Saffiya had tidied up her office (which came down to her throwing the PADDs into a crate and trying to forget about them) and thus was finally able to invite people there rather than surprising them while they were on duty. Someone she had not yet met was Lieutenant Kazansky, her Chief Tactical and Security Officer. She was starting to wonder if everyone on the Valkyrie had a dual-role – there were Frisco and Lorra, who both basically worked for two to three people – and if they at least got double credit for it. 

One way to find out, right? Saffiya smiled as the door hissed open and Lieutenant Kazansky stepped inside.

“Thank you for coming.”, the Captain said as a greeting and decided there and then to come up with something better for the next people she introduced herself to. 

Settling into a new ship, not new for others but for herself, had been a challenge. She had done her best but the security team was still coming together, and Lieutenant Taylor Krazansky knew that was less than ideal. Aboard a ship with a tactical mandate, the only department less able to have weak leadership was engineering which did not seem to be the case.

A new captain, a new ship, Krazansky knew that she had to pull it together.

“Captain,” she said nodding, “it is good to meet you.”

She left the more senior officer to drive the meeting, as the captain had been the one to call it.

“I am trying to figure out where to support and where to let department heads such as yourself handle things. There seem to have been several transfers off the Valkyrie, and those roles weren’t filled back up. So I suppose I am asking how you are doing, and how you are doing with dealing with both Security and Tactical – and if there is anything I can help with.”, Saffiya said. 

Krazansky nodded, while she had noticed that many people had shuffled off the ship, including the previous CO, which did not seem particularly notable given the staffing issues that she had heard Starfleet was experiencing given the results of the last Fleet Day. 

“A security officer handling tactical as well is fairly standard,” Krazansky said, “I think overall we have it under control, but if notice any of the officers underperforming please let me know. I want to ensure that they’re meeting expectations. I know a ship like the Valkyrie demands a high degree of dedication Ma’am.”

“As for what you can do to assist, I think approving more shipwide drills may be useful,” Krazansky said, “I understand they can be unpleasant but the security team gets a lot out of seeing how the crew will react to things like hostile boarding. Not everything can be simulated in a holodeck.”

“Seems fair.”, nodded Saffiya. “So how about this – you set that up, let me know a time, and we’ll make sure the new crew members – and the new Captain – knows what to do?”

”Of course ma’am,” Krazansky answered with a brisk nod, “Is there any way you have of working that I should be aware of or anything me and my team should take note of?”

She did not want to give examples but she’d found more than one captain sleep walking through the corridors of previous postings. Another had a tendency to have panic attacks from PTSD following being a lieutenant during Wolf 359. In those instances, once her team had learned of the eccentricities they’d been able to handle them much better.

Saffiya raised a very Vulcan eyebrow, considering if there was anything… odd… about how she worked. Well, she probably did, but it was difficult to determine what exactly others would find odd. 

“Oh. If you locate me in a random Jefferies tube and my life signs are stable, I am probably just fixing something.”, she shrugged.

“It is a bit unusual for a captain to perform engineering tasks,” the officer said nodding, “But I’ll let my team know you may be doing so. Perhaps you could stop, I’m sure our Chief Engineer may find that frustrating.” 

“Can’t quite ditch the Engineering-part just yet. So if I miss it too much I go look at the warpcore or something. But other than that, I am not aware of anything out of the ordinary.” 

“Of course ma’am,” Krazansky said, “It is your prerogative, just don’t blow us all up if you please. 

“Not planning on it.”, said Saffiya. Truth be told, with this amount of PADDwork to get through, she probably wouldn’t have the time for it in the first place.