Will sat in his office, it’d been a day since they left the planet of the Ponies. He was reading his after-action report, it was his first time leading a First Contact assignment. Well, it hadn’t been a planned First Contact which he found embarrassing beyond measure. But the beings had been aware of things beyond their planet and capable of interstellar travel even if it wasn’t on warp-capable vessels. He put the PaDD down with a sigh and pressed a button on his console =^=Resume Personal log=^= The computer chirped in response and he saw the dictation on his screen “I’ve been on the Chernov now for five years now” He looked at the date on his console, as always when putting in his personal log he now spoke with the soft Texan City drawl of his childhood home “Six years in a few months” He took up a cup from his desk and took a sip, the coffee was still warm “After this last mission I started thinking back to when I arrived, out of the original crew only a handful remain. Most of my team has been reassigned to other ships, my deputy has only been on the ship two years. None of the original Senior staff remains since Captain Stovik’s days beyond Captain Taggart. Some of the other departments have crew that have been here as long as I but only Chief Pawl has been here any length of time but I never knew him…” He hesitated and sighed “Still don’t know him I guess but he’s only been Engineering chief for a few months now.”

Will tapped a finger on his cup, the soft clinking sound soothing in the quiet of his office “Don’t know the other Senior staff much either I guess, Q seems competent but I’ve never been much of a judge for the Security folk, wasn’t much of a shot myself until a few years ago. Symar’s a Vulcan’s Vulcan far as I can tell but again I haven’t interacted much with the man. Ever since Mwezi and Kane died two years ago I didn’t come out much. Williams has been running the show these past few years for which I’m eternally grateful but I think it’s time to stop moping around. Hell, we were both surprised by how hard it hit us, We’d always respected Mwezi but weren’t as close to him as Solomon and Chris were....” He chuckled “And Solomon Kane was a first-degree asshole, I mean I’m arrogant because I’m an actual genius, it took me three years to go from Lieutenant to Lt. Commander and second officer. If it wasn’t for my known temperament when it comes to Command I’m sure that the Captain would have tried to force me into the XO position by now but I’ll be damned if Kane didn’t make me look good-tempered and humble”

He paused for a moment =^=Computer delete everything following and including the word hell =^= A moment later the text disappeared from the screen “I guess what brought about this train of thought is that I didn’t consider myself much of a leader, beyond running a Science lab I never thought farther into my career, I just wanted to explore, didn’t mind being assigned to a battlecruiser as I didn’t see a need for advancement but Chris Taggart had other plans. Getting the extra half stripe on my uniform was a surprise. That and being put third in command made me shift my worldview fast. Since then I’ve had to take charge of the ship on occasion, lead away teams, and command a fire team against Romulans in small-arms combat. In just two years I’ve gained more experience in leadership than I thought possible. Three years ago I could probably run a science lab of any size, assist on away missions, and had a barely passing grade in marksmanship. Now I feel comfortable sitting in the central seat on the Bridge, it feels natural to take command of Landing Parties, and I can handle a type two phaser well enough that I could pass an advanced course. Still no expert marksman but I can outshoot nearly a third of our onboard Security crew during practice. Of course, during action, I’d be less useful than any of them but it’s still a far cry from how it was back then.” Will finished his coffee and sighed contentedly “Back home I’m too young for my position. Lieutenant Commander before thirty was unheard of twenty years ago but Captain Kirk changed that during the Nero Incident fourteen years ago, twenty-five and given command of the USS Enterprise. Since then It’s been easier to push in promotions to officers who show promise” He shook his head “Well the reason for making this log has little to do with not being friendly enough with the other senior staff or my feelings on the burdens of command or even my capabilities being the defacto first officer of the ship for the last five major missions due to either the lack of an XO or the Captain being incapacitated or occupied.” He chuckled “Been a while since I rambled on like this, guess I’m still avoiding the elephant in the room.”

Will stood up and walked to a small table in the corner that had a half-full coffee pot on a heater and refilled his cup “I got a message before our last mission that I’ve been ignoring for a while, Doctor Lee has left Earth, and chartered a private vessel” Deep inside his mind he heard a deep laugh that made the hairs on his back rise, there was malice in that laugh, malice, and delighted anticipation “He’s had years to fester in his rage and considering the numerous letters he’s sent to Command demanding my immediate dismissal with greater and greater fierceness we…” He paused “I believe that he has chosen violence as a last resort to get rid of someone he considers a danger to society” He smiled grimly “I guess I’ll have to let loose for the first time in years. I’m working under the assumption that he’ll try to get me when we arrive at Freecloud for our scheduled R&R next week”

Will sat back down and took a sip of his fresh cup “Stardust City is a good place to deal with this matter, outside Federation control, and as far as reputations go it’ll be easier to clean up, I’ll have to make some contacts when we arrive but I’ll arrive there a week before Lee if my assumptions are correct. I guess the true point of this log is to leave a record if things go wrong. Dr. Lee considers me dangerous and after his failed attempt at having me kicked out of the Academy, he spent years harassing me until I put an end to it in an unfortunately violent encounter. I’ve had contacts on Earth keep an eye on him for me and I have circumstantial evidence that he has attempted to contact criminal elements outside the Federation to discuss placing a bounty on my head, when that failed for some reason he left the planet for a few years, I believe it was to make contact with some Mercenary elements in the Nausicaan systems but again this is based on circumstantial evidence. He still has contacts within Starfleet Command so when we received our shore leave destination he immediately chartered a ship and his destination was set to Nausicaa. This is a personal grudge and I won’t put the crew in danger. He shouldn’t be aware of my contacts so I can handle things but if things go wrong just know that it was the greatest honor of my life to serve the Chernov in the past year” He paused =^=End personal log, set security seal Command code Grey-Delta-2785-Gamme-Three Set condition: Unseal and send to Captain Christopher Taggart if no further directives are given within 30 days. Unseal and send immediately if Officer: Grey, William is designated Deceased or Missing.=^= The computer chirped acknowledgment.

After a full minute of sitting in silence he visibly relaxed, he felt bemused at himself for putting such a dramatic spin on a potential incident that he couldn’t be certain would happen. Of course, William had done the math and he was certain this was the likeliest possibility. Of course, math didn’t account for the human element but still, the odds were in his favor. He pressed a few commands on his console and a small click could be heard as a hidden compartment in his desk opened. Inside was a cloth-wrapped bundle, a small metal flask, and a bronze-colored metallic object. He started by examining the bronze object, or two objects in fact. Brass knuckles given to him by his father when he went to university, he’d only used them twice before, well B had used them twice before. He put them down on his desk and unwrapped the cloth bundle, revealing a curved weapon. It was a Romulan Disruptor Pistol he’d gotten during their Romulan battle not too long ago. He’d been tinkering with the weapon on and off during his off-hours. Although externally it looked the same he’d managed to alter the internal energy components to change its energy signature was considerably different at the cost of firepower. IF worst came to worst it’d be considerably hard to trace this weapon to anyone in Starfleet.

CSO, 2O