Harper's Ferry (Miria) }{ And hopefully other crew

[Michael Harper]

February 3rd, 2523
Osiris Naval Docks
Platform 7B

"Back in the day" the Truxtun would never be doing something like this... that being a complete resupply and refit at the Alliance's major military hub. Back in her true privateering days the ship would only ever be resupplied with torpedoes from some wayward outpost, the only item that couldn't really be acquired elsewhere. Everything else from crew to food stuffs and parts to fuel were either salvaged from opponents or bought with the earnings from those prizes. Even the simple fact that the Truxtun made its way into the Core was fairly new rather than maintaining a constant patrol out in the troubled areas of the 'Verse.

Well, times were changing and Harper's ship was not immune to such things. The patrol boat was being filled up to the brim with weapons, ammunition, food, medicine, fuel, spare parts, miscellaneous supplies, and new crew members. The Alliance loved to rotate personnel from ship to ship, another change from the good old days when the same crew stayed on for years with few exceptions. As much as he hated the near constant departure of a skilled crewman, a part of the Truxtun family, and the replacement by an unskilled outsider, he was not going to take that out on the poor S.O.B.s assigned to his boat.

That's where the commander found himself, on the dock helping the crew load up the boat and waiting to greet any fresh assignments. Despite being at the heart of Alliance power, Harper was still largely indistinguishable from the men around him. Most signs of rank were absent considering he was wearing only his trousers and an undershirt as he helped load cargo; his uniform jacket having been tossed unceremoniously in a corner shortly after arriving and checking in with the dock-master. His hat was probably thrown out and burned years ago. The only indicator of rank was the subtle colored strip on his pant leg indicating he was a filed officer: a lieutenant commander, commander, or captain.

[Miria Harken]

Miria had been reassigned yet again. The Phoenix had fallen through, much to the disappointment of the gunhand. She had been looking forward very much to working with Ethan again, but it was apparently not meant to be. Now she was going to be under the command of Commander Harper, Michael Harper on board the Truxtun. Apparently Miria was going to be the Watch Officer, though she wasn't one hundred percent clear on what all that entailed.

Back on Osiris, while a nice place to look at it wasn't much in Miria's tastes. With any luck they wouldn't be here much longer than a few days. Who knew though what kind of reassignments were going on for the ship in question.

She approached the ship taking in the scene before her. Folks loading up supplies it seemed. A frustrated sigh escaped the woman's lips as she re-adjusted the two bags on her shoulder and headed towards a couple men. "'ey there handsome, could ya point me in the direction of Commander Harper?" Miria noticed no ranking signs that she could see really, but truthfully she didn't take too long to take in every single detail about the man before her.


-------------
Outfit

[Michael Harper]

Harper didn't take much notice of the approaching woman until she spoke up. He was busy finishing the resupply and wasn't really looking for an excuse to take a break. Her question, however, demanded his attention. The other men stopped too. One of them gave a quick chuckle.

The commander stood up straight and looked at her for a second before speaking. "You're lookin' at him." he answered a little roughly. He was used to informality but not the slightly flirtatious tone that also came from this woman. That was something new. Bags on shoulders and looking for the CO... she was obviously one of the transfers. Harper wasn't the kind of person who memorized everyone's file before they showed up so he didn't have much of an idea who this person was just from her face. She looked capable enough... experienced, but then again most around here were. You didn't get put on someone's list and sent to an assignment like this straight out of boot.

[Miria Harken]

The man she had addressed stopped his work, but so did some of the others. Hearing the amusement of one man Miria knew she possibly had just stuck her foot in her mouth. The thought didn't phase her too much though, she was accustomed to being on the other side of the fence. Reality popped by to say hello once it was made apparent that she had just had the luck of the draw to approach said Commander Harper. Not to mention do her fairly usual flirtation. Though she didn't regret it, it wasn't exactly the first impression she had wanted to give to her new commanding officer.

Miria let a grin cross her lips, "Well then sir, looks like I got some good taste after all." What the hell right? She might as well continue her little charade. Go big or go home some might say. Neither seemed to be in much of a formal capacity at the present time so she felt no need to drop her gear to do the proper saluting and such. "Lieutenant Miria Harken, was told I'll be a watch officer for ya sir." She held out her hand as she introduced herself, at least she could use some sort of propriety meeting the commander.

[Michael Harper]

"Harken, huh?" he repeated as he took her hand. He remembered the name from when he flipped through the new files earlier. It was probably the most interesting one, most likely due to its length. He hadn't even realized that Lieutenant Harken was a woman when reading it but that's what happens when you only skim the report.

"You're the one that punched out that General while in formation, right?" He asked after completing the handshake. He chuckled softly and said, "Hell of a thing. Just don't go slugging me and you should fit in just find around here. You got any questions about your post or the ship, now's the time to ask." He stepped away from the other men, letting them continue with the work without having to deal with a conversation right in the middle of everything. "And try to spread your attention around. The men get jealous enough as is with all the attention the ladies send my way." He smiled with his joke back to her earlier remarks.

[Miria Harken]

Miria was aware the chance she was taking, as usual though part of her didn't much care. The man would either be fine with the informal introduction or he wouldn't. If it didn't mind it would just show some promise for her working beneath him. Otherwise she was going to dislike her job very much.

At the mention of her latest major incident while on duty she couldn't help but smile and laugh a bit at her own self. As the pair moved away from the others she reminisced in that particular memory, "That'd be me sir, not my finest moment o'course but still gives me a good laugh or two. Don't think ya got to worry 'bout it yourself, ya don't seem the same type he is." That much was apparent already thankfully. Hell the man had even been helping load up his own ship. Not many officers in charge would do such a thing, at least in her own experience.

She let his statement sink in, letting the potential questions all come to mind. There was quite a few things she wanted to know really, number one being what her job actually was and number two being if she would be allowed to drink. Well those were both too close to call in order of importance, but it'd probably be good to find out about the job most of all. Especially considering if she messed this one up who knew what would happen. Not that the Phoenix situation had been her fault, didn't stop someone from taking notice that Miria needed to be reassigned yet again.

"I'll do mah best but I can't make that specific promise to ya." She smiled in return with a playful wink. "As far as questions, well there's a few of'em. I know the ship, but this particular set-up I'm honestly outa my element. They jus handed me my orders and sent me on my way, not much for chit-chat with me ya see. So..what exactly does a watch officer do?" Getting the first issue out of the way first and foremost was probably a good idea. Though she felt like a total idiot having to ask him. Not helping the first impression thing.

[Michael Harper]

"Well we don't have too many formations around here so you probably wouldn't get the same chance. I hope that's not a problem." The answer of course was "no". Not many would miss all the ceremony and often unnecessary procedure of a military base in time of peace. Certainly no one that got sent Harper's way would miss it all too much.

"Ain't that just how it is? Alliance sends you out with a 'good luck' and a kick in the ass. Maybe they spin you around a few times for good measure." He replied to Miria's questions. "Found myself in a similar state when they first gave her to me. Nine years later and I think I've figured out most of my job." He gave a half smile. "They may not like to call it that any more but we're basically privateers, pirates that fight for the government. We go around taking on the worst of the worst. We try to capture ships; arrest their crews and then sell their ships to fund our little operation and build that nest egg. Those we can't capture we destroy."

"Being a smaller ship with an unconventional mission the positions are not exactly what you might be familiar with from a larger ship and larger crew. Watch Officer is a combination of OOD, Security Chief, and Safety Officer." Michael tried to explain it as best as he could without going into too great detail but also without leaving anything critical out. "So that means you're in charge of the largest department on the ship, the marine detachment. You might occasionally have some company from me and the rest of the crew but for the most part you'll be running any boarding action or landings planetside."

"You're also in charge of making sure nobody gets killed from non-mission related causes. Fire suppression systems need to be working and the teams need to know what to do in an emergency. Make sure the steward isn't putting poison in our food and the doctor isn't intentionally killing his patients. Engineering, the hangers, and especially the torpedo rooms need to be 'safe'." He rolled his eyes at that. "The section leaders should be able to handle everything except fire duties so you don't need to really worry about any of that other stuff unless... well, unless you need to worry about it."

"If that's not enough responsibility you also share one of the three watches on the deck. When we're in ship-to-ship combat you've also got oversight of the Operations Officer to make sure nothing sneaks up on us in the middle of a battle. So basically you're doing everything on the damn ship so the XO and I can relax." He gave another short laugh. "Really it's just a shift on the deck during down times. When things heat up you either lead the marines or you act as a second pair of eyes on the bridge. If things really heat up then you put out the flames. And if you find that the XO, Chief, and I are all dead then the Truxtun is yours."


(Massive wall of dialogue. Let's hope there's no major confusion now. )