From: Jamie LeBlanc (plainsimplegarak_at_yahoo.com)
Date: Mon Jul 28 2008 - 23:58:48 PDT
"Upgrades" (Continued from "Reign of Insanity")
~*~*~*~
Location: GATEWAY STATION
Stardate: 2.80730.0200
Scene: Pet Shop
~*~*~*~
“Are you alright?” Anthony Giles looked over at his newest (and only) employee as he cleaned a cage out for a mewing genetically mutated kitten.
Zel snapped his eyes around, slowly focusing on the older human. “Oh yes, I’m fine.” He skittered around to his next set of pens, giving fresh water to the animals there. “I mean I’m as fine as I can me, right? I’m not in jail and I have all of my bodyparts intact.”
“That’s your definition of fine?” Giles creased his brow at that.
“Oh yes.” The Cardassian replied smoothly. “When you have experienced far worse, the simple pleasures in life mean so much more.” He added, enigmatically.
Giles scooped up the kitten which nestled beside him lovingly. “Someday, remind me to get you very drunk and have you tell me stories, Rohan.”
“Aldeberan Whiskey.” Were the only two words out of the smaller man’s mouth. He wandered to yet another grouping of animals and looked up. “Hey, do you have any dog biscuits I could take?”
“Dog biscuits? What kind?”
“Oh, you know the usual kind for three headed puppies.” Zel shot back, carrying a set of Zarkonian doves to the exercise area.
Slowly Anthony nodded. “Ah, the pup. Yes, I do have a few treats.” He pulled some bags from an upper cabinet. “Going to see him later?”
“Actually LJ is heading away with his family for a bit. I promised I’d bring him some treats for his pet before he went.”
“Heading away? That’s probably a good thing.” Anthony murmured.
Zel popped his head out from behind the counter, wearing an innately curious expression. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“According to Randy, the Commander got into another fight with her second in command. Not the first from what I glean from his stories.” Giles replied in a slightly tired tone.
“You think it is hearsay?”
Slowly the pet store owner shook his head. “Somehow I doubt it. Randy loves to embellish stories, but trust me, the Commander has a temper. I encountered the wrong end of it more than once when I first got here.” He put a few more dishes into the washing machine. “Sometimes I don’t wonder if our Commander Davidson bears more in common with her universal counterpart than the Federation would like to admit.”
Zel shrugged a bit. “You have never been a parent, I’m guessing.”
“No… neither have you…” Anthony was guessing that, but it seemed a pretty sure guess.
Zel shook his head. “No. I haven’t. But I have known a lot of parents in my day – and I can tell you one thing they all have in common.”
“What’s that?”
“They are all crazy when their kids are concerned.”
~*~*~*~*~
Scene: Docking Bays
“Hey… Gavi! LJ!” Zel barely managed to get a signal up over the crowd, as he sighed to himself that being short and trying to catch the attention of two kids who were equally short was a fairly stupid idea. But nonetheless the older boy peeled off from his mother and jogged over.
“Well you say goodbye, and I say hello…” LJ quipped softly.
Zel knelt down and greeting the puppy as it trotted after LJ, all three heads lolling their tongues out happily. He stood and dug a bag out from his sack. “Here… I figured you could use some goodies for your trip.”
LJ accepted the bag and peeked inside, his eyes glittering. There were dog treats, two sticks of Jumja, two action figures and a handful of galaxy disx for both him and Gavi. Slowly the teen grinned. Zel gave him a wink. “Don’t let you Mom know who gave you the contraband, OK? And Anthony assures me that the treats will be good for the pup. Take care of yourself, OK?”
LJ gave a small salute, before running back towards Dasiy before he could get caught for running off.
~*~*~*~*~
Scene: CO’s office
The chime rang softly and Kate MacNeill looked up from the seemingly insurmountable pile of work. “Come…”
The slender new security chief slid inside like a shadow before standing gracefully in front of the CO’s desk. “Commander MacNeill?” She waited for the nod of confirmation before offering the remainder of her introduction. “Ensign Sardra Vol, Ma’am.”
“I remember, Ensign.” Kathryn murmured, remembering the woman’s face from the slight time she had seen her in sickbay.
“While the crew is on R and R, Commander, I have outlined a series of security upgrades to the sensor systems and locking safeguards for critical systems. These were developed and are being used in front line battleships, Commander – and seeing the damage done by the Chameloid spy; I think Gateway could benefit from the upgrades.” She passed a PADD over to Kate as she finished.
Looking over the detailed specs, the XO perked a brow. “How many resources will these upgrades take?”
“In terms of station power drain, they are 8.65% more efficient that your current systems, and they will run a full system security check in 47 seconds – which is six seconds less than your current systems.” She had the irritating tone of a Vulcan calculator.
“And manpower wise to install them?” Kate prodded.
“That would depend on the efficiency of the engineering team sent to do the upgrades.” She gave a highly logical browperk. “Any modifications would have to be, ultimately, approved and overseen by the chief engineer.”
“Can you give an estimate?” Commander MacNeill had worked with Vulcans before, and she knew that the more accurate her questions were, the better the answers would be. She expected the usual Vulcan evasiveness about estimation followed by an all too accurate response. She wasn’t prepared for the reply she got.
“Four days if they haul ass.” Sardra’s face was curiously emotionless.
Kate blinked. “Pardon?” Even though the lips on the Ensign never twitched, she swore the woman smiled.
Sardra took a breath, her voice becoming a smooth wash of logic. “With light work schedules, to accommodate partial R and R for the entire team, upgrades can be completed within ten days.”
Slowly Kathyrn MacNeill nodded. She wondered if she had just hallucinated a Vulcan using the phrase ‘haul ass’ or not. “Is there anything else, Ensign?”
Slowly the Vulcan nodded. “There is.” She settled herself more comfortably before the XO. “According to station records, there has not been a defensive evaluation for any department except security and the Marine forces for over a year.”
“Defensive evaluation?” Kate frowned a bit; remember the combat training she had undergone at the academy. Working in the medical field had left her, far and away, immune from further training sessions, but she remembered the Security department doing self defense courses and tactical training for away missions on the PROPHECY. “Which departments need it?”
“Logically, Commander, they all do.” Seeiing the half-Nuimon’s look of confusion, the Security chief added, “GATEWAY station is on the front lines of a war zone, Commander. We require all departments to take a physical examination, not just those in the medical field. Because any department could suffer from ill health. Well, any department this close to a war zone can also be placed into a combat situation. Self defense is not offensive tactical training. It is called self *defense* because knowing how to deal with a combat situation means saving the lives of valuable crew members in any department.” She paused a bit and let that sink in. When she saw that the Commander was not going to argue with any of her rationalization, she went on. “I would like to schedule a time to test the combat readiness of every department. That doesn’t mean I expect counselors to go into a war guns blazing. I do expect them to be able to
recognize danger and find cover.”
Slowly the Commander nodded. “That is a big job.”
“It will be a process, not a job, Commander.” Sardra replied evenly. “But consider it preventative medicine.”
“I will look into facilitating scheduling” the Nuimon hybrid replied. She paused and then eyed the new security officer. “I take it you would be teaching the courses?”
“Not just me, Commander. Lieutenant Phillips is a specialist in casualty prevention and area protection – I am going to recommend he work with the medical, counseling and science departments. His focus is on getting civilians and non combatants to get to safe cover and move through combat zones without getting seriously injured which I believe they will appreciate. Ensign T’Kral and Petty Officer Pelor are both highly trained in beam weapons combat, and Corporal Kinney is a specialist in Aikido. I will be utilizing all of their talents. But yes, Commander. I teach advanced combat and self defense in a variety of areas.”
Kate took in a breath between her teeth. “I have never been fond of combat, Ensign.” She prefaced.
“You were, up until recently, a doctor, were you not?” Ensign Vol perked a very Vulcan brow.
Slowly Commander MacNeill nodded. “I was. But with my change of department, I have a completely new set of responsibilities and expectations.” She sucked on her teeth for a second before finishing. “One of them is that I will lead the crew by example – and so, if I may ask a personal favor?”
Slowly the Vulcan nodded.
“I would be interesting in seeing and undergoing the training before the crew does; partially so I can be able to add input; and partially so I can be prepared to answer questions and help accommodate the new regimens for the crew.”
Again Sadra didn’t smile, but she looked like she might have. “I can arrange that, Commander. I will send you a schedule tomorrow morning.”
As the Ensign left, Kate leaned back in her chair. She couldn’t help but wonder if this was going to be a pain or a pleasure.
~*~*~*~*~*~
NRPG: Some plans, some tags. Trying to interact with the crew one by one.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Jamie LeBlanc
=/\=
Ensign Sardra Vol
Chief Security Officer
GATEWAY STATION
Civillian Zel Rohan
Galactic Ne’er-do-well
GATEWAY STATION
Lieutenant Commander Aerdan Jos
Chief Medical Officer
USS STONEHENGE
"Why do we fly? Because we have dreamt of it for so long that we must"
~Julian Beck
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