Orchestrating Ops

Posted on Thu Apr 5th, 2018 @ 12:57am by Lieutenant Sika EngD & Captain Taliserra Tigran

Mission: Misson 1 - Rebirth
Location: USS Wolff | Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: 3rd february 2395

A newly pressed uniform, free of wrinkles was clad pressed against the Bajoran's muscular build. Though it masked the tone and definition of his abs, his biceps and triceps roamed freely on display with his pushed up sleeved, well maintained above his elbows. The uniform had that crisp look and the appropriate Operations departmental coloring. However, his build may have mislead people into assuming he was a security officer. He was not. He was an intellect, a tinkerer, and a novice philosopher when the occasion arose.

The lieutenant's pips practically glistened with their youthful glow, but the man wearing them adorned on his collar was well seaseoned. The scars on his face, the extra wrinkling to his nasal bridge and that look in his eyes that gave a quick synposis of pain and endurance. This was not his first rodeo, but it would be his first time heading a department.

Typically, his first course of action would have been to check in with the Executive Officer. However, the starship's Commanding Officer had seemingly taken a special interest in him for some reason. A request to meet with the Commander in their Ready Room was sent to him. Of course he obliged and responded to request appropriately.

He arrived outside of the Ready Room at the specified time, a minute or two before and waited until the Commanding Officer acknowledged his presence. The Bajoran man walked through the doorway once it parted. He knew that the Commanding Officer was Trill, but not much past that. Joined or unjoined? He was not certain. "Captain Tigran, Sir" he said respectfully greeting his Commanding Officer.

With Trills, especially if joined, it was sometimes a slippery slope. They could have had several hosts of either sex. He opted to address them more militantly like he would have adressed a woman in the Bajoran militia. Regardless of the individual before him being a Commander in rank, they were the Commanding Officer and therefore addressing them as Captain was a proper sign of respect. "You had wished to see me, Captain?"

"Yes I did." Taliserra said, looking up at him she placed the Padd with his file on down in the desk. "Welcome onboard Lieutenant."

The Bajoran gave a simple and rather subtle bow of his head. "Thank you for the welcoming, Captain. It was a pleasant honor to be requested to see you. I was entirely prepared to handle my cominng aboard with the Executive Officer, but the opportunity to meet with you is one I would not pass up" he added. "Was there anything specific that you wished to discuss?"

Taliserra nodded. "There are a few things in your file I want to ask you about, please sit down." She waited till Sika sat down before speaking again.

Not uncommon he thought to himself. It really wasn't at this point. He did not have a squeeky clean spit and shine polished personnel file. There were some questionable gray areas and a blemish or two. Gaps in years that he wasn't in service. "Of course, Captain" he said. The lieutenant took a seat. "Where would you like to start?" he inquired.

"You're former Maquis for a start." Taliserra said. "I have no love for the Maquis, one of my hosts died horribly after his shuttle was shot down by a Maquis raider. I hope your rebellious side has tempered with age?"

The lieutenant looked at his new Commanding Officer and swallowed rather hard and abruptly. Well, it was certainly not anything new to hear someone was not a fan of the Maquis. "Captain" he said firmly but with respect in his tone of voice. "I am sorry for the loss of one of your previous hosts and for any loss you directly or indirectly experienced as a result of the Maquis" he said as carefully as he could.

"My time in the Maquis came well before that of my Starfleet career" he said calmly. "I did not join them because I had some sort of rebellious streak. I joined them because my people as misguided as they were and continue to be, had been under Cardassian occupation for decades. Needless to say, many of my people did not feel very fondly of the Federation getting into bed with the Cardassian Union at the time. My people were fearful of another Cardassian Occupation. There were worlds out there, not Bajoran, but people just trying to live who were being injustly uprooted and pushed from their homes by Cardassians. I mean no offense when I say this...but I joined the Maquis because I believed it was the right thing to do at the time."

"Rebellious side was probably not my best choice of words." Taliserra remarked. "The Maquis cause was just but their methods were just a little controversial." She hoped to leave it at that and changed the subject to her next point. "I also want to talk about your experience on the USS Forrestal."

Sika nodded in agreement. "I concur with that assessment. Rebellious was probably not the wisest choice of words with all due respect. However, I do agree with your ethics and philosophy behind the word choice. The Maquis had a cause, one that I fundamentally agreed with. Though the actions used by them was often reckless and innocents were often swept up in the riptides of gorilla warfare" he stated.

"You do not want to talk about my experience serving aboard the USS Forrestal, Captain" he said shaking his head dismissing the loaded question. "It's the Borg" stated Sika crisply. "You are using the Forrestal as a means to gently transition into the heart of darkness, but ultimately, whichever path you choose to take, you know the destination that you want. You want to talk about my having been Assimilated?"

"Straight to the point then." Tali said changing directly to what the core of the discussion was about. "You were assimilated into the borg collective although your file says you were recovered soon after."

He nodded with the brief assessment of what had happened. "That recount of that day is accurate to my knowledge of the event in question, Captain. I was aboard the Forrestal which engaged the Borg. We were one Federation starship trying to hold the Borg back until help could arrive or the Federation could prepare. Our resistance was...well, futile for lack of better word choice" he said sternly. "Federation back up arrived a bit too late to make a difference for the Forrestal, but they were able to destroy the Borg vessel and among the debris my body was recovered."

"Were they able to seperate you from the collective? are there any..... medical issues resulting from it that we need to know about?" Tali asked, she didn't want Sika to suddenly strike out against the ship as any remaining borg technology inside him took over.

Sika took a deep breath and gazed lostly at the reflective surface of the woman's desk. The Collective. The Hive Mind. The Cyberneticist in him had a strange appreciation for The Borg, but he did appreciate his own humanity and independence. "My tethers to The Collective were cut. The nanoprobes lie dormant. I have the cortical implant otherwise, I'd lose sight in my one eye. But Starfleet Medical has taken apart everything they could. If you are worried about me being re-activated and trying to assimilate your starship and its crew, that remains only likely in your nightmares and dreamscapes."

"That is good." Taliserra said. "Those were the main things I wanted to discuss with you, now I was chief of operations on this ship from almost the very start.... that department was my baby until my daughter came along. Take good care of it Lieutenant."

Sika understood the personal tether that the Captain had to the Department. "I see" he said making note of that information. "I will do my best to keep the Department operating well. I cannot imagine leaving a Department Head position to take a command position." he said curiously. "Is this your first command?" asked Sika.

"I was given full command last month but before that I was first officer." Taliserra replied.

He nodded "You had a sound familiarity with the starship you will be commanding, Captain Tigran. That is not something many Commanding Officers can say. You know this starship well, and I think that will serve you well in the long run."

"I certainly hope so." Taliserra replied. "Now report to sickbay and get them to clear you for duty then I would find LT Binea, she is the acting chief."

"If I am excused, then I will report to Sickbay immediately" he replied as he arose from the seat. "You'll forgive me if it takes a little while to relieve the lieutenant. Medical examinations and physicals tend to take longer for me...something about us previously assimilated drones tends to make medical staff cautiously thorough." he said with a wink.

"I expect Lt Polaris will be very thorough." Taliserra said moving his file from in front of her off to the side "Dismissed Lieutenant."

"Doctors" he said nonchalantly. "Are they not always thorough?" He added before departing.

Taliserra smirked a little, her own examination by Galatea wasn't very thorough, the doctor already knew her deepest secrets.


OFF:

Commander Taliserra Tigran
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Sika
Chief Operations Officer