Fandom Star Trek: Vigilance (IC)

[Error 420]

Jack made a mental note to send Polito some of her own expertise on suitable armor for phaser fire, but had no PADD to directly communicate this to him nor the authorization to hold one. Jack rose with the Captain's last, turned with her best salute, grinned, and said "Yes sir" in her very best ready-for-action voice. She remembered what her job was, as Yeoman the customary job description was sit down and shut up, and she almost did sit down out of embarassment, only to realize suddenly that sitting down would bring more embarassment.

Spoiler: steven spielberg kelvin timeline extended cut

Her mental calculations in this one moment possibly outpaced the trillions of calculations made each nanosecond by Kimberly, or the number of times a Kraekarian could think about murder. And there she was, aboard the bridge of the magnificent human flagship she called her mind, images of red alerts flashing, sparks flying, and the camera shaking as extras fall to the floor. Every console was being pounded on by Jacks, each more anxious than the last. At the captain's chair, coolest among everyone in the room, sat a Jack in a tricorner hat, clearly on the edge of sobbing. Commands are screamed in every direction, neural pathways for social anxiety, biological needs, arousal, shame, and primal fear all lighting up in a brilliant inferno.

A Jack, The Jack, perhaps, walks out of the turbolift, covered in admiral's regalia. She walks over to the captain's chair, demanding a full status report. Captain Jack responds.

"We've entered no-man's land. Hostiles and friendlies all around. Crazy borg guy, nice lieutenant guy, a few Kraekarians, weird vulcan, a sexy Vokkan and a sexy robot, and several bogeys all around. Admiral, if I may, I recommend abandoning ship(exclamation point)"

The pilot turns dramatically. "Captain, you can't be serious(exclamation point) That would mean full emotional breakdown, no going back(exclamation point)"

The admiral throws back her hair even more dramatically, not to be outdone. "She's right. Stay your course, captain."

"But-"

"STAY YOUR COURSE. It's our only chance."

Jack remains standing, hoping others will join her. Upon close inspection, one can see the beginnings of a complete breakdown, but she gives a masque of standing true.

 

[MechanicalSnake]

Half certain he would regret it later, Savir went back on the promise he had given to himself, namely not to intrude on anyone else's thoughts for the remainder of the briefing. The way K'evarr looked at Jack had been provoking his curiosity since the moment he first noticed the Captain's uncharacteristical interest in his new Yeoman. He had already estabilished that Jack bore a resemblance to someone the Kraekiran had known in the pre-Vigilance time. A past lover was one viable idea, even though Savir was not certain humans and Kraekirans were even compatible in that way. Perhaps a former Starfleet officer who had died in the line of duty?

He must have been growing tired, because tapping into the mess of the Captain's thoughts was not as effortless as usually, and neither was achieving some degree of orientation in the jumble of kill-not kill. Eventually, he spotted a dark undercurrent that reminded him of the memory he had been witness to earlier. It wasn't as off-putting as before, perhaps because Savir was no longer unprepared, but the taste for human flesh remained, partially overriden with determination to... make up for the life lost by protecting a different one? Could it be that was who Jack resembled, one of the humans K'evarr had eaten?

Logically, the fixation would almost make sense then. Psychologically, it was still unhealthy on multiple levels. But compared to everything else on the ship, this was a minor problem that Savir was not interested in solving in the nearby future.

Even though Jack was unaware of the Captain's thoughts, she seemed to be fidgeting, and Savir made his second mistake in five minutes by attempting to find out why. Immediatelly, he was pulled into some sort of alternative reality, where the bridge was occupied by too many Jacks for his liking, one of whom thought he was weird. Oddly fascinated, he watched the mental ship head towards disaster, until he could no longer stand it. He dutifully rose too, hoping to prevent the disaster by that simple act.

"If that is all, Captain, I would like to go to sickbay now and familiarize myself with the files of the officers I will be seeing," he announced. "I will be, of course, available for consultations with our new recruits, if necessary."

 

[Inactive User 002]

Varra was pleased that the meeting was coming to an end. It was clear to her she would need to study up on her senior officers if she wanted in on their good side. Varra made a note to look especially busy when the part Borg was looking. Thinking to herself she wondered what would of happened had her ship not been damaged or if she had chance to serve under Sisko. Sighing to herself a bit disappointed she let it go having been used to not getting what she wanted. In fact being in hostile or unideal conditions had been her entire life. At times like these she wondered why she joined Starfleet instead of rebuilding like the majority of her people. "Sir if there is nothing left to discuss may I familiarise myself with the helm?" she made sure her tone was respectful.

 

[Epiphany]

Seeing the other junior officers standing, Kimberly followed suit. She straightened her uniform, which didn't exactly need adjusting, suggesting it was a mannerism. Given she was an android, it suggested deliberate programming, or perhaps a conscious choice to mimic biological affectations.

"Thank you, sir," she said to the Captain. "With your permission, I'll brief Lieutenant Krii'kii on what she missed and get to work implementing your orders under her direction."

Having noticed Polito's glance at his PADD, she made a point of trying to catch the Tactical Officer's attention and then gave him a pointed look and a slight tilt of the head towards the door, suggesting she'd talk to him later outside of the briefing room.

 

[RPLongAndProsper]

"I believe I speak for all of us when I say we will do our very best not to disappoint," Taris added, joining the rest of the junior officers. Unfortunately, id was not quite certain what course of action was the best to take at the moment, because the Captain did agree with some of ids ideas, but ultimately left id on the mercy of Commander Bradfield. Obviously, Taris was not in a hurry to speak to the Terror of the Vigilance (it briefly wondered if the name could take). It looked like ids best bet was to work with Polito, who looked more miserable than ever, and make certain that all the upgrades would be carried out perfectly, leaving as little room for yelling as possible.

Taris sneaked behind a couple of officers to where Polito was sulking and gave him a not entirely fake smile, hoping to cheer him up a bit. "Lieutenant. I will be at your service until further notice. I propose that we split the workload and get as much done before the new crewmen arrive as possible."

 

[Darkraven]

Captain Ke'varr had plenty of time to familiarise himself with human facial expressions, whether it was fear, hatred and pain (which he knew almost intimately since a century ago) or happiness, dedication and love. Thus, when Jack Keiper's expression changed ever so slightly, the Captain could tell, even through her Starfleet officer's discipline. The thoughts that followed didn't take very long after.

[Tele-Empathic Reveal (Captain Ke'varr Sel'kir): Perhaps I was wrong about kill Jack's disposition kill I would have thought that she had no warrior's honour but kill I might have wounded what I thought was non-existent kill I will have to mend the grievous injury I made kill but how? Perhaps some day I will make it up to her kill]

But there was no time to act on his realisation. The secondary bridge crew was soon becoming restless, with all of them asking to be dismissed so that they may tackle their duties immediately. If there was a way he wanted to be inconvenienced, this would be it. If he had lips, he would have smiled whole-heartedly. Instead, he flashed the Kraekiran equivalent, letting his lower beak hang and the outer sides of his eyes curl ever so slightly.

"Very well, you are all dismissed. I doubt I should expect remiss," the Captain said cheerily, thought his voice gave little indication of it, beyond the uncharacteristic rhyme he had made - he tended to do that almost unconsciously whenever he was in a better mood, even if it had swung from the depths of rage and depression to an above-average level so quickly. "Attend me, Yeoman. While I have few tasks to give you at the moment, your company in my ready room would be welcome."

((Cuts to commercials))

 

[Epiphany]

Accepting the Captain's dismissal, Lieutenant Kimberly #49 pivoted on one heel and exited the conference room. At which point, she stepped to the side of the door and waited for the emergence of Lieutenant Polito. Assuming the nervous tactical officer comes along eventually, she reached out and touched his arm in what was hopefully a reassuring gesture.

"Lieutenant, I know you've been given something difficult to do. You don't have to do it alone. I need to check in with the Chief Science Officer but once my duties with her are concluded, I'll be available to help you refit any shuttles you like." Smiling slightly, she added, "I have some modest engineering knowledge and I'm happy to do the 'heavy lifting' for the shuttles, especially if we're going to be adding additional hull. And as far as coming up with other suggestions...I'm not a tactical officer, nor would I wish to be, but it seems to me that in centuries of research Starfleet must have come up with some innovations to enhance a shuttle's ability to fight. I would expect any innovation that isn't standard in a shuttle is due to the need for it to be a multipurpose craft, designed for long-range reconnaissance, transport, field studies, even planetary landings. If we take a pair of shuttles and sacrifice that generalized design, I suspect we can specialize those craft for the Captain's purposes. Consider concentrating your research in that direction. Once I'm free, I'll see what you've found and then we can put things together. Sound good?"

Regardless of Polito's response, Kimberly wrapped up that conversation as pleasantly as possible. Then she made straight for Lieutenant Krii'kii's quarters where the officer was presumably still confused.

It was time to see what duties aboard this ship would be like.

 

[Error 420]

Jack responds with little more than a confident nod, before briskly leaving the conference room. She passes by Kimberly's brief conversation with Polito, lulling around to give her a smile and a wave as she parts (that Jack was somewhat convinced she did not notice), and goes to Polito, speaking at a remarkably fast pace.

"Hey bud. I see what it's like around here and why you always look like you're about to go thermonuclear. I get it, but it's gonna be all good. My old captain once got his entire crew abducted by a god-like entity twice. And the borg. Pirates, once or twice. One time I think we wound up in an alternate timeline where everyone was really angry looking, I wasn't really paying attention. But we made it through. It's not the ship or the mission that's important, I guess it's like friendship or something. Needs of the many? Uh... I forget where I was going. Hang in there, buddy." She goes in for a quick hug before going off to the turbolift. She quickly turns around, heading back to Polito. "You wouldn't happen to know where the Captain's Ready Room is, would you? Also, the little girl's room? That meeting felt like it went on for days."

 

[RPLongAndProsper]

"Alternate timeline, where everyone was angry? Have you been to the Mirror universe?" Taris blurted out, having overheard the finale of Jack's pep talk. As far as pep talks went, this certainly wasn't the best one id had ever heard, but it reminded idre of what id had hoped this mission would be all about: adventure, danger, things previously unseen, and, yes, challenges to one's personal limits... but not in the way they were currently being challenged. So far, all they'd got was a taste of high school all over again, the headmaster of which was a bully. "I have once read a classified file on the Mirror universe," id added in a low voice by way of explanation. "If everyone there is their own angry and twisted version, half of our crew may have switched with their counterpart at some point in the past."

Yes, exactly like high school, Taris thought as id looked over ids shoulder in a conspiratory manner, hoping no one important had heard him say that. "Anyway," id said to Polito with an almost genuine smile, "I'm going to start working on the remote control for the shuttles and weaponize some of our probes, but since the Captain had assigned me to your station, I will, of course, make myself available to help with anything you might need me for, and I will make your requirements my priority. My presence alone might take some pressure off your shoulders, because Bradfield already hates me, so he will likely target me instead every now and then."

 

[MechanicalSnake]

The first thing Savir intended to do now that the briefing had come to a conclusion was lock himself in the sickbay under the guise of work and spend at least thirty minutes in complete silence, preferably meditating and effectively blocking the all around instability. The next thing was an undoubtedly exhausting task of going through all the patient files in hopes to be able to determine, who was in most dire need of help, and get a certain overview of the particular problems occuring among the crew. He suspected that alone would take up the rest of his day, but then he also needed to come up with a working schedule of visits, at least for the following week, by comparing his list of names with the duty schedule. And, of course, he would have to send everyone a reminder that they were due for evaluation. From experience, he knew people were more likely to show up for a counselling session if it was planned during their on duty hours, because it gave them a reason to skip work, whereas in their off hours, they kept coming up with creative excuses.

As he walked out into the corridor, however, a group of his fellow junior officers came into view. It could be interesting to gain some insights from them before departing... Besides, Polito was with them, and Savir recalled the Lieutenant had been alarmed by some sort of message he'd received back in the conference room. Perhaps he was still thinking about it? Although... listening specifically for such a personal information was certainly a privacy breech. Not that it mattered on this ship. Interesting, how small issues that would have been a reason for worry anywhere else faded in importance when compared to the real problems on the Vigilance.

He joined the group in an unobtrusive manner and gave a sharp nod. "Officers." His dark eyes, the only inheritance after his Betazoid parental unit, shifted from one to the other in silent appreciation. "I would like to express my thanks for the support you were ready to provide during the earlier conflict. And my apologies to Lieutenant Polito for having underestimated his initial warning. Unfortunately, I had been previously unable to imagine the extent of both mental and moral decay on this ship."

 

[Error 420]

Jack was excited to be approached by Taris, only to be quickly made incredibly panicked by the approach of Savir and the continued presence of Polito, forming something of a triangle around her. She looked Taris in the eyes, ready to speak, only to hesitate and look to Savir, turning around to face Polito.

Tele-empathic Reveal: Jack: Oh god they're all there and I can't play it cool anymore because now I've turned all the way around and now it looks like I'm panicking wait maybe if I just do a cool like hand thing they'll think it's all cool and stuff oh god but they might think I'm being mean and I want to talk to them but I was already talking to Polito oh god

She turns around again, facing the junior officers, and letting out a slight whimper. She noticed Kimberly walking down the hall and took the opportunity to escape. She mutters a "'scuse me" and pushes past Savir and Taris, moving quickly to Kimberly's side in the Turbolift before the door closes.

She clears her throat.

"So."

"Yeah."

"So like."

She turns to Kimberly, with a forced look of confidence. "How are you?"

 

[Inactive User 002]

Varra gave a salute before exiting the room carry her boots with her. She wanted to get a good look at the helm of this starship. The bridge seemed rather glum as she stepped onto it with the crewman she had nicked her boots from glaring at her. Stepping up to the girl she insisted that she would somehow make it up to her. Though how she was going to do that Varra had no clue thinking maybe some holodeck time might make up for it. Maybe even giving her some of her replicator allowance would also work. She really didn't want to give up holodeck time if it could be helped.

Looking over the controls helped Varra a lot though she wouldn't know what the ship was like until she got some hands on time. Just as she was getting used to the layout which was much different to the older ships she was used to her com badge went off. It was a crewman saying that a Dabo girl was here for her and wanted her boots. Varra was shocked that she had spent the night with a girl as such a thing wasn't normal among her people. Everyone was required to breed to keep the species going and it was considered an honour to give birth. Many of her species were encouraged to find a mate or two as soon as possible. In fact her were much like Denobulans with multiple mates.

 

[Epiphany]

Prepared to go to the Chief Science Officier's quarters, Kimberly was surprised to fall in with the small group of junior officers. Savir's polite address merited a respectful nod in return. "The...condition of our shipmates and this ship's morale are unique in my experience, Lieutenant. I've never seen behavior in Starfleet like I've seen here today. You can depend on further support from me in the future, regulations permitting of course."

When Ensign Keiper followed her, Kimberly offered a curious smile at the other woman's presence. The difficulty Jack had in communicating was amusing. "I'm fine, Ensign," she said. "Apprehensive after that briefing, I'll admit. How are you? You were more directly affected than any of us, I think. Though your position with the Captain may offer a great deal of perspective and training most of us won't have the opportunity to get. What are your thoughts?"