First Impressions

Posted on 21 Sep 2015 @ 3:50am by Lieutenant Commander Roget del Rosario & Captain Harvey Geisler

1,342 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Rude Awakening
Location: Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: MD 1 || 1100 hours

Roget looked at himself in the mirror. He was not a vain man, but he did like to look presentable when on duty. Doubly so when meeting his new CO for the first time. He'd read the personnel file on Captain Geisler. He had been a medical researcher and then the Dominion War happened. Since then, Geisler had become a respected Command officer.

Smoothing out a couple of wrinkles in his uniform, Roget checked his hair. As usual, he had used some product to style the longer raven locks on top of his head, while the sides were freshly shaved down to stubble. His eyes focused on the gray follicles spreading around his temples. He had decided years ago to let the gray come in. He'd seen too many men try to fight aging and it rarely worked.

Deciding that he was presentable, Roget left his temporary quarters on the station and headed for the Black Hawk.

=====

Upon arriving at the door to Geisler's office, he touched the announcer.

Harvey stood by the window, holding a lowered PADD at his side and staring out the window to the planet before. He was grateful for Gamma Command to select a docking port for the ship that faced the planet, rather the black velvet of space. He'd seen enough of that lately. His time on the planet would come later, for now there was a refit to supervise and a mountain of paperwork to navigate.

When the door chime sounded, he anticipated it to be one of the station engineers showing up with another problem, one of many Emily Carter had left behind from her sabotage. "Come," he said, his tone slightly annoyed. Harvey turned to see an officer in yellow, one he hadn't yet met. Judging from his appearance and demeanor, Harvey quickly realized that he was no engineer.

"Commander Rosario," Harvey greeted, thankful for the break with the engineers. He made no effort to cross the room to shake hands, though he did gesture to one of the chairs in front of the desk. "Welcome aboard the Black Hawk."

"Thank you Captain," Roget replied stiffly, not accepting Geisler's offer of a chair. "And it is del Rosario, sir."

Harvey slowly nodded, deciding to match the yellow collared man's posture. Setting the PADD beside him on the desk, Harvey offered, "My apologies, Commander del Rosario. I trust you're starting to settle in spite of the quiet hours."

"I have yet to move into my quarters here," he responded, trying to measure Geisler's reaction. "I've spent much of my career either planetside or on stations. Feels more natural."

Harvey had noticed that from the man's docket. "Then it's interesting that Starfleet would choose to assign you to a starship. After all, Starfleet does as Starfleet wants."

Roget's face, as usual, betrayed nothing. He knew his stoicism could rival that of most Vulcans. "Yes, sir," he responded, simply. "I'm guessing you've read my file, so you know that I have done two tours on starships. You know that both of those Captains wrote positive recommendations about my service on their vessels and my abilities. My former CO on the Theopolos, then-Captain Treynna Razm has since been promoted to Admiral and serves at Starfleet Headquarters. The Huron's commander, Captain F. LeVal Sheldon, is now serving in the Office of the Starfleet Chief of Staff." He looked Geisler firmly in the eyes. "I believe that my file contains enough justification for my assignment to your ship, Captain."

Harvey waited a moment before responding. "Relax, Commander," he said at last. "You and Starfleet are not on trial here. In fact, you're stepping into a position that has not ended well for most who have occupied it over the last year. I simply want to be sure you will not share their fate."

"I am very good at my job, Captain. I can assure of that. Otherwise, I would likely still be on Starbase 121," he intoned, his voice having taken on a deeper tone than usual, though it retained its grit. "I am here to serve to the best of my abilities. My job is to keep this ship and her crew, yourself included, safe. I take that job very seriously." He shifted his eyes to Geisler's desk and at the PADD his new Captain had been holding when he entered. It was a list of repairs this Akira-class ship was in need of, largely from it's run-in with the Syndicate.

"I know this ship has experienced loss recently. You, yourself, were taken hostage by the Syndicate after they boarded this vessel." His eyes locked again on Geisler's. "With the help of your former Yeoman. Several members of your senior staff were captured on an away mission after that. I stand here because my predecessor was killed in action. I can tell you, sir, that I will do whatever I can to prevent that from happening again." He handed a PADD to the taller man. "To that end, here is my request to create a cyber division in the security department. It would be a 10 person team, staffed by retasking computer specialists from Operations and Engineering."

Harvey did his best to prevent his face from bearing an expression that would betray his thoughts. He knew that the details regarding his capture would not remain private for long, but he was certainly surprised that his newest member of the senior staff would hear of it so quickly. Still, he accepted the PADD from the Commander and gave it a quick skim. He certainly wanted the ship to be more protected, especially after the crippling damage Emily had caused. A moment later, he affixed his thumbprint to approve the proposal, then passed it back to the Commander. "Make sure you leave enough toys for the rest to play with," he quipped, though he knew by now this person was not the type to take a joke.

Roget ignored the Captain's attempted levity. "Here," he said, opening a list of names on his PADD and handing it back to Geisler, "are the people I want to assign to the team."

Harvey accepted the PADD and reviewed the short list of names. Four of the names were new, likely transfers the Commander wanted to initiate from Deep Space 11 and the surrounding vessels. The other six he recognized as those who were the most critical in reassembling the computer after the boarding incident. "I'd like to keep these two in Operations," Harvey said, removing an ensign and a petty officer from the list. "I have a change in leadership coming there too, and they'll be needed to help reorganize Operations."

The Captain made a couple recommendations from the ship's manifest and handed it back to Rosario.

"Thank you sir." He tucked the PADD under his right arm. "I will be restructuring the department. Beyond the cyber division, it is primarily shifting people's duties around. I have the latitude to do that, or do you prefer that all changes go through you or Commander Kos?"

"Commander Kos will approve whatever you design," Harvey replied. Normally he didn't like sticking his nose into personnel matters, including the duty roster. He'd done enough as an Executive Officer on many ships. Today had been an exception only because Commander Kos was not on board. "Honestly, a little change will do this ship a bit of good. Provided, their chief doesn't stir the pot and leave, of course."

"I will perform my duty until Starfleet reassigns me," del Rosario stated resolutely. "Such is the life of an officer. As you well know." He watched Geisler to try to pick up on his facial expressions.

"Indeed." Harvey remained silent for a moment, still trying to figure the man out. Only time would tell for this one. "Anything else, Commander?"

"That is all, sir. For now." Roget turned and headed for the door. As the doors opened, he looked over his shoulder at Geisler. "Thank you for meeting with me, Captain."

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