"Who Would Have Thought It"
[Previous post: "Decisions and Flaws", written by Brian Matthews]
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Stardate: 61017.1115
Elliot stood resting against the wall outside the sickbay doors, fidgeting with his hands and staring into space :: Why now? how did this happen? is this going to be permanent? will things be the same as they were before? :: thought the troubled Ensign.
The usual monotone hiss of the Sickbay doors opened and Ensign Akira came walking out with the CSciO, they were talking about the kind of data updates that the Science department deals with.
Ensign Thomas fidgeted on his feet. "Hi, how you doing Aki? I thought I would wait for you coming out and walk you up to the bridge," he said with a smile on his face.
"I'm doing good ET. Lt. Cmdr. Maya has kindly offered to show me around the ship, so I'll have to catch up with you later, yes?" Ensign Mitshiba replied in an eager voice.
"OK, how about 19:15hrs in the Black Hole for dinner? It will give us a chance to catch up, plus I think we have quiet a lot to talk about don't you?" Elliot said as he started to walk down the corridor in the opposite direction to the CSciO and Akira.
"No problem, I finish at 19:00, so I maybe there a little after 19:15," she shouted back as they walked around the nearest corner.
Ensign Thomas reported to the Bridge to do the rest of his shift, as he was to finish at 16:45hrs. The dinner was arranged for 19:15hrs, so this would give him time to think about what he had to say and what he would wear and to find someone to watch his children.
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Elliot was running through his usual check on his list of current major shipboard activities, setting priorities and allocating the resources to cover the current operations, when he was approached by Ensign Anatchi.
"Hello there, *Ensign Thomas* isn't it? I am here to take over from you so if you can go through the shift change- over procedures, then that's you for today." said the young female ensign as she nudged Elliot and requested the seat.
"Oh yes, by all means. The artificial intelligence software is running within normal parameters. There are no Primary conflicts, however there were some secondary conflicts when security were trying to authorise the main power source to run an internal security scan while engineering were running warp configuration procedures. I fixed this by re-routing 20% of the primary source power and merged that with the secondary power sources to boost the the lacking resources for engineering that were taken away. All resources are now back to normal availability." Elliot said as he leaned over Ensign Anatchi's shoulder and pushed a couple of buttons on the current action menu panel to display individual statuses.
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"*Alice*, *Samantha* where are you?" shouted Ensign Thomas as he entered his quarters. He then said in a more normal tone, "You girls will be having a sitter tonight as I have a meeting to go to."
"Ahhww man, must we have a sitter dad, I'm 15 and I can look after us," said Samantha in her usual moaning tone when she had a problem with her father on any issues she thought she knew best about.
"Yeah! just like the last time you looked after your sister. Remember almost flooding our quarters???" Elliot said in a sarcastic voice.
"OK... OK. I get your point so what time is this sitter turning up? and can you tell the sitter that we are allowed to use the communication terminal in the lounge, some of us do have friends you know!" she said in a bland and straight voice.
"18:45hrs is when the sitter will be here, so please can you at least try to act like normal children." the father said as he went into his room to take a sonic shower.
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Ensign Thomas jumped up out of his seat when he heard the door chime.
"Enter please," Elliot said quickly.
"Hi there, you put in a request to have someone to watch your children for the evening" said the happy young female Ensign.
"Yes excellent thank you for your prompt arrival, I will be at the Black Hole if you need me for any problems, however I must go now or I will be late," Ensign Thomas said with a nervous voice.
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Elliot quickly hurried down the corridor from his quarters and entered the turbo lift, the doors quickly shut and the Ensign was now looking at the inside of the doors.
"Deck 16," the Ensign said as he was fidgeting on his feet waiting to arrive at the correct floor.
The doors opened and Elliot knew he was there, he walked down the corridors and came to the Black Hole door, Elliot took a deep breath.
::Here we go,:: Elliot thought to himself feeling all emotional as he approached the doors.
===== 2006 post #241
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Outside Sickbay
Stardate: 61017.1630
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Bridge
Stardate: 61017.1710
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Ensign Thomas Quarters
Stardate: 61017.1845
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Ensign Thomas Quarters
Stardate: 61017.1900
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Leaving Ensign Thomas's Quarters
Craig Mitchell { wmcraigmitchell@gmail.com }
Ensign Elliot Thomas
Chief Operations Officer
USS ANUBIS, NCC-18501
