Fleet Opening Mission: To Our Future

[Emma Wilkinson]

(Joint Post between myself and Admiral Malloway)

STARBASE THRINACIA
Conference Room Theta, Deck 22
21.45 hrs.

“Commodore, I assume Lieutenant Commander Jackson has reported in?” Admiral Malloway said, walking over to where Commodore Wilkinson stood off to the side.

“Yes he did, took him two goes, but nothing to worry about. I read over the damage report, a few systems are offline, and most are below 60% operational. It’s going to take some time to repair her by the looks of things.” She said with a sigh, glancing down at said report. “It’s going to take at least 24hrs for them to get everything online again.” She said with a raise of her brow. “What’s been going on in here?” She enquired as she watched various Cadets filing out of the room or huddling in groups talking excitedly, a few even anxiously.

Steve reached out and took the PADD from Emma, scanning the report somewhat as he listened in on the analogy too. "Hmm?" He looked up, looking this and that as the officers meandered past, some giving them respectful nods while others were too busy mid-conversation to otherwise do anything else. "Oh, this lot. Approval from command to graduate the lot of them. After the efforts they've all put in, in both training and duties over the last few hours, they're all ready for active assignment. Each were chosen in the Academy on the basis they would one day serve here, and today has proven it. We've got some fine officers joining us here-" He changed the topic slightly at the end, "And the Majesty is certainly in need of a hand. Watching her limp back in during the battle was painful - she was a mess."

“She certainly is. But I have no doubt that they can get her back up and running before long.” She added, waiting for the Admiral to finish reading so she had his full attention before continuing. “I told him to report into you at 22.15hrs like you asked.” She finally told him when he handed her back the PADD. “So we’ve got some time before he finds you.” She said jokingly.

"Time? Precious-little of that these days." Steve rolled his eyes and laughed some. "So much needed and not enough to give around at all. I'm cancelling the Staff brief for Thrinacia's crew at 22.30 as well - majority of the senior staff are transferring temporarily across the Fleet." He paused, handing back the PADD. "Which uh, reminds me... I'll be off on the Majesty's maiden voyage so yourself and John are in command here."

Emma was a little surprised, as she had only just transferred across onto the Starbase, but things were like that these days. “Off on a little adventure are we? What are you going to destroy this time?” Emma laughed, knowing full well he knew what she meant. With herself and Admiral Morgan in charge things would certainly be interesting, although it would be good to be serving with at least one person she knew. “Anything I need to know about before you hand over the reins?” She asked in case there was anything going on in the background that she hadn’t found out about yet, seeming as she hadn’t actually even been aboard that long.

Steve shook his head. "Nothing more I am permitted to divulge. The Braveheart is due through the Gateway, that'll need monitoring closely. As for the rest of the Fleet they have their own assignments elsewhere. As far as I'm concerned the Majesty is simply off to go bring in some 'loose cannons'." He grinned, dusting some loose debris from the cuffs of his uniform. He'd considered changing, but with all the repairs everything would just get filthy again. "I think for the most part, Thrinacia is simply in need of TLC after all this. She's a damn good command, Emma," He paused, stroking one hand across one of the beaten bulkheads, "she'll hold out for sure."

Emma had always loved the way Malloway treasured his Commands, almost bringing a human quality to them, caressing things like he did. It always made her smile, “We’ll take good care of her till you get back.” She assured him running a hand threw her hair to replace a few stray strands of blonde out of her face.

"You damn well better do." Steve mocked, folding his arms across his chest as he straightened his back a little, cracking his neck to the left to relieve some pain. "What was your take on Lt. Cmdr. Jackson?"

“Well, considering I’ve only spent 5 minutes with the man, he seems a fine officer. Needs to keep an eye on exactly what’s going on rather than a rough idea, but that comes with experience as we well know. He seems driven and enthusiastic which always helps, so I’m sure he’ll go far. Why?” She asked wondering why the question had come up.

"No reason, no reason." He replied. "I've not spent time with him as of yet myself, so was hoping on an inkling of what I'll be spending time watching for the next few days. With some of your background in Personnel you've always been good at reading people. Hence my demanding command to rope you into assignment here." He laughed slightly.

“Well I think you might have your hands full to a degree. There is plenty of energy there, however, he may to learn how to channel and focus that energy.” She surmised remembering back to how the Commander had conducted himself and acted around her even over the short time. “As for the rest of the crew, everyone seems to know what they are doing, and getting on with it which is always nice to see. Had the whip cracking have you?” She chided.

He grinned evilly. "You know me, tight reigns, tightly run. There's a damn good team here, Emma, damn good indeed. They'll all serve you well - they have me in the past 4 years I've been here. In fact, some even came from my previous command." True it was, after all this time there hadn’t been a single voluntary transfer out of Thrinacia. But, who knew with what lay ahead with the Gateway - would everyone be able to hack it?

“Well the gateway will keep us all busy either way.” Emma stated, “Who knows what lies beyond it.” And then with a cheeky grin she added “Who knows, Morgan and I may Shut the gateway down and keep the base for ourselves…” She said not looking at him, but having to bite her lip to stop from laughing, as she recognised the old banter that used to exist between the two of them and Vice Admiral Morgan from the past.

“Just as long as I get emergency privileges for Shore Leave in-between attempting to re-take my station, you have my full backing on mutiny.” He mused, stepping aside as what appeared to be the same two engineers from the command deck wandered through with a replacement bulkhead for the conference room. “I just cant seem to get awa-” He got cut off by a Lieutenant butting in with his rank and handing him a PADD. “Thank you, Lieutenant.” No rest for the wicked. He huffed internally, his brown eyes scanning through the details. “Right then, it’s official.” He passed the PADD to Emma, grinning wickedly again. “You guys can have fun with that.”

Emma looked over the document with slight trepidation at Steve’s grin. Anything that made him grin like that gave her cause for concern. However reading through she got rather excited. “Sounds like we have some work to do in your absence then.” She commented reading over the orders for the plans to set up a colony on the planet below the Starbase. Freighters were on their way with supplies and things were already in motion, all they had to do was get things moving. “Hopefully we can have things sailing smoothly by the time you get back.” Emma smiled looking back up. “Its a shame we’re not going to be serving together for a while, i was looking forward to getting back to the good old days.” She laughed. It had been a while since they had served together, five years to be precise.

“Well, knowing the help you have in my absence,” He chuckled, knowing full-well that Emma understood his meaning John, “I reckon you’ll need all the help you can get when I return - so it could be a while that we’re all together again.” Even though they hadn't actually reminisced over the past, it felt better knowing that the 2 people he had served with previously were there in his stead to keep things running. “How have you been anyway? We didn't get a chance to catch up in the... ‘ceremony’”. For all that had turned out to be. Steve thought, scolding the Cardassians for interrupting what could have been a very messy and drunken night for the Admiral.

“Well we would have done, if we hadn’t been so...rudelly...interupted.” She joked, “But I've been good. Been hear and there a few times with some good people and the odd bad apple, but apart from that life has treated me ok. How about you and that gorgeous daughter of yours?” She asked remembering the bold, dark haired youngster from all those years back.

Steve smiled, an image of his daughter went flashing through his mind as Emma brought her up. “About the same, a few ups, a few downs. Divorce with Sharne went through in the end as you know... havent spoken to her for a good, ooo... 8 years?” He laughed slightly. “As for Rachel, she’s in her final year of the Academy, soon to graduate... other than needing to keep in touch with her better everything’s fine... Nothings changed much; work here just like the USS Kidderminster has kept me away from my personal life.”

Emma smiled a small smile. She knew the struggle between personal and professional life, all the Admiralty did, and they always struggled. Most managed eventually, but it was a matter of finding the right people, who understood the service. “I bet your looking forward to seeing her graduate then...?” she almost stated more than asked, Steve’s daughter meant everything to him and she knew it. One of her main regrets was not having had children, but she was still young enough yet, or that’s what she told herself.

The Admiral paused for a second. “I am indeed... shame she chose Medical over Security and Tactical,” He mocked, jokingly, “but, we cant all be trigger-happy morons. As for actually getting to the ceremony... that’s a whole other kettle of fish.” His chest sank as he thought of the possibility he couldn’t make his own daughter’s graduation. But, he knew it was something Rachel wouldn’t get her hopes up for - he hadn’t actually been there for the majority of all else in her life, even the kids’ nativity each Christmas.

“Now don’t talk about John like that!” Emma joked causing them both to laugh. “And as for choosing Medical...there’s nothing wrong with that...after all someones got to patch back together those trigger happy morons when they get themselves into trouble as they so often do.” Emma continued throwing him a knowing raised eye brow. Steve and John had always got themselves into trouble before when they served together, so he knew where she was coming from.

Steve laughed openly again, remembering a certain away mission John had led back in the day. “Good thing I hadn’t gone on a certain away mission, or it would have been my arse instead of John’s that received an arrow to it!”

“Ah that mission...” Emma replied looking off to the side as she remembered dramatically. “...and the fate full arrow.” She giggled remembering the indignity that had been on John’s face, and the many mutterings amongst the crew from his limp for about a week after the incident. Being shot in the arse, was hilarious for the other crew members, especially as it was their Hazard Team CO that had received it.

“Just make sure there are no indigenous species down there that have just come out of the bronze age before sending John down to survey.” Steve joked, moving aside for the Engineers to wander past again. “Damn officers, you’d think they were busy with all this.” He looked back and forth inside the conference room - granted it wasn't as badly damaged as the Command Deck, but still.

Emma chuckled, “I’ll make sure.” she answered as more officers entered and left the room. They did seem to be especially busy in the section they were in, however things were starting to look a little more back to normal. “Well, i suppose we had better get back to work, otherwise you never know what may happen in our absence, John might think he’s in charge and decide to take over.” Emma bantered wondering what the time was. They had been chatting for a while, and there was obviously much to do before all the ships could get underway.

“Agreed.” Steve nodded, spotting what appeared to be two officers awaiting to speak to him, one in Marine Green, the other Lt. Cmdr. Jackson. “I’m sure we said 22.15 to him.” The Admiral raised an eyebrow, turning to look back at Emma. “I’ll catch up with you later.” He excused himself, raising one finger to Callum as a sign to wait, before he proceeded over to Falcon. “Lt. Colonel, you seem to be waiting on speaking to me... am I correct?”

TAG: WISEMAN