Reporting In

Posted on Tue Oct 10th, 2017 @ 1:25pm by Captain Tim Williams & Lieutenant Commander Esmé Dumont
Edited on on Wed Oct 11th, 2017 @ 8:21pm

Episode: Preparations
Location: Utopia Planitia, Conference Room 7
Timeline: Backpost - Before completion of refit

Esmé Dumont had stopped in the corridor outside of a multipurpose conference room at Utopia Planitia Shipyards. She stared at herself in an inactive computer terminal for a long while, realizing the eyes that were looking back at her were somehow older than she remembered.

After all the years that had gone by, Esmé had never dreamed she would once again find herself in a Starfleet uniform, let alone reporting in for duty. The uniform looked different, and in her mind, she looked different, too. Perhaps it wasn't a physical change -- at least, not much of one, though there were the slightest signs of age beginning to appear around her eyes and mouth -- but moreso a psychological one. She was, after all, a very different person than the young woman who had left Starfleet over a decade ago.

Finding confidence in her breath, Esmé turned from the reflective panel and moved to stand before the doors leading into conference room seven. Inside, the door chime sounded, announcing her presence.

The chime drew Tim's attention away from the viewport, which commanded an impressive view of the dry docks which made up the orbital shipyards. "Come in," he called, wondering which of his prospective new crew members it would be today. While most of the ship's senior staff were staying with the Highlander, there had been a few holes for him to fill in addition to finding new crew to replace the junior members of the ship's compliment who for one reason or another didn't pass muster for security clearance around their new engine.

The doors slid apart, revealing the figure of a relatively tall human female. She had dark hair and eyes, and she had the appearance of woman in her late forties, perhaps early fifties. She wore a standard duty Starfleet uniform with her departmental color of teal being prominent. Upon her right lapel were three gold pips -- two solid, one hollow.

Taking a single step across the threshold into the conference room, the woman moved to straighten her posture, though it was not quite the chipper snap to attention of other officers or divisions. There was a warmth about her and a genuineness to her voice as she offered the first greeting that protocol demanded, "Lieutenant Commander Esmé Dumont, reporting for duty, sir." Her voice was deeper than one might expect, and it had a certain raspy quality. Though she spoke without the use of a universal translator, her words carried with them a distinctly French accent.

"Ah, you must be Esmé," Tim said, doing his best to mimick her own pronunciation of her name. "Can I call you Esmé? Come in, come in; take a seat."

"But of course, Captain," Esmé responded with a gentle dip of her head. She held her hands together, fingers intertwined with each other even as she walked forward. Taking the offered seat, she smoothed her uniform pants beneath her hands. The absent movement conveyed just the mildest anxiety on her part, although her voice and demeanor betrayed none of the same. "I am grateful for the opportunity to serve aboard your ship, Captain. The mission profile I received at Headquarters was... most intriguing."

"Pure exploration of the unknown; that's why we're out here," Tim responded, still quite pleased with himself for getting the ship into the new task force. As much as the Alpha Quadrant still had many nooks and crannies to explore, the delta quadrant was the ultimate unknown; only one Federation starship had ever been there, and their course traced an almost straight line pointing to Federation; there was still so much outside of that narrow corridor that they did not know. He took the seat next to Esmé, turning it so that they could face each other. The seats were still a comfortable distance apart, but it meant they were able to face each other without the officiousness of the desk between them. It was clear already that Tim wasn't the type of Captain to follow formal protocol.

"To be honest, your assignment request was quite intriguing," he continued, parroting her own adjective back at her. "I've had Admiral Ramirez talking my ear off about you for most of the past week. You've been out of the fleet for what, ten, twelve years? You must be good if the Admiral thinks highly enough of you to get you reactivated and sing your praises as much as he has been."

Esmé was quite impressed with the leveling of the field, as it were, as the captain came around the desk to sit with her side-by-side. It was a configuration she had used both as a ship's counselor and in her private practice to help clients feel more comfortable. She turned her body slightly in the chair to face the captain more directly.

A smile came to Esmé's face that extended to her cheeks, both due to the humor she found in Carlos Ramirez's badgering of the captain, along with the fond memories of the admiral that came with the mention of his name. "It's true," Esmé acknowledged, her head nodding several time. Then, she continue with the specifics. "Twenty three years ago, just after my promotion to full lieutenant, I was assigned to Starbase 310 as its senior counselor. Admiral Ramirez was commanding officer at the installation. That was... before the war," she said, her eyebrows raising ever-so-slightly. She was referencing the Dominion War, of course.

"Once the war broke out," Esmé continued, "the 13th Allied Fleet was assigned there under the admiral's command, and I moved into the position of fleet liaison officer. It was my job to keep the Romulan, Klingon, and Starfleet commanders focused on fighting the Dominion rather than each other. I continued in that role through the post-war efforts, and finally served as the Admiral's chief of staff before he retired in 2380."

Esmé shrugged her shoulders slightly. "After he retired, it seemed so... difficult to know where to go with my own career. Frankly, the war changed me in ways I never imagined. But, didn't it change all of us...?" She shrugged her shoulders in soft resignation. "In any case, I had two small children, and given the intense travel schedule that must husband maintained--," and she stopped, swallowing as she realized she had mentioned him as an afterthought, simply a part of her past. Ironically, that was the real reason she was here. She kept going, "It just made sense for me to step aside for a while until the children were grown."

"Anyone who came out of that war and claimed to be unchanged by it isn't telling the whole story," Tim said, agreeing with the other officer's sentiment. He could tell by the slight pause after mentioning her husband that she didn't really want to talk about that part of her life, at least not yet, and he didn't feel the need to pry. He'd read her file, so he knew about the incident on the San Juan and felt no need to press her on her husband's death. Even if he did, their first meeting was definitely not the time or place to do it. "You realise," he continued, letting the conversation carry on along its normal path. "That where we're going we're not likely to be dealing with Romulans and Klingons. Most of the alien races we're likely to encounter are going to be completely undocumented and unknown to us. We'll need to think on our feet out there, and the diplomatic corps aren't going to be able to rush in to sort out any arguments we might start."

"Captain," Esmé offered, emphasizing the words as she spoke, "I didn't wipe proverbial dust off my uniform to babysit. I'm up for what awaits us." There was an intensity to her words that in a younger person, one might have mistaken for blind ambition, but from her, there was a different depth. She knew exactly what she was saying and what she was committing to. A soft grin spread across her face. "Besides, we're in this together. I would say that doubles our odds."

Tim smiled at that. "Just the sort of response I was looking for," he said after a brief pause, offerring his hand to shake. "Welcome to the Highlander, Commander. I'm certain you'll make a fine addition to her crew."