Meeting the new Helm

Posted on 12 Oct 2020 @ 5:28am by Ensign Adam Morgan

Mission: R&R - after facing the Planet Killer
Location: The Medusa's Head.
3013 words - 6 OF Standard Post Measure

There was news about a new helmsman who had been instrumental of keeping an attacking Cetea ship from going after the Andromeda. His name was Adam Morgan. Michael was interested in meeting him, give a hand in welcoming him aboard the Andromeda.

"Computer, what is the location of Ensign Morgan?"

"Ensign Morgan is in his quarters," came the sterile reply to the officers inquiry.


Ensign Morgan's Quarters

Adam Morgan layed there on the bed and stared off into the bulkheads above him. He had to wonder on how he would ever get any rest with his mind wandering and the fact that he wasn't even tired. Not to mention the pain receptors firing every now and then on the damaged skin he had gotten from the explosion on the transport.

He was glad to have the doctor's administrations of the graphts on his damaged skin, but in reality, he could real feel the scars that were left, even though they weren't noticable to the naked eye. He sighed a moment and was about to turn over hoping to get some kind of rest when the chime to his quarters rang out. Adam looked around then propped himself up to a sitting position to answer the ring.

"Come."

Hawkins stepped inside, letting his eyes adjust to the dim lighting of Morgan's quarters.

"Looks like I disturbed your sleep. Just wanted to see how you are doing, but, I can find out later." Hawkins remarked, looking like he was getting ready to exit the quarters. "I'm Hawkins."

Morgan stood from his bed and spoke as he was still in his uniform. It seemed wrinkled but all in all, he was good with it. He looked at the officer who just stepped into his quarters and spoke, "Oh that's all right." Morgan moved away from the bed, "Couldn't really sleep anyway."

Morgan spoke again as he moved towards Hawkins, "I'm Morgan. Adam Morgan. Good to meet you."

Holding out his hand for Adam to shake, "Likewise. You certainly had a lot to deal with on your way here. Glad you arrived when you did, that took some nerves of steel and a cool head for you to deal with that whole situation. " a pause then Michael stated, "Have you had any chance to grab some grub?"

As Adam looked at the tall and lean looking officer, Adam couldnt help notice a sudden twinkle in the grey eyes that were staring at him. Or was it the light just making them do that? Adam snapped back the thought and spoke as he patted his stomach a bit,

"Well after all the fancy flying, not to mention a close to death experience that the Doc stated to me, I'm certainly famished." He continued, "Besides, i have been looking forward to seeing the crew lounge here on this Galaxy bird."

"The Medusa's Head, good place to get food, drink, and meet some of the crew. Let's get going shall we?"

Michael leading the way," I used to be the Chief Operations Officer, but am now the Chief of Engineering." He waved to several other crew members as he and Adam passed by, they gave a wave back. "We've got a good crew here. I haven't met all of them yet, but maybe... I will" he laughed. "I have met the command staff though. A good bunch."

Morgan smiled at the man as they walked the corridor. He looked at the bulkheads and the various crew they passed by and he spoke, "I'm sure they all are a good bunch." He kept his pace with Hawkins as they entered the nearest turbolift. "And I'm sure ill try and fit in on a starship again."

As Hawkins made the gesture and talk for the computer to take the lift to the right place and once in motion, Morgan spoke again hoping not to made a bad impression earlier with his introduction, "Oh by the way, I am the new chief helm officer for this ship? Any pointers since you were once Ops?"

Michael glanced at Morgan, when he heard the comment of trying to fit in on a starship.

"You sound like you've got a story to tell." he remarked. "I did read on the roster of new assignments, that you are the new helm personnel and also there have been the tales of your bravery. Hence my previous comments at your quarters. " he smiled in a warm and friendly manner.

The lift doors opened to deck 10 where The Medusa Head Lounge was located. Stepping out, Michael continued,

"My friend, the previous Helmsman, he was injured during that battle with the Planet Killer and the other various people who were claiming it belonged to them. Sadly, he had to be sent to where he could recover more fully." his voice trailed off for a moment, as his eyes had a distant look to them. He shook his head slightly, as if to clear it, focusing his attention back on Morgan once more.

"My pointers are this, get to know the crew, don't close yourself off from them. Everyone has their own sort of quirks so, bear with them. Be forgiving if there are mistakes made."

They arrived at the entrance of The Medusa Head Lounge where Michael stopped, "Here we are, entrez-vous?"

Just then a couple of female crew walked by, Michael giving them a slight bow. "Greetings ladies." giving them a smile, then when they passed, he stepped inside. "There are some tables I can see, take your pick and we can get something to eat."

Hawkins seemed legit on his words as they stepped through the corridor and down the hall towards the Medusa Head Lounge, but Morgan knew that most never knew his whole story because of Starfleet Intelligence. He spoke as they entered the lounge together, "I suppose your right Ensign," he stated suddenly acting formal as he could.

As the two stepped up to one of the viewports and sat down at the two seater table, Morgan looked out the port only to see the Starbase he came from as they orbited the station. He watched as other starships were about and as he watched a couple runabouts zip by into the main base itself, Morgan overheard Hawkins placing an order of food to the waiter that was suddenly at their table.

"Roast beef sandwich, with au jus, sauteed onions. Mashed potatoes and gravy, salad with thousand island dressing. For dessert apple pie ala mode. For the drink a pitcher of lemonade, please." Michael requested of the waiter, who then turned to Morgan to take his order.

Morgan looked up at the waiter who was dressed in a standard blue civilian garb and Morgan spoke with a smile, "I would like a big bowl of pasta. Rigatoni with a meat sauce, grated mozza on top with a side of garlic bread." He continued as he looked over at Hawkins and then to the waiter again, "And a fresh glass of milk, cold."

Morgan watched as the waiter went off with the two officers orders and Morgan went back to his gaze towards the starbase.

"Something on your mind?" Michael asked, picking up on the direction Morgan was gazing. "Let me make a stab in the dark, were you stationed at a Starbase, like... that one?" nodding towards 308. He leaned back in his chair, his elbow perched on the back of the chair he was seated in.

Morgan looked a couple seconds longer at the base and spoke as he looked at Hawkins, "Of course." He spoke again as the waiter returned with the drinks for the officers. Morgan took a swig at his milk and spoke again as he looked back to the base again, "Didn't think I'd be back here so soon."

Morgan muttered into a whisper, "Should of stuck onboard the base instead of being hustled to the Andromeda."

"Well when there is a need, a person gets transferred to where he or she can be best utilized." Michael stated, then took a drink of his lemonade. Setting it down on the table, he looked at Morgan.

"And we are in great need for a helmsman and here you are. Look, this is a great ship, great command staff. Honestly, I'm grateful that you showed up when you did. From being on the receiving end of a ship playing chicken with the Andromeda and another ship deciding to go on the attack, your arrival was most fortuitous. You were at the right place, at the right time." his voice having a slight edge of steel to his normally congenial tone.

He stopped, and closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them. "Look sorry, I'm not understanding why you don't want to be here on the Andromeda. Or is there something more that I am not picking up on from your body language."

Morgan looked at Hawkins as if he made a mistake in his words and spoke, "Oh its nothing like that Michael." Morgan looked at Hawkins, "First name basis was ok?"

With a quick nod of approval from the other Ensign, Morgan spoke his mind a bit, "I do want to be here....I guess I was in the right place at the right time. Just didn't expect to get hurt so suddenly when I was back in open space."

He looked down at his drink and spoke as he handled the cup in both his palms feeling the coldness that it brought to his skin, "Its just that I have had a bad experience in the past on board a starship. I'm hoping that I won't have to go through what I did back then."

Michael wasn't able answer just yet, as the waiter brought over their food.

"Thank you." Michael said to the waiter. Once the waiter was finished placing the meals in front of the two men, he left.

"What sort of experience did you have? If you don't mind telling me." Michael honestly wanting to know, and there was a genuine interest in hearing Morgan's tale.

As the food started force its aroma upon the officers, Morgan watched as Michael dove into his food. Morgan did the same as the pasta he ordered had a great taste to it. As Morgan placed another forkful into his mouth, he spoke as he downed it with a little milk,

"I can't tell you much, but what i can tell you is that the mission was nearly over for the crew and I when we came into contact with a planet that made my job, say more interesting than it had been for the mission we were all on."

Morgan watched as Hawkins listened carefully and Morgan spoke again as he placed his fork down, "I don't know what i could of done differently then but when i think back on the incident, I wish that i could of done better."

"My security clearance isn't high enough." Michael first remarked with a chuckle. "Though I am wondering at the phenomenon you went through. Hopefully it wasn't a gate that the ancients had left behind. Did you run into a time anomaly? Now those are tricky to experience. Where I had been stationed a few years back, Avalon Station had dealt with something like that. It was a rather unique experience. Kind of weird having some dinosaurs go wandering down the corridors. Or distortions that caused part of floor disappear."

"Oh i agree." Morgan looked around as if he was being watched and picked up his fork again. Feeling satisfied that noone was really watching him, he spoke his next words, "I was hoping not to say it but I have to. Someone has to listen to me and my problems i guess." He continued, "I feel like i might slip up again. I was on the USS Olympia when she went down in 2371. I made a wrong choice and tried to get the ship out of danger after ops screwed up big time. I had the idea to send an away team down to the planet to see if it was safe and next we know, the ship was gone."

"Someone besides the usual, chain of command." Michael remarked, "Okay, so let me get this straight, you were sent to assess a situation, on an away mission, The Olympia had an accident and...how did ops mess up? Details please."

"Im not sure on what details i can give since i have orders not to reveal much but i will tell you this," replied Morgan as he now placed his fork down and set his milk aside. "I am a man out of time. The Olympia was destroyed because Operations didnt take the precautions on scanning the planet and the barrier that the planet was surrounded in. The barrier reacted towards the power systems after the scan which shut all the systems down."

Morgan spoke up and looked out the viewport and then back to Hawkins, "I did my damnedest to get the ship out of range but the ship was going down. I was given an assignment since i was useless as well as the operations officer and one other. We were assigned to see if we could transport safely to the planet since the shuttles were useless and we did make it."

Morgan folded his arms. "All it took was killing the rest of the crew. We had no idea where we were when we dematerialized on the planet as we were surrounded by walls. With a Starfleet symbol." Morgan sighed and sat back down, "At that point, and up till now, we had learned that we had been transported through time by 20 years learning that the rest of the crew didn't making having the ship crash land hard on the planet."

Michael quietly listened, hearing the heartbreak and frustration in Morgan's voice. When Morgan sat down, Michael spoke, "Words cannot express enough of my condolences on the loss of the ship and the crew. Its a terrible thing to deal with. Survivors guilt, isn't easy to get rid of from what I have been told. And springing forward in time, that... is something else too. I am acquainted with a man who had been lost in time."

Michael looked out towards the station, as he related a small bit.

" Instead of jumping forward in time, he... was tossed into the past. While it had only been a short amount of time for us, for him it had been, many, many years, without modern technology. He came back in full health and had to get reacquainted with technology and get to know his wife once more."

He looked back at Morgan, "I knew his wife, good friend of mine, she only told me the briefest amount of things." a thought occured to him. "Adam, have you been in contact with your family since that happened?"

Adam looked up from his now untouched food and spoke as he handled the glass of milk that was half full, "Yeah actually. I was allowed to speak to them about a month or so after the return." Morgan smiled for a moment, "My mother told me that I still looked my age when I was before I left...."

Adam spoke after a quick sip of his milk, "She's not wrong there."

"Dad on the other hand seemed to note that history had changed drastically after I left and had to tell me the stories of the Dominion War that happened. I already knew of the war during the first month of debrief." Adam continued as he placed his glass down again and circled the rim with his finger. "He told me that my brother was injured during the war and seemed to think that I was at fault since i was not around."

Michael abruptly turned from his perusal outside, to Adam.

"What the...he's blaming you for your brother's injury? That's just wrong. " Michael frowned slightly. "I hope you realize that it wasn't your fault that happened to your brother. " he picked up his glass and drained the last of it, and then poured himself another. He had finished his meal and the waiter came to clear the dishes away before bringing over the dessert.

"Are you in contact with your former crewmates? Just out of curiosity, hopefully they are adjusting."

Morgan looked at Michael and spoke, "I know it aint my fault at all and i didnt stand for it." Morgan took the last sip of his milk and spoke, "As for the former crewmates, we havent been in contact for a bit since the briefing."

Morgan pushed away his glass and spoke as he stood up, "Well this has been wonderful," he stated feeling out of place again and more tired than ever. "I really need to get some rest before this big party with the crew."

Michael nodded, "Sounds like a good idea. Maybe next time, you can tell me the things you like to do for hobbies."

He rose from the table as well. "I'll see you at the party." he cleared the dishes off and took them to the recycler. Gave a wave to Morgan and then left.

Morgan walked out of the mess as well and headed down the corridor. He walked and felt the conversation he just had come back to him. As he rounded the corner, he noted a couple crewmembers walk by. He entered the turbolift and stated his destination. As the lift started to move, he felt something amiss about his surroundings. At first he thought it was the movement of the lift but he suddenly raised his hand to his head and he felt so dizzy it was unbelievable. He was about to tap his badge for sickbay when the feeling started to fade and he looked around again.

The lift doors opened and Morgan stepped out down the corridor shaking off the feeling hoping the rest ahead of him would cure him of whatever he felt in the trubolift.....

OFF