Joint Log | CO & XO | Capt. Carpenter & Cmdr. th'Zarath | "Most Important Meal of the Day"

Posted on 241403.20 @ 12:32pm by Lieutenant Thelin th'Zarath & Captain Eric Carpenter

Mission: Where no man has gone before.

= Captain's Stateroom =

It was the morning after the departure, and the first unofficial breakfast with his first officer was due to happen. The Captain's Steward, a title that was a throwback to older times, had laid out a full buffet style breakfast for their first morning, until the Steward knew his CO's preferences and that of the XO. He was a Petty Officer 3rd Class, and his job to was to attend to his Captain's needs, whilst the Captain's Yeoman, who was a PO1, was the CO's administrative aide.

Eric was dressed in his duty uniform, and waited for the arrival of th'Zarath.

Having received the invitation for an informal dinner, the Andorian XO found himself striding down the corridor towards the stateroom, his duty uniform augmented by one of the engineering jackets that he had appropriated from the quartermaster, he never felt completely comfortable without at least half of a toolkit around his person.

Stepping up to the door, he came to a halt and pressed the chime quickly, a slight smile on his face as he ran through the faces of his new crew in his mind.

"Good Morning Commander." Eric smiled, as he opened the door. He might relent to letting the Steward do things in the dining room, but here in his quarters, the man was sent off to take care of other things. The buffet was laid out, and both men could help themselves. All the better to have a more private conversation.

"Captain," the Andorian replied with a smile and a nod, "How're you settling into the ship?" he added as he stepped inside and moved over to one of the seats.

"Well enough." Eric said, as he got himself a plate of bacon, sausage, egg and toast. "Getting used to the sheer size of this ship."

"I've seen bigger," the Andorian replied as he selected a few items for himself, half filling a plate before pouring himself a glass of juice, "But nothing quite as advanced, the weapon systems alone haven't been tested on a functional starship before, that worries me slightly, we'll have to find a chance to drop some drones for testing."

"Anticipate any problems with them?" Eric asked, as he took a seat at the dining table, and poured himself a coffee from the pot.

"I'm not sure, there could be a number of problems with a joint technology venture such as this, I've tasked our Chief Operations Officer with their preparations, pending the arrival of our Chief Tactical Officer." Thelin replied as he took a few bites of the food he had selected, following them with another sip of his drink, "I'm sure she is capable enough to see them in good working order."

"Oh, I'm sure." Eric said. "Else they wouldn't have sent her to us."

"This is very true, although one would assume that you had a little bit of say when it comes to selecting our senior officers too," the Andorian responded, the glass pausing just at his lips before falling away again, "Her file does seem to have some very good recommendations though, which is always nice to see."

"I was given a selection of files, and I picked the best candidate from the pre-screening done by the Department of Logistics and Personnel. Although these days, that's the same as the Federation Council - so all these officers are at least 'politically' safe." Eric said. "I picked the ones from the shortlist I was sent. You, however, were Admiral Malone's choice, and I don't think he asked the oversight committee about you."

"If he had, they would have advised him against my selection no doubt," Thelin replied with a sly grin, "I do have a tendency to speak my mind, even when it would serve my career better to remain silent, some of the Admiralty and certainly the politicians would rather keep people like me somewhere quiet."

"In deep space as far from Earth as possible, you mean?" Eric smirked. "Like say... on a starship... that's exploring deep space..."

"On the Enterprise though, one of the most prestigious names in the fleet," the Andorian countered as he bit into another selection from his plate, swallowing before he continued, "It's a damn sight better than being stationed on Ferenginar in the Diplomatic Corps."

"Oh, I have no doubt at all." Eric said. "And being First Officer of the Enterprise is going to look great on your CV." He smirked. "Wouldn't count on getting the big chair anytime soon. I'm working on leaving comfy butt-grooves in the chair."

"I'm just glad to be back out in the world for a bit," Thelin admitted between bites, "I was starting to wonder if I'd been forgotten about, out in the back end of nowhere,"

"Malone has a thing about hard cases." Eric said. "Explains the pair of us, I guess."

"From what I've heard, it seems he prefers to surround himself with people who're a bit like him." the Andorian replied with a slight chuckle as he pushed the plate forward slightly, having emptied it.

"Well, what I heard was when he was a Captain, that wasn't all he surrounded himself with." Eric smirked.

"I think I heard something along those lines too," Thelin replied with another chuckle as he took a sip of his drink.

"Well, rest assured, there won't be any of those shenanigans on this ship." He said, firmly. "Compromises ship's discipline."

"Perhaps," the Andorian responded, leaning back in the seat a little bit, "But sometimes it can happen, even if you try to avoid it, after all, you are only Human sir," he added with a slight wink.

"And they sure as hell have sent me officers to test that." Eric grumbled. "Our Chief Security Officer is really something, as is our Chief Medical Officer come to think of it. Lot of willpower involved there, I'm afraid."

"Got to have good looking officers up front," Thelin replied as he burst into laughter, "You never know what kind of people we might meet, they could end up being worshiped."

"Or they could be a monumental cock-tease for the rest of us warm-blooded males." Eric scowled. "Especially that ginger haired doctor. My god what a flirt. One moment she's sweet as sugar, next, she's as dangerous as a Targ in heat."

"She is an enigma wrapped up in some very bright hair," the Andorian replied between laughter, his drink having been placed down for the moment, "I have to admit that she is quite intriguing."

"She's something else alright." The Captain concurred, perhaps not in the same way.

With his drink nearing the point of being empty, Thelin tipped it's brim towards his Captain, "I certainly look forward to seeing how things develop on this ship, let history never forget the name Enterprise indeed,"

"Quoting Picard at me?" Eric chuckled, and was distracted as his comm badge went off. "Carpenter here."

"Captain, we are receiving a priority one encrypted communication from Starfleet Command. Its a message, not a channel." Sato-Pryce's voice said over the channel.

"Route it through to my quarters." He instructed, and nodded to th'Zarath that he should view it as well.

The Federation logo on the screen was replaced with a Starfleet Chevron briefly, then Fleet Admiral Malone's face appeared on the screen.

"To all Federation starships within range of this transmission, this is Admiral Malone. Starfleet is falling victim to a Coup`et`tat on Earth, and will soon be replaced by forces opposed to the ideals of the Federation and Starfleet. I call upon all Captain's to stand fast and loyal to your oaths of loyalty to the Federation you serve, and to Starfleet Command. I will soon be ousted from my legitimate office, and replaced by another who will call upon you for service under the uniform code. I urge you to resist. I urge you to either rally under my flag, or take your ship into deep space, and stay there until further instructed. Confirmation code will be 'Excalibur Two Six Four Delta'. If orders do not contain that code, disregard all orders from Starfleet Command."

"Starfleet Command has fallen. I say again, Starfleet Command has fallen. Good luck to you all, and God Bless. Malone out." The screen changed to the 'end transmission' logo.

Eric looked at his XO for a moment, unsure what to say or think. But as Captain, he had to say or do something. "Dear God..." Well, it wasn't exactly Shakespeare was it?

"If Malone is right and Starfleet has fallen..." Thelin began, dumbstruck as the truth of the message hit home, "Starfleet held the Federation together after the Siege of Sol, why would anyone seek to..." he faltered as several theories began to fill his mind, his antennae flattening out with worry.

"This is bigger than either one of us, and I see no reason to believe that this message is false." Eric said. "It has the correct identifiers, and its too big a thing to hoax. If there's been a coup on Earth, they'd take Starfleet out. Its what I'd do if I were leading a coup - take out the most organised defense, then replace it with your own people."

"So, do we follow Malone or proceed with his alternative?" the Andorian asked quickly, "Our original orders were for Deep Space Exploration, perhaps we should fire up the Slipstream drive and get out of here before they come looking for us, after all, having the Enterprise on either side would be a grand prize."

"I'm conflicted." Eric said. "This is the biggest battle of our generation, and the Enterprise is a no-contest combat craft, with serious firepower, and I'm a combat commander. However, this ship was designed, launched, crewed and ordered on peaceful exploration missions - with added defense. We owe it to our crew, and dare I say it, to Malone - to carry out his last order to us. We can't get involved." He concluded sadly. "Commander, spin up the Slipstream drive. Get us out of Federation space as fast as possible. Do not repeat any of this to the crew, or we'll have factional fighting aboard ship. Secure all external communications. No one talks to anyone without yours or my approval. We rig for silent running."

"As you command sir," Thelin replied as he thrust himself to his feet and headed for the door, "Whatever happens out there, it would seem we're further from help than we may have expected."

"God knows that's true." Eric said. "Lets just hope we can last it out."

(End Log...)

Captain Eric Carpenter
Commanding Officer

&

Commander Thelin th'Zarath
Executive Officer

USS Enterprise