USS Mercy – Ready Room – 1000

Halsey had managed to tame some of his desk and the scattered PADDs that had haunted him earlier in the day.  Now he was working through his roster and meeting schedule to ensure he at least put eyes on his command staff that he was cobbling together as he went.  The next name on the list was his Chief Operations and Tactical Officer.  Given the Olympic Class and its limited tactical options, it seemed a good decision putting the two departments together.  He’d misread the file and now was reading the race as Edosian.  He’d read of them briefly in his academy studies years ago Edosians had three arms, three legs, and three fingers on each hand.  It made for qualified officers in the fleet with unique abilities that set them apart from others.  He heard a chime and readied himself, “Come on in.”

Lt. Sesias entered the captain’s ready room, took a second as he glanced around the room, nodded to himself, and approached the officer sitting behind the desk. He noticed the scattered PADDS, raised an eyebrow, and placed his two outer arms behind his back.

“Lt. Sesias reporting for duty, sir. “

Halsey stood and greeted the Edosian officer, “Welcome aboard the USS Mercy, Lieutenant.”

“Thank you captain, according to my orders I’ve been assigned the Chief of Operations and Tactical. An interesting mix of departments but one that on a ship like the Mercy makes sense. I believe that my team and myself will not let the ship or you down.”

The captain took his seat, “I’ve been having problems with accessing my crew’s files this morning, so you’ll have to forgive me if I ask something I should know.”  He gestured to the replicator, “Drink?”

Sesias walked over to the replicator. “Computer, one extra large Boba chai tea with cream and honey.” An extra large lidded drinking cup appears with an appropriately sized straw. He returned to his position in front of the captain, took a sip of the tea, and nodded. “I’m still working on the sweetness part, though I believe honey is to my liking at the moment.” having seen the pile of PADDs on the captain’s desk and having heard the part about the captain having had trouble getting files, offered his PADD to the captain. “Sir, I have my updated personnel file on my PADD if it would help answer any questions you may have.”

Halsey gave a nod of thanks, “That is appreciated, Mr. Sesias.â  He glanced quickly over the file, “This helps.”  He returned the PADD, “What brought you to the Mercy?  You had your choice of any ship in the fleet, and I’ve seen that roster.  Lots of shiny ships with lots of room.”

Sesias takes the PADD from the captain. “May I?” as he points to the chair in front of the captain. Halsey nodded and waited for the officer to speak. “Sir, how much do you know of my people?” Halsey explained he had read the file on Edosian people – he was hoping Sesias would shed some light. 

“We are a religious people, with many gods, Much like some civilizations on earth in ancient times. You’re correct sir, I had a number of ships that had offered me a slot. But upon some research and a night spent in reflection and prayer, I was able to bring my possible choices down to three. The USS Inverness an Excelsior II class, the USS Lapetus a Luna class and of course the USS Mercy. Any of the three would make good posts and most definitely help me grow as an Edosian and a star fleet officer. I’m not sure how else to say this but sir, do you believe in divine guidance? In my case, my god’s guiding or giving me signs that lead me to this ship at this time.” 

Sesias held up two of his hands, “You don’t have to worry, sir; I’m not some religious fanatic that is always looking for signs. For some reason I felt that this choice between these three ships was leading me on three different paths that my life could take. The next day after my shift was over and spending some time with a group of students that I was helping with I returned to my quarters and went to where I had placed the three pads, closed my eyes and reflected. As I cleared my mind, I started hearing voices of children that I have helped and family back on Edos saying words like grace, charity, humanity, kindness, sympathy, compassion, and I knew. I reached out and flipped over this PADD, sir, the PADD I now carry as my personal one.”

The CO leaned forward onto his desk, “There are many aliens out there in the universe that we’ve made contact with who have a belief system far from our own…or sometimes it’s just a hop skip and a jump from us.  Some of them we’ve become friends with…others we’ve kept our distance.  If I believed your religion or faith was going to get in the way of your service on this ship…I wouldn’t have let you onboard.”  He took a sip of his drink, “One of my academy professors told me the biggest decision a captain makes is what kind of a command crew he puts on his ship.  Those senior officers are the ones facing the rest of the ship with their words…their actions, and who they are.  The lesson was you never wanted to put someone in charge of a part of your crew that would bring any kind of harm to them – physical, emotional, or mental.”  He returned to lean on the desk, “You continue to follow that rule under my command, Lieutenant Sesias…you’ll find what you’ve been looking for in a command.”

He tapped at his PADD, “I’ve heard enough, Mr. Sesias.  You’ve got the stuff this ship needs.  Welcome aboard the USS Mercy.”  He stood, “Your quarters are ready for you.  I’ll send a message to the senior officers to meet later and officially brief them on our mission.  For now, the time is yours.”

“Thank You sir, I’ll keep that one in mind. Captain, another question if I may.”  The CO gave him a slight nod.

“I’ve been doing some research on the Olympic class and its tactical systems. It looks like we would need to have close tactical support or an assigned escort. Doing my research I realized that putting the power allocated to the phasers into the shields may give us that extra shield strength we would need to give us the time to go to warp. For their size, Olympic-class ships are fast. Use the phasers for close tactical operations.”

Leopold understood what the security chief was asking, “It is a unique ship in the tactical output isn’t enough to put up a fight.  Work up the power allocation scenario and run it by our interim chief engineering officer – see what you two can sort out.  Present your ideas to me or the XO, and we’ll see what we think.”

Sesias got up, extended an arm toward the captain.  Halsey shook the officer’s hand and wished him luck onboard the Mercy.  The Edosian Picked up his PADD and made his way out of the captain’s ready room and back on to the bridge. Halsey returned to his chair.  He had high hopes for the future of the USS Mercy.