Cue Recruiting Montage
Charles Cadwallader
“Colonel Chandler, Colonel Chandler…” said a young Ensign whom Tank seemed to recall was acting Chief of Strategic Operations, now that former chief had taken his leave of the ship.
Tank patted the young man’s shoulder as he caught his breath, “Take it easy man, the ship isn’t that big.”
“I ran… all the way… from central… station sir…” he was practically panting.
“Well catch your breath and tell me what is so darn exciting that you need to yell my name out so half the ship heard you.” Said the XO with a smile.
The young Ensign took a deep breath and composed himself, their new executive officer had a quiet charm about him, an aspect of being in his presence that made you feel like you wanted to follow him anywhere. Of course his reputation from some of the more rough types aboard the ship was as a stone cold killer, but it was easy to forget that when he was smiling like he was your pop waiting for you to explain something you learned at school.
After he’d caught his breath he quickly explained why he had been running. On a hunch he’d gone off and chatted with a few colleagues who were still pretty close to him, “And I don’t know where it came from before that but it looks like Rekelen figure acquired it at someone’s request.”
“Rekelen?” Tank said wondering where she fit in to everything.
“A Cardassian sir, she’s officially wanted by most governments for piracy and smuggling, or so my friend said but what’s more important is before that she was a member of the Cardassian underground and joined Starfleet. She’s supposed to be an operations wizard. Heck, according to some people she’s the one that brokered the deal for the Breen to serve as the front line of the Ferengis during the Borg incursion of ’81.”
By this time the young Ensign was quite out of breath again, what he’d said was quite a mouth full. “Okay Ensign…”
“Parnell, sir.”
“Ensign Parnell, this is excellent work, keep it up.” He said with a wink as he turned and changed his direction back towards his quarters, more importantly back towards Bob’s office.
As he approached the door he heard raised voices and for a moment thought to reach for a sidearm that wasn’t there. Then he recognized one of the voices as Bob Martens and the other as Treyla, their volatile yet affable chief engineer. Knowing better than to enter Tank stood next to the door momentarily, he couldn’t make out what they were saying but he distinctly heard something thrown hit hard against a bulkhead and suddenly the door was open an a very perturbed Bajoran woman stormed down the corridor not even noticing the XO standing off to the side trying to keep a smirk from his face lest he bring down her wrath as well.
Before the hatch could slide shut Tank stepped up and through it and completely ignoring the bit of shattered glass that was behind the CO’s desk just as he made it seem like nothing was out of the ordinary, “Boss you’ll want to check this out.” He said handing over a PADD.
On it was the information Ensign Parnell had given him, as well as a quick summary of how he’d come by it. Furthermore was a portion of a document highlighting the absence of a senior staff. While most of the crew had been assigned for one reason or another, as was traditional the senior staff was left up to the Captain’s discretion.
Davidson had been the exception to the rule and while there were people performing the roles already they were often times subordinates and junior officers who were merely holding down the fort until they had either been assigned there permanently or someone came along to relieve them.
Bob was reading over the material quickly as Tank kept talking, “We need a Chief Operations and this Rekelen seems to be right up our wheelhouse. But you know who I’d like to see right now?” Tank left the question hold for the briefest of pauses, “Lieutenant Krezek. We need him aboard, his skills would be invaluable in getting our crew squared away and making sure no more sudden transfers are in order. Not to mention searching out a senior staff.”
(Tag Bob & Adam)
--Charles E. L. Cadwallader
"Aut viam inveniam aut faciam" - "I will either find a way or make one"