#23 Making His Mark

Posted on Sat Nov 19th, 2022 @ 4:01am by Captain Rogue Green {Meji} & Lieutenant JG Marcus Resch {Meji}

Mission: BUGS OH NO!!
Location: Bridge
Timeline: current

ON:

With the battle closed for now Commander Green was on the Bridge while the Commodore was in her Ready Room taking a break. Ro had the Con. Sitting in her chair casually, legs crossed at the thighs she leaned back and read from her XO's PADD, taking in damage and repair reports. In-between she was also reading personnel files. It was late into Beta shift but being a metahuman Rogue felt no exhaustion nor any need for sleep. With all going on the CO and crew needed normalcy, to relax their minds and take a break after all that had transpired. Whoever was leading these vagrants and bandits would surely pay the price for what they had done, one way or another. The loss of Zenni had gutted Rogue, her inner being now left with a void, a dark miasma of hatred and wrath like a quantum singularity. It was glorious, it was beautiful, the raw power breathtaking, but it was an abyss from which she drew new strength. The crew were working in shifts on the repairs. Gung-ho, balls out for 4 hours then take a break as the next group did the same for four more hours, and so on.

While sitting and contemplating these various thoughts Green was also considering this Ensign Resch. According to his file he had come aboard when Kirk had. They had been classmates at the Academy. Yet, he never made himself known, always staying under the radar as he did his job as expected and proceeded to the next. He never called attention to himself. It was her experience that the quiet ones, early in their careers, tended to be the most loyal, caring, honorable and forthright Starfleet officers imaginable. Marcus had been on all rotations, but mainly Gamma shift, late nights with a bare crew and no one watching. Ro had seen how Song got drowned in paperwork every day, spending a good portion of her mornings doing just that. Most crew did not know that there was a plethora of small tasks that CO's had to do every day to keep their ships running smoothly, and all the time spent reading Starfleet data reports from sectors their ship or facility happened to be in.

With all that in mind Green put her PADD in the side pocket of her chair and stood up, doing the 'Picard manuever' to the front of her tunic. "All stop."

"All stop, Aye." Responded the FC officer.

"Open a channel to Delta 5." Ordered Green, and it was done. "Ensign Kirk, time to return to Amandora. No arguments, that's an order. Green, out." She then turned around to face Tactical. "Shields remain active, shut down weapons. The last thing we need is to strain our people. All that power running through various systems makes repairs difficult, at best. We need Amandora back in fighting condition sooner rather than later."

The man at tactical gave nods and did as instructed. Shortly thereafter he announced that Kirk was RTB and asked to drop the aft shields to allow her access. The order given, and after a minute, she was told that Delta 5 was back aboard and landed with aft shields reactivated. Facing the window once more Green caught sight of that large asteroid in the distance, her eyes drawn to it for reasons she could not explain. Try as she might the Core gave her no disturbances whatsoever about the giant space rock.

Ensign Resch arrived on the Bridge with his PADD in hand and a tricorder hooked to his belt. Over his red shirt he wore an engineer's vest with pockets stuffed with various instruments and devices. Casually making his way along he would look to certain readouts on each station, make a notation, then move on.

A grin formed on Green's face as she watched him, and when he made his way to Bridge center to check the OPS and FC stations she spoke up. "Burning the midnight oil, Mister Resch?"

Marcus looked over at his XO after looking at OPS. "I could say the same about you, Commander."

"You could but that would be cheating."

Arriving at FC, Resch jotted down whatever it was he needed to before turning her way and sliding the PADD into his thigh pocket. "Cheating? How so?" He could see around them that the rest of the Bridge crew were smirking and suddenly trying very hard to pay attention to their posts while listening to the banter.

As he moved in closer to Ro, the two of them moving to stand just before the massive, panoramic, transparisteel window, she relayed why she said that. "I asked you about midnight oil, to which you responded by trying to say the same. You used my analogy rather than one of your own. At the Academy that could be considered cheating if you abscond with someone else's idea and make it out to be your own."

"You can stop now," Said Resch, chuckling. "I had my hazing as a cadet I don't need a refresher course."

Green gave a giggle, as did several others around the Bridge. "Fair enough, Marcus. But, it was a statement made out of curiosity. Why are you up?"

Though it was mirthful, Resch's face scrunched up like he was confused, but a portion of the expression was also wondering if she was daft. "I thought you had noticed, Sir."

Green gave the look of confusion this time, for real. "Noticed what?" She gave a cautious grin after that, seeing this as a possible trap.

"The ship is broke, Commander," answered Resch. "I thought you wanted it fixed."

Two officers elsewhere on the command deck snickered but hid themselves well behind consoles and other personnel. Not that it mattered because this was what Green wanted. To get them laughing again, to show them all was not lost despite the predicament they were in as a crew. "Alright, alright, that's enough." She chuckled. "Truce?"

"Truce." Marcus raised his right hand and then closed his digits into a fist, all except for the pinky which he held up. "Come on, you know you want to," he gave the smoothest smile that was both wide and cheerful, wagging his eyebrows. When she did not immediately acquiesce he then wiggled his pinky and looked at her with that happy gameshow host expression. The quiet laughter cascaded across the command deck, all those around them losing a good portion of tension simply by watching two officers being silly. Despite the eleven dead, and the hearts torn by their loss, those same hearts needed to laugh. To remember that those who died would not want them to live with hardened hearts.

"You are incorrigible," she said, locking pinkies with him to seal the truce which elicited more chuckles from those around them. "There, can we move on now?" Green said with a smile as they turned to face the window directly as they stood side by side.

"Of course we can," Resch replied. "What would you like to talk about now? Or, do you need me to wash the window?"

"Later," said Green, keeping the mood light and being a cheeky monkey at the same time. "Seriously, though. I've looked at your file and you spent four years at the Academy after receiving special consideration and joining at 16. In that time you excelled in your classes with high marks, but only ever reaching grades to equal anyone else in the top ten. From the scores I saw you could have been at the top of your class in several fields."

Resch turned to face her. "I passed with flying colors, isn't that enough? Let someone else get all that attention and the high expectations that come with it. I prefer to be me, to shine when needed and not waste energy on recognition. If it comes then it will come when fate decides."

"Humble," remarked Green. "You're in Operations but you wear the red of Command Division. Another 'special consideration' in your life?"

Marcus gave a grin. "Not at all, Commander. I was transferring divisions at the base, wanting to see if Command was more rewarding than Operations would be. Testing the waters. They granted me the transfer just before I reported aboard so I wear red. No one ever demanded I wear the gold while doing my bosun duties, so I just kept wearing it. Is this a problem?"

"Far from it, Ensign. In fact, I welcome it for what I have in mind." Green explained. "Commodore Song has never had a yeoman, and in my opinion, she needs one. All CO's do. Normally, such a post is slotted for enlisted but this is Starfleet, and our command. How this ship is run is on the Commodore and myself, to fit the right people into the right spots. As bosun you already see to a great many things, and having all that knowledge about the ship and crew could be handy and helpful to the Commodore and everyone aboard. Sound appealing?"

Thinking on it, recalling all it was he did every day, Resch thought on it for over a minute. The Bridge crew waited to hear his answer since they were involved simply by being present. As the boatswain (bosun) he had a multitude of tasks, and why he had chosen that as a specialty while in the Academy. Each vessel and base has one Warrant Officer (or Chief Warrant Officer) who holds the position of Boatswain. The Boatswain (pronounced and also written "Bosun" or "Bos'n") trains and supervises personnel (including both the ship's company or base personnel as well as passengers or vessels) in general ship and base operations, repairs, and protocols; maintains duty assignments for all Operations personnel; sets the agenda for instruction in general ship and base operations; supervises auxiliary and utility service personnel and daily ship or base maintenance; coordinates all personnel cross-trained in damage control operations and supervises damage control and emergency operations; may assume any Bridge or Operations role as required; and is qualified to temporarily act at Operations if so ordered.

Now, Green was offering another step up as the CO's yeoman, with more of the same type of work, just on the command level. The Captain's Yeoman is for Petty Officers who wish to continue as administrators. It is technically a non-Mate position. Use of this position is completely at the discretion of the Commanding Officer. File work, and sensitive message transport are but two examples of the Yeoman's possible duties. The Yeoman assists the CO in day-to-day duties that the CO would otherwise not have the time to do. It was, in his opinion, right up his alley. "Commander Green, I accept," he said with a smile and shook her hand. The Beta Bridge crew gave light applause and congratulations, having witnessed it.

"Excellent," said Green. "I'll inform the Commodore when she arrives on Alpha shift. I'll not hold you up any longer since you need to check on repair teams. Get some sleep, Ensign, you're going to have a full day tomorrow."

"Aye, Sir." Resch gave a silly salute and walked across the Bridge to the starboard lift. As he spun inside the car before the doors closed he had to add. "I'll bring breakfast." Then he was gone.

That last thing he said had Green wondering if that was a pseudo-threat, or if he actually meant it. It would be curious to see what it was he showed up with.

OFF: