Change of Command

Posted on Mon Aug 1st, 2011 @ 1:15pm by Captain Alexander Gunning & Captain Liarra Von
Edited on on Wed Aug 3rd, 2011 @ 2:22pm

Mission: A New Beginning
Location: Main Bridge - Deck 1 - USS Jackal
Timeline: SL D02 - 1000hrs

[ON]

Alex entered the bridge of the Defiant class USS Jackal, the second ship he ever commanded. It had been a strange whirlwind of a relationship; he had taken command of the little ship and had almost instantly been reassigned to command Starbase 332. He had remained Commanding Officer of the Jackal as well but she had never really felt like his ship.

Now, the time had come to pass on the torch. She would no longer be his ship. Starfleet had decided that his life would now be based solely on pencil-pushing and greeting diplomats with chips on their shoulders and false smiles on their faces. This was to be his life now. He had summoned the new Captain of the Jackal to the bridge to hand over her reassignment documents. Whether she knew that or not, was another matter.

Lieutenant Commander Von made her way through the tiny Defiant-class ship. While she loved the little ship, she was looking forward to a little time to stretch her legs on the Promenade. A lot of ideas were flowing through her mind on her way to the bridge, trying to figure out why Alex had requested her presence. The Jackal had only been to the station for about a day after their little temporal excursion, and already her commanding officer had called Liarra back to the bridge. Her thoughts kept drifting to a patrol, or some new intelligence that they needed someone to go check out. Liarra didn't mind these missions; in fact she often enjoyed them. She just couldn't figure out for the life of her what her old friend needed.

She finally entered the bridge through the Starboard egress. Alex was standing in the center of the room, his arm resting on the back of the chair. All Liarra could see was that he seemed to be scanning the room, empty except for the two of them. As was customary while docked, the Jackal would maintain a skeleton crew that could be ready in an emergency, but usually no one needed to be posted on the bridge. It was just Von and Gunning. Liarra walked up next to him, careful not to startle him when she spoke. "Good morning, Alex. You needed to see me?"

"Yeah," Alex said forlornly, a deliberate act to throw his friend of the scent, "I'm no longer Commanding Officer of the Jackal. It's been reassigned."

Liarra's expression showed both surprise and concern. The Jackal had already gotten them out of several scrapes in the short time they've had her. Von had come to think of her as a reliable old friend, and she hated to see her leave the station. "Reassigned? To where?"

"To you," he stated simply. He had done this many times before with Liarra but the expression of surprise on her face rarely changed. He removed the small box from its position on the chair and tossed it to her, "congratulations, Commander."

Liarra caught the box, opening it to find a new solid rank pip. A slight smile crept across her face. She knew what Gunning was telling her, but she was still a bit in disbelief. It felt like so long ago she was just a wide-eye young ensign, learning the ways of Starfleet. She couldn't believe that Starfleet would be so willing to welcome her back after her long leave of absence, but now she's been given her own ship to command. She almost wanted to cry, but was able to restrain herself in front of her old friend and CO. "Thank you, sir. I won't let you down."

"You won't, Liarra. You'll also have to take command classes with Lieutenant Commander Prax. I know you've been doing the reading in your spare time, so I don't think you'll have any problem in passing them. Congratulations, once again. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go and immerse myself in a tepid bath of paperwork and I believe you have a ship to inspect."

Before Liarra could respond, he was gone. Out the Port Egress and off towards the docking port. The paperwork mountain grew ever-larger and his responsibility to its whims grew with it.

[OFF]