Forums - Character Shorts

During the Ice Cream Social, but on the Bridge of the Thunderchild

Thu, 11 Dec 2014 13:33:07 -0800

V'rol sat in the captain's chair, using the attached pad to begin working on the new duty Roster. He knew the captain never read his reports, but that did not change the fact that regulations clearly required them to be filed at regular intervals by all active officers. Tapping on the pad he went over the remaining active officers as well as the old rosters, taking up what would need to be replaced. He finished by adding in ant new replacement officers into the shifts that they had possessed and then checking for any irregular shifts.

Once Finished with that he set to monitoring the Ships functions, making certain that the procedures were moving according to schedule and that the reasons in the reports were all consistent. He had been pulling his normal shifts, and was meticulous with reviewing all reports, much unlike his captain. Whom he had taken the practice of heavily summarizing all reports to a few lines, hoping that he would at least read that much. His routine was something the crew would likely be used to very precise in its timing he kept things very formulaic to be certain the crew knew what to expect from him. one through he began to compose his reports on the events that had occurred as well as taking the time to set up a training program for his expectations of security procedures for once they departed.

A Run In with the Devil

Fri, 07 Nov 2014 19:52:18 -0800

Location: Private Quarters
Stardate: 53839.29
Real Time: Sun Feb 20 2377 22:41:00
Present: Lylliana Skytower, Ja'nell Gerhardson

Lylliana lay upon her bottom bunk, nestled in the shadows cast by the above bunk. The cabin she shared with three other room mates dimly lit, providing just enough light so she didn't strain her eyes whilst fiddling with her PADD. Without warning, one of her room mates, another ensign like herself, Ja'nell walked in, stretching with her uniform jacket off. Lylliana looked over mildly at the noise of the door hissing opening and then closing behind the foot falls of her room mate.

"At it again are we? " Ja'nell giggled, referring to Lylliana almost always having her nose stuck in her PADD, especially as of late. "You know, you'll never get a hot guy that way." Ja'nell turned about, facing her bunk, removing her clothes to dress down for the evening as she continued to speak, Lylliana obviously not keeping a tabs on the conversation. "You should really go out to the Lounge more often. Did you know how many single, and should I mention gorgeous Flight crewmen there are!?" Ja'nell's voice fluttered on, fanning herself, "You could surely find yourself a date or two there... " Ja'nell hopped into her bunk, legs hanging over, gently swinging in the air.

Ja'nell looked down at Lylliana just laying there beneath the soft glow of her PADD and furrowed her brow, "LYLLI!" Lylliana jumped, almost hitting her head on the top bunk as she went to sit up, "WHAT!?" she turned, rolling on her side to face Ja'nell and pay attention to her conversation so she would stop bugging her. "Did you not hear me? You need to get out there!" Ja'nell skoffed, aggravated as she bent over, resting her chin in the palm of her hand as her elbow came to rest on her knee, a dreamy look coming over her face. Lylliana knew that look well, and tried to keep the grimace off her face, as Ja'nell let out an audible sigh, "I mean, if you don't get out there, how are you going to get noticed. Like me? " Ja'nell looked down at Lylliana, "Commander Bonham was so dreamy today. Can you believe he handed me a tray today!?" Ja'nell swooned, falling back on her bunk, "He turned to me in the lounge, and offered it to me, allowing me to get something to eat first. " Ja'nell giggled, "He must have been going out to the Flight Deck or something.. "

Lylliana looked at her roommate and shook her head, "really Ja'nell. He is the CAG on the Flight Deck... I'm sure he's out there everyday. And you do look like you are starving. He was probably thinking," does her best mimic of Commander Bonham, "Better let this chick eat, she might waste away, shes so thin.. " Ja'nell rolled over and scowled at Lylliana, "Don't make fun of my future husband like that!" Lylliana rolled her eyes, rolling her feet to the floor and standing up adjusting her clothes. Ja'nell sat up, "Where are you going? "

Lylliana sighed, grabbing her PADD, "Going to find your future husband and ask him to stuff a sock in your mouth" Ja'nell huffed and was about to protest, but Lylliana escaped before she could say a word.

"Computer, Locate Commander Bonham please. "
The computer chimed and the electronic voice came on, "Commander Bonham can be found in the Flight Locker Room, Located on Deck 13. "

Lylliana took a deep breath and head in the direction of Deck 13 to find the Commander. She had been browsing through some of the computer logs and personnel files. She had found that Commander Bonham had actually been part of a band that had played here on the USS Thunderchild and thought that perhaps he could be useful for the Ice Cream Social event Lt. Jr. Noonia and her had been working on. She had most of the particulars done, and had told Noonia to leave it to her. Perhaps he could sing some songs, or they could sit and pre-record some tunes to set the mood and have them playing during the event. She sighed, running her hand through her hair, lost in her own little world as she passed some other crew members that nodded or waved to her in passing. She had even passed Ensign Townsend who gave her a half smile and a friendly wave. He tried to keep pace with her for a bit as it seemed he was done with his shift for the day. "Ensign Townsend, I do apologize, but I have a meeting with Commander Bonham to discuss some particulars of a mission and I really need to get there and think on these matters without distraction. "

She had tried to be short and discreet with him, seeing that he had taken it roughly and her delivery was less than kind. Lylliana shook her head. She couldn't think on the matter, not right now anyways. One thing Commander Bonham had said to her that day in the Lounge had stuck with her, He had her assignment changed to the Thunderchild. Why? She couldn't wrap her head around it, and of all places, why as a Recreations officer? Of all the things that she knew she could be capable of. She would find out those answers.

She arrived at the locker room, facing a rather large door with bold letters claiming Authorized Personnel Only Lylliana lifted her hand to knock and as soon as she had, two deck hands stepped out in a jovial manner, discussing something funny almost running into her.

"Oh well hello there cutie... " the brown haired male addressed her. Lylliana couldn't help herself, her eyes narrowing in annoyance, "I am looking for Commander Bonham... " she said flatly, and in a somewhat demanding tone that clearly communicated that she didn't care for whatever philandering he had in mind. The other male, also dark haired, leaned over jabbing his friend in his side with his elbow whispering into his ear with a chuckle, the two of them nodding to each other. Lylliana raised an eyebrow, watching the two of them converse for a moment before turning to her, "Yeah, sure. Commander Bonham is just inside around the corner or so. You can't miss him. Just go past the row of lockers and he's in his office.... " the brown haired deck hand smiled, almost too nicely. Lylliana nodded, "Thanks... " she rolled her eyes. Perverts...

Lylliana sighed walking into the locker room, walking past the row of lockers and coming upon a squadron of men and women naked in the showers. Lylliana froze where she stood for a moment, before she tried to back up slowly hitting a something firm behind her, "LADIES AND GENTS! IT LOOKS LIKE WE'VE GOT OURSELVES A LOST LITTLE MOUSE!" one of the flight crewmen was behind her, shouting to the rest of the crew drawing attention to a flush faced Lylliana. 'Oh gods why?'

Ice Cream Social

Wed, 15 Oct 2014 08:44:40 -0700

Inter-ship Message to Ensign Skytower

From Lieutenant Jr. Noonia.

Subject: Ice Cream Social.

Body of Message
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Hello Ensign Skytower,

I am concerned about Morale. Do you think we could have something like an Ice Cream Social to bring people together from across the different sections?

Sincerely,

Mordecai Noonia.
Lieutenant Jr. of USS Thunderchild
Engineering / Flight
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The Lamb to the Lions' Den

Tue, 14 Oct 2014 03:37:39 -0700

The Lamb to the Lions' Den
Stardate: 53835.4
Chief Engineer's Briefing Room
USS Thunderchild
Chief Engineer Kiera Medart, Engineering Section Chiefs and Lt. Jr. Noonia

The accident on the flight deck has clearly effected many of the crew. But none as much as Lieutenant Medart, she stood silently by her desk reviewing the notes of the investigation. There had been so much damage, so many were hurt. In private she even gave a bit of a cry over those who suffered. There was a heavy weight on her heart. She had actually had called the meeting for five minutes ago, and she knew that her staff would be waiting on her. But she couldn't bring herself to walk across the hall just yet. There was so much on her mind, so much happened in the past few hours that gave her reason to be concerned.

It was fortunate that no one was killed in the accident, She had heard how admirable Lieutenant Noonia had acted. But now the glory of being heroes had passed and now she had to deal with the aftermath of the accident and the blame game what was on the wind. She hadn't had a chance to get any rest since the accident. She toured the area with members of damage control as she took her own notes of what happened. She spoke with the wounded and listened to eyewitness accounts. Even took a moment to speak to Lieutenant Paxton and offer her regrets over the accident. Kiera's lips curled in sadness as she remembered how the rude woman slapped her across the face. Kiera understood that the Deck Officer didn't like her, but to slap her like this in front of her own officers and members of the medical department was not acceptable. The savage beast didn't even had to manners to say anything. Just slapped her and walked away.

Kira leaned up against the desk slowly as she reviewed the logs of the event. So much happened in such a short period of time and now so much more was going to happen. Now they had to find a path forward. She reviewed the names of her officers that were going to be at today's meeting. She had questions and wanted to hear from everyone over this issue.

CHIEF ENGINEERING OFFICER: Kiera Medart (Human, Lt, NPC)
BRIDGE SECTION: Section Chief: Barclay Aling (Human, Lt, NPC)
WARP ENGINE SECTION: Section Chief: Todd Ottmar (Human, Lt, NPC)
IMPULSE ENGINE SECTION: Section Chief: Tina Jacobson (Human, Lt, NPC)
POWER DISTRIBUTION SECTION: Section Chief: Alesha Klerkse (Human, Lt, NPC)
MAINTENANCE & DAMAGE CONTROL: Section Chief: Ben Gray (Human, Lt, NPC)
TRANSPORTER SECTION: Section Chief: Ainsley Vann (Human, Lt, NPC)
TRACTOR BEAM SECTION: Section Chief: Zachery MacEachern (Human, Lt, NPC)
JANITORIAL SECTION: Section Chief: Carmi Pace (Human, Lt Jr, NPC)

She looked out of the window of her office and saw Lieutenant Noonia waiting on her. She had granted him permission to sit in on her section chief's meeting. The man was neat and clean. She respected that about Noonia. He was a good officer. Showed a level of respect and dedication to his duties that she could appreciate. He showed up right when she asked him to. For the time being she asked him to wait in the corridor while she gathered the last of her things. She hadn't had a chance to inform his section chief that he would be attending and didn't want to surprise anyone. She figured if they walked in together, it would show everyone that he was expected to be there by her invitation.

Still, Noonia's words earlier this morning had stung. IF what he said was true than it meant that there was a serious break down between the two divisions. But at the same time, she couldn't help but wonder if this young junior lieutenant was attempting to make a name for himself with the captain by using this accident to further his own goals. She would have to measure this by his actions during the meeting. Noonia had already caused her some issues after a run in with Commander Bonham over his new placing. She didn't want to have him pulling double duties but the Commander ordered it. The Commander wouldn't explain why he reassigned one of her officers to the Flight Deck. But she suspected that it was by Noonia's own request. Not even a day with his special posting he was back in her office casting accusations. She knew his type and knew that if she was weak in dealing with this situation that she could end up loosing respect in the captain's eyes.

She put down her PADD and took a sip from her new coffee mug as she reviewed her own thoughts of what was going on. She had been warned that Noonia was asking questions and even gave a disrespectful tongue lashing to one of her ensigns over a simple joke. If he wasn't 'in bed' with the Executive Officer, she would have put the junior lieutenant in his place the first time she heard that he was trying to taint the official investigation. She looked once more out of the window and thought about what she would do. No, she knew his type. She had seen them before back on Utopia and knew how to handle them. She would win him over with kindness. Show him that they were all on the same team and that there was no reason that they needed to be at odds with each other. If that didn't work, then she would have to play hard ball.

She reached down and picked up a PADD that held three official reports that were confirmed by witnesses. These reports were from Ensign Jones and another other junior officer and a petty officer who all claimed that they over heard Lieutenant Noonia stating that he was going to lie in attempt to ruin her reputation. She hated the idea of all this. The fact that one of her officers felt so little respect for her that he would actually lie to get at her. She paused a moment looking over the reports with a heavy heart and let out a deep sigh of disappointment. There were mixed feelings as she was grateful that she had such loyal officers like Ensign Jones and his two friends to warn her of Lieutenant Noonia's plans. At first she had been worried about Ensign Jones and some of the other Engineering Crew because of their displeasure with Commander Bonham.

But this act of loyalty proved to her that those fears were misplaced. They came to her with what they heard and expressed their concern for what was going on. Despite their urging to make the report to security, she asked them to make their reports to her before witnesses. It was done by the book except taking this to security or to the Captain. Then again she might bring it up to the captain and seek his advice on how to handle it. That is if she can't win him over. Kiera really didn't want to rock the boat. Not like this, she loved this ship and its mission. She wanted to be everyone's friend. The kind of officer that people come to when they need a friendly ear. The fact that she is the youngest chief engineer in Starfleet only filled her with that much more pride.

"No" she mumbled as she added in her own thoughts, 'I am not going to cut short his promising career. I will show him that we can get along. That we can work together.' She set down the large coffee mug as she walked in to her closest and closed the door behind her. She carefully opened her secure locker. She pulled out a small false backing and hid the PADD within it. "I wont use this unless I really, really, really really have to," she said almost playfully and replaced the false backing. Her heart was filled with happiness over the challenge of turning Mordecai from ravel to best friend. Smiled to herself speaking as she walked from the closest, "Mordecai Noonia you don't know it yet but we are about to become best friends."

She walked across her officer and picked up the PADDs of the investigation and the issues that need to be talked about at today's meeting. She also picked up the mug that Mordicia made for her. She walked the rest of the distance to the door as it opened. She passed through the door with the ease and grace that her mother had taught her. She played this out in her mind nearly a dozen times before that door opened. She would treat him with respect and friendship. Just like that savage down in the hanger deck. She smiled broadly at Mordecai and remembered her mother's words, 'Kindness, Kiera, will win over everyone.' Kiera smiled as she faked slipped thrusting the mug towards Mordicia and laughed as nothing came out. "I love the new mug Mordicia" she said then paused as she placed her fingers over her lips, "I am sorry do you mind if I call you Mordicia or would you prefer Lieutenant Noonia." She smiled softly and friendly towards him.

Captain's ready room

Thu, 09 Oct 2014 02:55:05 -0700

Stardate: 53833.05
Just outside of the system: UIH-0351
USS Thunderchild, NCC-63549
Captain's ready room

V'rol arrived at the ready room, opening tree for and waking into it, he stood just inside the door hands crossed behind his back as how waited to the side of the door. He had been told the habit was one that could be startling so he took to walking in past the doorway and now stood next to the chair he would be seated in.

Weclome to Flight Ops (Hanger & Flight Deck)

Mon, 06 Oct 2014 20:18:36 -0700

Stardate: 53834.29
USS Thunderchild, NCC-63549
Deck 13, Hanger Deck
The Dragon's Lair
Lieutenant Paxton and Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Noonia

The hanger deck of the USS Thunderchild is in some ways the same as those on any other Akira Class. However this hanger deck was expanded to occupy nearly the entire deck. Unlike her sister ships, the Thunderchild gave up much of her armaments to bluster a diverse strike capability. Instead of the normally mounted fifteen torpedo launchers across the ship, the Thunderchild carriers only five (three forward and two aft) in its weapon pod. The saved weight went towards its impressive hanger and flight deck. It has become a matter of debate within Starfleet if the Thunderchild would be able to deliver the same level of strike capability as her sister ships. The answer would be found in the Thunderchild's flight and hanger decks.

These areas are critical for the kind of flight operations that the Thunderchild has been designed to deploy. Other Akira class ships have a split design flight deck where the Thunderchild has a fly through flight deck. Because of the change in the flight deck, the deck right below the flight deck was converted in to a fully functioning hanger deck. These changes have allowed the Thunderchild to deploy up to sixty fighters (Five wings of each of the two current models that the Federation employs). Currently there are only twenty four fighters aboard the ship. But within the following weeks, the remaining fighters will be deployed to the ship as their flight crews are trained up. While the ship is under staffed with fighters, this has given the illusion that the hanger deck is much more spacious than it really is. As one walks on to the hanger deck they are greeted by a large pennant hanging high over the center of the hanger deck.

In the center of the pennant coiled around a symbol of the Federation was a large dragon. Along the sides of the Pennant were the words, "The Dragons of the Federation". On either side of the large pennant were proudly displayed battle ribbons from the Dominion War. Such battle ribbons were from Velos, Operation Return, and Chin'toka. Along with these well known battles were dozens of other battle ribbons where the names are not as familiar. These battles were far less well known, but no less important to the over all war effort. Along those lesser known battle ribbons hung proudly a ribbon with the name of CMO-26. The region of space where the USS Thunderchild was jumped by overwhelming odds. It was there that ten pilots were left behind as a crippled Thunderchild made her retreat before superior forces. There had been rumors of this ship's heroic battles, but no one could truly feel the pride of this ship till they walked along the hanger deck.

Long before the Federation decided to explore fighter operations, the Thunderchild and her flight crews were proving their worth up and down the front. With little in terms of support and using tactics that had been long thought dead, the Thunderchild was a thorn in the side of the Dominion for over two years. Using older modified craft to act as space fighters, these brave men and women took the fight to a level that the rest of the Alliance couldn't. Boarding their fighters, many knew that this could be their last flight. Yet they still boarded those fighters and took the battle deep behind enemy lines. Which calling those craft fighters at all had been a long time honored joke on the flight deck of the Thunderchild.

The joke came from the fact that these fighters were nothing more than heavily modified support couriers. It was the brave men and women of the flight crews that turned the crafts in to the fighters that they would become. Many of the modifications took place right here in this very hanger deck under the watchful eyes of the Flight Deck Officer. Here, within the Thunderchild's hanger field modifications turned civilian couriers in to formidable fighters that were feared across the Dominion battle field. Stepping on to the hanger deck of the Thunderchild was like walking among legions. If at any time there was any doubt of the loyalty and courage from these men and women, one only needs to look up at those battle ribbons.

Unlike the rest of the ship were much of the original crew of the Thunderchild transferring off during her planned refit in to a fully functioning carrier, the members of the flight deck choose to remain aboard. Most of these junior officers, petty officers and crewmen had fought along this hanger and the flight deck above during this ship's darkest hours. Here they stood against the worst that the Dominion could throw at them, and here they would continue to stand today. They saw themselves different and more elite than the rest of the crew of the USS Thunderchild. Aboard most starships, the crew could be broken up in to three basic colors with their uniforms. Along the hanger deck, the personnel moved about in a multitude of colored vests. One thing about their uniforms that would stand out is that everyone were wearing what appeared to be specially made EV Suites with Starfleet marking on them. There was a breathable atmosphere yet still every member of the deck crew still wore their EV Suites.

Standing at the entry way of the hanger deck, one couldn't help but be impressed by the chaos of what was going on. A flight of six Attack Fighters had just returned from their patrols and were having their weapon systems made safe as other crew members were tending to their own tasks. Hand signals were flying about as crewmen wearing colors like Red, White, Green, Yellow, and Brown were buzzing around doing their own task. It appeared that the whole chaos was under control of a pair of officers in the center of the hanger deck. These officers were green armored EV Suites with purple vests over top of them. It was clear that these two officers commanded the hanger deck and the flight deck above. One was a human male and the other was a female wolfen. They stood in the center of the hanger deck directing everything that goes on. Both wore some kind of headset with a microphone which hung from the headset and covered their mouths. They were giving hand signals as Fighters were 'beamed' down from the flight deck above.

Holo Suite 3, Deck 2

Wed, 01 Oct 2014 14:45:43 -0700

Stardate: 53837.23
USS Thunderchild, NCC-63549
Deck 2, Holosuites
Holo suite 3
Ensign Skytower

Her feet padded softly down the corridor towards the holo room doors. Delta shift had already taken over, but the majority of the crew were asleep, giving her the ample space and time to be alone. She approached the door and entered her security code to enter, the slight hiss of the door opening at her feet filling the hall. She smiled and entered swiftly.

"Computer?" The lights dimmed on and the voice responded, "Yes, Ensign Skytower. " She smiled and looked about the small room, "Begin program from personal data log Stardate 53834.71, previous session, same level."

The room instantaneously shifted. A mat appeared beneath her feet, and a single opponent. A smile crossed her face, as her entire demeanor shifted. Strong and firm she stood across from her opponent. "Computer," she smirked, "don't hold back.."

Swiftly she charged across the room at her opponent. She had recently taken to Klingon fighting styles, mixed with different martial art styles she had learned back on earth. She was strong yet agile, with fierce determination to take down her prey. The simulation also blared a wide range of thundering music from several alien races, including different genres from her home. She especially appreciated the sounds of the war drums beating in her ears.

After a couple of hours spent tussling back and forth, she could no longer best her opponent. As agitated as she was, unable to defeat the simulation, she sighed in relief. "Computer. Save sequence for next session in my private log. " "sequence saved." She grabbed her towel and wiped her face. "At least I'm still human.."

She walked over to the keypad, messing with the data history. She transferred her saved sequence over to a private folder, while deleting the history of her presence in the holo suite. "and done..." With that the lights dimmed and the suite door opened as she exited to go back to her quarters.

Upper Five (Ship's Forward Lounge)

Thu, 25 Sep 2014 17:10:07 -0700

Stardate: 53834.05
USS Thunderchild, NCC-63549
Deck 5, The Lounge
Upper Five
Commander Bonham and Lt Jr Noonia

It has only been a few days since the USS Thunderchild has left Dry Dock and already the crew and ship have been pushed to their breaking points. First under Commander Bonham then under Captain Campbell. Like all ships of Starfleet, rumors have already started to fly as to what was really going on. Everything from another Borg invasion to a Coup within the Federation were being whispered among the crew. As word of the attack on the Repulse and her sister ships spread, the rumors continued to grow in complexity and in wildness. Regardless of what is going on, the crew were unified and determined to see this through to the end.

One of the only refuges for the crew is Upper Five, the ship's lounge. Located on Deck 5 Upper Five offered the crew a place to escape the duties and stress of the ship. From its large six windows that were facing forward flight operations can be observed from the launch deck below. Here the crew can unwind and relax as a number of games, food and drinks are offered. During refit, Commander Bonham knew that the over all design of the ship would require that space would become a premium aboard. With crew quarters moved and compacted to make room for the new expanded hanger deck, it was clear that places like Five Forward and her sister location near main engineering, Fifteen Aft, would be vital to crew moral. Normally Akira Class ships only had one lounge. Commander Bonham during refit asked for a second lounge be built at the aft section of the ship. This was directly due to the fact that many crew quarters were going to be cut in size.

Lower enlisted were required to 'hot cot' their beds with another crew member. This allowed for four crew members to share one space. Petty officers would share quarters with three other petty officers. Junior officers would share their quarters with another junior officer. Senior officers and Department Heads would be the only crew members with their own quarters. Because of the restricted space aboard, no family members were allowed aboard the ship during deployment. Because of the limited space, the ship's stores only allowed the ship to be under deployment for up to one year. This limited the type of missions that the ship could take part in. However the fact that she was a carrier also opened up the field to entirely new kind of roles never before thought of for a ship of this size.

Another change to the ship's over all design was the location of crew quarters. Normally quarters would be centrally located in one area on the ship. This area would be protected should an emergency occur and this section could be used as a life boat. After studies proved that in nearly every situation, these 'life boats' did not increase the survivability of the crew. It was decided during refit that the crew's ability to react to an emergency could increase the chances to avoid it all together. The location of crew quarters were set up to be close to area where the personnel worked. This could cut down on the response time to alerts and would help provide for the much needed increase in crew numbers. This meant that corridors would be more narrow and less wasted space as crew quarters would be spread out throughout the ship. An added safety feature was air lock style bulk heads would safely divide the ship in to air tight sections during crisis. This was added in addition to force fields and once in place required no additional power.

VIP Quarters were also cut down by half as the over all mission of the USS Thunderchild was not centered on diplomatic roles. The VIP Quarters were still on par with even the Galaxy Class starships, but they were fewer in numbers. It was Commander Bonham who had a mind for using space to its fullest. He came up with a way to help with Crew Moral. In answer to what he saw as a possible issue with moral, Commander Bonham created the Lottery. Any lower enlisted who showed sound responsibility to their duties and had no reports in their records for a month is automatically entered. The ten winners of the weekly drawn Lottery would get a rare chance to have their quarters moved to the five VIP Quarters for one week. While they had to share their VIP with another winner, it was a far cry from having to share their room with three others.

The Lottery was already a big hit among the lower enlisted, and thus bringing a sense of pride to the ship as no other Starfleet ship had such a Lottery. Granted, that the Lottery would only be in effect as long as there were no VIP's aboard and the winners must leave the VIP Quarters in the same way that they were given. The first ten winners of the Lottery came from across the ship and were already enjoying the luxuries of their prize.

Even with the Lottery, the quarter situation aboard the ship was clearly a moral issue that will not go away. However it has been seen by nearly the entire crew as a small price to pay to serve aboard the Federation's first official carrier. This prestige was enough to satisfy the crew in dealing with the quarters issues. The fact that unlike other Starfleet ships, the Thunderchild had two full service lounges and another 'unofficial' lounge on deck eleven (where the flight crews and flight deck personnel tend to hang out) helps the crew coup with the tight living conditions.

The scene in the Upper Five is busy as usual as Commander Bonham walks in. A large number of crew were already enjoying dinner as those on Alpha Shift were getting off and unwinding. Beta Shift was already taking over. The Thunderchild ran three shifts around the clock. Alpha Shift started at 0800 and ran till 1600. Beta Shift picked up at 1600 hours and ran till 0000 (midnight). Delta Shift would pick up at 0000 and run till 0800 in the morning. Because of the requirements of the ship and the limited quarters, there were no days off while under deployment. A crewmen, enlisted or officer, was expected to pull their watch and be ready for any alert that might occur outside of that. Thanks to the current situation, the tension aboard the ship was already high.

The day had already been long for Commander Bonham as he watched a flight of fighters depart for their search grid. He shook his head, 'these needless flights are only going to wear down the pilots' he thought to himself. He tapped the PAD in his hand against his other palm as he scanned the room. He spotted the person he was looking for with two other junior officers. It was clear that they were enjoying their meal and having laughs over some tail from their Academy days. Commander Bonham stood there for a moment remembering how he and his own friends used to laugh and tell their own stories. He recalled the time before that battle. Before he had to leave one of his closest friend's behind. Without realizing it, a frown crossed his lips as the sour memory took hold. The voices of the past echoed back in to his memory. His best friend pleading not to be left behind. It was a choice between saving a few pilots or risking hundreds of other lives.

Before the thought could fully come in to being, Commander Bonham willed the memories from his mind. He had new duties now and he would not allow mistakes of the past to cloud his actions now. He walked up to the table and took note of Ensign Townsend, Ensign Habachi, and Lt. Noonia enjoying conversation over dinner. He stopped just short of the table and waited for them to pause their conversation. "I am sorry to interrupt your dinner Gentlemen," Commander Bonham said calmly and in a soft voice. "I need to have a word with you Lieutenant," he said speaking to lieutenant Noonia. Then he added, "Do you mind if I join you" he asked motioning for the empty chair.

Ensign Habachi grabbed his tray, "Take my chair, Commander" the statement was made with clear intent in his voice. "I lost my appetite" the Ensign said as he got up and took his tray. Without even paying any further mind to the Ship's XO the young Ensign turned and walked away.

Captain's Ready Room

Fri, 19 Sep 2014 23:37:46 -0700

The Captain's ready room.

When walking in from the bridge the first thing you see is the Captain's desk, larger than necessary and painted to look like wood stained kono. The desk is set deeply in the room near the rear wall which doubles as a giant view screen, usually showing the stars the ship is traveling towards.

Positioned perfectly in the middle along the left wall is a long cabinet also painted to look like the same wood as the desk. There are 6 doors along the face of the cabinet, each about fifteen inches wide with a drawer above each one. On top of the cabinet is a plant to honor the Captain's father, several books written by his mother, and a small case to house a few of the more impressive medals the Captain has warned in his career. Above the cabinet is a set of bagpipes displayed on the wall. The is also a table and chairs set in the corner nearest the door. The replicator is also set within this wall in between the table and the cabinets.

The right side of the room has a comfortable leather couch and two arm chairs sitting around a actual wooded coffee table. This piece is the inspiration for the rest of the wood in the room. The couch and chairs are slightly darker than the wood of the table and they contrast well with the walls which as painted with a much lighter shade. Above the couch is a pair of tartans; one belongs to the Captain's family's and the other is the Black Watch. Closer to the back of the room is another doorway that leads to another section of the Captains ready room but no one on the crew as entered the room, excluding the Commander.