[snip]

“Just one minute!” Glen said.

Stella rubbed her eyes and yawned as she waited for permission to enter. She was nervous about meeting the CO. That Hunter fellow had made the CO sound like one of those people that were hard to get along with. And that was certainly not the sort of person that Stella could get along with easily. Despite this though she had made up her mind to try harder and try not to let SO much of her personality come out.

Glen quickly towelled down some more and put on some trousers before he called “Okay, enter!” The hair on his head was still wet, and his bare, hairy chest was still uncovered and his wet skin glistened in the lowered light of the room. He had chosen to embrace his body’s active, thriving follicles rather than to groom and wax them. Without his shirt on, Glen’s developed upper body muscles were more visible; his obliques, glutes, abdominals, and especially his biceps, and triceps.

Stella entered her eyes glued to a data pad which was full of her to do things. She’d been very busy and was hoping to be done very soon, so that if nothing else she could get out of these darn boots! She raised her head then and smiled as she began to speak. ” Hello Captain Glenn, I’m .. ” Her voice seemed to go away leaving her to stand there breathless for a moment. She blushed a crimson color. Yes it was that bad she could actually feel the color of her face. She thought to herself (Please don’t let me say Oh my I think I have the vapors!)

Coming from a family in which she was the only girl among four brothers she was more than used to the male body. Especially in the summertime when her brothers would shuck off all their clothes and go wallowing around in an empty crayfish pond out behind her parents’ house.

She calmed herself though as she reminded herself that this was her CO not one of her rascally mud-covered brothers. She caught her breath and brought her hand to her face in an attempt to cover the blush. ” Oh ..um I’m sorry Captain.” She began slowly as she obviously went fishing for words. ” I can come back later I didn’t know you were in a state of undress!”

“Oh! I’m sorry, I thought you were… er…” Glen was going to say Faith, his Yeoman, but despite her being his niece that wouldn’t have sounded quite right either. It’s just that Ginger, my cat has gone missing, and Faith usually knows where the old fleabag has got to, he thought. “…er …someone else! Just give me a moment to put a shirt on and I’ll be with you in a second!”

Glen put on a shirt and ran a comb through his hair, then he was ready. “I’m sorry that I embarrassed you… but you have me at a disadvantage really… I’m expecting a new Helm and a new XO, but I’m afraid I haven’t been notified about a new Communications Officer… but then I’ve been too busy to read my messages. …and that’s probably because I don’t have a Communications Officer and my Yeoman seems to have gone missing!”

Glen knew that Faith was now deep into studying for her Starfleet Medical application, but it seemed odd that both her and Ginger couldn’t be found.

“My cat is also missing,” Glen said. “It’s a large and old ginger-coloured tabby. If you see it please let me know. Anyway, down to business. I make it a policy to meet every new officer and crewmember who joins the Merri. It is the set of the sails, not the direction of the wind that determines which way we will go!”

Stella could only smile at that last part. She offered out her hand graciously as if the rest of their first meeting had never happened. ” All parts are needed Captain.” Stella said smiling. ” A good person on the rudder always helps as well.” she then apologized and spoke saying,” I’m sorry to hear about your cat they are such precious pets to have around.

She took a deep breath then and spoke saying.” At any rate I’m Stella Gagnon Lieutenant junior grade your new comms officer sir. Reporting to duty as ordered.”

“John T Glen,” he replied, “Captain of this crazy ship. Are you a Linguist, Stella? It isn’t essential to the role, but in the past, I have found someone who is a polyglot and who learns quickly to be very useful when the Universal Translator decides not to work. Of course, the role also involves and understanding of subspace radio mechanics too, and that is probably the most important part.”

Stella listened very closely to the captain as she tried hard not to let her mind wander lest she get herself into some sort of trouble. ” Oh yes sir.” she began as she cleared her throat. ” I do possess a working version of Vulcan and only a very limited understanding of Andorran.”

“How is your spoken Klingon? A reasonably decent ability in Klingon offers significant advantages when interacting and collaborating with the ever increasing numbers of Klingons traveling beyond the Qo’noS homeworld,” Glen said.

“Getting down to the more mundane, have you been given Quarters yet, reported to Sickbay for your Medical exam, and had a tour of the ship?” Glen asked her.

Stella raised her data pad and smiled rather sheepishly.” I was preassigned a room and have already been given a physical by a Dr. Hunter. A very interesting man. My last stop was to come and see you sir.” She clapped her hand over her mouth, took a deep breath to steady herself before she finished saying, ” That is to say report to you sir.”

Despite her best effort. Quite a heroic one actually a small giggle finally did escape.

“It sounds as though you’ve settled in fine,” Glen said, adding, “I apologise again if you saw a little more than you were expecting.”

Stella nothing waved her hand at Glenn as she smiled and said,” Oh that’s alright honey, pleasant surprises are always fun. Makes the heart move quicker and puts a smile on your face. Both of which ain’t nothing but nature’s way of saying, don’t take life so serious and have fun.” Pausing then Stella asked just to make sure.” Am I dismissed then sir?”

“Yes Stella, I’ve nothing further. Report to the Bridge as soon as you are able,” Glen replied.

• Glen, CO