Excessively Qualified

Posted on 17 Nov 2020 @ 9:01pm by Lieutenant JG Rhiannon Hokir & Commander Calliope Zahn

Mission: M1 - Emergence
Location: Obsidian Command, CIC
Timeline: MD 05 1215
1551 words - 3.1 OF Standard Post Measure

Rhiannon had been on stations many times before. One couldn't engage in the Fleet life without setting foot on one of the myriad outposts scattered about; but that had always been for a quick shore-leave, or to get supplies. Never with the presence of mind that she wasn't passing from one destination to another. As she looked about her now, taking in the scope of the promenade alone, a small quiver of anticipation and something else not quite fear made themselves known in her gut.

Letting out her breath, she pushed the feelings aside and glanced at her padd once again. She had an appointment with the station's executive officer, one Calliope Zahn, in five minutes. Mentally running through the documents she had on hand - mostly back-ups of what should have already been forwarded, but there was always that vague chance technology would get the best of her - Rhian picked up her pace towards the lift that would take her where she needed to be.

Upon reaching the command corridor, Rhian's pace slowed again as she scanned the layout before her. Her directions said the office she needed was the third to the right; she could only hope that the source was accurate and she wasn't walking in on some high-profile session in progress as she reached up to tap the panel for entrance.

Rhian didn't get to walk in, as the XO happened to be walking out at the same moment. The freckled green lady was carrying some gear and outfitted for an away mission. "Oh, hello." She said, brightly. seeing a new officer arriving when they were in such desperate need of staff cheered her. "Sorry, just preparing to go down to the surface." She double checked the time and then her shoulders relaxed. Still an hour to finish preparations. "There's no rush though. What can I help you with, Lieutenant?"

A double check - yes, the woman was Orion! - and then Rhian offered what she hoped was a suitably respectful smile. "Ah, Lieutenant JG Hokir. I'm here to meet with Commander Zahn. I've been assigned as the new Assistant Operations Chief?"

"Are you sure?" Calliope teased, holding out her hand for the transfer orders.

"About meeting with the commander, or about my assignment?" Self-depreciation softened her expression into a chagrined smile as Rhian handed over her padd. The woman - for all she was an Orion - had an air about her that was both familiar and calming. "99.3 on the first and about 85 on the latter. This is my first station assignment and frankly? This place is huge!"

"Well, you're 100% accepted. I'm Commander Zahn and according to this you're the new assistant ops, but seeing as we haven't got an Ops chief in yet, That means you get to pull the weight. As you and everyone and their half sister observes, this place is huge. It's a huge mess. Come with me through Ops, I'll get you caught up."

"Yes, Ma'am." Her Exec was an Orion. The thought fascinated Rhian as she followed the woman on the impromptu tour of the facilities.

After being recognized by the Marine guard by the entry and giving her approval for Rhian, Calliope strode into the CIC, with Rhian trailing. The room was massive, almost commanding a kind of reverence. The viewing panels edited out the arrays and towers in order to present a 360 dome full view of the surrounding space. The initial feeling was almost that of a space walk, if it hadn't been for just a couple of aching beams that broke the illusion.

"You're work station is over here." She motioned to the leading Ops post, which was one of the central most spots in the command center. "We're working all hours all hands to effect repairs on the fusion reactors. Until they can be repaired, cycled, and restarted, station shields, phasers, sensors and basically everything else is running minimally. To preserve power, most of the station's decks were powered off for the past year and a half...." Calliope wasn't sure she was reading the Lieutenant's expression, but it seemed to Calliope all of this damage came as a shock to the Lieutenant. She slowed down and spoke low. "What... what do you know about the loss and recovery of this station?"

Her mind was working on at least three separate wave-lengths as Rhian took it all in. When she registered the Commander's question, she realized the woman had likely been waiting a bit for her response. "Um, well, I know about as much as the reports share; the station disappeared and most of the crew at the time was lost. And then the survivors were discovered and returned along with the station—"

"Evacuated." Calliope clarified. "Most were evacuated, with some souls lost in the effort to get all of the personnel and civilians off the station as it was affected by the anomaly. A skeleton crew of 8 remained on the station and survived to return." Calliope motioned to the back of one of the men at a station on the other side of the command center. "Commander Zayne among them."

"I'll admit I'm still pretty rough on most of the details. Most of my reading on the way here focused on the repairs themselves."

"Which is probably the better choice of study, anyway, given the work I'm about to saddle you with. For your first assignment: " The XO pulled up some parts lists. "These priority parts are being supplied or replicated from vessels on patrol. I have this all coming in via a series of shuttles, which will begin arrivals starting.... well, starting any minute. We should be hearing from the first one soon. I need them to be received, checked, signed off on and delivered to Engineering."

Rhian accepted the list with a nod, her eyes scanning the details as she did. She would need to set up her own organization to track as best possible which parts should be arriving from which source, but she could just work with the timeline and build from there. "Alright, I can do that."

"Secondly, when you get the chance, there's a fighter wing in Docking bay three. The Fire Tigers. They need supplies for overnight in the bay: cots, blankets, whatever they ask for. The Caelian is filling all the creature comfort requests for us. Also, if the fighters need any maintenance supplies...." Almost reluctantly, Calliope copied over the network of supply chain manifests she'd been networking and organizing. Like a conductor in a dramatic moment she crossed her hands at the wrists and then spread her arms wide— a whole holographic peg board of manifests and timelines electrified the air. Some of them live updated. "Well, if you need anything. It's got to be here somewhere." She had compiled and cross compared everything she knew of in system, everything in the region within 3 days travel which had filed flight plans and manifests and might be able to be sweet talked into selling their supplies on short notice. Calliope put her hands on her hips. "The station still has a lot of supplies aboard too. the trouble is that most of the station's storage is in environmentally sealed off decks. If you need something from old inventory, trying to locate it with out reliable internal sensors and move it without transporters? You may end up having to take a team in EVA suits to retrieve what you're after."

The theatric display was amusing for perhaps a second before the sheer glut of information threatened to overwhelm. With the initial list still in hand, Rhian willed herself to reign in and focus on the goals at hand. "EVA seems a little over-kill right off the bat," she quipped. "I'll file that under hat rabbit trick just in case."

"If you do need to pull that rabbit out of that hat, the marines are equipped to assist with EVA. Well, they're assisting everywhere as it is. You'll find them filling out most of the repair crews. Have you worked with Starfleet Marines before?"

"Not directly, but I've assisted my DH on assignments before so I've seen it done."

Calliope inhaled and exhaled slowly. The officer was more than qualified, but young. "If you need anything, you can try to reach me on the surface, but sometimes communications on Obsidian are disrupted by atmospheric ionization. Commander Zayne can answer any questions you might have and and Captain DeHavilland will be will be back from Obsidian in the late afternoon. I hope you take the chance to introduce yourself. I'll let her know to expect you. Naturally, any issues about repairs need to be taken up with Commander Quinn— just... nothing of minor importance if you can help it. Any questions? Enough to get you started, I hope?"

Rhian nodded. It was a lot, but she was confident there was enough in there that she could handle before she would need back-up. "I'm good, thank you."

"Alright, then." On one hand, Calliope was reluctant to give up her work efforts, but on the other... even if Hokir could only handle some of the requisitions, it was more than the XO could do at all while on the surface anyway. "Welcome aboard, Ms Hokir." Calliope left her to it.