Lt. Rik Darnel
Chief Science Officer
USS Terra Nova
"Conversations"


[Rik Darnel's quarters, Deck 1, U.S.S. Terra Nova]
[October 1, 2378 - 1607 hours]

"Bridge to Lt. Darnel."

"Darnel here. Go ahead."

"Sir, you have an incoming message from the USS Furious."

"Patch it down here, please," Rik said, taking a seat at the computer terminal.

Moments later the image of Lt. Cmdr. Conrad McDonald, the chief science officer
of the Furious, appeared.

"Conrad," Rik said, smiling, for the had served together on board the Valdemar
for a time, when McDonald was assistant chief science officer. "It's been a
while. You'd think that we'd all see more of each other out here, considering
the fact the Corridor's closed."

"Indeed," McDonald said. "Hey, I heard something about you, and I'm kinda having
trouble believing it's true, even though the person who told me swears it's
true."

"Hey, this wouldn't be about the fact that I am by far the biggest stud in
Starfleet, would it?" Rik said with a grin. "'Cause you know, that's been true
for *years*..."

McDonald laughed. "In your dreams, buddy, in your dreams. No, what I've been
hearing is that you passed up the XO slot on the Terra Nova. Now, I simply
*can't* believe you'd pass up an opportunity like that if it was actually
offered to you."

"Oh, come on, not *that* again. 'Good grief,' as you always like to say. It's
bad enough I'm getting grief out of my staff over it - they're bemoaning the
fact that they collectively lost over a hundred credits in a ship's pool on
whether or not I'd take the job - without having to hear from you about it."

"Rik, seriously, you don't just pass up that kind of opportunity! I've glanced
over the personnel files of the other Terra Nova crew members - you've got more
experience in the field than any of the other officers currently assigned to the
ship."

"Hey, I'm in the sciences," Rik said. "Some day, maybe I'll take up an XO
position, but not right now. It's not like I've had all *that* much experience
in starship command."

"Not from what I hear," McDonald said. "I know you've stepped into various
leadership capacities on the Terra Nova, including the XO position several times
in an acting capacity, and according to Cmdr. Banda you served admirably. And
then there was the time you did get to command the Ulysses. Certainly that's a
lot more than those officers they keep sticking into the XO slot whose main
claim to fame in the command category is learning about it in a classroom."

"First off, the whole Ulysses command thing was when there was a wedding between
the security chief and the CMO that was attended by the whole senior staff when
we were in orbit of Risa and most of the rest of the crew was on shoreleave; I'd
just passed the bridge officer's test the week before and Captain Fremont was
letting me get a chance to put it into use. Secondly, Lt. Remont ever hears
about what you said about him, he's likely to show you in vivid detail some
things he learned from a Klingon friend of his."

"If nothing else, what about our little rivalry?" McDonald asked. The two'd had
a friendly rivalry going for several years about who'd make XO first.

"Not that I'm too worried about that," Rik said. "Not after that incident in
which you egged on Admiral Piersson - quite literally."

"Oh, and like you've never done anything like that. I'm not even going to
mention what you did to Professor Stonic's office while you were at the Academy
- granted, he was so stiff he made a week-old corpse look downright lively by
comparison, but still... Anyway, who's your new friend?"

Mouchi had by that point taken up residence on Rik's lap; Rik had started
stroking the cat, who was purring contently.

"This is Mouchi. He was the cat of the previous XO, and since there was no one
else to take him in, I sort of wound up adopting him."

"Well, I never much imagined you as the pet owner type," McDonald said. "Anyway,
a bit of advice - next time you get offered an XO position, take it. Oh, and if
you ever want to have any juicy little stories about your new CO to use to
wrangle stuff out of him," he added with a wink, "you know where to find me.
McDonald out."

Rik chuckled at that as Mouchi hopped down from his lap.


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