Joint (Back) Log | CO & COps | Capt. Carpenter & Lt. Sato-Pryce | "Engaging Entrees`"

Posted on 241403.22 @ 8:56am by Captain Eric Carpenter & Lieutenant Rhiannon Sato-Pryce

Mission: Where no man has gone before.
Timeline: Prior to "Most Important Meal of the Day"

= Captain's Dining Room =

Lunch with the Chief of Operations now. Another officer he hadn't actually met yet, at least officially, but he would give her a chance to impress in this informal and relaxed setting. At least as relaxing as a freshly promoted Lieutenant could possibly be dining with her Captain. Part of this was to see how these people reacted to high pressure situations, at least, as high pressure as having lunch with the CO was.

"Captain?" Rhiannon poked her head in. "You wanted me to see me."

"Well, it was a lunch invitation Lieutenant." Eric smiled. "Come in, take a seat, order yourself something to eat."

Rhiannon quietly took a seat, "Is there a menu?"

The steward walked over and presented the Chief of Operations a small menu card, that he had printed up. The Captain's Dining Room was his domain, and he was treating it like a fancy restaurant, with all the trimmings that came with it.

"Uh I guess I'll have a Caesar salad, with chicken and egg."

"Very good ma'am." The Steward said, and went off to get it, whilst he also went off to get the Aromatic Shredded Duck with rice pancakes that Eric had ordered for his own lunch.

Eric smiled at this officer, and offered her a beverage. "So, you're the ship-wrecker are you?"

"For the past few years, yep." she smiled somewhat anxiously, and took the offered drink. "Thanks. To be honest I'm not sure why I've assigned this posting. Surely there are better qualified officers out there with more shipboard experience... Sir."

"But none with such in-depth knowledge of the computer systems in use in Starfleet today, as well as these extremely complicated ODN systems. Certainly no one who comes close to your age and junior rank status. Most of the ones I was recommended were old, embittered senior officers who wouldn't find this opportunity as rewarding as say... someone like you." Eric said.

"Well...when you put it that way, who can argue?" Rhiannon smiled. "But who wouldn't find the Enterprise a rewarding opportunity? It's the most prestigious posting in the fleet. A renewed mission of exploration. Who wouldn't want to be a part of it?"

"You would be rather surprised." Eric smiled.

"I suppose so..." Rhiannon said pensively. "Some people joined Starfleet for all the wrong reasons." she had a few candidates in mind.

"Yes, I know a fair few of them." Eric replied. "Some are even Admirals, if you can believe it."

"That I could believe, otherwise they would've resisted being promoted, and stayed where they can make a difference."

"Sometimes promotion is inevitable." Eric countered. "Just look what happened after the attack on Starfleet Command. So many people got promoted far sooner than they should've done, just to fill the void."

"'Nature abhors a vacuum'" Rhiannon said wistfully.

"Well, tell me a bit about yourself." Eric said, leaning back, as the food was put on the table.

"You mean, besides the obvious?" she smirked, accentuating her Welsh accent, and flicking her ginger hair. "I grew up in Anglesey, mostly on a farm run by my grandparents. My mother's parents. I have a sister, younger than me."

"What led you to join Starfleet?" He asked, as he ate one of his prepared duck pancakes.

"Have you ever lived on a farm? In the middle of nowhere, Wales? It's BORING." She smirked. "I loved tinkering with things, usually tech. I took apart the farmhouse's terminal more than once, and even improved it a couple of times. But I got bored with it all. So I sought more challenges. Thus Starfleet. How about yourself? No, wait. Let me guess" she narrowed her eyes at him, "You're some ruffian come good I bet. Had to join Starfleet or get thrown into some penal colony." she chuckled, "Was I close?"

"Bang on the mark, in fact." Eric said, somewhat puzzled.

"What? Wow." she grinned, "I mean...Of course I'm right." she nodded mockingly to herself.

"That can get very annoying." He smirked.

"Yeah..." she said, a bit serious, "So I've been told."

"Just make sure you keep that under control, else you'll really annoy people. This might be a huge ship in terms of size, but in terms of community, this is a small ship. Especially when you're stuck with the same people day in-day out."

"Noted." she nodded, taking a bite of caesar salad. "Man, this is delicious! I should eat here more often, do they do reservations?" she deflected with more humor.

"I'm afraid its by invitation only." Eric sniggered. "But at least I won't suffer for lack of good food. Captain's gotta have good eats, right?"

"Gotta keep you fit and strong, so you're more able to lead a less fit, less strong crew? A Vulcan might call that illogical, or inefficient. But as long I get an invite now and then, I'd call it fair's fair." she smiled, enjoying another bite of her salad.

"Its just rabbit food." He smirked, looking at her salad. "Probably came from hydroponics."

"Nah, the lettuce is just ruffage, it's the other stuff, the chicken, bacon, cheese, and croutons, along with a clearly well made sauce that makes this salad amazing. And in any case, ingredients are one thing, how they're prepared is something else entirely." she said, indicating the steward's door.

"Yes, he came well recommend, did my Steward. Its taken some getting used to, being treated like an admiral, but apparently, this is what captain's of big ship's have." He said.

"And this is definitely a BIG ship." she said, "I could easily spend days crawling around in this ship's jefferies tubes and crawl spaces, and still not cover it all. But that won't stop me from trying."

"Well, don't get lost." Eric smiled.

"Nah, my Dad used to say, 'You're never lost, you're always somewhere.' That's why we're even out here right? To go somewhere. Somewhere no one has ever gone. Boldy even."

"Yes, but getting lost in the jeffries tubes isn't quite the same as exploring deep space, is it?" Eric countered.

"I suppose that depends on one's perspective."

"I would imagine so." Eric conceded.

Rhiannon smiled, and then became more serious, "Sir, I noticed that there isn't an Operations Office. So I was wondering if, with your permission, I could get the Chief Engineer's help in setting up an Operations Lab on Deck 6 near the Main Computer Core." she paused momentarily, "This would help my team and I better monitor ship's systems and resources, and we'd be closer to the Core if any tech support was needed." she smirked, "I've already earmarked a space that is a good candidate, but it would involve halving the size of our library. So... What do you think?" she asked finally.

"I thought you had an office on deck two, along with the other senior officers?" Eric asked. "I mean, yeah, sure, if you need the space, go for it."

"Okay cool." she smiled. "I'll work out the details with LtCmdr Rhodes."

"I was about to say, make sure you tell the Chief Engineer before you go knocking holes in his ship." Eric chuckled.

"Engineers do get touchy about 'their' ships, don't they?” she did the obligatory finger quotes. "I was once assigned to a lead a repair team, on what was supposed to be a routine maintenance overall on a ship that had docked at the station. It was a nightmare, I get making modifications and everything, but this Engineering Officer has his ship's innards so twisted about that it was actually his modifications that was causing the most problems."

"I'm sure not all Engineers are like that. Mister Rhodes seems to be very efficient." Eric said. "You might want to open your horizons."

Rhiannon suddenly looked worried, "I'm just used to treating Engineers with disdain, my experiences have taught me that they break more than they fix... But I don't want to insult Rhodes, as I understand it we're going to be working together often."

Eric nodded. "Indeed, you two need a strong working relationship."

Rhiannon nodded thoughtfully, but couldn't think of a worthy response, so she simply said, "I'll keep an open mind."

The afternoon came to a satisfying conclusion. "Thank you, Ms. Sato-Price, for a delightful evening." Eric said, standing from the table.

Rhiannon followed suit, "It was my pleasure Mr. Captain Sir." She smiled.

"Captain or Sir work just fine." He chuckled.

"Duly noted." she nodded.

"Good night Lieutenant." Eric said, gesturing to the door.

"And you too, sir. " Rhiannon said, then she left.

= End Log =

Captain Eric Carpenter
Commanding Officer
USS Enterprise
NCC-1701-F

&

Lieutenant Rhiannon Sato-Pryce
Chief Operations Officer
USS Enterprise
NCC-1701-F