New Staff? No Problem!

Posted on Thu Nov 17th, 2016 @ 10:44pm by Colonel Damian Highsmith M.Eng & Lieutenant Colonel Eleanor Redpath J.D. & Lieutenant JG Michael Emerson

Mission: Bad Moon Rising
Location: Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: Mission Day 4, 1900

ON:

Damian stood in his ready room with his jacket off and his sleeves peeled backwards. His face was smeared with black soot and ash from his cutting open the escape pods that had been tractored into the shuttlebay. In the hours that he had been down there, he had become much too familiar with the sweet stench of death again. They had managed to recover over 100 pale and stiff bodies, their lips blue with frost and some with their faces peaceful, almost like they had gone down for a long nap and others with expressions of intense agony as their blood froze within their veins or as the more acute cases of radiation poisoning took hold, burning them from the inside out. There were even a few cases where they had encountered phaser signatures as some had committed suicide in lieu of freezing to death in the cold abyss of space. He was now on his fifth cup of coffee and no taste or smell would be able to remove that of the death that had permeated every fiber of his being. On top of it all, Lieutenant Commanders Yamaguchi and Glyndar had received delayed orders to post off to the USS Meridian, which was in desperate need of a new Chief Tactical Officer and Chief Intelligence Officer. Unfortunately, this left the Hammersley with a critical senior staff shortage, especially since Damian had tapped Janet to become his XO.

Lieutenant Michael Emerson was tired, he had seen the notices of people who had been rescued, some had come within minutes but they had been claimed by death in various ways. He along with a few others managed to cheat it, only because he refused to give death the satisfaction. "I will go home again."

Emerson said quietly as he stepped out of the turbolift, wearing a new uniform and looking somewhat refreshed, however nothing could mistake the lines around his eyes or the shadows around the same.

Emerson felt tired, oh so tired in that he just wanted to close his eyes and sleep but he still had too much to do. He needed to somehow let his wife and children know that he was alright, by now Alexa would know about the destruction of Starbase 900

He reached his destination before he tapped the door chime. His fingers felt like they weighed in at fifty tonnes.

Damian had just managed to lower himself into the chair as the chimes sounded. "Enter." he said tiredly, setting the coffee mug down on the desk slowly as not to drop it as his fingers started to weaken.

Emerson tapped the door release, the door parted and he entered the office. "Captain." he addressed the man behind the desk as such as naval tradition, being what it was demanded as such regardless of the man's actual rank. "Lieutenant Michael Emerson... reporting.. for duty sir."

Ignoring the unintended demotion, Damian took a sip of his now lukewarm coffee and forced himself to swallow it down, suppressing his gag reflex along the way. "Stand easy, Lieutenant."

Arriving shortly thereafter, Redpath proceeded through the opened doors behind Emerson before the doors shut. "And Ma'am" she said looking at Emerson. "In case you wanted to know how I like it. I don't like being called Sir" she explained as she gave a quick nod in Damian's direction. "Colonel" she added politely.

Damian nodded slowly in return to the rather severe looking woman who appeared to be a Lieutenant Colonel at closer inspection. Somehow, he liked her already, mainly due to the sense of authority she seemed to radiate that permeated every inch of the bulkheads around her. Looking to both of the officers, he motioned to the two chairs in front of his desk. "Have a seat. Can I get you anything? Coffee, Water, Tea?"

Eleanor raised her hand slightly, gesturing the Colonel to stay where he was. "You saved my life, Colonel. I'll get it. Lieutenant, take the nice Colonel up on his offer and have something" she said softly. "Anything for yourself, Sir?" she asked shooting a look at Damian.

"I'll have a glass of orange punch please." Emerson responded, a gentle smile on his lips. He receved his drink a moment later

Damian shot a glance to the mug of coffee on his desk. "No, thank you, Colonel." he said as he pushed the now cold drink away from him. "Now, Colonel. If I'm not mistaken, it's considered rude in many cultures to not introduce oneself by name on a first meeting, is it not?" he asked without a hint of rudeness or sarcasm in his voice.

She looked at him with her arms crossed. "In some cultures it is rude to use one's name in the company of superiors. Though if you wish...Eleanor. My name given to me by my parents is Elanor Lillian Redpath, though I prefer Lilly or simply Redpath if outside the professional setting."

Damian smirked slightly. This one had a fire to her and she knew just how to respond without being disrespectful. "You're correct, Colonel. But that aside, it's a pleasure to meet you." Standing up, Damian moved around the desk so that he was on the same side as the two officers. "Now, you two were ordered to report here because, as you might have surmised, I've got a slight personnel shortage due to the infinite wisdom of the people at Starfleet Bureau of Personnel and I've been ordered to surrender two of my most senior officers to the Meridian. Now with no way to naturally gain replacements, I'm unfortunately going to have to assign you to certain positions until you either die here or I find someone better, understood?" he said, a slight edge in his tone. This whole ordeal was frustrating and he didn't want to do it, but unfortunately he needed an Executive Officer and a Chief Engineer more than ever now.

Emerson nodded his head while he sipped his drink. "Well sir, I don't plan on dying any time soon and your ship is short.. I'll have your engineering department up to spec and I'l have a few of my guys from Starbase Nine Hundred to help me in that."

Lieutenant Colonel Redpath nodded. "I understand, Colonel. You have your back against the wall and Starfleet Command has more or less castrated you by taking some of your more senior officers, leaving you...lacking" she said crisply. "I have no issue remaining aboard and taking whatever position you require me to take, though I have no intention on dying and I question the likelihood of finding anyone 'better' to replace me with" she said with a firmness to her tone. "It is not a matter of pride or arrogance, just simple facts and statistics. Marines tend to favor fellow marines. There are not as many Marines in Starfleets, even fewer with any sort of command experience, and even less with the skills and assets that I bring aboard."

Highsmith looked at her, the smirk still present on his face. "With you I don't doubt it. From what I was able to gather from your personnel records, you've been a Judge Advocate for the entirety of your career including a few Staff Judge Advocate tours on two separate combat deployments. Not bad." Looking over to the Lieutenant, who hadn't had a chance to speak, he motioned. "Well don't be so meek, Lieutenant. Your father wouldn't happen to be Admiral Emerson of the 18th Fleet, would he?" Damian asked

Emerson looked more amused then anything else, clearly enjoying the wordplay and body language of the two officers before him. He sipped his drink. "Mm.. Indeed he is. Yes." Emerson responded. "I felt it best to not interrupt sir... It never goes well for the one doing the interrupting."

Redpath looked at the lieutenant "It's a good thing to know and to do, Lieutenant. Though in general marines can handle a little more crassness. We can take bold and direct answers and interrupting so long as it is done with respect tends to go over alright with me personally" she said. "How about with you?" she asked, her glance shooting over towards the Colonel.

Damian shrugged. "If your comment adds to the discussion or I'm about to do something stupid, then interrupt by all means. But if you're just there to add inane feedback, be disrespectful, or waste my time or the time of others, I'd prefer if you just kept your mouth shut." he said honestly. Shuffling some PADDs around, he looked to the two officers. "Now, back to business. Colonel Redpath, since you are now the most senior officer aboard, I'm appointing you as my Executive Officer. Captain Smith will be able to get you set up with quarters and some fresh uniforms." Shuffling some PADD's about, he turned to the Lieutenant. "Mister Emerson, effective immediately you're hereby assigned as my Chief Engineer. Now your department is mostly composed of enlisted crew with a few Warrant Officers tossed in for good measure. Your predecessor was a lot more loose in the way she ran things but she got the job done and I expect you to do the same. Dismissed." he said to Emerson.

Emerson held his silence as he accepted the PADD. "Thank you Colonel. I will see to it that Engineering holds its own and is ready for anything." he commented before he was dismissed, he then turned and departed in silence.

Damian turned his chair to face Eleanor after Michael made his exit. "Now, I'd like to go over some of your duties-" he was interrupted by an urgent alert from his desk console. Releasing a sigh, he tapped the desk console to open the channel. "What is it?" he asked.

"Sir, we've detected a large object that's fading in and out of sensor range. It's emitting a distress call-" The voice of Lance Corporal Lansley said over the channel.

Damian interrupted the man. "We're conducting rescue operations right now. Our people are going to take precedence-" he was interrupted as the man on the bridge spoke again.

"It's Federation in origin, sir. From the sound of it, it's coming from Starbase 900." Lansley said quickly.

Damian quickly got up from his chair and was in front of the door before Lansley could finish speaking. Turning to Eleanor, he looked at her over curiously. "Looks like our conversation will have to wait. Welcome aboard the Hammersley, XO." he said as he crossed the threshold.

Eleanor did not have much of a chance to converse with the man, but she had gathered enough to know he was not going to be a complete idiot. That was enough for her to feel comfortable staying aboard until she had a clearer picture of the man and his abilities. She had nodded and followed him out.

:OFF



Colonel Damian Highsmith
USS Hammersley, Commanding

Lieutenant Colonel Eleanor Redpath
Executive Officer
USS Hammersley

Lieutenant Michael Emerson
Chief Engineer
USS Hammersley