New Faces

Posted on Monday 3 April 2017 @ 22:37 by Captain Melody Jones & Crewman Raphael Graydon

Mission: The Perez Nebula
Location: XO's Office, Deck 1
Timeline: Stardate 239404.03
1166 words - 2.3 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

Melody was still settling in to the role of executive officer. She was still getting use to the face she had her own officer. She'd never had her OWN office before and it was still something of a novelty to her.

The amount of paper work she was having to get through however was making her long for just being sitting at the helm of the Merlin, whizzing through deep space faster than light.

One thing she was determined to do in her official role as XO was to meet all the new crew members that had come over form the Starbase. Next on the list was the New Master at Arms. She had looked over his file and read she had 2 brothers and a sister. Being an only child herself and not having the chance to grow up with her parents thanks to the Borg, she was interested his thoughts about living with siblings.

Raphael had already known to check in with the executive officer of the Merlin; not only was it standard procedure for incoming enlisted as the XO was the one that was in charge of the crew overall, but he had also been informed by his shuttle pilot on the ride over from Starbase 212, where he had hitched a ride to rendezvous with the Merlin. He had checked in with his immediate superior first, Lieutenant Scarlett down on Deck 4, and now Raph was riding his last turbo lift before the XO's office. He had read up a little on her personal file, what was available to him anyways, and from what he had read, she seemed to be a fine officer, and person, and he was eager to meet her. Raph grinned to himself as he thought about what his old friend Greg would say about being eager to meet an officer as an enlisted crewmen.

Within a few moments, the turbo lift reached it's destination and Raph and the few other crewmen on the lift waited as the officers disembarked first, and then them, Raph heading towards the right, heading for the door that led into the XO's office. Once there, he paused by the door and quickly examined his uniform, straightened a few creases before putting a moderate smile on his face and pressing the door chime, waiting to be summoned.

Melody heard the door chime and rose from behind her desk "Come."

Raphael strode into the Commander's office, walking up to her desk, taking in a few mental notes on the decorations of the office and quick impressions as he moved to greet her.

She smile warmly at him and extended her hand "Welcome aboard Crewman Graydon, I'm Commander Jones. It's a pleasure to meet you. Please" she motion to the chair "have a seat. Would you like a drink?"

Raphael took her extended hand and shook it with a firm, yet gentle grasp and returned the warm smile, taking a seat as she motioned to do so with her free hand "Thank you Commander, it's a pleasure to meet you as well. No thank you for the drink, just had one at the CSTO's office."

"So, how are you finding the Merlin? I know some people find it as large as a Starbase."

Raphael chuckled "Well, I've only gotten lost twice so far, but I'm slowly getting used to it. It's very large compared to my old postings, but I'm sure I'll catch on quick enough, I plan to be on the security decks a lot anyways"

Melody sat down in her chair "Myself and the former first officer spent a day crawling through all the Jefferies tubes, getting the know all the nooks and crannies. It was an experience. So , tell me a little about yourself and what you're looking forward to about serving on the Merlin."

Raphael rubbed his hands together and smiled "I used to be quite familiar with those tubes on board the Clearwater, and I'm getting a sneaky feeling I'm going to have a similar arrangement over here. I'm really looking forward to serving aboard a trailblazer so to speak ma'am. Merlin is alot bigger, newer and grander then any of my previous ships, getting to explore new places, the cosmos; part of why I joined Starfleet ma'am, get out of Vega and see the universe so to speak."

She smiled "Your file says you have quite a large family, was it difficult growing up with your brothers and sister?" She tried to keep her tone light but her smile dropped slightly "I'm afraid I was an only child and I didn't get to know my parents very well. Our ship was attacked by the Borg and my parents were both assimilated. I was 18 months old so I was placed in a maturation chamber. I was 'lucky' to be rescued by a Starfleet crew 3 months later but by that time I had aged 12 years."

Raphael frowned "That's a very rough childhood, I can't possibly imagine going through that; very sorry to hear about it, I certainly hope I didn't bring up old wounds. Umm, my large family wasn't a problem per say, rather the friction between my mother's Trill heritage and my fathers' refusal to raise us in Trill custom. All of us bear the traditional appearance of Trill, cept my youngest brother, me and my sister always considered him lucky in some ways"

"No, no its all right. I've been told its good to talk about it instead of keeping it to myself."

"Okay good. What is perhaps the most interesting thing I can look forward to while aboard?"

Melody thought for a moment. "On this ship, I've come to find anything can happen. The first time I was left in command of the bridge, the Captain pulled a surprise Kobayashi Maru test which I was NOT expecting. Then shortly after our shakedown cruise we found an ancient Romulan ship with 3 survivors in stasis chambers. One of whom vaporized the other two before turning a phaser on herself in our sickbay. The nebular we are investigating......... ships have disappeared in." She smiled at him "I'll tell you this, there rarely a dull moment on this ship."

Raphaeal's smile grew slightly larger, and a certain twinkle of joy could be seen in the dark brown eyes "Sounds like the perfect ship for me then."

Melody stood "I wont keep you from your duties then. I hope you enjoy your time aboard the Merlin. Dismissed."

Raphael stood up from his chair, and quickly saluted the Commander "Thank you for the quick meeting Commander, I should probably go make sure no one's set the Armory on fire."

With that, Raphael turned on his heels and left the office, beginning his short walk to the deck with the Armory, his brain running the processes as he imagined of all the wondrous things he was about to experience on board the Merlin.

OFF:

Lieutenant Melody Jones
Executive Officer
USS Merlin

&

Crewman Raphael Graydon
Master-At-Arms
USS Merlin