Command Support

Posted on Thu Aug 8th, 2019 @ 2:49pm by Lieutenant Commander Nicholas Kincaid & Karina Tell

1,712 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Mission 0 - Pre-Sigma Iotia II
Location: Deck 2, XO’s Office
Timeline: 2167/07/11 0945

ON:

After finishing his breakfast in the mess hall, Nick Kincaid went to his office to begin working on the crew’s work schedules. Most of the crew were either on board or named and on their way, so he could plan the shifts and consult with department heads on the specifics.

He realized that he didn’t have a good base of knowledge for how the ship ran day to day. He’d been aboard barely 24 hours and in that time had mostly done engineering work, not First Officer work.

Perhaps it was a good time to take Captain Alexander’s suggestion to heart?

He activated a comm panel. “Yeoman Karina Tell to the First Officer’s office.”

KAT's head tipped slightly at the hail and smiled to herself. She had wondered when this meeting would take place. "Yeoman Tell to Commander Kincaid," she said, pressing the comm button in the corridor. Waiting a beat for the internal comms to be rerouted, she continued, "On my way, Sir."

Stepping into the lift, she grasped a handle as her left hand squeezed the PADD reflexively. "Deck 2."

Her clipped steps and rapid pace could be heard for a few yards away from his office door. One last tug of her uniform to make sure the lines were in all the right places and with a flourish that only she could see, she pressed the door chime to the XO's office.

“Come in,” Nick said, setting down the notebook he was writing in and looking to the door. When it opened, he smiled seeing the young woman whose image he recognized from personnel files. He stood to greet her. “Ah, good morning Yeoman. Please come in. I’m Lieutenant Commander Nicholas Kincaid. Take a seat.”

As the door whisked open, KAT immediately began taking stock of the XO... and, "The picture in your file doesn't do you justice, Commander," she said with the slightest hint of flirtation. Not too much of course, but enough to put him at ease, she hoped. Outstretching her right hand, she waited for him to take it, smiling politely, green eyes sparkling.

"A pleasure to meet you, I'm Yeoman Tell, but of course, you may call me KAT." Sitting down, she perched forward on the seat, apparently prepared to run if the Captain so much as breathed in her vicinity. "Karina. Alicia. Tell." Repeated like rote, she'd said it so much.

"I appreciate the impromptu meeting, Commander Kincaid." She pulled up her PADD, ready to begin taking notes and gazed at him expectantly.

Nick couldn’t help but grin. The Yeoman was very pretty, and a flirt, too. The Captain aside, he appeared to be on a ship of valkyries. He accepted her hand and gestured to the seat across from his desk, before sitting again himself.

“Karina. Alicia. Tell.” Nick repeated the names exactly as he had been given them. “Or KAT for short. KAT it is! Now, the Captain tells me you run the ship as much as he does. I figure what he means is that he relies on you, and trusts you implicitly. I’d like to do the same. This isn’t technically in your job description, and obviously his orders are above mine, but when you’re not busy serving under him, I’d like you to be at my disposal, too. Is that acceptable to you?”

"Obviously," KAT agreed, watching the Commander closely. "The Captain would always take precedence." There was a slight twitching of her lips as she stopped the smile from forming, but it didn't stay out of her eyes.

"If you need my assistance, I would be happy to help where I can." Deflected, but that skewed meaning sat between them for a brief moment. It appeared that he didn't mean anything else by it, but that didn't stop her from lifting her hand to smooth her hair, letting the smile erupt briefly before lifting her face back up to the Commander.

"Anything I can do for you now?" she asked as nonchalantly as she could muster.

Nick didn’t always understand how people worked, but he knew enough to recognize something in her eye. Something he’d said amused her. That combined with her reply.... He’d need to think on that for another time.

“For now,” Nick said, “I have two things that need doing. First, I’m having a lot of trouble retrieving the logs of the last chief engineer. I don’t know how often he or she repaired or replaced different things. Without doing a visual inspection on every component, I can’t tell what’s been replaced recently and what’s still there from when Horizon was first constructed. Can you help me find the missing logs? Do you have any idea where they might be?”

Lifting her PADD as she took mental note of his response in all respects, KAT started her magic. "Hmmm... refits, retrofits, upgrades..." Parts lists, shipping manifests, service records, signature copies of logs, files, outstanding requisitions... there, she was compiling them all now. Spread throughout the systems as various references, she created a unifying file for the XO and sent it to his PADD.

"That should give us a running start on the ship, Commander," KAT said. "I'm still gathering more information and will collate the additional data I've requested for you. I'll send it to you as soon as I receive it."

And of course, the Captain would get the complete report. After all... he was the Captain.

Looking at his own computer screen, Nick saw everything KAT mentioned appear all at once. “Impressive, Yeoman. I swear I looked all over for these. In seconds you found it all and made it easy to use. Absolutely brilliant.”

"As for the logs..." KAT pushed her hair behind her ear as she began searching through the massive indices of the system. Personnel... former... Bridge Crew... Engineering... Chief... and... "Oh!" she said reflexively.

It surprised her. What she found. Or rather... what she didn't.
"One moment..." The palm of her hand pushed her hair back and she used her command clearance code.

There... in the corner of the file... which had appeared and therefore must have been of high security... was a rather angry looking red flashy dot.

"Um." That wasn't a word KAT often used. "Commander. It seems that there was some security clearance required to read the file. Captain and XO Eyes only."

She stood up. "I apologize, Sir, I'm unable to remain in your office while you read the logs. I can only view the file clearance code, not the contents."

“Understood,” Nick said. “I’ll review them when you’re done. Great work, but there is one last thing I need from you.”

He looked her dead in the eye, a most serious expression on his face. “I need your honest opinion and assessment on this most delicate matter.”

His seriousness faded, replaced with a grin as he took out from a drawer in his desk a book. About forty centimetres wide and twenty tall, only one or so thick. He set it on the desk and opened the book to reveal a number of hand-drawn pictures. Some depicted ships in space. Others, portraits, often of beautiful women. There were a few landscapes too. “I’d like to frame one or two of my drawings and put them up in my office. Maybe one in my quarters too. But I can’t decide which. Help me, KAT. You’re my only hope.”

Her demeanor never wavered for a moment. "I understand the gravity of this situation," she said, nodding slowly as she paged through them. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at a few of them and one brought a smile to her lips. "This one... as you approached the ship." KAT nodded. "A picture full of hope and possibility. That one I'd choose for certain."

One of the landscapes caught her eye. Something about the sweep of... home. She looked up from the book leaving her finger in as though to mark the place. "I'm sure you have your favorite Commander. Isn't there one you'd prefer to showcase as a personal reflection of you?"

Nick very carefully detached the page containing the drawing of the Horizon, drawn as he approached, and also a picture of a landscape featuring a small domed city, as seen from a mountain. “This is where I grew up. We hiked all the time in pressure suits up a nearby ridge. They had a little enclosure, like a chalet, where we would have hot chocolate and watch the sunset. Last time I was home, I drew this.”

Leaning in close she looked at the picture. "Mmmm..." KAT hummed thoughtfully, looking at the picture and smiled. "It looks lovely, Commander."

He looked to KAT. “Do me a favour and make arrangements to have three pictures this size framed? While we’re in dock, maybe you can have someone fly up?”

Pulling up her PADD as though the motion were second-nature, KAT nodded briefly, made a note and took a scan of the dimensions. "Of course, Sir. Let me check your schedule and I'll put in a request for your approval."

“I’d like your opinion for one to put in my quarters, too,” Nick said. “That will be the third. But you need to see how I’ve got my cabin decorated so far. Come on by tonight? 2130?”

"Sounds perfect, Sir." KAT made a note in her schedule. She didn't have to check her availability; she rarely spent time with anyone after shifts. And yet, this still was work, so technically, she wasn't this time either.

She smiled widely, disarmingly and honestly. "I hope that everything has met with your approval, so far Commander?"

Without waiting for a response she dismissed herself. "Lovely meeting you, Sir," she said at the door. "Until this evening then," and left, clicking heels receding almost as quickly as they had approached.

Nick caught himself staring as she left, but then shook his head free and returned to work. It wasn’t for another few minutes that he realized that she dismissed herself. An independent streak. If it works, I could get used to it.

 

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