Angelus Reprobi

Posted on Thu Mar 18, 2021 @ 7:48pm by Lieutenant Nicole Anderson & Commander Cullen Walker & Lieutenant Penelope Naroot & Lieutenant Arashi Tanaka Mr. & Lieutenant Cassandra Kennings & Lieutenant JG Aergad Halvor & Lieutenant JG Ardal King & Lieutenant JG Sydney Friedman Jr & Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit

2,004 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Archangel
Location: USS Victory

Following the return to the Victory, after ordering that Beechwood be taken to the brig, the Captain had gone to the Bridge. Once the ship was on course back to DQ8, she left the Bridge u see the watchful care of her XO and retreated to her Ready Room where she pulled up the data she’d obtained from the computer and once again reviewed the information there. Lightly touching the control board of her desk console, transferred the data to a PaDD, then entered a series of code words into the PaDD and then watched as the seemingly innocuous messages split into segments, sections of each combining into a new, whole message of entirely different meaning.

Her expression was cold and hard as she gazed at the information on the screen, and the with a single swipe of her finger across the PaDDs control surface she erased the data and deleted all traces of its existence from the device.

She closed her eyes for a moment, an internal command activated and inside her brain, a Borg communication node activated, sending a short, undetectable and untraceable transmission.

It gave her a headache, it always did.

A glance out the port in her Ready Room brought another problem to mind. She frowned, another long term headache to deal with. This one however, she had a new ‘toy’ with which to treat it should the need arise. Picking up a mug, she got herself a cup of coffee and then walked to the door and stepped out onto the bridge. As she crossed toward her seat she asked, “what is our ETA for arrival at DQ8?”

Walker got out of the Captain's chair and turned the 1980s rock off. It was 'I can't hold back' by Survivor. It wasn't blasting, just lightly in the background. He was a power ballads kind of guy. "Cruising at Warp 9.12. We have another 6 hours to go." It was more like five hours forty minutes, but he was a fan of Scotty Math. Round up to account for 'oh shit' situations.

She gave a little nod as she settled Into her seat and leaned back, long legs stretched out and crossed casually at the ankle. Picking up a PaDD, the Captain replied “Very well. Steady as she goes.” A swipe of her thumb activated the device, and she leaned back to continue to read an old report she’d found in the ships database detailing the events following the cataclysmic eruption of Mt Rainier on Earth in 2021, and the tragic loss of life in what the news and historians of the time had called ‘The Rainier Sasquatch Massacre’.

Penny was tempted to correct the estimate, or rather, specify it, but held back. She didn't always get ahead of her "beep-beep" moments, but one-upping a superior officer was one she learned early on--from doing it to Nicole.

Walker spoke up. "First shift starts in 20 minutes." Night shift was always a skeleton crew. "I came relieved the night shift Command so I could do a surprise inspection on First shift bridge crew. Miss Naroot was already logged in. Her uniform was five by five." Random inspections were part of his job. "The rest of first shift should be arriving soon." He knew the original usage of 5 by 5 was radio communications, but in this case, the uniform was the first presentation and communication a Starfleet Officer uses.

The lift doors opened and, ears burning, Nicole stepped onto the bridge, padd in hand. She walked over to the Captain and handed her the padd. "Medical report on Captain Beechwood," she said, quietly. "Injuries healed, and I scanned him for any potential threats. Nothing detected, and he's definitely from our reality. He's also looking rather sullen and would like you to know he's 'extremely unhappy with the provided accommodations.'" Her British lilt both buttered and enhanced the sarcasm in her voice. She paused then leaned down a bit, lowering her voice. "He also said I should be 'very concerned' about what we're off to report. What exactly are we off to report? What did you find over there?"

“Beechwood doesn’t like his current accommodations?” Kennit answered without looking up from her reading. “Okay. Put him into an EVA suit, attach a cargo cable and a mag-lock and hook him to the hull outside the airlock using one of the work rails. See if that’s more to his liking.”

Nicole cocked an eyebrow at her. "Well it'll technically be more roomy." She waited for the other half. "And?"

Not missing a beat, as she flipped the screen to the next page of the document she was reading, Kennit answered “And what?”

"And if I should be particularly worried about a potential bloodbath we're heading into, I should be informed," Nicole said evenly. "Are we?"

Sipping thoughtfully from her coffee, the Captain savored her drink a moment before swallowing. Licking her lips, at last she said simply, “Getting a bit melodramatic now are we Doctor? For a moment there I had a flashback to Hunter’s tantrums.”

Nicole scowled. "Hal-tor guv-tvi-rivak du-shal," she grumbled under her breath as she stepped away.

The Captain just chuckled softly at the Doctor’s response.

Walker looked at his panel and saw the turbo lift was heading this way. He got up and walked over to the doors. As soon as bridge crew stepped out, they saw him and stood at attention. "Pass. Pass. Pass." He looked at one still fixing his uniform. "Fail." He looked at them. "As you were. Except you." They had a quiet conversation, then Walker got loud, "If you show up out of uniform again, I will replicate a toothbrush and whore you out to engineering to clean plasma relays. Dismissed." He walked back to his chair.

Watching, Kennit said, “Oh I like his style...”

The ensign made a snide comment half under his breath to the crew member to his right. "I bet Flight Attendant Barbie passed. I wonder what she did to pass."

Nicole growled menacingly, her eyes going red.

Penny turned and tilted her head quizzically. She understood the inference, but she didn't understand the reason for it, especially given that she'd had no real contact with this particular ensign, so she didn't understand why she'd drawn his insult.

Walker was up on his feet and backing that Ensign up against the wall. He didn't touch him yet. "You just became Engineering's bitch for a month. The first thing you are going to do is apologize to your fellow Officer. Do you need assistance walking in her direction to apologize?" The Ensign stood belligerent. "You need to understand, I have a temper. Do you need assistance getting over to Lt Naroot?" The Ensign started talking about Starfleet procedure. Walker grabbed him by the wrist and twisted it up behind the Ensign's back, popping noises from the his arm and squealing from his lips. Walker escorted him to Naroot. "I believe the Ensign has something to say to you."

The Ensign tried to be hard and Walker twisted his wrist even further, "I'm sorry Lt Naroot, ehhhaahhh. I'm sorry."

Penny pulled closer to her console, feeling suddenly cornered. "Commander, let him go," Penny said.

Walker took the pip off of the Ensign's collar, "We don't treat out fellow Officers that way, Crewman." He twisted the wrist a little more which resulted in more squealing. "Get off the bridge. Report to sickbay. Then go to Engineering." The newly rank-stripped crewman ran to the turbolift crying a little. Walker handed the pip to the Captain and stood at attention. "Ma'am, I'm reporting for disciplinary action. I lost my temper and laid my hands on a subordinate."

Penny swallowed hard and glanced at Nicole, then blushed beet red, quietly turning back to her boards and busying herself needlessly with calculating their arrival time down to the nanosecond, just to distract herself.

"Kuv nash-veh yeht-kashik-veh, nash-ma-etek watsa," Nicole said, continuing to grumble in Rigellian as she grabbed the offending Ensign by his arm and escort him to the turbolift. "Lieutenant Tanaka, please send someone down to Sickbay in fifteen minutes to escort him out." As the doors closed, she gave Walker a glare of annoyance, but tempered, given she'd have probably done the same thing once.

Arashi had watched the interaction between the newly demoted crewman and Walker with some amusement. He didn't like anyone who would disrespect anybody so that was something that he thought the former ensign deserved. While maybe the physical assault was not needed, Arashi realized that sometimes a slight twist of the wrist might be the thing to teach the ensign the valuable lesson of "Shut up and don't disrespect the crew." He turned back to his duty station and got back to work.

Hearing Nicole giving him an order and he acknowledged. "Aye, ma'am. Will do." He said and turned to Penny. "Don't let that prick get to you. As far as I am concerned, you earned your spot here. I have dealt with guys like him when I was in the Academy and people like that don't get too far. I made sure that I taught them a bit of fear when they sparred with me in Anbo-Jutsu. You made it here, you earned your spot and you are on this ship for a reason, just like everyone else and if he can't accept that, he doesn't need to be here." He smiled at Penny and turned back to his station.

Penny tilted her head, confused at the idea that the position she'd been assigned to required validation, but appreciative of the sentiment nonetheless. "Thank you, Arashi. I'm sure you were very good at teaching them fear with that sport."

"You're welcome Penny." He said with a smile again and got back to work. "Yeah, I was Anbo-Jutsu champion in 2385 and 2386. I did it as a hobby to clear my mind. Mostly I would use the Holodeck to fight virtual opponents but I needed more realistic opponents so I joined the Academy tournaments. Won the championship in 2385 and just barely defended it in 2386. Competition was tight in 2386. Now I practice Kendo on the Holodeck of the Victory, along with replaying historical battles of Japan as well."

Having watched the events unfold without interruption, the Captain chose that moment to simply say “In the future Number One, keep in mind that injuring your own crew, regardless of the reason, generally is frowned upon by Starfleet.”

Walker nodded, "Yes, Ma'am." He sat down, "Arashi, I would have made him apologize if he sexually harassed you. Escorting him in that manner, may not have been best, but it was not to disregard Miss Naroot's ability to handle it. If I ignore it, it is the same as condoning it. With the Captain's okay, he won't be on the bridge anymore." He was in charge of scheduling and approving department schedules. He let department heads handle their departments, he just reviewed and signed off. "The Bridge and Security are usually someone's first impression of a ship. Gig is straight. Boots are shined. Attitudes are professional." Technically, he had been professional with the new demoted crewman, it wasn't the best way across the board, but he was professional. Field professional wasn't always office professional.

Sydney sat towards the back of the bridge, watching everyone. Calm and cool as they appeared, she knew stress when she heard it. The Captain was agitated by what happened on the station, the crew was uncomfortable with the back-and-forth of their mission and expressing it towards each other, and the doctor was...well, she was her usual self, but that also spoke to stress.

As the new kid on the playground, she kept her own counsel and continued to observe, not quite sure of the dynamics of the officer they were going to see. She hoped, however, that it would give them some resolution to this mystery mission, and not simply add to their questions.

 

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