Idle Hands

Posted on Sunday November 25th, 2018 @ 15:35 hours by Mayterial Droz & M'erah & Samantha Jenkins & James Phillips

Mission: Smugglers Need Not Apply
Location: Cargo bay 1
Timeline: MD04
1763 words - 3.5 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

It had been some time since his last job that he had worked in the cargo section of a freighter. He thought he wanted to settle down and stay in one place with his new found love. Realizing now just how wrong he had been he took the opportunity to sign up for the first freighter that came by. Upon arriving at the indicated airlock M'erah had looked around and seen some others around that looked like capable people. He wondered how many they were hiring aboard the Groumal class freighter. He never worked on one before. Now that he stood inside he realised where the reputation for dependable, long distance, haulers had come from. The cargo bay was massive.

Sam opened the door to the room where a handful of prospective deck hands were waiting for her. She stood with her legs steady to the ground, her arms crossed as she looked at each and everyone of them. Not betraying a speck of the emotions going on inside of her. Most of these man would intimidate the heck out of any normal living being. But she knew that today she held the power. Without her they couldn't work on the Fawkes. That knowledge how ever didn't change anything about her emotions. She had seen her dad deal with groups like this a number of times, but this was the first time she was doing it.

She continued to stare at the group before saying. "Listen up," she grabbed the clipboard from under her arm. "The Fawkes is looking for a number of deck hands and it's my job to see if any of you is up for the job."

M'erah looked around again to gauge the reaction from the other gathered people. The woman that had walked out to greet them seemed very young. He wondered if she would be the Boatswain for this vessel. For now he would just stand quietly awaiting her next instructions.

"My name is Samantha Jenkins and I am the Fawkes' Boatswain." She ignored the hiss going around the room as she identified her. "I will interview each and everyone of you to see if you have what it takes. But first I need you to fill out some basic information." She pointed to the table in front of her where a stack of padds were located.

M'erah was never a fan of paperwork. He would fill out the form and see where the rest of the day would take him. He had enough experience and still was in a good enough physical shape to lug around heavy cargo and make long days. "I hope forrr some of these people that therrre won't be an IQ test." He whispered in his Caitian accent to the nearest other applicant, hoping to break some of the tension that was in the room.

James showed a beginning of a smile. "I sure hope there is."

"In about 10 minutes the first part of the selection process will begin. We've created a nice obstacle course" for us to test your physical abilities. We cannot use people who can't keep up because they need to catch their breath everytime." Sam said as she looked around the group.

M'erah finished putting in his credentials on the PADD and quickly read through the disclaimer that told him the Fawkes and the Heywood Corporation would not be liable for any injury sustained during the selection process. He pressed his thumb down to sign the document and idly tossed it back on the table to allow himself a moment to look at the course laid in front of them.

Having finished his application stuff James put the padd on the table and again looked around the room to the others. He hoped he would get this job, he really needed this job. But from what he saw there were others who has a good change of making a cut. Others how ever would never make it.

"Ok, people." Sam said. "Let's get started."


=== An Hour Later ===

Reviewing everyone's results Sam was ready to create the final list. She looked up when she heard a door open and was surprised to see the Captain enter. "Captain?" she said in surprise.

"Bosun." Mayterial replied in kind and smiled at the woman tasked with narrowing the list of deck hand applicants back to a manageable number. "How did it go?"

"Good I guess," she said. Not sure why the Captain was here. Was she checking up on her, or just assisting. It wasn't every day you were getting half of the ship's crew in one meeting. "I've got a list, with a few spares. Would you like to see it before I make it official.

"I trust you to make the right decision in that regard." May kept the warm smile on her features. "Tell me a bit about the people you're looking to hire."

Sam showed the two stack of papers to May. "These 3 will be the Ables. And these 6 the ordinary. We're lucky we got some serious good people to come today. I've seen worst applicants."

"That's good to hear." Mayterial was happy that on the deck hand side of things they hadn't suffered too much from the bad press they had experienced over the past few weeks. "Tell me about our able bodies." She sifted through the papers and pulled up the three records.

"We've got James Philips, 36 years has got almost 8 years of experience of which 5 as able. Also M'erah, 28 years with enough knowledge and experience, although he is a bit vague on the details. Then we have Elisabeth Bennet. She is even more vague on her personal info then M'erah. Only thing I know about her, and I have tested it, is her work experience. She would be a gamble, but I think its worth taking her on."

"What did we do to test the Able deck hands?" May was curious to know what steps were taken to ensure they had good leadership from the ground up.

Sam smiled at the question. "A physical test to start with while I checked the information they filled out, followed by an interview with me and a testprogram to test their mental ability and professional ability. I hadn't used the last thing before in a selection procedure but I had tested it out a numerous times. It's quite great actually." She took a padd from the table, pressed a few buttons and gave it to May. "If you're interested you can also take it."

"Oh. Nice." Mayterial eagerly took the test, it was always fun to take them and see where she stood. Or if she had more nefarious goals, how she could manipulate them into getting the right score. "Unless of course it turns out I'm unfit to captain a ship." She looked up and gave a wink before looking back at the test and starting to give genuine answers to the questions.

"Well, its set up to test for the deckhands position. But yeh, it would be kinda stupid if you failed. But don't worry, I'll train you if needed." Sam said with a chuckle.

"I don't doubt it." It was almost worth it to flunk the test. May decided against it and did her best to give the right answers to the questions posed. "I might take you up on that offer, anyway. Never hurts to keep those skills fresh."

"Sure, no problem. You can always join on some drills. Do you want to review the final applicants or can I just let them know they are hired." Sam asked.

Mayterial finished up the test and handed it over to Samantha, "I trust you to make the right decisions, miss Jenkins, that's why I hired you." She gave a wink at her. "There is one thing you can do, though. On what grounds did we hire our Able Deck Hands? What made them stand out? It wasn't their resumes. I saw their resumes. Slip a dozen."

"A combination of their work experience, skills and behavior." she explained. "The last two is what the test looks for. That is more valuable then just a resume. And off course I talked to each one to see if I agreed with the test."

With a single nod Mayterial agreed, it didn't always have to be flashy. If she wanted flashy she wouldn't have made a play for the Groumall class in the first place. "And how did I do?" She said pointing at the test she had just taken.

Sam took her time processing the results. Hoping the Captain would pass the test or they would end up in a very awkward situation. When the results came in Sam quitely let out her breath she was apparently holding. "You passed the test." she started. "You score high on most field and extra high on social capacities. And a little lower on math, but overall you passed with flying colours." Sam gave the padd to the Captain so she could read it herself.

Mayterial saw the relief on the Bosun's face, this must've not been fun for her. She regretted not just flunking the test. She comforted herself with the thought that there'd be time for such experiments later. "You're too kind, my Math is sub-par." She saw that the last few answers had more mistakes in them than the first group of them. It annoyed her slightly that somehow her attention had wavered near the end. "Thank you though, this has been very insightful." She got up from the seat she had taken and looked at her Boatswain. "Is there anything you need me to do for you?"

"That depends. If you want to approve the final list of applicant, then I need you to do so now. We don't have much time to wait any longer if you want to leave on schedule. But if you want me to take the final decision, then I don't need anything right now." Sam said.

"I trust you to make those decisions, Sam." Mayterial would see all the names and background checks come by when the contracts were signed and the people started coming on board. She couldn't wait to have these corridors bustling with activity again.

"Awesome," Sam said excitedly. "That if you'll excuse me. I have to bring some good news to some people and bad news to others."

OFF:

Samantha Jenkins
Boatswain

Mayterial Droz
Captain

James Phillips
Able Deckhand
PNPC Jenkins

M'erah
Deck Hand (Able)
NPC as written by Mayterial

"Idle hands are the devil's workshop"