What's the Worst that can Happen?

Posted on Fri Jul 12th, 2019 @ 4:39am by Captain Abigail Laurens & Commander Ichiko Gail

Mission: Getting To Know You
Location: CO's Office

No sooner had the annunicator to her ready room chimed, Abigail picked up the two cups from the replicator and carried them to the desk calling "Enter," as she crossed the room. As the doors opened, she looked up expectently, smiling at the expected form of Ichiko. "Tea," Abigail said simply, motioning for the Daughter of Ts'usu to take a seat. "We have our departure orders," Abigail said, unable to hide the small sense of relief from her voice. "It seems this is going to be a pretty straight forward maiden voyage, touch wood. We will be joined this evening by a group of representatives from Trion 8, all we need to do is take them home."

She sat, she accepted her tea, and she offered a nod in thanks. "I could get used to this." she said with a smirk, crossing her legs at the knee to fully become the embodiment of comfort. As Abigail became more relieved, so to did Ichiko, "Good, I was starting to worry that we were to become a permanent fixture at the starbase's patrol route." she said, a touch of humor to the conversation, though to the next part she listened intently. "A gentle beginning, one can hope." and then Ichiko muttered something softly under her breath. A phrase, repeated once. A gentle mantra, perhaps.

"A little superstition never hurt." she offered. "Do they have any special needs or requests of us?"

"I don't believe so, this should just be straight forward. There are actually two parties, but we're only responsible for one of them. The other party will be travelling with the USS Zendaya. I believe, from the reports I've read at least, that the civil tensions are so high that Starfleet didn't feel confident in putting both groups on the one vessel, so they decided to separate them." Abigail took a sip of her latte and laughed quickly. "Which is perfectly fine with me, the last thing I want is them going to war on MY ship!"

Ichiko actually gave a giggle. "In the ancient history of my people, Ts'usu itself was warred over by thirteen warlords. Ancient enemies, consumed by rivalry and the desire to rule, and even THEY could find the civility to sit and talk should the need arise. Of course, hated enemy or cherished friend, no one would break the protocol of harming a guest." the rabbitess took a sip of her tea, "It simply wasn't done. There are ancient fables and stories of such moments. Where enemies would invoke the protections of being a guest through trickery." she commented. Some of her favorite stories from Ts'usu's history. Bloodsoaked history.

"Though, I'd also very much like to avoid a war. Especially here on the Astraaea. Astreea? Astraa?" she paused, collected her thoughts, "Astraea." she said, with confidence.

Taking a sip of her latte, Abigail nodded and smiled at the pronunciation. I think at least the good thing with this being a nice, quiet assignment is that we'll have time for the crew to find their places in the ship and learn to work together instead of just throwing them completely into the deep end and expect them to either sink or swim." She paused, taking another sip from her latte and leaning back in her chair, sighing as she relaxed. "Have you met many of the crew so far?"

"Yes." she stated simply, taking a sip of her tea, "Hans, Lieutenant, chief engineer. He's pleased with how the departure went from stardock. The last thirty six hours have been rather hectic for him." a pause, "Aleksi, Intelligence officer. Seems rather whimsical, at times chaotic. I suspect it's to cover some trauma, or perhaps just part of the disguise." she actually giggled. "I enjoy our chats."

"The chief medical officer seems very capable. Excellent bedside manner and an avid fan of knowledge. I also had the privilege of meeting Notingakina, who is a multi-instance lifeform." a pause, "Haven't seen many examples of that outside of the Dalacari. I'd like your permission at some point to set up a connection with the Ts'usugi Buoy network and give some notes to one of their colleges. Nothing groundbreaking, just publicly available documents. Let them know there's life out here that meets with their worldview." she gave another smirk and raised her tea, "I think we're in good hands with whom I've met thus far, though there is one that concerns me."

"Have you had the chance to chat with Lieutenant Aenera yet? She seemed..."

I'm one of those supporting cast members, shuffled off to the side and kept in the back of the room until our particular utility is required, but at least it gives me some time for special projects!

I went out as a specialist in my first assignment on a starship and that... Ended poorly.

"... more of a mindset for an assistant than a primary. No offense to her capacity. Double major, plus an instructor. My concern is, well, she seems shaken by something that happened to her. Being the primary does take 'getting used to' but, we're approaching sink or swim here."

Abigail nodded. "I did meet with her briefly," she shifted in her seat to make herself more comfortable. "I'll be honest, I'm not sure how I felt about her. Her persona seemed to have more swing than a pendulum.

"She seemed to almost swing from having raging confidence and making grand gestures to almost being childlike in her uncertainty of what she was doing. I've asked her to speak with Mister König, and of course with yourself. She may need a little hand holding, in which case I'm not sure König is the person for the job. I have no doubt he could whip her into shape in no time, but his approach may be a little more cat o' nine tails than the more gentle hand holding she may require. Or maybe a combination of both will suffice. Either way, we'll see how she plays out for this first mission, if she proves incapable we can always have her reassigned after we return from Trion 8." Abigail was matter of fact in her response to the situation. No matter which way it went, her responsibility was going to be first and foremost what was best for the ship. She couldn't afford to make it personal.

"Have you seen the fighters yet?" Abigail asked curiously. "I've not been down to take a look, but I want to. Lieutenant Carver seems capable enough."

"Fighters?" Ichiko perked up. "Hmmmm..." she then pondered, her ears relaxed, "I'd very much like to take a look. As a child growing up I was fascinated by the Imperial Blink Fighter wings that would perform at events. Fascinating feats of engineering. I don't suppose you've seen any of the footage of them?" she asked, "I understand there's at least one Blink Fighter in the fleet currently on an exchange program."

"Though in regards to Lieutenant Aenera, I agree. Something to keep an eye on, and if she's more familiar and comfortable as an assistant then perhaps she might do better with a more permanent form of supervision." she suggested, "Though, let's see how she fares."

"We'll see how she goes for the first little bit, hopefully she will both settle down and step up," Abigail paused, sipping at her latte as she contemplated. "I think for the most part from what I've seen of the crew they seem to be competent, able and willing. Master Chief König seems to be very on the ball with everything and everyone, he's not afraid to tell people how it is, which I think I'm actually going to like," she said with a smile.

Taking another sip, the Commander's expression became almost confused. "You know, jumping back to Lieutenant Anera, she said the most confusing thing to me when I met with her..." her voice trailed off momentarily as she tried to recall exactly what it was that was said. "I mean, I don't have your eidetic memory for this kind of stuff, but it was..." she drew in a sharp breath and shook her head, slightly confused. "Something about if we find any kind of spatial or temporal anomaly that she be able to look at sensors before we approach? I mean, I didn't think anything of it at the time, I was taken aback by the whole conversation, but it struck be after as being such an odd thing to say."

"I envy that." the rabbitess commented. "I find the struggle to recall something to be somewhat endearing. Something about a struggle makes the moment mean something more." she stated. The Ts'usugi certainly did have a way with w...

"Wait, what?" she blinked. "So, to make sure I heard you properly, the Chief Scientist wants to have access to the readings of the sensors concerning temporal or special anomalies?"

A slow sip of tea, "Troubling. Considering that's primarily Science's purpose. Classification, identification, and cataloguing of various anomalies. I'm concerned she's asking for the capacity to perform, essentially, her task."

"Maybe it has something to do with her Minotaur incident."

"Perhaps, perhaps it's a kind of post traumatic stress?" Abigail posed quietly as she sipped her drink slowly. "I'll refer her to the counselor, maybe that will help? The counselor may be able to help her resolve some of her issues, or at least give her strategies and coping mechanisms? Either way, it's worth a shot don't you think?"

"Some form of professional reflex to make sure the mistakes of the past never repeat." she offered, half in a questioning tone, "Though, there's no harm in it. Either the counselor can help her through this time, or the counselor informs us that this is just something the lieutenant will have to deal with on their own. The worst case is the scars are permanent, and this is the lieutenant that we'll know from here on out."

"Something that I think was glossed over, innocently I recognize. I'd like your permission to attune the ship's subspace transmitters to include a frequency the Federation usually doesn't use. I'd like to establish a basis of contact with the Ts'usugi Buoy network. It's not a resource I have total access to, but as a citizen of the empire I do have a ration of access I can use from month to month. I usually use it to call home and send and receive messages. Were we to be stationed more in the Delta Quadrant, we could use it for research."

"Oh, gosh," Abigail offered an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I got side tracked discussing Lieutenant Anera. Of course, do what ever you need to do to set it up. Engineering and Operations I'm sure will both be ready and willing to assist if you need it."

"Not a worry, the Lieutenant was far more important a topic. I'd offer the Buoy to more departments, but honestly, as stated it's a little far to help in any local affairs, it's a rationed network resource, and it's how I call home." she smirked.

"Thank you."

"Anything you need to be more comfortable here just go ahead and do it," Abigail said with a warm smile. "You have the authority to sign off on basically anything and everything you should need, but if not just get it to me and I'll be more than happy to help."

A gentle smile, and a shake of the head. "Never hurts to tell the captain, so they know why key subspace frequencies show up on monthly reports." A smirk.

"But it never hurts to also have a Yes."

Abigail laughed. "Well there is very little I wont say yes to," she replied, finishing her latte and setting her empty mug back on the desk in front of her. "Is there anything else we need to go over before we get back to the realities of command?"

"Can all of our meetings be like this? Informal, friendly, tea and coffee?" she asked her captain with a smirk. She was very relaxed currently, sunken into the chair, ears drooped, just calm and casual.

"Here's hoping!" Abigail smiled easily. "It's definitely much more pleasant than the rushed and hurried information sharing sessions because, you know, imminent death!" She shook her head. "No, I plan to keep things as easy and informal as possible. I don't see any reason to complicate the issue any further than necessary."

Ichiko finished her tea, but kept the cup handy. The replicator was, in theory, on her way to the door. "Well then Commander, I'll make it official. I'll do everything in my power to make each meeting we have as pleasant as this one, and as odd as it may sound, please... always consider my door open for advise or consideration."

"We're professionals, we're officers, but I'd also like us to be friends."

Abigail smiled. "I think I'd like that too," she said warmly. "One can never have too many friends, and besides, I think that will help make our command team stronger, don't you?"

She gave a nod, "Of course. A unified front always shows strength." she cited. "That, and we're more inclined to agree, to approve, and to work together if we aren't at each others throats." she actually giggled.

"I look forward to working with you."

"And I you," Abigail said with a genuine smile.