#52 Past Traumas/Present Worries pt. 1

Posted on Tue Mar 14th, 2023 @ 11:18pm by Lieutenant Onak Qa'tok & Chief Petty Officer Jennifer Lacewell Ms.
Edited on on Fri Mar 24th, 2023 @ 1:35am

Mission: Vanished
Location: Bridge
Timeline: current

~On~

Lt. Onak had been reviewing his perimeter model when his keypadd beeped, alerting him to an incoming file notification.

He quickly opened and read it. It referenced the current situation concerning the children aboard the station and the "ant-like" creature.

"Hmmm, they managed to establish communication with the creature." he said softly to himself.

"Antis eh?" He had to chuckle. Antis was a heroic dog of old Earth, awarded a medal for bravery during Earth's WWII.*
"Perhaps a good omen." he mused.

He decided to rescan the station, looking specifically for organic material known to make up insectoid creatures from the ship's entomological data base. The so called "hive" was out there somewhere and it would be a coup for him to be able to locate it before this "Antis" revealed its location, if at all. "Ok Doggie, let us see if we can find your kennel.

As he typed in his commands, his peripheral vision caught someone coming up on his left side.

"Ummm...Lieutenant?"

Onak turned to find the chief petty officer from the turbo lift standing there, a bit shakily.

Onak attempted a smile, badly, and said "Chief, hello. What can I do for you?"

"Yes...ummm...Hi...I'm Chief Petty Officer Jenny...Jennifer Lacewell...um..." She swallowed and tried to calm herself before speaking again. "See...I...I..."

Onak interrupted her. "Relax Chief. Take you time and gather your thoughts."

"Yes sir." she said and took a deep breath. "I...I wanted to apologize to you for how I behaved toward you in the turbo lift yesterday. It was uncalled for." She took another deep breath and continued. "I'd like the opportunity explain myself so that we won't have that between us, since it appears we will have contact often through the course of our duties." She finished and took a step back.

Onak studied her for a moment and he could see she was sincere in her wish to correct a flaw in their professional relationship. "That will be acceptable Chief. We can meet in the mess hall at 18:00 hours to discuss it. Is that acceptable to you?" He tried a small smile. Laughing came easy to him. Smiles however could sometimes be frightening.

For the first time she smiled, obviously relieved. "Yes sir, that will be fine. Thank you sir. I'll see you then sir!" With that she turned and with a light step left the bridge.

*True story

~Off~