It was 2300 hours and the gamma shift was about to begin its 6 hour watch. The officer of the watch for the evening was Captain Chris Johnson. Exiting his quarters earl grey in hand Chris proceeded down a long corridor and towards the closest turbolift were upon arrival he tapped, with his left index finger, the lift call button alerting the turbo lift that someone needed collecting from deck two were the captain was located.

It had taken several seconds for the turbo lift to arrive and when it did the lift doors opened in a horizontal direction releasing a hydraulic noise as they did once opened the doors revealed a young engineering ensign who the captain assumed was heading to the bridge for duty. “Evening ensign” the captain spoke in a polite welcoming manner towards the young ensign whom wore a freshly pressed yellow engineering uniform brandishing a single gold pip on the left hand side of his collar. “Good Evening Captain” came a swift response from a confident JO who further went on to say “How are you sir”.

“Quiet well thank you just heading to the bridge for the night shift” came his response as the lift came to a halt and opened its doors to the bridge. “As am I” responded the JO as the two officers exited the turbolift and stepped onto the sparsely populated bridge.

“Evening all” the captain went on to say walking over to the centre chair relieving the officer of the watch as he did sitting down he went onto listen to the officer who previously held the position of officer of the watch on the previous shift. “I stand relieved sir nothing to report” spoke the NE watch officer. “Dismissed” came the one worded reply from the commanding officer.

“All stations report” the man said in a confident authoritative voice projected towards the officers to whom occupied the stations in front and behind him.

Captain Chris Johnson
Commanding Officer