The King's Speech

Posted on Thu Aug 13th, 2020 @ 11:12am by Captain Dyllon McMahon & Lieutenant JG Rogi Sutan

702 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: State of the Union
Location: Bridge/Flight Deck, USS Ganymede
Timeline: Prime

Location: USS Ganymede Bridge

Dyllon looked up to the young Bajoran officer who was standing at attention in front of him.

"Stand easy, lieutenant. Congratulations on your promotion," Dyllon said with a smile.

Sutan looked towards his Captain and made eye contact. Did he just hear that right, or were his ears playing tricks on him? Did the Captain really just mention a promotion? Sutan almost couldn’t believe it. He had only been a member of the crew for a few days. They hadn’t even left DS9 in the time he’d been aboard!

Dyllon stood up, "I'm going to be blunt. Our former chief helmsman had to be called back to Vulcan for a personal matter, and as his assistant, you are the only person in this sector rated to pilot a Titan class starship, let alone one with a slipstream drive. You also had the time in grade to be promoted, so things lined up. I have full confidence in your abilities, else you would not be standing here. But running a department is an entirely different beast than just piloting a starship. I look forward to seeing how you rise to the occasion."

“Sir, I...” Sutan could hardly find the words to express how he was feeling at that moment in time. “... I will try my very hardest not to let you down. I know I’m new here, and still relatively new to Starfleet, but I’ll prove to you that your confidence in me is justified.” And with that, Sutan stood up tall to attention once again.

Dyllon glanced down at the chair console to view the chronometer, "1345. You better head down to the light deck. I'll be down shortly."

Location: Flight Deck

Dyllon stepped out onto the flight deck. The roughly 350 crew stood in formation, packed tightly. They were each separated into their different departments, with their department heads standing in front. In front of all stood Chief Shraa. Dyllon walked up to the podium where Commander K'Rah'San awaited him.

As he approached, Chief Shraa bellowed, "Captain on deck!" and snapped to attention. The assembled officers also snapped to attention, mostly in unison.

Dyllon approached the podium, "Stand easy. I'm going to make this as short as possible so we can all get back to work."

Dyllon looked around, and then at K'Rah'San, and then back to those assembled.

"First of all, I would like to welcome you all to the Ganymede. It's been a lot of work getting to this point, and we've still got a lot more work to do. This is one of the first dedicated exploration missions since the end of the war. I'm very excited to get back to what we're good at: exploring. And I hope you are, too."

Dyllon cleared his throat, and took a sip of the coffee that someone had placed on the podium for him.

"My hope is that we meet a lot of new friends in our journeys. But, as Starfleet officers, we know that is not always the case. While the slipstream drive does place us closer to home, we will still be on our own. I need everyone to be their best. I need you all to watch each other's backs. If you do good work, and follow my orders, we will have the best chance at everyone coming home at the end of this mission."

"We were promised safe passage through the occupied territories of the Cardassian Union. It seems that may have been a promise the Detapa Council could not make. As such, relief supplies have not been able to make it to Cardassia. We've agreed to take a shipment of industrial replicators to Cardassia. However, the road there may be bumpy. There are a few local Cardassian warlords who are unhappy with the allied occupation, and a new Maquis faction has established itself among the border worlds. As such, we need to be ready if things turn sideways."

Dyllon paused to take another drink.

"I have utmost confidence in every single one of you. We disembark at 0900 hours tomorrow morning. Everyone stay frosty, and get to work. Chief, you may dismiss at your pleasure."

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