Captain's Curiosity

Captain's Quarters - UFCV Versailles

The commanding officer of the UFCV Versailles enjoys private quarters overlooking the rest of the crew quarters bay. The sanctuary is a disc-shaped structure about 60 feet across and 20 feet tall, with a small receiving lobby that seems a great deal like an airlock, with inner and outer hatches.

The main living area is rather utilitarian, with a bed, desk, sitting area, and holovid display. Adjacent to this room is a personal restroom/recycled water shower.

The floor-to-ceiling windows of the living area can be darkened for privacy. Built in front of the windows about midway through their expanse, a wide electronic console has room for two people to sit and operate systems that appear flight-appropriate.

At the moment, the captain of the Versailles is sitting on the couch in a small area set aside for socializing in the living chamber. The holovid is playing a news broadcast from Earth about some new Sivadian corporation offering "resurrection makeovers" to the highest bidder. Clement isn't paying much attention to that, though. Instead, his right eye is covered with a flimsy green disc, ringed in brass and glowing as data scrolls past his view.

The lift doors hiss open in the small lobby area, revealing the gangly figure of a middle-aged woman with the red under-tunic of Command. Elfriede Luftlowe pauses on the threshold to do the age-old check; Hair in place, uniform straight, footwear at the appropriate level of gloss. Satisfied with her appearance, she strides over to the airlock-esque entrance to the Captain's quarters and keys the door chime.

Subvocalizing a command, his lips barely moving with the effort, Clement deactivates the lens viewer and plucks the disc from over his eye as he stands. He places the lens viewer on a table next to the couch and then turns to face the door. "Enter."

The woman steps inside when bidden, removing the crisp archaic paper with her orders as she enters. Clearing the thresholde, Elfriede offers a crisp salute. "I'm Commander Luftlowe, Captain, reporting for duty." Her voice is a clear alto, tinged with a distinctly germanic accent.

"Elf, right?" the captain inquires, stepping forward and extending a hand to Luftlowe, smiling. "Lorenzo Clement. Welcome aboard." He gestures to a chair in the small seating area. "Please, relax."

Elfriede's features break into a smile at the use of her nickname, dropping the salute and moving towards the chair. She holds out her orders with the comment, "Ja, you definitely do your homework, Skipper. Thank you."

"I try," Clement replies, chuckling as he takes the sheet of paper and peruses it. "No surprise, it's all in order." He resumes his seat on the couch and waves a hand in the air, deactivating the holovid. The news images go silent and then fade from view. "Have you gotten settled in your quarters yet?"

Resting the palms of her hands on her knees, Elfriede leans forward in her chair. "Well, I've thrown my trunk into the appropriate cubicle, but I haven't unpacked just yet, sir. I arrived a little less than an hour ago."

Clement nods. "I'm actually glad you came to see me. We've had other crew rolling in the past couple of days and I need a good right hand to keep them in line." He scratches absently at one of the two pink scars on his right hand. "Among other things, we need to start the process of choosing a Chief of Security from the candidates that came aboard. You'll want to work with Lt. Commander Walters too. He's the Second."

"I'll make sure to meet him as soon as I can, then. This is my first stint as a first officer, but the sooner a command team is familliar, the better everything runs." Elfriede raises her chin as she speaks, adding, "If you have any specific expectations, let know, skipper."

The captain offers a taut smile. "My expectations are pretty simple: The Versailles has been assigned flagship status in the Union Fleet. We're to represent the best, the brightest, that the Orion Arm Union has to offer. So, I need you and the Second to keep people sharp, keep them civil, make sure they're following regs and putting our best face forward when dealing with civvies and foreign nationals. As for dealing with me: Just keep me apprised. I like regular reports about important matters. I couldn't care less about nitpicky things or interpersonal squabbles between crew. If you and the Second can't handle that sort of thing, I don't have much use for you. Now, do you have any specific expectations of your captain? Or any questions about the assignment here?"

Luftlowe's features crease into another smile, her brows inching upwards. "Gut. I like a tight ship.. I'll start pulling down dossiers and getting familliar with the locals as soon as I unpack. I think it'll be a pleasure to work with you, Captain.. As you say, this is the flag, so I don't expect discipline will be as much of a problem as it is with some commands. Just tell me what you think I should know, and I promise you'll recieve my best."

"Fantastic," Clement says. "I'll send you what information I have on Majors, Thorn, and Callot. Share it with Walters and then start meeting the candidates for Chief of Security. After you've talked to them, I'd like for both you and Walters to make independent evaluations and recommendations to me. I'll base my decision on your reports. Consider that your first order of business. We're not going off on any other assignments until we have the command staff worked out."

"Majors, Thorn, Callot." Elfriede repeats, commiting the names to memory. "Very well, it shoudln't take too long to make an informed review. Is there anything else we should cover, Captain?"

Clement tilts his head, pondering for a few moments. Then he ventures, "You're probably going to hear the crew talking about the big mystery that led to us being here. The last crew of the Versailles. I'm not entirely sure how hundreds of people and their commanding officer vanish without the newsnets getting some whiff of what happened, but that appears to have happened. If you ever happen upon information that sheds some light on the real story, let me know. I'm not entirely happy about what portents are involved in making a *ghost ship* the flagship of the Union Fleet."

Elfriede worries at her lower lip with her teeth, considering Clement's words. "That is troubling.. I assumed it was something classified, but do you mean it's actually unknown, Skipper? I'm not certain it'd be good to let the crew know that. Implying something is classified allows people to file it away as 'explained'."

"This one has managed to be both classified *and* unexplained," the captain replies. "Now, that doesn't mean there isn't an explanation. But, in this day and age, when the Union Fleet invests heavily in Lazarus Corporation and resurrects dead soldiers without blinking, how can it be possible to just vanish so many Fleeters without a trace while leaving the Versailles intact? I was on the Osirian when she was destroyed at Rigor Strand." His left index finger traces the other pink scar on his right hand. "It took a while for the Fleet to realize we needed to be resurrected, but eventually they *did*. We lost six months of memories, but we came back. Putting me on this ship, staffing it with a new crew - that says the old crew is never coming back. Why?"

She starts tapping her foot, brows lowered as she puzzles over the new information. "Well, has it been established if memory maps can be corrupted? Maybe the last time they all mapped something was wrong with one of the devices. Either that or, maybe they mapped successfully.. And they remember something they shouldn't have known. Well." Elfriede rolls her shoulders in an apologetic shrug. "I probably shouldn't be speculating. I'll keep a weather-eye out for anything that might enlighten us."

"That's all I can ask," Clement says. "I've always been curious about things. It just makes it worse when I know the information is sitting somewhere - even if it's just somebody's *mind* - waiting for me to get to it. A mystery like this - it's big, but *no one* in the newsnets are even asking what happened to the old crew! It's as if the Versailles were just some brand new ship-of-the-line and we're the first crew. They've just been glossing over the ship's past. Hell, Tom Conroy was a good captain. I met him at the armistice signing on the Schwarzkopf. Whatever happened to him, to his crew...they deserve better than to be forgotten."

"If those vultures that wear press passes aren't touching it, really makes you wonder." Elfriede confirms, leaning back in her seat and drumming her fingertips on her knees. Her mouth tugs into a grim line, expression pinched. "Well, we'll just have to see what we can find out on the quiet. If it /was/ some sort of error with the cloning tech, there might not be much in the way of local evidence. Are you planning to let senior staff know, or is this just for the SO and I?"

Clement shrugs. "Depends on what we find out. If we determine there's a good reason to leave this particular stone unturned, then we leave the truth untold. Stays between us."

"Ja, understood, Captain Clement." Elfriede answers, voice quiet.

The captain stands, extending a hand again to the First Officer. "Good to have you aboard, Elf. If there's nothing else, you're dismissed. Thank you."

Luftlowe leverages her lanky figure out of the chair and reaches out to offer a firm grasped handshake. "It's good to be aboard, Skipper." That said, she offers a brief salute and turns to go.