(Backpost) A New Assignment

Posted on Wed Mar 30th, 2022 @ 4:15am by Lieutenant Mark Valleroy

Mission: Lower Decks
Location: office of Admiral Towers

Mark sat outside the office of Admiral Towers. He had been waiting for news about what would happen after what had happened on the U.S.S. Comfort. Now it seemed like he would get that news.

A beep emitted from a console on the desk of the admiral's yeoman, who glanced down at it and pressed a couple of buttons. "Lt. Valleroy," the yeoman said, "the admiral will see you now."

Mark got up and entered the inner office of the admiral. "Sir," he said, "Lt. Mark Valleroy, reporting as ordered."

"Lieutenant," the admiral said dryly, "have a seat." Mark sat down in a chair at the admiral's desk. "Now, lieutenant," Towers said, "I'm sure you know why you're here."

"Yes, Sir, I do," Mark said, wondering for a moment if he should have requested that someone from Starfleet JAG be here with him.

"Now, I could spend a lot of time lecturing you here," Towers said, "though from what I hear about you, you've probably already beat yourself up over what occurred on the Comfort, so I don't know if there's anything I can say that could be any worse than that." Towers paused for a moment. "Seriously, a tribble and a butter churn?"

Mark could only shrug while holding his hands up in a gesture of "What else was I supposed to do?"

"But, all is not lost," Towers said, "on one condition. Since most of the Comfort's crew is being reassigned during repairs, I want you to go serve on the U.S.S. Chimera as security/tactical chief. It won't all be fun and games while you're there, mind you. The ship is being recommissioned, and most of the rest of the new crew will be made up of misfits, layabouts, and other such folks - the kind who haven't screwed up enough to get drummed out of Starfleet, but who aren't necessarily going to be welcomed with open arms in most other assignments. And yes, that includes the ship's captain."

Towers handed a padd to Mark, who scanned over the information contained there abut the Chimera and the crew who'd been assigned to the ship so far.

"While you're there," Towers continued after a few moments, "I want you to babysit the bunch of loons on the ship. You'll be my personal set of eyes and ears on the Chimera. Report back to me as to what's going on there. Do this job right, and you might just find yourself back completely in the good graces of myself and others in Starfleet Command. Screw this up, and well...I hope you don't mind scrubbing warp cores with a toothbrush for the next few years."

Mark swallowed. "Understood, Admiral," he said. "But one thing. This," and he held up the padd, "says that a contingent of Starfleet Marines is being assigned to the ship. Sir, is that really necessary? I'm sure that the security department could handle most anything that comes our way, even if the department is made up of misfits and layaways..."

"That isn't your decision to make, Lieutenant," Towers cut in. "A part of your assignment is that you're to play nice with the other kiddies. Those Marines are being put there for reasons as well, even if the Marine CO has a bit of a problem with hitting the bottle, if you catch my drift. Now, if there's nothing further?"

"No, nothing further, Sir."

"Then get your gear together. Your transport's about to leave. Dismissed."