The Fallout
Posted on Thu Feb 10th, 2011 @ 2:06pm by Captain Elsie Halliwell & Captain T'mpest Michaels
777 words; about a 4 minute read
Mission:
Triad
Location: Halliwell's Ready Room
Timeline: Current
ON
Teegan's head hurt. She opened her eyes and looked around. Sickbay. Why was she in sickbay? Then she remembered. That obnoxious Vulcan did something. She sat up and pushed the button beside her biobed. "I need to speak with the captain immediately."
With the interruption by Kohl and the altercating delay by Kendrick, Halliwell had had about enough as she could stomach for the day. She sat in her ready room, her eyes rolled back so far in her head that everything turned white and a castle of data PaDDs surrounding her, bowing her in behind her own desk. Her voice was thick with fatigue, anger and impatience. And the crew knew it.
“Captain, she’s insisting!†came the small voice over the comm. as Elsie again placed down one data PaDD and replaced it with another. Status reports, not only from within the QAR vessel, but from external scans were flooding through her mind.
“I don’t care if she’s dragged herself all the way up from sickbay on her hands and knees! I have more important things to deal with than a complaining woman who only wants to make my life, and yours Ensign, Hell!
“But,†her sentence was cut short by the hissing of the sickbay doors behind her as the stark archaeologist marched her way to the turbolift. “Captain, I think she’s on her way to see you.â€
Elsie rolled her eyes again, placed down the PaDD casually to her right, and then defensively folded her arms across her chest in wait. The dull headache that had started behind her eyes had now seeped into her frontal lobe as the river of discomfort began to trickle ever faster across her forehead. She was in no mood.
Teegan had given up on getting any sort of answer or help from the doctors. She stormed out of sickbay and headed back to the bridge to confront the Captain.
She rang the door chime to the Captain's ready room and walked in, not waiting to be admitted. "I want you to put that dreadful Vulcan on suspension and send me with the away team to search for the artifact. I'm the only person who understands its potential."
Elsie didn’t regard the woman immediately. Instead, she picked the data PaDD back up with her hand, scrolled through its text and then casually placed it back on the top of the desk. Her face, as always, was unsympathetic and bleak as her eyes lazily fell on Teegan. She inhaled and then sighed loudly for effect. “Its ‘potential’, Ms Mar, is not my concern at the moment. Its recovery is. And Commander Michaels, or, ‘That Dreadful Vulcan’ you so uncharmingly refer to her as, will most certainly not be placed on any disciplinary track on your own meagre recommendation. Is that that clear?â€
Teegan didn't like the captain's attitude at all. Or the captain, for that matter. "That Vulcan will botch things up. Mark my words. She's no more competent to handle the artifact that that imbecile, Kerr was." Or Captain Halliwell, for that matter. "I insist you let me go on the QAR ship and look for the artifact myself. As for that dreadful Vulcan, if you don't do anything, I'll file charges with the Admiralty Board. Assault on a public official is frowned on, Captain."
Halliwell fell silent and then slowly and intently looked up to meet the woman’s eyes. She held the silence for a moment, now squinting her eyes in an angered, unbending fashion. “I don’t react well to threats, Ms Mar,†she finally uttered, “so, I advise that you return to your quarters immediately and wait this out until we have recovered what we came here to recover. If that’s not agreeable to you, I can call someone in to assist you there. Now get out of my ready room before I throw you out.â€
Teegan's eyes narrowed. "If this goes badly, Captain, it'll be on your head. That's not a threat, it's a promise." With that, she turned and stalked out of the room. She would get nowhere with this captain, either.
Halliwell remained quiet, shook her head slowly and then turned back to the data PaDD. Some people just never learn how to deal with others, she ironically thought to herself.
OFF:
’The Fallout’ brought to you by
Captain Elsie Halliwell
Commanding Officer
USS Ranger
Teegan Mar
Resident Archaeologist
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