-= Begin Log =- After leaving the Astrometrics, or better said, the room that should be astrometrics soon, Shane tapped a bit weary his PADD for the next 'way point' on his 'cruise' around the ship. {Medical, Counseling, Science ...} he muttered to himself. Scrolling the text on his PADD, it revealed ... 'Security, Tactical, Engineering, ODA ...'. Shane rubbed his head, he felt quite a bit uneasy about having an ODA team on board ... marines. In his time on Aurora he dealt with marines only rarely and not all times only in friendly manners. But there was not much to do. Shane was the Executive officer on the Chimera and the Chimera carried a marine ODA team ... so Shane's only option was to use to it. But the 'odd' feeling about the marines remainded ... and even increased when he learned that the marines will fullfill even the duties of the ship's security. {Marines as ship security ... somehow it remainds me to making a ram a gardner} Shane thought. Looking at his PADD, Shane learned that the ODA Commander and ship's CSEC is one and the same person ... Major Nejor Okrin - another familiar face from the Aurora station. Shane tapped his combadge: "Computer, localise Major Nejor Okrin". [Unable to comply, requested feature is disable due system maintanance] replied the feminine voice of the computer. "Ah ..." Shane sighed and made a mental note to visit Engineering immediately after Nejor. 'Logical analytics' wasnt Shane's strongest field back at the academy, but he decicded to look after Nejor in a specific place. Deck 8, Security office. The door chime rang again. Okrin brought his conciousness back to the present, ending his meditation. He'd just spoken with Athena and he wanted to relax, get back into things. "Come." He said, in a normal tone of voice this time around. Shane slowly walked into the Security office. Somehow he expected it 'pulzing' with activity, full of strong security guys ... and was quite surprised to see only one man in a marine uniform there sitting. Noticing the rank on his collar and the 'marine like' expression the man wielded Shane guessed it was Nejor. "Major Nejor Okrin?" he asked. It was a bit odd that both man served on Aurora and actually never met ... "I am Lt. Guzman the Executive officer, i would like to talk to you about the security department and the ODA ..." Okrin looked the man over. He'd heard the name before in overheard conversations. "Yes sir." He said, raising from his seat. A younger lieutenant in age, experience but he was to be called sir due to his position. "What would you like to discuss?" Okrin hid his discontempt of the look he got from the XO. Again the marine uniform must have done it, and now he was probably going to teach him how to do his job. What an exiting day so far... Rangi would call it off-sense perception, Athena telepathy ... but what ever, Shane could 'feel' the discontented vibes from the marine major. No wonder, Shane felt a bit nervous about talking to and evetualy ordering an higher ranking officer ... an older one and sure more experinced. But as the XO he was the second Commander of the ship ... and had to act like one ... for every single crew member although higher ranking then himself. Shivering for a second Shane replied : "First its a pleasure to meet you major" and offered his hand. After the formal handshaking Shane looked over the office. "Actually i am compiling a report for the Captain. I will need partial reports from all departments. Situation, crew roster, status of the department. The most important thing i need to know is when the Security will be ready for full duty. The same applies for the ODA. Speaking about the ODA, I am quite interested in your unit. AM i right in the thought that the ODA will serve as ship's security as well?" Okrin did not sit back down. "Well sir, as far as reporting. I bet it's the same story all over the ship, but for my part. All internal sensors are offline, most security systems except a few forcefields are non-operational, my staff is still coming in, some are due tomorrow at 0800, some later. I have no equipment what so ever, as in phaser rifles, etc. but that is being taken care of." He started to pace. "My entire staff of about 40 men are part of the ODAs, I have three teams, and everyone is in security. This being a SSF ship, I don't forsee the need to patrol on a permanent basis, or breaking bar fights. After all, everyone on this ship is liable to be returned to thier previous unit if the breaking of the code of conduct is too flagrant, most consider this assignment the culmination of their careers, I know I do. So being RTUed is worst punishment than actual military prison." Okrin was clearly disappointed in getting a department in such lousy shape, he hope the meeting tomorrow morning with his ODA would not reveal a bunch of miscreant SSF officers, and having a XO of such age, he would have to prove himself, but the etiquette would remain, he was his superior by position afterall. "Tell, me, sir. What do you think of marines? I heard a lot of stories, but I'd like to hear your version of that never-ending story of marines being so different than fleet." Now was his chance to start with a firm solid step into proving to the Major that he was fit for his position. Shane noded. "I see ... its as you said, almost the same story all over the ship. But as the Captain aid, we are about to leave the base in less then 3 days ... so till that, every department must report as full ready for its duties. No matter how ..." Shane glanced at Nejor and looked away like thinking. "Interesting question Major, to say the truth i was expecting to be asked that by the Captain. But to answer you ... yes, the marines are different then SF personel ... and that makes them so excellent and efficient in their field of duty. But here and now, its the ideal place to prove that the marines and SF personnel can work tightly as one coherent unit. I personally had some 'issues' with few marine officers ... but on this ship, every crew member, Marine or SF is a CREW MEMBER in first line. You or Lt. Storok ... i wont make a difference between you two. The Captain awaits maximal efficiency and dedication from everyone ... and so do I." Shane crossed his hands and looked into Nejor's eyes: "What's your version major?" Okrin's stare did not waver from Shane's. At least he did not seen so unsure of himself compared at the start of this conversation. "My version is that all SF personel think of the marines as dirt loving grunts who live only for the fight and the blood, not knowing better, while their SF counterparts remain in the clean enviroment of the ships and bases." He stated. "Officially, everyone is part of the crew, yes, everyone has their task, yes, I know that sometimes when the marines have no mission involving them in their 'enviroment' they tend to have nothing to do, that I agree. but I hope that with the ODAs performing the security duties, even if they are minor on an SSF ship, that the stereotype will be broken, that everyone will be equals and will share drinks rather than partake in a bar fights, seen once too many times on Aurora." Shane noded again. "I am glad we agree in this point. The last thing we need on the ship is some segregation into marines and SF personel. I think that partly responsible for such an image and maybe sometimes the acting of the marines is they quite effective separation from the other crew by living and training in the barracks. They have often only limited contact with SF crew or civilians. But here we dont have any barracks do we?" Shane looked at Nejor from feets to the head: "One more questions Major. Technically you are of a higher rank then me as I would be only Marine Captain in marine ranking, do you have any problems with me beeing the XO or accept orders from me?" Okrin leaned on the wall. He could not believe he'd heard such question. A confident XO would never had asked such question, unless he was intimidated by the one he was speaking to. He crossed his arms on his chest and rubbed the inside corners of his eyes. He looked at the XO again. He still saw a young man willing to take the challenge and have everyone on his side. "Well, sir, ever since I've been a platoon sgt, I've been ordered around by younger aged, less experienced officer than I was. Sometimes it was a disaster, as I saw in previous platoon sgts I had, and the one responsible always got it from the more experienced second in command. Now your responsibility is tremendous, you have to kick the COs butt if he does the wrong thing, not literaly, but I know you get my drift. I will follow your commands and yes I'll live with the fact that your a Lt and I'm a major, but you can be sure of one thing, since you're looking out for the captain, I'll be looking out for you and I will kick your arse if you do the wrong thing, literaly." He finished smilling. Shane smiled back: "Lets say i dont take the description personally major. Through your rank and your postion you are theoretically the 3rd in the line of Command. And like I will do this for the Captain ... I need the ship's 3rd Commander be absolutely loyal to the Captain's or mine decissions. I dont mind you telling me when i will do something wrong, unless you will 'really' kick my butt, but major ... NEVER question the COs or mine orders in front of other crew. If we understand us in this matter and you will say that your report will be done till tomorrow 0800 ... I think we can learn to cooperate with each other for the good sake of the crew and the ship. For a second, Okrin thought about letting Shane sink the first occasion he had. These words annoyed him, it was like telling him that shooting himself in the foot brought a lot of hurt. It was telling him the obvious and Okrin never liked to be told the obvious, it was an insult to his intelligence. They had a lot of work to do in that aspect apparently, but for ship and crew he would sheath his weapons and take it, without saying a word. "Yes tomorrow at 0800 my report sould be on your desk." He finally managed to reply. "Anything else sir?" he asked with a slight annoynace in his voice. Shane noticed the slight tone ... but not showed any sign of it. {Marine officers are a bit hard to get used to} he thought, {Bretam is no easy going and Nejor looks the same. There will be sure much fun with it.} Shane was still quite unsure what to think about Nejor, he looked to be convinced about himself and about the way how he was used to solve problems. {Maybe he didnt liked me asking him things like that ... maybe he is not liking me ...} he thought. Maybe Nejor was sure about himself and his qualities, but if Shane had to trust his life to the hands of this officer ... he needed to be more then sure about him. {Maybe it just needs time ...}. Finally he skook his head: "No Major, that's everythink. I you will need any assistance from engineering or other departments, or have request or complaints ... please don't hesistate to contact me. I'll be expecting the report tomorrow 0800 then." The XO exited the office and Okrin remained leaning on the wall, trying to relax, get his thoughts focused again. He knew he'd been a little hard on the young officer, unwillingly though, his prior discussion with Athena did not help in giving him a quiet and calm demeanor but in the end as long as the report was on the desk it was all that mattered. Major Nejor Okrin Chief of Security/ODA Commander USS Chimera & Lt. Shane Guzman Executive Officer USS Chimera