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Archie Phoenix

Things to Do During Yellow Alert

Archie was the only officer left in main engineering. Conflicting reports had Lieutenant Sema’J either fixing a problem in the computer core, down on the planet finishing the assembly of the laser drill, or recuperating from a stroke in Sickbay. Lieutenant Forsythe, as it turned out, was not dining during a yellow alert, but was taking care of an electrical fire in the mess hall galley. Lieutenant Black was repairing a malfunctioning console in Sickbay. And even the new Ensign was up on the Bridge manning the engineering station. For the first time since his arrival on Arcadia, Archie was in charge of main engineering.

 

Not that there was much to it at the moment. The archaeological mission had been cut off by the approach of an alien fleet, and judging by the lack of activity throughout the ship and the continuation of the yellow alert, the alien fleet was either unresponsive or engaging the Captain in diplomatic exchange. Archie had learned as early as the Academy that yellow alert was simultaneously the most tense and the most boring period of time on a Starfleet vessel. It was the limbo of alert phases, between the freedom of action offered by condition green and the hectic activity of red alert, between the comfort and security of green and the mental distractions of red. At yellow, you often had to remain at your post waiting for the worst, with nothing but mundane duty to occupy your mind.

 

Of course, Archie’s mind was currently occupied by something far from either mundane or duty. He was both frustrated and relieved that the recall to the ship had taken him out of the sight of the ‘science girl,’ as he was now referring to her out of ignorance of her actual name. He still couldn’t stop thinking about her, however. As he stared at the master situation monitor waiting for red alert or some other emergency occurrence, questions drifted through his mind that had nothing to do with engineering -- what kinds of books does she read, what kinds of music does she listen to, what does she eat for breakfast, what position does she sleep in, what does she wear to bed …

 

Archie cleared his throat uncomfortably and glanced around main engineering, hoping none of the crewmen could see the dazed expression that kept sliding over his face. If his mind weren’t normally so sharp, he’d worry that his mental meanderings would distract him if an emergency did arise.

 

Hadn’t he assured Jordan than he would focus on duty from now on? Hadn’t his sleep-deprived outburst taught him that his attempts at socializing would only serve as a distraction, to himself and others? Really, what would science girl think if Archie actually dared to speak to her? She would probably find him annoying, his inquisitive nature intrusive and overbearing. Jordan and the Chief had thought the same thing before he resolved to keep more to himself, and even the Captain had appeared quite put off by his questioning into Trill mysticism. There was no reason to believe that science girl, probably one of the most popular people on the ship, would feel any differently.

 

But still …

 

Archie glanced around and stepped away from the situation monitor. He located an empty terminal nearby and leaned over it. He had to at least have a name to attach to the face. “Computer, display the personnel manifest for the science department,” he instructed quietly. A list of names and ranks promptly appeared on the screen. The chief’s name was at the top -- Daena, certainly a female name. He tapped the name to bring up the image file and recognized the face of the pointy-eared and tailed officer he’d seen in the shuttle bay and on the planet. Archie was relieved that it wasn’t her -- infatuation with a senior officer would have been rather humiliating and even a bit disturbed. He cleared away the image and tapped at the next name on the list -- Samantha Kent.

 

A small smile flashed across his face -- it was her. It was nice to get a closer look at her face, but a computer image could scarcely do the real thing justice. Glancing around main engineering once again, and leaning a bit closer to the console, Archie whispered, “Computer, display personnel file for Samantha Kent.”

 

“Level 3 Command Authorization required,” the computer’s voice practically shouted, drawing the attention of a few crewmen.

 

Archie frowned and quickly tapped the clear control on the console. He returned to the situation monitor trying to look as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. He also felt somewhat stupid. Though he now finally had a name for the face that he couldn’t get out of his mind, this was not the sort of thing he should have been doing during a yellow alert. When thoughts of opening the computer’s hardware access and directly bypassing the command authorizations entered his mind, he quickly purged them and tried to return his focus to his duties.

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