JP: Cmdr. Karrod Niac & Lt. Cmdr. Toryn Raga: For All Your Tomorrows (Part 1)
Karrod Niac
((Captain’s Ready Room, Deck 3, USS Ronin))
With most of his possessions still in transport crates or on their way over from the Arrow, Karrod’s new office aboard the Ronin was fairly unadorned and lacking in the kind of personal mementos and bric a brac that tended to accumulate in the domain of a senior staff officer. Fortunately, Starfleet Command had been kind enough to provide alternative decorations for their newest commanding officer in the form of padds. Dozens of them. Padds which seemed able to self-replicate the moment he looked away from them, leaving more padds in their wake even when he completed some urgent item on the endless task lists, which themselves seem to generate their own sublists, which of course necessitated more padds. It was a geometric progression of paddwork that threatened to crush him beneath its exponentially increasing administrative mass.
Haphazardly stacked in towers that were making an earnest attempt to reach the ceiling of the compartment, loosely organized into piles that had at one point seemed sensible and now seemed outright comical, the padds had become his first true nemesis as a commanding officer. Tossing a certification report from Utopia Planitia onto the mound that was loosely labeled ‘important-ish,’ Karrod leaned back in the chair behind his sleek new desk and put a hand to his spotted temples, attempting to massage away the stress headache that was forming behind his eyes.
It had been a long trip from the Par’tha Expanse both in distance and the quantity of time that it had taken for the Al-Leyan that now approached the Captain’s Ready Room door. It had taken only a day to leave the Expanse, as opposed to the week-ish it would have taken to make it from Shemsh to the exit of the Jenatris Corridor into normal space. If only because he’d left directly from the Astraeus while she was still within the Jenatris Cloud at the Lighthouse. They’d been escorted to the Corridor by the Galaxy class vessel since the smaller vessel wouldn’t have fared well long within the Cloud’s gasses and debris.
While that fortuitousness had enabled himself and the handful of others that came with him from the Astraeus to their new posting on the Ronin, it had also meant that Toryn had less time for farewells for the Starfleet family he’d lived and served with for the past, almost six years. They’d caught up to him and were now on board as well.
He’d barely had a moment’s rest since his arrival aboard the Ronin. She was an older Akira and had been refit, but they had far more to do to get her ready for launch.
Within him, Niac offered some choice advice about how to tackle the load but the six radically different perspectives clashed against one another and ultimately only fueled his headache further. He jabbed at his abdomen with his thumb to quiet them as the door to his office chimed. He barked towards the ceiling without opening his eyes.
Niac: Come!
The Al-Leyan stepped into the familiar ready room with a lethargic look about him and looked at the Captain with a raised brow.
Raga: Hello, Captain…is everything alright?
Karrod sighed and shook his head apologetically. He gestured towards the bureaucratic detritus that was rapidly consuming his office.
Niac: Sorry Commander, I was worried the padds had somehow gained sentience and were now scheduling their own meetings. What can I do for you?
Raga: Well, hopefully your philosophical musings can take a respite while we’re at the launch. ::He said in amusement::
Karrod’s eyes widened as he glanced back to the chrono on his desk to discover that, yes, he had been shambling his way through paddwork for the better part of six hours and, if not for his XO’s timely warning, would’ve been late to one of the only formal functions in his entire professional history that he’d genuinely looked forward to.
Niac: Thanks Number One. I’m starting to see why you came so highly recommended by Captain Mei’Konda. Hopefully my dress whites are in one of the crates that already made it to my quarters or this is going to be a very awkward introduction to the crew.
Number One. It was going to take some time getting used to being called that.
Raga: Of course. ::He smirked:: If all else fails we can replicate you some skants.
Karrod gawped, blinked, then barked a laugh that caused the nearest pile of padds to rattle apart and scatter across his desk.
Niac: If I show up in skants they’ll have me out the airlock before the end of the day. Besides, we’d need the main phaser array to shave my legs and the last engineering report I read said it’s still offline. ::Karrod stood and stretched his back with a groan.:: Let's go, you can make sure I don’t get lost. I’m still getting used to a ship where the Bridge isn’t on deck one.
Raga: Certainly. Remind me to have Engineering make a deck map to hang in your office.
((Twenty minutes later, Main Shuttlebay, Deck 9, USS Ronin))
After spending the last year serving on the tenacious but tiny Arrow the massive interior spaces aboard the Ronin were very nearly overwhelming to Karrod. Nowhere was that more true than here, the supremely cavernous main shuttlebay. Originally meant to house dozens of fighter craft when the Akira class was the tip of the Federation’s spear against the Dominion, the volume was now dominated by shuttlecraft and runabouts, workbees and cargo handlers and all other manner of small craft. Their new loadout was meant to make the venerable old Ronin more versatile but with the deteriorating conditions in the Isles and the dangers presented by their upcoming mission, he wondered if it was too late to get a few of those fighters back aboard just in case. Karrod tried to put those thoughts aside as he straightened his dress uniform jacket and nodded to his XO.
Toryn felt at ease walking among the corridors of the Akira class ship. It hadn’t been that long since he’d served on the Chin’toka. A much newer, improved version of the vessel they now strode within. While this one had differences, like how the power conduits had a slightly different pitch than the Chin’toka had, it was a familiar ship to him in so many ways. He nodded back at his Commanding Officer and similarly adjusted his own dress whites. His long hair hung over his shoulders. He was grateful to have taken the medication earlier to help with his headaches. Starfleet ships were always too bright.
As the two of them entered a boatswain's whistle rang out and the low din of chatter across the deck hushed. When he at last stood behind the small raised podium that bore the ship's crest, five hundred sets of boots snapped to the deck in ringing synchronicity. Karrod looked out towards row after row of expectant, eager faces. Crew from dozens of species looked back at him, officers and enlisted personnel alike, each with questions and concerns and hopes and expectations. All at once the enormity of the task he was taking on crystalized into something nearly overwhelming. Fortunately, unlike the endless paddwork cluttering up his office and slowly suffocating him, these people empowered him to be more than he ever could have possibly been alone. He wanted nothing more in that moment then to serve them well, to protect them from the dangers in the dark and bring them all home again, and made a silent entreaty to the cosmos to treat this crew…his crew…with kindness. He looked down to the padd on the lectern and chuckled very inappropriately before picking up the hated device and reading aloud.
With a raised brow the Al-Leyan stood beside his CO while he read from the padd and cast his reflective eyes out at the assembled crew before the pair. Scant few familiar faces looked back at him. In fact, only those that had journeyed with him from Par’tha were so. He had a lot of new people to get to know beyond personnel files. He clasped his hands behind his back as the CO relayed his orders.
Niac: Commander Karrod Niac, you are hereby requested and required to take command of the Starship USS Ronin on or about stardate 240009.20. Signed, Vice Admiral Makisig Corcino, Starfleet Command.
[TBC]
================================
Commander Karrod Niac
Commanding Officer
USS Ronin - NCC-34523
V239509GT0
&
Lieutenant Commander Toryn Raga
First Officer
USS Ronin NCC-34523
Writer ID: A239410TR0
https://wiki.starbase118.net/wiki/index.php?title=Toryn_Raga