The Winds of Fate

Posted on Wed Sep 24th, 2014 @ 6:25am by Captain Torilla Yamaguchi
Edited on on Tue Oct 7th, 2014 @ 8:28pm

2,305 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Mission 86 - Discovery
Location: Strategic Ops Offices - Starbase 400
Timeline: MD-6

"The Winds of Fate"

Lt Commander Torilla Yamaguchi
Ensign Meslina Amakawa

Music Soundtrack: Astronauts - Armageddon

***** Strategic Ops Offices - Starbase 400 *****

Lt Commander Torilla Yamaguchi sighed softly as she recalled why she hated wearing skirts on duty as they would sometimes ride up her legs, she proceeded to push back her chair as she stood up so she could adjust her skirt.

One of the officers under her command, a male named Lieutenant Tom Stamper who used to be a pilot until he had declared he'd had enough of the warrior's life and wanted something else, he watched her as she sorted out her skirt, he didn't drool over her as many men would, he simply stood, impassive.

She sighed as she sat back down again. "Sorry Tom, go on with what you were saying." she commented softly.

Stamper was clearly used to the unusual nature of his Commanding Officer. "Yes. well I was wondering if we could deploy more ships into the triangle, a bigger presence might help us, considering that two Federation Capital ships were engaged, one of them was severely damaged."

Torilla nodded. "Alright.. lets me have a look." as he handed the older woman the PADD, she looked it over. "Alright.. I'll review it and then pass it along to the Admiral with my own notes attached to it." she commented.

"Thank you sir. What do you got for me?"

"My my, eager aren't you?"

"No sir... just bored is all."

She smiled as she lifted a small stack of PADD's. "okay. deal with these please." and she handed them off to him.

"You'll have them back in two hours, with your permission sir?"

"Go on." and with that she watched as Stamper turned and departed her office, to be replaced by a shorter Asian looking woman, she looked shorter then her youngest daughter.

Torilla regarded the shorter woman. "What can I do for you Ensign?"

Meslina came to attention in front of her new Commanding Officer and gave a prompt salute. "Ensign Meslina Amakawa reporting for duty, I have arrived here about 3 days ago however you were away on a shakedown mission so I haven't been able to start my new post as of yet." Thinking about it Meslina didn't find it prudent to add that she has already meet her daughter as of yet.

"However that being said I want you to understand that I haven't just been sitting by idle that whole time, I have set up my new quarters and have been exploring the station as to get a feel for where things are located that way if there is an emergency I will be able to act with swiftness and efficiency." Meslina stared at Torilla trying to get a feel of what this woman will be like, though it was becoming evident that she will have to work with this individual more than make a guess.

Torilla smiled. "Finally, they send me someone to alleviate my boredom." as she indicated a chair which moved backwards from her desk on its own as Torilla regarded the smaller Ensign. "I'm not human Ensign... and I am unusual. Allow me to demonstrate." as she grinned.

A small picture of her husband jumped off up, off of the desk and stopped dead in midair. "Please tell me... you read me file?"

Not surprised at all from the picture coming off the wall from what she had already seen of Rachael's abilities Meslina answered promptly, "I have had a chance to glance it over while you where away and most say that it will be an honor to work with someone with your impressive record."

Moving to sit in the chair she also noticed that the older woman was grinning a little. "Um, Ma'am is there something the matter?"

Torilla's grin only widened. "Only your assignment. Now.. what should I make you do?" the lager woman smiled evilly at the Ensign. "Lets see... there is the paperwork for the Ares sector which is piling up." she mused as she slipped the painting back to where it belonged. "But before I put you to work.... tell me a little about yourself... something not included in this.." she held up a PADD, referring to her service record.

Looking at the area that Torilla had motioned towards for the paperwork that needed to be done Meslina was happy to final be able to start some work. "I'd be happy to get started on the paperwork for you Ma'am, plus it will give me an idea of how things are run on the station."

As for the other part of her statement Meslina thought about it for a moment, then spoke up. "Permission to speak freely Ma'am?" She asked as her new CO whom kept giving her that evil smile.

Torilla didn't react with any measure of surprise. "I recommend you make it a practice Ensign, I give all my people the agility to speak freely, because without the ability to speak freely, how can you tell me anything?."

Meslina just tilted her head to the side slightly at that response. This was coming from someone who gave off an air of command and respect yet however at the same time had kind of a motherly feel to her. "Very well Ma'am, sorry to say that my life has been rather dull what you see in that report is pretty much all that there is to my life for the moment. I haven't had the chance to go out and do many 'great deeds' and whatnot but I plan on doing something with my life so that I will be more than a record in history."

Meslina cringed a little to herself as she prepared for a full onslaught of verbal whiplash when she said this next part. "Though to be honest there has been a few things that have happened in my life and they are very personal and no offense to you or anyone on this station but I don't know you and for that reason I will not discuss certain things until I've felt that I can trust you. I made that mistake once and will not do it again."

Torilla's smile did not depart her face but she knew of a great many officers who would have taken offense to that statement. She could count a great many on the base as well as a few of her friends among them. "We all have things we care not to talk about Ensign. This doesn't mean I think less of you... telling me what you said takes guts, especially after meeting my husband and youngest.... both spoke well of you."

Slightly surprised at that comment but not letting it show upon her features other than nodding slightly, "Thank you, Ma'am."

"There isn't much that happens on base that I don't know about. People seem to like me for some reason... " she shrugged as she regarded the shorter woman. "Can I get you anything to eat or drink?" she inquired. "I was about to have a working lunch myself." she turned to the replicator behind her. "Two sausage rolls with cheese, warm with a glass of orange punch." she commented.

The dish appeared, she plucked both of them out of the replicator as she placed them on the desk before her. "I also did some tweaking to this particular replicator."

Looking at the food that was just placed on the desk Meslina realized that she was getting slightly hungry again. "Uh I know I shouldn't eat that much but I think I will have just a small bowl of Cherry ice cream with vanilla topping." She says to the replicator as it appeared she took it and the smell was enough to calm her down a little.

"Again Ma'am I will do my best to serve you as your new assistant, however that being said I'm still trying to remember all the locations on board this station. I've mostly been on a star ship and or planet side with a small base, so being on something of this size can be slightly overwhelming. I've gotten lost several times already and had to ask someone to point me in a semi- correct direction since the computer was making me more lost than before." She said as she looked at her ice cream watching it blend together as she poked at it.

Yamaguchi nodded as she lifted her drink as she took a sip. "Mmm... I know exactly how that feels... a base this size can be overly intimidating, I get lost myself from time to time." she admitted. "I don't expect you to know everything, if you did then I would be elsewhere." Yamaguchi commented.

Slightly confused at that Meslina looked up from her ice cream. "What do you mean Ma'am?, I am not really sure I fully understand."

"You do but you don't wish to offend me." Yamaguchi responded. "How old are you Ensign?" the older and much larger woman inquired. "I'm willing to guess about my age.... despite appearances." she paused a moment. "My job is rather simple, coordinate Starfleet forces in this area of the Federation, help with Starfleet intelligence's job here with the same and I work closely with Starfleet Operations and Starfleet Tactical in regards to combat situations, I also develop new combat tactics for ground and space combat." Yamaguchi explained "Its a fun job.. and now that I have an apprentice... so to speak..."

"I just turned 37 as of March Ma'am." Meslina spoke with honesty not ashamed of her age even if she was much smaller than most of the other people that she has worked with in the past. "Also if you think I am offending you in any way I don't mean it, at least I try not to offend anyone. First off it's not right and second it's not my place to do so unless someone really ticks me off." Her face became a little flush with embarrassment at the idea of her possibly offending her new boss on the first day of meeting her.

"I've worked in many different fields of relief and tactical during my time in Starfleet so I have a basic idea of what to do, though I am willing to bet that it will be much more different from what I did on planet side." Meslina stated simply. "As for being an apprentice I don't know if that would be the correct term for it, but I suppose it flows well enough."

"Hey its better then minion or lackey." Yamaguchi commented. "Your main goal will be keeping me sane, the next nine months will be a concern because of my condition." she explained. "I'm pregnant Ensign... "

Thinking for a moment, "Hmm...I see how that could prove...difficult. But worry not Ma'am I will do my best to help keep you sane and provide a helping hand with other task if need be. Though to be honest I've never worked with a pregnant woman before now so I will have to just go by my basic training that we had at Starfleet to help me."

Yamaguchi regarded the smaller woman. "Serving with me will be easy. Just remember not to treat me like I'm made of glass and we'll get along fine."

Meslina understood that well enough, nodding she spoke "I understand quite well. Also I'm sure it will be a good experience for me, and one other thing I may be an Ensign but I ask that you treat me with the same respect and don't treat me like a fine piece of glass just because I'm small."

Yamaguchi's grin widened, someone who had fire and had a spine, at last she felt she had someone who could tell her to her face exactly what she was thinking and not be subtle about it. Torilla could not have been happier. "At last someone who speaks their mind... and not a statue." she commented. "I think we have an accord..."

Meslina gave a similar smile to match that of her superior officer's, "that was just how my parents have raised me Ma'am. Not to mention I've seen what silence has done in the past and it's never something that has turned out to be good." The next part she thought about for a minute before speaking about it, though Torilla couldn't have known that she was talking about something else entirely but the concept still applied. "At least some of it, there are some things that need to be held silent."

Torilla regarded the smaller woman before her. "Fair enough..." she commented evenly. "You'll be assisting me with paperwork, more or less day to day stuff... I won't have you doing everything for me... I will have you looking after things while I'm out of the office, you'll also be handling your own paperwork as well..." she paused. "as my assistant, you may find yourself commanding strategic ops when I'm off the Starbase which seems to happen with quite alarming frequency." the larger woman commented evenly, she crossed her arms over her chest as she regarded the smaller woman. "Any questions?"

Meslina couldn't think of anything at the moment so she just shook her head, "no Ma'am not that I can think of right this moment. So if that will be all I will get started on those reports right away for you and have them done with in the next hour." She went over and started to pick up the Padds and glance over a few as she did, standard tactical reports that was common for any starfleet operation this far out.

"Nope. nothing further." Yamaguchi responded evenly, she watched the other woman gather the PADD's on the desk before her as a smile slowly appeared on her face.

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