Bridge Chatter

Posted on Sun Apr 30th, 2023 @ 8:23pm by Lieutenant Commander John Stryker II & Commander Lucy Heartfilia & Lieutenant Commander Marc Kitchner M.D. & Lieutenant Thraxina & Lieutenant Azrel Vox & Lieutenant Michael Slatterly & Cadet Freshman Grade Poppy Koppelman
Edited on on Sun Apr 30th, 2023 @ 8:27pm

1,458 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Mission 3: The Peace Ship
Location: Bridge; Sickbay
Timeline: M3 MD02 - 0900

After touring the Science labs earlier that morning, Lucy made her way back upto the bridge. The Midway was now well en route to Nimbus Three and had been at steady warp all night. There wasn't really much to do apart from the usual tedious routines that all Starfleet personnel had to do.

It seemed as if Captain Faust was yet to arrive that morning. It wasn't surprising, he wasn't needed on the bridge at this time. He could be where ever he wanted to be. The blonde first officer looked around the bridge, mentally noting who was where. She couldn't help but wonder if Cadet Koppelman had acted upon her 'advice' from last night.

She made her way to the center chair and lowered herself into it. The bridge was unusually quiet, the only sound was that of the ship's instruments and toggles of switches.

"Helm. Status report?" She asked.

"Status normal, Commander, cruising at Warp 7. Journey to Nimbus III on schedule." Thraxina replied in her usual calm 'on duty' voice and without taking her eyes off the viewscreen and her multicoloured helm control panel.

The turbolift doors swished open and the clomping sound of slightly too large regulation fleet knee boots could be heard stumbling into the saucer. Thraxina didn't need to turn around to know it was the loathsome Koppelman.

The clomping stopped for a second as poppy realised that instead of the expected, supportive, dreamy Captain Faust, it was the dreaded Commander Heartfilia in the 'big chair'. Well, she couldn't really go back now, she had to clomp on, rounding the commander's seat and presenting the blonde figure of authority with an electronic clipboard.

"P... please Ma'am. I found in regulations that an officer acting as an aide to a civilian official is sometimes granted to do so out of uniform..."

"Oh dear, not totally naked, I hope." muttered Thraxina out in front of them.

Poppy tried to ignore her. "I... I drew up a request but it has to be signed off by a senior officer... I..." she proffered forth the clipboard and stylus: not sure if this actually supported or went dead against the 'not disgracing the uniform' telling off the Commander had humiliatingly given her last night at the fancy Ambassador's dinner.

Lucy took the clipboard without expression. Her eyes moved from left to right quickly as she read through the request. She unslotted the stylus pen from its slot and began to squiggle on the board, but not her signature, it was far too long for that. Instead it seemed that Lucy was adding something to the request.

In other notes, she had written. The following. 'As aide to the Ambassador, I will not be afraid to say 'no' to unreasonable requests. I will also only be available during my duty shift times, when not needed by my senior officers. This assignment will not reflect on my Starfleet Academy grading, assessment report written by Commander Heartfilia and is experience only, nor will this assignment interfere with my academic responsibilities to the Starship Midway or Starfleet Academy'.

Lucy stopped writing and handed it back. Without verbally saying so she looked at Poppy as if to say 'If you accept these extra conditions, I might sign it'.

It took Poppy a good second to read and then reread this: on one hand, it was embarrassing to have to have her duties outlined and reiterated like this, there was an implicit indication that she was likely to forget her duties and run off with the Ambassador. There were also some dark undertones to the part about saying 'no' to 'unreasonable requests, which made her shift in her place a little.

On the other hand... it was a 'yes'!

"Oh, thank you for reminding me of my duties, Ma'am. Of course I agree!" she sucked up before giving the Commander the clipboard back for her 'John Hancock'.

Lucy squiggled her signature and passed it back. "Man the science console," Lucy told her, indicating to her right where her usual station would be. "You can log that request into the computer using the library interface from there."

"Yes Ma'am!" Poppy replied with alacrity, half pleased that the Commander ordered her around like any other member of the crew, no special treatment for being a beginner: but also half horrified to be put, for the first time ever, in a position where any mistake she made could have catastrophic consequences.

Luckily, the First Officer had better things to think about than watching her as she gingerly tried to make the simple entry without launching a photon torpedo or accidentally declaring war on the Tholian Assembly.

"How long until we arrive at Nimbus?" Lucy asked once again turning her attention back to the helm. "Ideally, I want our 'guest' off this ship as fast as possible..." she let out a sigh.

Lt. Thraxina turned and looked at the woman in the skipper's chair; a stirring role model for all women crewmember's on the ship.

"It's still two days, Ma'am." she smiled. She herself rather thought the Ambassador was a bit of a laugh, and had quite enjoyed the bit where he'd clicked his fingers at creep Koppelman which had so ironically led to her telling off.

"I can hardly wait to be rid of him," Lieutenant Miyake muttered with an air of sarcasm.

"From what I heard I'm glad I'm not a senior officer," Ivy commented from her console. Gossip of course has flooded the ship by now. The Commander and the Ambassador sparing over a trivial matter was certainly the butt of the joke at breakfast. Still she wasn't about to share any of them. Not with the Commander around anyway.

John looked up as he completed his analysis of the star charts. He looked at Thraxina and grinned, "We shouldn't hit anything too big unless there's a meteor shower not on the charts. Actually, I've got the course adjusted to miss all of the planet's gravitational pull, and have us on the fastest, most direct route possible, Ma'am."

Best to see what he could get away with early on. A bit of humor along the way might not be a bad thing. As opposed to last evening

Lucy couldn't help but sigh. "I guess We'll have to endure two more days of 'Ferry service'" she said. "It's not like we're a Constitution Class Starship or anything... The pride class of Starfleet." She returned her gaze to the viewscreen, watching the state zoom past the ship.

Koppelman had finished logging in the request for her to serve Talbot in her civvie togs and was now peering inquisitively into the science station's scanning scope. Without thinking, she heard herself say "A Representative of St. John Talbot's standing deserves the prestige of the best the fleet can offer!"

She popped her head back up and turned to Heartfilia "Oh, begging your pardon, Ma'am!"

Hearing the First Officer decrying the use of the ship being used to ferry diplomats, which he agreed with wholeheartedly, John offered; "The meter's running Ma'am."

[Sickbay]

In sickbay, it was Slatterly's shift. All was quiet. There were, currently, no patients for him to treat. So, to pass the time, he read, one of the actual books he brought with when he transferred to the ship. He had heard some talk about there being an ambassador and their aide on board the ship. Were they going to a conference? Peace talks somewhere? Or were they just joy riding on a starship?
Such is life aboard a starship.

Kitchener and Swiss stepped into the main area. "You're kidding me Doctor, you have to be kidding me." Swiss said laughing.

"Not at all." Marc said grinning. "I promise you that's what happened." Danielle Switalski laughed as she walked away.

"Morning Doctor Slattery." Danielle said still chuckling to herself.

"Good morning, Danielle. What seems to be the problem?" Slatterly asked.

"Oh nothing, Dr. Kitchner was just telling me about the strangest thing he'd ever seen in his time." Swiss said still slightly laughing. Excuse me."

Marc stepped over to the main terminal and logged himself in. "Apparently a young man was in a vehicle accident and one of the engines parts called a piston lodged itself in his back. According to the old style x-ray image anyway. The part had to be surgically removed obviously. The funny part was a caption on the film read, 'Piston packing Pete'." Marc chuckled at it. "All these years and I still get a laugh at that."

"I have a good sense of humor, doctor, but to find humor in the injuries of another human baffles me, sir." Slatterly responded. Slatterly went back to reading his medical journals.

 

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