It's my first day

Posted on Fri Sep 20th, 2019 @ 5:54pm by

Mission: Shakedown
Location: USS Athena, Main Bridge
1593 words - 3.2 OF Standard Post Measure

Tobin swayed on his feet as the Turbolift hummed upwards towards the bridge. Having not arrived until late into the evening the previous day he'd barely left himself enough time to replicate a pizza before he needed to turn in. Although he made plenty of time to press a fresh uniform, polish his pips and comm badge as well as shine his boots.

After a run on the holodeck and a shower this morning he felt fresh and ready for the challenges of serving on a starship. He smirked and wondered if the same could be said for his daughter.

Scuttlebutt was already coming in that Jessica had been up all night in the bar. He just hoped she'd stayed sober enough to report in on time. He hated the thought of having to reprimand her first day on the job. He chuckled to himself at the thought and tapped his fingers over his comm badge. "Commander Parr to Cadet Farren" he chirped in a bright booming voice. But there was no response, just the gentle hum of the turbo lift. Tobin rolled his eyes and tried again a little louder this time. "Commander Parr to Cadet Farren." He chirped, now clapping his hands loudly.

This time a strange squelching sound came back through his comm badge. A puzzled look spread across his face. Was Jessica okay? Was she throwing up? It didn't sound like puke. "Jessica, is that you? Are you okay little one?" The squelching sound came back accompanied by the sound of a group of people chuckling.

"Commander Parr this is Cadet Farren." A stern reply came out of the comm badge along with more chuckling and more of the squelching sound. Tobin staggered internally. "Is everything okay sweetie you sound….." but he was cut off almost as soon as he spoke. "Is this urgent Commander, I'm in surgery!" She replied just as sternly.

Tobin felt a wave of relief and embarrassment flush over him all that the same time. As the warmth came to his cheeks he remembered it was him who had told Jessica to be professional and he had just flown right in the face of his own advice. Awkwardly stroking his beard Tobin shook his head. "Nothing important, just report in to me once you've finished your shift." He replied adopting his best authoritative tone. "Understood Commander, now if you excuse me I have to get back to Crewman Rix's appendectomy…...3 down 4 to go…." She remarked. "Very well, Parr out." He stated swiftly tapping off his comm badge.

Tobin swayed on his feet again trying to shake the image of Crewman Rix splayed open on a bio bed. 'Surgery on a Canine species…...messy!' He thought to himself with a shudder. But the thought was soon pushed from his head as the turbolift smoothly glided to a halt and the doors swished effortlessly open revealing the bridge.

Instantly Tobin was hit with the smell of fresh upholstery, polished metal and surfaces. 'New ship smell.'he thought to himself as his eyes surveyed the room. 'But why did they make it green?' He wondered looking quizzically at the coulored cladding.

"I know what you're thinking!" A friendly scottish voice called out from over at the tactical console. "It's so you can tell them apart, the battle bridges are each clad in a different colour." He remarked with a friendly smile while he worked the console.

"But did they really have to make the main bridge green?" Tobin asked with a slight chuckle striding over to the tactical kiosk. "Hideous isn't?" Andrew asked chuckling slightly himself. Tobin nodded in agreement. "I suppose I'll get used to it." He remarked. "Lieutenant Commander Tobin Parr, First Officer." He added warmly whilst stretching out his hand.

Andrew grabbed Tobins hand firmly and shook it hard, the two competed over the grip for a moment. "Chief Andrew McFadden, Master at Arms!" He replied with a smile. "I'm guessing you'll be wanting the bridge sir?" He asked. Tobin nodded. "My hand back too if you don't mind Chief?" Andrew nodded as a touch of pink came to his face. He promptly let go of Tobins hand. Tobin rested his hands together behind his back, a habit from one of his previous hosts, not to mention it hid him flexing his fingers from the Chief. "I'm taking command of the watch, Chief McFadden please make a note of the time and date in the ship's log." Tobin ordered politely. "Aye sir." Andrew called out in his thick brogue and promptly carried out his orders.

Tobin marched to the centre of the bridge and stopped dead in his tracks. Where the Command station should be was just an empty space. No chairs and no console, just three access ports recessed into the floor. 'What the hell!' He thought. "Chief McFadden, where's my chair?" He asked still staring at the spot where he should be sitting.

The chief looked up a little amused by the situation. The bridge had just had a massive overhaul and was still missing a few bits of equipment. Usually Federation engineers went out of their way to make sure the brass had all their toys before getting the essentials right. For Andrew this was a welcome change. "I don't know sir." He said with a shrug holding back a laugh. "I don't know sir….." Tobin muttered under his breath. "We can do better than I don't know, get a hold of the refit supervisor and find out when they intend on finishing our bridge." Tobin ordered.

Pacing the bridge he made his way over to the helm and ran his finger tips over the console. This was a station he knew well, this was where he had started his career. 'I'll just sit here then.' He thought to himself. Tugging his uniform straight he was about to lower himself into the chair as a young Vulcan woman strode over to him PADD in hand. "Excuse me sir, this is my station." She informed him in the typical Vulcan monotone.

Tobin sighed. "Of course it is Ensign…...of course it is." He muttered. Rising back to his full height. S'Rell glanced up at Tobin and outstretched her arm holding the PADD. "Here is the shuttle readiness report you wanted sir." She said plainly her posture almost still as a statue.

Raising an eyebrow slightly in surprise he graciously took the report. "It's early!" He remarked. "Thank you Ensign." He said thumbing through the contents. He paced back toward the middle of the bridge as he read the pages. "Ensign, says here we only have four shuttles!" He said bewildered as to why they were missing half their complement.

S'Rell turned in her chair and looked up at Tobin. He couldn't be sure but he thought she looked uneasy. For a Vulcan she doesn't hide her emotions well he realised. "Its okay Ensign, I don't bite what's the problem?" He asked with his more fatherly instincts coming to the surface. "Our full complement of shuttles was to be rotated out during the refit." S'Rell offered. "The remaining shuttles have yet to be delivered." She added.

Tobin thought for a moment and stroked his beard, a habit that was so old he wasn't sure if it was his or a previous hosts. "Lets see if we can't solve this problem together." He said kneeling at the station with S'Rell. Quickly Tobin worked his fingers over the helm with loud and agreeable tones coming from the console. He smiled and pointed to the screen. "See there, two type 11 shuttles…….Independence and ……….Freedom." He said with a smile. "Ensign, I want you to add these shuttles to our manifest and tell the yard intendent to bring them aboard ready or not." He said rising back to his feet. "Do the same for the missing type 18 pods too." He ordered. "Yes sir, thank you sir." S'Rell replied tending to her station.

Tobin smiled to himself. It would take time for the crew to adjust to him, it would take time for him to adjust to them but they weren't off to a bad start. He paced to the back of the ship where a small replicator sat nestled under the MSD. "Raktajino." He ordered plainly the replicator bleeped in acknowledgement and a display of bright blue and white light danced in the alcove. But as the lights faded the mug that was slowly emerging began to break down and a sticky brown slime dripped down from the replicator alcove and began pooling on the floor. Sighing hard Tobin looked around at Andrew.

"No shuttles, No chairs and the replicators fried." He remarked. "Chief does anything on this ship work?" He asked a little frustrated that his shiny new boots were now covered in slime.

Andrew nodded. "Aye sir, the holo communicators!" He said proudly. "They're working perfectly!" He added. Tobin sighed. He considered holo communicators to be the biggest novelty StarFleet had ever came up with. Now he was on a ship where they were the most reliable component.

Suddenly a dull bouncing beep filled the room. Andrew worked his fingers over his console and reported in. "Sir incoming message for you…...an Admiral Monroe from StarFleet Command."

Tobin marched over to look at the message. "Okay Chief, put it through to the Briefing Room." He ordered pacing back across the bridge to the door leading to deck one. "Chief you have the bridge!" He ordered as he disappeared through the sliding doors.