Alex Chou's Log for: 1/1/2352 20:17


This morning I had a hard time getting out of my bunk. Maybe it was the grogginess of getting 8 hours of sleep for the first time in 2 weeks. After turning off my alarm I just laid in bed for 20 minutes thinking about everything that needs to get done. I have to look over the fleet rendezvous times and locations, status update on the engines, learning more people's names, individual funeral services, status update on the Active Camo, supplies check, entire system check, personnel check, personnel reviews. After making my way to the Command Center, I still had no idea what to do first.

When I walked into the Command Center and looked around, the place looked abandoned. Miller was at the security station and that was it. He stood up and snapped to attention when he saw me. "Captain on deck!" Normally I wouldn't have been able to keep from laughing at the ridiculousness of a crewman announcing the Captain's arrival to an empty Command Center, but this time I was too startled. Instead I just stared at him blankly. He was staring straight forward and arms at the side in perfect attention. I didn't snap out of my stare until I noticed that his eyes had begun to wonder over to my direction.

"uh, At ease. I mean, um, as you were", I said. He sat back down and I walked over to my station. I tried not to acknowledge the weirdness that we were the only ones in the Command Center. I checked the latest status of the engines and Active Camo repairs. I then asked Miller, "Where the hell is everybody?" Thinking back, I probably should have phrased it better.

"Sir, Steele divided us up into sleeping shifts until the full Command Roster can be filled." Apparently, he thought that was a sufficient explanation because he went back to looking at his station after that.

I asked, "So why are you the only person here?"

"I volunteered for the last shift. I prefer nights, sir." he told me.

"First of all, you're an acting officer now so you don't have to 'sir' every time you tell me something." I said.

"Yes, sir" came his response. I stared at him for several seconds before I finally came to the conclusion that irony is a foreign concept to him.

"Second", I continued, "There should always be at least 2 people in the command center. Why did... never mind." What I wanted to say was, "why the hell did Steele just leave 1 person in the command center when regulations clearly states, and for damn good reason, the command center should always be manned by at least 2 officers. And if Steele did try to do that, why didn't anyone try to stop her." But, I knew I had to hold back. I was taught it's bad for morale to berate subordinates behind their back.

Instead, this just solved my problem of what to do first. I looked at the crew roster for possibilities to fill out a second shift for the command center. There aren't a lot of places to take from that wouldn't hurt ship efficiency. There's not a lot of places to cut corners when we might find ourselves in the middle of another battle. Unfortunately, with a third of the crew dead or incapacitated, I don't have a choice. At first I thought that the obvious place to look is from the security and engineering groups since they're the largest. However, those groups were the most decimated from the attack and I already took from the medical staff. Finally I decided to just look for the best candidates and the group they come from will just have to deal with it.

By the time I saw Steele, I just handed her my PID and told her to make a crew rotation of the Command Center with the backups that always leaves at least 3 people in the Command Center at all times. I then spent the rest of the day shifting crew members around and making Midshipmen disgruntled about either losing people or moving to a position where they no longer report directly to the Command Center. I all but dismantled shuttle control and supplies management. I also, once again reduced medical technicians and food services. At the end of the day I got the engineering staff almost completely filled as well as a re-beefed up security team. I think I got a lot done today. I could get used to this commanding thing.

System Command: End Log