Importing Investigation

Posted on Mon Dec 2nd, 2024 @ 10:01pm by Captain Malcom Llwyedd & Lieutenant JG Zub Enel

2,053 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Interlude 1 Gamma Quadrant
Location: USS Firebird, Captain's Ready Room

[ON]

Kipp Lak, the Captain's Yeoman, waited near the airlock. He didn't fidget or pace. He simply... was. Kipp was able to simply wait, without feeling the need to do anything else. That focus had served him well during his career in Starfleet. It certainly served him well when dealing with Captain Llwyedd. He was waiting for the arrival of Lieutenant JG Enel, who, by his personnel record, was a capable young officer. Kipp nodded as Ensign Mox passed him by, young Emily in tow. Two tired looking engineers passed him. They were, no doubt, completing yet another long shift of repairs.

Zub Enel, Security Investigations Officer, could see the airlock over the thin crowd of personnel and citizens; an eclectic group thrown together by the closed wormhole. Andorians, Bajorans, and Humans. Vulcans, Romulans, and even Ferengi.

Many walked their various gaits slowly, uniforms and clothing bedraggled. Clearly, End-of-Shifters. Zub recognized a few Firebird staff from his study of the Firebird crew roster. A few had uniforms as natty as Zub Enel’s; freshly replicated and clean, trouser creases sharp enough to spilt atoms, and boots polished brightly enough to bounce away phasers.

Near the airlock, a Human in Command Red waited with a martial arts master’s stillness. Zub recognized him as Petty Officer 1st Class Lak. Lak maintained steady eye contact as Zub Enel stepped closer.

Kipp could hardly have missed the Lieutenant. He was the only Voth on the station as far as he knew. He bowed at the waist.

"Greetings, Lieutenant Enel. I am Petty Officer Lak, the Captain's Yeoman. He has asked me to escort you to his Ready Room. which, thankfully, is not far. Would you please follow me to the turbolift?" Kipp said, gesturing down the hallway. The turbolift was visible in the distance.

“I am happy to,” the 7-foot-tall Voth said.

Yeoman Lak started to lead the way, but Zub caught up and matched his stride to the Human so he could talk with him. “You are the first Yeoman I have met. The captains of the USS Hermes and USS Umberland did without them for some reason. Not that I dared ask either of them about their personnel preferences. I would imagine finding marooned crewmembers, running a damaged starbase as well as a starship keeps Captain Llwyedd highly busy – and you, by extension.”

Zub pressed his scaly lips shut to keep from babbling on. Command staff could be brittle about patter coming from the lower officer ranks.

Kipp nodded. "I believe that Yeomen are less utilized now than they used to be. They are much more common in administrative locations. However, the Firebird, unlike most ships, has very few officers, and due to that, my position takes on responsibilities that are different," Kipp said as they reached the turbo lift. He gesture the Lieutenant inside and followed.

"Deck one," he said and then resumed. "I might also say that Captain Llwyedd is an officer of many strengths. Organization is not always one of them." Kipp smiled to let the newcomer know that he was mostly joking. "And yet, he is without a doubt the finest Captain I have served with."

“Everyone says that,” Zub said offhandedly. Realizing what had just come out his mouth, he felt his scales heat up and his down extend fully from beneath them. He held his breath; sure he had transformed into a giant red plucked chicken. Too embarrassed to look at the yeoman, Enel bowed slightly to his boots. “I’m truly sorry. That was flippant. It was meant as a kind of insider joke. I’m sure the Captain is a fine officer indeed.” He wished desperately for a turbo lift malfunction; the kind that made the floor fall away into open space and strike the occupant multiple times on the way down. It took effort to get his gaze to focus on the yeoman’s face to gauge his reaction.

"Don't worry. I'd rather have flippant than overly serious. I get plenty of that with Commander t'Aegis and the EMH," Kipp said as the turbolift door opened. He motioned for Lieutenant Enel to follow and walked directly up to and through the door to the Captain's Ready Room. Kipp inwardly sighed at the sight of Captain Llywedd sitting on his sofa with his feet up on the table. It was clear that he was engrossed by the PADD he was reading.

"Sir, I have Lieutenant Enel with me as you requested."

Malcom looked up, and ignored the disapproving expression in Kipp's eyes. He set the PADD down next to him. Behind him, the floor-to-ceiling windows revealed a slice of DS18's bulk and a smattering of small ships docked at random nearby.

"Thank you, Kipp. I appreciate that. And welcome, Lieutenant Enel. Please make yourself comfortable."

Kipp withdrew quietly, and the door swished closed. Malcom stood up and made his way to the replicator. "Can I get you something to drink?”

No, sir. Thank you, sir,” Enel said. The Captain was a bit shorter than most Human males but he wasn’t overly muscled like some short males tended toward. Not that height mattered to Command. As the Klingons said, “It isn’t the size of the qovIj in the fight, but the size of the fight in the qovIj.”

The towering Voth was confronted with a choice of two chairs. They looked to be the height preferred by most humanoids – the ones that could sit anyway. He guessed the seat would be a foot too short. Still, he didn’t want to be crouched, fiddling with the levers of an unfamiliar chair in front of the Captain. He gripped his PADD in one hand and, keeping his balance, carefully lowered himself until his backside met the seat. Sure enough, his knees came up to his chin. Zub opted to smoothly pivot at his waist and stretch his long legs to the side.

Zub Enel peered at the ships drifting near DS18 while Captain Llwyedd finished getting a drink from the replicator.

Malcom grabbed his mango green tea and returned to his seat. He wasn't sure if a Voth was supposed to look like he looked or if he was uncomfortable.

"Please feel free to stretch out and make yourself more comfortable. I'm not offended," Malcom said and took a sip of his tea.

"So tell me a little bit about your previous postings, Lieutenant."

“I’m comfortable enough. Thank you, sir.”

Zub had anticipated both the Captain’s question and even though the question was already answered in detail by his service record, Enel knew that the Captain was more interested in HOW it was answered.

“Right out of the Academy I was assigned to the USS Hermes. Even though I was trained in investigative techniques, the skipper was short on Security staff so I spent all of a year cruising the Alpha Quadrant on enforcement duties. Basically, kicking posterior lobes and getting IDs.” Zub straightened a trouser seam with a tug from between two of his clawed fingers. He twisted his mouth.

“Duty not to your liking,” the Captain asked.

Zub felt chastened for not showing enthusiasm for previous duty posts. “It was challenging work, sir. It was just not what I was trained to do. I suppose that is common to all Starfleet duties. ‘Other duties as assigned.’”

Enel continued, “I was reassigned on the Hermes as an Away Team Squad Leader, so the skipper must have liked the cut of my jib. I’d lead small Security away teams on various exploration or enforcement assignments.”

“On the USS Umberland, I was actually assigned to carry out investigative work. Some of it was about the crew fighting among themselves or researching what led to disciplinary violations. Some of it on ships, planets or bases where some mischief had occurred, and the Old Man wanted to get to the bottom of it.”

He carefully leaned back a little in his chair so as not to tip it over backward.

“And then I was assigned here to DS18 and the Firebird. Initially, I helped secure DS18, but I have also started investigating a report of cloaked individuals sighted in the bowels of the base by Chiefs Truman and Harlan.”

Malcom stopped letting his tea warm the underside of his nose. “You received this assignment from Commander t’Aegis?”

The Voth‘s eyes widened slightly. “No, sir. I haven’t met her yet.”

The Captain lowered his cup to his lap. “You assigned yourself an investigation?”

The Lieutenant’s brown scales lifted ever so slightly, roughing his smooth skin. Little feathers wiggled between the scales. “I’m sorry, sir. I hope I haven’t overstepped. Commander t'Aegis has been too busy to see me. The other Security Investigations Officer, Lieutenant Kooba, has a desk in Security that didn’t look like it has been used in some time. I went through the pile of PADDS on his desk in case there was something urgent being reported. I picked up on this strange sighting and thought I’d just get more facts about it so I could speak about it more intelligently to him or the Commander.”

Malcom set his cup down. He steepled his fingers and regarded his new Voth SIO. The officer had initiative for sure, but taking on an assignment without authorization was a red flag. Perhaps the Lieutenant had done it to impress him or Commander t'Aegis. However, the Voth seemed sincere in his desire to address anything concerning.

Malcom could hardly call out the young Voth for not following the chain of command. He'd nearly lost his command doing just that. But he also had a duty to protect his crew, even from themselves. He made a note to have Commander t'Aegis talk to their new Security Officer at a later date. He asked, “So what have you discovered, if anything, about this report of cloaked individuals.”

The Voth look of discomfiture eased slightly. His scales smoothed out giving him the look of a brown artichoke; not steamed and sans butter. He raised his PADD from his lap. He pointed the screen toward the Captain. “’Ugly and white’ is a bit vague. I asked the computer for all the reptilian and saurian races known to Starfleet. There are 22, counting my own race. Many tend toward dark green or brown. I selected light-colored ones to make this mélange of images. I was planning to show this to Chief Truman for him to, hopefully, point out what he saw before they cloaked.” He offered the PADD toward Malcom, his long arm easily closing the distance.

Malcom took it to glance over. There were male and female Caatati, Hirogen, Telsian and several others. Malcom’s attention centered on one image. “Jem’Hadar?”

“Yes, sir. As you likely already know, a species that has undergone a lot of genetic tinkering. They also can ”shroud” themselves, a form of camouflage that hides them and their weapons from sensors and the naked eye. A nasty talent. Very interesting match. To me, I mean. For what it is worth, sir.” The Voth sat back and crossed his arms over his chest, his golden eyes regarding the Captain.

"I agree. It might be something completely different, after all the Coalition has a number of races we've never seen before. But I don't like coincidences. I want you to meet with Commander t'Aegis and continue this investigation. Things are nice and quiet right now and I want to keep them that way."

Relieved he hadn’t been yelled at, Zub Enel accepted the PADD and leaped to attention. “Meet the Commander and stay on the investigation. Don’t stir the pot. Yes, sir. Right away, sir. Thank you for seeing me, sir.”

Enel realized he was in danger of “sirring” the Captain to death. He indicated the door with a sideways tilt of his head “I know my way out, sir.”

Malcom grinned as Lieutenant Enel scampered out of the room.

"Never a dull moment," he said.

[OFF]


Commander Malcom Llwyedd
Commanding Officer
USS Firebird NCC-88298


Lieutenant JG Zub Enel
Security Investigations Officer
USS Firebird NCC-88298

 

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