Of Shuttle Crashes and Canines

Posted on 13 Oct 2016 @ 1:23pm by Captain Nathan Cowell MD & Commander Paul Toddman

Mission: Prelude; Breakfast at Curmudgeon's
Location: Bridge, USS Arizona
Timeline: MD -1: 0900 Hours

The smell of new carpet and fresh paint was quite evident to Paul as he made his way along a deserted corridor on Deck 2. He has decided to get off the turbolift a deck early and walk up the stairs that separated the Bridge deck from deck 2. It was said that each sovereign class starship had it's own design of staircase in that location. One captain had chosen to emulate the grand staircase from the Olympic class ocean liners of the early 20th century, made famous by the RMS Titanic. Paul wanted to see what the Arizona had.

He was not disappointed. As Paul rounded the last corner, he saw a wonderfully ornate, polished white marble staircase made to emulate the grandest of staircases from Ancient Greece. Center stage on the wall of the first landing was carved relief of Hippocrates and the snake. Nathan Cowell had clearly chosen his profession as the inspiration for the design. A central staircase led to the first landing which then split to the port and starboard leading to smaller flights either side that led to the bridge deck. Paul took a few minutes to marvel at the craftmanship. This was not a replicated staircase, it had been hand built. Tool marks were very evident and only added to the intricacy of the design. The Scotsman caught himself standing still, staring at the carvings. He shook himself out of the trance and continue upward toward the Bridge and eventually the ready room.

The Bridge was empty, only the rear engineering panel was lit. The lighting was on low power mode. It was not often you would see the nerve center of a large starship in this state. Paul approached the ready room and after a brief check that his uniform was in order, he pressed the call button.

"What?" the voice behind the door called out in a rather unhappy tone.

A wry smile crept across Paul's face. Anastasia had told him about Nathan's customary answer to the door chime. He pressed the door open button on the control pad to his left and the doors parted to reveal the ready room interior. The Scotsman walked in and stopped short of Nathan's desk.

"Commander Toddman, reporting for duty, Captain."

"I can see that," Nathan said as he turned around. The man had been at the replicator when Paul had pressed the chime, and the downward whirl of the replicator. The Captain picked up the glass that had just materialized and walked back over to his desk while sipping at it.

"Well, sit down," Nathan said curtly, "might as well get this meet and greet over with."

Paul obediently sat down and leant back in the chair. He studied the El-Aurian in front of him for a moment. His eyes showed a great deal of experience. This man had been there and done it all. His gruff demeanour reminded him of his mentor, Sebastien DeVries. Another smile crept across his face.

“I like the stair case,” Paul offered, attempting to break the ice.

"I just told them what I would do if I had the choice, the dock hands made it happen. Took them a while to find the marble, so I hear," the Old Man said as he sank into his chair, "So you and the red headed hellion were stationed together for a while, I hear. Probably why she spoke so highly of you before she left us. Only reason I requested you, figured I'd see if she was just blowing smoke up my ass or not."

“Well if she said that, it must be true,” Paul offered coyly, “I do always try to do my best.”

"It wasn't exactly a stellar recommendation. I seem to recall something about you and shuttlecraft mixing like oil and water..." the Captain said with a rather devious smirk.

Paul instantly knew exactly what stories Anastasia had been telling. It was true, he and shuttlecraft had a bad history.

“You might say that, yes. I did have the distinction of being the only person on the starship Lancelot at the time that had crashed 3 shuttles in one tour. So, I learned not to volunteer for that any more. I let others fly, I just hang on,” Paul was grinning. He hadn't thought about that tour for a long, long time.

"Well, as long as you let the pilots handle the flying, I think you'll be alright. As far as your actual duties are concerned, you're going to be managing Operations. From what I've heard of you from DeVries, you were mostly involved with tactical during your career, so you're not going to be much of a mechanic and more of a micro-manager. You're either gunning for command with this switch, or you're bored. Either way, I plan to put you to work. First thing I need you to tackle is supplies. I know most ships run with enough to last them a few good years without pulling into ports, but I want it tripled. If there's an empty room on this boat, I want it converted into a storage locker for gear we might need. If you think we might run out of something important, quadruple requisitions for it. I only want to hear the words shortage if half the ship is missing and we're about to go up in flames, not before," Nathan said in a serious tone.

“Wilco, boss,” Paul replied without hesitation, “Sounds like you're expecting a long trip, or a lot of trouble?”

"Both, and that's if we're lucky. If we're not lucky, we're not coming back from this one... Either way, I want to be ready for all three if I have a say in it... and it just so happens I do," Nathan replied.

The words were terrifying, yet exciting. Might not get back? With all he has been through, he has never had a Captain say that to him.

“I have just the thing that might help with storage, but let us keep plenty room for say, make shift shelters and command centers. Let me go see a man about a dog.”

"Just make sure the dog has all its shots," Nathan waved the man off dismissively.

“Aye Sir,” Paul replied enthusiastically, taking his cue to leave and standing up, “Oh, just one quick question; Have offices been assigned to department heads yet, or is it a shotgun affair?”

"They should have been designated by the dock masters in the schematics," the Old Man remarked.

"I'll take a look," Paul said as he got read to leave.

"Shant keep you any longer," and with that he headed for the door.