Asking the questions that need asking

Posted on Fri Sep 2nd, 2016 @ 12:39am by Captain Rueben Gregnol & Dixoho Saa (*) & Jeassaho Kea (*) & Alika Mahone

Mission: Mission 2 - Contagion
Location: Deck 3 - Ward room
Timeline: MD -10 10:00
2575 words - 5.2 OF Standard Post Measure

ON::

Rueben had been thinking about this meeting for a while but with all the changes of crew and then him by default becoming Captain. It hadn’t been an easy traction with the man having to lower his standards of Starfleet to not drop certain crew members out of airlocks. They were slowly making there way towards Heg'la Station but after a week of travelling from the Starbase he could see that the team was slowly starting to work together.

He looked around the Wardroom and smiled a little at the disgruntled sounds that had come when he had made the decision to make the Ward room for the senior team older, he was trying to bring some type of order to the ship that Barton had left him with.

“Boss,” A young voice said snapping him out of his thoughts as the door wheezed open. He looked up and saw Dixoho Saa walking in looking pale and downcast. Her long red hair was tied up in a loose pony tail and her dark clothes looked baggier than normal.

“Dixoho.” He greeted softly watching as she sat down in one of the couches around the room.

"I think you should get the door fixed." Alika managed to squeak through the door before it closed open, wearing a blue, Starfleet bomber jacket, with the name 'Mahone' embroidered in gold on one of the shoulders. "... I didn't think doors made hideous noises like that." Turning to the pair, she grinned. "Hey! Shoulda brought snacks with me, or is this gunna be a somber meeting? Did someone die?"

"When we have an Engineer that is completely compliant and can get to little jobs i will arrange it i promise." Rueben said as he smiled at Alika. "No this is informal, we are an informal ship remember."

The young pilot trotted past the door, shrugging. It was clear she had no intention of seriously pursuing the topic, though she was always one to lay on the sarcasm."Could always get some grease from the kitchen involved. I bet that'll straighten it right up. Or it might stick the door open so it doesn't make all that noise..."

Rueben just laughed and pointed to a chair to settle her down a little bit.

"What is with the blue, I thought you were red?" He wondered glancing at Dixoho who hadn't reacted to the other woman coming in. He frowned, he would talk to her later but for now he would concentrate on the woman who was willing to talk.

"Mah?" Alika shrugged. "I'm only red in Starfleet, Boss. This is the opposite of Starfleet, right? 'Less there's somethin' I'm missing in the riptide. I definitely remember ya sayin' 'no uniforms required,' though."

"I just wondered if you were being sentimental?" He laughed a little at her statement. "No you are correct no uniforms. I can't be dealing with trying to get anyone to wear something appropriate." Talon Joss reported for the Senior Team meeting. He was not sure what to expect during the meeting. He had been on his own since medical school and had never been part of a team. He had decided to sit back, relax, and observe the others. He definitely could learn a lot from the experience.

Entering the area, he spotted a seat next to Dixoho. He hadn't seen her since their misunderstanding. It may not have been a good idea, but he sat next to her. He needed to continue the Doctor/Patient relationship and follow up with her.

"Hello Dixie," he said, forcing a friendly smile. "How's things?"

Dixoho jumped as Talon sat next to her. She swept her hair out of her face and shrugged. "Fine." she said softly seeing the forced smile and fakeness of his friendliness. Joss noticed Dixoho appeared paler than usual. Normally, Talon would tap Dixoho's hand and ask how the spray was working. However, he didn't want the physical touch to be misconstrued. So, he kept his hands to himself, folding them, not sure what to do with them.

"How's the spray working?" Talon probed Dixie.

"Fine." She repeated softly not entirely sure why he was trying to make conversation. He had made everything crystal clear. She had given him his space as requested.

Talon didn't want the tension between them. He immediately thought of Dixie as a friend from their first meeting. However, he didn't realize until recently how close Dixoho considered their relationship. Her paleness concerned him.

"You're looking pale, my friend," Talon revealed, his face showing that concern. "After the meeting, come see me in sick bay." Dixoho sighed and looked away. Rueben watched the pair carefully, the tension was evident. He glanced up as the door opened and Jeassaho stood there. She wore a tight pair of trousers over a really baggy tee that slipped off one of her shoulders.

"Um I was requested here as the Chief is running late?" She murmured. Rueben rose from his seat and nodded. This was the first time that most people had met Jeassaho.

"Please sit. We're about to start a senior team meeting once Rokar arrives." he said gently. Jeassaho came into the room and sat down on a comfortable looking couch curling herself up into it.

The door was activated once more and grudgingly opened. Entering was the Tellarite chef. She was towing a cart behind her. Once inside, Nann placed a tray of pastries at the center of the table. She then placed a carafe of fresh steaming coffee on either side of the tray. Next, a stack of plates and several cups to each side. Cream and sugar were added to the table as well.

Pausing, to take pride in her work, Nann sat in the seat to Reuben's right. She picked up a plate, placing a pastry upon it. Then filled a cup with coffee, cream, and sugar. Nann sipped on her coffee and awaited the meeting to start.

Finn had slipped in right behind the Tellarite with the cart. It was generally hard for him to sneak anywhere considering the bright red mop of hair on top of his head, but he noticed that he wasn't the only redhead in the room. He passed on the refreshments, nursing the tea he'd brought with him, as he took a seat. He knew he ought to give these people a chance, and he would, but it was just a bit too ingrained in him to not just start taking food and drink from strangers. He'd had a couple of bad experiences that way along his journey. Of course, he'd also had those experiences in some of the seedier bars he'd been in along that journey, but the habit was hard to break.

Rueben smiled a little as everyone was finally assembled. He had, had wanted to have this meeting before hand but it had been impossible with the changes in command and the sheer amount of work that was needed to get Rosie ready to leave.

"Thank you for coming." He started as he made a coffee as he spoke. "I just wanted to start with a thank you for all the hard work." He knew it had been a hard slog to get this old lady ready. "and to give everyone a chance to introduce themselves as you all have most likely only seen each other in passing. As my senior team you guys need to be on friendly terms." He glanced at Talon and Dixoho pointedly. "You guys all know about me so who's first?" He asked looking around.

Nann was emboldened by seemingly being welcomed. She wasn't necessarily invited, only asked to prepare the refreshments for the Senior Team Meeting. Nann brazenly took that as her invitation. She was, after all the head of the kitchen.

The Tellarite stood, her hooves on the table before her. "I'm Chef Nann Groshlugh, chief of the kitchen," she proudly stated. "Whatever your needs for fine cuisine, let me know!"

Dixoho offered a shy smile as she introduced herself in a soft voice. "I'm Dixoho. I'm your Chief Navigator and astrometrics officer." She offered not wanting to go into anymore information. No one needed to know about her, she wasn't staying long. Rueben frowned watching the normally spunky young woman. Jeassaho stayed quiet she didn't know why she was in the meeting apart from maybe to allow Rueben to prove to himself that she was alive.

Talon nodded toward everyone present. "I'm the ship's Doctor. You may call me by my given name, Joss. Any medical concerns, come and see me."

"Pilot," Alika said as she leaned over to pick a pastry from the tray, plopping it on a plate and pulling it back to her seat. "Name's Alika Mahone. I prefer Alika."

"Finn, Finn Bek. Science." Finn stood. "I'm a fair hand with most sciences, grew up with hydroponics and agricultural engineers, but my specialty is linguistics. I've yet to meet a language I can't manage. I figure that may come in handy heading out toward the edge of nowhere."

Jeassaho stood finally and looked at everyone who was staring back at him waiting for her to introduce herself. She smiled softly. "I'm Jeassaho Kea... I guess at the moment as the most senior trained Engineer apart from the Chief i'm the person keeping the Engines going best i can with the lack of maintenance that has been on going." She glanced at Rueben, who smiled encouragingly. "I will be putting processes and things into place but until then if there is anything on going just come and talk to me while we catch up." She said quickly trying to not sound so Starfleet despite herself being highly trained by them, it was just what she knew. She knew the new Chief Engineer was still trying to get his head around how old fashioned the ship was it was why she had come.

Just then the door again tried to slide open, stopping three quarters of the way with a groan. "Gotta put that on the list," Bradon Gordon, the new Chief Engineer, growled as he turned sideways to fit through the door. He looked around, found an empty seat, then settled himself in, nodding to Jeassaho as he did. She had been showing him around the refitted Constitution class ship. She had been doing an excellent job of keeping the old girl running, but there were still a lot of shortcuts that had been taken that needed to be dealt with. If they had the funds, he reminded himself. This wasn't Starfleet.

"This is the Chief. I was just telling them about the processes we are putting in place. The boss is making us introduce ourselfs.." Jeassaho prompted kindly as Rueben smiled at the new Chief.

"Right." Bradon leaned forward a bit onto the conference room table. "I'd been out of Starfleet a few months when I saw the position of Chief posted for the Mary Rose. The idea of serving aboard an old Constitution class interested me, so here I am." He looked around the table for a moment at each of them, then continue. "Please have your sections forward to engineering a list of what needs to be fixed, and what they see as a priority. I don't know when we will get to all of them, but we will get to them." He stopped and leaned back into his chair.

Having never seen either of the engineers before, Alika tilted her head to one side. "Does that mean you'll take requests too, because I have a bone to pick with these-"

Rueben finally stood up again and looked around. "I know things have been difficult with Barton going and me suddenly fitted into being Captain but does anyone have issues that they need to bring to the group?" He said being honest. It was the way he had always been, if he was honest with them he expected people to be honest - even people that lived on the edge of society like most of his crew.

"Chairs." It was almost a dumb request. To be fair, even Alika would have admitted it was pedantic, and a bit needless, but she wanted to ask all the same. "Is there a way we could get less angular chairs? They're probably great for all the tall-types, but I'm of the 'in-between' variety. I know it's hard to find random chairs out there, but if we come across them somewhere down the line... or hidden in one of the cargo decks..."

Rueben glanced at the Engineers before he looked back at Alika not entirely sure convinced he had heard correctly.

"Chairs?" Dixoho wondered looking confused as everyone else. She found her chair comfortable if not old fashioned.

"Chairs," Alika concluded with conviction. "I mean, the pilot's seat works for our other guys, but I'm shorter than all them. I'm used to updated Starfleet chairs that don't make my neck feel like it's gonna have a kink in it every time I try to feel for the back while I'm driving. You know, lower things a little?" She shot Rueben an innocent, loving child look, "Please?"

"I agree... she is pretty short." Jeassaho said as Rueben looked at the woman who was actually a good few inches shorter than herself. Rueben looked at her incredulously for a moment before he rolled his eyes at the Betazoid looking again at his fellow Human.

"I suppose we can arrange something with Engineering to make the chair... adjustable." The Captain said softly as he tried to find the right word to sum up what they needed and adjustable was perfect to describe the period they were going through.

"I think I saw that we have a chair or two down in supplies," Bradon said, speaking up. "When I have a moment I will take a look at them and see what I can do. I might be able to do something for her."

Alika brightened up, almost bouncing in her seat. "You're the best, 'loha. After the Cap, 'course." She winked in Rueben's direction, pleased with the turn of events.

Rueben rolled his eyes at the young woman, he glanced at Jeassaho but she was unreadable as per her norm at the moment. Rueben quickly turned to look at everyone else not letting the blush rise. He wanted to hear from this new team about anything else wrong.

"Anyone else?" He wondered softly trying to gauge people's reactions.

"Sensors," Finn added, sitting forward. "We've got the basics covered, but if we're heading out into the somewhat unknown, anything we can do to bring some of the scavenged sensor systems online or update the ones we've cobbled together would be great. I'd say this request would be a 'nice to have,' not a 'do it or we'll all die.'"

"It's all nice to have in all honesty." The Captain said hoping this conversation wouldn't continue into a list of requests but he had asked after all so only had himself to blame.

OFF::

Rueben Gregnol
Captain
SS Mary Rose

Lieutenant Commander (LOA) Jeassaho Kea
Engineer
SS Mary Rose
(PNPC Gregnol)

Alika Mahone
Chief Pilot
SS Mary Rose

Brandon Gordon
Chief Engineer
SS Mary Rose

Finn Bek
Science Chief
SS Mary Rose

Talon Joss
Chief Doctor
SS Mary Rose