From: Takako Nagumo
Date: Sun, 16 Mar 1997 02:40:31 -0500
Subject: USS CHESAPEAKE: Clarification
(NRPG: Apologies... you will be getting this twice. Just send me a
plonk on the head. :P tn)
SD 90216.0730
MD 3.0115
Scene: Brennan's Quarters
Sirens.
Brennan sat up bolt upright in his bed and slammed his hand on the
communicator on the night stand.
"Brennan to Bridge. Report?"
"Origin?"
Keyrin. "I'm on my way. Brennan out."
He pulled on the uniform trousers he had tossed onto the chair in
the corner. He grabbed his uniform jacket and communicator and
ran out into the corridor. He pulled on his uniform jacket and
zipped it up as he trotted to the nearest turbolift. He put his
communicator back on his uniform as he waited for the next car.
"Computer, locate Ensign Keyrin."
[Ensign Keyrin is in Turbolift 3.]
"Destination?"
[Turbolift 3 is enroute to Security Central, Deck 4.]
He was inside the car before the doors had fully opened.
"Bridge," he snapped. Once the doors closed, he tapped the
communicator again. "Brennan to Keyrin."
She sounded slightly breathless, as if she
were running.
"I hope you can explain this, Ensign." His voice sounded
intentionally stern.
"Ensign, I want to see you after this drill is over. Report to my
office."
Her voice was uncharacteristically quiet.
"Good. Brennan out."
The doors opened onto the Bridge, and, stepping out, he called to
the Officer of the Day. "Report."
Lieutenant DeSahk stood from the center chair. "Security is
running diagnostics to isolate the problem. The OPS console and
Bridge stations are unaffected."
Brennan sat in the command chair and did a quick check on the
armrest consoles. "Looks like Mister th'Tellan was prepared for
this contingency. Good." He looked up. "Mister DeSahk, how does
it look from your end of things?"
The Cardassian officer, who had moved to the OPS console, punched
the panel. "The virus seems to be cracking passwords to vital
systems. From what I can see here," he continued, his eyes
flickering from one part of the display to the other, "it's
encrypting the data it gains access to, then renaming the file."
Brennan followed its progress from the command console. th'Tellan
had succeeded in securing Bridge operations, which meant that
restoring the system shouldn't be too hard. They were still in
port, after all, and they had several days to put themselves to
rights.
He finally glanced up at the chronograph beneath the view screen.
0134. It flipped to 0135. The voice from OPS shifted his
attention.
"The virus has stopped, sir." He was running his finger down one
display. "The offending file has been deleted."
Brennan let out a big sigh. "Thank you, Mister DeSahk." He
pushed himself out of the chair. "Call me if there are anymore
problems."
"Aye, sir."
He walked up the ramp and into the waiting turbolift. "Deck 2."
This time, the 'lift ride was very short. He stepped out of the
car, and walked the few steps to his office.
No sooner had he turned on the lights and sat down at his desk
that the chime rang. "Come."
Ensign Keyrin came in and stood at attention in front of him.
"Reporting as ordered, sir."
Keyrin was out of uniform -- understandable, as she had been
running an unannounced drill during Charlie shift. Brennan let
her stand at attention for a brief moment longer than was
comfortable. "At ease. Sit down, Ensign."
The ensign obediently sat down in the indicated chair. He could
see that though her face remained carefully neutral, there were
some telltale signs of anxiety, nervousness, and perhaps, a bit of
fear.
"First, Ensign, let me lay down a few rules as to running
unannounced drills. Unannounced drills are a good way of honing
your instincts, as well as those of the crew in your department.
They can tell you where things are going well, and where things
need improvement. And announced drills would defeat the purpose,
obviously, since everyone will know that it is '*only* a drill.'"
She looked like she wanted to say something, but she seemed to
think better of it at the moment. Brennan continued in a quiet
tone. "However, protocol requires department heads who run real-
time, real-space drills to notify the XO, perhaps OPS, and the OOD
-- the Officer of the Day -- who would be on duty at the time the
drill is scheduled to occur. Is that understood?"
"Yes, sir."
He tapped his console on and called up the bridge logs. "You are
lucky that Commander th'Tellan had the foresight to block out the
OPS console as well as the Bridge stations from the virus you
unleashed."
She seemed unsure of how to answer that -- she remained silent.
"Have you anything to add, Mister Keyrin?"
She looked down, hesitated, but looked up at him again. "Sir, I
regret not following proper procedures. I will not do that
again."
"Very good," he nodded. He held her eyes with his gaze for a
moment longer. "I'll not consider this a verbal reprimand. And I
believe that you have the makings of an excellent officer --
albeit an unconventional one."
"Uh... thank you, sir."
He suddenly smiled. "All right, then. End of lecture." He
turned to the console to tap it off, then turned back to her.
"Anything else to add, Ensign?"
"No, sir."
"Then you are dismissed."
She stood up, came to attention again, turned on her heels and
headed for the door. He stood up and called to her as the doors
opened.
"Ensign?"
She turned. "Sir?"
"I really believe in you, you know."
"I won't let you down, sir."
He nodded, and she left, the door sliding closed behind her.
MD 3.0830
Scene: XO's Office
Brennan let out a little yawn. After the excitement of last
night, he hadn't had a lot of sleep. He quickly stifled the next
big one as the chime rang. Just on time, he thought, as he called
out, "come!"
The doors slid open to admit Lieutenant Murray. "You wanted to
see me, sir?"
"Yes, Lieutenant. Sit down."
She seemed to notice the difference from his usual demeanor. She
sat down quickly in the chair indicated.
"Lieutenant," Brennan started, "I believe you had a meeting with
Commander th'Tellan last night? About drills in your department?"
"Yes, sir." Her voice was carefully controlled, her face devoid
of any emotion. Vulcanesque? Perhaps.
"I will not repeat what was said in the meeting -- the Commander
has informed me of what transpired. I just want to lay down the
ground rules which I would like you to follow in the future.
"Protocol requires department heads who run real-time, real-space,
unannounced drills to notify the XO, perhaps OPS, and the OOD --
the Officer of the Day -- who would be on duty at the time the
drill is scheduled to occur. Would you like to explain why this
is required, Lieutenant?"
"Why... because non-notification may result in real emergencies
being ignored for the drill?"
He nodded. "That is one. Another is that there may be other
drills taking place elsewhere on the ship, and all such drills,
and other shipwide activities, must be coordinated by the XO and
OPS.
"Now," he continued, "I will not put this 'conversation' on the
record as a verbal reprimand. You are lucky that this occurred
while we are still in port -- we have time to fix these problems
and still be able to leave without undue time pressures." He
looked into her eyes. "Try and imagine what havoc it would've
caused if this had happened during a critical mission, far away
from any Federation outpost."
A realization dawned on her face.
"You understand," said Brennan.
"Yes, sir." Her face was still neutral, but he saw her swallow.
"This will not happen again."
"Good." He paused. "Have you anything to add, Lieutenant?"
"No, sir."
"Very well, then. You are dismissed."
She stood up and turned to go. She suddenly stopped midstep, and
turned around. "Sir?"
"Yes, Lieutenant?"
"I'll do better, sir."
He smiled. "I know you will, Lieutenant. I expect no less."
She nodded resolutely, then left his office.
Respectfully Submitted,
Takako Nagumo,
CDR Daniel J. Brennan
XO, USS CHESAPEAKE (NCC-31813)
Task Force Bravo, Green Fleet
NRPG:
Lynn, Masako: Consider Keyrin's and Murray's wrists slapped. :)
Just remember, it's not you, it's your characters. You gals are
doing fantastically.
Lynn: The first part of your bit happens during the five minutes
Keyrin is enroute to Security. The second part happens after you
leave SECCEN.
Masako: I just assumed that he beeped her via commbadge. Cutting to
the chase, as it were. :)
James: Pout. :) "Preliminaries," indeed... (whimper whimper,
whine whine )
Chris: Looking forward to your post. :)
--
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Takako Nagumo
http://www.oocities.org/TimesSquare/6318/
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CDR Daniel J. Brennan XO USS CHESAPEAKE, Green Fleet
LCDR Sian-Mairead Flynn, MD CMO USS ALEXANDER NEVSKY, Green Fleet
LCDR Duncan A. Morrell INS ALB Holodeck 4
CDR Julianna M. Sforza COMREC Commander, Starfleet Records
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