"Are we sure that we have to do this?" Jean-Luc asked as he fidgeted with the collar of his uniform nervously as Deanna, Worf and Will all watched him in amusement. "I mean, allowing civilians to take part in an open contest against academy cadets, to become the temporary captain of my ship? It was one thing to allow it as a means of motivation for the cadets. But I never actually expected children aboard the ship to actually manage to win against trained cadets."
"Oh stop fidgeting, Jean-Luc. The contest was about raising awareness among both the cadets and those with the potential to do great things. I take it that the fact that these children managed to win- as a good thing. Just imagine what they must have been through personally to make such brilliant minds. Why they could be rare gems that we could help encourage to really make something of themselves! Why we may even be able to steer one or two towards new careers as academy cadets next year." Deanna said excitedly causing Jean-Luc to cast a slightly pleading look toward his second in command and security officer.
Both of whom, were trying desperately to supress the urge to laugh at him as the elevator finally came to a stop on the fourth floor and the door opened so that they could step off.
Their first stop was a Miss...Kurosaki's room since she was the one who had won the contest with top scores, and would be the temporary captain of the Enterprise for the next six months. Walking down the hallway towards the girl's room, Jean-Luc couldn't help but wonder just what kind of person he would be handing the control of the ship over.
After all, just because the girl got the top scores in the contest didn't mean that she knew anything about how to actually command a ship or it's crew. And what if a combat situation arose? What would she do then? Have a nervous breakdown? Cry?
Finally reaching the girl's room, he cleared his throat and started to lift his hand to knock when he and the others suddenly heard a loud sounding yelp from inside the room followed by a crashing sound.
Exchanging concerned looks, he, Worf and Will took out their phasers and set them to stun and then quickly opened the door to go in and make sure that nothing questionable was happening.
They didn't really see anything out of the ordinary upon opening the door to Miss Kurosaki's quarters. The room was nice and tidy. Everything was carefully arranged to allow the maximum amount of comfort and space.
The only thing that they saw that was even a tad bit out of the ordinary- was the peculiar collection of books covering every subject imaginable, lying strewn across the glass coffee table. Spilling over onto the floor and couch.
"Miss Kurosaki? This is Captain Picard. Are you well? We thought that we heard someone in distress!" Jean-Luc called out as he and Will moved to scan the room while Worf covered their backs.
He was about to call out again when he and the others heard several panicky voices calling out Miss Kurosaki's name as several people ran up. Twisting their heads around to see who had just run up shouting, he, Will and Worf saw a tall muscular young man with long shaggy looking wavy hair, and a girl with long fiery colored orange hair standing out in the hall with Deanna.
"Where is Ichigo? Is she okay?" The girl asked Deanna in a anxious manner as the councilor raised her hands and started to speak, slowly and in a low soothing tone as the young man slipped past her and into Miss Kurosaki's quarters.
"You need to leave-" Worf said as he turned to address the young man's intrusion.
"I'm not leaving without Ichigo," The young man said as he gave Worf a glare and none too nicely pushed the man back and made a beeline for the bedroom before anyone could stop him. Pausing at the door only long enough to say, "Ichigo, it's me, Chad. Climb down off the ceiling- you have company."
There was an audible thudding sound from the other side of the bedroom door and seconds later the door opened and a very disgruntled looking teenager peeked out.
"Are you okay?" The young man asked as she took a moment or so to scan the room. Wide, panic stricken eyes landing on the captain, his first officer and the security officer before going to the door where Deanna and the girl stood before she slowly answered the man's inquiry.
"I-I'm bleeding."
"How bad?"
"About a six." The girl said as she glanced up at the young man as if to gauge his reaction as he inhaled sharply and then nodded his head.
"I'll send in Orihime to help."
"Please and thank you." The girl said in a rush before disappearing back inside of the bedroom as the young man turned and cast them a strange look before calling out softly,
"Orihime! Ichigo needs you for a moment!" The girl that up until then had been speaking with Deanna, entered the living quarters and made an automatic beeline for the bedroom, pausing only briefly for the young man to tell her something before gasping and going wide eyed and quickly opening the door and then disappearing inside and closing it behind her.
Once she was inside, the young man finally moved to address them. "They'll be a few min-" His voice cut off as they heard a loud,
"Ow! Dammit Orihime! What are you a savage?!"
Followed by another yell from the other person in the room. "Well what do you expect me to do?! You're bleeding like a murder victim here! And is that fire!"
Followed by the first person shouting loudly, "That's no frigging excuse for causing further- OW! The hell- Stop smacking me woman!" Causing the young man to make a funny face and then quickly turn and smack the bedroom door with his palm, effectively silencing the shouting match going on inside the room as he turned back to them and gave them a strained smile and simply said,
"Have a seat. They'll be out soon."
Jean-Luc, Will and Worf all looked just a little bit uncomfortable for a moment but slowly put their phasers away and sat down somewhere on the couch and chairs available as the bedroom door finally opened and the orange haired girl stomped out in a huff.
"I'm going back to my room for now. We'll meet again later and talk about what happened with Ichigo." She said in an no nonsense tone as she left. Not caring in the least if she confused anyone present to hear her.
Seconds after she left, the bedroom door opened again and the same kid from before peeked out again. Her manner this time was somewhat wary as she said tentatively, "Please tell me that she's gone."
"She is. But we'll be meeting up again later to talk."
"Okay... I can live with that," The girl said before she bothered to step out of the bedroom so that they could really see her as she gave them all a small smile and finally greeted them. "Hello Captain Picard. First officer..."
"Will. My name is Will. And this distinguished gentleman next to me is Mr. Worf, our security officer."
"Oh, right," She cringed a little bit before saying. "Sorry. I'm kind of bad putting faces with names. Ranking's not so much, but actual names generally tend to elude me."
"That's quite alright, Ichigo, was it?"
"Um, yeah. D-Did you guys need something?" Ichigo asked as she moved to sit down in one of the last seats available. Not the least bothered by the fact that her big muscly friend, whom remaining standing not too far away from them.
"Well, yes. We were coming here today to congratulate you on winning the open contest to become Captain of the Enterprise for the next six months."
The girl stared at them for a second, tipped her head to the side a little bit and then frowned as she said, "I didn't think that I turned the forms for the contest in. I mean, I know that I filled them out. But I had no intention of turning them in so I set them..." Her voice trailed off for a second as she turned her head towards the small round table on the other side of the room before saying, "Hn... Okay, never mind then. I guess Orihime must have grabbed them and turned them in thinking that it's what I would want."
"You're taking the news remarkably well." Will said with a grin. The girl merely looked at him for a moment before saying,
"Not really. I'm actually kind of furious that she went behind my back like that. But whatever. There isn't much that I can do about it now so I might as well make the best of it... Please, tell me what I'm expected to do."
"Very well." Jean-Luc said as he started to outline her new duties aboard the ship. His explanation took the better part of an hour or so. But by the end of it, he thought that he had explained things nicely enough for her to understand things. Before asking her what she would like to do first as the ship's Captain.
He and the others were somewhat startled when she asked curiously, "I get to pick my own officers, right?"
"Yes. That is part of you're...entitlement as the temporary Captain. Did you have some people in mind for specific positions?"
"I did. But first I want to make something very clear. I want the three of you to maintain your official status aboard the ship. Keep your ranks, your jobs. But for the duration of my...uh...new job- I need your three to work mostly as advisors to me and the people I choose for specific positions."
"That sounds...more than fair," Will said after a moment or so of mulling things over. "Who did you have in mind for the temporary crew positions?"
"Chad. He can work a little bit as both a second officer and a security officer. He's always had my back, and to be honest I don't have a whole lot of people that I can trust. But I trust him," Ichigo said as she tipped her head back to look up at her friend and then asked, "Are you okay with that?"
Her friend merely gave her a small smile and placed his hand on top of her head and ruffled her hair in an affectionate manner as she then settled back in her previous position and then said, "Councilor Troi should stay on as is. I want her close on hand to help gauge threats." Jean-Luc nodded his head in agreement.
Finding the girl's reasoning rather impressive for something that was being planned on the fly.
She must have been remarkably good at working under pressure and strategizing at a moment's notice. Which was somewhat unusual for someone who was sixteen or seventeen years of age. However he didn't think it was anything suspicious or worth really dwelling on.
"I would also like Commander Data to help as an advisor. And the other person I would like to fill in as a temporary crewmate is Orihime. I want her to work in the infirmary with Dr. Crusher."
"Anything else?"
"Just one or two small things. Before I really take over as the temporary Captain of the ship we'll have to set aside some time to work on some training exercises. And maybe a few trust building exercises too. Chad will have to be taught a few self defense methods. It wouldn't kill Orihime to learn some of the same. She tends to get into trouble more often than I would like."
"Well, everything sounds very well thought out. How about we meet up in several hours for the first round of training? Say, the holodeck in two hours?"
"Sure. That will give me some time to prepare I guess." Ichigo said as they rose to leave. They were already late to be on the bridge so that they could address the crew about the upcoming changes in personnel.
Once they were gone, Chad looked down at Ichigo questioningly before asking her if this was the right move to make. Ichigo merely shrugged her shoulders and told him that she didn't know.
It had been almost two years since they had first appeared in the future after a massive explosion caused by Aizen. And not once in that time had they managed to find one of their friends, or any of their comrades.
And in that time they had run into an entire slew of issues and problems. Some they had been able to handle easily. And others that they hadn't.
But one thing remained the same. Ichigo protected them just like she always had. And to that end, they were supposed to hide themselves in plain sight under the guise of being civilians. And keep their abilities under wraps.
However it appeared as if that was going to become considerably harder now that Ichigo was to gain the position of temporary Captain, and he and Orihime temporary officers. Sighing, he leaned down and brushed his lips over the top of Ichigo's head and then straightened and muttered something about going to get ready for later and then slowly walked to the door and slipped out while Ichigo was too busy thinking to bother to protest.