The Official Nod

Posted on Thu Feb 1st, 2024 @ 11:03am by Captain Michael Intermeezo

Mission: Deep Space Nine
Location: USS Chuck Norris
Timeline: Present

:ON:

{Ready Room; Chuck Norris}

Michael Intermeezo had remained in his ready room on the Chuck Norris for some time. The fact that he'd been replaced by a Zaj operative for months was disturbing enough. But the thought that he'd been floating around in cold space in a cryo-statis chamber was even more disturbing. Lucky for him a Cardassian trade ship happened to pass by, or he could have been lost for years, decades, or even centuries.

He shook himself to bring his thoughts back to the present. He shifted around in his chair for a moment and picked up the padd that was still on his desk. Dr Bashir had been kind enough to load the ship and crew logs from the past few months on there, in the hopes of filling in some blanks for the Captain. They'd certainly been through the mill recently, but had all performed to an incredibly high standard.

"Some crew changes appear to have been made in my absence." He thought to himself as he re-read the current crew roster. Having read the crew logs a number of times, he was satisfied that everyone was now in the positions they were meant to be. Commander Rodale would remain as his executive officer, and K’ner would remain as Chief Medical Officer. They clearly deserved to be in these positions, and it was probably the only decent thing his doppelgänger had done whilst it was here.

Reading over the recent medical reports from K'ner, it was clear that the crew were running on empty though. Fatigue, indiscipline, transfer requests. All signs that a crew were burning out. Perhaps now more than ever this crew needed some down time. And whilst DS9 had served a purpose in that regard, a dusty old Cardassian space station wasn't exactly anyone's dream location for a vacation.

Suddenly Michael's desk terminal started to beep. He placed the padd back down onto the desk and pressed a button on the terminal. The screen changed from the Federation logo to the image of Admiral Yoshimeyer of Starbase 5. "Captain Intermeezo, how are you doing? Have the medics cleared you to return to duty?"

"Yes sir," Michael nodded, "Both Doctor Bashir of Deep Space Nine, and my own Chief Medical Officer have both agreed that it is safe for me to assume, or re-assume, command of the Chuck Norris."

Yoshimeyer smiled, "Grand. Grand." He cleared his throat, "I see you've submitted a request for the Chuck Norris to be pulled from active service for a couple of weeks."

"That's right, Admiral. I feel that the ship and crew could do with a break." The man explained. "I feel we're physically and mentally at a point where if we are stretched any further, something is going to snap."

Yoshimeyer raised a hand, indicating that he'd heard enough. He was well aware of how busy the Chuck Norris had been in recent months, and he didn't need convincing. "Captain, your request is approved. As of 0900 this morning, the Chuck Norris is no longer in any of Starfleet's plans, at least not for the next 14 days." Michael smiled, but before he could thank the Admiral, the senior officer continued to speak, "However, I am ordering you to your next destination. I want you to take the ship and its crew to Risa. And I'm also ordering you to have a good time. Understood?"

Michael nodded and grinned, "I'll try and make sure everyone behaves, sir. Thank you, sir."

"Yoshimever, out." The image of the Admiral disappeared from the terminal, replaced by the Federation logo once again.

The Captain got to his feet and slapped his comm-badge eagerly, "This is the Captain to the crew of the Chuck Norris, both onboard the ship and on DS9. Please return to the ship and prepare for departure. We'll be leaving DS9 within the next few hours."


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Captain Michael Intermeezo
Commanding Officer
USS Chuck Norris, NCC-4005