Restless Captain Syndrome

Posted on Wednesday, 19 August 2020 - 12:44pm by Captain Barret Stillwater & Lieutenant Alex Kingsley & Lieutenant JG Adrianna Eberhardt & Petty Officer 1st Class Siana Ilian

Mission: Operation: Dreamweaver
Location: USS Standing Bear | Deck 01 | Bridge
Timeline: MD 1

Having left his husband asleep in their quarters albeit questionable if Talarn was actually asleep. Even after years of serving together and their subsequent relationship, Barret Stillwater still had trouble knowing whether Talarn was 'asleep' or 'resting' his eyes as the Cardassian ex-Borg would sometimes say if Barret accused him of nodding off. Nevertheless, Talarn did not stir when Barret left the bed and tossed on a uniform before leaving their quarters. Along the way, Commander Stillwater made a detour to a replicator and ordered himself a coffee; a dark roast with a good burnt aroma. He took the turbolift up to the Bridge on deck one.

It was a few hours before the "Night Watch" would be relieved and the bridge crew would transition over. Stillwater had no intention on starting his shift early. He simply was 'out for a stroll' and a bit agitated that yet again he had another restless night. This was about the third consecutive night he did not make it through soundly asleep. He caught a wink or few. It was enough for him to function. He had planned on checking in with the officer on watch for the night watch and then retreat into his Ready Room for the next few hours.

When the doors of the turbolift opened and Stillwater exited the lift, young officers and enlisted personnel manning their stations looked at him. It was a rare sighting for some of them to see the Captain on the Bridge. Their swift had usually ended and relief had come to relieve them before Stillwater showed up. "At ease gentlemen," he said dismissively to them, encouraging them to just ignore his presence and continue their duties. Stillwater could see on the main viewscreen that the USS Standing Bear had made it to the globular cluster of stars.

The officer on watch tonight was the Standing Bear's Chief Science Officer. The OOW tended to rotate among the Department Heads and from time to time an Assistant Chief would volunteer themselves for it. "Lieutenant Kingsley," he said greeting the woman. "I see we have arrived at our destination. Have we launched a class one probe yet?" inquired the Commanding Officer.

While technically in command of the bridge, the ship's Chief Science Officer was presently at her customary post. For one, it was an ungodly hour and for an other it allowed her to oversee not just the preparations for launching the probe but to monitor the performance of the newly enhanced sensors beyond routine diagnostics. It was nothing to do with her aversion to occupying the 'big chair'. Honestly...

"Good morning, Sir," the science officer replied as she turned to face him, wondering if he suspected just how badly she had needed the distraction of this mission when he first brought it up. She had followed Soral's lead, working extended hours to test the new systems, studying the scientific archives and of course fulfilling her regular duties. "We are just launching now... Would you care to give the order?"

Commander Stillwater raised his coffee mug "Cheers," he said with a chuckle. "It is a morning that is for sure" he added. "Pretend I'm not here. Your watch isn't over for a few hours, Captain Kingsley" he jested. "Have the honor."

“Captain Kingsley could order you not to call her captain,” the science officer pointed out as she began imputing commands. “Helm, continue to hold this position. Launching probe ... now.”

Touching a control to initiate the launch, her gaze shifted to the viewscreen as the probe came into view, moving swiftly towards the designated coordinates. “That is as exciting as the graveyard shift should ever get,” Alex decided as she turned back to Stillwater, “I can let you know as soon as we have data to work with, we should start receiving tangible data in about half an hour. I hope the view was worth the trip?”

Stillwater sighed "It is a lovely view, but I would have given it up for a few more hours of sleep to be frank. The sight of stars and probe launching does not cause me to lick my command chops" countered Stillwater. "The graveyard shift is usually calm, but don't let that fool you. Anything can happen at any time."

“I hope you didn’t just jinx us,” Alex sighed.

Before Stillwater left to retreat to his Ready Room, he saw the woman at the Intelligence station. He had conducted an away mission with her a while back. "Baciami!" he said calling her attention. "You went to Ba'ku for shore leave. How was it? I have been thinking about going myself."

Adrianna looked to Stillwater having been knocked out of her trance of reading and smiled, "beautiful. Well worth a trip, sir. Nothing for miles and nothing to do but feel peace."

"Sounds peaceful," he replied to Adrianna. He turned to head into his Ready Room when something had triggered the sensors to start swearing up a storm and, he quickly turned on his heels. "That; however, does not sound peaceful" he added and looked at Lieutenant Kingsley. "There goes your quiet graveyard shift, Captain Kingsley" he added with a smirk.

Lieutenant JG Lavianna Vadoma was at the tactical station directly behind the command pit, her console on the horseshoe that wrapped around the Captain and First Officer's seats. "Sirs," she said uncertain who to report to...Stillwater or Kingsley. "There's a vessel approaching our stern. They've dropped out of warp and are advancing on our position at impulse" she reported swiftly.

Stillwater lifted his hands dismissively. "You have the bridge, Lieutenant," he said to Kingsley. "I'll be in my Ready Room if you need me" he added with an extra emphasis on the 'if' in his wording. His tone had said it all. Kingsley had command of the watch and he trusted her to deal with it.

"On screen, raise shields," the scientist ordered as she opted for a more cautious approach until she knew more about the unexpected arrival. "Any communication from them?"

The starship appeared on the screen. "No response to hails. They are charging weapons..." Vadoma reported. There a was a match in the Federation database, shedding some light on the vessel's identity. "It's a science vessel" announced the tactical officer.

The viewer showed the science vessel firing a torpedo that shot past the side of the Standing Bear. "That was no warning shot. They destroyed our probe."

"Lock weapons, hail them again, perhaps that will make them a little more talkative and a little less blowing up a probe you spent an hour calibrating," Kingsley lamented as she fixed the ship on screen with an icy glare. A science ship too! They should know better. "Can you ID the ship Lieutenant?"

"The design of the vessel matched that of a Vomnin science vessel. I've locked phasers" she added. "We are not near their space" noted Vadoma. "I don't know much about them, this may be where I pass the torch to Intelligence."

"From memory they are similar to us- keen to explore," Adrianna replied, "that said, they learn and develop from whatever they find. I think the word may be scavengers or salvagers."

With that the tactical officer cleared her throat. "They have responded and are requesting to speak with us... immediately" stated Lieutenant Vadoma.

“On screen,” Alex said as she summoned all of her inner calm and confidence. Vomnin..? Why were they here? Why destroy a probe? Hopefully questions she could get them to answer.

Soon, a dimly illuminated Bridge appeared on the screen. The outline of several bodies at stations, but the Bridge was too dark to make out their facial features. A green glow soon illuminated the bridge of the Vomnin vessel and a large gorilla like face, flattened with dark sunken eyes flashed their teeth as their lips pulled back.

The gorilla like individual, seemingly in command leapt from a perched position and walked with his knuckles to the decking. "Kolton of the Vomnin 5th Expeditionary Division, Commander of this research vessel explain your infringements."

“Lieutenant Kingsley of the USS Standing Bear,” Alex replied calmly. She had no idea what he was referring to so quickly suggested, “perhaps you could clarify what we have infringed upon? And why it was necessary to destroy a scientific probe?”

She didn’t feel it appropriate to reveal she had given the probes names just like her lab samples. She had to stop doing that. It was becoming a bad omen.

"Because we could," replied the Vomnin male.

Another Vomnin with softer features stepped forward. An exchange of grunts and a form of sign language between the two Vomnin occurred. The male stepped back, a female forward. "Lieutenant Kingsley, I am Dr. Zera, science officer like yourself I imagine?" Her voice was softer. "I apologize for destroying your probe. We have been here for four weeks running our own scans, launching our own probes, and we have made some truly remarkable discoveries. Commander Kolton gave the order to destroy your probe because he is my husband. My career rests on the discoveries I have made in the past few weeks. He did not want anyone else making the same discoveries and presenting it before I could to our Science Ministry."

Having feared this was only going to escalate following the 'because we could' retort, Alex was relieved when Dr Zera interjected. She was still not overly thrilled at the decision to destroy a probe without so much as a discussion first. "I can appreciate a wish to protect a discovery," Kingsley conceded. "In the interests of being open, we have been ordered to study this region and we will carry out our mission... However, I would prefer us to work together if possible. Perhaps we could discuss in person?"

Dr. Zera looked over her shoulder, getting approval from someone... likely her husband, but a hands gesture she made could have been universally dismissive of what he said. "I concur, there is no reason why we cannot work together. We could share our findings and if there is overlap, together we shall present to our respective governmental authorities."

Zera's expression was somewhat revealing of a smile. "I can come to your starship, but I need a guard with me. It's protocol. There are dangers out here that you should know about."

"Then we absolutely do need to speak," Alex frowned. She hoped Stillwater wasn't going to be too upset at his do not disturb time being, well, disturbed... "Whenever is most convenient for you, we can be ready."

"We will contact you in a few hours," replied the scientist. "Feel free to explore a bit, but don't go too far and please be careful" added the Vomnin.

"Thank you. Standing Bear out," Kingsley responded, glancing over her shoulder and nodding to Vadoma to close the link.

Lieutenant Vadoma closed the channel. "Well, they were... interesting" commented the tactical officer. "Return to green alert, ma'am?" she asked before doing so automatically.

"Yes, I don't think they are going to be shooting at us anytime soon," Alex confirmed with a frown. "That was my favourite probe too... I guess I better go fill in the boss."

Lieutenant Vadoma nodded. "I'll hold down the fort until you return" she offered. Kingsley would be in the Ready Room with the Captain, Laviana Vadoma would be fine taking over. The situation had calmed and the ship was returned to green alert status.