Meeting Number One

Posted on Tue Oct 13th, 2020 @ 7:43pm by Lieutenant Rohan Read & Lieutenant Commander Aeryn Jameson

1,092 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Mission 3: Diplomacy, what’s that?
Location: Executive Officer’s Office

Read had spent his first full day on Faltan busying himself with everything he needed to know about the Station and the locals. He also expanded his reading to cover the Big Three. It seemed that something was definitely going on with Faltan, Rayea and Union and it was up to him to investigate. He needed to drop by the Intelligence department at some point and see what they were working on in regards to the big three.

Now, he headed for the Executive Officer’s office so he could introduce himself and hand in his preliminary report he’d been working on. He couldn’t help but yank at his collar. He hated wearing uniform, he hadn’t had to wear it since he graduated.

He approached the office and pressed the door chime before waiting for permission to enter.

Aeryn was sitting on the sofa in her office going over

“Come in” Came the call from inside as Aeryn looked up from her padds to see who was entering.

Read stepped through the doors, PADD in hand. “Forgive the intrusion, Commander, but I just wanted to give you the preliminary report I’ve been working on.”

“It’s no intrusion Lieutenant” Aeryn offered a smile. “Please take a seat. You’re Rohan Read correct? I was just reading through a few of the personnel files on my desk and yours was amongst them.”

“Correct, ma’am. I transferred in yesterday. My apologies for not getting to you until now.” Read replied, his tone professional and calm.

"That's perfectly alright Lieutenant" Aeryn smiled warmly. "I prefer for you to have a period of settling in and getting to know the station anyway. Have you had a chance to look around or meet any of the crew as yet?"

“I’ve reported in to Commander M’Mira and I’ve just spoken with Lieutenant Quinn-Chaim but that’s the only crew, well now you too.” Rohan said before swallowing hard, he really fought the urge to yank at his uniform collar. “As for the station, she certainly is very welcome extensive. It’ll keep you fit getting from one side to the other.”

“Indeed” Aeryn nodded and smiled. “To be honest I still don’t know the whole station yet. Please relax Lieutenant, you don’t need to be tense. In my office you can feel free to call me Aeryn, it saves all the titles.”

“If I may, I’d like to keep things professional.” Read replied swallowing hard. The station’s Executive Officer was very attractive but he wanted to keep his distance. Years of intelligence work was still embedded in his core. He wasn’t here to make friends, simply do a job. Or was that the old him?

“That’s perfectly fine Lieutenant” Aeryn smiled. “Some people prefer to be less formal and some don’t it’s not a problem. So tell me what brings you here to Faltan Station?”

“Starfleet has ordered me to investigate what the Faltan’s are up to and help with the eventual transition to the space station. Although, I get the impression that Commander M’Mira isn’t a fan of the idea of moving the station into space.” Read replied.

“Commander M’Mira would like to keep this base on the planet where possible.” Aeryn gave Reed a detemined look. “I suggest you don’t repeat that fact to Commander M’Mira she won’t like it.”

“Erm, I think I already did. The Commander really wants to stay planet side doesn’t she?” Read asked.

“Well She has worked hard to get this station to the point it’s currently at” Aeryn relaxed back in her seat. “I can’t blame her for wanting to keep this station going as it is.”

“I admire that sentiment but the reasons behind the move are to ultimately keep Federation citizens safe. The Falteans aren’t known to be very hospitable with us.” Read replied.

Aeryn nodded. “I can understand that, but ultimately we need to prove to them that they can’t force us off this planet and that we’re here to stay.”

“Oh, we aren’t going anywhere. Starfleet wants us to take a step away so we can watch, but they will never force us from this system.” Read replied, his tone neutral and professional.

Aeryn nodded, she had to admit he did have a valid point and so did Starfleet. "Let's see how things go. If we have to move then I'll talk to the Commander but I'd like to give this base a fighting chance first."

“Have you not seen the base Starfleet Corps of Engineers is constructing on the edge of the system?” Read asked curiously.

Aeryn shook her head. "This is the first I've heard of it to be honest, as you can see I've got quite a pile of reports waiting to be read" she motioned to a stack of PADDs on her desk.

“I appreciate you have a busy job, but believe me. It’s there and will be going operational.” Rohan said with a smile.

Aeryn nodded. "Well if we don't move there perhaps we'll be able to use it as backup. We could certainly use it."

“Agreed. The shipyard facilities on Luna aren’t the best. The station could be used for that.” Rohan commented.

"Excellant" Aeryn nodded. "Put me together a proposal for the combined use of both, perhaps I can convince the Commander that way."

Read smiled, “I appreciate the thought but proposals for combining that sort of thing isn’t my area of expertise. I may wear red for Command but I’m no where near the Command track yet.”

“How’s about you consider it a challenge then?” Aeryn smiled. “If you get stuck just come back and see me.”

Read sighed, “I’ll add it to my list but I do have my own work to do first.”

“Actually ... perhaps I am asking a lot of you.” Aeryn smiled. “Disregard that request, I don’t want to give you too much to do when you have enough on your plate already.”

Read could help but show his relief. "Thank you, Commander. I do have plenty of work with the Faltan problem to get on with."

“In that case I won’t hold you up any longer” Aeryn smiled.

"Thank you, ma'am." Read said with a curt nod before he rose to his feet and left the first officer to her work.

 

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