A New Command...A New Beginning

[Mariya Pyne]

[member="Friedrich Stahlmann"]

"Roger, docking bay 7 confirmed command. Landing gear engaged. Touch-down in 10." Kayleigh snapped off her headset, spun her seat to the rear and hooked the comm to the latch as she sprinted toward the rear of the vessel. She was energetic, if nothing else, grinding a staircase railing as if it were a snowboard attached to her feet, landing beautifully on the metal grating beneath her, bowing to the crew like a child after a performance. "We're home, boys! Let's get some well deserved R&R!"

While she was surely happy to be back, she was a bit saddened by the thought of leaving her crew behind on the Sonata. The cruiser she had captain'd for over a year in place of her ailing commander. The Republic navy had finally found a replacement, and she was being reassigned, though her crew would remain stationed as is. Pulling up her data pad she sat down on a bench in the docking bay, saluted her ship once more, and then began to scroll through the file she was given. It didn't say much, "Lieutenant Tyven, to report to Admiral Stahlmann at 13:00. Command of Republic cruiser Sonata to be re-assigned. The Republic thanks you for your continued service. Please be ready to depart within 24 hours."

Hmph. That's not much of a break...Suppose I should check up on THI while I am on solid rock. Kayleigh lowered her helmet and spoke quietly, so not to disturb anyone. "Merridith, this is Kayleigh. Looking for an update on production and finances. Also, please set me an appointment with the Republic Army and Navy administrations to discuss an arms manufacturing contract. Now that we are once again stable, I wish to solidify our contracts." Kayleigh waited a moment for a response. After several seconds the older woman responded back, "Ms. Tyven, production has been increased to 100% in both armor and weapons divisions, and we expect to be ready for distribution within the month. Finances are in the green now that we've completed our move from Coruscant to Tython." The woman made a few taps on her datapad before continuing, "I will arrange a meeting within the week. Do you expect to be present, or will this be a holo meeting?" Kayleigh snickered, knowing that the pair both already knew the answer to that. "The usual, Meredith, the Navy has already reassigned me, so who knows where I'll be in a week." "Of course, maam. I will dispatch the details to you shortly."

Kayleigh disconnected the call, lifted the visor, and headed toward the meeting room inside the Naval base, where she would meet Admiral Stahlmann for the first time. She was a bit nervous, given the man's renown and reputation, but was confident that she could perhaps teach him a thing or two while continuing her training under his command.

 

[Kyrana Gould]

[member="Kayleigh Tyven"]
The Admiral’s office was plain and Spartan. A magnificent panoramic window behind him looked out into deep space. However, he faced away from it, sitting at his table and dictating orders to his aides.
“Jallop, the Righteous will need its HVC calibrated. I noted some issues with targeting. Kannock, see to it that the Adamant’s crew receive full honours, and for any widows and family receive full pensions. Tell the Minister I will not take no as an answer. Quinn, see if those new interceptors are ready for trial. Nadir, tell [member="Jack Rand"] to come in when he is ready. That’s all, good morning to you.”

The aides filed out and soon the Admiral was alone with the new arrival. “Lieutenant Tyven, yes? Welcome to REPCOM, and more specifically, to my office.”
He rose and returned her salute with his own before sitting.
“Please take a seat,” he invited. There was a second seat on the other side of the desk, though its purpose was not yet clear.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

[member="Friedrich Stahlmann"] | [member="Jack Rand"]

Kayleigh waited silently at attention until the admiral finished with his aides, promptly sitting as instructed after concluding their salute. Nodding to confirm her name and rank to the admiral, "Aye, Lieutenant Kayleigh Tyven reporting, as instructed, admiral. I received orders while en route aboard the Sonata that I am to be reassigned to your command? It is truly an honor to serve." She could feel herself blushing a bit, moreso because she was overjoyed to be able to serve under the revered admiral than anything else. She glanced over to the empty seat, unsure if they were expecting another or if it were simply for meetings.

 

[Jack Rand]

[member="Friedrich Stahlmann"] [member="Kayleigh Tyven"]

Jack had been relaxing in the lounge "chatting" with another one of the crew members, an engineer he thought, or was it a turret shooter? Oh well it didn't matter. Jack then heard Nadir call him through his own comm-link causing Jack to tense up, he desperately hoped that his Uncle hadn't seen him attempting to flirt with the doctor again. Yeah Jack really needed to stop getting distracted like that, even out of real action. It's unfair to have a Hapan doctor anyways, what was Jack supposed to do, ignore her.

Jack decided to message Nadir back, telling her that Jack was on his way to the bridge as soon as possible. He turned to the man he had been flirting, I mean talking to and apologized for having to leave so suddenly. Jack made his way to the bridge as fast as he could, only stopping to look at the doctor for a quick moment before he remembered what he was doing and made his way to the bridge door as he was readying to got into the room.

As Jack made his way into the bridge he barely noticed the new lieutenant standing off to the side, his gaze was fixed on his uncle Friedrich Stahlmamm. As soon as he walked into the room he saluted his uncle. "Lieutenant Rand reporting in." It was an unnecessary formality, but it made him look more disciplined and that's what he wanted his uncle to think of him.

It was at this time that Jack noticed the beautiful new addition to the room that he always felt was missing. He hadn't seen this girl before, but by her badges it seemed that she was the same rank as Jack himself.He held his salute, but he gave her a small wink hoping that the admiral wouldn't notice and said hi.

 

[Kyrana Gould]

[member="Kayleigh Tyven"] | [member="Jack Rand"]

The Admiral chuckled mirthlessly. “Trust me, Lieutenant Tyven, you may come to regret your eagerness to serve under me. I tend to be in the forefront of the deadliest storms. Still, your enthusiasm does you credit. We are waiting for one more…ah, here he is.”

Stahlmann pretended not to notice the wink. Family…what could one do? His nephew was late, which was why he had asked Nadir to prod him. He was unsure whether the boy’s casual flirtations with anything female were part of his character or instead part of his desire to show himself as an individual compared to his uncle. In the end it didn’t matter.

“Lieutenant Rand, this is Lieutenant Tyven. You have both been assigned to my bridge crew. Your predecessors have filled vacancies caused by casualties at Manaan. I expect you both to work with absolute dedication and determination.”

He looked at them both, but it was clear he was stressing it especially for Rand.

“Lieutenant Tyven, you will become my senior helm officer. Lieutenant Rand, you will become my chief gunnery officer. You will report to the Destiny immediately. I will be making my inspection today to make sure damage sustained has been repaired, and you will assumed your positions there from today. Do either of you have any questions?”

 

[Mariya Pyne]

[member="Jack Rand"] | [member="Friedrich Stahlmann"]

"Live my life without regrets, Admiral! I suspect I will quite enjoy my time with you."

Kayleigh's glance shot to Lieutenant Rand as he entered, and, without shame, shot her a wink. Kayleigh smirked, nearly laughed, but maintained her composure out of respect for the Admiral. Kayleigh listened to the Admiral as he spoke, dispatching her new orders. Oh boy, this is going to be a trip. Romeo here is going to be on the same vessel? As the Admiral finished his orders Kayleigh saluted him once more, "By your command, Admiral! No questions! I will proceed to the Destiny at once."

As the girl lowered her salute to exit, she turned to Lt. Rand and smiled, winking in an overly dramatic, almost mocking way, "See you on board, Romeo."

 

[Jack Rand]

[member="Kayleigh Tyven"] [member="Friedrich Stahlmann"]

Jack finally lowered his salute as the admiral was debriefing both of his lieutenants. Jack was happy with his position as chief gunnery officer, who didn't love being in charge of weapons. Jack's main problem would be figuring up ways to still getting in some flying time with this new position, oh well he'd find a way.

As soon as his uncle finished the debriefing, the new lieutenant left quite quickly. He chuckled as she gave him a wink back and called him Romeo. Jack made a final comment as she exited the door. "Looking forward to it, Juliet."

He stayed looking in her direction before he remembered where he was, then he turned back to his uncle. As soon as the girl had left, Jack's stature became less authoritative as he addressed his uncle. "Apologies sir. What happened to the destiny?" Jack could see the heavily damaged ship as he looked out his uncle's viewport.

 

[Kyrana Gould]

[member="Kayleigh Tyven"] | [member="Jack Rand"]

The Admiral nodded in reply to Tyven. “I will see you on the Destiny in two hours, Lieutenant. Do not be late.”
It was his nephew’s question which made him raise an eyebrow. “In case you had not noticed, Lieutenant, we are at war – warships fight in battle. The Destiny suffered some damage during the Battle of Manaan. You have it to thank for your promotion. Dead men’s shoes need filling. It is your job to see they are filled well.”
He clapped his nephew on the shoulder and headed for the door with him.
“You’re a good lad, Jack, but this is no jaunt on a loveboat. Men and women’s lives will depend on you. You need to learn when to focus, and when to relax. Can you handle that?”
Some fatherly advice from the Admiral never hurt, though Stahlmann suspected the boy didn’t really take most of it in.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

[member="Friedrich Stahlmann"] | [member="Jack Rand"]

Kayleigh proceeded as instructed to the bridge of the Destiny. She had some substantial damage, but the repairs appeared to be going well as she inspected the outer hull. Thrusters could use some work. Approaching the entryway to the ship she saluted the men and boarded. As she walked through the expansive corridors of the magnificent, battle hardened vessel she could see that the crew had seen quite a bit of action. This pleased her, as it meant they were good, solid men, capable of functioning under pressure. She liked a tight crew, one that got the job done.

"Officer on deck!" One of the men announced as the blast doors leading to the bridge opened. As the men and women turned to salute, Kayleigh quickly raised a hand and gestured, "At ease." It wasn't her style to operate under a strict order unless in combat or training, she felt it was an unnecessary obligation and thus, she was well liked among the majority of her crew in the past. "Ladies and gentlemen, we've got two hours to get this vessel in tip-top shape before Admiral Stahlmann arrives. If he is unhappy, we'll all be unhappy, and I certainly don't want that! So, let's get this ship up to par and show him what we've got!"

The Lieutenant looked to one of the chief engineers, posing a question that typically wouldn't be asked, "Officer, your datapad, please direct me to anywhere that is currently facing electrical or component failure in key locations on the ship. I wish to personally oversee the repairs, and assist where needed." The staunch man looked at Kayleigh, raising an eyebrow in surprise, "Well, maam, the communications room could use some assistance, otherwise, the hanger is having some difficulty with opening and closing the main hatches." Kayleigh nodded and replied in a pleasant tone, "Thank you, as you were."

Making her way to the communications room, Kayleigh noticed that the primary fuse box was damaged, and that some of the wiring had melted and fused together as a result of a fire. "Get me a pair of cutters, some quarter-inch copper wire, electrical tape, and a welder." With that, she began stripping the electrical components from the fuse box, carefully removing each fuse, noting the ones that had blown or were damaged, tracing them back to the source. Once each section was traced and marked, Kayleigh carefully stripped each wire, welding the new copper wire to the damaged wire, then wrapped the two together from end to end with electrical tape to seal the circuitry. Afterwards, she replaced each of the damaged or blown fuses with new ones. "That, boys, is how you repair a busted fuse panel without tearing the ship apart. It's an old trick I learned, and, now you know as well. Carry on."

Proceeding to the hanger bay, she noticed a small group of men and women working on the primary hatch, it had been damaged by enemy fire, and was failing to open entirely due to getting caught on the slide mechanism. She greeted them, introduced herself, and then thought of how to resolve this before the Admiral boarded in an hour and a half. "The way I see it, we only have one choice, cut both of the hydrolic extension arms that open and close shorter, past the area of melted metal, then fuse the arms together with new durasteel that we can scrounge up from salvage. So long as the metal is in good physical condition and is no thicker than the cylindars it will be connected to, we should be able to fuse the two together, so that they fully extend without catching." With that, the six got to work.

Once the jobs were complete, Kayleigh saluted them for their work, and hurried back to the bridge, covered in various grease and dirt. Her face looked particularly unkept after the ordeal, but she didn't mind, so long as the work was done, the admiral was happy, and they were ready to go. It would be a close call, but perhaps the Admiral had not already boarded, and maybe she'd have time to wipe off her face.

 

[Jack Rand]

[member="Friedrich Stahlmann"] [member="Kayleigh Tyven"]

Jack felt like an idiot to say the least, somehow he had managed to forget about the war between the Republic and The One Sith (lol). "Sorry sir, guess I forgot..." Then after an awkwardly long pause between the two, Jack made his way out of the bridge and headed towards the Destiny. She had taken quite a beating by the Sith, Jack wondered where she took it this time, but it was too late to have that question answered so he made his way to the bridge of the Destiny.

On his way to the bridge Jack decided to make his way towards the weapons depot, as Chief Gunnery Officer it was probably his responsibility to go and make sure all the weapons were in proper order. He walked into the depot and went over to the first man who looked like he belonged was here. "Hello sergeant, can I get the inventory of the current weapons load and the weapons log." The man looked over to Jack, his face was dirty covered in dry blood and grease. He spat on the floor and looked over to Jack, "Who're you?"

Jack didn't blame the man for not knowing who he was, but he did feel a bit self-conscious about not being known. "I'm the new Chief Gunnery Officer." Jack had an authority to his voice, but the man seemed to care very little as he handed him the weapons manifest and the log. The man did a half salute to Jack as he went back to repairing the guns. Jack then read over the manifest as he made his way towards the bridge, he was memorizing all of the data as he made his way along the hall.

The logs showed that the battle had happened over Manaan and Jack felt like an idiot for not hearing about it for some reason. The weapons had gone through most of their weaponry before they left, leaving the ship with only a few munitions. He continued looking over the log and manifest to make sure that the munitions expended matches with the munitions left. As soon as he was able to confirm that both the log and manifest were accurate, Jack raised his head from the two pieces of equipment.

It was at this minute that Jack realized that he was in fact very close to the bridge, only about a minute away. Another interesting thing he saw was a woman covered in grease and dust was also running to the bridge. He chuckled to himself as he noticed that it was the other lieutenant that he had met on the bridge.

 

[Kyrana Gould]

[member="Kayleigh Tyven"] | [member="Jack Rand"]

Two hours later, on schedule, the Admiral arrived. As he entered the bridge the call went out, “Admiral on deck!”
Work stopped, and all turned, saluting to him as he entered.

“Carry on, crew. I want a full assessment of the ship’s repairs. Lieutenant Tyven, Lieutenant Rand, since you are the new faces, you can go first.”

 

[Mariya Pyne]

[member="Friedrich Stahlmann"] | [member="Jack Rand"]

Kayleigh breathed a sigh of relief as the admiral entered only moments later. She made it to the deck, but was still a dirt covered mess. Perhaps the admiral wouldn't notice? She stood, promptly turning to give her salute to Admiral Stahlmann. By his command, Kayleigh rattled off her report thus far, "Sir, the ship is flightworthy, all major repairs complete on the bridge. There was some trouble in both the comm room and hangar, but has been taken care of. Hyper-drive was recalibrated, and the primary and secondary cooling, ventilation, and oxygen systems have been tested. Reactor core is stable, all tests show green. We're ready for departure by your command, sir."

 

[Jack Rand]

[member="Kayleigh Tyven"] [member="Friedrich Stahlmann"]

Jack held both of the datapads in his arms before sliding them across the desk to the admiral. "The assault batteries have been somewhat damaged, though they have since been repaired. The manifest there shows what munitions have been expended and the logs show what was left. The ship is being reloaded and it should be complete within half an hour sir."

 

[Kyrana Gould]

[member="Kayleigh Tyven"] | [member="Jack Rand"]

“Thank you both,” the Admiral said. “Lieutenant Geta, status on the damaged shields?”
“Repairs underway, sir. We’ve had to replace the second and third backup projectors. We have the parts on board, and the shields are functioning without redundancy.”
“Push for them to be done as soon as practical, we can’t be without them for long,” the Admiral ordered. “Lieutenant Ratiu, the GAM?”
The twi’lek female’s lekku quivered to attention. “Power cells burned out, sir, can be replaced within the day.”
“Excellent. Gentlebeings, this ship has taken its knocks, but it will come back stronger than before. Return to your duties. We will convene at 0500. I want all works complete by then so we can depart on a shakedown. Dismissed.”

 

[Mariya Pyne]

[member="Jack Rand"] | [member="Friedrich Stahlmann"]

"Right away, sir." Kayleigh saluted once more before turning to Lt. Rand. "I am going to assist Lt. Ratiu with the GAM's power cells. The shields are at least functioning. The GAM is more of a priority at the moment." She paused, not entirely sure if she should even ask. "I don't suppose you have the know-how to help fix the shield projectors? The faster we get the remaining repairs done, the better. If you don't know how to fix the projectors, I suppose you could come with me and we'll get the power cells done quicker. Unless of course you have some more of the female crew you'd like to wink at, then by all means Lieutenant, carry on." She cracked a smile and turned to exit the bridge.

 

[Jack Rand]

[member="Kayleigh Tyven"] [member="Friedrich Stahlmann"]

Jack scratched the back of his head as the other lieutenant told him what his choices were, he had a bit of trouble deciding. On one hand, he could probably go fix the shield generators by himself and possibly get it done quicker. But on the other hand if him and Tyven worked together they could probably get the work done more efficiently. Jack's mind was made up when he realized that he should probably prove to both of them that he could be his own man and do stuff himself. "I'll go take care of the shield generators, but if you need help I can give you my number." Jack returned the smile. "And I don't wink at all the girls, just the majority." He said this jokingly, but it was probably more than true. :/

 

[Mariya Pyne]

[member="Jack Rand"] | [member="Friedrich Stahlmann"]

"Very well, Romeo. I'll give a shout if I need something to look at while I work." Kayleigh snickered, and began meandering onward toward her assignment, halting her stride in the corridor for just a moment, flicking her head back as her long, curly, dirty-blonde hair danced sideways, smirking her own devilish grin at Lt. Rand. She cocked her head back, facing forward, and turned down the corridor. She wasn't entirely sure about Jack, he seemed a good enough guy, if not a bit of a womanizer. She hated to admit it, but there was something about him that she was drawn to. She was confident he was a good officer, but she had reservations as to what exactly his genuine intentions were, and if he was simply guarding his true personality behind the visage of being a flirt.

Kayleigh shook off the idea for the time being as she arrived to her destination. The doorway opened, she stepped inside, already a grimy mess from the previous work, and cracked her knuckles. This was her passion, she loved getting dirty, and she loved ships. She looked around and surveyed the damage, taking a datapad that would be used for making notes to herself. "Let's get this show on the road!" The task at hand was a large one, and would likely consume a good portion of the afternoon completing, but was confident she could finish the job before evening. With that, she got to work, assigning various tasks to the other engineers while she got into the nitty gritty of the components. Hmmmm...We're using some outdated capacitors, resistors, and transducers. We should upgrade these materials. The more she looked around, the more things she found that could be improved, with time. Time that to her dismay, she did not have. This will all have to wait until we dock again for more than an afternoon. She made a substantial list of materials and locations which required upgrades and updates. This simply wouldn't do. No, not in the slightest. This needs to be addressed as soon as possible.

Hours later, when she finished with her work, she grabbed the datapad she had been working on and headed to her quarters to hopefully take a shower before returning to the bridge to give her report to the admiral.

 

[Jack Rand]

[member="Kayleigh Tyven"] [member="Jack"] Rand

Jack waved at Lieutenant Tyven as she left the room, returning the smirk that she had given him as she made her way out of the room. Then Jack turned his attention towards his uncle, "I'll see you soon admiral." He then turned around a swiftly made his way towards where the shield generator was. He made his way down the hallways looking up what the shield generators specific were and how he would be able to get them running at full capacity again.

As he made his way into the room, Jack looked at the shield generator. It was obviously running at a very low frequency, even the melodious humming of the thing had managed to disappear from the room entirely. It was still there though, but fragmented, changing pitch frequently which was never a good sign. Jack took off his overcoat and unbutton his shirt, rolling up the cuffs and pulled out the necessary equipment to repair the thing. Jack was a bit concerned when he smelled an unnatural smell beneath the shield, but it was just an old sandwich. Jack grabbed his tools and began the repairs on the circuitry that lay underneath the tube. He rewired the whole thing to make sure that none of the old wires would cause future problems. The shields had overloaded in battle, frying most of the circuits so Jack made sure to clean it and salvage what he could that was left. Eventually he had managed to repair the thing and after a few tries managed to get the thing running, even the hum was going back to normal. It was now operating at 80%, but the computer whizzes would get it up to 100 in no time.

Jack cleaned his face off with his rag, leaving a bit of oil on his face. He checked his pocket watch to make sure that he had finished it quickly, but it had been longer than he anticipated and he needed to rush to the admiral. As he jogged down the halls, Jack made his way into the refresher to clean off his face, but it still had some evidence of his job on it. Jack then wandered around the ship for a bit because in his panic he had gotten a bit lost. So he wandered around to find some way to find out which part of the ship.

 

[Kyrana Gould]

[member="Kayleigh Tyven"] | [member="Jack Rand"]

Whilst the two young officers had been about their duties, the Admiral had not been idle. Whilst he hadn't been getting in with the crew and manually repairing things, he had been working with his officers on reassigning crew. The Battle of Manaan had been heavy on experienced officers, with several ships being lost. Thus, he had to continue the process he had began with Kayleigh and Jack on a larger scale.

The next step was to load up the ship with new stocks of spares and supplies. Finally, he had to ensure that the other ships in his command were repairing and rearming at the right rate. One never knew when there might be another battle.

Finally he had to make his own personal decisions about his fleet composition. He had learned lessons from the battle, lessons he would ensure were absorbed by the rest of the fleet.

At the appointed time he appeared on the bridge again, eyeing his subordinates.
"Report?" he asked, looking first to his two new Lieutenants.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

[member="Jack Rand"] | [member="Friedrich Stahlmann"]

Kayleigh smiled toward Lt. Rand, she was sure, given that he was standing next to her, and that she noticed him wandering the corridors like a lost puppy hours after they had been tasked with their duty, that he had completed his own work. With a fresh uniform and a more feminine smell, now that the shower absolved her of the grime of her work, she stepped forward to give her report to the Admiral.

"Sir! I shored up the repairs on the power cells as requested. The necessary adjustments have been made, but, if I may, sir?" The young blonde passed the Admiral a datapad containing notes on key areas that could be overhauled to produce more power from the individual cells, thereby increasing the GAMs ability to quickly lock on to a repulsor's gravity-wave, making the weapon itself more accurate and reliable at long range, as well as improve overall lifetime of the equipment's material components. "If you look at my notes on the bottom of the page there, you'll see everything that is required to improve the weapon itself. It will take some time, but if I am given the time and resources which I know, right now, we're short on, I can make it happen. I've run it through simulation tests seventy-three times and have received the same result consecutively."

With that, she concluded her report and stepped back, giving Jack the floor.