<<Stardate 47307.17 6:45>>

<<Sickbay>>

Vincent walked down the corridor to the sickbay, PADD in hand. During the past few days of "celebration" that was capped off by one of the happiest funerals he had ever heard of, Rogers had managed to forget to get the bios on all the crewmembers, including their dietary needs. Actually, he didn't really want to go in the first place. He hadn't had time recently to think of a good excuse for arriving rather than just downloading the information at the kitchen terminal.

Vincent was working on the final details of his white lie when he saw the sign that said "SICKBAY". Turning on his heels, he walked into the office. There, he was met by an attractive young nurse. She was the kind of girl who could wear a uniform to a Ferengi-run dance club and still pick any man in the room. Rogers smiled as he watched her sitting at her console, thinking to himself that he should call in sick more often, when she looked up at him.

"May I help you?" she asked in a rather pleasing voice. Vincent could feel the sweat wanting to drip down his uniform as he held out his PADD.

"I need you to give me the information on the entire crew, including nutritional requirements and food allergies, " he paused for a moment, long enough to flash a nice smile, " if you please."

The young woman smiled back, though the smile was a bit weaker than his own. Apparently, in Vincent's mind, the girl wasn't attracted to the short, pale, and average-looking type. She stood up and took the PADD in her hand, then walked over to the port for it.

"=/\= Computer, download the entire crew roster, including nutritional requirements and reports of allergies into this PADD. =/\="

As the computer worked away, the nurse turned back to Vincent with a curious expression on her face..."Why couldn't you have taken the information yourself from the mess hall?"

Here it was, Vincent thought. The question he had been preparing for last night and some of this morning. He took a short breath, hoping the young lass wouldn't notice his hesitation, then looked her straight in the nose.

"Well, I would have done it, but one of my staff members spilled Deltan Nomberry juice all over the interface, and I had to call for an engineer to fix it. He's currently working on it now, so I thought I would come down here and say hello."

The nurse's puzzled expression was replaced by a lack of concern. At that moment, the computer chimed, alerting the two in the room that the job was finished. The nurse took the PADD and handed it over to Vincent. As soon as his skin touched the PADD, the whole ship seemed to fill with red flashing lights. The klaxon sirens bit into Roger's ears for a moment, nearly causing him to drop the PADD on the ground. As he pulled it closer, he was surprised to hear an oddly familiar voice on the communicator.

"=/\= Yeoman 1st class Vincent Rogers, you are to report to the nearest security station in the stardrive section for orders =/\=" rang a charming female voice that could only be the computer. Vincent couldn't believe what he was hearing. So, the computer actually acknowledged his existence. Very nice, he thought. Quickly, he bounded from the Sickbay towards one of the lifts that would take him to the stardrive section, and a thought crossed his mind.

Quickly, he tapped the communicator, and for the first time in several days, he heard the small chirp of the computer responding. Racing in his mind, many thoughts of what he could do with this new-found power arose. He blurted out the first request for the computer that came to mind, something to the effect of getting an engineers report of the ship. Instead of the soft, feminine voice he was expecting, another familiar voice came from his communicator.

"=/\= Sorry, Vincent. It was bad enough that we had to open this channel up during red alerts. Don't try to abuse what you've been given, and you won't have this privilege taken away... permanently."

Vincent couldn't believe what he was hearing. The voice of his prosecutor in the trial echoed in his mind, repeating over and over, "... and you won't have this privilege taken away...permanently."

--Ken

a.k.a. Yeoman Vincent Rogers

Mess Hall Cook

ICQ: 8178648

Try Depends, your answering machine for when nature calls.

This message was Closed Captioned for the visually impaired.