Meeting A Von

Posted on Wed Feb 24th, 2010 @ 7:03pm by Captain Alexander Gunning & Captain Liarra Von

Mission: Commissioned
Location: Antares Station
Timeline: Mission Day -1 (Day Before Launch), 1322 Hours

[ON]

Alex could hardly contain his excitement. He had been milling around the decks of the Jackal all morning trying to pass the time before he would get to see her. His relationship with the woman had always been strange. They had been close during his time on the Galaxy. Very close, in fact but despite the gossip of their crewmates nothing had ever come of it.

She had left the Galaxy just after he had moved to the Heath. A real pity, he had often thought. She would have been a Lieutenant Commander by now, he mused. He knew her mother's death had been difficult, he imagined that being joined would have helped her a little. He just hoped she would not be too different.

Liarra had a different wave of emotions. On one hand, she was excited to see Alex again, but on the other, she was terribly nervous. Since she left Starfleet, the number of changes in her life was huge. Not only had in been over a year since she had been in uniform, but now she had to cope with all of these new feelings and memories. She just hoped that things wouldn't be too different.

She stopped at the airlock door and took a deep breath before opening the door. She was relieved to see Alex waiting for her.

"Miss Von, I presume." Alex said, looking up at her. "I'm Commander Ale- I'm just kidding! C'mere Liarra!" He proclaimed loudly as he embraced the Trill.

Liarra wrapped her arms around her new CO. "I've missed you so much! How have you been? How was the Heath? We have a lot of catching up to do!"

Alex instantly relaxed. It was as though they had reverted to their old routine. "I've been all right. I'll tell you all about the Heath later though, Liarra. Tell me, tell me, tell me. What's it like being a Von?" He asked, hoping that wasn't an innappropriate question.

"It's..it's different." She wasn't quite sure how to describe it. "I have all these new memories and experiences. I'm still getting used to it. To be honest though, I feel a lot more confident now. I'm not the same wide-eyed girl you knew from the Galaxy."

"I don't know about that Liarra. You still have the eyes. Maybe it's what's behind them that's changed." Alex found his words needlessly profound. "Well then; what do you know about your new assignment?"

"Just that you need me to fire the guns." Liarra laughed. "Actually though, I think I'll like the Jackal. It will be nice starting back with something small. What do you think of her so far?"

"I've had nothing but problems with the damned thing so far. You tend to find that with the number of engineers cutting about, ripping out vital systems despite the fact that they're well within safety limits, coming up with unsafe maintenance precautions." He sighed. "I'm sure once she's actually properly finished she'll be just perfect."

"Just give me the word, and I'll throw them into the brig, assuming that they haven't dismantled it for parts."

Alex chuckled loudly at the idea of a group of engineers being thrown in prison for doing their jobs. He had to say that he was not averse to the idea of letting them rot in there for the entire duration of the voyage. He was very tempted to ask her just to do it but he was a little concerned that she might take him seriously. After all, it had been a while.

"No, no. That won't be necessary. I'd ask you to get settled into your quarters as soon as possible and then check on the team working on the torpedo launchers. They seemed completely ignorant of my suggestions; perhaps a female presence will work better."

"I see. I suppose I should use my feminine wiles to get the job done, eh, Captain?" Liarra replied with a huge grin. "I'll see what I can do. I certainly don't want to be in the middle of a fight and lose my torpedoes."

"It's not even them going offline I'm worried about." He replied, passing her a PaDD. "Given the cramped nature and over-stocked areas in the torpedo bay, if the loading arms go offline while an armed torpedo is in the tube then... bang. Bye bye, Jackal."

"That would certainly be worse. I'll see what I can do. Maybe if you get a chance before we launch this thing, you can join me for dinner. I'm sure there's a lot to catch up on."

"That sounds lovely, Liarra. In the meantime I'll leave you to go and whip those engineers into shape. I want minimal shakedown time on all tactical systems."

"Aye, Captain," she answered, still smiling. She started to walk away, but had one more thought. "Alex, thank you for letting me come back. You have no idea how much I needed this."

"You're more than welcome, Liarra."

[OFF]

Commander Alex Gunning
Commanding Officer
USS Jackal

Lieutenant Liarra Von
Chief of Security & Tactical
USS Jackal