Time To Smell The Restraining Order

Posted on Tue Feb 8th, 2011 @ 12:42pm by Captain Elsie Halliwell & Captain Alexsa Kendrick

1,075 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Triad
Location: Main Bridge, USS Ranger
Timeline: Current

ON:

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Why did people, anyone out there, do it?

It seemed to be one of the oldest things, a universal habit that people had that if something was not working they pressed harder and harder on the button as if the harder they pressed, the more chance they had of making whatever work. Alex Kendrick felt that way now, it was frustrating and almost idiotic in thinking, but whatever button she pressed, however hard she pressed it, the Intrepid class USS Ranger failed to move barring its broken strings turning in space motion. She'd had enough. As she brought her clenched hand down she knew it was a mistake, and inwardly cringed as she saw the cracks in the panel forming under her hand where it struck the controls. She didn't even think she'd hit it that hard, and marked the ship as being in more disrepair than she first thought.

“Get us out of here, Captain!†Halliwell urgently called out, looking at the game of chess being played on the viewscreen before them all. Flashes of light and bursts of energy fireworked across the screen.

"Believe me, if I thought I were holding anything back I would tell you." was all that Alex could reply, albeit sarcastically, just as one of those fireworks made contact causing the Ranger to spin on its axis the other way.

Just at that moment, a glimpse of hope appeared on the control panel, and an extra burst of controlled power came in to the impulse drive courtesy of the shuttles. Without missing the opportunity, Kendrick's fingers danced over the control panel and the ship finally started to move out of the kill zone. By this time however it was seemingly almost over -- Northcutt had arrived with the Fairfax, the Archimedes was also present, and the QAR had been locked into a tractor beam and would be expecting visitors any second now. This just left Halliwell and Kendrick on the bridge, together, and alone. "We're out of the line of fire, now it's back to you... Captain." The acidity on the final word addressing Halliwell was abundantly clear as Alex stood from the helm and stood in central area facing the view screen, she was determined to make that her final and last report to the commanding officer of this ship.

“Thank you,†Elsie relayed somewhat uncharacteristically sincere as she hammered at her own console to see the final data stream come in as the away team left the bridge to depart.

Alex was confounded that the words came out of Elsie at that moment; she hadn't expected them, nor did she really want them, but the tone they were said on made her wonder on some things. She didn't look back and sounding softer in her own tone, more than she really wanted to - there was still the matter of proverbially spilled blood between them - she said plainly, "You're welcome."

Elsie stood, made the short walk over to the helm itself and looked down at the reflective panel. “Commander Zhukov is not going to be happy when he sees his station. We’ll have to get that fixed before his return.â€

Kendrick quickly glanced from the women in red to the panel she spoke of, and paused. Halliwell gazed at Kendrick as if she expected an answer but none came for a few seconds. "I'm sorry," Alex said a little painfully. It had been a long time since she'd had one of these uncontrollable physical outbursts which bothered her no end and had to apologise for something because of it; she was just pleased that it happened with an inanimate object instead of a person because the damage would probably not be worth thinking about. "Looking at those people out there," she nodded to the view screen as the QAR came into view once again, "I think you have bigger fish to fry than fixing a broken panel before it's noticed by your helmsman though." She paused slightly before adding, "Besides, I had run a physical stress point routine in order to get it working."

“You haven’t met my helmsman,†Elise replied dryly, turning and walking back towards her own chair. She looked up toward the viewscreen and saw the Fairfax stationed from the QAR, gripping it with a tractor beam. “I think I can manage without you now, Captain. Should you wish to retire to your quarters.â€

And there it was. Kendrick never wanted to man the helm in the first place, but with Halliwell virtually dismissing her from the bridge altogether, it seemed like the touchy feely part of the conversation and situation was over. Still Alex's tone remained even, and as it was before, just in case she was wrong, "Thank you, captain, though I do not." They turned to face each other, the only ones on the virtually crippled bridge, Elsie with a questioning furrow on her brow, "Unfortunately I still have my primary objective to fill. Despite the situation and circumstance, you are still the one under investigation, and until the immediate crisis is either averted or under control, I'm still under instruction to observe." The crease in Halliwell's brow almost seemed to grow, though probably just perception; even though Kendrick helped, she still did not want her there, on her bridge. "How you deal with this situation, on your ship, and alone, is just as important as how you command and deal with your crew; you're still in command of the ship itself."

“Then, Captain,†she began, now turning again to the out-stretched centre console to her left and casually tapping in commands, “I’d appreciate it if you were to do your job and leave me to do mine,†she paused, looked up from the readout and pinned Kendrick back with her steely eyes, “without interruption. I thank you for your assistance earlier. Gold star for effort. And your stellar service will be noted in my log.â€

Kendrick exhaled a slight laugh at the statement, "Sarcasm not withstanding, captain, I intend to." There she left a pause, a gap in speech where the air almost seemed to thicken. Gaining Halliwell's undivided attention, she winked sarcastically, quickly, and with a smile on her lips, brushed past Elsie to climb the small flight of stairs back to the upper level of the bridge.

OFF:

 

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