From sagatech@one.net.au Sun Jun 7 11:33:51 1998 Date: Wed, 6 May 1998 00:26:09 +1000 From: sagatech To: distribution:@one.net.au; (see end of body) Subject: USS YAMATO: That time of year. [The following text is in the "ISO-8859-1" character set] [Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set] [Some characters may be displayed incorrectly] [MD: 7.0500 - Sickbay] Jules sighed and stretched. High tension always seemed to lead to small annoying accidents. Sickbay had been kept buzy with bruises, bumps and strains. Lisa had been onto Department Heads urging all of them to run yet another workplace safety program. He looked across to where Lisa was removing a splinter from a child's finger. She tried whenever possible to keep the children to herself. She often said that helping kids was one of the perks of being CMO. The splinter came out together with a tiny drop of blood. Jules smiled at the 'brave' face that was being put on as Lisa matched her patient's concern. Then he looked at Lisa's hand. It was shaking. It was slight. He doubted anyone else would notice. Little junior NPC left, promising not to try to help with Mummy's wood samples without asking. Jules wandered over. "You OK?" Lisa kept her eyes on what she was doing. "I am fine." She walked towards her office. Jules followed. "You can't get rid of me that easily. What's up? You have been like a cat on a hot tin roof." Lisa looked up. " Jules, I am fine. Really" "Really?" Jules looked down at the table top. Lisa was tapping her nails on the hard surface. Slight indents were appearing. Worse, Jules noticed a slight sheen that wasn't there before. Jules rarely saw her poison ducts work unless she was ready to kill. "How long has it been since you have had a decent meal?" "I am fine Jules, stop bugging me." Lisa twisted out of her chair to get something from the cupboard behind her. "That's not what I asked." Lisa's shoulders slumped. "I know. Sorry. I am trying to convince myself. The Ship can not afford to be without her CMO just as she is going into a war zone, not even for 24 hours." "24 hours, have you got a cold?" Then it hit him. "Oh." "Exactly. Its that time of year again." "Do you have someone chosen?" Lisa turned and smiled. "The Ship can not do without her XO either." "Lucky him." [MD: 7.0545 - Bridge] > The turbo lift doors swished open and Dr. Mara walked on to the bridge. > She walked down th port side of the horseshoe and stood hext to CAPT > Stern. > > "Good morning CAPT," she asked peering into his eyes, "How much sleep > have you been getting lately?" > > "Not nearly enough," Isaac admitted. > > List looked at him curiously for a moment, "I'm surprised to hear you > say that, Sir." > > "Why is that Doctor, it's the truth." > > "I always thought that the weight of the 4th pip on a Captain's neck > caused all brain function to stop. I'm happy to see you're still aware > of the world around you." > > "Dr. Mara, I'm well aware of my limitations, and I haven't quite gotten > there yet," Isaac said. > > "I'm glad to hear that. Try not to exceed your limitations, Sir." > > "Yes, Dr." > > Lisa stepped over to Alex and whispered something that Isaac couldn't > quite make out. Lisa watched Alex's face. She was trying to judge how close she could take this. She had asked how dangerous the situation they were going into would be. The Captain's next question made up her mind. > "LT D'Artgnan how many Dalriadan ships have we detected so far?" Isaac > asked. > > "There are 8 vessles as pickets. 6 are around 500,000 tons > displacement, but the other 2 are smaller, on the order of half that > size," Brenan replied. > > "Potential targets, Sir?" Alex asked. > > "That's what I'm thinking, XO. The phase cloak would give us an > advantage over an isolated ship. I think we should complete our primary > mission of surveying before indulging." > > "Captain, I'm detecting another ship that just broke orbit around the > 6th planet and is headin this way," LT Stephens reported. > > "On screen," Isaac ordered, "Any indications that we've been detected?" > Isaac asked as he watched the sleek cigar shape come toward them. > > "That thing is huge," Alex breathed. > > "I don't think we've been detected, Sir," Cassandra said. Under her > breath she added, "I think." > > "XO, I've got an idea." > > "Yes Captain?" > > "What if we cruise right through her? Since we're out of phase we > should be able to do just that, and get a good look at what's inside," > Isaac suggested. > > "It's possible, in theory." > > "Now's not the time for theory, though. Opinions people?" "Forget I asked", Lisa murmured to Alex. "Well Captain, I have studied the CMO's records from previous use on the Hood. There does not seem to be any detrimental effect on the crew from going through high density objects, but this is still a new technology. I wouldn't make a habit of it until a great deal more study has been done. I can set up a monitoring device that will act in a similar way to a radiation detector. In fact, that was one of the reasons I came up to the bridge. " Isaac could see that Mara was finding it hard to sit in her seat. She was like a coiled spring. Maybe he should tell her to take a rest too. "Go ahead Dr, use one of the auxiliary stations." "Aye Sir, thank you", she smiled, acknowledging his concern. Respectfully Submitted Dr Lisa Mara Updated home page at http://www2.one.net.au/~sagatech e-mail sagatech@one.net.au %%% overflow headers %%% To: , "Josh Young" , , "Pat Schumacher" , "Les Chappelle" , "Janis Hill" , "Vicke Denniston" , , "Kristine Berg" , "Alexs Thompson" , "Jim Littleton" , "Jeffrey Jenkins" , "Jeffery Trock" , "George Harmon" %%% end overflow headers %%%