Better Safe than Sorry

Posted on Sun Nov 1st, 2020 @ 6:54pm by Commander Temperance Zachary & Lieutenant Zachariah Hostetler

Mission: Episode 04: "Tempest"
Location: Operations Office - USS Vesta
Timeline: Day 1 at 0000

BACKPOST: Prior to Away Team departure

Every moment that passed took them a little closer to their destination and they had reached the stage that Temperance was personally going department to department, making sure everyone was ready. Lieutenant Hostetler, their new Chief of Operations, was someone she hadn't had the chance to meet personally yet, so she found herself looking forward to putting a face to the name.

It only took a few moments after arriving in operations to be directed to the department head. She paused, spending a moment just watching him before she approaching and interrupting his work. "Lieutenant Hostetler? I'm sorry to interrupt," she apologised, holding a hand toward him. "Commander Zachary, Executive Officer. I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to meet with you before now."

In a reaction that clearly showed that he was still very new at this, Zack stiffened to attention stance and said, "Commander, Welcome to Operations, How can we help you?"

"You can relax Lieutenant," Temperance said with a smile. "How are you settling in? Have you found everything on the ship alright so far?" she queried politely.

"It has been quite an adjustment, ma'am. The Vesta is a beautiful ship, but she is huge. It's quite the upgrade from my other assignments." he said, his stance relaxing slightly and a huge smile breaking across his face.

"She is impressive, that's for sure. I still have moments where I just stop and marvel at her beauty and grace. I trust you've had no problems getting everything you need to do your job?" Temperance glanced around, taking in the silent smoothness with which Operations seemed to be running, the team simply doing their jobs. "It definitely looks like you have things well in hand."

"I still can't get over the fact that I'm here." he said, the look in his eyes drifting far away to some other place. "I never even imagined something like this even existed when I was a child back on Terra Nova. We spent our days plowing fields with horses, not realigning the lateral sensor arrays."

There was a moment of stunned silence as Temperance raised an eyebrow slightly. "Oh?" Her interest seemed well and truly piqued. "I haven't had a chance to read through your file properly. What part of Terra Nova?"

"The New Pennsylvania Ordnung." he said, turning his eyes to the flow. "I grew up Amish if you can believe that. I was sent on Rumspringa, found Starfleet and have never been back. Not that I would be allowed back at this point. My family shunned me when I decided not to join the church."

"How very intriguing," Temperance smiled warmly. "I grew up in Eldheim Village on Earth. My parents were part of a group that shunned technology, not for religion or any other reason, but simply because they didn't like it and chose to not embrace it."

Zach nodded, understandingly, "We should get a meal sometime and swap stories. I'm sure we're more alike than we might realize at first."

"Indeed, most people who grow up surrounded by technology take it for granted and often don't understand how to function without it." Temperance sighed and shook her head as she realised she was about to start a tangent. "You're right, we probably are more alike than we realize. I'm sure we both have plenty of interesting stories to tell."

"That aside, Commander, What can I do for you today?"

"I'm doing final checks and balances before the away team departs," Temperance said, leaning back against the console behind her. "I want to make sure we have everything ready to go. We'll be relying heavily on transporters," Temperance shuddered visibly at the word, "and communications."

"I'm happy to report that both systems are well beyond accepted minimums. We should be able to handle whatever the team may need." he said, a sense of pride evident in his words. "My team has really begun to gel, and work very well together."

"Excellent, that is at least something. There's very little known about the planet, so we don't really know what we'll be coming up against, but I'd like to make sure we have contingency plans in place, especially in terms of transporting us out quickly if we need it," Temperance said with a nod.

"We can keep a lock on their commbadges, and have emergency beam out standing by as long as they stay in range."

"Perfect. And communications? I assume we should be able to maintain communications without problem? Regardless of circumstances on the surface?" Temperance asked.

"I actually have something for that. It's experimental, but if.. no, when... it works, it should solve the problem." Zach answered and stepped away into one of the labs for a moment. He returned with rucksack of sorts. "This is a portal signal booster. I modified an emergency transmitter pack to boost a commbadge signal. One member of the team would just need to turn it on and wear it like a backpack."

Temperance gave a nod. "Make sure it's in the transporter room ready for us to go. You'll probably need to run someone through the use of it before we leave. I'm not anticipating trouble, but I do prefer to be prepared."

"My Deid always said 'better safe than sorry.' and it's never let me down yet." Zach answered with a nod.

There was a laugh from the first officer. "My Uncle had the same philosophy. He was a firm believer in expecting the unexpected and being prepared for all situations. It served him well."

"If you expect the unexpected, and the unexpected happens, is it really unexpected?" Zach asked with a mischievous grin.

"I don't do paradoxes," Temperance shot back with a laugh and a shake of her head. "So, anything else you think we should be aware of when we're on the away team?"

"No ma'am. I thing we should be good."

"Excellent, then if there's nothing else you need from me, I'll leave you to it," Temperance replied with a smile. "Thank you for your time Lieutenant, and I'm sorry for showing up unannounced."

Zach grinned again, "You're always welcome, any time."