Two New Arrivals

Posted on Fri Aug 20th, 2021 @ 4:19am by Captain Calypso Skyie & Lieutenant JG Faith Vianelli & Ensign Rene Rouen

Mission: The Boneyard Heist
Location: Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: Shortly after 'Correcting' Through Supervision'

Rene was lost in thought as he and Faith rode the turbolift to the bridge. He was a bit tired from the long trip in a shuttlecraft, but he was also anxious to start his new assignment. He gestured to her as the turbolift came to a halt and the doors opened. "After you."

The fact that they had come straight from the shuttle to the Captain's Ready Room was already setting Faith on edge, something that was obvious to anyone who so much as glanced at her. As the turbolift moved, she tapped her foot, counting decks, hands twisting behind her back as she watched the numbers. Finally, as the lift stopped and the doors parted, she stepped out quickly, offering a nod toward Rene as she stepped passed him, glancing around the bridge, nerves starting to overtake her previous anxiousness. She paused for a moment, straightening her jacket and taking in a shaky breath. "Well, this is it..."

Rene followed Faith out of the turbolift. He looked about the bridge and spotted only an enlisted crew. He stepped up to an older man with Chief Petty Officer insignia on his collar. "Chief of the Watch. Lieutenant Vianneli and Ensign Rouen to see the Captain.”

The Chief, a grizzled man of about thirty-five years, rolled his eyes at the two obviously new officers. Only those just arriving on board at this point would think the Co would be on the bridge. “She ain’t here.” He grumped, “Not in there either.” He threw a hand towards the Ready Room before tapping a few buttons on his screen, “The Commander is in Holodeck One right now, probably been dealing with the engineer and taking a few laps to de stress.” He rolled his eyes at that, “I’ll let her know you’re on your way.” There was little respect towards either them or the CO in his voice.

Faith looked at him, eyes widening before she turned away and headed back to the turbolift, clearly glad to be getting away from him. It was only once the doors had closed again behind them Faith turned her attention back to Rene. "Clearly he's a right ray of sunshine," she muttered, looking down at her boots, her long hair falling down to hide her face.

Rene had seen enough of the ship to realize it was in pretty rough shape. He had wondered why it wasn't docked somewhere undergoing expensive repairs. "Overworked and under appreciated. We may very well be the same way in a few days."

It wasn't long before they stood at a door that said Holodeck One. Rene gestured again for Faith to go first.

Faith stepped into the holodeck, looking around, surprised by the pool in front of her, depth warnings where they should be in the 25-meter length. The first sign of movement was a figure she presumed to be the Commanding Officer in the pool. The second sign of movement was a beagle on the side of the pool that looked up at them, almost as if it were trying to assess the two of them for the probability of either threats or treats. "Captain Skyie?" Faith called uncertainly as she approached the side of the pool where the beagle lay patiently, seemingly having dismissed them both as irrelevant.

Having pushed off right before they’d come in, Cally had been underwater stretching out how far she could go with dolphin kicks, then came up and inhaled off to the side and noting the two figures on the side of the deck and stopped clawing at the water, arresting her forward momentum in a few feet and beginning to tread water and reaching up with one hand to push her goggles up to her forehead and taking another breathe quickly, before realizing that they’d asked for someone, presumably her. She leaned forward and kicked towards the side of the pool and grasped the side to steady herself with another semi-labored breathe, “Looking for me?” She asked, taking the goggles off her head and running a hand back across her hair, “Calypso Skyie, at your service.” She got out, heaving in another breathe, “What can I do for you?”

Faith had often contemplated what it would be like the first time she was assigned to a ship, meeting her new commanding officer for the first time, that moment where all her years of medical school paid off and she was an officer. In all those imaginings, she never once imagined it being like this. Frozen for a moment before she snapped to attention, Faith looked straight ahead, then shuffled awkwardly backward, trying not to step on the dog's tail, so she could look down at her Commanding Officer, without actually looking down on her Commanding Officer. "Lieutenant Junior Grade Faith Vianelli, Sir.. I mean Ma'am.. I mean..." She bit her lip, unable to help the colour rising in her cheeks. "I think I'm meant to be your counselor."

"Oh Deities..." Cally said quietly, then looked at the beagle, "Artemis, get the towel." She spoke firmly, enunciating each word. It was something that Artemis knew, a valid command. The beagle huffed and hauled herself to her feet and trotted over to the duffel bag where a uniform and a towel were. She hesitated, then grabbed the bright yellow tennis ball that was also there and trotted back, dropping the ball in front of Calypso with a hopeful wag. The swimmer glanced up at the two officers and shook her head, grabbing the ball and tossing it over her shoulder and into the middle of the pool. The dog gave a forlorn look at the ball, then up at both young officers as if to say 'See what I put up with?' before taking a few steps off to the side and dropping to her belly with another huff.

Cally sighed and let herself drop before kicking upwards and hauling herself out of the water, the top of her full-coverage swimsuit being the red of command that stopped right above the presumed beltline, the rest all the way down to just above the knees was black and she found herself looking down a few inches to Faith, reaching out and patting her on the shoulder gently, "Settle down, Faith, I'm not one of the Four, I'm just Calypso if we aren't anywhere needing officialese." She smiled slightly, then grimaced as she realized she'd just dripped onto the obviously younger woman, "Woops.. Computer, remove all water from uniforms and swimsuits." She winked, "Neat trick that one is, but I don't trust it with my hair." She glanced over at the young man before making her way over to the towel and began to dry said bright blonde hair, taking it out of the ponytail it had been drawn into, "And you are?"

Rene had held back a barely contained grin from the moment he'd stepped into the holodeck. The grin finally surfaced when Artemis grabbed what must have been her favorite toy instead of Cally's towel. The grin disappeared once his new Captain addressed. He stood up straight. "Ensign Rene Rouen, Security Branch." He presented a PADD with his assignment orders already on the display.

Cally didn't take the PADD, instead drying her arms and lower legs before beginning to pull on her uniform right over her (dry) swimsuit, the red of the swimsuit acting just like the tunic would, "Security?" She asked quietly, "When were you commissioned? Earlier than last week?" She smiled slyly, mischief in her voice.

Rene grinned back. "I was commissioned 21 months, 2 weeks, 4 days and...about 14 hours ago. Give or take 30 minutes or so. I was serving aboard the USS Ganymede prior to a speedy transfer here."

The smile on Calypso's face widened, "Another Luna, excellent, it means you know the layout! And congratulations, Rene, you're currently the senior security officer on board Chimera, good job, Acting Chief." She sealed her pants and reached into one of the extra pockets and pulled out three pieces of candy, popping one in her mouth and tossing one to each of the junior officers, "And indeed, Faith, you are currently the only person on board the ship that's qualified to keep us sane and in one mental piece."

She took a deep breath as she sat down and began to pull on her shoes, "I'm sorry that you've been dragooned on board, but before you get all worried, the ship is in bad shape, the crew is sketchy... I'm surprised no one commed me to let me know you were on the way down, elsewise I would have made sure I was out of the water before you got here."

Rene shrugged as he glanced at Faith. He returned his gaze to Cally. "The Chief of the Watch on the bridge directed us here. I would have thought he would contact you before our arrival."

Faith glanced nervously at Rene before looking back to Cally. "I thought he said he was going to. Sorry Ma'am," she said quietly. "Next time I'll make sure we comm you personally so we don't interrupt you... or Artemis..." she glanced at the beagle and smiled before her gaze shifted back to the Captain and she quickly returned to a firm stance, hands clasped again behind her back. "Sorry Ma'am."

"Computer, do I have any messages?" Cally asked, glancing up at the ceiling.

"Yes, Commander. One message from Chief Jackson, text only. Two new officers on their way. Message ends." The computer stated in a neutral voice, "Priority marked as low."

Calypso smiled slightly at the other two, then muttered under her breathe, "Strike two, Chief..." She clapped her hands once lightly, "Never worry about disturbing me, Faith, I'm available all hours, every day. This is Artemis." She patted her leg, the command for the beagle to come up to her and sit, "She'll wander the ship quite a bit, but she's usually found with or near me. Quite well trained, loves her tennis balls as well as just about any sort of treat offered."

"As I was saying, the current crew is pretty sketchy, but because of our current makeup, not too many bad apples so far. We've got a good chunk of the graduating class from the Academy a few days ago, with a few experienced officers that are less than fully desirable." Cally sealed her jacket, ignoring the fact that her hair was still damp, "My own personal sins are that I started off as a Marine, then had the bad fortune to lose my Captain and the ship on my last assignment. Admiral Towers really doesn't like me for both of those reasons, together, he kept me on planet longer than I think I should have."

Faith just nodded in response, not entirely sure what to say. "I see," was all she could come up with.

Rene scoffed at the mention of Admiral Towers. The man was proving to be a Grade A Git. He glanced at Cally. "Towers was the one who signed my transfer orders."

An eyebrow raised on Cally's face, "Oh? And what, by the Four, did you do to obtain his... Displeasure?"

Rene blushed slightly. "Word probably got to him that a dashing young ensign was spending time with his grand niece or granddaughter during her transit aboard the Ganymede."

“And with him, that would do it.” Cally nodded somberly, “We’ll, to the both of you, welcome aboard Chimera. We’re going to be getting underway in about a week or nine days, once Engineering tells me we’ve got enough power. The bulk of what we’re getting this side of Starbase 614 people-wise will arrive in about three days with more trickling in like you, so get yourselves settled into your quarters and for now, just pitch in where you can getting the ship spiffed up a bit. We’re basically in all hands to help mode right now, so every little bit helps.”

Calypso let a broad smile cross her face, “But all in all, don’t worry too much, we will adapt and overcome whatever gets thrown at us. Faith?” She turned to the short woman, “When you’re all settled, if I could have you wander around and make sure no one’s too overwhelmed? You can ignore Lieutenant Davenport in engineering, she’s a special case.”

"Uh, okay, I can do that..." Faith said with a nod.

The CO nodded then looked back to Rene, “As for you, Rene, I’m afraid it’s going to be mostly elbow grease for the time being, but I’m also going to assign you to maintaining oversight on the sensor watch on the bridge, scheduling, the like.” Her eyes glittered with a bit of mischief, “Chief Jackson, whom you both met, is one of yours by the way. Do with him what you please, he’s something of a troublemaker.”

Rene nodded. He was actually thankful for the extra work he had put in on the Ganymede now. Captain Emerson had insisted that all junior officers assigned to bridge duty cross trained to handle every bridge station operation and maintenance procedures. It would help in the coming week. "I got your six Captain....and as for Chief Jackson. I'll have a talk with him tomorrow...and trust me...he won't be a problem for you anymore."

I’ll want both of you to check in with me twice a day, over comms is fine if you’d rather not hunt me down. I will be available about twenty-eight hours a day, eight days a week.” Cally smiled at her little joke, “Questions? Concerns? General outrage?”

Rene raised a hand. "Do you fence?"

“I… Do not.” Calypso had to admit, not sure if she should be chagrined about it or not, “Sorry, they did try to teach me some saber moves with my dress sword after OCS, but I was focused on flying and really didn’t pick much of it up. Computer, end program.” The pool and deck returned to the grids of a holodeck, the sound of a tennis ball bouncing to a standstill echoing. Artemis faithfully walked over to it and retrieved it, “If either of you need me, for anything, no matter how small, even if you just want to verify what time it is, comm me or come find me. Seriously, I’m really available all the time.”

Rene nodded. The Captain was certainly not what he expected, but he decided right there that he was going to like serving under her command. "Thank you Captain. I am sure we will both appreciate that." He glanced at Faith to confirm his statement.

Faith just nodded. "Yes, thank you Ma'am," she added quietly.

"Then let's be about it, sirrah and madame." Cally smiled, "Dismissed."