Coming Aboard

Posted on Sun Oct 2, 2016 @ 6:06am by Commodore Michael Aravan & Lieutenant Krem & Lieutenant Dalton McNamara

Mission: An Orion to Die For
Location: Various
Timeline: MD 2 1245 hours

To say that Lt. Krem hated shuttles was a vast understatement of just how little he enjoyed them. They were small, the replicators were substandard, and generally the only other person to talk to was a pilot who seemed more focused on what they were doing than any sort of conversation Krem might want to strike up. To make matters worse, his pilot was female… and clothed. Try as he might, Krem had yet to come to terms with the strange habits of other races when it came to their females. At least in this stage of his career, he’d learned to keep that particular piece of information to himself.

“So…” Krem sighed impatiently, “How much longer until we get to this ship… the Triumphant?”

The Lieutenant Junior Grade sitting to his left didn’t seem to register that he had even spoken, or was doing her level best to ignore him. He’d gotten the impression just by the way her face had fallen when she saw her passenger at the dock that she wasn’t overly impressed with having to be his chauffer. Lt. Krem cleared his throat far louder than he had to in order to catch the woman’s attention finally.

“Did you say something, Lieutenant?” she asked in as gracious a voice as she could possibly muster.

Krem fought back a scowl as he repeated himself, something he detested doing in the first place.

“Oh,” the woman said, turning to her instruments, “We’re about to drop out of warp now, actually.”

“Wonderful,” Krem said, adding ‘I can finally get away from you and your incessant silence’ in his head.

The shift from warped space to normal space came with the familiar shifting in his stomach, something Krem had never liked about small craft. The Ferengi sat in his chair and watched as the pilot had words with whoever ran docking control, then pushed himself out of his chair as the small craft was brought aboard the ship under computer control. No sooner did the ship hit the deck than Krem was at the door.

“It’s been interesting,” Krem said in farewell, his genuine looking smile smoothing over the fact that he’d just lied right to the woman’s face, “Have a safe trip back.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant. Good luck in your new assignment,” the woman flashed what Krem took as a failed attempt at a smile in kind.

Krem gave her a dismissive wave and trudged down the small stairs that brought him into contact with the bulkhead of the flight deck, and face to face with a human male wearing a uniform identical to his own.

“You must be Lieutenant McNamara,” Krem said, knowing full well it was since he wasn’t stupid enough not to have already dug up everything he could about his new team ahead of time.

The Acting Chief of Science had been sent from the bridge after an unusual delay of the actual Chief of Science to make things official. "Welcome aboard, Lieutenant Krem," the human male said as he looked at the squat Ferengi. While it wasn't uncommon for Ferengi to be in Starfleet now, it was still a rare enough occurrence to warrant a raised eyebrow, especially when one was made the Chief of a department. "I assume that you're here to relieve me of the position of Chief of Science?"

"That's what they told me," Krem smirked, "I hope you aren't too upset. I understand how it can be unsettling to have someone walk in and take over. Happened to me twice on my last ship. No sooner do they give me the job, someone comes along and everything I've worked to accomplish is just swept away."

The Ferengi gave the man's hand a firm shake before continuing, "I'm rather interested to hear what you've done in the department before I arrived, and anything you've heard or been asked to do so far. I would hate to walk into the next staff meeting looking foolish because we didn't have a chat first."

Dalton shook Krem's hand and unconsciously looked at his wrist to make sure his hand was still attached after the firm shake. "To be honest, there isn't much to tell, Lieutenant," he said. "We got a distress signal from Orion Center Tactical Command that they were being attacked and now we're on our way there. I haven't had time to do more than arrange duty shifts for Science and only as Acting Chief. We have very little information, but we're supposed to be meeting up with a freighter of survivors from the station soon. Come this way and I'll show you to your office unless you'd prefer to meet with Command."

Lt. Krem followed the man into the corridor just beyond the docking bay, "The shifts are already assigned? Well, that's one less thing on my plate to worry after. Do you think the Captain will be too busy at the moment to meet with me? I wouldn't want to be rude and not go see him, but you've been here longer, what would you do?"

"Captain Aravan is a decent officer and commander," Dalton said as he headed for the turbolift. "He was on the bridge overseeing things while Commander Weisz is coordinating with the Marines and Security. This may not be the best time to see him, but as you're now officially aboard, he may want to see you. Of course, he may just assign you to the Science station and talk to you after we intercept the Zeus and get things settled. It all depends, really. This is a huge ship with a lot of officers, but few department heads."

Krem mulled it over for a moment before announcing, "Profit favors the bold. I may as well head to the bridge now. Worst he can do is tell me to come back to the labs, which will still allow me to get some profitable research done. Regardless the outcome, I'm ahead."

"Profit favors the bold indeed," McNamara said and wondered how much profit could be found in the ready room of a starship Captain. As they entered the turbolift, he requested deck eighteen for the bridge and looked at Krem. "So what's your story, Lieutenant? Get sick of profit and decide to join Starfleet for grand adventures and an expansion of horizons?"

"Hardly," Krem chuckled, "I'm still very much the Ferengi my father was, but I like the security of a steady income and the chance to meet new people... and fleece them. Not the crews, mind you. I learned that lesson the hard way. I merely take advantage of people that pass through. Or that we pass by. Most deal in alcohols these days. I brew my own, I buy exotic ones, and eventually I'll have myself a nice little bar to bring in tourism money and pad my accounts. You wouldn't happen to want in on some profits, would you? I'm always willing to share the wealth. I learned that from you Starfleeters."

"We have fifteen hundred civilians and an entire promenade on this ship that rivals most space stations," Dalton said with a bit of pride. "As for an entrepreneurial venture, I'll have to take it under consideration once you have all the details to put on the table, Lieutenant. I never play cards in the dark." The turbolift came to a halt and opened on the massive bridge.

"A man of scruples... we will get along very well indeed," the Ferengi grinned as he stepped onto the bridge.

Captain Michael Aravan, a tall dark-haired well built man with piercing green eyes stood from from his Command chair in the center of the bridge as the turbolift opened and he saw a Ferengi step out with his acting Chief of Science. "Lieutenant McNamara," he said. "I hope this interruption is important."

"Yes, Sir," Dalton said. "Starfleet has sent Lieutenant Krem here to take my place as the official Chief of Science."

"Come with me to my ready room, Lieutenant Krem," Michael said and motioned towards a room on the right side of the bridge. "You have the conn," he told another Lieutenant who nodded and got up to go to the Command chair. "Inform me once we meet with the Zeus." Without waiting for a nod of acknowledgement, the Captain headed for his ready room.

Lt. Krem looked around the cavernous bridge for a moment while the Captain handed out assignments, then followed him into the small compartment that was his private office. The Ready Room was small compared to what Krem would have expected from such a large vessel, but still spacious enough to fit all the needs a person might have wanted at their command in a position such as a Captain's.

Michael went to the the head of a huge black-surfaced table which dominated the center of the room which had a dozen chairs around it. Plants were at the corners of the room and most of one wall was filled with shelves which contained over a dozen species of bonsai trees, some elaborately sculpted around tree houses, some made to look like homes built into the ground and others that looked like they were just starting. Another table off to one side held a decanter of strong black coffee with several cups around it, a bowl containing sweetener and another for some type of cream.

"Would you care for something to drink, Lieutenant...?" he asked, unsure of the Ferengi's name at the moment.

Krem sniffed the air for a moment before shaking his head, "Not at the moment, Captain. And I'm Krem, Lieutenant Krem. I believe Lt. McNamara already mentioned my replacing him as your Science Department head. We discussed whether or not I should come up here and felt sooner was better than later. If nothing else, I got to introduce myself, you now have a face to my name... or in this case a name to my face."

Krem grinned at the juxtaposition he had just alluded to before continuing, "And I also wanted to offer my services in whatever capacity you might find useful, be they purely scientific or of a profit generating capacity."

"Lieutenant Krem, thank you," Michael said as he activated the table's surface to reveal that it was in reality a large LCARS interface and pulled up the Ferengi's personnel file with a few practiced movements. He glanced at it, then deactivated it. "Profit isn't the main goal of the Triumphant and I hope it isn't yours while on duty, Lieutenant. In an official capacity, you're to be my new Chief of Science. Tell me something positive that one in your debt would say about you."

"Prior to joining Starfleet, most people would have said that they were just happy to have paid their debts," Krem replied honestly, "These days, believe it or not, people tend to enjoy being in my acquaintance. I've come to understand why you Hew-Mons are so well liked, generally speaking. Generosity can be a powerful thing, when applied properly, and after watching it first hand for so many years I can say with more pride than any Ferengi should, that I too am generous. And not strictly in a monetary sense either. I have a shrewd intellect, an eye for patterns, and have helped a number of research endeavors without a single thought to what benefits I might reap from it."

Krem rubbed his hands together in a very typical Ferengi manner, "So if I were to say what people think of me in the present day, I would have to say they are glad that they met me. But I'm sure you can find evidence of this on your own should you wish to. I understand rather well how... un-Ferengi that sounds and most are slow to accept it."

"I'm not most people, Lieutenant Krem," Michael said. "I'll accept face value until you give me reason not to, but once that value goes down, it'll never go up again until your asset column far outweighs your debt column. In regards to your position on this ship and crew, I expect the former to heavily outweigh the latter. Do you have questions for me?"

Lt. Krem grinned at the Captain. It was refreshing to hear someone speaking cold hard accountancy rather some boring rhetoric of some misguided idealism.

"Just one, if I may," the Ferengi responded, "It goes without saying that in the performance of my duties here, profit must come second. However, when I'm not working for the profit of the vessel, may I attempt to make a small living? I've heard this ship rivals a starbase in terms of space for establishments, and I was hoping I might procure one to run. I do so enjoy sharing my wealth of alcoholic knowledge with others... for a small fee, you understand. Is that acceptable?"

"Get with Chief Barnes in Operations," Michael said. "He's the one you'll need to speak to about operating a establishment on the promenade. I'm certain that if everything is aboveboard that you'll have no problems at all." He remembered the fight at the bar on Deep Space Nine all too well from several years earlier and it had been run by a Ferengi as well. "But I will warn you, if you are granted license, I'll have it revoked at the first sign of trouble. I don't like trouble on my ship and I won't tolerate it."

"Absolutely, Captain. Trouble is bad for business, and I intend to run a more respectable establishment than your run of the mill watering hole. Thank you for your time, Captain. Unless you have something from me, I'll return to the labs to ensure they are running as they should. Duty first, you know," Lt. Krem said with a toothy grin.

"Agreed," Michael said. "Dismissed and get things in order, Lieutenant. Welcome aboard the Triumphant."