Just Ducky

Posted on Wed May 18th, 2011 @ 7:03am by Admiral Ricky Wegener & Commander Oralia Zeferino

Mission: The Ties That Bind
Location: USS Berkeley / SB900

The Berkeley was now docked with Starbase 900 and Captain Marcus O'Connell had officially turned the ship over to his first officer, Lieutenant Commander David Wearing, until the new CO arrived. Marcus wasn't happy to be giving up his commission, and had never felt forced to do anything like this before, but with Rear Admiral Ricky Wegener's decision that he would have to serve as the Admiral's XO on 900, without being given the option, he felt it was in his best interest to resign his commssion. Having already sent his official resignation memo to Wegener, and keeping a copy for himself, he began the process of packing his personal items so that he and Sydney could move on with their lives. Luckily Sydney hadn't done much unpacking yet, having only been on the Berkeley for a few days.

As Marcus left his ready room, Admiral Wegener was standing at the door almost pushing the chime. "Ah, Cap--er, Marcus," he said, "I'm glad I caught you."

"Do you mind walking and talking?" Marcus asked, determined not to let Ricky trap him in his former office.

"Sure, but I won't keep you long," the admiral said. They moved to the turbolift and entered. "I just want to make sure that you are certain of your decision to resign? I feel I may have been a little heavy-handed in saying that you had no other choice but to be my XO. I have been able to find another capable XO and want to let you know that, should you wish to remain on the Berkeley, or take another command elsewhere, I would authorize it."

Marcus shook his head, disgusted that it had come to this. "No thank you, Admiral. I've already submitted my resignation. Maybe if you had thought a little more about that before giving me the ultimatim we wouldn't be having this discussion and I would still be a Starfleet Captain." They exited the lift and walked towards Sydney's quarters. "I am now retired, Rick. I'm sorry, but that's the way it is. I've decided that being with Sydney means more to me than staying in Starfleet. We have too many years to try and make up for."

As they came to Sydney's door, they both stopped. "Okay, Marcus. I apologize for putting you in this position, but it seems that it may have been for the best anyway." He stuck out his hand. "I wish you both the best of luck. If you need anything before you both get on your way, please come and see me. My door is always open to both you and Sydney."

"Thanks, Ricky," he said, shaking hands. "We'll probably be around for a week or so figuring out where we're going to go, then we'll head out." He opened the door to her quarters. "I'm sure I'll see you before then."

Ricky watched him disappear behind the door and walked off, preparing to move his own items from the Berkeley to 900.


**USS Berkeley -- Wegener's Office**

Ricky was checking the last of his messages on the ship before he moved into his office on the base. They had just arrived and he wanted to waste no time getting acclimated to the base, meeting his new and old personnel and getting things going. One message, however, caught his attention. It was from Captain O'Connell, a forwarded message from the current chief of security on the Berkeley. It read:

Admiral,
I received this message this morning from Lt. Harrison. I have already taken steps to reprimand him for his actions--sending messages while highly intoxicated--and have confirmed his decision to stay on the Berkeley. I've tried to get it to you as quickly as possible so that you may find a suitable replacement.
O'Connell

He scanned through the original message from Harrison and rolled his eyes as he had a hard time deciphering what was actually being said. It seems that in his drunken stupor even the computer was having a hard time figuring out what he was trying to say. But the majority of the message was clear to Rick: he needed to find a new chief of security.


** Starbase 900 -- Wegener's new office **

Before he had even been able to speak to his new XO, Ricky had called up a young lieutenant that had served as Harrison's assistant chief on the Berkeley. Her record was good enough, despite a few oddities here and there, but he believe that she would make a suitable replacement and a good chief of security on the base.

As the large oak doors to his office were open, she had arrived and waited just outside the threshold for him to notice her. She didn't wait long - preferring to knock on the oaken door to announce herself. "Admiral Wegener? I'm Oralia Zeferino," she stepped into the office, as yet uninvited.

"Lieutenant, please, come in. I have an urgent need that may be of interest to you." He waited until she was closer in and he pulled a PADD from off of the desk in front of him. "As you may or may not know, Lieutenant Harrison has decided to stay aboard the Berkeley and remain her Chief of Security. While I have absolutely no issue with that, I find myself in dire need of a good replacement to fill the position I had hoped he would take here, which is what I'm offering you." He paused. "This base needs a security chief."

She blinked, not sure she was hearing him correctly or, perhaps, not fully grasping what he meant. "I knew Harrison was resistant to the idea of transferring...." She had been, too, but she had other reasons motivating her to take a spot on the 'base. Suddenly, those reasons had just multiplied. Chief of Security on a Starbase? She worked to keep her grin under 100 watts of brilliance. "That's... I'd be...That's an offer I can't refuse, Admiral."

"Good. I was hoping you'd say that. Now," he said, fishing something from his pocket, "I believe you'll be needing this." He walked up to her, took her collar in hand and, disregarding her quick flinch of uncertainty, he affixed the blacked out rank pip to her collar. "I can't have a Lieutenant running things. I need a Lieutenant Commander. Congratulations on your promotion, Oz, if you don't mind me calling you in the familiar?"

He was an Admiral; he could call her 'Ducky' if he really felt like it. "Oz is fine, Sir," she answered, just slightly stunned by the sudden turn of events. Touching the new pip, she added, "Thank you, Admiral. I'll... uh... do my best. I'll admit you've caught me somewhat flat-footed. I haven't reviewed the 'base's Security Department yet. Are you aware of anything that needs immediate attention?"

"Well, as of this moment you know every bit about this base's security that I do. You'll need to do a full review to make sure everything is up to snuff." He rounded the desk back to his chair and had a seat. "Oh, one thing that you may not be aware of...you're only in charge of security. I have split the tactical and security departments into two entities. So, your flat-footed comment couldn't have been more correct. Consider yourself the chief law enforcement officer of Starbase 900." He smiled at the young lady and waited to see her reaction.

Quickly, she pondered whether she'd miss the tactical end of her job.
The answer came back: nope, not really. Oz returned the Admiral's smile and said, "That sounds just fine, Sir. I'll get on reviewing the department. I imagine that might take me a week or so; I'll report any major problems to you."

"If you would, please report problems to the XO, Commander qeraQ'.
He'll be around quite a bit, I'm sure, as he'll be handling most of the day-to-day goings on of the station for me. Congratulations, Lieutenant Commander. Dismissed."

"Yes, Sir," Oz briefly snapped-to then left. Once in the turbolift, alone, she squealed with delight.


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A joint post by:

LCDR Oralia Zeferino
"The Fuzz"

&

RADM Ricky Wegener
HMFIC

&

CAPT Marcus O'Connell (ret.)
In Love