Formalities

Posted on Sat May 9th, 2020 @ 9:37pm by Second Mate Quinton Beck & Second Mate Simon Starr & Second Mate Colleen Branagan
Edited on on Sat May 9th, 2020 @ 9:38pm

2,004 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Meanwhile...
Location: Fala's Office
Timeline: SB 214

-Start-

{Fala's office- Observation lounge}

Fala hated waiting, but quality and thorough searching took time. She tried not to tap her fingers, or shuffle in her seat, but this was a negotiation, albeit of a different type, and she needed to show strength. Hours ago, her contacts had begun researching Colleen Branagan, the initial report reading like an open book, supplemental reports not revealing anything more.

Colleen seemed every bit what she said she was, and nobody was ever that honest. Fala told her men to step it up, really dive deep, and now she waited. With her back to the stars, her eyes only ever took in the screens and data all around her. Seeing Colleen right in front of her, she dismissed the image scanning through others.

Several other crew were pending approval, and had similar investigations running. Time was running out before launch, and they needed every soul who stood to offer anything on board before then. That Quinton had fast-tracked this one showed he had not lost that trusting nature, so Fala resolved to be that cynical whisper.

=/\= Fala, we are on the way, are you ready?

Quinton's voice prompted her to wipe the screens out of reflex; she kept secrets despite their friendship. Her file on Colleen had not updated in several hours, but from everything so far, there was nothing to do but make a job offer at 15% under the normal bid for her position.

=/\= Yes, bring her up, it's a go.

Quinton, Colleen, and Simon were on their way to the bridge, Fala went over the record one more time. Colleen was a career officer, a dream to her commanding officers. Well regarded, sparkly wit, team player. Her acumen and credentials exceeded anything this job would ever ask of her, and that would be a problem. Fala focused on what was between the lines, trying to find grit she could use to reduce the disparity in talent and position.

Since her family tragedy, Colleen seemed to move without cause, sporadically. Fala surmised she had let her connections wither, even with her siblings, and was now alone in the galaxy. While she had never faced disciplinary action, performance reviews showed there was a rigid style to her methodology that didn't allow for innovation. This was likely a lack of confidence, something Fala could work with.

{Turbolift}

Quinton waited for the long ride to the bridge, though thankfully they didn't have to come from the Engineering hull. Their rickety gondola was more bypass than intended route, and crossing thirty decks amidships took a half hour.

"Judah, who's next?"

The disembodied youth spoke with a holographic bubble resonating on the wall panel. His actual self was in a dozen places, but with internal sensors he could be omnipresent.

"Got Able Crewman Santo Filipe and Colleen Branagan up next, and Simon is already on the bridge. ETA 5-7 minutes.

Quinton deep sighed, stuck in a moving tin rattle for five more minutes was not a great way to introduce Colleen to the job., cramming in another person wasn't going to help.

"Reroute Filipe, keep it just the two of us, and try to make it smooth so she doesn't get motion sickness."

The turbolift changed direction, and ordinarily gravity systems seamlessly kept inertia from acting on the occupants but Quinton nearly vomited at the change in orientation, just an iron will and long experience kept it down. He just hoped he wasn't still green in the gills when the lift got to Colleen.

"Like that Judah, people who have stomachs don't like 2G turns unannounced."

"Acknowledged."

"Smartass."

{Bridge}

Branagan sat where she'd been told to sit, which had a view of the bridge area. There were a few people looking over-worked, and the man who'd told her he was Chief of Security sat at the Sec/Tac console, ignoring her and doing whatever he was supposed to be doing. The front screen was dark, so the station wasn't visible, nor whatever part of it might have them in the clutches of the docking clamps.

While she waited for the captain ... who was actually called a captain on this ship still ... Colleen reflected on the strangeness of the past 24 hours. She was pretty sure she'd gone from homeless and unemployed to gainfully employed, but the details were a little fuzzy.

That made her smile. Most of her life was pretty fuzzy right now, but an income would help. She hoped she had a lock on a job on Second Star. It was almost an omen ... Second Star, second chance. And something to do. Anything to do to help her bury the pain of her parents' deaths so deep she couldn't feel it any more.

Fala watched from her monitor inside the office, feet away. Simon had sent her the silent chime to tell her Colleen had arrived, but Fala wanted to wait. So Colleen sat near the lounge entrance, and Fala let her twist for a moment. To her dismay, Colleen was clearly a person at ease with being by herself and revealed little useful information. Quinton walked onto the bridge, and that signaled it was time. She heard his baritone and folksy voice, like a puppy whose bark grew up faster than the visage to accompany it.

"Hey you..." he was speaking to her, and Fala tuned him out, knowing they would come in any moment.

Quinton entered first, stopping inside the door to indicate to Colleen to go ahead of him and take a seat. The doors closed with a whisper just behind them and Quinton took a seat, one far end of the conference table.

Branagan followed him in and right to the end of the table, taking the seat on his right, and glancing curiously at the woman who seemed to be making use of the room as her office. Mentally shrugging, she made a note that office space was probably limited on the refitted ship. She turned all her attention to the man she thought of as the captain and waited for him to take the lead in their discussion.

Fala was inscrutable and was trying to read Colleen's every gesture. She simply said, "My name is Fala Gaz, I oversee the Financial aspects of this operation and am an owner in the Second Star Transport line. I've made the decision to hire you, contingent upon this interview going the way we all hope it does. I've prepared our standard offer for you, please review and return to me within 24 hours with any amendments outlined as a separate document."

Having performed so many of these interviews, Quinton truly detested the tedium. Fala signed the checks, and thought that made her the money in the operation. Over the last few days, he had developed a shorthand, trusting Fala to dig up any dirt. So far, Simon, Toriza, Fala, all had turned up nothing of note about Colleen, though there were irons in her fire in the larger scope of things.

"Thanks for coming, I'd like to skip ahead, given how we have met already... nice to see you again, as well... we know you are qualified, I'd like to ask for your official answer so to speak ... what brought you here?"

"If you're asking what brought me to this base, that was a long trail of personal tragedy and disappointment. In other words, life," Branagan shrugged. "If you want to know why I approached you about a job, other than the fact that I need one, well ...." She hesitated a moment.

"I don't know if you get feelings, gut feelings about things? I do. When I saw you two in the bar at the station, something told me I needed to approach you. At that time, I wasn't sure which ship was yours. I guess you could say, I had a hunch that you were good people."

Fala didn't trust anyone, but that seemed an earnest reply. She squinted at Colleen, trying to look menacing, but truth be told, unless Colleen was a super spy with amazing skill at staying secret she was genuine.

Quinton surprised Fala, he pressed on Colleen to give more, "I don't know if that is enough. I am not trying to offend, please know, but some of our hauls will be hard, and there will be work to do, and your pay is dependent on work. If we don't have sciences to do, what will you do on this ship, how will you earn your keep, pass the time meaningfully?"

He didn't mention it, but he had her pegged for a Senior Staff slot. She would be busy with science sure enough, but Starfleet training was thorough and he respected the skills she had outside of her field as well. He just had to be certain she wasn't looking for a temporary position to lay about and vacation away from home.

"Whatever needs doing, I suppose. I workout and have strong muscles, so if wrestling crates around with or without a gravity lifter is required, I can do that. If you need someone to inspect cargo in, I can do that. If someone has to stand around with a PADD and check off little boxes, I'm pretty sure I can do that. I could operate the helm, science, and tactical, fire weapons, and hit the targets selected.

"Additionally, if the cleaning robot breaks down," Branagan grinned, "I wield a mean mop, and my cherry chocolate brownies have been known to cause Earth humans to swoon with joy."

"We can use robots to clean, Fala, why are we paying people?" Quinton said it in obvious jest, so Fala ignored him.

She spent an uncomfortable moment staring at Colleen, but finally relented her suspicion. "The decision to hire you is mine, your appointment is not my decision. I will authorize your hire, but as for your position, I would ask that you stay within the bounds of Sciences and anything that role represents for you. Your service is to the ship and the company. As a former Starfleet officer you understand when I worry about your allegiances belonging to multiple masters. You must represent the ship, and its' interests first. Is this acceptable?"

"Please also include the brownies in that list as an asset," Quinton smiled.

Fala glared at Quinton, the perpetual "good guy." His jokes, amiable ways and folksy demeanor were part of a larger style. However, Mosaics were best seen in that larger context, up close it could get very annoying.

"As I was saying, your services and attention cannot be divided amongst two organizations. If you are the chair of our Sciences department, I expect you to provide the same level of dedication as you would for Starfleet, under contract for terms of at least three months per. If you can agree to that, we can assign quarters and pay you the signing bonus for your rents and amenities on board."

"If I take your money, I serve your brand to my fullest capability," Colleen said.

Fala was satisfied. "If you'll add your DNA signature here, we can have Othor complete the onboarding process then. Welcome to the Second Star Transport line."

Fala sent the contract to the Padd at Colleen's seat, and looked to Quinton next. "I believe I have a conference in fifteen to prepare for was there any other business you needed?"

He shook his head and stood up, "Not at all, do your thing." He looked to Colleen, "I'll have Othor waiting for you on the bridge to give you a tour, get you set up. We can have your station configured however you like, so be sure to speak with Kas as well, our XO out on the bridge once you're done here. Did you need anything else before I go?"

"No Sir, I don't think I do." Branagan said, looking up from her device. "I'll sign this and then head to the bridge. Thank you, Sir."

-End-

Quinton Beck- CO

Fala Gaz- Shipmaster

Colleen Branagan- Science

 

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