The New MCO Part #1

Posted on 13 Oct 2019 @ 4:48pm by Lieutenant Commander Samantha Smithson SB51 & Lieutenant Karyn Somers
Edited on on 22 Nov 2021 @ 10:09pm

2,517 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Orientation Posts
Location: Starbase 51/Various

[ON]

Reagan had been asleep when the Lieutenant shook his shoulder. "Sir, we've arrived at Starbase 51."

Reagan nodded, "Guess it's time to disembark."

With that, he quickly grabbed his duffel and slung it over his shoulder as he moved out of the shuttlecraft. He stopped and stretched his arms and legs. The shuttlecraft ride had taken several days from the Pegasus and he hated long trips on shuttles. He took in the look of the cargo area used for arrivals and departures, trying to get his bearings.

Samantha was doing her rounds when she found herself down at arrival and Departures, and there was a transport docked and a Marine standing there looking around, so she decided to go meet the new arrival, she had a list of new arrivals and a Marine was one of them, making herself presentable she walked up to him and saw his rank.

"Hello Lieutenant...?" she asked holding out her hand.

Reagan noticed the woman walking towards him and as she held out her hand he snapped to attention, "Commander."

"I am Lieutenant Commander Samantha Smithson, I am the Security Chief on this Starbase, a marine was on my list, you must be him, who do I have the pleasure of addressing?" Sam asked.

"1st Lieutenant Reagan Risum, Commander," Reagan responded with his eyes forward and his back still ramrods straight.

Still holding out her hand "at ease Lieutenant before you strain something" she said and waited for him to respond in his way and time.

Reagan nodded, "Aye, ma'am," and stepped into a relaxed parade rest form. He took her hand and shook it finally, "It is a pleasure to meet you, Commander."

"Same here Lieutenant, c' mon let me show you around this pup tent, well the areas that are habitable and then onto Security to get your station security clearances." She paused then continued "while this Starbase may look complete from the outside, is just a façade internally the only areas open are the Arboretums, Commercial levels, transit section and limited Staff accommodations plus the holodecks. We also have a small Marine Compliment at the moment" she finished as she led the way from the Arrivals and Departure area.

Reagan nodded and he fell in step to the left of the Commander and two steps behind, "so why is it that this base isn't complete if I might ask Commander."

She looked at him "It is a Stardock class Starbase Lieutenant, it takes time to build one, also, this base is classified, the only persons that we get here are those assigned to this Starbase or the Tomcat. What Civilians we have, well they have been cleared by Security" Smithson said as she led the marine from the Arrivals and Departures area.

After a short time they walked into the turbolift and when the doors closed "Promenade" she said and the lift started moving, while they were waiting "do you have any questions Lieutenant? I will answer what I can!" She added.

Reagan nodded, "Yes ma'am, When's the Tomcat due back? Are there any duties I'm to perform while I await the Tomcat?"

She looked over at the Marine "as for when they will be back, I cannot say the last anyone heard was they were chasing some Orion Slavers to get some of the crew back after they were taken. Judging from the reports of the fleet that is assembling at Galen IV, I should think the mission would not be that long before it is over. As for your duties, those you will need to discuss with the Fleet Captain, but I can say this the Marine unit you are taking command of is known as the 95th Rifles, there is currently 125 on the ship, 12 of those are the Captain's guard, the other 121 are for main duties. *pause* You will also see some officers with the white cord across the bottom of their shoulders, these are known as Chosen Men, the Captain's guard are all Chosen, there is to my knowledge 3 fleet officers with the white cord, that would be the Captain, First Officer and the Chief Engineer if memory serves" she paused to let what she said sink in and to allow the Lieutenant to answer.

Reagan nodded making a mental note about the white cords. "To my knowledge that's a very old tradition that you don't see much of these days. I'm keeping that in mind as I'm organizing the Marines under my command."

With this said she continued as the lift stopped and they stepped out onto the top level of the Promenade which covered three levels, as they walked Smithson continued. "I will wager the Captain will have some input into that, but with new orders those 125 Rifles will be expanded to 450 directly under your command, excluding the twelve Captain's guard, three battalions if I am not mistaken, either way you will have a lot of troops to command, currently the acting MCO is a Major S'arila Donovan, she is a hybrid and 7 feet in height, she looks like a giant statuesque amazon, with muscles and curves in all the right places, but she is a lethal warrior, she also hails from an alternate reality" paused as they approached the first shops and stopped.

"Are there any questions so for Lieutenant?" Smithson asked.

"Negative Commander. No other questions come to mind. Everything else I need to know I'm sure the Captain will fill me in on." Reagan responded as he slowed to look at the shops and their wares.

*Inhales* "okay," Sam said and she began walking "the Shopping district or what is more commonly known on other starbases as the Promenade spans three levels, on this level are the what I like to call posh shops, one the next level are the more prestigious cafe and restaurants. On the lower levels, we have the night clubs, there is a Retro disco plus a Klingon bar and Cafe among other clubs and three large holodecks with more being installed" she paused as she stopped at the barrier and looked down "have you no questions about this station? I know you will have questions for the Captain, but you may be some time here" Smithson said.

Reagan paused for a moment outside of a shop and then quickly moved back to the Commander, "No ma'am. I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to explore while I wait for the Tomcat."

He glanced at the shop once more making a mental note to come back and peruse the wares a bit more.

"Although I am curious what kind of holo programs does the station have access to?"

Looking at him "All the standard-issue holo programs like training scenarios and Martial arts but there is also plenty of room for user-created programs, most are keyed to the creator's voice or passcode, but there are some that are available to all residents here, c' mon let's continue" she responded.

Reagan nodded slowly, "Good. I'm looking forward to developing some programs for the Marines too."
He fell in line with the Commander.

With that, she led the way past more stores, most of which had not been claimed so they remained shut, others had opening times on them. As they walked past the final shop and turned a corner they came to two Arboretums one was solely Terran Flora the other was from other Federation Member worlds.

They paused outside the two areas "okay the one on the right contains plants from Earth plus some long lost planets with a similar environment as earth, the other from other Federation member worlds" Sam said opening the Terran one.

As they entered "this one on the other is open 24/7 earth time zone, should things get too much this is the place to come" she paused as a young couple came running past laughing, Sam watched them run past "It is also a prime location for young couples" she added facing forward again and paused in front of a large section of non-Terran flora.

Reagan looked at the area with the Terran flowers and other assorted Federation member flora. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and noted the various smells, recounting his childhood and the smells that flooded back memories of the botanical gardens he visited.

"Roses, lilacs, dandelions," Reagan muttered and the paused, taking another breath, his nostrils filling with chilli and heat like smell.

"Is that a fire lily?' He asked as he opened his eyes and scanned the room beyond to see if he could see one of the elusive fire lilies of Sri Lanka.

Looking over in his direction, I do believe it is Lieutenant, tell me, do you recognise these plants in front of me?" she asked looking at the strange flora, that was out of place in a Terran themed garden.

Reagan examined it and took a slight sniff. "Hmm, sweet, yet smells a bit bitter." he mused as he gently touched the petals of the purple flower. "I believe that is the Moth Orchid. They grow in the southeast Asia area of Earth." He looked to the Commander, "However I could be wrong. I'm by no means an expert."

She looked at him "the plants in this section are from Romulus before it's destruction when Hobus exploded, it is remarkable how similar some alien plants smell like the ones we know on earth. But as Romulus was practically a duplicate of the conditions of earth, these plants only needed a little gene engineering to adapt to Earth environment, there is another garden like this on earth where Romulan visitors go to see some flora from their lost world, I imagine most of those visitors were Tal'Shiar making sure we human's did not desiccate their planets memory, no diplomatic incidents so far as I know so the gardeners on earth must be doing something correctly" she said with a smile and led him back out and into the entryway to the Arboretum that had nothing but plants from all other alien worlds both Federation and Alliance worlds.

"This area has all the plants from other planets each have their habitat, as this one has a more diverse flora it is larger and you will be free to take a walk around it after we have finished your orientation and get you your security clearances for the station there are separate ones for the Tomcat you can take that up with your new CO. Speaking of which do you have any questions about your new CO? I will answer what I can if you do" she asked.

Reagan stared at the Romulan plant, "I'll have to come back and look through the Romulan arboretum later."
He nodded to himself and spoke up, feeling more relaxed and comfortable with the Commander, "Just the usual I suppose. What's the Captain like? Anything you believe I should know?"

*thinks for a moment* "She has commanded your new ship for over seven Terran years and she has seen many battles and lost more than she should in that period. She is also an ex-Marine and was the one who reinitiated the 95th Rifles of which you are now part of. She is a Fleet Captain as in 5 pips instead of the four, she is also Taskforce Commander of Taskforce 11, she is not the first to that position and will not be the last. *pauses* Sorry I do not know much more than that, I have only seen her service jacket what she is like I cannot answer when we are finished
with your security clearances and the orientation, I will pass you onto our resident Rifles Commander on this Starbase, she will be able to answer your questions about the Captain in more depth than my humble self. Now let's go and show you where the mess hall is; here we have three mess halls" she pauses.

"The first one is the Officers Mess Hall, then we have the Sergeants Mess Hall where Warrant Officers and lowly Sergeants go to eat, then we have the Juniors Mess where all those below CPO or Sergeants go to eat, the only place off duty where mingling is allowed is the cafes, clubs and other such establishments. On duty, it is training sessions and briefings etc, the only time there is true separation is during lunchtimes, but none are forced to go to the service food halls, in fact, we have found that where the Rifles are concerned all eat from the establishments on the promenade where both NCOs and Officers can mix, better for morale if you know what I mean?" she said then tapped her Commbadge.

=/\= Smithson to Chief Somers, meet me in the Security Office, will you? =/\= she said, the reply came back.

=/\= Understood Commander, Somers out =/\= then the line was closed.

She looked at him " You can continue to ask questions, but let us move along shall we!" she finished.

Reagan nodded as they moved along, "I prefer to eat in whichever mess, or whichever place my men eat. I came up from the enlisted ranks and I prefer to spend my time with my men. Eating, shooting, and fighting."

"Well then, I would suggest while on this Starbase you eat out, on the ship all the Rifles eat in the same mess, so you should fit in well there" she said as they walked down some corridors and ramps down to the ground floor of the Promenade where they stopped outside three large double doors. "Here are those holodecks I mentioned at the moment they are not used regularly as we are not due for supply runs for a few months and there are no other ships due in and Holodeck One has Priority Use for station personnel when there is training to do" she added.

"I'll remember that. I think I will have to schedule some time for some personal training on the Holodeck." Reagan commented as they arrived at the Holodecks.

"Are there any other personnel transferring to the Tomcat on the station, or am I the only one?" Reagan asked

She thought for a moment, "I think Sergeant Major Chris Kildare will be asked to do some duty on the ship, I know he wants to ask the Captain about doing so" Smithson said as they moved away from the holodecks and headed towards Security, they walked at a slow pace as there was no real hurry.

"At least I'm not the only one," Reagan said as they walked. He fell quiet as they walked, not knowing what else to ask or say.

Even at a slow pace, they made good time to the Security office, they passed corridors and went up two levels and walked down more corridor and finally turned a corner to Security as they entered Security they saw a Marine Chief Warrant Officer with unusual red hair.

[OFF]

Lieutenant Commander Samantha Smithson [P: Somers]
Starbase 51 Chief of Security

CWO1 Karyn Somers [P: Somers]
Station Warrant Officer 95th Rifles
Starbase 51

1st Lieutenant Regan Risum
Marine Commanding Officer

 

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