New Assignment, New CO

Posted on 08 Apr 2025 @ 6:01pm by Captain Brynhild Kleim & Lieutenant JG Zhivise Silatuyok

796 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Miranda
Location: Bridge

After a decent night's rest and a few interesting dreams, Zhiv stepped off the lift and onto the bridge, where she still got chills. There was something about stepping onto the bridge and walking to your station, especially as a helm officer; it was always exciting.

After sitting down, Zhiv started doing her checks like she always did, like all helm officers or any bridge officer did. Zhiv also knew there was a new CO, which wasn't new. Well, for her, it was as new as her old assignment, and it did not have a lot of turnovers, especially at that level.

When she arrived, Brynhild Kleim was already in the ready room despite it being before the alpha shift started. She wasn't entirely sure she hadn't been there overnight. New assignments always tended to bring out certain pilot tendencies, but that would ease up over time.

She walked out onto the bridge, reading from a PADD, but when she glanced up, she saw a helm officer she hadn't met yet. (There were many.) A quick visual assessment told her... "Lieutenant Silatuyok?"

"Ma'am," Zhiv said quickly, jumping to her feet, spinning, and coming to attention with hands down by her side.

"At ease," Brynna said quickly, giving a slight wave. "I am just acclimating myself to the ship and her crew. I believe you have not been aboard much longer than I have?"

"Just by a little, ma'am," Zhiv relaxed slightly and gave a small smile, which felt like she was having a stroke or trying to smile for the first time. {Good, good, good first impression,} Zhiv thought.

If Brynhild took much note of the pained nature of the smile, she didn't let it show. (It's not that she lets much of a show, really.) "How are you liking your post so far?"

"It sure beats piloting transports, but it's nerve-wracking and exhilarating all at the same time," Zhiv blurted out before reeling her enthusiasm back in, "apologies ma'am," she quickly added.

"What for?" the captain asked with a faint chuckle. "Flying one of these big ships is a different experience than small craft."

"Of course, and she certainly is, but agile and nimble," Zhiv said, grinning and looking back at her console.

Brynhild inclined her head in agreement. "I used to fly fighter craft, so I'm familiar with the small ships. I never made the jump to helm and these larger vessels."

"Oh, wow, fighter pilot to starship captain, that is also a big jump," Zhiv said, knowing that her father did some fighter testing, but it was in a pinch as there weren't many test pilots in his early days of testing.

"Yes and no," the captain replied. "Commanding an air group of five full squadrons is considerable command skill requirements, so moving from that to the first officer to captain isn't as big a jump as it might seem."

Zhiv smiled and nodded, "makes sense, may I ask you something personal?"

Interesting, Brynna thought with a hint of amusement. She inclined her head slightly as she wasn't here to scare all her new crewmembers. "You may ask," she said. "I may or may not answer."

"Why a fighter pilot?" Zhiv asked, realizing that she had a follow-up question, "and why the switch to commanding a ship instead of commanding fighter wings," Zhiv asked simply.

The captain didn't respond immediately, considering her answer was as much about whether she wanted to give it. After all, she was the captain and had a certain distance to maintain. She had also just met this young woman. Brynna had always been given to a great wealth of personal reserve. Yet, it wasn't an individual answer.

"I worked for a company that made components for fighter craft and got to use their simulators. I discovered I had a talent for it, so I pursued it. As for the move to command... Age gets to us all. I decided to use the skills I had gained in the one to do more and do better in the other," she said.

Zhiv nodded it was something she understood, not for herself yet, but she saw it with her father, even though he was still testing, but there was a point where he was going to give it up. Now the problem was Zhiv had no idea what to say next.

Brynna picked it up from there and inclined her head slightly. "Well, I won't keep you from your work any longer. Thank you for the chat, Lieutenant. It was good to meet you."

"You as well, captain," Zhiv said before turning and heading back to the helm console, feeling a weird sense of accomplishment as this was the first semi-decent interaction she had had with a CO.

 

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