Brushing up on First Impressions

Posted on Fri Apr 24th, 2020 @ 3:01am by Commodore Jane Saulitis & Lieutenant Laural Hawke

Mission: Cruel Meridian
Location: Shuttlecraft deGrasse Tyson, Inbound to USS Majestic
Timeline: MD 03, 22:30 (ish...near end of State Dinner)
1403 words - 2.8 OF Standard Post Measure

It seemed like an eternity since Ian heard the noises from the comms. Long enough for him to wonder if he’d actually even heard them or was his mind starting to play tricks on him. Now it was movement. Did the shuttle just drop out of warp? Ian though he felt that but then again, maybe not.

Suddenly a jolt knocked him into the side wall and the shuttle lurched a bit but then corrected seemingly feeling like it was now going backwards. A tractor beam? Ian didn’t feel much else in the way of movement, which was good because there wasn’t much room to be jostled around. There was just one last clunk that now seemed to come from below.

It didn’t take long from then for there to be a lot of commotion around what seemed to be on the outer shuttle door. He’d definitely been rescued. Or captured? That occurred to Ian now for the first time.

What if Starfleet wasn’t the one to come?

What if it were someone else?

Ian looked around the small compartment frantically. The noises without got louder. There was definitely someone or something inside the shuttle now. Ian wasn’t paying attention to the noises now, anxiously searching for something he could defend himself with. Finally, inside a small concealed compartment he found a rounded scrub brush with a long handle. The fresher door now was making a whining noise.

Ian turned but too quickly. The door was no longer closed to stop his over shift in balance and he plummeted out of the tiny compartment to the deck all while swinging the scrub brush in an overhand arc. Ian face planted and the toilet brush smacked down hard on something…a black ladies dress shoe.

Taking a step away, Laural looked down at the young officer now laying face down on the floor, “well, that’s one way to disembark a shuttle” she said, looking between Ian and the toilet brush in his hand.

Lieutenant Sullivan stood beside her as a member of the welcoming committee, having left her position on the bridge after completing the rendezvous with the shuttle. To her credit, the ranking pilot aboard the Majestic was keeping a straight face.

Mostly.

"You must be Ensign O'Sullivan," Lilith stated. Her facial expression was stoic with the noted exception of her eyes which were bursting with mirth. "And who do we have here? Crewman Brush? That's no way to treat Lieutenant Hawke's shoe. I must say we weren't expecting you, but hey - the more the merrier, right Commander? I'm sure we can put Monsieur Brush to good use somewhere, right?"

"Easy, Sullivan," Hanover stated flatly. He and Captain Saulitis rounded out the quartet that bore witness to one of the more remarkable de-shuttlings to have ever occurred. The sound of stifled laughter could be heard emanating from a few enlisted crewmen peering down from the catwalk overhead. "You want to do the honors, captain?"

"Are you all right?" She said looking down at the new crewmember and offering her hand up to him. It might have been funny but as the others with the exception of Sullivan and Hanover were laughing, she didn't think she needed to add to it. In fact she raised her eyebrows at the crew surrounding her, hushing them without words into silence.

Biting her lip as she caught the captain’s glare, Laural cleared her throat and stood up straight, “sorry Captain”

Jane gave no indication that she had either accepted or not accepted the apology. "Welcome to Majestic, I'm Captain Saulitis, this is my first officer Commander Hanover."

Hanover was already by younger man's side, offering a hand to help him up to his feet. "A pleasure to meet you, ensign. We're glad to have you, and I'm sure Lieutenant Sullivan will be more than happy to have the help." He cast a glance towards the ship's senior-most flight control officer who was smiling and nodding.

"Plenty of bridge time available, plenty of coffee to keep you company," Lilith affirmed.

Laural stood back, watching the Ensigns body language, “let’s hope you can fly better than you disembark a shuttle”

Ian grabbed Hanover's hand accepting the help up with a nod, "Thanks." He could feel his face reddening with embarrassment as he stood. He turned to look at the audience of senior officers.

After he made eye contact with each he could help but to laugh as most of them had been trying to suppress their own laughter. "I'm sorry, that was a pretty ridiculous site."

Pulling himself slightly back together, he turned to the captain, "Ma'am I will certainly try to present a more professional approach from here on in."

He nodded toward Sullivan,"...and I will certainly take you up on the coffee and available bridge shifts."

As the group broke up and started to walk away, Ian noticed that the toilet brush still lay at Laural's feet. He turned his head back to her as he kept walking.

"Sorry again about your foot Lieutenant, That's not how I usually say hello."

"Don't worry about it," Jane said as she straightened back up. "These things happen to us all. I'll let you Commander Hanover here inform you about your quarters. It's been a long day. But feel free to contact me with any questions. I think I'll be off to bed."

"Bonus nachos, capitána," the ship's executive officer wished the captain a good night with a half-distorted translation of a Spanish colloquialism from Earth. Having helped Ian to his feet, Jared reached into his jacket pocket and retrieved his PADD before beginning to look through the transfer orders. As was typical for junior officers of his age, Ian's service record was short - and thankfully so, because the hour was beginning to grow late.

"Well ensign, considering that the officer of the deck is currently off duty, allow me to officially welcome you aboard. We'll save you a trip, and I'll consider your official report for duty," Jared winked. "Apologies for the admittedly motley array of officers here to greet you - we weren't one hundred percent sure what we were going to get when we pulled your shuttle aboard. What happened?"

Ian didn't know where to start. "Honestly sir, I'm not exactly sure what happened. The shuttle kept having these seemingly random system failures but he diagnostics would show normal functioning. I kept a log on my tricorder and will upload it to you and engineering before I turn in. I am a bit wiped out. What should have been an easy trip here kept me a bit on edge. With your permission. I'd like to find my quarters, grab a sonic shower and a solid night's sleep."

"Very good, Mr. O'Sullivan, permission granted," Hanover nodded in return. "I'm sure Ms. Sullivan wouldn't mind uncovering the mystery as to why your shuttle was being so cantankerous. We'll have her up to the Majestic standard in no time, but I'm keeping you too long with my digressions. Dismissed ensign. Go to deck two and use one of the diplomatic suites for tonight. Tomorrow, get your bunk assignment and standard issue equipment from Lieutenant Vannan."

Ian picked up his small bag of personal gear from near the shuttle doorway and as he was headed out the toilet brush discarded on the deck caught his eye. He slowly picked it up.
"Good night, sirs" he said as he gave a mock salute with the brush, turned and departed. He barely held in the laughter until he made the corridor. The shuttle bay doors closed behind him and Ian burst out laughing. He remembered the saying "You never get a second chance to make a first impression" but that only made him laugh harder as he made his way past several crew on his way to Deck 2. He made sure he brush saluted them all.

Watching the new officer leave, Laural turned to the shuttle, “well, looks like Engineering has a new toy to play with” she said before turning around and heading out of the shuttle bay

---

Captain Jane Saulitis
Commanding Officer

Commander Jared Hanover
Executive Officer

Lieutenant Lilith Sullivan
Chief Flight Control Officer
(PNPC Hanover)

Lieutenant Laural Hawke
Chief Intelligence Officer

Ensign Ian O'Sullivan
Flight Control Officer