The Patrol Team Gets The News

Posted on Sat Mar 5th, 2016 @ 6:52pm by Lieutenant Commander Leto & Lieutenant Seren Hawke & Vic & Lieutenant Commander T'Rowl N'Riss C.Phil & Ensign Leela Carter & Lieutenant Commander Marie O'Donnell

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: EFS Kohana

* EFS Kohana *

For a while, the Caitian flight controller had been lazily gazing across his helm board. Some people might have assumed that he could have gotten rather distracted by the lights and colors considering his feline heritage, but he was actually skilled when it came to doing so. Regardless, it didn't appear like there were any anomalies at all.

Briefly, N'Riss paused and wanted to say something about the command style. Being rather professional rather than brusque, the Caitian certainly didn't quite know if their styles were going to mesh. Rather, though, he just allowed his tail to flick for the moment and had elected to remain silent for the time being. This was certainly shaping up to be an interesting mission to say the least.

A few hours had passed since the Kohana had departed the Starbase and Reva and Six had left the Bridge. Carter, Vic and Seren had also left, though they’d gone together and left N’Riss in charge of the ship. Now the doors opened and they stepped back onto the bridge. “Anything of interest happening, N’Riss?” Carter asked, smiling. She was pretty sure nothing of interest had happened. Yet.

“Please say no,” Seren added. “Four hours out is too soon for things to get ‘interesting’. Not that this ship doesn’t qualify as that by itself.”

Considering the certain quirks that came with being a member of his species, N'Riss had initially wanted to say that the lights were the most interesting things on the ship at the moment. Shaking his head, however, he turned back toward them with a quiet purr before he spoke. "No, it looks like everything is quite norrrmal at the moment. I have been keeping my eyes peeled as much as possible, though." Ruffling his whiskers as a sign of his expression, he quietly wondered if Carter was anxious to cut to the action and Seren was dreading it, since that's how it looked.

It wasn’t that Carter wanted any action on this patrol - indeed, she didn’t want any action at all; she’d be happy if they were recalled soon, never having seen any Krenim ships headed towards the Station. But, as a Security specialist, she was realistic about enjoying the small things on assignments - such as the joke Seren had cracked in the lift. “If you want a break, feel free to take one, N’Riss,” she said as she took a seat in the captain’s chair.

“The replicator in the lounge is good,” Seren added. “The ice cream seems to be especially enjoyable.” He smiled and cleared his throat to keep from laughing.

For once, N'Riss allowed his overly polite personality to drop and thus permitted himself the rare luxury of cracking a joke. "Now you know very well that adult cats are actually lactose intolerant."

Grinning at N’Riss, Vic lightly punched Seren’s shoulder.

Seren’s smile lingered. What, Vic? You know you are never going to hear the end of this.

“So is the meatball sub,” Marie added, stepping into the room. “I was surprised to even see it on the list. How are things up here?”

“All quiet,” Seren reported. “We’ll be at the colony in another eighteen hours for some fun and frolic before this trip gets serious.”

Purring to himself, N'Riss soon shrugged a bit, once more taking the opportunity to provide himself with the chance to make a rare joke. "Well, so much for taking a break then, murrr."

Marie found an empty chair and sat, hoping she wasn’t taking anyone’s spot. “I’m pretty excited to see the place. I’ve heard that not much has been completed, just some bare-bones buildings, but I’m more interested in the planetoid itself.”

Carter, not being one who thought much about the planets they visited, asked, “Why? Is there something special about it? Isn’t it just another m-class?”

“It’s our M-Class planet,” Seren answered. “A gift to us from the Dendrian Order to do with as we see fit. Uninhabited completely except for the wildlife and our crew.” His panel beeped and he looked at it, then over to Carter. “It’s an incoming transmission from Leto for you and N’Riss, coded personal. I’ll put it through to the ready room.”

Having never really heard of someone giving out a planet as a gift before, N'Riss seemed honestly a bit skeptical. That all sounded like it was a setup for something, but he quieted his mind for the time being and instead elected to focus on the incoming transmission. "Murrr, I'm grateful." He stood up, ready to speak with Leto.

“Excuse us,” Carter said. She led N’Riss to the small office to the side of the bridge, wondering why Leto had called for a private conference. In the small room, she gestured to one chair and took the other behind the desk before opening the comm. “Leto. What can we do for you?”

“Hello Leela, and N’Riss. I hope I’m not interrupting anything but I have some news and I apologize for the delay in delivering it but things have been a little hectic here.” Leto paused a moment, choosing her next words and going with the good news first. “The assimilated crew is home and the Docs are working on all of them now. They are all fine and we expect full recoveries. A few Marines were lost in the fight and…..” She stopped again and swallowed. “Commander Sakkath was killed by a drone. His body was apparently taken by the Borg. I knew you all would want to know.”

Carter was partway into saying, ‘That’s wonderful!’ and had to quickly swallow it and say, ‘Oh, gods.’ As a result, her words came out as, “Thohtswoahlgods!” She was stunned for a moment.

A deeply mournful sound came out of N'Riss' throat, which sounded like the noise a wounded kitten might have made. Despite not offering an actual verbal expression in the manner that the other did, his was heartfelt and genuine. Then, however, he had the opportunity to look at Carter as if asking for a translation of whatever that was.

“What remains is for you to inform your crew. Tell Seren that Li has returned to the station but is still off duty. He should be able to reach her now,” Leto continued. “And that is about all the current news. You can update me once you are ready to leave the colony.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Carter managed to say. Once the console was dark again, she looked at N’Riss. “I’d rather not tell the crew over the intercom. We’ll tell those on the Bridge then find and inform the others. Vic and Seren can help with that, too.” She stood. “Do you need a moment?” Her grip on her own emotions was tenuous, at best.

Swallowing once again, N'Riss exhaled softly and shut his eyes, making each action the pure gesture of a cat. "The time I need to recover from the shock of but one loss of life is infinite. I will not lie and say that I am going to be okay, but I know that I still have to carry on anyway."

Eloquent, she thought before nodding and moving towards the door. “The sooner we tell the others, the sooner we can share our sorrow.” She opened the door and stepped out.

Vic glanced at her and N’Riss, frowning. He could feel the emotions roll off of them. A moment later, Reva’s voice came over the comm, “What's happening on the Bridge, Vic?”

“Dunno, darlin’, I’ll let you know when I do,” he answered and closed the comm.

Carter swallowed hard and stated, “It is my regrettable duty to inform you all that Commander Sakkath was lost in battle with the Borg.”

Vic’s stomach dropped and he thought of Li.

Seren sat as if frozen for several seconds before he spoke. “I see.” He rose then and, addressing Carter, spoke only a few more words. “If you will excuse me….” Moments later he was in the turbolift and gone.

Carter couldn’t blame him. She would have loved to slink off to her cabin and mourn alone. But she needed to tell the others as well. “N’Riss, would you like to take the Bridge or go find Six, Reva and Janus?”

"At this point, my duty and place is on the bridge." N'Riss stood up and flicked his tail back and forth with a bit of a 'churrling' sound. Once he had looked around in each direction, he figured that it might have been a good idea to just leave at this point. Still, he stuck around, waiting just in case there were any further instructions before he made his way back to the bridge in turn.

“Okay. I’ll go tell them, then. Vic? You staying, too?” Carter looked at him.

Vic nodded. He was stunned speechless. In few minutes, perhaps, he’d feel an appropriate emotion. For now, though, he sat at the tactical console and ran a pointless scan.

“Okay,” Carter nodded and left the Bridge.

*******************
Lt. (jg) Leela Carter
Lt. Seren Hawke
Lt. Commander T’Rowl N’Riss
Lt. Commander Marie O’Donnell
Vic (Lt.)
Lt. Leto