S6: E1 - The Prime Recommendation

[Jettis Jyur]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian snorted at science officer's outrage and replied sardonically.

"I'll have you know Mister Jyur, Lieutenant Randall has been doin' yeoman work while you were off galavantin' wherever you were galavantin'."

As Ian was well aware of Jettis' opinion on the matter, he decided to yank the El-Aurian's chain.

"As we're ta be chartin' new space, we happen ta have a stellar cartography specialist aboard and I'm certain Hyperion would be glad ta lend you a hand."

[Captain's Ready Room - USS Challenger]

Since the rendezvous with the Farragut, Ian had been reading through the personnel files of the new crew that had beamed aboard. Most were young, so very painfully young. It was hard to believe that these people were old enough to drive let alone be in Starfleet.

After he finished reading, he knew he had to meet with everyone. As there were so many, one on ones would happen in time, but he knew he would have to at least talk to them all together before the individual meetings would occur. However, before he spoke to everyone, he knew what he had to do first.

"All hands. This is the Captain. Staff meetin' in ten minutes in the briefin' room on deck one. For those of you uncertain as ta who will be attendin', this means Lieutenant Espada, Lieutenant Mrekrerhas, Lieutnant Cordon, Lieutenant Booker, Lieutenant Jyur, and Doctor Kartos. That is all."

As he had read through the files, he had tagged a few of the new personnel for follow up and began to re-read those files.

[USS Challenger - Bridge ]

A slightly sour look crossed Jettis' face as he was reminded of the ai specialist that was aboard. He'd forgotten - a bit intentionally, if he was honest.
"I'll be sure to consult with him as I feel the need arise," he responded a tad bitterly, before moving to take his station and relieve Randall.

Unfortunately for him, he did have to consult the bot. The sheer volume of work it was to chart this area was staggering. He was used to charting new spaces, but this was immense, and Starfleet, of course, wanted it to be thoroughly done.

The new transfers added another kink to that, as he briefly took a break to check who they were losing, and who they were getting. His department wasn't hit too hard, thankfully, but there was yet another influx of new graduates to train. He sighed - Starfleet had been essentially throwing them to the sharks and hoping they swam. He understood why - the  disaster of Frontier day hit them hard. It hit everybody hard. But he was growing tired of new cadets doing their rotations and ensigns who couldn't even complete a titration getting saddled with him. This was precisely why he'd declined the offer to teach at the Academy.

Returning to his earlier task up until the Captain called a meeting, no doubt motivated by the sudden losses and their current objective, he sighed and pulled up the crew manifest again. Scrolling through his department idly, he moved until he landed on a name to call up to the bridge to relieve him briefly.

Using the rest of his ten minutes to shoot his daughter a message and replicate a coffee to down, he moved to the briefing room, arriving precisely on time.

[Jalen Kartos]

Jalen looked over as Jackie brought their food to the table, just as the Captain chimed in with his announcement.

"All hands. This is the Captain. Staff meetin' in ten minutes in the briefin' room on deck one. For those of you uncertain as ta who will be attendin', this means Lieutenant Espada, Lieutenant Mrekrerhas, Lieutnant Cordon, Lieutenant Booker, Lieutenant Jyur, and Doctor Kartos. That is all."

Jalen stood up and smiled at Kyan,

"œWell, I think that we could do far better than a Nova for the Onlies. Maybe even a Defiant. But at the moment, it seems the Captain needs me. Though it's a bit surprising you aren't also on the announcement"¦" Jalen was suddenly overwhelmed by a feeling he hadn't felt in a very, very, long time and hand to brace himself on the table to keep from falling over.

"œOh great, just what we need right now." Jalen mumbled as he regained his center. The effect was similar to the Vertigo experienced by other humanoid species, but for the El-Aurian's it was experienced when they are in the proximity of space/time anomalies.

[Cole Shepard]

Bridge

Cole had maneuvered the ship to the rendezvous point and patiently awaited the crew swap. The Captain seemed a bit down but Cole wasn't sure what the circumstances were behind it. Shortly after the Challenger received her new crew members, the order was given and Cole resumed his course for the L7-425977 system. Now he was back to just watching his console and relaxing.

[Kyan Mackenzie]

"œWell, I think that we could do far better than a Nova for the Onlies. Maybe even a Defiant. But at the moment, it seems the Captain needs me. Though it's a bit surprising you aren't also on the announcement"¦" Jalen was suddenly overwhelmed by a feeling he hadn't felt in a very, very, long time and hand to brace himself on the table to keep from falling over.

"œOh great, just what we need right now." Jalen mumbled as he regained his center. The effect was similar to the Vertigo experienced by other humanoid species, but for the El-Aurian's it was experienced when they are in the proximity of space/time anomalies.

It was odd that Galloway hadn't included him in the meeting. But if it was a slight, Kyan wasn't bothered. In his estimation, meetings were the worst part about switching to a red shirt. Maybe Galloway felt the same way and was doing him a favor. If so Kyan would thank him for that.

He was about to say as much when the old doctor stumbled. "œAre ye ok?" Kyan asked, watching him warily. When grups started stumbling around for no reason it was almost always a bad omen. Kyan's imagination began spinning up scenarios of the various viruses he'd come in contact with over the years, not to mention the damned sex butterflies that Nira and the rest of then ran into on Angdarr. He looked to see if anyone else was having issues and was relieved to see that they weren't. Maybe it was just because Jalen was old. Although he knew better than to give voice to that theory. He'd called the El-Aurian old once shorty after they'd met and boasted that Kartos couldn't catch him.

He was wrong. Kyan had spent the next several hours cursing the doctors long legs.

When Jalen steadied himself and seemed to be fine, Kyan was relieved. The last thing he wanted was some damned virus or worse running loose on the ship.

~~Meanwhile, in the Shuttlebay"¦.

[Lieutenant J.G. James Greenway | Shuttle Bay, USS Challenger]

Lieutenant James Arthur Greenway, Jimmy to his friends, looked out over the shuttle bay in what he hoped was well concealed terror. Before him there were a bunch of new Ensigns, several dozen cadets, and a dozen or so civilians, some of which had children hanging off them or running around near them. There were sixty seven new members of the crew, which didn't include the family members accompanying some of them.

Greenway wasn't much of a public speaker, nor was he physically imposing. He was a guy who put a lot of effort into remaining fairly anonymous. "œJust a name on the roster." Is how he'd come to be known by most of the higher ups in his time on Challenger. He liked it that way. He did his assigned duties, and didn't draw attention to himself. He'd only made Lieutenant JG because he was efficient. At the time, James was happy to be promoted. But today he'd have given anything to be back to cleaning the holodeck or inventorying the equipment lockers.

James hadn't intended to join Starfleet. After school, he'd been all set to attend university

"œUmm.. Excuse me. Can I have your attention please." He called out, barely above his speaking voice and not nearly loud enough to be heard over the din of a multitude of other conversations. "œLadies and gentlemen if you would just"¦ umm"¦ "œ

"œHey! Don't touch that!" a human voice yelled out. "œGet away from there you little brat!"

Greenway could only look on as a human in science blue shoved a small Tellarite boy away from his belongings, which oddly hadn't been beamed to his quarters like everyone else's.

Another voice, this one female, answered. "œDon't touch my son."

"œKeep your nosy kid away from my stuff!"

"œWho in the hell do you think you're talking to!?"

The Tellarite, a civilian from what Greenway could see, was stomping toward the Human. What he didn't see was her son haul off and kick the angry man in the shin. He pushed the boy back in response, which was the wrong answer.

Before Greenway could even form words, the Tellarite mother had delivered a punch to the scientist's jaw that had knocked him on his ample backside. The other new people looked on, some in open-mouthed disbelief, but a few looked like they were enjoying the show.

"Wow! That was a decent punch momma! Of course dad could....."

The glare the excited boy got from his mother cut through even the Tellarite need to argue. Meanwhile, the Human was scrambling to his feet. The Tellarite woman pushed her son behind her and readied herself for more.

Greenway practically beat the com badge on his chest.

Greenway to Security... we have a problem in the shuttlebay!=/\=

[Aarwendil Cheizex]

[USS-Challenger/Bridge]

Aarwendil couldn't avoid thinking about everything that had happened during the last mission. It had been the first time that he had a nearly death experience, but at least everything ended well. The doomsday machine was destroyed, the Tal Shiar were stopped, he received a promotion and even Nekab's mother and their people were safe. The Romulan even decided to remain working in the Challenger.

However, he would never want to put his feet back on Andgarr. This planet was nice and all, but he had enough bad experiences there that made him want a long distance between himself and that place.

With everything back to normal, Aarwendil went back to work. He hoped that there wasn't going to be any nearly death experiences, but he wasn't going to bet about it.

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Deck 12 - Main Engineering]

As bad days go - and every day was a bad day since the Frontier Day massacre resulted in his Ruth being lost - this one wasn't as bad as it could have been.  Tharn was transferred off the ship - meaning Lahr might be permitted to get out of the backend Engineering more often.  There were rumors quietly whispered about who the new Chief would be.  Everyone knew the fleet was short-handed on experienced officers.  Would some new Lieutenant be transferred onto the ship?  Or would the fleet allow the Captain to pick from amongst the current crew?  Everyone one was waiting for a ship's announcement.

[Captain's Ready Room - USS Challenger]

Since the rendezvous with the Farragut, Ian had been reading through the personnel files of the new crew that had beamed aboard. Most were young, so very painfully young. It was hard to believe that these people were old enough to drive let alone be in Starfleet.

After he finished reading, he knew he had to meet with everyone. As there were so many, one on ones would happen in time, but he knew he would have to at least talk to them all together before the individual meetings would occur. However, before he spoke to everyone, he knew what he had to do first.

"All hands. This is the Captain. Staff meetin' in ten minutes in the briefin' room on deck one. For those of you uncertain as ta who will be attendin', this means Lieutenant Espada, Lieutenant Mrekrerhas, Lieutenant Cordon, Lieutenant Booker, Lieutenant Jyur, and Doctor Kartos. That is all."

As he had read through the files, he had tagged a few of the new personnel for follow up and began to re-read those files.

Lahr looked up hearing the Captain's voice come over the intercom.  Oh staff meeting... this was it.   A momentary flare of panic struck the Andorian.  What if the Captain called out his name? No way...  It would never happen. He was enlisted.  Right?!  He couldn't be given the Chief's role.

Still the Andorian waited with apprehensive breath until he heard Neva's name called.  Oh thank the Shards!

The Andorian looked over towards her station.  "Congratulations Lieutenant Cordon, seems like you get to be our next Chief.  I'll get the celebration details worked out while you go enjoy your meeting.  Don't worry, me and the others got the place covered until you get back."

[Ian Galloway]

[Briefing Room - Deck 1 - USS Challenger]

Ian entered the briefing room and took in the faces of his 'senior' staff. Of those present, only one could be considered senior in his opinion, Jettis in science. It was good to have one familiar face he knew he could count on. Zhuk, was chronologically young, but he had proven himself to be a solid officer and was another he could count on. The same could be said for Hector at flight. All three men had been aboard Challenger long enough to be old hands now.

His eye fell on Lieutenant Cordon, who was only just a lieutenant. Lieutenant Booker, and Doctor Kartos. His Chief Engineer, Operations Chief, and Chief Medical Officer were either brand new to the ship, brand new to their role, brand new to their rank, or all three at once. This was going to take some time to get used to losing so much experience, but that didn't stop them from having a mission they had to complete.

"Welcome all of you, welcome back ta some of you. I know most of you were not expecting ta be in the positions ta which you've been assigned. However, the 285th Rule of Acquisition tells us, that as we avoided the loss of our senior officers, they were in turn, needed ta replace officers that were nae so lucky. I knew we'd lose some of our senior people, I hadn't banked on losin' all of them.

"Key thing at a time like this is ta lean on each other. You are nae alone. Several of you are new ta Department Head status, so are your peers, they are goin' through the same adjustments that you are and will be of solid support ta you as you figure out your way forward.

"A complication all of you will be facin' is the integration of the new personnel into your departments. Most of them are either on their very first assignments, but a few are hard heads that are frequent flyers in the brig. We will figure it out. You have all of 30 hours ta get a feel for your departments before we reach the system we've been assigned ta observe. What we will find there is unknown, but lookin' into the unknown is the very core of Starfleet's existence. Let's see what there is ta see and go from there. Any questions?"

[Zhukdrashar Mrekrerhas]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

A ship at warp develops a rhythm as it travels. There are a myriad of tasks that must be accomplished to keep the ship and crew functioning properly. The Challenger was no different from any other ship in Starfleet in that respect. In addition to these mundane tasks, even when simply transiting from one place to another, a Starfleet ship was always busy. The most common thing a ship built for exploration would do at virtually all times was to scan the area around the ship to see what there was to see. Most of the time, ships were moving through well charted space or space that had been scanned by probes at one point. However, Challenger was doing something that spoke to the very core of Starfleet's existence, she was moving through uncharted space, so she was looking at the composition of this region of the void up close for the first time, and that was always exciting. The entire science department was working long shifts cataloging what they were detecting. Everyone from Lieutenant Jyur the Chief Science Officer through to the ship's astrometrics consultant Hyperion were capturing as much information as possible to increase the Federations staggering body of knowledge.

Regardless of this behind the scenes activity, it was Lieutenant Commander Catalan at Ops that broke the quiet with an announcement.

"Captain, we are being hailed by the USS Farragut."

Ian was a bit surprised as he thought the Challenger was the only ship in the area, but said.

"On screen."

The screen resolved to an older woman whose bald pate immediately marked her as a Deltan.

"Hello Captain Galloway, I am Captain Chiva. I have orders to rendezvous with Challenger for personnel exchange. I am sending you a file with the transfers approved by Starfleet Command."

Ian nodded as Chiva spoke as he he looked up the Farragut and saw she was one of the new Inquiry-Class starships equipped with quantum slipstream, which neatly explained how the ship showed up in an area that she shouldn't have been. He dearly loved Challenger, but slipstream was a game changer and was the thing that was going to put his beloved ship out to pasture one day.

"Understood Captain, opening the file now."

He scanned through the file as it confirmed his worst fears as he thought

"Tharn, no shock there. Catalan, same. Oh buggerin' hell. Fellows."

The rest of the conversation with Chiva became indistinct as he realized he was going to be separated from Jess again. He sighed and managed to say.

"We'll be ready Captain. Galloway out."

Ian took it upon himself to notify those about to be transferred personally. They would only have an hour to pack, so time was short. He let Catalan know immediately as he was on the bridge. He then went down to engineering to let Tharn know and after a particularly fine string of curses, she said.

"As far as humans go, you don't suck like most do."

"I'll miss you too Dashlish."

Ian then took the long turbolift ride to sickbay. Jess was in her office and as soon as she saw his expression, she knew something was up.

"What's happened?"

"No easy way ta say this love. You're bein' transferred. Due ta the losses from last year, I'm losin' all the lieutenant commanders ta other ships. Great opportunities for all of you. By the way, congratulations are in order Commander Fellows. Seems the transfers come with promotions."

"Not much of a consolation."

"Aye, I ken full well. I guess tis only fair, I had ta split us up when I made Commander, seems only fittin' you get ta do the same when you do as well."

Jess managed a small smile, very small.

"There is that."

She stood and moved to stand next to Ian.

"You won't forget me will you?"

She said half-teasingly.

"Don't be a daft git. We made long distance work before, we can do it again."

"Good answer."

She then leaned in and gave Ian a very passionate kiss regardless of who might be able to see. When she broke contact.

"Remember that. I've got to pack."

Ian stood in silence, breathless, and nodded.

"Aye Lass. No forgettin' that."

Ian then sadly made his way back to the bridge. The rendezvous happened exactly an hour later as the Farragut dropped out of her slipstream channel within 50,000 kilometers of the stationary Challenger. Pleasantries were exchanged and then the transporters on both ships began to hum with activity.

Challenger technically got the better of the exchange in that 34 personnel were transferred off the ship, the senior officers as well as a leavening of experienced enlisted personnel, all clearly chosen to form the cadre for other ships. In return, Challenger gained 67 new people. Of these, 18 were newly graduated ensigns fresh from the Academy, 40 were fourth year cadets attending their cadet cruises, and 9 were civilian medical personnel. These last were an experiment Starfleet was trying out to fill in losses from Frontier Day. Whether the plan would work or not was unknown and it fell to the crew of the Challenger to make every effort to make it succeed.

When the last of the personnel transfers were complete, Chiva bid Galloway goodbye and the Farragut disappeared inside another slipstream corridor. Wistfully, Ian gave the order to resume course for the L7-425977 system and Challenger leapt back to her sedate warp 8. What she thought of these changes, no one thought to ask.

[Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Bridge | Deck One | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A | En route to L7-425977 System]

Zhukdra'shar dutifully kept his attention on the Tactical console when the USS Farragut contacted them. Lieutenant Commander Catalan broke the news as he proceeded to inform the Captain, and with it, the rest of the Bridge of its arrival. Soon, a rather beautiful, mature Deltan appeared on the screen. The Captain, to be precise. And Chiva was her name. His concentration finally got broken as he listened to what she had to say, at first, due to his interest in her particularly. But soon enough, the news of the crew transfer once more shifted his focus.

Oh no. So it was not only Commander Said?

He listened to the rest of her conversation, keeping his dissatisfaction hidden under his stoic attitude, as he usually did. His tail, however, vibrated low and stiff, close to the ground. It sometimes thrashed sideways.

He could not believe this. It was an affront! The crew meshed well together. He knew how they operated, how they worked together. And now he had to forget them to make new space to learn the newcomers' names, disposition, and history. Sending messages to them was not feasible, and he was not sure that would be appropriate. He cared for them, though he had not spent that much time getting to know them. So he did not know if it was appropriate to long for them.

Maybe it was his past getting to him again. His family was leaving once more. It was being taken from him! Unacceptable. Completely and utterly unacceptable!

His inner tirade continued for a while. Eventually, though, he got his feelings under control. Seeing the Captain momentarily leave his post to head over to the turbolift made him think of doing the same. But he could not abandon his post, correct? And so he decided to remain on the Bridge, monitoring the situation, and resigning himself to not be able to say goodbye.

He supposed it was for the best.

~~Meanwhile, in the Shuttlebay"¦.

[Lieutenant J.G. James Greenway | Shuttle Bay, USS Challenger]

Lieutenant James Arthur Greenway, Jimmy to his friends, looked out over the shuttle bay in what he hoped was well concealed terror. Before him there were a bunch of new Ensigns, several dozen cadets, and a dozen or so civilians, some of which had children hanging off them or running around near them. There were sixty seven new members of the crew, which didn't include the family members accompanying some of them.

Greenway wasn't much of a public speaker, nor was he physically imposing. He was a guy who put a lot of effort into remaining fairly anonymous. "œJust a name on the roster." Is how he'd come to be known by most of the higher ups in his time on Challenger. He liked it that way. He did his assigned duties, and didn't draw attention to himself. He'd only made Lieutenant JG because he was efficient. At the time, James was happy to be promoted. But today he'd have given anything to be back to cleaning the holodeck or inventorying the equipment lockers.

James hadn't intended to join Starfleet. After school, he'd been all set to attend university

"œUmm.. Excuse me. Can I have your attention please." He called out, barely above his speaking voice and not nearly loud enough to be heard over the din of a multitude of other conversations. "œLadies and gentlemen if you would just"¦ umm"¦ "œ

"œHey! Don't touch that!" a human voice yelled out. "œGet away from there you little brat!"

Greenway could only look on as a human in science blue shoved a small Tellarite boy away from his belongings, which oddly hadn't been beamed to his quarters like everyone else's.

Another voice, this one female, answered. "œDon't touch my son."

"œKeep your nosy kid away from my stuff!"

"œWho in the hell do you think you're talking to!?"

The Tellarite, a civilian from what Greenway could see, was stomping toward the Human. What he didn't see was her son haul off and kick the angry man in the shin. He pushed the boy back in response, which was the wrong answer.

Before Greenway could even form words, the Tellarite mother had delivered a punch to the scientist's jaw that had knocked him on his ample backside. The other new people looked on, some in open-mouthed disbelief, but a few looked like they were enjoying the show.

"Wow! That was a decent punch momma! Of course dad could....."

The glare the excited boy got from his mother cut through even the Tellarite need to argue. Meanwhile, the Human was scrambling to his feet. The Tellarite woman pushed her son behind her and readied herself for more.

Greenway practically beat the com badge on his chest.

Greenway to Security... we have a problem in the shuttlebay!

[Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Main Shuttlebay | Deck Nineteen | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A | En route to L7-425977 System]

As luck would have it, while the transfer was taking place, there was a call for Security to intervene. Perhaps, it had not been appropriate, but Zhuk immediately jumped out of the Terminal to head there. He felt that it was ideal for him to determine what was transpiring, and let himself be known as a strong Chief of Security. So he took a ride down the turbolift to the shuttlebay, taking a deep breath to prepare himself for what would be needed to be done, and wondering what had exactly transpired.

"Acknowledged, Lieutenant Junior Grade Greenway. I shalt be there shortly."

Indeed, as soon as Zhuk's turbolift took him to his destination, he sprinted out the doors to reach the region where the commotion was taking place as soon as possible. He was joined by a couple of members from his Security team, Blackfeather, and Zala, who had gotten there first before the others. Good.

When he reached the area, he was surprised that it was not some kind of hostile force or peculiar event that defied logic, but instead a fight between a scientist and a rather angry Tellerite mother.

Zhuk frowned, his ears flattening on his skull, though his advance was never halted, doing his best to seem as imposing as Koloz.  Once he was close enough, he cleared his throat, to get their attention. He thought of bringing out his Type-2 hand phaser and shooting in the air as a greater show of force. However, ultimately, he decanted for just channeling his inner Caitian warrior,

"Halt at once with your pointless squabble!" He placed his foot down, as he stared down at the scientist and the Tellarite mother, a passing glance at her son, "This improper behavior shalt be annotated on the registry. Furthermore, where you to continue with this shameful display, I shalt confine you within the brig for a few hours. Am I clear?"

The scientist and the Tellarite mother almost immediately began to retort back at Zhuk's reasonable requests,

"Hey, it was the snotling who began to bother me first! And then she punched me in the face!"

"Snotling?! You are nothing but a walking disgrace who's had a few kilos too much! If you graduated from sciences, I am sure it was at the last of your class! Never touch my child again!" She threatened with her fist again, before Zhuk intervened once more, stepping in front of them, "I politely asked you to stop. This is a rather improper way to handle yourself, regardless of who started it. I reassure you that there will be consequences."

Zhuk, though marginally taller than the Tellarite, placed his hands on his hips and stood his ground. She was forced to look over at him and stared him down, "You don't seem that tough, fuzz-ball. If I can beat down the tub of lard, then I can do the same to you."

Zhuk offered her a smirk, before returning to his serious, unfriendly expression, and he crossed his arms, "Such a course of action would be ill-advised, I am afraid, Miss Tallowcatch. Perhaps, an introduction would be in order. But I am Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekererhas. Currently, I hold the position of Chief of Security. Thus, I am not only certain that my authority far exceeds yours but also, you will come to find that I can certainly make my warning a reality. Now... what thou say?"

She offered Zhuk a glare, but ultimately acquiesced, pulling her child along, "Bah... let's go, child. I better not see you again, you two-bit quack!" She warned the scientist, who was about to reply before Zhuk offered him a stare, which made him begrudgingly shut up.

"Now that is settled... I would like to welcome you to the USS Challenger, new arrivals. Once more, I am to remind you that such behavior within the ship, as so scandalously displayed by our two subjects here, shalt not be tolerated. Please, refrain from having Security requiring to act with matters such as these. Defer to using words and calm minds to solve thy issues. We are to work together in this new endeavor as a crew of mature, rational individuals. Thus, do act as such."

[Captain's Ready Room - USS Challenger]

Since the rendezvous with the Farragut, Ian had been reading through the personnel files of the new crew that had beamed aboard. Most were young, so very painfully young. It was hard to believe that these people were old enough to drive let alone be in Starfleet.

After he finished reading, he knew he had to meet with everyone. As there were so many, one on ones would happen in time, but he knew he would have to at least talk to them all together before the individual meetings would occur. However, before he spoke to everyone, he knew what he had to do first.

"All hands. This is the Captain. Staff meetin' in ten minutes in the briefin' room on deck one. For those of you uncertain as ta who will be attendin', this means Lieutenant Espada, Lieutenant Mrekrerhas, Lieutnant Cordon, Lieutenant Booker, Lieutenant Jyur, and Doctor Kartos. That is all."

As he had read through the files, he had tagged a few of the new personnel for follow up and began to re-read those files.

Zhukdra'shar's ears swished as he overheard the call for the Captain to head over to the Briefing room. Good timing, he supposed.

"My apologies. But it seems that I am required elsewhere," He turned towards Blackfeather, "Chief Petty Officer Blackfeather, please be so kind as to inquire the names of the three implicated individuals with Mister Greenway here. Crewman Zala, please aid me with filling out a report. I shalt dispense their way to atone later."

"Yes sir!" Came the voice of Zala, who proceeded to pull out her P.A.D.D. to begin her write-up, while Blackfeather walked closer to Greenway to ask him about what had happened. With everything handled for now, Zhuk returned to the turbolift, glad he could postpone his assessment, even if it was for a moment.

[Briefing Room - Deck 1 - USS Challenger]

Ian entered the briefing room and took in the faces of his 'senior' staff. Of those present, only one could be considered senior in his opinion, Jettis in science. It was good to have one familiar face he knew he could count on. Zhuk, was chronologically young, but he had proven himself to be a solid officer and was another he could count on. The same could be said for Hector at flight. All three men had been aboard Challenger long enough to be old hands now.

His eye fell on Lieutenant Cordon, who was only just a lieutenant. Lieutenant Booker, and Doctor Kartos. His Chief Engineer, Operations Chief, and Chief Medical Officer were either brand new to the ship, brand new to their role, brand new to their rank, or all three at once. This was going to take some time to get used to losing so much experience, but that didn't stop them from having a mission they had to complete.

"Welcome all of you, welcome back ta some of you. I know most of you were not expecting ta be in the positions ta which you've been assigned. However, the 285th Rule of Acquisition tells us, that as we avoided the loss of our senior officers, they were in turn, needed ta replace officers that were nae so lucky. I knew we'd lose some of our senior people, I hadn't banked on losin' all of them.

"Key thing at a time like this is ta lean on each other. You are nae alone. Several of you are new ta Department Head status, so are your peers, they are goin' through the same adjustments that you are and will be of solid support ta you as you figure out your way forward.

"A complication all of you will be facin' is the integration of the new personnel into your departments. Most of them are either on their very first assignments, but a few are hard heads that are frequent flyers in the brig. We will figure it out. You have all of 30 hours ta get a feel for your departments before we reach the system we've been assigned ta observe. What we will find there is unknown, but lookin' into the unknown is the very core of Starfleet's existence. Let's see what there is ta see and go from there. Any questions?"

[Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Briefing Room | Deck One | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A | En route to L7-425977 System]

Zhukdra'shar Mrekerehas arrived a couple of minutes earlier at the Briefing Room. He took his seat and waited patiently, wondering if perhaps he had been too soft. Maybe the three, even the child, were required to be placed on the brig. In the end, though, he was banking that perhaps some deck scrubbing would be the best way of preventing such a matter from repeating itself.

His thoughts were interrupted as the Captain regarded him and the rest of the old and new senior staff. He couldn't help but deflate slightly at the mention that all the previous senior staff had been laid off, especially as he realized that Chloe might be amongst them. He would check later, as for now, his whole attention was on Ian.

When he finished, he proceeded to raise a hand, "Yes, Captain Galloway. I have a question. Do we have any new intelligence upon the system that we are to visit? Or such information will be discovered by us?"

[Cole Shepard]

[Bridge]

Cole was making minor adjustments to their course. It wasn't anything really. But it was something to do. As much as he loved being a pilot and being on such an amazing ship, he would admit to getting bored (for lack of a better word) sometimes. The Challenger basically flew itself. Sometimes he just felt like a seat filler.

He was brought out of his impractical funk by a presence over his shoulder. When he looked up, he saw one of the cadets that had come aboard for their cruise. Cole himself was a recent academy graduate but he suddenly felt old when he saw how young this cadet looked.

"Are you even old enough to be in the Academy?" he asked the young man.

"Aye, Sir." came the reply.

Cole chuckled. He hadn't actually expected an answer to his rhetorical question. Had he been that straight lace when he was in the Academy, he wondered.

"You don't have to call me, sir. I've only been out of the Academy less than a year myself. Call me Cole or Shepard." he said. "And what's your name?" he asked.

"Senior Cadet Luke Dawson, Sir....I mean.....Cole, Sir. Sorry, Sir......Cole." he finally managed to stammer out.

"Well then, Senior Cadet Luke Dawson. I take it you're in Flight Control?"

"Yes, Si....Correct."

Cole grinned. "Would you like to...?" Cole said as he nodded toward the Helm controls.

"Really? You mean it?" Dawson couldn't hold his excitement. "I'd love to." he stated.

Cole looked back at the Command chair that was currently occupied by the XO and received a slight nod. Cole replied in turn and stood up. Dawson looked at him for a second before sitting down.

"Don't run into anything." Cole teased.

[Kyan Mackenzie]

[Lt. Commander Kyan Mackenzie | XO's Office/Broom Closet, USS Challenger]

As sitting on the bridge when nothing was going on was soul-crushingly boring, Kyan had retreated into the converted broom closet that Challenger's designers were pawning off as an office. Luckily, he didn't need a lot of space. After Nira had gone, he'd removed the desk and uncomfortable chairs. In their place was a small round transparent aluminum table and four "bean bag" chairs. He'd kept the rug that Said had.

One of his old captains had said "Your office is your turf. So make it comfortable for you... and no one else. Before now, Kyan hadn't given this much thought. Every other time he'd had an office he wasn't the only one using it, so he couldn't do much with it. But this broom closet was his and no one else's. So he'd decided to see if the old grup's advice was good. Even if it wasn't, Kyan liked the way things looked in here.

Kyan picked up a padd and looked at it. It was the new crew transfers. He had already assigned sponsors to most of them, but there were still a few who needed one. Luckily the person he needed to talk to was already on the bridge. Kyan got up and walked over to the door and leaned out when it opened.

"Hey! Tora, can you come in here for a minute?"

[Jalen Kartos]

[Officer's Mess | Deck 3 | USS Challenger-A]

Jalen registered the hint of concern on the boyish face of his friend and superior. He reached out a hand and squeezed the Onlie's Shoulder and smiled reassuringly.

"œDon't worry I'll be fine, El-Aurian's are just sensitive to Space/Time Disturbances. Think of it like Vertigo in humans, it is only a minor symptom of a problem that I suspect we will all be facing soon. But hopefully not, I hate space/time anomalies. But I mustn't keep our bonnie captain waiting. Raincheck on the breakfast. Maybe you and Max can come for supper later, assuming we all haven't ended up lost in space by then." Jalen said as he strode away from his friend as boldly as ever. He quickly strode down the corridor and to the Turbolift, he entered the empty lift and firmly ordered.

"œBriefing Room" and slumped against the wall as the lift began to rise. He was more sensitive than other El-Aurian's and the waves off unchecked anomalies always hit him harder and faster than others. He recovered his composure by the time the lift came to a stop on the bridge.

[Bridge | Deck 1 | USS Challenger-A]

The Turbolift doors opened, and Jalen stepped out onto the bridge near the Environmental station, his eyes went wide. This was certainly not what he was expecting. The rest of the ship, including sickbay, seemed so spacious and advanced, though by comparison he found the bridge to be almost cramped and seemingly outdated for a vessel of this size. He nodded to the duty officer and carefully made his way through the abnormally small bridge and around the back to where he assumed the Briefing Room was.

[Briefing Room | Deck 1 | USS Challenger-A]

Jalen had walked by a door marked "˜First Officers Ready Room' and was still plotting out the dimensions of the room as he entered the Briefing Room. He shook his head clearing it away as he though that it was good that Kyan was so small, because that room was tiny. It was so tiny he wondered if it was a converted Fresher. He entered the Briefing Room and nodded to the others present and took his seat. Moments later the Captain arrived, and Jalen stood until the human sat, then retook his seat. He leaned back casually; you didn't get to be his age and not learn to be unintimidated by rank alone. He listened intently as the Captain spoke.

"Welcome all of you, welcome back ta some of you. I know most of you were not expecting ta be in the positions ta which you've been assigned. However, the 285th Rule of Acquisition tells us, that as we avoided the loss of our senior officers, they were in turn, needed ta replace officers that were nae so lucky. I knew we'd lose some of our senior people, I hadn't banked on losin' all of them.

"Key thing at a time like this is ta lean on each other. You are nae alone. Several of you are new ta Department Head status, so are your peers, they are goin' through the same adjustments that you are and will be of solid support ta you as you figure out your way forward.

"A complication all of you will be facin' is the integration of the new personnel into your departments. Most of them are either on their very first assignments, but a few are hard heads that are frequent flyers in the brig. We will figure it out. You have all of 30 hours ta get a feel for your departments before we reach the system we've been assigned ta observe. What we will find there is unknown, but lookin' into the unknown is the very core of Starfleet's existence. Let's see what there is ta see and go from there. Any questions?"

Jalen raised an eyebrow as the man spoke, obviously the Captain had simply generalised his statement to save time. Jalen had run an entire worlds medical personnel, a world of unruly forever children, not to mention his having been the Chief of Medicine at several major hospitals and research projects on El-Auria. A department with the size, skill, and dedication of the Challenger's Sickbay was hardly a problem by comparison, and as for Civilian personnel, that was something he had far more experience with than the straight-laced Starfleet types. In fact, he was looking forward to the refreshing influx of Medical Professionals, who are first and foremost Doctors & Nurses not Officers. He sat quietly though not voicing his achievements, as he was certain that the Captain was more then aware of his service jacket, and didn't want to sound boastful. He did remain seated though to see if anyone else had any questions, and if the Captain had anything specifically for him.

[Tora Zalos]

[Lt. Commander Kyan Mackenzie | XO's Office/Broom Closet, USS Challenger]

As sitting on the bridge when nothing was going on was soul-crushingly boring, Kyan had retreated into the converted broom closet that Challenger's designers were pawning off as an office. Luckily, he didn't need a lot of space. After Nira had gone, he'd removed the desk and uncomfortable chairs. In their place was a small round transparent aluminum table and four "bean bag" chairs. He'd kept the rug that Said had.

One of his old captains had said "Your office is your turf. So make it comfortable for you... and no one else. Before now, Kyan hadn't given this much thought. Every other time he'd had an office he wasn't the only one using it, so he couldn't do much with it. But this broom closet was his and no one else's. So he'd decided to see if the old grup's advice was good. Even if it wasn't, Kyan liked the way things looked in here.

Kyan picked up a padd and looked at it. It was the new crew transfers. He had already assigned sponsors to most of them, but there were still a few who needed one. Luckily the person he needed to talk to was already on the bridge. Kyan got up and walked over to the door and leaned out when it opened.

"Hey! Tora, can you come in here for a minute?"

[Ensign Tora Zalos | Bridge | USS Challenger]

Tora had not expected to be asked for help today - not that she minded at all, really, she did like to put herself out there - but she sprang up from her bridge station and trotted over to the first officer's office anyway. She couldn't see the whole room, but judging from the crack open she felt sorry for the man it belonged to. Sure, the first officer was an Only and needed a bit less space than her but that office was criminally tiny!

"Yes, sir! How may I be of assistance?" She asked. Part of her wondered if what he needed was assistance with interior decoration - with a broom closet for an office it'd better be homely.

[Kyan Mackenzie]

"Yes, sir! How may I be of assistance?" She asked. Part of her wondered if what he needed was assistance with interior decoration - with a broom closet for an office it'd better be homely.

When Tora followed him into the office Kyan deposited himself back on the bean bag chair where he'd been before and indicated the another one for the Cardassian Ensign. "Have a seat." He offered casually.

Kyan hadn't really gotten to know Tora since she'd been on the ship, because he wasn't really a "people person", and even less so when it came to grups. And since Challenger had dozens of people his "age" on the ship, he tended to socialize with them moreso than his colleagues. It wasn't that he didn't like the grups per see, but he found them boring more often than not. There were exceptions of course. The Klingons and Tellarites were always a good time, and there was Jalen and his husband... but they had Leran, with whom he and Max had become good friends. But now that he'd taken over for Nira though, he was going to have to spend more time among the grup population.

He hadn't yet decided if that was a downside to the job or just something to get used to.

"So.." he began, drawing his legs up to sit cross-legged on the bag chair. "Sure and ye ken we just got a whole bunch of new folk today an they're gonna need someone tae help them get settled into things on the ship. Some of 'em are in Science and everyone says yer a umm... " he paused, searching for the right term..then found it. "...people person. Yeah.. so I figured ye could be the one tae help the new science people. If yer wanting to that is."

[Abas Th'vyrrol]

[Holodeck - Ice Moon of Andoria]

Abas had continued to soak in the wind, sun, and snow of the ice moon for a few moments longer when his commbadge chirped annoyingly from a pocket underneath his jacket. At first, he was tempted to ignore it. Unfortunately, his sense of duty outweighed his comfort as he traced his hands up his jacket to the folds, delving his hand inside before snaring the small delta and extracting it into the cold. The simulated environment caused the commbadge's metals to become frosted almost instantly as he depressed the symbol and listened to the message.

First was an all-call from the Captain, going out to all crewmembers of the ship. It seemed a collection of lieutenants had been summoned, as well as one of the Challenger's medical staff. Odd, but not completely unusual. However, the sheer number of lieutenants gave Abas pause. Thankfully, he was not requested and therefore wouldn't have to take a test on all of them. Only moments later, the computer forwarded him a message about many new personnel changes. Abas made it a point to be aware of such things, as one never knew who they would be called upon to treat or any underlying medical conditions the crew may have. It seemed the Challenger's experienced crew was once again being looted and pillaged, even Doc Fellows. A shame, he quite liked the crew they'd established in Sickbay. Perhaps he should pay a visit to Sickbay and meet the new faces?

"Computer, end program," he stated, pushing himself to his feet as the icy cliffs disappeared, and the familiar pattern of holo-emitters reasserted reality. He strode toward the exit, a tiny amount of melted water dripping off his coat and frost slowly receding from where it'd managed to latch on.

[Sickbay]

A few moments later, Abas wandered into Sickbay, his uniform tidied up to the best of his ability, save for an unfortunate oversight. His rank insignia and stripes were backward, completely unbeknownst to Abas. It was an oversight he would not usually make, but today he just felt off, not totally on his A-game. Perhaps some time on shift would do him some good.

He meandered over to one of the duty stations, picking up a PADD and beginning to review the latest medical bulletins on the ship's crew for anything that might stand out, while keeping an ear out for any new arrivals or other details he'd need to attend to.

Computer, Please state the next five crewmembers overdue for their annual physical.

For some reason, so many of the crew insisted on dragging out their mandatory medical exams. It wasn't as if the probing would be invasive... but rumors and fears were so common among the crew.

[Tora Zalos]

When Tora followed him into the office Kyan deposited himself back on the bean bag chair where he'd been before and indicated the another one for the Cardassian Ensign. "Have a seat." He offered casually.

Kyan hadn't really gotten to know Tora since she'd been on the ship, because he wasn't really a "people person", and even less so when it came to grups. And since Challenger had dozens of people his "age" on the ship, he tended to socialize with them moreso than his colleagues. It wasn't that he didn't like the grups per see, but he found them boring more often than not. There were exceptions of course. The Klingons and Tellarites were always a good time, and there was Jalen and his husband... but they had Leran, with whom he and Max had become good friends. But now that he'd taken over for Nira though, he was going to have to spend more time among the grup population.

He hadn't yet decided if that was a downside to the job or just something to get used to.

"So.." he began, drawing his legs up to sit cross-legged on the bag chair. "Sure and ye ken we just got a whole bunch of new folk today an they're gonna need someone tae help them get settled into things on the ship. Some of 'em are in Science and everyone says yer a umm... " he paused, searching for the right term..then found it. "...people person. Yeah.. so I figured ye could be the one tae help the new science people. If yer wanting to that is."

[Ensign Tora Zalos | First Officer's Broom Closet | Bridge | USS Challenger]

Her. The first officer wanted her to settle the new arrivals in. She, an ensign who was just barely out of the Academy and had only gone through the first ever near death experience of her career. Whoa. That was big. Tora was silent as she sat down on the beanbag chair across from him, which she had to admit was really, really comfy indeed. I have to get one one day, she decided.

"Well, I certainly can! When do I get started?" She asked for a start. She'd need time to prepare onboarding programmes and maybe a welcoming dress-down dinner with the relevent department heads invited and somesuch, but she reckoned she could come up with something on the fly if need be. "If possible, could I have a list of names? I'll remember them by heart by evening."