Reporting for duty

Posted on Sun Jun 30th, 2024 @ 5:36am by Captain Qierress & Lieutenant Commander Mateo Rodriguez Acosta

1,596 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: 1 - Third Contact
Location: Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: MD01 - 0900

Nice thing about being senior staff. No waiting in line forever to report for duty. Bad thing about being senior staff. You got to report straight to the Captain. Mateo tugged on the front of his uniform tunic, making sure it was straight and stepped forward to the door, so that the computer signaled his arrival.

After a pleasant chat with her XO, Qierress had retired to her Ready Room. Federation ships were rather stark, so decorations were in order; however, the question was what decorations and where. Whatever they would be, they must have appropriate homage to her crystal culture. "Come in," she announced in a slightly slithering voice as she started looking at the bare shelves.

Mateo's first impression of the captain was that she is every bit as green as rumors had said about Gelrakians. His second impression was that she was shorter than him. He wondered if all her species were that short, or just her. "Lieutenant ..." he stumbled for a moment over the new rank, "Commander Mateo Rodriguez Acosta. Your Chief Flight Control Officer, reporting for duty."

"Ah!" Qierress answered simply, yet with some interest. She faced him completely and said absent-mindedly, "I don't know how the Federation can operate with such starkness. It is almost as if you want everyone to die from boredom." Switching topics, she said, "So you are the lucky person that gets to fly the Quebec. Tell me, Commander, how did you get so lucky to get our ship?"

"I couldn't say, Ma'am." Sir? Did Gelrakians have some other term he was supposed to use? "I'm just lucky to get to serve about such a beautiful ship." Not that he'd be doing much of the actual flying.

"Well, maybe I could determine it from your history. Tell me about yourself and your past duties."

"I served the last six year aboard the Niantic. Our primary mission was planetary survey work, though obviously we were expected to handle anything that might come up if we were in the area. Mostly humanitarian aid. the last three years that I served as helm on the Alpha shift." He paused, trying to gauge if that was the sort of information she was looking for.

"Did you find anything interesting? Have any notable battles?"

"Ran into Orion pirates a couple times. Found one isolationist colony that was very much not interested in us at all. They weren't violent about it, or anything. Just refused to talk to us and dumped manure on the away team who beamed down. Now, if you're asking if I know flying, I spent the three years before that on the Callaghan, navigating post-battle debris fields during the War. Those are harder flying than any battle I've been in."

Qierress' eyes blinked once in a lizard-like manner and stayed open unnaturally long thereafter. "What were you doing in debris fields for three years?"

Mateo was starting to think that the Captain hadn't bothered to read even the records of her senior staff. "Recovering survivors, if there were any. Bodies to send home to their families if there weren't."

"Necessary but ungrateful work," Qierress told Mateo. "How many were you able to recover?"

If he'd tried to count, if he'd focused on anything but the job in front of him, he would have gone mad. "Not enough."

"I'm sorry," the Captain responded sincerely. "I am surprised that Starfleet tried for so long, though. It seems reckless to allow those missions to continue for so long. Nonetheless, I am glad to have you here with us. Hopefully we will not have to count on those skills too often."

"I'd be perfectly happy if I never have to help clean up another battlefield in my life," Mateo said.

"Understandable. Hopefully, we can get back to serving Federation ideals rather than fighting. But tell me, what is it that you want to do with yourself? Is this the height of your career or do you have greater aspirations?"

Mateo rubbed at his beard, thinking. "This is my first senior staff posting. From here, for helm, it's generally the captain's chair, but there are other options. Not sure I'm reckless enough for the test pilot. And there's the Academy. I know all the jokes about 'those who can't do, teach' but I think it's important to pass on your skills. Not sure it matters if you do it from an office on a starship, or a classroom at the Academy."

"I could not agree more," Qierress answered optimistically. "In fact, I was most impressed with Starfleet's utilization of non-traditional weapons, phasers, in turning the tide on the Cerritos. They're quite against Gelrakian close combat rules.... but the Cerritos fiasco is behind us now. I think we will be able to impart a great deal of knowledge upon one another. So, when it comes to flying this Parliament class ship, I'm hoping you can show me a thing or two."

"Well, hopefully the administrative duties of Chief Flight Officer will leave me some time to do that." He wanted to ask what her expectations were there, but after the comment about phasers, he worried she'd be offended. He'd have to follow up with the XO, who would clearly be more familiar with standard Starfleet functioning.

"Is there anything that you would like to know about me? I know that I am the only Gelrakian in Starfleet. Certainly, there must be something that you are curious about...."

Mateo considered. "Ma'am, I have so many questions, I'm not sure where to start. So, I suppose, what do you think I need to know?"

"I'm not a mind reader," Qierress replied, hoping that the statement was both true and humorous. She blinked, waiting for a reaction.

Mateo considered the many questions he had. His biggest need was to not screw things up. "Well, what do most people get wrong about Gelrakians?"

"That we are a primitive species that is lagging technologically. When the Cerritos caused a short war, we attacked with crystal spears. That's tradition, to fight close up. Also, we worship the crystals. They help us to be closer to the universe. However, that does not make us primitive or stupid. There's a deep and rich culture."

Crystal spears struck Mateo as inefficient, but he supposed it was no odder than Klingon views on combat. He'd always been more pragmatic when it came to fighting. The goal was to get it done as quickly as possible with as little injury and loss of life as you could. Anything else was disrespectful of the lives of those you fought along side. Not that he was going to say that to his new captain. He wasn't looking to start his new posting with getting kicked off the ship. He scrambled for something else to comment on. "Are there specific crystals or types of crystals, or just any crystal?"

That was probably safe, right?

"Oh gosh, yes! There's plenty of crystals." Qierress answered. "My parents actually owned a mine. I could tell you at great length about all the crystals within there. Most of my people do not care about what created the crystals or their properties. They only worship them for what they are. It is really sad that they are not curious to understand what we are worshipping and why." She sighed a bit despondently. "I'm afraid that most of my people tend to be a bit, what's the word for that fluffy white four-legged creature on that Earth planet.... Those things."

"Alpaca." It was the first thing that came to mind. Mateo frowned. "No, wait, that's not right."

"It does not matter," Qierress told Mateo with a wave of her hand. "They do not think. They follow whatever they are told. After all, we still have trial by combat." She shook her head. "More progressive individuals are trying to have trials with witnesses and evidence." She shook her head again. "You must think we are rather backwards, but do remember, this system managed to create a warp species and we have fine scientists. We still just have a conservative public that enjoys the fruits of our scientists without really acknowledging them."

His eyes climbed his forehead at the mention of trial by combat. Not even Klingons went in for that. Elections by combat, sure, but their devotion to honor trumped their desire to beat each other up. Probably the only way they'd survived as a species. "Well, every species and every culture has its own path to follow. I'm sure we'll learn a lot about our different worlds, working together."

"I'm certain that we will. However, I suspect the mountain will be higher to climb for me, as my frame of reference is different from most everyone else. Nonetheless, I am proud to Captain this ship and happy to have you as my Chief Flight Officer."

"Thank you, ma'am. I hope I meet your expectations. Was there anything else I could answer for you?" Mateo asked.

"Not at this time," Qierress answered. "Do you have anything else for me?" she inquired, her eyes blinking lengthily.

"No, ma'am." He waited. His previous captain had been a stickler that you did not leave before you were dismissed. It was only as he was standing there waiting that it occurred to him that this captain was not Starfleet trained and might not have the same expectations. Which left him standing there like an idiot.

"Very well. I look forward to working with you. Dismissed. You might want to check in with the XO, Mr. Screaminghorse."

"Of course, ma'am. "

 

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