Meeting the XO

Posted on Sat Mar 12th, 2016 @ 4:44pm by Lieutenant Commander Daniel Divaro & Commander Eva Grey
Edited on on Sat Mar 12th, 2016 @ 4:45pm

1,859 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Pathways
Location: XO's Quarters
Timeline: Current

ON:

After his tour of Engineering, Divaro went back to his quarters to finish settling in. He had only been there a short while when he received a comm from one of the officers of the deck that Commander Grey had reported aboard. So, realizing that he needed to officially report aboard himself, he knew his next step was to contact her.

=/\= Commander Divaro to Commander Grey...=/\=

Eva silently wished that she had asked the quartermaster who had met her in the shuttle-bay for assistance in getting her things moved to her quarters. The larger boxes that held larger items had been shipped to the Hyperion on board a shuttle, however smaller bags such as her travel duffel and the two on board travel bags she had carried herself hadn’t been included in the cargo transfer. The Hyperion was a much larger ship than the Ailyn, and she had failed to take into account just how much walking was involved on larger star ships. The turbo-lifts were still just as annoying as the lifts on any other ship, and she was trying to pull her roll along luggage free from the doors when her communicator badge beeped. “Yes?” she said, not fully paying attention as she wrestled her luggage free of the door and continued on her way to her quarters.

=/\= I need to officially report aboard. Where would be convenient for me to meet you? =/\=

“I’m on my way to my quarters, Commander, can you meet me there?” Eva asked as she arrived at her assigned quarters. Reaching out, she entered the door code she had been given and breathed a sigh of relief as the doors opened. Stepping inside, she set her luggage down and nodded when she saw the boxes that held the rest of her belongings stacked neatly in the center of the room. Deciding not to start unpacking any of her clothes since Commander Divaro was on his way, she opened one of the boxes instead and frowned at its contents.

It had taken Daniel a few minutes to locate the XO's quarters. His last posting, the USS Indianapolis, was a Norway-class and so was much smaller than the Luna class was. But, with the help of the ship's computer, he finally found her quarters and rang the chime.

“Enter,” Eva said as she tossed an empty box away towards the growing pile near the door. She wasn’t looking where she was throwing the empty boxes, so she knew there would be a mess. She was making headway on unpacking her personal effects, and she wanted to get as much done as she could before the Hyperion’s captain finally arrived.

The door opened and Divaro walked in just in time to be caught full in the face by a flying box. "Whoa..." he said as the box bounced off him. "That's quite a welcome, Commander..." he said with a grin.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Eva said as she paused and turned to face the commander. She recognized him from the data she had been able to get a hold of regarding the Hyperion and the currently assigned crew and knew he was the chief engineer.

"Let me guess," he said with a chuckle. "When you were at the academy, your sport was boxing?"

“Actually, I took gymnastics and swimming at the academy,” Eva said as she paused in opening another box and turned her attention to the other officer. “I guess I was getting a little carried away, though.”

"Sorry to interrupt your settling in," he said as he took the time to check her out as she worked. Her biopic had definitely not been wrong--she 'was' extremely easy on the eyes and he thought she might be someone he would like to get to know better in the future. "Commander Daniel Divaro, your chief engineer, at your service..." he said, extending his hand.

“Commander Eva Grey,” Eva said as she reached over a box and shook Divaro’s hand. Pausing for a moment, she studied him closely before she released his hand. “Divaro. Your last posting was on the Indianapolis, wasn’t it?”

"It was," he agreed. "I was CEO there for four years. Nice little ship. Are you familiar with the Indy?"

“Not really,” Eva admitted as she shook her head. “I noticed that several people were transferred from the Indianapolis, including you. I’m guessing Starfleet is in a hurry to assign people to the Hyperion so we can get underway quickly, although I’m not sure what the rush is about.”

"I see in your service record that you come from the Ailyn?" Daniel asked. "Did you by chance know Lieutenant Marilyn Semmes? She was in astrometrics, last I heard."

“Lieutenant Marilyn Semmes,” Eva repeated the name softly as she tried to remember. Being the former chief science officer on the Ailyn, she had known everyone in the science department. The name finally tugged on her memory. “Lieutenant Semmes had just been promoted to the position of senior astrometrics officer when I received my transfer orders to the Hyperion. I’ve met her a few times, but she had been on the night shift most of the time, so we never really got to know each other that well. Do you know her?”

"Marilyn is my sister," he said with a smile.

“Ah,” Eva nodded as she flipped the box top open and looked inside. It was filled with a number of oddities from several away team missions she had been on while assigned to the Ailyn, most of the items she had actually taken from an archeology dig site on a planet in the Gamma Quadrant. “So, have you checked in on engineering yet?” she asked as she set the box to the side and turned her full attention to Divaro.

"I have," Daniel said, "and everything seems to be pretty well in order. I will admit, though, things were a bit hectic when I was down there, but I suppose that's to be expected when you're getting a ship ready to shove off for a mission. Also, I wanted to let you know that I've already picked my second-in-command for engineering."

“Already?” Eva said, not doing a very good job at the fact that she was a bit surprised. Normally, it would take several days or even weeks for a new department head to get to know the officers and crew under their command. Eva herself didn’t even know much about the others who had been assigned to the Hyperion, in fact she didn’t even know her new commanding officer.

"I've tapped Lieutenant Karen Walker as my second," he said. "I knew her about ten years ago when I was an engineer on the USS Morningstar. She did her cadet cruise there and she seemed to catch on to things there really quickly, so I think she will be a good assistant Chief Engineer."

Daniel suddenly realized there was something he had forgotten to do. Removing a PADD from his pocket, he extended it to the Exec. "Here is a copy of my service records and my orders posting me to the Hyperion. I should have given you these right from the beginning, so my apologies for that oversight. Do you have any questions for me before I leave you to your settling in?"

“Actually, I was about to ask you for your transfer papers,” Eva said as she accepted the padd. “You know how much Starfleet loves to run on paperwork. I’ll go over these and get them filed as quickly as I can. I was wondering if you could give me an estimate on how much longer it will be until the ship will be ready to depart.”

"From what I've been able to gather so far, it looks like we should be ready to go in 48 hours or less," he answered. "I will follow up and let you know by 0800 tomorrow."

Eva nodded, hoping that the estimated time table would be satisfactory for the new captain. That only reminded her that she needed to get a hold of security and have a detail ready for when the Hyperion’s commanding officer would arrive. For that matter, she needed to take a tour of the science department and meet her own staff. She would also need to pick her own assistant chief since she was certain that the administrative duties of executive officer would most likely demand more of her attention than even she expected.

“Alright, I’ll let you get back to your duties,” Eva said. “I would like a full report on fuel, replicator, and any other critical supplies that we have on board as soon as possible. From what I can remember, Luna class ships are supposed to run five to seven year long exploration missions, so I want to make sure our supplies are in order before we launch.”

"You will have that by 0800 tomorrow as well," Divaro said. "Walker is on Beta Shift this evening so I'll have her to get things started. Do you have any other questions or concerns, Ma'am?"

“Not right now, but I’m sure I’ll think of something later on. Probably in the middle of the night, so I apologize in advance if I wake you up with something that makes absolutely no sense,” Eva said with a friendly smile.

"That's not a problem because I may have to do the same to you sometime," he replied with a bit of a laugh. "If you don't mind, may I ask you a question?"

“Sure,” Eva replied, curious as to what he would ask.

"Would you think it inappropriate or out of line if I were to ask you to dinner sometime?"

“Well, I hadn’t expected that,” Eva said. Indeed, it had been a long time since anyone had asked her out to dinner. Most of the time, she had been asked out for working meals, and she had found that it really ruined the entire meal when she focus on work while eating. “As long as it’s off duty and we talk about anything other than work, then I think I’ll agree to dinner.”

"It will be off duty and I can assure you that there will be no shop talk," he agreed. "When I take a lady to dinner, I want to leave all thoughts of work behind, so I promise you will be getting that invitation soon. Now if you would excuse me, I need to get back to engineering."

“I’ll be looking for that invitation, then,” Eva said. “Once I get through here, I’ll be heading to the bridge and check in with the science department. I’ll set the computer up to forward all calls to me if you need me for anything.”

"Yes Ma'am..." Daniel said. "And if you need me you know where I'll be..." he added with a wink, then turned and strode out the door.

OFF:

Commander Eva Grey
Executive Officer/Chief Science Officer
USS Hyperion

Lieutenant Commander Daniel Divaro
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Hyperion

 

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