The Unwanted Command Team

Posted on Wed Apr 3rd, 2019 @ 6:00am by Captain Kelly O'Connor & Lieutenant Commander Magnus Grey

2,210 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Mission 6.5 - Obtaining New Crew
Location: Bridge
Timeline: 2296/02/12 - 0730

By the time Lieutenant Commander Magnus Grey fought his way against the crowds, boarded the USS America, and dropped off his bags in his new quarters, more than an hour had passed since the ship docked. He needed to get to the bridge and meet his Captain twenty minutes earlier. That he was fighting against so many people rushing off did not strike Magnus as being a good omen.

He finally found the bridge and froze as he stepped in. He always found the command centre of starships to be awe-inspiring. It was where the magic happened. He saw his own chair, in front of the communications console, unoccupied at present, waiting for his own imprint.

He also saw a woman in the command chair. He stood at attention. "Lieutenant Commander Magnus Grey, reporting for duty," he said, his accent vaguely mixed European, indicative of his own community on Proxima.

O'Connor swung around in her chair and faced the Commander. Her red hair flowed down her sides but there was danger in her green eyes. A smidge of an Irish accent was present in her voice as she said, "Let me take a wild guess, you're my new Executive Officer that I did not have the privilege of selecting," she asked with a bit of sarcasm in her voice. "Which admiral sent you to me? Moore or Kent?" O'Connor knew that if the former was responsible for Grey, that he could never be trusted. However, if Kent sent him, the question would be what was his game?

"Neither I'm afraid, Captain," Magnus replied confidently. "Vice Admiral Asumi Ikuno. But yes, I am the new Executive Officer that you did not have the privilege of selecting." He smiled. "Pleasure to meet you, Captain O'Connor."

Vice Admiral? O'Connor's green eyes looked for any sign of deception in Magnus. What would a Vice Admiral want with me? Whose pawn am I supposed to be this time? "The pleasure is all yours," O'Connor replied with a cocky, crooked grin.

Magnus smiled widely in return. First impressions, Captain O’Connor didn’t want him there, but she wouldn’t be a complete pain to work for. He didn’t realize that several Admirals were trying to control what she did.

"Tell me, Commander, who did you piss off that you landed yourself on this aging rust bucket? Nobody in their right mind would willingly volunteer for a Constitution refit. They're going the ways of the dinosaur."

That was an interesting way to phrase it, too, Magnus thought. If she thought this assignment was punishment for him...was it punishment for her as well?

“Captain, have you ever heard the expression about serving in heaven versus reigning in hell?” he pointedly asked. “I was Second Officer aboard an Excelsior, the USS Avenger. It was time to make me First Officer somewhere, but do you know how many open slots there are? None. Command staff are already assigned for all Excelsiors coming off the line for the next two years. So I can continue doing nothing important on the Avenger, or be your XO on America. Obvious choice to me, ma’am.”

"So what you're saying," O'Connor replied, a crooked grin forming, "is that I'm just convenient. And that is supposed to endear you to me, how?"

"I didn't say it would, Captain," Magnus answered frankly. "And while I do work best if I have a positive relationship with my superior officer, it's not crucial. I'll do my job to the best of my ability whether you find me endearing or not. But you'll find I'm skilled at command and communications, and while it was Admiral Ikuno who told me to report to you, I do actually want to be here."

O'Connor furrowed her brows at the Commander's answer. So much for having some fun at his expense. "Well, we shall see about all that," she told him skeptically. "Tell me the rest of your story. May as well get it all out now," she told him.

“Well,” Magnus said, crossing his arms. “I’m from Proxima. Poet for a dad, maths prof for a mum. Found out I had a good ear for languages. Joined Starfleet as a Communications Officer. Became department head and then Second Officer. I have a few more years in me of learning and exploring out here before retiring to a university somewhere. How about you, Captain?”

Communications? Really? So, all you are is a cunning linguist? I guess everyone gets promoted somehow. "I've spent most of my career on this ship. You would know that if you looked at my record," she chided. "I came up through security." She shook her head and asked incredulously, "You want to retire to a university in a few years?" Her voice became more shrill. "Are you kidding me?!" She shook her head. "They stuck me with an academic?! Really?!"

Magnus hadn’t expected that reaction. Otherwise, he was smart enough to have kept it to himself. But it was out there now. All he could do was damage control. Or...he could explore this further. See where her concerns might be coming from, or simply log her issues for future awareness. “Problem with academics, Captain? My mother had full tenure at Cochrane, so let’s not be too hasty at dismissing an entire career path. And yes, Admiral Ikuno knew this when she appointed me here.”

"Problem with Academics?" she asked, incredulously. "Not as long as you stay in the classroom. Your theories and calm applications have no place in reality." She shook her head. Great! This Admiral is an idiot. At least I don't have to worry about being backstabbed by this one. "Academics make a special case of the real universe." O'Connor pulled herself up to her five feet in height and her entire demeanor indicated that she was about to make a beeline for the exit of America.

Magnus let out a laugh. This was something he’d heard before a few times, most recently by Admiral Ikuno herself. She’d either accepted his credentials regardless of that opinion, or felt that Captain O’Connor could use his unique perspective. Or she was getting rid of him. Or she wanted to annoy O’Connor. Magnus would probably never know for sure.

“Most might, Captain,” he said, gently shifting his position so he was still in front of the Captain as she angled to the exit. “I’m honestly hoping for the reverse. To one day bring a bit of reality to the classroom. Regardless, I’m here. Let’s try to make the most of it. If you hate working with me that much, after a face-saving amount of time I’ll put in for a transfer.”

O'Connor snickered at that. "Well, you'll be my fourth XO on this ship, so I wish you the best of luck sticking around. Even the ones that I like seem to go. Don't ask me why. If you want to know, feel free to ask someone on the crew or look at the Ticker Tape. I'm sure that you will get your fill."

Magnus raised his head back a bit and frowned. “Ticker Tape, Captain?”

"Ticker Tape," O'Connor replied definitively. "Your lack of experience on a ship already manifests," she told him in a certain tone. "It is an anonymous system that is placed in the computer where individuals spout rumors, give news, and gossip. It can be a nuisance," she admitted. "However, it also has its uses."

“Huh,” Magnus said, looking at nothing. “We, ah, didn’t have one of those on Avenger. I think I remember hearing about one on my first assignment, the Payette, but the Captain cracked down on its use. Something about a rumour mill being bad for discipline and the means to communicate anonymously bad for security. I think they might’ve shut it down on Excelsiors.”

"Excelsiors," O'Connor sighed wistfully. "I should have had one of those by now." She started to grumble something about Admiralty and political games but kept it safely under wraps. "Far superior ships to this clunker. I have no clue why it has not been retired yet."

“All ships still have their uses, Captain,” Magnus replied with a slight smile. “We may have made peace with the Klingons, but that peace is still tenuous, and the Federation still has its share of enemies. Our ship is valuable, even if it’s almost forty years old.” He was hoping his optimism was contagious.

"Bah!" O'Connor suggested. "This ship isn't suitable for anything but the scrap yard. I get everything I can out of her but an Excelsior," O'Connor replied, practically drooling. "That ship can do just about anything. I should have one," she concluded.

“Maybe one day, ma’am,” Magnus said. “That waiting list is long, though. You know, this might be a ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ situation. You do great work with the America, so they’d prefer you here rather than force a newer Captain to learn how to use an older ship and get less out of it. But if you were to be less effective, then they’d never give you an Excelsior. That’s just bad luck, Captain.”

"God, you really are naive," O'Connor replied, shaking her head at her Executive Officer. "You have not a clue about anything, do you?"

Magnus found himself amused by his Captain’s attitude, though if she knew just how amused he was certain he’d be ordered to take a walk out the nearest airlock. Nevertheless, he gave the Captain another half-smile. “Would you be annoyed if I asked you to enlighten me, ma’am?”

"You need education and fast, if you're going to be my Executive Officer, so I will enlighten you. In short, half of the Admiralty hates me and the other half does not. Apparently there were concerns about my temper. I was not given the choice of my first Executive Officer and given this piece of garbage as my ship rather than a new Excelsior as a further insult. Regardless, we have been given nearly impossible task after impossible task and we have achieved marvelous results. You would know what we have done if you had read our logs," the five foot tall Captain said looking up at Magnus with a look that would wither most officers and make them feel smaller than the petite Captain.

"On my initial tour, we were caught in a Tholian web. Then, we had Orions try and sabotage our getting Dr. Susan Nuress to Obi VI to try and stop the plasma plague. After that, we had a confidential mission that involved unauthorized time travel by Admiral Moore. He finally was out of my way but then we were ordered to the Huanni's first colony only to find it being attacked by intelligent plants. Another Admiral bit the dust because of that. Then, we took on a Romulan who turned out to be anything but that and headed to Betazed to investigate their desire for admission. I had people get brainwashed and manipulated on that mission in ways that nobody should have done. People are still shaking from that mission. Our last mission was dealing with the Kelvans. I doubt you have heard of them. I will give you access if you wish to study them. Isn't that what academics like to do?" she asked with a challenging smirk.

"Okay, well first of all," Magnus countered, "yes, I would very much like to study that file. That sounds fascinating. Second, I have read the logs to which I had clearance, which is one of the reasons I'm pleased to be here. Every day, you do more with a Constitution than many could do with an Excelsior. Maybe they don't like your attitude. Maybe they see what you can do with an old Constitution and decide you're best here. Maybe it's both, and we're all being set up to fail by the Admiralty. But I choose to look at it optimistically."

He walked around the Captain's chair towards the communications station. "I'm also set to be chief of communications, at least for now. Tomorrow morning I'll make sure the most up to date equipment is installed. But if what you're saying is true, I might have to fend off engineers stripping our comm system out and replacing it with even older technology. Why waste good equipment on us, right?"

"They haven't dared that," O'Connor growled. "Don't give them any ideas. If you will excuse me, I think I need to go for a walk...."

"I won't say a word," Magnus replied. "Enjoy your walk, Captain." He sat down at the comms station and started examining the console and equipment very closely, making mental notes of what he saw. He was used to more modern equipment, but he could make do, and could probably swap out a few key pieces at Spacedock. He worked intently at the console, assuming that the Captain was on her way out.

Briskly, O'Connor stomped off the bridge. She could not believe that she would have to spend God knew how long with this simpleton.

 

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