USS Edinburgh-Ready Room – 0830

The door chime rang and Harris looked up, “Enter.”  Thasaz sat up from her place on the couch under the windows as Ensign Sadie Fowler stepped into the room.  She glanced at her chief and then at her CO as the door to the bridge closed behind her.

“You had asked to see me sir…ma’am?”  She wasn’t sure who she was supposed to look at and decided on Harris since he was the ranking officer in the room.  Harris gestured for her to sit and she did, hesitantly, “Am I in some kind of trouble?”

Thasaz chuckled, “No, Ensign Fowler.  You know I’ve been working my way through the applications for the position of assistant chief science officer.”  Sadie nodded, her eyes growing wide as she understood why she was here.  This was where she found out that she didn’t get the job.  Her chief went through her list of qualifications and she blushed a few times at things she hadn’t really thought about.  “Finally…you were asked to step into my role both on the bridge and on the away team.  Commander Harris and Ensign Kondo were impressed with your performance…not to mention Chief Katsumi as well.”  She tapped at her PADD, “You’ve proven yourself as a valued crewmember, and as someone willing to listen and learn.”  Thasaz stood and Fowler did the same as her science chief stood in front of her, hand extended, “It is my honor and privilege to offer you the position of Assistant Chief Science Officer on the USS Edinburgh.”

Sadie let out the breath she’d been holding, “You mean I got it?!”  She slammed her mouth shut and blushed a deeper shade than earlier, “I mean to say…thank you Lieutenant for believing in me.”  She turned on her heels and awkwardly put out her hand, “Thank you, Commander.”  

He stood and shook her hand, “You established yourself amongst your fellow science officers and crew.  My only words of advice are to understand those that serve under your command are not numbers or pieces on a chess board.  They’re living things, Ensign.  Remember that in the easy times…but most importantly…remember that in the rough times.  You are dismissed.”  She squeaked with joy and then turned read again as she returned to the bridge, aglow with good news.

Ambrose returned to his seat as the door closed and he glanced at his chief science officer, “They’re a young crew…I forget that sometimes.”

“They continue to amaze, Commander.  I’m more worried about the sun at the Kaseas Colony.  The more reports I’m getting from Potena the more concerned I grow.  I’ve had my team looking over the data – there is a reading in the data that suggests something in that sun is artificially acting as an agent of change.  We are unable to confirm our theory, only that something is operating as…you would call it a ‘bad actor’ or something similar to that.”

Harris leaned forward, “Worst case scenario?”

She sighed, “The sun goes supernova and explodes in eight hours…or less.”

He grumbled, “Well…shit.”

“I have expressed a similar sentiment…but in Romulan.”  Harris raised an eyebrow and she relented, “The Romulan word is hnaev.”

“Well, hnaev then.  What’s the best-case scenario?”

She studied her PADD, “The sun does not, as you would say, go boom today…or tomorrow…but eventually…boom.”

Harris cackled and laughed, “You’ve been watching Babylon 5, Lieutenant!  I’m proud of you.”

The Romulan cracked a sly smile, “You recommended it to me, so I decided to give it an attempt.  I have grown fond of Susan Ivanova in my viewings.”

The CO realized they had wandered and grumbled to himself, “Well, back to business.  I’m guessing you’re going to want to get a closer look at the sun when we arrive?”

She nodded, “Bravo installed the sensor pods in all three of our modules, so we will see far better than the Potena.” 

Ambrose’s badge chirped, =^=Commander Harris to the bridge, we’ve arrived sir.=^=  They both stood and entered the bridge – Harris to his command chair and Thasaz to relieve her recently promoted ACSO.

USS Edinburgh- The Castle (bridge) – 0845

Harris sat in his chair, “Report?”

Prentice spoke from his station, “The Potena is located near the sun.  Governor Tasawa reports he is ready to receive our teams.”

“Lieutenant Thasaz?”

She shook her head and turned to face him, “It’s looking far more unstable since the last scans we had, sir.  I would recommend that Dr. Reid and the team begin the process of preparing the population for evacuation.”

Harris asked the inevitable, “Population size?”

“1,000, sir.  Our emergency capacity.”

“Damn.  Get word to Doctor Reid in the transporter rooms and relay that information to Governor Tasawa as well.”  He chewed on his lips.  The Eddie could take the colony’s population…but time was the unknown.  How long and if they had long was now the biggest fly in the ointment.  “Prentice, is our team on the ground?”

Prentice tapped at the console balancing several different objectives.  The air on the bridge had suddenly become quite tense as the worries of each officer and crew in the room were now focused on the planet below…and the sun that was now threatening to blow it out of the sky.  “Almost complete.”  He waited a few more moments before the console blinked green.  “All teams transported, sir”

Harris continued to chew on his lips, “Prentice, full impulse to the sun.  Tell Potena we’re on our way.  Update them on what we think we’re seeing.”  He sat back in the chair, his mind working through every engineering solution he knew to the current problem.  There were not many, and he suspected none of them would be the simple answer.  Space was complicated and messy.  

He quietly hoped there wouldn’t be as much clean-up this time around.