Return to Alsea

Oseno looked down at the motionless form of Captain Kalten Siduri and closed his eyes in a silent prayer to The Prophets. Jureth was not an overly religious man but he still believed, as all Bajorans did, in the deities that resided in the only stable wormhole in the galaxy. He had asked for this moment alone with the captain specifically to ask for The Prophets' blessing on his former commanding officer. After a moment Oseno opened his eyes and lingered by Siduri's side for a moment longer.

"I'm sorry Sir," he said quitely "I promise you that I will bring Commander Rivers and the Alsea back from this."

Finally Oseno turned and left Starbase Ten's medical center. As he made his way back to the transporter room he studied at length the security protocols that Lt. Tyvya had given him, and immediately sent nearly all of them to Lt. Steele to have them implemented on the Alsea. No one was going to sabotage his ship if he could help it. Next he turned his attention to the Romuland vessels they were most likely to encounter. Even though he could call them up on the computer at any time Oseno set about memorising the specifications of each of the Romulan vessels. He was so absorbed in the data on the PADD that he bumped into a female commander he'd never met before.

"I apologize Ma'am, I.."

"You weren't watching where you were going Lieutenant," she said "Its okay, but perhaps you should save your reading for when you aren't walking the passages of a major starbase."

"Aye Commander."

After that he put the PADD back on his belt and finished his trip back to the Starbase Ten's transporter room. As he stepped up on the pad he turned to the operator.

"To the Alsea please," he directed and as an afterthought he added "directly to the bridge."

"Can do Sir," the human male ensign replied.

Shortly after that the transporter energized and when the familiar tingling grip released him he noted he was not on the bridge, but standing in the Alsea's main transporter room.

"Welcome back Sir," the operator, a middle aged human female, said "Bio-neural scan completed in transport, you are Lieutenant Oseno Jureth."

"Am I?" Oseno reached for his phaser only to find it missing

"Your phaser has been returned to the armory Sir," the operator said smiling "Since you had it with you when you left it did not get keyed to your signature and was therefore deemed a possible threat. You may retrieve it after it has been properly keyed to you."

"Good work Chief, I see Lieutenant Steele works quickly."

"Indeed Sir, she was here only about ten minutes ago."

"And the filtering programs are in place?"

"Yes Sir, she was dragging one of the junior engineers with her Sir, he didn't look particularly happy about it."

That comment elicited a laugh from Oseno as he stepped down from the transporter pad. His second in command of the Alsea's tactical department was as feisty as they came. In a different time and place they might have been more than just good friends, but they were both dedicated Starfleet officers and neither would let their friendship interfere with that.

"Thank you for the warm reception Chief, have a good day."

"You too Sir," she replied.

Jureth made his way to the armory and properly checked out his phaser which was now keyed to his bio-signature so that only he would be able to operate it. In fact, every security officer aboard now had such a phaser assigned to them, and any unassigned weapons such as phaser rifles and the Mark I stun grenades Oseno had requisitioned before their first mission to the anomaly were kept locked in weapons lockers with passwords that only himself, Cat Steele, T'Lana, the armory officers, and Captain Rivers knew.

Jureth then made his way up to the Alsea's bridge and as he stepped onto the bridge of the mighty warship reality suddenly hit him. With Captain Siduri being disabled that made him the Alsea's Executive Officer. The ship's tactical and security readiness was still his responsibility but so was the overall readiness of the ship. He moved down to the XO's station and then thought better of it and returned to the tactical position where he was more comfortable. There he opened the ship's intercom

"Attention all hands, this is..." he paused for a moment debating internally how to refer to himself "this is the XO on the bridge. All Alsea personnel are recalled to the ship beginning immediately, and all departments should begin launch preparations. Department personnel should make readiness reports to your department heads and all department heads should make readiness reports to the bridge. Oseno out."

Closing the intercom channel Oseno tapped his combadge.

"Oseno to Steele,"

"I'm here boss."

"Where exactly is here?"

"Cargo bay two, we're sweeping all the storage containers for tampering. Your orders."

"I know Cat, who is working on the crew record scans?"

"T'Lana."

"Okay, thanks Oseno out."

Oseno closed that channel and opened another.

"Oseno to T'Lana."

"Go ahead Sir," replied the Vulcan's stoic voice

"T'Lana what is your position?"

"I am in medical Sir. The Doctor and I are working on profiling certain crew members."

"I will meet your there shorty, Oseno out."

It didn't take Jureth long to make his way to the Alsea's sickbay where he found T'Lana and the Alsea's holographic doctor standing in front of one of the computer panels.

"Ah, Lieutenant," the doctor said "Nice of you to join us. I hear that you are now the first officer. I will need to redo your physical, and psychological assement."

"In a minute doc," Jureth said "I need to speak with T'Lana."

"Fine, but don't wait too long, I do have other things to do you know."

Oseno stepped up beside T'Lana "How are the crew reacting to the new regs?"

"Most of them see it as unnecessary Sir, but we have identified two Horizon Children sympathizers among them, and the doctor used his authority to have them immediately transferred off the ship."

"Good, how much of the crew have you been through?"

"Fifty-five crewmembers Sir,"

"Good, keep at it."

"Aye Sir."

Oseno turned back to The Doctor "Okay doc, you may poke and prod me at will."

"Be careful what you wish for Lieutenant," The Doctor said with a smirk.