Directly To The Brass

Posted on Tue Oct 21st, 2014 @ 10:29am by Warrant Officer Awf & Admiral Ricky Wegener & Captain Li Hawke & Lieutenant Hope Beckman & El'Shar Blackhorse

Mission: Breaking New Ground
Location: Deck 6
Timeline: Current

*** Deck 6 -- ADM Wegener’s Office ***

Rick was wrapping up his day when he had received a summons from Li. The message didn’t explain what she wanted and obviously wasn’t something that could be handled over the communications system. But when she rang, he usually went. She wouldn’t have asked if it hadn’t been important.

He stood, picked up a few data PADDs that he needed to take back to his quarters, and shutdown the computer terminal. As he walked out into the foyer of his office he was surprised to see Lt. Beckman still at her post.

“Hope?” he said. “What are you still doing here? Your shift ended almost two hours ago.”

She smiled and began shutting down her own terminal. “You know that I don’t leave until you do. I can’t have people just waltzing into the Admiral’s office unannounced. I don’t think my boss would like that.”

He smiled. “True. I’ve heard he’s a massive dick, so that would probably be frowned upon. But I have it from a good source that he doesn’t require his aide to keep to his working hours, either. She’d never have a life if she did.”

“Ah, I don’t mind.” She stood and walked around the desk next to him. “Besides, my personal life has been quite boring lately. At least this keeps me busy.”

The doors to the corridor swooshed open and El’Shar walked in. She was a vision of beauty, as always, dressed in a tight white dress with a v-neck and elbow length sleeves. It really showed off her form. Her ebony colored hair was pinned back at the crown and falling in a tumble of waves down her back.

“Well, hello, gorgeous,” Rick said, sliding his arm around her waist. “You look ravishing.”

“Thank you,” she said after kissing his cheek. “Hi, Hope. Aren’t you working a bit late?”

“That’s what I was just saying!” Rick interjected. “I would almost think that someone was bucking for a promotion, or something.”

Hope rolled her eyes. “You just promoted me not too long ago. I think another one so soon would be frowned upon.”

“Well, in any case,” Rick said, “I think you should come in two hours later tomorrow. Sleep in a little or go have a nice breakfast somewhere.” He turned to El. “I know we had dinner plans, but Li needs to see me for something. Care to tag along? It shouldn’t take too long.”

El nodded. “Sure. It would be nice to see Li again.”

Rick turned back to Hope. “Two hours later, tomorrow, young lady. If you come in, I’ll send you out for the rest of the day. With pay. That’ll teach you.”

Hope couldn’t help but laugh. “Okay, okay!” She led the way out. “I’ll see you tomorrow Admiral. And Captain Blackhorse, you really do look amazing in that dress.” She waved and walked the opposite direction.

A few meters down the corridor and the couple were walking into Li’s office. “Mon Capitaine,” Rick said as they let themselves in.

“Hi, Li,” El said. “I hope I’m not intruding on anything? Rick asked me to tag along. We were just about to head out for a dinner date.”

Li looked up from her terminal and smiled. “Welcome to my lair, you two. It’s good to see you again El. How’s retirement?”

“Other than everything Rick gets me into, it’s been a bit dull,” she said as she sat across from Li. “But, he did promise me another little vacation soon. Maybe we’ll just take a shuttle and go exploring some of the local planets.”

“Funny you should mention that.” Li looked to Rick now. “It’s why I asked you to stop in. we have a new crew member arriving and while I normally wouldn’t take up your time for a personal meeting, this one’s a little different as he will be piloting the Captain’s Yacht, among other things.”

“Oh yeah?” Rick sat as well. “When do we get to meet him?”

“I paged him a half hour ago and…”she checked the time and nodded. “He should be arriving any minute now. Our previous Chief Support Craft pilot requested a transfer back to the beta quadrant. Long story. The interesting part is that this one is Ocampa. One Warrant Officer Awf.”

“Ocampa?” El replied. “Very interesting race. It’s too bad that they have such a short life span. Their mental abilities can make them very useful.”

Rick couldn’t help but chuckle.

“What’s so funny?” El’Shar asked.

“I just find it amusing that my pilot has one of the shortest life spans in the galaxy and I’m almost five hundred years old.” He felt his face and tugged at his neck. “And not a bad looking almost five hundred years old, if I do say so myself.”

El winked at him. “That I agree with.”

“Im glad you appreciate the irony, old man,” Li teased. “And I see you are still as humble as ever.”

He feigned ignorance. “Humble….humble. I don’t think I know this word.”

“El, you have my sympathy.” Li was obviously joking now. “Just don’t scare him off Rick. The last one is now in the beta quadrant and mumbled something about the evil eye in the direction of your office as he was leaving.”

“I can’t help it if I don’t like everybody. Besides,” Rick said, “he farted all the time in the yacht. Kept trying to pass it off as anything other than what it was. I think he lived on beans.”

Li simply shook her head. “Awf will be a breath of fresh air in that case.” She managed to keep a straight face with some effort. “Just in time for our conference down on Archadia.”

“Fresh air,” was all that El could get out in the midst of her giggling fit.

The chime rang and everyone made an attempt to control themselves. “Hmmm,” Rick said. “Should I stand? Should I sit and make it informal? Should I go ahead and give him the evil eye right from the start?”

El playfully slapped his arm. “Be nice, Rick. This...Awf may be very nice and you don’t want to scare someone like that away.”

He sighed. “Fine, fine.” He stood and faced the door. El followed suit. But it was Li’s office, so they both waited for her to answer the hail.

Enter. The invitation was sent silently to the new arrival outside her door.

Having heard the command to enter, Awf took a moment and straightened out his uniform. These kinds of meetings were commonplace on board regular starships, but on space stations like this one with large amounts of personnel they were more relatively rare.

As a result he wanted to look relatively presentable, though he was still dressed in a regular duty uniform for the occasion. Once the door completely slid open he actually snapped to appropriate attention and provided a salute considering that everyone in the room was his superior.

With a bright smile, Awf looked unusually professional, and a motion of his head cleared away a sufficient amount of his hair to showcase the elf-like ears that marked him as an Ocampa.

"Warrant Officer Awf reporting for duty!"

With his bright eyed and bushy tailed mannerism, it would have seemed like Blackhorse's previous assessment of Awf being someone that shouldn't be scared away was probably rather accurate after all.

The trio in the office took a moment to look him up and down, something that most senior officers did out of habit. Even El'Shar's retirement from Starfleet couldn't keep her from doing the same thing.

Rick nodded at the warrant officer, signalling him to enter the office proper. "Mister Awf," he said, gesturing toward Li, "this is your Executive Officer, Captain Li Hawke. This is Captain El'Shar Blackhorse, recently retired from Starfleet. And I am Admiral Wegener, this station's commanding officer. I'm told that you'll potentially be piloting us around on occasion?"

Having come in with the other's urging, the Ocampa looked forward and smiled with a nod, "That's right. I have a number of professional qualifications that meet the criteria of a chief support craft pilot, and therefore I would be more than capable of piloting you around. Was there an upcoming event I should be notified of?"

Naturally, it was a little unusual to him to meet in this way, but he didn't look embarrassed by it at all, nor was he the type to be readily annoyed. Even if he wasn't always familiar with what particular protocol should have been followed he wasn't one to get irked by it.

"Welcome to 900, Mr. Awf." This time the greeting was from Li. "As you are aware, normally I would have had you routed to your department, but as the Admiral has noted, you will be called on to pilot us on occasion. Therefore, I wanted to meet you in person first."

"I'm honored to meet you all of course; you know if there were anything you had wanted to ask me you can feel free to do so. I'd hope you know that I'm pretty much an open book." Awf smiled again, tilting his head up toward the facility's executive officer. "After all, you know, it isn't every day I get to talk to the brass directly."

"Most are glad about that." Li smiled. "The Admiral and I keep informed, which is no small feat on a station this size.

Having thought for a moment it seemed that the Ocampa remembered something he had wanted to ask. "Out of curiosity, whom will I directly report to after today? I can't imagine all of you would have enough time to read my day-to-day reports on small flight vehicles."

"That would be your department head through Flight Control," Rick replied. "And you're right about the reports. We have plenty enough of those to read through anyway. Have you been able to visit the flight deck yet or did Captain Hawke snare you before you were able to get down there? I'm sure they'll have quite a bit of information to go over with you as well."

"I planned to go back there soon enough anyway." Awf smiled, clearing a bit of hair from his eyes, "I'll check in once the meeting is done, and I'll make sure to pay close attention to any additional instructions if they arise." Having paused for a moment, the Ocampa then looked back to the executive officer of the facility, "Though I assume if I have any major problems I'm free to report them?"

"Always follow the chain of command," Rick intoned. "I'm a stickler for that sort of thing. Your supervisor, then the department head, then Captain Hawke. If the problem isn't resolved by that point then your problem becomes my problem. And I don't like problems," he punctuated with a slow nod of his head and his ever-present scowl. "But I'm sure you'll do fine, Mr. Awf," he added, trying to lighten the mood that had suddenly taken a sharp turn. "Besides, we sometimes go to some exciting places that most pilots in your department could only dream of going. Almost like you'd be taking a short vacation while working."

He turned to Li. "Do you have any questions for the young man, Captain?"

"No questions but a reminder," Li answered. "The admiral and I are due on Archadia III in a few days for some meetings. We could beam down but this trip will involve several stops on the surface and I'd prefer our own transportation. It should already be in your orders. Other than that, get settled in, then report to your department. We're glad to have you."

"Naturally; I'll double-check my orders and I'd be only too happy to take you on the grand tour. I assume the list of multiple stops is already in my orders as well. Oh, and I'll keep in mind the instructions about the chain of command. I won't let you down!"

These words were punctuated with a surprisingly snappy salute. It seemed almost like Awf was so ready and willing because he hadn't gotten jaded just yet. So many people in Starfleet had become worn-out over their jobs because of the bureaucracy that came with the chain of command. Awf, however, was initially an enlisted man and it gave him a sort of 'I'm here to do a job' sensibility. Maybe it would be quite useful on that Archadia III mission.

"Good to hear," Rick said and added, "Dismissed." The room fell silent until their new pilot was gone from the room. "So, Li. What do you think?"

"Young, but sincere and means well. I think he'll work out just fine." She reached over to turn off her terminal. "Where are you two going?"

"Dinner date," El'Shar spoke up. "Although, now I'm thinking we may stop by your quarters," she said to Rick, "so you can change into something a bit more...stylish."

"With what you're wearing? Absolutely! I look like I'm wearing a potato sack compared to you." He turned to Li. "If there's nothing else, we have things to do and some grub to feast on."

"Go. Shoo. Go anywhere but my office." She smiled at the pair and stood. "I am going to go check out something I should have looked into before now. Have a good evening." Her good wish clearly indicated she wanted no questions. "I'll see you tomorrow."

--------------------------
Admiral Ricky Wegener
Not a Fart Fan & A Massive Dick

Captain El'Shar Blackhorse (ret.)
Breathtaking Date

Captain Li Hawke
Taking care Of Business


Warrant Officer Awf
Good-Looking Hotshot Pilot

Lieutenant Hope Beckman
NOT Bucking for a Promotion. No, really.