Zalla Reporting Aboard

Posted on Sat Jul 20th, 2024 @ 12:39pm by Commander Karl Rogers & Lieutenant Jaina Zalla
Edited on on Sat Jul 20th, 2024 @ 12:40pm

764 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Beginnings

Jaina tried to keep her excitement to herself as she boarded the Eclipse. Most security officers might not be as happy to be assigned to a science ship like the Eclipse, but Jaina was reporting as chief of security and tactical, her first posting as a department head. She felt excitement at the chance to be given the responsibility to be in charge of her own department, and being a Nova class ship the Eclipse would hopefully not provide to be too much of a challenge. Following the orders passed on by the first officer, she headed to his office to report for duty. Stopping at the correct door, Jaina rang the door chime and waited.

Karl had left orders with the security officers at the boarding hatch to have new officers report to him, hopefully freeing the captain up to deal with the science issue. His office was smaller than the ready room, basically a desk and room enough for three chairs. There was a small view port giving him a little view of the outside, and he felt that there was a joke somewhere in the setup. But he shrugged it off as he dug through the paperwork. He was more than grateful when the door chime interrupted him reading through the transfer files. "Enter," he called.

Jaina entered the office and braced to attention. "Lieutenant Zalla reporting for duty," she said.

Karl glanced up and blinked. He knew she was attractive, but the photo in her file and seeing her in person was completely different. Setting the padd he had been reading down he waved for her to sit down. He would have to remain seated so she might as well sit too. "Lieutenant Zalla, welcome aboard," he said.

"Thank you, commander," Jaina said as she sat down, hiding a smirk. She could guess at his reaction, indeed most guys always had the same reaction when they first met her.

"I understand that Eclipse is your first posting as department chief, but you came highly recommended and yours is going to be a small department so I believe you will be able to manage easily enough," Karl said.

"That has been my hope," Jaina admitted. "I understand that the Eclipse is dedicated to scientific missions, and that we'll most likely be providing security to away missions. I don't know exactly how many people I'll have assigned to my department."

"It's not many," Karl replied. "With a crew of eighty, there's just not many people assigned around."

"I'll make do, but I'd like to play around with my roster until I find something that works," Jaina said.

Karl nodded. "It's your department," he said. "And while your position will be on the bridge, you do have an office in the security complex. It's not much, but it's there for your use."

Jaina felt her eyes widen just a little. She hadn't expected to have her own office, and indeed she would make use of it somehow. "That's good to know. If I may ask, can I have security officers report to the security office? It would help me get acquainted with my department and make use of the office at the same time."

"I don't see where that's a bad idea," Karl said. Indeed, it would help him out as well as help her get settled in her position. "I'll relay a memo to the security officers as the boarding hatch. That way, department heads can meet their department staff and it might help everyone else get settled in as well."

"Thank you sir," Jaina said. "I'll also have to take a few days to evaluate my staff before I can write up a duty schedule and training regiment for them, if that's acceptable as well."

"That shouldn't be a problem, since most of the officers we're getting are straight out of the academy," Karl said as he nodded. Thinking over the roster he had been able to memorize to that point, he nodded again. "In fact, I don't think anyone assigned to Eclipse has ever served with anyone else we have before either, so it might be a good idea to recommend to the captain that we do ship wide drills to build up crew cohesion. I might have to coordinate that with you as well."

"Anything I can do to help," Jaina said. Standing, she smoothed her uniform jacket free of any wrinkles and nodded. "If it's acceptable, sir, I'd like to get started right away."

"By all means," Karl said with a nod. "Dismissed, and good luck," he added.

 

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