Concordia Salus
Posted on Wed Nov 19th, 2014 @ 5:40am by Commander Jordan Gunning & Commander Brian Ratchford & Commander Titus Livius Drusus PhD & Lieutenant Yzhara
Mission:
Vagrants, Vagabonds, and Thieves
Location: Ratchford's Office [Deck 12]
Timeline: After 'Progress Reports'
"Commander, we've had another five ships enter the system this morning via monitor relay station echo."
"Thank you, Lieutenant," Brian answered as he stepped out of the turbolift. He'd barely gotten back from the meeting with the senior staff and already station operations were once again coming down on him. He'd be glad of a trip to Archa IV later in the day just to step away from it all. "Standard procedure. Send out the fighters and inspection crews to check them over and guide them in. Have them enter a holding orbit around the station until we can assign them a docking berth."
"Aye sir."
"When Commander Gunning gets here with the command staff of the Montreal, send them straight in to me." He wanted to make sure to meet with the Montreal crew before he went surface-side so that he could enlist their help in keeping order in the vicinity of the station and the neighbouring colonies.
It was a quick return to Ops for the senior staff of the Montreal, who met Commander Jordan Gunning at the Strategic Operations roundel of the main Operations centre where he was monitoring outlying traffic on the station's long range sensors.
"We're to go straight in." He said to Lieutenant Commander Titus Drusus and Lieutenant Yzhara. It was clear that Ratchford was preoccupied by the goings-on since he hadn't noticed Gunning huddled over the read-outs.
Drusus nodded to Gunning then surreptitiously turned to Yzhara. "What have you done, Yzhara?" he asked facetiously. "We've only just got here and we're being called to the XO's office?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about, Commander," Yzhara answered with a grin. She held her hand ups about chest level, her palms pointing away from her. "I saw nothing, honest."
The Magna Roman chuckled as they reached the door to the XO's office and shook his head. "That's your excuse for everything."
The Aenar chuckled as well. "There's an old proverb on Andoria: 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it.'"
The order to enter came loud and clear as the subtle chirrup of the door's locking mechanism released and the deep red doors sighed apart. Gunning strode into the room ahead of the Montreal's senior staff and came to a halt in front of the desk where Commander Ratchford looked as though he had just sat down.
Brian stood back up again, as though his chair had been spring loaded. "Ah, Commanders; Lieutenant," he said in greeting, holding out his hand first to Drusus and then to Yzhara. "Please, take a seat." He indicated the array of chairs in front of his desk before he once again lowered himself back into his own.
Yzhara thought about feigning her blindness, but since she was meeting with the executive officer of the station she decided against it. First impressions are too important to waste on her personal jokes. Her hand easily met Ratchford's, though she couldn't really help her blank stare that seemed to be gazing through him. It wasn't always easy for her to direct her eyes where they needed to go.
Gunning offered the Commander a nod as he took a seat, assuming that he would be advising on patrol routes and other information for the Montreal's new crew. She still didn't have an officer in command, a security chief or an engineer- at least not that he knew of- so he had presumed Drusus was his go-to for briefings.
Drusus sat up straight in the chair, his back even more vertical than the back of the chair, and tilted his head back ever so slightly. He regarded Ratchford over his nose and studied the XO's manner, ever curious about new people. He looked like a man with a lot on his plate; even more than one would expect for the second-in-command of a massive starbase.
"I apologise for not getting a chance to meet with you yesterday. As I'm sure you have been able to gather, we've been rather busy of late." He knew it was an understatement, and knew that they had probably already surmised as much, but he felt they deserved the apology in either case.
"Our friends here didn't miss out on too much of the excitement." Gunning said with a smile, feeling slightly more refreshed having escaped the tense atmosphere of the conference room. "They got their tour of Ops at just the right time."
A crocked smile tugged across Drusus's face as he remembered the excitement to which the commander referred. "Indeed," he said. "Your crew know how to put on an impressive display, Commander."
Yzhara agreed with that sentiment. "This station certainly seems to be an exciting place. I've spent some time here before, but I didn't have the chance to see your crew in action."
Gunning kept his mouth firmly shut. He had only met the Aenar Lieutenant once and didn't want to be hauled up in front of one of those insufferable diversity conferences.
The Lieutenant's pale antennae twitched as the hint of a smirk appeared on her face. She didn't say anything, but she at least hoped that the Commander wouldn't always be so uptight about joking with her.
"Yes, it's a good bunch that we've got here," Ratchford responded, either too tired or too focussed on the problems of the day to notice much about the interaction between Gunning and Yzhara. "And lucky for you, it appears you're set to join us here. I've been able to contact Starfleet and confirm the Montreal's assignment here and receive your personnel files, but not much more than that." He found it pretty frustrating that the Montreal's specific orders either didn't exist in the system or had been lost somewhere through the pipeline.
"While Captain Von is still away from the station, that means giving you your orders falls to me. As you're without a commander for the time being, I'm going to assign Commander Gunning here as your commander, until the Captain returns and either confirms it or makes another assignment."
Gunning would have spat out his coffee if he'd had any. He'd never been near the command of a ship, despite being qualified. "Thank you, sir."
[tag all]
"Commander Drusus, I understand that you do have experience enough of your own to warrant command of the Montreal, but considering your recent appointment to a first officer posting in comparison with Gunning's more lengthy service at a command rank, I think both the station and the ship will benefit from your pairing." Ratchford had considered giving Drusus the command in order to try and keep the ship's crew 'in-house', but had quickly realised that even aside from Gunning's experience, he shouldn't be considering options on the merit of how secular it kept a garrison ship's crew. "I do hope that you'll accept the senior position in the station's science department, however - pending the Captain's confirmation of that, of course. We have been without a chief science officer since Commander Prax was sent back to Trill for treatment."
Drusus wasn't the kind of person to express disappointment in an open way, so was quick to swallow any displeasure he might have felt at Ratchford's decision. If he was being honest, yeah, he wanted command of the Montreal, or any ship for that matter. But he couldn't argue with Gunning's experience advantage and knew that a decent tour as first officer would serve well when the next round of captain's billets were being handed out. "I completely understand, Commander," he replied with a polite nod. "A command of my own is something I want one day, but for now I'm happy to back up Mister Gunning. I'd also be pleased to take charge of the station's science department."
"I'm sure we'll get along famously." Gunning gave a friendly nod to the Scientist as he took in his new assignment. Sure, there was every chance that he would get reassigned from the ship's command before he'd ever been out on patrol but it was a lot to process.
Brian stood from behind his desk, pleased that the business of giving out assignments had gone smoothly. Honestly, it made him feel somewhat strange to be dishing out starship commands when he himself hadn't reached the rank of captain - even if he did have nominal command of the Jackal as the station's secondary garrison vessel. "I'm going to need the Montreal helping with system patrols for the time being. Our fighter wing is stretched thin with all of these refugees, and we only have more of them building up in orbit waiting for docking bays. Lieutenant Kelly will be assisting as well with the Jackal."
Gunning made a mental note to get together with Lieutenant Kelly before the next scheduled patrol. He'd also need to requisition a tactical officer from somewhere. "Aye, sir. You can count on us."
"Good. I'm on my way down to Archa now to see if I can convince the local government to allow us to land some refugees on the surface. Hopefully that should free up the load out here." Brian nodded at the group. "Dismissed."
Commander Brian Ratchford
First Officer
Commander Jordan Gunning
Chief of Strategic Operations, Starbase 332
Commanding Officer, USS Montreal
Lieutenant Commander Titus Drusus [NPC: Deakin]
First Officer, USS Montreal
Acting Chief Science Officer, Starbase 332
Lieutenant Yzhara [NPC: Von]
Chief Helm Officer, USS Montreal
