241510.24 Joint log: XO and Chief Helm

Posted on Sat Oct 24th, 2015 @ 3:59pm by Commander Isabella dei`Silvisi & Lieutenant JG Daniel Holland

1,425 words; about a 7 minute read

It had been a tough twenty-four hours as the entire crew worked to set the ship back to better than her pre-battle condition. Holland was no engineer, but he was assisting the technicians on the Deck Ten Shuttlebay with recalibration of the flight control systems of one of the Type-9 shuttles, strangely named 'Nemo'.

"I still don't like these readings, Hobb," Holland told the non-com technician.

"They're within acceptable range, Lieutenant," Hobb said with an unhappy grimace. It was clear the tech was as unhappy as the Chief Helm officer about the matter.

"Barely," Holland added and then shook his head and looked at the tech enquiringly, "Lets replace the control runs, maybe its not the thruster components?"

"Maybe," Hobb admitted the possibility, "I can tell you now the quartermaster won't be happy with the spares we're expending when the readings are within 'acceptable range'."

"It won't be the quartermaster riding in one of these boxes when the faecal matter hits the rotary impeller," Holland said with a snort, "It'll be me or one of my pilots. Do it. If it fixes the issue, you can take the credit. If the problem remains, I'll take the flak for the resource usage."

"Aye aye, sir," Hobb said with a grin and headed out of the shuttle. Holland picked up his PADD and started to fill out the requisition requests. His duty shift had ended several hours ago, but he just didn't feel right taking a break when there was so much to do.

Isabella stared at the computer monitor that sat on top of her desk and frowned as she studied the reports that had been submitted since the Endeavour had departed the Lambda Hydrae system. She had a separate window up that had a copy of the crew manifest as well since she was trying to track down everyone who had been on duty since the battle as well, since it wasn’t a secret that a number of officers and non-commissioned officers and crew had been on duty ever since the attack. There were also a number of crew who hadn’t submitted their after action reports as well, and trying to sort through everything was taking far more time than Isabella had thought that it would. At the top of that list was Lieutenant Holland, who was also marked in the computer as still being on duty despite the fact that he was supposed to be off duty.

Reaching out, Isabella tapped the communications control panel that was built into the top of her desk. “dei`Silvisi to Lieutenant Holland, report to my office immediately,” she said.

Holland frowned, wondering what the request was about and tapped his combadge, "On my way, ma'am." As he left the shuttle he tapped his combadge again, "Holland to Hobb, finish replacing the control runs and then let me know how it goes. The XO wants a word, so I'll sign it off when I get back."

"Understood, Lieutenant," Hobb's reply came back, "Good luck."

He couldn't help but grin as the situation brought back memories of his own childhood aboard his family's old cargo liner. It felt a little like being called to his Dad's office after a particularly stupid stunt by the young Crewman Holland. He was no longer quite as wild and adventurous as he was then, but that uneasy 'Why have I done now?' feeling still remained.

It didn't take him long to reach the XO's office and he automatically straightened his uniform before entering, "Lieutenant Holland, reporting as ordered, ma'am."

“Mister Holland, would you care to explain why you haven’t taken the time to get some rest since we departed the Lambda Hydrae system?” Isabella asked, never taking her eyes off of the screen of her desktop monitor. She reached the end of the file she was reading before she finally turned her gaze towards the chief helm officer. “I also haven’t seen an after action report, either, and I’m afraid that those are due twenty four hours after the incident has occurred.”

Holland half-raised a hand in protest at her first question, but noticed that she wasn't looking at him and dropped it. When she finally did look up at him and asked the second question he frowned and pulled out his PADD to call up his reports, "I could have sworn that I....Oh wait."

Holland tried very hard to keep the embarrassed blush from showing as he tapped SEND, "My apologies, ma'am, you should have that report now. As for the first question: I have been getting rest. I managed to get a few minutes to get something to eat...every now and then."

Isabella raised her eyebrows and glanced at her desktop monitor screen as an update icon displayed momentarily. Seeing that the chief helm officer’s report had been uploaded correctly, she nodded before turning her gaze back towards the helm officer. “I’m afraid that getting a nap and a bite to eat every now and then simply won’t do, lieutenant,” she said. Folding her fingers on top of her desk, she gave Holland a serious expression.

“As of right now, I’m ordering you to take some time off. I don’t want to see you on duty for forty eight hours, starting now,” she said.

Holland didn't like the order at all and he tried hard to keep that from showing on his face, but he was pretty sure that he looked like somebody sucking on a lemon. He was not about to disregard a direct order, but still, "Very well, ma'am. I'll wrap up what I'm busy with and then take some time off."

“Negative, Mister Holland,” Isabella said sternly as she shook her head slightly. “That order is effective immediately. You’ve earned the time off, and I’m not about to have the senior ranking helm officer of this ship work himself to exhaustion. Please don’t make me take this matter to the captain.”

Silently, she kept the fact that her own recent conversation with the Endeavour’s commanding officer was still burning in the back of her mind. The commander was a fair captain, probably more unusual than most, but when it came to his crew and their well being he had proven to be extremely inflexible.

"Orders received and understood, ma'am," Holland said with a tone of resignation. He did not like leaving so much work still undone, but the last thing he needed was to come to the captain's attention in a negative manner. He noticed something that probably should have been obvious to him. Perhaps he was a lot more tired than he thought. He smiled at the XO and added, "I am off duty as of this moment. However, before I'm dismissed, may I congratulate you on your promotion?"

“Thank you,” Isabella said with a hint of a smile. She was still getting used to her new rank. The promotion had been unexpected, and she still felt odd when someone congratulated her on it.

"Perhaps, when things calm down a little," Holland added with an answering smile, "We can have a little 'promotion party'? I think maybe we could all do with an excuse to feel good about something."

“We’ll see,” Isabella said as she returned the smile. “We definitely need to do something to boost morale. I’ll take it up with the captain when everything returns to normal.”

"What is normal?" Holland asked with a wry smile and then shook his head, not seriously looking for an answer to the question, "With your permission, Commander, I'll head to my quarters and try to get some rest?"

“Granted,” Isabella said with a faint smile. “Dismissed, Mister Holland.”

"Aye, aye, Commander," Holland said with a nod and then turned and headed off towards his quarters. Once outside, he touched his combadge, "Holland to Hobb, I've been ordered to take a nap."

"Understood, Lieutenant," Hobb replied with a chuckle, "I'll keep at this and then report to you when you're back on duty."

"Thanks, Hobb," Holland said shaking his head, "If those new control runs don't work, flag the Nemo for detailed maintenance. We may have to ask our friends in engineering to take it apart."

"And aren't they gonna love that, sir," Hobb commented, "I'll take care of it. Good night, Lieutenant."

"See you later, Hobb," Holland said and then wondered how on earth he was going to manage to sleep when there was so much still to do.

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