Commander Wood walked back out to the bridge. As soon as the door to the ready room closed behind him, Lieutenant Nicholas Casey asked the Second Officer "How's the Captain taking the latest load of requisitions?"
"He seems to be very stressed." answered Wood. "But he was probably like that before I went in there."
"You can hardly blame him for that." said Nobema. "Captaining a prototype starship comes with a lot of responsibility. Such a large amount of responsibility would probably put anyone under great stress."
"She does have a point." commented Hopkins.
"Maybe I should give him a hand," Sanderson suggested, rising out of her chair.
"The Captain seems determined to handle the requisitions on his own." Wood notified her. "We should probably respect his wishes. But then again, it won't be good if the stress gets too much into his head."
"Then what do you suggest I do, Mr. Wood?" asked Sanderson, sitting back down in her chair.
"I would recommend waiting for a while, say about one or two hours, Commander," Wood answered, "and then you can offer your assistance to the Captain."
Sanderson agreed that this was an adequate plan. Wood sat down in his chair and began to go to work inspecting some diagnostics from his station.
While the bridge crew worked, they held a conversation about the latest update from Starfleet Command. At this point in time, it was not uncommon for a piece of new and potentially significant news to be distributed throughout the fleet. Starfleet Headquarters always kept them apprised.
Lieutenant Halrinso stood at his station. He usually listened to the conversation being held between the rest of the senior staff, but chose not to participate in it. He saw it as ideal to remain silent unless spoken to while on the bridge. He glanced down at his station and began studying it visually. Something caught his eye.
He brought his hands to the panel and began to enter a set of codes into the mainframe. The thing that had caught his eye may have appeared to be a miniscule fluctuation, but nothing was too miniscule to avoid Halrinso's notice.
As the Bolian Security Chief worked, the rest of the bridge crew continued their conversation.
"I still wonder why Headquarters suspects that the Klingons are hiding something." said Wood.
"Well, whatever it is, I'm sure we'll find out soon enough." said Paris. "Klingons are never good at keeping secrets. I could always tell when my mother wasn't being totally honest."
"And your mother's only half-Klingon," remarked Dr. Rizux, who had just arrived on the bridge.
Paris looked over at Sanderson and told her "If you want, Commander, I can investigate this matter and question all the Klingon officers aboard the Champion. Maybe they will know more of this matter than Starfleet Command."
"I appreciate the gesture, Miral, but let's not resort to spying just yet." Sanderson responded. "However, if there is something that they are not telling us, I will make sure that we find out what it is. What do you think, Tymar?"
There came no response from the Third Officer.
Sanderson looked over at the Security Station and addressed the Bolian "Tymar?"
He quickly looked up and asked "Yes, Commander?"
"What do you think about this piece of news regarding the Klingons?" Sanderson clarified.
"If you ask me, it is very disturbing to even suggest that one of our allies is concealing news or information from us." Halrinso replied. That was all he said. After he made that statement, he continued working at his station.
As he went back to work, Nobema asked him "What are you working on, Lieutenant?"
"I noticed a hiccup in the structural integrity field a few minutes ago." Halrinso enlightened the bridge crew. "I'm presently trying to discover the cause of it."
"A 'hiccup?'" said Hopkins.
"That's the only word I can think of to describe it, Ensign." Halrinso responded, still working without looking up.
Another minute later, he had uncovered the source of the "hiccup." It was coming from the outside of the hull. But he couldn't pinpoint the exact location.
Halrinso looked up and said "Lieutenant Casey, did you post today's navigations report?"
"Yes, I uploaded it into mainframe when I reported onto the bridge this morning," answered the Flight Controller. "Why do you ask?"
"I need you to come with me to the astrometrics lab." Halrinso told him. "Bring a copy of the navigations report with you."
Casey looked through the databanks and found the navigations report for that day. He downloaded it onto a computer chip, stood up, and followed Halrinso into the turbolift. Halrinso said "Deck fourteen" and the doors closed. Their positions were taken over by two other crewmen.
The rest of the senior bridge crew was curious as to what Halrinso had discovered, but decided not to worry about it at that time. They simply went back to their own tasks.
The bridge was one of the few rooms on the ship that was totally organized at that time. There was at least a little turmoil in most of the other rooms of importance, most notably Main Engineering. Things were getting very chaotic down there. The Chief Engineer, Lieutenant Seth Marquez, had scheduled a number of refits.
There were huge cables all over the floor, and everybody had to carefully watch his or her footing to avoid tripping. No one was able to work quietly with all the disorder going on.
Marquez was pacing back and forth, going over the most recent diagnostic of the warp engine. There was a small percent of error in the warp drive, which he had been attempting to correct on his own all day, but had no success.
He moved to one of the stations on the side and began to input data onto the console there. While we worked, somebody tapped him on the shoulder.
He turned around and saw Lieutenant junior grade Angela Tolbert. She was the assistant to the Champion's Assistant Chief Engineer, Lieutenant Kenny Pearson, who in turn was the assistant to Lieutenant Marquez.
"What do you need, Angela?" he asked his assistant's assistant.
"I don't need anything from you personally, sir," she responded, "except for your clearance."
"Clearance for what?" he asked.
"I'm hoping to establish a direct link between the thrusters and the impulse engines." she elucidated her superior. "Ensign Nobema suggested the idea, and she told me that this way, we would be able to switch off between the two of them ten times more quickly than usual. But before we can start this, we will, of course, need your permission."
Marquez took a moment to think about Tolbert's request. Finally, he told her "I'll submit another requisition to the Captain. But while we're waiting for his response, prepare your schematics."
Tolbert nodded and walked across the room to work on the schematics of her plan. She had three other people assisting her. Marquez turned back to his station and continuing to input information into its memory banks.
A few moments later, he was tapped on the back again. He impatiently said "Yeah, what do you want now?" over his shoulder.
"It's me, Dad" a familiar voice answered.
Marquez turned around and saw his teenage daughter, Diana, standing there.
"Oh, sorry, Diana." he said quickly. "I thought you were Lieutenant Tolbert. You see, her hands are about the same size as yours and they feel about the same."
"It's quite alright, Dad." Diana looked around the room. "I see that you've got everybody pulling their weight."
Her father nodded, but he did not comment on her speculation.
"Diana, I'm very busy right now." he stressed. "Please make this quick."
"Well, I was going to come ask you if you'd like to join me for lunch," she said, "but seeing as how you're busy, I suppose that dinner will be alright."
"You don't mind?" he presumed.
"No, not at all." she insisted. "In fact, maybe I could help you out here."
"Well, I don't know." said Marquez. "I don't really have anything for you to do, unless you're interested in taking reports to and from Main Engineering."
Diana shrugged and said "I suppose I could do that."
Marquez was a little surprised. But, he decided that if Diana wanted to help, he would let her. After all, he could always use another helper, especially on a day as busy as that day.
"I'll have to clear it with the Captain," Marquez told her, "but mostly just to get you permission to have access to the bridge."
Diana nodded. Her father tapped his combadge and said into it "Marquez to Captain Larson."
"Larson here," was the response on the other end, "go ahead, Lieutenant."
"Captain, I have a personal request," the Chief Engineer answered.
"As long as it doesn't involve another requisition, I'm all ears," said Larson. The way he said it, it was hard to tell if he was joking or serious.
Regardless of that, Marquez submitted his request: "I would like to appoint Diana as a report courier."
"You want to what?" Larson asked, interested by this odd petition.
"I want to have my daughter take reports from Main Engineering to other rooms in the ship and to Main Engineering from other rooms in the ship," Marquez made his request clearer.
"May I ask why, Lieutenant?" said Larson.
"Because she actually wants to do it, Captain." Marquez explained. "In fact, she suggested the idea. Besides, we'll need as many people as possible to get this ship organized."
"A valid point." Larson agreed. "I assume you want me to give her permission to access the bridge?"
"Only if it is not too much to ask, sir." said Marquez.
"Well, you can let her know that she can go anywhere on this ship she wants," said Larson, "as long as she does not invade anyone's privacy or interrupt anybody's work."
Diana got closer to her father's combadge and said into it "I can assure you, Captain, I'll do nothing of the sort."
Larson chuckled over the comline "Excellent. And, Lieutenant, I would prefer it if you provided your daughter with a combadge. It'll be much easier to keep up with her that way."
"Of course, sir." Marquez went over to a box of spare combadges and took one out. He closed the box, walked back over to Diana, and positioned it carefully on the left side of her jacket.
She smiled up at her father and asked him "So, where should I start?"
Marquez handed her one of the PADDs he was holding in his hand and instructed her "Take this first one to Ensign Sherrod in the main sensors room. That's on-"
"Deck 9, Section 14-Alpha." Diana finished for him. Her father raised an eyebrow in amazement. She simply smirked and said "I've been studying the ship's layout."
"Indeed you have been." Marquez then gave a wave of his hand and humorously said "Hop to it! Time's a-wasting!"
Diana saluted him and said "Yes, sir."
Then she left the room and headed for the nearest turbolift.
Marquez watched her leave, and then said into his combadge "Are you still there, Captain?"
"Yes, Seth, I am," was his response. "I must say, Diana will probably make a fine Starfleet officer someday."
"Why, thank you, sir." Marquez remarked with a note of pride in his voice.
"Well, now that we're already talking with each other, there's a subject I've been meaning to address to you." Larson changed the subject. "I would like a progress report on the refits."
"Unfortunately, we're not making progress at the rate I had predicted." said Marquez.
"Is there anything you can do to get the work done faster?" inquired Larson.
"Well, Captain, right now I've got almost a third of my staff pulling double-shifts," Marquez told Larson, "but it's still going to be at least three days until we've modified every system to the desirable parameters."
"Alright, then," said Larson. "Take as much time as you need. Just make sure those refits are complete within a week from today."
"A week's still cutting it a little close," said Marquez, "but I think my staff and I can handle it."
"I'm sure you'll manage." Larson then cut the line, leaving Marquez to manage the engineering crew.
In sickbay, Dr. Keller had been activated. He had a patient seated on one of the bio-beds, holding her hand over a wound on her forehead. Dr. Keller was running a scanning device over her head with one hand, and in the other hand, he held a medical tricorder. As he read the data from the tricorder, he told the crewmember "It looks like you've merely suffered a flesh wound. I'll get a dermal regenerator."
He went over to the cart and picked up the regenerator. The crewman leaned over and allowed the doctor to run the instrument over her head. As her skin set back in place over the wound, he asked her how she acquired this injury. Her answer was simple: "It happened down in engineering. I was kneeling at one of the cabinets that contained the bio-neural gel packs. Lieutenant Pearson was working directly above me, and he had another cabinet door opened. He left with the materials he needed about ten seconds before I did, but he had forgotten to close his respective cabinet. He didn't realize it until I tried to stand up."
"You mean you got this concussion by hitting your head against a cabinet door?" said Keller. After he finished repairing the damage done to her head, she looked up at him and explained her injury further.
"Its standard procedure for all the storage compartments down in main engineering to be coated with tritanium." the patient enlightened him. "It's mostly a precautionary security measure."
"In that case, seeing as how you hit your head against tritanium, you're lucky to still be alive!" said Keller.
"I think that death would have been preferable to what happened." said the patient, rolling her eyes. "It was really embarrassing to be in the middle of Main Engineering, shouting in pain."
"It seems somewhat typical that negligence would be the cause of your injury." said Keller, a note of impatience in his voice. "Promise me that you'll be more careful and 'look up' next time when you kneel on the ground."
"Yes, Doctor." said the patient. "May I return to my station now?"
Keller dismissed her from sickbay. He turned to his desk and sat down in his chair. As he documented the injury in his medical database, the comline came on.
"Larson to sickbay," came from the other end.
"Dr. Keller here." responded the EMH. "What is it, Captain?"
"Doctor, tell me you're not serious."
"About what, sir?"
"About this request to shorten the duty shifts of the engineering crew." Larson answered.
"Captain, I am deadly serious." Keller responded. "Besides, it's only a temporary request."
"Doctor, I need the engineering crew performing at optimal efficiency right now." said Larson. "Hence, I'll need them working at their stations as much as possible."
"Captain, Lieutenant Marquez already has most of his people working double shifts at least every other day." Keller tried to emphasize his point. "They're starting to become irritable, tired, and accident-prone. For three days, I have had to treat someone from the engineering crew for plasma burns, equipment malfunctions, and God-knows-what-else every four hours. In fact, just a moment ago, I finished treating Ensign Gagnon for a concussion."
"We only need to keep this up until the refits are finished." Larson guaranteed the holographic physician. "Then I will practically order the engineering staff to shorten their duty schedules for a few weeks."
"I suppose that is a reasonable arrangement," said Keller. "Granted, it's not the one I had hoped for; it is still sufficient."
"I'm glad to hear that. Larson out."
Keller went back to work, documenting Ensign Gagnon's injury in the medical history file.
A few decks down, Lieutenants Halrinso and Casey were working in the Astrometrics Lab. They were studying the navigations report from that morning alongside a schematic of the glitch Halrinso had discovered about twenty-five minutes earlier.
Halrinso was scanning the exterior of the hull for the source of the hiccup in the integrity field while Casey was attempting to determine where they had first picked it up. Any other security officer would probably have dismissed the hiccup as a glitch, but Halrinso never took so much for granted.
"Any luck?" he asked Casey on his work.
"Well, I have a reasonably credible theory that whatever caused that hiccup, it's been attached to the hull for a long time," the Flight Controller speculated, peering into a visual readout scanner, "but it appears to be masking itself from our sensors."
"In that case, I'm going to run a second sweep on several different frequencies at once." Halrinso went to work on this, and soon there came a responsive beeping from the console in front of him. Halrinso announced with a hint of satisfaction in his voice "There, I've managed to localize it!"
"Where is it coming from?" inquired Casey, gazing at the security monitor.
"It's coming from the back of the ship." Halrinso answered him. "Scan just above the entrance to the main hanger bay on the saucer section."
"I'm reading an object at those coordinates!" said Casey. "It's about eight inches in length and width, and two inches in height. It appears to be of an electronic configuration."
"Has it been activated?" inquired Halrinso.
Casey studied the sensors, and answered "Yes."
"Set up a containment unit." Halrinso ordered him. "We'll bring it in."
Casey nodded and went to fetch some supplies from a cabinet. He returned with a portable containment unit that would seal itself with a forcefield. He placed the unit on the counter next to the main panel and activated the forcefield. Once it was all set up, the Conn Officer tapped his combadge and stated plainly "Casey to Nobema."
"Nobema here," answered the Romulan Operations Officer from the bridge. "What is it, Nick?"
He answered her "Lieutenant Halrinso and I have discovered something attached to the hull at these coordinates" and he typed in a set of coordinates into the panel in front of him. The coordinates were quickly transferred to the Operations Station on the bridge.
As Nobema studied them, she confirmed over the comline that she had received the coordinates. Then Halrinso told her what to do next.
"We need you to lock onto that object and beam it into the containment unit in this room." Halrinso instructed her. "Be sure to deactivate it when you transport it, too."
"Alright," she worked on the transporter systems from her station and locked onto the object attached to the hull. She informed the two lieutenants "I've established the lock."
"The forcefield is in place," Casey reported, "and the containment field is stable."
Halrinso tapped his combadge and said "Halrinso to Nobema… energize."
Five seconds later, a flat electronic board materialized in the containment unit. Casey inspected the unit closely. He reported that there were no breaches in the security net and the device had been properly and safely deactivated.
"Good work, Ensign," Halrinso acknowledged Nobema's work over the comline.
"Thank you, sir." she replied. "Nobema out."
Casey picked up the containment unit off the counter and said "We should probably study this device as soon as possible."
"I would agree." said Halrinso. "But even though it has been deactivated, we have to examine it with care. For all we know, that mechanism could be a weapon of terrible power."
"I certainly hope not, sir." Casey stated honestly as they left Astrometrics.
Note: I own Lieutenant Angela Tolbert, and Ensigns Sherrod and Gagnon.
