<USS Avalon> Briefing the Admiral and Captain (1/2) [JP: Ketchum/Skyler/Ranger/Erridim]

Briefing the Admiral and Captain
by
Admiral Keith Ketchum, CO, /USS Avalon/
Captain Skyler, XO, /USS Avalon/
Sergeant Walker Ranger, Acting Security Chief, /USS Avalon/
Ensign Talea Erridim, Operations Chief, /USS Avalon/

Bridge
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Late in Alpha Shift, Walker relieved the normal Tactical Officer with a grin, arriving unnoticed by everyone except Talea. She had to control a sudden urge to giggle at his expression, and she realized he was having nearly too much fun with this whole situation. He'd reviewed her briefing materials, liked them a lot, and had been almost giddy with the relief that he wouldn't have to slog through all the thousands of years of data for the upcoming briefing.
Talea glanced over at the chronometer and noticed they had just over thirty minutes remaining in the shift. Her shields were a little tender, but had held up well, despite that one brief, sharp attack that had been there and gone too quickly for her to locate the source. Sighing quietly, she looked at her board, which was a rather boring, yet pleasant shade of green, and stated quietly, "Captain, it is my pleasure to report that all departments are running at proper efficiency." She did not state, although to Walker it was apparent, "For the first time since I've been aboard!" Her board was unrelieved green, and unless there was a display malfunction she was unaware of, that was the true state of the ship.
The briefing was set for immediately after shift-end, and she hoped fervently it would be delayed just slightly, enough for all four of them to get out of uniform and into somewhat more comfortable clothing. She also needed to talk to Bobby Woodward, since she had yet to definitively answer his question about dancing. She smiled slightly at the thought, wondering how Walker would react to her dancing with another man, even though they were not betrothed by any definition of the term. Hopefully, he would accept and perhaps even join them for a dance or two. With whom as partner, she wasn't sure, but the thought was a pleasant one, and Lords knew she needed to continue with the current good trend, not disimprove again due to others' hostility. She was unable to go anywhere near Security or the Brig due to the painfully-acute negative emotions of most of the prisoners. She had noticed the curious attitude of the Marine CO, and had wondered about it, but supposed that it would all come clear soon. She was thankful that she didn't have to explain why Captain Phillips was not guilty of murder! While he wasn't, it was a touchy legal point that made it so.
"I am glad to hear that all is as it should be, Ensign. You have done well for your first full shift. I am impressed and pleased." Skyler nodded her head at the ensign and resumed looking at the viewscreen.
Talea smiled slightly. "Thank you, Sir. Excellence is almost always the result of teamwork, however. I do not claim credit for what I did not do. All I did, after all, was remind personnel of the expectations of the Admiral and Starfleet as a whole." She then admitted, "It is refreshing to have been of full service to my fellow crewmates, in fact." She wanted to ask permission to withdraw a bit early, given the additional duty she was about to draw, but was uncertain it was permitted. And Doctor Cazook's statement about her quarters being psionically shielded had and still confused her, since the ones she knew on Deck 9 had been so since before she had arrived, apparently by Walker's initiative.
Skyler could see the look of confusion on Talea's face. "Is there something bothering you, Ensign? If so, please let me know. If you need to leave a little early, you have my permission. As we are currently underway, there is not much more for you to do this shift. I am sure your relief can cover for you."
Talea shrugged, then asked quietly, "May I speak with you in your Ready Room, Sir?" She recognized that while this was perhaps not strictly necessary, it was prudent, since the topic had nothing to do with ship's operations. She briefly hoped that the odd scent wouldn't be present this time, too, but shrugged it off. She still didn't know what it had been, although she'd found it a little discomfiting for a reason she'd not been able to discern.
Looking around, Skyler nodded. "If anyone needs me, I will be in my ready room. Ensign, shall we?" Upon entering her office, Skyler sat behind her desk and indicated that Talea should take a seat. "So, Ensign, what is so important as to take me away from the bridge at the moment?" Sitting behind her desk, memories of Tery came flooding back. She almost thought she could still smell her essence. She just hoped it wasn't overtly obvious to Talea. Not that she had anything to be ashamed of.
Talea smiled slightly before airing her concern. "I am just trying to figure out something that Doctor Cazook told me, that seemed to indicate my quarters were freshly shielded." She tilted her head slightly before noting, "It seems strange and the mention still confuses me, is all. The place I was assigned on Deck 9 has always been psionically shielded, so I think you can understand my puzzlement, Sir." The thumb she'd injured was throbbing, too, and that seemed a bit odd. She hoped it was just being temporarily annoying, rather than some sort of problem beginning to crop up. More problems weren't something she really needed. While she now trusted Sickbay's staff to heal her, she did need to learn to cope with life's minor mysteries along with her distrust of most men, as Doctor Cazook had noted. Not that she wasn't going to continue getting help with the root cause of the distrust, since it was a major hurtle she'd need assistance with.
She then requested, "Also, may I suggest that we all get into more comfortable clothing for the briefing? While the briefing itself is relatively short, Walker and I believe a question-and-answer format would be more useful, not that either of us intend on hiding anything from you or the Admiral! Cialra will likely request to be present as well, but that is something I cannot say for certain."
Skyler listened to Talea as she told her tale of the confusion of rooms. "Let me check on your room assignment and see if we can't get this straightened out." Turning to her computer, she input the commands and pulled up crew assignments. "Hmm . . . it would appear that your quarters are actually on Deck 3. Not Deck 9 as you previously were assigned. That may explain the confusion. Are those quarters psionically shielded as well? If not, then we had better make it so."
Talea nodded. "It is my understanding, if Doctor Cazook was not misinformed, that this is indeed the case. Perhaps the change of venue will help me sleep better." She didn't clarify, figuring that the Captain could figure out why she'd not been sleeping well.

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