New Shoes

Captain Taybar walked across to open gardens of Starfleet Academy and entered a new building to her on the far side. With the expansion of the Federation, more office space was required and this building served that purpose. As well as the office space, this new building also served as the central headquarters for Deep Range Fleet Operations.

Heading down a maze of corridors, she finally found the main offices for the DRF and headed towards one of the briefing rooms, where she had arranged to look over the new crew assignments.

As she stepped inside the room, she was surprised to see three people. Two were sat at the table in the centre of the room in discussion with each other, but the third was sat alone on a large sofa, reading a Padd. He was in a Command uniform, with Lieutenant Commander pips. Whatever he was reading, he was obviously examining it very carefully.

The two people at the desk hardly noticed the Captain's entrance, but the officer sat at the back definitely did. Rising from his seat, he was far taller than Aki. He walked across to room and as he got closer to the Captain he extended his hand.

“Captain Taybar.” He announced, shaking the Captain's hand. “Lieutenant Commander Steven Hartmann.”

Aki looked puzzled as to why this young man had introduced himself so forthrightly. The Lieutenant Commander's actions alerted the two Personnel officers.

“Ah you've arrived.” The first officer said. He was a short man, in his late fifties Aki thought. The other officer was a young looking Vulcan female, but Aki made no guess at her age, for all she knew the young woman was older than the man. “I'm Personnel officer Alex Brown and this is my assistant T'Vexia. I see you've met your new first officer.”

“New first officer !” Aki exclaimed. “What about Commander Rashad ?”

“And with Lieutenant Commander J'Ross missing…..” T'Vexia stated. “The Leviathan has no first or second officer, so one was assigned. With the urgency of your next mission, we had to select a First officer from what was available.”

“Captain, I have served on the USS Carl Vincent for five years and was their second officer for over a year. I have just completed the Starfleet advanced command course and I am ready for the challenge of being the First officer on the USS Leviathan-B.” Hartmann stated. “I am sure my records will show that I will be a good first officer.”

“I am sure you will.” Aki commented. “So what about the rest of the crew, will I be getting a second officer ‘thrust' upon me as well ?”

“Personnel is still thin on the ground, so a second officer will not be assigned at this time.” Brown stated. “If you feel the need for such an officer, you do have the authority to assign one from your current crew.”

“Thank you, I will think about that most carefully.” Aki stated. “What of the rest of the new personnel ?”

“As you are already aware, Ambassador T'Plek will be joining you for your next mission.” T'Vexia stated. “With a Federation Ambassador onboard, it is customary to also have at least two officers from Starfleet Diplomatic Corp onboard. However, so far we have only been able to assign one officer, a young Ensign named Patrick Law. He will be the liaison between the Ambassador and you and your crew.”

“Next we move onto Security, where there are two new appointments.” Brown announced. “The first is Lieutenant (JG) Andree Dothan, like yourself a joined Trill. He will be joining the crew as the Assistant Chief of Security under Lieutenant Commander McQueen.”

“Logan has been promoted ?” Aki stated.

“Yes.” Brown replied. “Although the official confirmation only went out this morning.”

“Not at the moment.” T'Vexia stated. “Ensign Adam Coleman has also been assigned to Security. He's spent the last eighteen months on the USS Venture as a Junior Security officer, but requested a transfer two months ago. Next we have assigned you another Helm officer, Lieutenant (JG) Angus Morrison. He's a fine pilot and his previous CO's have both provided excellent reports on him. Finally, “Petty Officer, 2nd Class Benjamin Pierce has been assigned to Medical to assist Doctor Kahfre.”

T'Vexia passed both Aki and Steven the Padds with the new crew assignments and sat back in her seat. Brown however was sitting a little uncomfortably for Aki's liking.

“There is one more thing you need to know.” Brown announced. “Strictly this is outside our control, but you need to know that Lieutenant Colonel Phanan and some of his Marines will not be on this mission. They have been temporarily re-assigned to another vessel. The Colonel wanted to inform you himself, but the urgency of the mission meant a quick departure.”

“What of the rest of the Marines ?” Aki asked.

“A new Commanding officer will be assigned to the Leviathan before she leaves, as of yet that decision has not been made by Marines Command.” T'Vexia stated. “We do know of one addition to the Marines already, a Second Lieutenant James Archer, a Specialist in infiltration from his records.”

*Why would the Marines assign a specialist in infiltration now ?* Aki asked herself.