" Exasperated "
(Previous Post was Tallulah's "Break for Breakfast")
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Setting: USS ANUBIS, Turbolift on route to Deck 1
Stardate: 60325.1450
The young woman stood in the middle of the small pod as it rushed towards its destination… the ANUBIS' and MERCURY's First Officers standing next to her watching in silence as her temper grew increasingly closer to matching the crimson glow of her hair. The only non-command level officer onboard the turbolift pod, Ens. Susan Mei, the ship's Cns, had opted to remain both silent and as distant as physically possible from the CO for fear that she might actually combust into a blaze of flames.
"I can't believe that he did it again…" Sabrina offered as the young woman's exasperation boiled beyond her ability to contain it within the confines of her inner self.
Susan had been ready to respond to her training and offer a few words of comfort and maybe present the ANUBIS' CO with a few possible explanations as to the behaviour of their CEO, but the Cns quickly decided against whatever actions she had thought up. Right now it seemed to be in everyone's best interest if Sabrina was left to her own thoughts… after all the redheaded woman had been a Cns at one point in her career, so hopefully she would be able to handle the initial anger on her own.
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Setting: USS ANUBIS, Bridge
Stardate: 60325.1455
"Report!" The young woman demanded as she stepped out of the turbolift and headed directly to her chair located at the centre of the Bridge. If there had been any doubts as to the mood of the redheaded woman before her entrance onto the command deck of the ANUBIS, these had been forever dismissed as the atmosphere drastically shifted as the woman took her seat and turned to look at the Sec/Tac Officer.
"Cardassian vessels are holding positions." Ens. Doratheva reported, momentarily debating as to the potential of the greater danger having been here in the same room instead of out there in orbit with the ANUBIS.
The CO shifted her emerald eyes onto the form of the Shillian CSciO who had been at her station at the back of the Bridge. Although the redheaded woman had not said anything, the shape shifting scientist had understood the unspoken demand of the captain to have an update on the SPHINX which had been unlawfully commandeered by the ANUBIS' CEO.
"The SPHINX has safely landed on the planet along with the shuttle which departed from the ULTIMATE VICTORY. Although the ships followed a very similar approach vector they ended up landing at different ends of the compound… at least that is my educated scientific guess based on the minor differences on the vectors of the two ships as they vanished behind the natural interference barrier created by SURIAL III." Maya offered making it sound as if she could have gone on for several more minutes but having opted to cut her report short so as to not further anger their CO.
"Options?" The young woman requested of her senior officers present on the Bridge… obviously not willing to simply give in on the demands made by Gul Zulot.
"As long as the crew of the MERCURY is still imprisoned, we cannot abandon our mission… we must remain and continue to work towards their rescue and their safe return home." The giant Olthairan offered in a calm and peaceful tone. Although Elan was known for his overly pacifist ways, it was clear that he understood the meaning of family and that through their wearing of a Starfleet uniform those who had been taken from the MERCURY fell into that general category.
"Although Gul Zulot was generous in his admiration of our combat capabilities, the Cardassian do have us at a clear disadvantage. The ULTIMATE VICTORY possesses enough firepower to send us back to NEW ALEXANDRIA in a trail of detached pieces… combined with whatever firepower the other 2 ships have, we are clearly on the wrong side of this confrontation." The Sec/Tac officer announced as she glanced down at her instruments, not at all happy about the defensive position the ANUBIS and her crew had been forced into.
"Are you suggesting that we retreat?" The young woman inquired as she turned back to look at the ensign the fire reflecting in the emerald eyes of the CO dismissing that option as a possibility whether or not the Sec/Tac officer had meant it to be that.
"I doubt that Ens. Eva is suggesting that we retreat… but finding a way to regain the upper hand, if that is at all possible, does seem to be a high priority." The ANUBIS' ExO offered as she slide behind her station reacquainting herself with the tactical situation of the ship and its systems.
"Captain… the orbital platforms." The CSciO offered as she almost appeared fearful for her life for having said what she had.
"What about them? I thought you said that they had been taken off-line?" The young woman snapped, suddenly imagining that the situation had gone from bad to worse and that this would prove to be the end of the mighty ANUBIS and its crew.
"The orbital defence platforms are as they have been… I was just mentioning them as a possible means to turn the situation back in out favour. According to Ensign Doratheva the ANUBIS is currently out gunned and since there is little to no chance that we will be receiving any sort of assistance from other ships, the only other option available to us is to enlist our own additional support. Since the virus created by Ensign Summers and myself has effectively taken control of the orbital platforms it could be possible that a few additional modifications be introduced to give us complete control of the weapons systems onboard those satellites." The CSciO said just as the ILO stepped onto the Bridge, the expression on the face of Enaii speaking volumes. Obviously she had heard about the latest escapade of the ANUBIS' CEO had she seemed just as mad at the CO about it.
"Enaii… could it be done? Could we gain control of those weapons' platform and turn them against the Cardassian ships?" The young woman inquired of the ILO. Since Enaii had been involved in some way in the creation of the original virus and that taking control of an opponents system to have it turn against them seemed to perfectly fit in the expertise of the Intel Operative, Rikar thought it best to involve her life mate in this part of the suggestion to see if it could be transformed into a plan.
"Yes… it will take time." Enaii replied dryly as only she could. With a movement of her head the CO gave the go ahead for the CSciO and ILO to start working on getting the tactical advantage back while the 3 senior most officers retreated to the Conference Lounge to discuss their next course of action.
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Setting: USS ANUBIS, Conference Lounge
Stardate: 60325.1520
"In the meantime… what do we do about David and the SPHINX?" Lt. Cmdr. Serenna inquired as she headed to her seat while begining to formulate a few possibilities that she would be willing to implement to either assist the CEO in the search and rescue of their CMO or to try and avoid the situation to degenerate completely out of control.
"What I would like to know is what got into him! Disobeying orders is one thing… but acting like he has been doing is really starting to tick me off. I swear there are times when I wonder if he has not been possessed by something… and that red glow in his eyes is bothering me more than I care to admit it." The CO offered as she slammed her fist onto the table as she sat down, still finding it hard to believe that David had almost killed them all as he took control of the SPHINX. Granted had he asked the young woman would not have been inclined to give in to his demands, but to open the main hangar bay doors while they had all been right there next to the SPHINX had been an act that Sabrina could only classify as having been dangerous to the point of having been murderous.
"Captain… I realise that this is well outside of my prerogative… but what did you mean by Lt. Dawson's untypical behaviour?" Cmdr. Sarah Wellington, the MERCURY's own ExO inquired obviously troubled in some way by what the redheaded woman had said.
"Even before the death of his brother Jordan, Lt. Dawson had been displaying certain signs of 'instability'. At first I thought that it had been because of work-related stress, but the more things unfold, the more I cannot help but wonder if there is not something else going on *inside* of his head." The young woman replied as she fell back on her counselling expertise for a very brief moment.
Sarah's blood ran cold as she stared blankly across the room to Sabrina who looked back at the MERCURY's ExO with a puzzled expression.
"Something wrong Commander? Do you need a medic..." The young woman inquired as she looked at the other ExO who seemed ready to pass out… that or she had seen some sort of a ghost.
"No… no. I'm sorry Captain. But if what you say is true, then David could truly be in much graver danger… that would be of course if you believe in such things."
"How, aside from having placed his life in direct jeopardy by having gone down to the planet and having gone against the orders of his CO is Lt. Dawson in danger Commander?" Serenna inquired as she looked at the MERCURY's commander.
Sarah grinned as if carefully thinking of the implications of what she had been about to say… either the ANUBIS' CO would come to realise the potential outwardly danger that the CEO had been in or the MERCURY's ExO would be confined to the ship's psychiatric ward.
"You may find this very hard to believe Captain… but Richard promised David that one day he'd be back. That there would be no force in the universe that would be able to stop him. I realise that this may be completely farfetched, but given some of the fantastic things that I have seen during my days as a Starfleet Officer, I cannot dismiss the possibility without first giving it some serious thought."
=/\= Captain… The SPHINX is heading back! =/\= Ensign Doratheva announced over the comm channel putting an end to the strange discussion that had taken over the room.
"On our way!" The young woman announced as she bounced out of her chair and rushed back to the Bridge… if David had suddenly had a change of heart there would be a great deal of explaining to be done.
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Setting: USS ANUBIS, Bridge
Stardate: 60325.1435
"Unable to establish communication with the SPHINX… the ship is still within the interference field generated by the planet." Annie, the ANUBIS' avatar announced her continued efforts to reach the approaching ship obviously not having been met with the level of success that everyone would have liked to see.
"Given is current speed and course, the SPHINX will be back onboard in just under 25 minutes." Elan offered from the FCO's station.
"25 minutes? How come so long?" The CO inquired.
"The SPHINX was never meant for multiple atmospheric flights… it is actually a surprise that the ship is able to make it back at all. My guess is that whoever is piloting it has diverted whatever power was available to the engines to make the journey back possible." The Oltharian explained, guessing as to the possibility since sensors could not reach the ship as of yet.
"Lt. Cmdr. Maya… as soon as the SPHINX as returned onboard I want you to check on it and whoever is in it." The redheaded woman ordered taking the CSciO by complete surprise.
"Me Captain? Why?" The Shillian inquired truly surprised by the unexpected request from the young woman in command of the ANUBIS.
"Very simple… I cannot be trusted to be objective right now and I need Serenna here to help me not make a decision that I might eventually regret. Being the next senior most officer, I want you to take care of this." The young woman explained making the Shillian look at Enaii with a very quizzical look, but one which quickly vanished as the scientist could imagine that Enaii would have likely been a worse choice given her already sizable dislike of the CEO.
"Aye Sir… in the meatime Enaii and I will continue to work on modifying the virus so that we can gain control of the orbital platforms and maybe even find a way to allow us to transport to the planet surface."
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Sabrina Jones {sabrina_sweet@hotmail.com}
Captain Sabrina Rikar
Commanding Officer
USS ANUBIS, NCC-18501
"We are Grey, we stand between the Candle and the Star, between the
Darkness and the Light" 2005 post #365
-Entilza Delenn, Babylon 5
