New Arrival

Posted on Sun Jan 18th, 2026 @ 11:19pm by Lieutenant Yesrin Rey & Captain Cassandra Hawk

1,778 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 1: A New Sheriff in Town
Location: Docking Ring 4, Starbase Mojave
Timeline: Current

Yesrin walked off the gangway then made her way to the common area where she noticed an information Kiosk, setting down her duffels on the deck.

"Excuse me Ensign I'm Lieutenant Yesrin Rey. I have orders to report to Starbase Mojave," she explained as she handed over a PaDD containing her orders from Starfleet.

Taking the presented PaDD, the Ensign looked it over then smiled. "Welcome, Lieutenant. I believe Captain Hawk has been expecting you," came the reply. "I'll let her know you've arrived." The Ensign tapped his comm. "Captain Hawk, Lieutenant Yesrin Rey has arrived, Ma'am."

A moment later, a reply issued from the comm. "Thank you, Ensign. I'll be there momentarily. Hawk out."

A few minutes passed before the turbolift at the end of the hall opened, revealing the woman inside. The red shouldered Captain's uniform was still meticulously pressed. She hadn't frankly had much time to do much other than walk to and from her destinations this morning. One of those days dominated by the aesthetic trappings of command rather than the true function of the station. When Captain Hawk spotted the Lieutenant, standing with her duffle at her feet, she raised a hand in greeting. "Lieutenant Rey, welcome to Starbase Mojave. Hopefully your trip here wasn't too arduous. I know we're quite a hike from most hubs."

Hearing her name, Yesrin turned with a smile. "Good morning, Captain Hawk and thank you; the journey here was tolerable," she replied standing tall, but not really at full attention, while still showing respect to her superior. "And yes, it was a rather lengthy journey here, but it did give me an opportunity to relax and reflect," as she grinned.

Hawk’s expression warmed. “It’s always nice to a moment of quiet to reflect. I’m glad it went smoothly though. We’ve had a fair amount of marauder activity in the region,” she said, before gesturing to the turbolift. “Care for a tour? The Quartermaster can have your belongings sent to your room in the meantime.”

Hearing the Captain's invitation to tour the base put a smile on Yesrin's face as she entered the lift. "This is my first assignment on a Starbase, so a tour would be most helpful," then she paused a moment. "After spending so many years on ships, I'm very much looking forward to being here and serving under your command, Captain."

"Well we're happy to have you," Cassandra said, returning the young officer's grace as the door closed. "Ops."

The lift shot upward toward the command center of the station. Cassandra took the moment to turn to her companion. "I imagine this is going to be a bit of a change of pace for you. Starbase life has a very different pace than a starship would, especially for helm. Obviously, we won't be flying the station around...at least I hope we won't."

She squinted with the slightest hint of mischief. "Don't worry though. I'll make sure you get some time in the pilot's seat."

"Actually, that was one of the enticements of this assignment....a change of pace. After so many years serving on star ships I needed something different to challenge me," then she paused a moment. "I wouldn't imagine this installation would fare to well at warp." As she gave a playful smirk, "And I am looking forward to flying the Achilles at some point," she concluded.

Cassandra's face lit up like a proud mother. "Oh good, you've read up on her," she said, unable to contain the excitement on her face.

There'd been many reasons she selected the Achilles and had her dragged out of mothballs to be completed. Her small size and crew requirements made her easy to pair with Mojave. Her comparably overpowered shield and weapons systems made her a capable combatant. Her ability to land made her more capable of supplying the small local settlements directly. Her protowarp drive gave them the ability to reach distant corners of the galaxy well outside the Stardust Drift. But there was another piece. As a former helm officer, she'd also loved just how maneuverable the Achilles was. She'd be fun to fly.

"Well, I'm very proud of our little ship. She's currently only partly finished. Engineering has a bit of work to do getting her weapons systems finalized and making sure she's truly ready for action, because unfortunately there's little doubt she'll see combat, and soon," Cassandra said. "But once she's ready, you're going to have quite the agile ship at your fingertips."

"I like that. An agile ship is a good thing in case we ever find ourselves in a compromised position," she replied with a grin as she paused a moment. "So what are my duties going to consist of abroad the base?" Although she had a pretty good idea already, but wanted to hear it from her C.O.

The doors opened a moment later, as if on cue. "Ah. Perfect timing," Cassandra said, leading Yesrin out of the turbolift and toward the center of Ops.

Starbase Mojave's Operations hub was a spacious, vaguely circular chamber. The perimeter deck was lined with various workstations, supporting various major systems, each staffed by one or several crew depending on the moment. A massive display along one wall showed a readout of the station's schematics and various status reports, each flickering and updating as many onboard systems and processes ran.

At the center of Operations was a central terminal, constructed in a ring around a glowing blue hologram of the station, rotating in what gave the impression of a slow dance. Around the central hologram, a few officers stood at their stations, data scrolling by as each carried out their tasks. The beating heart of the Starbase.

"Computer, pull up an overlay of all support vehicle berths on the main holoemitter," the Captain said as they approached. A moment later, several areas of the blue station holo-schematic changed to gold and support images and text appeared alongside them. Each of the station's 6 disks had a docking pad at the center of its dorsal side. 4 small holographic runabouts appeared at their corresponding docks, and the remaining two disks saw a small projection of a few small shuttlecraft. In the central disk of Mojave's upper spine, a massive hanger bay was highlighted, next to which the USS Achilles' sleek form was then displayed, along with a few tiny workbees.

"So as you can imagine, you're not just the helm officer for Achilles. As head of Flight Control, you are responsible for our 6 docking pads and their associated support vehicles, as well as being the officer in charge of our primary docking bay. For the most part, this means you oversee and coordinate with Engineering on maintenance and upgrading. You would facilitate usage requests for these vehicles. And ultimately, you may be tasked with serving as a pilot or assigning pilots as the needs arise. Most of our staff are likely shuttle and runabout certified, but I imagine it'll come up from time to time," Cassandra said, gesturing to the docking disks as she discussed. "You won't need to worry much about visitor docking. They will be handled by Strategic Operations and mainly directed to the docking berths on the docking ring of each disk. But from time to time, a vessel may need to dock in the main bay, so that you would be in charge of handling."

The Lieutenant's eyes darted around Ops not quite believing the magnificence and the elegance of the 'brains of the base' while still focusing on the Captain's explanation of her duties. This was certainly far more elaborate than any starship she had ever served on. Looking at her C.O., "Understood Captain and I can pilot any of the support craft as needed." Then she paused a moment. "I assume there's a Flight Control Office or station where I can access my pilots and their experience, flying hours, etc. Also I look forward to working with Engineering concerning the support craft," Yesrin replied looking forward to the challenge.

Hawk nodded. "Flight control has a terminal just next to the display," the Captain said, gesturing toward the wall dominated by the massive display of the station. "You also have an office attached to the main docking bay that you can work out of."

"Good and speaking of the docking bays with the support craft being on docking pads, which appears to be in open space, is there a way to access their interiors from within the base? The reason for asking is I'm used to support craft being in shuttle bays, which is accessible from inside a ship; or am I missing something" Yesrin inquired with a smile "Also where are my quarters located; I'd like to get settled in when we're finished."

“Yes, all the docking pads are accessible form the interior,” Cassandra said, keying a command. The central hologram adjusted according to her input request and the tiny images of the runabouts landed at the center of each of the 6 large docking disks extended from the station’s central structure. Upon reaching a flat section the center of the disk, the section of hull lowered, retracting the pad into an internal bay, before doors closed to replace it on top. “Each of the docking pads is actually a vehicle elevator which will lower the ship into the superstructure of that particular docking ring. The bays are accessible internally and the runabouts or shuttles are then brought back to the surface of Mojave via the elevator.”

Yesrin grinned "I guess I did miss something" she mused "That's quite an efficient way to make the support craft available for maintenance" then she paused "Looks like I may be experiencing a bit of a learning curve here; but that's fine I like a challenge."

“As for this crew quarters, the Quartermaster should be getting you settled as we speak. You should receive a ping to your personal combadge once it’s ready, but if I recall you’re on deck 8,” Cassandra replied.

"Thank you Captain, that'll be most helpful. Since I have been asking all the questions, and aside from my personal file, do you have any questions for me" Yesrin inquired happy to help fill in any gaps.

Cassandra shook her head. “Not at the moment. Go ahead and get yourself settled. We’ll have plenty of time for the rest. Go make yourself at home.”

"Thank you Captain for your time and the warm welcome" then she paused a moment "I'm looking forward to being here" Yesrin stated with a smile before leaving Ops and heading to her new home.

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