Permission to come aboard

Posted on Saturday January 25th, 2020 @ 1:22pm by Captain Franklin Johnson & Cadet Freshman Grade Caleb Johnson

956 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Shakedown Cruise
Location: Captains Ready Room
Timeline: Day 3 - 2100

Caleb had received the orders he'd waited for for ages not thirty minutes ago and he already stood onboard the ship. He'd initially been assigned to Starbase 99 to learn from the Doctors there, however he'd found it wasn't as busy or as fast paced as he'd liked, so he applied to transfer to a ship. Fortunately for him there had become an opening for a nurse onboard the Poseidon, where he was to learn from a Liuetenant T'Vek. He reported onboard, and headed straight for the Captains Office, hoping to report for duty as soon as he could. He quickly dumped his bags in his quarters, and arrived on the bridge. Walking over to the ready room, he pressed the doors bell and waited, smoothing out his uniform, and hoping he looked presentable.

Franklin hadn't been expecting anyone today. He was getting ready for the next shakedown run, which consequently would simply be departing this time around. He was scanning his datapad when he heard the chime, much to his surprise.

"Come in!" he invited, his voice having a hint of confusion.

Caleb strode into the room, with a big smile on his face. "Commander." He said, smiling. "Caleb Johnson, I have orders to join your vessel as a trainee nurse." He said, handing over the PADD he'd bought in with him. "Sorry, I know I should have probably given you some warning before just barging in like this." He said.

The Commander reached up, taking the PADD and reviewing it. He nodded slowly as he cleared his throat, handing it back after around two minutes of silence.

"Cadet, nice to have you on board," he said with a smile. "So what are your ambitions for your Starfleet career?"

"Medical mainly, i'm looking to eventually complete medical school, and join a ship as a medical officer. Probably specialise in Emergency Medicine or something like that." He answered, quite blase about the whole question.

The Commander nodded, crossing his fingers on the desk as he nodded to a guest chair. "Take a seat, Cadet. I'm still reviewing some reports."

Turning his attention back to his datapad, the Commander continued his line of questions.

"What interested you about the Poseidon?"

"Well, it's a Cadet cruise, so i'm hoping that there's alot for me to learn here, from everyone. And also there's a lot of cadets here, so i don't feel stupid for asking questions." He answered, taking the offered seat.

"Plenty of cadets here," Franklin agreed. "Lot's of new faces, fresh and full of ideas." He briefly looked up with a smile, then back at his datapad.

"Alright, Cadet Johnson," started Franklin, somewhat amused by having to state his own last name for someone else, "who did you sign aboard to report to under? What was the agreed upon supervisor?"

"A Lieutenant T'Vek was assigned as my mentor." He answered, smiling.

"Ah, T'Vek," mused Franklin with a smile. He looked up to glance at the Cadet. "What was your impressions of serving under a Romulan?"

"I believe it will be an interesting experience. I hope to learn alot from him." Caleb had been told that his mentor was to be a Romulan, and although at first he had been hesitant, he had decided that they may be able to learn something from each other.

Franklin nodded appraisingly, glancing briefly at Caleb. "Any family on board?"

"No sir, Mum and Dad are no longer around, did have a girlfriend at the Academy but we had to end it, due to the distance." He said, feeling a little bit sad at the last comment.

The Commander nodded. "I understand that cadet. Had a girlfriend of sorts of my own when I served on a civvie freighter. Still think about reconnecting. I'd suggest not giving up on that."

A soft sigh, then, "Have you been to our Quartermaster to address your quarters?"

"I will keep that in mind Commander. Thank you. And I had a message from the quartermaster about my quarters, thank you." He answered.

Franklin nodded, setting his datapad down and turning to face the Cadet. "As it turns out, you've come at an opportune time. We're about to head out on our mission soon, sometime within the next few hours. I want you to associate yourself with your department and settle in. It'll be a long journey to our destination, about a few weeks, so if you need to finalize anything now will be the time."

"Thank you Commander. I plan to go and meet the Chief Medical Officer after this." He replied simply.

"Very good," replied Franklin. He sat back, relaxed, and brought up his datapad to observe. An eye flicked up to observe the Cadet, raising an eyebrow. "Is there anything else? If not, you're dismissed."

Caleb smiled. "Thank you. Thank you for having me onboard, and being willing to let me learn more about everything. I really appreciate you taking a chance on me." He said, before standing to leave. "Urm, one more thing, if possible...if you could try not to mention me to much around your Second Officer...we have some, urm, history there." Caleb said, not sure how the CO would take his request. He'd looked at the Command Team of the ship before being bought onboard by shuttle, and had noticed that the 2XO was his ex-girlfriends Mother. He didn't know if she knew about him, but wanted to avoid any drama if possible.

Franklin looked up, gave an expression of positive consideration, then shrugged and nodded. "So long as this request doesn't infringe on normal duties, I'll oblige it."

“Thank you sir, I appreciate your help.” Caleb said, before turning and heading for the door. What could possibly go wrong.

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