Setting the Board

Posted on 05 Sep 2019 @ 2:12pm by Lieutenant JG Charles Carmichael & Lieutenant Commander Arjin Djinx & Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler & Lieutenant JG Damian Akorem & Ensign Kelly Khan

1,668 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Truth and Justice
Location: Bridge
Timeline: MD 15 || 1400 hours

The pulsing hum of the turbolift in motion was enough to lure anyone to sleep. Thankfully, today Charles was immune to the sound. At least, the entity controlling Lieutenant Charles Carmichael was.

Charles himself was very much awake. His mental energy had been rather null for the last couple of months, especially since he'd found himself helpless to counter the piece of tissue that had wrapped itself around his brain stem. The cartographer had watched as someone used his voice and his memories to quietly roam around the ship, preparing the Black Hawk and its crew to forever become hosts of the Dolmoqour. Much like the Borg, resistance was futile.

The entity, however, cared little for Charles. Charles was nothing more than a vessel to him, ready to be disposed of as soon as this was over, just like Commander Yuki of the Vasco da Gama and the other Starfleet officers and Selubassari it had inhabited before them. The entity had already set his eyes on Captain Geisler, ready to spring that trap as soon as the opportunity had presented itself. The Captain's wife and children were also disposable.

All that mattered was rescuing his brethren.

All that mattered was Dolmoqour.

The turbolift slowed to a stop, reminding Charles that he was still playing the part of a pawn aboard the Starfleet vessel. Soon he would be promoted; he just had to be patient.

He stepped out onto the bridge, noting that Captain Geisler and Commander Teixeira was nowhere to be seen. Left alone to command the mighty vessel was the Captain's wife. She was not his objective for now. Instead, Charles raised a padd he was carrying and crossed the bridge to the science station to hand it to the Chief Science Officer. "How's it going?" he asked aloud, purposely being nosy, much like any other member of the crew would be.

Joey turned her attention toward Carmichael when he made his way onto the bridge. There were so many ways she could answer his question, but she was a true advocate for honesty. "Well, I can't see my feet or put my own shoes on. There are two babies settled firmly on my bladder, so if I laugh or sneeze, I always seem to pee a little. And, let's not forget the fact that I get winded making short trips anywhere," she said. Perhaps, it was a little too much information, but he asked. "Given all of that, I'd say things are going great. How are things going with you?"

"I..." Charles began to say, only to stammer because he was caught off guard by that unexpected reply. Human reproduction disgusted him. Carrying one lifeform inside another and pushing it out in a sea of blood and other fluids... the whole thought was repulsive. He preferred a traditional, simpler way: mitosis. But, that was not something he could talk about now. "Commander," Charles swiftly said, turning to the Chief Science Officer. "I have additional data collected on the planet and the minefield for you to review."

While Charles waited on the Chief Science Officer to comment on the data he presented, Charles looked around the bridge again, this time pausing when he saw the half-Bajoran at the Ops station. Carmichael frowned. After the conversation in the mess hall from the other day, Charles wondered if Damian noticed anything out of the ordinary with his former crewmate. Perhaps Charles needed to make the Lieutenant a target for conversion quickly, or otherwise remove Akorem from the equation.

"Hi Charles," Damian said aloud. "What brings you to the bridge today?" He asked hesitantly. His last conversation with him had not gone so great. And there was definitely something still... off about the man who he had served with on the Vasco da Gama.

"Damian," Charles greeted with a nearly steel tone. "Reports, Lieutenant. That's what brings me to the bridge today."

"Sounds thrilling, Lieutenant." He emphasised the rank, his tone otherwise was coarse. He clearly didn't enjoy talking to Charles anymore.

Kelly had turned and listened when Joey started talking about her lack of control over bodily functions while pregnant and vowed that if the one called Quinn got her host pregnant, she would happily throw her host down the nearest turbolift shaft.

The brunette Ensign turned her attention to Damian next to her and watched the interaction between him and Carmichael and while the person screaming to be let out, the Dolmoquor didn't like how the other being at Ops was acting. She yawned, then reached over and smacked the hybrid alien on the cheek.

Damian sat at his station, wondering what had just happened. He went to open his mouth but stopped.

Charles chuckled to himself, relishing in his associate's surprise action before starting to turn and look at the different readouts on the nearby stations. If Djinx was going to take his time reviewing the report, then Charles was going to take his time learning what all he could.

Arjin was watching the conversation with increasing disbelieve. How's it going? All the other loose chit chat before coming to the point. That was not how he expexted his department crew to act. Let alone one of his officers. He turned to face the Lieutenant, a frown on his face. But decided he would say something to the man in a more private conversation.
"You can transfer the data to my station.", he said towards Carmichael. "I will take a detailed look at it later. For now, give me a runthrough of the most important facts we will need to know."

Charles took the padd back and tapped a couple keys to send the information to the Trill's station. "As you know," Charles told the Lieutenant Commander, "Penduil V is surrounded in all directions by these self-replicating mines, starting as soon as thirty kilometers above the planet surface, and stretching for several hundred thousand kilometers, just a bit further than a distance equivalent to Earth's lunar orbit. The duenetic field is directed solely at the planet, but the generators can be turned before the field corrects itself. Not far from the planet though are some pockets of subspace anomalies, likely leftovers from this Great Conflict we've all heard about. In fact, these pockets are very common behind this planet. It's almost as if subspace weapons were once used. That'd be a dangerous place to navigate if we had to."

"Dangerous, but not impossible for us.", Arjin commented. "Continue.", he added.

"Well, that's just it," Charles stammered. "I can't see anything beyond those subspace tears. What I can see of the tears, however, I recognize some of those energy signatures as that in the zone's barrier. I'm willing to bet that the barrier's artificially created using a series of subspace weapons."

"We're staying right where we are until there's a reason not to, and given that we're making first contact with the Scruna isn't a reason for us to have to navigate through a minefield," Joey stated from the center chair before her eyes landed on Kelly. "Ensign Khan... is there any particular reason why you've decided to put your hands on a superior officer unprovoked? Anyone with eyes can see it was intentional. There was plenty of room for you to stretch without making physical contact with Lieutenant Akorem."

"Thought I saw a Garanian bolite on him, Lieutenant. Sorry. Won't happen again," Kelly said.

Arjin had not seen the incident. But the acting Captain was correct. That would have been an inadmissible act. It was not his place to respond to the strange excuse, so he turned his attention back towards Lt. Carmichael. "You had info on the planet also?"

"Limited information, unfortunately," Charles confirmed. Though much of his time was spent lying through his teeth to the ship's compliment, this was a rare occurrence where he was indeed being truthful. "Sensors are having a rough time fully penetrating the atmosphere and the planet's surface. What I have been able to find is an abundance of radiation all around the planet, ranging from residual to high-concentrated pockets. Looks like the planet was bombarded centuries ago with destructive and radioactive weaponry. Whatever the Captain's looking for, you can bet it's either here, or behind those pockets of subspace anomalies."

"So someone in the past definately had a grudge against whomever was living here. Maybe the visitors the away team has brought with them will have answers.", he stated. "Was there anything else Lieutenant? Or any recomendations?"

Charles shook his head. "I'm afraid I have nothing to offer. Either yourself or the Captain will have to figure that out, sir."

"I'm sure you did, Ensign," Joey said not believing a single word that came out of Kelly's mouth. She turned her attention to Damian. "Lieutenant, would you like to press any formal charges against Ensign Khan?"

"I'm sure the Ensign meant well, trying to remove the bug." He answered, barely containing the derision in his voice. "No, thank you, Lieutenant. Not at this time."

You just saved yourself, Bajoran, Charles thought, waiting for his superior to sign off on the report or otherwise dismiss him. For now anyway.

"Then dismissed Lieutenant. I want you to focus your efforts on those subspace anomalies and prepare a model in astrometrics with what we have so far.", Arjin concluded before turning his focus to his work on the bridge.

Charles fought an involuntary grimace. He had hoped to remain on the bridge for the events that would soon follow. Instead, that would now be left to Ensign Khan, assuming that she was indeed ready to handle things alone. But, if he was supposed to be down in Astrometrics, Charles could keep close to the bridge. Well, after he checked in once more with Ensign Quinn.

"Aye, sir," Charles responded to his senior officer. He then turned around, entered the nearest turbolift and disappeared. He hated waiting. Hopefully, he would not be waiting much longer.

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