Tabula Rasa

Posted on Thu Jun 20th, 2024 @ 10:40pm by Lieutenant Lisald Vaat & Captain Erik Larsen

2,164 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 0: The Fire & The Song
Location: Bridge, USS Goddard
Timeline: Current

Although the bridge of the Goddard resembled something vaguely akin to unadulterated chaos, it was shaping up nicely. Most of the duty stations were assembled and functional, although there were ODN cable and isolinear chips scattered seemingly at random. Many of the chips and cables were centered around the forward Ops console, which was where Erik Larsen was working. He had been on board this vessel for exactly three days, and had immersed himself in assisting with remaining assembly and launch preparations. There was a glitch inside the Ops console, and since Erik's degree was in Computer Science he decided to dismiss the Ensign working on that problem and tackle that issue himself. A decision he was starting to regret.

Larsen was sitting on he floor, legs crossed, with his left hand buried inside the console and a small flashlight in his mouth. He was, at present, alone on the bridge...until he heard a turbo lift car stop and the doors swished open with a loud pneumatic hiss. Footsteps followed, footsteps that were drawing close. Before the approaching individual (likely another noncom from Copernicus Station with a requisition to be approved) could speak, Larsen spoke.

"Grab me the spanner from that tool kit, would you please?" he asked, pointing to a kit on the Captain's chair.

"Bless the Prophets, is that you, Commander Larsen? It's me, Vaat, from the Cygnus," the Bajoran officer exclaimed, recognizing his friends voice like it was his own, or Ravi's. He could scarcely believe his good fortune being assigned to a random ship in the fleet, only to find someone he had connected with.

Erik tilted his head backward, dropping the flashlight from his mouth and onto the deck plating. “I was wondering if the arrival was you,” he said with a small smile. He pulled his hand from the console and stood, pulling the front of his uniform tunic down. “And it’s Captain now, Vaat.”

Vaat's mouth dropped open with an audible pop, and just as quickly closed with with an another audible snap. "Oh my goodness? You made Captain?! You've only been off the Cygnus, what, four months? Congratulations sir. Captain, sir," he said, with a genuine smile. Then the realization dawned on him. "Wait a minute, that means that you are my Captain now?" Then, that realization dawning on him, Lisald came to parade rest. "Sorry sir. Uh, Lieutenant Lisald Vaat, reporting for duty, sir."

“Stand easy, my friend,” said Larsen with a broad smile. “Join me in the Ready Room. We can have a coffee and talk a bit,” the Captain said, gesturing toward the starboard entrance to his personal Sanctum Sanctorum.

Vaat smiled, genuinely smiled, for the first time in what felt like weeks, ever since his mind had wondered on that damned freighter, and accidentally setting off the automated self-destruct sequence. As luck would have it, the Chief Engineer of the Cygnus had just beamed in and was able to help disarm it, and with barely a minute to spare. Now, Lisald fell in step behind his new Captain, forgetting all about those troubles, and forgetting about the spanner on the Captain's Chair. "Thank you, Comman....er, Captain." The doors to the Ready Room hissed open, admitting them, then hissed closed behind them. "Sorry about that. It'll take me a moment to wrap my head around that, that you are a Captain now."

“Believe me,” said Erik. “It’s been an adjustment for me as well. I’m used to executing the Captain’s orders, not being the person issuing the orders.” He stood near the replicator and tapped a control interface with his index finger. “Vanilla cappuccino for me. Something for you?”

Vaat couldn't help but smile. Lisald didn't think he would ever be in a position to issue orders, let alone be Captain. He had been down that road before where he had aligned himself to go that path, but stepped away from it. He was happy being a scientist. "Jumja Tea would be lovely, sir. Thank you." A second later, and the Captain had handed him a clear mug of the black tea. He sniffed it, then tasted it. It was damned near exactly the way it tasted on Bajor, far better than what the replicators could produce on the Cygnus. "Oh my," he said, after the sip.

“Yeah, these Gen 17 replicators are a big leap forward. Wait till you taste the squill syrup.” He pulled back the large, plush chair from behind the desk and sat. “Please? Make yourself comfortable.” He paused for a moment. “I suppose you’re wondering how I managed to wind up in a center seat. Last time we talked I was on my way to a backwater outpost in the middle of nowhere to finish paying my dues.”

Lisald sat, cupping his mug with both hands as he did so. The Captain was right, the next generation of replicators really were a leap forward. "Yeah, if I recall correctly, to some very distant, very remote, very, and forgive me, not important, assignment as Executive Officer and Chief Science Officer? How in the world did you end up getting promoted to Captain, and given command of a ship?"

“The short version…I never made it to Zeta Omega IX. It was a five month journey at high warp, multiple transports and Starfleet vessels.” He sipped his cappuccino thoughtfully. “I was on the Billings as a passenger when they were attacked by a Breen dreadnought. Their entire command crew was killed in a massive hull breech. I was the senior most officer, so I took command. We managed to cripple the dreadnought, and I was ordered to bring the ship back to McKinley Station. The trip took almost a month.” Erik shrugged “I guess I proved that I was worth more than a backwater outpost.”

Lisald listened carefully. Larsen was aboard the Cygnus when they had engaged the Crystalline Entity, and prior to Lisald being wounded in the line of duty during that engagement, he remembered Larsen being level-headed and a quick thinker that could come up with, lets say, unorthodox, maneuvers and tactics. Lisald remembered hearing Captain Bane talk about how the decisions that Larsen had made had contributed greatly to their surviving the encounter. "So when you got back to Earth, they promoted you to Captain and gave you command of this vessel? Doing the math, that was, what, four or five days ago, at most? And what are the chances that I would be assigned here too. Do you think the brass put us together on purpose, seeing as we both came from the same ship?"

“I can think of a simpler explanation. I had a request in my file that if I ever became a CO and you were available, I wanted you as my Chief Science Officer.”

Lisald blinked several time, stunned to silence. After a pregnant pause, Lisald's face fell. He dropped his eyes from Larsen's and shook his head. "Oh..I, uh...I don't know, sir. I mean, I messed up pretty bad on the Cygnus, hence my transfer off that ship. Captain Bane didn't want me anymore. I don't know," he said, looking back up at his new commanding officer, "If I could handle letting you down as well. I would be happy just being your Alien Archaeologist and keeping a low profile."

Erik folded his hands on the desk. “Don’t you think I had a conversation with Captain Bane before making this request? It’s not that he didn’t want you, Vaat. He just didn’t believe that his vessel was a place where you could reach your full potential.” Larsen sighed heavily. “Look, I know you want out and you’re biding your time. But I also think you want to make a difference in the time you have left in Starfleet. Am I right?”

The Bajoran scientist raised his eyebrows briefly, at the same time cocking his head to the left a bit momentarily, his eyes going distant. "Boy do I ever. Uh, sir," he said, forgetting himself for a moment. "I joined Starfleet to be able to make discoveries and to fill the gaps in our galactic history. But, you know that already."

“I will tell you that despite her small size, Goddard is a very capable scientific platform. Including being a test bed for the most advanced prototype systems in the Fleet. We scientists like to have the best toys.”

"That is good to know," the junior lieutenant stated. "And it is good to know that Captain Bane didn't hate me. I tell you, I always thought he did. From the first time I met him, to when he transferred me off his ship." The Bajoran inhaled deeply, and let it all out in a huff. "Captain, do you truly think I am cut out to be a Department Head? Especially on a ship with prototype technologies?"

“Honestly,” said Larsen, “now that I think about it, Lieutenant Junior Grade Lisald Vaat is not the person I need. But Lieutenant Lisald Vaat is.”

Vaat smiled. Perhaps Captain Bane was right; there was no room for him on the Cygnus, but there was room for him in Starfleet. LIsald felt better about his career in the last fifteen minutes than he did in the past two years combined. "Who am I to argue with the Captain of the Goddard? I really, really like the sound of that, sir."

Larsen smiled broadly. If there was one Command lesson that he had learned from Bane Plase it was that officers under your command will be at their best when they feel valued, when they feel seen. And right now, he was certain that Lisald felt both. Erik reached into the drawer of his desk and pulled out a small wooden box; he placed it on the desk and slid it toward Lisald. “This is so you can be properly dressed, Lieutenant.”

Taking the small wooden box, made from the wood of a Lieremwood Tree, native to only the second moon of Benzar IV, and opening it carefully revealed to Lisald a solid gold pip. He stared at it for a moment, basking in the joy he was truly feeling right now, the same joy, only amplified greatly, he had felt when Captain Stafford gave him the hollow pip he was now wearing. The amplification came from knowing that someone that truly wanted to see Lisald succeed, and someone Lisald considered a friend, had given it to him, had felt Vaat had earned it.

Lisald looked up at his friend, the box never moving an inch in his hand. "I can think of nothing better than for you to pin this on me, and for me to accept. Will you," he asked, stretching his hand with the box out towards Larsen.

“It is you who honor me,” said Larsen as he stood from his desk, taking the box and setting it on the desk. He removed the golden pip, and the shorter Bajoran stiffened to attention. Larsen removed the gold half pip, replacing it with the solid as he spoke. “Lisald Vaat, by the authority granted me by Starfleet Command, I hereby name you Chief Science Officer of the USS Goddard and promote you to the rank of Lieutenant with all of the rights, responsibilities and privileges therein. Computer…advance Lisald Vaat to grade O-3 and update his clearance to Beta Two. Authorization Larsen Gold Two Two Six.”

Lisald beamed with pride, and a renewed sense of belonging within Starfleet. Larsen himself had commanded Vaats admiration, respect and loyalty before, but only further deepened those feelings within the Bajoran. "Thank you, sir." Vaat then looked at the box on the desk, the one now holding the hollowed pip. "Will you keep that handy, sir? Never know when you might need it." He then winked playfully to his commanding officer and friend, knowing full well the senior officer would know exactly what he was hinting at.

“I’ll make sure it’s kept safe,” said Larsen wryly. “See our Quartermaster PO Cameron for your quarters assignment. First order of business,” said Larsen as he handed over a blue isolinear chip. “Departmental staff candidates. I’ll need your recommendations by 1800 tomorrow.”

"Aye, Captain. Seriously, thank you for requesting me, and showing this faith in me. With your permission," he said, trailing off and motioning towards the door. Lisald wanted to meet Petty Officer Cameron, get his quarters and scope out the technology and science bays on this vessel before diving into work on the candidates.

“Of course. Dismissed, Lieutenant.”



OFF

Lieutenant Lisald Vaat
Chief Science Officer
USS Goddard

and

Captain Erik Larsen
Commanding Officer
USS Goddard

 

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