There were times when Campbell enjoyed the peace and privacy of his ready room, then there were times he hated it. For the latter the reasons were simply down to the fact he would need to lock himself away to get any administrative work done without outside interference. 

With Patel leaving and his new first officer settling in, Campbell had turned his attention back to the crew roster and to see if he could solve the issue of losing some of his crew to the recent transfers. The first issue was he no longer had duty officers for the Gamma and Delta Shifts. Both lieutenants that he had trained up from day one of him assuming command of Endeavour had been moved to other postings within the fleet. With Starfleet not sending them anyone else to replace them, Campbell knew he had been a bit more inventive. Picking up his mug of tea, he took a sip and looked back at the possible candidates he could consider. 

An idea cropped into his brain and before he could take it any further the intercom went off and the voice of his chief communication officer followed. 

Ricci had been busy trying to decrypt some information that the captain had sent him a few days earlier. He was told not to talk about it without anyone else. After many hours he had finally broken the code. “Ricci to Campbell, Sir do you have a moment?”

Tapping on the intercom panel built into his desk, the captain answered. “Go ahead Antione.”

“I have that information you had requested Captain.” He replied trying to not reveal anything important. “We are also being hailed by the Poseidon and they’re requesting to speak to you, Sir.”

“I’ll be there shortly.” Campbell answered and closed the call before getting up from his desk to return to the bridge. Walking out of his office and onto his bridge, he was pleased to see who was on duty. Randall was at the helm, while Chang sat next to him at the new navigation controls. The new upgrades to the bridge required the helm station to be manned by two people and at the moment Chang was the only other person, besides Randall’s deputy, the captain and their new first officer, who were qualified to man such a station. Looking over to Ricci, who had his finger holding on to his earpiece, Campbell gave him the gesture to open the channel to the Poseidon.

The main viewer changed to show Commodore Paulsen sitting in the centre of her bridge. “Captain Campbell, I’m happy to announce the final crew transfers have been completed and we are now relieving you of your convoy duty assignment.“

Smiling at his friend, mentor and superior, Campbell bowed his head slightly. “We stand relieved, ma’am. Godspeed.”

“Likewise, happy hunting Endeavour.” Paulsen then looked off to the side and gave a nod before the channel was cut.

Glancing down at the helm, Campbell issued the next set of orders. “Chief, disengage the extended airlock with the Poseidon and secure all moorings.”

“Aye Captain” Minna replied, enjoying the relative calm of manning a station without being shot at.

“Josh,” Campbell called to his pilot,  “once we are free from all connections with the Poseidon then plot us a course away from the convoy. Set a heading for Starbase One, warp four-point-five.”

“Aye, sir.” Randall quickly laid in the new course and speed. “Course laid in, captain.”

Feeling the gentle hum of the impulse engines increase in power and speed, Campbell watched his crew undertake their tasks with ease and precision. “Lieutenants Ricci, Randall and Chief Chang, a word in my ready room.”

Minna stood up, her left knee a bit stiff, but far better than it would have been before the reconstruction and artificial joint.

Ricci stood up from his seat and made sure there was a comms officer present before he preceded to the captain’s ready room. It wasn’t often he got called to the ready room hopefully it wasn’t something bad.

Randall stood up and handed over the helm to another officer, then he walked to the captain’s ready room.

“I’ve got an idea I want to run past you three.” Campbell explained after the group had followed him into his office. 

Minna just found an empty piece of wall to lean against.

Randall nodded. “Yes sir.”

Ricci raised his one eye intrigued “What would that be, Sir?”

“As you know, we’ve lost a few key personnel and for some of them we are not going to get any replacements anytime soon.” Campbell said as he picked up his mug. “So, I was wondering what your thoughts are around you three picking up a few more responsibilities on the ship?”

“Whatever you need Captain” Minna replied.  She’d worked pretty much every position on the ship at one time or another, and pretty much every job within the MACOs before the final attack on the Xindi weapon.

“I would be happy to do more, sir. Whatever is best for the ship.” Randall replied.

“I would be willing to help, wherever I can sir, but if I may ask what exactly did you have in mind?” Ricci asked knowing the Captain would surely explain.

“Well namely I would like you three to take on a few more extra duties on the bridge during Gamma or Delta shifts.” Campbell explained, he looked at the two officers first. “You two hold the rank of full lieutenant and with that comes certain command privileges and more important expectations. You both run two of the smallest departments on the ship, so I could do with you both stepping up and leading on one of these shifts a few times a week.”

“I can’t speak for anyone else, sir, but I would be very willing to work the extra shifts, sir.” Randall smiled.

It was true that Ricci ran one of the smallest departments, but he also doubled as the ship’s protocol officer. He didn’t mind the jobs and he was definitely willing to help the Captain. “I will lead whichever shift you want me to, Sir. I am also willing to help in any other way I can as well.”

“And chief, with your experience from all areas, having you command two or three shifts a week would assist greatly as well.” Campbell remarked to the senior enlisted crewmember.

“That shouldn’t be a problem” Minna replied.

“I’ll work with Petty Officer Knight to update the duty roster and you’ll get the revisions sent to your stations shortly.” Campbell said, he then looked to Ricci. “Lieutenant, last task for you. I want us to organise an informal gathering for the crew tonight in the crew lounge at twenty-hundred hours. I want you to liaise with chef to get this sorted and ready.”

Antione nodded “I will go talk to the chef now and make sure everything is set up, Sir! If there’s not anything else I will go take care of that right now.”

“Thank you,” The captain focussed on Randall. “Josh, take us to warp once we are clear of the convoy. Dismissed.” Campbell ordered them all.

“Aye sir.” Randall replied before leaving the room and heading back to his station.