Head of Operations

Posted on Thu Mar 16th, 2023 @ 10:26pm by Captain Charlotte Rhodes & Lieutenant Jackson Rutledge II & Lieutenant Subat
Edited on on Tue Mar 28th, 2023 @ 11:36pm

976 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Episode 0: New Sheriff in Town
Location: Ready Room, USS Defiant
Timeline: MD 10

Having just come aboard ship, Rutlidge went to the bridge to report in. Stepping off the turbolift, he stopped in front of the captain, who was sitting in her chair. "Lieutenant Jackson Rutlidge, reporting for duty, captain."

The Captain finished her final review of the days systems report, added her approval, and handed it to her yeoman. The ship was in fine working order, with the notable exception of a single EPS Flow Regulator. The device was quite new, but the signs of a manufacture defect were already showing. Engineering teams would need to take half of the Deck 11 corridors offline to swap it out. Thankfully, they weren't in a situation that would make that a cause for concern.

Her mind back on the moment, Rhodes looked up at the newly arrived officer in red with a smile. "Welcome aboard, Lt. Rutlidge. Follow me to my Ready Room, if you would." She gave a nod to the older Vulcan Science officer. "You have that conn, Mr. Subat."

The two officers made their way across the bridge to the doors on by the comm station and entered the Captain's Ready Room. Rhodes made her way over to the desk, and gestured toward one of the seats across from her. "So I hear you're here to head up my Operations Department?"

"Yes, captain." He sat in one of the chairs. "I graduated with honors in ship's operations, and I've had some experience before coming here."

"So I've heard," Charlotte said settling in and leaning back a bit in her seat. "So Mr. Rutlidge, what has brought you out here to Defiant? She's a fine new ship, but we are pretty far out here on the frontier."

"My first ship, out of the Academy, was the USS Polk. My assignment was as a junior operations officer. The assignment taught me a lot about the workings of the post. I was transferred to the USS Boxer, as a assistant Operations officer. I was under Lieutenant Commander Doug Collins. The commander gave me the opportunity to be the lead Operations officer for the day shift for 2 weeks. In that time, I learned a lot from him. That's where I got the promotion to Lieutenant. When I learned about the opening here, I immediately applied. As far as being out on the frontier, that's where the adventure is, captain."

"Adventure indeed," Charlotte replied with a smile. "Well, Collins still speaks highly of you. Apparently the Boxer hasn't quite been as efficient since you left. I can't say I feel too badly though. Defiant could use some of that efficiency, especially with how many interim positions we have open still."

She went to take a sip from her mug but found it frustratingly empty. She'd finished her first coffee a few hours ago and kept returning to it as if the answer would change. "Seems its time for round 2. You drink coffee? Tea?"

"Tea would be fine, iced, green, in a glass, please," Rutlidge replied.

The Captain returned from the wall mounted food synthesizer with 2 glasses. "The best synthetic tea this side of the quadrant," she teased, setting the tea on the table and taking a sip of her own coffee. "I think you'll find the ship to be in impressive working order. She's only a few months out of dock and her tech is top of the line. That being said though, we have been a bit short handed so your department will have their hands full for a bit."

Jackson picked up and sipped his tea. "How many people are in the Operations Department?"

"Just over 3 dozen dedicated crew, with some cross divisional support staff shared with either Engineering. Operations covers a fairly wide range of roles. You get the benefit of one of the larger teams," Charlotte slid a pad across to him, showing a list of the Operations duties and current assigned staff. "On Defiant, your team covers a good number of systems. Communications, Transporters, Environmental System, Power Regulation, Systems like the Tractor Beam and more. And that's before even getting into the shared roles like Sensors, Auxiliary Vehicle Coordination, and such. You guys are the glue that holds this whole thing together."

Jackson looked over the personnel and expected duties that would fall under his department. "Looks like many of my staff, including myself, will be working double shifts a lot, captain."

"The goal is actually to avoid double shifts by having other departments supplement. We're also supposed to be receiving additional personnel within the week," the Captain said, trying to assuage some concern. "But yes, it's going to be a little tight for a bit. My personal recommendation is that you run skeleton crews for standard or even shorter shifts, rather than working everyone for extended ones. I will ultimately leave it up to you though, unless things start to get out of hand."

"Skeleton crews make sense, until we get more people. And I'll work as hard as my people, have to let them see that I am with them at all times." Rutlidge looked at the repair requests on his padd. "Guess I should get to work, captain. Permission to be dismissed?"

"Oh, of course," the Captain said, sitting up a bit straighter. She'd have to get to know her officer later. "Make sure you take time to get yourself settled into your quarters before you get too deep into your work. Don't want you getting burned out too early."

"I'll have more than enough time to get settled at the end of my shift, but thank you for mentioning it, captain." Jackson stood up and headed for the door. When he left her Ready Room, he thought to himself. Come on Jackson, time and tide wait for no man. And with that, he was off to the next repair on his list.

 

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