So far, so good. Andy had arrived on the Chimera, managed to survive the ODA debacle, and reported to his new supervisor, Cmdr. Birt, who seemed like a fairly straight-laced kind of fellow. As far as supervisors went, Andy was pretty satisfied with Birt thusfar. He certainly had more of a personality than old "Cold Fish" Mumacik, his supervisor from the USS Archer. And the Gods knew *anything* would have been preferable to the nightmare of having to report to Jack Walsh on a regular basis. His first assignment went well. He reported to engineering as ordered, learned that he had just missed the CEO, who had gone to Kinsi on leave after the combat simulation had ended. Instead he met an affable engineer named Jack, and said he was there to investigate a power drop in the main phaser array. The engineer replied with good-natured testiness how we could tell the main phaser array was losing power if it was on simulation mode; Andy replied with a shrug that he was down here on Cmdr. Birt's orders. The two of them made their way to the array, ran a few diagnostics, and found the array in simulation mode was miscalibrated. Not a big deal in reality, since when the phaser array would be fully enabled, it worked just fine, but still Andy was pretty impressed that Birt would catch a detail like that under a simulation setting. The two officers worked pleasantly together for a couple hours resetting the calibrations for simulated phasers to correct parameters, and when all was said and done, Andy was happy to accept an invitation to the engineering department's next poker game. The next couple of days went fairly smoothly. He touched base with Sick Bay, finally responding to their repeated notices that all new crew must report for a physical within one week of transfer. When he arrived, he was pleased to find Sick Bay staffed by a large handful of very attractive young women. Andy reminisced briefly about his first long-term relationship, with a medical officer aboard the USS t'Rathna, his first post. Penny Miller, who'd died along with the rest of the crew ... along with his former self, he remembered uncomfortably, when the ship lost all power and life support, six years ago ... three years before his current self was "created" in a lab experiment gone awry. "Lieutenant Andersen Foster, repording for crew physical," he announced to the room in general, and got curious and eager stares from several of the staff. Ah, he thought with mild bitterness, they must know about me. "Andy!" called a voice happily He turned toward the person calling him, and seached his memory, trying to recall the familiar face. The young woman extended her hand and gave him a warm smile. "Mercedes Carpenter," she said, beating him to the punch. "We served on the Archer together for a few months about a year and a half ago before I transferred here." "Mercedes!" said Andy, happy to see a familiar face, let alone one so attractive. "I'd forgotten that you were here," he said smiling, inwardly desperately trying to remember if he'd ever attempted to ask her on a date and been turned down. He didn't think so. The chatted for a bit, and she introduced the rest of the medical staff who were present -- a young terran doctor named MaiKai Quiocho, a pair of nurses, introduced only as Lucy and Jan, and an eager young doctor named Scott Fisher, who seemed like an overeager puppy wanting to ask him questions. "Our Chief isn't here right now," continued Mercedes after the introductions were made, "she's still on leave. But we can do the basics in the meantime. Rangi will probably want you to come back after she's returned for a more ... thorough examination." Andy wasn't entirely comfortable with the chuckles that comment elicited from the rest of the medical staff. He did as he was told, went through a battery of tests, and continued chatting up Mercedes and MaiKai, whilst patiently answering a steady autofire of personal questions by Mr. Fisher. The initial physical went fine. By human standards, Andy was in fine health. The tests they truly wanted to conduct, however, was to get a good picture of his alien physiology ... which fortunately at the moment, remained fairly dormant, so long as he wasn't subjected to unusual energy levels. He agreed to report back for the rest of his physical, and most likely another barrage of questions from the CMO once she reported back to the ship. Waving farewell to Mercedes and telling Mai, Lucy and Ann it was nice to meet them, he made his way out of Sick Bay, nodding a curt farewell to Fisher on the way out. =/\= The next day =/\= "Morning, Mr. Foster," said Cmdr. Birt as he entered the turbolift where Andy stood. "Nice to see you early for your shift." Andy smirked. "First time for everything, sir." The doors closed, and the lift resumed its journey to the bridge. Birt chuckled. "Tut, Mr. Foster. It's a good practice." The doors opened to reveal the bridge, and Andy made his way to the primary operations station, studiously making as little commotion as possible around the Colonel. Birt made a cursory introduction for Andy to Colonel Bretam two days ago, when the captain seemed preoccupied with other matters. He recognized the man instantly ... since there aren't many Bajorans in Starfleet, it was unusual to run into one that frequently. And Andy had certainly run into Bretam Keylor before. Commander Birt quietly made his way beside Colonel Bretam and cleared his throat. "Ah, Commander," replied the CO, distracted as he finished viewing something on his console. He tapped on the console, logging out, got up and turning over the bridge to the Chief of Operations, telling him the ship was his. The two senior officers made small talk while Birt set up the command console to his own perameters, while Andy attempted to quietly and unobtrusively go about his work. Bretam made his way to the lift, and glanced at him as he waited. The two men's eyes locked for a moment, and Keylor slowly broke out into an enigmatic grin that made Andy's stomach sink with dread. Hell, he though, he's finally recognized me, thought Andy, as he watched the Colonel turn back to face the lft doors. Andy's attention was suddently drawn to a proximity sensor alarm. He pulled up ship's scanners and found a shuttle speeding gently toward the ship's hull. Keylor turned and looked at the tactical officer, who informed him of the same, and added that they weren't responding to hails. While he had scanners up, Andy checked for lifesigns. "Sir," he said, reporting to Birt, "I am reading two lifeforms on the shuttle, neither of them appear to be at the helm." He pulled up a tactical screen, noting that the young ensign at the tactical station seemed to be hesitating while this large projectile continued to hurtle toward them. "I might be able to override the shuttle controls from here," he added. "We can then shut the propulsion down and figure out what is going on." "Okay Lieutenant, make it so," replied Birt, and Andy began quickly accessing the shuttles registry, and prepared for control override. He had just connected with the shuttles systems when he went pale, witnessing what just happened. The tactical officer gasped, and Colonel Bretam Keylor stepped forward, asking her what was the matter. "Well, sir, I am showing massive decompression in the shuttle," she responded, shaken. "It appears that the rear hatch just blew." Andy nodded assent. "Sir I have control of the shuttle," he said grimly. "Dis-engaging impulse drive and bringing it about to grab it with the tractor beams. " "And the life forms?" Andersen double-checked the scanner, knowing what he'd find, and looked up. "None sir," he replied, shaking his head. "Sir, should I inform the base and have them perform the recovery operation?" asked Birt. Keylor shook his head no and replied that the base seemed to have its hands full with another matter, and that they should take care of it. "Recover everything you can and determine what happened," ordered the colonel. "Report your findings to me as soon as you have them." He turned and left. Pete nodded and turned to Andy. "Extend the field 100 meters behind the shuttle, and bring it into the bay. Hopefully you'll pick up the crew as well." He tapped his badge. "Commander Birt to Sick Bay. Send a forensics team to Shuttle Bay 2 immediately." Lt. Andersen Foster Operations Officer USS Chimera _________________________________________________________________ FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar – get it now! http://toolbar.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200415ave/direct/01/