Welcome to the Concord

Posted on Tue Jul 25th, 2023 @ 10:54am by Captain Tyler Driskill & Lieutenant Commander Joseph Sledge
Edited on on Tue Jul 25th, 2023 @ 12:02pm

1,454 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Mission 1 - Project Concord
Location: USS Concord | Deck 1 | Captains Ready Room
Timeline: 11:45 hours

Captain Driskill was returning from one of several meetings already that morning with admirals, engineers, scientists. You name the department and over the next few days they were either scheduled to visit the Concord or he was to report to the starbase. The engineers assigned Project Concord had done an excellent job they still had some final testing and tweaking to finish up while the remaining crew boarded and supplies were loaded. As he stepped on the bridge he stopped by the Operations station and gave a Lieutenant who seemed to be running the skeleton crew some orders. Next the Captain was on his way for a bite to eat and more reports to read.

"Commander Joseph Sledge, reporting for duty sir." He spoke after the doors hissed shut behind him. He stood at attention before Driskill's desk.

“Judging by the time and your rank” Tyler smiled “I’d guess you are my new First Officer?” It was the first of two questions as he turned from the replicator with a salad and tea in his hand “care for something” Captain Driskill offered looking at his lunch and then back to the Commander.

Joseph looked to the man as he made the offer. With a smile he spoke softly “no to food. But I would love an iced Raktajino double sweet.” Before he dropped his gear slowly. “I ate before leaving where my parents are. A local dish called a Garbage plate. Surprisingly it still survives, even with it being over four hundred years old.”

“I wouldn’t normally eat during this meeting” the Captain said sitting his lunch on his desk and placing the order for the “iced Raktajino, double sweet, but I’ve been in non stop meetings since my arrival.” He had a smile on his face after delivering the beverage and taking his seat “at least that’s how it’s felt.” Tyler took a sip of his sweet tea and realized he had been slightly rude “where are my manners” he asked but followed up with “welcome aboard, Commander Sledge.”

Joseph shook his head gently and smiled “it’s quite alright sir. Nonstop meetings can be a drag. But. Thank you. He took the drink before moving to take a seat, though he waited for the Captain to say so. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting you since I received the orders you sent.”

“How was your journey here?” The Captain took a bite of his lunch, just making small talk so the two could loosen up a bit. He might as well get to know his right hand as they would be spending quite some time together.

After taking his seat and sipping at the Raktajino, he replied “a bit difficult. Traffic around space dock is hectic. And the tram system in Rochester was glitching. Otherwise it was fine”

“I understand that” Tyler chuckled “my runabout was nearly struck by a cargo vessel upon arrival” he paused “seems like things are wild everywhere.”

Joseph nodded gently “the security sweeps have been getting tougher too. Ever since the Breen attack two months ago…”

“That” Captain Driskill blinked and almost shrugged “I don’t mind, I’d rather be safe then sorry” he admitted.

He sighed gently and nodded “I would have to agree.” He sipped at the Raktajino again before he added “what do we have for a crew roster so far?”

Grabbing a PaDD and pulling up some information “seems like we will be working with a well rounded senior staff” Tyler skid the hand held information device across the desk and took another bite of his lunch. Washing it down with a sup of tea “as you can see some of them are quite experienced and knowledgeable.”

Taking up the PADD, Joseph perused it while sipping his Raktajino. He checked a few of the CSV’s for the senior staff and nodded “it looks like we will be well off. Hopefully we won’t have to put some of them to the test..”

“We hope for smooth sailing” Tyler had a slight smile on his face “and adapt to conditions.” Another gulp of tea and the Captain glanced up from his plate “so you started your career in Starfleet research and development? Straight out the gate, you must of impressed someone” his brows were raised he would know his father was one of the leads on Earth.

Joseph blushed a bit, his cheeks turning slightly red. He smiled and nodded “head of my class in theoretical physics as well as applied sub warp sciences. Utopia Planitia scooped me up same day of graduation. I helped create the new impulse reactors that went in to the Akira Class. I will tell you that ship could run circles around even the Peregrine fighters”

“Impressive” Tyler admitted his mind already on the next question. “So what made you go from that to sitting at the conn all day?”

His brow furrowed a bit as he thought. Finally he spoke “to be honest? I was getting bored designing the reactors and not being able to put them to the test.”

“Gotta do what you are passionate about” the Captain adjusted in his chair “I have to admit I’m surprised they are sending someone with minimal experience as an Executive Officer, but we will make it work.” There was a smile on his face, so far he liked the Commander.

Joseph nodded as he sat there. “To be honest, I think the promotion is because of the war. With so many losses during Chin’toka, both times.” He let out a sigh and shook his head “the first battle was.. that one was hard”

“I agree, this war has cost far too many lives” there was a moment of silence and the Captain had to push forward “I’m assuming you’ve been briefed on Project Concord?”

He furrowed his brow and looked to the Captain. After a few moments he spoke “I was told that it is a chance for us to go to the Delta Quadrant? And try to help Voyager. Correct?”

Tyler gave a nod “in a nut shell, yes.”

Joseph nodded a bit once again before he spoke “I don’t mean to sound insensitive.. But. With the war going on. Is this really a priority?”

“The people who give you and I orders seem to think so” the Captain didn’t have an answer other then that to the Commanders question.

He gave another nod to the captain. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to question the orders.”

“No need to apologize” Tyler understood his concerns but again it wasn’t up to him.

“So. What do we have left to take care of before we leave dock?” Joseph gave a smile as he sat there.

“Supplies and crew are steadily coming aboard” he smiled at his First Officer “roughly ninety-five percent of the refit is installed.” There was a slight pause “with your background I’d like you to work with Lieutenant Gulati and be as familiar with the reversed technology as possible in a weeks time” that was where they were just under a week until launch. “You’ll also be helping plot the course we take into the Delta Quadrant.”

Using the PADD given to him, Joseph started tapping on it before using the stylus. He wrote out what the Captain wanted before he spoke “Would be nice to get a look at the Borg tech. Always wanted to, but Starfleet was like the kid in school who didn’t want to share” offering a grin of jest.

“We’ll be my guest” Tyler smiled “you have clearance and I’m sure our expert in Borg technology will be glad to fill you in.”

Joseph nodded gently and smiled as he sat there. Finally he spoke “it would be good to be able to bring home Voyager. We could use a win here.. Sisko is doing his best. But this war…” he looked at the PADD while he flexed his biosynthetic hand a bit.

“I agree, Commander” the Captain said with a nod.

Joseph stood up and moved to offer his hand to the Captain “it’ll be a pleasure serving with you sir.”

“Likewise” Tyler paused “for now we have plenty to do and little time to do it” he knew how crunched things were going to be and went back to his report after watching the First Officer make his exit.

Joseph had shaken the Captain”: hand before he picked up in his bags and headed out. He made his way back to the turbolift and ordered for deck two, where his quarters awaited him.

 

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