The Meeting" (Part One of Two)

It was almost 19:00 hours and it was time for Commander Harris to go off duty but he felt that he had alot to do.

[Commander report to my ready room] It was Captain Devore.

"Aye sir."

Grant went to the door and pressed the chime and waited for the Captain to enter. With his permission, he entered the ready room. "You want to see me, sir ?"

"Yes I want you to investigate what happened and give the crew a report at 09:00 hrs. tomorrow mornings."

"Sir ?"

"Yes Commander. I think that the senior staff should know what happened over there, but we need information. So why don't you prepare a briefing for us and give it at the meeting tomorrow. Is there a problem Mr. Haris ?"

"No sir not at all. I will just need to have access to all the information we have on it."

"Fine. You have full access to the **Shadows*** findings and all information we have in the database."

"Thank you sir."

Grant left the Bridge and headed straight for his quarters. He had a lot of work to do and so little time to do it. Down the corridors, he passed a few crewmembers who respectfully greeted him and headed on their way. Finally, he arrived at his quarters. As he entered he immediately went into the room and then over to his desk where plopped down tiredly. He grabbed the nearest PADD and went to work.

"Computer what was the given reason for the *Utopia* self destructing ?"

<Working............ Task complete. A self destruct code was activated when control mechanism was activated.>

Grant placed the PADD down and wondered what was going on. He didn't like the answer that the computer gave. He stood up and went over to a control console at his desk where he pressed a few buttons. "Computer show the upgrades to the *Utopia* in the last three years."

<That information is Top Secret>

Grant knew a few tricks he knew to bypass security clearances. He took his tunic off and unzipped his red shirt and pressed a few buttons in rapid movement.

<Please enter your code for the above classifed information. Admiral Beard>

"Alpha 321 tango."

<Your access is limited to Ship's personnel, Ship upgrades.>

"Fine download the information."

<Working. Task will be complete in 50 minutes>

Grant was waiting for the information to be downloaded to his PADD. There was extensive information that ***Shadow*** downloaded and what was on file in the database. Harris worked on compiling it as ordered by the Captain, as he did thoughts about the incident between him and Rashad flooded his mind. He felt a need to speak with Lieutenant Rashad about the incident in the staff lounge, he realized that the young officer was just doing her job and felt a little bad about it.

Truth was, Harris hated Starfleet Intel. He thought they acted like Romulans, sneaky and deadly even though before accepting the position of First Officer, he did serve over eight years in it. However he also felt that he was robbed of a starship service that could of been as noticeable as his Great-Grandfather's. That was the past, and now he was Leviathan serving as first officer as his father did on the *Melbourne*. The download was complete and he now knew what he had to do.

"Lieutenant Rashad report to the officers lounge in 15 minutes." Harris said as he tapped his combadge.

[Yes commander.]

Grant zipped his shirt up and put his tunic on then picked up his PADD. He wanted to make sure that no one was else was to see this report so, Harris entered a security code and left the PADD on his desk. The lounge was empty but for the one person whom he wanted to talk to. Grant entered the lounge and walked over. He sat down next to a Lieutenant Rashad.

"Listen lieutenant about the incident in the senior staff room "

Immediately, Rashad took the defensive. "What Commander ! You didn't finish saying your mind in there ?"

Grant gave a angry scowl and ordered a beer. "Look Lieutenant ! I served in Intel for eight years and I was left high and dry by your mentor, Admiral Beard. All I know is that you're Beard's lackey as I was for a spell."

"What do you mean ? I am nobody's lackey."

Harris looked at Rashad and sternly said"You need to evaluate your career and make up your mind as if to serve the Admiral or serve the Federation."

"Well I thought that that was one in the same !"

"Like I said. You need to decide !" Harris took a hard swallow of his beer and stood up. He left Rashad to think about what he said and walked back to his quarter's.

He was hard at work when his door chimed. Harris headed for the door and opened it, where suddenly Ambrose bursted in and showed him his PADD.

"Sir I need your approval on something I want to submit tomorrow at the staff meeting." Harris put his PADD down and grabbed the PADD as he told the Ensign to take a seat.

"Ensign, What is it you want to submit ?" He said looking quickly through the PADD.

"Sir, I've came up with a Scout Fighter Escort vessel to help us in case we run into trouble say like the Dominion again."

Grant became somewhat interested and even a little excited was he scrolled through the information that Kirk had on the PADD.

"Sir, I figure that It will take about four days working around the clock to build the frame and one week to place the hull on the frame. Once the chassis is built, it will take about two weeks to build the propulsion system and another week for the computer core. That of course entails programming and calibrations. The finally three days to install the weapons systems." Ambrose said excitedly.

Grant pressed a button and said after listening to the sales pitch. After a moment he rubbed his head and smiled. "Present it after my report."

"Yes sir." Ambrose said with a smile and left. As he did Ensign Nex snuck in just before the door closed and smiled at Harris. He smiled back. *At least I won't be spending the night alone.*