Ebb & Flow Part 2

Posted on Sun Oct 27th, 2019 @ 2:09am by Major Naomi Sylan Griffiths

Mission: Onboarding & Departure
Location: Observation Lounge

[Griffiths' Quarters]

Naomi was relaxing in her quarter when her computer sounded an alert she got up placed the book she was reading down and walked over to her desk and called up the message, which was from the Captain.

"This is the Captain, I am requesting your presence in the Forward Observation Lounge this evening at 2000 hours. Attendance is mandatory and all attendees will be in Dress Uniforms. Thank You."

*Groans* "dress Uniforms, I hate dress uniforms" she quipped, her dress uniform was slightly different from the standard dress uniform. She went over to the closet and pulled out her uniform and made sure it was up to dress code, then she returned to her book after sending an acknowledgement to the message.

[Holodeck 1]

A simulated sun baked the rock face that Cyrin clung to, almost but not quite made his fingers burn as he reached for the next ledge above him. He had to strain far over his head, the distance was further than his legs could push him from his perch on a ledge only a few millimetres in width, but soon enough he had a firm grip. The burn-in his muscles was pleasant, but he hung there with one arm for a moment to give his other arm and legs a moment to rest, and to appreciate the view. The bottom of the cliff was hundreds of meters beneath him and still obscured by a bit of holographic fog, but beyond he could see the lush green of the valley and the quaint village in the distance.

Just as he started to swing his other arm up there came a jarring, distracting beep that was not part of the rock-climbing program. He nearly lost his grip, but it didn't matter. The wings of birds that soared nearby paused their beats, the puffy clouds stopped in the sky, and the faint whisper of the breeze against the rocks stilled. Cyrin grimaced as the program paused, gravity shifted, and he set his shoes down on seemingly nothing there in mid-air.

"Computer, arch." He rubbed a sore shoulder as he walked across the sky to the control arch that had appeared. A few keystrokes and the incoming message was received. "Ugh, dress uniform." Cyrin supposed he might as well get started with the rest of his day, especially if that meant he had to take the time to replicate one of those awful things. "And end program."

[Holodeck 3]

A completely different program was running in the smaller third Holodeck facility. A burly Hirogen hunter and Lieutenant Woods, sizing each other up. The Hirogen armed with two almost sickle-like, curved blades, one in each hand. Wearing the normal Hirogen uniform that doubled as light armour. Opposite him, the young Lieutenant, in her uniform, armed with a single-edged blade, just over three feet in length, and a single-handed grip. A Messer. The two beheld each other with barely concealed contempt, slowly circling one another, looking for an opening.

The Hirogen saw one first, lunging forward and slashing at the Lieutenant with the blade in his left hand, the clang of metal upon metal as Tree blocked it - the two blades binding. The Hirogen smiled as he shifted his weight, pushing into the block and thrusting with his right hand - an attack barely dodged by the Lieutenant as she half turned, stepping back.

The two combatants took a few steps from each other to resume their slow dance. This time it was the Lieutenant who saw an opening, feinting to the right before taking a half step left and thrusting her sword at the Hirogen. Needing both of his curved blades to block the Lieutenant's much heavier one, he was forced to take a step back to avoid getting skewered by the nasty tip of Tree's Messer - unable to recover in time as Woods pushed the attack further, twisting her blade out of the bind and finishing the fight with a slash to the alien's throat.

As the fallen body shimmered and faded - only to be replaced by another Hirogen, now armed with an energy shield and what resembled a short sword - the computer informed Tree of Frank's message. She put the program on pause, chest heaving from the intense workout, as she listened.

Dress uniform. That told her enough. She didn't mind the dress uniform, not like other people did. To her, it symbolized what she'd accomplished. How she climbed out of that hole that was her future, beat the odds and rose to where she was.

"Computer, end program."

[Grun's Quarters]

Thegog was engulfed in one of his very few guilty pleasures. He was in the middle of taking a bubble bath. He would never admit to anyone that he does this, but damn, if it isn't relaxing. And sometimes even he needs to relax. The calm mood was ruined by the chirp of the computer. "Yes, yes, play the message."

The computer replayed the message. Thegog then rolled his eyes. "Computer, please drain the water, I guess I'm done. Should get ready for work anyways. "Please send a response back to the Commander that I will be in attendance." He started to dry himself off. "Also, replicate a new dress uniform."

[Observation Lounge - 1930]

Captain Frank Kamar arrived early to the observation lounge carrying his Padd with notes. He inspected the missing man table. The single rose represented the bloodshed. The single slice of lemon represented the bitterness felt of the loss of life. The salt was also sprinkled on the plate representing the shed tears of friends and family. Frank lit the single candle in the centre representing the hope and light of memories that the life lost brought to those around them.

Nodding with satisfaction he checked the empty celebratory shot glasses for after the ceremony. He was certain that no one knew what was coming this evening other than the Major. Frank hoped to balance the celebration of a life lost with hope for the future. The remembrance of a lost officer, while focusing on moving forward was identical to the ebb and flow of the oceans of life. He chuckled out loud to himself, he was turning in to a damn philosopher in his old age. He smiled as he picked up his Padd and reread the notes for the ceremony.

Tree was one of the first to arrive. Having spent entirely too long on making sure she looked perfect, though with a natural look to her. Her dress whites ironed the creases and seem perfect and straight. She gave a nod to the Captain as she entered.

James made his way to the Observation Lounge. He found his uniform in the last bag he unpacked but with enough time to make sure it was crisp and sharp. He realized last time he even has worn his dress uniform was at a medical conference almost a year back. James walked in, smiled and nodded at the two ahead of him.

"Captain Kamar. Lieutenant Woods."

Making sure her dress whites fit like a glove, Arianna slid her baldric on and adjusted it so it hung perfectly. Stepping out the door of her quarters and she made for the Observation lounge. Entering the Observation Lounge she saw the others, "Captain, Lt. Woods, Doctor", and sat down quietly.

After detecting that several people had arrived in the Observation Lounge, Chief decided that he should join them, after all, he didn't want to be the last person to be there. With the ability to appear anywhere at any time, Chief could have easily created an avatar of himself inside the room, however, given the nature of the meeting he decided against it. Instead Chief appeared outside the observation lounge, he adjusted his uniform to be the Standard Dress uniform and then stepped into the spacious room.

Immediately Chief noticed the layout of the room, the table full of Roses and various other items, he quickly surmised that this would be a remembrance ceremony of the crew members who had lost their lives at the hands of the Hirogen. Being a Hologram and directly connected to the computer, Chief had access to information about all sorts of remembrance ceremonies, but this one was not among that information, he suspected that it was something more traditional with Captain Kamar.

Chief pondered this while he walked towards the small group of people in the middle of the room, which took less than 5 seconds, he politely nodded to all assembled "Captain, Commander Sky, Lieutenant Woods, Doctor." Chief greeted as he looked at each person

Cyrin entered next, tugging at the collar of his uniform with two fingers as if uncomfortable. Seeing all the others who had arrived before him though he let it alone. Usually quick with a smile and greeting, the Trill just nodded vaguely at his shipmates and found an empty seat to sink into silence.

After leaving her room in dress uniform her long blonde hair was done up in a bun with some soft bangs that framed her face. Her uniform was in the standard cut, the only other thing shared with the regular Fleet dress uniform was the light grey panelling in the front, and the trousers and boots were black with a green stripe running down each leg. The tunic was green, with a black collar with gold trimming around the leading edges, on her right upper arm was a White Cord on her right shoulder was gold rope braiding. On each of the shoulders was her Major rank in the style of old US Cavalry style rank plates.

As she entered the room she saw the Lost man table and felt a lump in her throat, it was never easy and walked over to Kamar realizing she her uniform made her stand out from the rest.

"I see you have a remembrance table up Captain," she said.

"Yes Major it is a long-standing tradition and I believe it is a fitting tribute to give honours to our fallen officers," Frank replied.

"For us Marines, it is the wall of the fallen *pause* I feel like the odd duck out with my dress uniform, it is so different to the rest of you," she said (Description of what she is wearing above)

"Different isn't bad Major, I kind of like it. Maybe we could add a Wall of Remembrance also, to combine two traditions."

Arianna looked around and noticed that Yarinna was not in attendance. "Excuse me Captain but, shouldn't Yarinna be here too? She was his friend", Arianna asked softly.

"I believe she is manning the bridge, we are underway Lieutenant Commander, I cannot leave the bridge in the hands of an unqualified Ensign. I can have some relieve her shortly," the captain replied.

"Understood sir", Arianna said quietly.

Kevin quietly entered the observation lounge. Being new to the ship and knowing no-one, he smiled briefly and nodded to those who looked in his direction. Finding a spot out of the way, against the wall, he looked at the missing man table and closed his eyes and bowed his head. He didn't know the circumstances behind why the remembrance table was there, but that didn't matter, showing due respect for those who had given their lives in service was what was required.

Noticing the new officer, Tree made her way over, trying to be as unobtrusive as she could be. Once near him, she leaned in to whisper. "Lieutenant Woods, Security. We're remembering Lieutenant Vladinichi, previous chief of security, and three security officers - Johnston, Carpenter, and T'pon. They were ambushed and killed while on a mission of mercy onto a Hirogen ship that was pretending to be adrift."

Kevin's eyes snapped open and his head whipped around towards the person who'd spoken. After listening to what they said he whispered his reply, saying "Lieutenant Kilbane at your service, thank you for letting me know what had happened. I'm sorry to hear of their loss."

Tree gave a silent nod and took a step back again, just watching the goings-on.

Thegog finally walked in. Something seemed off. He was walking a little strange. And his uniform. It appears that it is too small in key areas. Seeing the group, he carefully waddled over to them. "Good evening all. Please forgive my appearance. There must be something wrong with my replicators. It made my new uniform too small. It says it's the correct size stored on file, but it's not. I have been able to fit into the same size dress since my days at Starfleet. Tomorrow, I will have to run some diagnostics on it." Realizing he was just rambling on, Thegog quickly shut up.

After hearing Thegog's complaint about the replicators, Chief decided to run a quick diagnostic of his own while waiting. As expected, the diagnostic came back clean with no errors, the uniform was the correct size. He realised that perhaps it was Grun that was not the right size for the uniform anymore but Chief decided to keep that information to himself. Instead, he continued to observe the scene around him, watching how the crew interacted during an emotional time such as this, he wondered if anyone would approach him during the service.

Frank waited for the last of his bridge officers to fall into a line, "Ladies, Gentlemen, and Chief, I'd like to thank you all for your coming on short notice. I will do my best to make this as short as possible. Before we begin I would like to observe a moment of silence for our fallen comrades, followed by a ship's bell. " The Captain paused for a minute while silence enveloped the room followed by the gentle ring of three individual bells for every life lost on the away mission.

Clearing the lump in his throat Frank continued, "There is no greater love than a man laying his life down for a friend, their sacrifice will not be in vain. They have all been posthumously promoted and have received the medal of bravery and purple heart for receiving wounds in battle."

Looking over the room he looked over the faces of the officers, there was still business to conduct so he continued," Lieutenant Junior Grade Grun and Lieutenant Junior Grade Xanth step forward front and centre."

Griffiths knew this was coming and hid a smile and remained silent.

A little confused, Cyrin nevertheless moved quickly to respond to the Captain's command. He'd been thinking a lot about Lieutenant Vladinchi and was unprepared to hear his name, called out. Was he about to be berated for questioning his superior on the Bridge in front of everyone before the Hirogen got away? He did a good job of keeping his features still, sad, but passive as he looked at Kamar.

Thegog blushed the deepest shade of red imaginable and waddled up to the Commander.

Frank didn't often follow the pomp and circumstance of Starfleet regulations, he never cared for long speeches or extended ceremonies, and he decided not to begin now.

"Attention in the room!" Frank bellowed loudly, "Lieutenant Junior Grade Xanth and Lieutenant Junior Grade Grun, you gentlemen are both out of uniform," He stared at both intently for a moment before continuing. " "Lieutenant Junior Grade Xanth and Lieutenant Junior Grade Grun it is my honour and privilege to be the first to congratulate the both of you on your promotion to Lieutenant."

Picking up a Padd Frank read loudly, "By Order of Starfleet, "Lieutenant Junior Grade Xanth and Lieutenant Junior Grade Grun having met and exceeded all requirements are hereby promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. Your devotion to duty and upholding the core values of Starfleet have been recognized and now rewarded. Lieutenant Grun, your new promotion will carry additional duties, but I believe by your very nature you will meet them head-on. Lieutenant Xanth, your promotion will also carry additional duties, and be challenging differently, as you will now be head of the Science Department. I look forward to seeing you both continue to excel."

Frank set the Padd down on the small table beside him and picked up two small boxes containing the new Lieutenants pips. It was an old Navy tradition, some considered archaic but he was going to do it anyway. "Major, will you assist please?" Frank asked and handed her one of the small boxes. He stepped forward and then pinned the new Pips on Lieutenant Grun's collar. "Congratulations Lieutenant Grun," he said as he reached to shake the new Lieutenant's hand.

Thegog quickly took the Commander's hand. "Thank you, sir. It's an honour. I apologize for my appearance. I believe there is something wrong with the replicators. Had I known, I would have made sure..." He started to ramble on again but caught himself before it was too late. "Thank you, Sir."

Taking the box Griffiths opened the lid as she closed the gap on Xanth she removed the half-pip on Lieutenant Xanth's collar "Lieutenant Cyrin Xanth, I am pleased to honour you with this promotion to full Lieutenant with all the duties and responsibilities that lie therein" she stopped as she pinned the full pip next to the other one, she said and stepped back and as she was a Marine saluted the Lieutenant "Congratulations Lieutenant Xanth"

Cyrin hadn't been expecting anything like that and the surprise showed as easily on his face as his pleasure. He beamed as the Major placed the solid pip on his collar, proud and for once a bit speechless. The Science Department?! The shock didn't keep him from giving back a salute of his own, then a laugh. He turned his big grin Thegog's way for a moment to wink, then back to Griffiths again for an only slightly belated, "Thank you, Major!"

Frank watched the exchange between Lieutenant Xanth and the Major, when they finished he spoke once more. "It is times like these when we honour fallen brothers and celebrate achievements that bring us together as a crew. It is like the ebb and flow of the ocean, the lowest waves are followed by the tallest crests. There will be changes and challenges but like a wave, we shall rise to meet them and overcome. I ask this evening that we all drink a toast to comrades both old and new. Make sure you congratulate our two new Lieutenants and share a drink with them, that's an order," Frank said with a smile, "Carry on."

-Continued on Ebb & Flow Part 3-