Richard knew what he must now do. He figured it was time for him to step it up and become the CIO while they looked for a replacement with a higher rank to be established. That is what the normal him would do. He was not so sure about his 19 year old self. But he was doing his best to keep his thoughts straight and keep it all in order the way his thoughts were meant to be.<br/><br/>"Thanks for telling me, Nurse Brady. I understand how hard it must be dealing with all the sickness going around the ship but I am sure Engineering or someone on this ship will figure it out. Just try to stay strong." Richard said offering some kind words.<br/><br/>He knew it must be hard on anyone to see people die. Richard had seen someone die before and he had pretty much the same reaction he could see Brady was having. Even though Richard wanted to be friendly and offer some support, he was going to be needed on the bridge soon. It was not going to be long before he would hear someone calling for him. This would be especially true if Brady had reported it.<br/><br/>He wondered if he should just head up to the bridge or wait to be found. Shaking his head he realized how stupid that thought actually was of course he had to go to the bridge. But would there actually be any senior officers there to greet him? Richard seemed to remember that some kind of meeting going on in the Observation Lounge. It would be best to call there first and see if there was anyone there before just heading to the bridge on the assumption that people would be there. He pressed the communicator on his chest for the first time since he had been on the USS McNair.<br/><br/><strong>=/\= Ensign Richard Thompson to Observation Lounge, I apologize for any disruption I am causing. I have just discovered that Lt. Northrop has died. I wish to know what my orders are at this point. =/\=</strong><br/>______________________________________________________________________________________________________________<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote"><a href="https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=82493.msg4159273#msg4159273">Quote from: ReijiTabibito on 21-01-2011, 04:26:32</a></div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote"> =/\= Ensign Thompson, this is Commander MacReady. =/\=  Running a quick lookup, the First Officer saw that the man was the Lt. Northrop's junior in the Intelligence Department.  =/\= You have just been promoted to Chief Intelligence Officer.  Your orders are to meet me in the Observation Lounge. =/\=<br/></blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/><strong>=/\= Understood, I am on my way =/\=  </strong><br/><br/>Richard knew he now had to be responsible. He was no longer of a low rank on this ship. He had now gotten the position he had tried to avoid. But there was no use crying over that now. he had somewhere to be. He nodded to Brady and Michael. He headed toward the door. He hadn't thought of the possibility that Lt. Northrop had died. These chronitons were really screwing up the ship. So far to his knowledge they had killed his CO, they were making electronics malfunction and they were changing people's ages and such.<br/><br/>He prayed for a quick solution to the problem. Richard could not stand getting any younger and losing all the sharpness he usually had. He was already dealing with battling that now. The younger he got it was just going to turn into more of a problem. He would ask Commander MacReady if there was anything he could do to speed up the progress of the solution. Richard did not care if it was a menial thing but he needed to stop getting younger.<br/><br/>He realized that his case was not the worst one there was but it really bothered him to get under. Even though he generally hid his intelligence, he still valued it. And if he got younger and younger he was going to lose that.<br/><br/>Richard turned around and left sickbay.<br/><br/><<Richard is heading to the Observational Lounge>>