Communicating The XO

Posted on Tue Apr 8th, 2025 @ 9:08pm by Lieutenant Megosho Gehente & Lieutenant Commander Valerie Novis

1,721 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: ARYL 1X01: Bound for Cold Frontier
Timeline: Prior to We Ride

::ON::

Stood leaning against the low sill of the Officer's Lounge's large viewport, Meg took a sip of her Rigellian coffee, and savoured its bitterness. A hundred years or so of selective breeding had changed the original arabica beans beyond recognition as the human settlers had selected for the best characteristics to thrive in the thick Rigellian soil. She had picked up her coffee habits from her human friends, long study sessions during the Academy cementing her need for the beverage.

It was a touch of familiarity in a maelstrom of change. Not long ago she had been on teaching rotation at Starfleet Intelligence's Berlin Annex, training the next generation of graduates in the finer points of Signals Intelligence, one of the specialties she had acquired during her near-decade in Starfleet. Touching her Lieutenant's rank insignia on the shoulder strap of her maroon uniform, she reflected that life came at you fast, and it was best to seize on the change.

Even if her uniform was cut a tad too tight for comfort.

The Ark Royal was still in port, and as such, most crew had yet to come aboard. Meg had taken advantage of her early arrival to scout out the Officer's Lounge without being disturbed. She was surprised to hear the door access warble, and the double-doors swish open.

The woman who walked in had hair that could almost be described as fire tamed, but she made a beeline for the replicator and then stopped, “Are you going to be tolerant today?” The woman who had spots down her neck asked… Herself? “Of course not.. White chocolate mocha it is.” She waited for the few seconds it took to obtain the drink and sighed heavily before turning, her jacket unsealed to reveal the green tunic underneath, the pleated skirt she wore going down to cover her knees, “Oh, hello there!” She said as she saw the woman already there, “I’m not crazy, I promise, my stomach doesn’t like coffee nearly as much as I do.”

Meg smiled in return. 'Don't worry, I know exactly what you mean!' she exclaimed. 'I love Earth-style chocolates, but don't you know, my stomach just doesn't. It's the damndest thing! No idea what it is.' She could smell the which chocolate mocha wafting across the Lounge, 'that does smell divine though.'

“The white chocolate mellows out the little coffee that’s in there for the caffeine, which is what my body dislikes.” Valerie gestured to a chair with a questioning look, got a nod and sat down at the same table as Meg, “I’m Valerie Novis, by the way, Ex-Oh and Tactical Officer here on the good ship Ark Royal, and my oh my is she a good ship.” She glanced around the room once more, adjusting her chair’s angle to keep the entryway in her line of sight.

'The Constitution refits are some of the most elegant ships we have,' Meg agreed, as clocked her new Executive Officer's glance towards the door. A probable quirk of her personality, she decided. Extending her hand, she smiled, 'Megosho Gehente, the Ark Royal's new Chief of Communications.' She leaned forward, brushing a strand of purple hair that had fallen free of her ponytail behind her ear, 'what brought you here then, Commander? Did the Captain drop in on you too?'

Valerie chuckled as she shook her head and her loose hair waved around with it, “More that she gave me two days and change to get from Starbase 33 to Earth Starbase, over two full sectors away.” The Trill grinned at the comms officer, “Managed to make it, but it was a close-run thing, got met by the Old Lady herself as soon as I stepped aboard the Ark Royal, still makes me feel really small knowing what’s in store for us ahead. How is your conversational Klingon?”

'Conversational Klingon is good,' Meg replied with a flash of a smile. 'The Kronosian dialect I have down pat, naval slang too, naturally. There's a regional dialect or two that I struggle with - I won't bore you with the history of it, but they're evolving in a direction that they'll be full-blown languages of their own in a few decades.' She shrugged, 'lucky for me I was on Earth when the Captain came calling. No need to hop two sectors.' Taking a long swig of her coffee, she asked, probing, 'any idea what we're heading out for?'

"A bit of peacekeeping on the Neutral Zone with the Klingons." Valerie said idly as she did a calculation in her head, well, with a bit of assistance, about how much she could get away with telling a fellow senior officer without the expressed permission of the Captain. Without stealing her thunder, "Word is that the Klingons are getting rather aggressive on the border regions, reinforcing their patrols beyond reasonable levels. Given their warrior tradition, Intelligence believes," 'I believe', that really meant in her words and how she stated it, "that they may make a probe to see what we may do if they poke the Federation." The Trill gave a shrug as she brought her mug up to her lips again for another sip of the rich drink.

'That's what the intel says,' Meg agreed over the lip of her own mug, slightly disappointed there wasn't any more information forthcoming yet, 'it's a shame it's not an exploratory cruise - it's one of the reasons I joined far too long ago, and I've yet to be on one. Spent a few years on a Starbase, and lots of patrols up and down the Neutral Zones.' She looked around the lounge, 'at least the Ay-Ahr is a bigger ship.'

"That she is, with a fine lineage of namesakes back from England of Earth's past." Valerie agreed, "Primarily aircraft carriers until their Third World War, but one of the names resurrected once Earth's Space Force was created after meeting the Vulcans." It had been a very short-lived force, because the Federation had come shortly after, but was insisted upon by the English representatives, "We don't have any fighters or bombers or the like, but just like those ships of old, we're here to keep the peace and if that doesn't work, to MAKE the peace."

'It seems like an illustrious name,' Meg replied, 'I understand that Starfleet is still primarily a human endeavour, but I wonder when they'll realise there's more out there than old Earth naval vessels and demigods to name our Fleet after. We have whole cultures within the Federation to name ships after,' she chuckled. 'Maybe in the future if we ever make names for ourselves. So, you were in Security and Tactical before they made you Executive Officer?'

"Tactical, and Intelligence, actually," The Trill said with a smile, "But I'm not one of those John Bang types, I'm primarily an analyst who takes reports and pulls as much data out of them as possible. I'd say if anything, I'm a Romulan specialist rather than anything else, was posted on Romulus right out of the Academy and was there for a few years before I got injured and evacuated when a data pickup went bad. Since then, haven't gone out in the field for that part of my job."

'That sounds like an absolutely fascinating assignment,' Meg replied, leaning forward, lacing her fingers together and leaning her chin against them as she listened in. 'Must have been fairly exciting, what with the Romulans only really opening up to us over the last few decades - a properly exotic posting.' She smiled as she warmed to her superior officer, 'I've seen some photos of Romulus, a stunning planet.'

"Full of dangerous and paranoid people." Valerie shook her head slowly, "If I never set foot on Romulus again, it'll be far too soon." She fiddled with the neck of the shirt and pulled it down a few inches to show the minimal scar that was there, "A souvenir of my time there. The doctors said they could probably clear this up entirely, but I wanted to keep it as a reminder that not everyone out there is going to be nice and friendly, no matter how exotic the locale. The Romulans only appear to be opening up, but they aren't. They only allow us to see what they want us to see."

'I've seen the signals intelligence and such,' Meg replied with a nod, lingering on the scar Valerie showed, before snapping her attention back to her face. 'They delight in ... deceit isn't the kindest word, but I suppose you could call it that. They hate us with a passion, and frankly I'm not surprised. The Federation is everything they find to be anathema in the galaxy. It was always a long day on the Minos when we had to look through those comms.'

"And you're not even seeing half of the information or the raw data." Valerie agreed somberly after releasing her shirt and patting it down, "From everything I've seen regarding where we're going, the Klingons are more 'they are what they are', but they're aggressive and tactically devious. I need to start reviewing some of our recorded conflicts with them to really start getting to know them better."

Meg chuckled, 'you'll soon find that the concept of honour is ... pliable. Whatever benefits the Empire can, and is, decreed to be honourable - there is no subterfuge, no underhand tactic too terrible in defence of the Empire.' She sighed, 'they may glorify death in single combat, death in battle and the like, but the solutions do tend to justify themselves.' The Orion smiled. 'I've also done a tour of the Klingon Neutral Zone too.'

"Well, with luck we won't have to go into combat against them." Valerie didn't believe herself for a moment, it truly was just a matter of time and she HAD to be better than them, "But with the refit, we're one of the most modern starships in the Fleet and we can hold our own against almost anything they have up their sleeves, besides, that's what I'm here for, isn't it?"

To Be Continued...

 

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