Chapter 4: Officers
As Sam guided the transport into the upper starboard flight pod he was amazed at the sheer size of the hangar bay. He has been on battlestars that were smaller than the flight pod he was landing in; and the Zeus had four of these flight pods. He touched down and felt the magnetic hold-down system capture the transport as the elevator lowered them into the debarkation area. As the transport was guided into the open hangar, Sam and CDR Stebbins could see a formal gathering of crew members in full dress uniform, in ranks, awaiting the arrival of their new top two leaders. Sam opened the hatch and stepped through first (military protocol dictated that the senior officer emerged last when exiting a vehicle) and waited at the bottom of the steps. CDR Stebbins exited the transport and descended the steps. As he stepped onto the hangar deck, a male voice broadcasted over the area announcing system, "Zeus arriving!" CDR Stebbins approached the row of officers in front of the formation which smartly rendered honors and saluted the CDR. The single officer in front of the formation was a tall, thin man named Paul Royse. He was a full Lt (lieutenant), and currently lead pilot and head trainer on the Zeus. CDR Stebbins recognized him and knew soon this young man would become his CAG. Royse held his salute and spoke authoritatively, "Welcome aboard, Sir!" Stebbins returned their salute and all parties dropped their salutes but remained at attention. CDR Stebbins addressed the assembly and said, "Thank you for the welcome. Let me introduce your new XO, Colonel Anders. Sam approached CDR Stebbins stopping just short of his position (one step behind and one step to the right, as protocol dictated). Sam acknowledged the crew with a simple nod of the head. CDR Stebbins continued, "As nice as this is, I am sure you have better to use your time on. I will be meeting representatives from all departments and getting to know the crew of Zeus as quickly as possible. For now, you are dismissed." Lt Royse saluted the CDR then announced, "Fall out!" He then addressed the CO and XO reported, "With your permission, I can show you to your staterooms." Stebbins replied, "I have rested enough on the transport, Take me to CIC."
It was a long walk between the hangar bay and CIC. It was very evident that the Zeus was nowhere near completed. All crew personnel working on the ship were wearing one piece coveralls instead of uniforms. The passageways were littered with loose debris from the construction process. There was cables and conduit running along every passageway and the majority of the bulkheads didn't even have plating attached. Permanent lighting wasn't even available in some areas; visibility was supplied by long runs of temporary lighting attached to a power cord tied to the beams in the overhead. After what seemed like a half mile long walk, Lt Royse led the two officers into a large open area, turned to CDR Stebbins and said, "This is where CIC will be. We have not made as much progress in this area due to technology constant changes in her design." Stebbins said, "Explain!" Royse expounded that the design engineers were having a difficult time keeping up with all the changes that Bridgette Starr was throwing at them." "And who is Bridgette Starr?" asked the CDR. "She is the head scientist and R&D manager on the Scholar" answered Royse. CDR Stebbins turned to Sam and said, "We need to get to the bottom of this quickly."
Sam agreed and wondered over to what looked like the beginnings of a communication station. A crew member was leaning over an open console trying to install a wiring harness. After a few seconds, the crewman said in a frustrated voice, "If you are just going to stand there, how about making yourself useful and handing me a screwdriver from the toolkit." Sam located the screwdriver and placed it into the waiting hand of the crewman who was into the console up to her waist. After a few more seconds, the crewman asked, "Really, you have nothing better to do than stand there and stare at me while I am working?" Sam said sarcastically, "I just got here and I am not sure where to begin…" The crewman agitatedly climbed out of the console; and turned to face the man who had nothing better to do than bother her while she was working. Her eyes went wide with disbelief as she turned to face Colonel Anders standing in front of her in full dress uniform. She immediately snapped to attention and tried to make a report, but she was so nervous that everything she said was confused and stammered. "Sir… special… eh, communications specialist… Sims… Tonya Sims…re… reporting sir…" Sam couldn't help smiling and teased, "Communications specialist? I have never known a communications specialist who stuttered." She replied, "I don't stutter, sir. You just caught me off guard." Sam said, "Fair enough. I better let you get back to work, Sims" and he returned to where the CDR was standing.
Jon had overheard the conversation between Sam and Specialist Sims, and commented, "I see you are already meeting some of the crew." Sam smiled and joked, "Yes, it's not every day that I get called lazy and useless within the first couple of minutes I meet someone. Usually it takes hours for them to come to that conclusion." Jon had to remind himself that although Sam had a very relaxed demeanor, when the shit hit the fan, Sam was a professional who could be counted on to give his life for his people. Jon told Sam "make the arrangements for tomorrow morning's staff meeting. Ensure everyone on our list is notified and ready to report the status of their departments." Stebbins turned to Lt Royse and said, "Show us to our staterooms, please." The three men left what will become the CIC and made the relatively short journey to their staterooms. After stowing his gear, Sam worked his way back to the CIC area and located the duty officer for the evening. He gave him the list of names and instructions that were to be provided to each officer attending tomorrow's meeting. His last instruction was, "Tell them not to be late." Sam then went to the command staff room to ensure the facilities were sufficient for the meeting. Upon entering the conference room, Sam found a large rectangular table located in front of what looked like a large monitor screen. The table was new and seemed to be made of old fashion mahogany wood. In Sam's head he thought that must have been one heck of a tree to be large enough to make this table. Everything looked fine except for one detail, there were no chairs present in the room. Sam contacted the duty officer and had him send just enough chairs to accommodate the individuals attending the meeting. Now it was time for Sam to get some sleep and headed back to his stateroom.
The next morning, Sam arrived early for the meeting and took the first chair to the left of the seat at the head of the table. This seat is always reserved for the commanding officer, whether he is attending the meeting or not. As the others slowly began to enter the conference room, Sam engaged in some small talk and told them to take a seat around the table. As often happens when joining a conference with people who might not be very familiar, the officers selected seats on the opposite end of the table. CDR Stebbins entered the conference room a few minutes early and a dark skinned Tauron man snapped to attention and announced, "Attention on deck!" Everyone in the room quickly stood at attention. "As you were" ordered Stebbins and took his seat. Everyone sat back down at the table. He then addressed Sam, "Is everyone here?" Sam replied, "No sir, but you are a few minutes early." At that moment, Tonya Sims burst through the hatch into the room. Her eyes went wide and fear was showing on her face as she looked at the conference room table. Not only was CDR Stebbins already in the room, but the only available seat left was right beside Sam (who she had already had an embarrassing first encounter). She moved to the table and said "sorry sir, I thought I was on time." Stebbins said "you are on time." Then looking at the officers around the table he continued "but a point to be taken by everyone, from now on I expect you not only to arrive to a meeting on time, but be prepared to make accurate reports or take notes; please be seated Sims."
"I am not a big fan of meetings, they are often unproductive and a waste of time. But, on a ship of this size, we must ensure that accurate information and effective communication is established throughout the ship. There have been numerous ships that had disastrous incidents due to poor communication. When the rumor mill or scuttlebutt is the only thing the crew hears, it can adversely affect morale and cohesion within a large crew. Which is one of the reasons we are here today. I know most of you have been on Zeus since the beginning, but I would like you to introduce yourselves and tell us what department you are with." CDR Stebbins looked at Sims indicating his desire for her to start the process. "Tonya cleared her throat and began "My name is Tonya Sims…" Sam interrupted and teased "I think that we already met, right…" "Alright Sam, let her continue" said Jon. Tonya continued, "I am Tonya Sims with Communications." "Lt Paul Royse, Air Group." "Lt Alexander Ryan, Weapons Dept." "Lt John Talbot, Engineering" "Lt Philip Reeves, Navigation." "Dr. Elizabeth Corey, Medical." "Lt Austin Zuvo, Marine detachment." The officers completed this process around the table until everyone was done except the dark skinned Tauron man who was seated directly to Jon's right side. He reported "I am Master Chief Cole Steele. I am not an officer nor do I have a specialty department. I simply ensure things run smoothly throughout the ship." "We will come back to that statement in a few minutes Master Chief." He continued, "it is good to meet all of you, but effective immediately, you are all wrong about your positions here on Zeus." This statement confused all and instilled fear in some of them. CDR Stebbins quickly explained "relax everyone. The reason you are here is because you have demonstrated excellence in your respective fields, dedication to the ship and her crew, and a level of maturity worthy of recognition." Sam said in a loud voice, Attention to orders!" Everyone stood at attention. CDR Stebbins gestured to the two stewards, each holding a medium sized box, standing behind him, and they approached the CO. Stebbins reached into the box, took out a small case and stood in front of Tonya Sims. Handing her the small case, he said "Lt Sims, you are hereby promoted to the rank of Major and you will hold the position of Communications Officer reporting to the XO and myself." The CDR then made his way around the table promoting each officer to the rank of Major and changing their titles to CAG, Weapons Officer, Chief Engineering Officer, Navigation Officer, Head Medical Officer, and Marine Detachment Commander. He then approached Master Chief Steele. Stebbins asked him, "You don't have any higher rank to be promoted too, do you Master Chief?" Steele replied "no sir!" "I am very well aware of the need for a senior enlisted representative onboard ship. There are over 3000 enlisted crewman onboard the Zeus. I could use your expertise and sage advice. Therefore, Master Chief Steele, I am naming you as the Operations officer for the entire ship reporting to the XO and myself." Master Chief Steele stared directly ahead and acknowledged, "Yes sir!" The CDR addressed everyone in the room and said, "Now let's all sit down and have our first official Command Staff meeting."