The Best Laid Plans.........

[John Randall 0]

OFFICIAL LOG

LIEUTENANT JOHN RANDALL

USS CHALLENGER

 

(Personal Log Stardate 13001.25)

 

John awoke from a good, long sleep in his bed; he checked the chronometer, and was slightly startled to see

that he had been asleep for almost 9 hours. 'Haven't slept that long in a while,' he thought as he got out of bed.

He stripped off his pajamas, and made his way to the head where he proceeded to take a 20 minute shower.

He finished, toweled himself dry, and went to his bedroom, changing into his duty uniform. He went into the small galley, made his breakfast drink, and gulped it down. He then exited his cabin, and made his way along the corridor to the turbolift. He waited a few moments while the lift was in use, then it arrived, and he stepped in. "Deck 12," he said, and the lift whisked him away.

 

The lift arrived at deck twelve, and John exited, making his way along the corridor toward engineering. The doors swooshed open as he approached, and he made his way inside. He glanced around at the crew as he made his way toward the main console, acknowledging some hand waves and good morning's. He arrived at the console, and sat down at a station. He logged in for duty, and pulled up the mission brief e-mail that had been sent out. Chief of Engineering Lieutenant Eddie Freeman walked by the back of Randall's chair as he made his way toward an empty station at the console. "Hey, man, how you doin'?" John looked up and back at the sound of Freeman's voice, gave a brief smile, and said, "Hey, chief, doing good here; just reading about the new mission. How's it going with you?"

 

"Not too bad," replied Freeman. "Already got a bad feeling about this. The last few missions have ended in

real messes. There was even a time a few missions ago when we got boarded. That one was especially messy." John snorted and said, "Heh, yeah; maybe we won't end up in a battle with the Romulans again, huh?"

A wicked smile crossed Randall's face as he finished speaking. Freeman eyed Randall out of the corner of his

eye, grimaced, and said, "Yeah. Or the Orions. Tangled with them, too." He looked over his shoulder at a certain

corner for a second. "I'm probably just jumping at shadows, though. It's just spatial anomalies, right? Those

usually turn out to be an undiscovered quasar or something." John nodded briefly. "Yeah, after the last two

missions, we could use some quiet science data gathering, right?"

 

Freeman nodded absently, and the two men worked in silence for a few moments. John finished studying

the reports left by the night shift, and idly brought up the ship's roster, knowing some new personnel had come

aboard at Starbase 103. He sifted through the names until one literally jumped off the screen at him, and his eyes widened in disbelief. "Well, I'll be....," he blurted, and Eddie looked over at him. "Sup?" asked the chief of

engineering. "Chief, check the ship roster," John said. "I believe Lieutenant Reed is back." Freeman's eyes

widened as well, and he quickly brought up the ship roster. "Yeah, and in her old position, too," he said. "That's

pretty cool! Along with some guy named Matheson, but I don't know him."

 

John idly scanned the roster some more, then said, "Yeah, I believe it says he's one of the new Marines. Well,

never hurts to have them around, that's for sure." Freeman pondered that for a second, then said, "Huh. I wonder if we got Marines and got Reed back because this is gonna be a big mess after all. " John gave a huge

sigh, which bordered on a moan, and looked at his boss. "I never thought of that, Chief. With all due respect, I

hope you're wrong." The men worked in silence for a few moments, then an incoming message from the bridge

flashed onto Randall's monitor. He was pleased and delighted to see that the e-mail was from Lieutenant Reed,

alerting engineering to a sensor diagnostic being done. He acknowledged the message, sent a confirmation,

and a personal welcome back to the lady lieutenant. John then pulled up the info on the new engines' performance, and studied it.

 

Freeman, who had also seen the message from Reed, and had sent a personal welcome back message

of his own, leaned back in his seat. "Never thought I'd be glad for a boring cataloguing job," he mused. "It'll be

like a vacation after the last few runs." John looked over at his boss and friend, and grinned sarcastically. "Yeah, we've done our share of saving the Federation lately, haven't we?" Suddenly, the warp engines whined

loudly, and there was a definite lurch to the right. The two men grabbed their consoles, and Freeman said, "Whoa! Somebody just stepped on the accelerator!" Randall dropped his head into his hands as the ship

steadied, and moaned, "Oh, no. I have a feeling you were right, Chief." Eddie quickly checked on the ship

heading, and shook his head. "Somebody turned us around first, too. We're going somewhere that isn't where

we were originally going, and we're going there really fast."

 

Another e-mail flashed onto John's panel; it was from Reed, who wanted to know if he and Freeman would

be free for dinner later to catch up. Randall sent a reply that he would love to, then turned to Eddie. "Well, Chief,

wonder who we have to save this time? We never get the easy ones, do we?" Freeman, who had replied to Reed's e-mail as well, grinned. "Nope. Apparently, if something comes up, we're one of the ones they call to

handle it. At least we're not the Enterprise, though. They get the downright impossible ones." John nodded.

"Yeah, there is that, I guess. Well, I'm gonna go assist Steve at the warp core; at high warp, the engines need

a little more scrutiny, eh?" The chief nodded. "Yeah. And I'm gonna double-check the weapons and shields, just

in case." John grinned. "I would say that's a REAL good idea, chief."

 

Randall got up, and went to the back of the room where the massive warp core of the Challenger was humming loudly along; at high warp, there was a definite vibration that could be felt in the floor of the room next to the warp core. Freeman reached for a PADD, then, reluctantly, got up and went over to the shield system panel. Ensign Steve Davis turned as John arrived at the warp core station, and grinned at him. "Somebody

stepped on the gas, Lieutenant." John returned the smile, then frowned. "Yeah, so much for our little cataloguing run, I'm afraid." Davis looked at him. "You really think so, John?" Randall nodded, and sighed. "The

chief feels the same way. I have a feeling we're about to get thrown into the fire again." Davis nodded, and the

two friends monitored the warp engines the rest of the trip to Sector 001, or Earth Spacedock.

 

A little time later, John heard his communicator chime. "Mr. Randall, report to the rec deck." "Acknowledged,"

he replied, and left engineering after glancing at Freeman, who nodded that he, also, had heard the order. John

made his way to the turbolift, and stepped in. "Deck 15," he said, and the lift took him away. He arrived, exited

the lift, and walked along the corridor to the rec room doors. They swooshed open at his approach, and he entered to be met by the sight of the captain, first officer Rinax, and a small gathering of other officers. "Front

and center, Mr. Randall," intoned Ja'Lale, and John quickly walked up to stand at full attention in front of his

captain. "Mr. Randall, due to your continued service and contributions to the USS Challenger, it is our pleasure

to promote you to the rank of full lieutenant; and grant you all of the privileges and responsibilities afforded to

such rank. Congratulations!" The captain stepped forward and affixed a pip to John's collar as everyone who

was there gave him congratulations as well. "Thank you, Captain," said Randall somberly. "I will continue to

do my best. " "Acknowledged, Lieutenant Randall," said the captain. "Dismissed!" The gathering came to attention briefly, then everyone reported to their stations.

 

The Challenger arrived at Spacedock, Earth, and John had made his way back to engineering after the award

ceremony. There had been the necessary hoopla at his return; he bore it good-naturedly, then ordered the crew

back to their stations, but he did it with a smile on his face. He was told that Freeman had left word that he had

command of engineering; the chief didn't say why. Randall nodded, and told the crew to secure their stations.

He also said he would find out about any possible shore leave. The crew went to work, and John spotted Steve

Davis at the main console. The new lieutenant walked over to him. "How's it going, my friend?" asked Randall.

"All good here, sir," replied Davis with one of his mischievious smiles, and clapped John on the shoulder.

"Congrats on the promotion, buddy." Randall smiled at him. "Thanks, my friend. I need to report for the briefing,

I guess, so, you have control here, and I'll see you later." "Aye, aye, sir," grinned Steve, and he laughed as John grimaced, then grinned back at him, heading for the engineering doors.

 

Randall made his way along the corridor to the turbolift, and had to wait a few moments as it was in use. The

lift arrived, and he stepped in. "Deck 10," he said, and the lift whisked him away. He arrived, and exited the lift,

going along the corridor to the transporter room, wher he found most of the bridge crew about to beam down. He nodded at the chief, stepped up onto the dais, and shimmered out of existence with them. They rematerialized in front of a massive building; the sign on front read: 'Starfleet Intelligence'. John, remembering

his last Intel mission, frowned. He then caught the eye of Lieutenant Reed as a young officer came to escort them into the building. He gave her a quick nod and a brief smile, which she returned, and they entered the

complex. The young officer lead them to a couple of side-by-side doors, which whooshed open as the party

approached.

 

They entered the spacious room, and, seated around a large circular table, were several individuals in

different types of uniforms. One arose from his seat as they came in. "Ahh, welcome," he said. "Please settle

in and take your seats." John, regarding the man closely, read the pips on the collar; the man was a Starfleet

admiral. The new lieutenant took a seat, and eyed the rest of the people sitting and/or standing. He had a very

bad feeling about this. He then noticed Captain Ja'Lale look at a woman in a Starfleet Marine uniform. "Ah, Marine Captain Granger, I presume?" he said. "Aye, Captain," came the reply in a quick, clipped tone. "Cassidy

Granger, Captain, Starfleet Marine Corps CounterIntelligence, Captain." She gestured briefly at some men standing at attention along the wall. "And this is Delta Team, sir," she said. "Nice to meet you," said Ja'Lale.

"I just received your transfer orders. Welcome to the Challenger." He nodded at the Marines, who gave a quick

nod of acknowledgment. While Granger introduced her team to the captain, John noted to himself that Freeman

had been right; the Challenger was going to get thrown into the midst of something yet again. 'Such is Starfleet

life,' he breathed to himself, then settled in to listen as the admiral introduced some other people that were in the room as well, and the briefing got underway.

 

He listened increduously as a Commander Zach Murphy outlined the mission: they were to travel back in time

to the year circa 1969 O.R. (Old Earth Reckoning Date), and stop a gang of terrorists, for want of a better term, from stopping the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. The terrorist gang were plotting to sabotage the rocket that would deliver the astronauts to the moon for the history-making flight. Their orders were to stop the terrorists and ensure the flight took place as scheduled. As the mission was laid out, John mentally groaned to himself. 'Here we go again,' he thought. He listened as questions came back and forth about the mission, then his eyes jerked to Murphy as the commander addressed a query to him. "Mr. Freeman, I'd like you to prepare the Challenger for a temporal sling shot around the sun. Make sure our dilithium crystals can take the jump." John straightened in his seat, and said, "The name is Lieutenant Randall, sir; acknowledged, and it will take a little time to perform the calculations." Murphy acknowledged the correction with a rapid blink of his eyes, then said, "How much time do you need?" John began to answer, then, out of the corner of his eye, saw Reed give him a quick nod, and he knew he would have help on the calculations. He gave her a quick nod of acknowledgment, then said, "Hard to say, sir; each jump is different."

 

Commander Erica Rinax, the first officer of the Challenger, who had slipped into the room about halfway through the briefing, said, "I'm sure Intel has calculated a couple of million times prior in preparation; they can

share the info with you, Randall." John turned and looked at the commander coldly, then shifted his attention

back to Murphy, who said, "Do you think 6 hours will suffice? I don't want to wait too long." Randall said, "That might do it, sir." The commander nodded. "Very well, then. We'll leave in 6 hours. Be sure to stock up on spare crystals. I would like to be able to return back to our time when this is all done." He grinned, and John smiled slightly back at him, but his eyes were cold. "Acknowledged, sir," he said. The meeting was dismissed, and the crew prepared to beam back to the ship.

 

 

 

 

END LOG