On:

[Ready room, some other ship]

Captain Viscount Lyran von Thune stared blankly at the PADD in his hand. Still unsure if he had read the orders correctly, he read them again for the 300th time. Or something like that.

Starfleet Academy? Of all the things they could have asked him to do during the downtime required to do the latest batch of refits, updates and upgrades, he would have to run around with a crew of green cadets.

“You are hereby requested and required, immediately upon receipt of these orders” he said, reading the words again… “to take upon yourself, by the authority of these orders, the command of the Starfleet Academy training vessel USS Corax and it’s crew as listed below… Cadet 1st class T’han’in, Cadet 1st class Josephine Baker, Cadet 1st class Bonvar, Cadet 1st class T’Saris, Cadet 1st class Yud, Cadet 1st class Gronn…”

“Well, here we go I guess…” he said, as he grabbed a data chip emblazoned with a golden dragon from a drawer in his desk and inserted it into the slot in his computer access. “Computer, download single-instance program HL-dash-00069 into the Dragon’s Hoard”

The computer chirped, then took some time to complete the task. “Operation complete” the computer said in a pleasant feminine voice.

Lyran nodded, then took the device and placed it in a small pocket inside his vest variant uniform. Rising to his feet, he took a few steps towards the observation bay. Looking out to the upper docks, he could barely make out the shape of the raven-class USS Corax. The raven-class ships were remarkable little things. It would still be a step down from his current command, but it was only a temporary assignment…

With an air of resignation, he walked to his desk and removed the sword that laid there on an deceptively ornate small wooden display. He then sheathed it in an elegant, if slightly dramatic and perhaps showy gesture, to a scabbard on his belt.

Tugging at the laces on his shirt, he made his way towards the door. The door swooshed open to reveal a bridge that would have seemed out of sorts even without the stardock crews tearing it apart. It sported assorted features owed to 70 years of a storied history.

Among the chaos, Lyran singled out the officer in charge of the refits, a Commander Donelly, wearing a short sleeved operations yellow uniform. As Lyran made his way towards Donelly, the man nodded in his direction acknowledging his presence and met him halfway. “I have received new orders, commander. I leave her in your capable hands” he said, trying his best to hide his mixed feelings at leaving the old girl behind, even momentarily.

“Aye sir, ye can rest easy,” Donelly said confidently… before his grew wide in horror as he watched a young crewman starting to remove the antique command chair. “Crewman” he said running towards the centre of the room. “This one stays where it is—”

Perhaps the ship is in good hands after all, Lyran mused as a smile formed on his face, revealing his razor sharp incisives. He made his way to the turbo lift and spoke the command that would take him to deck 3, where the transporter room was located.

It was only a short distance from the turbolift door to transporter room one, and he was greeted there by a young bolian ensign in operations gold. She nodded in acknowledgement, and he nodded back.

“Captain von Thune to the bridge” he said, tapping his combadge. “Raise the Corax and inform them I am ready to beam over”.

“Aye sir” came the voice over the comms.

Lyran turned to the bolian woman, who seemed tired after a long shift of beaming engineering and operations crew back and forth all day. He sympathized with her not so much that it was hard work per se, but the monotony of it all would probably drive him insane far quicker than it did her.

“USS Corax indicated they are ready to receive you, sir” she said in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Thank you ensign Mega” he responded, climbing the three steps towards the transporter. “Energize.”

As her blue fingers danced across the console’s surface, the form of Captain von Thune disappeared into the ether.

[Transporter room, USS Corax]

The first thing he realized after he materialized and took in the transporter room, was that it was not much of a room. He expected everything on board the USS Corax to be smaller, but he didn’t envision it to be this cramped. Perhaps it was the fact that there were two more people there that just sucked out the air in the room.

The two people were dressed in cadet greys. The first, an andorian male, was behind the transporter console, and another, a vulcan female, stood beside it playing a boatswain’s whistle. “Welcome aboard Captain. I am Cadet 1st class T’Saris, and this is is Cadet first class T’han’in” said, indicating to the andorian behind the console. He saluted the Captain, who responded in kind.

“Thank you, cadets” he said, grinning inwardly at how formal they were. That would subside… but not today.

“If you would follow me, sir, I will take you to the bridge” T’saris said.

Lyran simply nodded approvingly and followed her out of the room and into a narrow corridor. Half a minute later, they appeared at the back of the bridge, where a single cadet was sitting at the navigation console.

“Captain on the bridge” T’Saris said, announcing their presence.

Upon hearing this, the cadet rose from her seat and faced the commanding officer, offering a salute. “I’m Cadet 1st class Josephine Baker, sir. Pleasure to meet you, sir.” she said.

“Pleasure is mutual”, he said, returning her salute. “ As you were”. He then turned his attention back to T’Saris. ”You may return to your duties. I will make an announcement shortly” he told her. “Yes, sir” she replied, before making her way to the science console to the right on the command chair.

Sitting down in the command chair, his eyes scanned the bridge for a moment before reaching for ship-wide communications. “This is Captain Lyran von Thune speaking. As of present, I am taking command of the USS Corax and her crew. I am looking forward to meeting you all shortly. There will be an all-hands briefing in the aft observation lounge in one hour, I expect to see you all there. Captain out”.

He then rose to his feet again. “Carry on” he said as he exited the bridge and walked the corridor to the ready room. The place was vacant except for a desk with computer access and two chairs. That would do for now, he said to himself as he walked to the chair behind the desk. He then produced the data chip from his vest pocket and placed it in the computer. “Computer, download and execute single-instance program HL-dash-00069 from the Dragon’s Hoard”.

The computer gave it’s usual chirp, and moments later, a slender asian woman materialized.

“Welcome to our temporary home, Hallie” he said.

‘Hallie’ is not exactly the model upon which the appearance regulations rule book was drafted. She had striking jet black hair with burgundy streaks running through her medium-length angular hairstyle. She used black highlights and black lipstick, and had a few discrete piercings, including on her tongue in a pretty face that manages to project fierceness and confidence. She is wearing an early 24th century leather vest variant uniform, replacing the turtleneck with a low cut tank top and skirt.

She looked at the configuration of the room and instantly knew where she was. “Raven-class, only one unassigned command currently at the yards. USS Corax. Not exactly a promotion, is it?” she said in a playful snark.

“You don’t know half of it yet” he said with a smirk.

She sat on the desk next to him, crossing her legs. “This is going to be good”.

“It’s a crew of cadets” he said, trying not to laugh.

‘Hallie’ had no such reservations and exploded in laughter. “So they turned you into a nanny? Who’s shitllist did you have to land on to get that kind of assignment?” she asked in friendly mockery.

“Oooh, shots fired…” he replied sarcastically. “I wish I knew, but we’re off to get Captain of Engineering Zelensky, retired, of the Starfleet Corps of Engineers and his crew to get the old girl ship shape.

“I met Zelensky 47 years ago” she said, pensively. “What a handsome man he was…”

“Somehow I doubt he would meet your exacting standards today” Lyran joked. “In any case, I know you’re used by now to your position as a Command Support Hologram, but for the time being, what I need is a Training Advisor Hologram. Think you can handle that?” he asked.

“I never disappoint” she said with a wicked smile full of both ominousness and innuendo.

“I know” he simply replied, as they went over the parameters of this first assignment before the crew briefing.

OFF

A post by..

Captain Viscount Lyran von ThuneCommanding officer, USS Corax

Featuring

Hallie Leung as the holographic representation of a long deceased Starfleet captainCommander Donelly as an overworked engineerA bunch of cadets with a bright future in Starfleet