Backpost - crew reshuffle
Posted on 05 Oct 2023 @ 8:20am by Captain Jonathan Reynolds & Lieutenant JG Cihl Theidi
Mission:
Time changes everything
Location: Captains ready room
Timeline: Before embark on “Time changes everything” mission
1690 words - 3.4 OF Standard Post Measure
ON:
Jon sat sipping his tea somewhat miserable. Harper had broken up with him and resigned as soon as they were back from the colony visit. She had cited the need to find her new secret El-Aurian family but Jon had known that the situation with his own family had factored heavily. So here he was single once again.
How he was going to tell Eddie he had no idea. But that would be later. Right now he had to sort out crew changes. As his Chief Engineer and Chief medical officer had also decided to leave the family and take on a new adventure.
CMO was an easy fix. Lieutenant Syvar had earned his stripes. He happily signed off a promotion and fired through a message informing the man.
Engineering- let’s just say with the new team being sent from Starfleet central to study the gateways he had been flooded with applications but he had heard about a young engineering super graduate currently here on DS21.
Jon had wasted no time requesting a meeting with the man.
Ensign Cihl Theidi sat alone in Deep Space 21's Replimat, reading on his datapad as he sipped his Tarkalean Tea. His stopover on DS21 was taking longer than anticipated and it was starting to frustrate him a bit. His uncle had arranged his assignment to Deep Space Station K-7 as their new Chief Engineer and he was eager to get started, but it seemed like road blocks kept getting thrown in his way as he tried to get there. Most were minor inconveniences but now the transport he'd booked to get to K-7 was delayed two days.
While he was enjoying the opportunity to catch up on some reading, it wasn't exactly a welcome change to his schedule. He wanted to get to work and he wanted to get there as soon as possible. Besides, the book he selected wasn't exactly a good one. Written in the early 21st Century on Earth, Hotel Royale was a novel written by Todd Matthews about a group of gamblers caught up in a web of crime, corruption, and deceit. While it sounded like it would be good it really wasn't. Any novel that opens with 'It was a dark and stormy night' probably wasn't going to be the best story. In fact it was, so far, predictable and the characters one-dimensional.
As he started a chapter about an older man named Texas who was conspiring with a young woman named Vanessa to murder her husband, a screen popped up on his PADD that caught his attention. Pausing the novel, he opened the message and was surprised to see that it was an invitation to meet with Captain Jonathan Reynolds of the Andromeda. Dismissing the message, he returned to his novel and continued reading about the plot to kill Vanessa's husband.
As he read through the passage, his mind kept returning to the message wondering what the Captain of the Andromeda could want. It wasn't every day that the Captain of a Galaxy Class starship reached out to you. He had heard rumors that the Andromeda was going to be investigating a series of recently discovered Iconian Gateways, but that was mere rumor to his knowledge. No, he had to be prepared for his transfer to K-7. He started reading again.
But the plot was making little sense to him now, and he knew why. It wasn't that the book was poorly written - well it was - it was that he couldn't keep his attention on what he was reading. He was more curious about the message from the Andromeda than he expected. He decided that he would meet with Captain Reynolds.
Bookmarking his place in the novel, and placing the remains of his Tarkalean Tea into the replicator for recycling, the young Ventaxian left for the Andromeda. It took him only a few minutes to travel aboard the Galaxy Class starship for the meeting. Walking up to the Captain's Ready Room, the former Chief Engineer pressed the door chime and waited for an answer.
"Come," Jon said loudly. His door opened and he stood up from his desk. "Ahhh Ensign Theidi, Jonathan Reynolds. Thank you for taking time out of your schedule to come meet with me. I bet your wondering what this is all about?"
Glancing around the Ready Room, Ensign Theidi shifted his weight as he stood at attention just inside the door. "Indeed, Captain Reynolds, I am a bit surprised to have been called to meet with you. Fortunately, I was only experiencing some leisure time when I received your message before my appointment to Deep Space Station K-7."
"Well about that, I'm afraid your plans of going to Deep Space Station K-7 have changed. When I sent the initial invite I merely meant to offer you a job giving you a choice but as Starfleet are hell bent on sending us to get more intel on some alien gateways. To the point that they have sent me an entire science team and some junior engineering officers exactly to study those when I spoke with Admiral Jackson and mentioned I had become aware you were onboard DS21 and intended to offer you a job, she went off and did some thinking and has I'm afraid pulled some strings meaning your being reassigned to me as Chief Engineer.
Immediate and with a full promotion to Lieutenant JG," Jon told the man. "I'll give you a moment to get your head round that."
The former Ensign stood, silently, as he considered the potential assignment to the Andromeda. It had only been a short time since he had graduated second in his class from Starfleet Academy and had been assigned to the Artemis. Now he was already being promoted to Lieutenant, Junior Grade, and being made the Chief Engineer of a Galaxy Class starship.
The young Ventaxian's thoughts quickly returned to his Uncle who had pulled strings to arrange his assignment to Deep Space Station K-7. For all intents and purposes the assignment to the Andromeda was a far superior choice than an old, run down outpost along the Klingon border. Still, it had taken a lot for his Uncle to arrange it.
"Captain, respectfully, a lot was done to arrange my assignment to K-7. I do not want to unduly impact or interfere with the career of another. Has this been discussed with the Station Commander?" It probably wasn't the answer that Captain Reynolds was expecting.
“I understand,” Jon said, “That Admiral Jackson is very thorough. I also understand that what I have just told you is a lot to take in and if I’m honest if our roles were reversed right now I would likely be of two minds and perhaps if we are honest a little annoyed that a decision that was made and I had input in has suddenly shifted.
So I’ll tell you what, I’m going to talk to you about what I was going to talk to you about when the situation was just me offering you a job. I don’t know how to talk an Admiral out of a made decision but if you’re truly against this I’ll certainly try. I don’t want anyone working on my boat not happy to be on my boat.
This is eyes only,” he told the man passing him a PADD and left him look through files on the additional goddesses, alien gateways, green drug and cartels and their recent encounter with an alternate universe.
He let the man absorb more information and waited for any questions.
Scanning through the files presented to him, the Ventaxian Engineer maintained as stone a disposition as he could. It wasn't hard for him to maintain the appearance of being neutral because it was a skill that was so ingrained in his culture that it was almost second nature to any Ventaxian. He was, however, intrigued by what he was reading. There certainly had been a great deal in the history of the Andromeda in a short span of time, but he wondered if the past were truly indicative of the future. While their history had been full of strange new worlds, that did not guarantee the future would.
Not that serving on a Space Station in what was, essentially, civilized space these days was much in the way of fascinating. In reality, he feared it may be mundane. While he was more interested in the engineering behind such an assignment, there was something to be said for the exploration. Maybe that was why he wasn't happy with his previous assignment? He was second in his class at Starfleet Academy, had literal choice of any assignment in the fleet, and had been left stuck aboard a vessel assigned to the criminal investigative services. Was this what he truly wanted?
"When would my appointment be in place, Captain?"
"It would be effective immediatly," Jon answered. "We will be heading out in the next couple of days. We are just awaiting 2 members of a team that Starfleet command have sent us."
Holding onto the datapad, Cihl looked at the information that was presented again and considered carefully. This was an amazing opportunity - especially for someone as young as he. He sighed, feeling as if he were letting his Uncle down, but also knew that his Uncle would be among the first to tell him to accept the position. That didn't make it any less difficult though.
He blurted, "I accept."
"Excellent," Jon said happily. "Well in that case welcome aboard and," he opened a drawer and pulled out a box then walked round his desk to the man.
"I promote you to Lieutenant Junior grade effective immediately. Congratulations."
The Engineer looked at the contents of the box, studying the small pip inside for a moment before affixing it to his collar. "Thank you, Captain. I won't let you down."
Jon nodded. "Well then I'll let you get settled in. Dismissed."
OFF:
Jonathan Reynolds
CO, USS Andromeda
Cihl Theidi
Chief Engineer, USS Andromeda
