The Reassignment

Posted on Wed Aug 4th, 2010 @ 2:40pm by Captain Alexander Gunning & Commander Dietrich Reinhart & Captain Liarra Von & Lieutenant Commander Nilani Prax & Lieutenant Commander Melissa Daniels M.D. & Chief Warrant Officer Daniel Maddux & Lieutenant JG Callaigh Roland

Mission: Welcome to Archa IV
Location: Conference Suite [Starbase 332]
Timeline: Shoreleave Day 1 - 2200hrs

[ON]

Alex was still in a daze as the Admiral's words floated around in his head. The Jackal and Three-Three-Two? Who the hell would give a Commander that much responsibility? He tapped his commbadge. It was time to inform his senior staff that they would be finding their quarters somewhat more spacious in the near future.

"Gunning to Jackal Senior Staff," he paused for a moment, "and Warrant Officer Maddux. Please report to the Senior Officer's Conference Room on Deck Fourteen."

Melissa had several bags in her hands when the call came through. 'Oh c'mon.' She thought to herself. "Just when I finally get a chance to do some shopping." She muttered as she made her way to the Conference Room.

Liarra was taking a leisurely stroll through the promenade. This area of the station reminded her of some of the large shopping centers on the Trill homeworld. Mom would have loved to shop here, she thought to herself when her commbadge chirped. "Acknowledged, Commander. I'm on my way." She tracked down the nearest directory so she could find her way around the massive structure.

Callaigh smiled as the order reverberated through her quarters. It was nice to know that even Commanders had last minute business to tie up before leaves as well. She slung the small carry bag over her shoulder, heading to depart for the base; her own last minute checks were sure to have kept her to be one of the last crew to exit the ship.

The Observation Deck was fairly relaxing for the Pilot and Executive Officer of the Jackal. In fact, most of his free time was spent there. There were not any distractions. The atmosphere was library-like, quiet yet productive. As the massive star base orbited the big blue/gray planet below, Dietrich Reinhart watched as ships warped into the system and approached the station. Surprisingly, to him at least, most traffic was civilian. Explorer ships, cargo ships, shuttles and cruise liners. SB-332 supported the entire expeditionary fleet, and Pegasus Fleet, but it was also a pretty large economic powerhouse for the region. Fleet personnel needed to buy things too, it seemed. And businesses needed a place to trade.

Impressive, he thought, until the beep interrupted his tranquility. "On my way," he responded, a frown stretching across his chin. This can never, ever be a good thing.

Allein's mind was lost in the inticracies of nacelle design and the call physically jarred her as she returned to reality. She blinked at the PaDD, the overhead lighting reflecting off the screen as she dropped it onto her desk. The corner nudged one of Liarra's PaDDs before the engineer stood and slipped outbid the room.

[Twenty Minutes Later - 2220hrs - Deck 14]

The officers he had assembled were something of a strange bunch when he saw them all sitting together. He smiled as he passed along their faces. They each shared a common expression; a mixture of intrigue and annoyance that they had been pulled away from whatever it was Starfleet officers did with their shoreleave. In Reinhart's case especially, he had no desire to find out.

He stood from his chair and smiled widely at them all in turn. He had looked at the manifest of the station and knew for a fact that he wanted his own people in the Operations Centre. "Don't worry. This isn't any kind of reprimand."

He walked towards one of the giant screens at the rear of the room and pulled up a display of the USS Jackal. He decided to drop the bomb early. "We have been transferred from the Jackal."

"Say what?" - the brief declaration from the stone cold Reinhart. He sat there, blankly staring at Alex. "You have to be fracking kidding me, sir."

Melissa spoke, "Oh for god sakes, will Starfleet make up its mind? First the Niagara, now the Jackal."

The counselor's thoughts echoed those of the medical chief. All of the new amenities that were now being offered to them crossed through her mind though and she couldn't help but grin. Turning to Daniels with a chuckle Callaigh winked. "I'm starting to see a trend here."

The trill tactical officer was certainly stunned. She had just come back to Starfleet, and she was already being reassigned. "All of us, sir?"

"Relax, relax. The Jackal is to remain here as a Garrison vessel for the Starbase, where we will be serving as the senior staff." His words seemed to have extra resonance given the sheer scale of the conference room. "We will all take up our new duties as of oh-nine-hundred hours tomorrow morning and Warrant Officer Maddux will be reassigned to us as Chief Intelligence Officer."

Mara's arms crossed and one of her eyebrows rose of its own accord. What the hell was Starfleet thinking?! How was she supposed to hold together the Jackal AND an entire starbase without completely losing her mind?! If those idiots at Starfleet thought she had 'recovered' enough for all that then why the hell wasn't she back at Utopia where she could actually do something useful??

Cal bit back a groan. This was the shortest shorleave ever. But still ... all of the different people she'd encounter while on the base, constantly changing visitors that wouldn't always be in uniform. There were definitely perks to this.

This struck Melissa like a load of bricks. If what the Commander was saying was true, she was just reassigned as the head of the largest medical center in the sector. All she could do was to remained stunned with her mouth open.

Liarra stayed quiet. She had passed by the security office a few times during her walks and noticed the high level activity. Monitoring the security of this station was not going to be an easy task, one she couldn't help but feel apprehensive about.

"I'm sure I don't need to tell you what a responsibility it is for us to take on such a massive Threshold station but I am confident that you, and I, are more than capable of making sure that this station is seen as a beacon of light and of hope in this borderland. We will do everything in our power to make sure that this station is a safe port in a storm."

Melissa finally spoke, "Somebody shoot me."

Callaigh shot Melissa a disparaging look. "This is an excellent opportunity for all of us," she nodded in agreement with Gunnings mini pep talk. "And even if we weren't looking for an opportunity - well, there's nothing wrong with a challenge."

Reinhart looked over at Callaigh, Melissa and Liarra. The counselor did not understand it. Of course her role would be easier. She'd have an entire staff of counselors and medical professionals. She did not understand the responsibilities that came along with the role change. For one, Liarra would have an entire station to look after. Not an easy feat, and one that goes on day in and day out. For the Doctor, it meant an entire staff and thousands of medical responsibilities. She'd no longer be head doctor, but a hospital administrator. And for Reinhart? What about me? It probably meant overseeing every bit of the mundane details that running a station came along with. Daily briefs of the sector. Operational reports from every department. Managing scheduling and docking for everything that wanted to come close to Threshold. It meant having to deal with civilians, star fleet personnel, diplomats, bureaucrats, business men. Probably a few Ferengi.

But maybe it might mean I'd run the air wing. The piss-poor attitude turned about at light-speed. Several hundred auxilliary craft and pilots was not just an air wing. It was an space force. And it'd be his.

Nilani couldn't help but smile. As a science officer, the Jackal had hardly been an enticing career prospect, even if it had promised to be an interesting one. On a station like this... she could run all kinds of research and experiments, had a whole planet below them to explore, and could probably use a runabout to go out and do field research more often. Certainly a much better place for a science officer to work in than a Defiant class.

Allein fought hard to keep quiet, but couldn't quite manage to uncross her arms as she counted the seconds until the briefing ended.

"All right then. You all have new quarters assigned to you by the quartermaster. Go to his office on the far side of Ops to get them and your department codes transferred. There will be a short command transfer at ten hundred hours tomorrow before the hard work really begins."

Dietrich was the first to stand up, because he had to pack his bags on the Jackal and find the XO's quarters. Maybe they will have running water, he smiled.

As the officers began to disperse the Commander stuck out a hand and held Lieutenant Von's arm. "Can I speak with you for a moment, Lieutenant?"

The trill stopped in her tracks. She simply nodded to her old friend and returned to her seat. Not sure if she wanted to know what was coming next.

[OFF]

Commander Alex Gunning
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Commander Dietrich Reinhart
Executive Officer/CAG

Lieutenant Liarra Von
Chief Strategic Operations Officer

Lieutenant Allein Mara
Chief Engineer

Lieutenant (JG) Nilani Prax
Chief Science Officer

Lieutenant (JG) Melissa Daniels
Chief Medical Officer

Lieutenant (JG) Callaigh Roland
Chief Counselor

Master Warrant Officer Daniel Maddux
Chief Intelligence Officer