Posted by Captain John Tiberius Glen (Captain) in Ready Room/Post Sim
[snip}

With her medical evaluation done, Elyss headed for the science department expecting to meet the Chief. However, upon arrival she was told Lt Malone was unavailable and that she should report to the Captain in his absence. Zavey took a deep breath. She hadn’t planned on meeting Captain Glen that day or even for several weeks, depending on the activities of the ship. Stilling the sudden rush of adrenaline that coursed through her veins, Elyss headed for the bridge. She had to admit her heart was beating rather fast when the lift doors opened onto the heart of the ship.

“Permission to enter, Sir?” The one in the center command chair didn’t look like the picture she’d seen of Glen, but he did turn and look over his shoulder at her. “Permission granted.”

The young Lt walked directly to the one who had spoken. “I’m Elyss Zavey, newly assigned. I tried to report to my department head but was told he is unavailable and that I should come up here and report to the Captain.”

The OIC gave her a nod and spoke. “Captain Glen is in the Ready Room.” Zavey looked where he indicated. With a nod of her own, Elyss walked over to the closed doors and palmed the chime for entrance.

“Please enter,” Glen replied. She was lucky to catch him as he had just returned from the surface of the planet.

“Yes, how can I help you?” the Captain asked.

As the Captain’s voice was heard from the inside, Elyss smoothed a hand over her hair and entered the room. “Yes Sir, Ltjg Elyss Zavey reporting for duty. I’m newly assigned to the Merrimack. Lt Malone wasn’t available so I was advised to report directly to you.” She tried to breathe through the nerves that were causing butterflies in her stomach.

Lt. Cmdr. Sanks was talking to the captain about the away mission, and what was happening on board, while the captain was planetside. He was taking a sip of coffee when she entered, he put his cup down, stood up and stretched out his arm for a handshake. “Welcome to the Merrimack Lieutenant Zavey, I am Lieutenant Commander Sanks, the Executive Officer of the ship, this is Captain Glen.” He welcomed her. “Please have a seat.” he continued.

Elyss returned the handshake, “Very nice to meet you, Sir.” Her eyes traveled over the first officer’s black hair and red goatee. That was an interesting look, she thought, before turning back to the Captain.

“I trust you had a pleasant journey here?” Captain Glen asked.

“Yes, Captain. I had interesting company for part of the journey. It also gave me a bit of time to catch up on sleep so I could hit the ground running upon arrival.”

“You can relax,” Glen told Elyss. “No need to hit the ground running. We haven’t received new orders yet, and even when we do, colonies are so spaced out in this part of the galaxy that it takes a week to travel between them.”

“Thank you, Sir, I’m just eager to get started. I really enjoy my work and have missed it during the travel time to the Merrimack.” It was true. She found the time spent making the journey to the ship boring. She’d had to find things to keep her mind engaged which never happened when she was in a lab or on a mission.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Elyss Zavey
Junior Science Officer USS Merrimack

“Then we’ll have to get the CSO to give you some large project to keep you occupied,” Glen said. “What is your field of speciality? Only, we have a large amount of genetic data sent from the Aener in the previous mission that needs analysis, collating and organising before being presented to the Federation. But if your expertise is more in biodiversity, then we have a number of new plant and animal species, discovered during our ongoing exploration of the galaxy that we have yet to report as there just hasn’t been the time. I’m sure there are other uncompleted jobs too. The work of the Science department here tends to be reactive to the mission at hand, and longer term undertakings get forgotten.”

• Glen, CO

The mention of a large project gave her a surge of excitement. “I’m actually partial to genetics, but anything scientific is fascinating to me. I’ll look forward to whatever the chief throws my way.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Elyss Zavey
Junior Science Officer USS Merrimack