[USS Vanguard]
- From: "andywoho@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <andywoho@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: ncv80221@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 10:40:24 -0600
Capt. Dominic Santos
USS Vanguard - Engineering
After Mandrake's "The Sky"
Capt. Santos glanced from the horsefly to Lt. Sam McCaw and Chief Petty Officer
Craig Kavan, taking their measure.
Everything he knew about Sam McCaw had led him to believe that whatever the
happy-go-lucky McCaw may behave like personally, he was a thoroughly competent,
entirely dependable officer. (McCaw wouldn't be the Chief Engineer/Ops Manager
otherwise.)
Santos hadn't known Kavan long, but had no reason to think the assessment
didn't fit the Chief Petty Officer, as well.
Santos considered his options.
"Mister McCaw, Mister Kavan--if this is indeed sabotage, putting this vessel on
alert may alert the saboteur or saboteurs. But if I don't place this ship on
alert, then we risk other nasty surprises that may have already been put in
place."
Kavan said, "That's assuming the saboteur actually boarded..."
"...or is still on board..." McCaw added.
"...the ship. This may have been 'bundled' into a shipment of goods placed on
board, planted years ago during a routine inspection and set to go off now. I
can think of any number of ways a saboteur could avoid the normal channels to
smuggle something on this ship."
"That's not reassuring," Santos said with a wry grin.
"It wasn't meant to be," Kavan replied gravely.
Santos looked around for another moment. Then his mind was made up.
He tilted his head.
=/\= "Santos to Highwaij."
=/\= "Highwaij here."
=/\= "Until further notice from myself, the Executive Officer or the Second
Officer, place the Vanguard on yellow alert status. Have it noted for the log
that this is merely a precaution. Place the Vanguard under quarantine--no-body
or -thing is to leave or board this vessel. Inform Starfleet Command and the
Mars Defense Force of our status. Have all questions referred to me or Chief
Petty Officer Kavan."
=/\= "Aye, sir."
Santos waited as the announcement was broadcast. Yellow alert lights lit up and
dotted Engineering with their strobing effect.
=/\= "Attention all hands: By order of command, the Vanguard is currently under
Level II quarantine. Repeat: USS Vanguard is under Level II quarantine. No
sentient currently aboard is authorized to depart the vessel.
=/\= "Yellow alert. Repeat, yellow alert. This is not a drill or exercise."
Santos nodded, appreciating Highwaij's efficiency and dependability.
The captain turned to McCaw.
"Perform a Level I diagnostic of all primary, secondary and tertiary systems.
Leave no stone unturned. A word of advice from one computer afficionado to
another: When you run your diagnostic, run it under the name of a low-level
function. The architect of this anomaly may not have expected us to be on to
him (or her) so quickly. This thing may appear elusive, but might be doing no
more than 'hibernating' when it detects a system scan has been activated."
McCaw nodded. "Worth a try. Thank you, sir."
"Thank you, Mister McCaw." Santos nodded at Kavan. "Chief."
"Captain."
As Santos turned to leave, he said, "Oh, one more thing. I'm going to order
Jazz Falcon to join you."
McCaw's attention didn't waver from his board. "Aye, sir."
Santos stepped outside.
=/\= "Santos to Falcon."
=/\= "This is Falcon. Go ahead."
=/\= "Please report to Engineering."
=/\= "Acknowledged."
=/\= "Santos out."
In the holodeck, Falcon sighed and turned to Mandrake.
"Duty calls, methinks."
Mandrake grinned. "You better go. He doesn't like to be kept waiting."
"Patience is not one of his virtues."
Mandrake frowned. "Hey, don't criticize the captain in front of another
officer. That's bad practice. Another officer may turn it into an issue."
Falcon held her hands up. "Whoa, buddy, I wasn't bad-mouthing the captain. I
was..." She sighed. "Never mind. Look, I gotta go."
Mandrake looked off into the distance. "Catch up with you later...?"
"Yeah, sure."
He turned to watch her go.
Exobiologist Jazz Falcon arrived in Engineering minutes later.
"Captain? You wanted to see me?"
Santos nodded at McCaw and Kavan, busily working at separate boards.
"We've had some sort of malfunction--possibly even sabotage--with the
transporter bio-filters. Will you please assist Mister McCaw as needed until
the systems are operational."
Falcon looked at McCaw. "Aye, sir," she said.
"Very good," Santos said.
Santos turned to leave Engineering. On the periphery, he realized he was tired,
but he had too much to occupy him to think much about it.
He left for Stellar Cartographer and to check to see if M.J. Valentine was
available or whether she had made any notes on the Klinzai Observatory material.
Nick Santos thought he would reward himself with a nightcap in Event Horizon
after that. (Maybe Des would even be nightowling around, up for a chat.)
=================
Please continue to send all email to andywoho@xxxxxxxxxx
This is an email account I use from my workplace.
*************************************************************
USS Vanguard: http://ncv80221.netfirms.com/default.htm
Vanguard Archives: //www.freelists.org/archives/ncv80221
Gamma Fleet: http://gammafleet.trekplayer.com/
FreeLists: //www.freelists.org
*************************************************************
Other related posts:
