Star Trek Voyager: Season 1

Learning Curve

The past few weeks have been so busy. A lot of the Maquis officers have been coming to me with a lot of frustrations on their mind. Currently, Crewman Chell was venting his frustrations for the 5th time this week. When he finished, I looked at him and smiled.

"I can see why you're frustrated Crewman. You've come from a completely different environment and it's really hard to adjust. If you ever need any help, let me know." I said.

"I will. You know, you're different to the others- you understand us." He said.

I smiled and said "I'm only doing my job."

"Tuvok to Miss Roberts."

I tapped my combadge and said "I'm here Tuvok."

"Please report to the Captain's ready room."

"I'm on my way. Roberts out."

"Well, I'll see you again soon Marie." Chell said as he stood up.

"See you soon." I said as he walked out.

I put my PADDs away, walked out of my office and bumped into Chakotay.

"Good morning Commander. Where you headed?" I asked as we walked down the corridor.

"The Captain's ready room, you?"

"Same."

As we were walking, I could see Chakotay glancing at me every now and then.

"Everything ok Commander?" I asked as we made our way into the turbolift.

He nodded.

"Bridge." I said.

The turbolift began to move and he said "Marie, can I ask you something?"

I turned to face him and said "Sure, anything."

He smiled and said "How would you like to accompany me to the holodeck this evening? I've got 3 hours stacked up and I would love it if you could join me."

I smiled and said "I'd love to."

The turbolift then stopped and we stepped out. Tuvok spotted us and we all walked into the Captain's ready room and I was quickly filled in on what was happening.

"I don't understand. The gel packs have an extremely reliable track record. It's almost impossible to damage them. Why did this one malfunction?" the Captain asked.

"Unknown. Lieutenant Torres is running a materials analysis on the gel pack. In the meantime the unit has been replaced." Tuvok replied.

"How many do we have left in reserve?" she asked.

"Forty seven." He replied.

"Those gel packs run half the critical systems on this ship. Once they run out, that's it. We can't replicate new ones." She said.

"It might be possible to switch over some systems to conventional isolinear circuits." Chakotay said.

"Good idea. Start looking into it." She replied.

"There is one other matter I wish to discuss. I am concerned about Crewman Dalby. He attempted to make unauthorised repairs on a damaged gel pack. When I confronted him, he lost control." Tuvok said.

"How so?" I asked.

"He became extremely angry, to the point of insubordination." He replied.

"Dalby. I've heard complaints about him from others." The Captain said.