Operational Opportunities

Posted on Tue Jul 9th, 2019 @ 4:09am by Lieutenant Commander William Gunnison & Captain Abigail Laurens

Mission: Getting To Know You
Location: CO's Office
Timeline: prior to the post "Eat, Drink And Be Merry - For Tomorrow It Begins!"

The incoming notification appearing on the communications console at her desk was almost overlooked with her attention being on so much else, but she decided to take the few moments to check it, surprise crossing her face as she read through the message.

With Ichiko being promoted so Executive Officer, she had expected that Astraea's maiden voyage would be without a Chief Operations Officer, yet one had been found, and conveniently he had been on Starbase 357, which meant he had now already come aboard and had requested to meet with her.

Sending a confirmation back in return, Abigail settled back at her desk, waiting for him to arrive.

------

Will had briefly poked his head into his new office while waiting to hear back from the captain. It was much like any other department head office found aboard most Starfleet vessels designed within the not-too-distant past. It was unadorned at the moment - not surprisingly, since upon his initial briefing when he'd been given the assignment, Will had heard something to the effect that the person originally slated to be the Astaea's chief of operations had been tapped to become the ship's new XO at the last minute due to an apparent resignation by the original XO.

The computer notified him at that point that the captain would see him then, and so headed to the nearest turbolift. "Bridge," he said after entering, and moments later stepped off onto the bridge. He looked around, taking in the sights, even though the bridge was of the same design as the Coyote's. There was just something about stepping onto the bridge as a senior officer versus doing so as a junior officer relegated to the night shift...

He mentally prodded himself to get going. He had only been partially joking with the security ensign about not wanting to give a bad impression his first day on the job by being late, so he moved at a brisk pace to the readyroom doors and pushed the door chime to announce his arrival.

"Enter," Abigail called from behind her desk, her gaze firmly fixed on the PaDD in her hand, comparing the data to what was showing on her console. The sudden influx of last minute crew had meant that there was a good chance their delay was going to be delayed slightly, but that was likely a good thing as their guests weren't ready for travel either. Either way, it shouldn't have meant more than 12 hours difference.

As the sound of the parting doors invaded her thought processes, Abigail looked up, casting a quick glaze over the gold collared Lieutenant walking in to her. "Lieutenant Gunnison?" she queried with a smile, holding her hand toward him. "I'm Commander Laurens."

"Commander," Will said, taking the offered hand and shaking. "It's good to finally be able to meet you in person." He quietly sized up his new CO. While she was of an average size for a Human female, she looked to carry herself with a certain type of determination - the kind of person his father would call a "go getter"; they knew what they wanted and didn't mind getting their hands dirty to obtain it. Certainly not a bad trait for a CO to have.

"I'm looking forward to being able to jump right in things," Will said, "as I realize things can often be a bit chaotic when a ship gets a new crew, and I believe there was a bit of a last-minute change-up recently involving my predecessor and the XO position."

"Yes," Abgail said motioning for him to take the seat on the other side of her desk. "Unfortunately Commander Grushton got recalled so the determination was made to make Commander Gail the new Executive Officer. I wasn't sure we'd be able to replace her at such short notice to be honest," Abigail said with a smile. "But it's reassuring to know that things are falling into place. As with everything I suppose taking a new command is always fraught with millions of little issues that arise at the worst possible moments."

"Fortunately," Will said, "I was between teaching assignments at the Academy at the time this arose, so it was just a matter of making the arrangements to get here before you left. Now, is there anything in particular that you might need assistance with, besides the usual things I'll be covering as chief of operations?"

Abigail thought on it for a moment before shaking her head quickly. "I can't think of anything immediately, but I do know that there was something I had asked MCPO König to work with Operations on, so maybe check with him, just tell him I sent you to see if everything Operations needed to do before departure had been completed?" she said with a smile. "Other than that, just make sure we're ready for departure from your side."

"Of course, Commander," Will said. "I'll get right on that."