Let's Go Thataway!
Chapter Four - Patrolling
Enterprise
Early August 2263
The Usual Cast of Suspects
They reached their assigned sector of space and began their first patrol arc. Everyone was pumped up from the long leave they had had, ready for anything that came their way. Itching for something, anything to come their way. But like all watched pots, things took a while to boil up. First had to come the tedium of waiting, watching, teetering on the brink of excitement while nothing really exciting happened.
The group of new ensigns, fresh out of the Academy, had time to learn the ship, to know where their assigned posts were, where the mess hall was, who was in their line of command, before anything happened to send them scurrying.
Scotty had time to get his 'apparatus' working, almost ready to produce, before the ship took such a hard knock that it went flying into the wall. Much later, when he had time to check on it, he just shook his head and started muttering about better bracing, very glad for the automatic cutoffs he had installed in the heaters.
The people in charge of the gyms were very thankful for the new shields installed over the tops of the swimming pools, as very little water surged out into the rooms to be sucked up later. Of course, if someone had been swimming at the time, it would all have been different.
The attendants in the infant room sang the praises of the new inertial dampeners that had been installed on all the cribs. No babies went flying about the room, although they all started crying. The toddler room did not function quite that well, and a team from pediatrics came flying down the hall as soon as they could. They got everyone patched up quickly, passed out lollipops to everyone, and put their thinking caps on to see what they could come up with to protect these little ones the next time. They also passed the problem up the chain of command.
The bridge crew had tested most of the new instrumentation, but this was the first real use of it. One thing that was quickly established was that long-range sensors do not detect anything when they are not turned on, and then only in the direction in which they are pointing. A new running order took care of that one. The improvements to the shields, however, turned out to be outstanding.
They never did find out who or what it was that had fired on them. They were so busy defending themselves and trying to blow up the other guy before they were blown up themselves, that they never got a really good look at them before they were just space debris. And that might cause a problem in the future. What if they ran into more of those, whatever they were? How would they recognize them? Every possible scrap of data was analyzed and a profile of sorts was created, however imperfect.
They picked themselves up, shook themselves off, repaired everything, and continued. Just another day.
***
The new head of Sociology, promoted from within the department when the former head decided to retire, a Denobulan named Krempt, requested the the TGIF parties be restarted as soon as feasible. He had studied the records of the last mission, and heartily approved of that practice, stating that it had obviously been an excellent tension reliever. Nyota started thinking about what she would wear.
***
The new physical conditioning director, an Andorian named Kallas, insisted that everyone should be enrolled in some form of regular exercise and training. It took a general order to ensure that that happened. After Kallas witnessed one of Spock and Nyota's Saturday morning sparring sessions, he respectfully asked if Spock would take him on as a student. Spock very politely declined, stating that it was customary to take on only one student at a time, and that Lt Uhura had only completed a quarter of her training. Kallas asked that he please keep him in mind if he decided otherwise and Spock agreed.
***
Spock did make a point of finding and introducing himself to the new Vulcan ensign Kurik. Kurik, although as reserved as expected, still managed to convey his pleasure over that. Spock made a note to himself to ask Nyota to invite Kurik to a Vulcan meal in their quarters in the near future.
***
There were three new Tellerites on board, one with a child. And there were two new Andorian four-somes, besides Kallas. There was a new Betazoid counsellor in the medical department. And Scotty was shocked to almost run into a primate variety Xindi in the corridors one day. When he mentioned it to McCoy at supper that night, the doctor informed him that they now had over 20 different species on board, which was the main reason for creating the new Alien Physiology chair. It had just become overwhelming trying to keep up. Scotty gaped at him. He certainly hadn't realized there were that many different species on board, he just hadn't ever thought about it. He supposed he just took it for granted that many different species were represented here, just as they were at the Academy.
***
Back and forth they went, learning their new sector of space. Mapping any anomalies they found, charting the solar systems, checking for planets where life might possibly thrive, placing beacons on space debris so that unsuspecting ships did not run into it. All the common, everyday things that a Federation spaceship was responsible for. And they kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, sure that it would sooner or later.
