From: Takako Nagumo <tnagumo@pop.pitt.edu>
Date: Thu, 15 May 1997 10:07:21 -0400
Subject: USS CHESAPEAKE: Identities
MD 06.0755
Scene: Bridge
Daniel Brennan emerged from the Captain's Ready Room, having
finished his morning briefing. After the chaos on the Marine Deck
during the Bravo Shift the day before, the Charlie Shift had been
relatively uneventful. The departments seemed to be on the right
track, for the most part, and the crew was slowly but surely
coming together.
He walked past OPS and took the conn, mentally reviewing his
report. Engineering was gradually working out the kinks in the
propulsion systems, and except for the typical new engine shakes,
they had encountered no problems. Security and Operations had
gone through the entire battery of tests with the CHESAPEAKE's
armaments with success. Even Science was settling back to normal;
after the "Bunny Incident," Lieutenant Stenford, the head of
Biological Sciences, was called in to supervise through the
Charlie Shift. Medical continued the crew's physical
examinations, and Counseling... well, Counseling may have much on
their hands.
He thought back to the allegations Lieutenant Murray had made
regarding the Ship's Counselor of the BELLEROPHON. He had touched
on the subject very briefly with Captain Bell, who had recommended
no action until such allegations had been made formally. He had
concurred, as he could not see JAG pursuing a case on such a
flimsy foundation.
The whole issue made him uncomfortable. It violated his sense of
civility to know that a fellow man -- a Starfleet officer, no less
-- would commit such things.
Not that he was naive enough to think that it didn't happen at
all. He had perhaps been over-optimistic that such incidents
happened so rarely that it might as well have been eradicated.
But it had not. And it bothered him greatly.
There was something else bothering him, as well. As the panels on
the armrests scrolled through the status reports, his mind tried
to locate the exact cause, but, for some inexplicable reason, it
refused to go where it led itself.
He suddenly shivered. For the briefest of moments, he had felt
darkness... cold....
He shook himself out of it, just in time to see a new message pop
into his mail spool. His hand automatically pressed the panel.
A message from the CHESAPEAKE's Counselor, addressed to Bell, as
well as himself. The subject....
He stopped breathing.
His breathing resumed only after he had realized that he had
attracted the attention of the Bridge complement, including the
OPS officer, who had turned around.
"Something wrong, sir?" asked th'Tellan.
"Um... no, Commander," he smiled weakly. "Nothing. Excuse me."
th'Tellan turned back around with an almost imperceptible shrug.
Brennan continued to breathe normally... or at least, tried to do
so. The words scrolling across the screen were not exactly
conducive to maintaining a peaceful calm.
His eyes finally scanned the deposition through to the end. He
read it again. And again.
He stood up. "Commander th'Tellan, you have the Bridge."
He heard the OPS officer's reply behind his back as he stalked to
the head.
The door slid shut behind him. His hands gripped either edge of
the sink. He stared, hard, into the mirror above it.
Horror.
He felt ill, but nothing would come up.
A man... forcing himself on a woman... a man....
A man.
Daniel Justin Brennan was a man. A Starfleet officer, a
Commander, a linguist, an artist, a fencer....
But, in the end, he was a man.
And this Kevin Mallory was a man, as well. And he had committed
rape, the most terrifying act of personal violation.
A man. I am a man.
Are we...? Am I...?
Would I?
He almost did not hear his communicator chirp.
<Bell to Brennan.>
His reply took a long moment as a hand slowly ungripped the sink
and tapped the communicator.
"Brennan here, sir."
<In my Ready Room, Commander. Bell out.>
He continued to stare at the man in the mirror, his body still for
a moment longer. His jaw tightened, and he straightened up,
exhaling quickly.
He dismissed those thoughts from his mind. They were different
people, he and this Kevin Mallory. And he will not think of it.
Now was not the time. It would never be the time. Not for him.
He closed his eyes for a moment, took one slow breath. Opening
his eyes and looking into the mirror, he saw Daniel Brennan, the
Starfleet Commander, looking back at him. Nodding, he pulled down
on his uniform jacket, then turned smartly to walk out of the
head. He crossed the Bridge, and, coming to a stop outside the
Ready Room doors, tapped the chime.
Respectfully Submitted,
Takako Nagumo,
CDR Daniel J. Brennan
XO, USS CHESAPEAKE (NCC-31813)
Task Force Bravo, Green Fleet
NRPG:
All: Apologies for the drop off in posting. This one just took a
while to come together. :)
Amy: Off to you. I'm assuming she has just read Tats-Marush's
report and wants to talk.
--
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Takako Nagumo <tnagumo@pop.pitt.edu>
http://www.oocities.org/TimesSquare/6318/
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CDR Daniel J. Brennan XO USS CHESAPEAKE, Green Fleet
LCDR Sian-Mairead Flynn, MD CMO USS ALEXANDER NEVSKY, Green Fleet
LCDR Duncan A. Morrell INS ALB Holodeck 4
CDR Julianna M. Sforza COMREC Commander, Starfleet Records
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"I have great taste. <G>"
"In what? Booze? Women? Ego? <G>"
"Well, in all things, but, that's not the point."
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