Season 15: Episode 4 - Vox Populai

[Tekin Nevir]

Captain's Log, Stardate 78288.5

April 16, 2401.  Two hundred and fifty years since the launch of Earth's first Warp 5 ship, and the first true starship to carry the name Enterprise. The first United Starship of the Federation. Every species holds the launch of their first starship in high regards, and for many of us, Bajor included, our firsts were centuries ahead of the Humans of Earth. The Enterprise wasn't even the first warp-capable ship; that honor went to a warp core with chairs tucked into a ballistic missile that coincidentally was named the Pheonix. But the NX-01 Enterprise did something that no other early warp vessel on any planet had done; it brought the species of the Federation together. That is why 250 years later a Bajoran captain is sitting on the bridge of a Prometheus-class Deep Space Tactical Cruiser waiting near Earth Spacedock for the celebrations of this anniversary.  One for the history books.

Discovery has been given an honor, however; we are to be an escort wing to the final flight of the USS Enterprise F.  And as luck would have it, as an escort we will be one of the first ships to display the Federation's newest soon to be revealed top-secret project. Oh which I am finally being given the actual information for... and to see exactly what is on my ship...

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Captain's Ready Room]

"Alright, there we go.. the multivector assault mode is disabled.  It doesn't really feel right to lose this ship's primary tactical advantage, Admiral.  Even if its only temporary." Nevir stated, handing over a PADD to the maroon and black-clad silver-haired woman currently standing in his Ready Room. The Captain of the USS Enterprise F, Admiral Elizabeth Shelby.

"You have no idea how much my engineering team has been trying to learn the ins and outs of this networking; Captain Galloway was swearing to burn it out of his ship if it was ever activated."

"Well, Galloway might not have much of a choice after today.  If it all goes well, it will be mandated on all vessels.  Those old ships like the Challenger are likely to be decommissioned if they can't be refit. Frankly, Captain, Discovery is no longer considered the cutting edge of ship design.  With these new designs like the Constitution III and the Inquiry, you'll be standing on a relic before you know it."

Tekin snorted.  "I'll take this museum piece over that copypaste fleet any day."

"I'll let the Admiralty board know that... see if we can't get you reassigned.  Anyway, that's all I need, Captain Tekin." Shelby stated, as the two of them turned and left the Ready Room.  The Bridge of Discovery was spotless for the ceremony, and every panel was given a restoration cleaning. At least the ship smelled nice now. Admiral Shelby made one more walk around the bridge before finally taking her leave and exiting through the turbolift, only for another person to step off the turbolift clad in science blue and with a shiny new pip on her collar.  Nevir looked up and smiled as his Trill daughter beamed back at him.

"Permission to come aboard da- Captain."

"Ensign Ruthie Falleq-Tekin.  Permission granted." he said with a smile, as he took a seat in his chair.  "Commander?  Would you show the Ensign to her station?" Nevir stated, calling out to his first officer.

"We have about an hour and a half left before showtime.  No room for errors here."

[Kinley Garrison]

[Bridge]

Today was the day. Currently, Kinley was keeping an eye  on the scanners while the ship was heading  down to Earth for all the festivities, and it was pretty exciting that they were selected to be a part of the honor guard. It was certainly going to be one heck of a celebration. Dressed in her formal teals and nice lab coat, Kinley was currently trying to ignore the  jitters she was feeling. Not like that this wasn't one heck of a major event. She had done overtime to help finish the Breen translation matrix  in time for this event, which was already being brought up for the celebration, so she had felt a good amount of pressure about getting that done.

From what she had heard, Today was hyped to be something  really special. Not to mention an admiral came to do their inspections before the events had happened. She had her own thoughts about all the pomp and stuff, but it was a special occasion, so apparently it was warranted.

Noting the new ensign- Ruthie was it?- as she came onboard, Kinley nodded with a smile and gave the ensign her seat, standing instead by the big chair, looking out at the viewport and the distant starbase.   "œCaptain, Commander, it looks like we're pretty close to ready  with the scanners. Everything is running smoothly on that end. she reported.

[M'Nia]

(engineering)
M'nia was down in engineering. She had helped disable the MVA mode. It was a lot of hard work but it had to be done. Still it felt good to accomplish something like that!  She was all smiles now as she had just been promoted to Lt. J.G. She was so happy. She had just told her parents about ti and they were very happy for her. Her whole family was. Yep this was just the start! There was no doubt about it! She was where she belonged. This was where she felt at home.

[Rayek trLhoell]

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery-B - Deck One - Bridge] Stardate 78288.5  (April 16, 2401)

The Bridge of Discovery was spotless for the ceremony, and every panel was given a restoration cleaning. At least the ship smelled nice now. Admiral Shelby made one more walk around the bridge before finally taking her leave and exiting through the turbolift, only for another person to step off the turbolift clad in science blue and with a shiny new pip on her collar.  Nevir looked up and smiled as his Trill daughter beamed back at him.

"Permission to come aboard da- Captain."

"Ensign Ruthie Falleq-Tekin.  Permission granted." he said with a smile, as he took a seat in his chair.  "Commander?  Would you show the Ensign to her station?" Nevir stated, calling out to his first officer.

"We have about an hour and a half left before showtime.  No room for errors here."

Rayek had stood attentively by his command seat while the Admiral did her inspection of the Bridge.  He was ambivalent about the Frontier Day celebrations.  While he understood the Fleet's need to celebrate such a landmark accomplishment in its history, the paranoid Romulan thought it a folly to have so much of the Fleet's ships to be clustered in one location.   He didn't envy the chaos that was likely happening throughout the rest of the Federation with so few ships assigned to patrolling the Federations borders.   It was a perfect opportunity for those looking to avoid detection by Starfleet.

He offered a slight bow toward the departing Admiral and then smiled slightly as the new Ensign replaced the Admiral on the Bridge.   Rayek knew Ruthie somewhat from his time on Katra.  The eldest Falleq child would come visit her mother, Hrafn, the then Chief Science Officer on Katra, during her Academy summer break.

Rayek had been pleased to see she'd been assigned to the Discovery.

"Of course, Captain" The Romulan stepped forward after the Captain's request and gestured for Ruthie to follow him.

"This way, Ensign.  Given your specialization in Xeno-linguistics, I have assigned you to our Communications section, typically an Operations role but fitting for your particular expertise.  You will report to Lieutenant Banan for this task alone.  You will still report to Commander Garrison of the Science department for any other duties she may ask of you.  Is that understood?"

Afterwards, before turning back to his seat to allow her to opportunity to settle in, Rayek once more offered to the young Trill an approving smile.

"Welcome aboard, Ensign"

[Lek]

Captain's Log, Stardate 78288.5

April 16, 2401.  Two hundred and fifty years since the launch of Earth's first Warp 5 ship, and the first true starship to carry the name Enterprise. The first United Starship of the Federation. Every species holds the launch of their first starship in high regards, and for many of us, Bajor included, our firsts were centuries ahead of the Humans of Earth. The Enterprise wasn't even the first warp-capable ship; that honor went to a warp core with chairs tucked into a ballistic missile that coincidentally was named the Pheonix. But the NX-01 Enterprise did something that no other early warp vessel on any planet had done; it brought the species of the Federation together. That is why 250 years later a Bajoran captain is sitting on the bridge of a Prometheus-class Deep Space Tactical Cruiser waiting near Earth Spacedock for the celebrations of this anniversary.  One for the history books.

Discovery has been given an honor, however; we are to be an escort wing to the final flight of the USS Enterprise F.  And as luck would have it, as an escort we will be one of the first ships to display the Federation's newest soon to be revealed top-secret project. Oh which I am finally being given the actual information for... and to see exactly what is on my ship...

[Engineering - USS Discovery]

Lek sat in his office and was not happy. He'd been forced to step aside, in his own engine room no less, as yard apes installed the new Swarm program without so much as a 'by your leave'. Now that it was installed, between the installers underestimating his lobes to over hear much of their conversation as they worked and his own intimate knowledge of Discovery that allowed him to essentially reverse engineer the program, he was not happy.

The program was not unlike the command codes that all ships currently had, but this program was designed to allow a 'command' ship to link an entire of fleet of ships to fight as one unit. There was some merit to the tactic, but it was one of those 'good on paper' ideas that no field officer would ever believe was acceptable. An open command link like the Swarm program introduced a critical weakness, namely, if anyone could penetrate the link, they could assume command of all the ships using the link, which in the coming ceremony meant virtually the entirety of Starfleet.

"This is madness."

He snarled as he re-read the specifications of the program for the the tenth time. He drummed his fingers on his desk and made a decision.

"I don't care what Starfleet Command thinks, I'm going to rig a kill switch. Even if it ends my career, I refuse to let Discovery become a zombie for anyone, even for the Admiralty. This will take weeks because I'll have to do this on my own as I will not allow anyone else's career to be destroyed. I will start on my modifications as soon as this idiotic party is over."

Decision made, Lek's mood lightened as he began to think through how he'd go about disabling the Swarm, which was actually an interesting engineering problem.

[Lorut Vila]

USS Discovery
Bridge/Ops console
Stardate 78288.5  (April 16, 2401)

Vila sat next to Commander trLhoell, silent. She was typing quickly, however, running regular checks on the systems and sensors they'd require to reach Earth in time for whatever dumb celebration these people had planned. It promised to be a snoozefest, but maybe she could find a cute Helmsman or something to make it worthwhile.

"Sir, systems are go," she said, and fell quiet again. One of these days, these people would figure out that Vila didn't care about making chit-chat or small talk. She was there to do a job, and she did it fine.

When the new arrivals transported aboard, she couldn't help but glare. Just what she needed-more people to annoy and bother her.

"I'll man the consoles," she muttered. They both knew it was probably for the best that Vila didn't interact with people. Yet. Maybe never. She was bored, and that usually spelled disaster. At this point, she'd take busy work.

[Tekin Nevir]

[Bridge]

Today was the day. Currently, Kinley was keeping an eye  on the scanners while the ship was heading  down to Earth for all the festivities, and it was pretty exciting that they were selected to be a part of the honor guard. It was certainly going to be one heck of a celebration. Dressed in her formal teals and nice lab coat, Kinley was currently trying to ignore the  jitters she was feeling. Not like that this wasn't one heck of a major event. She had done overtime to help finish the Breen translation matrix  in time for this event, which was already being brought up for the celebration, so she had felt a good amount of pressure about getting that done.

From what she had heard, Today was hyped to be something  really special. Not to mention an admiral came to do their inspections before the events had happened. She had her own thoughts about all the pomp and stuff, but it was a special occasion, so apparently it was warranted.

Noting the new ensign- Ruthie was it?- as she came onboard, Kinley nodded with a smile and gave the ensign her seat, standing instead by the big chair, looking out at the viewport and the distant starbase.   "œCaptain, Commander, it looks like we're pretty close to ready  with the scanners. Everything is running smoothly on that end. she reported.

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery-B - Deck One - Bridge] Stardate 78288.5  (April 16, 2401)

Rayek had stood attentively by his command seat while the Admiral did her inspection of the Bridge.  He was ambivalent about the Frontier Day celebrations.  While he understood the Fleet's need to celebrate such a landmark accomplishment in its history, the paranoid Romulan thought it a folly to have so much of the Fleet's ships to be clustered in one location.   He didn't envy the chaos that was likely happening throughout the rest of the Federation with so few ships assigned to patrolling the Federations borders.   It was a perfect opportunity for those looking to avoid detection by Starfleet.

He offered a slight bow toward the departing Admiral and then smiled slightly as the new Ensign replaced the Admiral on the Bridge.   Rayek knew Ruthie somewhat from his time on Katra.  The eldest Falleq child would come visit her mother, Hrafn, the then Chief Science Officer on Katra, during her Academy summer break.

Rayek had been pleased to see she'd been assigned to the Discovery.

"Of course, Captain" The Romulan stepped forward after the Captain's request and gestured for Ruthie to follow him.

"This way, Ensign.  Given your specialization in Xeno-linguistics, I have assigned you to our Communications section, typically an Operations role but fitting for your particular expertise.  You will report to Lieutenant Banan for this task alone.  You will still report to Commander Garrison of the Science department for any other duties she may ask of you.  Is that understood?"

Afterwards, before turning back to his seat to allow her to opportunity to settle in, Rayek once more offered to the young Trill an approving smile.

"Welcome aboard, Ensign"

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

Nevir smiled as he watched his daughter take her place on the bridge of his ship.  Was it a bit nepotistic to give her a spot on the bridge?  Probably... but he wanted her to be there to see such a celebration.

"Thank you, Miss Garrison, Commander. I have learned from Admiral Shelby that our key feature, the Multi-vector Assault Mode, is apparently too... out of date... to be compatible with the new fleet networking.  I have been assured that this is something Starfleet Engineering is working on for the future.  Its been manually disabled today for the ceremonies, and then we'll have the Corps of Engineers reconnect it while they test with our systems. Ops, keep that in mind when checking ship systems. It will be showing as an error until its reestablished." the Captain stated, looking up at the gathered ships near Earth Spacedock.

He had to admit, it was an impressive sight.  Not even at the lowest point in the Dominion war, nor even the attacks by the Borg, were there so many ships stationed above Earth.  Many of the Captains here shared his concerns about the number of ships pulled out of dry dock, and pulled from the Federation space for such an event.  He looked down at his PADD, which held the mission for after Frontier Day... a parade around the Federation planets as part of the example test fleet.  They wanted a ship visually impressive, and Discovery was lucky to be assigned.

Ruthie took her seat at the offered station, ending up near Vila.  She looked up at Rayek, and smiled.  "Thank you, Commander tr'Lhoell, its an honor to get this assignment, even if temporary." she stated, looking up the communications status and running a scan on the translator.

[Kinley Garrison]

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery-B - Deck One - Bridge] Stardate 78288.5  (April 16, 2401)

Rayek had stood attentively by his command seat while the Admiral did her inspection of the Bridge.  He was ambivalent about the Frontier Day celebrations.  While he understood the Fleet's need to celebrate such a landmark accomplishment in its history, the paranoid Romulan thought it a folly to have so much of the Fleet's ships to be clustered in one location.   He didn't envy the chaos that was likely happening throughout the rest of the Federation with so few ships assigned to patrolling the Federations borders.   It was a perfect opportunity for those looking to avoid detection by Starfleet.

He offered a slight bow toward the departing Admiral and then smiled slightly as the new Ensign replaced the Admiral on the Bridge.   Rayek knew Ruthie somewhat from his time on Katra.  The eldest Falleq child would come visit her mother, Hrafn, the then Chief Science Officer on Katra, during her Academy summer break.

Rayek had been pleased to see she'd been assigned to the Discovery.

"Of course, Captain" The Romulan stepped forward after the Captain's request and gestured for Ruthie to follow him.

"This way, Ensign.  Given your specialization in Xeno-linguistics, I have assigned you to our Communications section, typically an Operations role but fitting for your particular expertise.  You will report to Lieutenant Banan for this task alone.  You will still report to Commander Garrison of the Science department for any other duties she may ask of you.  Is that understood?"

Afterwards, before turning back to his seat to allow her to opportunity to settle in, Rayek once more offered to the young Trill an approving smile.

"Welcome aboard, Ensign"

[Bridge]

Kinley grinned. she actually liked mentoring newbies. And to be honest, she felt a bit of an honor to help out Tekin's kid, especially after he had helped mentor her when she was an ensign barely out of the Academy herself all those years ago. She definitely wanted to pay back the favor that got her this far. "œGlad to have you aboard Miss Falleq. I'm Commander Garrison. We can get you settled in the labs when all's said and done,

Noting that Ruthie was going on the comms, Kinley nodded and tapped her commbadge.  She still wanted someone to take the scanners so she could better keep an eye on all the computers in general and the data that was streaming onto her PADD "œMr. Ramort, Could you come up to the bridge to help man the scanners? Thanks. she said, before straightening herself and stifling a somewhat tired yawn from all the overtime she did the past couple of days.

[Alexander Graham]

[USS Discovery-Bridge]

Alex made sure that everything was ready to go and running smoothly. He wasn't sure if the flight control chief wanted to be in the pilot chair this time. If that was the case then he would just be at the station where he is needed. He wanted to be ready just in case he was needed in the helm.

[Dem Broadshire]

[Dem's personal quarters | USS Discovery]

Clasping his rank pips back on his collar, Dem took a deep breath and looked at himself in the mirror. Deep bags welled under his eyes from his tumultuous sleep, and a stubbly beard had grown from shaving neglect. Taking a deep breath in, he prepared himself for his first step back into active duty from his stress leave, knowing full well that he had only gotten worse.

A few hours later.

[Bridge | USS Discovery]

Taking a deep breath, Dem walked across the bridge, staring at his feet on the ground, trying to disassociate from everything that had happened between these bulkheads. Eventually looking up, he spoke to the Commander. "œCommander tr"Lhoell, I have completed my audit of all scientific and medical facilities as requested, they are all up to scratch, working at peak efficiency. I have sent through my report.

[James Ramort]

Noting that Ruthie was going on the comms, Kinley nodded and tapped her commbadge.  She still wanted someone to take the scanners so she could better keep an eye on all the computers in general and the data that was streaming onto her PADD "œMr. Ramort, Could you come up to the bridge to help man the scanners? Thanks. she said, before straightening herself and stifling a somewhat tired yawn from all the overtime she did the past couple of days.

[Science Lab 2]

Ramort had been in Science Lab 2 when he received the call to the Bridge, running a routine diagnostic on a new Mark III Multiphasic Subspace Scanners. It wasn't the most important task in light of the overall activity onboard but he had done his part ensuring the Lab was polished and the entire gear working up to spec and maybe even a bit beyond that. He knew the entire Academy would be looking up into the skies today. Hundreds of Cadets, just like he was until recently, witnessing an event like there never had been before. He had the opportunity to take a few looks out the viewports before his duty shift started and the sight was baffling. When he arrived, there had been many ships in Orbit but now it was an Armada made up of everything Starfleet had to offer and it was mightily impressive in Ramorts opinion.

He had noticed some fuss going in Engineering but as long as they weren't about to cut power to the labs for the next couple days he doubted he would notice much of what was going on there. The celebrations would be impressive but business as usual would probably resume shortly and he was burning to finally sink his teeth into his first true anomaly.

When the call came he was thankful for it though. The bridge would be the best sport to witness the event and he also never had been to the bridge, so close to all the Senior Staff.
Dilligently he locked down the station he just worked on and instructed the Computer to sent the feed of the diagnostic subroutine to the sensor station on the bridge so he could keep monitor it even when taking a new task up there, he didn't want to appear slacking on this important day. Apparently, even an Admin would be part of the Maneuver.

"Acknowledged, on my way to the Bridge!"

[Turbolift 1]

In the Turbolift he quickly checked his reflection in a panel again, his uniform was freshly replicated this morning for the occasion, his single silver Rank Pip, his mark as an Ensign, polished and without any scratch. Everything about him screamed new but the effort he hoped the effort he had taken to be perfectly in order for the main event would show. To calm his nerves, he conjured up images from his family home in New Berlin. The endless Stars in the Sky and the moving points of light between them. Today he truly was part of one of those lights. Then the Turbolift arrived.

[Main Bridge]

He stepped out of the Turbolift and was surprised with all the people present. The Bridge was bigger than he expected but also filled with far more Officers than he had expected. Dominated by Command Red of course, it was also his first chance to take a look his Captain and his XO. Not wanting to stare though he quickly hasted to the secondary Science Station 2. The diagnostic feed for the subspace sensors he had sent up already greeted him with an update ping. The Diagnostic was nearly finished with 95% and counting. Short Range Scanners indicated the Discovery slowly moving among the giant Formation to keep their relative position to Space Dock 1. Long Range Scanners indicated hundreds of civilian vessels outside the cordoned off area, probably there to take a first-hand glance off the ensuing celebrations.

[J.B Dersch]

| Ensign JB Dersch | SEC/TAC | USS Discovery | Weapon Locker |

Dersch as always was in the weapons locker checking it weapons, Today was the day, The Discovery become a Escort to the Final flight of the Enterprise F, Man, He loved the Odyssey class ship, But what had him was what class would the Enterprise G be?  It could be any type, Hopefully it ugly. He continued the Check. Over his leave, he had managed lots of family time, including showing Katie the Discovery, which she loved. He might have started a future interest in Star Fleet, He did believe his daughter could go far in life, But she seemed to love the job he had, Which was the most dangerous job in the Star Fleet Department list. He had wished Katie could meet Tanner, those two seems like a good friend match, Even Olivia would like Tanner. She had been promoted to Lt. and given the Cheif SEC/tAC spot, Olivia was full of happiness when he told her he been promoted to Lt. JG, He told her it wasn't that big of a deal, But Olivia being Olivia made the biggest deal. He pulled out his PADD checked another thing off, and put the item back in the Locker, He had requested to get more transporter Enhancer packs, But it seemed to be on the low list of needs, Which he understood, most of Star Fleet resources were being put in the Frontier day, All he wanted was those to get deliver before their next Big Away mission. He then went back to the next row, Which had tons of new Crates. Looks like we got new Weapons He walked over and opened the cates, Rows of Phaser Rifles were stacked inside. Seems these are the new and improved ones, with the better grip and better Shoulder pad, Before when the older models fired, It slammed into you Shoulder, The LAPD got some of those, Damn those things hurt He begun to add those to the Inventory and add them to the empty lockers.

[Rayek trLhoell]

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery-B - Deck One - Bridge] Stardate 78288.5  (April 16, 2401)

"Sir, systems are go," she said, and fell quiet again. One of these days, these people would figure out that Vila didn't care about making chit-chat or small talk. She was there to do a job, and she did it fine.

When the new arrivals transported aboard, she couldn't help but glare. Just what she needed-more people to annoy and bother her.

"I'll man the consoles," she muttered. They both knew it was probably for the best that Vila didn't interact with people. Yet. Maybe never. She was bored, and that usually spelled disaster. At this point, she'd take busy work.

Hearing Ensign Lorut's report prior to Ruthie's arrival, Rayek gave a nod toward the Bajoran Ops officer.  "Thank you, Ensign."

He tick-marked that off his ship's status checklist.  The first of many status reports he needed prior to his being able to say the ship was ready.

He had just been about to give a general call out to all stations when Ruthie arrived, interrupting his schedule slightly.

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

Nevir smiled as he watched his daughter take her place on the bridge of his ship.  Was it a bit nepotistic to give her a spot on the bridge?  Probably... but he wanted her to be there to see such a celebration.

"Thank you, Miss Garrison, Commander. I have learned from Admiral Shelby that our key feature, the Multi-vector Assault Mode, is apparently too... out of date... to be compatible with the new fleet networking.  I have been assured that this is something Starfleet Engineering is working on for the future.  Its been manually disabled today for the ceremonies, and then we'll have the Corps of Engineers reconnect it while they test with our systems. Ops, keep that in mind when checking ship systems. It will be showing as an error until its reestablished." the Captain stated, looking up at the gathered ships near Earth Spacedock.

He had to admit, it was an impressive sight.  Not even at the lowest point in the Dominion war, nor even the attacks by the Borg, were there so many ships stationed above Earth.  Many of the Captains here shared his concerns about the number of ships pulled out of dry dock, and pulled from the Federation space for such an event.  He looked down at his PADD, which held the mission for after Frontier Day... a parade around the Federation planets as part of the example test fleet.  They wanted a ship visually impressive, and Discovery was lucky to be assigned.

Ruthie took her seat at the offered station, ending up near Vila.  She looked up at Rayek, and smiled.  "Thank you, Commander tr'Lhoell, its an honor to get this assignment, even if temporary." she stated, looking up the communications status and running a scan on the translator.

No sooner had Rayek sat down about to make that general call again, than the Captain informed him about the networking issues in regards to the MVA mode.  Having it disabled didn't make the Romulan feel any better about the upgrade to the Fleet mode.   But there was literally nothing he could do about it.   He nodded in acknowledgement of this news.  "Yes Captain. Duly noted."

He tapped comm badge while there was a free moment.

"All stations - report your readiness to your Department Chief.  Chiefs, report your department status within 5 minutes."

[USS Discovery-Bridge]

Alex made sure that everything was ready to go and running smoothly. He wasn't sure if the flight control chief wanted to be in the pilot chair this time. If that was the case then he would just be at the station where he is needed. He wanted to be ready just in case he was needed in the helm.

Rayek looked over the Bridge noting that Lieutenant Grippen wasn't present yet.  That wasn't like the Risan officer.  The Romulan would give the man 5 minutes to report in before having Lieutenant Lachlyn send someone to track down the officer.

Rayek also noted that Lieutenant Broadshire also wasn't present - and hadn't been since his collapse on the bridge during the incident with the USS Jupiter.   The Romulan checked his roster and noted that Dem had been signed off by Dr. Betaika as fit to return to duty earlier that morning.

Rayek pondered checking in on the medical officer but was saved from having to do so by Broadshire's timely arrival.

[Dem's personal quarters | USS Discovery]

Clasping his rank pips back on his collar, Dem took a deep breath and looked at himself in the mirror. Deep bags welled under his eyes from his tumultuous sleep, and a stubbly beard had grown from shaving neglect. Taking a deep breath in, he prepared himself for his first step back into active duty from his stress leave, knowing full well that he had only gotten worse.

A few hours later.

[Bridge | USS Discovery]

Taking a deep breath, Dem walked across the bridge, staring at his feet on the ground, trying to disassociate from everything that had happened between these bulkheads. Eventually looking up, he spoke to the Commander. "œCommander tr'Lhoell, I have completed my audit of all scientific and medical facilities as requested, they are all up to scratch, working at peak efficiency. I have sent through my report."

Rayek took one look at the medical officer and he questioned Dr. Betaika's assessment of 'fit for duty'.   While the scruffy look was one that Rayek himself sported - mainly because Tess claimed he looked sexier - it was not a look that did the doctor any favours in that respect.   The man look sallow.

Acknowledging the doctor's report with a "Thank you, Doctor." and tick marking it off his checklist automatically, Rayek then gestured the man closer to speak privately.   "Are you feeling well enough to be on Bridge, Lieutenant?"

[Main Bridge]

He stepped out of the Turbolift and was surprised with all the people present. The Bridge was bigger than he expected but also filled with far more Officers than he had expected. Dominated by Command Red of course, it was also his first chance to take a look his Captain and his XO. Not wanting to stare though he quickly hasted to the secondary Science Station 2. The diagnostic feed for the subspace sensors he had sent up already greeted him with an update ping. The Diagnostic was nearly finished with 95% and counting. Short Range Scanners indicated the Discovery slowly moving among the giant Formation to keep their relative position to Space Dock 1. Long Range Scanners indicated hundreds of civilian vessels outside the cordoned off area, probably there to take a first-hand glance off the ensuing celebrations.

A short while later, another of the ship's new complement of officers - newly picked up at Spacedock the day previous, arrived on the Bridge.   Rayek looked over the young officer and nodded in greeting, recognizing the Ensign from his personnel file Rayek had reviewed last night after finally receiving the information.  It seemed Starfleet Headquarters was in a bit of chaos with all the Frontier Day preparations - and files had been misplaced temporarily.

He noted how the officer went straight to his station and smiled in approval, before rising from his seat to walk over toward Science 2.

"Mr. Ramort, welcome to the Bridge." Rayek addressed the man with a slight nod of his head in greeting. "Jolan tru. I am Lieutenant Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell, the ship's First Officer.  When you have a moment, you should present yourself to the Captain; and be sure after the festivities to book yourself for a Meet and Greet with me so we can get to know one another better."

[Kinley Garrison]

Hangar bay]

[As Ensign Murphy]

Ensign Christopher Murphy was as usual, busy working on the shuttles. While he wasn't in any way expecting they'd be useful during the celebrations, he did want to get it done as soon as possible so he and his buddy Harrington could join the rest of the crew down in 10-forward to watch the celebrations on the live stream on the holonet. McNamara  even mentioned that they were going to bring out some of the good stuff to drink as the ships were doing their thing! Totally automated even! He'd have to tell Dennis the duck all about it when he got back to his bunk.

"œI wonder how all this stuff will go. It's gotta be really something in order to bring so many ships together. " mentioned Harrington as he finished up polishing the sensors. "œYou said that right. Wonder how they're going to pull it off. That has to be incredibly complicated to run. I've done MVA, and even then, that's only just a small scale . And all without having to touch the controls. Think they might take our jobs?" "œCertainly hope not. Well, looks like we're good." said Harrington, hopping down to the floor

Finishing the final tune ups, he patted the shuttles. They were good little ships, and all set and even polished to a shine.

"œEnsign Murphy reporting that all the shuttles are operational and ready. "

[James Ramort]

A short while later, another of the ship's new complement of officers - newly picked up at Spacedock the day previous, arrived on the Bridge.   Rayek looked over the young officer and nodded in greeting, recognizing the Ensign from his personnel file Rayek had reviewed last night after finally receiving the information.  It seemed Starfleet Headquarters was in a bit of chaos with all the Frontier Day preparations - and files had been misplaced temporarily.

He noted how the officer went straight to his station and smiled in approval, before rising from his seat to walk over toward Science 2.

"Mr. Ramort, welcome to the Bridge." Rayek addressed the man with a slight nod of his head in greeting. "Jolan tru. I am Lieutenant Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell, the ship's First Officer.  When you have a moment, you should present yourself to the Captain; and be sure after the festivities to book yourself for a Meet and Greet with me so we can get to know one another better."

[USS Discovery - Main Bridge - Science Station 2]

His terminal produced a nearly silent ping and gave a visual warning a subroutine had finished its task, the subspace scanners were finished with their diagnostic. Now confirmed again to be configured up to the newest specs. It would probably take some time before they were put to use, it didn't look like science was going to be needed much through the celebrations. He logged the completion of the setup and turned back towards the other sensor threads. Readings kept getting more and more crowded with the effects of so many warp capable ship moving close to each other, now their subspace impact also made visible, like hundreds of small waves created by rocks flicked across a ponds surface but hindered in radiating out by a hundred other waves also trying to take up space resulting in miniature vortexes before collapsing back into the strange layers of subspace leaving only faint readings that would have eluded normal sensors. He made them part of his sensor log and sent it over to the Helm Station. He didn't know the Flight Control Officer, so it was unsure if they even needed this info since the disturbances in subspace were so minor, but protocol demanded he send it and today really wasn't a day to stray from protocol.

Caught up in the Sensors he nearly missed the steps behind him and had to control himself to not make a little jump when he heard the voice of the Commander behind him.
He quickly turned around standing at attention, not wanting to be found lacking the XO in his first impression.

"Sir, yes sir! I will book right after the celebrations if that is acceptable. I just finished work on the subspace Sensors, Discovery is a fascinating ship, I never had the chance to measure blinking subspace vortices with such high definition, I mean.. Diagnostic of primary Subspace Sensors completed and logged."

He had allowed his excitement to get the better of him after all, now he could only hope his little break from protocol would not be weighed too negatively. His statement was, Discoveries Sensors allowed him to observe the vortexes in a Detail he had not been able to see before but it wasn't like the commander had asked. He should have restricted himself to the report. Hopefully the Commander would be able to understand his excitement.