U.S.S. Defender Senior Officer Logs
Below is a recording of the recent senior officer meeting aboard the U.S.S. Defender, NCC-93136-A, following H’Ltol’s return, briefly covered in Time to get back into the Saddle Defender Story
The Recording starts with H’Ltol standing by the window at the far side of the conference room on the Defender, with him sipping a cup of Jumja tea, his nose twitching a little at each sip as he purrs softly, having arrived earlier than any of the senior staff, with his sister Rria sat at the conference room table, looking at H’Ltol, before moving to lean back in her seat and put her boots up on the conference room table
Rria looks at her brother and purrs gently as she smiles warmly “So.. you wanted to see me before the meeting?” She asks, tilting her head as she looks to the window as well
H’Ltol sips his tea and then looks into space through the window. He then slowly turns around and looks to Rria “Figured I would see how you are settling into ship life” he then sips his tea again
Rria looks to H’Ltol and then chuckles gently “Been helping around here for about a month, so yeah, settled in pretty well” she then slowly moves her boots off the table and sits up, as she spots the look her brother was giving her “So why did you really ask me to be here?”
H’Ltol gives a small nod and then sighs softly “Guess I want an honest opinion on the new staff I will be dealing with, and no matter what, you are always honest with me”
Rria gives a small nod in return and then moves to sip from a flask she took off her hip, and then puts it on the table “It is water, don’t worry, and well, your chief doctor is young for his rank, and has a few quirks, so expect that, haven’t had much experience with the others, but been told they are professional, including your new XO”
H’Ltol moves to sit down at his spot at the conference table and sip his tea again, and then nods “No names or anything about this new XO?” he asks, tilting his head gently “Very well.. You are invited to stay for this meeting, and observe, given nothing classified will be talked about”
Rria would give a small nod, and remain seated as the other staff filed in, with the chief tactical officer the female Cardassian, Lieutenant Commander Tulani, Malor, walking in first and taking her seat, closely followed by the new Kligon female Chief Operations Officer, Lieutenant Commander N’Goran, Vrag, then the new female Bajoran Chief Science Officer, Lieutenant Commander Jisa Shea, and then the new male Caitian Chief Medical officer, the rather young looking Commander H’Moa, Krirl, and after the other officers filed in, including the Chief Engineer Commander Six of Eight, and the Chief of Security Lieutenant Commander Jack Nightingale, with Commander Carlos Kas taking a seat too, then finally after Asiah Tirrim came in to observe, the new First officer, Commander R’Rill Kassa walked in, the brown furred female took one look at H’Ltol, gulped and moves to sit down
H’Ltol looks at R’Rill, anger filling his gaze as he lets out a low growl. Rria, spotting this quickly, puts a hand on his and purrs softly, before H’Ltol then sighs and begins talking “Thank you all for coming, as some of you know, I am Captain H’Ltol Sh’ow, commanding officer of this ship, but I am aware a few new faces have arrived, whilst Captain Tirrim was kindly minding my ship, so I called this meeting so we could all meet before we depart for DS-13”
Asiah Tirrim looks to H’Ltol, then to the rest of the staff at the conference table “Yes, that is correct. With me handing command back to Captain Sh’ow, he will be returning to his old post, so this meeting will be an introduction to your new CO, and a chance to raise any issues”
H’Ltol gives a small nod and then sips his tea as he looks around the table slowly and then grunts a little more “So.. shall we start with the new XO, and then go from there?” he asks as he looks to R’Rill, grunting a little
R’Rill would clear her throat and then looked around “As you all know, I am Commander R’Rill Kassa, as the XO I have no real issues to raise, as we are operating well within expected operational limits, I will let the Chief Tactical go next”
Tulani slowly looks up from her padd and looks to H’Ltol “Nice to meet you, Captain. I am Tulani Malor, your new chief tactical officer. I am the rank of Lieutenant Commander, and like your new XO, I have very few issues with my department, though I have noticed from combat records and missions we ran recently that, our four front cannons barely get used, so I would like permission to do some training drills with them, after all, we are meant to make sure all weapons are functional and effective”
H’Ltol gives a small nod and then sips his tea gently as he purrs softly “We can get that arranged, Commander Malor, feel free to put forward a plan and I will arrange it as soon as possible, however, my focus right now is getting back to DS-13 and then linking up with the Patriot and my wife, Captain Sh’ow, now onto the new Operations officer”
N’Goran spoke up now, coughing a little as she then sips her water and then looks to H’Ltol “I am N’Goran of House Vrag. I have seen your service record; it is an honour to serve beside such an honoured warrior” She then gives a small nod “Operations is running within expected limits, Captain. I have been working with our on-board fighting wing; however, to improve launch times, once again, it is an honour to be on board such a respected ship, with such a warrior”
H’Ltol seemed to shift uneasily in his seat at being called a warrior, despite always calling himself a soldier; hearing someone else do it seemed to bother him. “Thank you, Commander, I am glad to hear you are already settling in” he then looks around a little and purrs softly “Right, next is science”
Jisa looks to H’Ltol and gives a small nod “It is nice to meet you, Captain. I am looking forward to working with you and Captain Sh’ow of the Patriot. There are no issues from science. I have been configuring sensors and ensuring we are running the latest software. I will hand things over to Medical now”
H’Moa then nods slowly and taps on his wrist device, leaving an awkward silence in place for a few moments before then speaking “Medical is all normal, Captain. Name is H’Moa Krirl. I would like you to come to sickbay and get a full physical when possible” he then looks to Rria “Doctor Sh’ow has also been a great help; her fur and skin expertise, with Caitians, has been useful. I am already putting her information out to Starfleet Medical to get it put into full fleet service”
H’Ltol gives a small nod then looks to Six and Jack “Anything from Engineering or security?” he asks, getting a head shake in return “Alright then.. I will take that as a close to this meeting, short and sweet” he then looks around the table “I will make a note to swing by Sickbay when possible, and will be checking in regularly with each department” he looks around the table “Now, everyone is dismissed” he then clears his throat “But Commander Kassa, can you please remain behind?”
As the other officers leave, R’Rill nods slowly and stands up, but remains in the room. Rria did not attempt to move either, with R’Rill speaking up after the room was empty apart from them, free “So… I take it this is about.. what happened on Cait”
Rria looks to R’Rill and sips her water as she purrs softly “I came to terms with that, time for big brother to have his go” she looks to H’Ltol “I ain’t leaving.. Without Sejea here, you need a person to stop you from murdering your new XO”
H’Ltol looks to Rria and grunts “Sister.. I wouldn’t murder her.. too many witnesses..” he then rubs his eyes and looks to R’Rill “I take it the incident that happened between us on Cait will bring no issues here?”
R’Rill gives a small nod and looks down for a moment “H’Ltol.. I promise I wouldn’t have done what I did, had your mother not said you were single.. and given I had no evidence to say otherwise.. I figured things were different; I had no idea you and Sejea were together” She then looks to H’Ltol and gives a warm smile “But, I, am glad to hear, you two got married, though I see no earring?” She asks, tilting her head
H’Ltol gives a small nod and then purrs gently “We were good friends before this issue. It will take me time to return to that state. I am also assuming Sejea doesn’t know you are my new XO, I will speak to her, and we will go from there. As she is my wife, she is granted equal say, under our culture, even in matters like this” he then nods again and purrs gently “And yes, we married in the Caitian way, but I have plans to propose correctly in the Bajoran way”
Rria nods slowly and looks to R’Rill and then stands up slowly, then looks to H’Ltol “I am so going to be in the room for that” she then stretches a little and purrs softly “But H’Ltol, trust me, she has changed, and is really sorry about it”
R’Rill gives another nod and looks to H’Ltol “Commander Zenade recommended me.. and given Captain Tirrim and her didn’t know what happened, it was approved, but I am willing to put in for a transfer if my being here will cause issues.. I wouldn’t want any issues between you and your wife”
H’Ltol gives a small nod and then looks to R’Rill “For now, Commander, you’re dismissed. I will speak to you more later”
R’Rill then leaves and leaves Rria and H’Ltol in the room alone, with Rria then looking to H’Ltol and purring gently “So.. plan?” Rria asks as she moves to stand next to H’Ltol
H’Ltol sighs softly and rubs his eyes gently “It complicates my return, but well, Sejea is a professional.. and I can’t personally risk the uproar and issues that will come from asking for a new XO so soon, she is settled, so for now, we return to duty, and we crack on.. it is what we Sh’ows always do.. It is what Dad taught us to do”
Rria puts a hand on H’Ltol’s shoulder and squeezes it “Alright.. but we should talk about what happened to you, it would help… as I heard from Ekko and Priso, you had been praying, speaking to Vedeks, visiting the temples, and even consulting Orbs.. that ain’t like you, you seem to have gone full native when you stayed there”
H’Ltol puts his hand on Rria’s and purrs gently “And leaving Starfleet isn’t like Sarah, or leaving Cait isn’t like you… and being nice.. to Sejea and the cubs isn’t like Mam.. but here we are” he then sighs softly “Religion is important to Bajorans, and I needed some form of answer.. they seemed like they could at least give me something”
Rria nods slowly and purrs softly as she smiles warmly “Mam, prayed with us all when the In-laws and Sejea stayed on Cait.. she is really warming up to the cubs..” she pauses for a moment “As for Sarah and me, well, you need babysitters, and here we are, plus when you go it alone, you end up in trouble, now we can keep an eye on you, you know.. in case you turn into the next Sisko or something.. think of the medical oppertunities I will have to study you” she said with a soft chuckle, clearly making a bad joke
H’Ltol nods slowly and smiles at his sister, purring softly “Alright, but if you stay here, you and Sarah are expected to pull your weights, and I want you both at least type-2 certified every year..” He said, giving a soft chuckle as well
The Recording comes to an end, as Rria starts chuckling and leaving the room with her brother, it being the first time in a few months, that almost felt like years the pair had been in the same room alone together, let alone been able to smile and joke with each other, just before the recorded ended the stars that were visable just out of the window, can be seen showing the ship jump to warp, as it depart for DS-13, new faces aboard and the Captain back at the helm, the ship closely escorting on it’s return, to avoid any ambushes
