From 4wlrckr@best.com Tue Jun 23 22:52:49 1998 Date: Wed, 10 Jun 1998 01:08:24 -0600 From: Tom Doyle <4wlrckr@best.com> To: INDIGO FLEET List Serve Subject: [INDIGO] USS CONSTELLATION: It's a dirty job... ---OFFICIAL INDIGO FLEET TRANSMISSION--- Date: Wed, 10 Jun 1998 00:01:49 -0700 From: Tom Doyle <4wlrckr@best.com> Subject: [INDIGO] USS CONSTELLATION: It's a dirty job... SD: 100610.0708 FMD: 6.0900 SCENE: USS CONSTELLATION: Deck 12, corridor outside the Counselor's office "Are you sure we have to do this, Stef?", asked Yeoman Pierce as she stood in the corridor, both hands full of data PADDs. "It wasn't my call, Diana. The order came directly from *Commander Bertoli*, himself.", Stef replied, as he keyed a security sequence into the door panel. There was contempt in his voice when he uttered the new Combat Advisor's name. "You don't sound very happy about it?", Diana remarked, hoping that Stef would elaborate. "That's right, I'm not.", Stef answered plainly. "And you wouldn't be either, if you were in my shoes.", he continued, "Between you and I, that Bertoli is about as arrogant and condescending as they come." "Now that we're effectively out of business, what do we do now?", she asked. "Why we're the new AUXDET, my dear. Whatever that is.", Stef remarked jokingly. "I think that our talents will best be served by assisting Doctor Bradford's staff. From what I've heard about Dalriadan weaponry, we should expect a great deal of casualties once the shooting starts. Triage is what I imagine we will be relegated to.", he added, as he finished keying the sequence into the panel. Diana and Stef then left their workplace to an unknown fate, and with the help of the ships computer, located the AUXDET office. FMD: 6.0930 SCENE: Deck 21, AUXDET Offices The doors slid open and in walked the Constellation's Counselor, followed by his assistant. The office was cramped, but full, occupied by about 15 people. Having been recently vacated by the officers and men that were now part of damage control, the office was now full of various members of the Constellations crew. All of which were originally from departments now deemed as *unnecessary* by Commander Bertoli. Disarray was the first word that came into Braxxon's mind as he took a long look at the people gathered there. Nobody seemed to notice their entrance, which was disturbing. A small group were off in the corner, playing cards. Some others were raiding the offices only replicator. The office itself was a mess, which was something that did not appeal to Stef. The gathered crewmen had neglected the fact that this office had recently been assigned to someone else, and may someday be reassigned to that same party, if and when this war comes to an end. Without asking, Stef knew that there was a general disinterest shared by the new members of the AUXDET. Noticing a desk at the back of the compartment, Braxxon approached. There was a rather plump, middle aged, Petty Officer there, his feet up on the desk, leaning back in the chair, eating something messy that resembled a sandwich. "Excuse me Chief....", Stef said The man, noticing that Braxxon outranked him, immediately shot to his feet. He struggled to swallow the chunk of sandwich he was chewing so that he could speak. "Sir!", came a somewhat muffled response, as various sauces from the sandwich ran down his face. With a somewhat disgusting look on his face, Braxxon replied, "I'm supposed to report for duty with the AUXDET, but I'm beginning to wonder if I'm in the right place." "Yep, you sure are. Petty Officer First Class Dario Dutton, but you can call me *Dumpy*.", the mustard clad Chief Petty Officer extended a hand for Stef to shake, but it was even more full of gunk than his face. Braxxon declined the handshake. He found the eating habits of this man to be repulsive. Resisting the urge to order the Chief to take a bath, he slowly added, "Lt. Stefaine Braxxon." "Yes, I know, the ships counselor.", Dumpy remarked. "Well, officially, temporarily, the *former* ships Counselor. And this is my assistant, Yeoman Diana Pierce.", Stef admitted, as he gestured to the beautiful blonde Diana at his side. "I was hoping you could tell me who I am supposed to report to?", Braxxon then asked. "Well, no one.", Dumpy answered, shrugging his shoulders. "I mean, the old AUXDET officer, Lt. Kiley, left me in charge when he was transferred to damage control. It was only temporarily, of course, until you arrived.", he added, shoving a PADD on the desk in the direction of Braxxon. Stef picked up the sticky, greasy PADD, using only his thumb and index finger. Holding it gingerly, he looked over the order from Lt. Kiley. It was just as the Chief had said, and furthermore, it included a list of the other crew members transferred to AUXDET from other departments aboard ship. At first, he thought that it was a joke, but then he realized that the Constellation did not have a resident practical joker aboard. Unless, Kzar suddenly developed a sick sense of humor in the last 2 hours or so. Stef ran down the list, and it seemed that the names on it equaled the inhabitants of the compartment. He almost couldn't believe it. There must have been some miscommunication between himself and Commander Bertoli. He had no idea that when the Commander told him that Counseling was moving to AUXDET, that he would actually be in charge of AUXDET. "I see. Well then, please bring the detail to attention, Chief.", Stef replied. Petty Officer Dario *Dumpy* Dutton carefully cleared his throat before shouting, "ATTEN-HUT, OFFICER ON DECK!" All activity in the room suddenly stopped at the sound of his booming voice. At first, everyone except Diana and Dumpy looked confused, but soon their Starfleet basic training instincts kicked in and they fell in line. Stef too was surprised by the Chief's special talents. For a man whom seemed to have no regard for personal hygiene, he really knew how to round up the troops. "Very well done, Chief. Thank you.", Braxxon said with enthusiasm. Stef hated military formality. Now that he had the group at attention, he had no idea what to do next. The line of enlisted men just stood there, waiting for him to say something. Braxxon's mind raced, *What would Bochu do at a time like this?*, he thought. Then it came to him, and he began to stroll along the line, his hands neatly folded behind his back. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Uss Constellation's new Auxiliary Detail. You...", Braxxon's speech was cut short early by a voice from the crowd. "Excuse me *sir*, but there is something I would like to know.", an enlisted man wearing a science blue uniform asked with a good bit of sarcasm. As he spoke out, he gained the attention of the entire room. The Constellation's new AUXDET officer unfortunately did not remember enough about protocol to realize that this man was way out of line. "Er, well, ok. What is it?", Stef asked in a rather dumbfounded tone. "Do you mean to tell me that I've been called away from some important observations in the astrometrics lab, just so I can clean toilets!?", the man nearly shouted in anger. His remark generated some laughter among the others gathered. "Well, no!", Stef quickly replied, but then paused. Quickly realizing that he really had no idea if cleaning toilets was really part of their duties, he leaned over towards the chief and whispered, "Do we?" PO Dutton, who was barely able to contain his laughter, only nodded as he struggled to remain at attention. Stef in no way, relished the idea of cleaning toilets. He couldn't believe that in the 25th century, someone still had not invented a maintenance free toilet, but that was beside the point. It was obvious that many of the others shared the same sentiment. "What's you're name, son?", Braxxon politely inquired. His Counseling skills were kicking in, to fill the void left by the lack of his command skills. Making a personal connection with someone troubled, was usually the first step to a greater understanding. "Crewman Todd Pederson.", the young lanky man replied. He couldn't have been older than 23. "Well, Mister Pederson, at a time like this none of us should be thinking of ourselves. We should trust that the people making the decisions upstairs, are making the right ones, and we should strive to complete the task at hand to the best of our ability and training.", Braxxon stated plainly, his voice unwavering. The room was silent for a moment as Stef looked about, carefully making eye contact with all of them. When his gaze met Diana's, she smiled, letting the 34 year old Alpha Centaurian know that his short speech had a profound impact on the others. After quickly glancing at the floor for further inspiration, Stef continued, "I want you all to know that , I, myself was not pleased by Commander Bertoli's decision either. However, make no mistake that we have been charged with this responsibility, and I intend to fulfill that obligation." It was not what he wanted to say, more like what he felt like he should say, given the circumstances. Stef paused yet again, as he noticed his assembled detail glance at one another. "Does anyone else have a problem with that?", he asked aloud, hoping that there would be no further objections. To his relief, there were none, and Stef sighed inwardly. The hardest part seemed to be over. "Well then, I'll need some time to get settled in my new office. You may dismiss the detail, *Dumpy*", Stef said, now referring to the P.O. almost affectionately by his nickname. "Aye, sir. DETAIL...DIS--MISSED!", Dumpy's voice boomed throughout the compartment as everyone scrambled to leave Braxxon to his own devices. All except for Yeoman Pierce and Dumpy, of course. As the group was dismissed, Stef settled in behind the desk. Braxxon watched them, and thought about what a motley crew they were, and how much work it would really take to get this department into shape. Diana was soon at his side, and began to arrange the various PADDs on the desk for him. "Will there be anything else, sir?", Dumpy asked after the room was cleared out. "As a matter of fact, yes. I will need you and Diana to remain for a while to assist me with some catch up learning.", he said as he began to examine the first PADD. There was much he had to learn about the AUXDET, and with time being of the essence, Braxxon decided to begin now. FMD: 7.0750 SCENE: USS CONSTELLATION: Main Shuttlebay The announcement of the full crew assembly took Stef by surprise. He had pulled an all nighter to prepare himself for his upcoming duties. It was not the first all nighter of his career, but it was the first one in a long time that did not involve a bottle of gin. Stef made sure that he had the men now under his temporary command were assembled early, and without their attitudes. They were as ready as they were going to get. Stef made good use of the extra time by mingling with the others. He was trying to get a feel for the mood of the crew. It was during this time that he learned of the fate of Captain Slick and the AGAMEMNON. Although he did not know anyone on that ship personally, he shared the tremendous feeling of loss just the same. When Bochu approached the podium, Stef made his way to his mens side. He felt as if he belonged there, rather than lined up with the other senior staff members. They all stood at attention when Bochu began his speech. (Borrowed from Mike's last post) >:"Thank you, Commander." Bochu said. Then he coughed. "Lieutenant Braxxon, >front and center." Bradford did a quick but not quite perfect about face, >and departed. Braxxon replaced him. > >"Likewise Lieutenant, your performances in your duties to the >CONSTELLATION, the United Federation of Planets, and the Federation have >warranted your promotion to the rank of Full Lieutenant, with all the >rights, duties, and privileges of that rank." Bochu took another box from >the Yeoman, and replaced the half-pip with a full one. Braxxon smiled. > >Bochu looked amongst the crowd, and eyed Kzar, who looked straight ahead, >as if at attention. Then he returned to the podium. Stef could not help but feel empty at this moment. It was for two reasons. First, he did not feel comfortable accepting his promotion at such a time where others, who possibly had contributed far more, were now dead at the hands of their enemy. Secondly, he was not sure how his men would react to this. He was afraid that it may make them resent him even more than he already anticipated. In their eyes, it might look like he was being rewarded for cracking the whip over them. Or that his only reason for giving them the speech yesterday was to get them to behave for this event. Finally the assembly came to an end, with the Constellation's temporary CO ordering the various department heads to take charge of their troops. Stef was only too happy to dismiss his men, hoping they could spend some time away from each other before the ship reached a combat zone. He felt it would keep them from getting on each others nerves, given their reluctance to being pulled away from their regular duties in the first place. As the Constellation's main hangar bay cleared out, Braxxon made his way over towards Dr. Bradford and Captain Paraskevopoulus. "Congratulations, Joe.", Stef said as he approached, hoping that the promotion he had just received would be enough to help him cope with the scenes of carnage soon to be taking place in the sickbay. "Likewise Stef.", was the Doctor's reply. Stef then enthusiastically turned his attention to the wheelchair that served as Demis' personal transportation system. "Captain, I'm so glad to see that your feeling better.", he said sincerely. "Why thank you, Counselor.", the Captain replied warmly. He was obviously in better spirits, which was a rarity of late. "Believe me sir, I really had intended to stop by sickbay and check up on you, but as you can see, Commander Bertoli has been keeping me quite busy.", Braxxon explained as his guilt over neglecting his CO was bubbling up inside him. Demis dismissed any guilt feelings with a wave of his hand. "Think nothing of it," he said, "Maybe now since you're such an important senior-junior officer, you can spare the time for a drink with your Captain!" With that, Demis reached over the side of his chair, and pulled from a storage pouch the age old (and half full) bottle of Bombay Sapphire that Stef had originally snatched from the Orion privateers back in the Kobe system. Stef's face lit up at the sight of it. "Is that an *order*, sir?", Braxxon asked jokingly. "I never thought I would need an order to keep you from appreciating fine liquor. All that salvage work, and you zero in on the best bottle. I heard you snatched it right from the hands of the Quartermaster himself," Demis said, as Bradford listened with interest. "Well, Captain, he wasn't happy about that." "I know quartermasters, Stef. Their job makes them masters of salvage. Doctor Bradford, can you spare some time?" "Sure," Bradford answered, "if only to keep an eye on you." "I have a question for the two of you," as the two followed Paraskevopoulus's chair as it rolled itself towards his quarters. "What do you think of our new combat advisor?" Stef, of course, had some opinions. He only hoped that the Bombay Sapphire wouldn't loosen his tongue *too* much. Then again, he was a Counselor...and accustomed to breaking news gently. _________________________________________________________________ NRPG: Many thanks to our gracious CO for putting his own personal touches on this post. ;-) James, David: Get out your shot glasses, gentlemen! Time to celebrate promotions and the like! FMD: 6.0900: Braxxon seals up his office (temporarily, I hope) FMD: 6.0930: Stef reports for duty at the AUXDET office FMD: 7.0750: Braxxon and his *troops* attend the crew assembly Respectfully Submitted, Tom Doyle/Stefaine (Stef) Braxxon, CNSL, USS CONSTELLATION, NCC 1017-F, INDIGO FLEET ***This message sent by an official member of Indigo Fleet*** Are you also posting your message to the newsgroup?!!! ---END TRANSMISSION---