Making Things Permanent

Posted on Wed Jun 24th, 2020 @ 3:31am by Captain Nycolas Temple & Lieutenant Nicholas Boucher
Edited on on Fri Jul 10th, 2020 @ 5:55pm

Mission: The Evils Within
Location: Captain's Ready Room

ON:

The last little bit had been a whirlwind for Nick. The escape from Paradise Station, the engagement with the Breen, being on high alert the entire time, had taken its toll on him and the rest of Alpha Squad. He hadn't had a chance for a debrief with the Captain yet, nor to discuss the logistics of his transfer back to the Palatine.

That second bit filled him with a few odd feelings. He had enjoyed his time on the Pandora, hectic as it had been. He'd made some friends, lost some friends, and met someone... Well he didn't know how he'd classify his time this far with the doctor, but he sure as hell had enjoyed it thus far.

So when he'd received a summons to the Captain's Ready Room, he had been hit with a jumble of thoughts and emotions. He had made himself presentable and now stood outside the door. He announced his presence and waited to be admitted.

Nyx was doing a thing lately where he surprised people at the door, instead of just calling them inside, so he had put on a big smile and waited for Boucher to arrive. When the Lieutenant chimed, the Captain immediately opened the door and extended a hand.

"Boucher!" He called out with a beaming grin.

Nick almost jumped at the surprise of seeing the Captain waiting for him at the door. Either an odd coincidence, or the Captain had been waiting for him.

He shook the Captain's hand and returned the smile. "Sir. You asked to see me?"

"I did." Nyx replied with a firm nod, as he lead Boucher over to the seating area. He dropped down onto the couch and invited the Lieutenant to do the same. "Firstly, I wanted to thank you for the work you did in defending the Pandora against the Breen."

Nick sat next to the Captain and let out a sigh. "It was touch and go for a bit, and I apologize for opening fire before being given command. That was my judgement call and if I'm to be reprimanded, I would like to say that decision was on me alone and my squad was just following my lead. I understand what Commander Nash's objective was, but we couldn't allow to happen to Pandora was happened to the civilian ship."

"Well you had two Breen warships on your tail, I don't blame you for wanting to protect the Pandora." Nyx replied, "It could have been a lot worse. With that in mind, how would you feel about keeping your Starfighters on the Pandora in a permanent capacity?"

Nick's eyes opened in surprise. "You've caught me a bit off-guard here, sir. I certainly didn't expect an offer like that."

The Palatine was a fine vessel, but truthfully Nick hadn't really spent any time there to get attached to her. Whereas he'd already had a baptism by fire, as it were, with the Pandora.

"I like the idea," Nick replied. "We've worked well together the last little while, I think Alpha is a good fit here. But if I may ask, are you planning a refit for the Pandora? As it stands, I feel like we're squatting in one of the shuttle bays. Having the ship be kitted out properly for fighters would go a long way to make the rest of my squad feel at home."

"Absolutely," Temple nodded, "Once we've got our other repairs done, we will have Engineering and Ops work on retrofitting the shuttle bay. In fact, it might be a good idea to have a meeting with Lieutenants Mindo and Cortez to start that planning now."

Nick smiled. "That works for us, sir. I think Alpha can make a home here."

"Very good." Nyx replied, clapping his hands together. "I take it you've already started to settle in to the Pandora? I know our last mission didn't give you much time to meet everybody."

Nick gave a quick thought to Alexandra and smiled. "I've met a few of the crew. Enough to have settled in a bit, sir."

"Wonderful." Nyx smiled broadly, happy that the crew had managed to mingle and get comfortable even through all the drama of the previous mission. "Then there's no sense up-rooting you again so soon, is there? We will just have to tell Starfleet command that I'm keeping you."

Nick nodded. "And I'll advise my men that our stay here has been extended."

He stood from the couch and continued. "We didn't have much time due to the nature of our mission, but I'd like to liaise with the XO, Flight Control and Tactical to start working on deployment plans for future engagements. This first go worked out well for us, but we won't always have such an advantage in numbers and firepower and I'd like to see the Pandora and Alpha Squad combined into one well-rounded fighting machine. With your permission, of course, sir."

Nyx stood as well, giving a smile, "That sounds wonderful. Watch out Breen." He laughed as the two walked towards the door.

Nick smiled. "They won't know what hit them, sir."

"Please let me know if you need any assistance." Nyx added, "Commander Nash will be taking some leave, so feel free to come to me or Griffin for anything you need. He'll be stepping in as Acting XO. He just doesn't know it yet."

"Roger that, sir," Nick replied. "I'll contact Lieutenant Commander Griffin first to see how he wants to approach the situation, but I'm sure you'll be in the loop. May I be dismissed, sir?"

Nyx gave a nod, "Thank you, Lieutenant."

OFF