All Good Things

Chapter Four - Feeling Weird

On Board the Enterprise

September 2273

Tanik

He was pleased to become the alpha shift pilot, and be on the same shift that Charlene was. It made their life much easier. And being in the middle of all the action, when all the senior crew was handling things, was always interesting. As an additional task, he was assigned to train all the relief pilots, as they had none left with previous service. He took this very seriously, for the safety of the ship depended on it. With Spock's assistance, he set up a computer-driven module in auxiliary control, where they could train. It proved very popular, with every potential pilot on the crew demanding a slot in the schedule.

He also discovered that he was now second in command of the mounted contenders for the Faire. They had lost many people who had been involved in this, and he must recruit more interested parties if they were to have a good showing. And there was not much time.

Kurik

He found himself Assistant to the Chief Engineer. He was not certain that he was entirely prepared for that. However, there was no one else left with more experience than he had, and Scotty insisted that he could perform the job adequately. Those were not the words that Scotty had used, but that was certainly the meaning. Scotty's words had been much more colorful. He and Scotty divided the ensigns up into groups, and began intensive training sessions. They couldn't wait for an accident to happen - they must be as prepared as possible. Each ensign with experience was paired with one of the new ones, to teach what they already knew. And they constantly ran checks and reviews and tests, not wanting to find anything that had been neglected in any way.

He barely had time to conduct the ancient weapons training classes, which were desperately needed now, as all the new crewmen struggled to learn enough to participate in this year's Faire. And Tanik could not help him, because he was teaching people about the mechanical 'horses'. Unfortunately, Spock did not have the time, either. Everyone was stretched thin.

Janice

She was sitting in the mess hall, taking a much-needed break, when someone stopped beside her. A deep voice asked if he might join her, and she looked up to see Jabilo M'Benga standing there. "Of course, doctor. Please sit down. It's nice to see a familiar face. So many people are gone."

He sat down beside her, placing his cup of coffee on the table. "I am glad that you are not one of them."

She looked at him in amazement. "I..I'm glad you're glad." She gave him a tentative smile.

"When we heard the word that so many would be transferred off, I feared that I had lost my chance."

She wasn't entirely sure what he meant, but she was beginning to have hope. "Chance for what?"

"My chance to tell you how I felt about you, and to try to persuade you to feel the same way." His voice was warm, and his face was soft and gentle, and her heart began to beat just a little faster.

"Well, you haven't lost your chance. Why don't you begin right now?" And she smiled a little wider when he smiled back at her.

Nyota

Communications was a mess. She had to train a whole new set of relief officers. She had to find a new Lab Chief, and someone to be assistant. As well as new beta and gamma shift officers. She would have sat and cried if she had thought it would do any good. She was finally reduced to writing names on little pieces of paper and moving them around into the different columns of need that she had, until she came up with what seemed like a good set of potentials. She drew up the assignment lists, and set up the shifts, and checked again. Barely enough people to fill the necessary slots. No extras at all. If anyone got sick or injured, people were going to be pulling double shifts. And somehow she had to find time to train the new people. She made a table of language capabilities, and sent out a list to her entire department. She wanted everyone training for a new language immediately. She made it part of everyone's goals for the next review.

Jim

They were hardly out on patrol a month when he was offered six new officers. He accepted immediately. He didn't care that they were Eridanian, and had never served on a starship before, they were trained and they filled empty slots.

And then the other Vulcans in the fleet started trickling in. Of course, he had to find someone to send out in replacement for each one. But a green ensign in exchange for a Vulcan was a tremendous bargain as far as he was concerned. By the end of the second month out of SpaceDock, they had twenty Vulcans on board. He began to relax. There was at least one Vulcan in every important department on the ship now.

Spock

Things were beginning to settle down. Although the ship was not running as smoothly as he would like, it continued to get better as the new graduates lost their original hesitancy and got over finally being in space. He did think it would be better if they had more experience during their Academy years, so that it was not such a shock to them when they graduated. However, there was nothing that he could do about that, so he concentrated on what he could do something about.

No one was pleased with the boots and trousers in one piece part of the new uniform. Working with the Chief of Stores, he managed to find a way to unseal the boots from the trousers. Stores then added a special strip around the edge of the sole of the boots that clung to the bottom of the trousers, giving the original look, but much more flexibility in dressing and laundering. It was amazing how much that simple detail did to improve morale. He couldn't image why they had been designed the way they were in the first place.

Another concern of his was all the new Vulcan crewmembers. Only two of them were a bonded pair. Those he arranged to have a modified suite as soon as possible. And he would have to check the crew accommodations layout carefully, to determine where he could place more modified quarters. And Chris and Kurik needed their suite enlarged soon. He needed to remember to ask Nyota when this should be done. He needed to start making more notes, even his memory was beginning to flag under the continuous lists of things that needed attention.

And there was still the problem of his science lab. It was woefully understaffed. At least he had the two new Vulcan ensigns there, as well as two of the Vulcans who had transferred from other ships. They would do almost twice the work of any other species.

He had been contacted by StarFleet Command and offered ten returned retirees. He must speak to Jim about this tonight. He had gone over the records, and these ten people seemed to be competent and active, even if over the age when people below the rank of admiral normally retired. Well, they had been retired. He would recommend that Jim accept them, for they would fill holes that currently existed. He tucked the PADD with that information into his pocket, where he could pass it to Jim in the mess hall.

And now perhaps he would actually have time to spend an evening with his family. He rose from his desk in his crowded office in the science lab and stretched out the kinks. It would be good to spend time with his children. And take a nice long hot shower with his wife. He set off down the corridor in a much better mood, anticipating the evening's activities.