"Array uplink complete, now it's time for some R&R"
 by Lieutenant jg T'Kang
 Chief Tactical Officer - USS Tempest
 http://come.to/tkang


T'Kang's meeting with Ensign Meckler had gone well.  Much 
like the Captain had said, Meckler seemed glad to be rid of 
the responsibility of being the Tempest's Chief Tactical 
Officer.  It was a lot of responsibility being a member of a 
starship's senior staff.  T'Kang knew this all too well, having 
served as Chief Engineer on board the USS Intrepid on his 
last assignment.  It was not a position to be taken lightly so 
the Klingon understood why Meckler felt as he did and was 
happy to be rid of that burden.  Humans are not raised with 
the strict discipline that Klingons are subjected to.  It seemed 
that the more humans T'Kang met, the more he envisioned 
them as a happy go lucky race.  With few, rare exceptions, 
humans as a whole didn't seem to be goal oriented.  They 
had no sense of pride or honor as a Klingon would have.  
They all seemed content to just let life pass them by and to 
have a good time.

After Meckler had finished clearing out his officer, he'd 
offered to buy the new Chief a drink to 'celebrate' both 
T'Kang's promotion and his own demotion which got him off 
the hot seat of responsibility.  T'Kang flatly turned the Ensign 
down.  When it came to drinking, the Klingon only liked one 
beverage, bloodwine, and he preferred to drink alone or in 
the company of other warriors, preferably Klingon.

The Chief Tactical Officer's office was not anything to be 
very impressed with.  Like most offices on board a starship, 
it had a desk and a computer terminal tied into the 
Tempest's central computer core.  Various compartments 
and cabinets lined the walls, all merged into the Excelsior 
class starship's decor.   The only interesting piece of 
equipment that was out of the ordinary was the large tactical 
display that sat in the center of the office.  The flat, table like 
surface could display the ship's sensor data showing the 
positions of enemy ships in relation to the Tempest.  It 
appeared, from the rings of beverage stains on the rim of the 
display area, that the tactical display console also served as 
a gathering place for Tactical meetings with the rest of the 
staff in the department.   T'Kang made a mental note to 
remember and give the sensitive piece of equipment a good 
scrubbing down at his earliest opportunity.  Unlike the USS 
Intrepid and his office there, T'Kang wanted to try and keep 
this one clean and free of clutter and mess.

Satisfied with his new office, the Klingon gave the room a 
last glance before picking up the padd Meckler had given 
him with his last Tactical report on it, then turned to leave.

T'Kang was reading the report as he walked.  It listed the 
duty roster for the Tactical position as well as all of the 
scheduled officers on the rotation.   The Klingon's eyebrows 
furrowed in dissatisfaction.  It seemed the Tempest was in 
need of more experienced Tactical officers.  He would have 
to make a concentrated effort to get additional officers to join 
the Tactical department.

Upon returning to the Bridge, T'Kang noted that Commodore 
Taddy Jonathan Mitchell was no longer pacing the deck.  
Settling back into his console, T'Kang began adjusting long 
range scanners to see if he could reacquire the Ferengi 
Marauder's signal.  Unfortunately the alien vessel had 
traveled beyond the range limit of the Tempest's long range 
sensors.  Or at least that's what T'Kang had thought.

O'Brien had contacted T'Kang and informed him of the 
installation of an isolinear chip in the Astrometrics Lab 
computer network that would allow the Tempest to tie in to 
the surrounding sensor arrays located throughout the 
quadrant, effectively using those sensors to boost the 
information available to the Tempest computer systems.  At 
first T'Kang was skeptical, but after activating just a couple of 
the access codes O'Brien had provided, the Tactical officer 
was able to reacquire the Ferengi ship on long range 
sensors.

T'Kang spent the better part of the remainder of his shift 
examining the data from the new sensor array uplinks.  
Before he knew it, Ensign Fuentes had appeared to relieve 
him.

"Congratulation Lieutenant.  I just heard of your promotion." 
Fuentes smiled.

T'Kang, having his concentration interrupted, grumbled as he 
looked at the Ensign.  "What can I do for you Ensign?"

With a surprised look, Fuentes responded, "Why, I'm here to 
relieve you sir.  Your shift is over."

Taking a deep breath and releasing it in a slow, annoyed 
fashion, T'Kang nodded.  "I must have lost track of time.  
These are the read outs from the sensor array link up 
through out the quadrant.  I've been studying the codes and 
sweeping the area using the external sensor network."

"Wow, that sure is a lot of data.  I'll look forward to playing 
with it during my shift Lieutenant." Fuentes nodded.

"We do not 'play' on the bridge Ensign."  T'Kang commented.

With a slight smile, Fuentes nodded in agreement.  "Of 
course not sir."

Deactivating his access codes, T'Kang turned the tactical 
station over to Fuentes.  "The station is yours.  The 
Commodore still wants to keep an eye on the Ferengi ship 
that left orbit.  I've locked sensors onto it here.  The 
computer should keep you notified of the ship's movements 
automatically."

"I got it Lieutenant.  Have a pleasant evening sir." Fuentes 
responded.

"First Officer Lee had mentioned that the colony was open to 
those that wanted to take shore leave.  I may beam down to 
the planet and have a look around."  T'Kang commented.

"That sounds like a good idea sir.  I understand it is a very 
beautiful world."

T'Kang's face seemed to sour at the word 'beautiful'.  "We 
shall see.  Carry on Ensign."  T'Kang said roughly before 
turning to stomp off to the turbolift and exit the bridge.