Sent To Us

Posted on Wed Jun 4th, 2025 @ 7:56pm by Captain Rueben Gregnol

Mission: Shackles
1905 words - 3.8 OF Standard Post Measure

Gregnol looked around the Upper Navigational Sensor Array for the person whom he had not seen since he had employed her from Freecloud. He liked to check in on new people, but he had been a little sidetracked by everything that had been going on. It was not easy being a Fenris Ranger when you also had to maintain a business, he really did need to get an Operations Chief to get Nollel back to doing that side like she used to.

"Hello?" He finally called out in standard, hoping that he would be heard so he'd have a better idea of which way to go.

“Hello?” The greeting was softly repeated, drawing his attention to a work station tucked away in the corner. A moment later the tall Navigator’s head popped up, and she was grinning. “Ah Captain, so good to see you again. Thank you for requesting me.” She quickly closed the gap between the workstation and where the man stood. She had honestly been surprised he had requested her.

“How are you today?”

“Gregnol or Rueben works too.” He said quietly as he watched her worked through the space. He was never sure how civilians took titles and rank and ratings, being called captain or boss went over his head now. He just did not want to assume she was comfortable with that. “I am okay Wilhelmina and I requested you because you were recommended by Indigo.” It was handy having someone in the Watchdog who also was a Fenris Ranger. It gave them a little input into legal operations.

Will shrugged and gave Rueben an easy smile. “Whatever you prefer. Also you can call me Will.” There is a moment of surprise where she hesitated, but it was quickly replace with a fond chuckle. “Ah Indigo! Well that explains why you would not be put off by a strange hair colour. I did not realise she served aboard this ship.” Will gestures for the Captain, for Reuben to follow her.

“I was just plotting a couple of possible routes to suggest to the helm. Would you care to review progress and weigh in?” It had been some time since Will had last served on board a ship, having worked in training other navigators for a few years now. However one thing she did remember is that every ship was different. Some Captains preferred to leave such conversations between the navigators and the helm and others liked to weigh in on the detail. She wasn’t sure which Gregnol would be so it never hurt to offer.

Gregnol smiled and stepped forward. “I can review of course but I feel no need to weigh in and argue with the people who know their position.” He pointed out with a grin trying to appeal less scary than he did to people. It was hard to ignore he was tall and large but he hoped after a little time that viewpoint changed. “How is your first week going?” He wondered quietly.

Will blinked and then smiled. "Nice to be trusted, been a while since I worked with a Captain who didn't want to double check the detail. I will be sure not to let you down." She then straightened up form the charts and give a small stretch. "It has been... interesting. Working on a ship of this age has presented some unexpected challenges, but your crew have been very welcoming, and seem to know their business well. I has some trouble with the replicator in my room but Tree was kind enough to fix it. Made it look quite easy too. And I have met the Romulans at the helm and had lunch with Delaney who was very welcoming."

Will then took a moment to consider something. "Is there anyone else you think I should make an effort to get to know? In the interest of supporting smooth operations and such?"

“Either of the Kea’s… Nolle Livamm and Michael Burnstein.” He said thinking of his wife, brother in law, his operations chief and his engineer chief. They were all the reasons why the ship was thriving and doing what they were now. It was through their passions that the ship somehow kept moving.

Will nodded and made a mental note of the names. “I will be sure to introduce myself at some point.” She fidgeted slightly then gestures to where she had been working. “Would you like to see what I was working on?” On the screen there were multiple star charts of different sources overlayed on top of each other in an almost dizzying array of little dots and tags.

“I’ve been trying to update the Mary-Rose’s navigational system with what information I have from Freecloud. Right now it’s like trying to navigate from two separate maps with double vision, but I am hoping in a few days time to everything consolidated. It still will have gaps, but at least what we will know what we do have is as accurate as we can make it.”

The man nodded always interested to see what his crew had been up to so he happily moved over to look at the star charts. He smiled sadly thinking of the times he had seen Dixoho doing that. “Sounds good to me.” He knew that his former navigator had been doing the same at end before she had gotten to unwell to continue.

“Your previous navigator left extensive notes so it has been easier than I thought to get up to speed honestly. I commend them on their work, they were clearly highly skilled.” Will glances at the Captain sensing a shift in emotion from the briefest of flicker of sadness to his expression. “I am sorry for your loss. What… if you don’t mind me asking what happened to them?”

“Saa was a great woman. An amazing navigator whose body failed her. She had a degenerative illness that eventually meant she had to leave the ship.” He did not want to mention that it was the stress at last which had most likely sped up the condition but those times in his opinion was over with.

“I am very sorry to hear that. I hope she has been able to get the care she needs. I am greatful for her diligence in preparing to leave at least. She has made it much easier for me to get up to speed.” Will was a little greatful to hear the woman had left the ship. Will had half been worried the woman had died, and while the circumstances sounded unfortunate in many ways, she was somewhat relieved to hear the Mary- Rose was not in the habit of killing off navigators.

“It would be helpful, if you are able to, to have a sense of your next moves. There are quite a few gaps in our information, and that will allow me to prioritise gathering data pertaining to our route.”

Gregnol nodded. He did not want to keep dredging up the memory of Dixoho to the woman who had replaced her when she was doing such a good job. He did not want the woman living in anyone's shadow. "I do not have any sense right now with the Rangers asking us to pick up some supplies." He reminded. "After that, we are open."

Will nodded. “Ah yes," the Rangers was an interesting added element to the equation which was the Mary-Rose. “Uhm if you don’t mind me asking, how did that come about? I mean I think I saw it briefly on the paperwork from the Mary-Rose but the Centre don’t really ask for details when it comes to this sort of thing and I was surprised to see quite so many Rangers on board when I arrived.”

"Well, outside of the crew, no one knows what we really are. And it came about because we helped them and found a purpose." Gregnol explained quietly. He knew some places saw them as vigilantes but Gregnol saw them as people doing what Starfleet could not be bothered too anymore.

Will quirked an eyebrow at the Captian’s brief response and shrugged. “Well it makes no difference to me Captain, you have hired me to help you get from point a to b to c. What we do when we get there is entirely your business. I will of course help when and if I can.”

“I hired you also because I was assured it made no difference but also that you knew how to keep secrets and would help keep us out of trouble.” Gregnol replied. He had not often been wrong about crew members in Starfleet or out of Starfleet and he was not convinced that he was now with this woman.

“What secrets?” Will said with a wink, tapping the side of her nose to make it clear she would be discreet if that’s what the Captain needed from her. “Only thing the centre needs to know is the star charts, they won’t ask how we got the information or what we did when we travelled there but…” Will tilted her head and gave the man an assessing look. “You ever need me to change something in my reports, tell me. If there is a good reason to, then I’m sure we can come to a version of the truth that satisfies everyone.” She didn’t see Gregnol getting tied up in too much self-interest. Then again she had been wrong before, still she was afforded a level of autonomy from the centre on Freecloud so she was sure that it would not be such an issue. She had a good feeling about this crew.

"The Watchdog won't care either as long as we do not bring trouble to them, and Indigo will assist there, but I do appreciate that you said that. I believe we can be useful to each other there but I am not the type of man who would require you to do something I am unwilling to do myself or answer to." Gregnol nodded approvingly of her and the choice he had made in employing her, as she seemed like the had a good head on her shoulders which he needed on the crew right now to balance all the problems they had in crew turn over last year.

Will nods, giving the man an easy smile. “I will do what I can, and Captain, there might come a time when you have to ask me to do something you can’t. That is okay. We need not make promises to each other.” Will knew that life in space meant a lack of certainty in many respects. Especially working in this quadrant. “I will do my best. For what it is worth you seem like a good man. And honestly it is nice to be on the move again. Training young navigators was lucrative but… a little stagnant. So thank you for having me on board.”

"You can ask my wife if I am, but I like to think that I am a good man." He said Gregnol inclined his head. "Moving is what we do best." That was easy enough to do; he just needed a navigator to make it happen more. "But I will leave you to your work." He offered thinking he had checked in enough.