OFF: First let me welcome our new crewmen. If any of you have 
questions, feel free to contact myself or our XO, Commander Alayne 
Tolbin. Please add to this first pre-launch post. It will be good 
practice for those of you who have never done this before and will 
give me a chance to see your posting styles. Again welcome aboard, 
Mac.

ON: {Birdge, USS Excalibur, in Space Dock}

::Captain McCloud walks around the bridge of the USS Excalibur as 
dock workers prepare the ship for her maiden voyage. He stops at the 
command chair and thinks (Am I ready for this? I can't get used to 
thinking of myself as _Captain_ McCloud. After being an engineer for 
so many years, am I ready for command? What am I thinking? Of course 
I'm ready. I finished in the top ten in command school, I know the 
ship, probably better than the designers, and with _my_ life 
experiences. Yeah, I'm ready.) He sits in the chair, getting a feel 
for it.::

Worker: "Sir, can you sign this?"

McCloud: "Sure. :: He takes the PADD from the worker and looks it 
over.:: When will the Computer core work be completed?"

Worker: "Should be up later today, sir."

McCloud: "Good. What about these specs? :: He hands the PADD back, 
unsigned.::They don't look right to me."

Worker: "I'll check with my supervisor and get back to you sir."

McCloud: "Well I'll be in my quarters unpacking some things, You can 
reach me there."

Worker: "Aye sir."

::Mac enters the turbolift.::"Deck 8." ::The lift takes him to his 
quarters. As he exits, he sees his XO, commander Alayne Tolbin 
struggling with a large box of her things.::

McCloud: "Hey Tolbin, need a hand?"

Tolbin: "Sure Mac, or should I say, _Captain Sir_?

McCloud: "That will be enough of that. It's Mac, unless we're on 
duty. Then I'll expect all the "Captain Sirs" you can muster mister."

Tolbin: ::laughs:: "Yes sir, sir. I mean Mac."

::They take the box into her quarters. Mac stops and looks around. 
There are piles of boxes and bags and containers all over the room.::

McCloud: "Jeeze Alayne, did you bring the _WHOLE_ Patriot with you?"

Tolbin: "Not the _Whole_ thing, just _my_ little piece of it."

McCloud: "I hope you remembered to pack your Bat'leth?"

Tolbin: "Of course I did. I even downloaded your holo programs for 
the Excalibur's holodeck. I even made some slight adjustments to 
them before I did. ::Smiles:: I finally going to kick your butt."

McCloud: "You might commander, You might, but I wouldn't count to 
heavily on that." ::They both laugh.:: "Well I let you get settled 
in, I have some unpacking of my own to do."

Tolbin: "Thanks Mac. Meet you in the Messhall later?"

McCloud: "You bet. :: He leaves her room to go to his own. As he 
enters, he thinks(Only twelve days until we launch, hope the ship 
will be ready. Hell I don't even have a chief engineer yet. Wonder 
who it will be? For that matter I wonder who any of the crew will be?
Admiral Star did say we were assigned a ship's counselor, what was 
her name? Oh, yeah, Jade. I'll have to check her record when the 
computer is on-line.):: He sighes and starts to unpack.::

OFF: Well I hope that gets everyone started. Use the next twelve 
days to develope your characters and get used to posting. Thanks Mac.

Captain Steven McCloud
Co USS Excalibur NCC-2997