[Josh Broughm]

USS Ares
Max Storm's quarters

Attachment 11260

"No problem, you deserve it," he said lifting his beer. A toast to bad fathers and explosives. Cheers."

Max clinked his bottle with Biiqu's.

- Chin, chin, indeed.

((Tag Biiqu))

Max's eyebrows raised as he said,

- You're nuts, but it sounds like fun. Wonder if the computer has the program?

((TAG Biiqu))

- So, its settled. We go to the Moon!

Attachment 11260

[WelshAvenger]

USS Ares
Sick Bay


Attachment 9773

Attachment 9774

Christopher walked as quickly as he could without giving away the unease he felt within. He stumbled along the corridors until he found himself outside the doors to sick bay. Composing himself, he entered, waved to the Gamma shift staff and entered the recovery room.

Chief Hayes stared at him for a moment without speaking, then motioned to a chair next to the bed. Christopher flopped down into it, his heart racing and the sweat already starting to pour down the back of his neck.

The Chief placed a hand on Christopher's shoulder, "I figured you'd be here sooner or later, lad."

Christopher nearly wept at the fatherly tone in the Chief's voice.

Chief Hayes held up a hand , "Hush now, no talking. I've been around the galaxy for a while now, son, and I can usually tell when it's going to happen. You had to keep it together for too long on the planet. We all appreciated that." He saw the doubtful look on Christopher's face. "Even Martin spoke about it, a reassuring calmness and soothing but commanding manner. Now, someone who's been in a survival situation like that is bound to suffer after the fact. What particular flavour of vodka did you get?"

Christopher wrung his hands, "Severe anxiety attack."

The Chief nodded, "Aye, that'll do it, every time. For me it was the tremors. Every time I put on a gold uniform, my hands would shake and eventually, I'd be shivering all over. Couldn't stop myself. Martin got insomnia for a while, so you're not alone. We've been there, right where you are now."

Christopher's voice was but a whisper, "Chief, how do I beat this?"

Swinging his legs off the bed to face Christopher squarely, the Chief placed his hands on either side of Christopher's head, looking directly into his eyes, "Beat it? Stars above, son! You can't beat it but you can live with it. Sure, you can see a whole squadron of Counsellors but I can only name a couple who've been into combat. They're the ones who understand the beast. It's going to be rough for you for a while but we'll face it together, we'll live through it together. Martin, you, Jei and I are all part of the survivors club. The entrance fee is damned expensive but the members are worth their weight in gold pressed latinum."

Tears rolled down Christopher's cheeks, unabashed as the Chief concluded, "Now, you just sit there and watch some movies with me."

Christopher shuffled the chair into a better viewing angle next to the Chief's bed and was soon deep asleep, the Chief's hand gently grasping his shoulder, reassuring him that he was safe.

The Chief looked down on Christopher, "Rest easy, son." he said as a tear of his own rolled down his face.

Attachment 9774

[LogicalLeopard]

USS Ares
Max Storm's quarters

Attachment 11260


Max clinked his bottle with Biiqs'.

- Chin, chin, indeed.

Biiqs took a swig from his bottle and sat for a moment quietly, gazing at the label. "I need to get going. Lots still left to do, and a full night's sleep will help immensely. But...what do you think about maybe meeting in the holodeck sometime for this," he said, turning the label outward. "A moonshot. No warp or impulse drives, not as much as an ion drive. Just a few guys strapped to a giant explosive, screaming through the heavens without as much as an inertial dampener. Hurtling through the vacuum of space, with thin sheets of metal between us and the void? Bags of water, ice cream that's solid. Tang. It is indisputably in the top ten of crazy first flights in the quadrant, not even the Andorians did it basically on a competitive dare. What say you? Maybe after we wrap up the situation on the planet in a couple days? Or, you know, in between, if things go well enough..."

Max's eyebrows raised as he said,

- You're nuts, but it sounds like fun. Wonder if the computer has the program?

"If it doesn't, we can make it ourselves."

- So, its settled. We go to the Moon!

Attachment 11260

"Sounds like a plan! We'll be kicking up the lunar regolith like old fashioned star sailors in no time!"

[Asteropax]

USS Ares
Captain's Ready Room

"The shrouding ability is exactly what I was implying with it." He would speak up, that cat now out of the bag. "I would not need a Lab I do not think.. After all that could constitute a violation of the Treaty of Algeron with the Romulan Empire." The mention of the Star Empire came with a significant turn in tone to that of distaste at the lightest. Something that Thane had partly inherited from his time in the Empire, along with some personal encounters.

Captain Teriir nodded slowly and thought about the Treaty of Algeron, one of the many peace treaties between the Romulan Empire and Federation. He had experiences with the Romulans from the Dominion War, none truly notable, but enough to know to watch his back. The recent shakeup due to Praetor Shinzon had caused quite a disturbance on Romulus and early talks nowadays look promising at normalizing a somewhat agreeable relationship between them. The Romulan and Klingon relationships were rarely if anything other than openly hostile. He let out a soft cough to help ease his mind, and reassure himself there wouldn’t be any issues, “Cloaking devices are illegal within the Federation but you’re a citizen of the Klingon Empire. The Treaty of Algeron doesn’t apply to you and what you are working on isn’t a cloak.”

He waited for a moment to let things sink in and watched as thane checked his PADD again.

He'd pause a bit and considered something, he checked his own PADD and then glanced up to Teriir "What will my duties be onboard? Who's command will I be stationed under? " He would finally ask, curious a bit on that and despite his outward, calm demeanour he was eager to find out just what he would be doing on what he considered to be a Federation Warship. "I would hope not being relegated to Waste or Environmental Technician on deck Fourteen." He would say. Was it Humor? Hard to tell with the slight language barrier.

“You won’t be handling anything like that,” Teriir smirked, knowing very well how thankless the tasks were, “From the looks of your skill sets, you’re going to be working much more with my Science or Chief of Security. Right now I believe you’d work best with my Security Chief, Commander Biiqs. Lieutenant Hood will likely need you in the near future on the scientific side as our next assignment is dedicated to long range exploration. Having a combined tactical and scientific background will be of great help to us as we don’t know what we may run into out there.”

(( TAG: Thane )

A chime at the door made him look over to the entrance, “Come in.”

A moment later a rather wary but determined Lieutenant Hood stepped through. The Captain nodded to him in greeting, “Hello, Lieutenant. We were just finishing up on introductions -”

“I need to talk to you, right now!” Hood interrupted him, his tone making it obvious this was extremely urgent.

Teriir took a breath and nodded to Thane to let him know this was going to be a private conversation. After he stepped outside, he gestured for Hood to take a seat, “Is there a problem?”

“I want a transfer off the Ares,” the Human Officer replied, not bothering to sit down.

The request was so sudden the Trill Captain could only sit there dumbfounded for a moment before answering, “No. You are going to be needed here very soon.”

“This isn’t some sort of a request! I want out!” the Lieutenant went right up against the desk and leaned into his face. They were close enough he could feel the CSO’s breath on his face. Teriir set his mouth in a firm line and narrowed his eyes in his ‘remember your place’ expression. Hood seemed to calm down, only just, and sat down in one of the chairs opposite him.

“Now then,” the Captain searched the Officer’s expression and features for answers, “Why are you wanting a transfer?”

“It’s my family,” he answered, “One of my daughters was injured when we were attacked by the Orions. My wife broke an arm during the attack on our ship by the Nausicaans. We’ve had a talk and want to get out of here. It’s too dangerous for them to be here and I want to remain with them.”

Teriir didn’t reply straight away, instead digesting what he’d been told. They were on a starship which was currently in unstable territory and would soon be heading into unexplored space. It was always a riskier life aboard starships than on stations or planets but where the action was. He was going to need to be diplomatic, “Lieutenant, things are going to get better.”

“We’ve already been through too much already!” Hood replied forcefully, “The war, my being away from them for months at a time to perform duties on Cardassia, the fighting here . . . it just keeps piling up!”

“You signed up for this. You know the risks. They are as much part of your career as they are mine,” he observed, “What of your career, by the way?”

“I’m not leaving Starfleet,” Hood jumped to the conclusion, “I’ve already sent out applications for positions on Deep Space 9 to assist in coordinating other radiation cleanup efforts. It’s one of the things I’m really good at and I can stay with my family.”

“And the deep space exploration assignment?”

“It’s important but I’m not the right guy for the position,” he bowed his head, admitting defeat, “I have too many roots put into the ground and I can’t stand the instability or insecurity of this assignment. You’re going to have to find someone else.”

“Mr. Hood,” Teriir clasped his hands together and leaned back in his seat, “I understand your arguments of being concerned for your family’s safety but I have numerous families aboard. If you go, who is to say I won’t lose a lot of my crew?”

“I’ve floated the idea around to a few people if they’re as concerned as I am for their families within my department. If everyone feels secure here, not about leaving,” he clarified, taking it slow as though making sure his statements were clear, “Everyone is content with everything here and all of them are looking forward to what’s ahead. I’m sure everyone else will stay. It’s just me and my family who wants to go. Besides, I don’t think anyone who doesn’t want to be here would be a good department head.”

The Captain looked at Hood for a long time, thinking carefully about what he was being told. He finally let out a breath, “You are the second member of the Senior Staff who has come to me about a transfer. Starfleet Command let me know they have need of Doctor Hems’ experience in certain medical matters back on Earth.”

“When did that happen?” Hood’s tone was filled with surprise at this revealation.

“Just before I headed off to the Lakota just a few days ago,” Teriir admitted, “Hems already sent me a message telling me he was accepting the transfer and I was getting around to approving it when our Exchange Officer came aboard. Is there anyone you’d recommend to replace you?”

“I-I honestly don’t,” the Science Officer stammered, clearly surprised his plea was being listened to, “None of the others really have command experience.”

“And you expect me to let the most seasoned Science Officer in the sector to leave when we need him most without a successor?”

“Erm . . . no,” Hood looked down, apparently unwilling to make eye contact with him.

The Captain left him hanging there for a couple of seconds before reaching over to the intercom terminal on his desk, “Captain Teriir to Lieutenant Kushner”

“Go ahead,” the response came from the on duty Communications Officer.

“Can you get me Captain Terry?”

“Yes, sir. Right away!”

“Captain Terry?” Hood wondered aloud, “What does the Lakota have to do with . . . oh, nevermind.”

Teriir lifted up a hand to make him wait, “Her Chief Science Officer of the past three years, Lieutenant Aliyah Tanata, was the other major candidate to becoming the Ares’ Chief Science Officer. You’re lucky she’s here or else I wouldn’t be sending in your transfer request alongside Doctor Hems’.”

“You mean . . .” the Science Officer began connecting the dots.

“I’m approving your request, Mr. Hood,” the Captian stated and motioned for him to go as his intercom began chiming again, “Get your things together as you’ll likely be filling in on the Lakota until you get that assignment on DS9. Now, need to have a lengthy conversation, Captain to Captain, about another Officer exchange and to check on some rearrangements within our Medical Staff. Though the position of CMO is now open, I have a candidate in mind already for that.”

(( TAG: Thane, Christopher, Jei, Aliyah )

(( OOC: Here’s our lore reasons for why we have a change in the Science and Medical Departments to bring in Doctor Christopher Cushing (WelshAvenger) and Lieutenant Aliyah Tanata (Blaster) to the story. ))

[Krajin]

USS Ares
Captain's Ready Room


Captain Teriir nodded slowly and thought about the Treaty of Algeron, one of the many peace treaties between the Romulan Empire and Federation. He had experiences with the Romulans from the Dominion War, none truly notable, but enough to know to watch his back. The recent shakeup due to Praetor Shinzon had caused quite a disturbance on Romulus and early talks nowadays look promising at normalizing a somewhat agreeable relationship between them. The Romulan and Klingon relationships were rarely if anything other than openly hostile. He let out a soft cough to help ease his mind, and reassure himself there wouldn’t be any issues, “Cloaking devices are illegal within the Federation but you’re a citizen of the Klingon Empire. The Treaty of Algeron doesn’t apply to you and what you are working on isn’t a cloak.”

He waited for a moment to let things sink in and watched as thane checked his PADD again.

“You won’t be handling anything like that,” Teriir smirked, knowing very well how thankless the tasks were, “From the looks of your skill sets, you’re going to be working much more with my Science or Chief of Security. Right now I believe you’d work best with my Security Chief, Commander Biiqs. Lieutenant Hood will likely need you in the near future on the scientific side as our next assignment is dedicated to long range exploration. Having a combined tactical and scientific background will be of great help to us as we don’t know what we may run into out there.”


(( TAG: Thane, Christopher, Jei, Aliyah )

USS Ares
Captain's Ready Room



Thane would flash a slight grin at the Captain's assessment of the project, Thane would make sure there would be no issues even if it meant hiding a Romulan in the lowest deck of the ship and in the darkest corner. The idea of working with both Security and Science to ply his skills in either situation did appeal to him even if his skill set was more aligned towards the Tactical aspect rather than the Science. He could see the possible applications of his knowledge and felt excitement at the idea of applying some of his rarely used studies in a world where they would be beneficial. Unlike the Klingons who rarely appreciated such knowledge unless they were Engineers or, heavens forbid a Scientist first and warrior second. "Alright I will seek out Commander Biiqs and then Lieutenant Hood later. I look forward to working with you and your crew on this long range exploration mission." A glance towards the door as the Chime went off, though, Thane had felt the incredible urgency of the man well before the chime had gone off. An ear would twitch a bit and he got the hint pretty easily at the private conversation. Thane would give a nod of his head to Teriir and step on out. Once onto the Bridge Thane would straighten up his outfit before heading for the lift. He figured that the Staff in question would be informed and he'd have appointments arranged as it seemed to be within most Federation Facilities encountered, Comms, Codes, duties, whatever he would need would be assigned.


Deck Two
There were several places he could go on this ship to get to know the layout beyond just staring at the deck plans of the thing and hoping that was enough. As he had found quite often is that many vessels tended to have subtle arrangements, changes to their internal structures based on alterations from shipyard construction or from in field modifications, refits or repairs. Plus he got to see the history of the vessel in a sense. First it was down to Deck Two, from what he understood it was primarily a Senior Staff lounge and Observation deck. Taking note of the few officers here and a casual walk around with a couple of glances from some staff whom were enjoying their time off.

~"An entire deck, however small dedicated towards a rather ostentatious set up for the senior staff. Rarely do Klingon Vessels sport such a display unless they are massive, even then it's proven practical to eat, drink and celebrate with the crew. "~ He thought, being a judgemental old Ferasan. Walking out after making his rounds, Thane would begin to head down to Deck Three.

Deck Three

Deck Three felt more alive though compared to the one above as Thane found it, there were offices here as well as Docking ports and a Forward Observation lounge. This felt a bit more practical and looked fairly defensive in comparison as it would be a space he could see that would be one of the first places you'd defend at if you got boarded at one of these ports. The lounge offered a wonderful view though, that he couldn't deny. Other systems were present such as Torpedoes, Library and other such systems. Though he wasn't daring to enter into any restricted places least someone take the big guy for a spy.

Deck Four

Last Deck for the moment as he was going to stop off here and check out the Junior officers lounge and for the moment avoid Security. It had a nice view and was allot busier, music was being played which made his ears flatten back a bit at the harshness of it with the singer sporting some rather rough vocal chords. Using that and everyone's distraction on those performing, Thane made a bee-line for the replicator wherein he'd stand there taking a few minutes to go through the long library of offered meals. Settling on something he had experienced once before on board the Helios when he dined with the Captain there. Ramen. Though he had a copy of the pattern for the meal that was made on him, he didn't wish to try and see if these replicators would work with it. But chose the spicy dish from the menu and thankfully, it was not so spicy as to need angry red colour hues to ward off potential predators! Thane settled in to eat at a table by a Window and to listen just a bit to the music and observe the crew. Maybe even talk to a few who might come over.

(( TAG: Anyone! )

[WelshAvenger]

USS Ares
Sick Bay


Attachment 9773

Attachment 9774

Christopher had arranged for the discharge of Chief, soon to be Warrant Officer, Hayes. The man had practically glowed with pride when the news of his promotion came down the wire. Of course, he had shrugged it off in his own gruff manner, muttering, "About damn time the brass recognised my value." All the time giving Christopher a slow wink as he left sickbay.

After taking a quick break to return to his quarters to shower and change into a clean uniform, Christopher returned to his office. Well, the sign on the door still said Lt. Cmdr. Hems MD, but until the Doc came back onboard, Christopher was merely renting it. He scanned the rosters for the upcoming month and signed them off, noting that Nurse Bailey was transferring to the Lakota. 'Good job we just had our volunteer.' he thought.

Making his rounds with Nurse White, Christopher saw to the care of sick bay's patients. "Mell," he enquired, "why haven't you been promoted?"

Nurse White stood stock still and cast her eyes down to her shoes, "Because I don't like giving orders and disciplining people."

Christopher thought for a moment, "Fair enough but you give orders to the med techs and non-commissioned nurses, right?"

Mell nodded, "I do but they're part of our team, it's not like I have to bark orders at them in a combat situation."

Christopher winced slightly prompting Mell to blush, "I'm real sorry, sir, I should have known not to bring that up."

Christopher re-evaluated his head nurse, "Has it been that obvious to the whole staff?" He asked.

Shaking her head, Mell replied, "No, not to everyone, just those that had come to get used to your style. You've been a little quieter than usual. The other day when Amita's partner was asleep in your office and you said that if anyone disturbed him, they'd answer to you.."

"I remember, what about it?"

"Well," Mell continued, "the look on your face actually scared Nurse Francie. After that, I've been keeping an eye on you. Don't think that I didn't notice your little sleepover in the recovery room."

"Mell.." Christopher began.

"Doc, I'm not judging." Mell replied, "The Chief is older than dirt and is twice as stubborn but he's been through pretty much everything. I'm willing to bet that the sly, old fox had a bit of advice for you that you needed to hear."

Christopher nodded, "He certainly did. Apparently, I'm in the survivors club."

Mell smiled, "Our membership is certainly growing. Now, go get the rest of your paperwork done or Doc Hems will never let you hear the end of it."

Christopher cast an odd glance at Mell, wondering what she had been through in her life. He sat at the desk and noticed a message waiting for him, inviting him to see the Captain at his earliest convenience. Christopher wasted no time in heading for the bridge, emerging from the turbolift where Captain Teriir was sat in his centre chair. "You wanted to see me, sir?"

(( TAG: Teriir )

Attachment 9774

[Asteropax]

USS Ares
Captain's Ready Room

Captain Teriir rose from his seat and moved over to one of the windows after Captain Terry closed the channel. He stared down at the arched horizon of Dorvan V and beyond towards its distant sun. He allowed his mind to drift around for awhile, not really thinking about anything in particular. Although he’d learned a long time ago that a Captain’s life was never dull, it sometimes felt overwhelming as he was still so new at it. Between the recent fights, the treachery of one of their own, his own injury, and now the departure of some of his Officers, there seemed to be something coming up all the time. All of it of late had been bad news.

“Not all of it,” he quietly reminded himself. A baby had been born last night, they were welcoming their exchange officer, they’d made headway in assisting the locals, and would see some more new faces soon.

He began thinking more about his conversation with his fellow Captain. After he explained the situation, she became understanding and agreed to have Lieutenant Tanata transferred to the Ares shortly. Although he didn’t like the fact he was losing two Senior Officers, he simply reminded himself of how often Starfleet personnel usually got reassigned. Most enlisted personnel rarely served on the same post for long while Officers usually remained at their assignments for years. Mr. Hood wouldn’t have been the first officer to depart not long after starting up a new assignment for one reason or another. Speaking of leaving, he still had something to do.

He moved back to the desk and entered in a message to Sickbay. He needed to have a word with Doctor Cushing about a rather crazy idea he had. The Doctor was not the next most senior Medical Officer on board but he had been the one who’d taken charge while Doctor Hems was planetside. He wanted to offer him a promotion for the job he’d technically been doing already before approaching anyone else.

Teriir glanced at a small stack of PADDs which needed to be reviewed. He had some catching up to do on his own work. Sitting down, he began sorting through everything. There was a repair schedule included for repairs to the ship from fighting the modified Nausicaan starship which he signed off on straight away. A formal request from Gul Enok to visit the Ares, mentioning a desire to interrogate their captives for more information about other Nausicaan Pirate Factions, which he also approved. The third PADD contained a battle report from the Seventh Fleet regarding an engagement with a small group of Borg vessels.

This reminded him of an earlier report noting the appearance of such ships not far away from Cardassian Space and the ships which were engaged matched the description of that earlier group. Two spheres and a probe accompanying a larger vessel which was ‘trapezoidal’ in shape. The Seventh Fleet suffered minimal casualties; of a fleet of 47 ships, no ships were lost but the starship [I]Charleston[I] was heavily damaged from being too close to the Trapezoid when it exploded. All of the fatalities suffered were from that ship. Considering prior engagements with the occasional Borg starships to appear near Federation Space, this fight was relatively light in terms of casualties.

“One of these days we will get that down to zero. Thanks to the tactics Janeway introduced us to, along with our own, we’ve been extremely successful against them. As long as we all remember not to close in with Borg starships when they’re going critical,” he muttered, expressing some frustration over how some inexperienced or arrogant Captains would press their attack to get more credit for destroying a Borg starship. With the yield at which some of those starships exploded, one risked destroying their own ship in such an effort.

Acknowledging the report, he decided to head back onto the bridge. He plopped himself down in his seat and almost immediately heard the turbolift open.

Christopher wasted no time in heading for the bridge, emerging from the turbolift where Captain Teriir was sat in his centre chair. "You wanted to see me, sir?"

“Yes, I did,” he answered and motioned for the two of them to head back into his ready room. As they went in, he couldn’t help but grin as someone commented on him being a ‘jack in the box’ today. Taking a seat he decided to do a check in first, “How is everything in Sickbay at this time?”

(( TAG: Christopher )

He nodded back a response, largely because he was thinking through how to brief him, “I know you've been stepping up there with Doctor Hems planetside. I wanted to let you know that he is going to be getting transferred soon. Starfleet Command has requested he return to Earth to assist with treating an illness which has been appearing on a number of supply ships departing from there over the past few weeks. He’s had prior experience with diagnosing and providing treatments to it in the past which is why he was singled out. Science Officer Hood is also leaving soon and returning to Deep Space 9 aboard the Lakota to continue his previous duties in coordinating radiation cleanups to Cardassian Colonies.”

(( TAG: Christopher )

“I know this is a surprise as they weren’t with us long but I’ll wish them the best as they continue their careers elsewhere. This does mean I’m down two Senior Officers and need to find people to fulfill those roles. Fortunately, one of the Science Officers in original selection pool of candidates for the CSO post, Lieutenant Aliyah Tanata, is in system and I’ve arranged for her to join us,” he paused and let everything sink in.

(( TAG: Christopher )

“There is someone I have in mind for the post of CMO,” he replied to the concerns Christopher had about the rest of the medical staff and gave him an encouraging smile, “If you wish to take it.”

(( TAG: Christopher )

[WelshAvenger]

USS Ares
Captain's Ready Room


Attachment 9773

Attachment 9774

“How is everything in Sickbay at this time?”

Christopher sat down opposite the captain, "We're doing ok. One of my nurses is transferring to the Lakota but we've already had a volunteer so we're not going to be short staffed. We've only got a few patients at the moment, none of whom are serious so I expect for sick bay to be clear within a day or two."

He nodded back a response, largely because he was thinking through how to brief him, “I know you've been stepping up there with Doctor Hems planetside. I wanted to let you know that he is going to be getting transferred soon. Starfleet Command has requested he return to Earth to assist with treating an illness which has been appearing on a number of supply ships departing from there over the past few weeks. He’s had prior experience with diagnosing and providing treatments to it in the past which is why he was singled out. Science Officer Hood is also leaving soon and returning to Deep Space 9 aboard the Lakota to continue his previous duties in coordinating radiation cleanups to Cardassian Colonies.”

Christopher actually started with shock, why hadn't Hems mentioned something? "That's... Well, to be honest, it's bloody hindering awkward is what that is. But I get that we go where Starfleet needs our expertise, even at short notice."

“I know this is a surprise as they weren’t with us long but I’ll wish them the best as they continue their careers elsewhere. This does mean I’m down two Senior Officers and need to find people to fulfill those roles. Fortunately, one of the Science Officers in original selection pool of candidates for the CSO post, Lieutenant Aliyah Tanata, is in system and I’ve arranged for her to join us,” he paused and let everything sink in.

Christopher frowned for a moment, "That'll be good. Are Starfleet Medical sending another CMO? We're not that far off the beaten path so there's bound to be a few candidates within a day or two. It'll be a bit of a jolt to the staff but they'll get used to a new departmental head quickly enough. I will admit that it's going to be tough to give up the nice office but I kinda miss the trauma centre."

“There is someone I have in mind for the post of CMO,” he replied to the concerns Christopher had about the rest of the medical staff and gave him an encouraging smile, “If you wish to take it.”

Christopher stared blankly at the Captain for a moment before understanding what the man had just said, "Wait, what? I mean ... You want to... What?"

(( TAG: Teriir )

"Just so that I get this straight, you want to promote me?" Christopher asked incredulously.

(( TAG: Teriir )

"To CMO?"

(( TAG: Teriir )

"Well, how can I say no to that?" Christopher replied. He frowned for a moment, "Although that would leave us down a trauma specialist."

(( TAG: Teriir )

"Do I have your permission to look through the crew records to see if there's someone with medical training? That way we wouldn't have to submit a request for personnel to Starfleet Medical." Christopher reasoned.

(( TAG: Teriir )

Christopher stood and shook Teriir's hand, then walked towards the door. "Oh, one last thing, Captain. Did you have any time to consider the brevet promotion of Petty Officer Han? After her actions on the planet, I really do think that she deserves the recognition and chance of a commission."

(( TAG: Teriir )

Christopher smiled and walked out of the ready room, making his way back to sickbay. 'My sickbay' he thought as the doors opened. Christopher whistled all along the corridor.

Attachment 9774

[Asteropax]

USS Ares
Captain's Ready Room

Christopher stared blankly at the Captain for a moment before understanding what the man had just said, "Wait, what? I mean ... You want to... What?"

Captain Teriir smirked at the confused Doctor, “With Doctor Hems departing, I would like to promote you to the rank of Lt. Commander and become the new Chief Medical Officer of the Ares

"Just so that I get this straight, you want to promote me?" Christopher asked incredulously.

He smiled as he reflected on Christopher’s growing excitement with the previous person he’d promoted. C’elle, who was usually very reserved, wound up racing all over the place when he named her his successor aboard the starship Icarus. Focusing again on the Doctor, he repeated himself, “To the rank of Lieutenant Commander.”

"To CMO?"

“To be the new CMO.”

"Well, how can I say no to that?" Christopher replied. He frowned for a moment, "Although that would leave us down a trauma specialist."

“Commander Mayfield, who is on her way to do a prisoner exchange here to get Barron off the ship, realized we’d be a little understaffed after his arrest. She’s offered a few security officers and a pair of junior medical officers which I accepted during my meeting with Starfleet Command earlier today,” he let him know about the additional officers who would also be arriving soon. They were also taking Jacob Desai, the Cardassian/Human Hybrid, “Although that’ll help alleviate any shortages, she didn’t have too many specialists. It may take awhile to get another trauma specialist from Starfleet Medical so we’ll just have to do without for awhile.”

"Do I have your permission to look through the crew records to see if there's someone with medical training? That way we wouldn't have to submit a request for personnel to Starfleet Medical." Christopher reasoned.

“Great idea! Go ahead and take a look and see if there’s anyone who may be qualified,” Teriir stood up with a smile on his face and stretched out his hand to offer a congratulatory handshake, “Good luck, Doctor.”

Christopher stood and shook Teriir's hand, then walked towards the door. "Oh, one last thing, Captain. Did you have any time to consider the brevet promotion of Petty Officer Han? After her actions on the planet, I really do think that she deserves the recognition and chance of a commission."

“I let Starfleet Command know about her actions in my report this morning,” he reassured his new CMO, “I’ll be entering everything into the logs soon.”

Christopher smiled and walked out of the ready room, making his way back to sickbay. 'My sickbay' he thought as the doors opened. Christopher whistled all along the corridor.

Captain Teriir didn’t follow the Doctor out onto the bridge, instead flopping back down in his office chair. He stared at one of the model starships in a display case on the far wall. It looked somewhat blurry despite the case being in pristine condition but he knew the guilded model was a Norway Class starship. He reached up and rubbed his eyes, “Why do I feel like taking a nap?”

Knowing he wouldn’t answer the question himself, he ordered a raktajino from the replicator and took it with him to the bridge.

(( TAG: Christopher )

[Silynn]

U.S.S. ARES
Deck 17 – Engineering Chief’s Office
Chief Samson was exhausted. He had been overseeing a lot of the repairs, the majority significant but non-critical. The type of repairs that engineering officers felt was boring and better delegated to subordinates. Thus, it fell the Samson to ensure that the Ensigns and junior grades didn’t fail miserably at their tasks. However, it was starting to become draining and taxing on his patience.

Yet, in spite of it all, after 32 hours of near constant overseeing and diplomatic hand-holding, the engineering Chief found some down time. He pulled out his lower desk drawer, leaned back in his office chair, and rested his boots on the open drawer. Within seconds of finally being comfortable, the trill tone of the comm beeped at him. It beeped again. Before the third beep could finish, “Samson, and this better be important,” the tired engineering Chief answered.

“Mr. Samson, why are Decks five and six on auxiliary power? The food replicators down on those decks. Also, I’m getting complaints that the hot water is temporarily offline. Chief, the officers on that deck are tired and exhausted… and none too happy. What’s going on?” chastised the junior engineering lieutenant, who happened to be the engineering officer of Gamma Watch.

Samson pinched the bridge of his nose in a vain attempt to relieve some of the pain. “Give me ten minutes, sir, and I’ll get this sorted.”

“Make it so, Mr. Samson or I’ll begin forwarding these complaints directly down to you,” cautioned the engineering officer.

Samson cut the commlink as he took his feet from his desk drawer. He tapped a few inquiries on his console and palmed his face as he saw the results. The log had Petty Officer Han’s request to shunt to auxiliary power for three hours on Decks five and six in order to repair primary power couplings feeding the dorsal phaser arrays and the regenerative shield generators between those decks. It was a routine, but tedious repair job. The patchwork battle repairs were now being fully repaired to Starfleet specifications. Per the technical manual, it required that primary power be shunted. With Auxiliary power, all non-essential systems were put offline. The fact that this was occurring on decks where a large number of officers were quartered was just the sort of thing Petty Officer Han would do to him.

“Un-frakking believable. First Jei is not to return to duty for another two days... Secondly, that moron junior Lieutenant has the audacity to complain to ME… when HE was idiot who approved Jei’s system and power shutdown request. I’m getting to old for this…” complained Samson to no one in particular.

The Engineering Chief tapped his combadge. =^= Samson to Han. =^=

U.S.S. ARES
Deck 5 – Outside the Force Field Generator Compartment
Jei tapped her left cheek against her commbadge, as both her hands were occupied sliding in a replacement power coupling in ceiling above a corridor outside the shield generator compartment on Deck five.

=^= Han here Chief… but I’m a bit occupied here. Can this chewing out occur after I finish with these repairs? I only have 82 more minutes left before main power is switched back on.=^=

=^= Jei… why did you assume this is a… Nevermind… how much more do you have to do? =^= inquired Samson, deciding to not fight Jei at this time and place.

Jei attached the coupling and saw to securing it to its braces. Once installed, she attached the native wiring, ensuring each cable was within spec, before closing the housing. She tapped a diagnostic LED and saw that everything was green.

=^=Jei? Did you receive that?=^=

Satisfied, she turned to Crewman Murray standing nearby. “Power up 42C, Cam,” instructed Jei.

The engineering crewman nodded and did as instructed. Jei watched the coupling come to full life and her diagnostic tool said everything was good.

=^=Hello? Jei what is… =^=

=^=Sorry, Chief… I was a in the middle of a delicate step. If allowed to work… without interruption, Cam and I can be done in an hour.=^= informed Jei.

=^=Alright Han. Get to it, but advise me as soon as you finish or if your estimate needs to be extended.=^=

=^=Aye, Aye Chief.=^=

Happy to be done with that distraction, Jei checked her PADD and saw that coupler in 49E was next on her repair order. “Cam, you’re going to do the next one.”

Crewman Cam Murray, newly arrived via the USS LAKOTA was eager to get his hands dirty. He wasn’t but three months out of training and this was his first assignment. “Yes, ma’am…er… Thanks Jei.”

As Jei climbed down the portable ladder and packed up her toolkit. “Don’t thank me yet, Cam. If you screw this up, you’ll be scrubbing the phaser array lenses with me for the next eight hours,” replied Jei.

U.S.S. ARES
Deck 5 – Outside Battery Compartment 4
Jei checked her chronometer and saw that Crewman Murray had been at this task for 23 minutes. In that time, she had repaired a few light fixtures and replaced several omni cables to wall consoles in the immediate area. She was going to have to step in, if she was going to keep her to her schedule.

“Cam, do you need some help?” inquired Jei.

Cam was a little beside himself. He thought he knew how to do finish the cabling for the coupler, but every diagnostic he ran came-up red. =~=Did I cross-connect the wrong cables again? =~=

“No… I think… I got this, Jei. I just need a few more minutes,” replied Cam.

Jei recognized his tone and wanted to give the young crewman a chance to boost his own confidence. “Alright, I’m going to go around the corner and check on the Power Junction. Once you get green on the diagnostics, don’t fire it up. Come get me first,” ordered Jei.

As Jei ran her diagnostic routine, she got lost in thought. By the time she came to her senses, she realized that another quarter hour had passed. She hadn’t heard from Cam, so started her trek back to him some ten meters away. Sure enough, he was kneeling next to the power coupling service panel, except now he had more pieces and parts arrayed around him on the ground.

U.S.S. ARES
Deck 17 – Main Engineering
Lieutenant JG Drum stroded into main engineering, angry that he hasn’t heard anything back from Chief Samson regarding the urgent matter of the power on Deck Six. It was a huge inconvenience as Drum’s quarters were on Deck Six, where he was working from his desk in his quarters.

Drum looked around and saw a crewman nearby. “Where is Chief Samson?” he barked.

The crewman, a bit taken off-guard looked at the red-faced Lieutenant. “He was going up to Deck 5, sir.”

“I guess I’ll have to do it myself,” muttered the junior engineering lieutenant as he walked to the large console in the center of the compartment.

Pulling up the power schematic and systems, he checked the block on the primary power for Decks five and six. Not seeing any red hold warnings on couplings on those decks, he keyed the override of the block.

*=Please provide authorization code=* chirped the computer.

“Drum Echo Five Zero Zero Three Rho,” stated the engineering officer.

*=Code Acknowledged. Authorization Granted.=*

U.S.S. ARES
Deck 5 – Outside Battery Compartment 4
Jei shook her head and started walking toward Crewman Murray. The lights dimmed, then began to surge brighter and brighter. Jei knew immediately that somehow the main power was being switched on. If Cam did not properly shunt the coupling, the power feedback would cause a cascade. The lights in the corridor getting brighter was a key indicator that Crewman Murray forgot to do that one safety step.

Cam’s eyes noticed the initial explosion and he attempted to shield himself futilely with his arms. The explosion threw Crewman Murray back against the opposite wall and knocked Jei to the ground. Half-crawling until she could get up, Jei rushed to Cam’s side.

=^=Medical emergency, Deck 5, corridor, B4.=^= informed Jei.

Cam was conscious and squirming due to pain. “Cam, hold still…” urged Jei as she sized up the injuries that she could see. Second and Third degree burns, definite concussion, but more urgently she noticed a stream of blood from his neck. Immediately applying pressure, Jei saw Cam’s face begin to turn white from shock and loss of blood. Jei had to act fast. She pulled out her energy cutter with her free hand and set the power to it’s lowest setting.

“Cam, I’m sorry but this is going to hurt… but unless I do this now…” Jei knew the principals of the procedure and had only done it a few times, with the proper tool. However, she wasn’t one to pause or second-guess herself when a situation was life or death.

As Jei removed her hand, a geyser of blood shot out at her. Ignoring the natural reflex to dodge, Jei immediately focused her eye on the wound and used her cutter to cauterize it. Cam yelped in agony and passed out. Jei checked her work and saw some color return to Cam’s face. Jei yanked on her right arm shirt sleeve, the side that wasn’t hit with a fountain of blood. It took a few tugs but came loose, so Jei could pull it free. Turning it inside out, Jei used it as a makeshift bandage around Cam’s neck.

Hearing a collection of running footsteps, Jei allowed herself to sit down, as help arrived.

((Welshavenger, Asteropax))

[WelshAvenger]

USS Ares
Sickbay


Attachment 9773

Attachment 9774

Christopher had just made it back to sickbay, his grin was evident from ear to ear.

Mell looked at him, "What?" she asked.

Christopher opened his mouth, "I.."

=^=Medical emergency, Deck 5, corridor, B4.=^=

"...have to go." finished Christopher, scooping an emergency kit from a shelf. "Harris, you're with me."

Med tech Harris nodded and retrieved a kit of his own. Christopher tapped his badge, "Cushing to transporter room, myself and Harris to deck 5 as near to corridor B4 as you can."

=^= Standby =^=

Christopher and Harris materialised in a corridor much like every other on the ship. "Where the hell are we?" Christopher asked.

"This way, sir!" Harris set off around a corner into the engineering tunnel.

As soon as Christopher followed he could see Jei covered in blood and his heart almost stopped. Then he noticed another crewman on the ground. Crouching down next to the crewman, Christopher set about scanning him. Severe burns, a couple of broken bones, skull fracture and a neck laceration that appeared to have been welded shut. "Harris, stabilise the neck wound until we can get him to sickbay."

Christopher moved over to Jei and ran his tricorder over her. He could guess whose blood it was but he needed to be sure. Mercifully, she was ok but Christopher frowned at how the woman seemed to know the damnedest things about medicine. A sudden thought occurred to him that Jei had given him a diagnosis on the injured Nausican on the planet and now it appeared that she had performed life saving surgery with an energy cutter.

"Cushing to transporter room, four to beam directly to sickbay." Light enveloped them all.

Mell was waiting for them, along with most of the staff. Christopher wasted no time, "Get Harris into the surgical bay with Dr Young, right away."

Christopher looked at Jei , "Big trouble." One look at the woman's face and Christopher softened his voice. "There's some towels and a sink in the office, go get cleaned up and grab some hot drinks for us, I'll be back in a minute."

((Jei))

Christopher popped his head into the surgical suite and looked enquiringly at Doctor Young. The man nodded and gave Christopher a thumbs up. Christopher sighed with relief, he didn't want his first action as CMO to be notifying the Captain of a death.

Returning to the office, Christopher slumped down in a seat opposite Jei and picked up a steaming mug, sniffed it once and took a healthy swig. "He's going to be ok, Doc Young is optimistic and I'll make sure he gets the option of keeping the scar to impress people."

((Jei))

"What happened?" Christopher asked.

((Jei))

Attachment 9774

[Asteropax]

USS Ares
Bridge

Captain Teriir let out a low hum as he looked over the shoulder of Lt. Junior Grade Elutherio, “What exactly are we looking at?”

“The results of the long range scans from an earlier sensor sweep of the region of space we’ll be heading off to soon,” the Lieutenant answered as he enlarged a map on his display, “Gravimetric sensors indicated a few pockets of notable disturbances.”

“Three, to be exact,” Ensign Daniel Tuckerson corrected as he entered in a few commands to add in a series of pings, “All three of these locations won’t be visible on sensors until we get closer and can really get a good view of them.”

“I see,” the Captain replied and began cross referencing some of the numbers being shown to what he knew about anomalies off the top of his head, “One of those locations you’ve pointed out is nearly off the charts. It could be a black hole.”

“It may also be a Wolf-Rayet Star,” the Ensign, who the Captain knew specialized in astronomy, pointed out, “They are among the largest stars in the galaxy and burn through Helium. They also produce a great deal of solar winds and can be as hot as 200,000 degrees Kelvin.”

“If this mystery place is what you suggest, we’ll need more than just sunscreen to take a look,” Teriir joked as he turned his attention to the other spots, “Any thoughts on these two?”

“There are too many variables,” Tuckerson shrugged, “Trinary Stars, a T-Class Ultragiant, a series of energy storms, rouge planets . . . we could be looking at anything.”

“We’ll just have to get closer,” he commented. Hearing footsteps, he looked to the side and noticed Lieutenant Vars was joining them, “Lieutenant.”

“Captain,” she replied, “We’ve finished getting the remaining supplies down to Dorvan V. I’ve also brought this report with me on a number of repairs being worked on -”

The ship suddenly jolted and put everyone on the bridge on alert. Ensign Aerign spoke up from Tactical, “Captain, we’ve just had an explosion on Deck 5, Section B4!”

“Come,” he stated to that Engineering Officer as he headed over to the turbolift, Lieutenant Vars with them. A short ride later brought them down to Deck 5. The three of them hurried over towards the affected corridor and Teriir held them all up when he noticed a transporter effect taking away a group of people just ahead of them, “That must’ve been a medical team.”

“What should we do?” Vars asked at his shoulder. He looked at some of the damage and heard more steps as others started to arrive. The damage didn’t appear to be all that bad but there were several small fires burning along the corridor.

“Start putting out fires and clear up some of this debris,” the Captain ordered the engineers present, “I’m going to check in with Sickbay.”

“Want me to come with you?” she asked as others brushed past her.

He shook his head and kept going, “No, I want you to check in with Main Engineering. We need to start figuring out what happened here.”

“Okay. Wait,” she started to move away but then stopped him. Vars handed him a PADD she’d been holding onto the whole time, “Engineering let me know some repairs were in process. This section of the ship was included in this report I was bringing you.”

“I see,” he replied as he took the PADD off her hands, “I will take a look at this once things have settled down yet again. There are going to be more repairs to do soon.”

With that, he went back to the turbolift and it wasn’t long before he was in Sickbay. Nurse White was there to meet him, “Captain.”

“Casualties?”

“One wounded. Doctor Young is treating him now,” she reported before pointing over to the CMO’s Office, “Doctor Cushing is in there with Crewman Hans. She was unharmed in the explosion.”

“Hans again?” he grunted to let out a little frustrated annoyance over how many times she'd been involved in some sort of trouble. He entered the office and began listening to their already in progress conversation.

"What happened?" Christopher asked.

((Jei))

[Silynn]

U.S.S. ARES
Deck 8 – Medical Complex
Jei didn’t say much, as Christopher checked her and had her transported to Sick Bay with Crewman Murray. She was just relieved to see Cam get the aid he needed, knowing that his survival chances just shot way into the probable from the dreaded ‘expected’. As in ‘expected to die’. It was a term and word she loathes since the war.

Once in Sick Bay, she saw the controlled chaos of personnel going about their jobs. For a fraction of a second, Jei thought how her life would have been if she fought back and proved her innocence instead of just running away in shame.

Christopher looked at Jei, "Big trouble." One look at the woman's face and Christopher softened his voice. "There's some towels and a sink in the office, go get cleaned up and grab some hot drinks for us, I'll be back in a minute."

Jei nodded and went to the office as directed. Walking over to the sink, she stood in bewilderment in front of the mirror. The person looking back at her looked like a horror movie survivor. Dried blood had nearly covered her left side of her face and body. Shaking her head, Jei turned on the water and began to clean-up. Muscle memory overtook thought as Jei had been in this situation too many times to remember during the war.

Once the blood was cleaned-up, Jei put her one sleeve uniform jacket in recycler and grabbed a generic uniform jacket of her size. As ordered, Jei went to the food replicator and got two hot teas. She placed one on Christopher’s desk and sat down in the chair in front of his desk.

Returning to the office, Christopher slumped down in a seat opposite Jei and picked up a steaming mug, sniffed it once and took a healthy swig. "He's going to be ok, Doc Young is optimistic and I'll make sure he gets the option of keeping the scar to impress people."

Jei let escape a sigh of relief. Cam was her responsibility as she was senior. As such, it was her fault that he got hurt. “Thank you, I gave him a 50-50 chance before you arrived.”

"What happened?" Christopher asked.

Jei looked up and stood up. She placed her tea on Christopher’s desk and took a more formal stance as Captain Teriir walked into the office.
“It was my fault. I gave Crewman Murray the opportunity to complete the repair on 49E. I wanted to boost his confidence in his abilities. After about fifteen minutes, I noticed he was getting more nervous and making more mistakes as I stood there looking over his shoulder. That is when I went around the corner to the junction control box to a run a level 2 diagnostic to take advantage that main power was offline in that area. I was only ten meters away, literally around the corner…”

Jei visualized the sequence of events in her mind. Seeing a bit more detail and remembering things. “When I turned the corner, I noticed Crewman Murray had made no progress, but I also noticed the lights in the area had begun to grow brighter. Before I could warn Cam… Crewman Murray, is when a power overload occurred. I am not sure, but I think I heard a series of rumblings from Battery Compartment 4 at the time the conduit that Murray had open blew,” continued Jei.

Something clicked her memory and Jei looked at Captain Teriir then Christopher. “Captain, I take full responsibility for Crewman Murray. No matter how bad Crewman Murray was at the repair, he could not have caused that power overload. You can check my tricorder diagnostic of the power junction box just prior. There was *zero* power. And if you check my work order log, I still had 37 minutes left until main power switched back on. It was submitted and approved by the engineering officer of the watch. I know I didn’t go over my time and usually I comm in the completion for the Chief or a supervisor to run a level 4 diagnostic to just make sure everything is as it should before flipping the switch.”

Jei looked at Captain Teriir, but before he could answer his comm went off.

=^=Captain, Samson here. The fire has been put out in Battery Compartment 4. The fire suppression units did it’s job but the initial overload and explosion caused us to lose of two racks of batteries. Petty Officer Han was lucky as the power junction box she was working on overloaded and blew as well. Repair team is working on this now. We’ll have it squared away in a couple hours. Samson out.=^=

((WelshAvenger, Teriir))

[Asteropax]

USS Ares
Sickbay

“It was my fault. I gave Crewman Murray the opportunity to complete the repair on 49E. I wanted to boost his confidence in his abilities. After about fifteen minutes, I noticed he was getting more nervous and making more mistakes as I stood there looking over his shoulder. That is when I went around the corner to the junction control box to a run a level 2 diagnostic to take advantage that main power was offline in that area. I was only ten meters away, literally around the corner…”

Jei visualized the sequence of events in her mind. Seeing a bit more detail and remembering things. “When I turned the corner, I noticed Crewman Murray had made no progress, but I also noticed the lights in the area had begun to grow brighter. Before I could warn Cam… Crewman Murray, is when a power overload occurred. I am not sure, but I think I heard a series of rumblings from Battery Compartment 4 at the time the conduit that Murray had open blew,” continued Jei.

Something clicked her memory and Jei looked at Captain Teriir then Christopher. “Captain, I take full responsibility for Crewman Murray. No matter how bad Crewman Murray was at the repair, he could not have caused that power overload. You can check my tricorder diagnostic of the power junction box just prior. There was *zero* power. And if you check my work order log, I still had 37 minutes left until main power switched back on. It was submitted and approved by the engineering officer of the watch. I know I didn’t go over my time and usually I comm in the completion for the Chief or a supervisor to run a level 4 diagnostic to just make sure everything is as it should before flipping the switch.”

Captain Teriir was about to answer when the comms activated.

=^=Captain, Samson here. The fire has been put out in Battery Compartment 4. The fire suppression units did it’s job but the initial overload and explosion caused us to lose of two racks of batteries. Petty Officer Han was lucky as the power junction box she was working on overloaded and blew as well. Repair team is working on this now. We’ll have it squared away in a couple hours. Samson out.=^=

He fell silent, letting out a slow breath while drumming his fingers along the PADD he already carried. Knowing it carried the repair schedules, he turned it on and scrolled through a number of the reports until he got to the one describing what needed to be done on Deck 5. Glancing at a timer, he was able to confirm the information he’d been given. He looked back to the Doctor, “How is Crewman Murray?”

((Christopher))

“We’ll let him rest and talk to him about this after he’s recovered,” the Captain commented, now turning to the deeply concerned Technician, “Before any of us start leaping at the chance to take responsibility, I want to have a serious talk with the person who turned the power on while someone was touching the wires. I saw a Lt. Junior Grade Drum signed off on the order to shut down power on Deck 5 and 6 to do the repair to the power coupling you were doing, is that correct?”

((Jei))

[WelshAvenger]

USS Ares
Sickbay


Attachment 9773

Attachment 9774

“How is Crewman Murray?”

Christopher sighed, "He'll live but he's going to be with us for a few days until his brain recovers from the fractured skull. Probably a severe concussion."

“We’ll let him rest and talk to him about this after he’s recovered,” the Captain commented, now turning to the deeply concerned Technician, “Before any of us start leaping at the chance to take responsibility, I want to have a serious talk with the person who turned the power on while someone was touching the wires. I saw a Lt. Junior Grade Drum signed off on the order to shut down power on Deck 5 and 6 to do the repair to the power coupling you were doing, is that correct?”

"Yes, sir. Though the repairs were non-critical in nature, the magnitude of affecting two entire decks required the sign-off of the Engineering Officer on duty. The original repair was logged during Alpha Shift, then relegated to Gamma as crew on the affected decks would likely be asleep. I took the repair task order and followed Lieutenant Usam's guidelines that he notated," began Jei.

She shifted a little and continued, "I normally would run something that big through the Master Chief, but... technically Lieutenant Drum was the Duty Officer and he had to approve it. I... intentionally avoided the courtesy notification to the Master Chief as I knew he would order me to stand down... as technically I wasn't to return to the duty roster for another two days."

Jei looked at Christopher. "That means I technically disobeyed your... orders, sir, as well," Jei finally admitted. Knowing that Christopher already knew as he hinted with his 'big trouble' earlier after making sure she was a hundred-percent healthy... at least physically.

Christopher looked from the Captain to Jei and winked, "That would appear to make two of you but I can't very well chew you out in front of the Captain when he's doing the very same thing as we speak, can I?" Christopher looked at the Captain, "With your permission, sir, I'll have Lt Drum report here and he can explain how he nearly killed two of our Engineers?"

Teriir nodded.

Christopher tapped his commbadge, "Cushing to Drum, report to sickbay on the double."

=^= Can it wait Doc, I have.. =^=

"What you have Lieutenant," Christopher interrupted, "is two of your staff in my sick bay and I'd kind of like to know why that is."

=^= As I said, Doc, I'm in the middle...=^=

Christopher cut off the call and pressed a key on his console, "Cushing to transporter room, please beam Lt Drum directly to the CMO's office."

=^= Aye Sir, standby. =^=

Christopher looked at Jei and Teriir, "He'll be right along in a minute, Sir. Jei, come on over to biobed 2, I want to make sure that you're alright before I send you back to your quarters." Just as Christopher and Jei walked through the door, the familiar chime of the transporter filled the room.

Tag: ((Jei/Teriir))

Attachment 9774