Changing of the Guard
Posted on 16 Mar 2021 @ 9:40pm by Captain Lachlan Callum & Commander Faye Magnolia & Lieutenant Ethan Gunnarsen
Mission:
M2 - Sanctuary
Location: USS Theseus
Timeline: MD 02 0950
1178 words - 2.4 OF Standard Post Measure
After seeing Lark and Ingrid settled in on the station the day before, it was time for Ethan to officially check in at his post on the USS Theseus. There were many points of his newest assignment that Ethan had taken particular care in ... not so much hiding from his family as not fully detailing. One, being that the Prometheus class vessel was almost exclusively designed for combat and two, in light of the Station's short history since its recovery, those features might likely be put to effect again. Of course, knowing Lark, the moment she had the inkling to go looking, Ethan would be getting an earful.
Mouth quirking in amusement at the thought, he stepped onto the bridge and paused a moment to look around, taking in the lay-out and mapping it to memory. From his place at the helm, the visibility would be almost on par with the smaller, more intimate setting of a shuttle. Would the larger vessel be equally as responsive, he wondered? Rather than letting his thoughts take the lead, Ethan directed his course to the Ready Room and his new Captain.
"Something I can help you with, honey?" a tall, blonde-haired woman asked, turning from the terminal nearest the door to smile at the newcomer on the bridge. Commander Faye Magnolia set her hand on her hip and leaned agains the terminal. She wasn't expecting any guests on the bridge, and last she'd checked any new crew were still days away from arriving.
The greeting was unexpected, and as Ethan glanced down at the woman, he arched his brows in surprise, realizing she was only a few inches shorter than him. “Ah, I was stopping in to report for duty. Lieutenant Ethan Gunnarsen, Flight Chief.”
The woman raised an eyebrow almost comically high, then looked across the bridge to the Lieutenant Commander sitting at the CoNN. She pointed, "Lieutenant Commander Brightwood's our Flight Chief," she said, indicating the sandy-haired blonde manning the terminal and paying almost no attention to them. "Do you have orders?" she asked, holding out a hand expectantly.
Ethan froze momentarily as she spoke, then realized she was waiting. “Oh, right.” He handed over the padd with his orders, unable to resist a glance over his shoulder at the person he had assumed at the time was the XO. There had to be a mistake somewhere; he’d done his due diligence well before coming out here.
She took the data padd offered and read through it diligently, shaking her head all the while. Looking up, she had her mouth half open to say something when she spotted someone getting off the lift and walking onto the bridge with a man in a white lab coat in tow. She walked right past Gunnarsen and waved him down, "Lachlan," she called out. "Can I have a word?"
The man was only slightly shorter than her and had a sort of gruff, unkept appearance but from the four pips on his collar it was obvious he was the man in charge. "Everything alright? Not sure I can take another bloody malfunction."
She smiled sweetly, disarmingly so, "Lachlan, this is Lieutenant Gunnarsen. His orders say he's our new Flight Chief. I wasn't aware we needed one," she smiled, though the poison on the statement was evident as she handed him the data padd.
The elder man sighed, "Aye," he grunted. "Grayson wants to move to Operations. Says he wants your job, but needs to branch out first," Captain Callum said in his low, Scottish growl. "For once, Starfleet moved quickly. I thought I still had time to discuss with you. It wasn't an intentional blindside," he offered by way of apology. He gave her the padd back, it was her job to deal with that detail anyway. Lachlan turned to the newcomer, "Lieutenant," he nodded. "I'm Captain Callum. You've met my First Officer, Commander Magnolia. This is our Chief Medical Officer, Commander Corduke. Welcome aboard."
Ethan shot a wary glance at the woman before turning to address Captain Callum. "My sister is stationed on Obsidian Command, sir, so it made sense for us to ship out together instead of staggering things. I'm sorry if I should have sent word ahead."
“It’s on me for waiting to tell you, Faye,” Callum answered, looking at the blonde woman who’s irritated scowl seemed to soften a bit.
“I suppose,” she smirked, folding her arms. She cast one last glance at Gunnarsen and then waved, “Come on, I’ll introduce you to Brightwood so he can give you the rundown of Flight Ops. Unless you have any more pearls of wisdom, Captain?”
Lachlan shook his head, “Nope,” he replied and in his trademark brusqueness, turned back to the Doctor to finish their conversation.
“I suppose it makes sense for him to move to Operations,” Commander Magnolia mused as she led the new officer towards the CoNN station. Technically, the Second Officer should be leading one of the partitions of the ship in multi-vector-mode. But as the Conn Officer, his place is on the main bridge,” she explained. “Captain has this bridge, I have the secondary bridge and our new Chief of Operations,” she said a bit louder, stirring them man from his station to look back at them, “Can man the tertiary bridge,” she smirked.
Ethan kept back just a bit as Magnolia surged ahead. At least some of the earlier tension had bled away; he was still feeling a bit off-kilter, if only because he seemed to stick out like a sore thumb amongst this crew so far.
“Mr. Brightwood, this is Mr. Gunnarsen. As the Captain just informed me, you’ll be transferring to Operations. Mr. Gunnarsen will be taking the Flight Control post,” she explained, gesturing to the man.
Lieutenant Commander Brightwood was a fair-skinned, sandy-haired man that was every bit of average, from his height to his general stature. But what he lacked in physicality he more than made up for in personality. He stood up from his station and shot a hand out towards Gunnarsen, “Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Gunnarsen. Grayson Brightwood.”
"Ethan," He accepted the hand and shook firmly. "A pleasure as well, Sir. And, ah ... congratulations?"
"Congratulations it is, thank you, Ethan," Brightwood beamed to him and the Commander Magnolia. "Less than a month and already moving up. You'll certainly want to watch your six, Commander."
"Bless your heart, you really do think you have a chance," Faye answered sweetly in reply, the sweetness of her voice not matching the irritated scowl on her face. "Mr. Gunnarsen, I'll leave you in the... mostly... capable hands of Lieutenant Commander Brightwood," she added, "I'd like a departmental readiness report on Flight Ops by the end of shift," she said, giving one last bit of attitude to Brightwood before turning and going back to the station Gunnarsen had found her at.
"Well then, my good man. Shall we?" Brightwood asked, gesturing to the CoNN.
"Might as well start somewhere," Ethan sighed, then nodded. "After you, Commander."
