Lieutenant Jacob "Cob" Harkrow - There's Somethin' Happening Here

7 views
Skip to first unread message

James Barratt

unread,
Jun 7, 2019, 12:34:04 AM6/7/19
to sb118-m...@googlegroups.com
(OOC: I think I managed to find them all, but apologies if I missed anyone’s tags.)

(( ‘The Den’ Lounge, Caitian Spacedocks ))

::Cob heard someone move up from behind him, and the Captain stepped into the conversation. As he spoke, he seemed to fix Cob with a brief stare, and his tone sounded genial but also entirely serious.::

Mei’konda:  Good afternoon, everyone.  Hello, Lieutenant Riley.  Mister Harkrow, I hope you learn quiickly that your assignment as Chief Engineer aboard the Astraeus will both be your rewaard and your curse for the good job you did aboard the Montreal.

Riley: Sir.

Ukinix: ::Offering his hand:: Sir, it’s an honour to meet you.  I’m sorry to hear about the Montreal, but congrats on ::Looking out window:: the new ship.  ::Looking back at Mei’konda:: And your impending promotion.

Vanlith: ::offering her hand after Wil:: It is an honour, sir.

:: One at a time, the Caitian offered a pleasant nod to Ukinix and Vanlith with an accompanying shake of his soft-furred hand. ::

G'var:::holding out her prosthetic hand::-Captain it's an Honour to meet you as well. ::clasping his shoulder:: You have Honoured your Crew and Starfleet by you actions on the Montreal ::smiling:: you have secured your place in Sto'Vo'Kor. ::holding her fist out:: Q'APLA!

Mei’konda: That’s a relief.  I can thiink of worse plaaces to spend the rest of eternity.

Teller:  Real pleasure to see you again sir.  

::Cob let his tone match Mei’konda’s; joking about it helped dull the edges, but the loss of the Montreal had been hard, even if the sacrifice had been both worthy and necessary.::

Harkrow: Don’t worry, Sir; I’m already brushing up on my trans-warp theory. I won’t let you down, Captain.

:: As the others responded, the Caitian smiled politely their way, ears angled toward Riley more often than not. ::

Mei’konda: Commander Mei’konda Delano.  Commander for the next few miinutes, at least.  Mister Teller, it is good to see you again.  These are your junior officers aboard the Veritas?

Teller:  Yes sir - This is Assistant Chief Engineer Wil Ukinix and this is Ensign Charlena Vanlith.  Wil's been aboard since shortly after your transfer and Charlena joined us during our last mission.  Best engineers in the fleet - No offence, Chief Cob.

:: Following Teller’s indications, Mei’konda greeted the two young engineers with a respectful nod. ::

Ukinix:  ::Cheekily:: And we love him for it.

G'var:::entwining her arm back trough Wil's:: I'd say more like we don't attempt to murder him in his sleep, ::Smiling at Geoff:: kidding Geoff, You are a dear friend and a stalwart companion, by Kahless I could ask for none finer.

Teller:  Appreciate it G'var - I'll know somethings really wrong if you ever stop threatening to kill me.  
 
Mei’konda: And I suppose we should get you accustomed to the Astraeus soon, Mr. Riley.  I think you’ll like it there.

Ukinix: ::To Riley, cheerfully:: You’re a lucky man.

Riley: Thanks.  :: then, to Mei’konda :: I’ve yet to go aboard, sir. I have been reading up on her specifications, though. Looks like a beauty.

G'var:::looking out at the Astreaus::- She is a Beautiful Lady Lieutenant ::smiling:: treat her well and she'll bring you home every time.

Teller:  The ship is magnificent, Commander.  Starfleet doesn't build them like that anymore.  Feels like you'll be taking a whole different era with you.  

::Cob looked out at the ship with the other officers. It was true, there was just something about the graceful, sweeping lines of a Galaxy-class starship, so different from the more aggressive profiles of both earlier and later Starfleet vessels. More than anything, it felt like a symbol, the flagship of a civilization more interested in diplomacy and discovery than in projecting strength through force of arms. It was a ship that said “we come in peace” and really meant it, even if it also carried plenty of firepower to deal with anyone feeling particularly un-peaceful.::

Harkrow: I feel like I know exactly what you mean.

Teller / Vanlith: Responses

Mei’konda: Yes, she is.  And she will contiinue to be, under Mr. Harkrow’s thoughtful caare.

::Cob gave Commander Mei’konda a close-lipped smile and a nod, genuinely thankful for the vote of confidence. He hadn’t decided whether he wanted to say anything more when Lieutenant Galven joined them.::

Galven: ::chuckles:: I sure think I’ve already gotten myself accustomed to the new assignment. ::to Teller:: I saw a while ago you were stuck in some kind of… what was it called? Limbo? For how many days? ::arches an eyebrow:: Sounds like you didn’t pay any attention to my lectures at all.

Teller: Don't think you would've done any better using a coconut as a chalkboard, Doc.  

G'var:::placing her fingers in the Bridge of her nose::- Does everyone in the Federation know about our Classified Mission? ::rolling her eyes::

Teller: Response

Galven: ::laughs:: I’m only teasing. Congratulations on your promotion, though. I’ll send you a chalkboard as a gift.

Ukinix: Hey, potentially dumb question, but - what’s a “chalk board”?

G'var:::Squeezing Wil's Hand::-Why it's a board for Chalk Beloved ::winking at the Denobulan:: A mighty gift Lieutenant, ::pointing to Wil and Geoff:: one they could both use.

Teller:  ::smirking at G'var's jab:: We did just fine using a chunk of shuttle hull on Limbo.

Harkrow: Don’t feel dumb, I had to look it up when Lieutenant Galven said his science office just had to have one. It’s an ancient Earth invention for information display and, to a limited degree, storage. If you’ve heard of cuneiform? Where they pressed a stylus into wet clay tablets and then baked them to make the information permanent? A chalkboard’s only a little more primitive than that.

Galven: Oh, but Lieutenant Harkrow here was able to make one. ::takes a sip of his drink and turns to Harkrow:: Which reminds me, I’ll need a few of those aboard the Astraeus. Please and thank you kindly!

::Cob shook his head. At least it’d be faster this time; it’d taken days to find a pattern for a chalkboard that wasn’t a prop from a period holonovel about being a 19th-Century frontier schoolteacher or a mid-20th-Century atomic weapons researcher. Although, he realized, the pattern they’d settled on was in the same database as his uniform patterns, and therefore part of the still-expanding cloud of individual atoms smeared across the orbit of Karraka.::

G'var:::taking a sip of her drink::- Are you to be the Chief of Sciences aboard the Astreaus then? :: holding her glass up:: I can envy you that, I hear that the Galaxy Classes are well equipped with all sorts of state of the art equipment ::smirking:: Will we ever see you again?

Galven: Only if I need to lecture Mr. Teller over here again. ::smirks and takes a sip::

Teller:  ::shaking his head ruefully::  You know the Fleet is going to absolute hell in a handbasket when they start giving this lunatic more laboratory equipment to play with.  ::To Mei'Konda:: Respectfully sir, you might want to reconsider your staffing.  You're just begging for one of his "science projects" to turn the whole ship purple.  

:: Mei’konda chuckled. ::

Mei’konda: You won’t fiind better outside of a starbase or a dedicaated science ship.  If you’re aable to run a science depaartment the size of the Astraeus’ with chalk boards, Mr. Galven, I will be singularly impressed.  Anyway, Lieutenant Teller, Lieutenant Galven’s science experiiments are what emergency bulkheads are for.

Harkrow: And plasma fire suppression systems, and active tachyon screening fields, and… ::He let the comment trail away, grinning amiably at Galven.::

Teller / G’var / Galven: Responses

Mei’konda: That’s no sliight against the Veritas.  After all.  She has pulse phasers.

Ukinix: Anyone for a beverage?

Vanlith: Please. A Risian Mai Tai.
 
:: The Risian woman spoke quietly, and Mei’konda offered her a reassuring smile before shaking his head back at Ukinix. ::

Mei’konda: Thaank you, but I’m fine.

Riley: Some flavor of whiskey, if you have one.

G'var:::looking at her empty glass::-More of whatever this is,  please Beloved

Galven: I’ll take a Cardassian sunrise with a twist, please.

Ukinix: Hi, my name’s Wil, I’ll be your waiter for this evening.

 :: Wil then gave the waiter a smile and a wink.  He took a red wine off the tray and raised his glass.  Vanlith raised her glass also and had a sip. ::

Galven: ::chuckles and arches an eyebrow:: Don’t get too good at it or they’ll hire you as their maître d' by the end of the night.

Teller:  ::smiling::  No way I'm letting that happen, Doc.  Without Wil in the shop I might have to do some real work, and that's no good.  ::Teller passed Wil a friendly nod with the backhanded compliment.::

Ukinix: Here’s cheers everyone.

G'var:::raising her glass::- 'IwlIj jachjaj

:: Riley raised his in the direction of the Caitian. ::

Riley: To your success, captain.
 
Galven: Well deserved promotion, sir.
 
Teller:  Here here, Captain.
 
:: Mei’konda lifted what was left in his own mug toward the others, then took a sip. ::
 
Mei’konda: To that of us all.  To the Veritas, the Astraeus, and both of their crews.  And partiicularly, the Montreal.
 
::German looked down at his glass, lifted it to his lips, then kissed the rim. He brought his attention back to everyone else and then took a sip.::
 
Galven: To the Montreal. She was a fine ship.
 
::Cob raised his own glass.::
 
Harkrow: To the Montreal. Her sacrifice was not in vain.
 
Riley / Teller / Ukinix / Vanlith / G’var: Responses

::After the toast, people started to wander off to join other conversations, and Cob found himself taking a seat next to one of the windows where he had a view of both the Astraeus and the lounge’s dance floor, where the band had set up and begun to play. For a little while, he lost himself in thought. He didn’t know whether he should expect the Astraeus to be less of a challenge than the Montreal had been, or more. There’d certainly be fewer problems with just keeping the lights on and the O2 flowing, and the full refit meant they wouldn’t constantly be jury-rigging on top of systems that were already mostly made up of other jury-rigs. On the other hand, getting the quantum slipstream drive not to tear the ship apart meant shunting warp power into structural integrity, which meant increased hull shear due to the reduced warp field, which meant boosting the SIF even further, which meant further reducing the warp field… it was like the pre-warp rocket equation, the whole system requiring careful balance to even work at all.::

::Cob shook his head. This wasn’t an occasion for getting into the weeds about warp field operations. This was a celebration, and a chance for the Admiralty to recognize the Captain’s excellent service, and with any luck, a chance to dance with some people, maybe make some new friends; maybe even more than friends, though Cob wasn’t going to get his hopes up on that one.::

::Speaking of the Admiralty, though, wasn’t Admiral Washington supposed to be here by now? Cob looked around the room. Not only was there no Admiral present, there was also no Mei’konda. Or Rosek, or Galven, or really anyone from the Montreal’s bridge crew, and he was fairly certain several of the Veritas’ crew were missing as well. He stood up slowly, curious, but just as he was about to start asking around, Commander Rosek and Lieutenant Galven came back in the door, seeming maybe a little ruffled but otherwise fine. Cob shook his head again and sat back down. Everything was probably fine; no need to go imagining problems where none existed.::

::Cob reached over to pick up his glass from the table, but found it oddly absent. Turning to look more closely, he saw a blur of movement between another chair and the bulkhead under the window. Standing again, he walked slowly toward the chair, then stopped when the toe of his boot tapped something hard. He looked down; his glass lay on one side on the carpet, the last of the green liquid dribbling out, and the citrus peel garnish looked like something had… chewed it almost in half?::

Harkrow: What in the...

Any: Response

TAG/TBC

----------
Lieutenant Jacob Harkrow
Chief Engineer
USS Astraeus NCC-70652
----------

M239510JH0

Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages