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"Starting The Day"
[Previous Post: "Blessings In Disguise"]
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Setting: NEW ALEXANDRIA, Section C, Level 3, Thomas's Temporary Quarters
Stardate: 63076.0400
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::One more hour and I'll be off on another mission, well at least this time the children are going to be here at the NEW ALEXANDRIA and they are going to be safe, well at least until the USS ANUBIS is up and running again.::

Samantha came into the main area of the quarters, "So dad where are we going to this time?" she asked abruptly.

"Well this time your going no where, Sam. You and your sister are going to be staying here on the base until the USS ANUBIS is back in full working order. Admiral Koniki has assigned a guardian for you girls, who will be arriving at 04:30hrs and will be here until I get back from this mission," insisted Elliot to his oldest daughter.

Alice came running out the room, "What do you mean we're not going with you dad?" she cried as she hugged her father.

"Listen I can't debate this, I know I've never left you girls before, but this time is different.  We've all been through a lot in the last year, but this mission has to be done and it can't be done in the USS ANUBIS, so there is no other option." explained Ensign Thomas to the two girls, he bent onto one knee next to the youngest and continued, "You will be able to make me some kind of video diary when I'm gone, I'm not sure if we will be able to contact each other cause I'm not sure if it will break protocol, but I will be back as soon as the mission is complete".

Elliot was all ready when the door chimed at exactly 04:30hrs. "Enter, please." shouted ET.

The door opened with the usual hiss and a tall attractive black haired lady stood in the doorway. "I'm guessing you'll be Ensign Thomas" the lady softly acknowledged with a smile.

Elliot stared at the woman, then realised that he had not said anything and had just been staring. "eh... yes that's me, you must be Jill the girls guardian" the COO insisted.

"Yes, that's me. I was told that you would have a PADD with all essential information for me to know," the young lady instructed.  Ensign Thomas winked at her and produced a PADD from behind his back. "I just finished putting on the last updates now," expressed ET as he handed it to Jill.

Elliot turned to his girls and gave them both a big hug then turned to the guardian and grinned, "As I've just met you we'll maybe skip on the hug."

Jill smiled, "aaawww well that's just fine, a girl knows when she is wanted."  They both laughed as Ensign Thomas walked to the door.

"I'll see you all soon. Bye girls," Called the COO.

There was an echo of Goodbye as the door shut behind him. ::She was really nice, I don't think I have ever saw her going around before. Well I guess I'll know more about her when I get back.::

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Setting: USS HATHOR, Bridge, Ops station
Stardate: 63076.0500
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Ensign Thomas stood at his Ops console, getting accustomed to the settings for all communications, sensors and environmental systems going through each stage checking for faults and making sure procedures were running at optimum performance.

Elliot looked at the light flashing prompted by a repeated bleep from his instruments, it was a sensor triggered for an algorithm error on one of the Duty engineer consoles. Elliot pressed a couple of buttons and wrote a couple of lines of code and the *Bleep* and flashing light stopped. "That should fix the problem, just a minor issue," ET mumbled to himself.

"Very good work Ensign, I was told about that issue but didn't expect it too be fixed as quick as that," the Captain informed him as he passed by heading for his chair. As he turned to face his chair he look back to ET. "Keep up the good work, Ensign."

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Craig Mitchell
Ensign Elliot Thomas
Chief Operations Officer
USS ANUBIS, NCC-18501