A Blur

Posted on Wed Jun 16th, 2021 @ 10:07pm by Lieutenant Chester "Duo" Maxwell & Chief Warrant Officer Josette Mackenzie
Edited on on Mon Jul 18th, 2022 @ 2:15am

Mission: Gamma Quadrant
Location: Deck 17 Chief Security Office
Timeline: Current

The last several days had been tough on Duo. This was his first active duty assignment since the war ended, and it was been non-stop action since he arrived on the ship. (Just like the old days.) He thought to himself.

He set the PADD down in front of him and looked up at the Petty Officer in front of him, "That will be all, Bell. Be sure your team gets enough time off to implement the new duty roster. Dismissed." Bell stood and left the office.

Duo sighed as he picked the PADD back up and opened his itinerary for the day. He had very little time since the Captain's surprise combat simulation, as exhilarating as it was. He had spent just about every waking moment since getting his recommendations the Captain had approved into effect as soon as possible. Meeting with Bell was the last of the personnel assignments. All of the reinforced security teams had been notified and would begin their new scheduling assignments over the next twenty-four hours. He knew it would be a big change on them, but all of his Petty Officer's and lot of their team members were war veterans and both understood and approved of the changes. He had inherited a good team.

"Lets see, I still have a meeting with Chief Mackenzie about the ready racks, and I still haven't done my report on the simulation response times and mock casualties." he said to himself. It was his habit of talking to himself when he was alone. It helped him to not become lost in random thoughts.

The door chimed once. "That must be Chief Mackenzie. Enter."

It was indeed Chief Mackenzie. Her blonde hair was tied up tightly, just like the last time they had met on DS9. She walked up to his desk, a bounce in her step and a smile on her face.

"Reporting as ordered, Elle-tee."

"I hadn't sent the orders yet."

"You were going to." she said with a smile.

"Not for another ten minutes."

"On time is ten minutes early..." Josette began.

"...and on time is late." Duo finished. "Lucas used to say that to me every morning when I would complain about him waking me up when we were bunk mates."

"It was something our father used to say, and his father and so on."

Duo walked over to the replicator. "I was going to have a cup of tea before our meeting. Can I get you something Chief?"

"A glass of cold water would be great."

"Tea, Earl Grey. Hot with lemon and a glass of water, 10 degrees Celsius." The replicator hummed and their beverages materialized. Duo picked them up and set them on the desk, then sat down himself.

"Well, since you are here already, let's get down to business. The Captain has approved the requests we talked about previously. I just finished getting the new duty rosters in place." He took a sip of his tea. "That just leaves the ready racks. I trust you can make the alterations to the storage lockers 'in house'. All the engineering teams are busy with other duties, and I want them done ASAP."

"I have already put together a detail, Elle-tee. They are just waiting for the word." She responded.

He was surprised at her initiative. "How many compression rifles are going in each locker?"

"Six with room for twelve." she came back with immediately.

"What type of locking mechanism are you going to use?"

"Type four. Voice print command codes required." She fired off.

Duo was impressed. "You seem to have already done your homework, Chief."

She smiled and sat up straight in her chair. "That's my job, Elle-tee."

"And you're good at it. This may have been my shortest meeting of the day. It's fortunate since I haven't even started on my report for the simulation debrief."

"About that..." she reached into her pocket and pulled out a single isolinear chip, placed it on the desk and slid it over to him. "I hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of downloading the results and processing the data in preparation for your report."

Duo was dumdfounded. He picked it up and plugged it into his desk terminal. All the statistical analysis was there, complete, just waiting to be plugged into his report for the debrief.

"This must have taken you hours to complete..."

"Oh, no! Not really anyways. I just thought it would be helpful. I know how hard it is transferring to a new ship, before a big mission." She bit her bottom lip and fidgeted with her hands. "I hope you aren't mad, or feel like I overstepped..."

"Mad! Never!" he said, a little too emotive. "I'll make it up to you."

She blushed, "Oh, that's not necessary."

"Nonsense. I insist."

"Well, if you insist. Anyways, you have a senior staff meeting in less than an hour, I better let you get to that report." She stood up.

"Of course. And thanks, Chief. I don't know what I would have done without you."

Josette smiled, and exited the room.