One Newbie To Another

Posted on Mon Jan 27th, 2025 @ 12:12pm by Lieutenant Cassian Massy & Lieutenant Commander Victoria Aries

2,725 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Let That Be Your Last
Timeline: Back Post: Post Attack on Dreadnought.

It wasn't that Victoria didn't have much free time to call her own, but the fact of the matter was that she'd devoted much of her limited free time to Ferrand already. But there were those times when she had time that wasn't devoted to one thing or another and that Ferrand wasn't available to her either. During those periods, she often took herself out of the deep dark engineering spaces (they were actually well lit) and just started to explore the ship bit by bit.

Now she'd expanded her morning video briefings by her section chiefs to looking over the crew listings for new arrivals or those who might be departing shortly. In fact, there had been someone that had arrived just as recently as she had, or at least relatively close to then. Then again, that had been true of at LEAST a hundred crewmembers, several of which had been on board Aspirant and transferred over at the same time. But this one was also a department head and even was in a field somewhat related to hers. And like the creative person she was, she could track him down just to say 'Hello.'

And that was how she found herself holding a cup of coffee as she glanced around the sparsely populated officer's mess for him and spotted the man she was looking for her. She put a smile on her face as she walked over towards his table and hovered for a moment, "Mind if I join you, Lieutenant?"

Cassian had taken a moment to venture out of the office, a break from the scrolling screens of reports and updates, of the constant interruptions and feedback from his team. He was sure that his team could handle things while he 'checked on a few things' when he in fact needed a break from 'them'. Managing a team that large, on a ship this large was going to be an uphill challenge he knew, he'd been given a grand opportunity, one that the general rank and file wouldn't normally be granted but he vowed to make the most of it as he could.

Most of his friends had not spoken much to him thinking that he had pulled some strings or favours to get that assignment, some even thought he viewed himself as better than they were for it. While that detail bothered him what truly got to him was their reluctance to even hear him out and understand this he too was surprised...but not for the reasons they think.

His eyes looked up from the brim of his cup to the woman standing in front of him. A Lieutenant Commander in gold. Security or Engineering, because he didn't recognize her from his department's service jackets that he had gone over already. "Please, by all means." He stood from his seat being polite and courteous to the female asking to join him. Part of him divulged that she wanted to see him specifically as there were many vacant chairs and tables in the room, many with far better viewed than himself.

"Thanks." Victoria smiled as she placed her cup down on the table and settled into the chair as he did the same, "I'm sorry to be so forward and invade your thought space, but I've been trying to meet people as I can since I'm new and I wanted to introduce myself. Victoria Aries, Chief Engineer and rather quite brand new to the Dreadnought." She stuck her hand out to him.

"Cassian Massy, Chief of Operations." He took her hand shaking it before sitting down again. He listened to what she said about being new, the same boat he was in since he himself was new to the ship as well. "That's ok, I'm very new myself. I arrived while in Earth orbit." He was that new and maybe it showed, maybe it didn't but that didn't belay the fact that the pair of them shared at least that in common.

"I may have you beat in the shininess, then!" Victoria laughed for a moment, "Dreadnought was already in this system when Aspirant decided they could do without me and dropped me off with oh... Just a handful of hours of notice." She shook her head slowly, "I was looking forward to being home on Earth for a few weeks or even maybe a few months to fix the old girl, but I guess I was needed here more."

"The joys of the service." Nearly everyone knew of little to no notice, it came with the uniform, just one of the many things that when wearing the uniform and badge it was expected during ones career, some more than others. "What class of ship did you come from?" Cassian knew that in terms of starship nothing beat the Valkyrie class, so everything short of a full-fledged starbase was smaller.

"Akira-class, my first actual Chief slot, part of a Task Force on the Tzenkethi border under Admiral Dobrev on the Bosley." Victoria said with a hint of pride. That group had been patrolling the border when the large aliens had decided to flex their muscles, handling all comers. "It was a bit of an interesting time, so imagine my reaction when we drop out of warp and I'm transported to a ship where I find myself in command of as many, or more, people than were on the entirety of Aspirant." She chuckled, "Mind-boggling."

"Yeah, this ship isn't exactly par for the norm I guess." He replied knowing that his own department was far larger than any hed ever been a part of, never mind been in charge of. "Got to admit though, can't help but feel a little out of place. A ship like this should have full Commanders in charge, the cream of the crop type staff. Yet here I am, in charge of operations on board."

"I wouldn't sell yourself too short, they had to have brought you in for a reason. But..." She glanced around, "I'd have thought they would have put specialist Captains into the senior staff slots with an Admiral in command. this ship is essentially a fleet in itself, just without the additional ships! I got promoted to this extra half pip about a day before I received my transfer orders, so it still feels a bit odd to put on every day. And every problem that's cropped up so far has been so far away I need a bloody transporter to get there."

"Who knows with the higher ups these days, I mean this is the first mission in a while so maybe they are still trying to pick one of the brass to command it." Cassian replied. "Still, we are out here now so little is going to change in the mean time which honestly gives us more time to settle in and get our bearings for when one does arrive." Time would be something he'd make the most out of to get himself squared away just in case a flag officer did board the ship.

"I can only imagine the bloodbath going on between the Admirals to get this command." Victoria picked her cup up again for another drink of the rapidly cooling caffeinated drink, "I think I'll be fine where I'm at, I'm lucky enough that I'm literally the final line of reporting. Hell, I'm just a super-Secretary it looks like, with seven Lieutenants that report to me? I've always been hands on in the past... Don't want that to go away."

"Will be interesting to see who we get, this ship would be a pretty feather in anyones cap." She was right though, the battle that would be waging at Sterfleet Command over who gets this ship would be huge and something of a heated debate. "I've got teams that coordinate sections of the ship, forget decks its whole sections." He knew that would later be a report he didn't want to read since he knew he had many such teams and all of them reported to him.

"You know, I have a theory." The Engineer raised one finger, "That they're starting to put people they're looking for future commands on board this ship. Not just any commands, either, but really really intense ones. Look at it, we're handling hundreds of subordinates across several sections, same as commanding a starship or something, sure we're relatively junior in rank for that slot, but we don't lack for experience, right?"

"That actually makes sense. After the war the skilled manpower of Starfleet was diminished a lot, they needed time to rebuild ships, crew them, all that training had to come from somewhere outside the Academy. They ship is big enough to stand up to a threat while rewarding its crew with experience." While to him he saw the logic, it also meant that he'd be constantly training people only for that training and experience to be reallocated elsewhere.

Victoria shook her head as she smiled at him, "Not just that, but us too. You'll get your third pip soon and if I make my guess right, it won't just be a half-pip. Give you a year, maybe a year and a half and if you want it, you'll be an Executive Officer on something like my old ship. Operations can make that leap a lot better than someone from Engineering, because you're constantly on the bridge and seeing everything. Honestly, this sort of slot is perfect for someone like me once I get used to it. Sure, it's a lot of reports, but eventually I'll get that routine in hand and hopefully get back into the nuts and bolts of the ship."

"Me, Exec of a starship." A position he'd never considered but also a colour change from gold to red. "Well to make Commander we'd have to pass the Bridge Officer's Exam. Which from what I heard it hard on its candidates and not everyone passes. Plus, you only get 3 tries." He replied still with his mind filled with the thought of being a Commander, a First Officer and in red.

The Bridge Officer's Exam, one that Victoria had been made to take back before. She sighed heavily as she remembered the scenarios that had been thrown at her, "It's not easy, no, but the key thing to remember is to use your head. They tailor at least one scenario to the individual, to make you face some of your worst fears. Mine was deciding just who to send into a situation that would absolutely cost the life of whoever I sent. Warp core breach in progress, ejection system was malfunctioning and my choices were to send three people to the malfunctioning anchor locks to manually open them, which would successfully eject the core, but kill them from the explosive decompression, or to send one person to attempt to circumvent the breach and shut down the reaction, which would expose them to lethal radiation levels, but not a guaranteed success. Keep in mind, they use personnel that are present on board, usually ones you've been working with for a significant amount of time, plus, you know who's best for each scenario." She looked into her coffee cup as she remembered which option she'd chosen.

"Doesn't passing though make you a Commander?" He asked wondering if she'd taken it why Victoria wasn't a full Commander and instead just a Lt.Commander and CEO, not a First Officer, Operations Officer herself to make the transition she mentioned before.

“Not at all, but it puts you higher on the chain of command than equivalent ranks on the same ship. It also authorizes you to stand bridge watches without a ‘supervisor’ behind you.” Victoria looked up, “I had a bit of an advantage, I was a Senior Chief Petty Officer before I ever went through OCS on USS Warspite, so I had a fair bit of experience herding junior officers along before I even became one myself. On Aspirant, the Captain encouraged his department heads to take the BOE to further their careers, offering advice to each of us without spoiling the test. I passed, Reginald and Margie failed, but Hera and Xavier passed along with me. I don’t think I’d be qualified to take the watch here, though, too big.”

"Everything about this ship seems too big." It was no joke though, from the time he got on board he was in awe of the size of it and the transit from Earth into orbit people lined the windows to have a look at it. "My first time on the Bridge and I had to look around the display labeling just to find operations...on the other side of the Bridge to where I entered." It was a slightly embarrassing detail but one he was sure that he wasn't the only one to make.

“I haven’t been up there except to greet the Captain as soon as I got on board.” Victoria smiled again as the conversation moved on, “So I don’t know what setup they have up there. I do know that Lieutenants Zh’dan and Vivant know what they look like, because they pull bridge duty a lot, but I need to venture up there at some point again.” She chuckled at herself, “When I can find a spare hour or two to wander the wasteland we call a bridge with enough supplies to guarantee success in finding it.”

He chuckled to himself at her reply. "Probably want to time that venture when the Captain is not there, won't look good looking lost in front of him as you roam the Bridge." Cassian replied as he had thought about that before and thankfully was able to do it. The Captain was in his Ready Room at the time so he was fortunate enough to have time even without a First Officer on board.

"And I suppose asking for directions while on the bridge would also paint me in a bad light." Victoria laughed, "Same with an Executive Officer, should we ever get one, right? Need to make a good impression on them."

"You think we won't get one?" Surely the Captain would have selected an officer to act as his First, at least until a permanent one was selected. "Someone must be filling in, can't leave a chain of command broken like that." He answered.

"Well, the Captain will probably revert to the Exec if some Flag officer takes command, but right now it's a vacant slot. I'm not sure who's the de-facto Exec, but it's probably Commander Bawden." Victoria wiggled her hand slightly, "But mostly Captain de Haviland just being on call at all times. I expect I'll get pulled into something somewhere at some point, but I've got enough on my plate to be going on with as it is."

"Yeah you do." That was hardly in debate, the ship given it's size came with many of its own challenges. "Is there anything that Operations can do to help with any tasks or requirements you might have?" He asked, trying to at least be helpful and supportive to a fellow department chief.

"Lieutenant Drovin." Victoria said after a pause, "She's my Life Support sub-Chief, but I think she's going to be the one I'm going to be least able to help. I'm a software and small craft engineer by trade, but I've gotten to be pretty well rounded overall."

"Small craft engineer and thrown on to a ship that dwarfs any vessel in Starfleet, large enough to fit two Defiant escorts in the stern." Which in itself wasn't a small feat. He chuckled at the notion of a starship launching other starships.

"Starship, launching starships, launching shuttles, launching drones." Victoria mimed the large getting smaller and smaller, then laughed, "Starship-ception! I'll get used to the size of Dreadnought, eventually I'll know where I'm going to need to be at any given moment. Every large ship is just a small ship that's supersized."

Cassian knew what she meant, shared in it even, but with the amount of learning to be done, familiarization and leading teams that full Commanders should be leading was going to take everything he had to pull off and prove himself. "Well, it looks like we have the time, and the manpower."

RSS Feed