Reporting for Duty
Posted on Thu May 10th, 2018 @ 4:17am by Commodore Tyler Malbrooke & Ensign Dana Wakefield
Edited on on Thu May 31st, 2018 @ 9:23pm
1,761 words; about a 9 minute read
Mission:
Episode 2 - The Enemy Within
Location: Ready Room
Timeline: MD007 1300 hrs
Tags: SD 71386.1300
Dana had finally made her way to the turbolift after finishing up in sickbay, she now had the all clear from medical and with her orders in her hands, she was making her way to finally meeting the Captain. She gently pressed the call button and waited, she was still beaming with a smile, it felt as though this was all a dream and she was going to wake up at any moment.
Within seconds the doors to the turbolift opened, and she walked inside, she paused for a moment, before stating her destination, it was certainly going to take some getting used to.
"Bridge," she stated before the computer gave its usual confirmation tone, the doors closed behind her and the gentle hum of the lift sounded as it started to move.
Before she had a chance to collect her thoughts the doors to the turbolift opened, she gently poked her head outside, like a little child peeking around a corner, she glanced about taking it in. The command centre of the ship and she was based here, this was her new post and her new home. Finally, she quietly walked out of the turbolift and onto the bridge.
To her right was security and tactical, to her left operations, then in front of her the captain's and xo's chair, helm to the front of them, with engineering to the right and the entrance to the Captains Ready Room and to the left of the helm science and the entrance to the meeting room. She gently pulled on her uniform to ensure it was smart and headed towards the ready room, she had a few looks from the people on duty, the kind of look she was used to, in the sense of who is this stranger.
Pressing the door chime, she stood up straight, almost to attention and waited for a response.
Tyler had been going over his orders from Starfleet. It seemed that any leave that he wanted to offer the crew would have to wait. So would the offloading of these weapons, the CDF had a request for them. As he contemplated how to break the news to his crew the door chime went off. "Come on in," he said to the door, Tyler welcomed the interruption from his thoughts.
Finally taking a deep breath, the doors opened, padd in arms, she walked marched on in.
"Lieutenant Dana Wakefield, reporting as ordered sir." she almost shouted at the poor Captain, as the doors closed behind her and here she was, face to face with her new boss.
Tyler smiled at the woman before him, he could not help but think that Kat may have something to say about his crew being made up of primarily pretty women. But that would wait for another time. "Lieutenant welcome aboard, please have a seat is there anything that I can get you?" After a short pause, he smirked and added: "Please be at ease."
Dana gave a smile back "Thank you, sir, the pleasure is all mine." she replied taking the seat on offer. "And a cup of tea would be nice, Twinings, Darjeeling tea, if the replicator has that of course, if not I'll have to bring you some form my own caddy that I need to unpack," she replied, unintentionally signalling that she drank only the finest of blends.
"I am a coffee man myself, but I think our replicators can make a decent cup of tea." Tyler ordered up the tea from the replicator and placed it in front of his guest. "So Lieutenant welcome to the far edge as we call it. Can I ask why you came out here to Cardassian space?" Tyler has this need to make sure that all of his crew are okay with serving Cardassia and the Federation.
"Oh I enjoy a nice coffee as well, but a refreshing Tea every now and again puts me at ease." she said taking in a large sniff of the Darjeeling before looking back at the Captain.
"I go where I'm ordered to sir." she replied with a smile on her face. "I follow orders, no matter my personal opinion or objection, I will always voice any concerns, but at the end of the day, I do as I'm told and follow my orders to the letter." she said before finally taking a sip of her tea. In fact it was daddy who drilled into her to never questions orders from a senior officer and always comply.
Tyler sat and looked at her as he leaned on his hand for a moment. "Allow me to preface this by telling you that permission to speak freely is given. I expect open discourse with my senior officers. As such I read your file and I know who your father is. I am going to tell you that you are not here because of him. You are here because I chose you. However, this ship is here at the pleasure of the Cardassian Defense Fleet. This has nothing to do with orders or honor or loyalty. I need to know that you are okay with working with and at times taking orders from a Cardassian. If you are not that is fine, I just do not want to put anyone in a situation that they do not want to be in. I know that feelings regarding Cardassia are still running high since the war." Dammit Admiral you sent me an automaton not an officer. he thought.
Dana's smiled suddenly vanished from her face, no one was supposed to know whom her father was, for her own security and purely so it wouldn't get about. It was surprising how quickly gossip spread around a ship. She lowered her head and her gaze turned towards the floor "I trust that, that privileged information will stay between the two of us. I was assured my file would stand up to scrutiny, otherwise I may as well have used the Sutherland name." she replied with some anger in her voice. "And I will tell you what I told my farther, Cardassia paid a high price for there choices, the Marquis paid a high price for there choices and the federation paid a high price for standing up to it's values and defending the quadrant. However you can not condemn a population for the choices it's leaders and military made out of desperation and fear. Hell if I was a Cardassian I may of sold my soul to the devil if I thought it would help make my people strong again or protect the border." she paused to draw breath for a moment, but immediacy started talking again, not giving the Captain chance to interrupt her.
"Just think what choices or deals the Federation would have made if we were been decimated, with a fleet protecting just the solar system, what deal would it have made to survive. For the record, I have no problems working with or taking orders from a Cardasian, and then again I would also have no problems working with a Marquis either, or a Romulan, or a Klingon. The same as I would expect that you knowing daddy is a fleet admiral has no bearing on whom I am as an individual and that I'm here on my own merits, and regardless of my background my achievements are my own and that daddy does not pull all the strings, my life and destiny is my own and I expect that information to be kept in confidence." With that, she finally drew a large breath and took a sip of the tea again, she glanced up from the floor and at the Captain a little red and flustered. "My apologies sir."
Tyler smiled broadly and even chuckled. See now that is the officer that I wanted. he thought. "Your identity is known only to me nothing is kept from the Captain on his vessel. No one not even the XO knows who you father is. And... you are correct you are here because of your own achievements and your own merits. However there is one Sutherland trait that I wanted and you just gave it to me. The temper, the fire, so never apologize for it. I am ecstatic to hear that you can work with Cardassians as that is why we are here. Oh and for the record I encourage all of my officers to question me to not follow my orders blindly." This officer was going to be trouble in one regard she reminded Tyler too much of Kat. That reminder could be dangerous for his personal life.
"Oh you would be surprised what is kept from people sometimes, even when they ought to know." she replied, knowing from past experiences with the things she heard from her father. "But I'll always be open with you sir, and if I don't get my own way, I can always run to daddy." she said with a slight wicked smile, in some way testing the water with how far she will get.
Tyler laughed "Although I am not sure if Daddy can help so much as last time I checked he was posted to Earth and we are a long way from there. That is the most that I ever ask from any of my officers is openness, just speak up. These pips don't mean that I know it all. Do you have any questions for me?"
"You would be surprised how far daddy can reach, especially when it comes to his little girl." she said with a grin "And don't worry if you don't know it all, you can always just ask me for help." she said chuckling, it was always good when you could have a joke with your CO, It made things more relaxed and friendly, because she had certainly met some Captain's who were as tough as old boots and only barked orders and never socialised with the crew.
"And no, no questions sir, other than to say it is a pleasure to be aboard."
"The pleasure is ours Lieutenant. Now get to work, my ship needs repairing." Tyler said with a smirk. He watched her leave and realized that he had quite the crew.
A Joint Post By
Captain Tyler Malbrooke
Commanding Officer, USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Junior Grade Dana Wakefield
Chief Operations Officer, USS Pioneer
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