<USS Avalon> Entering In

Entering In
by Captain Keith Ketchum, Ensign Mary O'Donnell, Cadet John Forester

Despite Lieutenant Dareth's assurances, Mary felt the nervous butterflies 
building in her stomach on her turbolift ride to the bridge.Pull yourself 
together O'Donnell. Gotta show 'em they breed tough in Belfast.

Squaring her shoulders she steeled herself as the 'lift came to a halt. "Top 
floor, Bridge. All madness begins and ends here to be sure, to be sure!" She 
muttered.

Stepping out the sight of an active bridge overwhelmed her. Where the hell do I 
stand? Looking forward at the viewscreen, stars streaking by at warp left her 
somewhat slack-jawed.

She edged nervously out of the doorway hoping not to be noticed. That hope 
evaporated as the occupant of 'The Big Chair' turned to see who had entered his 
domain.

"Ensign O'Donnell, sir." Come on Mary, what can he do? What can he do?! He's 
the bloody Captain. What can't he do, more like!

"Welcome to the bridge, Ensign. Take the position at the security console near 
the lift. I'll be explaining my reasoning for the specific crew on the bridge, 
and what we might see." He turned back to face the screen, he could tell the 
new ensign was nervous. But weren't all ensigns nervous when they first meet 
the Captain? "Steady ahead, Ms. Waterson."

Moving to the console indicated Mary felt as if the entire bridge crew was 
watching her every move. Familiarizing herself with the LCARS setup, she looked 
up and waited for further instructions with mind racing. Don't know why I'm on 
the bridge. Still don't know why I'm on the ship. I'd like to know if anybody 
on board does.

Finally after seeing that everyone was in place on the bridge, "Phillipa, take 
us in." Standing, he walked up behind her and turned to face the rest of the 
bridge crew, "As we enter the Badlands, some of you are wondering why you are 
on the bridge, instead of some more experienced counter-parts, well, except for 
Alder and Phillipa. I have read reports that the best way to get experience is 
to jump right in. So, that is why I chose you. Just to let you know what we are 
facing, we are searching for a temporal wormhole, and it's probably guarded by 
Maquis vessels. Our objective to destroy the wormhole and locate any equipment 
that might be from the future." 

Walking back to sit in his seat, he tapped the chair to open a comm to Science, 
"Mr. Snuffy, you can start your scans of the Badlands, notify me of any 
readings that appear to be wormholes, I will have Cadet Forester do the same on 
the bridge." He closed the comm. 

Looking around the bridge, "We do have a backup group on the 'battle' bridge 
under Commander Skyler, as these circumstances call for, and if we can't handle 
it, but I think we'll handle it. Any questions?"

Mary half-raised her hand. You're not in infant school! " Captain, I still 
can't quite grasp the reason I'm here. I mean I'm straight Security, no 
tactical experience at all. I honestly don't see how I'm any help to you here."

"Actually, Mr. Harak is Tactical, but you are right, you are straight security, 
to protect me from any possible threat or boarding party", Keith nodded, "And 
to get you bridge experience."

"Oh yeah," John muttered as he eyed the red-head, "because we all know why 
we're here." He huffed a little as he tapped out a few commands, his mind 
already totally boggled at the thought of where he was.

Threat or boarding party? Still didn't make any real sense to her. "That's all 
I wanted to know for now sir. Thank you."

The task that had been set her gradually dawned. Protecting the bridge crew. 
What's wrong with this picture?. Scanning the entire bridge she located the 
possible weak points for attack. Instantaneous beam-ins to front and rear, 
blocking all exits creating effective crossfire position. Hang on, we're not 
even armed. Where are the weapons lockers? Typing in a query at her console to 
locate them she turned back toward the center of the bridge.

"Captain if we're expecting trouble I feel we should all be armed. I know you 
have your Type-1 phaser with you at all times, but I'd like permission to issue 
Type-2s to the rest of the Bridge crew and your authorization to transport two 
Phaser rifles up here from the armory for myself and Lieutenant Harak. Also is 
there any way to prevent uninvited guests beaming in or us being transported 
out? A dampening field or secondary shield for the bridge module only?"
Turning once again in his chair, "Ensign, as you see fit on the phasers."  He 
contemplated the second part, "I figured they would have given you the 
necessary training at the Academy to know what else needs to be done for 
boarding parties, specifically on the bridge.  If not, once we return from this 
mission, I'll be sure to confer with Commodore Crusher about the training plans 
at the Academy."  He knew that might jolt memories.  
 
Standing and walking over to Ms. O'Donnell standing next to her, so the others 
could not hear, he whispered, "Relax, Ensign, this should be routine, nothing 
to worry about.  Try the dampening fields.  We all learn from each other."  
Smiling, hoping to calm her nerves, he returned to the center chair, "Phillipa, 
take us in."
 
Leaning over he tapped the ship-wide comm, "Attention Crew, we are entering the 
Badlands."


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