It Is the Size That Matters

Posted on Fri Dec 25th, 2020 @ 3:39am by Captain David Hawkins & Lieutenant Commander Mel Torma & Lieutenant JG Evalyn Toral & Captain Callisi Verra

Mission: A New Legacy
Location: Bridge - U.S.S. Arcadia
2539 words - 5.1 OF Standard Post Measure

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The Captain was surly quite busy as of late with the new assignment and mission at hand. With well over a thousand personal on the ship just to operate the ship and almost nine thousand more personal to be transported aboard for reassignment, David was quite anxious to say the least. It was one thing for him to find himself in command of one of the newest ships in the fleet, but what was more overwhelming was the shear size and magnitude of the new assignments that was expected of the ship and her crew. So to start fresh with new members under his command, he was not accustom the past several years. That wouldn't stop him in accomplishing what was expected of him, but there was more at stack. He wanted a couple trusted people.

As the time came close, he got up from his new chair behind his new desk in his new ready room. He stepped out of the large room onto the right side of the massive command center of the behemoth. He took it in once again, and waved off his assistant that jumped up from a console off to one side of one of the large arches. He didn't need help walking to the back of the bridge. He wasn't going to far. If he wanted a dog shadowing his every move, he would have had Surge from his quarters.

After making his way up the ramp to the rear of the command center, he was met with two security officers, one on either side of the transporter pad. This was one of the unique features in which he had found so far on this ship. It didn't take long before he figured out that he wasn't going to have the whole ship memorized any time soon. Hell, deep down he wasn't sure he was ever going to get used to being aboard the ship.

"Your guests are ready for transport, sir," an operations officer stated as she stepped away from the transportation and secondary operations controls. "Would you like me to bring them aboard?"

"Yeah go ahead, preferably all in one piece, if you don't mind," he joked slightly as he rested his hands in his pockets as he looked at the transporter.

"Umm... that is the plan, sir."

He looked over at her and smirked slightly before nodding. "Joke, Lieutenant. Go ahead and beam them aboard."

"Oh... of course. Yes sir!"

The first to arrive on the transporter pad was the shapely and familiar form of the flight officer, Callisi. She wasn't in uniform yet, but was in her flight jacket, so that counted for something. Casual attire suited her well, simple black shirt and jeans. This pair even had a spot for her tail, which made it all the more comfortable. Barefoot, but if you had feet like hers you'd welcome the chance.

And of course, her eyepatch. Solid black, so it all matched.

"Permission to come aboard?" she requested. Protocols first, before she greeted an relatively new old friend.

The security officers both looked at the new arrival and weren't completely sure what to do with a tall female rabbit with an eye patch. Wouldn't they have just gotten an artificial eye instead of a patch? But David stood up to get their focused back at them. "Of course, granted. How have you been?"

She took the first step off the platform with an air of protocol. This was a ritual. Once she was firmly on board, she gave a nod, "Better now. I was approached by a few prospective postings, but the moment they saw me they requested I take the basic flight control lessons again. I didn't. If they weren't ready to take my record as proof of my capacity, then I wasn't ready to put my faith in them."

"Been catching up on some reading from the home moons. Getting time on a subspace relay to call home took some doing, but I found an engineer who was willing to help me make a connection in exchange for, well, being arm candy I think is the term? Nothing dishonorable happened, all I had to do was look cute and let him feel important to his friends."

"Prepped and uniformed in ten once I get my quarters arranged, and then moving over the Blink elements shouldn't take more than two hours. Three if I have to keep explaining it to them. So, bank on three."

A nod came from Hawkins as he listened to the pilot before he turned and waved her over with him to the rear arch of the bridge. As they came to it allowing them to overlook the massive bridge before them, David rested his hands and leaned against it for a moment to take it in. But there was going to be a lot to get used to. "So what do you think of her so far? And to be honest, if you haven't taken an assignment, I think you would be impressed with the fighter division on board.

"I think she is bigger." Callisi commented, a soft smirk on her features. "Humans tend to enjoy bragging about bigger." a giggle, "Mel would love this, so much room, so much space. Has she accepted the return yet?" the Ts'usugi was curious. They tended to keep tabs on the Dalacari. The Daughter of Ts'usu cast her glance around the massive bridge. "I've only seen one ship so massive, but she was of Ts'usu design. She's a marvel, but humanity was always good at impressing, and being honest, if you offered me a transfer and I was already serving on another ship, I'd accept the transfer without a second thought. You accepted me, when others turned me away. I won't soon forget that."

"I contacted her inviting her over but haven't from Mel as of yet. She is probably enjoying the starbase. You know her, not many things can get her down," he remarked as he nodded in agreement to his own statement of the Dalacari.

Materializing on the transporter pad, Evalyn looked around the room for a moment to gain her bearings before stepping down off the pad, “greetings Captains”

"Welcome aboard the Arcadia, Lieutenant," David replied as he turned and looked over at the security officer. He wasn't sure if she was going take him up on the invite.

"Thank you, sir. She's quite a ship. I'd say she'd even give those Dominion battlecruisers a run for their money when it comes to size" Evalyn said, "and with that said, if you'll have me, I would be honoured to continue to server under you as Chief of Security"

"That she would be for sure. As for the Chief spot, that was why I invited you all over here, was to show off the ship and entice you both in taking up your positions with me under this new command."

Callisi turned along with Hawkings, and to Evalyn the rabbitess gave a nod, "Welcome aboard. Looking forward to working with you."

"You as well Captain, if I may ask are you our Marine detachment CO?" Evalyn asked, noticing the rank insignia was different to the standard Starfleet pips.

"You may ask." she started, and then gave a gentle shake of her head, "Starfighter wing commander. Got my red back afterall." she smirked, "Callisi Veera, wing commander. Though I think Hawkins is going to have me also be in charge of the shuttlecraft pool as well, at this rate." she teased.

"I mean, let's be honest, who else can I trust to lead these newbies into a fight with fighters? I could but I got almost 1300 crew member to oversee," David countered as he shrugged before looking at his uniform and the new captain insignia. "To answer your question, Eva, I have also been assigned as the task force executive officer. Ranks the same, but they wanted it to still stick out a little more."

"I'm certain, if you were pressed for time, you'd have found someone. Finding someone as good, who you enjoy the company of, however, would have taken some time." Callisi offered with a smirk. "Trust is a powerful word. I appreciate it."

There was a long pause as he thought long an hard before he ahead and spoke to the two. "I am close to very few people, but those few people mean everything to me," David admitted as he took in a deep breath, truly opening up to them in a way.

Callisi gave a nod. "There's a saying on Ts'usu, which when mangled into Federation standard, roughly means For Every Confidence, a Hundred Confirmations." she started, "You'll never need to ask us to prove ourselves, but we'll do so daily." the rabbitess had an intensity to her, a protocol to this whole part of the conversation.

She turned her cyclopean glance towards Evalyn, and in the right light, in the right angle, there was a soft blue pinpoint of light under that eyepatch that seemed to follow the pale, reflection less glance of her remaining eye. "Apologies. Where I'm from, our obligation and our service to the corps is rather passionate. Some degree of enlisted service is mandatory, and from there you have the option to renew. I, well, I signed up as soon as I could, and have been re-upping since."

She turned back to Hawkins, "That, and if I turned down the assignment, who'd harass Hayter?"

"Hah..." The captain smirked at that last comment about Hayter a short bit. Deep down, he knew that Tayla and Hayter both had some stuff to handle with their new situation and the announcement hadn't gone out. But he wasn't going to be the one to openly admit or even bring it up to anyone. But if he were asked about it for an official reason, it maybe one of those things that he may have to divulge. "As far as I know, He and Commander d'Jax are still over at the Gladiator dealing with supervising the transfer of supplies and personnel to the station before turning over command to a different staff arrive. They have been offered appointments on the Arcadia but have yet to respond."

“Well I hope they accept, keeping a crew together is always a good thing” Evalyn commented while looking around the massive room.

Before Callisi could answer, Hawkins was paged over the comm about the next arrival. Joining the trio on the bridge momentarily after the announcement was one of the more unique members of the Gladiator's crew... and thus of the Arcadia's crew as well.

A pair of identical twins, humanoid except for the odd leg structure and tail. A mix somewhere between feline and ermine qualities. Dressed in matching uniforms, the way the pair moved was almost haunting. They moved in sync, in series almost. Each member of the pair seemed almost preternaturally aware of the presence and location of the other.

"Sorry, I couldn't wait. Permission to come aboard, sir?" Mel asked, a pair of smiles greeting the Captain. Despite there being two bodies, only one of the twins spoke.

"Granted," David smirked as he waved the twin form over to take in the view of the massive starship's command center. As they all gathered at the top of the bridge, he took in the good vib of having people he knew and could trust to join him on the new advantage before them.

By now, Evalyn had wandered away from the group over to the security and tactical stations. Although they were still pretty standard, the larger layout of the bridge may end up being problematic in the middle of a fight. Hopefully they won't have to test her worries any time soon.

"Glad you could join us, Mel. What do you think of all the shiney overwhelming view of this place? Lots of space, holographic consoles and readouts. They even have a hidden down stars area for a strategic operaions and Intelligence gathering area up front. It sure is a behemoth," the captain admitted as he looked over the pair form.

Mel gave a glance around, "Well, as a Dalacari we do enjoy our space. This bridge certainly does feel open enough for me." she giggled. "But ultimately I like it. Humanity seems to enjoy making things..."

"... bigger and bigger, and that just means less bumping into people for me." she smiled. "I'm looking forward to working with you and the others again." Mel admitted. "I've been catching up on..."

"... technical journals and releases from the homeworld. Keeping sharp in the downtime, I guess you could say."

“Sometimes bigger isn’t better. The amount of power this thing needs to move is insane and good luck dodging anything” Evalyn commented, starting up a quick diagnostic on the tactical systems, “Which means we’re going to be relying on our shields quite often.”

Mel turned towards Evalyn, and gave a pair of nods, "Oh, I agree completely. Starfleet designs, impressive though they may be, still aren't caught up with themselves. They insist on building bigger, faster, tougher..."

"... ships with more bells and streamers than they can imagine, but when it comes to power sources they still only have the singular core reactor. Multiple fusion plants..."

"... to supplement, sure, but the real workhorse of any ship is her primary reactor. Dalacari designs incorporate two reactors, which takes a bit of the workload off each..."

"... one. Though, if the Federation started to follow our lead, I'm worried it would just lead to them building bigger and bigger ships." the pair giggled at the thought.

"I mean, what do you expect with a ship with 4 burst firing Quantum Torpedo Launchers able to launch both quantum and tri-cobalt devices in no time, along with twelve type twelve phaser arrays. Also the fact that we are carrying a fast response fighter bay holding 2 squadrons of fighters. Not to mention the fact that the eight danube and arrow class runabouts able to be launched in a moment's notice. This ship may not be a war ship, but she is sure as hell capable of handling a couple solid hits without seriously crippling her," David remarked to his chief of security. He knew her concerns as to putting her into the field going up against some major threats. "Don't worry, Evalyn, she will be capable of handling herself."

"So if everyone is up for it, then start transferring your personnel belongings over. I have meet up with our new executive officer. Once she has gotten settled in herself, I will have her get with you all on getting this ship prepped and ready," he announced as he looked at his old staff.

Evalyn nodded before turning her attention back to the tactical console. She figured she’d use the time to familiarize herself with all of the bridge positions just in case.

Callisi and Mel both gave a nod of approval. "The sooner the better." Mel spoke up, "I'm ready to get our missions started."

"Sounds like a plan..." the captain nodded as he started down the ramp. "... Let's get this ship prepped and ready. This is going to be fun!"

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