The Captain and the Crusty Old Salt

Posted on Tue Aug 24th, 2021 @ 3:58am by Captain Calypso Skyie

Mission: The Boneyard Heist

Master Chief Gunner's Mate Samuel T. Ross materialized on the transporter pad and looked at the Transporter Specialist Second Class behind the control console. "Permission to come aboard?"

The TS2 nodded at the Master Chief. "Permission granted. Welcome aboard."

Sam returned the nod and stepped out of the transporter alcove before depositing his 'space bag' on the deck in front of the console. "Computer. Locate Captain Skyie."

=Captain Skyie is in auxiliary control.=

Samuel gestured at his bag. "Please see to it my bag taken to the goat locker (Chief Petty Officer quarters deck)."

"Of course Master Chief."

Sam headed out the door to the AuxCon as the Transporter Specialist called for the enlisted runner of the watch. It only took a couple of minutes to reach his destination. He stepped inside to find Cally on her knees trying to feed an ODN cable back into the helm console. He gave a slight chuckle. He remembered seeing this same person doing a very similar task over ten years ago. "Still getting your hands dirty? You do know that there are lower enlisted grunts that kind of work is made for?"

“If we HAD the right lower enlisted grunts, I’d be letting them be getting on with the doing.” Calypso ground out without looking up, fingers finally getting the cable through the turn she couldn’t see. Then her face cleared, that voice… Sure, she’d sent a message, but it had been a long shot… She wiped her hands on her pants as she looked up.

Then suddenly she’d shot to her feet with a squeal and crossed the distance to the older man, arms wrapped around him in a hug, “Chief, you came!” Excitement virtually oozed out of her every pore as she squeezed him tightly.

Sam gave Cally a quick squeeze back before pushing off to look at her. She still looked as fit as she'd been a decade ago as a Lieutenant. He tapped his collar. "You will address me as Master Chief or COB my good Captain." He gave her a rueful grin and looked about the AuxCon before turning his gaze back on her. "So who's wheaties did you go and piss in to gets such an assignment as this."

“Towers.” The one word reference to the Admiral in charge of Fleet personnel for the Quadrant was dripping with venom, “I’m sure you heard what happened to Perseus, but he kept me shuffling paperwork for six months after I was cleared back to space duty, Master Chief.” Cally sighed, “Finally gave me the choice to take this girl and shut up, or admit I couldn’t hack it. You remember what happened when YOU suggested I couldn’t handle flying a ship, don’t you?”

Sam shrugged at the mention of the admiral. He knew more about Admiral Towers than the man would be comfortable knowing. It helps when you have a good Senior NCO Corps that talks with one another. "Towers is thinking of retiring and going into politics as a housecleaning politician. Right now he is trying to burn officers that he feels aren't the right image for Starfleet. His problem is his vision of what is a proper Starfleet officer is only those that kiss his backside." He paused and finally grinned at Cally. "As I recall you never one to like brown on her nose."

“Damned straight!” Cally agreed, “Never cottoned to that any which way or how. Sure, I probably take too many risks at times, but never stupid ones. Okay, I go on end runs when I should probably do things the straight and level way more often. But, I will always say I deserve to get judged on merit, just like I do my people. And it works more often than not. If I screw up, I own it.”

Sam nodded after Cally spoke. "That you did Captain. I for one never questioned your ability, despite what you might have thought back on the Hattery Bay. Ability has to be tempered with good reasoning though...and a tall drink at the end of the day."

“By the end of the day, you’re going to be needing more than one tall drink, Master Chief, ole buddy.” Calypso chuckled, “Ability I had, humility, you taught me. And we’ve got problems. Right now, we’ve got a mix of newbies, and by that I mean Ensigns that graduated the Academy last week, cadets on their final cruise before graduation, some officers whose careers went down the toilets because senior officers held a grudge, and our other ‘experienced’ officers and NCOs are trending towards troublemakers whose former COs couldn’t wait to get rid of. I think we’ll work the kinks out of most of them one way or the other, especially if we can get some decent senior officers that haven’t arrived yet. The junior officers just need good examples and the trouble officers, I can handle. I already have the senior engineer under control, but it’s the enlisted I’m going to have problems with… I can come down like a hammer on the NCOs if I need to, but it’s a bigger hammer than really needs using.” She had almost forgotten how tall he was, so she’d had to reach up to put a hand on his shoulder, “And that’s where I need you, Sam.”

"No worries Captain." Sam gave her a reassuring nod. "I will get the ship's NCO Corps squared away for you." He planned on doing a walkabout right after this meeting. He would identify his problem children then. He was rather astute when it was necessary to do on the spot evaluations.

"And, obviously, don't let the Ensigns get too uppity with you." Cally grinned, "I'm sure they're all on an adrenaline high having graduated, but they're all generally good kids, I'm sure, just kids."

Sam looked at Cally with his signature Master Chief's expression. "There's an old expression. 'Don't confuse your rank with my authority.' I know exactly how to handle an Ensign with a superiority complex. I've been a Master Chief longer than most senior officers have held their commissions."

The smile never left her face as she grabbed onto his arm and squeezed it into a hug again. This was really the best thing to happen so far in her command, "I've got faith in you, Master Chief, means I've got less I need to worry about and I can worry about the big things rather than the little ones."

Sam gave Cally a pat on the back before taking off his jacket and rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. "Well, can't have my Captain looking like she got more work done on watch than the Chief of the Boat." He gestured about the Auxiliary Control Room. "Let's get her shipshape then."

The Commander rubbed her hands together, "Right, Master Chief, let's do this."