From: mgoto@indiana.edu (Masako Goto)
Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 19:25:48 -0500 (EST)
Subject: USS CHESAPEAKE: Administration Takes Over the MLD--Well, Not Really

SD 90303.0016 (GMT)
------
Bridge
------
MD 1.2020
<>
        
        "One more thing.  I understand that you used to be a SCiO.  Can
you give me any advice?"
        th'Tellan thought for a second.  "There is one piece of advice
that applies in all situations.  You should remember it and use it.
  Remember to go insane as soon as possible.  It is the only 
way to save your sanity."
<>
        Anne looked at the Second Officer thoughtfully, trying to 
decide if he had heard about the little scene on Deck 17 earlier that 
day.  If he was thinking about it, he gave no sign.
        "I will try to remember that, sir," she said coolly, her 
expression Vulcan in the extreme.  If her ears had been pointed, she 
would have made a convincing Vulcan at that moment.  "Thank you for 
your help in this matter," she added, nodding to the display of her new 
office suite configuration, "and I am sure that I will be certified as 
an insane person as soon as is deemed appropriate."
        As she spun on her heel and marched into the turbolift, Anne
reflected that she had probably spoken the truth.  It wasn't so long 
ago that she had been relieved of bridge duty; and it was only because 
of her CSciO that she had been able to get this posting to USS 
CHESAPEAKE in the first place.  She shouldn't be surprised, she told 
herself, if someone should, indeed, certify her as insane at the 
earliest opportunity.
        At the same time, she wondered about the Second Officer.  Was
he really as calm and collected as he had appeared?
        As she neared her quarters, Anne nodded to herself.  She would
find a psychometric scale that included personality trait components.
Perhaps, she would be able to ask him some pertinent questions at the
Senior Officers' Meeting.
-----------------
Murray's quarters
-----------------
MD 1.2030
        Anne allowed a grim smile of victory to cross her face as
she pressed the comm button.
        
        Oh, good.  Leave it to Serak to start working usual hours
already.  Anne was glad that she had told her Division Chairmen about
the supervisory duties she required of them during the Beta and Gamma
shifts.  She then realized that the Vulcan probably felt more at home
in the lab than he did in his quarters.  That knowledge made her feel
just a bit guilty about what she was going to do to him.  But the
pleasure of finally setting the department arrangement to rights
won out.
        "Mr. Serak," said Anne sweetly, "please prepare to move your
division to Laboratory Suite 2."
        
        "You heard me, Mr. Serak.  We're moving your department to
Lab Suite 2."
        There was the slight cough that she knew so well already.
         said the Vulcan.  Anne could almost see the pained
expression on his supposedly emotionless face.  
        "I appreciate all the problems that you may have with the
new arrangements, Mr. Serak," said Anne, her tone becoming sincere.  
"And I really am sorry that this has to happen, but your current 
location was never meant to be a laboratory."
        
        "Call it human fallibility if you like, Mr. Serak.  Suite 1 is
supposed to be an administrative area; that's why my office is there
in the first place.  It would also explain," mused Anne, "why the
Biological Sciences staff was so grumpy this afternoon."
        The BSD staff had been slowest to arrive, and they had got into
their assigned laboratory areas just three hours previously.  One of
the specialists had thundered into her room complaining about large
desks and conference tables blocking the bunsen burners.  She had
casually told him to step over them and to refrain from using such
out-moded contraptions in the first place.  But now...
        Serak was coughing again.  She would have to do something
about *that* as well.
        
        "You won't have to, Mr. Serak, the OPS department will take
care of that detail.  All I want you to do is to program the change
of location into the computer and to make it display the new location
message when anyone's coming into MLD.  Then I want you and your
staff to scoot over to Science Lab Suite 2.  There aren't any dedicated 
consoles yet, but you can use the terminals that are already there."
        
        Hm.  Easily rattled, this Vulcan.
        "I must leave you to your work, Mr. Serak," said Anne, glancing
at the timepiece.  "However, I'll stop by your new location after 
the... Senior Officers' Meeting, just to see how you're getting along. 
Have a good evening, Lieutenant."
         It sounded strangely hollow.
        "Mr. Serak," said Anne softly, "I wouldn't mind if you...
over-indulged on plomeek soup tonight."
         said the Vulcan stiffly
before cutting off the connection, but Anne could almost swear that
she heard a note of anticipation in his voice...
	Aha, she thought to herself with a small smile.  So he *was* 
taking her Gratuitous Parental Advice seriously.
Respectfully submitted,
Masako Goto
Lt. Anne Murray, Ph.D.
CSciO
USS CHESAPEAKE NCC-31813
*NRPG*
Melvin: Congratulations, we hereby present you with the Gutenberg Award 
	for Most Insane Post Featured in an RPG.     Please don't 
	mind Anne; after all, if you *want* to be insane, she'll have 
	to play along... I had another question for you: when did you 
	hold your OPS meeting? I will put down an arbitrary time (say, 
	1700), but I want to hear what you think; it's *your* 
	department we're talking about here.  :)
Lynnaea: Murray's gliding out her door even as we speak; will it be 
	 okay with Keyrin if she shares a turbolift ride?
Amy, James: Where *is* this Senior Officers' Meeting, anyway???
Chris: If Catherine shows up to the function, Anne's going to want to
       know all about how ol' Kirko's doing...
Takako: As much as I hate to do it, I have to send you another science
        department roster with my apologies.  This will probably occur
        within the next few hours.  I need to do some creative
        mathematics with it, and it does *not* involve imaginary 
	numbers, either...
All: I'm very sorry for what must honestly be called a "backpost" (at  
     least, I *think* that's what it is), but I couldn't just let the  
     2O tell Anne to go insane without saying *something* about it... 
       It also seemed like the right time to move those Vulcans into 
     their new home...