Complacency Breeds Anarchy...

Posted on Fri May 8th, 2020 @ 11:09pm by Lieutenant Commander T'Vek & Lieutenant Bianca Lee

Mission: Around The World in 8 Days
Location: Bridge, USS Astraea

[Bridge, USS Astraea]

The bridge of the Astraea wasn’t the lively place that it normally was during a mission. The vast majority of the bridge stations were abandoned save the essential ones. The flight control console was an obviously essential terminal as well as the operations console, and both were manned by competent Ensigns who would not normally be on the bridge if not for the current reduction in manning. From those two consoles, the vast majority of the ship could be maintained as the vessel hung in a geosynchronous orbit above Earth. And in the center of the bridge, occupying the center most chair was a Lieutenant with a crimson uniform that complimented her naturally red hair.

It definitely felt good to be sitting in this chair, one she definitely aspired to in the future to have of her very own. But until then, she needed to pay her dues with standing watches during the times when there was no one else. In fact, at the moment, she knew she was the senior officer on the ship, the rest of the senior officers off grabbing their last chances on the planet while they could. She glanced over a PADD with the most recent local intelligence reports, weeding through the information she felt was going to be included with the Captain's 'return brief' whenever she deigned to return. Until then, orbit the ship.

The Ensign at the Operations console frowned as an alarm suddenly signaled from her station. The panel was indicating that some manner of explosive device had just been detected within the confines of the ship. The reading confused the woman at first, because it had just… popped up out of nowhere. The more bizarre thing was, it was in a section of the ship that wasn’t currently occupied according to the sensors.

“Lieutenant…” the Ensign said, swiveling around face the superior, “Sensors indicate an explosive has been detected by the sensors in a maintenance junction on deck six.”

Before Lt. Lee had time to even respond to the information, the Operations console screamed again in protest, drawing the Ensign’s attention back to it. This time the sensors indicated another explosive device was on deck 4, inside a science lab that had been taken offline for upgrades.

“We’re picking up another device… deck four this time… in a science lab,” the Ensign reported without turning around this time.

The PADD in her hand nearly fell out, instead, Bianca caught it just in time and her finger stabbed at the yellow button on the chair's arm console and yellow lights began to flash throughout the ship, "Ah'm takin' us to Yellow Alert." She announced for the record, her eyes locked on the back of the Ensign's head. Her hands had just began to apply the pressure to stand from the chair.

Several other loud screeches emitted from the console, the sound of them assaulting the three officers’ ears as yet more warnings were issued. Three more devices had been located, two on deck three in various junctions, and one on deck two in a holosuite that had been placed out of service for a faulty holo-emitter.

“I don’t understand this, Lieutenant… the devices are just appearing out of nowhere…” the Ensign confessed to her confusion.

By that time, Bianca was standing by the console looking over the Ensign's shoulder, her eyes wide at the sheer number of the alerts. Five explosive devices already, but how the hell did they get there? "Ah want everyone out of the areas of those devices." She hit her badge, "Security, Lieutenant-" Her mind raced as her mouth stopped, trying to remember who the most senior security officer was that was left on the ship. Her panic-ridden mind couldn't put a name or a face, and she didn't know THAT many people! "Security," She repeated, "I need details to locations I'm sending you. Explosives experts if we have them, we have five locations on board that we're getting sensor readings for. If we don't have any experts, contact Engineering and requisition someone."

The operations console lit up with critical warnings as the devices being pinpointed all at once started to go off. The first one on deck six caused the power to flicker momentarily, then one on deck two blew the doors off the holosuite. The other three remained oddly inert.

"Damage from the explosions was minimal, Lieutenant," the Ensign reported, looking up at the woman for some manner of direction.

Bianca's face was pure white. The only good news was that there hadn't been enough time for anyone to actually get TO the bombs. She'd never contemplated something like this happening on board a ship at rest. "Ah thin-" She cut herself off, tapping the comm on the Ensign's console, "Damage control to Holosuite Two and Maintenance Junction..." She looked at the screen for the precise location, "Baker Six-Two."

Her eyes weren't on the Ensign anymore, instead staring down at the console where the other three explosive devices were still signified at, "Ensign, can we set up forcefields around those devices? Even if just to block off the immediate areas?"

"I believe we can," the woman nodded.

"Do it!" Bianca nearly exhaled sharply in relief, then looked over at the Helm, "Conn, Ah want us taken out of orbit. If there are explosives that are popping up randomly, they could be somewhere more important. Take us out past the moon's orbit. Signal McKinley Station that we are declaring an emergency; Explosions on board. We will advise as we have more information."

The Ensign manning the CONN station started to input the course corrections when his console started to protest with interrupt tones, "I can't seem to access the navigational controls. My console seems to have been overridden..."

Eyes flashing towards the CONN station, Bianca snapped, "How? From where?"

"I'm not sure, Lieutenant, when I tried to call up the access logs, the computer just started displaying garbled characters. I can't make sense of any of it," the man's voice was clearly frustrated.

"Ma'am..." the Operations operator turned toward Lt. Lee, her face going ghostly pale, "I'm picking up another device..."

Bianca's attention returned to the Operation's console and her eyes widened again as the location registered. Deck One D, it was, "Clear the Bridge!" Her voice was tight and tinged with fear as she took a step back to the let the Operations Ensign slide out of her console. There wasn't a specific location marked for where the explosive was and she had no intention of leaving the Bridge herself.

It was only a couple steps back to the Captain's chair and she tapped her comm again, voice changing to something nearly expressionless as she tried to accept that if the explosive here went off, she could very well die, but she was in command right now and here was her place. "Engineering, I need one quarter impul..."

Just as she was giving her orders, a shrill beep started to chirp from somewhere just behind her. A few seconds pause between the first and the second. Then only a second between the second beep and the third. Once it had beeped a forth time, it started to pulse rapidly.

Bianca cut off in mid word and dove forward, away from the beeping. This time being as small as she was would be a blessing as she hunkered down in front of the Operations console, putting as much of its mass between where the beeping was coming from and her own body, faced away and covered her ears and closed her eyes.

A loud crack, a fizzle, and a sputtering noise were all that the Lieutenant received in response to her heroic attempt to save herself. The device planted on the command chair started to gently smoke, likely from circuitry frying somewhere inside it. And then there was clapping...

Her shoulders jumped at the sound of the crack and then hunkered down even more at the fizzle as she waited for the bright light and heat from the explosion... That never came. Then the clapping. Very, VERY cautiously, Bianca opened her eyes and peered up over the console to see a... Vulcan in pitch black uniform putting his hands together in a slow clap behind where a thin stream of smoke rose from the command chair.

She took a shuddering breath as adrenaline continued to rush through her system and she pulled herself to her feet, eyes flashing from fear, to curiosity, then boiled over and her voice started of soft, "What. The. Absolute. FUCK?" The last word came out in as loud of a shout as she could make it, recognizing that the man was an officer of the Fleet.

The smile that graced the Vulcan's features was like that of the proverbial Devil himself. The horrific thing about the smile was the fact that unlike most Vulcans when they attempted a smile to humor people, it reached his eyes. Even worse than that, when the woman uttered her question... the Vulcan laughed.

"That, my dear Lieutenant, was what happens when a crew becomes complacent. Complacency breeds anarchy..." the Lieutenant Commander said as he stepped fully up to where the command chair sat, "But you handled it remarkably well for someone who never noticed I was here. Your situational awareness leaves much to be desired..."

"COMPLACENT?" Bianca screamed at him, stress bleeding from her as she did so and she shut her eyes hard as she fought to control her emotions, which were flashing from extreme anger to relief that she'd survived to worry about the ship and other things she couldn't identify and back through everything again at warp speed. She set her jaw but kept her eyes closed, "We're in orbit around Earth, over half the ship's crew is on the surface, of course we're not expecting some ASSHOLE to place bombs on the GODDAMNED SHIP!" Her eyes opened again, hands clenching the console in front of her hard.

"Your mastery of the obvious is impressive, if a little pointless," the Vulcan suddenly adopted the dry tone typical of his species, "However it is exactly at times like this when you should be expecting... how did you put it? Assholes? To reap havoc upon the ship. The mere fact that I was able to slip aboard this vessel undetected, pass no less than sixteen crewmen while I set about my task of planting explosives... unchallenged, mind you... does not speak very highly of this crew's ability to maintain proper security postures and mindsets. Had even one person aboard this ship had the presence of mind to challenge me, decks six and two wouldn't need someone to sweep up some charred metal. You're lucky I was using training charges and not the real thing."

Finally her emotions were starting to settle down towards normal, not there yet, but closer, "You have a point." Her eyes finally flicked towards his collar and she grudgingly added, "Suh." She took another deep, shuddering breath and her hands reluctantly released the Operations console, "Ah can only assume that the crewmen saw the uniform and presumed you were about legitimate business, suh."

"Your logic is likely correct, but according to Starfleet regulations; when any person who is not recognized by the crew is encountered onboard, they will be challenged, regardless of rank, if their arrival was not previously arranged and recorded in the ship's log. Such verification can be made by anyone who is permanently stationed aboard a vessel without fear of reprisal or adverse action," the Commander recited the regulation without so much as blinking, "Which means my previous statement regarding the complacency of this crew remains valid."

"Yes, suh." Bianca was forced to agree with him, but her eyes narrowed, "And speaking of that, suh, just who the hell are you and what are you doing on my ship?" Until she was relieved, it was truly her ship, especially with the rest of the senior officers not present.

"I am Lieutenant Commander T'Vek, the Chief Intelligence Officer for the USS Astraea. My official transfer orders were added to the ship's logs by Starfleet Intelligence prior to my beaming aboard. Which means, you are relieved, Lieutenant."

"I stand relieved, suh." Bianca said quietly, taking that official step down from formal command of the Astraea, "Ah am Lieutenant Bianca Lee, Chief Strategic Operations Officer for this starship, suh." She took two deliberate steps around to the working side of the console and punched in the command to cancel the yellow alert. There was no apology for anything she said and she had no intention to do so.

"Let the record show, Lieutenant, that under the circumstances... you performed better than average. Most young Intelligence operatives I have trained have not fared as well as you did this evening. Especially your willingness to remain on the bridge despite the fact that you were sitting on a bomb nearly the entire time was of particular noteworthiness," the Vulcan said, his lips curling into a smirk as he lowered himself into the command chair.

"Thank you, suh, but as this is the bridge and there's no alternate bridge, so my place was here." She shook her head slowly, "My duty was to try to get the ship away from the planet in case the explosions compromised our ability to maintain orbit. And for the record, suh," A smirk crossed her own face, "Most Intelligence operatives aren't going to be sitting in that chair, not the right type of intelligence if Ah may be so bold, suh."

The Vulcan's smirk grew into a devious grin, "Oh I like you, Lieutenant... Which may or may not be to your advantage, going forward. But we shall leave such matters for another time."

T'Vek leaned back fully into the command chair and gave the woman an expectant look, "Anything else?"

Bianca shook her head, coming to attention, "No, suh, the ship is maintaining her current orbit as ordered by Captain Laurens, however the Conn is locked at the moment until you decide to release it. With your permission, Ah'll retrieve the watch officers for you and see to arrangements to the repairs and careful removal of the other three explosive devices, suh."

"You won't need to worry about the other three, they are already inert and laying on the deck waiting to be returned to the nearest replicator. But I appreciate your diligence. Dismissed, Lieutenant," the Vulcan said with finality, watching the woman head for the turbolift.

A shore leave adventure staring...

Lieutenant Commander T'Vek
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Astraea

Lieutenant Bianca Lee
Chief Strategic Operations Officer
USS Astraea