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Captain's personal log Stardate 84356.6. The crew is making a great effort to get the ship organized. I plan to submit a full report of the refurbishments we've made to Starfleet Command. Hopefully future Champion-class starships will never be as disorganized as the Champion itself has been for the past several days.
On a more personal note, I myself have spent the last nine hours sorting through dozens of requisitions from the crew. Some of the bridge crew has tried to get me to take a break, but somebody's got to manage these requests and it may as well be me. The crew believes me to be a person of good judgment, which, of course, is critical for any starship captain. However, in addition to that report, I plan to send an official complaint to Starfleet Command. To have just thrown a group of people together and almost randomly assign them their duty schedules seems like careless negligence to me.
Captain Larson filed his log in the ship's database and went back to work.
Back on the bridge, six of the eleven members of the senior staff were at their posts. Nobema sat typing something in a PADD at the Operations Station. Sanderson noticed and said "I assume you are working on another requisition for the Captain, Nobema?"
"No, it is merely a progress report from all the divisions of ship's functions." Nobema told the XO. "I thought it would do good to keep the Captain aware of the magnitude of the changes we are making to the Champion."
"That's a good idea." commented Hopkins. "Let's just hope he'll find time to read it."
A moment later, the turbolift arrived on the bridge and the door to it opened up. Diana walked onto the bridge, carrying five PADDs in her hands. She looked at one of them and asked aloud "Excuse me, is there a 'Lieutenant Miral Paris' here?"
The Tactical Officer turned around and said "That would be me." When she saw who had addressed her, she stopped and said "Diana! What are you doing up here?"
The other five members of the senior staff turned and saw that Diana was indeed standing there on the bridge. She walked over to Paris and, as she gave her one of the PADDs, replied "I am delivering you a report from Main Engineering. My fath- Lieutenant Marquez wanted you to be notified of the effect some of the refits would have on your branch of ship's business."
"So, where do you fit in?" inquired Hopkins.
"I'm the unofficial message delivery girl." Diana answered. She looked at another PADD and said "I have another report here for 'Lieutenant Commander Patrick Wood.'"
"Turn around, Diana." said a friendly voice behind her. Diana turned around and saw Commander Wood for the first time. He was easily distinguished amongst the crew for his high IQ and background knowledge. Diana was the first one on the Champion to distinguish him for his looks.
Diana handed Wood his report, smiling sweetly at him. He nodded in return and began to examine the contents of the PADD.
While he did this, Sanderson looked over at Diana and asked her "Are things so disorganized down in Main Engineering that Lieutenant Marquez has no one to spare except his own daughter to deliver the modifications reports?"
"Actually, I suggested the idea." Diana enlightened Sanderson. "I always like to help my father out in any way I can, so I volunteered for this task."
"Who authorized this?" asked Rizux.
"The Captain." Diana answered. "That's how I got bridge clearance."
She looked at the reports and said "Well, looks like that's it for the bridge crew that's accounted for. I'll be on my way to the science branch next."
"Oh, Diana, you'll be passing sickbay on your way to the science level." said Wood, getting out of his seat. He walked over to Diana and held out another PADD. "Could you please deliver this to Dr. Keller? He's been waiting on it all morning."
Diana nodded and took the PADD from the Second Officer. Then she made her way back to the turbolift, stepped inside, and said "Sickbay."
The turbolift doors closed. Wood turned back to the front of the bridge and headed to the center.
"Patrick, did you see the way she looked at you?" said Hopkins.
"What do you mean, Cheryl?" asked Wood as he sat back down in his chair.
"I believe I saw a twinkle in her eye." Hopkins clarified.
"She's right." Paris agreed. "I think she likes you, Patrick."
Wood scoffed and said "Don't be ridiculous, Miral."
Paris shrugged and said "She is fifteen after all. Surely you of all people know that at that age many Human girls have raging hormones."
"I know what you mean, Miral." Hopkins concurred. "When I was fifteen, I fell in love with one in twenty of all my male friends."
"That's fascinating, Ensign," said Sanderson, "but the bridge is not exactly the place to be talking about your personal life."
"Right. Sorry, Commander," Hopkins turned back to her workstation and resumed her work.
Sanderson picked up a PADD that had been placed on the console next to her chair. She looked at the clock on the console and announced "Well, it's been well over an hour since you last visited the Captain, Patrick. I'm going to see how he's doing."
Nobema stood up and said "If you don't mind, Commander, I'd like to join you."
"Be my guest, Ensign." Sanderson nodded at the Romulan.
As Sanderson stood up, Nobema picked up the report she had been working on. She had been planning on delivering it to Larson whenever he was available. But she decided to just come forth with it right at that time.
The two of them went to the door of the ready room and Sanderson tapped the beeper. Almost immediately, they heard Larson beckoning them to come in. They entered the room to find him engrossed in his work. He had his eyes fixed on one PADD, which he was examining very closely.
Larson looked up at his visitors and placed the PADD down. He said "Commander Sanderson, Ensign Nobema, is there something I could do for you?"
The two of them walked over to his desk and sat down on two of the chairs in front of it.
"Well, Captain, I'm mostly just here to discuss something I might be able to do for you." Sanderson told him. "But, you see, Nobema has a ships' functions report for you."
Nobema leaned over to Larson's desk and held out the report. Larson took it and quickly skimmed through it. He murmured that everything appeared to be in working order as he studied the report. When he was finished, he said "Everything seems to be working at acceptable levels. I just hope that Mr. Marquez will get the engines configured to the new specifications."
"I think he can," said Sanderson, "but you know, his daughter was just delivering some progress reports to the bridge. She claims her father appointed her as an unofficial message courier, and that you gave her bridge clearance. Is this true?"
"Yes, it is true," said Larson, "and based on what Lieutenant Marquez told me, it was her idea in the first place. She wasn't a disturbance on the bridge, was she?"
"Not at all, sir." Sanderson answered. "But her participation struck as somewhat ironic. It's come to my attention that Lieutenant Marquez has been working almost as hard as you have for the past few days. I mean, if he has his own daughter delivering the progress reports, things must be incredibly busy down on the engineering decks."
"I see what you're trying to tell me, Commander," said Larson. He turned to the Romulan officer and told her "Nobema, sometime later today, I want you to stop by Main Engineering and ask Lieutenant Marquez if he has anything that can be handled by the Operations section. I figure that the Engineering crew is already pulling their weight down there."
Nobema nodded and said "Right after my lunch break, I'll pay a visit to Main Engineering."
Larson looked over at Sanderson and asked her "Is there anything else you need? I've got a lot of requisitions to finish, and I feel that my sense of humor is dangerously low at the moment."
Sanderson looked a little uneasy upon hearing that last statement. She nervously held up her PADD to the desk and queried "Captain, would this be a bad time to let you know that another requisition has just come in?"
"What's this one now?" the irritated Captain asked as he took the PADD from his XO. "A request to replace the photon torpedoes with large cases of rocks?"
"Actually, sir, it's a request from your wife." Sanderson answered him. "She wants to designate Section 5 on Deck 3 as the official childcare and school center."
"At least I know my children will be happy if I deny that one." Larson commented sarcastically. He then just sighed heavily and leaned back in his chair.
Nobema and Sanderson looked at each other, and then back at their commanding officer. Nobema asked him "Is everything alright, Captain?"
"Yes, Nobema, everything is fine." he answered his Operations Officer. "I just didn't anticipate there would be this much bedlam on a starship simply because her crew was not entirely satisfied with their working space."
"If you want, sir, I can manage all the requisitions myself." Sanderson offered.
"Oh, no, no, no, no." said the Captain. "Even you cannot complete all these requisitions by yourself, Commander. Although, I'm sure you would try if you had the opportunity."
"You're correct, sir." said Ashley. "But I must point out that you've been at this for more than nine hours. You should take a break; spend some time with your wife and kids."
There was a brief silence in the ready room for a few minutes. Finally, Larson saw the logic in Sanderson's suggestion.
"Well, maybe you're right." Larson admitted, realizing just how tired he was. "However, I do believe that you'll need some aid in this matter. So I'll assign Commander Wood to assist you."
Sanderson found this to be an acceptable arrangement. Once everything was in order, Larson and Nobema left the ready room. Sanderson summoned Wood to the ready room and together, they started managing the requisitions. Wood proved to be a very helpful person in this matter.
Larson quickly overviewed each of the workstations on the bridge and found their functioning to be more than sufficient. When he was finished with his survey, he walked over to the turbolift and stepped inside. Before the doors shut, he said "Lieutenant Paris, you have the bridge."
Then the doors closed and Larson went to his quarters on Deck 6.
Paris was a little surprised to discover that she was in charge of the bridge. She looked around and realized that most of the senior staff was off the bridge at that moment. In actuality, the only four members of the senior staff who were still on the bridge were Paris herself, Hopkins, Rizux, and Nobema.
Sure, Dr. Rizux held the rank of Lieutenant Commander, but most of the time, personnel from his branch (the branch that wore blue shirts and associated with the medical and scientific parts) of a starship did not involve themselves in the main chain of command. However, a notable exception was Commander Wood, who, in addition to being the Second Officer, was the ship's Head Counselor.
Even though she was in charge, Paris continued to manage the bridge from her post at the Tactical Station.
Casey and Halrinso were in the science lab on Deck 15 examining the object they had found on the hull.
While Halrinso examined the object with a visual scanning device, Casey was making an effort to detach the object's framework from its central mechanism.
"This is one stubborn chassis," he remarked as he attempted to pry the casing apart from the central structure with the aid of a magnetic reversion inductor.
"Remember, Lieutenant, you must be gentle with this item," Halrinso cautioned him, "Otherwise you may damage it."
"Whatever you say, sir," Casey agreed as he continued to run the inductor over the sides of the device. After a few minutes of carefully applying the inductor, the chassis started to loosen. After another few minutes, Casey managed to safely pry it off with his fingers in two pieces. Once he had accomplished that, he and Halrinso were able to study the device more closely.
The object's composition was one of the most complex designs either of them had ever seen. But they did their best to interpret each part of the object and determine its purpose.
"Alright, this part is definitely the power cell," Casey concluded, "it would appear that this thing is powered by anything it comes in contact with."
"That would explain its location on our hull." Halrinso noted, examining the object. "Now, look closely at this part of the object. It would appear that these gadgets located on either side regulate the device's abilities to hide itself from our sensors. They must be very advanced if they managed to escape our notice for so long."
"I believe this part of the device is supposed to function as a beacon." Casey speculated.
"A beacon?" said Halrinso.
Casey nodded. He told his colleague "We'll have to get a closer look at this thing if we are going to understand what its main function is."
"Wait. Let's think about this for a moment, Lieutenant." Halrinso told Casey. "If that part of the object actually is a beacon, then what could its primary function be?"
Casey stood thinking for a few seconds, and quickly realized what Halrinso was suggesting. He looked at Halrinso and said apprehensively "Sir… you don't think that…?"
The Bolian security chief tapped his combadge and said "Halrinso to the bridge."
"Paris here," was the response.
"Lieutenant, where are Commanders Sanderson and Wood?" inquired Halrinso, partially confused.
"They're in the ready room handling the requisitions." Paris explained. "They finally convinced the Captain to take a break. Just before he left the bridge, he put me in charge."
"Well, regardless of who's in charge of the bridge at the moment, we need you to notify Commander Wood to meet with us as soon as he is available." Halrinso ordered her.
"Why?" said Paris.
There came a brief pause. Finally, Halrinso answered Paris with "We'll need him to assist us while we conduct further studies on the object we found on the hull. However, as of right now, we have reason to believe that the object… is a homing device."