Somewhere to Hide...

Posted on 05 Nov 2015 @ 6:23am by Captain Harvey Geisler & Lieutenant JG Charles Carmichael

655 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: Rude Awakening
Location: Stellar Cartography
Timeline: MD 6 || 1330 hours

"Tell me everything!" demanded the smiling Andorian who was dying to know how her friend's date went last night. "Did he--"

"Yes!" replied the human crewman with a giggle. "Every thing he tried was a failure!" She continued laughing, just recalling her date's struggles on the planet below. Never before had she seen someone fail so miserably at surfing. "I mean, it wasn't the best day to take a board out into the water," she said as they turned a corner to head down a different corridor, "but still, he-- oomph!"

"Sorry," muttered the gruff voice belonging to the Captain who just bumped into her. Other than a poor attempt at an apology, the man continued to walk on.

"Is that Captain Geisler?" the Andorian asked. She'd only been aboard a week, but she hadn't met any officer ranked higher than Ensign. "Is he always like that?"

The human sighed. "Only when he's pissed."

And pissed he was. As Harvey stormed down the corridor to Stellar Cartography, he still couldn't believe what Terlexa had just pulled on him. The ship was due to depart within a half hour, and at the last minute, two of his personnel had been whispered away. Lieutenant Perei, the ship's resident archeologist, has accepted a position studying some ruins, somewhere... Harvey didn't remember what the name was. Normally, that wouldn't be a terrible ordeal, but Lieutenant Rogers had also been reassigned to Deep Space 11.

Transfers were fine. But not a single replacement was in bound, forcing him to rely on the resources he had. Resources that, as loyal as they'd been since Harvey first came aboard, hadn't been entirely reliable.

The doors parted, permitting Captain Geisler to cross the threshold to find Lieutenant Carmichael engrossed in his work.

"Mister Carmichael," Harvey spoke, the gruffness still saturating his tone.

The lieutenant nearly jumped out of his chair and fell over the edge of the platform hovering in the center of the room. "C-C-Captain!" A couple PADDs clattered to the floor below.

Harvey stopped in his tracks, just a couple of paces from the wiry Lieutenant and fought to keep in a sigh. He knew this would've been the exact result, and it didn't make him any more comfortable with the days to come. "Mister Carmichael, I'm here to tell you that as of now, you are the acting Chief Science Officer."

An expression of shock rippled over Charles' face. "Ch-Chief Science? Again? What about Li-Lieutenants Rogers and Pe-Perei?"

"Reassigned." Harvey let that singular word resonate for a moment. He really had no choice in the matter as the science crew aboard was a collection of enlisteds and ensigns. Carmichael was the sole Lieutenant in the bunch and the unfortunate logical choice. "I've no time for pleasantries, Lieutenant, and I'm going to have to dump an assignment on your docket, top priority."

Carmichael's mouth opened and closed a couple times as if he was going to stammer again, but nothing was vocalized. Finally he just nodded.

Harvey handed over a PADD with a full copy of the data he had. "We're going to the Gavara system. I need to know what nebulae or other stellar anomalies are nearby that a ship the size of the Black Hawk could hide. There's a fugitive out there and we need to bring him to justice."

"O-Okay," Charles said, reaching out and awkwardly accepting the PADD. He quickly skimmed the data as he turned to pull up a chart of the sector on the holographic projections around him.

"We have a few days before we get there," Harvey warned. "But I want ideas in four hours. I need time to put together a plan." Because I don't want to underestimate O'Connell. Again.

Charles looked back and nodded, very much eager to contribute to the mission. "Y-yes, sir."

Harvey turned and walked towards the exit. "Four hours!" he reminded Carmichael before disappearing into the corridor.

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