"Rules, Regulations and Divergence Of Opinions"
(Previous Post: "Journey")
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Stardate: 60341.1415
Starfleet regulations cover every possibility which
can be encountered onboard a starship, and having
direct access to the full memory capacity of the USS
ANUBIS, the Avatar had wasted no time to quote the
exact passage of one of these rules to the Shillian
woman the moment the Commanding Officer had stepped
off the bridge. According to Annie, in time of
conflict either the Captain or the Executive Officer
of a ship within combat range were required to be on
the bridge at all time, and since Captain Rikar had
elected to leave regulations required the acting First
Officer to return to the bridge and take command.
The Shillian scientist would have liked nothing more
than to find an argument against this regulation but
the Chief Science Officer knew much better than to get
into any type of debate with the Avatar of the USS
ANUBIS, so reluctantly the Shillian complied.
As soon as the scientist had arrived on the bridge she
had been greeted by the sideways glance of the Chief
of Security who appeared to have been out of sorts
which made the Shillian delay her taking over the
central chair, instead approaching the Enaran Marine.
"What happened?" The Shillian woman asked, hoping to
receive an answer that would address both the reason
why the captain had left the bridge and why the Chief
of Security had looked so angered.
"The HATHOR is at a dead stand-still," the Enaran
replied confirming the status of the other ship once
again and unhappily seeing that there had not been any
changes. "Captain Rikar has decided to do nothing in
that regards and to have the ANUBIS continue on course
for SURIAL III. We are keeping communication silence
so as to not broadcast our current location to the
Cardassians or the Imperians," the Marine Commanding
Officer said, his voice laced with a sharpness that
instantly troubled the Shillian woman.
"Annie?" The Shillian scientist asked wanting to get
the opinion of the Avatar which she knew would not be
biased by emotional perspective.
"Long-range sensors are showing the HATHOR at full
power," the artificial woman replied without a
millisecond of hesitation. "We are unable to pick up
whatever has caused them to come to a complete stop
but it is likely that they have met with the Imperian
probes and are doing additional research."
Based on what the Shillian scientist had seen in the
Astrophysics Lab, having kept one monitor trained on
the status of the HATHOR and its mission, the Chief
Science Officer could only agree to the conclusion
submitted by Annie. This unfortunately did not give
any clues to the scientist as to the reason or reasons
why the Enaran Marine had been in the state she had
found him in when she had stepped onto the bridge.
"I am sure that they are all right," the Chief Science
Officer said, trying to be what she believed a good
Executive Officer needed to be, caring and supportive
of the other members of the crew. Instead of an
agreeable acknowledgement though, the Shillian woman
was met with a short reply of an upset Enaran.
"I have been around Lieutenant Commander Serenna to
know that she can take care of herself," the Marine
First Lieutenant said as he turned to face the
Shillian woman standing right next to him. "I also
have no doubts that should there be any sort of
problems, Uxtar would be able to handle whatever
crossed his path," Pravat continued with stopping
himself and regaining his composure before his tone
and posture stepped over the line. Had they been
somewhere else than the bridge of the ANUBIS, the
Enaran might have allowed himself to let lose and
unload what had been on his mind, but right then and
there he had been the Chief of Security addressing the
First Officer, thus making it improper for him to
continue as he had.
"So what is troubling you?" The Chief Science Officer
asked whishing that Ensign Mei had not returned to the
HATHOR after having been cleared of whatever had
caused her to be transferred to the ANUBIS in the
first place. The Shillian had always been a scientist
and expanding her professional wings to include the
responsibilities of Command had not been easy, but to
try to act as a Counsellor had been way beyond the
abilities of the Shillian woman.
"Nothing, Sir," the Marine replied looking straight
ahead as if he had been addressing a General or some
other high-ranking officer.
The Shillian woman just stood there looking at the man
who seemed to have closed himself off to the rest of
the universe, or to the scientist standing right next
to him in the least. Desperately trying to make sense
of it, the Chief Science Officer debated as to what to
do next as extended her hand to have it land on the
shoulder of the Chief of Security, unfortunately
before the gesture could be complete the voice of the
Chief Engineering Officer filled the bridge.
=/\= Fairborn to Bridge. =/\=
The Marine First Lieutenant did not move or even
blinked which made the Shillian sigh. However much
she had wanted to help Pravat her responsibilities to
the ship, as clearly stated by Annie earlier had given
the acting Executive Officer no other choice but to
push this to the side for the time being and deal with
whatever the Oltharian had needed.
"Go ahead Elan," the Shillian replied making her way
to the central chair while fighting the urge to glance
over her shoulder to the Enaran.
=/\= I have completed the preliminary work regarding
the necessary reprogramming of the orbital defence
platforms in orbit of SURIAL III, =/\= the Oltharian
said shifting the thoughts of the Shillian scientist
solely back on the objective of their mission, the
rescue of Lieutenant Commander Enaii if one could call
it a *rescue*.
"Thank you Elan," the Shillian said with a hint of
relief, this having been one of the many obstacles
that had been placed in their way. "Once again your
skills and expertise are greatly appreciated," the
Chief Science Officer added this time looking at the
Enaran as if wanting to send him a message which he
missed as he had not been looking forward anymore.
Instead the Enaran man had diverted his complete
attention down to the tactical station.
=/\= Always a pleasure to serve, =/\= the Oltharian
said before closing the channel, his willingness to
help being both very similar and entirely opposite to
that of the Marine First Lieutenant.
With nothing else to do, other than wait for their
arrival to SURIAL III or an unwelcome run-in with
either the Cardassians or Imperians, the Chief Science
Officer decided to try once again to get to the bottom
of what had been bothering the Enaran. "Pravat," the
acting First Officer said causing the Marine to look
up from his station, but the moment that he had done
this the Shillian woman found herself unable to
continue as she had planned, instead just looking at
Pravat with a blank expression on her face.
"Commander?" The Enaran asked in such a way that the
Chief Science Officer had either been forced to
dismiss anything she had wanted to say or come up with
an alternate reason for her having called out to him.
Eventually the Shillian managed to come up with
something that had been unrelated to what she had
wanted to speak with the Marine about. "Could you
please locate Captain Rikar for me please?"
After having checked on his security monitors, Pravat
gave the location of the Captain of the ANUBIS as
being in the Black Hole Lounge and before anything
else could be added the Chief of Security had returned
to whatever he had been doing prior to the
interruption.
Not wanting to make it seem as if she had made this
request for absolutely nothing, the Shillian woman
reached for her communicator. "Bridge to Ensign
Halliwell."
=/\= Halliwell here, =/\= the Assistant Chief Medical
Officer replied after only a short delay. =/\= What
can I do for you Commander? =/\=
"I have a strange request to make of you," the
Shillian scientist explained, "I mean it is not all
that strange by itself but asking you to do it may
sound slightly out of the ordinary but since Ensign
Mei is not onboard I would like for you to go to the
Black Hole Lounge and check up on the Captain. I am
sure that everything is fine, but I would appreciate
you doing this, I mean all you need to do is make sure
that everything is all right with her and report back
if there is nothing that you believe requires any
immediate attention. If you think it is necessary you
can approach her and strike up a conversation or if
you would prefer just observe her. There is nothing
wrong with her, at least I hope so, it might just be
stress caused by the specifics of the mission, but as
the Executive Officer it is my job to make sure that
there is not something more. I would do it myself,
not that I am all that good as a Counsellor, but it
was clearly pointed out to me that my place is here on
the bridge at the moment, so could you do this for
me?"
Even Annie was taken aback by the way the Shillian
could go from 'zero-to-warp' when she spoke, but
thanks to the Avatar having been facing forward, no
one had noticed the stunned expression that had
flashed over her features for a few seconds.
=/\= On my way, Halliwell out, =/\= the Assistant
Chief Medical Officer replied before the Shillian
scientist could say anything more.
---
"To see the world in a grain of sand, 2006 post #069
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Deck 1, Bridge
Jessica Solarik { maya_992003@yahoo.com }
Lieutenant Commander Maya
Executive Officer and Chief Science Officer
USS ANUBIS
and a heaven in a wild flower.
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
and eternity in an hour."
- William Blake (British, 1757-1827)
