New Ship, New Expectations

Posted on Fri Feb 17th, 2017 @ 12:52am by Warrant Officer Cato West & Commander Mal Xustos & Lieutenant Commander Eneas Clio
Edited on on Fri Feb 17th, 2017 @ 12:58am

Mission: Refit Rondo
Location: E Deck, Intelligence Pod
Timeline: Before Launch

Meanwhile in Cato's quarters, he had showered, shaved and consumed enough caffeine; he was ready to rock. Fresh uniform; As he got dressed he tapped his commbadge; "Chief West to Commander Clio; Ma'am, this is Chief West, where would you like to meet for official transfer?" He continued to get dressed and ensured he was 100% in regulation. First impressions in their line of work were important and Cato had a nack of making bad ones.

INTELLIGENCE POD

Mal had been meeting with Clio in the intelligence pod when they heard Chief West's call over the comms.

"I assume you want to meet him in here," he said to Clio. "Would you like me to leave or should I stick around?"

"You can stay. It'll save him a trip and I doubt we'll be addressing anything that would be above your clearance level." To some officers, giving the first officer of the ship permission to remain in the vicinity might seem odd. Clio, however, had enough years in service to feel comfortable making such a decision. Tapping her communicator, she addressed West over the open comms line. "Come to E deck on the Intelligence Pod. Commander Xustos and I will meet you in Intelligence Laboratory 4."

Mal went to a terminal in the lab and quickly called up Chief West's record. Some of it was redacted, but from what he could tell, the man had seen quite a bit of action with the MACOs. There hadn't been much in the way of open hostilities in the nearly two decades since the Dominion War, but what there was of it, Chief West had managed find himself in the thick of.

Tapping his communicator to respond, "Aye Ma'am, en-route now." Cato spoke as he walked out of the doors of his quarters on Deck 9, turned the corridor he headed for the nearest turbo lift. Stepping inside, Cato turned to face the doors "E Deck" he stated, the doors wooshed shut and turbo lift began to move. A few minutes later it, it spit him out on E deck. Walking briskly down the corridor, Cato found Intelligence Lab 4 and rang the chime.

Already waiting by the door, Clio tapped in her code to unlock and open it as soon as the chime rang. Rather than allowing Cato to immediately enter, she held out her hand toward him. "Identification and orders, please. This is a secure area, and I'd rather not take chances. I'm sure you understand."

Cato nodded, remaining silent as his right hand moved to retrieve the PADD in his right thigh pocket. Tapping at the scene and un-locking the PADD with his thumb, he handed it to Clio along with his Starfleet ID. His eyes shifted to look beyond Clio and get a glimpse of Mal inside the lab.

Clio took the offered PaDD and read over the information carefully before looking at Cato's Starfleet identification card and comparing it to his appearance. It was a match and his orders matched what she had in her system for him, so she handed both items back to him. "This seems to be in order. I'll get your clearance parameters into the computer this afternoon, but for now we'll stick with you staying where we can both see you. Welcome aboard." Stepping aside to let Cato in, she gestured at Mal. "That's Commander Xustos. I'm Lieutenant Commander Eneas. We've been going over some mission parameters, but we can take a break."

Cato snagged both the PADD and his ID, stowing them in their previous pocket. "Thank you Ma'am." Cato said as Clio moved to step aside, he moved in and gave a nod to the Commander "Sir." he looked around the room with his eyes only, briefly taking in exactly what he was walking into.

"Welcome, Chief West," Mal replied. "Commander Mal Xustos. A pleasure to meet you. You have an impressive record. I expect much from you."

"Thank you sir, I won't disappoint you." Cato replied, "I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to serve where the action was." his eyes shifted to Commander Eneas who was silent, she struck him as a calculated, composed and seasoned Intel Chief.

West was a hard one to read, as far as humans went, but so far Clio was reserving judgment for a later time. However, it was clear that she didn't think being in the thick of the action was all that fortunate. She'd seen more than a fair bit of it herself, including the front lines during the Dominion War. "You may find the action follows us around now. This ship has quite the reputation already, and that was before Starfleet Intelligence drafted the Hera into its Echelon task force."

Cato smirked which quickly moved into a smile, Cato was a brainwashed jarhead who thought it was patriotic to be in the thick of the action, where a 'difference' could be made. "Ma'am, I assumed that's why I'm here." he paused "Respectfully, I have my own reputation; I see my objectives through and stack bodies. I'm here to get the job done and be silent about it."

Hearing West's response, Clio raised an eyebrow at him, the only outward manifestation of the alarm bells and red flags he'd set off within her head. "Starfleet's overarching mission is one of peace. I suggest you remember that while getting the job done." Oh, she understood about reputations. She had her own, after all. But something about 'stacking bodies' bothered her, despite her own high kill count. "We will see combat, both in space and on the ground. But our mission parameters specifically require us to attempt peaceful resolution of combat before we bring in the thunder."

"Aye ma'am." Cato replied "Outdated mindset from my days with the MACO's that seems to be stitched into my brain." Cato could always tell when his big mouth got shot off in the wrong direction, operators all had their weaknesses. Cato's was his big mouth, whiskey and women of questionable morality. Nevertheless, Cato was willing to go to the extremes in order to get things accomplished and his record reflected such. "I've been reacclimating to Starfleet Intelligence for a few years now and it's been an adjustment." he paused "I'll do my best to keep my jar-head learning curve to a minimum ma'am."

"See that you do." While his response was appropriate, Clio still found herself concerned about his apparent MACO brainwashing. She'd always found the MACO way of doing things to be a bit outlandish and dangerous. "Our current mission is a highly dangerous rescue attempt. You and Nexi will both be coming with me and probably a few people from security for extra firepower. It is a covert mission with a simple objective. Get in, find the missing team, and get out. Preferably with our entire team alive."

"Aye, sounds simple. When can I expect my mission detail and objective package?" Cato stated before a brief pause. MACO's were extreme, in many ways. Some surgical instruments, others blunt meat hammers with no brain; Cato liked to think of himself as being the former rather than the latter.

"It's already detailed in the computer. You'll have access once I put your clearance details in, which I can't do while Commander Xustos is here. So later today." Clio would have thought that was obvious, but she wasn't the one who had been MACO brainwashed either.

"Aye Ma'am, if we're finished, I'll get acclimated and settled in before going on rotation tomorrow morning." Cato stated, awaiting her response.

"I have nothing further. Commander Xustos?" Clio looked over at Mal to see if he had anything to add to the conversation.

Mal shook his head. "I've got nothing to add," he said. "Again, welcome aboard, Chief West."

Cato gave a nod to both of them before turning on a heel and exiting quietly, off to the Holodeck to go blow off some steam after an interesting first meeting.