Are You Sure You're in the Right Place?
Posted on 13 Mar 2021 @ 10:26pm by Lieutenant JG Rhiannon Hokir & Lieutenant Noah Khoroushi
Edited on on 14 Mar 2021 @ 10:33am
Mission:
M2 - Sanctuary
Location: CIC - Obsidian Command
Timeline: MD 01
1010 words - 2 OF Standard Post Measure
Lieutenant Noah Khoroushi desperately needed a break. With the basic adjustments to his workspace in the Diplomatic offices more or less complete, preliminary reports sorted and updated and the sparse staff addressed, Noah took the chance to escape the sober confines and seek out other, more familiar ground. Not that he had ever really worked much with base-centered Operations - outside of his time on SB10 between classes and rehab - the concept, though, was similar to that of a ship.
It was times like this he questioned the shift across departments. True, there were aspects of the Diplomatic field that appealed to him, but so had Operations. Unfortunately, at the end of the day the decision had come down to simple mechanics. While much of Operations could be managed from a console, there was the good deal of physical exertion that still proved outside his realm of comfort. If he wanted to regain full-duty status, he had to make adjustments. Of course, that didn’t mean he couldn’t lend a hand now and then. Even with a full manifest, a station this size could always use the extra body at a console – if only to free up officers for other tasks. At the least, it would keep him from growing mold at his desk before a true diplomatic situation arose.
As Noah approached the Command Center, he reviewed the padd in his hand. He'd checked the manifest before, and was somewhat confused to find no Operations Chief listed. Then again, the station was still getting on its feet. There was an Assistant, though, so he made a point of looking her up to check in.
Rhiannon was elbows-deep in the systems console, laying on her back and peering up into the workings as she held a light between her teeth. "Nothing ever goes right with a reset," she muttered around the device, eyes squinting as she studied the myriad of wires and connectors some inches above her. In the days following the final victory over the invaders, the station had been slowly coming back into its own. There were still large swathes needing on-hands attention that they just didn't have the man-power to address just now, so it was a matter of priorities. "And you tend to be my priority of the minute," she shook her head, setting the beam of light at a jaunty angle before coming back to bear on her work.
Reaching the main deck, Noah stepped out into the main operations center and glanced about. There were a scattering of officers working at various posts, but none who seemed to fit the description of the woman in question. "I was told Lieutenant Hokir is up here?"
One of the officers near the main operations center pointed down at the ground beside him. "She's over here, sir."
"Right, thanks." Carefully maneuvering around various temporary work stations, Noah's jaw clenched as his knee shot up a protest as he made a particularly tight turn about the console. Noah ignored it; he'd been sitting most of the morning and needed to work out the kinks anyway. Once he made it to the point in question, he was greeted by the sight of a pair of legs and the upper half of a torso extending from beneath the main console.
"I'll be right out." The voice - though garbled - was clear enough. Moments later, the figure levered herself out and up, dusting off her hands before looking up to address the man before her. "May I help you, Lieutenant ..."
"Khoroushi. Lieutenant Noah Khoroushi. It's clear you have plenty of work up here, so I wanted to offer a hand."
Rhian considered the man. He was about a head taller than her, long limbed and somewhat on the leaner side of what she was used to in men of his size. Not necessarily skinny, but certainly no spare bulk. That, however, wasn't what gave her pause. Rather, it was the violet at his collar. "That's gracious of you, Lieutenant, but I'm not sure how a Diplomatic officer would be of much use; I can talk myself until I'm blue in the face and not a one of these will give me the time of day."
Noah choked on a laugh. The woman had been utterly straight-faced in her delivery, no hint of sarcasm whatsoever, yet he did catch a slight crinkling at the eye towards the end. "They typically don't. If it's any consolation, the color is new. I'm formerly Operations; just expanding on some other skills this time around to try something new."
A smile lit up her face and Rhian's stance relaxed a bit. "Oh, well then sure. We're still running a bit short-handed and could use a few more programmers." Was it too much to hope he had been more than just a standard officer? Reaching out, she accepted the padd he was holding.
"I can manage that.”
“Deities bless,” Rhian murmured, shaking her head before pulling up her running work-list on the device and handing it back to the Lieutenant. “Alright, here’s a listing of what areas are needing to be addressed. Red, of course, is still not functional. Yellow has been addressed, but still has some quirks, so if you see anything there that you want to double-check feel free.” When he seemed well and sorted to his task, she headed back for her console.
At LTJG Hokir’s direction, Noah headed over to another of the consoles – this one up and running, and logged in. The list she’d provided was well-organized and relatively easy to follow. There was a bit of mental translation between ship and base terms but, in the end, he was able to pick out some primary trouble areas from which to start his focus. He glanced up, not quite expecting Hokir to still be standing there, and was amused to find her back where he’d first found her. Shrugging, he turned his attention back to his task at hand and set to work.