Posted by Lieutenant Commander Wessley Tate (Chief Security Officer) in Big Things, Tiny Packages - A Boarding Post
“Excuse me. You’re what?” The tall woman towered over Wessley Tate’s tiny frame and eyed him sternly.

“I’m returning to Starfleet. I’m ending my leave of absence and I’ve taken a position as Chief of Security on the U.S.S Asimov.” Even standing as tall as he could he didn’t reach the height of the woman’s chin. “And I wish you wouldn’t berate me for it… Mother.”

“Berate?” asked Juleata Tate, her arms folded across her chest as she circled her only son. “I never berate. I reprove. I rebuke. I may even occasionally lambaste but I never berate. I would have thought after all these years out there you would have realized that your home is here, in Capital City. Outer space is no place for a man.”

“At least out there I am a man!” he nearly shouted. “I am treated with respect. I am valued. I am seen as more then a flat smooth chest and a tight pair of buns.”

“I did not raise you to speak to me, or any woman that way. I’ve always taught you to be gentle. Quiet and demure. Have you forgotten everything you learned at Trentwell’s.”

“No, mother, I haven’t. I learned not to speak unless spoken to. To always walk behind, never in front. Never to sit at a table with a woman unless invited.” His tone grew louder and his pace quickened as he spoke. “Men are to dress prettily, with hints of bare chest. I learned to honor my Mother and my Mistress. And most of all I learned to NEVER RAISE MY VOICE TO A WOMAN!!”

Juleata’s hand flew across her son’s face leaving a bright red hand print. He gingerly touched the place where his mother had struck him. “If you leave again, you are to never return. Is that understood… man?”

Wessley could feel the tears welling up in his eyes. “So be it, my Mother.” He said bowing his head in respect as he was taught. He started to leave but stopped and turned his head and said, “You know, they have a word for women like you…”

“Oh?” she asked, her face red with anger. “And what might that be?”

“Bitch,” he said calmly before leaving forever.

---

A few weeks later and Lieutenant Commander Wessley Tate was transporting onto the USS Asimov. Finally, he felt he could breathe, out from underneath the suffocating scrutiny of his mother. It was good to be back in space.

And although he despised most of the lessons taught him at Trentwell’s Finishing School For Boys there was one that he embraced. “A little skin indeed,” he said to his reflection while flexing his bare leg. His gold skant uniform ended a few inches above the knee and his ankle boots were shined to a mirror finish. “Great gams!” he sing-songed ready to report for duty.

-Lt. Commander Wessley Tate, CoS

OOC: I’m going to inject here to bring your character into the sim.

IC:
As Lt. Commander Tate relieved his memories while being unconscious in sickbay of the last few weeks, more recent memories began to surface in his dream state.

He found himself on the Bridge of Asimov, with the crazied Admiral Burnett calling from USS Sikeston in conversation with the Captain and a Dr. Lucas Calvin. (OOC: See previous sim.) He watched as he was ordered to begin evacuation procedures by Commander Zennneth Kaida. He watched himself help his shipmates get into escape pods, and getting one into himself. He watched himself being rescued and returning to Starbase 243.

OOC: Insert any feelings about having a close call for character development during this flashback, if you want.

IC:
A week later, they were leaving Starbase on a shakedown cruise of the new Asimov. He found himself doing ship inspections, but some of the stuff wasn’t ready for them, and Starfleet was eager to make sure the ship was in working order. Tate saw his flashback dream take himself on the Bridge, and found the Captain followed by the new first officer Commander Sara Kiernan, chatting.

OOC: Reference, the original post as an NE at Ops reporting the mission: “Incoming message from Starfleet Command, Captain. Message reads, proceed with shakedown of new ship, you have 3 days,” said the NE at Ops.

IC:
He found himself at Tactical station, reading the new orders from Starfleet Command: “Incoming message from Starfleet Command, Captain. Message reads, proceed with shakedown of new ship, you have 3 days.”

He found the Captain acknowledging with: “Understood Lt. Cmdr. Double check to make sure all crew are aboard and accounted for. Kiernan, let’s get this show on the road.”

An hour into the uneventful shakedown, an unknown anomaly formed. Lt. Cmdr. Tate found the young ensigns at their stations slightly concerned.

“An anomaly has just opened half a meter in front of us, bearing 000, mark 241!” said the Ops NE, “We’re being pulled in!”

“I can’t back out, sirs!” replied the NE at the helm, “The anomaly is accelerating us in!”

The computer would registered that they were being accelerated to Warp 9.9975, but the warp drive was not active. Nor was it responsive. The Operations NE did a scan of the anomaly but the sensors were not registering the internals of the anomaly, so there was no way to counter act the anomaly’s effects.

What felt like 15 minutes had past, the ship exited the anomaly, into an unknown space. The stars were different, or so it seemed, but the sensors were only partial registering, as the anomaly had damaged long range sensors, and the short range sensors were only giving a limited output. They had exited into a plasma storm, but they were quickly passing through it. The plasma storm struck the ship directly, and damaged some of the critical systems… the primary and secondary computer had gone offline, half of the EPS systems ruptured from the plasma storm’s surge, which also damaged the replication systems too. The plasma storms damaged the shields, which were now at 17%. Hull integrity remained intact however. Weapons were operable, but the tractor system and defector system was offline now due to the plasma storm damage.

As the ship cleared the plasma storm, what was currently obvious on the viewscreen of the visual sensors was a planet was fast approaching… or rather the ship was fast approaching the planet.

Both the Operations and Helms NE were in a panic. “Thrusters are not responding. Limited atmosphere manuevering is available,” said the Ops NE.

“We’re coming in too fast!” said the Helms NE.

Tate recalled he did everything he could to help, but it was no use. The plasma storms caused too much damage to the ship’s propulsion systems for the systems to properly respond.

As recalled, they entered the planet’s atmosphere, the Helms NE tried to adjust the ship’s entry. Unluckily, the ship got struck by a bolt of lightning. The shields was reduced down to 7%, and more electrical systems across the ship got damaged. All but one fusion generator was working now.

“Captain, we’re coming in hot!” said the helms NE, “30 seconds to impact.”

Horror came over the crew, knowing that possibly they were all going to die.

A tractor beam was detected against their ship, but it only operated for 3 seconds. It had adjusted the ship’s trajectory and had slowed the ship down slightly. The Ops officer was able to see that it came from a Ferengi scout ship, that had crashed, as it was stuck in a downward position, but strangely, had a tractor emitter at the back of its ship.

He recalled seeing the tractor beam registering on his console.

The ship crashed, and all of the crew were knocked unconscious.

It was then, Tate woke up with start, to find himself in a damaged sickbay with emergency lighting operating only and a pretty nurse who turned around to find him awake. There was only slight pain in his chest, and his legs felt a little numb, but he could still feel like he can wiggle his feet and fingers.

“Relax Commander, take it easy,” said Nurse Mendoza, “I’m Nurse Mendoza, you are in sickbay. You sustained heavy injuries on the Bridge, and were brought down by your competent staff who assisted medical teams in recovering the crew. You’ve been out for an entire day, we thought you weren’t going to make it. We had to perform surgery on you to fix the internal bleeding. Communications is out, and your staff has been acting as runners between decks for the moment. As for you, since you’ve been sleeping, your body has been recovering the entire time, so you should be cleared for light duty soon after Dr. Donnelly looks you over again,” said Nurse Mendoza, “Dr. Donnelly just went to a senior staff briefing an hour ago, she should be returning shortly. What is the last thing you remember, sir?”

GM