USS Erigone – Bridge – 0800

=^=Please insert operating system=^=

Ambrose stood on the bridge of his new command, the USS Erigone.  The promotion to commander had been a welcome one, and the chance to have his own ship had been even more so, but the reality of what he was facing was frustrating, to say the least.  The ship had been sitting at Starbase Bravo for the last year or more without any attention.  “Now I’m in charge of the attention.”  He moved to the front console and tapped the console.

=^=Please insert operating system=^=

Harris growled, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”  A few more taps of the console and the same message.  Whoever had mothballed the Erigone had done a proper job – taking her down to the foundations.  Muttering, “Well, at least I get to make her my own.”  He went to work.

USS Erigone – Bridge – 1000

=^=System restored.  Activating command.  Please state your name, rank, and position aboard the USS Erigone.”

Harris wiped his hands with the cloth, sweat, and dirt covering his uniform.  “Ambrose Steven Harris, Commander, Commander of USS Erigone.”

There was a beep, and a chirp, =^=Authority verified.  Welcome aboard the USS Erigone, Commander Harris.  All systems, commands, and operations available.”

The former Chief smiled for the first time that morning, “Thank god.”  He sat in the front console chair and started the work.  The warp core would need checked, and the engines activated after that.  Various power systems checks would then be needed from deck to deck and then eventually he’d have to check the hull to ensure it was spaceworthy.  Who knew what had happened in storage for a year.  He would then need to check the shields systems, deflector systems, dampner systems, weapons, sensors, communications, and everything else from stem to stern.  He hadn’t been assigned a crew yet.  Harris was used to this.  As a kid, he’d work on his family’s transport business to repair or rework ships that needed it.  Hours, days, and weeks would disappear in the midst of a workload that never ended.

He snagged a PADD from his belt and started to make the checklist.  It was his ship, and he would make it fly just the right way.