “Command must have cut my orders and sent me on my way as soon as your old CO made her final decision. I honestly didn’t expect to arrive while the Athena was still in such a state of flux.”

“I am happy to be here though and the trip was ample time for me to familiarize myself with the ship and the current situation. From what I was able to read, we are headed to a Fantasy Planet?” Dark brows raised in question.

—Anaar, XO

Jennifer sat down a few seats away. Not close enough to be awkward, but not so far as to be too formal. “No kidding about state of Flux. I didn’t even know you were coming until the ensign on comms said you were heading up here,” she laughed, scratching her nose and pushing her spectacles up her nose. “They must have already had you in mind for a promotion. Maybe they were already planning to put the two of us together here.”

“And yeah. Fantasy Planet or something like that. The Admiral says it’s the newest in Shore Leave miracles, or something. Very exciting,” she didn’t sound particularly excited about it. “You and the crew are bound to have tons of fun exploring while I keep the boat running. To be honest, I’m kinda suspicious. This place is supposed to make all our dreams come true?” She shrugged.

Wallace, CO

At the word ‘suspicious’, Tello’s brows furrowed. “You don’t think the planet is on the up and up, or you doubt it can fulfill dreams in a holographic setting?” Frankly, she was up for the challenge. A little adventure was always welcome in Anaar’s life. It certainly beat sitting around and becoming stagnant.

“Suspicious as in nothing can really fulfil people’s wildest dreams. And even if it can, what if it does it in a twisted way?” Jennifer posited. “I’m just not sure, that’s all.”

“Don’t you think the crew would like to see you down there sharing the experience with them? I know you’ve already served with them for a goodly amount of time, but this would be your first real action as the Captain—providing nothing untoward happens on the way there.”

—Anaar, XO

Jenn shrugged slightly. “A goodly amount of time, heh. I’ve been on the Athena for three weeks. And it’s a Captain’s job to send other people down while she takes care of running the ship. Or so my manual has told me.”

Wallace, CO

“Well, I stand corrected then. For some reason I thought you’d been here longer than that.” Dark eyes narrowed as she contemplated what Wallace said about her suspicions. “As far as the planet goes, a little excitement would be welcome in my life. I don’t want a total disaster to happen during my holo encounter—I’m assuming it has to be some kind of holodeck technology their offering—but it won’t be interesting if there aren’t a few surprises along the way. Right?”

She was the kind of woman who was easily bored, so there was a constant quest to keep her brain engaged. Normally, her quarters had a cluttered feeling with books, PaDDs, paints, puzzles of some kind and anything else that could keep her from falling into a dull state of apathy.

—Anaar, XO

“If it’s holodeck-based, we wouldn’t have to travel to a planet to do it,” Jennifer reasoned. “We can have holographic interactions from the comfort of our own ship. I think there’s something more that we’re not seeing here.”

Wallace, XO

Anaar nodded at the possibility. “Well whatever it is, I’m game.” Then realized she wasn’t in charge of handing out R&R assignments. “I mean, I’m game if you’re sure you won’t need me here on the Athena during that time.” Back peddling, the first officer dug for more information. “Have you been given a briefing about the planet? What to expect? How many of the crew can go down at any given time?”

It might be good if she joined a group down on the planet. It was a way to get to know some of them.

—Anaar, XO

“I haven’t talked with the Admiral about it yet, but I’m planning to get a more thorough run-down of what’s planned for the planet. And if it really is an honest opportunity for shore leave as she seems to be suggesting, then we can figure out crew rotation for that shore leave.”

Wallace, CO

“Alright, that sounds like a good working plan. Since we are both new to our positions on the Athena, is there anything specific you’d like me to take on as the XO? I know how my last Captain liked things, but everyone is different.” Werner had been a bit of a control freak, coupled with a serious case of OCD, so working for him hadn’t been that easy. Tello hoped this assignment would be different.

—Anaar, XO

“Well, your job is what most XO’s jobs is. You run the day-to-day business of the ship. You’re the person our Department heads should be coming to when there are issues onboard they can’t deal with themselves. On top of that, you’re the de-facto leader of landing parties, and the one who will take over on the bridge if I’m indisposed.”

Wallace, CO

Anaar nodded. “I’m glad to hear the duties on the Athena will be more well rounded than they were on the Sky Runner with Captain Werner. I actually had many of the same tasks there, but he had control issues and an intense case of OCD. So, even though I was assigned certain jobs, he couldn’t help but to come along behind me and check my actions to make sure I was doing all I could.” Her tone of voice was conversational and not intended to put Werner down in any way.

“If you don’t mind, Sir, I’d like to use the rest of the day to move in to my quarters and office. Things happened so quickly, I’m not even sure what I packed. I can get the evals out of the way first thing in the morning and get knee deep in the running of the ship.”

—Anaar, XO

OOC: Hmmm, I have a feeling that I should understand this thread more.
Luke

Ooc: you were tagged at the beginning but D took over. Lol. Sorry, Luke

IC:
“That works for me. Please, get settled. I still have a meeting planned, after all,” Wallace said with a chuckle.

Once Tello was gone, she grabbed the comms again and re-sent her hail for R’han. =^=Captain to R’han, could I see you in the Ready Room? I have some things I’d like to discuss with you.=^=

Wallace CO

R’han paused as he listened to the request. It would be bad form to say no. Even though it was posed as a request, or a question ‘could you,’ he was pretty sure that was out of politeness. It was in fact an order that he was expected to obey. =^=By your command, Ma’am.=^=

R’han arrived at the ready room a few moments later. He pressed the chime and waited until given permission to enter.

“Reporting as… indicated, Captain.” He stated flatly as he entered, square to her desk.

R’han

“Thank you R’han,” Jennifer said. She was still sitting at the table in the center of the room, so she gestured towards the myriad of seats. “We haven’t gotten much time to become acquainted, and in the style of my old Captains, I think it’s important for a Captain to be on the same page as her Senior Officers. You all were one big family with Ghubari, and while I don’t expect to take her place in your hearts, I’d like to forge my own place here on the Captain’s seat. Well, not in the literal Captain’s seat, I mean the position…” she trailed off. “You know what I mean.”

R’han eyed the seat directly in front of her, with what best could be described as a suspicious expression before taking it. He sat stiffly erect. He nodded and smiled slightly when she said ‘not literally,’ as social dictates would indicate.

“Anyways. I’ve asked you here so I can get an idea of how you protect this ship. I want to know what plans you have in place for emergencies. I’d like to know what tactical maneuvers this crew has developed outside the standard set. I want to create the beginnings of a trust bond between the two of us. While Janna will be my conscience, I need you to be my voice of reason. I need you to be the pragmatic voice telling me when it would be too great of a risk to the Athena to attempt something. You’ve already proven yourself to be a pragmatic man in the conversations we’ve had up to this point, so I trust that won’t be too difficult.”

“This doesn’t give you the right to be insubordinate on the bridge and fight against my orders, of course,” she added, wanting to make sure that was clear. Maintaining the Chain of command on the bridge, was important, especially in front of junior officers. “But you already know that.”

Wallace, CO

“It isn’t my nature to be insubordinate no matter what the order happens to be.” R’han raised an eyebrow. “Not that I think its impossible for me to be placed in a position to be contradictory when extremely incorrect orders are given. But being a Star-ship Captain is an exclusionary group. Idiots and those who give clearly inappropriate orders are typically not present.”

“In regard to my forthrightness, I generally give protests in private on the rare occasions when they occur. If you ask for my opinion you will get it, although to be equally transparent, when asked my opinions are very unabashed.”

“Captain Ghubari had a number of attack and defense maneuvers coded to her name. Some were better than others, but combat to me is a exercise of taking advantage of the ship and then more rarely the environment… as the environment is space, and space by its very nature and definition is pretty devoid of assets to be used.”

R’han CTO

Jenn nodded, happy with R’han’s response. “Thank you for the transparency, R’han. We don’t need to look at the maneuvers now. You can just send them to me to review on my own time, and I suppose in time we’ll develop a few maneuvers specific to my captaincy,” she said with a small chuckle.

Wallace, CO

“For clarity, I recommend the purpose of the manever in its name. Captain Ghubari used the common, ‘Ghubari Alpha 1’ and so on.” He tilted his head. “I personally have found using a code like ‘Wallace Pursuit 1, Wallace Evade 9, Wallace Stand-Off 4’ then I or another officer can interpret your objective and support your plan. While the Alpha codes worked, I didn’t always know what Koria wanted and then I could not support her or make suggestions that align with her thoughts.”

R’han

“That’s very intelligent. Thank you, R’han,” Jennifer said with a slight furrow of the brow. After a moment, she stood up and stepped over to her desk, pulling out a PaDD and stylus and scribbling down a note. “Is there anything else you think we should discuss at the moment, or would you prefer to return to whatever you were working on before?”

Wallace, CO

R’han looked at her and paused. “I don’t believe I’d classify that as intelligent. If I came up with it before I experienced difficulty with the names, perhaps that would be intelligent.” He nodded to himself.

“Did you ever see Ground Hog Day. Phil Connors was not intelligent despite the fact that he couldn’t make a wrong decision and literally had a perfect day. He was simply experienced.”

R’han

“It is intelligent to notice a problem and come up with a solution,” Jennifer replied firmly. “Experienced you may be, but an unintelligent or complacent person might not even see the problem. Or they would see the problem but not care enough to fix it. You are neither unintelligent nor complacent, R’han. And, next time an officer gives you a compliment, I’d suggest you just take the complement,” she said with a slight smile.

Wallace, CO

R’han tilted his head and stood. “Fair enough Captain. Thank You.” He waited.

R’han