Lt Satan & Lt. Merlin | "Checking In"

Posted on Sun Mar 4th, 2018 @ 10:44pm by Commander Evan Merlin & Lieutenant Satan

Mission: The Round Table
Location: Cold Station Theta
Timeline: SD 241803.04

Lieutenant Satan looked around, curiously, when he entered Central Ops. Curiosity was the only emotion he allowed himself. And there was plenty here to be curious about.

The station itself, of course. Cold Station Theta, one of the most remote outposts of Federation space, on the doorstep of two other major powers. One, the Romulans, distant cousins of his own race. The other a power almost unknown in the more central parts of the Federation, the Stenellian Ascendancy. And, nearby, the area which had drawn the attention of his inquisitive mind, the Ul-Kamari Expanse. A region of space which had never been properly explored – in fact, the last Starfleet vessel which set out to do just that had vanished mysteriously for months and was found stuck in the past. He'd seen that ship docked when he arrived and thought to himself that maybe he'd have the chance to engage one of the science officers in a conversation before that ship departed. However, that was not a priority right now. Reporting in was.

At this time of night, Central Ops was quiet. Satan had read up, of course, with Vulcan thoroughness, on the station's senior staff, but he hardly expected anyone to be here at this time. However, it turned out there was one face he'd come across in the files: a Lieutenant called Evan Merlin, Chief Strategic Operations, who sat in the central chair with a padd in one hand and – oddly – a glass ball in the other. He looked up as Satan entered.

"Good… ah, morning, technically, I think," the Lieutenant said. "Can I help you?"

"Yes," Satan replied. "I have been assigned to the Science department. I take it none of the Command staff is available right now?"

The Lieutenant shook his head. "You take it correctly. All off duty and hopefully dreaming sweet dreams." He grinned and it didn't even seem to bother him when Satan didn't return the grin, or even acknowledged it.

"Very well," the Vulcan said with a small nod.

The Lieutenant straightened in the central seat. "Tell you what, I'll make a note in the log that you've arrived, it'll be waiting on the CO's desk when she arrives in the morning. Think that'll do?"

Another of those stiff, minute nods. "That is acceptable. Thank you."

"Alrighty." The Lieutenant tapped the padd. Without looking up, he asked: "And you are Lieutenant…?"

The Vulcan steeled himself inwardly. Here it came. It always did, when there was a certain amount of humans around. "Satan."

The Lieutenant didn't blink, but the Ensign manning Ops stiffened and twisted his head to look at the Vulcan. Satan pointedly ignored the look, as he always did.

"S-a-t-a-n," the Lieutenant murmured, then nodded to himself and gave the padd a last tap. "Logged and sent." He turned to the Ensign, who still sat staring at the new arrival. "Ensign Spalter, could you please assign- Something wrong, Ensign?"

The young Ops officer jerked in his chair at being addressed and pulled himself together with an effort. "N-no, sir. Nothing. Um, sorry, what did you say?"

"Please assign some quarters to Lieutenant Satan. Near the Science decks, if you please."

"Uh… Yes, sir. Of course." Blushing furiously, the Ensign started to type.

If Satan ever would be able to admit to himself the presence of any emotion, he would have named exasperation, even irritation, at the young human's emotional response. As it were, he merely would've described what he felt as a certain weariness. It was what he had come to expect, nothing more, nothing less.

The Lieutenant jumped out of the chair and walked over to him. The glass ball had disappeared, he had a fresh padd in his hand which he now handed to Satan. "Here's all the relevant information, duty roster, quarter assignment, some information about your collegues and ongoing research projects, and so on. Is there anything else you need?"

Satan raised one eyebrow. This was a level of efficiency he hadn't expected. "I believe this covers what I need."

"Splendid! Well, then, welcome to Cold Station Theta, Lieutenant Satan! If there's anything else, you can always drop us a line." The Lieutenant gave him a wide smile. Satan turned and left Central Ops, padd still in his hand.

Welcome to Cold Station Theta, indeed.

Lieutenant Satan
Science Officer, Cold Station Theta

&

Lt Evan 'Weirdo' Merlin
Chief Strategic Operations, Cold Station Theta