As The Bridge Turns...

Posted on 11 Jun 2020 @ 12:41am by Captain Harvey Geisler & Commander Terry Walsh & Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler & Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale & Lieutenant Commander Arjin Djinx & Lieutenant Commander Tivan & Lieutenant Dijaat Parker & Lieutenant Jennin Rhula & Lieutenant JG Charles McCullen

4,963 words; about a 25 minute read

Mission: Ghosts
Location: Bridge
Timeline: MD 4 || 1000 hours

Captain's Log: Stardate 67023.1. Two days have passed since our aborted wargames, and the crew is still slightly on edge. Much of this crew have experienced the unusual throughout the last couple of years, but the incidents aboard the ship have kept everyone on edge. Even though we deactivated the ship's avatar and contained the malfunction, it's clear that many still don't trust the automated functions we've come to rely on.

We are approaching the third way point on Mister McCullen's course, a nebula unexplored by Starfleet between the Karemma system and T-Rogoran space. He and Commander Djinx have agreed that it is a suitable place to test the modified sensor palettes. As for me, well, I'm hoping that it'll be our first uneventful leg of our shakedown.


* * *

Camila sat at the Tactical station, her eyes on the console which she had split into Tactical and a monitor for the Security Complex. The two live grenades had worried her, since the computer shouldn't have been able to arm them. Now she kept an eye on the Armory and the rest of Security every free moment she had.

Arjin walked onto the bridge, his head filled with things still to be done before they could scan the nebula. He nodded towards those already present. "Commanders." And sat down at science station one. A swift swipe brought the scanners online as well as a check list he wanted to go over.

Terry nodded at the verbal address but didn't turn to face the newcomer. This was the first time he'd been in charge on the Bridge as the ship's Executive Officer. He sat in the center chair and watched the starfield pass by at warp, but didn't get too comfortable there. The beeps, chirrups, and whistles of the computer created a unique melody among the general lack of human voices. He took a deep breath and relaxed a little more while he had the chance.

The doors to the turbolift opened and Jennin Rhula stomped onto the Bridge. "Where's the Captain? We need to talk."

Terry closed his eyes briefly and reopened them, still looking at the viewscreen. A few seconds, that was literally all it was. He could remember the Doctor's voice from the meeting he'd had with him and the Captain about the promotion. It was no mistaking that it was he who had entered the Bridge. Terry turned slightly in the chair and looked at Rhula. "Captain's indisposed at the moment, Doctor. What can I do for you?"

"You can tell me where the Captain is," Rhula replied. "He can't keep dodg...." His voice trailed off as he notice the Chief Science Officer sitting at a console across the room. He paused for a brief moment, staying silent, until he blinked and shifted his gaze away from the Trill. "Dodging me. He can't keep dodging me. So, Commander, where is he?"

Terry stood and turned around. "He's on board the ship, Lieutenant. But if you'll tell me what the problem is, why he's dodging you, maybe we can get it fixed without ever calling him up."

"Doctor," the Bajoran corrected. He couldn't believe how difficult it was to get anything done around this ship. Maybe that's how I ended up with this job...?

"The computer shows him being on this deck," he mused. "Of course! His office." He began to walk towards the Ready Room door. He only took on step before realizing the Chief of Security was manning Tactical. Stopping in his tracks, the Chief Medical Officer looked back to Commander Walsh. "Tell him I still need to speak with him," he said, slowly stepping backwards towards the turbolift. "Thank you."

Terry smiled and nodded. "Of course, Doctor. That can be arranged." He tapped his combadge, "Commander Walsh to Captain Geisler, Doctor Jennin is rather adamant about needing to speak with you. Are you at a place where I can send him in?"

Camila had been listening to the Chief of Medical and the Executive Officer, but when Jennin changed his mind, the ombre haired Security Chief turned in time to see him backing up towards the turbolift. "Is something the matter, Lieutenant?" she asked.

"Not at all," he answered. He'd seen Di Pasquale in action; she was both impressive and scary. "As I said, I can talk to the Captain later. Thank you for your concern though," he said, making an attempt at a smile. It was unnatural enough that he could feel the zygomaticus major strain.

Joey made her way onto the bridge and started toward her station, but came to a halt when she saw what could have been considered a Mexican standoff to someone who'd just joined the party between the XO, Security Chief and Medical Chief. "Is everything okay?" She asked.

"Very well," Camila told the Bajoran Medical officer before she looked at Joey with a smile. "It seems to be, Commander. The Lieutenant here merely wanted a moment of the Captain's time, when he isn't doding him."

Arjin had followed the encounter rather amused. He knew how impossible the Bajoran could be. "Doctor Jennin. How nice to see you at the bridge. Why are you walking backwards?", he asked.

"Everything is fine," Rhula said, addressing the new arrival. Is everyone here a Lieutenant Commander? he thought, looking at the Intelligence Officer. "Thank you though," he added quickly. His eyes darted quickly towards the Trill scientist. Even the vermiform puppet is a Lieutenant Commander.

Dijaat was late to the party it seemed when he stepped out of the turbolift and headed towards the front of the bridge. He stood at a funny angle for a moment while looking between the Security Chief, Exec, and Medical Chief before finally speaking, "Well then," He said finally after at time. Dijaat turned his attention to the Executive Officer, "Commander Walsh," Parker remarked addressing him.

"I'm most pleasantly happy to repor' that the damage across the ship has finally been repaired and all the diagnostic checks came back in the green." Dijaat presented the PADD over to the Commander, "Further, I need to inform you," He looked directly at the Chief of Security, "That some of the replicators in the crew quarters are a bit on the fritz so I've got repair crews on it.

"That shouldn't take more than an hour, but for some odd reason the Captain's replicator, Commander Pasquale's replicator, and your replicator," He had turned and was looking at the Executive Officer, "Is mass producing tapioca pudding. We've had to deactivate them for the time being."

Joey looked up from her console when she heard the Captain's replicator was mass producing tapioca pudding. It wasn't in the Ready Room, otherwise, Harvey would be doing the backstroke onto the bridge inside the vile substance. That meant it was inside their quarters. "What do you mean it's mass producing tapioca pudding?" She asked, making her way toward the Chief Engineer. "My twins are currently in the Captain's quarters. Do I need to make arrangements for them to be somewhere else for the time being?"

"Define mass quantities, please," Camila said as she turned to look at the Engineer with more than a hint of malice in her eyes.

Dijaat addressed Lieutenant Commander Geisler first, "It's nothing to worry about Commander sensors registered that copious amounts of tapioca pudding were being produced by some of the replicators and we tracked it to those locations. Work crews are already in place I assure you that your twins are just fine.

"I," He looked between the two Lieutenant Commanders at that point, "I assure you both it's under control. There's probably only about six to ten gallons in the replicator and on the deck beneath it. We're not entirely certain what caused the problem other than we were testing the replication system from main engineering during routine maintenance checks when it happened. But, I assure you both once we've found the root cause and gotten it repaired they will be in working order."

"Six...to ten..gallons of tapioca pudding," the Security Chief echoed flatly. "I see." She wondered what else was going to go wrong, then decided she didn't care.

Terry pinched the bridge of his nose. "Tapioca pudding...." He ran his hand over his head. "Well then, Lieutenant Parker, let's get on that root cause. And it's good to know that our quarters won't be full of the stuff. Let's make sure, though, that once it's fixed, we get the cleaning crews in there."

Dijaat nodded, "I'll keep you all up to date on my progress... On the work crew's progress as well hopefully they'll have the messes cleaned up speedily. And, I swear while I'm known for pranks on my previous ship I'm not responsible for this hiccup."

Having chased her quarry all across the ship, Tivan made her way to the bridge in hopes of finally cornering him. The scene she came upon was clearly delicious with tension and melodrama. Under normal circumstances she would love nothing more than to be a fly on the wall and voraciously drink it all in for later rumination and analysis, but she was on a mission.

Still, a little politeness wouldn't hurt. "Good morning, Commander Di Pasquale. I hope you found the transfer of credits acceptable."

"Fine," Camila nodded to the invasive Vulcan female. She would have preferred the bottle since they were now away from the starbase, but she would have to wait.

Alas, Tivan had her mission. "Lieutenant Parker, when you have a moment, I require your assistance."

Dijaat hadn't quite gotten to the engineering console when he heard the Security Chief asking for him, "Coming," He answered her. In less than a second he was standing directly next to her, but not crowding her. "Yes?" He asked the woman calmly.

"I beg your pardon," Tivan said pointedly but kindly. She tapped Dijaat's shoulder in a vaguely matronly way. "But I was the one who needed to speak with you..." Her tone lingered at the end as she wondered whether or not the man was competent to the task.

Camila looked up when Parker came to stand next to her and acted as if she had called him. She looked at him, then saw and heard Tivan when she came up. "Her. Not me, Lieutenant," she said and turned her attention back to her console.

Dijaat blinked, "I apologize I was clearly... Distracted," He said then turned towards Tivan, "What is it that you need Counselor?" He asked the Vulcan this time directing his attention to the proper person.

"I've spent the last couple of days preparing a psychological heuristics test for HASA only to discover that my access to her has been restricted," Tivan said, notably using the personal pronoun for the hologram. "I required restored access in order to conduct my test. Your underlings have not been helpful, so I have sought you out in hopes of expediting the process."

Camila looked at the insane Vulcan counselor. "You're talking to the wrong person about Security matters, Commander," she said. "HASA has been and will remain deactivated. Your access will remain restricted until such time as the Captain decides to reinstate it."

Dijaat was just about to answer the Counselor when the Security Chief spoke and he eyed her for a moment. Once she had stopped speaking Dijaat returned his gaze towards the Vulcan. 'Now I understand why my ancestors left Vulcan...' He found himself thinking quietly.

"At the present time Counselor I have decided to restrict access to HASA to four people. Captain Geisler, Commander Pasquale, Lieutenant Akorem, and myself. We are conducting diagnostics on all systems relating to and including HASA following some incidents that happened during field tests," Dijaat said calmly. "Once the four of us are satisfied with the results of those diagnostics then HASA will be restored for the use of the rest of the senior staff."

Tivan blinked. Several times, in fact, at both Dijaat and Camila. "I see," she said at length. "I was unaware of Security being involved. Considering that my purpose is also diagnostic in nature, I wish to contribute my heuristic evaluations to the diagnostic efforts."

"You aren't required or needed, Commander," Camila said and turned back to her console. "If you were, the Captain would have included you in the meeting two days ago."

"Then perhaps I should continue this conversation with him." She offered a flat smile. "Farewell."

Dijaat eyed Commander Pasquale for a moment, "Vulcans are so..." He didn't finish the sentence before looking at the rest of the bridge and shrugging his shoulders. Dijaat headed for his station and sat down before taking a chance to check into the other system issues from there.

If the main players weren't the Chief Counselor and the Chief Security Officer, Arjin could have smiled about what appeared as if it had come out of some holo novel. But he thought the Counselor to be too smug for her own good and he still resented the security officer to have humiliated him when she bound and gagged him in front of every one else on the bridge. So he kept his focus on his console. But one ear on the conversation.


* * *

In the Ready Room, Harvey sat behind his desk, working his way through a miraculously organized pile of paddwork. The shakedown had certainly calmed down since the events from two days ago, but the paddwork hadn't gotten the message. Evidently, Admiral O'Connell hadn't cared either since he transmitted a new set of briefings, datasheets, and even ship reports from across the Task Group. It seemed Harvey had more than a single job title now. Additional work for the Task Group, and no promotion to go with it. Perhaps this at least meant that Harvey could dictate a few of his own assignments and not completely at the whim of another.

Harvey's badge chirped, followed by his XO's voice. "Commander Walsh to Captain Geisler, Doctor Jennin is rather adamant about needing to speak with you. Are you at a place where I can send him in?"

He sighed, wondering what the Chief Medical Officer could have been so far up in arms about. "Go ahead and send him in," Harvey replied, regretting it already.


* * *

Rhula looked at the Executive Officer, his eyes wide with victory. "Excellent!" he said, starting towards the Ready Room. But he had a decision to make: get closer to the Trill or getting within lethal melee distance of the Security Chief. He opted, instead, to cut a path that took him right by the broad, hairless Walsh.

Terry stepped a little to the left, slightly in the way of the Chief Medical Officer. "The Captain says you can go in, Doctor. By all means, go ahead." He stepped off the side.

Rude, he thought as he passed Walsh. "I will."

Terry waited until the Ready Room doors closed before returning to the center chair. He sat forward with his hands on his knees before moving all the way back into the seat. I'm glad I never had any children, he thought to himself, because I have a whole damn ship full now. "Lieutenant McCullen, what's our ETA to the waypoint?"

At helm, Charlie had been deliberately and steadfastly ignoring everything that had been going on behind him. If there was drama going on between the other senior officers, he wanted nothing to do with it. Drama had a way of finding him, he had discovered, and actively seeking it out was the last thing he intended to do.

"Two minutes, give or take, sir." He responded, not turning to look at the XO. "We should be in visual range now."

"Excellent," Terry said. "Thank you."


* * *

"You've been avoiding me, Captain. Why?" Rhula asked as he entered the Ready Room. Once the doors closed behind him, he continued. "Do you routinely ignore your senior staff?"

Harvey looked up from the padd he held and took a moment to take in the Bajoran Doctor's demeanor. Clearly, Doctor Jennin was furious about something, and Harvey had a feeling it had something to do with the scathing medical report he read recently. "I don't routinely avoid anyone," Harvey countered, setting his padd down. "As I'm sure you're aware, the computer glitches have caused a lot of frustration on the ship, and that has commanded quite a bit of my focus."

Harvey stood up and gestured for the Doctor to have a seat while he moved over to the replicator. "Why don't you have a seat and tell me what's on your mind. Care for a drink?"

The prospect for a drink was enough to get Rhula to relax a bit. "How about some of that Bolian whiskey?" he asked, taking a seat.

It seemed a bit early in the morning for a drink, hence a raised eyebrow from the Captain. He keyed in the request to produce it and a cup of coffee from the replicator. Both drinks, a shot glass and a steel mug, materialized in the replicator. Harvey took them back to the desk, handing Jennin his drink before taking a seat himself.

Rhula, ignoring the drink in his hand, began in on the Captain. "So, why were you ignoring me? I would think that if one of your senior officers, particularly the Chief Medical Officer, were trying to get in touch with you, that you would want to listen. Maybe I'm wrong about that though."

"I always want to listen to my senior officers," countered Harvey. "There are days when it's hard, however, to have a proper conversation with each and every one of them, especially in the middle of system malfunctions." He took a sip of his coffee and leaned forward so that he could rest his forearms on the table. "We are, however, here together now. What is it you wish to discuss?"

"Well," the doctor said, calming down a bit, "that's good. Even it hasn't been my experience. My issue is those idiotic 'drills' we had. Did you get my messages?"

This was one moment that Harvey was thankful that he hadn't employed a holographic display for his communications terminal. Prior to the Doctor's arrival, he had managed to pull up the several messages on his screen. Some of them were still unread. He nodded after taking another sip of his coffee. "I have. I do have to remind you that drills are common on starships out of port. They're a good tool to help you learn about your staff and their capabilities."

"If you question the capabilities of my staff, just say so," Jennin said. "Things might have been out of sorts under previous leadership, but those days are over." He looked Harvey square in the eyes. "If you think there's in an issue in my department, tell me that. I don't want to play games."

The Captain wondered where that one came from. "If I had any doubt in your abilities, I would not have promoted you to Chief Medical Officer. As for the medical department, I have no issues or concerns. In fact, if you have a recommendation for a good pediatrician, I'm all ears."

"That would be Milo. Kal-Irdu is a PA. One of her specialties in peds. Either would be fine." He studied Geisler for a moment. "So why did you ignore my messages? You say that you got them, but I had damn near storm the Bridge to get a response."

"Just because I got them doesn't mean that I ignored them," Harvey pointed out. "I'll make sure in the future you get some sort of response, even if that means I have to defer a proper answer to a later time. But, you're here now. As am I. You have had issues with the drills we had recently, and that is a feeling that we all share. Nothing about those drills functioned the way it was supposed to. But such is what happens when you drop out of warp into an ion storm that the sensors somehow missed."

The Bajoran didn't react. At first. Instead, he sat silently and looked at his drink.

"Acknowledgement would have been nice," he finally replied, looking back at the Human. "I'm new to being a department head. Hell, I'm still fairly new to the ship. Knowing that I'm not being ignored would be....nice."

"That's fair." Harvey sipped his coffee. "For the future, if you need me immediately, just tap the badge. Unless I'm in the middle of something, you'll get my undivided attention and an instant response."

Before Rhula could reply, the doors opened.

Tivan barged into the Ready Room and halted at the sight of the two men. "Captain Geisler. Dr. Jennin. I hope I'm not interrupting anything." Her face was pleasant enough to almost pass as sincere.

Harvey turned and stared at the Vulcan. "How the hell did you get through that door, Commander? And yes, you are interrupting."

Camila got up the moment the Vulcan went for the ready room and stopped behind her. "Do you wish me to put her in the Brig, Captain?" she asked.

"Yes!" Jennin said, knowing full well the Security Chief would do it.

"Oh please do.", Arjin thought. "That would be a laugh.

Sparing but a lone derisive sniff for Camila, Tivan set her eyes on Harvey. "Forgive me. I was but following the lead of Dr. Jennin. I was led to believe by his demonstration that you exercised an open door policy. Please forgive my intrusion." She made a penitent bow of her head. "Since I am here, however, I do have an urgent matter to discuss with you. But, please, finish with the doctor first."

"SIr?" Camila asked as she ignored the Counselor.

Joey blinked as she watched the scene unfold before her. What the hell was going on? And what the hell was it about today that seemed to bring the crazy out in some of the crew? In fact, this happened to be some of the most unprofessional behavior she'd seen since arriving in board the ship, and it seemed that people were going to be getting away with it. A frown formed on her lips as she shook her head and turned her attention back to her console. It didn't seem like anyone else was going to be doing their duty, but she planned to.

Harvey faced the throng at the door, put up both hands in an act of derision and did his best to not share his full feelings on the matter. "Doctor Jennin first approached Commander Walsh, and from there was invited into the Ready Room. As much as I'd like to always hear from my staff, there's a reason why the door is always supposed to be locked. Miss Tivan, as soon as I'm finished with Doctor Jennin, I will be happy to meet with you. In the meantime, please wait outside."

"I'll save you the trouble, Sir," Camila said. "She's angry that she no longer has access to HASA and barged in here after I told her that if she was needed for it, she would have been included in the meeting two days ago. As your Chief of Security, I find her unwillingness to listen a failure, Captain."

"Outside. Please," Harvey insisted, wondering why his senior staff were so much more on edge than they ever were. Maybe he should have turned the ship around two days ago and returned to Gamma Command. "I will deal with it, after Doctor Jennin and I finish."

It became apparent to Camila that Tivan could do no wrong in the Captain's eyes, with proof or otherwise. Her expression deadened and she turned, then headed away from the door, turned Security over to a Ensign and exited the bridge without a word.

"Strike one!", Arjin thought. Eyes firm on his console. Ears wide open towards the conversation. "Still one to go."

Tivan watched Camila go with a pointedly neutral expression on her face. Her eyes glistened with fascination, however, which was the only clue to her amusement. Otherwise, she stood perfectly passive and poised with her hands folded neatly at her waist. If the captain wished her to wait, then this was as good of a location as any.

Everything had transpired before Terry could get a word in edge-wise. When the turbolift doors closed, he stood and took that break to interject his frustration. "Enough! If there is anyone else who would like to circumvent the officer in charge of the Bridge, who just happens to be the Executive Officer, and barge into the Captain's Ready Room or simply walk off your duty station, I have one thing for you. You have my express permission to get the hell off my Bridge!" He paused a few seconds and continued. "And if there are any takers, I will note it in the ship's log and we'll have a private discussion about protocol at my leisure!" He looked around the room, locking eyes with everyone there, before settling on Harvey's in the other room. The things it took sometimes...

Arjin remained firm under the XO's gaze. He was actually enjoying himself.

"Might I suggest a counseling session?" Tivan asked Terry. "Or perhaps some time in the holodeck?"

“Miss Tivan,” chided Captain Geisler, eager not just to get on with his conversation with Doctor Jennin, but also to get a shot of that whiskey for himself. “Remove yourself from the Ready Room. Now."

"But of course, Captain." Tivan flashed a bright smile. "Doctor." She gave Terry a wink as she joined him on the bridge, though just far enough outside the Ready Room to allow the doors to close.

Arjin could not hold it in at this point. He just let out some sort of laugh "Pfrrt. Strike two."

In the turbolift, Camila took a deep breath and let out a bloodcurdling scream full of rage, then took another deep breath and calmly exited after the doors opened once more since she didn't specify a destination. She gave a nod to Commander Walsh, then walked to resume her station.

Dijaat sat at his station with his jaw slightly agape at the scene that had just unfolded in front of him. The Romulan hybrid was beginning to wonder if he'd made a horrific mistake taking the assignment on board the Black Hawk, or if he was there purely on stupid luck. Just then his console started beeping erratically and caught his attention, albeit slightly off guard, "Oh hell..." He said loudly and with a thick Scottish accent.

He turned around, "Commander another replicator is on the fritz this time in quarters number eleven on deck nine... It has started producing copious amounts of both oatmeal and fish sticks. Engineering personnel cannot get it to stop." He turned and looked at Tivan with a seriousness in his eye.

"You may want to get down to your quarters..." He told her.


* * *

"She's going to kill the counselor. You know that right?" Rhula asked. "And I don't think she'll do it quickly and painlessly. She doesn't seem the type for that." Which is a wonderful trait, he thought.

"Computer, lock the door." A affirmative chime sounded as he rose from the desk and approached the replicator. "It's only a matter of time, Doctor. She's already arrested her once, but I know their divide is only deepening. I'm hoping we can finish our run around the block, and drop her back off at a starbase before I've got a corpse to explain."

Harvey returned to the table with two shots of the whiskey, and set one of them in front of Doctor Jennin. "To drills and timely responses." Without waiting for an action from Jennin, Harvey immediately threw back, downing the alien beverage in quick fashion.

The Chief Medical Officer couldn't help but smile. "It'll be alright," he soothed. "Just put your money on Commander Di Pasquale when the time comes. I certainly will." He tilted his head back and tossed his drink down his throat. "To your health. And spirited combat."

The Captain placed the empty shot glass back on the desk and looked across to the Bajoran pathologist. "Now, about the drills. What's on your mind?"

The smile disappeared from his face instantly. "Let's not do that again. Plain and simple. My staff is capable of doing their jobs; you don't need to test them." He leaned back in his chair. "Horrible acting too."

Harvey nodded. "I can't cancel all future drills. One of the next ones we'll have to do is an evacuation drill, just to make sure everyone knows their assigned muster areas. Thankfully, no acting is required in that one. As for the medical drills, I think we can get along fine without those."

"If you feel that my department needs drills in the future, let me know. I'll organize them."

He flashed a smile. "How do I requisition an acting coach for the ship?"

The Captain returned the smile with a soft chuckle. "I recommend you start hanging out near the performance hall. Surely there will be someone capable. Anything else I can do for you?"

"No," the Bajoran said, standing up. "I think you've got enough going on. Until next time, Captain."

Rhula went to leave, but the doors remained closed when he approached. "A hand?" he called over his shoulder.

"Computer, unlock doors." Harvey watched as the doors slid open, giving him clear view of the bridge. "Go ahead and send in Tivan."


~~~ To Be Continued ~~~ Cue the Dramatic Music! ~~~

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