Rallying the Troops

Posted on Thu Jul 18th, 2019 @ 5:31pm by Captain Abigail Laurens & Lieutenant Jack Carver

Mission: War and Peacekeeping
Location: USS Astraea

The first sign of anything being out of the ordinary would have been the armed security guards flanking the entrance to the bridge. The second would have been the armed guards stoically standing outside the door to Abigail's Ready Room.

Tension across the bridge was palpable, even Abigail herself, behind the closed doors of her ready room, seemed much more tightly wound and much less her usual calm self. Her latte, long since cold, had been abandoned on her desk which was now covered in a mass of PaDD's while she paced back and forth, another PaDD in her hand as she made notes, stopping intermittently to send notifications to other members of her senior staff.

"Enter," she called at the sound of the chime, stopping mid way across the floor and glancing up at the parting doors, knowing precisely who it was going to be.

Jack stepped inside, brows furrowed. He thumbed back at the armed guard standing outside the door to the ready room. "That worries me." he offered, as the door closed behind him and he moved to a nearby chair. "What happened? Zendaya in trouble?"

"That's one way to put it. Coffee?" Abigail asked as she walked back to her desk, picking up her mug and taking a sip, wincing at the stone cold liquid. "Apparently I need another one anyway."

"Tea please." Jack looked concerned, as he sat down. "If I drink any more coffee I might just start bouncing. I'll have to settle for the lesser stimulant of the two." he offered in an attempt at a joke. "What happened? What can I do?"

Setting the tea in front of him, Abigail sank into her chair, leaning back and closing her eyes momentarily, her hands wrapped tightly around the mug as she just breathed in the scent of the drink. Finally, opening her eyes again, she looked across at him and offered a vague, weary smile. "Zendaya is dead in the water, catastrophic systems failure. We've been ordered to rendezvous with them to retrieve the rest of the Trion's before continuing to the colony," she said simply.

" ... Oh." Jack's reply was short and simple. He took a brief moment to consider, before speaking again. "I'd like to suggest you drop out of warp a little ways before the rendezvous, let me launch in my Gryphons loaded with heavy weapons, before continuing on to the rendezvous. I can keep up with you as long as you keep it to warp four or under, warp four-point-five in an emergency. That way if something goes bump in the night and tries to attack the ship, I'll be in the black and ready to fly interference for you."

"That's actually exactly what I was intending to ask you about," she replied quietly. "I don't know what story is with the ship, but I don't feel like jumping straight into the fire. I'm going to ask Engineering to contrive some reasonable excuses for us to delay our rendezvous to give you and your people time to do your thing. I'd like to keep you outside the ship while the actual rendezvous takes place, just to make sure there's no unexpected surprises, and maybe for the first little while after we get under way again, that is, if that suits you?"

"Sounds good to me." Jack took a sip of his tea. "Just gotta clear one thing with you first. If something does happen, if shit does go south and the situation turns loud, what are my orders? My priority is with the Astraea of course. If we lose communication and things turn shooty, I will open fire on whatever threatens the Astraea, with full and complete intent to nullify the threat. Unless you have specific orders otherwise."

"We haven't been told of any extenuating circumstances at this point..." Abigail's voice trailed off momentarily. "Your only priority will be the safety of this ship and her crew. Everything else will be secondary unless advised otherwise. If things get, as you said, shooty, any threat to the Astraea should be eliminated."

Jack gave a nod, reaching over to rest a hand on Abigail's, squeezing softly. "This must be so very hard for you. Your first command, your first mission, and then this situation. I've got your back though, sweetheart. This isn't my first rodeo. And I'm behind you, one hundred percent of the way."

Abigail smiled faintly, turning her hand in his so her fingers curled around the back of his hand. "That's actually incredibly reassuring," she said quietly. "At this point my only concern is getting the crew unscathed. After that..." she sighed. "Well, lets just focus on one thing at a time I guess."

"You're fine." He smiled, then winked. "I'll get my crews briefed, ships prepped and ready for launch. How long until we hit the black?"

"They expect us there within fourteen hours, we're working on buying some more time, but I don't know how much we'll get," Abigail replied. "I'll let you know as soon as we have a concrete answer on time frames."

"Works for me. I'll get my crews briefed, rested and my ships equipped." he smiled, squeezing her fingers once more. "Was there anything else?"

"Just... stay safe out there, okay?" she said quietly as she looked across at him, her eyes meeting his. "Come back in one piece..." her voice trailed off momentarily before she drew in a sharp breath, adding "All of you."

He opened his mouth to say something but thought better of it, instead closing it again to smile, as he rose to his feet and offered her a hand up as well.

Setting her mug aside, she took his hand and rose to her feet, moving around the desk to walk him to the door. "I'll let you know as soon as we have more details," Abigail said quietly.

As they reached the door but before it opened he leaned in to give her a soft kiss on her cheek. "I'll be fine, sweetie." he smiled, then turned to leave.

She closed her eyes instinctively as he leaned in to kiss her cheek, her fingertips moving to rest softly against the side of his face, falling away as he turned away from her to leave. "Jack," she called softly after him, her voice low enough to not attract attention from anyone else. "Be safe out there?"

He smirked at her over his shoulder. "I'm indestructible, Captain. At least, so far." he winked, disappearing around the corner.

Watching as he walked away until the doors closed behind him, Abigail sighed as she started back toward her desk. "What the hell are you doing Abigail?" She admonished herself with a shake of her head. "What the hell are you doing?"