Meeting With The Brass

[John Randall 0]

OFFICIAL LOG

LIEUTENANT JOHN RANDALL

USS CHALLENGER

 

(Personal Log Stardate 11408.28)

 

John returned to engineering as Challenger eased into its berth at Earth Spacedock. He sat at the main console awaiting the arrival of the spacedock engineering team. The team arrived minutes later, and he gave them their assignments. He then got on the engineering comm, and told the crew that shore leave had been authorized by the captain while the ship awaited its next mission.

 

John then turned, and sighed as he saw the pile of PADDs that had accumulated, as he had been too busy to log them during the last mission. He cracked his knuckles, and put the first PADD in front of him, pushing the button to display its data. He pulled the keyboard toward him, and began typing. Lieutenant (j.g.) Jeff Michaels passed by him, then turned as he saw his friend was busy typing. "Hey, John, you taking leave?" he asked. Randall shook his head. "Got to file reports, Jeff," he answered, never lifting his head from the keyboard. "I'll be on duty for a while; you go ahead, have a good time," he continued.

 

"You need some time, too, Lieutenant," Michaels replied. "Don't spend the whole leave on board the ship." "I don't intend to, Jeff," John said. "But, I gotta log these before I can go anywhere. I'll see you later." Michaels sighed. "All right, Lieutenant," he answered. "See you later, I hope." He walked away as John lifted a hand. The assistant chief engineer labored away at the keyboard, logging report after report, occasionally glancing up to ascertain the status of the spacedock engineering team. The pile of PADDs slowly began to dwindle as John pounded away at his keyboard.

 

A little while later, the voice of the chief engineer, Eddie Freeman, was heard in the engineering department. "Anyone still here?!" it called out, and John lifted his hand as he continued to type. Freeman saw him, and made his way to the main console. He raised his eyebrows as he saw the pile of PADDs next to Randall. "Need a hand?" he asked as he sat down at a nearby station. John shook his head, never looking up, or slowing down. "No, I got this, Chief," he said. "Why don't you go ahead and take your leave? I'll be a while longer here."

 

Freeman raised an eyebrow, which Randall never saw, and shook his head. "You say so," he replied, pulling a keyboard toward himself. "I got some stuff to wrap up here anyway." John shrugged, never taking his eyes off the keyboard, or slowing down the tempo of his typing. "It's your time, Chief," he said. "I have to get these logged, or the captain will have my head." He and Freeman typed away on their respective keyboards for a few minutes until, suddenly, there came a loud crash from the vicinity of the warp core. Both men started at the crash, then John swore under his breath. "I got this, Chief," he growled as he got out of his chair, and strode toward the warp core.

 

When he arrived, he stood there for a moment, taking in the scene. A team of spacedock engineers had actually managed to ram a corner of an anti-grav cart against one of the consoles surrounding the warp core. "What the hell is going on back here?!" he said forcefully, and listened incredrously to the explanation, stammered out by one of the team. Freeman had also wandered back to the scene, and was shaking his head. John then said, "All right, all right, I don't need every detail! Just be more careful!" The team acknowledged him, and went on their way. He looked around, and spotted a couple of ensigns who were still on duty. "Get on this, all right?" he said wearily, and the ensigns nodded, taking out their tricorders.

 

"That's actually impressive," he heard Freeman say behind him, and he turned. "I didn't know you could even lose control of one of those things that badly," the chief engineer finished, staring at the dent in the console. John's eyes turned ice-blue as he caught Freeman's eye. "Trust a spacedock team, every time," he growled, then stalked back to his station at the main console, where he resumed typing. Freeman stayed at the console, watching the ensigns work, and thinking to himself that his chief assistant had a bee in his bonnet about something.

 

John continued to type away, unaware that he was slipping into a really nasty mood. His eyes continued to hold their ice-blue shade as he typed. A few minutes later, however, he reached for another PADD, and his fingers came away empty. He sat back in his chair, and blew out a long breath of tension, which instantly made him feel better, and improved his mood. He saw Freeman returning to his station, and got up from his chair. "Chief, I'm gonna go EVA, and check on the team recharging the port nacelle," he said. The chief engineer nodded, staring at the display of a PADD in his hand.

 

John headed for the equipment room, and put on a spacesuit. He then walked to the engineering airlock, and stepped out into space. He looked around, and spotted the team that was recharging the nacelle. He gave tiny bursts to his rocket jets on his suit, and headed toward them. He watched the team work, communicating with them over the spacedock frequency in the suit comlink. The team finished about a half hour later, and waved to him. He put a thumbs up, and moved in to inspect the work. Pleased by what he saw, he turned and nodded to the team leader. "Well done," he said, and the team grinned at him through their helmets.

 

He and the team then headed toward the airlock, where they all reboarded the ship. He went to the equipment room, and took off the spacesuit, redonning his uniform. He then made his way back to engineering, and strode toward the main console. He sat down at his station, and logged himself out, officially going off duty. He stood up, and looked around for Freeman. Not seeing him, he took out his communicator. Flipping it open, he said, "Randall to Freeman." Almost instantly, the reply came. "Freeman here, go ahead," the chief engineer said. "The port nacelle is fully charged, Chief," John said. "I should tell you, I'm going off duty. Admiral Jason Baldwin wants to see me."

 

There was a pause, then Freeman said, "Really? All right, then. Thanks for letting me know, and good luck with Baldwin." "Acknowledged, Randall out," said John, flipped the communicator shut, and headed for the engineering doors. He strode through them and went out into the corridor, heading for the turbolift. "Deck 10," he said as he stepped in, and the lift whisked him away. A few moments later, he arrived, and exited the car. He went along the corridor to the transporter room. He strode inside, and made his way to the dais. He stepped up onto it, and looked at the transporter officer. "Beam me to Starfleet Intelligence HQ in San Francisco," he said, and the officer nodded. Seconds later, John shimmered out of existence.

 

The assistant chief engineer materialized on a sidewalk alongside a huge glass and metal building. He knew it was SI HQ; he sighed, and strode toward the door, which opened at his approach. He went up to the receptionist desk, and stated he had an appointment with Admiral Baldwin. The pretty brunette secretary spoke into her headset, then smiled sunnily, and told him to go right in. John thanked her, and strode to his left. He went down a small corridor, and came to a door marked 'J. Baldwin.' He gave a small knock, and a deep voice from inside told him to enter.

 

Admiral Jason Baldwin stood up as John entered. He smiled, and waved to an empty chair. "Lieutenant Randall, thank you for coming; have a seat," he said. "Thank you, sir," John answered, walked over and sat down. He then looked the admiral squarely in the eyes. "So, why am I here, Admiral?" he queried. Baldwin stood up, and, to John's surprise, handed him a fairly thick folder, with actual paper documents inside. "Open that and read for a few minutes, Mr. Randall; then we'll talk," said the admiral.

 

John nodded, opened the folder, and began reading the paper documents inside, which turned out to contain some rather interesting, even startling, information. The admiral watched the lieutenant as he read, looking for any type of reaction. After a few minutes, John closed the folder, and looked up at Baldwin. "This is some...interesting...stuff, sir," he said. "Where do I fit in, or come in, or whatever?" "Well, Lieutenant, that really depends on you," Baldwin answered. "Your ship is in between missions at the moment; do you anticipate any problems if you were to come aboard?"

 

John said, "Well, I would have to get permission from the captain, sir; that might prove to be a little difficult, as he wasn't too happy about my coming to see you." The admiral carelessly waved a hand. "You let me worry about your captain," he said. "What do you think, would you be game to try?" John raised his eyebrows. "So, you are recruiting me for this mission," he said, and Baldwin smiled. "Let's say you wouldn't be here otherwise, John," he said. "All right, sir, I'll have to contact the captain, and get his permission," replied Randall. "I should warn you, though, he'll probably insist on talking to you face to face."

 

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, Lieutenant," said the admiral. "Let me know something within the next 24 hours." "Aye, sir," John said, and stood up, giving the folder back to Baldwin. "Dismissed," said the admiral, and Randall stood briefly at attention, then exited the office. He walked toward the lobby door, which swooshed open as he approached, and stepped back out onto the sidewalk. He looked around for a moment, then took out his communicator. "Randall to Challenger; one to beam up," he said, and replaced the communicator. As he waited for the beam to claim him, he thought to himself, 'I'm not sure that the captain is gonna let me go on this one when I tell him about it.' The beam claimed him, and, a few seconds later, he materialized on the transporter dais of the Challenger.

 

END LOG