Suprises and Starfleet: Like Bread and Butter

Posted on Thu Jul 28th, 2011 @ 11:53pm by Chief Petty Officer Hugh O'Reily Jr.

394 words; about a 2 minute read

The funny thing, in my opinion at least, about being enlisted in Starfleet for so long is that it quite often throws you a curve ball every now and then. And boy, did it ever throw one toward me!

No sooner had the Syracusia off loaded my family and I to Starbase 400 then I was called to report to the USS Yorktown. A crewman, who's name I can't remember at this time, was nice enough to escort my family to their new quarters as I boarded the ship for-to my utter surprise-a trip to Earth of all places. I would be lying if I said I wasn't thrilled about the voyage. The fact that I'm even on the Yorktown...words couldn't describe my elation.

Being a quartermaster is new to me. I always thought of the position as being the ultimate jack of all trades job. One thing I shouldn't be surprised at is the fact that I landed this job. Looking back at my career, I certainly moved around a bit. From Damage Control on the Oslo, Search and Rescue on the Renegade, Engineer's Mate on the Romania, Boatswain's Mate at Starbase Seventy Four, and the temporary-if you could almost two years 'temporary'-Boatswain again on Starbase 74. If all that moving around built up my ability to handle my current job, then fate...luck...whatever you want to call it has dealt me a good hand.

They've assigned me to the transporter room, which is perfectly in my job description. The confusing thing to me right now is, am I the quartermaster of the Yorktown, or the entire station? My orders were quite non-specific. And since I report to the executive officer rather than the operations officer, my place has not yet been solidified, since the XO isn't aboard the Yorktown. They needed a man in the transporter room...and I was it.
Interesting note: Master Chief Bryant Wright is aboard. My father served with him once, and told me that he was 'the enlisted man's enlisted man'. I'll have to pick his brain latter, maybe he remembers old Hugh O'Reily Senior. Then again a man who's been around as long as he has is certainly prone to forget a name and face or two. Eh, on second thought, there would be no forgetting Hugh 'salty dog' O'Reily.

-PO 1st Class Hugh O'Reily Jr.

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