New Direction

[Annabelle O'Halloran 0]

The staff meeting with McQueen had ended with the wholly unexpected news that they would not be patrolling the borders of the Romulan Neutral Zone, but would, in fact, be heading to the opposite side of the quadrant, to the Cestus system. Any place that wasn't the neutral zone held appeal, she thought to herself as she scrolled through what the database had on file. She'd happily given up on organizing Dr. Smith's office, now hers, for the moment.

 

Tobias was also in the labs; he was walking around, looking over consoles. Even though everything internally had been updated over the years, the Ambassador had its own look. He thought of quaintness with a smirk as the rest of the department continued on with business as usual.

 

Mind still on the Cestus system, Anna left the office, planning to go to the cartography lab. They had all of the information gathered from the Proxima mission to input. They were going in the opposite direction, it was true, but the data still needed to be analyzed and updated. And, Anna remembered, she was missing an Ensign. Mr. Tobias Jaren had come aboard shortly before they'd left Star Base 1123 and she'd seen neither hide nor hair of him. "Ensign Jaren, please respond," Anna commed, as leaving the departmental offices behind, she headed for the nearest turbolift.

 

The voice disturbed his thoughts. He glanced down at the badge, tapping it. "This is Jaren." It was most likely a science or ops peon telling him to contact the CSCI. Or maybe she was calling her self.

 

"Mr. Jaren, this is Annabelle O'Halloran. I'm the Chief Science Officer," and it's going to take a while to get used to saying that, she thought, before continuing with, "...and I'm looking forward to making your acquaintance. Please meet me in Stellar Cartography on Deck 12."

 

"Very well, I can be there in a few minutes." He headed towards the door, still looking around as he exited. Thus began the search for the nearest turbolift.

 

"Deck 12," she stated for the computer and took a look at the padd in her hand. It was the department schedule for the next two weeks and would now have to be revised to include Tobias. The timing was good, with Dr. Smith being transferred away for the time being; they wouldn't be left short handed. So many new crewmen were on Reaent now. Two hundred officers was a lot to lose in one mission; a catastrophically tragic amount. Anna stepped off the lift and turned right, the cartography lab was one of her favorite places and a good place to talk. Not so formal as an office and very much in keeping with the spirit of the ship's motto: "To learn all that is learnable." It didn't have a ring to it exactly but it summed up why she'd joined the Fleet in the first place.

 

Tobias had finally found a lift, and was deposited on Deck 12 not much farther away. As he rounded a corner he noticed the raven-haired woman approaching Cartography. Making a slight jog to reach her, he held out his hand. "Lieutenant O'Halloran, I presume? Tobias Jaren."

 

Anna looked up from the padd, automatically transferring it to her left hand as the Trill officer approached. Smiling, she took his hand, shaking it briefly, saying, "Good to meet you, Tobias, and yes, I'm Anna O'Halloran. Welcome aboard," she added, releasing his hand.

 

He smiled and nodded, allowing her to lead them in. "I'm very excited to be here. There aren't many ships like the Reaent left out here anymore. I'm very eager to get to work."

 

"I'm starting to think she may very well be one of a kind," Anna replied dryly as she walked up to the double doors, activating the sensor that opened them, revealing the lab. "I've had the chance to look through your service record and Reaent is lucky to have gotten you. I'm glad you managed to get aboard before we pulled out."

 

A grin grew on Jaren's face as they entered Cartography. He somehow managed to resist running off and looking around, but his eyes wandered all over the room. "Oh this is nice. Very up to date. I might just have to work out of here." He looked over to her with a grin.

 

His enthusiasm was palpable and Anna, watching for his reaction, met his grin with one of her own and then joined him in looking around the space. There wasn't another place like it on the ship. "The Reaent just went through a refit and much of the equipment has been updated and replaced." She moved into the lab, going directly to a console and logging in, a few keystrokes bringing the Cestus system online and a final tap to the screen surrounded them with a holographic display. "Our destination, Cestus the system, in case you haven't found out by now," she said, turning around and leaning with her hip against the counter. "Are you currently working on research that requires dedicated lab and system resources?"

 

"Yes actually, I'm working with the team for the updated system scans for when we drop out of warp. It's been a while since the ship was in the region." He pushed a few controls, updating the holographic display for a tiny white comet near the edge of the system; otherwise the display stayed the same. "Fortunately, space usually moves slow."

 

He was right. It usually moved very slowly. When it wasn't rewinding back on itself. "I'll take that into account when I rework the schedule to include you. There is a lot of data from our last mission to upload. We spent quite a bit of time in Romulan space and crossing the Neutral Zone and that material has still not been properly catalogued and uploaded into a permanent file." Anna hesitated, wondering how much of the last mission to share with Tobias. It was still the talk of the ship, and he was bound to find it fascinating.

 

"Ah yes, I've heard of the circumstances of the Reaent's return. A very interesting phenomenon indeed. Had the events around it not been so...traumatic, I would have very much liked to experience it." He moved under the holographic solar system, appreciating the detail.

 

Anna watched him, knowing, that if given the choice, she would still choose to experience the anomaly, cautioned him, saying quietly, "I can appreciate that point of view, but I know you'll understand when I say that it's not popular opinion. This new mission takes us physically in an entirely new direction and the prevailing hope is that the work we do will also be of a completely different tenor."

 

He nodded, and looked at her with a genuine smile. "I can appreciate the need to start anew

 

He could, too. Anna could see it in his eyes as she returned his smile with a warm one of her own. "I know you'll enjoy working with this crew, Tobias and I hope Reaent meets and exceeds your expectations"

Edited June 13, 2009 by Annabelle O'Halloran