Checkmate

Posted on 18 Apr 2019 @ 6:11pm by Lieutenant JG Charles Carmichael & Ensign Quinn Mackie

935 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: The Kalisa Conundrum
Location: Rec Room 5
Timeline: MD 2 || 0200 hours

It was truly remarkable how quiet the ship was. Quinn sat alone in the deserted recreation room, still in his uniform stained by dust, decaying organic cells, and engine grease. He believed the day to be quite remarkable, and while his body found itself tired, his mind was anything but. He purposely chose not to return to his quarters; not to wake his girlfriend, but because there was something he had to do.

From what little he heard from the crew working the graveyard shift, the ship had been through quite the ordeal while the Away Team was off spelunking. Cosmozoans. Bacteria. Memory Loss. Seemed like yet another recipe for a classic Black Hawk adventure. Quinn… Quinn just had a corpse fall on him and dug around in a dusty archive.

He wouldn’t have had it any other way. Quinn might have been jumpy to the rest of the Away Team, but it was all by design. Since Deep Space 15, he had had a different mission than the Captain and the rest of the crew. For now, he, like others on board, were purposely keeping their heads down, waiting for the proper moment.

The rec room’s doors parted, allowing a figure to enter the dark room. Quinn, who was sitting at a table where a 3-D chess board had been left set up, looked up in hopes to recognize the figure, an effort rendered fruitless as the light from the corridor overpowered the dim rec room lighting and obscured the arrival’s face. It wasn’t until the figure sat down at Quinn’s table where the table’s own lighting illuminated the face.

“You were supposed to be here an hour ago,” Charles stated, reaching for a pawn to start the game.

“I had to stow my gear,” Quinn replied, waiting to open with moving the queen’s knight. “Appearances and all.”

Carmichael nodded, moving another pawn. “You appear to have had quite the day. Seems the archive was abandoned longer than we thought.”

“It wasn’t abandoned.” The ensign made a move of his own. “We found a Boreriri and a Triosian, both left over from an attempt to raid the archive. By the time they gained control, they were shipless.”

Charles raised an eyebrow. “They’re here? Locals are here?”

Quinn nodded. “Not just any locals. We know where they are from, and I bet the Captain will be setting a course there as soon as the ship is stabilized.”

Charles leaned forward, and remained silent while processing this information. “It seems we are approaching the endgame quicker than we thought. Even with our new allies, we are not ready.”

“If we rehabilitate our new friends,” Quinn suggested, moving one of the two upper platforms of the chessboard, “we should be able to gain access to more areas than just Operations and Science.”

Charles ignored the board, looked Quinn in his eyes. “We have an in with Security now. Seems our following grew larger than we thought during the crisis in the nebula.”

“Still not enough.” Quinn leaned forward as well, not because he needed to, but because habit dictated it. “I have an opportunity to get us a presence on the bridge, specifically the helm. I can double my efforts with the computer too.”

“This is Geisler we’re talking about too,” Charles countered. “No one on this ship knows him like I do. You didn’t see him at Altair, or the original Razmena. His curiosity will be his downfall. All we have to do is make sure he fires that probe. Once that’s done, we get rid of him. All that matters is the ship.”

“And this ship can now move freely past the security barrier. I’m not talking about the energy barrier, but the weapons platforms.” Quinn picked up a bishop from the board and began to spin the piece slowly with his fingers. “Parks acquired a set of bands at Alpha Trios. She kept that quiet at the time, only pulled them out for this mission.”

Carmichael frowned at the complication. With those bands, she could not be converted, nor could any future bearer. “Then we make sure she doesn’t learn the truth, or question orders. Okay then. You get us a presence on the bridge. I’ll renew my ties with Geisler and try to nudge him along when possible. As for the locals, we leave them alone. Di Pasquale’s probably watching them closely already. Even death would be suspicious. We keep them in the dark for now, aside from what the Boreriri can glean from your mind. He knows who you are, yes?”

Quinn nodded, placing the bishop back on the board, this time in a new place.

“Good. Knowing the Captain, we just have to make sure a team makes it to the surface. From there, taking the ship should be easy. And, when we have the ship, we’ll have the Gamma Quadrant. At last, justice will be served.”

The ensign smiled. “It is very early in the morning. I need to get some sleep before the shift starts. And I’m sure you do to.”

Charles sat in silence as Ensign Mackie rose and left the room. Alone in the Rec Room, he shifted his attention to the board as his mind ran through the various scenarios he saw for the days to come. Every single one came to the same conclusion. No variations, no variances. Even accounting for abnormalities, one outcome was clear. He moved three pieces on the board and smiled.

“Checkmate.”

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