Admiral: Arriving

Posted on Mon Sep 16th, 2024 @ 8:17pm by Admiral S'iraa & Commander Anastasia Aventnova

3,343 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Let That Be Your Last
Location: Hanger Bay 1
Timeline: Current

The original plan had been for the Admiral to beam aboard the Dreadnought, but like all plans made within Starfleet, that had been changed to an arrival by shuttle. Specifically, as she had been instructed, a shuttle landing in the still as-yet damaged hanger deck, the one that had taken the worst damage during the assault and still showed signs of heavy damage, though none of it was structural any more. Critical work had been done, then the bulk of the crews had gone off to more serious repair work leaving a skeleton repair crew to continue down here. So of course, the first thing that this Admiral S'iraa would be able to see upon landing was a large area still cordoned off and looking like Swiss cheese, but they had their reasons.

Anastasia had opted to not put on a dress uniform, despite the fact that it was an Admiral coming aboard, mostly because she wasn't a member of his staff and still had her normal duties as the Exec. That hadn't stopped her from snagging a Sergeant from the Marines along with a squad of troops to serve as an honor guard to welcome S'iraa, plus a Quartermaster's Mate from Operations and a couple of ratings to serve as baggage handlers if he were to remain on board for any length of time. Her eyes caught the glint of starlight reflecting off of the incoming shuttle even as she reviewed the PADD that another red-uniformed Ensign held, getting up-to-the-minute updates on repairs. She quickly memorized the basic status of each before whispering instructions to him to stick by the Ops personnel and what signal was meant for which PADD he held. There were three, one with the updated repairs and statuses of injured personnel, one with the initial damage reports and casualty lists and the third with the full update on what was happening on the ground. She reached up to brush any accumulated dust from her shoulder, fingers running across where the old flash had been that had indicated her to be part of an Admiral's staff previously.

As the shuttle finally came in for a landing, Ana found herself standing several feet in front of the honor guard as she had for other Admirals visiting her own in the past. It had been rare for HER to meet them, usually it was Foraker's Chief of Staff that had done that duty, but she'd been tapped on at least three occasions to greet incoming Admirals, so this was well within her comfort zone. She'd even gone so far as to find out the 'title' he was using, a touch from the long-past that Foraker had insisted be kept and it did help with many of the officers. The craft in front of her turned and touched down gently, causing her to step forward a few more paces, hands clasped behind her back even as the Sergeant behind her brought his troops to attention. As the rear hatch opened, the same sergeant brought a pipe to his lips to squeal out the formal arrival whistle and announced, "Flag Officer, Arriving"

That brought Ana to attention as she awaited the emergence of the Admiral. What she got wasn't what she'd anticipated. She'd met Caitians before, but the figure in front of her was similar and... Not. “Oh, shit…” She whispered under her breath involuntarily. Taller than many, definitely well built and not at all a friendly look on his face. A cold chill ran down her spine as her Flight or Fight instincts kicked in, but Romans didn't flee very often and even more rarely out of fear or in a panic. She felt one hand clench at her side as she tried to figure out the best way to fight this Admiral, but every scenario that flickered through her head was discarded as she found shortcomings to them. If she could fall back to the Marines, them giving her cover fire while she... NO. She told herself as she stood her ground, he wasn't any danger to them, he was ONE OF THEM. She waited respectfully, willing him to make the first move.

Siraa poised standing beside the pilot letting the view before him paint the scene. One Defiant used to hold one of the detached nacelles in place, worker bees and repair craft buzzing about like a hive structure recently attacked. He took in all that he could making sure not to bother the pilot in his duties as he did so, absorbing the information for later use. As they entered the hanger the damage was evident, even the pilot made a remark before starting a gentle turn towards his landing point. Siraa walked to the rear of the shuttle gathering up his things into a small bag suited to carrying a few things.

"Landing any moment Admiral."

Siraa didn't answer, his mind preoccupied by what he'd seen and keen for an explanation as to what happened but more so, what was being done about it. When the shuttle finally came to a stop and the door opened almost immediately he could smell the hint of burned plastics, singed circuitry and soot from what ever burned. Stepping out he took a moment to scan his surroundings taking note of key points but also of the assembled group of individuals clearly waiting for him headed by a female in red.

It wasn't difficult to see he was unhappy at the situation and it was complicated by the fact that it was until recently he called this ship his own. Stepping down the ramp he walked towards the assembled group, his movemtns despite his size were graceful, his tail swaying gently behind him in opposition to his stride to aid his balance.

Coming to a stop in front of the leading Commander he looked down at her from his substantial height difference and spoke. "Commander. I am Admiral S'iraa." It was perhaps the extent of the introduction. "Permission to come aboard?".

Big Cat. That was what went through Ana’s mind as the Admiral in uniform approached the group. A call to attention and present arms sounded behind her and even while her fight reflex still tried to develop a plan against him, she knew that if it came to it she would be an also-ran. As he finally made it up to her and looked down, her gaze following upwards to meet his eyes as was proper, she exhaled and then slowly inhaled again, “Permission granted Admiral, welcome aboard, Sir.” She came to attention and gave a precise salute until he returned it. “Commander Anastasia Aventnova, sir, Executive Officer of the Dreadnought.” Her clipped still-Scandinavian accent seemed quiet, but then again she wasn’t used to be outright towered over by someone else and he was half a meter overtopping her.

She gestured to the Ops Petty Officer, “If you have any baggage, sir, I can have it taken to your quarters if you’re staying with us, likewise I can guide you to wherever you need to go and stand ready to provide any updates on the state of Dreadnought’s repair and effectiveness, sir.”

S'iraa returned the salute but perhaps the most obvious difference that could be noticed was how the UT translated, but not in time with his mouth but more so, the feline inflections and sounds. "A single bag in the shuttle, a guide won't be necessary, I am familiar with the ship...I used to command her."

It was perhaps that detail that could have she'd some light as to his mood and expression, a place he used to call home laying damaged and in ruins. "Dismiss your party, I am confident they have more important matters to attend to."

He paused but briefly. "Walk with me Commander."

Anastasia nodded at the sergeant, who immediately took his unit under control and proceeded through the evolution to return them to the barracks in good order, especially in front of the flag officer. Another surreptitious shooing gesture to the Ops party and they vanished out the door back to whatever they were slated to be doing when she’d shanghaied them for this detail. The only one remaining on the deck was the command Ensign and he was remaining out of the way as Ana fell into step next to the Admiral, knowing she’d have to speed her own walking pace just to keep up and she trusted her memory enough to wave to the Ensign, “Marchand, can you retrieve the Admiral’s bag to his quarters, then get the next round of updates if you would, please.” Her attention remained on S’iraa the entire time, “I’m sorry that you returned to see her in such a mess, Admiral, we’ve determined that there were stealthed orbital bombardment satellites that they used to get the first strike in on us. It was my responsibility, sir, I was on duty on the bridge when it happened. Inert titanium with a hardened penetration aid tip, pure kinetic force with no emanations on the way in.” She shook her head slowly, “I didn’t see it coming.”

As with most things reports seldom did reality justice and in this instance seeing the damage caused to the massive ship was indeed not only considerable but also somewhat disheartening. The crew would have work cut out for them to make the ship fully operational again, if that were even possible without a repair yard. "Indeed." Though the word itself almost stung as bad as 'obviously' for a come back.

"I have two support vessels have joined us, have your Chief Engineer make use of their capabilities, it will speed up repairs. They have already been advised that they may be required so they will be prompt when tasked into action." S'iraa spoke as he walked the familiar halls of the ship. It didn't seem to sit well with the large Caitian the state of the repair he was witnessing, when he left it was pristine, now it was chaos and not just isolated, but all over.

"I'll make sure that Commander Aries is apprised of her reinforcements immediately." Ana knew that would wait as long as this interview went on, but a few minutes or even an hour wouldn't necessarily cause an appreciable delay in how long the repairs would take. According to her detailed survey of the damage and her timeline for priority repairs, Dreadnought will be fully operable within two weeks and capable of responding anywhere we're needed." Anastasia thought that was ambitious even for the number of engineers that were being thrown at the problem. "After that, another two or three weeks of less critical repairs and beyond that should be purely cosmetic in nature and being worked on. As she said, the damage is severe, but surprisingly not complicated."

S'iraa listed to what was being said using the information to formulate questions for the Captain. "What is your assessment of the Captain?"

The feline was keen to know others impressions of the man, his ways, behaviours. While he was aware of his service record and the tragic ordeal of the U.S.S. Cardiff.

Anastasia paused for a few seconds as she mulled the answer over in her mind, “I am rather new to the Dreadnought, sir, I was transferred over from Admiral Foraker’s staff shortly before the attack, but the first impressions that I have of Captain De Havilland are that he’s definitely a competent CO and he has the ship under as much control as it can be assumed to be as such. Unlike on a smaller ship, as you know, sir, on board Dreadnought the Captain can’t be everywhere all at once, it’s literally impossible. It requires a lot of trust in one’s department heads and even their own subdepartment heads.”

The Roman woman shrugged even at her own pronouncement, making a subtle gesture to the side, “That’s not to say he’s immobile and reactive, because he isn’t. We share the bridge duties along with several watch officers, because almost inevitably events happen where we aren’t. One of us can be back on the bridge within a couple minutes, we’ve coordinated that out, but the idea is for us as a command team to make sure we’re not just stuck behind a desk doing paperwork, or on the bridge staring into space or an empty screen. I think that’s an admirable decision to make, to get out to see the crew in action on a daily basis, with of course some inevitable time behind the desk with the paperwork, sir.”

S'iraa listed to the reply to his question, he found it often very profitable to gleam this kind of information from others especially about the Captain of any endeavour. This Captain De Havilland seemed capable but there were still lingering questions especially in light of the Dreadnoughts condition upon his arrival. He was also aware that some of his former staff were still present, a familiar face was always a welcome sight but only when duty permitted.

"I would like a meeting with the senior staff when able, there is additional information that has come to light during my transit here that needs to be shared."

"If you could give me say... An hour or two of a warning for when you want the meeting and I'll round everyone up." Ana stated confidently, "It will give them an opportunity to get a final update from their departments before the that meeting in case you want a section-by-section report. If you wanted it in a rush, I'll need about ten minutes to coordinate getting them all together. I know that Commander Aries is out with the team getting the nacelle connected to the hull and will need a few minutes to get back inside. Colonel Frost may be running an exercise, but I'd have to check in on that."

"3 Hours." It would give him time to settle and time for others to make suitable arrangements to be absent from respective departments while also getting up to date information. It was clear to anyone that the Caitian was driven, that he had purpose in pretty much anything he did and information was a valuable tool, if accurate.

"I will need quarters with proper secure subspace connection. I read in the Captain's log that you had the colony Administrator on board in custody. I would like to meet with him in 1 hour."

"We've already set up one of the diplomatic quarters for your use, so you'll have that secure connection available." Ana stated without any sort of hesitation, "I'll arrange to have the Administrator taken to Conference Room Three with an escort to meet with you at your convenience and the senior staff will be awaiting you in three hours in Conference Room One." Everything was falling into place in her head as she was speaking, "I'll make sure that you have a PADD with all of the compiled updates to follow along or just to peruse at your leisure, Admiral."

"Why did you depart Admiral Foraker's staff Commander?" S'iraa asked, it was a probing question but one that he wanted to ask lest it provide the opportunity to understand the Commander a little more. He also knew from experience that being the First Officer of a ship like the Dreadnought was also a mixed blessing.

"The Admiral reassigned me in place of Commander Braxton, who was the original assignment to the Executive Officer position aboard the Dreadnought, sir." Anastasia stated simply, "When she informed me of my new orders, she said that I was more prepared for this ship than he was. I've been the XO on board a carrier-refit Sovereign-class ship, the Ark Royal, which was Admiral Foraker's flagship at the time. I think her initial intent was to give me a command of my own in another year or so, but when this slot opened up she knew the unique challenges that it would provide needed someone who had experience not only on a carrier, but who also was used to coordinating large numbers of officers. As the Staff Tactical Officer on the Admiral's staff, I did have both of those boxes ticked off, since I was responsible for coordinating the tactics and maneuvers of the individual ships of Task Force 42." She paused for a few seconds, then continued on, "I would definitely like my own command in the future, Admiral, but I can't help but think that Admiral Foraker sees more in my future than just a starship command."

"And where do you see yourself next?" S'iraa probed. "The centre chair of this ship? A Starbase, Planetary facility, someone else's staff?" Knowing the aspirations of a person he felt aided him in knowing what drove them, inspired someone. Inspiration was a valuable tool to wield when a task needed doing or a challenge was presented. While he was still feeling out this Commander, the more he knew, the better armed he could be should something happen to require action in response.

"If Captain De Havilland gets promoted out, I could see myself in the command chair here, Admiral." Ana exhaled deeply, closing her eyes for two long seconds, then flicking them back open, "But it would be one helluva first command for someone who's never had one before, sir, pardon my language please. At this time, I could see myself commanding virtually any ship smaller than Dreadnought, or even acting as Chief of Staff to an Admiral. I don't shrink from responsibility, Admiral, I don't know many from Roma Nueva who do."

S'iraa smirked, if such a view could be seen to be one through the fur coat. "I remember when I was first assumed command of the Dreadnought, few are bigger than myself in day to day life of individuals but I recall feeling small, in comparison. It took considerable time to get comfortable with the notion that I was not commanding a typical starship, but in essence a mobile station."

"Complete with a civilian population to have to watch over." Ana agreed, "Which I'll admit I almost had to beat away from me. I made the mistake of walking the promenade in civilian dress and some of the civilians decided that meant I was available." She shook her head, "I got rescued by one of our officers before I had to take action on my own. I'd think that a station would be easier to be in charge of, only because it doesn't move like a starship. Yes, sir, Admiral, Dreadnought makes everything and everyone else seem tiny, but she's still a ship."

"I will leave you to your duties Commander, you have arrangements to make and I, a location to settle. Commander Aries should be contacted by the other ships shortly or when you inform her." He hoped that in combination with their support that repairs could be actioned a little more promptly, but time would tell on that account.

"Yes, sir, thank you, sir." Ana gave a very slight smile to the Admiral. She'd actually gotten relatively comfortable with S'iraa in the short time they'd been walking, "Given this much time, the Commander should be able to make the initial coordination and get them into motion with an updated estimate." A heartbeat of a pause, "If you find that you need anything Admiral, please don't hesitate to reach out to me and I'll make sure that it gets handled."

"Thank you Commander." He had little doubt that there could be something required of her, there often was especially when flag ranked officers arrived on board regardless of a ship, station or establishment. S'iraa was also keen to meet the new Chief Engineer since from his time as Captain he understood how demanding the role could be, and for someone new on board.

Walking into the Turbolift he asked the Captain's location, and directed the lift there.

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