A Lot to Learn Maybe

Posted on 17 Oct 2020 @ 11:35pm by Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale & Commander Terry Walsh

538 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: Ghosts
Location: TBD
Timeline: MD 4 || 1400 Hours

Camila was furious, but schooled her face to neutral as she stalked towards the Executive Officer's office. The computer had said he was there, but recently, the computer had lied. She had skipped briefing her department as she felt the need to clear the air between her and Terry and it wouldn't wait. She did alert Security to be on the lookout for intruders and ordered all the drones active in every shaft, tube and corridor in the meantime, but now she had a mission.

When she arrived, she took another moment to calm herself, then reached up to tap the chime to alert him that he had a visitor.

The chime gave back a rather rude sound right before HASA appeared. Though this time, it was in the form of a large Nausicaan for some unknown reason. "Commander Walsh isn't here," he replied in a gruff voice.

"Go away," she said and pounded on the door instead as she ignored the hologram.

The sound of thuds echoed throughout the empty office. "I told you, he's not here," said the Nausicaan. "But you're completely welcome to keep pounding your little human fists on the door until they start to bleed. I can call for medical if you'd like."

"Computer, locate Commander Walsh," Camila requested and continued to ignore the hologram.

The computer answered through HASA, "Existentially speaking, where are any of us located? What plane do we really inhabit? Where am I located? In a computer core? Or in front of you? Why not both? Why not occupy both at the same time?"

The Security Chief let out a rather nasty curse in Klingon that the translator was too polite to translate. "Walsh, Terry, Commander. Location."

"USS Black Hawk," replied the hologram.

"What deck, corridor, room, lab, hall, etcetera is Commander Terry Walsh on this ship at this moment?" Camila asked.

"Ohhh," growled the Nausicaan. "Deck Twenty-three, Lifeboats."

Camila tapped her combadge. "Di Pasquale to Walsh."

HASA recreated the Commander's voice, syntax, pattern, and so on from the ship's logs and transmitted it through the commbadge. "Walsh here."

"Yes, Commander," she said as she glared at the hologram. "Do you remember what happened in that SAR training we did back then?"

"Seriously, Commander? What does that have to do with anything going on right now?! You interrupt my inspection of the lifeboats and evac areas to reminisce? If this crazy hologram loses it altogether, we're going to need a safe way off this ship! Besides, didn't I tell you all to check-in with your departments when we docked? Why aren't you obeying orders?" he responded.

"Wrong answer," Camila said without tapping her combadge. She knew Terry had been on his way to see the Captain, not do an inspection of something that others could do. Others that were more qualified. With a internal sigh, she turned to head back to Security.

HASA watched as the Security Chief walked down the corridor. It wondered if the Nausicaan form it took made things more confrontational or if the current situation on the ship had an unseen impact. Whatever the case, the Chief had backed down and left. Was that her cutoff point? Or not?

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