Night Shift

G. L. Dartt

 

Gamma shift on the Federation starship Voyager was a quiet time, the lights usually lowered although it really wasn't required other than an attempt to simulate night and day. The officers on that shift preferred the dimmer illumination, however, including on the bridge as they went quietly about their business. This group of officers rarely saw any action of significance first hand, even if something did occur while they were on duty, they were expected to immediately call in the alpha shift and make themselves scarce so that the first team could do their job.

This night, the tactical station was covered by Ensign Jim Wallace, a tall, wickedly handsome man, one whom many females on the ship had taken one look at and were immediately interested, until they discovered that the one important thing they had in common was the same taste in men. At the helm, Ensign White, a young blonde woman with a perpetually cheerful expression was doing her part to navigate the ship on its seemingly endless journey back to the Alpha Quadrant and Earth. At ops, Lt. Davis, a lanky, tow-headed young man with eyes the color of jade kept an attentive perusal of his board, rarely looking up as he worked.

In truth, all three junior officers were keenly alert this night. Normally, their shift was supervised by either Ensign Harry Kim, or at worse, Commander Chakotay. The trio liked both men, Kim considered very much one of them despite his position on the alpha shift, and Chakotay, because of the first officer's easy going nature. Neither were above a little laughing and joking when things were quiet like this, but there was no laughing and joking tonight. Captain Janeway herself, had taken the conn because Harry had come down with an illness ... rumor claimed food poisoning from Neelix's latest creation in the messhall ... and the senior officers were alternating in covering his extra duty shift.

Kathryn Janeway was a imposing personality in a compact form, with rich, auburn hair and bluish eyes which could become grey cold steel in an instant. Despite the small size of the Intrepid-class vessel, the three junior officers did not have much opportunity to interact with the ship's commanding officer and this was a very unfamiliar experience for them. It made for an uncomfortable shift and Ensign White figured that if she could just get through it without doing anything stupid, she'd be forever grateful to whatever supreme deity might notice.

For most of the evening, Janeway had maintained an aura of distance and aloofness, but as the hours passed, perhaps due to a bit of weariness, she had grown a little more relaxed in her chair. Still, White was surprised when the captain suddenly rose to her feet and the ensign tensed a little, trying not to show it as the captain did a circuit of the bridge, stopping for a few words with each crewmember. White swallowed hard as Janeway finally made her way to her, leaning a hand casually on the back of the helmsman's chair.

"I'm curious, Ensign," Janeway said in that wonderful husky voice that always made White tremble a bit. "When I worked the gamma shift as a lieutenant on the science station, things seemed a little more relaxed."

White turned her head, forcing her eyes to meet the amused gaze of the captain.

"Uh, yes ma'am," she responded. She paused, then, without knowing where the daring came from, added politely; "I suspect however, that the captain was not holding the conn."

That actually generated a bit of a laugh from the captain and White relaxed enough to venture a tiny smile as Janeway walked around the helm so that she was no longer behind the ensign, but in front of her.

"Fair enough," Janeway said, her eyes a bright blue. "But I suspect that normally there's a bit more conversation than this. I appreciate that you've all been very attentive to your duties tonight, but part of the reason I offered to cover this shift rather than have Chakotay do it, was the hope that I would get to know more of my crew a little better, particularly those that I don't work with very often. Yet, the shift is almost over and no one's said a word except for what's absolutely required for their duties."

"Uh, yes ma'am," White said and darted a look over her shoulder. Wallace offered a sympathetic expression but he wasn't about to jump in with any help, either. "What would like us to discuss, Captain?"

Janeway looked a trifle wistful. "Anything that you would care to," she said. "Obviously, the amount of interesting and new information is fairly limited in a situation that we find ourselves in. I guess I would just  like to know a little more about you personally, Ensign."

White resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Yes, ma'am," she said. "What exactly would you like to know?"

"What do you do off-duty?" Janeway prompted gently.

White tried not to squirm in her chair. "I enjoy Velocity, painting and tennis, Captain," she said, reciting off the three hobbies listed in her personnel file. She felt extremely uncomfortable and wished she knew what the captain wanted. From the expression in Janeway's eyes, this wasn't it, and the ensign searched frantically for something to add. "I, uh, like the holodeck," she noted lamely, then brightened. "Actually, that's where I was before I came on duty. Were you aware that Ensign Paris has his Fair Haven program up and running again?"

That seemed to hit the mark, Janeway greeting this bit of news with extreme interest. "No, I hadn't known that," the captain remarked and it seemed that her eyes had lit up a little, almost with anticipation.

White heaved a silent sigh of relief that she had struck on a harmless topic that might get her and the rest of the gamma crew through the rest of the shift and off the bridge.

"Yes, ma'am," she continued. "I rather enjoy it. The village is quite peaceful and it's nice to walk along the cliffs by the ocean."

Davis, seeing an opportunity to add to the topic, jumped in. "Yes, Captain," he said. "I think we all enjoy it. It's really given the crew something to do while off-duty."

Janeway nodded, obviously pleased to have the junior officers speaking to her with a little more friendliness than the stiff, achingly correct, brief responses they had been giving her earlier in the shift.

"I find it very relaxing myself," she admitted. She glanced up at Wallace. "Do you enjoy it, Ensign?"

White spoke without thinking. "Oh, he enjoys it most of all," she said, then bit her lip.

But Janeway only glanced at her and must have seen something because she actually offered a bit of conspiratorial grin, quirking an eyebrow. "He likes the scenery, as well, no doubt," the captain ventured, smiling warmly at the young man and there was a bit of a question in her voice, modulating her tone to invite the young man to confide in her.

White recognized the inflection instantly as the captain trying to be 'one of the crew'. The ensign had always hated it when senior officers did that, because they could change back so quickly and when one least expected it. As a Starfleet officer, White had enough experience in the chain of command to be wary of that little trick, but the other two, originally from the Maquis, were not so familiar with the method used by command officers of getting the lower ranks to lower their guard and open up.

Wallace blushed. "Yes, Captain," he replied in his soft voice. "I have a pretty good time in the program."

"Particularly in the pub," Davis added playfully, emboldened by the captain's positive response to the casual conversation. "Or rather, with who's behind the bar."

White knew instantly that something changed with the captain in that moment though the two men didn't seem to pick up on it. Janeway's body language altered slightly, her eyes grew darker and the young woman wondered what had happened. She also prayed that the other two would figure it out and leave the conversation where it was, because she suddenly had the sense that a gaping chasm had abruptly opened up before them.

"Indeed?" Janeway invited, in what seemed like a curious tone. White picked up a note of warning in it, however, though  she had no idea where it was springing from.

"I have to admit, Mr. Paris did a really fine job with the Sullivan character," Wallace responded shyly, completely oblivious to the captain's rising tension. "I really liked him the one encounter I had with him the first night Paris ran the program." He frowned. "But it was odd. When it was ran this time, I noticed that his matrix had completely changed. Suddenly he was spouting poetry, moping around, mooning over some woman he had met..."

"Oh, you must have loved that," Davis laughed. "What did you do?"

Shut up, shut up, shut up, White thought anxiously, covertly watching Janeway who was staring back at the two junior officers. The ensign didn't know why she had this sense of imminent danger, but she had always trusted her instincts before and right now, they were telling her to change the subject or fall down in a faint or crash the ship ... or something!

"Well, it wasn't all bad," Wallace admitted. "There were some good changes that had been made to him. He was a little smarter and bigger."

"Taller, you mean," Davis prompted, with a hint of mishief and White closed her eyes, resisting the urge to thump her head against her touch pad.

"Uh, that too," Wallace said, obviously not remembering who they were talking to, though he did blush again. "But Mike was a lot more fun to be with when he talked about his life as a sailor, than he is talking about his time at some 'university'." He shrugged. "I hit the reset button and changed him back. Plus, I kinda liked his wife. She always served us beer after afterward."

"Well, that's what the holodeck characters are for," Davis agreed cheerfully. "Rest and 'relaxation'."

The lights came up and gamma shift was over, the sound of the turbolift doors opening to herald the arrival of the morning watch. White busied herself with logging off her authorization to give way to Tom Paris who smiled at her as he accepted it. She trotted up the short flight of stairs to join Wallace and Davis who were waiting for her aft of the bridge. As they stepped onto the turbolift and turned around, White had one more glimpse of the captain before the doors slid shut and cut off her view of the bridge. She suspected she'd never know what had prompted the Captain to initiate the conversation she had.

But she was pretty sure it was directly responsible for making Janeway turn white like that.

​

The End