A Parting of Friends

Elisa Flores was practically bubbling over with excitement. "I got the Exeter! Captain Millibrand needs a new junior tactical officer. Can you imagine? Me, on the bridge of a 'ship of the line'!"

Lissia looked at her sidelong. Elisa spluttered, "Oh! I mean. The Bennett isn't—I mean. It's a great ship and all. . ."

"No, I get it. It's not the Exeter." They lapsed into an awkward silence.

Along with many of their classmates, Lissia and Elisa strode along a path across the central quad of Starfleet Academy. There was a celebration scheduled at Club 602. During the graduation ceremony, slightly delayed due to recent events, she'd received the James T. Kirk Award for original thinking.

But Lissia wasn't sure how far original thinking was going to get her out in the black. During repairs on the Bennett, she'd had been through a series of briefings involving the Klingon threat, as well as changes to her command staff.

"True that competent commanders can be developed with years of training and experience," Quinn had told her during one such private session. "But Starfleet has found that some of the most crucial traits of a great starship captain—that is, those most suited to command—can't be taught. More than just administrators, they inspire their crews to be greater than the individual members thereof. I have seen that quality in you, Lieutenant sh'Thlaspi. Captain Taggart also had confidence in your abilities, which is why he picked you among all your peers to be his Exec. And frankly, his confidence was well placed, given the events at Vega Colony."

"But, sir, most of my new staff are not my peers from the Academy. They'll have more experience in space—"

"You're right, lieutenant. The captain is often not the one aboard with the most experience. Rely on your command staff for advice. They are experts in their field. Your field of expertise is Command. As professionals, they'll abide by your decisions."

"Yes, sir."

Most of the rest of the cadet crew were being reassigned across the fleet. At least she still had Zarva down in Engineering. The Bolian's affable efficiency would be a welcome anchor to the new Captain. Upon her offer, Lieutenant Su'al had also elected to stay aboard as the Bennett's Security Chief. The Saurian was good in a firefight, that was certain.

With the departure of Ensign Flores, she needed a new XO. And T'Vell would have to be replaced at comms/science. The latter was an easy choice. Ensign Latur, a Ferengi with glowing reviews, was up for reassignment from the Peregrine. Lissia had reviewed a few candidates for First Officer, narrowing the list to two: LtJG Rohl Jesta, a Bajoran with experience on a couple cruisers, or Lt. Ambrož Horacek, a Human from the escort Black Hawk. Too bad interviews were not part of the selection process. She was also going to need a Chief Medical Officer, though the EMH enabled her top put that decision off for a bit.

At the gala, Lissia spent her time bidding farewell to her classmates, promising to correspond with a few as time permitted. Flores had wandered off somewhere, which was perhaps just as well. Lissia nursed a glass of Andorian ale, dancing with Ensigns Morek and Wright—putting off thoughts of crew complements and ship components. With music playing and libations flowing, tonight was for celebrating.
~~~
I haven't had as much time playing Lissia as I had expected. And I haven't fleshed out the backstories of the Bennett crew. Ironically, I've been devoting a lot of time to Locke and his Duty Officers, since Lissia isn't high enough to start that side game. I've been doing just a bit crafting, too, which was integrated with the DOffs interface at some point. Of course he's way behind, and I can't even imagine what it will take to get Rowan up to par, sitting at 50. One odd thing about the DOff system is that it levels my Captain. Much like GW2's XP for crafting, I'm not sure how I feel about that.

~~~

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Star Trek Online: Back in the Black

Lieutenant Vindillissia sh'Thlaspi looked out over the lobby of Starbase 1. She could just barely see the U.S.S. Bennett undergoing repairs on the other side of the enormous facility. Her ship. Not just the one she'd been assigned, but now under her command. Her meeting with Admiral Quinn had not gone as she had expected. The debriefing had turned into a confirmation of her field promotion, and Quinn's offering her the chance to sit in the big chair permanently. Despite her outward confidence, Lissia wasn't sure she was ready for the responsibility. Only days ago, she had been just another cadet at Starfleet Academy, preparing for her graduation training cruise. Now, she was responsible not only for herself, but about 200 other souls. She thought of Captain Taggart, her predecessor. His sacrifice had saved the lives of most of the cadets and, indirectly, those colonists they were able to rescue from Vega. Lissia wondered if she would be have been able to do the same in his place. She was determined to live up to his legacy.

Inspired by some podcasts I have listened to recently, and with the recent passing of both Leonard Nimoy and Harve Bennett, I decided to jump back into STO. I started a new character, because I figured, if the game systems are as different as Earth Spacedock, I need to start over. Rowan and Locke (not to mention my other two characters) are still there, waiting for when I am comfortable making character progression choices. Seems like that was a concern the last time I played.

Lissia is an Andorian Tactical Officer, in the vein of Tarah, Rowan's "Spock." Thlaspi is the genus for a collection of herbs known as penny-cress. Other than working out her name, I don't have much backstory for Lissia yet. I may need to read up a little more on Andorians, or maybe binge on some Enterprise episodes. After discovering I couldn't change my first Bridge Officer, Elisa Flores, I jettisoned her and my science officer in favor of some purple ("very rare") Boffs I had waiting in reserve on Locke. I'll come up with some RP reason later, like Elisa was given her own command or something. The rest of my Bridge crew is in place, though I think I need another Science Boff soon, to be a medic. We're a little Tactical heavy right now.

The U.S.S. Bennett (NCC-93037) was named for Admiral Robert Bennett, Starfleet Chief of Staff in the late 23rd Century. In reality, named for Harve Bennett (1930-2015), producer of Star Trek II-V, and who passed away a few days before I decided to return to STO. She's been through a lot, but is—as they say—"a tough little ship." Bennett's plaque dedication quotes Carl Sagan:

“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.”

I find it interesting how some of my ships take an article (e.g., the Bennett); while others, like Rowan's Wayfarer and Sojourner, are simply known to their crew (and me) by proper name, sans article. In any event, the Bennett is a Light Cruiser, ShiKahr Class, with a Miranda Strut and Centaur pylons, and a Blue and White Cygnus paint job. I didn't realize until looking at old screenshots how closely the Bennett resembles Rowan's first ship, with only the strut and the paint scheme being different. There's obviously not much choice of designs at the lowest ship level, with everyone getting a light cruiser.

~~~

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. If you are reading this post through RSS or Atom feed—especially more than a couple hours after publication—I encourage you to visit the actual page, as I often make refinements after the fact. The mobile version also loses some of the original character of the piece due to simplified formatting.