Posted by Lieutenant Casela Synthi-er (Counsellor / RTF) in recurring side-sim: Sausage and Scuttlebutt

Posted by Captain Zachariah Cobb (Commanding Officer) in recurring side-sim: Sausage and Scuttlebutt

Posted by Lieutenant Casela Synthi-er (Counsellor / RTF) in recurring side-sim: Sausage and Scuttlebutt
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻
It was the morning after the party at the lounge. The crew had been moved to the lounge on deck 30 and the party had continued. Casela had managed to sneak some of the cake away for the crew without Cobb noticing it was gone. She was sure after the strange events, Cobb had unwound in his usual way. She got up early, why? because Cobb always got up early to eat in his office before his shift. How did she know this? Because she kept track of schedules. Yes, she was stalking the senior staff. The first sign of trouble was an altered schedule, so she made it her business to know where the staff usually was during their days.

Casela requested two cups of strong coffee and grabbed a little something extra and headed for Cobb’s office. She arrived, nodded to the night shift and rang the chime. After Cobb answered she walked in and over to the desk. She put one of the cups of coffee in front of him. She then took the liberty of getting a glass of water. She brought it to the desk, took out the ‘extra’ she had brought with her. She ripped the package and ‘plop-plop, fizz-fizz.’ “I thought you could use both this morning, after last night.”

Casela sat down in the chair across from him.

Lt. Synthi-er, CNS

As was now a veritable routine, Cobb was seated at his desk, a mountain of bacon, eggs, sausage and potato in front of him. On this particular morning, however, he’d eschewed the usual subspace stream of Terran news, finding the light from his terminal too bright for his currently pounding head. At the appearance of the Counselor, his initial reaction had been to lament the loss of solitary peace. But at the sight of the fizzing glass of water, he smiled, broadly.

“Ah, you’re a bloody angel, Cas. And don’t let anyone ever tell you different,” he winked, before reaching for the glass and downing its sour contents in one gulp.

In her mind she could see the winged humanoid form, sword in hand. Weapon, armor, feathers, clothes, all covered in blood. It was a fitting description. But that wasn’t what Cobb meant, “Hush Zachariah. You’ll ruin my reputation if people hear you talk like that.”

Chasing the medication with a large swallow of coffee, he nodded at his food and added, “Why don’t you grab yourself something to eat and then fill me in on the current goings on while my head clears a little, eh?”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

Casela eyed the massive heap of food in front of Cobb. If she ate like that, she’d be in a food coma for days. She got up and went to the replicator. She came back with something that looked like a pita pocket stuffed full. There was a small amount of sausage in it, but mostly plant proteins, dairy and dried fruits. It was hearty but not to the point of making a person sluggish from being over full. She took a bite of her food and then a sip of her coffee. “The crew is....unsettled this morning. Most of them at the party were moved to the lounge on deck 30 and continued to celebrate. A few noticed a lack of senior staff, but the rest were eager to continue the festivities. Your new yoeman was amazing at getting them going and keeping their focus on the party. She’s a gem.”

“Oh, that she is,” Cobb agreed enthusiastically around a large mouthful of bacon. Although his expression darkened almost instantly. “That…thing at the party though, Cas. It worries me. I suppose I’d expected there to be more order to when these anomalies showed up. You know, we get a mission, we make our way there with plenty time to plan and then we meet the anomaly on our own terms. But this one, it…sought us out. It’s like we’re a bloody magnet for these things!”

Casela thought about it. “It does feel that way. And of course I’m not scientist, but it does make one wonder if keeping all these anomalies on board for science to study might be attracting more. Though I do have to say that despite the animosity between the different departments and ‘crews’ everyone worked almost well together. It was much smoother than I expected.” She, like Cobb wasn’t too happy about being a ‘bloody magnet’ as he put it. “You know RTF has their own training holosuites, and then there others. But all the departments train in a compartmentalized fashion. It might be of benefit for you, Zachariah, to have them train together. You have a brilliant mind for strategy, you should oversee it.”

“Aye,” the Captain nodded. “I was impressed by how the crew reacted. I suppose if nothing else it provided us with a live practice drill, a chance to see how everyone works together as a team. It was almost enough to make me feel comfortable about this upcoming mission,” he laughed, dryly.

“But a joint training session sounds like a sensible idea as well. I’ll have a word with Manhattan, see if we can put something together.”

She took a sip of her coffee, “The science department is going to be shut down, by me.” At Zachariah’s look she chuckled. “Only McHarrie and Polizzi have shown up for psych evals. I’ll send a note when I leave here, but we’re only a day out and I don’t know about you, but I’d rather an ARU team that is mentally stable, and until they show up I have no way of knowing that. And according to regulations” Casela sneered the word, “they can’t be cleared for duty. We’re too close to Paulson for them to be overlooking this. There are a few DH’s that are lacking those evals as well. I’ve given those in Engineering some extra leeway, they are working over time and need sleep more than another meeting at the moment.”

Lt. Synthi-er, CNS

Zachariah allowed himself a chuckle. “Aye, Commander GLaDOS, she’s…well,” he cleared his throat then shot the Counselor a wry glance from over his coffee cup. “Well I don’t see her submitting eagerly to a psych evaluation, that’s for sure. Not that I’m giving her clearance to get out of it,” he added with lightning speed, lest he too fall foul of Synthi-er’s tolerance regarding his own mental state.

Casela didn’t even need to be telepathic to know what he was thinking. Her look conveyed a slight humor at his worry, but by now he should know he was in the clear with her. “Cmdr. GLaDOS is an interesting conundrum as far as counseling regulations go. But hers should take very little time. Fenrir is enchanted by her. Probably because they both are more AI than anything else.” The thought of Fenrir reminded her of Ryder’s flippant and uncalled for accusation the night before and her face darkened momentarily. That man drove her crazy. She was finding a way to get away from him, but getting a transfer order from Cobb was not likely to happen.

At the mention of the spy-dog, Cobb’s face turned sour and he huffed into his coffee. Well, the thing might be enchanted by GLaDOS, but it certainly had no love for the Captain. And that feeling was most decidedly mutual.

But deep down he felt a certain affinity for their former Borg Science Chief in this matter. He too had spent far too many years of his career being poked and prodded and scrutinized by men and women in white coats. As a commanding officer he appreciated the importance of the task. But as a mere sentient being he would never quite shake his uneasiness around medical and psychological practitioners.

“Present company excepted, of course,” he accidentally completed his thoughts aloud. Then with a duty-laden sigh concluded, “I’ll have a word, express to them the importance of these evals and being cleared. Engineering too. I know they’ve been pulling double, sometimes triple shifts, but that’s all the more reason for us to monitor their health and mental faculties.”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

When Zachariah finished his thoughts out loud Casela laughed, a rich light-hearted sound. Not something she did often. “Present company excluded, I can’t stand command officers.” She shook her head, “The engineers are coming in, just slowly. I’ve sent the other counselors to speak to them while they are on duty. It cuts down on how much of their time is spent working. They are all very cooperative. Not that I think that science is purposely avoiding it, not yet. They are just wrapped up in their experiments.” Casela took a long swallow of her coffee, and glanced at Zachariah over her cup, very serious, “And though normally I would accommodate and go to them, I have NO desire to go into those ARU labs. I don’t consider myself squeamish, but I’m just not doing it.” She took several more bites of her breakfast.

Zachariah nodded. He’d been meaning to schedule a tour of McHarrie’s Abell research lab and had found himself procrastinating over it all week. He’d told himself it was because the mission took priority. And while that was certainly true, the Counselor’s words made him silently question whether he too had more personal reasons for avoiding the place.

“Yes, well, I’m the captain,” he stated at last. “It’s my job to know everything that goes on on my ship. And that includes whatever McHarrie is keeping in those containment tanks. These walls might be pure tritanium, lass,” he wrapped his knuckles on the bulkhead to his rear, “but we have no idea if they’ll keep those things at bay forever.”

“Lt. Hampton has made the shield you approved for the away team. It should protect from the oscillating frequency and Doc Fey has prepared something to help protect the minds and bodies of the team. She has requested a body for autopsy so she can better determine what happened. She’s setting up a containment area. I’ll download personnel, duty, and personal logs when we get there, and see if it sheds any light.” She finishes her coffee. “What about the other departments? Any progress from them?”
LT. Synthi-er, CNS

“Autopsy, right.” Cobb readjusted his position in his chair, as if the subject of the doctor’s corpse requirements made him uncomfortable. As indeed it did. “I mean, these are civilians we’re talking about, Cas,” he exhaled. “Or, at least, they used to be. It just doesn’t seem right handing them over to the doctor to…”
He shuddered and for a moment all of the pre-cookie fears and insecurities about Kastil returned to dance across his face. But gathering himself quickly, he shrugged and concluded, “I suppose it is for the greater good. For science.”

His coffee drained, the man tore himself away from the comfortable chair and meandered over towards the replicator. “As for the other departments,” he continued talking whilst obtaining fresh coffee, “I’m still to get a report from science on their guidelines for the away team. I was hoping to have it before I briefed the team later. But I’ll just have to get someone from the science department to present it to them then. So whatever they’ve managed to find out about this thing will be as much of a surprise to me as it will be to anyone else.”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb