Star Trek PBEM Sim / Star Trek RPG
OUR STAR TREK PBEM STORIES: HOLDING ON
Title: Holding On, Part Two
Location: Pandora's Box, Bridge
A new transmission came in with Lieutenant Llewellyn Moreau's new filter helping to clear up the message from the time distortions. The ACOMMO, LTjg Knnekhesskt, quickly decoded it. "Emergency, emergency....Barely holding on. I need ... peanut butter and jelly."
LTjg Knnekhesskt right antenna rotated, puzzled. Humans had such odd codes and foods. His left antenna twitched, annoyed.
"XO, please come here," the Lieutenant asked.
The Executive Officer, CDR Varsahlaveu, came quickly wondering if it was the next message they were awaiting form the mysterious agent. The Lieutenant gave him an extra ear piece so he could listen along.
The Lieutenant tapped and the visual display of information that the blind Aenar did not need to see appeared promptly for the XO. It began with all the interference other than the time distortion and then both audio and visual replayed several times, quickly shifting for the XO to hear the message more clearly.
"Good work, Knnekhesskt. I'd better get the Captain. He'll know how to make sense of it," the XO said aloud. ~I can't let the Old Man* sleep anymore. This transmission and extraction was number one on his personal red list. He wouldn't want me to hold on anymore for him.~
Just as he tapped the console to open the comm link, CDR Varsahlaveu heard the bridge doors open. Kamranov entered. Even if you knew the Captain, you could not tell from his walk, stride, face, or any mannerism what he had just been through and came out of from his entrance onto the bridge.
The XO saluted and spoke first. "Thanks for switching shifts with me, sir," the XO said to cover the lengthy absence of the Captain. Even though he trusted the bridge crew, there was no sense in letting something like this get out if it could be contained. CDR Varsahlaveu was adamant on need to know, as were most who ended up on Pandora.
"No problem," the Captain replied smoothly. "Gives me a chance to work with Gamma shift** and to get know the new ones here sooner." His lengthening the reply was his way of telling the XO thank you.
"Should I brief you in your ready room?" CDR Varsahlaveu asked, noticing the thanks.
"Yes, please," Captain Kamranov replied. He knew that when the XO made that request that something had escalated to a higher level or there was something new of concern that necessitated compartmentalizing the information he was about to tell him. The Captain also emphasized the importance of enforcing need to know. Although the Captain had the unheard of luxury of hand picking most of the crew, that didn't mean there might not be a spy or three tucked in there from somewhere. SI proper might have a spy watching his particular faction in the Intel organization or someone they trusted might have a family member or friend that had been captured or blackmailed putting them in a compromised position. There was also the ever present possibility that any of them could be compromised with the subconscious trigger techniques that they knew existed and the new ones that would be buried so deep the compromised individual was completely unaware.
The CO went first and the XO followed. They entered the Ready Room. It was currently set up to hold the wardroom and a few guests. The design of the bulkheads and surrounding structures easily accommodated smaller and larger parties by its interchangeable features. This also facilitated Pandora's flexible moveable design where sections of the ship could be physically moved to create a different profile. This design enhancement was pitched to Kamranov as a break through in design, but to him was more of a risk of break up. He felt the old engineer's adage, "The more moving parts, the more parts get broken," still applied in the 24th century, no matter what the advances.
There was a long table and display screen on the opposite wall. The chairs were functional and obviously chosen to fit with a wide range of decors. The interior was functional and comfortable, but more austere by others standards and by design than other ships in Starfleet. Unless he was playing the part of a big spender, the Captain preferred things Spartan in contrast to most of his contemporaries. this was reflected in his approach to other things as well.
OOC Notes:
* "Old Man' is an old Earth term meaning CO. Traditionally before space faring days on Earth, the CO was the oldest person on the ship or boat and hence the nickname.
** PB uses four shifts, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta.
