Subject: Grail: 'Unexplored Spaces' - 'And life goes on...'

<<Stardate: 47307.19- 01:00>>

<<Main Bridge>>

DeMontigny was mulling over the navigational shield readouts from his station. The graveyard shift was like it was supposed to be: slow and dull. With still seven hours to kill until his relief, François decided to see if he could optimize the nav shields like he had done on the Champagne. "Hmmmmm..." apparently, he could.

Getting up, he motioned over a young cadet that was working at an auxiliary station.

"Cadet Rodriguez, come here. Have a seat." François beckoned.

"M, me sir? You want me to man the helm?" the cadet asked uncertain.

"Sure, why not? It's a slow shift and the skies are clear. Might as well give you some practice. Of course, if you don't want to..." he trailed.

"I want to!" the cadet eagerly cut in as he sat down behind the console.

François headed for the turbolift.

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<<Navigational Shield Generator Room - 01:13>>

François walked into the Nav Shield Control room and was met by Winshikar, the strange blue-skinned Efrosian.

"May I help you, sir?" she greeted François with her deep voice.

"In fact, you can..." he answered with his usual grin, "we are going to redesign the navigational shields to reduce their energy consumption."

"Did you consult with Lt. Donucci about this? She didn't tell me anything about it."

"Bah! The Lt. is probably sleeping and besides, she would wholeheardedly agree with this." François said.

The Efrosian ensign didn't seem convinced, but agreed to go along. For the next few hours they worked on increasing the energy attribution to the forward shields thereby accentuating them and making them more effective. To counterbalance this, they reduced the side, top and bottom nav shields close to their minimal levels. With the increased forward shields, the debris diversion in warp was just as effective. The overall energy consumption was reduced by almost one percent. Everything was set by the end of the shift.

"Good job, Winshikar. You really know your navs." François said as he headed for the door.

"Thank you sir. However, I still think you should have talked about this with the Lt. first. She won't be happy about it." she answered. But François had already left.

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<<Gymnasium - 08:24>>

François shook his head as he stood before the computer terminal. He couldn't believe it. About one thousnad people on this ship and no one was looking for a fencing partner. He continued searching through the gymnasium's bulletin board. Nothing. 'Fine, I'll leave a message myself,' he finally decided. He brought up the fencing section of the board and set to writing his add:

'Wanted: Someone who likes to lose because there is no way someone will beat me at fencing. Those interested, leave a message to Lt.(jg) François DeMontigny.'

He then left the gym.

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<<Outside Holodeck 2 - 08:38>>

The holodeck was empty. Good. François tapped the console.

"Computer, load program Woodstock69. I will be playing the role of Jimi Hendrix."

François then looked down at the red and white guitar he had stopped by his quarters to pick up. Betsy was his most prized possession and playing her was one of his lafe pleasures. He had found her in a pawn shop in downtown San Francisco while he was at the Academy and had immediately fallen in love with her. An antique 21st century electric guitar in mint condition was very rare and not an opportunity to let slip by. It had been far too long since he had heard her beautiful music.

=^=Program loaded, enter when ready=^= the computer interrupted his thoughts.

François stepped through the holodeck doors, holding Betsy tightly in his hands.