The operational team had arrived beforehand, as the managers arrived later on. So Nakil arrived pretty late himself, but the location itself was not the best, in his opinion, the base was located in a somewhat deeper crate, and it felt like he was given a starter kit with a thumbs up for good luck. Nakil had his arms crossed looking up and seeing the shuttle of the next batch of personnel arrive “Oh now I am part of the welcome committee….wonderful” He muttered to himself.

The craft had originated from a starship that came directly from Deep Space 9. When Ryozo was shipped off from Starbase 93, he was brought to Deep Space 9 where he spent what available time he had gambling at the Dabo table at Quarks. He had won quite a bit, and he has stashed the bag of winnings away in at the bottom of his duffle bag. Now the shuttle from the starship had landed on the landing pad or landing zone as it were. Luckily for the starship captain above, Ryozo was not the one piloting it. Not that he would, since he was not assigned to that ship.

With a large backpack over his right shoulder and the duffle bag straps in his left hand, he stepped off the shuttle and saw someone standing there. With one good look at the pips and their facial features, Ryozo soon remembered that this was the outpost’s commander. Ryozo made sure he read the reading material he was given on one of his trips. Since he did not see the chief flight control officer or head of flight operations, he figured that he might as well report all the way to the top.

Ryozo set his bags down and stood at attention before the commander. “General Pilot Ensign Ethan Ryozo, reporting in, sir!”

Looking a bit dry at the Ensign “Right, Starbase 93 troublemaker” Nakil was blunt and direct about it. “Welcome to Outpost Houtman Ensign, you will be given the freedom of riding everything that this base has to offer. You will be in a way the personal driver of our senior team. Are you able to do that without crashing it for some hot lady? Again…”

The heat grew in Ryozo’s cheeks along with his embarrassment when he heard those words coming from the outpost commander. Ryozo knew that this would happen, Maxwell did say that he spoke with this outpost commander. Although, Ryozo was pleased to hear that he had free reign at whatever vehicle the outpost had, but he also realized that he would be quite busy. Ryozo remembered the vehicle list, which no doubt will expand later on. Even though it had shuttle crafts and the Argo runabout with the Argo ATV that Ryozo is eager to hop into, the outpost also had three different kinds of Bees too. ‘Work before play,’ Ryozo thought to himself in his head. ‘The best way to get on someone’s good side is to work your ass off.’

Ryozo licked his lips that had dried from the embarrassing reminder of his incident back at Starbase 93. “Of course, sir! I told Captain Maxwell that it will never happen again, and I plan to honor that, sir!”

Nodding to that, he started to walk and gave a wave signal to follow him, “Right, that is the spirit. As you can see, we are still in the beginning phase of getting this base. So I don’t have a vehicle yard for you yet” Nakil walked towards the premade operational hub “This will be your home Ensign, it is not much, but hopefully we can get it up and running soon” He stood still and looked a bit troubled at the base.

“Maxwell said while you have your flaws and be easy to distract, you are the best in what you do” Nakil looked at him, “That means I depend on you a lot. Be it scout missions with the scientist, transport for the miners, or whatever the chiefs need of you to do. Are you up for that?”

Ryozo followed the commander when gestured, after he had grabbed his bags. He then stopped when the commander did, all the while he listened to what he had to say. Ryozo looked at the facility and raised his brows in surprise, shock and maybe disappointment. Means no holodecks yet, which means he cannot continue his conquest over the Pacific Ocean as the Japanese Ace. A little fun activity he had going. He didn’t blame the pilots or the soldiers who where just following orders, except for those who followed unjustly ones. It was mostly the leaders and politicians that he blamed. Or the emperor in this case. Nevertheless, if history turned out differently and they were the victors, history would have been written as the ‘Allies’ were the bad guys and such. Nah, he did this for fun and to fine tune his piloting skills.

Ryozo nodded his head. “It won’t be a problem, sir. Flying isn’t just a hobby or a job for me, it’s my way of life. I would love to fly one of those Peregrine fighters, over a starship any day. Even if someone offered me a command staff position in my future, I’d say no.”

“Yea…that is not going to happen Ensign, not for some time” Nakil looked at him “The station has no Peregrine and will not receive it, and then again you are a loose cannon or at least on that list. You require some time to prove to us and yourself that you are not going to repeat that hot dive again” Nakil continued his walk, “Then again, you never know what the future brings. Now you would say no, and then you’re suddenly on the bridge or outpost commanding your future” He looked again at the Ensign, “Do you even have experience with a planet outpost or colony?”

Ryozo chuckled. “I was referring to when they were in action, which was back in the Dominion War, sir. I don’t think Starfleet uses them anymore. At least, not until wartime.” Ryozo then nodded his head once more. “Maybe someday in the future, my ideas will change but right now, I just enjoy being a pilot.” Then Ryozo shook his head. “No, sir. I have not. Ever since I graduated from the academy, I have been stationed at Starbase 93, until now. But I have thousands of hours of actual flight time and thousands more in simulated piloting courses, including atmospheric. It will not be a problem, sir.”

“Oh you be surprised about the load of garbage Starfleet can give a colony” Nakil mutters to himself, “Well then do explain to me why a person with such records has the ability to crash a shuttle?” Nakil looked at him, “Because that woman must be top-notch”

Ryozo laughed at the last comment and shrugged his shoulders. “She was. As for the crashing part, well. It’s like Maxwell said. Some good pilots have a bit of a show-off attitude.” Ryozo sighed when he said that and nodded his head. “Which I admit, I have grown into that habit myself.” But he had already promised he would work on it and not mess up again. So it will be a struggle for him. Showing off was fun. And letting go of something fun is difficult.

He didn’t react to that explanation and just gave it a brief nod “Well welcome to Outpost Houtman. The final frontier and birthplace of a new Federation colony Ensign. Do you have questions?” Nakil asked. 

Ryozo looked about some. “Yeah. Where do we sleep?” He chuckled.

He points at the operation building “Lower levels to the right, number 014. For now that is your sleeping place until we get a housing hub constructed” Nakil lowers his hand. 

Ryozo looked at the building then back at the commander. “Copy that. Thank you, sir.”

Giving a nod at Ryozo as the young Ensign went to the building. Nakil blinks a bit, crossing his arms, looking back at the platform seeing a load of supplies just ditch there “I need to get this base sorted…maybe I need to use that kids strength” He turned around walking back to the landing area.