To Serve

Shuzo sat at the terminal in hir spartan quarters finishing a report to hir former CO at the Mannheim Temporal Research Facility.  Since returning to the Milky Way Galaxy s/he had been in constant communications with agents from the Department of Temporal Investigation, even fielding some serious questions originating from the observatory on the Guardian planet.  Shuzo hoped that this report would put those questions to rest so that s/he could get back to work.

The door chimed while Shuzo was in the midst of a lengthy recounting of hir voyage from above the planet Bartok on a Romulan Q-ship to a remote region of the Andromeda Galaxy.

"Come," s/he called, not lifting hir head from the PADD containing what amounted to nearly a decade of spaceflight which apparently happened in a matter of a year in local spacetime.

When the door remained silent, Shuzo repeated, "Come."

Again no response.

Placing the PADD down, Shuzo crossed hir quarters.  Hir quarters personally selected for its compact size.  Shuzo had the engineering department convert a supply compartment into a duplicate of an old Defiant-class crew quarters.  A request that caused no end of gossip.  Some even believed it to be a plot by Starfleet to encourage Shuzo to retire and return to Axanar.  But, no, that was not the case, and Shuzo wasn't the type to correct anyone claiming it to be true.  The reason s/he wanted more spartan quarters was to maintain efficiency.  Shuzo liked things to be efficient and precise and hir quarters were the epitome of efficiency.

Opening the door, Shuzo looked out at the secluded section of the deck ten corridor that s/he had chosen for hir quarters.  The corridor was empty save for a small package wrapped in decorative paper and ribbon.  Picking it up Shuzo noticed a tag on top.  Carefully removing the tag, Shuzo read the label.

"Christmas," Shuzo mumbled.  A Terran holiday, Shuzo remembered.  S/he had experienced the festive holiday back at the Axanar embassy of Old Earth circa the 2150s.  With over 300 members in the Federation it was difficult to remember to celebrate every member world holiday, yet someone aboard ship was definitely celebrating.  It should be expected since the bulk of the crew was Terran.

Lifting the box up, Shuzo utilized every heightened sense s/he possessed to determine its contents.  Remembering that s/he was standing in the middle of a corridor, Shuzo turned around and returned to hir quarters.

At one of the supplemental work stations Shuzo reviewed the Arcadia's offensive and defensive capabilities.  The vessel had come a long way from the original specifications that Shuzo had helped develop in the late 2370s.  Long-term missions tended to do that.  As the ship's chief tactical specialist, it was Shuzo's job to make sure that the Arcadia was prepared for anything and to be available to devise any new tactics as the need arose.  After more than 200 years of service in space, there were few with hir tactical expertise.  Despite all that experience, many senior officers referred to Shuzo as "The Mothball," some using it to suggest that s/he should finally retire, others using it to describe how musty the Axanarian smelled.  To them Shuzo represented a preserved relic that belonged in a museum or teaching history at an academy somewhere.  Personally Shuzo didn't care.  S/he had a talent and skill, and as long as it was needed and s/he was able, s/he would serve in whatever fleet would have hir.

As it stood Shuzo was among a rare few that had any knowledge or experience with the Quantum-class starship.  That made hir a valuable resource aboard the Arcadia.  Deep down Shuzo knew this would mean hours of training, teaching raw crew-members how to operate her systems.

While browsing through the new crew roster, Shuzo was interrupted by hir console beeping, indicating that it had finished calculating and processing the simulation s/he had programmed it to run.  In the simulation the Arcadia was faced with various opponents and forced into combat with ever-increasing odds.  To Shuzo's expectations the ship performed excellently on its own up to a point where the odds were so overwhelming that it would be difficult for even the most advanced ship in the modern fleet to survive.  However that was not good enough.  This simulation was operating with the Arcadia under full automation and very few variables.  The next simulation would require the complete integration of the crew's personality and psychological profiles.

Shuzo had requested these files downloaded into the tactical mainframe a week ago with no reply.  S/he hoped the new chief medical officer and ship's counselor would relinquish the information and fulfill hir request.  The simulation needed to be 100% accurate before a thorough analysis of the ship's capabilities could be conducted.  Shuzo could not accept anything less than perfection before endorsing the ship's readiness for launch.  Shuzo currently possessed all but the most restricted of crew service records and had them downloaded and ready for testing.  S/he needed access to those classified files.

With the tap of the console, Shuzo downloaded the simulation to hir personal PADD for reviewing later.  Shuzo's next assignment was to check that all the counterinsurgency protocols were in place.  S/he would be consulting with the chief security officer later to insure that the security teams were prepared for the event of intruding boarding parties.  While crossing the bridge to the main tactical console, the turbolift doors opened and out walked a determined-looking brunette in civilian attire.

"Excuse me." She spoke.

"Civilians are not allowed on the bridge, I will have to ask you to leave," Shuzo replied, rising to hir full seven-foot-plus height, standing firm so that hir Lieutenant Colonel pip could be seen.  It was rare to find a Marine officer on the bridge of a Starfleet vessel, instead of commanding ground troops on a planet or starbase.  Some captains requested some Marines stationed aboard vessel as additional security and tactical officers to assist in specialized missions.  Shuzo however had not served in a truly Marine-type posting in over a century.  Perhaps s/he should request a division transfer.  No, that would be irrelevant.  No need for that.

"I'm looking for whoever is in charge.  My name is Ria Stavros," the brunette continued.

With lightning mental prowess possessed by Axanar and of course the Vulcans, Shuzo mentally reviewed the crew manifest s/he was just analyzing.  There was no recollection of a Ria Stavros.  Perhaps she had not signed on yet.  Regardless there were regulations and she should not be on the bridge.

"That may be Miss Stavros, however regulation clearly states that there are to be no civilians on the bridge without direct authorization from the captain.  As Captain Gray has not made the bridge crew aware of any civilian access, I must conclude that you therefore are here without permission and I must, once more, request that you leave.  I must warn you that a third request will result in detention and confinement in the brig until an investigation into your presence in a restricted area can be conducted."

By-the-book Axanars were extremely common ever since the Four Years War and the following cultural upheaval that resulted on Axanar in the 2250s.  Shuzo was there for the war and the rebellion that followed.  And those events occurred as a result of poor regulation.  Shuzo was a by-the-book Axanar.

"I'm the ship's chief diplomatic officer," Stavros responded, a bit taken aback by the Axanar's response.

"Then there is no excuse.  You are aware of regulations.  I apologize for being brisk with you on the matter of your presence on the bridge but I will however have to notify duty officer Zakova that you arrived on ship and presented yourself on the bridge out of uniform.  On or off duty, all officers are to be in uniform on the bridge.  Those are the regulations.  This is a minor infraction but one that should be notated in your record.  I trust that the duty officer will handle the matter with the utmost professionalism.  You should report to her immediately.  I believe you will find her on deck four.  She went looking for the captain.  You are dismissed."