Introductions of the Easy Kind

Posted on Thu Feb 9th, 2012 @ 6:44pm by Admiral Ricky Wegener
Edited on on Thu Feb 9th, 2012 @ 6:58pm

Mission: Sections of the Delta Quadrant
Location: Wegener's Office
Timeline: Current

** Admiral Wegener's Office **

=^= Sir, General Garza is here to see you. =^= Hope's voice said over his comm.

"Good. Send her right in, please," he said, not wasting any time. He had met Lieutenant General Estelle Garza very briefly as she arrived, but as luck would have it she had come just when the gateway had blown and he didn't really have the time to have a chat with her to pick her brain and see what she was all about. From reading her file he noted that she came off as a bit stern, but for someone with her own personal battle scars that, he assumed, was to be expected. However, he hoped that there would be another side to her that he may be able to see. Hell, he'd even been able to schedule a date with General Akima. If he could do that, and be on friendly terms with his own Klingon XO, a gruff man by any standard, he was sure he might be able to be on the same terms with the General.

He would soon find out.

Clearing his desk of a few cluttered items, he stood and walked around his desk to properly greet her as she came in.

Estelle straightened her uniform as the Lieutenant spoke with the station's commander. She met him briefly before and now with the gateway closed she figured it was high time to meet her Starfleet counterpart in this region. After being given the go ahead by the Lieutenant, Estelle took in a deep breath and walked into the office.

"Admiral Wegener, I'm pleased that you had the time to fit me into your schedule. I understand that you're probably very busy." General Garza said, stretching out her hand to greet the Admiral.

He shook her hand, noticing quite a grip for someone of her stature. "We are," he said, "but I always try to find the time for a quality meeting with new chiefs when they come in." He smiled. "Please, sit," gesturing to one of the chairs in front of his desk. Once she did, he sat next to her instead of circling to his own desk. He found that it made things a little less formal and hoped that his guests would open up more.

"I know it's only been two days, but you've gotten settled in okay?" He asked. "It's a large base--hell, it took me the better part of two weeks to get around to seeing everything."

Estelle took in the Admiral's mannerisms with a bit of reservation. The two were nothing but acquaintances, colleagues because of their flag status. Though she kept a high standing in the fleet, she was a guest on his station. "It's been...interesting finding my way around. I'm not used to being on starbases, typically I've only been stationed on land based installations an eighth the size of this place. I don't see how you stand it to be honest."

"It took some getting used to. When they told me I was going to command 900 the first thing I did was look up its specs. I stared at the sheer size of it for some time. Having come from mostly ships, it is simply massive." He smiled. "I did command Earth Spacedock for a while, so I did have an advantage over someone who had never controlled a starbase this size before."

The conversation fell quiet as they both seemingly tried to figure the other one out. As an El-Aurian, he was used to listening to others and just talking with them. Of course, it only worked if they actually spoke. He figured he would try to help it along.

"I'm sure you've read my file," he said. "Commands here, reports from counselors and whatnot. I take my job seriously, but I try not to only be what's in that report. I like to get to know my staff, build a camaraderie. I'm not one to hide behind these things," he said as he tugged on his collar. "I want my crew, and associates," he said, nodding toward her, "to be comfortable in the fact that they can rely on me as a good commanding officer but that they can feel comfortable talking to me if they see me out and about." He chuckled. "I can't tell you how many times I, as a young officer, got the snub from senior officers who wouldn't give me the time of day. I couldn't stand that."

Estelle chuckled "Guess things work a bit differently in your world." She repeated his gesture and tugged on her collar "These are merely a means to an end, at least the way I command. All my career I've been sent into the fray, sent against the Federation's enemies and even it's allies at times on the word of someone with silver stars. "I've lost comrades because of those stars, and in the time I've had mine I'm sure I've caused other officers to feel the same, so I try and approach the brass differently than some. The problem with being in my position is that when I let people get close, I make mistakes. My mistakes can send a spec ops unit into the wrong building stocked with a pack on angry Gorn. My mistakes can determine the ground game of any engagement. So I have to disconnect, keep my people at arms length." She sighed "I'm also not in the same position as you, I don't directly command troops anymore. I miss it to be honest, but there's a purpose to me being here I suppose."

She could tell he was truly listening. It was nice to finally have an individual who might possibly be able to understand her situation, and on some level maybe even relate to it. The Admiral's style of leadership and her own were nearly night and day, so Estelle began to wonder what her career might have looked like if she had shown a little more compassion. The thought was there for a moment, but it was soon crushed by the memory of the Taral III incident. She visibly winced and decided to change the subject. "So tell me Admiral, now that I'm here and settled in, what are your plans for this station? With the gateway gone that's got to throw a wrench into things?"

He 'harrumphed' and raised his eyebrows for a moment. "That it most certainly does, General. The Hammond is out there now studying the wormhole that took the place of the gateway. It's probably a 'wish in one hand and shit in the other and see which one fills up quicker' situation as to whether or not the wormhole will lead back to the Beta quadrant, where the other gateway was." He realized he'd probably spoken out of turn, but her being a marine she'd probably heard talk like that for the better part of her career, so he pressed on. "I'll be sending them through it, once they finish their survey, so we can find out if we're to be stuck out here forever on our own or if there's a chance of ever seeing 'home' again," he said, using air quotes.

"But, for now, it's survival. Keep contact with the ships here in the Delta, make sure they can come here for R&R, repairs and the like and keep on making contacts with the indigenous life in the quadrant."

Garza nodded "Bit of a pickle there," She replied "Can't be easy sending that ship into the worm hole, not knowing where it leads. Glad to see you're not one of those Admiral's that choke on hard decisions." She leaned back in her chair, beginning to relax a bit more "I learned the hard way that big decisions handled with a deft touch can often go south. It's the reason I ended up taking over the 34th Armored Brigade a few years before the Dominion War.

"Colonel Vrain choked on a hard call and the entire brigade's hideout was leveled in one of those 'diplomatic situations gone wrong' events. Vrain died and as his XO I took charge. Killed a score of those Tzenkethi bastards and walked the rest of the brigade out alive." She waved a hand casually "Not trying to bring up old war stories. I'm sure with how long you've been around you've had enough of those for a while."

"I have heard quite a few, but it's always interesting to hear other accounts of people's history, and I'm not just saying that because of my race." He smiled then stood. Walking to the bar he pulled out an eighty year old bottle of scotch. "I know we're on duty, but would you like some scotch? I have some from time to time."

Estelle was genuinely surprised. Most of her career had been spent around fellow Marines. The few Starfleet officers she'd dealt with in her time had usually been stuffy, gruff, and complete business, just as she was. On a whim though, she decided to branch out "What the hell, one glass couldn't hurt. Not like I'll be commanding any large scale battles any time soon anyways." She chuckled.

"Damn, I hope not," he said as he pulled two glasses from the cabinet. Liking his drinks 'neat' he poured two fingers for the both of them and handed her the drink. "If you require ice, you'll have to get it from the replicator," he said, motioning to it. "Can't stand the stuff in my drinks, though."

She took the drink with a nod "Never was too fond of ice myself." She sipped at the warm liquid as he returned to his seat. "I'm curious, did you have a choice in coming to the Delta Quadrant? When I was tabbed for this position, Admiral Gage informed me I wasn't being given a choice of HQ's and that I'd be taking up residence here. Just wondering if it works that way for every flag officer nowadays."

"I'm afraid you'll have to consult with someone else on that," he said, finally seating himself again. "I was stationed here with our past fleet, then I was assigned to Alpha Fleet. But, if it helps, yes...I was told I was coming here. But to be honest, I didn't mind it at all having already commanded a station and, to me, the best part was that other than Voyager, this quadrant is ultimately unexplored!"

The two sat and talked for the better part of an hour. Maybe not enough for a full-on 'getting to know you' session, but once they had finished Ricky knew, as he had surmised in the beginning, that General Garza did have a somewhat soft underbelly after all.

Estelle checked her chrono "Well Admiral, this has been grand but I'm due for a holo-conference in twenty minutes. Thank you for having me here, this really is going to be an adventure."

"It was nice getting to talk to you, General," he said. "Stop by any time and let me know if there is anything I can do for you."

Walking her towards the main doors he smiled as she walked out.

-------------------------
A joint post by:

LGEN Estelle Garza
Director, AF Marine Operations

&

VADM Ricky Wegener
CO, Starbase 900
CO, TF101