Out or In?

Posted on Fri Mar 29th, 2013 @ 8:05pm by Chief Petty Officer Adriana Keen & Lieutenant Jimmy Cooper & Lieutenant JG Fer

928 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Rumours, Promises, and Lies
Location: Near What Used to be Sickbay
Timeline: Mission Day 6: 1700 hours

ON:

Adriana crawled out of the Jeffries Tubes so she could stretch out a little. She stood slowly and slowly rotated her torso, putting hands to her aching lower back. She might think she was getting too old to be crawling around like a kid in a Play Place, but she wasn't THAT old yet.

No, she thought with a little smile. She had a much happier, better reason to have a sore back. Though maybe she should ask for jobs that kept her out of the Tubes for the foreseeable future, this kind of stuff would quickly become not very good for the little one.

Lieutenant JG Barker, a junior scientist, had been sent to one of the less crowded parts of the ship in order to 'conduct an experiment'. As it was, he saw Adriana stretch like a cat, with her uniform covered in grime. "Officer," he greeted her.

Adriana turned with a little jump. "Sir. Hi. I just needed a little break, I'll be back to work in a moment," she said with a disarming smile. She vaguely knew Barker, and even though he wasn't in her chain of command, he was an officer and outranked her.

"Ah don't worry, I'm not here to spy on you. Say, do you like crawling through those Jeffries tubes like some kind of animal?" Barker seemed on edge, and while he said this he was looking up and down the corridor. As it was, however, it was empty.

She laughed. "Normally? Yeah, I kinda do. It's like those tube mazes you used to play in as kid, but now they won't let you in because you're too tall." Her smile faltered a little bit as she watched Barker twitch. "Is there... something I can help you with, Sir? I mean, do you need the tubes or want me to add something to my list of repairs in the area?"

"I.. ah.." his dark voice died down to a whisper. "Some of us think the chain of command isn't... what it used to be. I think, for example, that they confine you to the Jeffries Tubes too often..." Barker then said, with some more volume "Of course, if this is the career you envision, I won't stop you."

Adriana frowned a little. "I enlisted and joined Ops. I'm not in it for the glamor, I can tell ya that," she tried to joke, but it was hard when Barker was acting so strange. "What- look, Sir, I'm kind of new to this ship, so I don't know what's changed other than everyone being, um, really stressed right now." She bit her bottom lip a bit nervously.

"Yeah, and we think that's all because of Captain Halliwell and Commander T'mpest... Don't you think they're pushing everyone after the destruction of the Dubai? I think we should just get out of here before the Ranger suffers the same fate, instead they decide on these suicide missions..." Barker shook his head. "If we can dispose of them... At least change the order around a bit... We might stand a chance not to die."

Adriana paled a little. "What are you talking about?" she asked in a quiet voice and seemed to take a half step back to lean against the wall. "You can't possibly mean-" She stopped because she was afraid of the answer.

"We're trying to survive, miss," Barker was specifically omitting any title, "as soon as we're out of here, and alive, everything will return to normal."

"No, it won't," Adriana countered. "You can't- some things can't be undone. Look, I- I don't like it here either, but- Halliwell is the Captain. She's got to know more about what's going on than we do."

"Listen to me!" Barker raised his voice and almost grabbed Adriana, but kept the better part of his cool at the last moment. "Captain Halliwell is human, and humans make mistakes. Only, in her case, her mistakes will cost all our lives!"

She flinched back away from him as he snapped at her. One hand instinctively flew to her stomach as if to protect the tiny life within from an external threat. "I- I can't..." she whispered, feeling paralyized by indecision. She couldn't go against the captain, that went against everything she'd be trained to do. There was also more than just her life on the line; if something happened to her, to this ship, then the baby she and her husband had been trying for for so long would die, too.

Barker took a step back. "I'm sorry, I- It's a hard time for all of us." As Barker sighed, he added "You don't have to decide now, as much as I would like to convince you of it's necessity. Tell you what, I'll be in the canteen tonight. If you'll find me there I'll bring you in contact. If not-" Barker was silent for a moment, wondering whether he should add a threat or a kind remark. "If not, it won't be a problem, but I would like to ask you to keep quiet and stay out of our way, then."

That second of silence had Adriana's heart beating fast. He may have continued on a softer note, but there was still a note of menace. She chewed her lower lip and looked back to the 'tube where she still had work to do. "I- I better get back to work, Sir," she stammered.

"You do that, kid." He said, after which he walked off, leaving Adriana with her thoughts.

 

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