The Warden-class Light Cruiser, Rhycus ‘Echelon’ Bandoran thought to himself, was an odd ship to be employed by a Navy. It was so small, and so lightly armed, but it took a crew of sixteen to run it. Surely, a TIE fighter squadron of sixteen could do a much more efficient job. It had the same amount of people as the Light Cruiser, but it had four times the amount of guns. Plus, it would be much cheaper to employ and build a squadron. But as Rhycus thought further, he realized that fighters did not have the same role as a capital ship. They were always reliant on a base and could not travel far or extended periods of time. The Light Cruiser, on the other hand, was hyperdrive capable and could rely on its own for months, with its food supply. It’s ability to be independent was why it was still being used today, Rhycus concluded.

Rhycus patiently stood in one of the Cappadocious’s many hangars. It was a large arena type structure, a docking rack situated in the middle, and the top open to the smoke tinted Abrae sky. The green Vectrian sun was just beginning to peek over the top of the structure, its rays of sunlight beaming down on Rhycus. At first, he disregarded it, but as it slowly made its way across the sky, it became an annoyance, and he retreated to the shade. There, he stood for another twenty minutes, becoming more and more bored as time went on. He was there to receive command of the Duty, a Warden-class Light Cruiser, but he had been waiting for an hour. The docking bay secretary had led him to the hangar, only to leave him there. He was as frustrated as he was bored, but he looked forward to his new adventure on the ship. It had been his Naval goal to receive command of a ship, and now it was happening.

Suddenly, he heard a large crack and a continuous roar echo from the sky. Looking up, he expected to see his Warden, but instead, a squadron of TIE fighter zipped over head. Before he could be disappointed, his “engineering conscious” scolded him.

What were you thinking, Rhycus? Those clearly were TIE fighters, didn’t you hear the high pitch of their SFS PS-4 Ion engines? Light cruisers don’t sound like that. Plus, you heard the sonic boom before hand? Only TIE fighters would be travelling that fast this close to the ground.

Out of nowhere, he heard another noise. This time, it was lower pitch, and as his suspicions rose, he saw the Warden-class ship slowly fly overhead. It hovered for a moment before slowly descending down to the docking rack, which held the ship like a fist.

Rhycus was surprised by the size of the ship. In space, this ship would look tiny, but when compared to himself and the hangar, it was huge.

Then, with a hydraulic “whiz”, a door on the side slid open. A man, presumably the captain, walked out onto the docking rack’s catwalk, and descended down a flight of stairs to the floor of the hangar.

“You must be Rhycus,” he greeted, stretching out his hand. The two officers briefly shook hands, before the Captain continued. “I don’t have much to say to you. They cover pretty much everything in the academy, don’t they?”

“I hope so,” Rhycus cheerfully replied.

“Well, just treat the crew with respect, and they’ll do the same to you. Also, don’t be afraid to keep Elbatt in line. He tends to be a bit...well, he’s a good guy. Smart too, anyway, I’ve got to leave! Good luck!” Before Rhycus could ask about Elbatt, the captain, or the ex-captain was already out of the hangar, leaving Rhycus alone with the huge ship.

As he made his way to the catwalk, a sudden rush of adrenaline hit his system. This was finally it, he thought. I’m now going to have my own ship. My own crew to command. My own quarters. My own victory! My own...failure... At the doorway to the ship was a man. He had dirty blonde hair, and he was standing quite tall. His bore a light smile and made eye contact with the new captain.

When Rhycus made his way to the door, the man saluted, and struck out his hand. Rhycus shook it firmly, and saluted back.

“You must be the Executive Officer?” Rhycus asked.

The man nodded. “My name’s Andia. Elbatt Andia.”

“Ah, the captain seemed to mention y-, er, nevermind. May I come on the ship?”

The man snorted. “Its your damn ship, Cap’n. Don’t ask me if you can come on.”

Rhycus frowned. This must be why the captain said to keep him in line, he thought. “Alright, Mr. Andia, I did not appreciate that impolite gesture. Please, keep in line and stay formal, or I may have to punish you. One may not like the Tertiary Watch, but I’m sure the second officer would like your watch.” Andia gulped, and changed his expression immediately.

“Yes sir. I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s alright. I was just like you to my own superiors. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to let myself on board.”

Andia nodded and quickly stepped out of the way, letting Rhycus into his first ship.

OOC:

Word Count: 905.

AAR: Rhycus meets the Duty and his Executive Officer.

Rhycus gently stepped inside his new ship, his shoes thumping against the cold metal floor. Just  by that one move, he felt a surge of confidence. It was hard for him to wake up to the fact that he was in command now. For his entire Navy career he had been receiving orders, but now it was the other way around. It was an odd feeling, he thought, knowing that he was leading, but he decided it was a good one.

“Would you like a tour of the ship, Captain Bandoran?” asked Mr. Andia, Rhycus’s new Executive Officer. At that last part, Rhycus looked around, wondering who Mr. Andia was talking to, but he was surprised to find he was the only one in the hallway. Then he realized that Andia was talking to him. The Captain in the sentence through Rhycus off. “Something wrong?”

Rhycus shook his head. “No, no. Er, sorry. I’m just not used to being called Captain,” he abashedly replied.

Andia opened his mouth, as if to say something humorous, but remembering his last encounter with the Captain, he closed it, instead saying, “No worries. It took me awhile to get used to the mister in front of my name.” This time, Rhycus grinned to Andia’s joke.

“Alright, Mr. Andia, I would like a tour of the ship. Please lead the way.” Hearing that, Andia stepped forward, and they began their trek to the bridge.

=====

Rhycus was surprised at how quickly they arrived to the bridge. On his old ship, the Atrus, it would have taken much more time to arrive at their destination, but on the Duty, it took two turns and a set of stairs, much quicker. In a matter of days, he had gone from a fifteen kilometer ship to a forty meter ship; a ship with hundreds of thousands of people to a ship with sixteen crewmembers. It would be hard to adjust, he agreed, but he knew he could do it.

Even through those two brief hallways, Rhycus was appalled at how unclean they were. Rust plagued the walls, dirt filled the cracks, and random items were stacked up along the walls, as if they had no place to go. He was a man who wanted his work space as neat and tidy as possible. Anything else would be troublesome to work in and eventually lead to a loss of productivity. As his first order, he would order this ship to be cleaned.

As the bridge doors slid open, Rhycus noticed the five officers in the room. They were all stretched out on chairs, their heads slumped back, and paying no real attention to their jobs. Then, as they all realized who was at the entrance, they bolted up into a salute.

Once again, Rhycus was disgusted. Not only was the ship in a wreck, but the crew were lazy and undisciplined. He would have to fix that as well.

“At ease, crew,” Rhycus began, trying to hide his frustration, “I’m Captain Rhycus Bandoran, your new Captain.”

“Well! Nice to meet y-” the eager young bridge officer was cut off by Rhycus, who raised his palm.

“You did not let me finish.” Taking a deep breath, he continued. “I’m sure you are all very well trained, nice people, but this ship is in chaos.” Andia gulped. This was exactly what he had been afraid of. “The hallways are filthy and the crew, you, are clearly undisciplined. How can we be expected to do anything when we’re in a state like this? When I conclude my tour, we will begin working on these problems. Mr. Andia, please introduce me to the crew.”

Andia coughed, and pointed to a tall and lanky man with a wide grin on his face. “That right there is our Sensors and Communications officer, Dak Coven.”

“Nice to meet you,” Coven cheerfully added.

Rhycus raised an eyebrow. “Why are you smiling? I just delivered bad news.”

Coven shrugged. “I’m just always in a good mood sir. I don’t let things bring me down.” Rhycus nodded. He liked someone with an optimistic presence. He would be useful to keep up morale.

Next, Andia pointed to a green skinned Mon Calamarian. “This Mon Cal is our Chief Weapons Officer. His name is Libnor.”

“Great to have you on board with us,” the alien said in his raspy, low Mon Cal voice. Rhycus nodded back, but he found it unusual to be working with a Mon Calamarian.

“And lastly,” Andia began, pointing to a very attractive young female, “Is Gren Rudemo. Our Chief Engineer.”

“I hear you have Engineering training, Captain,” she said in a soft, flowing voice.

“Yes ma’am. All three tiers, in fact,” Rhycus proudly replied.

“Wait, was your father-”

Rhycus interrupted her, adding, “Llyod Bandoran? Yes he was. Owner of Bandoran Engineering.”

Rudemo smiled. Rhycus knew he made a good impression with her.

“That’s it for your chief staff. Our Medical Officer is in her office,” Andia notified, “would you like to meet the underlings?”

“Andia!” Rhycus snapped. “Show a little respect towards our junior crewmen! And no, I’ll meet them on my own accord.  I’d like to continue our tour. Just one question.”

“Yes?”

“Where is our Chief Helms?”

“Oh, he will be arriving soon. He’s being transferred.”

“Great then. Lead the way.”

=====

The rest of the tour went by quickly. Libnor gave the Captain a simulated (they were still in the hangar) demonstration of the weaponry, Rudemo gave a tour of the engine room, and they concluded by visiting the Chief Medical Officer.

Entering the Medical Office, Rhycus was amazed at the cleanliness. The floors were devoid of any dirt or rust, the desk on the far end was neat and tidy, and the medical equipment was all arranged orderly. It was like a tiny piece of heaven struck in the middle of hell.

A small, middle-aged  woman sat on the far side of the room, behind her metal desk. She was furiously typing something on her terminal, and she gazed entrancingly at the screen.

“Ms. Wes?” Andia alerted. Instead of saying something, the woman continued to type, ignoring the two command staff in the room. “Mrs. Wes?” This time she raise a palm at Andia, but her stare never left the terminal screen. Andia was becoming frustrated. “Mrs. Wes, the new captain is here to see you!” That brought her eyes away from the screen.

“Oh sorry!” she apologized, “I...I just-”

“No worries, Ms. Wes. This is Captain Bandoran, our new captain.”

“A pleasure to meet you!” Ms. Wes called, hurrying over to Rhycus.

“Ms. Wes,” the captain began, “your office is clean.”

“Ah yes,” she replied in her high pitched voice, “I do like to keep things...sanitary.”

“Very good. So do I, which is why I’m going to clean this ship up.”

Her face lit up. “Brilliant! The old Captain was such a slob. He didn’t care one bit. I’m glad you’re doing this.”

“Yes, well, I’ll see you around Ms. Wes.”

“Okay, dear. Goodbye.”

Suddenly, Andia’s datapad beeped. He grabbed it and quickly skimmed over the display.

“What is it?” Bandoran asked.

“The new helms officer. He has arrived.”

=====

Standing at the ship’s docking entrance, just like Andia had done to Rhycus, they waited for the helms officer to arrive. After a few patient moments of waiting, the new helms officer arrived at the entrance. With his luggage in hand, he looked ecstatic to his new position on board. His dark skin was unusual, to Rhycus, who was used to the white skinned population of Byss, but he didn’t think anything of it. The man had dark eyes and hair that came down to his ears. Rhycus was big on formality, and he noticed how the man’s hair was not cut to regulation. Perhaps he would change that, he thought.

“Greetings...Mr. Tolod? Is it?” Rhycus asked.

The man nodded, without saying a word.

“I’m the new Captain here,” Rhycus continued, “Captain Bandoran. In fact, I only arrived a few hours ago. This is my Executive Officer, Elbatt Andia.”

“Hello,” Tolod quietly replied. Rhycus noticed that Tolod was unusually quiet. Perhaps he was just shy. Nevertheless, Rhycus wanted to get started with the ship’s cleaning right away.

“Mr. Andia, please settle Tolod in. I will be unpacking in by quarters.”

“Yes sir!”

With a quick turn, Rhycus left Andia and Tolod to see what shape his quarters would be in.

OOC:

Word Count: 1,417. Yeah, not the best writing, I know, but I introduce the rest of my senior crew.