Concerto

Posted on Sun Oct 28th, 2012 @ 12:24pm by Captain Alexsa Kendrick & Lieutenant Cedric Shepherd

1,262 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Sowing the Seeds
Location: Security Office, Deck 9
Timeline: Mission Day 2, 1230 hrs. (backpost)
Tags: music, guitar, brig

Despite Kendrick's usual horse out of the gates attitude when things didn't go her way, it was a little while after her run-in with Lieutenant Augusta in the holodeck before she attempted to make contact with Lieutenant Shepherd. Confirming Shepherd's location with the computer, she headed from her quarters to the security offices on Deck 9.

She was only a few steps off the lift when she realized there was music playing in the corridor. It was incongruous enough to make her step slow, with it floating faintly from an open door further along. She knew it was coming from the brig, and the bizarre little combo that played in there, but it still took a moment to adjust to the lack of distant hum that was typically the only ambiance of a starship corridor. It was a single guitar, strummed with force to keep time under a male vocal:

/Dragonfly out in the sun, you know what I mean, don't you know,/
/Butterflies all havin' fun, you know what I mean./
/Sleep in peace when day is done: that's what I mean,/
/And this old world is a new world and a bold world for me/
/For me...

The security chief's office was her destination, and she hesitated when she saw that the door to this compartment was also open. She held her step a moment just off the line of sight from within, and took a breath before striding forward--Alex and Cedric had never exactly seen eye-to-eye since they met, and for some reason unbeknownst to her since she usually thrived on conflict, she was not looking forward to this.

"Lieutenant Shepherd." Kendrick said as she walked through the portal. "May I have a quick word with you?"

Shepherd had been working at his desk console, and her words brought his head up quickly. "Captain Kendrick," he said, standing quickly from his chair as was his habit. "What can I do for you?"

"My job purpose on the Ranger has changed, as you know, but my security access has not. Is there a reason for this?"

"That's more of a question for Captain Halliwell," replied Shepherd politely. "Is there something you need?"

"Not specifically, but it would appear that," Alex paused slightly. She'd never had this much trouble concentrating before, and it was really beginning to bother her troubled mind as it was. "It would appear that there's an incessant noise being filtered through Deck 9, for one thing."

"A noise?" Shepherd cocked his head to listen. "Oh," he chuckled, "you mean the brig crew. They're better today than some days."

"I'm afraid I may have missed the joke, Lieutenant Shepherd." Kendrick stated not missing a beat while trying to drown out the brig crews. The tension at the base of her skull was doing it's best to cultivate itself into a really bad headache, and her mood along with the pulsating drones of the brig boys were not helping. "I..." She stopped and closed her eyes for but a second. "Excuse me," Kendrick continued cordially to Shepherd before leaning out the open door to the Security office and yelling down the corridor, "Will you shut the hell up?!"

The music cut off abruptly, the guitar first followed by a half-beat of sung note.

Alex done her best to calm herself before returning her attention to Shepherd, one of her gloved hands rising to her forehead to massage her temples. For his part, the larger man stood, silent and stony and suddenly quite serious, as she composed herself.

"In any case, I've been meaning to speak with you since it happened. Despite having locked the doors and controls of the holodeck, one of your staff was still able to violate my time in a personal program." Alex said recounting the episode in her mind, her voice pushing back the mild upset replacing it with a tone of annoyance.

"That's unfortunate," replied Shepherd, so terse as to be flat. "Which member of my staff?"

"Your direct reportee, Lieutenant Augusta." Alex stated matter-of-factly seeing what kind of response that would garner.

"I'll talk to him. Is there anything else?"

With the noise from the brig now gone, Kendrick could then go on unencumbered, "As a matter of fact yes. My own experience regarding computer access with both you and Captain Halliwell during the last mission to the Taylforth sector, knowing that I locked the doors to the holodeck, it has caused me to do some digging myself. Lieutenant Augusta seems to have higher computer access than his grade would ordinarily entail, and while I can barely order a coffee from a replicator, Mister Augusta can freely roam about the ship accessing systems and areas that by rights should be off limits."

Shepherd's expression did not change, though he did think a moment before responding. "I'll look into it. Is there anything else?"

It was true that Shepherd and Kendrick had had their fair share of run-in's in the past, but there was something about his behaviour right now that irked her. His tone, his terse replies, as if to say if that's all you have, then get the hell out of my office. His responses, while veiled in respect for her rank and position, bore the undertones of disdain, but at this moment, Kendrick didn't have much to go on to do anything about it. "Unless you have something further?"

"Don't yell at my staff." The reply was quick and curt.

The reply was not something that Kendrick had expected, and certainly not one bearing so many teeth, despite how it sounded. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

"No I don't believe I did, Lieutenant." Kendrick said sharply taking a step forward. Shepherd was probably lucky at this point there was still a desk separating them.

He ignored her bristle, looking her directly in the eye. "Is there anything further we need to discuss, Captain Kendrick?" His posture and demeanor, the distant growl far back in his tone, indeed his entire bearing made it a direct challenge in spite of the blandness of the statement itself.

Kendrick's eye burned into Shepherd's skull as her volatile emotions almost got the better, or worse, of her. The underlying venom in Shepherd's tone was unmistakable--did he want a fight? "Don't test me, Lieutenant," Kendrick stated coldly, quietly but clearly enough that there was also no mistaking her own tone. "It may not be today, or tomorrow, but you will lose."

"When it's about defending my people, you can come and get it," he snarled.

"Your loyalty to your people is commendable Mister Shepherd, but need I remind you who you're talking to." Kendrick said without the familiar turn up of tone signifying a question. That was a statement. "I suggest you not draw the lines of battle just yet." There was a slight pause as if the conversation was over, or at the very least come to stalemate, and it was clear that neither one of them would have the upper hand today, and Kendrick was not much in the mood to get it. She was tired. She hadn't slept in a long time, not well in any case, and these verbal duels between her and the Ranger crew were beginning to get very tiresome.

And so she turned to leave.

Shepherd said nothing further and just let her go, the silence on Deck 9, still deafening, accompanied her all the way back to the turbolift leaving her alone to her raging thoughts--she was not happy, and she suspected neither was Lieutenant Shepherd.

 

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