Posted by Lieutenant Commander Peter Sigmundsson (Chief Intelligence Officer) in A lonely terminal - Nakuto makes a call to McHarrie

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Matthew ‘Junior’ Grimshaw (Shady Character) in A lonely terminal - Nakuto makes a call to McHarrie

Posted by Civilian Kara Nakuto (Civilian, Former CO) in A lonely terminal - Nakuto makes a call to McHarrie
She had deliberately sought out a terminal on a lower deck, not so deep into the bowels of the ship that power was restricted, but distant enough to shield her conversation from unwanted attention.

It had been well over a year since Nakuto had spoken to her former CMO. The amiable Welshman’s own tenure on the Viking had been marked by tragedy from the moment he stepped onboard - a dear friend and colleague being murdered by a rogue transporter; and also chaos with the arrival of his uncle…no, father, in a plot orchestrated by Section 31, the intentions for which still unknown to the ship’s former Captain.

Her stomach knotted with apprehension at the task ahead of her, his reaction to seeing again that once-familiar, half-Klingon face impossible to predict. Would he welcome such a stark reminder of that bleak chapter in his life? Or run from it in turmoil at the memories she roused within him?

It had taken Kara a long time to track down John’s whereabouts. Her skills as an engineer and patience as a Captain combined paid off. It was clear that John didn’t want to be found. Whilst a specific location was not available, Kara had located enough to track him to a remote sector on the Romulan edge of the neutral zone…

There was only one way to find out and so, as Kara waited to be joined by Peter Sigmundsson, she occupied her trembling hands with the firing up of the terminal, its green, aurora-like glow the room’s only illumination.

Kara Nakuto

Peter entered after her in complete silence. Despite his considerable size, he was quite capable of moving quietly. Almost unnaturally so. He took a place on the other side of the console. So to hear and not be heard, see and not be seen. He crossed his arms and looked at his former Captain, someone he’d never seen so small before. So afraid.

There was quite a bit of static on the image that appeared. The outline of a figure with his back to the display could be made out in a cabin that looked small enough to be a runabout.

“Now then, James, my old friend, I wonderred how long it’d take you to track me down,” the figure said. Whilst the man could not be made out on the image, he clearly did not possess John’s distinctive welsh accent.

“That should do it,” he said as the image came into focus and the thin figure spun around on his chair to face the screen. The information overlay on Kara’s terminal would identify the man as Lt. Commander Matthew Grimshaw and annotated it with the fact that he was a convicted spy that had escaped custody aboard the USS Swift.

“And… I should have known that he wouldn’t do his own dirty work,” Grimshaw said not even attempting to hide the dissapointment in his voice, “But, I must admit to being more than a little surprised he’d trust a… well you know?.. A you.”

Grimshaw leaned back in his chair, wonderring just how far he could push his caller before she would hang up.

“You know what I think? I think he chose you cos he thought a Klingon would be able to scare me in to giving in. He should know me better than that. Ofcourse he’s hated so much in the Empire, a true Klingon would just kill him. So he had to make do with a half-breed like yourself. You are a half-breed and not just some dishonoured exile that happens to be deformed, aren’t you?”

-Junior

Peter read the information from the side and immediately recognized the name of Command… no, Mr Grimshaw. His arrest and subsequent imprisonment was all the buzz not long ago and his recent escape was a fairly prominent report that went across Peters desk. He made no sound nor did he move but his face tightened and his eyes narrowed. He made a mental note to find the man later on.

Peter Sigmundsson

Unexpected, to find this stranger on the screen in place of her old friend. Unexpected and…unsettling. Still, Kara succeeded in almost wholly suppressing the ripple of shock and confusion that coursed through her. So too the anger at his deliberately baiting words. She refused to rise visibly to his insults, even as every atom within her roared for battle.

Rising to her feet, Nakuto took a step back to fully present her height and build on the viewscreen. Not yet returned to full strength, still her strong frame and defined muscles would serve as a deterrent to any seeking a fight. Half-Klingon only in measure, that much was true. But in that moment she refused to question whether it was enough.

“Matthew Grimshaw,” she spat, her tone an audible representation of her disgust. “So we take each other by surprise, it seems. But truly you must realise how easy you were to find. You should be more careful. But then with every enemy you collect it becomes all the easier for me to find people willing to give you up without a care.”

She could sense Sigmundsson at her side, could feel the man’s dislike of their caller like a wave emanating from him to collide with her own. Her Klingon side was relishing the chance to cross verbal bat’leths with Grimshaw further, but her human sensibilities needed to make their point. No sense in drawing this out. The man was well aware of why she had called.

“Show me John McHarrie,” she demanded. “And for your own safety you better show him to me unharmed.”

Kara Nakuto