A Fresh Start

Posted on Sat Jan 18th, 2014 @ 4:29pm by Captain Tim Williams

Episode: Orphans
Location: Cestus III - 11th Fleet Headquarters
Timeline: MD01

Captain Tim Williams strolled across the grounds outside the main Command complex at the Headquarters for Starfleet's 11th Fleet. Pike City, within which the complex resided, had become Tim's home for the past two months after his ship had been grounded at the nearby yard facility past the outskirts of the city. The heads of the Corps of Engineering had decided that after the extensive repair works needed to make the vessel spaceworthy three years previously the ship needed a thorough evaluation to ensure that the repairs had held. Tim wouldn't have minded so much if he had been allowed to stay in his quarters on the ship that had been his home for the past seven years, but the Corps had insisted that the ship be completely vacated for the duration, and so the captain had been forced to take up Starfleet's offer of an apartment near the centre of Pike City.

Tim hoped that his time on the planet of the surface would soon be coming to an end now. It wasn't that he disliked the planet or the city at all - he actually found them both to be quite pleasant. But after spending two years off the ship already being forced into a teaching post at the Academy, Tim loathed any extended amount of time spent away from his ship. He had been called to the personnel office at the headquarters building this morning though for the first time since he had arrived on the planet (his earlier requests for a meeting to discuss his new crew since transferring to the 11th Fleet had all been denied due to the ongoing inspection of his ship), which meant that he would finally be able to make some headway in getting his ship re-staffed and back into space.

The ride up the elevator to the thirty-second floor took a short amount of time, with the turbolift technology pausing their ascent only briefly to allow various other occupants of the lift to exit at their own respective floors. The journey through the corridors to office 32-gamma was equally short, as was the wait before Commander Rathbone responded to the chirp at his door.

"Captain Williams. Thank you for coming. Have a seat."

"Thanks, Commander," Tim replied casually, dropping himself into one of the chairs opposite the personnel officer. "Can I guess that the reason I came here is because you're finally allowing me a crew for the Highlander?"

Rathbone nodded, either oblivious to Tim's tone or well-practised at ignoring it, Tim couldn't decide. "The Engineering Corps tell us that the ship is almost ready to be certified fit to fly, so we've started looking into the personnel situation. Unfortunately, as you know, aside from the skeleton crew you retained in order to be able to bring the ship here, the rest of your crew from your previous fleet assignment have been reassigned to other vessels within that command. Fortunately, it appears as though we have an almost full crew ready for you that has just been cleared for duty."

"Cleared for duty?" Tim asked, leaning forward. "What, are you giving me a crew of robots? Social misfits? Why would they all need to be cleared?"

"It's the crew of the Endeavour," Rathbone replied. "As I'm sure you've heard, their vessel was destroyed three months ago during a confrontation out near Klingon and Gorn space, which also cost the life of their previous commander. The crew have been in mandated counselling sessions since, but Starfleet Medical has cleared the vast majority of them to return to service. We have decided to assign those of the senior staff who haven't requested assignments elsewhere to the Highlander, along with enough crews to meet your needs."

"Have any of them shown any signs that have worried the counselors?" Tim asked. He was more than a little concerned at the fact that Rathbone had presented his new crew to him under the title of 'just cleared for service by Starfleet's frontier counselling team'.

"None beyond the usual mourning signs you would expect a crew to exhibit after the loss of a commanding officer," Rathbone replied cleanly, as though he had been expecting the question. "But we are mandating that you have a counsellor aboard your ship, in order to help with any potential ongoing issues that any of them may have. She's been briefed on the circumstances and the crew histories, and will be joining you shortly." As he finished speaking, he handed over a large Padd, loaded with the service records of Tim's new crew.

"Starfleet Engineering should be in touch with your shortly to advise when you can return to your ship. In the meantime, I suggest you begin reading."