Meeting The XO

Posted on Fri Sep 2nd, 2022 @ 1:47am by Captain Alex Shepard & Commander Mei Irizaki

Mission: Dark Star Trilogy - M1: Star Fall
Location: USS Eminence
Timeline: Current

Commander Mei Irizaki sat at the helm of the shuttlecraft as it proceeded towards the Starship Eminence. She was no stranger to being out in deep space and she was happily sitting back in her chair a cup of green tea in her hand.

She glanced next to her, the youngest of her children, twelve year old Kanna snoozed peacefully. The last two years had been tough, with the loss of her husband and Kannas father, she had once vowed to never return to Starfleet. But here she was, and with her youngest in tow.

The helm beeped as the shuttle began to slow. They would be soon arriving at their new home.

[Bridge]

Alex stood on the bridge. She was lost staring at the vast expanse of space while in orbit around Dantari Three. The battle that occurred just a few hours ago could very well have killed everyone on the Eminence and the Falling Star if it hadn't been for the Horizon's intervention. She was thankful and felt that she owed a debt to Captain Phoenix and the rest of the crew of the Horizon.

"Captain. We are receiving a shuttle requesting landing clearance" reported the officer who was currently the ops station.

The Captain didn't respond, for she was spaced out in her thoughts.

"Captain Shepard?" the ops officer said again and a little louder.

She snapped out of it and processed her response from what the ops officer had reported. "A shuttle from the Horizon?" she turned and looked at the Ensign.

"Negative ma'am. It's a shuttle containing our new Executive Officer."

"Understood" she turned to the next ranking officer on the bridge. "You have the conn."

After that, she left for the Main Shuttlebay to yet meet another new XO.

[Shuttlebay]

The runabout entered through the forcefield and touched down gently on the deck. A few seconds later the door on the portside slid open. A young looking woman stepped out quietly, piggy backing a twelve year old girl who was fast asleep.

After walking through the corridors past crew members working hard to repair the ship Alex made it to the shuttlebay. She quickly noticed the runabout that wasn't there before. On many other bigger ships many would have to make more of a search for new arrivals, but since the Eminence's bay was quite small, you could actually distinguish newly arrived shuttles vs ones already there.

Either way, after a few moments of turning her head to spot her new Exec, she finally noticed a woman in a command red uniform with three gold pips. She also noticed the child that she was carrying, which confirmed her suspicions that this was her new first officer. After that, she began to approach Mei.

Mei also noticed the woman walking towards her, and she had four pips on her collar. 'Ah, what I'd give to be that young again' she thought.

"Hello Captain" she said quietly in a slightly hushed tone. "Apologies for this one" she said indicating to the girl on her back. "Kanna has never really travelled well, this long distance trip has totally tired her out"

"It's quiet alright Commander" she said quietly and smiled. "I apologize for the long journey by the way. I only took command almost a week ago and my former XO received transfer orders almost as soon as I took command so I didn't exactly get a choice on an XO or when we'd rendezvous. I'm not complaining though. Especially with an officer as distinguished as you Commander. It is a high honor to serve with you."

Mei simply smiled. "No need for any of that you know. I've been there, got the T-Shirt" she explained with a grin. "I'm just a Commander now, who happened to have been in service before"

"If it's OK with you Captain, would you be kind enough to show me the way to my quarters. I'm going to put Kanna to bed. She's still very young..." she paused for a moment. "By El-Aurian standards anyways..." she smiled endearingly.

"That is alright with me" she smiled lightly. She looked at her PADD she grabbed right before meeting Mei. "I believe your quarters should be on deck two" Alex looked up at Mei. "I'm not sure if Starfleet briefed you while you were in transit, but we had a nasty skirmish with three Undine vessels. If it weren't for the USS Horizon, the SS Falling and this ship would have been lost with all hands. So that is why you'll likely see repair crews everywhere" she sighed.

"Ah the Undine" Mei sighed. "I'm afraid I don't know much about them" she replied. "I had enough time to read the brief and I tried to find out more. However it seems as if Starfleet Intelligence has heavily classified most of the data on them from the USS Voyager".

It didn't take long for them to reach deck two. "Coming in Captain?" She asked as they reached her door. "Have you got any children?" She asked curiously.

Alex laughed quietly as she let Mei go in first. "I never really had the time. Before my first command I was a fighter pilot and then I was in the center seat of the Normandy for more than a decade before passing that ship onto my former XO on that ship. After that I took command here. And my leave of absence in between commands was long, but not long enough to settle down that much."

A cheeky smirk appeared across Mei's face. "Well, there's always time should you wish to one day. Would you mind giving me a hand getting Kanna changed, she's not waking up anytime soon. Plus, she wriggles". She paused for a moment. "Of course you don't have to"

"Sure thing. I honestly don't mind" she answered.

[A few moments later]

Mei had managed to gently remove Kanna off her back and she was now standing, but still sleeping. She seemed to doze as she stated slightly. "Not so fast little miss sleepy head" Mei said in a hushed tone catching her softly.

"Could you hold her up for me. I'll just quickly grab her something to sleep in" Mei asked indicating to the bags that had been beamed in prior. "Just hold her by the shoulders, watching for her legs, she might just 'flop'".

"Understood" she then positioned her hands and arms to hold Kanna by the shoulders. But she did this carefully to not wake her.

Mei began to rustle through the bags and finally pulled out some pajamas for Kanna. "Here we go" she grinned as she returned. "Darn it, its only the shirt. The trousers must be in the other bag"

"Let me just grab them. Can you take her shirt off, don't worry she's got underwear on underneath. We'll knave that on for her. She's not going to notice anyways" Mei said as she pulled over the other bag. "I've dressed many sleepy children before, with four of them my own and several more being of the grandchild variety... or great grandchild... and even great great grandchild..."

Alex raised an eyebrow for a second and then nodded, accepting the request. She wasn't sure that it be her doing this, because she was technically a stranger. But nevertheless, her new XO asked for aide and she was going to provide it. She very carefully began to remove the shirt.

It was at this moment that Kanna stirred enough to wake up. However being only semi-concious, she wasn't really aware if what she was doing or where she was. "Who... you?" She asked sleepily her words slurred slightly.

Alex shot a help me what do I do look towards Mei. She may have been a Captain but she was rather inexperienced with this sort of thing.


"That's Captain Shepard sweetheart. She's helping me put you to bed. We're at our new ship now" Mei said softly as she pulled up Kannas arms and whipped her shirt off quickly.

"Oh... OK..." Kanna said. "Don't look at... my... belly... button. It... sticks out..." she dozed as her eyes fluttered swaying again. Mei smirked before expertly applying Kannas new pajama shirt, buttoning it up from behind quickly and whipping her up off her feet. In a matter of seconds she had her trousers changed and laid her down softly on the bed, pulling the covers over her.

Kanna nestled down into the sheets and rolled over, sleeping soundly. Mei indicated to Alex to follow her into the main room.

The Captain nodded and followed her new second-in-command into the room.

Crossing the room Mei replicated a pot of fresh tea and a large plate of cookies.

"Thanks for your help Captain. My duty as a mother always comes first" she smiled. "So, I guess I should get saying 'reporting as ordered' if that's what they still say?"

"You're welcome Commander" she smiled. "And for the record, many still say that."

"So Captain, now that that's all sorted we can crack down to business" she said. "I read the brief on the way here, sounds like you've been having an interesting time recently"

"You'd be correct" Alex smiled lightly. "Some might say I was thrown right into the fire" she sighed implying the battle in orbit around Dantari Three.

"That can happen with the risk of commanding a starship" Mei commented. "So, as your new XO. What's our next move?" She asked.

"As of now we are awaiting a response from the brass. Both Captain Phoenix and I have sent in our reports of the incident. Other than that, with the help of the Horizon, we need to finish our repairs. The Horizon will also take the lead on helping setup and repair the colony on Dantari Three."

"In other words, besides repairs there is nothing much. Once Starfleet Command contacts Captain Phoenix and I, I'd like you to sit in on the meeting if you can. I have a feeling that it's going to be serious."

Mei nodded. "Understood. That sounds like a good idea" she added.

"Anyways Commander, do you have any other questions?"

Mei pondered for a few moments. "Nothing important at the moment. I'll go through the logs and computer to familiarise myself with the ship and crew tomorrow" she explained. She had done this job before, so she knew where to start.

"Very well" she let a yawn escape. "And I think that may be my own queue to get some rest myself."

Mei took a sip of her tea. "I'll see you on the bridge on the next morning shift then" she replied with a small smile. "I'll spend the rest of the evening getting these bags unpacked and settled in. I'll also find something for Kanna to do during the day, she still needs an education after all. I believe that Starfleet still had training holograms in its database, I'll find one for her level"

"Unfortunately that is one of the drawbacks of ships like the Eminence and my previous command. They don't come with schools like how stations and some capital ships do."

"Indeed" Mei replied. "I'll sort it all out. I'm used to being very busy"

"If you need any help with that just give me a shout Commander" she yawned again. "I really should get going now. I wouldn't want to trip over unconscious on the bridge tomorrow morning" she chuckled as she stood up.

"Sure, thanks" Mei replied with a slight nod. "Thanks for your help Captain"

"You're welcome Commander" she said. "I'll see you around the ship" she replied as she left the room.

Posting by

Captain Alex Shepard
Commanding Officer

Commander Mei Irizaki
Executive Officer