Meeting Tactical

Posted on Tuesday 5 July 2016 @ 00:44 by Lieutenant Commander David Tan & Captain John "Apollo" Barstow, M.D.
Edited on on Thursday 7 July 2016 @ 00:02

Mission: Old, New Ship
Location: Shuttlebay 1
Timeline: Current
2676 words - 5.4 OF Standard Post Measure

Commander John Barstow stepped off of the lift after leaving the briefing. Normally he would just have them report to the Ready Room or Bridge, however, the CO was needing to stretch his legs. He moved down the corridor with his hands clasp at the small of his back and walked into the shuttlebay. Seeing the two officers walking away from the shuttle John headed over to meet them, "I've got it from here, Ensign," he said with a nod before looking to the officer following, "Lieutenant Tan?"

David turned, a little surprised to see the Captain approaching, "Captain." he said lowering his bag to the deck and standing to attention.

"At ease, Lieutenant," Barstow said then nodded for the Ensign to go before motioning for Tan to follow him, "you were tactical chief on Galapagos?"

"Yes Sir, Captain Komin recommended I take the position here." David said, a little unsure as to how much to tell his new Commanding Officer on their first meeting, and that in a corridor rather than sat down in an 'official' welcome, then maybe this is how the CO put's his newly assigned Officers at ease, "I had applied, but then wondered if I had done the right thing, I'm positive I have now, Sir." he finished, feeling a little self-conscious suddenly, not like him at all.

"Good," John replied with a smile and stepped on the lift, "because we're going to put you right to work. You should have received a brief about where we're headed, did you get a chance to read it over?"

"I did Sir yes ...." David said, recalling what he had read from the Evaluations Briefing and the forthcoming exercises, "Almost like a shake-down in a sense, we're heading for the Hays Proving Grounds, where we'll conduct numerous test simulations, checking out our manoeuvrability, sensors, using Stella cartography for mapping, weapons, and a leg-stretching exercise for our Marine compliment. It sounds interesting, I see the Marine contingent have been looking after Security, it will be good to see the SFMC in action outside training or demonstration, we didn't have a battalion assigned to the Galapagos, though the Captain did request one, on numerous occasions ... Your evaluations made for good reading if I may say so Captain, a good group of Officers, I'm looking forward to working with them."

The CO smiled, impressed, "I'm impressed, Lieutenant," Apollo replied then nodded, "Marines are in short supply right now, with all the fights in recent years a lot of CO's are requesting them, but, recruitment is dwindling because most people just don't want to be front line combat," John explain then nodded, "and thank you, they really are," he added as the doors opened, "for your deparment, security hasn't really been organized, as you said the Marines have been taking point. When we arrive I'd like to have you run an intruder drill and a bio-hazard breach drill. The intruder drill we'll have run while we're testing tactical systems, give you a bit of a challenge," Barstow added with a grin.

"Underst .... ood." David said as the Captain walked away.

He looked up and down the corridor,then seeing no-one placed his hand on the wall-mounted computer interface that ran the length of every section of the ship:

"Location of Lieutenant Tan's quarters ?"

"Lieutenant Junior Grade David Tan is berthed on Deck 3, Section 4, Department Head allocation, room 347 .. .. "

Removing his hand David re-entered the turbo-lift and requested Deck 3 ... On arrival he made his way to his quarters. Throwing his kit bags on the settee he looked around the rooms, living area, bedroom, bathroom, neat, tidy, functional. Dropping into the chair at the desk, he accessed the computer, hoping someone had added his files and clearance level to the ships records, or he was going to get nowhere, fast ... Thankfully, someone was on the proverbial ball and his access had been verified and activated ... He accessed crew records and requested to see a list of Security and Tactical Personnel. Ideally, he should go see the Senior Marine who had been overseeing his role prior to his arrival, but he liked introducing himself in person, it tended to quell any 'chatter' about the men arrival ...

There were two Officers, seemingly still looking after their own section of the newly joined Security / Tactical Department, a Lieutenant jg Emma Green, covering Security, and a Lieutenant jg Raf Green covering Tactical, both taking orders from the Senior Marine Officer, a First lieutenant named Elias Walker. He'd meet the marine in due course he decided ..... first he needed to change and shower, he'd been in the same uniform for three days, and it was in need of replacement.

:: One hour later ::

Taking the turbo-lift he rose to Deck One - Main Bridge .....

He introduced himself and asked where the Captain was and was told he was currently in his Ready Room. Stepping across the expansive bridge, knowing curious eyes were upon him, he approached the door, but turned before pressing the chime:

"Lieutenant ... " he said, addressing the young woman sat in the center seat, presumably the Duty Bridge Officer, "Are you in the habit of allowing complete strangers to roam the Bridge at will unchallenged ?"

"No, I'm not ... Lieutenant. You were scanned, and cleared for access to the Bridge while in the turbo-lift, had you not had the required clearances, you would be looking at two of 'your' larger Security Officers rather than speaking with me." David looked at her for a long moment, wondering if she was chastising him for his query.

"That is a function I haven't come across before, thank you for informing me of it's incorporation, and my apologies if I sounded a little, condescending, it wasn't meant to be so."

"Apology accepted." she said, returning to her seat, David turned to the door and pressed the activation pad. Commander Barstow told him to enter:

"Sir, I would like to meet with my Security and Tactical Personnel prior to our arrival, do we have a confirmed ETA yet ?" he asked.

John looked up at the man, "well, Lieutenant, had you stayed with me as I asked and not stepped back on the turbolift I would have finished briefing you and you'd know," the CO said then pointed to the chair on the other side of the desk, "it'll be a few more days, but by weeks end," he said and set a PADD on the desk, "and this is all your codes, quarters assignment, etcetera that I had for you earlier."

David looked at the PADD, realising he had made a complete fool of himself having stepped back onto the turbo-lift when Commander Barstow had turned and walked away, in his defence, he did think he had been dismissed. Vaguely wondering about the possibilities of going back an hour or so to prevent his gaff, he took the PADD off the desk and waited. He knew instinctively that his Commanding Officer, rather than simply Comm him to ask where the hell he was going off to, chose to allow him to make a fool of himself in the knowledge that it would 'hopefully' teach him a lesson. David realised that every CO was different, some were strict, by the book types, where the smallest mistake was pounced upon. Some were, 'laid-back' in their mode of Command, David had the feeling that Commander Barstow was somewhere in the middle, but he'd been aboard less that two hours, so he couldn't form an objective opinion of the man just yet.

"It seems I'm hardly making a good first impression Sir." he said, pondering the possibilities of the floor opening up and swallowing him .....

Barstow waived a hand dismissively, "things happen, Lieutenant, I don't hold simple mistakes against you. I'd not still be here if my CO's had against me, I'm far from perfect myself," Barstow replied, "so, as of now it's forgotten. As for first impressions, I'm still impressed you read up on the briefing before coming on," he added and smiled, "now, I try to get to know my senior officers a bit better than their service records. Tell me about you, Lieutenant, not what is in your file, but about you the person."

David looked at the man for several long seconds, wondering what he wanted to hear .... Shrugging inwardly, he began:

"Well, not really too much to say if I'm honest. I never really knew my parents, vague memories, a few holo-images, and a couple of holo-vids, other than that nothing much. I lived with an Aunt until being adopted and moving to ...." he could see Commander Barstow was looking at him because he was doing exactly what he'd been told not to, so he changed tack, "I wasn't a supporter of the education system, always had other things on my mind I suppose. I wasn't gifted by any means, but some things seemed to come easily, too easily at times I think. As stated in my Bio, I attended collage, but again it was too, I don't know how to describe it without sounding condescending, I just felt my time, if I was going to find a career, would be better utilised elsewhere, thus the Academy .... Didn't really excel and some subjects seemed 'surplus to requirements' as far as I was concerned, but I took it all in. I pushed myself in some ways, but not in others. I am proficient in numerous forms of Martial Arts, I love to shoot old weapons, the ones that actually sent a ball of hot lead at the target and owned a couple of weapons. I decided to begin collecting while awaiting the start of the new Academy intake, that's when I met Lana ...."

He took a moment, remembering how he and Lana had met.

"I had been looking for a sixteenth century flintlock pistol, she contacted me and then turned up, pistol in hand, we were married six months later. In my third year, the tutors and the Academy Commandant thought I'd be better suited to complete my learning in situ, and I was assigned to the Galapagos. I think being 'out here' was the catalyst, I began to study in my off duty hours and to everyone's surprise, most of all my own, I received word that my graduation had come through, eight months early. Apparently Captain Komin had been forwarding the papers I had thought I was doing for my own curiosity, to the Academy Commandant."

"We had had our Second child, Chloe, by then, that's when I decided to apply for a surface position. I wanted to be closer to my Family, but Lana said this is what I was best at, not sitting behind a desk, or playing repairman. I knew in reality that she wanted me at home, but knew that I had a promising career ahead of me, again Captain Komin's words not mine, so I stayed where I was, learning, hopefully, and still pondering at the back of my mind whether to look for something ground-based, or to even consider the possibility of leaving Star Fleet entirely. The girls were a little older by now, seven and four, both in school where Lana is Head. I looked for a few positions, but nothing stood out until the Captain spoke with me, and the Merlin was mentioned, almost in passing. She had apparently heard you were looking for personnel through the Captain's grapevine as she called it." he grinned, recalling the casual conversation over drinks in her ready room.

"It was going to be a push to catch up with the ship unless I came to some kind of decision quickly, so she sent me back to San Francisco for a few days ....... That's pretty much it really ........" he said, falling silent ...

John nodded, leaning forward and clapping his hands on the desk as he listened, but not crossing his arms as he nodded, taking everything in. Once Tan had finished John smiled, "I'd love to see your collection some time," the CO said, "and I'm glad your former CO keeps her ear to the ground," he added then sat back and rested his hands in his lap for a second, "I have an offer for you, Lieutenant. As you know Starfleet regs say you have to serve on a posting for six months before you can bring family with you. I'm sure you noticed the size of Merlin, most of our time is going to be spent in deep space, so, we may not get back this way often. I can override this reg and let you send for your family if you and your wife would like. I am going to have engineering turn some of our extra briefing areas into a school and could also use an education section head, so, we could keep her position and she'd be able to design the curriculum from the ground up. What do you think?" he asked.

He could hardly believe what he was hearing ... The 'whole' idea of him leaving Star Fleet was so he, Lana, and his Daughters, could be closer and see each other on a daily basis. He knew the Merlin allowed Families, but never thought he'd be, no, that Lana too, would be given the chance Commander Barstow was offering. he had to think for a second as to how Lana would react, leaving Earth, moving to a ship-borne life, taking the girls out of school, it was all ... He suddenly realised that the Commander was waiting for his reply:

"Sir, I'm sure Lana would be happy to come aboard the Merlin, and the opportunity to open a school would be an enormous responsibility, but one she would relish. As for Kendall and Chloe, well, what can I say .... They will love it ! ... I have to say, I imagine Lana will have concerns about being aboard a Star Ship, given we never really know what we're going to encounter, but hell, that's exactly why we're out here and she will accept that fact ... As for my collection, I didn't know you were interested in weaponry. I have a couple of rare guns, a Lorenzoni flintlock repeater from the year sixteen eighty nine, only fired it once bu ...... sorry commander, I'm ranting. As for getting my Wife and Children aboard, I appreciate your relaxing the regs, I can run back and get them now, no shuttle required." he said ....

Apollo chuckled, "no problem, Lieutenant. Go ahead and get them aboard, just make sure your ready to go when we get to Hayes," he said and stood, extending his hand, "welcome aboard, Lieutenant, I really am glad to have you."

"Thank you Captain. I'll contact them by sub-space if that is permissible." Barstow nodded, still holding David's hand as they shook, "If I may ?" he asked, eager to get his Family here. Barstow released his hand and smiled .....

~~~~~

In his now 'temporary' quarters, given he was to be moved to a Family Suite once Lana and the girls arrived, he looked at the still unpacked cases then sat at the desk and activated the screen:

"Computer ... Open a sub-space communication to the USS Galapagos ... Authorisation Tan:Beta:Two ...." the screen changed and his former Commanding Officer appeared.

=^= Want to come back already David .. .. I'm shocked =^= Komin jibed.

=^= Captain .. I need a favour .. A pretty big favour actually =^= David said.

=^= Shoot =^=

=^= Commander Barsto .. .. .. .. =^=

=^= Already en-route David .. Commander Barstow contacted me and put his proposal forward before you're meeting .. He does read you know and he definitely isn't one for leaving everything to his Exec' .. I said it was something he would be 'amiss' to overlook .. He agreed .. We are currently three hours from you with three passengers you might be eager to see =^=

=^= Thank you .. Captain .. Tan out =^= he closed the Comm as the door chime sounded. He stood and approached the door, a young Yeoman stood there:

"Lieutenant, I've been instructed to show you to your new quarters." .......



Commander John "Apollo" Barstow
Commanding Officer

&

Lieutenant JG David Tan
Chief Security/Tactical Officer