Posted by Captain Zachariah Cobb (Commanding Officer) in Check in meeting the captain

Posted by Ensign Luna (Security Officer /RTF) in Check in meeting the captain

Posted by Captain Zachariah Cobb (Commanding Officer) in Check in meeting the captain
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Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻

” where did you get that information?” Luna glared at him now. ” i have gose to great trouble to keep Cerenity’s abilities off offichil star fleet records, I want risk suffering the way I did. She is a child i want her to actually get to be a child” Luna said. She was calm but there was a hard edge to her voice.

Luna’s glare was returned with an equally fierce one from the captain. “If you want your daughter to be a child, then I suggest you send her as far away from this anomaly-packed vessel as possible. Perhaps you did not hear me the last time, Miss Luna, but we are not designated as a family vessel. We are engaged in highly dangerous, highly secret missions.”

Cobb let out a heavy sigh, some of the ferocity in his tone fading with it.
“I will make whatever concessions that I can to accommodate your daughter,” he offered, “but I can not lie to you about the risks she will face here. If you choose to have her remain and face them, and I am in no way attempting to persuade you in either direction, then you, as her mother, will be equally compelled to acknowledge that risk.”

Luna shook her head. ” that was not what I ment captain. I will not see her taken by science and used as a lab rat. Not that any of the scientists onboard this ship have a reason to buy section 31 dose. So , yes sir it consurnd me that you know about Cerenitys ability with out me having told you. I can’t send her away beleav it or not she is actually safest here with me. Not to mention the fact that I have no family and her father’s parents don’t know she is alive. I have my reasons for keep her under the radar as much as possible. And LT Casela and I are already making plans to accommodate her. Everything is already under control on that end. You did not answer my question where did you hear about Cerenity. It should not be in her records that she is not a normal child?” Luna said.

“Ensign Luna,” Cobb sighed, “I am the commanding officer of a top secret ARU vessel, engaged in highly classified and highly dangerous operations. I have access to far more significant information than the true nature of your daughter.”

He studied the woman closely. Here was a mother, trying desperately to protect her child whilst every secret and clandestine organisation in the quadrant, it seemed, was attempting to hunt her down. In that moment, Zachariah felt a great deal of pity for Luna and also a fierce protectiveness over both her and her child.

Leaning in more closely, he lowered his voice and added, “You know the ARU have a file on Cerenity, right? I think they suspected her of being an anomaly herself, at one time. But as far as I’ve been able to ascertain, their interest is only peripheral at this time. A ‘watch and see’ approach, if you follow me.”

” what

“What ?” Luna snaped glaring at the captain. ” she is a child a human child no an anomaly not a laboratory rat. She is a person with hopes dream and emotions just like anyone else what will it take for me to get that message across” Luna yelled at him. Her response being a mixture of frustration and anger. ” why why can’t anyone see and respect for who she is” Luna said. The anger left her suddenly and she burst into tears.

As the woman began to cry, Zachariah’s own eyes grew wide, one hand rubbing nervously at the back of his neck as his mind scrambled for a solution. Reaching for the empty glass that Luna had so far ignored, he filled it quickly with whiskey and then pushed it in her direction, following it closely with another glass filled with water and, after a few moments, a clean handkerchief.

“Come now, Miss Luna,” he attempted to soothe her, “I understand that this has come as a shock and, in truth, I could not begin to imagine my own reaction were I in your shoes right now. But you must also understand the ARU. At it’s heart, it is little more than a database. A catalogue. Names, classifications, features, body counts. It reduces all living things to their digital factsheet and devises strategies of engagement based on the same.”

“But us,” he continued after a pause, “we know better. We see the sentient consciousness behind even the most terrifying of eyes. We feel the beating heart within even the most powerfully violent of chests. We know that monsters, true monsters, are real. And we know, too, that this world was not created for the innocent. We know the dangers and the calamities that wait to befall even the purest and most gentle of souls. Ensign Luna,” he reached out and placed a hand on her arm, “as a member of my crew, both yourself and Cerenity are now my responsibility. And I will do everything that I can to protect her. To protect you both. Of that, you have my word.”

” thats a nice centament captain but I can’t trust you. Cerenity and I have not stayed free for as long as we have by trusting every one. I will turn on anyone who trys to treat her like a lab rat. I will not let her suffer the way I did” Luna said calmly. She had wiped the tears away and now felt much better. She looked back at the captain unblinking. Could she trusted this man? She did not know he would have to earn it.

” I don’t want her to suffer through what I went through. I wand her to be given a fair chance and have the same optrltintys any other Federation citizen would have. But she is doomed like me I should never have let Loki get close.” She said. She did not mean her last statement. She loved Cerenity and would die before she let harm come to her baby. The ensign was overwhelmed and tired she would like for once in her life to get to just enjoy being a mom and not constantly be looking for danger or someone trying to take Cerenity . It was bad enough the consuler was possibly questioning her fitness to parent she did not need to worry that the people onboard may try and experiments on cerenity.

“Aye,” Cobb nodded his agreement. “You seek no more than any parent would wish for their own child. Freedom from prejudice, freedom of opportunity, of experience, of advancement. These are basic needs deserving of all sentient beings. And as much as I am able to grant them to her, on the Leviathan, then I promise you now, Luna, that I will.”

He studied the woman across from him, attempted to form a smile. But already the shadow was upon him, the darkness possessing his tongue and forcing the brutality of the universe once more to the fore.
“You and I, Luna,” he whispered, “we have long since lost the ability for placation by the Federation dream. This utopia that they so continuously boast of, we know it is no more than myth. A fairytale to comfort young children and dam the deluge of monsters under their bed. And we allow ourselves to forget this, even for a single breath, at the peril of everyone around us.”

Zachariah paused, his blue eyes locking with her own and searching for an indication that she agreed. That she understood.

” the Federation in of its self is not inherent or completely evil. It can be made better. But so long as organizations like section 31 are allowed to exist and are protected. The Federation will remain a horrible dark place.” She said calmly. She did not blame all of the Federation and could see where it had done some good.

“Three,” his glass was drained and refilled with impressive efficiency and not a single drop wasted in the action of it, “the circumstances of your assignment to my crew have not been shared with me. As is so often the case on this vessel, it seems. But if I had to hazard a guess then I would wager that your presence on the Viking factored somewhere in the decision. But irrespective of that, you are on my crew now, Ensign Luna. So unless your intention is to put in a transfer or otherwise jump ship, I would suggest that the reasons do not matter so much at this point. Would you agree?”

” not exactly but I will drop the matter for now” Luna said there was sumthing in her tone that said she did not believe him.

“And four,” he concluded at last, “the ARU is not a branch of Section 31, but as the two most highly classified divisions of Starfleet, they operate within the same sphere. And so, individual motivations aside, I find these continual connections to be more unsurprising with every one that I discover. Although not any less irritating for that fact.”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

” section 31 is evil and should be disbanded” she said crossing her arms. She watched the captain for a moment. Before she reluctantly sat down. ” why exactly are we capturing these anomalie, I heared several members of the Viking that i thought to be dead were onbord are all transfers done suddenly and secretly” Luna asked
Ensign Luna

Zachariah raised an eyebrow at her mention of the Viking’s former crew.
“Aye. As you already know then, you are not the first of the Viking’s crew to be reassigned to my command. Nakuto, McHarrie, GLaDOS, Akirel, Gruv, all of them are, or or were at one time, a member of this crew. Why? I will be completely honest with you, Miss, I don’t have the faintest bloody idea!”

He ran a hand through his hair, a few errant strands escaping from their confines to fall around his face, momentarily softening his usually serious expression.
“As for why we capture anomalies, I…were you not briefed on this, Ensign? Are you aware of the nature of these things we hold in containment on this vessel? If you are then surely you must agree that such monstrosities can not be allowed to roam the quadrant unhindered? We do what we do here, Miss Luna, because we must. Because with every single one of those things that we capture, we save an unimaginable number of innocent lives.”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

” protect lives is why i become a security officer. Are you combat trained or do you need a babysitter during combat situations” Luna asked a grin on her face. She was somewhat teasing him now and glad to be on the topic of there job. ” very few have beat me in a fight though I will bet the anomalies will be far more challenging then Klingon’s and wherewolfs” she said calmly. She had actually gotten her but kicked by a where wolf but then again it was dark and she could not move freely because she had a egg head scientists in the way. It also did no b help that the werewolf was faster then she was.
Ensign Luna

The captain chuckled, although could not entirely prevent his eyes darting quickly to his stomach. Was he truly so out of shape as to appear unprepared for combat?
“I can hold my own in a firefight, lass,” he replied, “although it’s true I lack the thorough training of the RTF. But then that’s not my job onboard the ship. It is yours. And whatever creatures you think you have faced in the past, believe me when I tell you, Miss Luna, that you have never encountered anything like the monsters we have in containment on this ship.”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

” so you need a babysitter in a combat setting and some hand to hand combat practice good to know. Also do you run drills on this ship for containment breaches? As for these monsters I can handle anything. I refuse to be deleted because I have a child to protect and return home to” she said.
Ensign Luna
Ensign Luna

“Do you take us for no more than scoundrels, Miss Luna?” Cobb returned her teasing with his own. “Of course we run drills! And complex ones at that. I am sure you will have sufficient opportunity to participate in a few yourself, soon enough!”

Luna only smiled breafly she was glad the man could take a joke. Though the smile only crossed her face for a few moments it did seam to brighten the mood if only breafly.

Her confidence was impressive, but at the same time, alarming. Was she truly prepared for the things she would face on the containment deck? Or were her words spoken for the benefit of her own courage?
“So, do you have any questions for me on these anomalies?” he offered her an opportunity to find out more, to maybe lay some of her own fears to rest. “Or the ARU in general?”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

” I don’t totally understand the ARU if we are not sapose to protect the crew so what is are job realy.” She asked. That confidence still the there. She did not get the loxary of considering that something was to tuff or impossible. Its ok though because that ment she could go forward even when she know there was a possibility of failing. ” captain what would you have wanted to know when you got onboard this ship for the first time” Luna asked. There was a question he wanted her to ask that she was not asking and she was not sure what.
Ensign Luna