Staffing the Lower Decks Part 1

Posted on Sat Jun 25th, 2016 @ 6:57pm by Captain Rueben Gregnol

Mission: Mission 1 - Bridges
Location: Coffee Lounge
Timeline: MD 03 09:55
1762 words - 3.5 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

Mishka was excited. It was her first real job interview. The first time she'd ever plotted her own course in life. She'd come from a poor family on Orion, and had entered a form of contract servitude to ensure a life of relative comfort and stability... not to mention a pension for when she grew old. In a way she'd been disappointed that Rinza had released her from her contract a few decades early. Her retirement was secure, and it felt like she'd cheated the other woman out of years of loyal service. But overall she was glad to be free. She could travel. She could learn a new skill that interested her. And if she was lucky, she could find a mate of her own choosing, instead of being provided with some semblance of companionship.

It all sounded well and good, but first Mishka had to prove that she was worthy of the job, and that she could do things on her own. She had a basic education, zero formal skills, and she'd been told what to do her entire adult life. At least she was still young,

The coffee shop Mishka was instructed to meet at for the interview was starting to fill up, but she couldn't tell if the man she was expecting was already there. She was not accustomed to Human faces and features. Was Master Gregnol the man with the chocolate brown skin? The one with hair like gold-pressed latinum? No.... on second glance that one was female. Was he the one with the bushy brown beard? Or the one with the narrow eyelids? She had no idea. At least in the coffee shop it would be easy to find her. The application she'd filed had had an optional item for species, which she'd filled out. She was the only Orion there.

Rueben sat in the dark corner nursing the biggest coffee he could find this early in the morning. He had been sent on behalf of Barton seeing the man couldn’t be found. Hopefully he would show up half way through before Rueben had to make a choice. Sure he had been an XO of a vessel but he never had to really sort out the staffing of said ship. Starfleet and the Captain normally sorted that his job had been to organise, keep the ship safe and occasionally sort out discipline issues. He looked up as he saw an Orion looking around confused. He indicated for her to come over.

“Merry Me…" He paused, he had to get out of the habit of talking Betazed or Russain... Standard was what most people on the ship was speaking. "Good Morning Mishka isn’t it?” He looked at the scrap of paper to check he had said it correctly. This early in the morning he was lucky to not have a pounding headache or in general be aching.

Mishka spotted Gregnol's gesture and moved to sit across from him. She set down a drink of her own... what the barista had called a raktajino. It was stronger than the kind of coffee that she was used to, but it was very good and she couldn't stop sipping at it. After setting down her drink she offered something like a formal curtsy, though whether it was an Orion variant or a poor attempt at the old Human custom was open to debate. She smiled as Gregnol said her name with perfect pronunciation. Granted her name was not that difficult compared to other Orion names, but she'd heard it mispronounced several times by customs and immigration officials over the past few days and it was very nice to hear someone actually get it right.

"Yes, Master Gregnol." She replied, fearing that she'd managed a less-than-stellar pronunciation of his name. "Thank you for taking the time to meet with me." By her speech and mannerisms Mishka seemed very formal and polite. She was young, looking to be in her early twenties or so, and had dark olive green skin common among full-blooded Orions. Her black hair was done up in a braided bun, and she had dark eyes with violet flecks that seemed to shimmer in the light. She wore a black dress with blue accents that seemed fashionable and edgily appropriate for her age, but it was tasteful enough for a job interview. Among Humans she would no doubt be seen as exotic, but among Orions her physical features would be plain and ordinary..

The older man shook his head at her calling him Mister, that wasn't him at all. Mister Gregol was his father, he was Rueben... Just Rueben now. The man wore dark trousers, dark boots, dark tee with a battered leather jacket on over it. He looked like a shadow.

"Rueben is fine." He assured quickly shaking his head. He took in her young appearance, he wasn't liking how young some of the crew were. "I am sorry that the Captain wasn't able to meet you himself. Hopefully he will pop along in a little bit.... So what do you think you can bring to the Mary Rose?" He asked a pretty standard question.

Mishka nodded at the correction. She had no problem calling people what they wished to be called, except for Rinza. It was difficult to see her as anything but her former master. Her brow furrowed as she thought up a response to Rueben's first question. It was a standard question, but as Mishka had never been interviewed for a job before it was a surprise. She'd almost assumed that they would tell her what kind of skills they were looking for. This was almost the exact opposite and it forced her to face her weaknesses head-on."

"Well..." Mishka said, "I'm organized, discrete and a hard worker." She began, offering perhaps the most basic description of her skill-set. She dug deeper to provide some more specific examples, but it was hard to come up with anything that didn't make her look like a household maid. "I've done custodial and culinary work in the past. And I'm very good at it. I can clean anything that needs tidying up, and I can prepare a variety of Human and Orion meals... perhaps for your entire crew. I'm also very good at finding things.... and I remember everything. You'll never need to tell me something twice." Mishka tried to look confident, but she felt very self-conscious about her shortcomings. She wanted to say that she was very eager to learn a new trade or skill, but so far this interview seemed to focus on what she could offer the ship, and not the other way around.

Organized, discrete, hard worker, custodial and culinary chef... He listened to her words carefully. He could see her nerves but that was okay, nerves made people think.

"It sounds like you have a very general list of abilities. To be honest we are looking for a scientist or pilot." He admitted softly. His voice for all his outer grumpiness in appearance was warm. He didn't want to turn anyone away especially if like himself they were in a bad way looking for an escape.

Mishka deflated slightly. "I'm afraid I'm not either of those." She said. Piloting a starship sounded very exciting, but unfortunately she didn't know the first thing about it. It no doubt required considerable training. Mishka's expression did brighten again for a moment, but then she returned to looking somewhat uncertain. "I do know a scientist. A very good one. I came to this station with her. She wants to get her doctorate..." Mishka trailed off, realizing she was saying more than Rinza would have liked to someone she didn't know. She took a sip of her raktajino, to make it seem like she paused because she was thirsty.

"I don't know if she's found work yet, or what her plans are really..." She shrugged, as if to convey that they would have to ask Rinza to find out more. Mishka was almost hesitant to ask. Rueben seemed professional and serious, and she imagined he wanted reliable and trustworthy people on the ship. Who wouldn't? Rueben did look a little shady, mainly due to his preference for dark clothing, but Mishka knew enough about her former mistress to know that Rinza was probably much shadier.

"Would you know how to contact her and bring her here?" The man wondered taking a deep gulp of the bitter coffee to cure his hangover. It used to be so easy before, he never needed to drink to drown out the self loathing and the memories of a tiny brunette laughing at him in a way that made him shiver and want to throw away everything that Starfleet was making him do and go off and find her.

Mishka looked mildly uncomfortable. She tried to hide it, but it was there for anyone who was perceptive enough to notice. "I can contact her..." She said, nodding. Even though Mishka was no longer a slave, she still felt a strong bond of loyalty and subservience to her former master. Granted, Rinza had been a lenient mistress, but Mishka would find it difficult to insist that she do anything.

"Can you please... I would like to make you both an offer." He said softly trying to put her at ease. If this scientist was coming along he wouldn't feel so guilty about letting the youngling along.

"Sure... right now?" Mishka asked. Last she'd heard, Rinza had stated her intent to start off the day by getting drunk in a bar. The immigration officials had most likely rejected her application. Mishka almost shuddered. That had been over an hour ago, and she knew poor Rinza well enough to know that she couldn't handle her alcohol very well. If Rueben wanted to meet her today, then she'd have to hurry.... or this offer might get messy.

"Right now would be nice. I can wait." He assured with a small smile at her. "Barton might have arrived by the time you have found her and returned. I will have another coffee waiting." He promised indicating to the barman for another round of drink.

Mishka nodded and took a final sip of her drink. She took that as her cue to go fetch Rinza, and she hurried out of the coffee shop. She gave it a fifty-fifty chance that the other woman would actually agree to come back with her.

OFF:

Rueben Gregnol
Executive Officer
SS Mary Rose

Mishka Navvu
Potential Crewmember
SS Mary Rose