Hailing Frequencies Open

Posted on Fri 28th Feb, 2014 @ 8:33pm by Commander Mikaela Locke & Colonel Marcus DeSalle
Edited on on Fri 28th Feb, 2014 @ 8:37pm

878 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: http://sb109.sim-station.net/index.php/sim/missions/id/6
Location: Commander's Ready Room, Ops
Timeline: The afternoon after the welcome aboard party

[ON]

It looked like the last non-civillian on the list. The Communications officer. Was she related to the former commander? He was about to find out. Marcus stepped outside his ready room, and strolled into ops, stopping at the comm station. "Lieutenant Locke, do you have a moment? I'd like to speak with you in my ready room."

"Of course, sir." Mikaela Locke was stood just to the side of the main ops communications station. One of the communications arrays had gone off-line without warning and she had been called to oversee the recalibration.

Ever since she heard news of the new station commander's arrival, she had done her best to avoid him, but, it seemed that that was no longer going to be possible.

"Well, it had to happen sooner or later," she mused to herself.

"I'm sorry, sir?' the nom-com at the station in front of her turned and asked.

"Nothing," she snapped back, a little harsher than she had intended. "Just recalibrate the starboard array."

She walked off without waiting for the acknowledgement and in short order she crossed the command centre of the station. In the time it had taken for her to issue her orders, DeSalle had disappeared inside and she found herself confronted by the closed office-door of the new station commander.

She reached out to press the chime, but found herself pausing - hand in the air.

Ashton Drake had been one of the few people she could truly call a friend. When she arrived on station and was able to reconnect with him, it was one of the best things that had happened to her in a long time.

And now he had gone.

Now someone else occupied his office - and she had no idea how she felt about that.

"Only one way to find out, I suppose…' she muttered under her breath, as she forced her hand forward to engage the door chime.

The door opened with a pneumatic "whoosh", and Marcus stood as she entered. Thank you for coming, Lieutenant." he gestured towards the replicator. "Can I get you anything?"

"Just some water, please," Mikaela responded as she stepped inside the office. She crossed to the desk from which the colonel had just gotten up and waited to be invited to sit.

"At ease, Lieutenant." Marcus ordered a glass of water from the replicator, and then ordered an old Earth soft drink called a Mountain Dew for himself. It had a greenish tinge to it, and bubbled as though it were carbonated. He handed her the water, and sat down at his desk, opposite her, gesturing for her to sit as well. "I want you to know, Lieutenant, that this is just an informal interview. I like to get to know the people I'm working with before everything goes pear-shaped." He grinned. So what made you want to go into communications?"

"I guess an opportunity to get out into the field," Mikaela replied, now seated and clutching her glass of water. "I was a research analyst for Intelligence, on Earth, but field positions are difficult to come by." She took a sip of the cool water and gently placed the glass on the edge of the colonel's desk. "So I re-trained," she continued. "My first degree was xenolinguistics, so communications seemed a natural fit."

"Well, that makes sense," he remarked. "So if you had your 'druthers, what would you like to see changed or reworked that could make either the station of your department run more efficiently?"

Mikaela let out a stifled chuckled. "Well, to start with," she offered, "I'd like the engineering department to prioritise repairs to the communications arrays. I've recalibrated those things more times than I care to count." She reached out, picked up her glass again, took a sip and returned it to the desk. "Colonel Drake was a marine at through-and-through," she continued, not allowing her emotions about her friend to alter her demeanour, "And, as a result, things like station repairs weren't always at the top of the priority list. The department itself is in good shape," she continued, feeling the need to change the subject away from Ashton, "But I would like your permission to appoint an assistant department head."

Marcus raised an eyebrow. "Who did you have in mind?"

"A recent Academy graduate," Mikaela replied, "Alexis Strauss: communications major, minor in computer science, twenty-two years old, from Earth. Graduated in the top three per cent of her class."

He nodded. "Good initiative. I don't see a problem with it, but send me her file, just to keep things on the straight and narrow." He stood. "If there's nothing else, lieutenant, you're dismissed."

"Thank you, sir." Mikaela responded, rising from her chair. She thought about bringing up her relationship with the station's former-CO… But, as initial conversations went, that was a good one. Why spoil it?

She inclined her head slightly and turned on her heel and left Colonel DeSalle in his office.

[OFF]


Colonel Marcus DeSalle
Commanding,
Star Base Protector

&


Mikaela Locke
Senior Communications Officer
Starbase Protector

 

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