Meeting the Commanding Officer

OFF: Here we go, ma'am.



ON: James and Henry finished unpacking what little they had brought with them in their quarters. A couple minutes after unpacking James realized what they hadn't yet done.

"Oh shit!!" he exclaimed.

"What is it, honey?" asked Henry.

"We forgot to check in with the Commanding Officer before unpacking!!" exclaimed James. "Standard procedure is to report to your quarters to unload your luggage, meet with the Commanding Officer, and then to unpack your belongings. We have just done everything out of sequence, and you can bet that the Shuttle Pilot or the crew of the Shuttle Bay have already reported our arrival to the Commanding Officer. We have essentially kept her waiting for the last two hours and she has been very patient and polite to not call and ask us where the hell we are."

"Let's get moving, honey. Best that we not keep her waiting any longer," said Henry.

A few seconds later they were flying through the hallway to the turbolift. Upon reaching the turbolift, they issued the command to go to the bridge. Moments later James' combadge chirped.

=/\= "Lieutenant Stewart, this is Petty Officer Cha-Lee, Captain Chernova's Yeoman. The Captain would like to know why you haven't deigned to report in officially yet, despite being aboard for at least two hours. I suggest that you come to her Ready Room immediately, with cap in hand and throw yourself upon her supreme mercy."=/\= Came the cultured bass tones of the Captain's sehlat Yeoman.

=/\= "Thank you, Petty Officer Cha-Lee. Our turbolift is dropping us on the Bridge in about three seconds," =/\= replied James with an aggravated tone. He hated the way that universal translators distorted the voice of those that had to use them in day to day interactions with others.

As the doors to the turbolift flew open, James and Henry were in a dead sprint all the way to the Ready Room doors. They rapidly fired the door chime in rapid sequence, already aware that there was probably a storm brewing inside from waiting on them for so long.

Ana sat at her desk, piled high with PADDs. She picked up a supply request, skim reading it she thought. 'Why do we need 6000 laser cutters and only 3 medical tri-corders? I swear that supply officer of mine can't even count.'

The chime rang and She called"Enter." A little more gruffly than she meant to.

Quickly and composedly marching into the Ready Room, James sounded off with his report. "Lieutenant Junior Grade Stewart and Mr. Windsor-Stewart reporting as ordered, ma'am," he said practically barking each word. Seeing how she grimaced at the practical barking, he realized that sounding off like a drill instructor would may not have been the best idea.

"At ease, Lieutenant." Ana said rising. "And please use your 'inside voice'. I may be over two centuries old, but I'm assured my hearing is perfect."

"Sorry about that, ma'am," he replied. "We were trained to sound off when reporting. Having been a bit late, I guess I just went a bit overboard," he said. "Might I add that for being over two centuries old, you certainly don't look a day over twenty," he added. He could tell from the slight frown that crossed Henry's face that Henry felt that was probably not the brightest thing to say when attempting to issue a compliment.

"I apologize for my husband, ma'am. He was just a little stunned by what you said about your age. I must also apologize for delaying him. I had forgotten the routine since it has been a while since I had to report alongside him. Most of our previous ships' Commanders had only ordered that he reported and then met me in sickbay at other points in time. As such, I forgot that we should have reported immediately and instead distracted him by beginning the unpacking," said Henry as he looked Ana directly in the eyes.

"Apologies accepted, Lieutenant, Mr. Stewart. You may both take a seat. " She said directing them to the chairs in front of her desk before retaking her own. "You will find that I'm not a stickler for the regs, but reporting to myself or my XO in a timely manner once you're aboard, is also about showing respect for myself as well as my position. Do I make myself understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," replied James.

"Understood, ma'am," replied Henry. "As I was saying, I distracted James from reporting to you by starting to unpack, which normally we wait to do together. I guess the few months we both spent as civilians while dealing with the fallout of the Liberator's presumed destruction must have left us a bit scattered on what our routine normally is," he continued.

"Anyways," said James as he cleared his throat and shot a warning look at Henry, "We are reporting as your Chief Medical Officer and your Head Nurse. Is there anything we should know before we find any nasty surprises in sickbay?" he asked. The last thing he wanted was any discussion of the Liberator at all. The last thing he needed was to accidentally say anything that might be considered as classified information.

Ana ignored Henry's references to the Liberator. The incident was classified and she had much more important things to do if she was going to get this ship to launch on time. She waved her hand dismissing the man's explanation.

Ana smiled. "Welcome aboard, both of you. As for any nasty surprises in Sickbay, you might not find that you have all the equipment you may need, because it appears my Supply Officer is incompetent at best, or is intentionally trying to drive me made at worst."

"Why do you say that ma'am?" asked James. "Before I assume responsibility for sickbay, it might be nice to see what we currently have inventoried down there, evaluate what we need to requisition for a ship this small, and determine what has already been requisitioned. Additionally, with your permission, I'd like to retrieve some personally owned items that should be of use in improving our sickbay and its efficiency," he said.

Ana picked up a PADD and handed it to James. "That is just one of the requisition reports he's sent me. I'm no medic, but I'm sure we need more than three medical tricorders and probably don't need 6000 laser cutters."

"But, he's my problem, you have my permission to run Sickbay in any way you see fit. When you've made your evaluations about what's needed for Sickbay, bring your requisitions directly to me."

"Ma'am, unless those laser scalpels are disposable, no, we don't need 6,000 of them. Indeed only 100 should be necessary in a worst case scenario. As for medical tricorders, generally I like to keep about ten or twenty on hand at a minimum, however, ideally I like to have one for every member of the crew with the extra wiggle room for fifty extra people, in the event that something happens anyone could be called on to be a nurse or a medic and would need those," said James as he frowned at the request. "If this is at all indicative of what to expect, I'd like to request to see every single requisition for sickbay equipment made prior to this point so that I know what kind of catastrophe awaits me," he added. "Here is a PADD indicating my minimal expectations equipment-wise in a ship of this size. I will bring a PADD tomorrow containing the comparison of what we have versus what we need and what should be placed in cargo bays as equipment to be traded or gifted to ships that may need them during whatever adventure awaits us. As for your supply officer, I'd like to speak with him tomorrow morning at 0900, if you don't mind. I guess you could say that I'd like to find out who the hell has been requisitioning equipment for my department without my authorization or my signature, and when it became standard procedure for such requisitions to be placed without the properly authorized signature of the Chief Medical Officer," he said. "I think you'll find that after a brief conversation with me, he will be walking on eggshells and double-checking his work before bringing it to you, especially after he sees the list of regulations that this requisition by itself violates," he added in a cautiously optimistic way.

Ana stifled a laugh as she pictured Ensign Mikelsen getting a dressing down form the CMO. "By all means, Lieutenant." She said.

"Excellent, ma'am," he said with a grin on his face. "Please ensure that he brings copies of every single requisition for sickbay with him. I want them itemized by date and exactly what was requisitioned, if it takes him all night to do it, even better," he said. "In fact, after I give him the dressing down, I plan to have HIM take inventory of everything in that sickbay for me, especially since he requisitioned it all. I think that should sufficiently drill the point in and save us both the hassle of having to worry about him in the future," he added. "As for those items that I intend to bring from my home, those should help counterbalance the damages he has caused, at least to some extent. Among them, you will find that I intend to upgrade our EMH to the latest version of the program. A large portion of them are merely recent modifications to old tools, however, a decent section of it is the latest in experimental medical technologies, which I have had the great fortune of being trained in how to use," he added.

tag.