Posted by Lieutenant Commander Andriss Krex (Executive Officer) in Star Krex - XO Arrival (Tag CO)

Posted by Captain Dante Knight (Commanding Officer) in Star Krex - XO Arrival (Tag CO)

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Andriss Krex (Executive Officer) in Star Krex - XO Arrival (Tag CO)
Posted by… suppressed (4) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Andris Krex, a pleasant-looking Denobulan male approaching middle age, materialized in Transporter Room 2 on Deck 2 of the USS Saracen. He brushed his hands across his uniform, and saluted the NE running the teleporters.

“Good day, Ensign.”

“Lieutenant Commander, welcome,” the NE said. “I believe that the Captain is in his ready room on Deck 1.”

Andriss thanked the NE and made his way to the turbolift, whistling. Though this was his first time on a Pendragon-Class vessel, the holosimulations he ran were committed to memory, and he walked the Saracen’s halls like an old pro, though he was in reverence of all the stories it must’ve contained.

He quickly enjoyed a look at the bridge and his chair on deck next to the Captain’s, waving at the duty crew, before making his way to the CO’S ready room door and pressing the buzzer bell.

-XO Andriss Krex

The door opened immediately, no wait, no pause for a command. It simply swished open to the view of the Captain sitting at his desk, dead center of the room but towards the rear wall more. Directly behind him a large viewport gave anyone looking at him a view of the space in front of the Saracen.

The Captain, rather than being busy with paperwork was leaning back in a large comfy looking chair with his feet on the desk, reading a book in one hand and holding possibly the biggest coffee cup ever invented for casual use in the other.

To one side of the room in the corner, a movement indicated a very large reptile had raised its head at the opening of the doors and now a long snout and beady yellow eyes were locked onto Andriss. After a moments consideration, the lizard stuck out its tongue in his direction beforen quickly retracting it. The rest of the reptiles body was curled up in a pet bed.

“Lt Commander, welcome. Come in.” Dante raised his head and spoke,his speech lightly accented in Italian. “Coffee? How do you like it?”

Dante Knight, CO

“Captain! Nice digs, if I might say so,” Andriss said, stepping towards the desk. He paused, taking a look around the space. Each captain’s ready room was the captain’s study and place where respite was had, where important decisions were made. It gave him a little glimpse into the captain’s perspective.

The room reminded him of many of the great offices of other venerable Captain from Earth he’d worked with, but more personalized and with a masculine, slightly classical Italian touch. Andriss perused the bookshelf for just one moment to see if there was a copy of The Divine Comedy in its shelves.

There was not. The shelves were dedicated to a very specific selection of authors, including Clive Cussler, Sven Hassle, R A Salvatore, Erin M Evans and John Flanaghan. On the bottom shelf, were around two dozen cookbooks of different types and one large volume titled The Galactic Guide to Vodka.

“A fellow gourmond?” Andriss asked, picking up a cookbook and flipping through its pages. Several of the dishes were somewhat unfamiliar to his Denobulan palate, but others sounded quite delicious and familiar. “Do you cook? I’m quite known to be a decent chef. In fact, I plan on throwing a little get-together for the crewmen at my quarters tonight as an informal meet and greet before I officially start.”

“I am Italian,” Dante smirked as if that explained everything in answer to the ‘do you cook’ question. “If I did not cook, then I would be the biggest shame in my mothers life, despite how much she would still love me. Cooking is greater than religion to an Italian, it is the basis for our passion.”

The Ready Room, if one was to look into it much, resembled what might have been described as an old fashioned reading/smoking room that one might see in old movies. The table itself was pure, dark timber polished lovingly and the chair Dante sat in was obviously plush Italian leather. Against the same wall that held the door Andriss had just walked through (on his right as he faced the desk) was a three seat brown leather sofa with a matching single chair further along in the corner joining the next wall. Between them was a cabinet that held various bottles and glasses, and beside the chair was a long, low bookshelf that was filled with books. Reaching only to waist height, the top of the bookshelf had a number of collectables and other things that may or may not have held any value. In front of the wooden desk that Dante sat at were two smaller, but equally comfortable looking brown leather chairs that matched the sofa and single seat recliner in fashion, not function.

To Andriss’s immediate left the wall held a number of framed pictures, some of people, some of creatures, most of starships. To the far left, on the same wall the pet bed and big lizard lay, was stationed a replicator and door to the Captains bathroom.

“Coffee? Black is just fine. Who’s the fine lizard?” Andriss admired the ridges of the animal, he chuckled to himself, not unlike his own in a way.

-XO Andriss Krex

“Lizard?” Dante asked and creased his brows slightly, picking up the picture frame on his desk that held a picture of himself, Natasha and Oscar. When he had looked up he had mistaken Andriss directed target of the question as being the frame on the desk. “That’s my wife, Lieutenant Commander Knight, also our Chief Medical Officer.” Looking back up at Andriss as he placed the picture frame back on his desk, he realized that the man had been meaning the oversized gecko scrutinizing him from the bed in the corner. “Oh him!” Dante laughed. “That’s Bruce, essentially our oldest child. He doesn’t believe he’s a lizard I think.”

Andriss blushed a deep orange, his Denobulan features ballooning slightly. “No, no, I simply meant the Asian Water Moni– I– Mrs. Knight–I–“

Standing up Dante walked to the replicator and pressed a single button, creating a steaming mug of black coffee that he picked up and returned to where Krex was standing. Handing it to the man, he held out his hand at the same time. “Nice to meet you Commander. I’ve read a lot of good things about you and I’m glad you accepted this position, she’s a great ship. How was your trip out to us?”

OOC: Bruce is an Asian Water Monitor, and at 8ft long a fairly big one.

Dante Knight, CO

Andriss calmed himself and shook the Captain’s hand, deflating into his normal confident self. “I’m pleased to be here, Captain. The trip was pleasant and uneventful, as expected.”

“Good,” Dante nodded. “You are one step ahead of me then. My arrival on the ship necessitated an involuntary trip through a subspace rift to find the Saracen as she was stuck in a dimensional pocket between realities. Good times.” His delivery of the adventure was deadpan.

Andriss scratched his head. Did that mean that there was a simultaneous other reality where a mirror Saracen existed, where a mirror Andriss was scratching his head? He shook his head, wondering if Mirror Andriss was shaking his head, too.

Pocket dimensions and multiple realities were all a little over his head, but at least there was coffee.

He took a sip of coffee. The roast was strong and delicious. But something still puzzled him.

Though, yes, over the years, he had developed somewhat of a reputation for being a good communicator, he’d been worried that being assigned to the embassy was a sign that Starfleet was through with him. He was curious as to why the Captain had chosen him from the scores of ambitious younger players climbing through the ranks.

“I’ve heard much positive about the Saracen, too, and in my reading of ship’s logs. Shame to hear about Mr. Colter’s reassignment. I’m sorry to hear that,” Andriss said. “But if I may be frank, I’m not among the youngest potential incoming first officers one could pick, sir. Why me?”

-XO Andriss Krex

“Well, Daniel was a damn good Executive Officer and a better man beyond that and he will be missed but,” here Dante stood and walked back to his own chair, interrupting his reply with an off-topic - “take a seat, Andriss. Make yourself comfortable.”

Andriss took a seat. He lay back in it and folded one leg across the other, together a little more comfortable.

Falling back into his own chair, he picked up his own cup again and took a drink. Lowering it but not putting it down, he continued from where he left off. “This is a battlecruiser, no matter how much exploration and border patrols we do, we are built for front line response and interdiction of threats in our zone of operation and I am known, despite my record of successful negotiations and dispute resolutions without bloodshed, of being a stubborn Italian.” The edges of Dante’s lips might have curled slightly in a smirk, maybe.

“The worst thing this ship needs is a young and inexperienced Officer being a simple ‘yes man’ when what I need is an ‘Excuse me Captain, before we annihilate the entire fleet of rogue Romulan starships how about you let me talk to them?’ type of Officer. So answer me this, Andriss,” Dante pointed at him with the coffee cup, “why not you?”

Dante Knight, CO

“I’m the wrong person to ask that particular question, Captain. I’ll tell you why me every day,” Andriss said. “Thank you for your candor. It is true that some have found me valuable for my ability to try and look for perspective where others may not find it.”

He took a gulp of coffee and looked at Bruce lounging languidly. “I’m also damned smart and have great taste,” he laughed. “But I am getting up there compared to, say, a 32 year old Lieutenant with lust in their hearts for a captain’s chair. What missions does the fleet usually post the Saracen on, anyway?”

-XO Andriss Krex

“You’re also humble, by the way.” Dante joined Krex in taking a drink of coffee, then put it down and sat back in his chair, taking a small red ball out of a drawer in his desk and rolling it around in his palm. The moment the ball appeared in his hand, the head of the Lizard rose and the tongue flicked in Dante’s direction, all focus now directly on the Captain. “The Saracen is the fleets primary fast response and threat interdiction vessel,” Dante spoke, looking at the Denobulan. “We secure our border, investigate anomalous signatures where there shouldn’t be any, and have the ability to conduct exploration, negotiation, first contact and outright combat missions when needed. We are seldom quiet and serene, Andriss, even our side missions end up bein something of an adventure.”

Rolling the ball into his fingers from his palm, Dante looked towards Bruce and then tossed the ball in the lizards direction. Unwinding his body from within the blankets Bruce darted forward a couple of feet, catching the ball in his mouth like he was a canine. Then he shook his head as if trying to rip the ball apart, but it wouldn’t oblige.

Dante Knight, CO