First Day as Chief Flight Control Officer

Posted on Tue Oct 30th, 2018 @ 2:00pm by Lieutenant Commander Mnhei'sahe Dox
Edited on Tue Oct 30th, 2018 @ 2:01pm

Lieutenant Junior Grade Melanie Dox, personal log.

Maybe I should say Chief Flight Control Officer but that still sounds weird to me. That said today was my orientation and my first day as the head of the department and I suppose it went well. At least, I hope it went well.

I did my best to absorb all the information Commander Paris was giving me and she assured me that asking for help from either her or Ensign Gonadie would not reflect poorly on me. Still, this is a lot to take in. Not just the responsibility of the position but the speed of it all. It feels like only yesterday that I first came aboard the HERA and in only a few days serving I'm the head of the flight control department.

I would have been thrilled just to sit at the helm during the overnight hours, and now it's up to me to schedule who sits there and when. That may be the hardest part of this new assignment. Not only do I need to actually remember the names of everyone in the department, but I need to evaluate them, their skills and where and when to best utilize them. It's like being in control of someone else's career, which is almost nausea-inducing responsibility.

I served a short shift at helm myself this afternoon, which was a welcome duty as it always relaxes me and helps me focus. So far, things seem to be going well on board the Hera. I feel like there are a few crewmembers who don't actively dislike me, which is an almost frightening change from the academy and my last couple of posts on Starbases. But I'm making a concerted effort to not retreat every time the possibility of a social encounter rears its head. If I could fly against those charriots, I should be able to survive going to Ten-Forward every now and again.

Anyway, tomorrow is my first full day in the position and Ensign Gonadie has some really cool experiments she's working on that I will get an opportunity to review. I need to remember that somehow I'm the boss in there and not nerd out over her ideas. That said, they are amazing and I really hope we get to implement some of them so we can fly them.

Also, Commander Paris left her model of her old ship, the Exeter, on the desk when she left. It's a beautiful Constitution refit that she actually served on, which is just kind bogglingly to me. But when I messaged her to ask when would be a good time to bring it to her, she said that I could leave it where it was. It's almost like having a piece of her looking over my shoulder, which is one-part scarry and one-part reassuring. If she could accend to the position of First Officer coming from another century, then maybe I can actually handle a single department. It's actually kind of encouraging.

Maybe I can pull this off. Or at least, as she said, I can fake it untill I make it.

 

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