Duty Log - CO & XO - aCapt Rhodes & LtCmdr Dhej - New Executive Officer

Posted on 241406.22 @ 7:47pm by Acting Captain Mark Rhodes

Mission: Where no man has gone before.

=*=Captain's Ready Room=*=

Acting Captain Mark Rhodes poured over countless services records trying to find a suitable choice for Executive Officer. Finally he think he found his choice, a medical researcher, with an interesting service record.

"Commander Dhej," said Mark opening a comm channel. "This is Captain Rhodes, I was wondering if you could join me in the Captains Ready Room at your earliest convenience please."

Karim looked up when he heard the summons. He had been busy updating the medical files of the few patients he'd seen in Sickbay during the alert. He was confused, why would the captain want to see him? Tapping his combadge he said "Understood sir. I'll be there shortly. Dhej out." Saving the file he was working on he shut down his console and quickly made his way to the ready room. Pressing the chime, he waited for a response.

"Come," said Mark to the door. Karim walked in and Mark gestured to one of the chairs, "have a seat, please. You are maybe curious as to why I requested you to meet with me," said Mark getting straight to the point. "I would like you to be my Executive Officer, assuming you want the job."

Taking the indicated seat, Karim look at him with confused look on his face and replied "Excuse me sir? I'm a medical researcher, not a command officer. Forgive my confusion, but this seems sort of sudden."

"This ship is in need of an XO. I reviewed countless service records. I read in your record that before you joined this crew you were the Chief Medical Officer of the USS Hera. Granted, that was before you took a leave of absence due to your injury. There was a note in your record that the Captain of the Hera was going to suggest you take his vacant Executive Officer seat, but you were injured. You even completed the Bridge Officer Training on that bridge before your injury. Of all of the people I have looked at you are the most available to take the position. The position is yours if you want it," said Mark laying it out on the table.

Thinking for a moment, he replied "Then I accept sir. I do however have to point out that I will be learning as I go sir. I hope that will not be a problem. Moving from medical to command is a bit of a ... jump sir." Pausing, a memory hit him and he added "Permission to speak freely sir?"

"You are speaking to the Chief Engineer... 6 hours ago," said Mark. "Always," replied Mark heeding the request.

Nodding, he said "I have a memory of us meeting before sir. It has come to me suddenly. Did you take Introduction to Xenobiology with Professor T'vek at the Academy?"

"T'vek? The only Vulcan I ever knew who could take a joke? Yes?" said Mark somewhat confused. "... Now that you mention it you do look kind of familiar in some way..."

Smiling slightly, he replied "We were in the same class. I was your lab partner for the first semester. If I remember correctly you tried to ask me out to the Fall Freshman Formal. I did look a lot different back then."

"...I ah... I am faltered Commander but I... Uh... Think you have me mistaken with someone else. I am not... Uh-" said Mark starting to babble.

Karim was unable to keep the large grin from appearing on his face and replied "That is the exact way you looked when you asked me out sir. I was the tall dark haired beauty who turned you down because I didn't want to make our working relationship into something more? Does that help you remember?"

It all clicked in Mark's head: "You were that cute little thing... Oh what was her name... Mavala?!? How do you know her? Where did you hear that story?" asked Mark back to being confused.

Chuckling slightly, he said "I'm sorry sir. The memory hit me as we spoke. I perhaps should explain myself. As you may know I am Dhej's new host. It's previous host was a Lieutenant Mavala Dhej, a security officer on the Hera. I retain all of her memories, as well as those of my previous hosts. Forgive me if I offended you sir. It's been a ...challenging period adjusting to this new reality. I tend to forget sometimes that the memories aren't those of my current host."

"So the host of Mavala is dead then?" asked Mark. "It did not fully explain it in the personnel records because some medical conditions are kept under wraps for confidentiality sake."

Shaking his head, Karim replied "No sir. Mavala was the previous host of the Dhej symbiont. She unfortunately died while on an away mission aboard the Hera. I was serving as the Chief Medical Officer, and was the only unjoined Trill aboard. I only had a few moments to decide to join with Dhej or it would've died. Since the joining was very ... unusual, I had to take a leave of absence to deal with my new ... existence." Pausing he added "I do remember that Mavala thought you were a very charming young man however."

Mark turned somewhat scarlet being talk told someone he once knew thought he was charming. "Good. That's what I go for. So back to business. You will serve as my Executive Officer, and we will keep Lt Lucas as Second Officer. Reading her record she seems more then capable to serve as our go-to," said Mark.

Knowing he may have made Rhodes nervous, Karim nodded and said "Of course sir. In terms of the XO's office and quarters, would you want me to store any personal effects of my predecessor, and settle in immediately?"

"We will give th'Zarath the respect to move his own things," said Mark. "Until then, use this office if you need a place," said Mark handing Karim a padd with information of a small office on Deck 2.

"That change will come soon enough, until then we will still be respectful. We do need to talk about our guests. I spoke with Intel and Security and they are both on board for having a discussion with the UFP guards we took into custody. If any useful information is to be extracted is to be seen. Admiral Malone told us to keep our heads down and stay out of trouble, so we are going to do some exploring at some point. We are in somewhat uncharted space at the moment, so we can get to work after about a weeks worth of repairs and rest to get the crew back to full strength," said Mark looking at a PaDD to make sure he didnt forget anything.

Nodding, Karim replied "Understood sir. Where would you like me at the moment? I apologize if the question seems a bit unprofessional, but as we've discussed, this is all new to me."

"I would suggest sitting down with the specifications of this vessel and the personnel files and start reading," said Mark. "That's my plan. I am trying to catch up before we start moving in a few days time."

"Of course sir. I will begin immediately. I assume you will inform me of command codes and such when things are settled?" Karim replied, trying to remember everything he could from his command courses.

"Indeed. I will have mine assigned, then we can take care of yours and square that away," said Mark. Mark stood up and put a hand out for a handshake, "Glad to have you on the team."

Taking the offered hand, Karim replied "Thank you sir. I look forward to working with you and getting to know you better. I will report to that small office immediately and get to work. Let me know if you need me sir."

"I want to have a meeting with the senior staff to get us all on the same page in the next day or so," said Mark.

"That sounds good sir. If anything, it will help everyone adjust to the new ... situation." he replied "Was there anything else sir?"

"No, nothing further at this time. Dismissed," said Mark.

Nodding, Karim turned and headed out, en route to his temporary office.

--

Acting Captain Mark Rhodes
Commanding Officer
USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-F

Lieutenant Commander Karim Dhej
Executive Officer
USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-F