Meeting the Professor

Posted on Sun May 29th, 2011 @ 12:22pm by Admiral Ricky Wegener & Captain Claudia Drake & Commander James Frost & Commander Oralia Zeferino & Commander Sakkath & Commander Patrick Leroy & Lieutenant Commander Terrell Kona & Lieutenant Commander Robin Swift M.D., PhD & Captain Li Hawke & Lieutenant Commander Kh'ali & Major Maxim Kamarov & Marine Captain Paul Ward & Master Chief Petty Officer Daniel Brooke & Major Patrick Smith & Lieutenant Commander Robin Swift M.D., PhD & Captain qeraQ'

Mission: The Ties That Bind
Location: Main Conference Room - SB900

Ricky strode into the conference room awaiting the rest of the senior staff's arrival. It was almost time for the Professor's introduction. He was almost giddy with excitement to see the looks on their faces when she arrived.

On the way to the conference room Marine Captain Smith let out a chuckle. Nearly 3 days he thought. Probably the longest he had ever managed to avoid his posts Commander. He wondered what the meeting was about. He hadn't heard anything, But then spending so much time getting to know the pilots and the craft meant he hadn't heard much of anything. Approaching the conference room he looks inside. "Blast" he muttered. "First here. No time like the present I guess" and through the doors he went.

Shortly after Captain Smith's arrival, Li and Sakkath stepped in. The meeting call had come as they were contemplating the evening's activities and so, dinner reservations were delayed only slightly. Li greeted the Captain, followed by Sakkath as they took a seat.

Master Chief Petty Officer Daniel Brooke, having only recently left his office on his evening constitutional around the decks, arrived a moment or so after the 'happy couple' had. Though he was familiar with the Admiral and his two former crew mates, he wasn't familiar with the newcomer or the department he would be heading up. Curt nods were the order of the day before he sat down in his designated chair and began to wait for the others.

The doors opened again admitting the cheerful looking Major Kamarov to the room. He saw a marine captain standing idly by, but did not remember seeing him in the MCC. Iidot, that is Captain Smith, the new CAG! Maxim mentally cursed himself. He went over to the replicator and ordered a glass of orange juice to wash away the taste of the MIne Probe he had imbibed at the Nexus Club. He looked around the room and saw a very-capable-looking master chief cooly studying him. Maxim nodded politely, then removed a padd from his utility pants and began making notations. Readiness is about 95%.....

Paul hurried inside the briefing room, praying and hoping he wasn't late. He brushed a strand of hair from his eye and stepped inside, greeted by about 6 members of the Senior Staff. Ward relaxed his shoulders, giving off a few polite nods to his fellow officers. In the corner stood the imposing Admiral Wegener, the Task Force and starbase commanding officer. His height alone, and gangly, strong manner made him an intimidating site. Ward took the plunge, striding over to the man. He snapped to attention and pulled off a crisp salute, instinct from years of Marine Corps service taking over. "Nice to finally meet the infamous Admiral Wegener, sir!"

"I wouldn't say 'infamous', Captain," Ricky said. "At ease and make yourself comfortable."

Just behind Paul came Kh'ali and Patrick, fresh from lunch. Taking note of those present in the room, it was pleasant to see how much the ranks had swelled with the move to the station. With a general greeting she took a seat.

Saluting the staff members Leroy sat on the free chair beside her. With a cursory look he registered the new faces and gave a quick nod at the address of the familiar ones.

James was a little late, having just finished getting a quick meal at the local eating establishment. When he realized the time he doggy bagged his food and ran. He had to get used to the fact that he was not a commanding officer anymore and thus had to follow the timings given to him rather than his own personal timings.

The name Claudia Drake seemed familiar. James had spent time on many vessels and earth among other places. He would have to talk to her and see if he knew her or not.

qeraQ' strode purposefully into the room with a gait that looked part relaxed and part like a cat ready to strike when confronted. He looked up from the padd he was studying and moved directly to the chair next to the Admiral. Sitting he began to scan the assembled members of staff, weighing them silently and forming his first opinions of the crew he would be managing.

Ricky noted the last few to enter the room, Lt. Cmdrs. Zeferino, Kona and Swift and knew the meeting was about to begin.

The lights in the room suddenly went dark, an ominous music began to play throughout the observation lounge. The Darth Vader theme drowned out the sound of her beaming in. The lights suddenly came back on and there at the opposite end of the conference table now sat a large high-backed leather chair.

"Dum-dum-dum dum-de-dum dum-de-dum..." She hummed in time with the music as she slowly turned the chair around, as she did so her two leopards walked in through the now opened door and flanked either side of her chair and sat upright and proud at her side. "Good evening Mister Wegener" she winked at him, then looked around the gathered staff who were silent, "What?! Too much?"

The question brought a smile to Li's face. She'd been hearing tales of the Professor's exploits from her father's time and her own years at the Academy had proven most of them to be true.

"Depends on what you were aiming for, I reckon," the older Master Chief spoke up with a bit of a sarcastic slant in his voice.

Claudia smiled and looked at the NCO, "I don't know you..." she said as a statement of fact, "I was going for the whole 'evil-sinister-yet-somewhat-sexy-older-woman-entrance-thing', obviously it didn't work out that way." she sat back in her chair, and looked at the staff sitting around the table. She recognized almost all of them, no doubt she had taught them at some point during their time in the Academy. One face stood out from the crowd, a Klingon, she instantly recognized that face, for a short time he had lectured at the Academy...what the hell was his name...qeraQ'...was that it? She decided not to investigate further, "So Ricky, do these fine examples of the United Federation of Planets' Starfleet know why I am here, or do I get to give them the nice and somewhat sleep inducing speech?"

"Any chance it's the introduction of the Federation's first 'Bring your pet to work day?' Though I doubt any of our pets could quite top yours ma'am." answered Captain Smith in his thick Irish Accent.

Ignoring smith, Ricky answered, "There may be some rumor but I wouldn't mind if you gave them the full report."

Claudia rolled her eyes slightly at the young officer's comment, and focused her attention on Ricky, "Well since I am sober and there's not an iced-tea in sight I might as well get stuck in" she winked at Ricky and cleared her throat, her tone instantly changing from jovial to that of a seasoned academic, "As you are all aware I am Professor Drake the Dean of Education for Starfleet Academy, part of my role is to set-up satellite academies in our more isolated and distant areas of influence." she paused, "The new Satellite Academy in the Delta Quadrant will be taking Cadets from the main Academy on Earth as well as local candidates. They will fulfill the full academic requirements of the Academy here on Starbase 900." she smiled, "The usual requirement a letter of recommendation from a command level officer for non-Federation citizens is here-by wavered, although they shall have to gain my approval." she stroked the heads of her two cats and continued to speak, "As part of your role as Department Heads on Starbase 900 you will be expected and required to tutor Cadets following a syllabus set by myself and my colleagues on Earth." she looked around, "Any burning questions?"

James sighed and raised his hand. When Claudia nodded that he could speak, he stood up. "Commander James Ullyses Frost, Chief Engineer and 2XO, Ma'am." He smiled mischievously. "Would there be any major objections to simply setting cadets assigned to Engineering on fire and laughing hysterically?"

There was a sounds of not quite muffled chuckles from most of the Engineering crew and some of the rest of the crew.

James shrugged. "Well she did ask if there were any BURNING questions."

Claudia suppressed a smile, "Ah yes Mister Frost, Class of '74" she said, looking the man up and down, "If I recall correctly, and I do, you were 23rd in your cohort," she said as a matter of fact, "As much as arsonism towards the Cadets would make me smile, it would increase my paper-work twenty-fold, so I suggest unless they really piss you off, keep them away from open flames," she winked.

Ricky cleared his throat. "Let's keep this professional," he said, the sour look on his face telling the lot in the room exactly what was to come next if they didn't stop acting like children. "I expect you all to perform admirably and comply with any requests that the Professor makes of you. Should the cadets get in your way, simply reassign them to someone under you and carry on. If you are completely unable to accommodate cadets for some reason, notify the Professor, and the XO, and send them back to the Academy."

LCDR Swift leaned back comfortably in his seat silently sipping on a Raktajino and 'people watched' in professional terms he was observing the behavior of personnel and made mental notes on them. It helped him to see how people acted and re-acted in various settings as it gave him a better picture of who they really were should/when they came to his office for a session. He smiled slightly as Professor Drake made her grand entrance. One word immediately came to mind "narcissistic". But often first impressions especially 'staged' ones such as this could be faulty. He set down his drink and leaned in, elbows on table and fingers steepled to rest his chin on. He watched her and the reactions of the rest of the staff thoughtfully. He observed how the staff dealt with their personal levels of unease to intrigue depending on the person. He also noticed hints of anger in a couple. Then his focus went back to the "professor" and wondered what was she over compensating for.

"I remember her." Leroy whispered to Kh'ali "She always had those kind of pets around. In my class when someone exceeded 30% of errors in her fields the other cadets would have teasingly labeled him cat-food. Had some sleepless 'nights before the exams' myself."

qeraQ' looked sharply at those whispering around the room, clearing his throat to make sure he knew they had been noticed. "I think I speak for all of the Senior Staff..." he looked around the room challenging anyone to correct him, "when I say that we will all work to include the cadets within the life of this station. I would personally be happy to take a few lectures on Klingon Engineering systems and battle tactics. I am sure others here will be doing likewise!"

Ricky noticed the way the room went quiet as his first officer spoke. He liked the way the man automatically commanded attention just by speaking.

"That is correct, Commander," Ricky said. "Everyone will be taking their turns with the cadets and in the academy. Of course, not everyone is cut out to be an instructor so we'll leave the final determination to the Professor."

Claudia was lost in her own thoughts and did not realise she was being addressed, "Oh...what...ah...yes, that is correct." she looked at Ricky and then around the room, "Everyone will be expected to mentor and tutor Cadets in their day-to-day work unless I deem them unfit for the role, and those who wish to give formal lectures will need to have their work assessed and approved by myself also."

"Very well," Ricky replied. "And now that we have that settled, I need to hear how everyone's sections are shaping up. It's only been a few days since you've all been here, but you should have a good handle on your departments by now."

He was pleasantly surprised at each department's reports. Many had been able to integrate with their crews easily and had them eating out of the palms of their hands, so to speak. Zeferino was still running her full review of the security department and the Major was finding little trouble with the marine contingent on board. Ricky wanted to make sure Kamarov understood that the security department was the primary law enforcer on the base and the marine forces would only be used to supplement them.

Lieutenant Commander Kona had his hands full getting up to speed with all of his staff and the patients he currently had, but the doctors and nurses under him were some of the best Starfleet had to offer, needed for the type of work required for a remote station far removed from additional resources.

Captain Ward, Chief of Strategic Operations, would hopefully have no trouble integrating from the Marines to Starfleet. He could definitely do the job, Ricky just hoped that the changeover from the strict Marine regimen to the more relaxed Fleet mentality would be easy for him.

Lastly, Captain Smith, the new CAG, had mentioned a request for specific fighters at the station. It wasn't a big request, just a change of some of the older fighters for newer models of the same. Ricky was glad to see he was finding his way as well.

It was never easy coming to a very large facility like this and taking over such a large amount of responsibility. Even those that had come over from the Berkeley as department heads had their hands full as their staff sizes had almost tripled in size.

Everyone had finally given their reports. It had been a long meeting, almost three full hours and at one point he actually saw Claudia yawning. "Thank you all for coming," he said, "and with such detailed reports." He turned to qeraQ'. "Let's think very seriously about splitting this meeting up with only a few departments at a time."

Surprisingly, that actually elicited a laugh from the large Klingon.

"Perhaps without the amateur dramatics as well!" he looked around at his new team "I will arrange separate reviews with each of you ahead of the next meeting."

"Okay, if that's all, and no one has anything else, you're dismissed."

As the other officers began to leave the room Claudia walked over to her former prize student and lent in close to his ear, she spoke in a low voice and El-Aurian, "Ricky sweetie, I hope you don't expect to see me at this type of thing again, I have missed a date with a very attractive Tellerite freight Captain for this, and at my age you can't be too picky" she patted him on the back and walked towards the door with her, "So dinner at yours at 2000...please try to make sure I don't get food poisoning...this time" she said in Federation Standard with a wink, as she crossed the threshold, she turned and nodded; her two leopards moving quickly to her heel, "Oh and feel free to use the chair of intimidation" she added as she walked around the corner out of sight.

Ricky could see the last few out of the room turn and try to stifle chuckles at the professor's comments, except qeraQ' who was still sitting in his chair. "Well," Ricky said, "lesson learned. I guess it's a good thing you and I can live for quite a while because I think we all aged another year or two just then."

"A long meeting" he nodded towards his new commanding officer "but I think things will start to settle down shortly, I understand that the crew have come from the Berkeley... well I think I will be a slightly harder task master than there previous XO" he grinned mischievously, "I think some Klingon thinking will do them good!"

"It may indeed, Commander," he said with a smile. "Carry on," he said, dismissing the man to do whatever it was his XO would do during the day, then he sat in the chair of intimidation. "Huh...this is actually very comfortable," he said.

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A joint post by:

The Senior Staff of SB900