Return From Tragedy }{ [OPEN]

[joshua]

Shuttle Bay, Esteem; Febuary 21st 2523

Josh looked out of the window of the shuttle that was transporting him back to Esteem. He had been away from the ship for a period of six months due to the latest fiasco of his three marriages. This time however it was different. The scars were cutting deep and he doubted he would ever love again. The father of two had been married three times but this latest marriage had ended in death. Josh had loved his third wife dearly but she had succumbed to the ‘diseased sickness’ that had spread around the ‘Verse like wildfire.

Having been devastated by the tragedy the widow decided to take some compassionate leave. The love for his wife would never diminish despite the shortness of their marriage. The Executive Officer of the Esteem was ready to return to his former post. He had spent the last few months back at Ministry of Defence HQ where he had guessed they were accessing his state of mind. In all honestly all the Commander felt was the numbness of the loss he had suffered.

Hanson had hidden his drink and drug addiction well and they had deemed him fit to serve on the cruiser once more. All Josh wanted was to get back to work and it seemed that a lot had changed from what he had heard. Ethan Pike was no longer in charge what was a shame because despite the two men clashing over their different methods at first they had grown to become friends. Josh had pulled Admiral Vangard’s file and he had to admit the man was an impeccable officer.

As the shuttled touched down in the hanger bay Josh grabbed his duffel bag containing the few belongings he had brought back onboard with him. It was time for Hanson to get his career back on track. The former ace pilot was on track to command his own cruiser before the death of his wife. As he headed for the loading ramp to exit the shuttle he pushed all thoughts of his wife to the back of his mind. He wondered if the Admiral would great him back aboard personally.

He was about to find out.  

[tigh]

The Esteem had been conducting oporations around Persephone for several weeks now. The White Arrow merc group had shown up and begun to work with Sibil's security team, not to mention a few small groups of alliance security officers had shown up as well at this point. They had quiet a few more to go but things were getting there and the Esteem would most likely be here on Persephone for another monthor two before they had full control around here.

Thigh had been informed that Commander Josh Hanson was returning to duty and had been granded return to the Esteem. Tigh had mixed feelings about the mans return, he had looked over his service record and the man was good at what he did, but he would be expecting to return to an Executive Officers position. Tigh of course had the chance to personally chose his own XO and he didn't know Hanson so he wouldn't be able to assign him the position right away.

Tigh was waiting in the shuttle bay when Mr. Hanson's shuttle arrived. When the hatch to the shuttle opened Tigh was standing there waiting for him. "Commander Hanson, its a pleasure to met you. I am Admiral Vandguard commanding officer of the Esteem. I've read your file and I want to offer my condolences on your loss."

Tigh waited till the man stepped down from the shuttle before speaking anymore. He waved his hand in a gesture to ask the man to walk with him. "I have not assigned tyou any duties for the next two days to give you time settle back in to the ship, but before that I have some business we need to discuss about your duties on the Esteem." Tigh figured it was best not to waste any time getting to the face that Hanso would be assigned as his CAG for now instead of his XO. The assignment was more a chance for him to evaluate the mans abilities before he accepted he was gonig to be his first mate. His records had shown he was an exceptional CAG in prior tours of duty and would be a great example of his abilities.

[joshua]

Exiting the shuttle he found the Admiral himself waiting to greet him. Josh was impressed by this as most Admirals would send an side of some description. Things were off to a good start. Dropping the duffel bag to the ground he saluted the Admiral "Commander Joshua Hansom, reporting for duty sir!" Josh said then the Admiral greeted him and expressed his condolences "Thank you Sir" he responded rather quietly. The Admiral had red his file which meant the man would know what he was about and more to the point his record as one of the best.

Josh stood down and picked up his bag at the Admirals gesture to walk with him. Josh was still trying to size the man up and see what he was about. He listened to the Admiral as they walked and from what he could tell the Admiral was still accessing what whether he was up to the task. Josh found himself expressing how he felt mere seconds later "Sir with all due respect I just want to get back to work" Josh had passed the assessment with the shrink and had been deemed capable of returning to the Esteem so why was the Admiral fanny arsing around.

[tigh]

Tigh kept walking along with Commander Hanson long hanger bay. As they walked along a few other officers came walking their direction. Tigh turned to look at Josh when he mentioned wanting to just get back to work. He could understand that. After a hard tragidy like that Tigh would want to drown himself in his work. To be honest he would rather he drown himself in work then in several drinks like Commander Fairchild was used to doing.

"I understand your want to return to duty right away commander, and that is what we need to discuss. I undertsnd your former position on the Esteem was as her XO." He paused just a second. "For now tough I have yet to assign an XO of the Esteem as such I will be having you take over as my C.A.G." He didn't want this comes off the wrong way the Commander had a stellar record and would make a great ship commander eventually.

The thing was this was his ship and he was going to have things exactly the way he wanted them and for now he wasn't gonig to just assigned someone as his XO he didn't know any more about then what the paperwork said. "I know you have a record as a great C.A.G. and I need someone to take charge of that position until I am ready to appoint someone as my XO."

[joshua]

Josh listened to what the Admiral had to say in regards to his position "That's correct, Sir. Was XO under Captain Pike" he told the Admiral. Pike had been a good CO as good as they got really. The two of them had worked well together. There was an established relationship there. Josh had been brought on to the Esteem to stabilise the ship following the Captain Borden incident. His time with Pike seemed like another lifetime ago. The Esteem had almost a totally different crew now with less than one hundred of her crew from six months ago left onboard.

Hanson was immediately drawn to where the Admiral was heading with this and once they hit those words Josh found it hard not to sound irritated at best "C.A.G" Josh repeated. Josh was a well connected man an had several friends at the Ministry of Defence including Admiral
Bush. He was slightly irritated and felt the Admiral was showing him disrespect. "Sir I was under the impression from Admiral Bush that I would be returning to my position of XO?" that was precisely what his paperwork said but obviously the Admiral was trying to make his mark on the ship. Admiral Bush was a high ranking official on Orisis that had once commanded the fifth fleet and a man that was very much a father to Josh. He was not in the least bit impressed with the Admiral.

[Nicholas Park]

Only a few minutes aboard the Esteem and Admiral Vangard already had him put to work. It's not that he wasn't expecting to be given an assignment straight off the bat but he had anticipated a bit of a longer meeting. He also wasn't expecting something like this. He was supposed to find a person he didn't know on board a ship he was unfamiliar with out of a group of people he also didn't know. It was like finding a needle in a stack of needles but in order to get to the stack of needles he also needed to find his way through a maze.

His target was a Lieutenant Miller, the acting Captain of the Air Guard. He knew nothing besides the name, rank, and position. He would have to resort to yelling names and hoping for a response assuming that no one was wearing name tags. The ensign found his way to the officer's lounge first on his way toward the hanger... or where he thought the hanger was. Nick figured that the man was most likely to be off duty otherwise the admiral would just find the lieutenant himself upon arriving in the hanger.

Nicholas spied a lieutenant who also looked like the pilot type near the back of the lounge. As he approached the man, the uniform confirmed that he indeed was a lieutenant and a pilot. Nick had gotten very lucky. It took a bit of introductions and explaining for the lieutenant to leave his work and follow some ensign he didn't know but it wasn't long before he decided to comply. Nicholas took the lead at a brisk pace and managed to find his way toward the hanger, Lieutenant Miller in tow.

"Sir." Ensign Park reported as he approached the admiral and newly arrived commander. "Lieutenant Miller, sir."

[tigh]

Tigh understood Hanson's frustration at what seemed like a demotion but it was not going to change the way things were going to go down. Tigh was given a year to decide who was going to be his XO that still gave him seven months to appoint one. It didn't mean he would wait that long but he wasn't going to be rushed in to it by anyone. "I understand your desire to return to the position where you were but at the moment I have yet to assign anyone to the position of executive officer and I still have some time to decide on that matter."

Tigh continued to walk along with Hanson with the other two now closing in on them. "I have read your qualifications and I just want to have a bit of time to evaluate all the options I have. I respect Admiral Bush and his opinion and that will be taken in to consideration as time goes on." By this point the others had closed the gap and the Ensign had reported in with Lieutenant Miller.

"Thank you Ensign. Lieutenant Miller this is Commander Hanson and will be our official CAG for the Esteem. He is the best the Alliance has to offer for the position and I expect you will get him up to speed on the affiars of the fight staff. I would also like you to introduce him to Lieutenant Commander Cavina our chief mechanic and head of flight deck operations" he hadn't offered to much time for either of them to protest the choices he was making he was the Admiral and his word was final dispite any protests. For now it was a matter of getting everyone settled in to their new rolls. The Ship was fianlly reaching the point of being pully staffed and that ment he had his fair share of work to get done. The good news was that the load for others would be starting to bet a bit lighter.

[joshua]

Josh restrained himself from losing his temper at the situation that would be for later in his favourite place on the ship, the firing range. The Admiral was a decorated war hero whom had fought in the war but so was Josh. That demanded respect from one vet to another. He had worked hard to get where he was and had earned the respect of his Commanders. This would obviously be different the Admiral would want him to show what he could do before selecting him as XO and god damn it Josh Hanson was going to put on a show.

He showed no acceptation of the post until Miller showed up. One of the few to still be around from his previous tour on the Esteem. Miller was a vet like the Admiral and himself and was a dedicated officer. It was good to see him. A friendly face after all he had been through over the last six months was exactly what he might of needed. "Miller good to see you" he said shaking the Commanders hand. "Likewise Commander Hanson, my ergh condolences about Jane" Miller had met Jane on that night on Greenleaf when they were in dry dock. "Thank you" he appreciated the concern but he was ready to get back to work now.

"Looks like we're gonna be working together" he told Miller with a forced smile "I'm the new CAG" he turned to the Admiral "Permission to appoint Lieutenant Miller my Deputy CAG, sir? he asked the Admiral.

[tigh]

It seemed Lieutenant Miller pasified Commander Hanson's issues. No doubt because Miller was one of the old crew on the ship that was still around from Pikes time in charge of the Esteem. It was a good thing too, Tigh was in no need of an upset officer on his ship who carried as much weight as Hanson did.

"The flight crew is all yours Commander I will leave all appointments to you just have the paperwork on my desk when it is ready." He continued to walk down the shuttle bay to the exit "Thank you Ensign Park for the timely arrival." If all went well Commander Hanson would fall in line quickly and not cause any issue about his position.

He lead the group out in the corridor. "I assume you are still familiar with the ship and where your office will be then correct." He would get him up to date on all the goings on as soon as he had himself ready and in place.

[Nicholas Park]

Nicholas watched as the admiral continued to break the news to Hanson that he would be returning to a lower position than he had held in the past, that of executive officer. The admiral didn't seem to have one nor did he seem in a hurry to get one. It was lucky for him that Nicholas had been assigned directly to help him. Maybe it had been done to directly counter the work load the admiral had building up because he did not have an XO yet.

As would be expected, Hanson seemed upset at the demotion. Fortunately he had a rapport with Lieutenant Miller and that seemed to smooth things over, not that Park was expecting a commander to make a scene or anything. Still, even in a disciplined environment words that went unsaid could still be damaging to a work relationship and the overall chain of command.

"Sir." the ensign replied to the admiral's acknowledgement of his work. It was a good sign. The admiral noted a job done to satisfaction and replied with the appropriate level of appreciation due. It would be very easy for a superior to brush aside such a subordinate role and overly praising could be just as bad. Nicholas was hopeful that this was a good sign for the future relationship.