Meeting Operations

Posted on Tue Sep 26th, 2023 @ 7:30pm by Captain Mitsu Sato & Commander Jon Kia

1,129 words; about a 6 minute read

The basic layout of the Eclipse was similar enough to the Nova class star ship that Mitsu had served on before that she had near to no difficulty finding her way around the ship. There were a few subtle differences that made sense once she learned them, but overall she easily found her way to the bridge and then to her ready room. The reports that waited for her there weren't as many as she had feared, but she was certain that that would change soon enough. Sitting down, she had started reading and was halfway through when the door chime rang. Without glancing up, she called "Enter" and continued reading.

Jon yawned as he entered the bridge. His assistant chief ops officer was manning the operations station, which was good since he had no intention of taking over at that moment. He glanced around, looking for the new captain. One of the watch officers glanced up and indicated towards the captains ready room. With a nod of his head, Jon headed over and tapped the door chime. Hearing the call to enter, he headed in and stopped before the desk. "Lieutenant Commander Jon Kia reporting," he said.

"Ah, Commander Kia," Mitsu said with smiled as she set the Padd she had been reading down and waved him to sit down. "Please have a seat."

Jon eyed the chair for a moment before he sat down and wondered just what kind of captain he was getting.

"As I understand you've been aboard the Eclipse since she was launched for her maiden voyage, I wanted to go over a few things with you," Mitsu said. "I understand that the layout is different, that was explained in the brief I was given, but the new systems I wanted you to explain to me."

"Most of the layout is similar to a standard Nova, but we tried to balance everything," Jon said. "As for the systems, which ones do you want to know about?" He cringed somewhat, because some of the new systems were still giving him headaches.

"Well, I've read over the general information packet that was sent to me, which covers the new systems only briefly, so I'm curious as to what new systems were installed," Mitsu replied. "I know the majority of the systems were computer and science based, but I understand that there were more but my information doesn't have anything specific."

"Just about every system onboard is new, or a new design," Jon said. "Most have been no problem to deal with, but some have been problematic on running down and fixing a few bugs here and there. We've tracked down and fixed just about everything by this point, but without a full rundown of the ship at full power, I can't say that we've found every bug in the ship. I can have a full report to you by tomorrow morning on everything that we've done so far, but it's going to be a long read."

"That's more than acceptable," Mitsu said with a nod of her head. "I'll wait for the report, since we have a few more days before we depart. That'll give me time to read up on it. Now, there's a small matter that I need to discuss with you."

"Oh? What would that be Captain?" Jon asked, wondering what the captain could possible be moving on to next.

Mitsu turned towards the desktop monitor on her desk and activated it. Tapping in a short command, she brought up Kia's service record and leaned back in her chair as she refreshed her memory before she turned back towards her operations chief. "The captain of the Whitestar sent in a request for your promotion before you transferred off, so this promotion request has been floating in your record since. Going over your service record and the reports I've seen since you've been aboard the Eclipse, I have to agree with the Whitestar's captain," she said.

"Whoa, wait a minute," Jon said shaking his head. "I'm not ready for a promotion. Full commander comes with way too many headaches."

"And yet, here we are," Mitsu said with a smile. "You're not just the chief of operations and engineering aboard the Eclipse, you're also the second officer on the Eclipse. Which means that your rank should reflect the responsibilities that position as well. Unfortunately for you, I've already spoken with Starfleet Command and they've agreed with me on the matter."

Reaching into the drawer on the side of her desk, Mitsu withdrew a small black box and slid it across the desktop towards Jon. "Your promotion officially goes through this afternoon and goes into effect tomorrow morning, but congratulations Commander Kia," she said with a smile.

Jon sat in his chair silently for a moment and stared at the box on the desk before he finally reached out and took it. Opening it, he stared at the solid gold pip inside for another long moment before he glanced up towards the captain. "If you're absolutely sure about this," he said, finally giving in.

"I am," Mitsu said with a smile. "In fact, if anything, your work aboard the Eclipse since she was launched from dry dock has been remarkable and had already put Starfleet on notice about your capabilities as a command level officer. You would have been put on notice for a promotion within the next year even without Captain Korin's recommendation. I just happen to agree with him."

Without another word, Jon reached up and removed the black rank pip from his collar, replacing it with the gold one the captain had just given him. Setting the black pip inside the box, he set it back onto the desk and leaned back. "Well, I guess I have to say thank you, Captain," he said.

"You're welcome, Commander," Mitsu said. Standing, she stepped around her desk and offered her hand. "And congratulations. I believe you have more than earned this."

Jon nodded and shook the captain's hand. "If you say so, captain," he said. "I'll certainly try to earn this. If that's all, I'd like to get back to work. There's a lot to get done before we depart."

"Dismissed, Commander," Mitsu said with a smile. "Congratulations, and keep up the good work." Watching the newly promoted commander leave her ready room, she felt another smile threaten her usually stoic expression at Kia's reluctance to accept the promotion. Such things meant more responsibilities, among other things, and that along made many officers shy away from the higher ranks. Satisfied that that small task had been taken care of, Mitsu sat back down and picked up the report she had been reading, hoping to finish the stack before her by the end of the day.

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