SD241805.19 - Joint Duty Log - Grey & Nixon - "Literally Not Enough Space For The Two Of Us"
Posted on Sat May 19th, 2018 @ 3:57pm by Brigadier General Jonathan Grey
1,004 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission:
Tremor Trouble
Location: Versailles
Timeline: Before the YaDalla Earthquakes
She could see the silhouette of the General pacing backwards and forwards, through the opaque grey glass of his office doors. Having never worked together before, this would be there first meeting. Kate had heard of his impressive service record, now she could put a face and personality to the name.
The smokey privacy glass flicked back to it’s clear transparent state and Kate caught her first glimpse of the Brigadier General. In preparation for her summoning, she pulled down her tunick and straightened her combadge, despite its already perfect positioning.
As the doors to the General’s temporary office hissed open, he strode out instead of inviting the Colonel in. His old office in the MEU was already assigned to his replacement there; newly-promoted Major Meitner. His promotion to the station’s CO spot meant that he should now work out of the CO’s offices, however the sudden transfer of the former CO meant the crew was still busy relocating the Commodore’s personal effects.
This left the General between offices, stuck using this temporary space with the glass doors. It was the tiniest space known to man, so he relished the chance to get out and stretch his legs.
“Colonel, welcome to Versailles.” the General declared, spotting the woman his temporary yeoman had told him about. Lacking a formal yeoman of his own, he’d simply drafted a marine from the MEU. He didn’t ask for a long-term volunteer, because he thought it likely that he’d be assigned a Starfleet yeoman before too long, if only to make it easier to liaise with any officers who shared the former CO’s stance on Marines. After all, Old Carrot had never been the biggest fan of the Corps.
“Well, it’s nice to be back on base, Sir.” Kate stretched out her left leg. “9 months onboard the Job can be a little cramped, personality’s start to rub up against each other. There are only so many things to do on such a small ship.”
She continued, “it will be nice to get some facetime with the kids next week when the Bismarck stops over enroute to Starbase Horizon. Maybe spend some time with them down on Yadalla before we ship out again.”
“The Bismarck, you say. Another defiant-class?” the General asked, still way behind on the obscene pile of reports on his desk. The information might be in there somewhere, but he’d need a snorkel before he could find it.
“Uh, no sir. Galaxy Class. It’s being re-tasked to operate out of Horizon as part of Task Force Echo. They’re due to head out on 5 year deep space exploratory mission. They’ve a 3 weeks lay over here before continuing along the Border.”
Kate squirmed in the small place, she’d have quite liked to have had this meeting sitting down for the meeting. Standing in the small office foyer was a tad claustrophobic.
“Just so happens that my ex-husband is it’s CO. The kids live with him, for obvious reasons. So, you wanted to see me Sir?”
“Yes, we’ve received a lot of chatter regarding the Klingon-Romulan border. Apparently the Romulans started something they’re having difficulty finishing, and now everybody is scrapping with everybody else. The IXL have every ship they have in the neutral zone, but we need every ship *we* have out there making sure it doesn’t spread this way and crush us like a damn egg. Once you’re done with R’n’R, I need you to take the Job and patrol the zone. Er, hold on.” he added, turning away with his index finger raised.
The General re-entered his office for a moment, reaching his desk in two short strides. Padds clattered to the floor as he searched a particular strata for a specific padd. Some more clattering later, the padd was found, snatched up by an annoyed hand. He left the office quickly and closed the door as he did so, trying to pretend his official space didn’t resemble a teenager’s bedroom.
“Here’s your route and your timetable. The brief is simple; uphold the rule of law while the two superpowers work this out of their system. Already I’ve got colony leaders complaining about pirates, and they’re telling *me* because the Klingons and the Romulans are too busy with each other, and the IXL guys are too busy making sure said superpowers don’t sack a colony or two for fun. Hard to tell what a Klingon’ll do next when his blood’s up, and it’s hard to read Romulans at the best of times. Any questions?” the General asked abruptly, becoming aware that he was venting his frustrations. The new job was stressing him out, but the marine before him shouldn’t have to deal with that.
Kate pondered for a moment, looking over the brief in front of her. “We can cut shore leave down to seven days, Sir. Enough time to resupply the ship and restock our ordinance. With this timetable, we’ll be completing our run of the border every twelve weeks, so at least the crew will be able to stretch their legs every quarter. If you don’t mind, I’d like to brief my Executive and Operations officers to move up the timetable.”
“Very well, but no less than seven days.” Grey asserted, firm. “Twelve weeks can turn into thirty after only a handful of tricky problems, and you won’t be effective if your crew is knackered. Marines are tough, but we’re still human. Or Vulcan, Denobulan, whatever.” he added with a nod to interstellar diversity.
“If your people need transport or priority holodeck spots to speed up their R’n’R, send a list to my yeoman. Dismissed.” said the General, almost feeling the paperwork increase as the time passed.
=^= End of Log =^=
Brigadier General Jonathan Grey
Commanding Officer
Versailles
&&
Lt Colonel Kate Nixon
Commanding Officer
USS Job
RSS Feed