Settling In

Posted on 26 Dec 2021 @ 3:09pm by Lieutenant Commander Cintia Sha'mer & Commander Kristiana Petrova

1,611 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Home

Next on her docket was the new Tactical officer. Kristiana had got a note that she'd arrived, and the computer informed her the new officer was in her office, probably getting settled in. As such, that was where Kris headed. Once there she rang the chime, though strolled on inside without waiting to be acknowledged.

"Commander Sha'mer, I presume?" she spoke with a slight russian accent. "I hope I'm pronouncing that right."

Sha'mer looked up with a jerk at the unexpected arrival. She hadn't been on board for long, just long enough to toss her belongings in her quarters and visit her office. Her plan had been to familiarise herself with the ship and the people of her department before doing the rest of the official business, but it appeared that someone had beaten her to the punch.

"Oh! Commander Petrova." She shot up, as usual forgetting about the state of her leg until it was too late. Only the brace saved her from landing full length on the floor. She couldn't help but wince, both at the stab of pain and at her own stupidity. You'd think I'd be used to it by now, she thought, chagrined. "I'm sorry." You're not exactly catching me at my best. "And yes, you did."

Kristiana meanwhile was caught in that awkward pose of darting forward to try and help someone but being too late and a step too far away to be successful at it. She straightened herself up, trying to hide the initial look of concern behind professional neutrality, and only having partial success at that.

"Please, sit. Probably more comfortable for you," she mused, motioning to Sha'mer's own chair as she took the one opposite the tactical officer's desk. "Just dropped by to introduce myself, get to know you a bit, see if you're settling in alright and make sure all the paperwork's dealt with."

"Thank you." She dropped gracelessly back in the chair she had so recently vacated and did her best not to wince. "I'm working on the paperwork," she added with a gesture to the PADDs she had been reading. Like most people she hated paperwork, but during the time she had spent trapped on the colony she had used her frustration to become ruthlessly efficient at it. Now she was usually caught up with it before her shift ended, which cleared her schedule tremendously. "I do still need to report in to the CO." She added in a mutter: "And present my file to Medical."

She couldn't help but sigh slightly at that last statement. It would probably be too much to hope that 'presenting her file' would be no more than a quick in-and-out. Even before the whole injury thing medical officers tended to look at her with more than passing interest: the curse of being the sole representative of an unknown race.

"Lieutenant Sha'mer," Kris began, pausing a beat to impregnate the moment. She leaned back on the chair, folding her hands together. "I must admit, I haven't read your profile. Much to do, not enough time to do it all, I'm sure you know the feel. So, why don't you tell me a bit about yourself."

Oh. She never quite knew what to say to open questions like that. Sha'mer quickly sorted through her mind what could be relevant and what wasn't. "I served as a tactical officer on the USS Firehawk," she said after what seemed to her a long pause. "Until it was destroyed. That's how I ended up with this. After that I was assigned to a position on a Colony for awhile, but I wanted to get back on a ship. I like that sense of adventure, the unknown out here. Colony life is nice for awhile, but…" she gestured faintly around. "So I'm happy to be here," she added with a brittle smile. "Is there anything in particular you'd like to know?"

"Hm," Kristiana listened, then considered for a moment, her expression pensive. "I see," She offered after a moment thought. "Your leg, what exactly happened? It's clear it's bothering you. Painful. Is it going to affect your performance?" She asked, her voice calm, without judgment. "I might have some exercises to help strengthen it, if you want."

Well, it had been too much to hope nobody would comment on it, so the sooner it was over, the better, Sha'mer supposed. "That happened when the Firehawk got shot. Bulkhead pinned me down." Her voice became dispassionate as barriers in her mind automatically came down, separating the memories from any emotions. It had taken her a lot of training to get to this point. "Regenerators don't work on me. So it had to be fixed the oldfashioned way." Pins and screws. Fixators. The recurring torture that was physical therapy. Having to learn to walk all over again. "That was why I got assigned to a colony at first." Because if a ship she served on would get into another active combat situation, if she got tossed around again, a fresh injury could slow down healing at best, do more damage at worst. "But I've been cleared for ship duty now." Grudgingly. Scraping by. But still. She smiled that brittle smile again, the one she hated. "I do still have exercises I need to do daily. Thank you." She hoped that the commander didn't realise she hadn't precisely answered the question regarding her performance.

"Hmph. You've been cleared for ship duty, and Starfleet trusts you with Lieutenant-commander pips, so I'll trust you as well," The auburn haired russian woman offered. She remained silent for just a fleeting moment again, contemplating the waif of a woman before her. "I have a simple rule, Commander. Long as the work gets done and done well, I don't really care how it gets done. Long as you're not a disruptive influence on other people's work, at least. Meantime, if you need something, feel free to ask. I can understand your leg means you have special needs. Just ask, I'm sure I can accommodate you, long as the work gets done.

"Understood." She could work with that, as long as she managed to suppress the reflexive thought which boiled down to I don't want to have any special needs. I don't need special accommodations. Because there would be situations when she did, whether she liked it not not. "I shouldn't have any problems performing my normal duties. Just don't ask me to run a marathon. Yet." The smile which accompanied that addendum didn't feel as much of a rictus this time. (The 'yet' was wildly optimistic. Though the brace did allow her to run, it wasn't very far or very fast and usually not worth the price of barely being able to walk at all later. But one could hope.)

"Is there anything I should know about this ship or upcoming missions that I haven't read yet in a file?" she asked, gesturing to the pile of PADDs on her desk.

"We have two alien AIs onboard. One joined Starfleet, has rank, is installed in a fighter. The other's some - semi omnipotent being that yeeted us home from a parallel universe and got glued to the ship? Or something? Whole thing's pretty weird to be honest," Kris mused, waving her hand dismissively. "So yeah,you might see them around. We haven't received new orders yet so there's nothing much I can tell you about what we'll be doing. Just - work on getting your department running smoothly, that should keep you busy for a while."

Sha'mer raised her eyebrows. That sounded… intriguing. Something to look into, soonish. However, that last line made her remember something else she wanted to ask before the XO vanished again. "Has my predecessor been transferred? I didn't come across that in a file."

"Transferred to a colony position when we got back from that parallel universe. Wanted some solid ground underneath his feet," Kris admitted. "Can't say I blame him, either."

A colony position. The irony wasn't lost on Sha'mer. "He's more than welcome to it," she replied sincerely. Give me the stars, any time. She smiled again. "Thank you for welcoming me, Commander."

"You're welcome, Commander," Kris nodded, starting to rise to her feet. "Any more questions?"

"None that I can think of at the moment." Or rather, there were a lot, like 'How did this ship end up in the Mirror Universe, what happened there, what's the deal with the Chief Security who came back with you' – but some of those answers could be found in the pile of PADDs still waiting for her, others probably didn't have a good answer to begin with or might become clear in time. "But if I do, I'll know where to ask them."

She, too, stood up, this time slowly, with carefully controlled motions. Though she wanted nothing more than to sit here and finish her reading, she'd better attend to the rest of her 'checking in' list first.

Kristiana watched Cintia rise carefully, though her expression remained unreadable. "Right. Welcome aboard, Commander Sha'mer. I'll expect a department readiness report tomorrow. If you need anything, feel free to ask," she offered as she turned to leave.

She couldn't think of anything she needed other than a steady supply of raktajino and a fresh stack of PADDs, both of which were readily available from the replicator. "The report will be in before 0700," Sha'mer promised. More likely, she'd send it out before midnight, just to have everything cleared away before she went to bed.

Sha'mer waited until Commander Petrova had left, then headed out herself.

 

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