Pushing Ahead

Posted on Thu Apr 23rd, 2015 @ 1:21pm by Lieutenant Commander Ethan Mackenzie & Lieutenant Hailey Carter

Mission: Paradise Lost
Location: Starbase 80

With the shuttle safely landed in the bay, Ethan waited patiently in front of the door as it began to open. The PADD securely held in his hand resting next to his right side. The outside noise invaded the inside of the shuttle with every inch that the door opened. There was a substantial amount of activity happening the bay. When the door was fully opened he was greeted by a male ensign wearing a gold uniform. “Welcome back, Commander.”

“Thank you, Ensign.” Ethan responded stepping off the shuttle.

“Lieutenant Broxton was looking for you sir. He said something about a promise that you made to him...it has to do with Lt. Carter.” Ensign stated as he watched Ethan stepped off the shuttle.

Ethan looked in the direction of the Ensign and grinned. “Thanks. I promised him that I’d introduce him to Lt. Carter.”

“Ah, gotcha, sir!” Ensign smiled thinking about Lt. Carter. She was very beautiful. There weren’t many that didn’t know who she was. And there were many that attempted to court her but eventually they all failed. She didn’t mix her professional life and personal life. “Good luck with that sir.” Ensign added as he stepped inside the shuttle.

Ethan watched the Ensign walk into the shuttle and chuckled. “Thanks…I think I am going to need it…” He said it to himself more than anything as he stepped out of the shuttle bay and headed for the turbolift.

Several minutes later Ethan stepped inside the Operations Orderly Room. There were several people in the area. Each sitting at a different station working on whatever they were working on. He nodded to a few that looked his way and headed to his office. He wondered behind his desk and took a seat. He placed the PADD on his desk and turned on his terminal. The door to the Operations Orderly Room opened and Lt. Carter stepped inside. A grin formed on his face thinking back to the conversation that he had minutes before. There was no way that he could keep that promise.

“Lt. Carter, you have a minute.” He called out to her from his office.

She turned in the direction of the office and nodded. She made her way across the room and to the doorway into his office. After he motioned for her to have a seat, she nodded in response and stepped inside taking a seat in one of the empty chairs. “Welcome back, sir. It’s good to see you’ve made it back safely.”

“Thanks.” He responded leaning back in his seat. “Is Lt. Faye back yet from her mission?”

Lt. Carter shook her head. “No sir. Her last communication mentioned that they might have discovered that source of the signal and were going to investigate further.”

“How long ago was that?” Ethan asked.

“Approximately 4 hours ago sir.” She quickly responded.

Ethan nodded. He leaned forward grabbing one of the PADDs from his desk then leaned back in his seat. “When is their next check in?” He asked as he took a couple of seconds to input information into the PADD and without saying a word he leaned forward handing the PADD to her.

Lt. Carter accepted the PADD from him. “The next scheduled check in is in 6 hours.” She replied. She looked down at the information on the PADD then looked up at him with a puzzled look on her face.

He motioned towards the PADD. “Alright, is there anything else that I missed while I was away?” He wondered.

She noticed him motion to the PADD. “We had several computer system failures during the time you were away. Nothing that the backups couldn’t handle. The systems are still running on backup.” She input her response and handed the PADD back to him.

Ethan accepted the PADD from her and looked at her response then smiled. She smiled back at him. “When do you expect to have the primary systems backup?” He began inputting additional information into the PADD.

“We have a maintenance window scheduled this evening.” She responded to his inquiry.

Ethan nodded. “Okay. Who will be running the change over?” He asked as he leaned forward handing the PADD back to her.

“It will be Lt. Broxton.” She responded accepting the PADD from him. He looked down at the PADD.

“You don’t say…?” He grinned.

“Yes, sir.” She looked up at him from the PADD. “Is that okay with you, sir?” She nodded in response to the information on the PADD.

“I would like you to be present there as well. Just as an observer of course. Let Lt. Broxton run the show, but if anything should get out of hand do step in.’ Ethan stated.

“Understood, sir.” She replied.

“If you can also please reach out to Lt. Faye, I’d like to know their status.” Ethan added
“I can do that sir.” She replied.

“Alright. Well, I won’t keep you any longer.” He said with a smile.

Lt. Carter nodded and stood up. “It’s good to have you back sir.” She said with a smile then headed out of his office.

Ethan sat there watching her leave his office. He could see why Lt. Broxton had a thing for her. He grinned at the plan that he set in motion. He just hoped that she’d never find out about the promise that he made to Lt. Broxton.

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Lt. Commander Ethan Mackenzie
Chief Operations Officer
Starbase 80

Lt. Hailey Carter
Operations Officer
Starbase 80