Meeting the Boss

Posted on Sat Jan 19th, 2013 @ 5:35pm by Lieutenant JG Elizabeth Marion & Ensign Soraya Xel

Mission: Funzone
Location: Deck 1 - Bridge
Timeline: MD1 - 1740 Hours

Soraya surveyed the bridge, as she stepped onto it for the first time. The Captain's chair sat empty, Lieutenants Marion and Akron were manning the front stations, and it looked like a petty officer was manning security. Currently, the roster had no Chief Operations Officer, which made Lieutenant Marion her boss, at least for now.

She was twenty minutes early for her bridge shift, but she was hoping to talk to the Lieutenant for a few minutes before she 'officially' got started. Soraya approached the Ops console, "Lieutenant Marion, could I have a word with you? Ensign Soraya Xel, operations. I'm the relief bridge officer, sir."

"Oh right, you're one of the new crew that just transferred in," Elizabeth smiled at the fresh arrival, "What did you need, Ensign?"

"I spoke to the Chief Engineer, Lieutenant Three? Both of you have been on the ship for a while, so I was wondering if you had any suggestions on how to get along with him. Or... read him," Soraya asked, "I think he might've found my presence... annoying?"

"How do I sum up Three of Seven..." Liz muttered to herself in a low tone as she pondered the question, "Well, first of all I wouldn't take his abrupt manner to heart. Ever since I've known him he's been one of those people who values the concise and the efficient. I'm pretty sure the only person who doesn't feel like their annoying him is the Captain... And I don't think there's a person in the Universe that Dad cares enough about to worry about that in the first place."

Lt. Marion sighed with a grin on her face, "I think the best thing you can do, as far as our resident drone is concerned, is to be respectfully brief. Always have a point and never dress it up with ceremony. Think of him like... like he's an android. You're not going to get emotional responses out of him, he isn't going to understand them when you react with emotion. Approach him from the technical side of your duties rather than the personal. There's plenty of others you'll be working with who are more than human enough to make up for it. Take Paul for instance. Poor man will probably ask you what he should do, and he's been on this ship as long as I have."

"Hey now!" Lieutenant Akron frowned, "I'm not that bad, Liz!"

"Sure you aren't," Lt. Marion rolled her eyes before returning her attention to Lt. Xel, "Does that help any?"

"Yes, I think so. The Captain... Dad?" Soraya asked.

"Oh right..." Liz laughed to herself, "You're new... I served on the USS Nobel with the Captain as a crewman. He and I hit it off rather well and he... adopted me, is basically the way to put it. He gave me little nudges and prods in the right places in my career as an enlisted 'sailor' and when the time came, he helped me with my officer candidacy application. He and my mother get along about as well as my real father did when he was alive. The old man does that from time to time... just creates a family out of the blue. He says it's because his first wife never had any children with him but I think that's just who he is deep down. Just a big old softie at heart."

"Wouldn't know it from the way he storms around here though," Akron grumbled.

"Oh, Dad likes you just fine, Paul. I keep telling you if he hated you, you wouldn't still be on the bridge within reach of his abuse. He only banters with people he actually likes," Lt. Marion pushed Paul's shoulder playfully.

"So yes, the Captain is my foster father, even if not technically my legal foster father. Think of it as one of the quirks of being on the ship. That and the napping... You'll see him sleep a lot in that chair. You might even catch a glimpse of it on your watch. He doesn't spend an awful lot of time off the bridge, whether he's in his Ready Room or in that chair," Marion remarked in a roundabout summation.

Soraya wasn't exactly sure what to make of all of that. Her opinion of the man largely came from interactions at the Captaincy and Admiralty levels. Relkin had a particularly negative opinion, but it was fairly apparent that the crew was quite a fan of his. "I see," she replied simply. Making further discussion on the matter might not leave the best impression with her new boss.

"Is there any other information that would be useful for me to know before I start my shift, sir?" Soraya asked.

"No, I can't say that there really is all that much to pass along. We're holding steady and everything is working the way it should. Have a good watch, Ensign," Lieutenant Marion said, standing up and backing away from the console to allow her relief to take over.

"Thanks," Soraya replied with a smile. She moved to the seat next to Lieutenant Akron, who would surely be departing shortly as well. She logged into her console. She did a few rudimentary checks on the external sensors and skimmed the local subspace communications chatter. After she had briefly made her way through the console's basic structure, she looked back at Lieutenant Marion, "I think I can take it from here. Have a good evening, Lieutenant."