Pastures New
Posted on Mon Mar 20th, 2023 @ 2:54pm by Captain Marc Kidd & Commander Abernathy Rice PhD & Lieutenant JG Andrew Griffin
Edited on on Mon Mar 20th, 2023 @ 2:59pm
0 words; about a 1 minute read
Mission:
The Hunt Begins
Location: Ready Room - Deck 3 - USS Artemis
Timeline: MD003 1500 hrs
-Transport Shuttle-
If Andy was a dog his tail would be wagging. After three weeks of virtually biting his nails. The transfer orders had at last come through. He was to report to Captain Marc Kidd ASAP. This meant a few quick hugs before a hasty dash to board the transport shuttle.
“ Now come on brother we must absolutely must throw you a leaving party.” His Brother had said.
“ No time. The shuttle leaves at 11am. Sorry Bo.” Andy replied
Which was probably for the best. His brother liked to pull pranks on Andy. The last thing he needed. Was to arrive on the Artemis with bright blue hair.
The journey did not take long. Soon he arrived at the ships location. Once he presented his padd with his transfer orders. He was shown to the Captain.
Marc had finally found some brief relaxation time and for him that meant a meal. Something he learned in a previous assignment was that it was always better to plan over a meal. As such he had a nice breakfast spread out in the Ready Room as he and his XO planned what the next step was. "Thus far I am happy that Admiral Ford has kept his hands out of what we are trying to accomplish here."
Abe nodded, as he took a sip of his coffee, "life, my friend, has taught me to be careful of that one. Admiral Ford might be quiet, but I seriously doubt he is gone."
When the doors swished open without a chime Marc assumed that the Yeoman must have allowed the person in. The man who entered looked as if he was more at home playing music than aboard a starship.
“Lieutenant Junior Grade Andrew Roland Griffin. Reporting for duty sir!” He said standing to attention.
"At ease Lieutenant. Please have a seat and help yourself to some breakfast. Welcome aboard the Artemis." Marc said as he sipped his coffee.
“Thank you, Captain. I would like to apologize for my tardy appearance. I did not get my transfer orders until literally an hour before the transport shuttle was due to leave.I had to pack and run.A pastry and a mug of coffee would go down a treat. Had to miss breakfast plus the replicators on the shuttle only dished out hot chocolate.I am not very keen on chocolate of any kind really.” Andy explained.
Rice had just popped a small morsel of food into his mouth when the Officer's comment about skipping breakfast rang out throughout his head. Abe quietly swallowed the bite of food, and blushed as he spoke, "Welcome to the Artemis, Lieutenant." Abe cleaned his hands on the napkin and extended his right hand, "Abernathy Rice," he smiled, "ship's XO."
“Good to me you sir. My that is quite a good spread so many delicious things. Sorry, have a bad habit to babble when I am hungry. As I said it was a mad rush to get on the Transport Shuttle. Missed breakfast due to the replicators on the shuttle being poor to vomit inducing. You even have butter croissants my favourite. This coffee smells like nectar. You can’t beat a good old Earth blend. Not like that stuff the Klingons drink.” Andy said.
"Well like I said help yourself." Marc began and sipped his coffee. "In truth a good rachtijino can go a long way when the bolt is needed. Now it sounds like your journey here was not one of the best. I remember those days when transfers were quick and dirty. Now tell us what brings you to our little corner of the galaxy?" Marc pointed to the seat once again.
Andy took a sip of his coffee and a nibble of his croissant as he sat down.
“This coffee be good…..sorry sometimes my East coast of England accent pokes through. I needed a new challenge. Don’t get me wrong Captain DS9 was a good posting. But I began to feel there had to be more to life in Star-fleet security. Then dealing with drunken Klingons and bar brawls in Quarks. I needed a more challenging posting. Like you have here on the Artemis. The idea of being part of a team investigating crimes. Putting together a puzzle through forensics. At the academy in my final year I helped to find the Gorn Ambassadors missing Gornling son.” Andy replied hoping he had not said to much.
"Excellent! Glad to see that you are ready for the chase. You will be partnered with Lieutenant Sorine so I would make sure you introduce yourself to her. Our investigations will run a lot like the old police investigations. The two of you will be working together in just about everything." Marc began to explain how he expected things to operate.
Andy nodded.
“ Understood sir. What type of investigation is Lieutenant Sorine working on?” He asked.
"Nothing at the moment I just wanted you to be aware that you will be partnering with her. Did you not follow this style in your past assignments?" Marc was pretty sure that he had not. Most departments did not use this old style of investigation.
“To be honest, sir. On DS9 I was mostly part of large group. Unless it was keeping an eye on a prisoner in the brig. We once had a member of the Klingon council who got drunk and threatened to kill Quark. I was part of the team assigned to make sure that did not happen. Although at the academy I did pair up with a senior tutor. To help search for the missing Gorn ambassador gornling son.” Andy confessed.
Abernathy took a sip of his coffee as he set the fork down in front of him, "it's a good system for investigations," he hoped he didn't sound too inexperienced; to be honest, he had very little experience in security investigations. I do like how you said through forensics," he smiled, "but I could be a bit biased there." He leaned back in his chair, "and I can't imagine babysitting a drunk Klingon," he shuddered to think of the possibilities.
Griffin took another sip of his drink.
“Actually it was not that bad. He liked Klingon opera and insisted we listened to him singing. He had quite a good singing voice as it happens. For someone who could behead a person with one punch. The problem was his wife she did not take kindly to us incarcerating her husband. She sent her sons to spring him and we had to jail them as well. She almost decapitated our team leader.” Andy said
"Well anyone who can take on a drink Klingon and their family can join my team anytime they want. As I may have stated our mission is a mixed bag of sorts. We are going to be doing a lot of investigation of course. However, we should be assigned some standard missions as well. I am glad to see that you have a passion for investigations. That is the kind of people we would like aboard the Artemis." Kidd took the last few bites of his food when he finished speaking.
“As a kid growing up in England, I was always interested in crime stories . Unfortunately, in my early years it was more for inspiration. But I never did anything really bad.When I got older this changed of course. A tutor at my boarding school was a big fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. She kind of let my candle of enthusiasm for crime detection. I used to read the Sherlock Holmes novels from back to back. I marvelled at the way crimes were solved. Way back in those days when forensic investigation was in its infancy. Just think no computers no electronics just a magnifying glass and the human brain.” Andy replied.
"With a lot of what we are doing, we are going to have to rely on our brains more than the computers. Very often we will be chasing people who have evaded the technology for quite some time." Marc replied with some enthusiasm of his own. He rather enjoyed the exuberance for investigation that Griffin had.
Security Investigations were not his background, he preferred the quiet of the lab over the mess of people, but Abe was finding the discussion rather interesting, especially the reference to Holmes. "To quote Holms, crime is common. Logic is rare," he stated, "things may have changed a lot over decades, but the desired outcome is still the same."
“ Excellent. I often feel tech gets in the way of an investigation. My parents had a problem on their kelp farm. The computer kept coming up with the wrong formula to cure it. So they tried a home grown remedy. Completely against what the computer said. It worked and the problem went away.” Andy said.
"An old fashioned approach how truly Holmesian. Now that is something that we can use. Would truly come in useful if we are in a situation where all technology is gone or rendered useless. Now, I wonder do you have any questions for us?" Marc finished up his food. The more he spoke to this Lieutenant the more he liked him.
“ With most criminal investigations it’s a mixture of different departments joining together. Even though my position is in security as a criminal investigator. Will I be assigned out to say forensic science or medical should the need come about?” Andy asked.
"You will indeed be assigned to assist in various capacities. One of the most common is providing protection and security for the Medical Examiner and the CSI teams while the do their respective jobs. Keep in mind that we are also a normal starship. Which means that on top of criminal investigation you will have to perform normal security functions." Marc replied with a smile. He was impressed with the kind of questions that the Lieutenant had been asking.
“ You said this is also a normal starship. I was just wondering will any of our missions be exploration or are we just specialising in crime? Once I have fitted into the Artemis family and you know I can be trusted.Will I also be helping in any investigations?” Andy asked.
"I am sure that if we are in the right place at the right time as they say. We will have some exploration missions. Our main mission is criminal investigation and prosecution. However, there is not a lot of crime out there, or at least we hope there is not a lot of crime out there." Marc smiled. "So, when there is no crime we will have time to make great discoveries."
“ That is good to hear. Apart from the odd artifact turning up on Bajor, I did not do much exploring. Just guard things, really or as I said, stopping drunken fights.” Andy said
Abe nodded, "I hope we don't have too many of those to worry about," he thought back to his time aboard the station. That was the last thing that he needed, drunken crew members.
"Well Lieutenant I do not want to keep you from settling in. Welcome aboard the Artemis and welcome to the hunt." Marc said with a smile. He watched as the new crew member left. "I feel like we are going to have to keep an eye on him. He is going places as the old saying went." He said to his XO as they returned to their friendly conversation.
A Joint Post By
Lieutenant Junior Grade Andrew Griffin
Criminal Investigations Officer, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
Commander Abernathy Rice PhD
Executive Officer, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
Captain Marc Kidd
Commanding Officer, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
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