UniversalStarfleet

Dr Elizabeth Weir · Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2012 3:12 pm Post subject:

As the slipstream engines are engaged some of the control room officers are going off duty.

I tap my badge "Lt Smeerworld please report for duty, Weir out!"

My sensors locate him and my holographic avatar appears to him "Lt Smeerworld report to main control room and helm control Duty"

And my ai vanishes again.
_________________
Dr Elizabeth Weir, Leader of Atlantis.

Smeerworld · Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 4:19 am Post subject:

When SG Command encouraged me to join their ranks, I jumped at the chance. I certainly have a knowledge base to be of great use to this team. I have master degrees in temporal science and high-energy astrophysics, besides standard computer programming I've gotten a good feel for Ancient computer systems and can read the Ancient language, and I've completed a full year of demanding military training.
Still, knowledge can only take you so far.

The experiences I've had since arriving at Atlantis and the exponential chaos of the 'universe put in a blender' are still overwhelming to me. I've been able to keep my anxiety and doubts to myself so far, but perhaps I will reach a breaking point eventually.

Now Dr Weir has seen me fit and capable to become a control room officer. Being stationed there, I've been thrust into a position of great importance and responsibility. Decisions have to be made in split seconds. I'm still new to the posting and hope that I will soon be able to do my duty with the confidence that I see in the others manning the room.

A second after I hear Dr Weir over the communication channel ordering me to report for duty in the Control room, she suddenly materializes before me. It takes a second to remember that it is just a holographic avatar of her.

“Lt Smeerworld report to main control room and helm control duty”, her avatar informs me.

“Yes immediately”, I respond, drop what I'm doing and race out of the room.

The control room has duty shifts, but in emergency, or high-pressure situations it is not uncommon to have staff relieved in more frequent intervals. I try to calm my racing heartbeat as I quickly make my way to my duty station.

Dr Elizabeth Weir · Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 1:58 pm Post subject:

A short time goes by and Lt Smeerworld rushes up the stairs from crew quarters into the control room and sits at helm control.

"Ah Lt you're here...." * I smile knowing he is probably very nervous as he is still new to the position, but a very competent officer, "...Sorry to throw you in at the deep end Lt this is a crucial mission but you'll be fine dont worry" again I smile at him reassuringly.

A latest report from medical shows his tendancies for high anxiety, but dealing with Rodney McKay on a daily basis this is nothing to worry about and probably a mark of a good natured person and hard working, an officer I was eager to take under my wing.

"Lt use your finess and drop us out of slipstream close enough to the EH2 and our away team, but not too close as to spook the EH2, after all we are a huge city in space, then I'd like you to monitor the sensors and match the EH2 course and speed enough that we can maintain contact with our away team"

At that moment Dr Zelenka voice comes through communications and says "Dr Weir could I have a moment with you"

I turn to him and as I pat Lt Smeerworld on the shoulder I reply "Certainly Radek Im on my way, Lt Smeerworld notify me as soon as we arrive and I'll report back to command, you have the control room"

And I walk down toward one of the turbo lifts to go see Zelenka in his lab.
_________________
Dr Elizabeth Weir, Leader of Atlantis.

Smeerworld · Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2012 1:35 am Post subject:

I have the control room?

She just puts me in charge and leaves me here!

A year ago I was driving a 1994 Volvo, and teaching at Princeton. Now I'm driving a 4km wide city through hyperspace and just put in charge of the control room, preparing to go up against a self-aware & evil ship that lures people to drive them crazy and kill each other.

I can do this. I have to.

After studying previous mission logs (and my being new to exiting hyperspace on the fly), I'll bring us back to real-space 50km out from EH2 and move us in nice and slow. This should not make our appearance look threatening and yet be in range enough to render immediate assistance to the away team.

“Exiting hyperspace”, I say to the room after triple-checking my readouts.
Despite how amazing the event of leaving hyperspace is, the city's transition back to normal space is smooth.

“Everybody, let's do a good scan of the whole area and for any response from EH2 on our arrival. We don't need any surprises, so check for anything – no matter how small – that might enter the equation if things turn ugly. We need the best status assessment we can get on the away team also. See if you can locate either of the Puddle Jumpers and send a hail out to our team”

The control room buzzes with action as everyone checks their screens.

“I'm bringing us in at at 10m/s. I'll hold at 20km, unless there is some response from EH2 that causes us to modify our game-plan.”

Over the next few minutes, things go smooth. All scans show no immediate threats and beyond EH2 giving us some low-level scans, the ship has not moved or powered-up any weapons.

"Detecting both Puddle Jumpers docked with EH2", Lt Weller reports from his sensor station.

"I thought that the Away team's jumper was cloaked", I ask.

"It was from their last report", Weller responds.

Away team scans are spotty, with no definitive life sign readings to establish if they are still in the Jumper, or aboard EH2.

Remembering that EH2 is able to attack with unconventional means, I order for a full set of city-wide scans for any unusual activity – even for things as small as medical reports from the crew coming into med lab.

At 23 clicks out, there is still no response from our hails to the Away team. I call Dr Weir to inform her of our arrival at the holding point near EH2.

I seem to take the position of being in charge of the control room for these few minutes without any anxiety troubles. My problems of feeling overwhelmed at times is more by all of this alien tech, not dealing with people (or commanding them). Of course, I have not had to deal with any crises yet!

Dr Elizabeth Weir · Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 2:54 pm Post subject:

After my meeting with Dr Zelenka I went to my office to catch up on some work, ofcourse my AI side could do it just as well on the fly but theres something to be said for personal interaction.

I've been monitoring the current status through my own ability to tap into sensors, being as I am Atlantis, and also monitoring Lt Smeerworlds capability to handle the light pressure of his first actual command experience.

I hear Lt Smeerworld request me to the control room. "On my way, Weir Out!"

I exit my office and walk down the steps to the control room.

I explain to the Lt that although our jumpers may be cloaked, we can still can and read them as they are our technology and fully open to us.

Though the sketchy readings have me a little worried as we should be getting more clear readings than we have at the moment.

"Lt take us within 15km and open a channel to the away team, contact Zelenka, Ronan & Dr Beckett have them report here and be on stand by incase we need to go in, take us in nice and slow we dont want to spook her, you're doing really well Lt keep up the good work."

I add the part on the end to encourage him and keep his anxiety levels low, but I admit he is taking to this new experience like a duck to water, lots of us have come from all kinds of previous existences but to be flung from a society that previously had nothing like this at all, you wouldnt be able to tell at all, he's a natural, Im going to monitor him for a while more yet but I can see a command position for him soon.
_________________
Dr Elizabeth Weir, Leader of Atlantis.

Smeerworld · Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 1:35 am Post subject:

“This is Sheppard to Atlantis. Are you reading me?”, came over the speakers. Everyone was relieved to hear the sound of his voice. I have comm patch me through.

Admiral“, this is Lt. Smeerworld from Atlantis control. We read your signal, but signal strength is weak for our distance from you of 20 klicks out.”

“We have penetrated the ship and have made our way over a small exploratory area. Have met with no resistance of any kind. The only sign of possible aggression is the intermittent comm signal. Planning to continue to explore, glad you got our backs out there. I'm getting one of those bad feelings and I don't like when I get them.”

“Dr Weir will be in Control shortly. I will have her contact you on any mission updates. Is there any immediate assistance that you require?”

"Negative. Have Elizabeth contact us when she gets there. Sheppard out.”

I turn to the Ops Coordinator and ask him if he sent word to have Zelenka, Ronon, and Beckett come up to control. I'm notified that they are on there way. I continue the city's approach to stop off at 15 km.

Suddenly an alarm flares.

“Reading a hyperspace corridor opening 327 million km behind us”, the Sensor officer reports as he takes in the readings.

“Should we raise shields?”, I am asked by the Weapons officer.

“Not yet. Dr Weir instructed me to not take any action to excite EH2. From that distance, it will take quite a while for that ship to be in weapons range. Try to get an ID on what comes out from hyperspace. Please inform Dr. Weir we need her -”

“Ship leaving hyperspace Lt. Before I could ID past a civilian Federation signature she jumped to warp, heading on a collision course with EH2”, the Sensor officer reports in a slight panic. “Twenty-eight seconds to impact at warp speed.”

'My God' I take a second to say to myself. Not enough time to do anything. EH2 will barely have time to defend herself. This attack could probably succeed – using both hyperspace and warp drive together to get the fast drop. I would love to see EH2 destroyed, but our away team is aboard!

“Some type of freighter vessel. Minimal armaments.”

“Try to establish communications”, I quickly order. “Shields up.”

“Twenty seconds.”

“No response to my hails. Continuing to try.”

“Tell them that we have crew aboard her, trying to resolve this”, I snap.

In the background I hear Dr. Weir being contacted about our emergency. Communications is frantically trying to contact the freighter and order the ship to stand down.

No time. I have to decide.

The safety of the Away team is first on my list.

14 seconds.

“EH2 is building up energy in preparation of black hole creation, but there will not be enough time to escape.”

I ask if we have drones ready, but there is no one yet in the chair to control them. I am notified the the freighter will pass within a few kilometers of us. I assume the the ship is using us as a shield from EH2 attack.

Ten seconds.

It comes to me suddenly. I enter in random hyperspace numbers, kill all pre-jump checks and fire up the hyperspace drive. Everyone looks at me in horror. There is almost nothing more dangerous than opening a window without properly setting up a series of parameters for the cities safety. Dr Weir's avatar appears next to me as the hyperspace window begins to open.

Although it is not perfectly positioned, the effect is what I was hoping for - the opening window disrupts subspace in the immediate area - from within a warp field it probably seems as solid as a brick wall. As the ship passes us at warp, it is violently knocked out and tears itself to pieces.

Now I do my next move, suddenly realizing that I'm not even sure if it is even possible. There might be an Ancient safety lockout I can't unlock in the single second I have.

I attempt a cold-stop on the jump, by suddenly cutting power to the drive before it fully in-gauges.

It works!!!

Wow, there WAS a lockout AND we should have just been blown to bits by my intentionally faulty hyper-drive engagement!!!

But, the debris from the freighter kicked in ANOTHER safety protocol to allow my cold-stop!

The HD window closes from the drive's disengagement and, even though many warning alarms begin sounding over what I just did, Atlantis and the Away team are safe.

EH2's shields are struck by high-velocity debris from the destroyed freighter, but they hold and ship appears undamaged.

EH2's Black Hole finally completes forming and the ship vanishes into whatever course it has set.

Zelenka runs into Control in a panic over all of the alarms going off and, still unaware of why I did what I did yet, begins to yell at me for an explanation. I hear the Ops & Sensor officers trying to get a track on where EH2 has headed off to.

Ronon and Beckett also enter Control. Ronon, the first person I began a friendship with upon my arrival here, seems impressed that I have done something to break a lot of rules, but win the day. Beckett can see that I'm fighting a major panic attack episode and look at me concerned. Dr Weir's avatar vanishes, because I now see her entering Control 'in the flesh', a step behind Admiral Janeway.

Everyone is talking at once now, but I'm too numb to focus on anything else. I shut down for a few seconds, trying to accept all that has just happened and what I did in response.

How many died on that freighter? Have I caused a big rift between Atlantis and the Federation? Should I have not acted and let the inevitable happen? Am I about to be fired?

HighAdmiralKathrynJaneway · Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2012 2:22 am Post subject:

As the alarms around Atlantis sound, Dr Weir & I rush to the control room.

Atlantis / Dr Weir cuts the alarms as we are both now entering the control room.

I walk slightly ahead of her and rather sternly.

Elizabeth & I have been talking about the new Lt and his future in Starfleet and have just finished reading his medical reports, his being in command for the moment is no mere accident or co-incidence, but a test on how he can cope under pressure, given his medical history and being a 20th century man in a new mixed up timeline universe.

I storm upto his post and wave over 2 security officers.

"Lt what the hell do you think you were doing, you better have a damned good explanation for your actions before I have you removed of your post permanently and have you thrown in the brig.

The Atlantis AI. had to slam on the breaks and cut all power, several sections of the city are in darkness and have no life support, luckily the systems recovered thanx to the AI fast reactions.

In case you had not realised, you could not only have forfeited the lives of that freighter, but our away team and not to mention if your half cocked idea had gone wrong with no AI to back you up, the entire city and everyone in it could now be dead thanx to you."

At this moment Atlantis & I had decided that we would play a little good cop bad cop here so she steps in.
_________________
I dont respond well to threats....RED ALERT!

Dr Elizabeth Weir · Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2012 2:26 am Post subject:

"Hold on a moment, I placed the Lt in command and had every confidence in his abilities, I was also monitoring the situation, my AI hologram was here during the crisis, yes I had to stall the engines and it could have been handled better but given the circumstances, he went with his instinct and it paid off, if you want to point fingers at anyone it should be his commanding officer for leaving him in control during my absence"

I giggle slightly and add

"Although I'm never absent, I'm everywhere"
_________________
Dr Elizabeth Weir, Leader of Atlantis.

HighAdmiralKathrynJaneway · Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2012 2:31 am Post subject:

I glance toward Elizabeth as she speaks, then glare back at Lt Smeerworld.

I put my hand on my hip and lean in further.

"Sure the commanding officer is responsible for those under her command, but each officer is responsible for his or her actions at the end of the day, their decisions could mean the life or death of countless people.

And yes there are several ways that could have been handled, a tractor beam for example, or it may have even been possible for him to open several slipstream portals without actually engaging the engines, ensuring the survival of all ships, we could have sent a team after the freighter through the slipstream route it fell into."

I look without blinking at the Lt

"Well Lt, I'm waiting, explain your self"

As I await the Lt's response, I recall several instances similar to this, where it would be necessary to endanger your own ship and crew to save another.

Including several personal similar choices I made. I remember at this point one in particular, Dreadnaught, as all options appeared to be failing, I was willing to sacrifice Voyager so that Dreadnaught did not reach the planet and destroy innocent beings.

Command is hard with tough choices to make, but making the choice is half of it, sticking by it believing you've exhausted every other option is another, and the ability to make decisions in a pinch with the best hopeful result in your attempt.

Lt Smeerworld looks me directly in the eye, I can see he has an answer and is questioning if he should be forceful in his answer, so I simply raise an eye brow at him to basically say, without words, give me your best shot.
_________________
I dont respond well to threats....RED ALERT!

Smeerworld · Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 3:09 am Post subject:

I stand and give my post over to Zelenka, who squeezes past me to take my seat at the controls. Not keeping my eyes off of the Admiral's glare, I back step off to the side of the work area. I sense the presence of the two Security officers moving in behind me, so I figure that this is about as much room as they have afforded for me.

I would have thought that this conversation would be better held in Dr Weir's office, but I guess that the Admiral's eager to be sated anger, or desire to have it before the entire Command staff has made it 'right here, right now'.

I've heard stories about the Admiral's ability to dress-down the officers under her command as being daunting, but whatever impression I may have formed from hearing it second-hand, has certainly not in any way prepared me for this experience first-hand.

For the first few moments, I am completely overwhelmed. After all that just happened, I can't believe that it has to turn as ugly as this. I just want to surrender and tell Security to lock me up, but when my thoughts turn towards the two officers behind me – an anger begins to take hold. This is a bunch of bullshit.

I haven't had enough time to run back the last ten minutes in my own head even briefly for myself to sort it all out. I don't see myself as any kinda hero, but I can see myself as a criminal over this even less. Under these conditions, she wants me to run through a complete action assessment standing in the middle of Control with the whole command crew watching?

In the corner of my eye, I see Ronon move in closer. I'm sure he has done so not to back up Security, but because he saw the flicker of anger I'm feeling wash across my face. He would probably tell me 'Don't say anything stupid' if he could.

“It is my love of science and exploration that has brought me to Atlantis”, I begin with. “The whole military part of this I have always considered 'collateral damage' and I was willing to deal with it. But now it is ALL about the military and its rules and regulations. It is all about the deaths of those people aboard the freighter and if my actions were reckless, misguided, and filled with unacceptable risks taken. And I agree that these are the issues that need to be addressed right now.” I pause for a second. I'm already off-track with what she has asked me explain to her.

“I haven't had any time to go through my thought process and actions to myself yet”, I begin again, “But I'll run through them for you now Admiral. I know that there are probably other ways I could have responded in this incident, but I feel strongly in my gut that the choices that I did take were sound and certainly not worthy of me being escorted to the brig over.”

Smeerworld · Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 4:02 am Post subject:

“As I'm sure that you are aware”, I tell her, “I'm new to the Flight Control posting that Dr Weir has placed me in. Besides the fact that she is able to monitor and intervene through her AI and the belief that nothing so unexpected was about to happen, I was left in command of Control during her absence. When the Federation freighter appeared from the jump-window, things happened real fast. The time-line created before it would have impacted with EH2 was 28 seconds.

“Its use of both hyperspace, followed by warp drive also presented a situation that, as far as I know, has never been seen before. Once the collision course track was determined, I was confronted with a little over 20 seconds to formulate and implement a response.

“EH2 was not an immediate threat to us. We were also involved in actions to try to find a way to stop her from harming any more ship crews. The goal of these actions being designed to stop her without having to destroy her. Aboard EH2 are also our Away team, consisting of 3 very important members of Command staff. My first hard choice was – 'if the freighter will not stand-down and if I have to choose which ship survives – I chose EH2.

“Then I ran through the ways to save both vessels – certainly the best outcome. The freighter did not respond to our hails to stand down. There was no time to fire our drones, or other weapons to disable the freighter. With the ship passing by us so close and at warp, there was no way to get a tractor beam on her in time. I did a quick mental calculation to determine that, perhaps that was a mistake on my part. It takes 4 seconds at a minimum to create a hyperspace window from beginning to engage the drive. There was no time to create a barrier of them to cause the freighter to turn away.

“But more importantly is the unusual condition of mixing hyperdrive and warp fields together. Hyperdrive corridors don't disrupt a warp field. They should cause an effect of a hard-barrier that throws a ship out of warp like it hit a brick wall. Again, since this is a new situation for us, I had to do some quick educated assumptions, but by the result of the freighter's destruction when contacting the hyperdrive window at warp – you can bet that I'm right with that one.

“Lastly was my cold-stop of the hyperdrive. Given the time restraints, there was no time to even configure one hyperdrive window safely. I took the dangerous action with the flight controls on the belief that I could disengage them without severe damage to the city. I believe that I did so, or that it was successfully achieved with Dr Weir's AI helping.

“Whatever course of action you wish to take against me I am prepared to accept. Running through what I did just now has reassured me that I acted with the best possible intent. I was put in command during that time and I stand by my actions.”

HighAdmiralKathrynJaneway · Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2012 1:41 am Post subject:

"Well Lt...." I say with a continuing glare, but then pass a smile as I signal to the security officers to stand down

"...At ease before you sprain something, and well done you did amazingly well in such a tough situation.

You were left in command on purpose to test your command abilities, but we didnt expect it to be so rough for you, it was supposed to be run of the mill operations, but you handled the situation perfectly and with split second timing..."

Dr Zelenka now at the controls reports that the freighter had no crew aboard, it had been lured here by the EH2 as happened with one of our puddle jumpers, confusing signals through the freighters systems fused the warp drive together and couldnt disengage. Had the Lt not reacted, the collision with the freighter and EH2 especially mid opening a black hole could have been catastrophic for everyone.

I nod at Zelenka and continue "... see the best outcome possible, no casualties and minimal damage to a few minor systems...."

I pat Lt Smeerworld on the shoulder and smile at him.

"... I admire your capabilities, its not easy to suddenly find your self in command of an alien craft, from your perspective, and in a totally different galaxy in the worst of conditions and handle it so well, given your medical history too, you held it together and made the best choices for everyone. You're a real natural. "

Elizabeth smiles widely at the Lt, Ronan is still holding a still face but appears to be bouncing on his feet like he is expecting something else.

Unknown to Lt Smeerworld Ronan and several senior staff were involved in the process and evaluation of him and what Im about to do next.

Elizabeth hands me a small box, I open it and inside are 2 gold pips.

I stand upstraight and gesture for the Lt to move in a little closer, as he does I say

"Lt Smeerworld, I hereby promote you to the rank of Captain, and all the privileges therein...." and I add jokingly "... think you can handle the pressure?"

I laugh slightly and add "Dont worry its not so bad I'm sure you'll do fine, and you wont be alone, and its not all military, we are still exploreres its just sometimes we have to fight battles, even the ones we'd rather not."

I explain a little about our goals as the new Universal Starfleet, Universal peace etc and finish with "Congratulations Captain Smeerworld, you deserve this"

Ronan jumps to his feet and hugs Captain Smeerworld tight and pats him on the back quite hard and comments "Good work buddy, good work" and shakes his hand quite tightly too.

"I'll let Atlantis fill you in on your new duties and position, and if you ever need to talk or want someone to vent steam at, Im always around as is everyone here, welcome to the fleet"
_________________
I dont respond well to threats....RED ALERT!

Dr Elizabeth Weir · Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2012 1:58 am Post subject:

I look at the shock on the now Captain Smeerworld, and the gasp for air as Ronan bear hugs him

I lean in and laugh "Hey easy Ronan..... Well done Captain, I'm proud of you, I knew you would be an asset and valuable member to us all. I didnt expect it to be quite so hectic, but you did great"

I stand back after hugging him my self and a slight peck on the cheek, as the CnC attaches the new pips to his uniform to show his new rank.

"Kathryn is right, you're not alone and shouldnt be left in such a position again.... because, you're going to be assigned to Vice Admiral Zelenka's team. You will be with his team when they are on duty in control tower and other various places, including the new team member to our 2nd away team. You will be reporting to him and Rear Admiral Evan Lorne.

Rear Admiral Ronan is usually with Admiral John Sheppard, Admiral Teyla Emmagan & Vice Admiral Rodney McKay as the 1st team, but he often stands in during some of Zelenka's missions also, he's a bit of a free spirit like that, like to be in on the action, can never sit still...."

I giggle at my last remark about Ronan.

"... Dr Zelenka's team is due to take over command here for the night shift you can join them if you wish, but if you like you can take the rest of the day off and have chance to reflect and absorb this and start a fresh tomorrow, and my office is always open, and my AI is always around should your require my assistance.....Congratulations again Captain" I smile.

Not that the new Captain needed anymore pressure right now, Ronan shouts "Speech...speech" and claps and gives one of his famous 'I just put you on the spot, you can pay me back alter' smiles
_________________
Dr Elizabeth Weir, Leader of Atlantis.

Smeerworld · Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2012 4:44 am Post subject:

My first thought, as oxygen returns to my brain after having it blocked off from Ronon's hug, is - 'things do happen fast around here'.

Too fast for me.

My biggest concern had been coming to terms with all of the action that I just rode through. Certainly hearing from Zelenka, after he went back over the sensor readings, the news that he was able to determine that there was no one aboard the freighter is a big load lifted from my mind. Now I hope that EH2 can be successfully tracked and our Away team can be recovered safely.

This whole thing with the promotion is just too much. I know the response that everyone is expecting from me, so I will make a good effort not to disappoint them. All that I want is to get this over with quickly.

“Things do happen fast around here”' I start off with and get the laughs I expected from the group. Turning to Ronon, “And as for 'just being put on the spot', I've been put on the spot for the last 45 minutes. I guess I better get used to it.” More laughs, perhaps I do have everyone believing that I'm enjoying all of this. I scan the room and see that, even though I am having this chance to speak, there are people busy at the city's controls.

“I don't want to take up too much time right now”, I gesture towards the duty stations, “We still have an Away team to track down and return home to us. I am happy to hear that the freighter was unmanned, so no lives were lost. I guess by being moved up the command chain to Captain, I'm now put into a position where I will face many situations where my choices may put lives on the line again. I pray that this situation is not beginner's luck, but instead is a trend where I will not have to ever deal with lives lost. Still, even though I haven't spent a long time off-Earth, I see that the universe is a much more dangerous place then I had ever imagined.

“I haven't been on Atlantis for that long, so I haven't really gotten that much of a chance to get to know most of you yet. Well I did manage to get to know Ronon pretty well”, this brings out some laughs from the people who witnessed my first night here.

Ronon had seen me carrying my high-tech hunting bow, along with my other belongings, towards the room that I was moving in to. He didn't believe that I actually used the thing for anything else than to hang on my wall. After stealing a large number of items from the cafeteria, he dragged me out to one of the city's balconies and made me prove to him that I could actually shoot it. We spent a lot of time out there and used up all of the bows I had brought.

“From what I have seen from you all”, I continue, “Atlantis is filled with a great group of people. I am excited to get to know all of you better and hopefully you will want to know more about me.”

I turn to face Dr. Weir and Admiral Janeway directly. “I thank you both for giving me the opportunity to test myself with challenges that I never had dreamed myself capable of. I thank the whole command staff for having the faith and trust in me to give me this promotion. I'm honestly not sure yet if this is a direction that I really want to go, but I respect your wisdom to see in me what I never saw in myself. I will do my best to never let you down, or have any regrets over it in the future.”

I again turn my attention towards Zelenka and staff that are busy at their stations. “Since you have left it up to me, I will make my first command choice now and take the later offer that you gave me. I see the Control room in very capable hands and relieve myself of duty for the rest of the night. I have plenty to reflect upon, including going back to study the Starfleet Rules & Regulations Manual in a lot more detail than I have before. I guess I better get to know it front to back.” I give the group a good look, taking the time to have brief contact with each of their faces. “Thank you all.”

With the end of my 'big speech', I get a final round of applause. I go about shaking hands hoping to be out of the room as quickly as seems appropriate.

Dr Elizabeth Weir · Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2012 2:17 am Post subject:

As Captain Smeerworld exits the control tower and heads towards his quarters, I instruct Vice Admiral Zelenka to try re-establish communications with our away team and see if he can get a fix on their location.

"I'll be in my office, notify me as soon as you find something"

High Admiral Janeway and I head up the stairs to my office.
_________________
Dr Elizabeth Weir, Leader of Atlantis.