Skiff For Sale

Posted on Sun Jul 7th, 2024 @ 12:46am by Captain Aisling Banerjee & Lieutenant Commander Subak Ren & Lieutenant Damian Leath

3,349 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Crew Shakedown
Location: Kepler's Skiff
Timeline: 79456.24

BRIDGE:

Ensign Ferrari frowned. No one had seen much of the new Captain. Banerjee seemed to be always moving throughout the ship as if she were on tour. And when she was not here she was over at the Muse of Fire for...reasons. It was a weird ship, Ferrari had no idea why it seemed so important that it rated a berth in the station. True, it was starting to take on guests for their shows. And there was supposed to be some sort of large bazaar. Perhaps...

Her console chirped and she perked up, "Lieutenant!" she said without turning, "Message from Captain Banerjee. She would like you to meet her in the skiff."

The skiff still had that 'new car smell', as some of the older enlisted said. Never taken out, save for when it was parked into the berth below. Ferrari wondered what the Captain was doing down there...

Lieutenant Damian Leath looks up from his datapad "Acknowledged" he says devoid of inflection as he begins to stand. "Ensign, you have the con. If any important communications come through contact a senior officer." Damian begins to head towards the turbolift. "Deck sixteen," says Leath, as his mind beings to contemplate the reason he was summoned. As far as he knows, the skiff has had no use beyond docking procedure and is in perfect condition.

TRANSPORTER ROOM ONE:

Chief Quirke had been in Starfleet a long, long time. And he had retired but the emergency reactivation clause had put him right back in uniform. It was just as well; vacations were a bore as was tending bar. Truth to tell, he missed shipboard life. And the Kepler was a fine assignment.

If a bit strange at the moment.

Word came from the station and Quirke allowed the transporter beam through. It was Lieutenant Commander Subak..or was it Ren? Damn it all, Quirke was not certain what the naming convention for a half Vulcan, half Bajoran was. Being a chief he needed to look infallible. Smiling politely he said, "Commander! Welcome aboard. I have word from Captain Banerjee, she was hoping you could meet her right away in the skiff on deck sixteen."

"Indeed?" queried Lt. Commander Subak Ren, as he stepped off the transporter pad, arms held loosely behind his back and demeanor formal. Ren had trimmed his beard to the Riker standard (Will, not Tom) and made sure his uniform was spotless, determined to make sure his first impression to his new captain was a good one. Well, he thought, they certainly don't waste any time. Not even a moment to find the way to his new quarters or enjoy a quick cup of raktajino. Good. Down to business.

"Then I will be on my way," he said in the clipped manner of his ever-logical Vulcan side. He still declines to wear a d'ja pagh on his ear, despite most other Bajorans and half-Bajorans following that old custom even in Starfleet, so most people notice his ears and eyebrows before they see his nose ridges. He gave the transporter operator a sharp look, recalling the face from his review of the ship's personnel list. "Thank you for the welcome, Chief Quirke. And also for the early promotion to full Commander." With a very un-Vulcan-like smile, Lt. Commander Ren turned and headed toward the door to find the turbolift.


TURBOLIFT 3

The turbolift door opened, and Lt. Commander Ren stepped inside, still carrying his arms behind his back. "Good afternoon, Lieutenant," he said to the man already inside. Ren could tell his rank just by the pips on his collar, but he also remembered his face from the personnel files. Addressing the turbolift computer, he said, "Deck Sixteen," as he straightened his uniform one last time.

Stirred from his contemplation about the skiff, Damian turns towards Ren. "Hello Bajoran, I take it you're our new Chief of Operations." he says while studying him intently. "I notice you're not wearing a d'ja pagh; if you're unaware, Starfleet uniform regulation make exceptions for accessories of cultural importance."

Subak raised an upturned eyebrow at Lt. Leath's remark. Here we go, he thought with annoyance, though outwardly his demeanor remained calm and – to use a word he hated – logical. "You are correct in at least one assumption, Lieutenant," he replied. "I am, as it happens, Lieutenant Commander Subak Ren, your new Chief Operations Officer. I do also notice that you yourself are wearing neither a Sikh turban, nor a Christian crucifix, nor Buddhist prayer beads, despite Starfleet uniform regulations allowing for such accessories." Having a junior officer clearly several decades younger than him try to 'inform' him of Starfleet regulations as though he might not be aware of them did not put Subak in the best of moods.

"I do not practice a religion." replies Damian curtly. "Correct me if I am wrong but it unusual for one of your species to not wear the d'ja pagh so I assume there is a reason." Damian pauses in contemplation before proceeding to say "You appear to also be of Vulcan decent so I wonder do you consider the way of the prophets to be illogical?"

Lt. Commander Ren did his very best to retain his composure. Luckily for him, he was raised by a Vulcan grandfather. "You are most perceptive," he replied to the lieutenant. "I am indeed half Vulcan." Subak had many words he could say, but he restrained himself to just the few that were necessary and would cause the least amount of headache (for him).

"Your name is Damian Leath, if I recall correctly," he said, changing the subject. "From the crew manifest, that is. I made sure to look it over before coming aboard. Do I also guess correctly that we are both headed to Deck Sixteen?" It would make sense, Ren thinks, for the captain to get the division chiefs together for a meeting. Most logical.

"Yes, my name is Damian Leath, and I am headed to Deck Sixteen. I assumed the captain needed repairs or modifications to her skiff, until you arrived here. As you're the head of Operations, your presence would most likely not be required for an engineering assignment, especially if I'm overseeing. Presumably, we are having a division introduction meeting, as the other senior officers are arriving today, though the skiff is not the most logical option compared to the ready room; but I digress."

Damian stands silently for a moment before turning back towards Ren. "I noticed you seem agitated, and I assume it was due to my questions regarding your customs. I mean no disrespect to you; I was just curious. With that being said, I have problems with emotional empathy and am usually not aware that any rudeness I am committing. Please to inform me if I have offended you in the future, so I can do my best to avoid repeating it."

Damian pauses to consider his next words "If it is any solace, I have a deep respect for Vulcans and their philosophy of logic. When I was in the academy, I was quite disrespectful to those around me, generally intentionally, unlike now. A Vulcan officer named T'lyn helped me to improve myself and now I try to use logic to guide me as my emotions are not, shall we say, reliable compared to other humans."

There is a brief pause, during which the gentle whirring of the turbolift becomes the loudest sound, as Lt. Commander Ren takes a good long evaluating look at the Engineering chief. Subak hadn't yet had time to do a thorough look into publicly available files on the ship's crew –a habit from the various times he'd been in Security rather than Ops – but he guesses that Leath, young as he is, made it to his current position mostly through Engineering skills, as opposed to interpersonal ones. A lieutenant at his age likely signifies a prodigy. Either that, or the Federation really is in dire straits with a paucity of qualified candidates in the sector. No matter; Ren had worked with people of similar temperament and social aptitude before now.

"No disrespect was taken," Ren replies at length, stroking his goatee. "It is... logical to be curious, when meeting someone new for the first time. I'm sure we'll have plenty of opportunities to get to know each other better, in time." Subak doesn't feel like getting into a discussion of emotions and logic, and he certainly doesn't feel any compulsion to offer advice.

Mercifully, in another moment or two the turbolift stops and the door opens at Deck Sixteen. Resting his hands casually behind his back again, Lt. Commander Ren takes the initiative to step out first. He spots the skiff easily enough and heads in that direction.

The deck seemed largely deserted, but down here were ancillary systems and the like. You either had to have done something very, very wrong to be assigned down here, or you had to be a misanthrope. At the end of the corridor was an open hatch. In front of it lay a cat on its side, with short, thick blue-gray fur and copper-colored eyes. It regarded the pair with mild interest, then proceeded to groom itself, licking a paw and then drawing it across its ears. Beyond the hatch could be heard a woman's voice in what sounded like some one-sided conversation...

Damian gives a passing glance to the cat as he heads through the hanger bay hatch. Noticing the captain speaking into thin air he approaches. "Is everything all right, would you like me to contact sick bay?" he says while initiating a tricorder scan. "There is no one else here."

The woman turned in the pilot's seat and regarded the young lieutenant. He could see now she held a small padd in her hand. She smiled wryly and replied as she held the padd up, "I was dictating. When I have some ideas I like to make note of them while they are fresh in my mind, lieutenant."

She rose out of the seat and slipped the padd into her tunic, "Lieutenant Leath, I presume? Captain Banerjee."

"That is correct" says Damian while looking around the shuttle. "Why have you summoned me and the Operations Chief? I initially assumed it was for modifications to this shuttle but that would most likely not require the Bajoran as he is in a different division."

The Bajoran, as he was just referred to, entered shortly afterward, allowing the lieutenant to be the one to be first intruder to what sounded like a private conversation, or perhaps a captain's log entry. Subak didn't know the captain by voice, of course, but it was an easy enough guess. After all, that's who had summoned him down here in the first place. "Lieutenant Commander Subak Ren reporting, Captain," he says, respectfully but not stiffly, after carefully stepping around the Earth feline. He glances around the space, standing at an easy sort of attention, though his attention remains on the woman in the pilot's seat.

Aisling gave the lieutenant commander a polite nod then said to both, "Thank you both for coming down."

She looked about the interior of the skiff with something like a wistful expression, "It is very nice. It denotes status and I am not above a little pride to say I am quite certain I would look most impressive to land on a planet and coming out of it."

The cat weaved its way around the two men and hopped into the recently vacated seat. Aisling shrugged and said, "Ah well. We have to get rid of it. Commander, see it gets a nice home. The skiff, I mean, not the cat. Lieutenant, we are going to have to lay plates of duranium across the gap. Mars has schematics for that; they made allowances in the event a skiff was not available. The plates, however, will have to be modified to take account for this..."

She handed the two of them identical padds. On them was a schematic for what looked like some sort of retractable rod that would swing down and then extend vertically downward ninety degrees, clearing past the lower nacelles. It appeared to be designed to transmit some sort of power with the end an array not unlike a very small deflector dish. It was obviously not a weapon to both men's eyes...

Damian reads the padd intently before turning to the captain. "I can get this installed in around 72 hours, but there are no details on what this device is for; could you expand on its purpose?"

Aisling's eyebrows rose slightly at Leath's time table. With a slight smile she replied "I could..."

Subak took the padd and glanced at its contents. Fascinating. "Aye, Captain," he replies, when told to get rid of the skiff. Should be easy enough. He does take note that the captain wants it going to 'a nice home,' though, which indicates he can't just pawn it off on a Ferengi. He dislikes dealing with them anyway. "Is there anything aboard the skiff which should be destroyed before disposal?" he asks, while going over the schematic on the padd he was handed. Doesn't appear to be a weapon, but then again appearances can be deceiving. He presumes he will be given more information if and when necessary.

The Captain looked about the skiff a touch wistfully, "Not that I am aware. But it might be prudent to make certain no personal effects were left behind. I suppose some star base might find a use for it. It does seem overly large for a standard vessel's hangar. I-" the cat was on it's hind legs and tapping Aisling's thigh. She glanced down at the animal and said, "Oh, yes, that reminds me."

She lifted the cat into her arms, "This is Pawsitive Charge. She is the ship's cat. She will need a home, care, feeding, Commander, if you can see to some sort of crew rotation to insure she is looked after that would be much appreciated. She seems rather personable."

Judging by the cat's vocal purrs and the manner in which she settled into the Captain's arms that seemed to be true...

Subak's Vulcan brows furrowed slightly at the mention of a cat care rotation. "Aye, Captain," he responded, wondering if this is some sort of test. "I will see to it." Probably won't be his highest priority, but he'll put something together once he has a slightly better idea of the crew. As for the skiff, Subak would be absolutely certain it's good to go before he lets it out of his sight. He'd been a security officer for too long not to know how easily sensitive information and artifacts can fall into the wrong hands. "Am I to take it that there is also a Negative Charge about the ship?" he asks half-jokingly.

Aisling was mildly surprised and pleased to hear the Commander had a sense of humor, she replied with a smile, "I was able to negotiate down to one cat. Did you know a group of domestic cats is called a 'clowder'? I did not know that until yesterday. Apparently, for removing 'Charge here from the group I was called a 'clowdbuster'," she frowned, "I am afraid that pun was lost on me."

It seemed the pun was also lost on the Lt. Commander. "I am only passingly versed in human puns," he admitted. Some things don't translate well from Federation Standard to Bajoran or Vulcan. "So it is lost on me as well."

The captain sighed, "Thank you, Commander. I will be in charge of, well, Pawsitive Charge until you have things settled. I do suggest a spot on board ship where she can be afforded a modicum of privacy for, ah, personal business." This earned an eyebrow raise from the half-Vulcan. He was pretty sure he understood what that meant, at least.

As they were speaking, Damian looked more closely through the schematics for the device, trying to discern its purpose. He hadn't seen anything like it before and noticed some oddities in the plans. It certainly looked like a deflector dish but would of drawn too much power for it's size if it was. Additionally, there was no project name, just a number; it appeared as if someone was trying to keep it under wraps.

"I infer this mission is of importance and appears you need to be minimal on details about this device, but for the safety of my engineers I can not have this installed without some elaboration." said Damian slightly agitated. "We can not prepare safety measures for dangers that we don't know of."

"You will have to take my word that the apparatus will pose no danger prior to construction," Aisling replied, "As long as no one hooks it into the ship's warp core, it will remain inert. All components are standard Starfleet issue. They are just being...repurposed, in a manner seldom seen. Once the device is prepared and the senior staff is briefed on the mission, then the device will be powered up for testing and eventual use. However, that will not be for some time; not until I am satisfied crew integration has gone smoothly and we are functioning at an operational level I and the Admiralty are satisfied with."

Aisling held the cat in the crook of her arm and gently scratched it behind her ears, it purred loudly in response, "I will hold you to that seventy-two hour time table, lieutenant. But never let it be said I am not charitable," she glanced at Lt. Commander Ren and smiled slightly, "The clock will not start until after you depart the skiff." Subak met the captain's look and nodded. "Operations will assist Engineering as necessary to make sure it is done," he said.

"Yes Captain" says Damian as he clicks his comlink. "Lieutenant Leath to all Engineering staff, meeting in one hour on deck sixteen." Turning back to the captain, he inquires, "Where are we to meet the other senior staff? Will we converge in the ready room, or did you have somewhere less typical in mind" he says motioning to the skiff. "I could put some chairs next to the warp core, I'm sure the uniqueness of the meeting place will more than make up for the radiation sickness."

"Oh, lieutenant," Aisling replied, her smile not quite reaching her eyes, "You really do need to earn a bit more brass on your collar before you can afford to be that salty. Now if you will excuse me," she turned to Ren, "Pawsitive Charge is going to need a litter box soon and it is not fair to hand her off to you quite yet, Commander," she eyed Leath one last time, "I look forward to your progress reports, lieutenant."

Aisling slipped between the pair, the cat slipping up to her shoulder to regard the pair as she exited the skiff...

As she leaves Damian turns to face Ren. "Can you attend the engineering meeting in an hour?" he asked. "Please bring some operations officers with you, we are still understaffed as not everyone has boarded. I would like the operations officers to assist with of the some less mechanical aspects of this such as readouts."

Ren felt a small amount of relief that he would at least have a brief respite before his cat-sitting duties began. As soon as he has a chance to meet with Ops staff, he would have an idea where to begin the roster. Or maybe it should be Engineering first. Maybe even Medical.

"Of course," he said, when the lieutenant invited him to the meeting. "Seventy-two hours can sneak by quickly. See you in an hour, Lieutenant." With that, Ren turned and exited the skiff. He'll need to see how many Operations staff are on board, make sure all his things have made it to his quarters, and get a good, strong coffee. Perhaps in reverse order.

With that Damian and Ren headed to the Turbolift.

 

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