Keeping It Brief

Posted on 05 Oct 2016 @ 8:07am by Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler & Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale

1,628 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Click Three Times
Location: Security
Timeline: MD 8 || 1500 Hours

Camila left Operations and stopped in the corridor outside of it to rest against the wall for a minute. She and everyone else had been running ragged since they had found themselves in an alternate reality, if that's what this was, and no one had really had a chance to calm down. Even sleep interrupted with nightmares, minds filled with thoughts and combadges sounding off at all hours on all shifts. All the Acting Executive Officer wanted to do was close her eyes for a moment and try to get her thoughts together, but she pushed off the wall and tapped her combadge.

=^=Di Pasquale to Corwin. I need to meet with you.=^=

=^=Acknowledged, Lieutenant. What's your location? I'll come to you.=^= Joey said, rising to get feet. Like most of the people on the ship, she'd been spending her time in meetings with people and making preparations for what she hoped would be a successful mission to Razmena. Without something to go on, they'd never find their people, and that just wasn't okay with her. As she made her way out of the office, she found herself wondering if anyone would look the other way if she chose to torture someone to get what they needed. Of course, that was only if the bartering idea didn't work out first.

=^=I'm in a corridor on deck five,=^= Camila said and shook her head. =^=I'd rather meet you in my...your...office in five. I need to brief you on the mission.=^=

Joey frowned. She could tell in Camila's voice that she was already running herself ragged, and she hoped like hell that Lieutenant Abrams didn't find out about it. But... in times of crisis, it was all hands on deck no matter how crappy an individual felt. =^=Okay. I'll see you shortly.=^= She tapped her combadge to end the transmission, then moved over to the replicator to get Camila's drink of choice and have it waiting for her when she arrived.

Camila tapped her combadge again and looked at her biomonitor. It was close to sending an alert to Doctor Abrams, but close only counted when you nearly died, which she nearly did. She sighed and headed down the corridor to the nearest turbolift and requested deck four. Once she arrived, she headed down the familiar corridor to where her office had been that Joey was now in charge of and entered.

"Is that Raktajino I smell or did I forget to leave the office and didn't tell myself?" she asked as she sniffed upon entering Joey's office.

"It is Raktajino you smell. I didn't have your stein, so it's in a regular cup this time," Corwin said, gesturing for Camila to sit down, then made her way to sit down, too. "So, what's the latest?"

"Thank you," Camila said as she took the cup and sat in the offered chair. "I just got out of a meeting with Captain Geisler about Razmena." She took a grateful drink of the strong Klingon coffee. "Sadly, there's little information about the place. It's about the size of Deep Space Nine, has docking bays instead of ports, and enough armament to stop a raid. The place has a booming marketplace where you can get anything and everything for the right price, but we don't know what currency they use and they don't accept credits or latinum."

"That's reassuring," Joey said sarcastically. "If they don't accept credits or latinum, we're going to have to find something they will take. Did either one of you come up with any ideas?"

"I already suggested that we take the things we salvaged from the Chimera which hasn't already been used for parts or replicator matter," Camila said and took another drink of her coffee. "The Captain approved it and the Mississippi is being outfitted with cargo pods."

"Smart. I'll give it some thought and see if I can think of anything else that might be useful. Here's hoping they aren't attracted to human women," she told Camila, only half joking.

"Actually, an attempt was made to take them hostage while on the station," Camila said. "Commander Kos used to be the Executive Officer on this ship and she was there at the time."

Joey raised a hand. She wasn't sure she heard Camila correctly. "They attempted to take the away team hostage?" she asked as the wheels in her head started to turn. If that was the case, she needed to figure out a way to keep that from happening again without the use of force. Though, it seemed like force would be about the only way that was going to happen... combined with a lot of running and dodging.

"That is correct, Lieutenant," Camila said after taking another drink of her coffee. "They were transported out before that could happen. I suggested armored clothing to Captain Geisler as well as non-Federation weapons of which we have a small supply of in the armory that's been taken from various crewmen and he approved that as well as personal transporter armbands in case of emergency."

"I've got an arsenal of non-Federation weapons I don't mind loaning out for the cause, either. They all vary, too, and if these people have never seen humans before, then I can guarantee they've never seen anything like what I've got," Corwin said, looking thoughtful. "Taking those as well might not be such a bad idea. If for some reason we can't get out of there fast enough if things go south, at least we'll have a fighting chance against them until we can."

"We will also have the armored clothing in a few hours and have to test it out before Lieutenant Marion in Operations can work out any bugs, but if testing works, it should be able to protect from projectile and energy weapons," Camila said. "We'll start our testing and training tomorrow morning, most likely. Since you're now the Chief of Security, I'll let you handle the details on that. I want to train Captain Geisler on my firearm personally, though."

"Understandable, and the testing should go through human trials before anyone should be allowed to wear them. I volunteer to be the guinea pig," Corwin said. "I've already chosen the personnel from Security that will be going. Gutierrez, Hollingsworth, Thatcher and Miller. I think they'll do us proud, and if they don't, there will be hell to pay."

Camila shook her head and finished her coffee. "No," she said. "We can put the clothing on mechs and test it out that way. The ones we have may be programmed for martial arts, but we can drape the clothing on them and get the same results and no one gets hurt."

"I don't trust that, but the only choice I have is to accept hat you've said and move forward," the brunette woman said. "Are you going to be present for testing? Regardless, I'd like to be there."

"You're the Chief of Security," Camila said. "I hope you'll be there. I'll be there to teach Captain Geisler how to use Bertha. She has a nasty kick and I haven't found a mod for her yet that will suppress the blowback."

Joey nodded her head. "You mentioned that already," she said. "I have to wonder how many people have ever seen weapons like mine, much less held them. They're in pristine condition, too, so there's no chance for error unless it comes from the user. Training should definitely be interesting."

"I apologize, Joey," Camila said. "I'm tired and I may repeat myself. I've talked to so many people and read so many reports today that I'm not even sure what my next appointment is. Then again, Captain Geisler did say paperwork was evil." She paused and tilted her head. "Although, I would think that it would be called PADDwork because no one uses paper." She shook her head. "Regardless, it is evil. At any rate, the training is going to be tomorrow morning, so break out the firearms from the armory."

"There's no need to apologize, Camila. You've been pushing yourself when you're supposed to be on light duty, and I understand. As soon as you're able to, though, you should get some rest," Joey stated. "You look like you could use it. As for the firearms, I'll make sure they're there before everyone else arrives. Bertha will be there waiting for you, too."

Camila gave her a wan smile. "I'll be there as long as I have a PADD to remind me. Now I know why CO's and XO's have yeomans to remind them of what needs done and when." She came to her feet. "Thanks for the coffee, Joey."

"You're welcome, Camila, and the offer to help you out if you need it still stands," she said.

"I know and I appreciate it, Joey," Camila said. "I just have to keep pushing for now. In fact, I have another meeting with Operations. I forgot to have Lieutenant Marion prepare some probes that he wanted sent out to check for nearby planets."

"I'll let you get to that, then. Take care of yourself, Camila. I mean that," Joey stated, her tone soft since she was speaking to a friend. The last thing she wanted was her temporary XO landing herself back in sickbay for overdoing it, or Doctor Abrams going after Harvey because he put her in that position. She so wasn't kidding when she said she'd kick the overly large man in the shins... all she needed was a reason, and that would be a good one as far as she was concerned.

"You too, Joey," Camila said as she took up her PADD once more and headed out for yet another meeting.

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