A Fresh Start

Posted on Sun Jun 21st, 2020 @ 3:15am by Captain Nycolas Temple & Lieutenant Commander Janet Glyndar
Edited on on Wed Jun 24th, 2020 @ 5:40am

Mission: New Moon Rising
Location: Bridge

Nycolas walked through the passenger bridge and onto the USS Pandora for the first time. Crews were still putting the finishing touches on the ship and they went about their business, mostly ignoring Temple as he strolled through the corridor. He marvelled at the refit work the team had done, the Luna Class ship almost looked brand new again, a fresh start for her new service. His PADD chimed, alerting him to an automated message from the ship's computer welcomed him onboard and he tapped in his accreditation. With Lieutenant General P'trell having already conducted the authorisation process on Earth, there wasn't much ceremony to his arrival.

Instinctively, Nyx thought to visit the Bridge first, wanting that first test of the Captain's Chair. Mostly to make sure his long legs could fit underneath it. He entered the turbo lift and was whisked up a few floors to his intended destination. The doors openly swiftly and Lieutenant Commander Temple stepped out on the bridge. A crewman who was working to install a nearby LCARs stations saw the young Captain this time, stood at attention.

"Captain on deck!" He called out.

Nyx gave him a wry smile, "Thank you, please don't let me interrupt you."

He looked over and saw the a, raven haired woman standing by the big chairs and immediately knew who she was, "Lieutenant Commander Glynadar?"

”Commander" she replied standing her ground in the command pit as she rested a hand on the headrest of the Captain's chair. "Will do just fine" she finished with a small nod. "No use wasting our breath on the extra syllables" she added crisply. "Welcome aboard the USS Pandora, Commander Temple. The starship and I have history, an intimate connection that I'm sure you have been informed of. I used to know the tactical systems of this starship like the back of my hand. At least I did until they started screwing around with Pandora's systems. Now, she has practically been lobotomized and I have to learn everything anew" she said lifting her hand and crossing her arms.

She looked at the man "The Captain before you had bigger breasts" she said with a smirk And while I'm at it, you probably have a smaller pair than Commander Larkon down south she thought. "I'll warn you before hand, it takes me a while to warm up to change. It happens and I do not like it. I am also very protective of this starship out of loyalty to the former Commanding Officer" she said firmly. "Getting right down to business, the crew is still coming aboard" she reported.

Nyx squared his eyes at the women before chuckling a little, then rubbing his stubbled jaw. "Actually guys, can you give us the room?"

At his command the work crew filed out silently from the Bridge and Nyx waited until the doors shut quietly behind him. He sauntered over to the command chair, deliberately past the Xenexian woman and sat down in it.

"You know, I think it needs to be raised up a little bit," He commented aloud, stretching out his legs. "I want you to tell the work crew to raise the chair up about twenty centimetres, Lieutenant Commander."

Janet squinted her eyes a bit and examined the man and the chair. "Sounds a little Napoleonic, Sir" she commented. "However, I will have them get to work on it. We definitely can't have you sitting in a booster seat" she added with a small smirk.

Nyx sighed, feeling this meeting was not going as he had hoped. He tried again, "I accepted your appointment to the Pandora, not just because you were familiar with the former ship, but because your resume was incredibly impressive. You have tremendous skills that will be an asset to our new service. But I'm going to need you to respect my command, at least in front of junior officers."

Lieutenant Commander Glyndar nodded. "I appreciate your approval of my being here" she said swiftly as she walked across the Bridge and picked up a PaDD that had been lying atop a console. "I have been First Officer before, Captain, and in doing so, I had to sometimes take command as Acting Captain. So, believe me when I say that I do not envy your position. I do, however, respect your being Commanding Officer. I will follow your orders and show my respect in front of the junior officers though you have large shoes to fill. Merith was more than a Captain, she was like a mother to me and to the rest of the crew" she confessed.

Temple nodded, grateful that he had some understanding of his Executive Officer's point of view, "I see we'll have to get used to each other's ways. I don't intend to fill anyone's shoes or certainly act as their mother." He gave a raised eyebrow, "As you pointed out, I don't appear to have the bosom for it. But we will find our place, together on this ship, if you'll allow it."

She scoffed "I definitely would prefer if you did not try to mother me...or father me for that matter. I'll settle for brotherly advice at times, but we'll cross that bridge should we ever trust one another to that extent" she replied simply. "For now we are two bettas in a rather small pond, Captain. For the greater good of the starship and her crew which I have always been sworn to protect, yourself as Captain included even as your First Officer, I will work with you and allow it."

"Wonderful!" Nyx cried, jumping up from the chair all of a sudden and sprinting around the Bridge. "Isn't this place fantastic! Ooh there's nothing like a new ship." He moved around to the back of the command area, resting casually against the balustrade. "The Luna class is state of the art, streamlined. A real explorer's ship, don't you think?"

Janet looked at the man, raising her brow at his somewhat peculiar excitement. "Kid in a candy store" she said rather deadpan on her delivery. "I believe that's how I would have to describe you right now, Sir" she explained as she shook her head. "We were a significant scientific explorer in the Gavarian Corridor before the Cardassians and Romulans decided to have their pissing match and the Federation pulled us and the rest of Task Force 47 out" she explained.

"Your Pandora is the same starship as Merith's on the exterior and name alone" said Janet. "However, I have been going through the specifications and deck listing. This starship was state of the art when she was first launched...with all due respect, Captain. Now, I have to get used to a..." Janet shook her head as she read through the PaDD "A 'recreation' deck" she said shaking her head. "We had no need for a full recreational deck while I served under Merith."

'I had no need for a mother figure while I served,' Nyx thought drily to himself, though knew better than to say it.

Instead, Temple ignored the disapproval in her tone and continued to look around, "Completely different tour of duty, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to stop off on shore leave or return to Federation Space as we please. We may go weeks or months between finding a friendly port. Starfleet has learnt a lot from the experiences of the Voyager and Merrimack journeys. The recreation deck provides a slice of home and normalcy, something to stop cabin fever settling in during our long trip."

He inspected the science station with fascination, but remarked over his shoulder, "It's just one of those changes you're going to need to warm up to."

"Oh I am sure" she replied flatly.

"Moving on!" Nyx called out, clapping his hands together. He turned around with a dramatic swivel, and jogged back around to the command chairs. "Computer, this Lieutenant Commander Nycolas Temple, Captain of the USS Pandora. Authorisation Alpha three one nine two."

The computer chirped cheerily, "Authorisation confirmed."

"I hereby authorise Lieutenant Commander Janet Glyndar as Executive Officer of this vessel," He continued with a smile.

Janet smirked "Do you do so willingly or are you under some Admiral's duress to do so?" she countered as she listened to the computer grant her the authorization. "So, recerational deck aside...will we be having an actual Ship's Counselor aboard? Merith and Doctor Selin tended to split that role amongst themselves. We never had an actual counselor aboard."

"A Lieutenant General's actually," Nyx retorted with a smile. "I have requested a Counselor, it's up to Star Fleet whether one can be assigned before we depart. I'm of the mind that I would prefer a permanently placed counselor, given the tour conditions."

The First Officer nodded. "Well, we found something to agree on" she commented with a sigh. "With all these leisure activities and a whole recreational deck, they make sense if we will be out for long periods of time. A Counselor would be beneficial for various reasons including crew morale. Though additionally, more crew seeing a Ship's Counselor may mean less abuse of the holodeck, allowing for more preserving of power to allocate towards more important matters."

"I'll ensure that it's a priority," Nyx replied with a smile. He sat back in the chair, crossed his legs over and folded his arms casually behind his head. "See, we have common ground already and it's only been five minutes. How's that for efficiency?!"

She shook her head. "You're an optimistic guy" she assessed and that was something she was not overly fond of, but she'd get used to it. "Then I guess we will see how this 'relationship' goes, Captain" added Janet. "Is there anything you would like me to work on directly before disembark?"

Temple looked serious for a moment, thinking, "We'll still be accepting crew for the next few days. I hope to meet with as many of them as possible personally but I'd like you to get to know them as well. Some faces you may know, but most will be new. If we hope to have the same camaraderie as the old Pandora, we'll need to start working on that now. Any good relationship takes effort, as my wife keeps telling me."

"Well, as I see it your wife is lucky" Janet said with a smirk. "She's back home while I am stuck here with you. If the relationship goes downhill or gets too sour, she can divorce you. I unfortunately do not have that luxury as I plan to make Pandora my home again and I'm very stubborn. So, if our relationship goes south you and I are in trouble" jested Janet.

Nyx leaned further back in his chair, "I'm not going anywhere, Lieutenant Commander. As long as we both keep working on the relationship, there's no reason for it to go south."

"I'm not married to the idea" she replied as she walked across the Bridge, only to take the XO seat next to him. "However, I'm here to stay. So, I guess this is just how it is going to be. The two of us coming together to lead this crew into the wild frontier" added Janet. "May the stars bless us with safe voyages and always guide us home."

"Aye, aye," Nyx replied with a laugh.

The two sat together on the empty bridge, looking around their surroundings. Soon it would be filled with the next generation of the Pandora's crew, working at the various stations around them, busy navigating the final frontier. Sometimes gathered in anticipation of a new discovery, or the first contact with an unknown civilisation. And sometimes this once-calm bridge will be bathed in red as they respond to an incoming threat. But for now, it was just the CO and XO, sitting in silence together.

Janet walked over to the Tactical station and took a stance behind it. "I hate blue alert conditions" she said with a scoff. "They are worse than being at green alert. At least then there's something to scan or keep an eye on" she teased.