Reporting to the New Post

Posted on Fri 22nd Feb, 2013 @ 7:09pm by Lieutenant Thomas Jorrel & Colonel Horatio Drake

1,898 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: http://sb109.sim-station.net/index.php/sim/missions/id/3
Location: SB Protector - Deck 12: Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: MD-04: 0815

OOC: This is set the morning of the Senior Staff briefing.

ON:

Jorrel stepped off the turbolift as the doors were opening, banging into the sides - of course - as he hurried off. He gave only a cursory glance over his shoulder to make sure they weren't damaged while continuing with his mission. He was already late reporting to duty for the first time and he knew that wouldn't bode well in meeting his new command staff. It really couldn't have been helped. Well, it could have but Dae had been a lot harder to wake after a few hours than Jorrel thought so he left the young Bajoran to sleep on the bed while he tested out the very uncomfortable to him couch as a sleeping platform. Tomas Waren wasn't going to let sleeping in a new place be comfortable and then Jorrel had overslept the alarm by only a few minutes but it was enough to put him on a late track.

Which was made worse by his turbolift instruction of "take me to my duty station" which resulted in him going south to Deck 110 and the TIC rather than north to Ops. But, finally, he arrived at Ops and the Commander's office. He tried to ignore the looks he got from his very graceless entrance onto the platform. Hopefully his memory of the Ops center layout was good enough to let him know that he stood before the right door and rang the right chime.

Drake was hunched over his desk holding his head, cradling a large cup of strong coffee. He hadn't wanted to get rid of the drunk feeling... not after last night... but in this state, after sleeping, there were only two options; drink more or sober up. As much as he hated, it he had to be on the ball today.

Upon hearing the chime, it was as if training and instinct kicked in. It seemed that a small amount of adrenaline was released and he was suddenly alert and energetic. After over a year and a half of hiding how much he drank, he was now an expert in it.

"Please, come in" He said, just before raising the cup to his mouth to taste the sweet caffeine once again.

Jorrel entered into the office, automatically turning slightly sideways to fit himself through the door and stopped in front of the desk. "Colonel Drake?" he asked, saluting. "Lieutenant Thomas Wayne Jorrel, reporting for duty, sir." He was unable to contain the giddy grin - how good was it to be able to follow a Marine protocol again? "I'm tasked as your Tactical and Strategic Operations Chief, sir."

Two things immediately struck Drake about the officer standing in front of him. His size and his age. The latter should certainly not have concerned him, as he couldn't have been more than a few years younger than himself. The former... well... all the better for a tactical officer, he supposed.

"Ah, Lieutenant Jorrel! Please, take a seat." Drake thought the more frantically he waved he hands about the less Jorrel might catch on that he had no clue as to who he was. He knew that Oaksley was forced to go on compassionate leave, a while ago, and return to his family. He didn't know that Starfleet would move so fast in getting a replacement.

"Can I get you a drink?" He asked, getting up with his half empty cup, a refill was definitely in order.

Jorrel looked dubious at the chairs and shrugged. "I'm good, Colonel," he said moving to a more 'at ease' stance. "I'm trying not to put in repair orders first day on the job. Tends to make the Ops guys a little upset when you introduce yourself in triplicate."

He watched the Colonel moving across the room and kept his thoughts to himself. He'd been a Marine and a Fleeter long enough to recognize a 'hangover' in personnel of all ranks. "Maybe you could help me with something sir? I've been looking over my duties and...there's been some conflicting information. I thought the 'tactical' part of the department was external defense of the station - manning the phasers, defenses, torpedoes and the like, sir, but there was some other information that says this job is all StratOps?"

Drake smiled at the thought of a chair collapsing... Lee certainly did have enough on his hands at the moment. Collecting his coffee, he returned to his desk. Two years ago, he would have sat here and discussed the in's and out's of Tactical and Strategic Operations for hours on end... but what was the point?

"Where was this other information?" Drake asked.

"Sir?" Jorrel asked, reverting to the old enlisted trick of buying time. His shoulders slumped as he brought out the PADD in his pocket. Not even got past his name and already he was proving to the Colonel he was a bad fill for the slot. "It's just, sir, that there's a couple things I saw that seemed to conflict with what I was responsible for making sure happened." He handed over the PADD, the documents confusing him queued up. He stood back, wishing he'd just kept his mouth shut. Now the Colonel was gonna have severe doubts about his ability to do the job. Which, Jorrel held the sigh, he had himself.

Taking the PADD, Drake glanced at the documents and files presenting themselves on the lit screen. Going through all of them, or not, would only really provide the same answer.

"Sir, it's just, I don't want to come in and start stepping on toes and creating interdepartmental hostility or problems." He realized he was babbling and speaking out of turn, but the morning just kept getting away from him. Not the best start to a new posting.

Drake smiled, he had just the same worries when he first took over a Tactical Department on the USS Jakarta. The smile quickly disappeared when he realised it actually wasn't all that long ago.

"I completely understand, Lieutenant. It's important to get the role requirements correct from the start - especially on something as large as Protector!" He placed the PADD down on the desk and crossed his arms.

"Your role is relatively new to Starfleet... by that, I mean the merging of the Strat. Ops and Tactical department. Essentially you're going to be acting as an advisory to all of the command staff, as well as a resource of knowledge and information concerning hostile races, as well as combat strategies. This will obviously mean you'll be working extremely close with the Intelligence and Diplomatic Department."

He paused for a second to consume another gulp of his coffee, he was starting to feel slightly better... the medication must have been kicking in... one of the first things he learnt after returning to Starfleet was to always keep a hypospray in the office.

"With regards to the tactical side of things, you're responsible for all external Starbase defenses as well as the Guardian Defense Platform. We also have two garrisoned ships, the USS Indefatigable and the USS Renown, an Oberth and Defiant class, respectively. I've been told both are in pretty bad shape. But, the Defiant class is under your department's remit as well." Another large sip of coffee wet his increasingly dry mouth.

"Well, sir, I guess you'll never hear me complain about being bored with all that work to do." Jorrel tried to smile but found it weak. Who had thought to send him here? This was a job for a Vulcan or Android or a super smart guy. He was just an overgrown Jovian from a backwater mining colony. But he was here now and he had a job to do, so he guessed he'd better get right to it. He was more glad than ever to have his unit with him.

"I'd better also see to it that those ships are put in order. Starting with the Renown. Won't do us any good to have an explorer if there's nothing to protect it."

"Indeed. I'm afraid I can't tell you much about the vessels... I know the Indie was docked here since well before the Dominion War and essentially since the base was built. With regards to the Renown, another battle damaged ship that never got the repairs that it needed. Over a decade later, those repairs are just going to be even more extensive." He certainly had changed in the past couple of years... before he lost Patrick a Defiant class would have got him excited to the point of exploding! Now... as with most other things... he just didn't care.

"Who the hell leaves a serviceable warship in repair for a decade?" That he was shocked was an understatement. So much that he barely caught his tone, much less what he'd said, toward the Colonel. "Sir, I mean it'll be taken care of as soon as possible, sir. I'll see about touring it today and getting with Ops to begin what can be done. "

"I know what you mean, Lieutenant... Starfleet's changed a lot since the war. I suppose things just change and priorities shift." Was he talking about Starfleet or himself?

A defiant class not used for a decade. What a tragedy that was. And none of the other StratOps guys had taken care of the problem? That was even more incredulous. Maybe that was why he was sent. Don't send Fleeters when you wanted a job done. "Anything else pressing against my schedule, sir?"

"No, I don't think so. You'll certainly have you work cut out for you, once you see the mess the FCDA left things in. I've been personally working on calibrating the phaser arrays... coming from a tactical background myself... but it's a huge job. I'm more than willing to continue lending a hand if and when." He hoped this new Lieutenant would take him up on his offer... he had to do something related to tactical... the admin work was going to drive him insane, shortly.

"To be honest, Colonel, this is all new to me. In my mind I'm just an enlisted grunt better suited to taking orders than giving them. So one thing I know, you don't turn down an offer of help. Especially when it comes from your CO." Jorrel smiled. "If you want, I'll even assign you a duty shift, sir."

Drake grinned, "That would be excellent, Lieutenant. I'll probably carry on with the phaser arrays, if that's alright with you?" He had a feeling they were going to get along just fine.

"As you say, Colonel." He moved to attention. "Permission to get started, Colonel?"

"Of course, it was a pleasure meeting you Lieutenant. Good luck!" Drake stood and extended his hand, once again.

Jorrel took the Colonel's hand, glad the other man didn't feel the need to prove anything by trying to "outsqueeze" the larger man. He hated when superior officers that did that. It was pointless except to prove their insecurities. Thicker Jovian skeletal/muscular systems didn't feel pain or pressure the same way as pure strain Terrans. At the release, he went to carefully leave the office, with considerably more work than he had when he went in...which was normal, of course.

OFF

 

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