Last Minute Details

Posted on Mon May 2nd, 2011 @ 2:02pm by Vice Admiral Quinn Androski

Mission: Episode 2.2 - "Resistance"
Location: Starlight Lounge, USS Orlando
Timeline: Mission Day 01, 1049

ON: [[Starlight Lounge, USS Orlando, MD-01, 1049 hours]]

Quinn strolled down the hallway. He had toured the ship too many times to count while it was being completed in spacedock, but this was something different. This would be his first tour of the ship while it was out in open space. Of course, because he put a rush on the launch, there were still a few parts of the ship being worked on but it wasn't anything that would make any difference if it was installed or not.

Walking into the lounge, Quinn looked around and was reminded that it wasn't Jeff that would be there, but rather Jeff's young nephew. He had only met the man twice before, and the first time barely counted, so Quinn was interested to see what he had done with the lounge.

The sound of the lounge doors caused Aaron (PNPC) to look up from where he had been reviewing yet another unfinished draft of the establishment's menu. It had taken him some time to come to a decision on whether or not he was actually going to take responsibility for overseeing the Starlight Lounge. Dealing with all of the work involved in getting the lounge up and running, however, was turning out to be a bit more than he had expected.

"Admiral," he said, recognizing the Orlando's commanding officer from when they had met briefly for the first time, "Is there something I can help you with, sir?"

Quinn shook his head slowly and waved off the question. "No..." he said, looking around some more. "I was just wandering and thought I'd come in to see how you were settling in. I know we launched a little earlier than expected. I hope that didn't cause any problems for you."

"Nothing I couldn't handle," Aaron replied with a half-smile. The truth was that the early launch date had given Aaron that much less time to get things organized. In addition to the menu, he had needed to sort out important things such as staffing, inventory, furnishings...and that was just for the lounge itself. Making the decision to assume responsibility for his uncle's legacy had also meant making some pretty big changes in his own life.

Quinn nodded and returned a slight smile. "That's good to hear." he said, pulling up a chair and sitting down. Looking at the young man before him, Quinn nodded to himself slightly. "I have to say, we are all very glad that you decided to join us. You're uncle meant a lot to quite a few people on the Orlando, so having you around means a lot to them." he continued.

Glancing briefly at the PADD he had been working on, Aaron wasn't quite sure how he should reply to the admiral's statement. Several other members of the crew who had served aboard the previous incarnation of the Orlando had expressed similar appreciation of his decision to take over management of the lounge. Yet something about being compared to Uncle Jeff like that didn't seem to be sitting quite right with him.

Quinn, seeing the expression on Aaron's face, leaned forward in his chair and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, I should have known that bring him up would be tough for you, I shouldn't have mentioned him."

"No...it's okay," Aaron said, turning so that he could lean back against the outer edge of the counter and face the viewports along the opposite side of the room, "I'm the first person to run a lounge aboard the Orlando in three generations without the name Greene. I wouldn't be surprised if that took some getting used to."

Quinn looked the man in the eyes and smiled. "A very wise person once said, 'change is good.'" he responded.

Looking down at the PADD in Aaron's hand, Quinn asked, "What are you working on?" in an attempt to change the subject slightly.

"It's supposed to be the menu," Aaron replied with a sigh, reaching across with one hand to lift the PADD from the counter, "I've been over it at least half-a-dozen times, but it still feels like there's something missing...I just don't know what that something is."

"Hmm." Quinn replied. "Mind if I take a look?" he asked, reaching his hand out slightly.

Aaron glanced down at the PADD in his hand and shrugged. He had been working on trying to sort out the menu for awhile now and it was possible that a fresh pair of eyes was just what he needed at that point. "Why not," he said, holding it out for the admiral to take.

Quinn took a look through the contents of the PADD. It seemed to have just about everything a restaurant and lounge would need, from appetizers to desserts, and all kinds of drinks. "Hmm..." Quinn pondered. "This seems like a great menu for a lounge, but it is missing one thing. I could probably get most of this in the lounges of every other ship in the sector. It could use some unique dishes."

"To be honest, I really think that's part of the problem," Aaron said, letting out a brief sigh as he thought about all of the different menu options he had gone over in the past week, "I've been through so many different dishes, I'm starting to have a hard time keeping them all straight anymore."

Quinn nodded. He may not have had to organize menu's when he was at the academy, but he had to organize papers, which he figured came close enough. "Have you taken a break recently?" he asked. "A nice nap can make a huge difference."

"It's only eleven-hundred-hours," Aaron said, rubbing the side of his head as he tried to think of how he might be able to approach the menu from a different angle, "besides, if I can't get our menu worked out, we won't be able to finish the inventory, which means we'll probably have to delay opening the lounge even longer." He could not believe that everything was being held up by the organization of a single document. Granted, the menu was a rather important part of any dining establishment, but the lounge was supposed to be something more than just a place where people came to eat. It was supposed to be one of the focal points of culture and atmosphere aboard the ship.

Quinn leaned back in his chair, thinking things over in his head. "You could open with what you have, and then ask the crew for input." he said, thinking out loud.

"That would probably work," Aaron replied, knowing that he would likely be relying on input from the crew to tell him what was working and what wasn't, "I guess I would just feel a bit more comfortable going into this if I had things nailed down a bit more."

Quinn looked around the room again, quickly. "I think you've got things down a little better than you think. At any rate, you've done a great job so far and I'm sure you'll do fine."

Placing the PADD back where it had been laying on the bar, Aaron turned again so that he was leaning against the counter and facing the viewports on the opposite side of the room. There were still a few things that had to be done before they would be ready to start having customers in on a regular basis. At the same time, he could see the point the admiral was making about their progress so far. He would never have believed it if someone had told him six months ago that he was going to end up running a starship lounge someday. Yet here he was, the owner and manager of the Starlight Lounge aboard the USS Orlando. Maybe things were starting to fall into place after all.

OFF

A Post by:

V. Admiral Quinn Androski
Commanding Officer
USS Orlando

and

Aaron Russell (PNPC)
Lounge Owner
USS Orlando
Played by: Cmdr Naros