LtCmdr Connor Dewitt - Here We Are Again

[Tim]

((Docking Ports, Deep Space 33))

This place had not exactly been designed for moments like this. But they had taken every measure to make it more ceremonial. Glass panels arched behind the stage into vast windows directly into space. Beyond it, the USS Khitomer rested in her berth. Connor could make out the scarred plating that had been newly patched. Her lights were running against the dark. Even from here the new XO could make out the familiar lines of the ship that had been his entire world for the last months.

He tugged at the sleeve of his dress uniform again. Red. It still felt strange.

The fabric sat perfeclty. Of course. It was tailored exactly to regulation. But Connor kept adjusting it like it might suddenly revert back to gold if he pulled hard enough.

Behind him, the murmur of officers and crew filled the atrium. It felt like hundreds of them. Mostly, it was Khitomer’s crew, but they would not be able to tell if somebody from the station personnel would attend. They all gathered in loose clusters in front of the small stage and the bar in the back.

Connor exhaled slowly as a calm voice came from behind him.

Naxell: Response

Connor glanced sideways at his new Captain, folding his hands behind his back to avoid tugging at his uniform any further. He looked at the calm flashing of the Khitomer’s position lights. He let out a small breath through his nose.

C. Dewitt: Terrified, Sir.

Naxell: Response

C. Dewitt: I’ve crawled through plasma conduit maintenance tunnels during warp core instabilities that felt less stressful than this. ::pause:: If I pass out up there, please tell them it was a bold leadership experiment.

Naxell: Response

Connor glanced at the stage again and turned to Naxell.

C. Dewitt: Well, don’t take this the wrong way, Sir. But his feels like going up there and telling them that Mum and Dad are gone and we are what they are stuck with now.

Connor was aware that this interpretation was probably closer to his own state of mind than to anyone else’s in the room. Most of the crew likely did not feel the moment with the same intensity he did. But standing there in red, feeling the weight of the position he had just stepped into, it was hard for him to separate the meaning of an awards ceremony from his own state of mind. The burden of his new uniform had a way of blurring even the most logical thoughts. And for the moment, that made the task ahead feel far less straightforward than it should.

Naxell: Response

C. Dewitt: We’ll adapt. Respectfully, Sir, the next time I ask you to open this ceremony, please deny my wish.

Naxell: Response

Connor smiled as he looked towards his crew again. He inhaled once more and then stepped forward into the lights that illuminated the small stage. The murmur of the crowd softened as he walked up the short set of steps. The view through the great window filled the space behind him with the Khitomer witnessing what was about to happen.

He rested one hand on the podium and for a moment just stood there and looked out at them. Familiar faces. Friends. Family.

Then he allowed himself another small smile.

C. Dewitt: As a friend of mine used to say on occasions like this… Here we are again.

He drew a quiet breath.

C. Dewitt: Before we get to why we’re all here tonight, there’s something I want to address first. ::beat:: Some of you may already have heard… Others may have guessed, and a few of you probably saw the uniform and figured it out immedieately. Standing here as the First Officer of the USS Khitomer is not something I expected to happen this soon.

A brief pause followed as Connor looked into the rows of familiar faces. Only briefly he saw Talia’s eyes fixated on him and had to fight the disappearance of his voice.

C. Dewitt: Captain Shayne and Commander Hobart have led this crew through some of the hardest months most of us have ever seen. Through battles we didn’t choose. Through losses none of us wanted. And through the long shadow of the Lattice Alliance.

He paused and pinched his index finger to keep the tears where they were.

C. Dewitt: And through all of that they reminded us what Starfleet is supposed to be. They reminded us of why we are out here with a family of four hundred.

He glanced across the crew again and let his words settle before continuing.

C. Dewitt: Many of us have carried scars from the last year. Some visible. Some not. ::pause:: Tonight is not just about recognition. It is also about turning a page. A new chapter begins for Khitomer today. One where, hopefully, we begin to heal from what countless fights have left behind.

He stepped slightly aside from the podium.

C. Dewitt: And every new chapter needs someone to lead it. I haven’t known him for very long. But in the short time, his advice has already had a significant impact on my life. ::pause with a smile:: And you can ask my wife, that’s something I don’t say lightly. 

He smiled and briefly looked towards Naxell next to the stage, then back at the Khitomer crew. He kept his voice calm.

C. Dewitt: I look forward to a new chapter and to seeing where he will lead this crew next. It’s my honor to introduce the new commanding officer of the USS Khitomer… ::a small gesture of invitation:: Commander Naxell.

Naxell/Any: Response

((OOC: This sim marks the beginning of our Award’s Ceremony, a regular thing at the end of shore leave. Feel free to sim how your characters arrive and react up to this point. The beginning of the Ceremony also marks the end of shore leave. You can slowly start to wrap up your open scenes within the coming days as we are about to head into a new mission soon.))

TBC

LtCmdr Connor Dewitt
First Officer
USS Khitomer
A239901CD3