Brief and to the Point

Posted on Mon Feb 8th, 2010 @ 7:04am by Vice Admiral Iluvar & Commander Fala Awen & Commander Michael Evans M.D. & Lieutenant Samuel Bishop & Lieutenant JG Margaret Winchester & Lieutenant JG Hannah Andeti & Ensign Velia Moretti & Zander Whyte

Mission: Episode 1.1 - "Now Boarding"
Location: Orient Express Lounge, USS Pandora
Timeline: MD03, 0800

ON: [[Orient Express Lounge, USS Pandora, MD03, 0800]]

Greg (NPC) looked around with satisfaction as the guests for the morning ceremony began to arrive. Lots of hard work had gone into preparing the Orient Express Lounge for the command transfer. As with many starship lounges, the room frequently served as a social gathering area, emergency shelter, and presentation venue. It had taken Greg and the other lounge staff about four hours early that morning to move all the furniture and get everything ready, but it was almost always worth it.

Michael had arrived early and stood sipping a cup as he gazed out one of the large viewports into the stars. He had always like a certain amount of pomp and circumstance, especially for special occasions. He liked the orderly and well-choreographed way that otherwise mundane proceedings would unfold with varying degrees of flare. The ordinary could and did become extraordinary.

As usual, Kiral (PNPC) and Awen had arrived early. Actually, they'd arrived a good bit early and had wandered around the ship in order to get a better feel for it. Or course, there hadn't been time to really explore everything, but still. Kiral had moved more to the middle of the room and was trying to blend in a little better.

Awen, on the other hand, was off to the side but clearly visible. She wanted to have a good line of sight to the door and to the crowd. Judging by the number of crew in the lounge already, it seemed that most of the Tethys crew had decided to remain with Iluvar. It seemed a good sign to her.

When she’d first received her transfer order, Velia hadn’t exactly been pleased. Okay, that was an understatement; she'd been furious. So maybe she hadn’t been the most friendly member of the Tethys crew, but she didn’t think she’d done anything that required a transfer of all things. The discovery of the library aboard the Pandora only helped the matter a little. Still, orders were orders. It wasn’t until she’d seen a few familiar faces while she was coming aboard that it really sank in what the transfer was about. ‘Nice Velia’ she told herself. ‘Make a note; if you’d like a continued career in Intelligence work, try to pay attention to the details’. Maybe this transfer would be for the best, a sign from God that she could start over. She scowled in annoyance. That would be more work than she had bargained for. Oh well, no time like the present. She pasted on a slight smile as she entered the lounge and took her seat. Her head was already beginning to ache.

Tyreel walked into the Lounge and looked around, not everyone was here yet, so he doubted that the transfer ceremony would start yet. So far, he liked the Pandora, it was a sleek ship, with alot of nice new features.

The counselor hurried into the Lounge, running her fingers through her damp hair. She had arrived back on board only early that morning and she had managed no more than a quick shower before making it to the Orient Express. She glanced around, impressed by the staff's hard work and glad that she didn't appear to be late for the ceremony. She slipped into one of the chairs, only then suffering a pang of longing as she realized that she had forgotten her coffee back in her quarters. She could picture the mug steaming on the edge of her desk and frowned at herself. Andeti tried to put it out of her mind, sitting back and crossing her legs, she was looking forward to watching the Admiral take command.

Margaret walked into the lounge, her dress uniform glowing white with gold and teal trim. Looking around at the group of officers that had already arrived she shook her head. *Command ceremonies, why does there need to be a ceremony for a commanding officer to take command of a ship?* she thought to herself. *If there was a ceremony every time someone got a transfer to a new post, we'd never get anything done.*

Taking a seat beside Hannah, Margaret smiled and greeted her, then her thoughts turned to what the general had offered her. She had yet to tell anyone else about the offer because she wasn't really sure what to tell them just yet. *Oh well,* she thought, *maybe after the ceremony I can find some time to actually think about the offer.*

Jenni was one of the last to enter the lounge before the command party. She'd voluntarily spent half of her time since the transfer was announced doing one of two jobs; either getting the Tethys ready for the refit crew, or getting used to the systems on the Pandora. As much as she was amazed when she first saw the Tethys, she felt even more in awe of the Luna class ship she was no on, and enjoyed the change in the systems immensely - the Pandora had the very latest in Starfleet technology, which included quite a few improvements over the Tethys. Seeing that almost all of the seats were full, she opted to stand leaning on the bar, where she could see over everbody's heads.

The doors to the lounge hissed open to admit three individuals who immediately proceeded to the small podium just before the large viewports that presented a spectacular view of the exterior. They stood to one side, waiting for the unspoken signal to begin. Oliver (NPC) stood nearest to the podium, PADD in hand. He was nervous about speaking in front of so many people, even though he knew many of them from his time aboard the Tethys. It was easier for him to work one-on-one or in small groups rather than in front of large assemblies.

Just to the yeoman's left stood Commander Ka'el Fermat (NPC), the man who had overseen the Pandora's refit and would soon be administering the refit of the USS Tethys. As a consequence of his position, he attended ceremonies such as this quite frequently. Some had been of great pomp and circumstance, especially if it was the individual's first command. Others had been relatively laid back, sometimes taking place over an open subspace channel. Judging by the turnout, he could tell that the crew was particularly devoted to the admiral, given that so many of them had opted for the transfer.

Last in line was Iluvar, who waited patiently for the appropriate time. Already, the conversation in the room had begun to taper off as people realized that the ceremony was about to begin. He would have preferred a simple transfer, a few simple words over subspace or on the bridge, but given the high-profile nature of this transfer, the yard staff had insisted on something a little more elaborate.

Awen watched silently as the three men entered the room and took their places. Glancing over the crowd, everyone seemed to be paying attention, but not paying too close of attention. Her security officers were stationed around the room, just in case some kind of trouble cropped up, regardless. Other than providing security, the Bajoran wasn't too interested in the ceremony itself. However, StarFleet seemed to enjoy all these unnecessary ceremonies and, as part of the Senior Staff, she knew her presence was basically required.

Realizing that he could put it off no longer, Oliver approached the podium and cleared his throat. "Good morning," he said hesitantly, "If I could ask to all to please take your seats, we can begin." He paused a moment as people shuffled to their chairs or stood to one side. Checking his notes quickly, he tried to focus on what he had to say. "Thank you," he continued, "As is tradition among the navies of many worlds, including that of Earth, no transfer would be complete without the official change of command. May I present Commander Fermat, Supervising Engineer."

Oliver took a step back to allow the commander access to the podium. With the experience of years of performing such ceremonies, Ka'el needed to barely reference the PADD before beginning. "Attention to orders," the commander began, "I, Commander Ka'el Fermat, Supervising Engineer of the refit of USS Pandora, by order of Starfleet Command, am requested and required to relinquish command of said vessel to Rear Admiral Iluvar, Commanding Officer, Task Force 22." As soon as he had finished, the commander stepped to one side of the podium and turned so that he was still facing the podium, rather than the assembled crewmembers.

Iluvar approached the podium next. He took a moment to skim the PADD before him, though he was familiar with the orders. "Attention to orders," Iluvar stated, "I, Rear Admiral Iluvar, Commanding Officer of Task Force 22, by order of Starfleet Command, am requested and required to assume command of USS Pandora from Commander Ka'el Fermat (NPC), Supervising Engineer, Starfleet Corps of Engineers." When he had finished, Iluvar stepped to the opposite side and stood so that he was facing the commander across the podium.

"Commander, I relieve you," Iluvar said in the age-old tradition.

"I stand relieved," Ka'el replied sharply, "Computer, transfer all command codes to Rear Admiral Iluvar, authorization Fermat-sigma-two-two-seven."

=^=Authorization accepted=^= the cool voice of the Pandora computer announced.

"Computer," Iluvar began, "accept transfer of all command codes, authorization Iluvar-alpha-two-one."

=^=Authorization accepted=^= the computer repeated =^=Command codes transferred.=^=

With that, the official command of the USS Pandora had fallen to Iluvar, leaving Commander Fermat free to assume command of the Tethys' refit in a far less elaborate way. "Congratulations, admiral," Ka'el said, shaking the man's hand, "She's a fine ship."

"Thank you, commander," Iluvar replied, "I consider myself lucky."

"I hate these things," Bishop grumbled to himself, watching the proceedings with a glum expression, thinking of the thousand things he'd rather be doing.

"Really? I love these fancy ceremony-things. Any excuse to chow down on some great food is fine by me," Rodney McCabe said pleasantly, watching his boss' reaction with a bemused look.

Bishop turned to regard his Engineering Mate. "Have I told you today how annoying you are?" he said softly, though his eyes held a glint of dark humour.

McCabe simply grinned and chuckled to himself.

Whyte sat silently, not bothering to take many notes on proceedings. He had seen command transfers before and was more interested in the number of new faces who were filling the room. He spotted someone he knew at the front of the room. Not a Starfleet officer, but a civilian like him. Well, he would be if Zander were a back-stabbing, conniving irritant.

Jenni noticed the reporter sitting mostly still in one of the chairs quite near to her, surprised as it was one of the few times she had seen the civilian without a PADD being fervently updated in his hands. Moving over to him and hunching over so as to be able to talk whilst he was sitting without disturbing the conversations of others too much, she asked with a friendly smile; "Not taking notes, Zander?"

Zander looked up, more than a little startled. He had been studying faces and trying to place names to them. There were a few new junior officers sitting strewn throughout the familiar faces he knew from the Tethys manifest and he was wondering which might give him an angle. He had his first visual report due soon and had no clue what to do it on. The FNS couldn't be looking for a piece on the launch of the Pandora; they could cover that themselves.

His eyes fell on the newly promoted Lieutenant Lockheart, a woman he had yet to have any interaction with besides mentioning her name in a couple of stories. Her approach felt particularly "un-Starfleet", lacking the usual formal introduction and handshake that so many of Starfleet's finest felt obliged to offer 'the little people'. He liked that.

"Not today, Lieutenant. There's too many new faces in these ranks to really think about what's going on. Plus," he said, motioning to a gentleman in the corner who would not have seemed out of place in Starfleet Intelligence, "he's covering the ceremony. It would be bad form to tread on his toes."

"Just here to enjoy it then?" Jenni asked, though the tone of her voice suggested it was rhetorical.Upon the mention of the other reporter though, Jenni cast her gaze over towards the man in the corner, noticing how unlike Zander he did have a PADD in his hand. "Friend of yours, then?" She had a feeling from Zander's tone that 'friend' could only be used in the loosest of terms between these two.

"Used to be." He muttered to himself.

Ens. Nezar (NPC) watched the ceremony from his place at the back of the room. Most of the people here seemed to know the Admiral, at least professionally and were sitting comfortably watching the transfer of command in silence. He, on the other hand, was still a bundle of nerves. He had met none of these people before and the last thing he needed was to make a fool of himself at his new CO's ceremony. He scanned the crowd, wondering if he would be able to pick out his new department head, but, seeing a number of blue uniforms, many of them donned by young women, he gave up quickly.

The ceremony completed, Awen remained in place. She glanced over at Korina (NPC) and gave a slight nod. They would remain in place until everyone had gone. Glancing over at Kiral, Awen watched as the Maran quietly left the room amongst the crowd. Though she doubted she'd be so lucky, the Bajoran hoped that the crowd wouldn't linger too long...she wanted to finish exploring the ship. The one thing she could say about the ceremony though, was that it hadn't been overly long.

Though normally Velia abhorred almost all standard social activities and ceremonies, this one hadn’t been terrible. Sometimes things like this could be really drawn out. She also noted that the feeling in the air seemed to be one of excitement and expectation more than boredom. Enough of the Tethys crew was there that she felt a little more comfortable gazing around the room, at least she could nod at some of the faces she knew in passing. Her eyes stopped roving when they landed on Nezar. ‘Unbelievable’ she thought, quickly turning back to face the front before he saw her. She would wait for the room to clear before leaving; that should make it a little easier to avoid him for now.

Myrin (NPC) had felt someone's eyes on him and turned, finding Velia distinctly avoiding eye contact in the back row. He grinned. There was one person he knew in any event. As the crew began to disperse around him he stood and approached her.

"Fancy meeting you here."

"Somehow Myrin, it's exactly my luck." Velia stood and slid around him and made her way out behind the crowd. "Welcome to the Pandora." She didn't bother excusing herself. It'd be an empty attempt at any point; she didn't need to make any pretenses with Nezar.

With the official ceremony out of the way, Greg was busy concentrating on seeing to the needs of the lounge guests. Pretty soon, the room would begin to clear out. He and the lounge staff would be able to close down just long enough to put everything back in order before opening up for regular business again later that evening. Still relatively new to the business, Greg had a good feeling about this Rear Admiral Iluvar. The Pandora would be going places and he with it. For him, the adventure had just begun.

OFF

A JP by

Rear Admiral Iluvar
Commanding Officer
USS Pandora

Commander Ka'el Fermat (NPC)
Refit Supervisor
Starfleet Corps of Engineers
Played by: RAdm Iluvar

Lieutenant Commander Michael Evans
Chief Medical Officer/Second Officer
USS Pandora

Lieutenant Commander Fala Awen
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Pandora

Lieutenant Samuel Bishop
Chief Engineer
USS Pandora

Lieutenant Kiral (NPC)
Assistant Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Pandora
Played by: Lt. Cmdr. Fala

Lieutenant JG Hannah Andeti
Chief Counselor
USS Pandora

Lieutenant JG Jennifer Lockheart
Chief Operations Officer
USS Pandora

Lieutenant JG Margaret Winchester
Chief Surgeon
USS Pandora

Ensign Tyreel Keloas
Assistant Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Pandora

Ensign Velia Moretti
Intelligence Officer
USS Pandora

Ensign Myrin Nazar (NPC)
Counselor
USS Pandora
Played by: Lt. JG Andeti

Crewman Patterson (NPC)
Commanding Officer's Yeoman
USS Pandora
Played by: RAdm Iluvar

Crewman McCabe (NPC)
Engineer's Mate
USS Pandora
Played by: Lt. Bishop

Mr. Zander Whyte
Federation News Service Field Reporter
USS Pandora

Mr. Greg Letsky (NPC)
Lounge Staff
USS Pandora
Played by: RAdm Iluvar