Feeling the Burn

Posted on 28 Dec 2016 @ 6:42am by Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale & Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler

881 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Click Three Times
Location: Security
Timeline: MD 11 || 0750 Hours

Joey sat behind her desk with her face in her hands, a steaming cup of untouched coffee settled on the desk next to her. She knew she needed to start drinking it to take the edge off of the exhaustion she felt. She, like many of the crew, were beginning to feel the burn of countless hours on duty with little rest between shifts, but in their current situation, sleep was a commodity that couldn't be afforded. At least... not until the rest of their people were back safe and sound. With any luck, that wouldn't be too far into the future.

She sighed and raised her head, then reached for the cup to take a sip of the hot flavored bean water with a content sigh. Already the protocols were in place and General Quarters Four issued. This was no time to mess around or take any chances with the lives of those on the ship. By now, everyone in her department was off handling their assigned duties with the exception of her and one other individual. As a matter of fact, that very person would be arriving at her office at any moment.

"No rest for the wicked," was the first thing out of Warrant Officer 2nd Class Ricardo Gutierrez's mouth as he got the summons to come to Security. He finished checking in his phaser and power cell before he headed to the Security office to meet the Amazon brunette that had summoned him.

"You wanted to see me, Chief?"

"Yes, have a seat, Mister Gutierrez," Joey said, gesturing to a seat across from her desk. "I've already handed out assignments to everyone else... except you and Miller. I want the two of your to work together while we're going through whatever it is we're going to be encountering."

Ricardo took the seat and gave her his full attention. "What exactly do you need us to work on together, Lieutenant?" he asked her.

"I'm putting the two of you in charge of the Brig. There are a couple prisoners that will wreak havoc on the ship should they find a way to escape, and I don't trust just anyone to see to it that that doesn't happen," she replied, taking another sip of her coffee. "Not to mention there's a slight chance we may have more company joining them should anyone decide to board us." She cocked her head to the side and gave the man a slight smirk. The tone that followed was one of jest and lacked all seriousness. "I'm trusting you not to attempt to bed them."

"Don't we have Brig officers for that?" Ricardo asked. "Or is it added protection?" He gave a chuckle. "I'll have to trust in you to not take your top off in the line of duty again in that case."

"It's more of a need to have some of my trusted personnel in charge of something that could be potentially dangerous if we were to lose power again for some reason," Joey stated. "As far as taking my top off, that was to get information, which was successful, I might add."

"I'll grant you that," he said. "I was going to attempt to get information from that Founder until she started trying to wrap herself around me. I really wasn't going to try to sleep with her. As for the Brig, I'll get with Miller and we'll go over the protocols."

"That's all I can ask," the Lieutenant said. "If you run into any issues along the way, contact me."

"Will do," Ricardo said before he remembered something that had happened on the station. "Permission to speak freely, Lieutenant?"

"Granted," she said simply.

He gathered his thoughts and how he wanted to say them without offending her. "When we were in the fabric shop, I couldn't help but notice that you were a bit defensive when the Founder was making overtures towards the Captain. Your emotions were running a bit strong."

"They were, and that was very observant of you," Joey pointed out. It wasn't going to be kept secret forever, but was now really the time to make it common knowledge?

"It's not my place to say, but you might want to take better control of them at certain times," Ricardo said. "I'm part Betazoid and I can give you lessons if you want."

Joey studied the man sitting across from her. She wasn't entirely sure how she wanted to approach this particular situation. "While I appreciate your input, I'll take it into consideration. I had my reasons at the time." Just as she was about to open her mouth to speak more on the subject, red alert sounded. "You know what you need to do, just as I do."

She rose to her feet to check the phaser at her hip, then placed it back into its holster. During a red alert situation, it was her job to be with the Captain at all times as the Chief of Security, and that was exactly what she planned to do. "If you run into any problems, contact me." With that, she made her way out of her office and went to locate Captain Geisler.

"Will do, Lieutenant," Ricardo said as he got up and went to find Miller.

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