Finders Keepers

Posted on Sat Nov 2, 2019 @ 5:42am by Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit & Major General Christopher Mitchell

1,022 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Nibiru
Location: USS Malinche/ Starbase DQ-8

ON:

Major General Mitchell paced in the luxurious quarters that had now become a gilded prison as he thought about the ramifications of their engagement with the Voth. Following the detection of the Omega molecules, he had been dispatched by Admirals Pierce and Wolf to every ship in the Task Force to brief them on the threat and hopefully view some of their gathered intelligence firsthand on any further threats. However, his efforts had been hampered by the Captain of the [i]Malinche[\i] who, while excruciatingly polite and agreeing to transport Christopher wherever he needed to go, was incredibly reluctant to allow him into areas that she felt would give him too much information. Continuing to read a status report from Starbase 38 that contained a status update on the Victory, which had been deemed irreparable after an apparent battle with ships from the Terran Empire, who had made inroads into the Delta Quadrant. An additional piece that was highlighted by Commander Tal- his Senior Watch Officer 'POSSIBLE GENESIS DEVICE DETECTED'

Stopping for a moment, he sat down at the desk and activated the console. "Computer, open a hailing frequency to Victory Actual, Priority One, Encryption Code Mitchell-Delta-Six-Two." he said quickly.


[USS Victory - Captains Quarters]

Kennit was about to tuck herself into bed when the comm unit at her desk workstation chimed. “Of course..” she muttered as she crossed from the bedroom into the office area and sat down at the desk. She briefly entertained the thought of putting on a robe, but changed her mind. Whoever was calling at this hour could deal with seeing her in the pale cream colored silk nightgown she was wearing. The fact that the message was Priority One encrypted didn’t change her mind on that score.

Running a hand through her hair to brush the long thick mass away from her face, she accessed the message and entered her own credentials and waited for the message to connect.

The face of Major General Christopher Mitchell appeared on the screen with a neutral expression. “Hello, Captain-“ he stopped dead in his tracks as he noticed the shoulders straps of the nightgown. “- I can see that I’m obviously interrupting so I’ll keep this short. Intelligence reports indicate that your ship detected the detonation of a Genesis Device in the Delta Quadrant and that concerns the hell out of me. The last things we need are Terrans with a rogue terraforming device in addition to the Voth on the other front. I’ll be approaching Outpost 8 in approximately 10 hours, so I’ll expect a briefing in person. We’ll also need to discuss the matter of why I’m missing one Lieutenant Taggart.” He said quickly.

“My previous command was damaged beyond repair by an explosion of unconfirmed origin.” Kennit answered smoothly. “Sensor data picked up an energy wave similar, but not identical to the data collected by Dr. Carol Marcus during her research.”

Then, she cast an almost coy look at his image on her screen. She hadn’t missed the way his eyes had widened for an instant when he first saw her. “And,” she said slowly. “As for Lt. Taggart. His current orders came from someone higher up the food chain than I am so.. you’re barking up the wrong tree.”


Christopher nodded. "The orders came from [I]me[I], so I'm intimately familiar with the circumstances of why he was sent to you. In case you're under the mistaken impression that I'm making a polite request, allow me to be clear- I am definitely not. I'm ordering you to send him back to Starbase 38 with all due haste for further assignment. Do I make myself clear, [I]Captain[I]? he asked, the annoyance showing through in his voice.

On the viewscreen, Captain Kennit appeared to be gazing at something off screen for a moment. Apparently realizing he’d stopped talking, she said “I’m sorry General, I only just rejoined the ship earlier today. I have spent the last four months at home on Earth. I’ve been trying to figure out what an annoying sound was and I just realized.. it was you. It is 0214 hours here, but whatever orders Mr Taggart may have did not come through me. I realize as Captain you might expect otherwise but frankly, I am tired and I do not have the time nor the crayons to explain it to you. I have a very busy morning and sitting here debating this in committee serves no purpose. As you are well aware, Lt Taggart is not in my direct chain of authority and as such, I have no authority regarding what he or his team do.”

The ends of Chris's mouth tightened. "In case you forgot, while he's assigned to your ship, then he's under your Chain of Command. Get some sleep Captain but when you awake, I'd strongly suggest you come up with a plan to get your house in order. Mitchell out." He thumbed the button to terminate the transmission.

Kennit just snorted. Unimpressed by the General’s bluster. An impressive amount of hot air, but no real heat.

Christopher let a small growl escape his lips after he cut the channel. This woman was impetuous, impertinent, and quite possibly a sociopath but she had brought the fight to the enemy more than once and had gathered enough intelligence to fill a couple of small libraries during her time in the Delta Quadrant alone. Privately, he knew that he wouldn’t want anyone else in the command chair but he’d be loathe to admit it to anyone else.

Hearing a beep from his console, he quickly tapped the button to open the channel to reveal the Officer of the Deck. “Sir, you requested an update- we’ll be arriving at DQ-8 in five hours.”

Christopher nodded. “Very well. Thank you, Commander.” He said quickly, trying not to rub his eyes as they began to burn from lack of sleep. Quickly removing his uniform, he fell into the luxurious bed and was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

~*~

 

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