Ready Room - USS Ascendant 1300 hours
As she exited off the turbolift onto the empty bridge, Elizabeth thought to herself, it will not be empty much longer. Making her way, to the ready room, she looked at her PADD once more to make sure she could answer any questions the Commodore would ask her.
Touching the bell on the left side of the ready room, she could hear the faint ring inside the ready room, followed by a female voice saying "Come". The door slid open in front of her. Behind the antique desk, she saw the middle aged woman, with grey slowly tinting her raven black hair. The woman's eyes were like mirrors, filled with hapiness and sorrow of her long career with Starfleet.
As she paused for a minute, the Commodore motioned her forward with her left hand, as she handed a PADD to a male tellarite in the room. The tellarite, scarred from the Battle of Wolf 359, would be confined to a floating hoverchair for probably the rest of his life.
Though she had talked with Commodore Rardon many times before, she still felt a slight sense of awe, as she moved into the room.
"Commander Shelby, do you have the latest report from the engineers?", the dark haired woman asked.
"Yes, ma'am. It looks like the Ascendant will be ready to launch in two weeks, though Lt. Winters has currently taken all the transporters offline.", Elizabeth said as she handed the PADD with the lastest engineer reports over to the Commodore."He is certain that he found a problem with the secondary buffer systems. He is estimating that they will back online in 36 hours after his repairs and then running a Level 1 diagnostic routine just to be safe."
The Commodore turned slightly towards the tellarite, "Dar, inform Planitia Station that our transporters are offline, all personnel transfers within the next 36 hours will have to be by shuttlecraft."
"Yes, ma'am",with a slight rasping to his voice, Dar responded, "We are expecting another group of transfers in today at 1800 hours. I believe some of them will be the officers that you selected as your senior staff, Kris."
"Meet them please, Dar. Have them get settled in, then I will meet with them.", slowly the Commodore turned back to Commander Shelby. "Do you have the updated time table for Fleet Admiral Kiel's arrival, Commander?"
"The Hood will arrive with Fleet Admiral Kiel the day before the launching ceremony as previously planned, Commodore." Elizabeth slowly turned back to the tellarite. "I hear you have been cleared by Starfleet Medical, Commander Cherok, congratulations and welcome back."
"Thank you, Commander Shelby, and congratulations to you for the being assigned as the Executive Officer of the Excalibur.", Dar said, as his chair slowly turned towards her.
"I was very hesitant to take the position.", she said."I have come to like working here for the ASDB. They have given me the opportunity to work on some of the greatest challenges of my career."
"I am sure you will do well, Elizabeth.", Kris said as she reviewed the engineers reports."I have enjoyed working with you, though we have not always agreed on certain matters. Between you and I though, keep your head low around Admiral Jellico. He is certain that he is the only thing important in this universe, and acts accordingly. I am glad Admiral Kiel transferred me out from under his command. If not, I was probably going to stuff his regulations down his throat with my fist."
"I will convey to him your best wishes, Commodore.". Elizabeth said sarcastically."Is there anything else I can do for you?"
"No thanks, you have done more than enough, Elizabeth. I hope you find what your looking for on the Excalibur though", the Commodore said, turning back to the pile of PADDs on her desk."Dismissed Commander, and good luck! Hope to see you again out there!"
Commander Shelby roused her body to attention, then smartly saluted the Commodore. The Commodore stood up from her chair and saluted back. Elizabeth turned on her heel and walked out of the ready room. The Commodore sat back down to her chair, and then thoughtfully looked at the door, Elizabeth had just went through.
"Dar, are we getting too old to be doing this?"
"No Kris, they are just getting younger.", he said then a rasping chuckle escaped his lips.