Boatswain Duel

Posted on Saturday September 1st, 2018 @ 15:11 hours by Samantha Jenkins & Mayterial Droz

Mission: Smugglers Need Not Apply
Location: Airlock 13, Starbase 72
Timeline: MD02 - 14:55 hours
2052 words - 4.1 OF Standard Post Measure

Mayterial hadn't thought there would've been so many responses to her call for workers. The name Fawkes had been in the news for the past few days and it wasn't in the good way. The few replies she had didn't seem to mind so much. Now it was up to her to make sure these people weren't looking to get a quick buck on the black market themselves. She was waiting at the airlock for two people to come in for the Boatswain position. She had invited them at the same time so she could pit them against each other. Save her time and it was an interesting social experiment, she thought.

With her belongings in her duffel bag over her shoulder Sam headed to the airlock where she was suppose to meet her might be new boss. She was a bit nervous, although she didn't let anyone notice. The downside of being raised on a freighter was that she wasn't used to job interviews. Stepping her best food forward she walked up to person she had previously noticed. "Goodmorning, I'm looking for Captain Droz."

First impressions were important and this wasn't a stellar one. Sure she had been nice and on time but she didn't seem all too confident. It didn't help that she seemed young and not too sturdy overall. "Morning. That's me. Feel free to call me Mayterial, I don't really stand on ceremony."

Sam offered her a hand while keeping eye contact. "Mayterial, I'm Samantha Jenkins, I'm here for the position of Boatswain." She removed a PADD from her pocket and handed it to May, "Some references from my former ship."

Mayterial took the PADD from Samantha, she didn't look at the references just yet. "We're just waiting for one more candidate and then we'll head in." She looked out into the crowd to see if she could already spot the other applicant, she didn't see him yet and turned back to Sam. "So, what drew you to the Fawkes?"

She followed the Captains gaze for a moment before returning to the woman in front of her. "Well, I could give you a complete bullshit story about how I've been looking for a ship like yours for years and that when I saw your add I just had to reply." Sam started straight to the point. "But I won't as it's not true. I need a new ship, saw your add and simply came. I have the right qualities and experience needed for this. I've been trained for this position for most of my life and I know I will do great, despite my age and gender. You would be a fool not to give me the job."

Mayterial looked at the woman, she was a feisty one, that much was certain. Then again she probably had to be if she had truly grown up in a freighter environment. "Well, I will most certainly take that with me in my consideration." She finally spotted the face in the crowd she had been waiting for.

A rather broad shouldered Andorian man strode closer to the airlock and the Fawkes. He was exactly on time, not a minute too late or too early. "Captain Droz." He gave a short nod and then extended a hand in greeting. "Karrathas Th'zhaahlok, but please call me Athas." His handshake was firm and short before turning to Samantha and was immediately unable to hold back a short chortle. "You here for the Boatswain position?"

"I sure am," she said looking at the Andorian. Most people would be intimidated but her father and the other guys she grew up around taught her that a person's size didn't say anything about someone's abilities, or qualities. "You as well I assume?" She asked the obvious. This guy didn't look like a simple deck hand.

"Yeah, sorry pint-sized." Athas turned back to Mayterial and gave a small confident smirk. He seemed to think that this one was in the bag, especially if the woman was his only opposition.

Mayterial made a mental note of the man's behaviour, but continued without giving it further notice. "Alright, let's start the tour shall we. I think knowing where you'll end up is very important, almost as important as knowing who you'll end up with." She turned on her heels and headed into the airlock mechanism separating the Fawkes from the Starbase.

As they followed the Captain Sam looked around what hopefully be her new home. It was mostly the same from the ship she was raised on, despite it being a few decades older. She'd read the ship's history before going to this interview. "When do you think she can fly out again?"

"We are currently looking for a capable Engineer. We need to start the engines back up before we can investigate the extend of damage to the inner workings." Mayterial led the way into the darkened corridors of the vessel. "Right now we're on the station's power grid, but it's not really feeding through to all systems yet." There were so many things still she needed to do, she couldn't quite get around all of them.

The Andorian looked around, "What a mess." He wasn't wrong, panels and EPS conduits were pulled from their sockets and left laying about. "We better get the deck hands to in and cleaning this crap as quickly as possible.

Sam looked at him with a look like he was crazy. "What about getting this conversation over so I can get to work and help with the cleaning up." Was this guy real. She had been thought that a good leader would work with his crew, and not just because a cargo ship had only a small crew but also because a good leader wouldn't think himself, or herself, better then the rest. "I guess you've never worked on a cargo ship this size have you?" She added the last comment to make him look bad, this wasn't a nice tea party but the real life. Her life, to be precise.

The Andorian shot her a dirty look, before looking back over to the Captain. Apparently this was getting personal "You need a strong hand to get everything here in place and keep everyone in line." He then looked back over to Samantha. "And I am willing to bet you never led anyone other than your cousins around your family boat."

Sam laughed. The more he attacked her the more confident she became. "I agree that I only have a few months of experience as a Boatswain, but I've been raised by a Boatswain since I was a few weeks old, together with the rest of the crew. And worked as a deck hand since I was 16. And been the boatswains unofficial assistant for the last 5 years. As for the strong hand, I can manage quite good. And who says you need strength to keep a group of guys in check. A leader doesn't need to show his fists to show he is a good leader. Any other things you can think of why the Captain should pick you over me."

"Well I can think of a few." Athas gave a small smirk to the Captain, she just confirmed exactly what he thought. A freighter baby that had always been protected by her father, this was going to become even more interesting now. "Don't need strength to keep the people in check, need it to lug a crate off someone if it falls on them though." He then looked over to Sam, "Or is that not how your daddy died?"

Before she could think about the consequences of her action, she punched the Andorian right on his nose, causing him to step back and tripping over backward over a loose plate on the floor. "No, my father was betrayed by someone who wanted his position. He thought he could start a mutiny, but everyone but two stayed loyal to him. He killed my father and then expected he could simply kill me as well." she said as he was holding his hands over his bleeding nose. "I killed him instead."

Athas immediately got up and ready for a fight and was immediately stopped by a hand on his chest from Mayterial. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave. I will only ask politely once." She pushed a feeling of dread into his head, which was a lot easier with the physical contact. They weren't even to the lift yet.

With a grunt Athas spat blood on the floor, in between the two women. "She assaulted me and confessed to murder!" He wanted to step forward but then felt an uneasy feeling come over him. He was sure that if he didn't comply this women would do something terrible to him. He stepped aside and walked backwards, keeping his eyes on the two he left behind. "Crazy." He cussed under his breath before turning and rushing out.

Sam looked at May, which she hadn't after the altercation with Athas. "My apologies, Captain. I should have constrained myself. That shouldn't have happened. I guess my father's death is just too recent to let that remark pass by. Specially with how his death happened." she said apologetic. "I was cleared of any accusations by the way. The police agreed it was self defense. You won't receive any problems because of what happened."

Definitely something May would need to check on. "That went well, I feel." She took in a deep breath before looking at Sam with a comforting smile. "Any time is too recent for that kind of thing." She then burst into a laugh, "Did you see his face when your fist connected with it?"

Sam smiled as she remembered his look. "Awesome right. That will teach him to underestimate a woman!" she couldn't help but say. This might be the 24th century but some things never changed. Thank God her dad hadn't raised her as a girly girl.

"Maybe the heat got to his head. I don't know." She looked at the blood stain on the floor, "maybe we should get some deck hands to help clean that." She laughed again, she just couldn't comprehend how people like that still existed.

"Give me the job and I'll personally get a bucket to clean it." Sam said with confidence.

"You have your own personal bucket?" Mayterial nodded her head and mocked being impressed with her facial expression before smiling again. "So how would you want to go about selecting deck hands? We're not punching any more people, are we?"

"I'm sure there is a bucket somewhere on this ship I can use. As for the punching, I know better ways to see if a deck hand will be a valuable asset to our team. Do you already have some applicants?" Sam said.

Mayterial was shaking her head at that. "It's been tough going with the reputation where it's at. You know how freighter folk are. But that could be your first assignment as Bosun. A good test, I'd think, don't you?"

"You want me to go out on the station and find a crew?" Sam asked. "Because I must say, that I haven't done before. I will do it offcourse if needed. But I only have experience with people that came to us for a job and testing if they are a good fit."

"Small crew, many hats. And to be honest my First mate won't be here until tomorrow afternoon and with all the rest of the positions still open I really need someone to help out on that end." Mayterial looked at the blood splatter on the floor again. "Tell you what. If you can get us a capable group of people I'll get you your own personal bucket."

"Sounds like a deal. Where can I put my bag. I'd like to go out right away to find a crew." she said.

Mayterial put out her hand to shake on it, she knew it was something humans greatly appreciated to solidify a deal. "Let me show you to your room."

OFF

Mayterial Droz
Captain
S.S. Fawkes

&

Samantha Jenkins
Boatswain
S.S. Fawkes

Also starring:
Karrathas Th'zhaahlok
Allround asshat
Currently Unemployed

"The whole key to a fight is throwing the first punch"