A Grumpy Klingon and Grumpy El Aurian

Posted on 24 Oct 2016 @ 4:12pm by Captain Nathan Cowell MD & Commander Korrath

Mission: Prelude; Breakfast at Curmudgeon's
Location: Bridge, USS Arizona
Timeline: MD -2: 1230 hours

The Bridge was empty, except for a human looking male with greying hair. From what Korrath had read of the Captain's personnel record and pictures he had seen of the man, this definitely looked to be him. He approached the raised platform, but having to come from the side. He stepped up to the platform, coming to attention.

"Commander Korrath, reporting as ordered, Captain," Korrath said almost as stiffly as he was standing.

Nathan eyeballed the Klingon for several seconds before grunting a greeting, "So, you're the one meant to take over as First Officer around here, am I right?"

Korrath kept his face straight, despite hearing the hostility in the sentence that the Captain had just uttered. "I will endeavour to do honour to the previous First Officer and you, Captain." Korrath replied, again stiffly. On his previous postings, standing at attention was usually a brief matter, but the Curmudgeon wasn't an orthodox Commanding Officer.

"Mhmm..." Nathan grunted while watching the Klingon. He maintained the rigid posture of someone who was either intimidated by him, or simply wasn't sure if he was nearly as bad as the rumors floating around about him stated. The Old Man let the Klingon wait for a few moments more, just to add to the unpredictability of it all before speaking again.

"Seeing as how Colonel DeVries did things however the hell she pleased, it might be nice to have someone around here that knows what a pecking order is. Now relax before you make me lock up just lookin' at you," the Captain remarked.

Korrath took the Captain's words to mean he wanted him to go to the stance 'at ease', which he did. "I understand the chain of command, Captain and I will follow it, of that you can be assured, Sir. Is there anything you wish me to do prior to departure, except ensuring the ship is ready for departure?" He asked of his new Commanding Officer.

"You might want to brush up on Federation relations with the Delta Quadrant," the Old Man suggested, "I'm sure that'll come in handy once we leave here. If you want to go around the ship and see how everyone's doin' as far as prep work is concerned, that's fine too. We're not on any kind of tight schedule but sooner has always been better than later," Cowell remarked.

Korrath eyes squinted as he listened. "Understood." He answered. The Delta Quadrant Korrath repeated to himself silently. He knew what any other Starfleet Officer knew and that included the fact the Excelsior destroyed the Gateway during the recent Battle for Starbase 900. Now that meant Korrath had made the wrong assumption about what he was saying or the Captain knew something he didn't.

"I was under the impression the Federation Transwarp Gateway was destroyed," He stated to his Captain.

"You're absolutely right," the Old Man replied, "But we've got a back door that no one bothered to shut. When we get everyone else on board, I'll call everyone together and pass out all the details. I don't care to repeat myself four or five times. Let's just stick with 'I have a plan' for now and we'll worry about all the rest later. Anything else?"

Korrath shook his head. "No, sir." Korrath responded simply to his Captain.

"Good," Nathan said, pushing himself out of his chair in the center of the bridge, "Oh, and do me a favor. Don't ever sit in my chair. Nothin' personal or anything, but that one came from my old boat and the only ass that's ever been in it is my own. Like to keep it that way... tradition, you understand."

"I understand, Captain." He answered. Tradition was one thing he could understand. "If there is nothing else, Captain. I will get on with my duties."

"Nope," Nathan said as he disappeared into his office, "Have fun."