Put it to Use
Posted on Mon Jan 16th, 2023 @ 9:23am by Rear Admiral Yoshi Minawara & Master Chief Petty Officer Victoria Moreau
Mission:
Between Realities
Location: Vesta Engineering | Esquimalt Promenade
1996 words - 4 OF Standard Post Measure
It had been a day.
One whole day of the man having a second boxed in pip on his collar, and already Victoria had lost the Admiral. Or, less so that she had lost him, and more so he had snuck out when no one was looking. She knew he was on the Vesta, his commbadge's last flag had been crossing the gangway into the ship. Unfortunately, like many of the Vesta's system, internal sensors were offline and the Station wasn't much help in tracking him down. A few members of his new detachment had gone looking for him, trying to pest him with rotations and details, negating the mandated relaxation period he'd been ordered to have before full asumption of his duties. According to an Ensign who'd shown up at her temporary quarters, he had slipped off and wasn't answering communications hails. They had searched his office on the station, his quarters, and the ready room on the Vesta already. Apparently that meant they had searched everywhere.
She'd asked, of course, if they'd checked engineering, and she'd been scoffed at. Said Ensign had come within inches of catching an annoyed knife hand and explaination of the informal ranking chart and how he needed to check his attitude. But she had a mission, and that mission entailed finding out where the Admiral had slunk off to, and what trouble he was getting up to. After which, she'd promptly remind him that he too was technically on leave, and that if he didn't scoot back, she'd go grab his wife. That would be threat enough. Still, now the woman was stood in Engineering, carefully examining the faces of people as they passed, and the feet that stuck out from consoles. If she was a no-name Ensign who hadn't bothered to read the brief on the new Task Force Commanding Officer, she probably would have missed it to. Admittedly, if she had been an Ensign or Junior Grade Lieutenant, she probably would have missed it anyways, seeing as they were about as good with their eyes as they were with their duties. Still, she was not either of those, and in fact was intimately familiar with the man she'd served with for several years now. And even then, she might have missed it.
Staring down at the boots and pants attached to them, crawled up under the main control console for the Quantum Slipstream Drive, she watched for a moment. It was a good trick really, she noted, as the left hand reached out and grasped the hyperspanner from the box at his feet. The attention to detail was nice, he'd even managed to add a few nicks to it. To the casual observer, that was an organic hand that had reached out and grasped the tool. But it was the way it moved, the way it firmly reached up into the console with little regard. He could make the hand look organic, but he couldn't untrain twenty years of not bothing with fake skin. So she watched for a moment, before reaching down, grasping one of the boots, and pulling. With little effort Yoshi Minawara slid out from under the consolde and blinked a few times up at the Master Chief. A flashlight was clenched in his teeth, and he gracelessly spat it onto the deck, before frowning.
"Lieutenant Commander pips are a nice touch," she said, conversationally, a smile on her lips. "You'd convinced your new Office staff you were really missing. After all, a flag officer would never pretend to be a lower rank so he could work on his old ship, would he?" As Minawara sat up, he rubbed at his neck, a bit of colour flushing his cheeks as he waved a dismissive hand.
"Don't tell me they rounded you up just to hunt me down," he said, gripping his knees to keep himself in the seated position easier. "That daft Ensign Graves can't seem to understand a damn think about leaving me well enough alone to relax and get settled. What does he need now?"
The smile on the Master Cheif's face spread a little more, and she shook her head. "They had a stack of formal issues to bring up with you. Promotion ceremonies, how do you want to handle the selection of civilian establishments on the station, that kind of stuff. Apparently station security has complained to Captain Penner about civilian members of the crew attempting to wander the promenade without Starfleet supervision, and wanted to know if you were going to do anything about it." The man scratched at his face a little, thinking as she sat there watching him debate crawling back under and ignoring it all. "I will remind you that Ensign Graves is technically my superior officer, and if he asked I will have to tell him I saw you here. Since he is a full officer and all." There was a gap as Yoshi stared up in mild befuddlement at the comment. "Sir," she added, before he could say anything. This caused the pair to exchange a good hearty laugh, that lasted just a hair too long and highlighted both of their tiredness. Finially, Yoshi pushed himself up onto his feet, and dusted himself off.
"I'm getting too old to be doing this, aren't I Victoria?" It was rhetorical, but his eyes seemed to mean it.
"Of course not."
It was a lie, and both of them knew it. Or, more so, age was less the factor and position was. He sighed, long and hard, looking back where he had been working. "Well then, what's this about the civilians needing supervision?"
Disbelief. That was what Ensign Graves and Lieutenant Gronn both were experiencing. The pair were stood in in the middle of the promenade as birds chirped holographically around them, flitting from rafter to rafter. Music filled the space, and the large corridors were filled with carnival rides and various experiences. Balloon carts carefull produced animals for the assembled kids, while on some of the benches families got their faces painted. A cart rolled by, pushed by it's owner, loudly declaring the ability to procure hot dogs, and another shouted the fun of cotton candy out loud. Families strolled with their kids, and a warm breeze passed through the space. The Esquimalt Promenade was positively lively with people going about their activities. There were two major issues.
The first was that the area was supposed to be off limits until the civilian staff arrived. There was supposed to be no one here without Starfleet supervision until such time as the facility was fully operational. This had been posted everywhere they could imagine, and while the crew of the Vesta had protested, it was the will of the Captain that it had stayed this way. This meant that unless someone had shown up and overriden her, there should be no one here. And as far as Ensign Graves was concerned, Rear Admiral Minawara had been locked away, or at the very least avoiding anything related to command duties.
The second issue was all the holographic staff were Emergency Medical Holograms, Mark One.
Every single attendant, every ride operator, every food stand seller, all of them wore the same scowling face of the first generation EMH. Sure, they had been programmed for various other tasks, and were generally being pleasant, but they all did it with the tone and expression that they would rather be anywhere else but here. It didn't seem to dampen the mood any, quite the opposite. The children gleefully played with the various holograms, and the parents, many of whom would have been Starfleet and accustomed to the program, almost seemed to find it comforting. None of this of course made issue number one any less of an issue. Lieutenant Gronn reached out towards one of the passing families with a hand, and began to bark. "You! Who is responsible for this? This area is off limits without Starfleet supervision, I demand to know who is responsible."
If either junior officer had been paying much attention, they would have heard the footfalls approaching them. They would have heard as they came to rest behind them, and waited patiently as they muttered angrily between themselves. They might have even appreciated the irony of proudly exclaiming that when Rear Admiral Minawara heard about the shenanigans on his station he was going to be furious! "I wasn't aware I no longer counted as Starfleet supervision," came from behind them. To his credit, Gronn had never met the new Task Force Commander, and knew little of him. So when. he spun around to face the voice in question he did so with the kind of indignation that only a security officer assured of their own correctness could. Ensign Graves however froze on the spot. He'd sat in the corner of the Rear Admiral's office during the meeting between him and the Oversight Committee. He knew that tone, the slightly smug notes that underlined annoyanced and a desire to correct the record.
"Now who do you-" Gronn had managed to get out before coming to a stop. Tellerites are known for their anger, and known for being unlikely to admit they were wrong. It took a lot to get one of them to stop when they were about to tear into someone. The sight of two gold pips surrounded by a box managed to bring about that pause. His outreached knifehand paused, outstretched far enough to make it clear the intent had been.
"Rear Admiral Yoshi Minawara, Lieutenant," Yoshi said, grasping the outstretched hand as though it had been extended for the shake. "A pleasure to meet you. What do you think?" The human gestured about the space, a warm smile on his face. "There were families across a few ships, and even staff of Esquimalt stuck in their bunks. I know the many of the children on Vesta get restless when there isn't anything to do. So I wanted to make sure they had something to keep them from getting into trouble. The space was finished, but unused, so I made use of it for the time being. I feel it brightens things up tremendously."
"Why the Mark Ones, sir?" Graves squeeked out. A moment ago he'd been a proud Starfleet Officer, now he was met with a pair of eyes that told him quite clearly just how fresh that Officer position was. To his question, Yoshi laughed, and then shrugged.
"I needed caretakers. The Mark Ones come with the ability to fit a career type onto it with ease. So rather than generating hundreds of new holograms, I had the computer reusued these ones. I think it adds a certain charm, don't you?" One of the face painting Mark Ones looked over at the collection of Officers, a scowl on his face, which itself was painted to look like a cat. He briefly offered a polite smile, and then a nod, and then went back to painting the child before him, who was moving far too much for the butterflies to look anything close to accurate.
Gronn lowered his hand finally, and then looked at the floor for a moment, the disbelief continuing. "Well sir, we will need Security Personnel on site to ensure everything goes off without a hitch. I'll ask Captain Penner what they want to do."
With a nod, Yoshi turned to walk away, but stopped mid turn, looking back at the pair. "One last thing, do give Kai my regards and thank them for use of the space. I am sure they would love to come down and see it for themsevles." And with that, the Admiral strolled off along the Promenade, pulling a book that had been tucked under his arm out, as he looked for a bench to sit at.
