New Faces, New Postings

Posted on Mon Apr 27th, 2015 @ 4:01pm by Captain Elijah Michaels & Commander Cor Cordale

Mission: Now Boarding.......
Location: Starbase 109

Looking out over the promenade of the starbase, the civilian-dressed Thux paused to just admire the scenery. Dozens of people, smiling faces, just going about enjoying their lives. This was something the Thux could relate to. A moment just to enjoy life and the journey.

Of course, he was enjoying this serene moment while enjoying a mug at a rather well built bar dive. Dressed casually at the moment, with a shirt depicting an up and rising heavy metal band from Starbase 240, with its left sleeve neatly removed to ensure that the Thux's prosthetic limb didn't snag on it. Comfy looking loose cargo pants completed the look for the laid back, casual Thux this season.

He was enjoying a personal favorite, and something of a ritual before every new posting: he would always find a local dive, make his way to the bar, and order up a mug. It had the oddest name, though. It had nothing to do with mathematics, and certainly there was no alcohol in it whatsoever...

So why call it Root Beer?

He'd ponder this mystery of the universe later. For now, it was check in time. He resolved his tab, and tipped generously with a salute towards the bartender, before he picked up his duffle with his mechanical limb and made his way to the airlock ring. There, he fished a PaDD out of said duffle to present to the docking guard to verify that this was, indeed, the place.

"Mister Cordale, looks like you're in the right place." the guard gave a smirk. No one accidentally showed up on the wrong ship these days. Cor gave a smirk, "I sure hope so, all my other stuff is an hour and a half ahead of me." and the pair shared a chuckle. "Well, they haven't left yet, so welcome aboard Lieutenant." the guard gave him the standard welcome, and Cor gave a nod back, "Thanks, it's good to feel welcome." and after another chuckle, the Thux padded his way up the access corridor and onto the ship proper.

Now came the universal quandary. These next few minutes were usually the most tense, since Cor had to figure out what kind of Captain this was. Strict and by the book? Loose and fast? Bit of both? It wouldn't make a bearing on how he'd do his job, but it would certainly help to keep things nice and informal. Took the stress off of violating physics, really. His first stop technically was the Quartermaster to get his quarters assigned. A pleasant enough exchange, really. It helped that apparently Thux weren't the weirdest things that this Quartermaster had seen. Comforting, or disturbing, but Cor learned not to poke old potential wounds too deep. Especially not in the first ten minutes of meeting someone. Once assigned, he all but flopped his duffle down on the bed. He'd change into a proper uniform pending the completed transfer.

After claiming his quarters, and making sure that the rest of his stuff arrived neatly, he set out to the Captain. A quick query to the computer system confirmed the Captain's location (And that the computer system was operational). A few trips up a turbolift, and he was on the Bridge.

Someday, Cordale.

Until then, he walked up to the door of the Ready Room and, rather then his usual announcement of actually knocking on the door with his prosthetic limb, he opted to just hit the announcer chime. At least, until he got a feel for this captain.

"Enter!" Eli shouted as he came out of the washroom at the side of Ready Room and looked towards the door as the Chime rang.

The door swished open, and Cor padded in. He took extra care to step lightly, to let his tail slide in before the door closed on it. He'd need to talk to Ops about that *later*, though. He turned to face Eli as he crossed over, and gave a snap to attention. "Lieutenant Cor Cordale, reporting to assume chief engineering duties." he handed over the PaDD with the transfer orders, held in his mechanical limb. "My resume, sir."

Time to see what and who he'd be working with.

"Please have a seat won't you Mr Cordale?" Elijah asked with a smile as he motioned to the seat in front of his desk. "Can I get you anything?"

With a nod, the entire body posture of the Thux relaxed, and he made his way to the chair. Though offered the entire seat, he really only used the edge. Seems most Starfleet chairs weren't designed with thick tails in mind. "I'd kill for a coffee if you're buying sir. Dash of cream, and a teaspoon of cinnamon, please."

Cor was sure to return the Captain's smile, but he was careful not to show teeth. Something about a mouthful of sharp teeth was a real buzzkill.

Elijah got up and proceeded to the Replicator. "Coming right up." The Commander waited merely seconds for the Replicator to produce the beverage before Elijah handed it to Cor. "There we are." which Cor took in his mechanical limb with a nod. "Time to see if this ship can make a decent cuppa."

The Thux gave it a sniff, followed by a longer sniff. "Passes that test." then a sip, and a nod. "Decent. Not saying that coffee is some magic drink that should be replicated only when necessary... but I'm also not saying it's not." and that prompted a smirk. "Sorry, but in my line of work, strong coffee is a must. Long hours, always on duty, brutal working conditions." another sip, and then he raised the mug, "Thanks."

"So can I call you Cor?" Elijah asked the Thux Engineer. "It saves constantly using Cordale or Rank from time to time." Elijah said before sitting back behind his desk.

To that, Cor gave a nod, "Absolutely. I don't think anyone else on the ship has a name even close, so I'll know you're looking for me. I mean, call out Lieutenant and you'll probably get three or four people turning." another sip of coffee, and Elijah could almost watch Cor's body language perk up. His ears perked, his posture straightened, he just actually looked very much awake and aware. "I'll warn you now, I may refer to you as Chief or Boss at some point, especially in the pit." a pause, "That's the Engineering Bay, for the curious. I like to run things in the pit a touch casual. Names, rather than ranks. Folks are easier to approach with a problem when they're a name, so any engineers I'll be chief'ing over won't think I'll bite their faces off when they have to report a problem."

"I just want to clear it that that's alright by your book. If you want a tight ship, well sir... I actually DO have an iron fist."

"I think a mixture of the two is fine." Elijah smiled. "You know I have never served with a Thux before, so I will admit I know very little about you or your Species."

"We're good people. Loyal, strong, friendly. We don't take any sh... gruff, and we watch our friends backs. We... oh man, what else.." he paused and thought, cupping his chin with the only flesh-and-blood hand he had. "I'll level with you sir, I honestly don't know much about my own folks. Earliest memories were a latinum mine. That's where I got this." he raised his mechanical limb. "Not the coffee, I mean. The limb. Got caught in a cave in. Two of my best friends, hell practically brothers, they carved my out of that but it cost me an arm. When I woke up, I had this."

He took a slightly larger than normal swig of his cinnamon coffee. "I bought my contract maybe a year or two later. They didn't make it out of that mine." and just like he perked up before, his whole posture slumped for a moment, before perking back up. "But, no point in being a mopeyThux. Besides, I'll get you a copy of the Book of Thux... once I finish writing it."

"Though, to sum it up, you have a Thux on your side, you're already ahead of the game. Strong, able, loyal, straight forward, clever, dashing, and did I mention rugged good looks?" and at that, Cor gave a chuckle.

"Well then my Engine Room is in good hands." The Commander laughed, enjoying the more laid back attitude of the new Chief Engineer. "Are there any things you require from me whilst we are chatting Cor?" Eli asked him. "About the Ship or our Mission?"

"Well, she's a Sovereign, so that pretty much says everything that doesn't need saying. Send in the big guns to boldly go and all that." another sip. "I'll need a few days to work out her thresholds. Every ship is a little different in what they can and can't give, but that's boring reactor stuff. I'll take care of that myself. As for anything I need from you, that may come later. There a lot of small after-market touch ups and modifications that can be made to a ship to squeeze out a little extra performance. If I see anything that looks like it needs a little love, I'll make a list and fire it your way. That'd be an ongoing thing, to be honest." he looked around, "The folks who build these ships rarely have to fly around in them."

"The mission, I figure we'll find out more about that on the way, so I'll wait for the full disclosure. Or, as full a disclosure as you have at the time." he added. "Outside of that, I'm pretty good to go. I'll go change into a proper uniform, get a feel for the idle reactor, and see where we go from there."

"All I ask in return, is limit miracle requests to one a week?" he was half-joking.

Elijah noticed the half joke. "We can see what happens......"

Cor gave a nod, and finished his coffee with a final swig. "That's all I have the right to ask for. Got a good feeling about this." and he reached across the table to offer his living hand to Elijah in the universal sign of the handshake. "Looking forward to working with you."

"Likewise." The Commander smiled as he shook Cor's hand. "I'll leave you to carry on with your duties and settling in lieutenant."

A firm, but not intimidatingly so, handshake was given before Cor allowed Elijah to have his hand back. "You'll have a readiness report within the hour." and with that, and the implied dismissal, Cor set his empty coffee cup in the replicator for matter recycling before he set out.

Elijah stood and watched the Thux Engineer leave his Ready Room. He had a feeling that good things would come from his new Engineer and his attitude was impressive indeed.