Crew mixer

Posted on Mon Sep 11th, 2023 @ 9:21am by Captain Tyler Driskill & Lieutenant Commander Joseph Sledge & Lieutenant Nixie Wilde & Lieutenant Chaika & Lieutenant Roan Gaeta & Lieutenant JG Freya Walker & Lieutenant Commander Gulati & Lieutenant Vincent Cavendish & Lieutenant JG Kahlin & Lieutenant JG Rhee Xiviu & Ensign Skye Vos & Petty Officer 1st Class Mateo Wright & Crewman Avery Hawthorne

2,840 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Mission 1 - Project Concord
Location: USS Concord | Deck 10 | Ten Forward Lounge

In just three days the crew of the USS Concord would embark on a journey unlike any in the history of Starfleet. There were some of the higher ups that were against putting resources into Project Concord with the Dominion war raging on. However that decision was made far above Captain Driskill’s pay grade.

The last check in’s the Captain had with his senior staff things were running on schedule. At least Tyler was now comfortable knowing that everyone aboard was aware of the mission ahead of them and some of the potential dangers. To his satisfaction there had been no resignations and the crew seemed to be ready and willing to help their colleagues.

However tonight was a celebration and the Captain had to wipe any worry off of his face and rub elbows with the crew, which he didn’t mind at all. It was the brass that usually required enough attention and energy to make you feel like you’d put in a triple shift. Admiral wanted a gathering so Tyler asked his Yeoman to arrange a crew mixer. He knew it would have to last for at least six hours to give the crew and guests a chance to attend.

Stepping into the Concords Ten Forward Lounge the Captain was impressed by the work that was put into this event. The lighting and atmosphere were calming and comfortable “fine job, Crewman Hawthorne” the Captain smiled as he approached.

Avery smiled warmly in return, clearly pleased that the Captain was satisfied. Avery always worried when organising events...there were so many small things that could go wrong, but this one had pulled together nicely right on schedule. "Thank you, Sir, that's music to my ears, and I don't mean the piano..."

Tyler chuckled “well fine job” he repeated. “The Admiral should be here anytime” Captain Driskill had it scheduled that the crew arrive soon after the Admiral. “Rumors are Admiral Paris might make an appearance, but I doubt it.”

"Admiral Paris?" Avery looked to him with surprise, their breath held for a moment as they glanced around. Lowering their voice, Avery leant a little closer to the Captain. "Do...you ever get nervous around Admirals?"

“Sometimes” Tyler admitted to the Yeoman. “Although most of them are decent” he shrugged slightly.

Lieutenant Gulati had popped in and overhead the small bit of chatting. "I'm sorry to burst that bubble," she said with a pleasant smile. "Admiral Paris sends his best wishes, but he won't be making an appearance. Admiral Alderman will be though on his behalf."

“Very good, Lieutenant” Tyler gave a nod. “Do we know when we can expect the Admiral?” The crew were due to start arriving at any moment and the Captain was hoping this would give them a chance to relax before they were off to the Delta Quadrant.

Avery scrolled through the details on their padd, nodding as they smiled gently. "Yes, in about ten minutes. They can't stay after the speech though, so we'll drink a toast with the Admiral, and the food and drink service will commence after they've left."

Roan looked around as he walked in, taking it all in. He felt a bit awkward, just walking around, and spotted the Captain. He gave the other man a nod before moving towards where he expected the drinks would come at some point. He preferred being close to the beverages.

If the Betazoid could have avoided this, she would have. Yet here Rhee Xiviu was, her dark hair severely braided back and her dark eyes observing. Being Operations, she figured she could make an excuse at some point and find some work to do. It seemed it was what Engineering did in general, make excuses and getting away from things. Shame it didn't work as well for her department. She bit her lip for a moment, a nervous habit her mother would have told her off for, eyes drifting from person to person...impression to impression until she took a breath and shielded herself from it all. A little bubble of silence.

Joseph stepped off of the turbolift on to deck ten. He stood outside of Ten Forward for a few moments, finalizing some crew rosters. Finally, adjusting his uniform top, and brushing his shoulders off some, Joseph stepped to the doors and walked through as they hissed open. He looked around and nodded to some of the crew before he walked up to the Captain. He smiled and spoke "Glad to see I am not under dressed for the Admiral's speech." Glad that he hadn't put his dress uniform on. He didn't like how it restricted his leg movement.

“Good call” Tyler smiled “glad you could make it, Commander.”

He nodded happily at the Captain and smiled "I wouldn't miss it. I just had a few things on the crew roster to fix is all sir."

It seemed like it was lucky that Nixie Wilde had turned up in any kind of uniform. The Chief Security Officer's jacket was hanging open, hooked around her arms where her hands were in her pockets. She strolled in but stopped once she was inside the room, taking a long moment to look around and check out the lay of the land. It was only seeing the others looking much smarter and neater that prompted her to do her jacket up, clearing her throat as she made her way into the room proper.

Vincent Cavendish couldn't help but chuckle softly as he caught the movement, following her inside, not far behind in fact. The science officer felt a brief wave of something like trepidation with the gathering of people in the room. It passed as soon as he'd sensed it though and he made his way in, clearly looking for a tray of drinks.

His sense of timing was immaculate. Servers started to carry trays out with glasses of champagne, making their way around the gathered crew to offer them a glass ready for the Admiral's speech.

Skye Vos arrived in such a rush that she almost collided with a server and tray. Almost. She dug in her heels just in time and even managed to neatly take up a glass on her swerve around the startled man. The pilot made her way carefully to the group, weaving in as if she'd been there the entire time.

Khalin took a glass, looking around before sniffing it. She walked as she tipped her head back and drained the glass, grimacing at the taste of it. Earth swill, not fit to drink in her eyes. She put the empty glass down, eyes narrowed as she looked around.

Captain Driskill had joined may of his crew in sipping the provided Champagne. “‘Not a fan, Lieutenant” the Captain asked with a smile. It seemed many of the senior staff had formed a small group and Tyler joined them and awaited the Admiral.

Kahlin looked at him, shaking her head. "Tastes like water gone off," she finally admitted, knowing it wasn't what she was meant to say and yet she couldn't stop it. "Not enough kick or bite."

“Apologies” Tyler said with a serious look “next time I’ll have to get your input on food and beverage choices.” The captain was being sincere.

Kahlin looked at him with surprise before she nodded, looking down before she felt a smile tugging at her lips. "Not sure this is the crowd for Romulan ale," she joked, aware of his rank...so trying to be nicer than she'd usually be.

“No I wouldn’t think so” Captain Driskill smiled and noticed more if the crew gathering.

Roan walked over to the Captain and the Engineer, giving them both a small nod. "Looks like most of the crew's here already," he said, holding a glass of champagne. "Guess we only need our guest of honour."

“I believe the Admiral should be here any moment” Tyler took a sip of his champagne. “How are you settling in, Lieutenant?”

"Settling in well, Sir," Roan said before he took a drink of the champagne. "Sickbay's nice. The EMH is annoying, why would anyone have one that looked that grumpy?"

Tyler laughed at the comment about the EMH. “I’m glad you approve of the medical facilities, Doctor.”

Petty Officer 1st Class Mateo Wright felt awkward as he walked in, being surrounded by so many proper officers. He saw the champagne but didn't go for one. Instead he spotted another crewman, walking over to them. "So how long do I have to be here?" he asked in a whisper, meeting Hawthorne's eyes.

Avery laughed softly, humour sparkling in their blue eyes as they leant closer to Mateo, to lower their voice to a whisper. "Well you'll want to stay at least a little while after the Admiral's speech...the food's going to be great," Avery tried to tempt him.

Mateo studied the other enlisted before he sighed, reluctantly. "Fine, but only because I like food. But if it isn't good, I'll blame you, Crewman...?" he let it drift, curious to entice a name out of them.

"Avery Hawthorne," they offered with a warm smile before taking on a playful expression. "And that's fair enough, because I organised it..." he winked.


The doors swished open and the ship's Tiny Engineer Chaika walked in. She looked around the room a little unsure what to do.

Captain Driskill called the newcomer over “Chaika.” He wanted his senior staff to get to know each other and wanted to get to know his crew.

The tiny engineer walked over towards the Captain, her tail swishing as she walked. "Hello Captain..." she said looking around confused. "Where is the ice we are apparently required to break?" She asked.

“It’s a” he paused and smiled at his Chief Engineer “it’s one of those human figures of speech” Tyler admitted before taking another sip of his champagne. “It’s simply a way to let the crew mingle and get to know each other before our long journey.”

"Interesting..." Chaika replied. "I am still learning about Humans." She stated. "I appreciate the chance to work with all of you." She smiled cutely.


Walker walked in silently. She scouted the room and approached the CMO. She was checking in with her Direct Supervisor, on paper, that is. Her uniform was that of medical staff. She wore the hammer of her faith on a cord around her neck. Her belt had a type 1 phaser and a seax knife. Being armed was a requirement of her faith. She balanced that with the modern world. She was a little different than most psychologists.

Roan almost groaned as he saw the blue-collared female walk over. Chief Counselor Walker. He had spotted her file. Luckily, she was Chief Counsellor, meaning not really his problem unless sickbay was on fire. He knocked back the rest of the champagne before he looked at her weapons as she neared. He respected her wearing the knife, the same way he respected a Bajoran wearing the earring, but the phaser felt so out of place at a social function worn by anyone who wasn't Security. He pushed it from his mind, putting it into things he really didn't have the capacity to care that much about. "Counselor Walker," he said when she got close enough. "Enjoying the party?"

She smiled sweetly, "I don't party much in the traditional sense being of the Tyrsgard." Tyrsgard was a reference to and old Religious story. "Arguably, it doesn't matter much on a Federation Ship being it is Synthahol. In the story, Loki let Jotuns crash an Asgardian party, where everyone was drunk and couldn't defend themselves.

After that, Odin required at least one Sober person at every function. Try, the God of Sacrifice, was the first to volunteer. In honor of that, the humans that stayed Sober at a party. "As far as Socialization, it is wonderful." Noticing the glance to the small phaser. "I'm still having a little trouble acclimating to not being at War or on the Broken Arrow. Eventually, Starfleet will put a Couselor on a ship." She paused for dramatic effect. "Oh. Damn. That's me. Do you prefer daily reports or weekly?" She was working on the phaser issue and chose to joke about it.

Roan watched her for a long moment, a small smile coming to him. "And here I was wondering if you were carrying that to put someone down. I find a hypospray more useful for that," he said lightly. "Weekly is fine, you're a Chief in your own right."

Walker grinned, "Yeah. Broken Arrow was a Nightmare. Q put us through new BS every week. You would think it was a weekly occurrence like a TV show. We didn't have a chance to breath or make repairs most of the time. We had to be ready at a moment's notice. Sometimes we had to make sure we didn't destroy the timeline. It was a Nightmare on Steroids. I got caught up on my dailies for the first time in years. Suddenly, free time and a Mixer."

He studied the woman for a moment before he nodded, looking thoughtful. Truth was, he didn't know much about Q except the sort you heard about the famous Picard and the Enterprise. Had made him glad he wasn't serving on that starship. His eyes went to her phaser, his body somewhat tense. "Well, the war is over and you're here now." Although the weapons she wore would have suggested something else.

Nodding, "My Grandmother gave me the knife the day I was accepted into Starfleet. A gift from an Elder before we go Avikining. She was Völva of our Village on New Asgard Colony. Direct translation aside, it is an Herbalist and a Listener. As far as giving up the phaser, I downgraded in size. I'm working on totally getting to the point I don't have it anymore. I used to carry the larger handheld phaser with more than stun setting. I understand, I'm not on that ship anymore and getting jerked around time and space by a vengeful Q."

One of the Civilians was drunk and slapped Walker on the ass and tried to rub. She grabbed him by his hand and twisted it until it made popping noises. Who knows how he got alcohol on a dry ship. "That is my ass. It is not to be touched by you. Even if you didn't have the wrong genitals, it is still considered polite to get permission first." She kept twisting his hand. "Do you understand me?" She broke his fingers and his wrist.

The guy answered, "I'm sorry. I need a Doctor. I'm sorry. I understand."

She led him to Roan's feet. "You're in luck." She let him go and patted his head. She walked away, leaving him crying at Roan's feet.

“He can report to sickbay and you and I will talk about this at a later date” Tyler told his crewman. He didn’t think breaking the man’s hand was necessary even if he had no right to touch Freya.

Walker smiled at Roan. "Still have work to do."

The Admiral had walked in with some weight on his shoulders. Owen owed him for this, stepping in and filling in for Admiral Paris was no easy task especially given Owen's personal investment in Project Concord, something that he did not. Nevertheless, he had taken the time to throw something together.

Picking up a glass and taking a quick sip for some liquid courage, the Admiral swallowed and took a deep breath. He gently tapped the silver utensil against the glass to draw attention to himself.

"Ladies, gentleman, non-binary and agendered crew of the USS Concord" prefaced the Admiral. "It is with great honor that I am here today. Though Admiral Paris sends his best and God speed to you all, he could not be here today. I endeavor to do my best in his place."

He pressed on. "Long ago Humans took flight. Brave souls reached to the stars and some did not return. Brilliant minds like Cochran gave us stronger wings and we took flight to sail among the stars with warp speed, and in the words of Ronald Reagan 'We've grown used to the idea of space, and perhaps we forget that we've only just begun. We're still pioneers' and you all are the bravest of pioneers."

"Voyager is out there. It is up to each of you to journey far beyond the stars and bring them home. I know this crew can do it. I know Captain Driskill can do this, and Starfleet believes in the Concord and this crew."

“Thank you and cheers Admiral” Captain Driskill toasted his glass of champagne to the Admiral. “Wonderful speech” he said as he joined by the Admirals side and they watched the brave crew enjoy a small moment before they faced the Delta Quadrant.

 

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