===== Bridge, USS Chimera ===== Shane nodded to Andy and then walked over to the door leading to the ready room. Pressing the chime he waited for a reply. Shane wasn't disappointed ... a loud "Come in" came from behind the door. Stepping into the room what he was used to use as his own during the last mission he waited till the door closed behind him. For a moment he looked at Bretam who was sitting behind his desk. Somehow he looked a bit different. Not that his hair color would be yellow, but something in the face of the General was different. It was like some of Bretam's old demons were defeated ... or awakened? "Commander Guzman reporting. I am glad to see you back General!" Shane said. Keylor stopped short of his desk and looked back. Going out he saw Lt Foster but on the way in was Shane. With a half smile he turned around and sat on the front edge of his desk. "I see you have not wasted anytime relaxing on R&R. I assume other 'things' distracted you preventing you from arriving on time?" he grinned. "Erm" Shane started a bit out of concept. The relation between the General and himself became a bit less formal in the last time, but still Shane was still not much comfortable with it, "to be honest yes sir. My plans were to welcome you on board as the first one from the crew, but well, one means ... 'things' changes. I apologize for being late General" Shane ended. Keylor raised a gentile hand. "Don't worry commander, no harm done. All you had to do is call me and tell me you were running late. It is not like we are ready to ship off and you are in fear of being left behind." He said casually. He pointed to a chair. "SO commander." He said as he watched Shane sat down, a little flush in the face and breathing a little heavier than usual, "How was your time in command of the ship? Like the feeling of complete control?" he grinned thinking that Shane had learned the lesson of the burden of command first hand. Shane looked out the little window at the stars behind it and then back to Keylor: "It was a bit different then I've expected it to be." He paused for a moment before continuing: "It was of course something every officer dreams of ... commanding a ship, but i was not a single time that i wished you would be there instead of me. Sometimes I was no way sure of what to do and the trouble was everyone was expecting ME to lead the way and do the decisions." Smiling a small smile he added: "I am really glad you are back sir." Just then the door chimed. Looking a bit curious at the sheer amount of traffic that seemed to be passing through the ready room Keylor looked at the door. "COME!" he barked expecting to see some one who was delivering news of the shielding modifications. He was not surprised what he saw next. At the sound of the Generals voice telling her to enter the ready room, Rangi went in and walked towards the two figures near the desk. "Lieutenant Commander Summers reporting ....It's good to see you Sir." she said smiling at Keylor. Her eyes moved to Shane and his surprised expression. A dimple appeared in her cheek as she suppressed her laughter. "You're looking well General." she continued. " Welcome back aboard." Keylor nodded. "Thank you Doctor. It is good to be back." He replied. He sat there for a moment looked at Rangi. He noticed she seemed in fairly good spirits. He still had questions in his mind about the repot Rangi had written from her time on the bridge. Not wanting to embarrass her by asking about it, Keylor chose to sit there quietly. An Awkward silence filled the room . It would be not the truth to say that Shane was surprised about seeing Rangi there. He could hardly believe his own eyes. There she was ... with no signs of running like a wind or any hurry at all. {How the heck is that possible? I must look like a hare after a chase by a wolf and she looks like after a pleasant chocolate drink evening!} Rangi glanced at the XO who seemed a little flushed and was easing his collar. She looked back to Keylor. "Sir?...with permission, may I be excused? " she asked, thinking that the CO and XO had much to talk over. "I'd like to check on sickbay. I haven't been there for a couple of days." Keylor nodded. "No of course. We have some business to talk about any way. " he answered. "Thankyou Sir." She turned away, caught Shane's eye and adopted an expression that seemed to say 'It didnt take me long to get here...what happened to you?' "Commander" she murmured quietly and grinned at him. The door opened and she exited the room. Shane shook his head slightly in disbelief and wonder but when she left the room he turned his attention back to Keylor making a mental note to ask Rangi about the wonder she just accomplished. "I am glad that I can say that I return the Chimera almost in the same shape like when you left her" he said. "Well you could have done worse. I remember the first couple of missions when we first took out the chimera. At least you brought her back in one piece with out major damage." He said smiling. Thinking of their brief visitor, he moved on to his next question. "And the crew. How did they do under your command?" he asked. Shane smiled and nodded: "Aye, I think you self would be satisfied with the performance of the crew. Everyone tried his best, I will now mention only few : "LtJg. Quiocho, LT. Foster, LT. Wellington, LtJg. Oriana, LtJg. Kirkland, LCpl Cortez. ... Maj. Walsh had some bright moments as well, even if I have to pay him one visit and clear one issue." Keylor scowled a bit, "Yes I read it in your report. Though it turned out to be a bit more than a diplomatic mission, he still should have listened to you. That man has an affinity for not listening to orders. One of these days it will get him in a lot of trouble. Lets just hope it is the trouble that is good for us." He smile back. "What about your partner there." He pointed to the door that Rangi had exited. " I read over her report and I must say I got a strange feeling form her report. Not the usual report I am used to seeing from sickbay. Did she do ok? " "Exceptional well" he replied to Keylor's question: "Even when she claims that Command is not suitable for her, I think that Commander Summers performed the role of the Executive officer to the highest standart." With a chuckle he added: "A proof here is the fact that she even got sandwiches served in the ready room by LT. Foster once. I don't think that you or me ever were so honored ..." Keylor sook his head. "NO and you would think by now I would at least have some fine yopeman to assist me one and a while" he grinned. Gettng back to the topic at hand, "SO she does not feel comfortable does she? Well it is natural. After all she is a doctor, sworn to heal people. And When lives hang in the balance, I can se ehow that would be stressful." He said. Shane noded: "How was your Leave General?" he asked suddenly. Keylor stood up and turned to walk around his desk to hide his scowl. Frankly he was getting tired of that question, and was never going to answer any thing but what he had been saying. "it serverd it spurpose." He said as he rounded the desk and approached the chair. "Nothing much to talk about. Jaxa passed away several weeks ago." He said in a somber tone as he sat down. For a moment Shane wasnt sure to whom was Keylor reffering. Keylor was not much talkative when concerning his own private life and family and it took Shane a moment to remember that Jaxa was Keylor sister. Shane has seen her only once, on the very fist mission aboard the Chimera ... the ship was on orbit above Bajor and Keylor invited his sister to look @ the ship he was the fresh commander of. A death of an sibiling was much a grief to everyone, but knowing his CO for several years by now, Shane knew that Keylor preffered NOT to extend the issue. Afterall Shane was not the right person to talk about it to ... maybe Athena ... or Rangi. "I am ... deeply sorry for you sir." he said at last. "Thank you." He replied quietly .Keylor looked down at the desk and picked up a padd. Tapping on it he handed it over to Shane. "We have our next mission. Take a look." He said handing Shane a brief description of the boarding and capture of the USS Gott from the X'chi. Glad that Keylor changed the subject, Shane leaned over to get the PADD and read it quickly. Looking up from the PADD at Keylor he paused for a moment like gathering ideas before saying: "Temporal research? Thats not a toy to play with without much care. When we are leaving Bragg sir?" Keylor shook his head." No not right away. Because of the temporal anomalies in the Marsh, We are being fitted with some prototype shielding. It will take a few weeks here at the base just to get the bulk of the work done. The engineering staff can complete the modification underway." He said. Glancing once again at the PADD Shane asked a bit puzzled: "A nova class ship should be no match for us, unless there is some X'chi surprise waiting for us." Shrugging his shoulders Shane continued: "Taking my knowledge from the last mission ... Its quite probbaly that there will be more things to solve then a single infested Nova class ship, isn’t it sir?" "Well if you believe the intelligence, this should be a fairly straight forward mission. But some one at SSF command has decided to send a specialist along with us, a LTCmdr Samantha Palmer. She will come along with us for the mission." He added. "Have not figured out where to put her, probably have operations assign her the guest quarters on deck 3 for now. A little roomy for a crewman, but about the only thing we have at the moment that is not on deck 2. And if she is some sort of SSF snoop, I don't want her on deck 2." He said plainly. Shane noded: "I fully agree with you sir. If the Commander is an Intel operative like the last one we have had on the ship ... she will better stay away from us. If I may speak freely sir ... I am quite not keen about any Intel guy lurking onboard the Chimera. And well, her presence might indicate that the really IS something more in game then the SSF official orders say ..." Keylor shrugged his shoulders." I don’t know comander. But unless we are told otherwise, we will just have to run the mission as perscribed. But it does not hurt to be prepared for anything." Keylro sat in his chair and leaned forward on to the desk. "Regardless of why she is here, we will make her welcome. So far I have not heard of SSF putting an operative on the ships undercover, but I would not put it past them." Shane's expression changed for a moment into not a pleasant one but then he noded: "Understood sir. I do my best for the Commander feeling wellcome on board. Dont worry sir, I wont bite her head off" and with a chuckle he added: "hopefully"."Just one more question about the Commander ... what are her powers while on the Chimera? Does she have any authority over the ship?" "Authority?" Keylor said quizically. "well I had not really thought about it." He pasued for a second. "I guess have her work with Lt Oriana and the science department. If everything goes will there will not be much for them to do. I figure if any thing they might have a little fun scanning the anomilies in the Marsh while we secure the ship." He replied. Shane noded now a bit more satisfied. Returning the PADD to Keylor he asked: "Do you have any specific orders for the duration of R&R concerning me and ... Rangi?" With a faint blush on his face he continued: "you know, there is NEVER time for private business during an assigment ..." he added with a suggestive raised eyebrow. Keylor smiled. "No need to be embarrassed Commander. It is not like everyone on the ship does not already know you and the doctor are linked in some way." He said in a carefree tone. "But no, no orders for you as of now. Enjoy the time you have with each other and don’t worry much about things here. I will call you or the doctor if either of you is needed. When we are ready to depart we will have a briefing on the mission with the senior officers." Shane smiled back at Keylor glad that General's return changed nothing on his plans to spend the majority of the R&R out of the Chimera ... with Rangi. It would be quite impossible while beeing ACO ... but since Keylor assumed Command by now ... with the CO's approval the XO was free to do what he desired. "Thank you sir" he replied, "I wont disturb you any longer cause I can imagine that you want to catch up with all the events during the last mission" Keylor nodded as Shane stood up. "Very well commander. Now get that woman off my ship and spend some time with her. The last thing I want to hear in deep space is her complaining about how I keep you busy and not allow you to send time with her." He smiled. Shane saluted with best naval manners: "Sir, yes, sir" and with a broad smile he said: "Wellcome back again sir", turning around he left the ready room and headed straight to sickbay. ===== End of log ===== BGen. Bretam Keylor CO USS Chimera & Cmdr. Shane Guzman XO USS Chimera featuring LtCmdr. Rangi Summers CMO USS Chimera