Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Harrison Rutger (Chief of Operations) in Captains Ready Room - Stepping up
Harrison took a moment to ensure that his uniform was as presentable as possible. He had not expected the summons to attend the Captain’s Ready Room that had come as he finished up his shift, standing night-watch in engineering as usual. The shift had passed uneventfully, just the standard list of checks and maintenance left by the Chief Engineer to keep on top of.

Despite the uneventful shift, Harrison would have preferred to return to his quarters to change, being somewhat fussy about his appearance at the best of times, let alone on rare occasions when he was called up to the upper decks. With one last ineffectual brush at a stubborn grease spot, Harrison hit the door chime and waited.

Harrison Rutger

The door opened in short order and through it, Rutger would see the Captains desk directly ahead of him, with a chair behind it that was currently facing away from the entrance to the Ready Room door. “Come in, Ensign,” A voice very slightly accented by Italian came from that chair, and a moment later it slowly spun around to face him.

Sitting in it, was the Captain of the Saracen. Red Tunic of Command, pips, stoic and severe face, creases or worry lines starting to spread from the eyes. All the works that a good author always wrote into their Captains in any novel. Captain Dante Knight was reading a PaDD that he held in front of him, and his eyes never lifted to look at the Engineering Ensign.

“Take a seat, Rutger,” Dante said and at the same time reached out and took what looked like a dried piece of bacon from a plate on the desk, and threw it to the side of the room. That movement revealed a large cushion lying in the corner of a type that a large dog would perhaps sleep on, and on that cushion curled up as much as it could was a very big lizard. That lizard reached 8 feet in length total, nose to tail tip, and the narrow head of the hunting lizard was raised from where it had been napping, it’s black beady eyes fixed on the new person coming through the door.

The piece of bacon landed almost expertly only inches in front of that head, but the only response was a single tongue flick in acknowledgement from the Lizard who was commonly known amongst the crew of the Saracen to be named ‘Bruce’. He was also known to be overly protective of Dante, Dante’s wife Natasha and their son, Oscar. The look that Bruce gave Rutger was clear. I’m watching you.

Captain Knight, CO