First New Face

Posted on Mon Jan 6th, 2014 @ 7:34pm by Captain Vorn Krace & Lieutenant Commander Amol Kotay

Mission: Morex
Location: USS Iapetus Transporter Room
Timeline: January 5th, 2388

Vorn tugged at the bottom of his uniform jacket as he stepped into the transporter room, trying to pull out the wrinkles in his jacket. The ship had been docked at Starbase 900 for the past few weeks as it took on supplies and personnel, and he was about to meet the latest addition to his crew.

Acle - Commander Walex - had finally accepted a command of his own, after the third time of the captain's chair being offered to him, and as Vorn's old friend and long-term first officer took his own command, he had also taken a number of the Iapetus' senior officers with him.

Though he had asked Vorn's permission before offering transfers to the likes of Commander Drex and the others, it had left Vorn in the position of having to take on several new officers before the ship could leave port again. He had insisted on keeping Archer on the Iapetus as part of his command team, although he hadn't felt that she was yet ready to take on the post of first officer. The new occupier of that post was the man that he was now standing in front of the transporter pad ready to meet.

"The commander is ready to beam over, Sir," the transporter chief announced. Vorn silently criticised himself for not knowing the operator's name.

"Thank you, Chief. Energise when ready."

Krace watched as the transporter chief did his work, and the receiving pad lit up a few seconds before the tell-tale blue sparkle that indicated a materialising form. The whole process took mere seconds, and the captain was presented with a tall man, clearly of a native American descent. The man's form made it clear that he kept fit beyond Starfleet's minimal requirements, which was a good thing to see in a new first officer.

"Captain Krace," the man announced, with an accent which made it clear he had been around Earth and Starfleet for some time, even though Vorn knew he hadn't been born there. "Permission to come aboard?" As Vorn nodded his permission, the man stepped down from the transporter pad towards him. "Lieutenant Commander Amol Kotay, reporting for duty."

"Welcome aboard Commander," Krace said, weighing up the man constantly. He wanted to get the measure of the man who was to serve as his right hand for the foreseeable future. "I take it you trip was pleasant?" he asked, as he turned to indicate Kotay should follow him out of the transporter room and into the hallways.

"As it could be, considering," the new arrival responded, falling into step beside his new captain. "It still amazes me that we are able to travel so far out from the Federation in such a short amount of time. Without the transwarp corridor, it should have taken me years to get here."

"First time to the Delta Quadrant, I take it?" Vorn responded with a grin. It always brought him joy to see the reactions that the excitement of exploration brought out of people, and it reminded him of why he was out here.

"That obvious?" Amol responded with a grin that matched. "I'm looking forward to getting to explore it properly.

"Yes, well we've got a few more crew to take onboard before we can get to that. I want you to take charge of making sure they all get aboard as quickly as possible. We're going to have a lot of new faces on the ship and they're going to have to get used to things around here pretty quickly, so the sooner they're here, the better."

"Understood. I'll get right on the crew rosters. Anything else you want me to focus on?"

"Not right now," Krace answered. "I can handle the rest of the ship business for now until you and everyone else is settled in. Just let me know as soon as everyone is on and we're ready to go."