Mission 0: Come Together

USS Indefatigable
Deck 14, Entry Airlock
1100 Hours
Day 1

Fallon took a deep breath as she stepped onto the Indefatigable. Her first command; a ship twice her age, with a name she could barely pronounce the first time she said it. But it was hers, and Fallon knew there were worse commands out there. Her first look at the ships interior put her more in the mind of an Intrepid, than it did an Excelsior. Like most ships her her vintage, the Indefatigable, had been completely gutted several times over her life, and the interior had also been updated to keep up with new technologies. New LCARS, bio-neural gelpacks, holo-emitters, and anything else the engineers felt they could add without harming the ship.

As Fallon made her way through the ship, she noticed dozens of people who worked at the Proxima Maintenance Yards. They were all in Operations, or Engineering Yellow, and ripping panels off walls, replacing them, installing new equipment, testing doors, vacuuming, and whatever else it was that the tech specialists did to prep a ship for launch. Fallon was fairly certain that none of them were on her crew, heck she hadn't even received a manifest for the ship yet. But one thing she did know was where the Indie (It hadn't taken long to think of a nickname for the ship) was headed; the Breen border.

Fallon wasn't sure how she felt about going up against the Breen. With all the other powers focusing on Romulan Space, after Hobus went boom, the Breen had decided it was a great time to start acting up. They'd already started to reassert themselves along the border, and while it wasn't quite a war, it certainly wasn't what one would call peace either. And thus the Indie was being sent to help secure the area, and reinforce Starfleet's position. In theory the Indefatigable should be able to go toe to toe with a Breen Warship and come out on top. In theory.

Fallon didn't have a lot of faith in that theory. While she'd never faced the Breen, she knew they had a reputation for being crafty, and Fallon was fairly certain that if a Breen ship did pick a fight with the Indie while it was on patrol, it would only do so if it thought it could win. As she continued through the ships corridors towards a turbolift, she tried to stop thinking about the Breen. She had enough on her plate with getting the ship launched without worrying about things like the Breen.

"Deck one," She said, entering the turbolift with a smile on her face. It was time to get started.


OFF

USS Indefatigable
Captain's Ready Room
1700 Hours
Day 2

Fallon still wasn't quite used to the fact that the Captain's Ready Room, was now her room. She'd finished unpacking all her little knickknacks and put them up for display, she'd gone over the crew manifest, and now she had no idea what to do. She'd always wondered what the Commanding Officer did when they were alone in the Ready Room. Now she realized they didn't really do anything except for go over reports. Sighing, Fallon, picked up the PADD on her First Officer again. It said that Reneé Lucas was a very capable officer, and had a lot more combat experience than Fallon did. Fallon hadn't had a lot of experience with the Marines of Starfleet. She was pretty sure that they were all crazy though. What kind of sane person spent that much time on the ground with....bugs everywhere? Beyond that though, it didn't really say much about who Lucas was a person.

Regardless she was supposed to be meeting her in the next few minutes. Fallon primped her uniform a little, and checked her hair in the reflective black surface of her desk. She also made sure there wasn't anything stuck to her pointy ears or her hands, or teeth. She didn't want to look like an idiot before meeting the first member of her staff, and the person she'd be relying on to help her from here on out.

Starships were not a new concept to Marine Captain Reneé Lucas who wandered through the halls with a single bag strap across his shoulder. The strap supported a mediocre size luggage bag which contained a small amount of personal clothing items, war loot and other personal effects. As she marched through the corridors it became apparent that her presence was an oddity. Excelsior class ships weren't normally equipped with a marine squad, come to think of it Reneé hadn't spotted a single green shirt out of those she passed. That seemed somewhat disheartening as it meant no marine mess to retreat to. Nope, it was just a bunch of Fleeters doing double-takes of her rank pin and then her shirt as if trying to figure out why they were together.

After a short turbo-lift ride to deck one, Reneé quickly slithered through the bridge as if she was a ghost. Her feet barely touched the floor of her new workspace for fear of it somehow devouring her. The blonde marine chimed the button and awaited a response. Hopefully the captain was here, it would have paid to ask the computer before hand.

"Uh enter," Fallon said, sitting up in her chair a little more. When the door hissed open she got her first look of her First Officer. The marine was taller than Fallon and looked more muscular. Then again, just about everyone was more muscular than Fallon. Let's see how this goes, she thought.

As soon as the door had opened to reveal Reneé's new commanding officer to her, the woman's jaw clenched with tension as if expecting a punch from the far more petite officer. Stepping inside Reneé came to a crisp, military-like salute before coming to straight attention before the desk. Reaching behind her the woman produced a PADD from her bag and double checked it to make sure it was indeed her orders. Offering the PADD, Reneé finally spoke.

"Marine Captain Reneé Lucas reporting for duty li-....captain." she said while correcting herself. To a marine, a lieutenant commander was a lieutenant commander regardless of their job. Ship's captain or not to Reneé you were a Fleet captain when you had four golden circles on your collar. No more, no less. Another one of the niggling details and traditions that her Fleet cousins loved to adhere to. "My orders, ma'am." added Reneé who's accent was obviously lowland Scottish. Even with her soft-spoken words it almost sounded like a growl or snarl when the letter 'r' was brought into play.

"At ease Captain," Fallon said taking the PADD. She set down on top her own and slid them away so there was nothing on the desk. It took her a while to process what Reneé had said, the Scottish Accent wasn't something Fallon had ever really heard. Already she could tell that her first, First Officer, was a rules and regulations kind of person. Fallon wasn't a rules and regulations kind of person. It's not that she was a dare devil or rule-breaker, but sometimes you had to bend some rules to keep the ship operating smoothly and keep the crew happy. Did her XO understand that? Fallon was starting to get the feeling she might not.

"Have a seat Captain, I hope the trip here wasn't too tiring," She said with a smile, gesturing to the chair on the other side of her desk.

When Fallon mentioned the words 'at ease' there was a small but sharp crunching sound as Reneé's right boot hit the deck as her feet gently spread themselves apart where she stood. Her hands went from her side to clasp at her lower back. Simply put it was as if she was on some marine parade square all over again and the training had simply kicked in. At the offer of a seat however Reneé simply blinked. Usually handing in orders was a quick and easy process and she wasn't expecting a talk along with it. Nodding she sat down in the chair that was provided for such offers.

"The trip was long but tiring wasn't the word I'd use ma'am. Despite their size runabouts do have some creature comforts." she explained. "I never expected to be deployed to a ship. Excelsior-classes are a bit...old, aren't they?"

Fallon leaned back in her chair, and relaxed. Her XO still seemed stiff as a springboard. She's been hoping that the other woman would relax at some point but that was starting to seem increasingly unlikely. Her Vulcan side told her that this was pointless and illogical, as Lucas was clearly a competent officer. But she still felt that she had an obligation to try to get to know her XO more, just as her previous Commanding Officers had seemed to establish some kind of repertoire with their staff.

"They are, in fact the Indefatigable is somewhere around ninety two years old if I remember right," Fallon agreed. "But she's been completely retrofitted several times, so she's got all the comforts of a modern ship, and everything seems to work just fine. And you say you weren't expecting to being deployed on a starship?"

"I was more concerned about her flying apart from the seams the first warp jump she made." corrected Reneé who seemed to look around the office as if expecting it to do just that. "Classified as a cruiser if I'm not mistaken though her size could indicate something closer to a battleship tonnage. Course it was suppose to replace or at least supplement the... Constitution class? I real a lot when to comes to my sector of deployment."

In fact Reneé couldn't care if it lacked holodecks and replicators. She was a marine, an infantry solider. Reneé was used to slogging it out in the wilds without creature comforts. If the ship could just go forward without breaking down now that would make the marine's day. "No ma'am I uh...didn't expect it. Marines operate differently to Fleet for obvious reasons. Marines deployed on starships usually come from fleet protection regiments, I was infantry, 66th Spaceborne. I suppose I mean 'I didn't expect to be an Executive Officer on a ship' in all honesty."

Fallon felt a little offended on behalf of the Indefatigable. Yeah she was an old ship, but she wasn't rundown or anything.

"Well she's old, but she's still solid," was all Fallon said on that. She had a bit of a bigger issue in that her XO was from infantry. When she'd read the report on Lucas, she hadn't quite realized how much of a difference that was from shipboard duties. She could already tell that, that was going to create some problems.

"Well I'm glad to have someone with your combat record on board when we're going to be headed towards Breen space," She said. "I think you'll find things are a bit more flexible, than what you're used to groundside."

"The Breen." replied Reneé with a monotonic flatness. She had little experience when it came to the Breen even as a ground force. Most of her combat record in the Dominion War was against Cardassian Infantry Orders and Dominion Regiments. "The only experience I've had against the Breen was during the Second Battle of Chin'toka when they were involved in the Dominion counter attack. When the Allied fleet had to pull out they left a large amount of ground forces on the planets. Even then the Breen only deployed commando-like units to the planet in the hopes of striking our mobile forces to knock us off balance. Still...I'll hope to be of some use. After all I like to think of myself as adaptive. Even if the air and gravity can be turned off with a single lucky shot..."

"It takes a bit more than one lucky shot," Fallon replied with the certainty of someone who'd spent most of their life in space. Is this woman insane? she thought one lucky shot on the ground and you can just be dead not without gravity! At least on a ship you have a layer of shielding and metal to protect you. She leaned back in her chair a little more and sighed. "Well most of the crew won't be here for a while, and as far as I know, none of the senior staff have arrived yet either so feel free to relax until things start picking up and if you ever need to chat my doors always open," She said, wondering if her First Officer knew how to relax.

"I suppose I could take a look at the holodeck." mused the Executive Officer out loud by way of confirmation. "I've always been fond of swimming and rock climbing. Been a long time since I was given a pass to splash my face with a mountain spring in the early mornings. You're welcome to join me captain unless you have duties or more questions for me."

"Rocks and water aren't really my thing," Fallon confessed, she much more at home within the solid corridors of the ship, not to mention that she didn't even know how to swim. "If you do need me for anything I'll probably be in the lounge or in my quarters when off-duty," She said with a smile. While her XO's tastes were the polar opposite of hers, it was nice to know that the woman did know how to unwind.

"I see, maybe we'll have to bring your outdoor person out then?" she suggested, taking Fallon's words as a dismissal. Standing up Reneé snapped to a salute, turned on her heel and walked out of her room to deposit her stuff. Maybe she'd check out more details of the ship. Maybe she'd go for that swim after all.


OFF

This Joint Post brought to you by Reneé Lucas and Fallon Edmondson

USS Indefatigable
Holodeck 2
1720 Hours
Day 2

It didn't matter who you were; holodecks were an amazing thing to behold. The only limits was the user's imagination and probably any pre-placed restrictions on certain items but even there, hundreds if not thousands of situations could have been invented or recreated. For Reneé the idea of climbing sun-baked rock faces was her idea of relaxation since the captain deemed it a thing to do. It made sense for Reneé. After all the ship was going nowhere without senior officers and until they arrived it would do well for her own duty performance if she was focused totally on the task at hand. So it was little surprise to Reneé that she found herself on top of a cliff looking down into a sun-lit valley, or at least the holographic representation of one. Dressed in a vest top, climbing trousers and shoes the marine XO sat down covered in sweat and dust to look across the valley.

For whatever reason Reneé could almost swear she was on a planet. With real gravity, air and...everything. If anything she felt like a fish out of water. Why would MARCOM send her all the way onto a ship as an Executive Officer? Did she do something wrong? It felt like a punishment but perhaps that was a rather premature assessment of her situation. The captain had welcomed her on board rather cordially and the ship itself hadn't even left the dock. Maybe time would tell.

Reneé stood up and looked at the next rock wall. If this deployment was anything like climbing it would take care, strength and skill. Hopefully she had enough of all of that.

OFF

USS Indefatigable
Deck 5, NCO Quarters
1800 Hours
Day 2

Chief Petty Officer Danny Sullivan set his travel bag on the deck and took in his surroundings. He had arrived on the ship less then an hour ago and handed his orders to the Deck officer at the airlock. He was shown his quarters and suggested that he met with the Captain at his earliest opportunity. The quarters for a Chief Petty Officer were medium sized and consisted of a bed, a small desk, a bureau, and a closet and bathroom.

He was looking forward to this tour of duty. Excelsior class starships were his favorite. Built tough and easy to maintain, he knew the class inside and out. He had thought about taking some time off and going back to Earth; either working at Earth Station McKinley or Utopia Planitia. He knew he wouldn't enjoy being being stuck in a starbase or an administrative position. When he heard an Excelsior class was just coming out of a refit and needed crew, he jumped at the chance.

He didn't know his new commanding officer. He had served with many COs over the years but the fleet is big and he couldn't know everybody. He had reached out to his fellow Chiefs asking around but nobody had ever served with her or recall serving with her. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. He would find out soon enough.


OFF

-USS Indefatigable-
-Shuttle Bay-
-1600 Hours-
-Day 2-

Oliver stretched his legs, not completely awake from his nap. It had only been a two hour flight from the Normandy to the Indefatigable, so Oliver decided that just because he wasn't tired that he could always take the time to put a little dream in motion.

As the ramp opened on the back of the shuttle, Oliver picked up his bag and strolled out on the deck of what appeared to be a hulking, intimidating, behemoth of a structure. He had forgotten that the Indefatigable was an Excelsior class. He hat thought that they would all be retired by now sitting in mothballs collecting interstellar dust as bulkheads were reutilized or scrounged for useful scrap. He shrugged and made a hrmph, under his breath. At that moment Oliver thought to himself, At least in a fight they can take a beating and survive more than any other ship that has ever been in service.

Everyone on the ship at the moment, or at least within eyesight seemed to be engineering crews. Busy little bees of yellow and black, scurrying about this way and that. Some cleaning, some repairing, or finishing maintenance or upgrades. They were all hurriedly talking and sweating. Pointing to and fro with their little tools and isolinear chips laying in piles at their feet in places with access panels popped off out the bulkheads. He had known engineers that would take a few pieces of scrap metals, something weld with, some kind of power source, and a piece of glass and have it make warp flight in an hour or so. Oliver could barely work his replicator, on a good day. With someone scripting his menu. After taking a good long look around he exit the cavernous bay and started to search for a turbolift, or as he called them, a quicktube. After he found one that seemed adequate, he had already passed three but tehy were unfit because the numbers on them were all even, he stepped inside and said, "Computer, where are my quarters?" The computer replied and asked him if he would like to be taken to the nearest turbolift access point to his quarters. He declined instead going to engineering.

-Engineering-
-1604-

Oliver stopped just inside of engineering and the wall of eyes upon him as he entered was a little unnerving. Everyone paused from what they were doing to observe and give him a once over and as if he had walked up on a colony of bees, and he guessed they found him unworthy of a second more of distraction as they returned to their activities, very similar to the one he found in the shuttle bay but exponentially more cram packed into an area about one twentieth of the size. He gave engineering a once over and decided to carry on. He went back to the quicktube and asked the computer what deck the mess hall was on, it replied and asked him if he would like to go there. He declined and instead decided to go to astrometrics. The same followed. He could hear his feet softly thudding on the thin carpet and every once in a while, probably about every three or four hundred meters it would sharply 'Crack'.

Stellar Cartography. The same.

Sickbay. Even more.

Hydroponics.

Modular Science Labs.

After about three hours Oliver had seem most of the ship's important destinations and sections. Every place more of the same. People putting the finishing touches. Dirty looking construction areas one hour, and an amazing finished up, painted, and decorated; as well as immaculately clean the next. He guessed that in less than fourteen hours the entire ship would be finished and ready to ship out when the word was given.

It dawned on him several times that he was no longer in command. This was not his ship, and he was fine with that. Boy was he fine. He did not want that responsibility at the moment. Maybe some day, at some point he would be ready and able again but now was not the time. But regardless we toured the ship making sure that he knew where everything was. He located all of the major landmarks and figured out how to navigate all of the corridors before he left each deck. When he was satisfied he would move one deck up and start again. He would be well versed in this ship's layout. Weather for offense or defense he would be ready. He was not worrying with the Jeffries Tubes because he would learn them when he was awakened from his slumber by the night and ghosts of the past. He had not had a nightmare in weeks but he was still waking throughout the night and most times was unable to go back to sleep or if he was it wasn't the good, restful sleep that he wanted.

Shaking those thoughts from his head he decided to focus on the positive, At least this is constructive.

When he was finished he went to his quarters to shower and put down the bag that he had forgotten that he was carrying. He traveled light, only a few PADDs with his orders on them, one PADD with his favorite collected works of authors from Earth's history from the mid sixteenth century to modern writers, and a few trinkets that he had collected here and there; a d'k tahg that had the crest of the House of kel'Tor, the dedication plaque from his old ship the Diligent class USS Zephyr, and a broken and scuffed combadge that did not function any longer. After he showered and replicated a few uniforms and workout clothes he decided to was about time to go see his office.

After he arrived, Oliver stood at the open door, peering in looking at the room. It seemed a little creepy in the alternate lighting mode, the lights faded and the only lights that were still up were the lights in the empty display cases that lined the entire office. The room's main structure was divided in two by a set of thick glass panels and a waist high choke point that was only wide enough for one average sized humanoid to fit through at a time. He placed the three items that he had brought with him carefully and purposefully on the desk. Each had their place and each was placed exactly where it went. Minutes were spent placing and adjusting these irreplaceable items. After everything was just right Oliver then said, "Computer, what is the location of Captain Edmondson?"

<Tag for that JP Cap'n or anyone else for that matter>

USS Indefatigable
Flying Colours Lounge
1800 Hours
Day 2

When Fallon had first come aboard the Indefatigable she hadn't really known why the ships lounge was called Flying Colours. One of the Yard Engineers had told her it was related to the Horatio Hornblower series of novels, and that it had been the name for it for as long as the ship had been in service. Fallon had looked up the series and it looked interesting, but she hadn't really had time to do more than that. Running a starship -even one still in drydock- took a lot of time out of ones schedule.

In fact sitting in the lounge with a cherry soda and a gorgeous view of the maintenance yards was the first bit of R&R she'd had since coming onboard aside sleep. The spacious lounge was mostly empty aside from her, the bartender, and a gaggle of engineers. Like the rest of the ship it had more grey overtones with dark blue highlights that gave off a very modern feel, despite the ships age. The bar itself was smaller, and seemed more like an afterthought to the rest of the lounge which was spacious with tables, and chairs strewn about, and even a Foosball table in the corner.

Fallon was sitting in one of the plush chairs, relaxing and going over her day. Meeting the XO had been interesting, but other than that it was just a lot of filework that she sincerely hoped she'd done right. She took a sip of her authentic cherry soda and stretched out. Command did have it's privileges, and being able to tell the lounge what to stock was one of them.

Oliver was glad that he was informed that the Captain was in the lounge, he was thinking to himself that he had , it seemed, to have reported to every other single Commanding Officer in their ready room. It would be a nice change of pace instead of the usual hooplah of one person sitting on each side of an enormous and pompously oversized desk.

Oliver spotted her almost immediately recognized her from her official image and description. Captain Edmonson's back was to him and the door. Tactically, this was a mistake, but who should be more safe on a ship than her Captain? He stepped through the glass doors of the Flying Colors Lounge, he laughed to himself. Everything about this ship was long-winded. The name, the lounge. He even thought for about the syllables in not only his last name but the Captain's, paused, dismissively shook his head, and walked up to the bartender.

"I'll have a liter of meade please." He ordered and after about two seconds he added, "Without alcohol, please." So after the first glass that had a little of the meade with alcohol it it was dumped and refilled he took it and took a long drink. The tone was good and had a very light flavor of honey. The bartender even served it in the correct container, a glazed ceramic pottery glass with no handle. After spotting the Captain he walked up next to her, motioned his hand generally toward the empty chair perpendicular to the one she was sitting in and said, "Captain, may I have a seat? I'm Lieutenant Dougherty, Oliver if you would prefer."

"Have a seat," Fallon replied motioning to the other chair as she looked over the Lieutenant curiously. Dougherty...I know that name, she thought going through a mental checklist of names she'd read on officers reports. She was pretty sure that he was the Chief of Strategic Operations, but wasn't sure. He looked...tall. Fallon was starting to suspect that everyone on senior staff was going to be taller than her. He looked muscular, but a little rough around the edges as well. "So what can I do for you Mr. Dougherty," She asked, taking another sip of soda.

"Nothing at the moment besides conversation, Captain", Oliver was gently eyeing her trying to get a feel for her personality. She was doing a good job at stonewalling him. Her face showed no creases, no break in the gentile lines conditioning any emotion. Then he noticed the tips of her ears. He almost laughed out loud when he realized that she was Vulcan, or at least part. There was no way of knowing just by looking at her how strong of a hereditary tie she had to her Vulcan blood. He immediately wondered if her blood was red or green then dismissed it as a topic for another time. "As I do remember it is customary for the staff to meet the Captain upon arrival, and I didn't want to make you come looking for me." Oliver looked around it was still a little strange to be back on a ship. He took a long drink from his glass and said,"I've looked around the ship and most sections are finished or are almost finished. She seems to be a good ship, if not a little...old."

"Well if the Klingons can still use B'rels I don't see why we can't still use Excelsiors," Fallon replied with a grin. She relaxed a little bit more in her chair, and took another sip of her drink. Dougherty seemed like a fairly easy going Officer, which was good. Fallon wasn't really in the mood for dealing with a by the book type of Officer, during her off hours. Then again a by the book kind of officer wouldn't be visiting her in the ships lounge. It was certainly a nice change of pace, from her more straight laced XO. "I'll note it that you've officially met me somewhere," She continued," And yes from what the yard people are telling me we should be ready to go in a few days minimum. A lot of the bigger stuff is done, it's just the fine tuning now."

"Oliver finished his drink in a long deliberate swallow, enjoying the flavor. "And for a ship's Captain the last few days before launch consists of more administrative work than most of the next year." He grinned looking at her, "I have been in command of a ship, I understand the substantially unique stresses that go along with command. If you need to blow off steam or just to come by and see my Tarkalian Tea Spider. Don't feel like you'd be intruding."

Fallon wasn't sure how she felt about having a former Captain serve under her. Did that make him a failure. or a success? "I'll be sure to keep that in mind," She replied with a smile, keeping her thoughts to herself, but also made a note to check Dougherty's profile. If the man was going to be trouble, she wanted to be sure. Although everything so far, told her that he was probably an upstanding officer, but she wanted to keep her bases checked.

"If you'll excuse me, Captain, I'll let you get back to your thoughts." Oliver stood and placed his empty mug on the bar near the door on his way out. He thought to himself, Well now she's pleasant.


OFF

This JP Brought to you by: Edmondson and Dougherty

USS Indefatigable
Main Engineering(Middeck)
0900 Hours
Day 3

Another new day. After a cup of coffee, and some breakfast Fallon had decided that it would be a good day to explore the ship a little more. Most of her time had been devoted to paperwork, filling out transfer approvals, coordinating with the Operations Department to get requisitions filled, writing status reports, and kinds of other forms to appease the gods of bureaucracy.

It was bad enough that she wasn't allowed to fly the ship really, but being cooped up in an office for most of two days had made her restless. She decided to make her first stop of the day Main Engineering. She still didn't have a Chief Engineer, but the Yard Staff was mostly filling the role until the Indefatigable launched anyway.

As she stepped into Main Engineering, she took a deep breath. Where the Bridge was the nerve center and brain of the ship, Main Engineering, and the warp core in particular, was the heart and soul of the ship. Much like the Corridors, the layout reminded her of an Intrepid, but bigger and more spacious. Dozens of Yellow Uniforms buzzed about, some acknowledging Fallon's presence, others not even noticing her as they worked. She walked closer to the core, and leaned on a railing as she stared at the swirling bluish plasma.

Daniel Sullivan finished unpacking his belongings. Many years living on a ship transferring from ship to ship taught him the importance of packing light. He should have done it last night but he was tired from the journey. He had traveled halfway across the quadrant.

His under garments were neatly folded in the dresser drawers and four sets of gold and gray uniforms and 2 sets of white and gold uniforms hung neatly in the closet. His fifth uniform was still being worn. He had decided he would meet with the Captain and then explore the ship before retiring for the evening and to do that he would still need to be in uniform. He took the remaining items from his travel bag. A picture of a brand new Chief Petty Officer in a white dress uniform getting his rank pip pinned on by a smiling gray haired man wearing the old style red dress uniform went on his night stand and he took the small toiletry bag into the head and set it on the sink.
He came back out into the main room and opened another, large bag and began assembling a brass trombone and placing it on a stand in the corner of the room. Satisfied with his labors he took one last item out of his travel bag, a small flask of Jamesons Irish Whiskey. He unscrewed the cap and debated taking a swig. He decided against it. It wouldn’t be good to meet the CO with booze on his breath. He put the flask on the bureau and walked to the door.

He came out into the corridor and stepped into the Turbolift.
“Engineering” he said and the turbolift began to move as the computer complied. A few minutes later the lift stopped and the doors opened. He smiled as he became intimately familiar with his surroundings. The Engineering room of an Excelsior class starship. This was home. Aside from a few cosmetic difference this Engineering was the same as Engineering on the Hancock and the same as Engineering on the Forrestal. He nodded to a few passing crewmen and noticed a figure leaning on the railing overlooking the warp core. He thought for a second the figure was going to jump and then he noticed the two solid gold and one black rank pip on the command red uniform. “That’s the CO,” he thought. He turned and found the nearest ladder and climbed the rungs. He was behind her now and he stepped forward.
“Excuse me Captain?”

"Yes?" Fallon replied, turning her gaze from the core. She felt kind of bad, she didn't really know who the Chief Petty Officer was, she'd spent most of her time going over Officers reports, and hadn't even gotten started on the mountain of PADD's for the enlisted and civilian members of the crew. She knew that they all had good service records, and no major problems in there past, from asking the computer to do a check for that, but she hadn't actually read each and every one yet. "What can I do for you Chief?"

"Sorry to bother you Captain, but I am Chief Sullivan. Chief Daniel Sullivan, Damage Control". He leaned against the rail next to her. "Seems like we got ourselves a good one. This your first time in Excelsiors?" He smiled as his eyes darted across the bustle of Engineering. The warp core glowed its usual electric blue and the consoles flashed and beeped. He still wasn't sure what he thought about his new Captain. This was actually his first time in 18 years in Starfleet serving under a woman. On his other ships the Command staff was mostly male. His first few ships most of the women were in the Science Department or in Security.

"Well Captain, I was about to check out the lounge and see what kind of chow they are serving. If you wanted to join me". He pushed himself back from the rail and looked at the Captain.

"Actually I haven't served on an Excel before," Fallon replied, turning away from the core to focus on Sullivan. He'd said that he was a Damage Control Specialist, so Fallon sincerely hoped that he didn't get a chance to ply his trade, but she had a feeling that the Breen might have other ideas on that front.

"And as for going to the lounge," Fallon hesitated while she mulled it over in her head. Yes she wanted to get to know her crew, but she also wanted to get to know her own ship a little better as well. "Sorry Chief, but I've already had some breakfast, and I've got some other stuff to do."

"No problem Captain. Another time perhaps. I should probably call on the XO as well. If you need anything I will be down here another hour checking over the firefighting gear." He turned around and headed back for the ladder he came up on. "Nice to have met you."

OFF

This JP brought to you by: Edmondson and Sullivan

USS Indefatigable
Holodeck
1300 Hours
Day 3




Danny was not in a good mood. “No goddamn it, run it again! We are going to keep running these drills until you guys get it right.” He had spent the past 3 hours in the holodeck running damage control drills with his team. He shook his head. Green, all of them. Out of his senior petty officers only 2 of them served in the War. The rest of them were fresh from the Academy. They had been working through the night running simulations and he knew they were dog tired just as he was.

The main problem was that they weren’t getting to their stations in a timely manner. Normal time for this class of ship to get buttoned down for battle was 7 minutes from the time the first Red Alert Klaxon sounded. After that time all personal should be at their stations. For the damage control teams there was a lot more to do. Damage control teams should be at their assigned posts throughout the ship with all the equipment they would need, haligans, extinguishers, breathing apparatus’, and medical kits.

The USS Indefatigable’s damage control teams were sloppy. So far it has taken them an average time of 9 minutes to get manned and ready. 9 minutes would not make Captain Edmondson happy nor would it make the XO happy and neither one of them would make Chief Sullivan happy.
He stood up from his chair in Damage Control Central and looked at a MSD. “Look here guys, you’re taking too long getting up to deck 9. I am going to show you a short cut.” He traced a path on the MSD. “You take the Jeffries tube up to Deck 8 and come out at the gymnasium, cut through the counselor’s office, and enter the computer core. There is a ladder going down to the second deck of the core. You come out the door on deck 9 and secondary damage control is right there. Simple as that.” For some reason on their way to secondary damage control, the team leader kept getting his team lost and they would end up on the other side of deck 9 by the Operations offices. He sat back down in his chair again. “Ok run it from the top again”.

“Ale, whatever you have.” Danny plopped himself down on one of the bar stools in Flying Colours. Another 3 hours had gone by and only after the last 3 runs did they man up on time and manage to do well enough to save the ship. He had a lot of work ahead of him on this mission. He took a glance around the lounge to see if anybody was looking his direction. He reached into his tunic and took out his flask and drank a long pull from it. That creeping feeling was coming back into his mind and so far whiskey is the only thing that chased it. He knew it was only a holodeck but the shaking deck and klaxons and exploding consoles made it seem all too real. Almost as real as that fight through burning corridors to the escape pod on the USS Kennedy, her damage control team had been just as green if not greener. He took another swig from his flask followed by one from the mug of ale in front of him. He finished his report and sent it to the Captain and XO so that they could see how the training was going and maybe even get a good laugh out of it. He finished his drink and walked out of the lounge to his quarters. The door opened and he took off his tunic and pulled the cover back from the bed and crawled in. “Computer lights”.

OFF

USS Indefatigable
Personal quarters
0700 Hours
Day 3


Oliver awoke with a start. He had that feeling that you get sometimes, just before you get into sleep where you feel like you are falling. He looked around and was momentarily disoriented as to where he was. That feeling, he suspected would be temporary as he got used to his quarters on his new home.

After eating a few pieces of moba fruit and a couple of eggs, Oliver decided that he ought to get into the gym because after the ship launches you never know what's going to happen and when you'll have time for the little things. The Indefatigable had a state of the art workout facility with anything that you could possibly need to maintain you physical fitness. Free weights, machines, equipment for sparring and martial arts. All of it was pristine and untouched. The whole place had also been equipped with an equivalent program to the EMH/ECH that was a personal trainer and sparring partner.

Oliver decided to start by running, so he got up on the treadmill and started his run. After every so often he adjusted the speed until he was barely able to breathe fast enough to keep up with the increased demand for air by the rest of his body. Before he knew it, Oliver was running at near his top speed. He was just on the slow side of sprinting. Oliver liked working out, it was the one time other than when he was busy working that his mind didn't dwell on his past. On Kara, Serena, Mirai, Gabriel, and the rest of his crew and friends from the Gemini and Zephyr.

Oliver was lost in his head. His consciousness had shut down and he was happy. He was just running, not a thought, nothing worrying him. He slowed the machine a bit so that he could peel off the wet shirt that was clinging to his body. After he popped back into reality he had wondered how long he had been running. His whole body was soaked and he was slightly sore. He turned the speed back to where it was and went and went until he couldn't keep pace anymore. When he thought that he had ran enough he wanted to test out the sparring partner program, but he wanted to warm up first. He taped his hands and put on the gloves. He squared up on the body length bag and threw a series of very light jabs from each side. Each time he contacted the bag he increased the power with which he placed each strike until he was putting everything he had into the hits. He was working the bag over like it was going to kill him if he didn't pummel it. Muscle fatigue was setting in. Less and less power was available until he was jabbing the way he started, lazily and with almost no power. He had intended on trying out the sparring program but he was just not going to be able to. Winded, he sat down and leaned on his knees. He was sore, tired, and was struggling to keep up with his breathing; but it felt good. It proved to be the distraction that he needed.

After he was able to breathe again he put his shirt back on and went to his quarters to shower and get ready for the day.

[Only admins are allowed to see this image]

USS Indefatigable
Lounge
1340
Day 3

Chief Daniel Sullivan took a bite of his turkey club sandwich. He chewed and nodded his approval to the enlisted steward. At least the chow here is good. He had been on some ships and the Chef was still trying to master his galley. This tour of duty is definately looking good. Good ship, good crew, good food.

He had spent much of the morning after meeting the Captain going over the ship. Most of his equipment was on deck 16 and his office was on Deck 19. The refit had totally refurbished the fire suppression system and his damage control teams had all new firefighting suits. He had new shoring units that would further stabilize damaged bulkheads, new halligan bars for tearing down bulkheads or prying open doors, an all around do anything tool.

He put his sandwich down and picked up the PADD he was reading. Starfleet had come out with some new regulation updating the damage control procedures. It didn't make sense to him and it seemed like a waste of time but since it was a regulation he would follow it to the letter. Of course he doubted in the middle of a battle and massive ship fire anybody would be looking over his shoulder to make sure he was saving the ship in accordance with regulations.

So far the Captain seemed pretty competent and he felt safe knowing she was in command, but he was still put off by the fact that she was a woman. So far he had only seen one other officer, some operations type who had come through Engineering earlier whistling loudly of all things! He wanted to meet with the XO sometime soon. The Captain may command the ship but the XO is in charge of the most sacred of things: Administration. Like most Chiefs, he hated paperwork though he know that Starfleet ran on it. The XO also pretty much controlled the day to day operations of the ship and while Danny knew that is what officers were supposed to do he wanted to able to run the damage control crew HIS way without interference. He knew that the Captain wouldn't be much trouble but this XO was something different. A Marine. He shook his head, he had dealings with Marines before. They were all over the USS Massachusetts. Clogging up the chow lines, getting the gym equipment all sweaty and snapping to attention and bellowing loudly "SIR YES SIR" whenever asked an even trivial question. He wasn't sure how much the XO would let him "get away with" but he hoped he would soon find out.

Reneé had many priorities after a good work out in the holodeck. Hygiene was one and she hadn't let her high standards run ragged. She had washed up and dressed herself back into her duty uniform for the second item on the list; food. The XO didn't really have much of a refined cuisine preference list when it came to what she ate, but she did love sea food. With a prawn marie salad in one hand and a glass of milk in the other, she was all set. It also offered an escape from the mountains of PADDs that were now the topography of her desk. What did the Fleeters need to record? Each breath the helmsman makes for fear of him keeling over? People had constantly been coming into her office and just dumping PADDS in front of her as if she was some ragged teacher.

No more. She had decided no more PADDs until the next day. No more Executive Officer duties unless the captain herself called her. They weren't even out of space dock yet. Let them handle the paperwork. Ship was part of the yard anyway and to Reneé that meant she had nothing to do with the Indie's status. Sadly, it wasn't to be. "Bloody admirals and their bloody lack of brains...bloody PADDs too..." she muttered venomously under her breath. Taking a bite of her meal, Reneé surrendered a small sigh to herself by way of release of all that damned stress that had been placed onto her shoulders. "One more PADD..."

Danny moved his plate over after he finished his sandwich and picked up his PADD again. Some kind of memo from the Yard Superintendent, it didn't really pertain to him so he just glanced over it. Over the top of his PADD he saw a woman officer with a Marine rank. That had to be the XO. "I guess I should go over and introduce myself." he thought. He stood up and walked over to her table. He stood in front of her at the position of attention. "Excuse me XO?" he gave her his best smile. "I'm Chief Sullivan, Damage Control." He stuck out his hand..

The sudden interruption of her meal caused Reneé to scowl as she crunched on one of the prawns her mouth had captured. Glancing up at the man she gingerly shook his hand before withdrawing her own, taking a small sip of her drink before the glass was gently placed back onto the table. "Captain Reneé Lucas...marine captain that is. Now before this conversation goes any further...does it involve anything on an official basis or are you just here to chat?"

Danny blinked his eyes in surprise at the XO. She looked Human but this woman had fangs and they were out. "Just here to chat, XO. I had already met the CO and I had just finished my lunch when I saw you."

"That PADD wouldn't be for me, would it?" asked the XO in a rather dangerous tone. It was funny how 'chats' turned into 'reports' and right now Reneé was in no mood to deal with any official business, especially when eating. She kicked a seat outwards signalling that it was safe for him to sit with her. However, depending on his reason coming over to her, that could change as quickly as the tide. "So what exactly do you want to chat about?"

Danny frowned at the seat for a second before deciding to sit down. "No ma'am. This PADD is for me, new regs coming down from Starfleet Engineering. Nothing I can't handle." He tried to find any sort of expression on her face but failed. "Like I said, I just came over to introduce myself".

"Consider yourself introduced." replied Reneé who's vault of patience was slowly being emptied by the man's presence. "Now, can I just enjoy my lunch here?" she sighed with a shake of the head as she played with the salad by turning her fork over and over again as if showing that a meal was on the go. "So. Unless you have some business with me I'll just get back to this, how about that Chief Petty Officer?"[/quote]

Danny stood up. "Aye Aye Ma'am. Enjoy the rest of your lunch". He reached down and picked up his PADD from the table. "If you need anything I will be in my office or in Engineering." He started to walk away. "It was nice meeting you." He did an about face and walked out of the lounge. Well that went well. This is going to a fun deployment. He stepped into the turbolift. "Deck 16" as the doors closed.