Raising Questions

Posted on Sun Sep 9th, 2012 @ 5:34am by Captain Alexsa Kendrick

589 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: Sowing the Seeds
Location: Personal Quarters
Timeline: Mission Day 1, 1430 hrs

"He did what?!" Alex exclaimed.

"Turned on him with a plasma torch." Her old acquaintance repeated. Captain Jenner could only really be called an acquaintance mainly due to the time gaps of their infrequent communications from the time he and Alex went through the Academy together. They first met in her second year, and with Alex being something of an outsider to begin with because of her unique heritage, along with her closed in personality, it seemed difficult for people to come to trust her. Jenner was one of the first. "All I get from the medical and counselling personnel are a 'he said and they started it' story. I'm not inclined to believe either one of them to be honest."

"Are you saying Starfleet officers are lying to their chain of command?"

Jenner raised a brow and cocked his head slightly, wanting more than anything to keep his staff's dignity intact. "Lying, no. But I'm certainly not getting all the facts."

"An omission of truth can still be a lie, you know that." Kendrick stated matter-of-factly. "It certainly sounds like you have some staffing issues."

"Issues being the correct word. I wish I could say this was an isolated incident." Jenner sighed.

"What do you mean?"

Jenner took a quiet breath in, as if to compose himself. "It's all little things," and he immediately noticed Kendrick's expression, knowing her thoughts, "I know, small concerns if watered with tears, fertilise them with unconcern, they grow, but gut instinct is all I have to go on these days." Jenner took a breath before going on, his determination to keeping his staff's dignity apparently no longer an issue. "My first officer has started to question me a little more often than he used to..."

"Maybe he's just ready for his own command." Kendrick interrupted. "He has been working with you for the past seven years."

"I don't think so; he's being openly belligerent in front of the crew. S'Von and I have had our disagreements in the past but he's never voiced them in front of other officers before."

"S'Von is half-Vulcan isn't he?"

"Yes. Why do you ask?" Jenner asked somewhat suspiciously. He knew that Kendrick didn't say anything, or ask many leading questions unless there was a hidden purpose.

"Just getting a picture." Alex replied innocently.

Taking her response at face value, Jenner continued, "Come to think of it, it started about a week after starting our survey of this sector. Staff, crew, even civilians started acting; I couldn't even call it out of character, just different. I wish I could put a finger on it."

"Has there been anything else?"

"Officially no." Came a rather deadpan reply.

"And unofficially?" Alex pressed.

"To be honest Alex, I'd prefer not to discuss it on subspace, even if this channel is secure." Jenner paused a couple of long seconds, not wanting to say any more, but knowing more was required. "I've never been that paranoid or suspicious, but there's something about working out here that seems to be getting us all on edge. We've been on long missions before, some of us more than a few times, but this one's different. It's, it's..." Jenner's door chimed cutting him off from his thoughts. If Alex hadn't have known better, she could have sworn to see panic on Jenner's face. Suddenly the screen went black and showed the UFP emblem with the 'End Transmission' phrase underneath.

"The least you could do is say 'Goodbye'." Alex mumbled as she sat back in her chair.

 

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