Post by Tiana on Dec 5, 2013 12:49:16 GMT
Ensign Lamont had command of the night shift. Being the newest junior officer on the ship meant he got a lot of late shifts. Not that he minded, he enjoyed having the bridge mostly to himself. He sat at the front console in front of the viewscreen in the left side operations seat. To his right sat Crewman second class Stefan, who despite his low enlisted rank, actually had been on the Exodus longer than Lamont. Stefan reminded him of this every chance he got.
"I don't remember the last time we've been out on patrol so often." Stefan started with his usual task of inferring his seniority, even though he was sitting at the subordinate right hand helm seat. "I mean, just yesterday we go out, scan for Omega, and come back." He continued. "I'm telling you, next time we go out, we're probably going to blow up not one but probably two Omega factories. That's the way this ship does things. We get good at something, and we keep at it until the job's done."
Lamont glanced at him from the corner of his eye, wishing he would shut up. Stefan returned the glance before defending himself.
"Look, we have another three and a half hours for this shift. We can either sit here quietly or we might as well try and pass the time."
"You want to pass the time?" Lamont finally spoke. "How about some gossip? The new sector Admiral just came to the sphere."
"A new Admiral? Who is it?" Stefan inquired.
"None other than James Martin." Lamont smirked smugly as he dramatically revealed the news.
"Holy shit. Jim Martin? The Captain's..." Stefan began before Lamont threw him another glance, this time succeeding at getting him to watch his mouth. "... friend." he finished the sentence meekly.
"This will probably be good for Rastalon." Lamont said naively. "She will have someone from the senior brass to look out for her best interests."
"That will be a first." Petty Officer second class Reizo, a thin Bolian lady sitting at the science station, who had served on the ship longer than the other two men combined, unexpectedly chimed in on the conversation. "She won't have much time to enjoy it, though. The 146th changes Admirals like Pakled change socks."
Exodus' holographic avatar, standing quietly at the large rear display, blinked at this. "Pakleds change their socks on a monthly basis?"
"If you're lucky." Stefan replied but then tried to keep the conversation on topic. "I just think it won't hurt her chances for promotion. I mean, you've thought about it, right Lamont? How soon you can sit in the... you know?" He nodded towards the seat behind him.
Lamont turned and looked over his shoulder to the empty chair. It was excruciatingly empty. The padded seat was somehow beckoning to him. "I don't know," he began. "I heard it's pretty tough to get promoted on this ship."
"Nonsense," Stefan began correcting him. "Commander J'rai was chief engineer when I first came on board, he's first officer now. It can happen. You just gotta be patient. You’ll see."
The console in front of Lamont gave a whistle. The half Risan, half Human Ensign answered the hail as quickly as he could, just to get Stefan to be quiet.
"Admiral Martin to the Starship Exodus." a gruff mature voice spoke. Ensign Lamont bolted upright in his seat and pulled his uniform down in what was fondly referred to by the crew as the 'Picard maneuver,' as if the Admiral could see the Ensign over the speaker and judge the Ensign on his appearance.
The usually quiet Bolian mumbled audibly. "Speak of the Horta, and he shall appear."
Lamont tried his best to not be distracted. "Exodus here." he replied to the hail with all the authority he could muster despite being utterly flustered.
"This is Admiral Jim Martin, I'm with your captain she needs site to site transport from this location to her quarters, oh and tell Commander J'rai his captain will be indisposed for the rest of the night."
Stefan smirked at Lamont and whispered "Does that mean what I think it means?"
The blue haired holographic avatar of the ship didn't take kindly to the crewman's insinuation, and moved to stand behind him, staring at the back of his head. Stefan didn't notice as the Admiral's hail had his entire attention.
Reizo resisted the urge to point out the predictability of Stefan's thoughts but instead clarified. "If it did, the Admiral would be beaming over as well."
Lamont pushed the transmit button on his console. "Uhhh... understood Admiral." He then quickly input a transport lock command on Captain Rastalon's combadge through the main computer, glanced behind him to Reizo who quickly nodded that she had a good lock.
"Ready for transport." The Ensign transmitted once the transporter was charged and ready, all of which only took mere moments.
"Thank you." The Admiral Replied. "And give my Compliments to Commander J'rai. Energize, Exodus."
The young Ensign gave the energize command, and oversaw the dematerialization and rematerialization output on his display. Once the computer displayed a successful transport, he notified the Admiral.
"Transport complete." Lamont triumphantly notified the Admiral over the comm.
Stefan voiced his confusion by whispering to Lamont. "What's he complimenting the XO for?"
Lamont shrugged and inquired over the comms. "Compliments for anything in particular, Admiral?" he asked.
Reizo replied before the Admiral did. "He's just trying to be nice, being new in a position and all that."
"No, it's just an old earth way for Officers to say hello and thank you to one another, Exodus."
Reizo voiced a quiet "I told you so." before the Admiral dropped a bombshell that made the entire bridge silent. "By the way none of this happened, clear?"
The chronometer ticked away while Reizo looked away from her console for the first time that evening to look at Lamont who helplessly looked back at her while Stefan looked at both of them with his mouth open.
Reizo spoke first. "He can't do that. That's against regulations." she informed Lamont with the voice of experience.
Lamont was torn as to how to approach this with the Admiral. It didn't take him long to find the best angle to approach this. "Uhh, sir... all transports and boarding and departing of all personnel must be logged, as is this communication."
Stefan nodded approvingly, not that Lamont asked for his approval, but he felt like he needed to help in this awkward situation as much as he could.
"Strike it from your logs. That’s an Order. Authorization - Martin four bravo one two five."
Reizo got up from her station and walked over to stand between Lamont and Stefan at the forward console. The three of them all stared at the speaker as if it was a flying tribble. Lamont turned to Reizo, for the first time truly not knowing what to do.
"He's an Admiral. He gave you an order. You should do what he says, and sort it out later." Reizo advised. "They don't order a break of regulations without a damned good reason."
Lamont nodded at Reizo then replied to Martin. "Understood, sir."
"Thank you Exodus, Martin out." The Admiral replied before the channel closed.
"Gee, where'd this come from?" The feminine hologram asked the small bridge crew.
Stefan replied first, having always liked the electronic companion. "No idea, ship. Just... no idea."
The holographic Exodus Avatar pulled out holographic printouts from the center console that represented the logs being discussed. She then, as if magically, conjured up a holographic recycle bin representing her readiness to execute the Admiral’s orders.
The young engineer watched the hologram perform her work with amusement before turning to his shipmates. "You know what I think?" He didn't wait for the reply which was almost certainly negative. "I would put ten latinum strips that the Captain is pregnant. By the Admiral. That's why all the hush hush. He's worried it will cost him his promotion, and she's worried about losing the ship, and they don't want the second life form to show up on any transporter scans."
Reizo scoffed. "You've watched too many holovids, crewman. For one thing, Regulations don't forbid such a relationship. Obviously." She held up her hand, showing off her wedding ring, and then continued. "And second, it would be discovered and reported during her routine physicals. These aren't teenagers; they would act responsibly in such a situation if they really wanted to raise a family."
Lamont, ever the resourceful officer asked Reizo directly. "What do you think this is all about, then, Petty officer?"
She replied quickly, obviously having already thought this all out. "I will see your Ten latinum strips and counter that she was recently and secretly joined with a symbiote. It explains everything. Some Trill symbiotes are ultra sensitive to beaming. This explains why instead of beaming, almost every time she needs to travel on or off the ship she either uses a docking port, or she flies a shuttle, or the yacht, or any other vehicle, really."
Stefan countered. "That supports my theory more strongly than yours. She probably is avoiding beaming so as to not harm the fetus. It makes perfect sense." He then turned to Exodus' avatar. "I bet you know what's going on, but I also know you would never tell us."
The hologram replied by closing an imaginary zipper over her mouth, indicating her silent loyalty to her Captain.
Lamont put a stop to the speculations. "Gentlemen, as much as I would love to argue and gamble over the unknown, we still have a problem here. We've been ordered to break regulations."
"No, you've been ordered to do that." Stefan unhelpfully reminded.
Reizo, on the other hand, was more helpful. "Wake the first officer."
Lamont was skeptical. "Really?"
"Yeah." She continued. "He would want to know the Admiral spoke to you."
Lamont nodded in agreement. "Alright. Let's wake him up." he tapped the buttons on his console that would signal J'rai.
The first officer's muffled answer came over the speaker. "Hamf haar... ffzll... here. J'rai. What."
Lamont still looked at Reizo as if he wasn't entirely sure, but he slowly shifted his attention to his console as he committed himself to this course of action. "Chief, I have an uhh.. Irregular order, and I'm not sure what to do." He then quickly added. "And I'm sorry If I woke you." He was sure he had indeed done just that.
Despite being woken up, J'rai remained polite. "No, no. It's fine. Go back to sleep."
Lamont blinked in confusion.
"Not you, Ensign." J'rai clarified. "Tell me what's happening."
Lamont recapped. "A few minutes ago Admiral Martin hailed us, and ordered me to beam Captain Rastalon to her quarters."
"Yeah?" J'rai asked, obviously unphased by this routine news.
Lamont continued to explain the situation. "So we did. Then he ordered us to erase the beaming logs, and the Admiral's communication with us from the logs. Now, I can go ahead and have Ex do that, but it will mean the Captain is on board and her coming aboard is not on the logs."
Lamont nodded to Reizo as if to ask if to ask if he did a good job. She nodded once to confirm.
There a long pause on the line during which Stefan voiced his opinion. "He has no idea what to make of this, either."
After a while Lamont noticed that everyone around him was uncomfortable so he broke the radio silence. "Sir, are you still there?"
J'rai replied as if on cue. "Fine, do it. Relog it as an intoxicated crew return request by an unidentified bar staff member."
Reizo continued her assistance. "Crew? That's a bit vague."
The young Ensign asked for clarification from J'rai. "Uhh... so I should leave crewmember identity blank?"
J'rai yawned and replied quickly. "No, this isn't the first time the captain's had to..." There was another short pause. "Uh. No, log it as her but leave the beam-back as requested by 'unidentified bar staff'. If she wants to remove herself from the record she can when she sleeps it off. I'm half-tempted to send a medic to make sure she's not dangerously intoxicated but... no. No, that will do."
Stefan turned to Reizo with complete shock on his face. "The Captain drinks?"
The tall blue lady gave an explanation. "She used to. A long time ago. I thought she stopped."
The Ensign, not listening to the conversation beside him continued asking the first officer. "So I'm to disobey the Admiral in not clearing the transport logs?"
"Clear the original logs. Create a new entry." the Caitian instructed. "Note the edit as on my authority." he concluded.
The Ensign was still not pleased. "I understand but sir. I'm not comfortable falsifying things. This won't be a regular thing, will it?"
"I assume the admiral is just trying to keep his own fingerprints off of things." The first officer explained. "Relationships in the chain of command, tch. Ugh. No, I don't expect it will be. Is there anything else?"
"I think that's it." Lamont was tired of dealing with the situation.
Apparently so was the chief. "Okay, well. Good job, et cetera. Good night. J'rai out." He then tossed his commbadge into the sink and collapses back into his bed.
Back on the bridge the two seated crewmembers slumped back in their seat. Reizo walked back to her station.
The Ensign turned to the Exodus avatar and gave his first order that evening. “Toss it.”
The holographic figure then crumpled up the holographic representation of paper logs in her hand, and tossed them in a overhand style into the recycle bin, which promptly shimmered out of existence.
“Two points!” Stefan cheered.
“Two points of what?” The baffled Ensign asked.
“Forget it, it’s not important.” The cheerful engineer replied. “Oh, crap. You forgot to give the Commander the compliments from the Admiral.”
“You’re right, I did.” The officer confirmed. He then turned to the science station. “Should I signal him again?”
The reply was immediate. “Absolutely not.”
The Ensign and the Chief petty officer weren’t happy at all about all that just happened, and they couldn’t wait for the shift to end.
The Crewman second class was enjoying every minute. “This is great.” He started. “I feel like I’m part of some massive Starfleet cover-up of sensitive information. I have inside info now, and you know how knowledge is power.”
“You thinking of blackmailing the Captain, crewman?” The Ensign bluntly asked, his impatience showing. Stefan wasn’t sure how to respond to that, but Lamont continued. “Well, forget it. If the senior officers keep acting like this, don’t worry, I’ll be Captain in no time, and I just might promote you to first officer.”
Stefan thought this was too good to be true. “You don’t really mean that.”
“Oh, I do.” The Ensign encouraged. “But only if you do me just one tiny favor.”
“What’s that, skipper?” Stefan was cautiously curious.
“If you don’t say another word until the end of the shift.”
A chuckle came from the science station, but besides that, the rest of the shift was very quiet and banter free.
"I don't remember the last time we've been out on patrol so often." Stefan started with his usual task of inferring his seniority, even though he was sitting at the subordinate right hand helm seat. "I mean, just yesterday we go out, scan for Omega, and come back." He continued. "I'm telling you, next time we go out, we're probably going to blow up not one but probably two Omega factories. That's the way this ship does things. We get good at something, and we keep at it until the job's done."
Lamont glanced at him from the corner of his eye, wishing he would shut up. Stefan returned the glance before defending himself.
"Look, we have another three and a half hours for this shift. We can either sit here quietly or we might as well try and pass the time."
"You want to pass the time?" Lamont finally spoke. "How about some gossip? The new sector Admiral just came to the sphere."
"A new Admiral? Who is it?" Stefan inquired.
"None other than James Martin." Lamont smirked smugly as he dramatically revealed the news.
"Holy shit. Jim Martin? The Captain's..." Stefan began before Lamont threw him another glance, this time succeeding at getting him to watch his mouth. "... friend." he finished the sentence meekly.
"This will probably be good for Rastalon." Lamont said naively. "She will have someone from the senior brass to look out for her best interests."
"That will be a first." Petty Officer second class Reizo, a thin Bolian lady sitting at the science station, who had served on the ship longer than the other two men combined, unexpectedly chimed in on the conversation. "She won't have much time to enjoy it, though. The 146th changes Admirals like Pakled change socks."
Exodus' holographic avatar, standing quietly at the large rear display, blinked at this. "Pakleds change their socks on a monthly basis?"
"If you're lucky." Stefan replied but then tried to keep the conversation on topic. "I just think it won't hurt her chances for promotion. I mean, you've thought about it, right Lamont? How soon you can sit in the... you know?" He nodded towards the seat behind him.
Lamont turned and looked over his shoulder to the empty chair. It was excruciatingly empty. The padded seat was somehow beckoning to him. "I don't know," he began. "I heard it's pretty tough to get promoted on this ship."
"Nonsense," Stefan began correcting him. "Commander J'rai was chief engineer when I first came on board, he's first officer now. It can happen. You just gotta be patient. You’ll see."
The console in front of Lamont gave a whistle. The half Risan, half Human Ensign answered the hail as quickly as he could, just to get Stefan to be quiet.
"Admiral Martin to the Starship Exodus." a gruff mature voice spoke. Ensign Lamont bolted upright in his seat and pulled his uniform down in what was fondly referred to by the crew as the 'Picard maneuver,' as if the Admiral could see the Ensign over the speaker and judge the Ensign on his appearance.
The usually quiet Bolian mumbled audibly. "Speak of the Horta, and he shall appear."
Lamont tried his best to not be distracted. "Exodus here." he replied to the hail with all the authority he could muster despite being utterly flustered.
"This is Admiral Jim Martin, I'm with your captain she needs site to site transport from this location to her quarters, oh and tell Commander J'rai his captain will be indisposed for the rest of the night."
Stefan smirked at Lamont and whispered "Does that mean what I think it means?"
The blue haired holographic avatar of the ship didn't take kindly to the crewman's insinuation, and moved to stand behind him, staring at the back of his head. Stefan didn't notice as the Admiral's hail had his entire attention.
Reizo resisted the urge to point out the predictability of Stefan's thoughts but instead clarified. "If it did, the Admiral would be beaming over as well."
Lamont pushed the transmit button on his console. "Uhhh... understood Admiral." He then quickly input a transport lock command on Captain Rastalon's combadge through the main computer, glanced behind him to Reizo who quickly nodded that she had a good lock.
"Ready for transport." The Ensign transmitted once the transporter was charged and ready, all of which only took mere moments.
"Thank you." The Admiral Replied. "And give my Compliments to Commander J'rai. Energize, Exodus."
The young Ensign gave the energize command, and oversaw the dematerialization and rematerialization output on his display. Once the computer displayed a successful transport, he notified the Admiral.
"Transport complete." Lamont triumphantly notified the Admiral over the comm.
Stefan voiced his confusion by whispering to Lamont. "What's he complimenting the XO for?"
Lamont shrugged and inquired over the comms. "Compliments for anything in particular, Admiral?" he asked.
Reizo replied before the Admiral did. "He's just trying to be nice, being new in a position and all that."
"No, it's just an old earth way for Officers to say hello and thank you to one another, Exodus."
Reizo voiced a quiet "I told you so." before the Admiral dropped a bombshell that made the entire bridge silent. "By the way none of this happened, clear?"
The chronometer ticked away while Reizo looked away from her console for the first time that evening to look at Lamont who helplessly looked back at her while Stefan looked at both of them with his mouth open.
Reizo spoke first. "He can't do that. That's against regulations." she informed Lamont with the voice of experience.
Lamont was torn as to how to approach this with the Admiral. It didn't take him long to find the best angle to approach this. "Uhh, sir... all transports and boarding and departing of all personnel must be logged, as is this communication."
Stefan nodded approvingly, not that Lamont asked for his approval, but he felt like he needed to help in this awkward situation as much as he could.
"Strike it from your logs. That’s an Order. Authorization - Martin four bravo one two five."
Reizo got up from her station and walked over to stand between Lamont and Stefan at the forward console. The three of them all stared at the speaker as if it was a flying tribble. Lamont turned to Reizo, for the first time truly not knowing what to do.
"He's an Admiral. He gave you an order. You should do what he says, and sort it out later." Reizo advised. "They don't order a break of regulations without a damned good reason."
Lamont nodded at Reizo then replied to Martin. "Understood, sir."
"Thank you Exodus, Martin out." The Admiral replied before the channel closed.
"Gee, where'd this come from?" The feminine hologram asked the small bridge crew.
Stefan replied first, having always liked the electronic companion. "No idea, ship. Just... no idea."
The holographic Exodus Avatar pulled out holographic printouts from the center console that represented the logs being discussed. She then, as if magically, conjured up a holographic recycle bin representing her readiness to execute the Admiral’s orders.
The young engineer watched the hologram perform her work with amusement before turning to his shipmates. "You know what I think?" He didn't wait for the reply which was almost certainly negative. "I would put ten latinum strips that the Captain is pregnant. By the Admiral. That's why all the hush hush. He's worried it will cost him his promotion, and she's worried about losing the ship, and they don't want the second life form to show up on any transporter scans."
Reizo scoffed. "You've watched too many holovids, crewman. For one thing, Regulations don't forbid such a relationship. Obviously." She held up her hand, showing off her wedding ring, and then continued. "And second, it would be discovered and reported during her routine physicals. These aren't teenagers; they would act responsibly in such a situation if they really wanted to raise a family."
Lamont, ever the resourceful officer asked Reizo directly. "What do you think this is all about, then, Petty officer?"
She replied quickly, obviously having already thought this all out. "I will see your Ten latinum strips and counter that she was recently and secretly joined with a symbiote. It explains everything. Some Trill symbiotes are ultra sensitive to beaming. This explains why instead of beaming, almost every time she needs to travel on or off the ship she either uses a docking port, or she flies a shuttle, or the yacht, or any other vehicle, really."
Stefan countered. "That supports my theory more strongly than yours. She probably is avoiding beaming so as to not harm the fetus. It makes perfect sense." He then turned to Exodus' avatar. "I bet you know what's going on, but I also know you would never tell us."
The hologram replied by closing an imaginary zipper over her mouth, indicating her silent loyalty to her Captain.
Lamont put a stop to the speculations. "Gentlemen, as much as I would love to argue and gamble over the unknown, we still have a problem here. We've been ordered to break regulations."
"No, you've been ordered to do that." Stefan unhelpfully reminded.
Reizo, on the other hand, was more helpful. "Wake the first officer."
Lamont was skeptical. "Really?"
"Yeah." She continued. "He would want to know the Admiral spoke to you."
Lamont nodded in agreement. "Alright. Let's wake him up." he tapped the buttons on his console that would signal J'rai.
The first officer's muffled answer came over the speaker. "Hamf haar... ffzll... here. J'rai. What."
Lamont still looked at Reizo as if he wasn't entirely sure, but he slowly shifted his attention to his console as he committed himself to this course of action. "Chief, I have an uhh.. Irregular order, and I'm not sure what to do." He then quickly added. "And I'm sorry If I woke you." He was sure he had indeed done just that.
Despite being woken up, J'rai remained polite. "No, no. It's fine. Go back to sleep."
Lamont blinked in confusion.
"Not you, Ensign." J'rai clarified. "Tell me what's happening."
Lamont recapped. "A few minutes ago Admiral Martin hailed us, and ordered me to beam Captain Rastalon to her quarters."
"Yeah?" J'rai asked, obviously unphased by this routine news.
Lamont continued to explain the situation. "So we did. Then he ordered us to erase the beaming logs, and the Admiral's communication with us from the logs. Now, I can go ahead and have Ex do that, but it will mean the Captain is on board and her coming aboard is not on the logs."
Lamont nodded to Reizo as if to ask if to ask if he did a good job. She nodded once to confirm.
There a long pause on the line during which Stefan voiced his opinion. "He has no idea what to make of this, either."
After a while Lamont noticed that everyone around him was uncomfortable so he broke the radio silence. "Sir, are you still there?"
J'rai replied as if on cue. "Fine, do it. Relog it as an intoxicated crew return request by an unidentified bar staff member."
Reizo continued her assistance. "Crew? That's a bit vague."
The young Ensign asked for clarification from J'rai. "Uhh... so I should leave crewmember identity blank?"
J'rai yawned and replied quickly. "No, this isn't the first time the captain's had to..." There was another short pause. "Uh. No, log it as her but leave the beam-back as requested by 'unidentified bar staff'. If she wants to remove herself from the record she can when she sleeps it off. I'm half-tempted to send a medic to make sure she's not dangerously intoxicated but... no. No, that will do."
Stefan turned to Reizo with complete shock on his face. "The Captain drinks?"
The tall blue lady gave an explanation. "She used to. A long time ago. I thought she stopped."
The Ensign, not listening to the conversation beside him continued asking the first officer. "So I'm to disobey the Admiral in not clearing the transport logs?"
"Clear the original logs. Create a new entry." the Caitian instructed. "Note the edit as on my authority." he concluded.
The Ensign was still not pleased. "I understand but sir. I'm not comfortable falsifying things. This won't be a regular thing, will it?"
"I assume the admiral is just trying to keep his own fingerprints off of things." The first officer explained. "Relationships in the chain of command, tch. Ugh. No, I don't expect it will be. Is there anything else?"
"I think that's it." Lamont was tired of dealing with the situation.
Apparently so was the chief. "Okay, well. Good job, et cetera. Good night. J'rai out." He then tossed his commbadge into the sink and collapses back into his bed.
Back on the bridge the two seated crewmembers slumped back in their seat. Reizo walked back to her station.
The Ensign turned to the Exodus avatar and gave his first order that evening. “Toss it.”
The holographic figure then crumpled up the holographic representation of paper logs in her hand, and tossed them in a overhand style into the recycle bin, which promptly shimmered out of existence.
“Two points!” Stefan cheered.
“Two points of what?” The baffled Ensign asked.
“Forget it, it’s not important.” The cheerful engineer replied. “Oh, crap. You forgot to give the Commander the compliments from the Admiral.”
“You’re right, I did.” The officer confirmed. He then turned to the science station. “Should I signal him again?”
The reply was immediate. “Absolutely not.”
The Ensign and the Chief petty officer weren’t happy at all about all that just happened, and they couldn’t wait for the shift to end.
The Crewman second class was enjoying every minute. “This is great.” He started. “I feel like I’m part of some massive Starfleet cover-up of sensitive information. I have inside info now, and you know how knowledge is power.”
“You thinking of blackmailing the Captain, crewman?” The Ensign bluntly asked, his impatience showing. Stefan wasn’t sure how to respond to that, but Lamont continued. “Well, forget it. If the senior officers keep acting like this, don’t worry, I’ll be Captain in no time, and I just might promote you to first officer.”
Stefan thought this was too good to be true. “You don’t really mean that.”
“Oh, I do.” The Ensign encouraged. “But only if you do me just one tiny favor.”
“What’s that, skipper?” Stefan was cautiously curious.
“If you don’t say another word until the end of the shift.”
A chuckle came from the science station, but besides that, the rest of the shift was very quiet and banter free.