93 Seconds

Posted on Thu Feb 23, 2017 @ 8:34pm by Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit & Lieutenant Samantha Raylen & Lieutenant Commander Miguel Torres & Lieutenant Penelope Naroot

2,593 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Silence
Location: USS Victory

Bridge

Seated in the Captains Chair, Commander Hunter was in the process of signing off a number of departmental status reports when the turbo lift doors opened behind him and Captain Kennit entered a steaming mug of coffee in one hand, and a thermos with refills in the other. Approaching her seat, upon seeing it was occupied she immediately said, "Move that ass Commander..."

Turning his head at the sound of Rhea's voice, Alec languidly looked at her and slowly vacated the Captains Chair and slid into his own all while giving Rhea a good look at the ass she had commented on.

Once he'd cleared her seat, she sat down with the thermos close by. "Anything interesting I want to hear about?" Kennit asked him.

A smirk appeared on his face but he didn't answer immediately then after a moment he answered, "Well science is opening a pool as to what we'll find and or contact once we get to exploring." He then lowered his voice and leaned towards her so only she would hear."Also, your delivery boys in engineering have another shipment ready for you to pick up. "Then there's......" He stopped

Listening a moment, she said "So what you are taking so long to say is.. 'No.'. Got it."

Leaning back, she focused on the caramel macchiato she was drinking. Or at least.. she tried. Behind them the turbolift opened once again, discharging Ens. Kincaid, one of the security staff tasked with keeping the Romulan secure in the Brig entered. He'd been ordered to seek out the Captain, as she as quite obviously ignoring the prisoner's continued demands regardless of what the current message might be.

She didn't acknowledge him, and after several long moments had passed, it was the XO who spoke.

"Um right. Nothing important that is." Looking at the Ensign standing there he spoke, Ensign Kincaid, what brings you to the bridge? As if I didn't know....."

Looking uncertain and uncomfortable, Kincaid said, "The prisoner is asking.."

Kennit cut him off. "Mr. Kincaid. This coffee tastes like you should shut the hell up until I finish drinking it..." she paused, then picking up the thermos and waving it at him, added, "All of it."

Before either the XO or Ensign could respond, a soft alarm chimed. Rising from her seat, the Captain approached the helm to look over Lt Naroot's shoulder. "What have we got?"

Penny's hands moved fast over her boards. "A signal," she said. "Coming from an uncharted sector, designated DQ2387-Alpha-9912-e-i-e-i-o. It's definitely artificial, though, it's repeating over and over every 93 seconds." Her brows knit together. "It's not translating. Even I can't tell what it says."

"Put it on the display for me." the Captain said.

"Aye, Sir," Penny said, setting Ops to track the trajectory while the Helm plotted a course towards it.

"Ma'am..." Kennit corrected her, absent-mindedly with her attention focused on the display, watching intently while the computer attempted to track the signal. "There..star system DQ2387 Alpha 9912," Kennit said. Shaking her head she looked over toward the XO and added, "Wow.. that one is a mouthful. We'll need to come up with a name that's easier to say instead of using the auto-designation labeled by the computer.."

"Agreed." Hunter replied, "well since you want a name that's easier to remember I suggest Gumball." He looked at Rhea and shrugged his shoulders, "What? It's an easy name to remember."

"Penny.." the Captain said, "Set course for star system DQ23877 Alpha 9912. Let's go take a look.."

"Righty-o," Penny said, bringing them out of warp and swinging around. "Setting course...pointing the ship...."

"That way." Alec clarified.

Penny scratched the back of her neck with an "accidental" rude gesture and kicked the engines, sending them hurtling towards the signal.

Looking at the navigation display on the left side of the viewscreen, noting that it would take eleven hours to reach their destination Kennit said, "Please continue to monitor the transmission, begin sensor sweeps at one-hour intervals of the target system. If anything interesting pops up let me know. Lt. Naroot you have the bridge."

"Really?" Penny perked up, looking behind her. "Cool!--I mean, aye Ma'am!" She swiveled back around quickly, slaving the command functions into her boards.

Rising from her seat, she headed toward her Ready Room, adding "XO, with me."

Alec looked up from his console as Rhea gave her 'order'. Rising fluidly to his feet he followed her towards her Ready Room though inwardly wondering what she wanted to discuss with him.

Once the door closed and they were alone, the Captain said, "Nothing too serious, however, I wanted to fill you in. Mr. Torres told me that he is, in fact, an augment. Explains all the size of him. It is not an issue for me, and this information stays at a command level only."

Alec didn't comment on the fact of Torres being an augment. Like Rhea, it wasn't an issue for him. "Thank you for confiding in me Captain. It is appreciated. As for it staying on a command level. I thought that was already a given."

"I have to mention it. It's a mandate by Starfleet Intelligence, which means I am required to follow procedure whether it makes sense or not." Kennit told him.

"So you do and did. Your covered and of course you know and I know the procedure as well as you do." A small smile came to his face. "And the sixty-four thousand dollar question is since when did you care whether something made sense or not. You aren't one to follow rules, Rhea."

"I'm the Captain. It's my job." She replied. "I have to do a lot of tedious tasks. Even those I have no interest in. Such as dealing with Summers. Ordinarily, I would head for the nearest starbase and dump our little spy on the station's commander and let Starfleet deal with her. Unfortunately, circumstances make that rather difficult. I will not have her loose on my ship with her mental state so obviously compromised, not to mention her attempt to destroy the ship and the outpost. And I can't simply shoot her. So what is your opinion on our problem in the Brig?"

"Yes, I know you're the Captain. Thank you for sharing that with me. Do you mind if I sit?" He asked as he sat down. He didn't answer immediately he let her finish and when he spoke it was without any wisecracks or sarcasm. "No, you can't shoot her. Think of the paperwork." He said seriously. "But perhaps you can use the carrot instead of the stick. I'm not suggesting letting her out of the Brig. But you can give her books to read. Nothing technical pure recreation. Or maybe an hour of exercise in the holodeck with armed security standing by. all in exchange for information she may have on the Tal Shiar and other Romulan activities."

"I have dealt with the Tal Shiar more than once. I'm not of the belief that to allow one of their toys out of a secure holding cell for any reason is a good idea. This ship has enough problems to face without adding one we currently have corralled and controlled." Kennit told him.

"As your First Officer, it's my duty to present other options for you to consider even if you don't like them. I will point out as you yourself have said, these are not normal times and we may have to rethink our normal procedures. "Perhaps Anderson can 'reset' Summers back to the Summers personality."

"The Doctor could develop a sense of humor as well but I wouldn't hold your breath.." Kennit muttered. "Summers represents a threat to this ship and its crew and I want that threat gone, as soon as possible. Has anyone begun an in-depth analysis of Summers' associates on the ship?"

"True enough. The possibility is remote. As far as Summers and her being a threat, we are in agreement. The question remains on how to do it. We could just drop her off on an uninhabited planet. Let her fend for herself." He shook his head, "To my knowledge, no investigation into her associates has begun. We are in the dark in regards to that facet of her life."

"That is an oversight that needs to be corrected immediately." the Captain stated.

"Now that I can do something about. Mr. Gates who came aboard at the station is security and he specializes in investigations. We could get him to do an investigation of Summers and her friends."

"Good suggestion." the Captain responded. "See to it...arrange a meeting with Mister Gates where we can go over the situation as we know it, and discuss the additional concerns related to the traitor."

"I'll get right on arranging a meeting with the three of us. See? I do come up with a good idea every now and then."

"I still think it would be a much easier and quicker resolution to just blow the Romulan bitch out an airlock... see how long she can hold her breath..". Kennit muttered.

Alec laughed at Rhea's comment, "Yes undoubtedly you would derive great satisfaction from it. However, her eyes would freeze over and her lungs would burst before she ran out of air," He grinned at her "Just thought I'd mention it. Don't mean to rain on your parade."

"That is the neatest option. The other options that flit through my nights are far...messier." Kennit answered. "There is always one last option though I am sure the good Doctor would burst her gizzard at the suggestion."


"And that option is?" Alec questioned.

At his question, the Captain lifted her hand and with a slight flex of her hand twin Borg-tubules snaked out to glint in the light before snapping back into her hand. "I can strip everything she knows from her and move on. It would not be the first time.."

Seeing Rhea and her Borg injection tubules, reminded Alec of how mad he was at her for not telling him of her 'encounter' with the Borg. It was instantly followed by the overwhelming sensation and feeling of love he had for her and deep down her not telling him didn't change his feelings for her. he could deal with wounded pride. "The Doctor." Alec replied calmly, "Would go ape shit crazy if you did it Rhea but then if you did and she did, I could return the favor and shoot her."

"Nooo..." she answers slowly. "That particular interrogation method causes some pretty nasty headaches. I need her around for her medicinal qualities.."

Alec sighed dramatically, "I wish you wouldn't get my hopes up Rhea, I was really looking forward to shooting her. You know payback." He clarified though he knew it probably wasn't necessary.

She smiled a little at that. "Ooooo..is that a note of retribution desired I hear?"

His smile matched hers, "Your hearing is dead on Rhea. I do indeed desire a note of retribution on the Chief Medical Officer. I'm still miffed at her over shooting me. Something no one seems to understand. I was concerned over you."

She cocked her head to one side, "I'm tougher than I look."

He wasn't amused. Letting out an exasperated sigh he continued, "I know how tough you are Rhea. My being concerned over you doesn't lessen your toughness. It's called love."

She looked at him, a hint of a smile on her face. Getting up, the Captain moved around her desk and walked toward him. When he made to get up as well, she pushed him back to his seat with one hand on his chest and then settled herself into the chair with him, straddling his lap with her knees to either side of his hips. Darling her arms about his neck, she leaned in to kiss him for a long moment. "We'll have to continue this conversation later." The Captain told him. "Right now, I need you to help me and go take care of what we discussed. Having a Romulan spy aboard makes me uncomfortable and I won't be able to truly rest until that issue is resolved."

"Damn right we will." He replied when the kiss ended all too soon for his liking. His left hand on her waist. his right moving to caress her cheek with soft strokes. "As for helping you that's a given. I'll contact Gates so we can discuss the situation with him. Perhaps even with Yarin after all he is the Chief Science Officer. He may have an idea or two."

She let out a soft hum, nuzzling his nose with hers. "If you could just.." she paused to lightly brush his lips with hers. "..find some way to get a resolution to this mess.." another soft kiss. ".. I would be so.." a kiss. " ... so..." another kiss. "Grateful.."

Alec held Rhea as she if she was the most important person in the galaxy and to him she was. As she finished peppering him with kisses and made her request he looked deep into the eyes he could spend a week getting lost in. He kissed her repeatedly yet softly with an unbridled passion. "Rhea......" he whispered, "I'll find a resolution for you don't you worry." He kissed her again, "I'll arrange the meeting with Gates for all three of us and I'll talk with Yarin,see if he has any suggestions."

"Sounds like a plan..." she told him.

"Love it when a plan comes together." He bantered as he continued to hold her.

She nodded in agreement, smiling slyly at him while walking her fingers slowly up his chest. "We'd better get back to work...otherwise people out there might decide we are getting frisky in here..." Rhea told him. She paused, then added "Unless of course we wanted to get frisky...in which case one of us should lock that door....". The look on his face at that made her laugh out loud and shake her head, "Yeah.. you're right. Not the time and not the place." Getting up, she said "better get back to work.."

"Who cares what the people out there think." He replied as he continued to hold her even as her finger walked up his chest. "What we do is our business and no one else's." He paused and he considered what he said and the look on his face changed, he didn't want someone to be banging on the door or God forbid override the lock and barge in while they were 'frisky'.

He nodded in agreement, "I do like the thought, very much and I would like to continue that line later tonight without fear of interruption."

With a wink, she turned and retrieved a data PaDD from her desk. Handing it to him, Rhea said "Mr. Tanaka's report on his interrogation of the prisoner. Might be something there to help. If you have any questions you can speak with Tanaka directly."

A lopsided grin on his face, Alec took the offered PaDD. He gave it a quick glance before returning his attention to Rhea. "I'll give this a more detailed read in my quarters and if I have any questions for Mr. Tanaka You can be sure I'll ask him."

Making a shoo motion with her fingers she said, "And it is appreciated. Now go get some work done.."

"Thy wish is my command." Alec replied smoothly as he moved to the door. "We'll continue this tonight." he promised.

 

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