Can You Spare a Moment?

Posted on Wed Feb 5, 2020 @ 4:46am by Lieutenant Nicole Anderson & Lieutenant AJ Taggart & Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit

2,069 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Nibiru
Location: Main Sickbay/CMO's Office

AJ strode through the corridor after the ceremony, still clad in his dress black uniform resplendent with ribbons and the glinting SRU badge on his chest. His meeting with General Mitchell had left him shaken, not because he was intimidated by the man but because of the moral quandary he'd been placed in- either sacrifice his career or become a glorified songbird for the General and sacrifice his integrity.

Entering the sickbay, he walked towards the center of the deck and located the office of the only person he could trust right now- Doctor Nicole Anderson. Knocking softly on the open door frame, he walked in and waited patiently.

"Yes, how can I--AJ?" she said, looking up, and smiling. "Well, don't you look like a swell. What brings you by?" She stood up and walked over to him for a hug, then slowed down, seeing his face. "What's wrong?"

AJ took a breath and spoke as he entered the office and sat down uninvited. Looking behind him to ensure there weren't any eavesdroppers in the vicinity. "General Mitchell just paid me a visit and basically instructed me to spy on the Captain. Not something I'd ever do, mind you. He also advised me in no uncertain terms that if I refused, that he'd end my career in its tracks." Slumping in the chair, he took a breath. "I don't know what to do, Nic. Either I can do as I'm ordered to do, or I refuse and end everything I've worked so damn hard for over the last few years."

Nicole hit the panel by her door, closing it. "Computer," she said, "activate EDS protocols, authorization Anderson-Rubicon-Epsilon-three."

The computer beeped and the transparent aluminum wall in front of her office darkened, the door locked and the lights dimmed. A buzzing sound was heard, then a beep. "No devices detected. All communications signals now dark," the computer said.

Nicole went and sat in the chair next to him, sitting back and crossing her legs. "Let's start with the most important question: why does he want you to do this?"

"He said something about the Captain potentially being compromised and suggested that she might give some potentially unlawful orders during this mission. I suspect his heart is in the right place but there's something else I can't place- something off..." AJ said, his voice trailing off.

"Compromised? How?" Nicole said, her brow furrowing. "The Captain's been her usual pissy self all week. Nothing's seemed amiss." She ran a hand through her hair. "This would make you the..." she made a grand show of counting on her fingers, "third person put on this ship to keep an eye on her. So keep an eye on her. He told you to watch her...and what? Report her actions? What else?"

AJ nodded. "Yeah. Anytime I see something, I'm to report it by encrypted message. I'm just afraid that this might progress into something we're not prepared for, like a mutiny. I respect her but I know that any hint of an uprising and she wouldn't hesitate to kill us all and not even twitch."

"What were his orders? His exact words?" Nicole said, thinking. "There has to be a way to have our cake and eat it too."

"His words were this: 'All I'm asking is for you to keep an eye on this Captain of yours. She seems rather distant and I'm afraid with recent developments, she may be compromised.'" AJ said in a perfect, if not slightly comedic impression of Mitchell. He leaned forward. "I mean, I could lie but he'd see right through it. My only other option is to tell the Captain but that'd land me in the ass end of the quadrant, turning big ice chunks into smaller ones."

"Telling her later will land you there. Telling her now, so we can get ahead of this storm, I don't think she'd blame you for," Nicole said. She leaned forward as well, her hand on his. "And I can be there to back you up, if you want."

AJ stood. "This is something I'll have to do myself. There's no use in getting you caught up in this and I wouldn't want the Captain to have a reason to implicate you," he said.

Nicole sighed. "AJ, this is a mistake. She won't get upset if you tell her now," she said.

"What do you want me to do, Nic? Walk into the Captain's Ready Room and tell her, "Oh, sorry for interrupting your day, Skipper, but the Task Force Commander has ordered to spy on you! Sorry I didn't tell you sooner! Bye!?" he asked, the sarcasm evident in his voice. "You and I both know that's a surefire way to get me spaced."

"Well in so many words, yes!" Nicole said. "She's going to make it 10 times worse on you if you hide this. And if your career ends, then where does that leave you?" She stood up and put her hands on his cheeks, making him look at her. "If we don't tell her, you're dead. If we do tell her, at least we have a shot of me jumping in front of her phaser while you run." She smiled at him. "Please, AJ?" She batted her blue eyes at him.

AJ sighed, resigning himself to his fate. “Fine. I’ll meet you there in ten.” he said tiredly, rising from the chair and moving to walk out of the office.

"Ten it is," Nicole said to herself, standing up as well.

===== Nine Minutes Later - Main Bridge =====

AJ stood on the bridge in front of the Captain’s Ready Room, carefully controlling his muscles to keep himself from tapping his foot. Master Chief Tomaszewski had simply nodded as he walked by- the two had a history together, with AJ having served with him aboard the USS Firebolt. Smoothing his uniform tunic for what felt like the hundredth time in a minute, he waited for Nicole to arrive.

Nicole stepped out of the turbolift, a bottle of amber liquid in hand and walked up next to him. "Diplomacy," she said, hefting it. She rang the chime to the ready room.

The Captain was seated at her desk, long legs propped up on the desktop leaned back with a view of the display screen on the desk as well as a clear view through the viewport behind her desk which currently showed only the long light streaks of stars as the ship cruised easily at warp. A plate with a half-eaten panino con porchetta rested within reach, along with a small bowl filled with fresh olive schiacciate. Rather than the chilled white wine she'd have preferred, she was at least behaving in that she had a carafe of iced raspberry tea at hand to wash her lunch down with as she read the report on her screen.

As the doors opened, they stepped inside. Nicole slowed a pace back, letting AJ step out front.

One eyebrow rose as she took in her guests arrival and noted the bottle being carried by the good Doctor. Still just gazing at them side-long, she said "Anderson. Taggart. You come bearing bribes. Who did you kill this time?" by way of greeting.

Nicole walked over to the replicator and pulled out three short glasses, then sat down and poured out. She slid a glass to the Captain, then one to the empty chair where AJ needed to sit. "Take it away," she said.

The Captain ignored the glass of whatever it was bought by the Doctor, she’d fallen prey to that before. Instead, she plucked an olive from her lunch and popped into her mouth without further comment - for the moment at least, content to wait and see what the pair was up to now.

AJ remained standing. “Computer, seal Ready Room and activate SCIF mode.” He said. The computer beeped and he could feel his ears pop as the ship switched to a reserve air supply. After a moment, he spoke.

“Ma’am, approximately 35 minutes ago, Major General Mitchell paid me a visit in the SRU Bay and provided instructions that I felt needed to be brought to your attention. Under his orders, I was instructed to observe you and report any anomalous behavior via an encrypted transmission. I was also instructed not to reveal this information to anyone lest I become ineligible for promotion for the duration of my Starfleet career.”

“Ahh.. so you join the spy club with Doctor Anderson here. That explains why you came together...” she answered, not seeming to be at all concerned as she popped another olive into her mouth.

"Cheers," Nicole said, lifting her glass and taking a drink.

AJ looked bewildered. "Just how many times has this happened to you?" he asked, his eyes narrowing. This definitely raised some serious questions about where he stood in this situation.

"Well, three since I joined the crew," Nicole said, dryly. "So with your history I'm going to guess you've hit double digits by now?"

Kennit just met the combined gaze of the two facing her, "I came to the realization a long time ago, someone is always watching."

Try as he might, AJ couldn't wipe the dumbstruck look from his face. "So what do we do? We can't allow him to conduct warrantless investigations on his own people- it's a bad idea, not to mention wildly illegal." he said.

The Captain laughed, “Ohhh.. You have a lot to learn. You see, where you are focused on how to stop him, I’m more interested in just why he is so very afraid of me that he’s putting his bloodhounds out to watch me. Just what is our little Marine so worried about...”

AJ thought for a moment. "Well, given our recent encounter with the Terrrans and our experience during the raid of their base, I'd say he's paranoid but that's just speculation at this point."

“Paranoid he may be, but still there’s a reason behind the paranoia undoubtedly.” Kennit answered. “It is interesting..”

"Paranoid about what? That she's been replaced?" Nicole said. "Terrans don't have Borg technology. There aren't many people on the ship I'd immediately trust to be themselves, but she's one." She sat back and crossed her legs. "So do we engage in active disinformation, or limited compliance?"

The Captain shook her head, “Tell him what he wants. See where it leads...”

Nicole toyed with her drink and as an idea hit her, gave the captain a small smile. "I could ask Admiral Markus to put someone in his group. If he's going to spy on us, seems only fair."

“It’s worth a try, in for a penny in for a pound..” Kennit answered.

Nicole nodded. She glanced up at AJ. "Not in the airlock yet. Congratulations."

AJ relaxed his jaw slightly. "Respectfully, ma'am. I don't necessarily feel comfortable lying to him.

Kennit pointed at Doctor Anderson as she said, “That was her idea. I am not bothered by him.” A thought floated through her mind, she wasn’t bothered because she’d dealt with s after, more devious men in the past. She was still standing. They..were not.

Nicole stood up and took her bottle back, not letting good brandy go unappreciated.

Letting out a slight sigh, AJ moved to stand. “Very well, Captain. As a minor point, I’ve gotten to know this man pretty well over the last year and change. He’s not the type to get spooked easily, especially not by a Starship Captain. It might be prudent to consider that he might have an idea or know something we don’t.” AJ said. “Will that be all, ma’am?”

"I think that was all about twenty seconds ago," Nicole said quietly in his ear. She nodded to the Captain and then gave AJ a pointed look and nodded at the door.

The Captain didn’t say anything else, just watched as the pair stood.

"I'll let you know when the agent is in place," Nicole said. "Thank you for your time, Captain." She took AJ by the arm and gently steered him towards the door.

“Always a pleasure Doctor.” Kennit answered.

Nicole steered AJ towards the door and with a gentle push, followed him out of the lion's den and back into the fire.

 

RSS Feed