Enter the Vulcan

Posted on Thu Jul 27th, 2017 @ 9:44am by Fleet Admiral Donatella Figueroa & Lieutenant Commander Victor "Vic" Miller & Commander Christopher Samuels MDiv, PhD & Lieutenant JuniorGrade Fethraie D'Darra

Mission: S01E01 - At the Brink of Night
Location: Shuttle Bay
Timeline: Current

The hard work, the sacrifice, the many years a labor and toil, study and test, learning and practicing, and they gave her a single and narrow Ensign stripe. Despite the Vulcan teachings and meditations, Feth felt a stinging insult deep within.

Closing her eyes, she brought forth a slew of Vulcan litanies and exercised the learned Vulcan discipline that took years for her to even consider herself a novice. Feth was by no means a master at Vulcan mental and emotional discipline, but that did not stop her from putting forth her best efforts to make it look thus.

The shuttle rocked this way and that.

“Sorry about that,” said the pilot. “These pockets of atmosphere sometimes crop up just before we are technically in the vacuum of space.”

Feth opened her eyes and looked out at the blue horizon as it slowly drifted away. Only the darkness of space was above and stars started speckling the sky as the final remnants of atmosphere wafted away beneath them. She closed her eyes again and sighed internally a great sigh of relief.

’Finally. Away from that planet.’

“Yes, it is beautiful isn’t it?” asked the pilot.

“The view certainly is agreeable.”

“You’re a Vulcan alright.”

Feth turn to look at the man then decided to ignore the remark.

“Just let me get a standard orbit here,” said the pilot as he worked the controls. The shuttle settled into orbit and zoomed along its path around and away from the sun. It took only a few minutes before the shuttle found itself engulfed in darkness. A light on the instrument panel lit up and, “Looks like your ship is directly ahead.”

Looking forward, Feth saw the flashing lights in the distance among the other lights that made an outline of the Musashi.

“Being on the dark side of the planet right now does not help the view any. Trust me though, they are in their midday right now. So, no worries of everyone being asleep.” The man worked the controls to alert the Musashi of his approach. A confirmatory signal resulted only a few seconds later. “Looks like they are expecting us.” While working the navigation controls, he piloted the shuttle around to the hind end of the Musashi where the vessel took control and brought the shuttle on into the bay.

There was a final shimmy in the shuttle as it touched down. The pilot turned to Feth. “Do you need any help with your belongings?”

Feth was already unbuckling and getting up. “No. I can manage.”

“Because it is no trouble. I have a few hours…”

“I can manage I said,” and Feth ventured to the back of the shuttle to retrieve her Starfleet issued duffels. As she had her stuff staged at the exit, “Open the hatch,” she said, “I need to report for duty.”

“Please and thank you would be nice,” the pilot mumbled.

“What was that?” Feth called from the back as the hatch started opening.

“I said, it was a pleasure and thank you. Your travels should be nice,” the man raised his voice back to her.

But Feth knew that was not what her ears picked up originally. “Yeah. Whatever,” she said to herself as she worked to get her duffels in hand.

Feth stepped from the shuttle craft and the hatch started closing. She could hear the shuttle power up again in preparation for departure. She walked into the main staging area of the shuttle bay and deposited her duffels onto a nearby cart. Look up toward the front, she saw a door slide and hiss open. It was time to meet her commanding officer already.

When the Captain heard that Musashi's Chief Weapons Officer was arriving via shuttle, she was eager to meet the individual assigned to her. When the Yeoman handed her the tablet PaDD, Fig shot to the bottom and signed off on it without actually giving the officer a thorough read through.

Now, she was kicking herself in the butt for it. She had hoped for a Lieutenant Commander or Lieutenant at the very least, but instead Fig was getting a fairly recent Starfleet Academy graduate. An Ensign she thought with a sigh.

What was worse the part of all of this? A Vulcan. They assigned her a Vulcan Starfleet Officer. Taking a deep breath she looked to her right and then to her left as she got ready to enter the Shuttlebay. Her First Officer and Second Officer were accompanying her to the Shuttlebay.

When the trio arrived, the Shuttlebay doors parted ways and Fig could see the Vulcan was there waiting for her. "Ensign D'Darra" said with a very sardonic tone of voice. "Captain Figueroa" announced Fig.

Feth snapped to attention as the captain announced herself.

Fig then gestured to the man to her right "Commander Miller, First Officer" and then a nod to her left "Commander Samuels, Chief Science Officer."

Things had calmed down considerably between Fig and himself, which Christopher was grateful for. The two had hashed it out on the bridge a couple of days prior, which certainly helped. He knew he needed to get it out of his system, and it seemed Fig did as well. It was needed, and then they got past it. Now he was at her side as they welcomed a new officer on board. Finding out the new chief weapons officer was an ensign had surprised him, it surprised him even more that that ensign was a Vulcan. Vulcan's had a love/hate relationship with humans, and were cautious during the war with the Klingons. Sure, they helped, but Christopher figured that was more to their benefit than Starfleets.

Once his rank and surname was announced, his tipped his head in greeting toward the Vulcan female. "Welcome aboard," he added.

Feth nodded to each as they were introduced in turn, but produced a raised eyebrow upon taking closer notice of the Rigelian hybrid. “It is agreeable to meet you all, Sirs. Undoubtedly you are aware,” she straightened her attentive stance to perfect proportions, “ I am Ensign,” and she said that with barely a hint of disgust as she spoke such a diminutive title, “Fethraie D’Darra, Chief of Security and Weapons Management & Supply.” Feth decided on something of a human approach to the conversation. “It…is…an honor…to be serving with you. I find myself looking forward to performing our operations and activities in each other’s company.”

Captain Figueroa made no attempt at making the proper Vulcan hand gesture to the woman. I always screw that up she thought to herself as she for a moment thought about making the attempt. Instead she just stood there and nodded respectfully. "Welcome aboard. It is an honor to have you, Ensign" said Fig though she was very hesitant about the woman.

The Musashi was an Ares class starship, a ship of war that served through war and delivered heavy blows to the Klingon Empire. She was a class of starship that saw the four founding species of the Federation really come together on a design, but Fig held some disappointment towards the Vulcans who refused to be involved in the tactical developments of the starship. They helped with defense shielding and a lot of work on propulsion systems. It was the Andorians that gave the Ares class her bite.

Vic caught the raised eyebrow, but only briefly, and rested his hand habitually on his weapon. With his other hand he gave the Vulcan hand gesture out only if respect since the captain didn't. "If you have any questions feel free to ask, just don't be going around getting my engine room wrecked."

"No need to worry yourself Commander," she said to Vic. "I do know my place."

Fig looked at her First Officer. "If you have anyone to worry about, Commander, it would be me" said Figueroa. "I have a tendency to push the ship beyond the safety limits" she confessed.

Christopher took a moment to look at the chief engineer/first officer, and was slightly astonished the man could be so crass concerning an engine room. It was an engine room, no more different that the bridge, or the sickbay, or the science labs. He never understood the obsession and possession seemed odd to him. He turned back to the Vulcan female and offered the Vulcan salute as well. It came easy to him, but he noticed the captain hadn't given it. He knew several people who couldn't do the greeting, and then there were some humans who refused to. It truly was just one of those things. After he did the greeting, his hands returned to their position of being clasped at the small of his back.

Fig looked at the Vulcan. "A Vulcan would not be my first choice to be in charge of my weapons systems, Ensign. As I am sure you are aware the Vulcans refused to help with those systems when the Ares class was being constructed, instead they put their efforts towards propulsion and shields" commented the Captain. "Are you prepared to fire whenever ordered or will you stand there debating with yourself and contemplating if my orders to do so are logical?" asked Fig.

Feth figured she was about to make something of a joke, as any human would see it and humans generally favored a humorous approach to things. "I have always had a particular interest in weaponry. More than that, I am proficient in hand-to-hand combat. Besides, what is logic if everyone practices it and the enemy storms in...guns blazing...as you might say?" She looked between her superiors. "Logic needs protecting." Now for the attempted humor. "I operate on a shoot-first-discus-logic-later protocol." Feth raised an eyebrow. "Taken that my enemy is alive enough to communicate of course." Feth relaxed her stance. "You need not be concerned over me, Captain. Anyone who raises a violent hand to my shipmates, will have it cut off by me. I may be Vulcan, but I am not every Vulcan."

Vic wasn't fond of Vulcans, so he kept his hand resting on his disruptor, watching her through strands of his hair that fell into his face.

Feth noticed, out of her peripheral that the commander had his hand resting yet ready to draw at a second's notice. Apparently her previous attempt to lessen his worries did not sit well with him. She twitched an eyebrow realizing that her attempt probably exacerbated things a little. Words were not going to work with this one.

Out of her peripheral, she could not tell the style of weapon the commander was armed with, but she knew it was not standard Starfleet issue. Not wanting to make matters worse though, she decided not to take a look and to approach the subject at a more opportune time.

Fig was perplexed and quite intrigued by the Vulcan. She was not like any that the Captain had ever met before. However, her exposure to Vulcans was limited. Honestly, she avoided them at all cost if she could. Stick her in a room with a Tellarite or Andorian any day. "Well, that's a bit more relaxing to hear, Ensign" said the Captain.

"The truth generally is, Sir," Feth replied.

She then looked at her Executive Officer "Number One, please take the Ensign to her quarters" instructed the Captain. Something tells me the two of you could use some time to bond thought Fig privately.