Coming Aboard

Posted on Jan 07, 2017 @ 8:45pm by Lieutenant Jasmine Yu
Edited on on Jan 07, 2017 @ 8:46pm

Mission: Aftermath

“Coming Aboard”
(contd from ‘Personal Review’)

Location: Rochester, NY, EARTH
SD: [2.17] 0104.2038
Scene: Café

Pulling back a tall chair, a raven haired woman lifted herself onto the seat and placed her hands on a high, oak table, its surface coated with a light blue hue. She leaned back in her chair and smiled, when a middle-aged Orion woman with chestnut curls approached her.

“Hey, long time, no see. How are you?” The olive green skinned woman pulled out a small blue cloth and wiped the table.

The woman said, her brown eyes twinkling with delight, “I’m doing great. And yes, it’s been like…what three years, since I had last been here.” She inhaled. “How about you, Gigi?”

“Fine, not much has changed here.” The Orion nodded. “So Jasmine, what can I get for you? The usual?”

“You still remember,” Jasmine said, her eyes widening. “Yes, the usual.”

“Coming right up.” Gigi turned around and made her way to the counter, where she was seen inputting the orders into a panel.

Jasmine took a deep breath, still smiling. It was really great to be back to her favorite café in the city of her birth. The interior of the café was small and cozy, its large, rectangular windows allowing the sunlight to bathe everything in the room. The young woman had a good view of the park and the river beyond. Gigi returned with her order, a mug of hot, steaming, green tea, giving off a citrus aroma and a slice of lemon cake on a small plate. The Orion placed them on the table and smiled.

“Enjoy.” She then left for the nearest table, where a young African American couple sat.

Jasmine sighed, taking in the scent of the tea. She always had the same order, green tea and lemon cake. The café, in her opinion, made some of the best lemon cakes on the planet. Picking up the fork, she cut a piece of the cake and ate it. She smiled. The cake was as delicious as she remembered from the last time she came here. She placed the fork down and grabbed the mug. She took a sip of the tea and with the mug still in her hand, she glanced around her surroundings.

She had returned from the university campus, taking a twenty minute walk and although it was bright and sunny outside, it was also freezing. But Jasmine didn’t mind moving around even when the temperature was around 22 F. She was visiting her maternal grandmother, a professor at the university. Jasmine enjoyed the visit, having not seen her in a while. Her mother’s family had lived in Rochester for generations, since the beginning of the twenty first century.

Putting her mug down, she took another bite of the cake. This shore leave had gone well for her. With her ship, undergoing routine repairs, Jasmine had a few weeks shore leave before she would be going on another mission. She spent a few days with her parents in Hawaii and that was wonderful, realizing how much she had missed them. Her last mission took close to two years and was somewhere in uncharted space in the Delta Quadrant. But then the ship got caught up in the Neo-Essentialist crisis and that was a very scary and nerve-wracking experience, when considering the possibility that her home wouldn’t be recognizable anymore.

When the final battle for EARTH was taking place, Jasmine became worried over her family and feared she’d never see them again. But thankfully, the Neo-Essentialists were defeated and Jasmine was able to spend shore leave with her loved ones. Still, EARTH, while it didn’t fall to the Neo-Essentialists, it wasn’t the same as it was over two years ago. Since her return, the young woman noticed the tension lingering in the air and hostilities by many humans towards non-humans. That saddened her – Jasmine had known, worked with and made friends with persons from different worlds.

She sipped her tea and sighed. Her next visit was San Francisco, where her paternal grandparents lived. Jasmine looked forward to the visit and in addition to seeing her grandparents, she planned on catching up with old Academy friends – some she hadn’t seen since graduation and others, she only managed to occasionally maintain subspace correspondence.

Sounds of plates breaking interrupted her thoughts and Jasmine straightened in her seat. Her eyes immediately darted to the source of the sound and spotted broken pieces of what used to be a small dessert plate on the floor. Her brown eyes gaze upwards until they stopped on a human male, wearing a large, grey hiker’s jacket over a white T-shirt, black jeans and bright red baseball cap over his head, where only wisps of light brown hair were visible. The man was shouting at the Orion server, Gigi. Jasmine inwardly groaned, when her gaze paused on the lettering on the T-shirt, **Earth for Humans Only! ** Oh and there was an exclamation point at the end - to emphasize his statement very much with that T-shirt.

“It’s all your fault, you stupid alien!” the man yelled.

“I…didn’t break the plate, sir,” the Orion said. “You did…”

“Blaming the customer are you? So typical of you aliens,” the man began ranting. “You filthy aliens come here, acting as if you own the planet. Well, I got news for you. This is our planet, not yours.”

“Now sir, if only you let me clean the mess for you and I can bring another…”

The man grabbed his cup and spilled the contents of the beverage all over the table, with a little splashed on Gigi’s outfit. “See what you made me do!” the man yelled.

That was it. Jasmine stepped down from the chair and walked towards them. “No one made you do anything,” she addressed the man in a calm, yet polite tone.

“Lady, don’t you dare act like those sissies and bleeding heart idiots who love their alien friends,” the man wagged his finger at her, his tone a little condescending.

“Oh, I’d rather be a bleeding heart idiot than someone like you,” Jasmine said, giving him a solemn look. “Now you need to stop harassing this woman.” There was a firmness in her voice.

“Or what?” The man clenched his fists and gave her a menacing stare. “You don’t scare me.”

Jasmine sighed. “I’m not the one you should worry about.” She nodded. “It’s them.” She followed in a low voice. “Besides, I’m not on duty.”

The man blinked and glanced behind, his mouth dropping in shock, when two officers stood by the doorway. He staggered to his feet, when the officers made their way towards him. “You…should arrest this alien and…this disgusting alien loving traitor.” But the guards grabbed him on both sides and escorted him out of the café.

Jasmine let out a huge sigh of relief and turned to the Orion, her eyes filled with concern. “You okay, Gigi?”

“I will be fine, thanks Jasmine.” Gigi nodded, giving her a weak smile.

“Gigi, let me clean the mess,” came another voice, belonging to a tall human man with broad shoulders. The new arrival had white hair and sported a beard of the same colour. Apparently, he was the one who called for security. “You just take the rest of the day off.”

“Okay, Jack.” The Orion said her goodbyes to Jasmine and left.

Jasmine’s comm badge chirped and she tapped on it. “Yu here.”

[[Lieutenant Yu, you need to report back to the ship immediately.]]

“What seems to be the problem?” Jasmine raised an eyebrow.

[[You will find out when you arrive. CAMELOT out.]]

Jasmine sighed, looked like she was going to cut her shore leave short.

Jack turned to her and smiled. “How about a lemon cake and another tea to go? It’s on the house.”

“Yes, thank you.” Jasmine nodded with a smile.

--------------------
Location: USS CAMELOT
Scene: Sec/Tac’s office

“Come in.”

The doors parted open with a hiss, permitting the ship’s Assistant Sec/Tac officer to enter the room. “You wanted to see me, sir?” she asked, making her way towards a desk, where a tall man with short black hair got up from his chair. Brown markings were visible on his forehead and ridges on his nose indicated the security chief was a Bajoran/Trill hybrid.

“Yes, Lieutenant,” he said, moving around the desk to stand in front of her, his tall frame towering over by half a foot. “So Jasmine, how has your shore leave been going?”

Jasmine replied, relaxing her composure, “It’s been wonderful. Happy to see my family and that they are doing well.”

“Well, that’s good to hear,” the chief of security and tactical said. “Let’s sit down.” While Jasmine sat down on the visitor’s chair, her boss took his place behind the desk. A moment of silence passed, when Lt. Commander Cato, placed his hands, clasped, on the desk. “Jasmine, I have important news for you.”

Yu straightened herself, hands clasped on her lap and nodded. She watched Cato pick up a PADD from a pile and hand it to her. Jasmine wore a curious expression as she scrolled through the contents of the PADD and raised an eyebrow, followed by blinking. She looked up and her boss was giving her a wide smile. “I have been reassigned to the USS PHOENIX as their Chief of Security and Tactical.”

“Our search efforts have paid off.”

Jasmine blinked in confusion. “I wasn’t searching for anything.”

Cato chuckled. “It wasn’t searching per say. Captain made a recommendation to promote you to a department head position in her report to Starfleet Command.”

Yu’s eyes widened in surprise. “She did?” When her chief nodded a confirmation, she said in a low voice, “If anyone told me she would recommend me for a chief spot during my first year here, I’d have laughed at them.”

“I wouldn’t have.” He grinned.

“Really?” She gave him a wry grin. “I was quite opinionated back then, an ensign, fresh out of the Academy, who just had to talk over her chief in front of the Captain on her first day.”

Cato laughed, waving it off. “Cmdr. Haley wasn’t really bothered. He never gave you a hard time over it and was worried about the Captain’s reaction to you not following proper protocol. But eventually things worked out.”

Jasmine nodded, remembering her chief, during her first year on the CAMELOT, never gave her a hard time over her expressing concerns. She was quite outspoken as an ensign who could not keep any issues or concerns to herself and her Captain was a rather strict woman. Over the years Yu had learnt to control when and what was the appropriate time to express her concerns or opinions. Cmdr. Haley transferred due to personal reasons, which everyone knew was separation from his wife, who was also his CO. Cato took his place and for four years, Jasmine had an excellent working relationship with him. Her relationship with the ship’s CO also improved over the years. Before leaving, Jasmine made a mental note to thank Captain Spankryz for giving her a chance to prove herself as an officer.

“Anyway, your new assignment won’t be effective for another few days,” the Bajoran/Trill hybrid said, smiling. “So take that time to enjoy the rest of your shore leave.”

“I will.” She nodded.

--------------------
Location: USS PHOENIX
Scene: Transporter Room 1 -> Main Bridge -> CO’s Ready Room
Time Index: A few days later

She was finally here. The trip from the CAMELOT to the PHOENIX was short, considering both ships were at Spacedock. By leaving the CAMELOT, she had left behind a different part of her life and her arrival on the USS PHOENIX signaled the start of a new chapter. The young woman smiled and her eyes shone with excitement. She stepped off the transporter pad, carrying only a small backpack and greeted the operator, a human female, standing behind the console.

“Lieutenant Jasmine Yu, newly assigned Chief of Security and Tactical.”

Crewman Nagai said, “Lieutenant Yu, Captain Kane has been expecting you.”

“Thank you, crewman. I will make my way to the bridge, right now.”

“Also,” Nagai added. “Your belongings will be sent directly to your quarters.”

“Thank you.” Jasmine nodded and turned around to leave the room. She took the turbolift to deck 1 and then proceeded to the Main Bridge. Upon entering the bridge, the officer on duty, informed her that Captain Kane was in his Ready Room and she could go see him now. Jasmine headed towards the Ready Room and pressed the door chime. The door opened a moment later and the young woman entered the room. She inhaled deeply before standing in attention a few feet from her CO’s desk. Jasmine hoped she’d make a better first impression with her new CO than she did with her last one, even though in the end it worked out well.

“Lieutenant Jasmine Yu, reporting for duty, sir.”

“At ease, Lieutenant Yu,” Kane said, his gaze meeting hers. “Welcome aboard, Lieutenant.”

“Thank you, sir,” Jasmine said in acknowledgement. “It is a pleasure to be here and I look forward to serving you and this crew as your chief of security and tactical.”

The Captain said, “I’m assuming you want to check in your quarters and then your department.”

“Yes.” She nodded. “I am just going there to drop my bag and then head to the security centre to meet my staff.”

*************************************************************************************
NRPG: Hello everyone, I am happy to be writing with you :) It’s been a long time since I have last written in the FRPG. So looking forward to adventures on the Phoenix.


~*~
Ranjani S.
Writing for

Lieutenant Jasmine Yu
Chief of Security and Tactical
USS PHOENIX