Getting Settled

Posted on Thu Oct 12th, 2023 @ 7:49pm by Commander Jacqueline Wallace-Shaw & Lieutenant Victoria Mason

1,450 words; about a 7 minute read

Lt. Victoria Mason strolled along the promenade of Deep Space 9 on the penny tour. She had noticed a Dabo girl showing people around, so she fell in behind them and tagged along. It wasn’t long before she found what she was looking for, a holosuite hotel. She only needed a room for one night. She had quarters on the Alliance but she would be occupying those for God knows how long. So one last night of independence and a hot shower was the order of the day. She entered the hotel, spoke to the clerk and got a room. After dropping her few bags on the bed, she undressed and took a shower.

Real water, what a luxury this was, she thought as she stood in the stream allowing it to soak her hair and run down her body. As she turned her head,she got a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Aside from a few dark bruises from her last mission, she was in pretty good shape. And she knew she had big boots to fill. The last Chief of Security was apparently the last senior officer to make it back from the Gamma Quadrant after the Dominion War. Big shoes indeed.

As she stepped out of the shower, she grabbed a plush towel and wrapped it around her. Then she grab her head towel and wrapped her lovely Red Hair. This mess of hair had gotten her in plenty of trouble, and she had thought about dying it. But RedHair did not take too well to dying. At least that was her experience with dye. As she dried slowly in the warmth of the room, she grabbed a glass and poured the last bit of a Romulan Ale she had been nursing for the last year. She closed her eyes and let the taste drift over her tongue. Ecstasy, was the first thought through her mind. She lay back, took a deep breath and fell off to sleep.

Creature comforts were all she could really look forward to now. So that next morning, as she checked out, she asked the manager if they could arrange for this room for her next stay. He said he would put that holosuit memory on file in her name and nothing would change whenever she came by. She smiled, paid her bill and departed the hotel. She headed straight for the Alliance.

The Security Officer at the entry ramp stood checking orders and identities before allowing anyone to board. As Lt Mason approached, her uniform gave away who she was.

“Good morning Lieutenant. How may I be of service?” He asked

“Well, I’m reporting for duty so I guess I’m requesting permission to come aboard.” She stated boldly.

He took charge of the padd she was now handing him and waited. He took a glance and saw all he needed to see. He promptly came to the position of attention and rendered a hand salute. “ Welcome Lt. Mason. I’m Ensign Travis Morgan. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Your orders seem to be in order. Permission granted to come aboard.” Said Travis as he handed her back her padd and assumed a rest position.

For her part, she returned the salute, took back her pad and advanced up the ramp to the ship. Gave her Ensign a quick smile and a head nod. As she entered the ship she walked over to the diagram on the wall. As she confirmed what she already knew, she headed down the corridor to the turbo lift and headed to deck four. Her plan was simple. Reporting in to the CO/XO, then go see the Doctor and after that, the Quartermaster to organise her living arrangement. And last but not least, her office.

Deck Four:
As she arrived at the office of the XO, she rang the bell.

Executive Officer's Office:

Jacky heard the chime and looked up from the many, many PADDs that she had been stuck reading. It was all to be expected, of course. It was her first days on the job, XOs always had plenty to read, and it was tumultuous times for the Federation to boot. Thus, she had a lot to read...but also many people to meet. The chime came as no more of a surprise than the reading did.

"Enter," she called.

Victoria gave a quick tug on her tunic and entered the office. As she stepped forward she gaged the distance to the desk and stopped in the middle between the desk and the door and came to attention.

“Lt. Victoria Mason reporting for duty.” Said Mason as she handed her yet another padd to match the multitude already on her desk, as she visibly smirked at the irony of it all.

Jacky nodded once, leaning forward to take a PADD to add to her growing collection. "At ease, Lieutenant. Welcome aboard the Alliance. As it happens, you're arriving shortly after myself. Hence..." She waved at the stacks on her desk. "Please, have a seat." The wave moved toward the two chairs in front of her desk.

“ Thank you.” And she sat down. “I can’t imagine the amount of work you have in front of you.” She exclaimed, looking at the mountain of padds.

"Such is the way it goes," the XO agreed with a chuckle. "I imagine you'll have a bit of your own to work through as you settle into the role. Have you found your quarters and everything yet?"

“Actually, I stayed in a hotel last night so I could get a real shower and a good nights sleep, before having to try out the quarters on a ship of this design. Let’s say I heard rumours. But I must say, I’m surprised at how comfortable it seems to be. As for my job, that’s pretty much second nature. If you follow the rules and lead by example, Security can be a very productive operation. But I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that.” Replied Mason

Jacky nodded agreement. "Why don't you tell me a little about yourself? I know what's in the personnel file, of course, but we are all more than our personnel files. I like to at least get to know those I'll be working with a bit beyond that."

This was the part she hated. Talking about herself was something she didn’t do well. So she took a breath and began talking.

“Well as you know, I’m from the Chicago District on Earth. One of my favourite past times used to be going to the Boys and Girl clubs and playing pool and ping pong. I got pretty good at those two.” As a smile crept to her face.

“Now a days I really enjoy flying when I get the chance. I’m sure there won’t be much of that way out here.” She said rhetorically “So I’ll focus on my job. Which I take very seriously.” And she straightened herself in her chair. “I’d like to begin training as soon as possible so the department are all on the same page. That way we can prioritise properly and hopefully keep our batting average somewhere near the top.” She stated in a pretty serious manner.

“But I want you to know, whatever the situation, I’ll give it 110% all the time every day.” And she shut up.

"I have no doubt that you will, Lieutenant," Jacky said with a smile. "Please come up with a plan for the start of the training you'd like to do and submit it to me for review, so we can be on the same page. If you could have that done within the next one or two days, that would be ideal. We can look to have the plan up and running by the time the ship leaves dock."

Lt Mason suddenly took on a more serious demeanour.

“Not a problem XO. The first thing I’m going to do is implement two man patrols on the ship. This is our haven, we can’t afford to let anything happen to the very thing that keeps us alive. And we will prioritise from there, depending on the mission. But you will have my lesson plan within 24 hrs.” Replied

"Very good." Jacky nodded once. "Do you have questions for me at this time?"

“So would it be safe to say, that as soon as you know, we will know?” She said as she stood up preparing to leave.

"Indeed," the XO said. "For now, I look forward to the lesson plan, and once again, welcome aboard."

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