Libations (Part 2 of 3)

Posted on 10 Oct 2014 @ 12:35pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Captain Jonathan Holliday & Lieutenant Olsam Mott & Lieutenant Commander Dea Mialin & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen M.D. & Ensign Jaana Voutilainen & Lieutenant Oren Idris Ph.D. & Lieutenant Aria Rice & Commander Luke Wyatt & Lieutenant Jacob Pendleton & Commander Andreus Kohl & Commander Norvi Stace & Commander Scarlet Blake & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Amon Mormont & Petty Officer 3rd Class Melinda Clare

2,330 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 2, Transporter Room 1
Timeline: MD 10 - 2020 hrs

Previously, on Libations (Part 1)...

"Time to bring down more Commodore?"

Lirha nodded inside her helmet but it was barely visible to the rest of the team. "Yes, it is time," she answered in complete agreement. The sooner this was all over, the better.

"Saalm to Galileo, the entities appear to have accepted the tribbles and have already 'taken' those in the crates we brought with us. You have permission to commence transport of the remaining tribbles on my coordinates. Once all of our storage devices have been filled, use the transporters' bioscanners to locate all tribbles on the ship and send them to our location. Saalm out," she said through her helmet's comm link to Galileo. The process of transporting all the millions of tribbles from the ship down into the mines would no doubt take several hours, and Lirha was happy to get the process underway and oversee the libations.

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

USS Galileo - Deck 2, Transporter Room 1

Wintrow wasn't sure what to think anymore. First he had spent hours on the past two days to get Tribbles packed up in bags, and now he was transferring those bags into crates. He felt the bags move, and he heard the soothing purring sounds. He even thought to hear a note of panic in some but he quickly had to remind himself that he had no knowledge of how a panicked Tribble even was supposed to sound. So for all he knew, they were most happy. And... he couldn't sense much from them in terms of emotions, particularly, because he had no sense of emotion from them to go off on.

The boy sighed audibly as he heaved another bag into a large crate, paying no attention to those around him that were performing a similar task.

Mormont kept silent as he got the crates in, checking them quickly to make sure none of the tribbles were escaping. He sighed as he pushed one against the wall, moving to get the other crate to stack up on top of it. "Stay still...bloody pests..." he muttered, placing the crate down to a series of little coo's from the crate.

Dea hadn't said much waiting for the signal from Lirha. At the moment she was very glad not to be headed back down to the planet again. Since the original away team incident a few days ago things had been rough but they were slowly getting better. Unable to hide the smile that appeared at Mormont's actions, "They can be sneaky little buggers thats for sure."

"They don't know any better," Wintrow murmured defensively as he closed up one crate. "How would you feel, being stuffed into a bag or a box for doing something you have no sense of being wrong? They're not exactly intelligent creatures, but they do provide a lot of comfort and now we're treating them badly. They're still sentient beings..."

"They're also a right pain in the arse and have the potential to destroy the ship. So really, when you grow up and know about stuff, we might be more inclined to listen, kid," Mormont replied with a frown. After dealing with tribbles since their spawning, he was fed up with it. And he wasn't exactly going to welcome a seeming child muttering about tribble rights. "Right now, we got a job to do. Orders. You learn to obey them or you don't bother and find another line of work." He pushed another crate, taking a deeper breath. They seemed never ending anyway. Just so many tribbles!

Seconds after Jaana entered the Transporter room she dropped the heavy crate she had been carrying with a loud bang, almost hitting someone on the foot in the process. "Oops" she said. "It's a bit heavier then it looks."

"It's okay," Wintrow answered through gritted teeth, eyes flashing angrily as he shoved the crate he had just closed towards Mormont. And he shoved it hard. "I'm not a kid," he snapped, "I am Cadet Sophomore Wintrow Paragon. Either address me by my name or my rank. Sir."

Mormont chuckled, looking at him. "I am Master Warrant Officer Mormont. And until you've graduated, kid,I will call you that. Now you need to learn that sometimes, people don't want to listen to what a cadet has to say. That's why usually, we keep you lot in the Academy, away from real ships." He turned and grabbed the crate when it came close to him, stopping it from going into him. "Because out here, things are very different. Are you understanding me, or should I use smaller words?"

"I understand you fine, better than you think," Wintrow replied though he cringed visibly, the tone of his voice changing. "I've been serving on a starship without incident for the past two years, my record is spotless. I've earned being addressed properly and not in a demeaning manner."

Dea's head snapped over to Wintrow, "Unless you have something constructive to say to help us get this task done sooner don't say anything at all. You've done nothing but complain or question orders. That's not what a proper officer does." Elbow deep in her own crate of Tribbles. "Now working on a starship is working as a team and that means properly respecting those who have more experience than you either by rank or time in fleet as a lot of our NCO's have. Let me make it clear we have orders to get this task completed by Galileo's Command Staff." Though Dea felt better than the day before she was in no mood to argue anything or listen to one.

Jaana looked from one person to another. What did she step in here? As she looked down at the crate she had been carrying and saw the lit was off, causing a few tribble to get out. She bend down and started to put them back in.

"Respect is two-fold," Wintrow answered softly, looking away from both of them. He seemed to be retracting altogether, his whole body language changing into a fearful manner. "I've not complained about anything, I've only stated how I feel about Tribbles. I've also not questioned orders, I agree that these Tribbles need to be removed from the ship because they provide a safety hazard. But that does not mean we have to manhandle them or otherwise treat them poorly."

"And you seem to believe that how you feel about tribbles somehow is more important than the orders we have. Now, are we hitting them? Stepping on them? Throwing them at little cadets? No. So really, you were whining about something that isn't happening," Mormont said and shook his head. "The only person I saw treating the crates heavily was you, kid, not anyone else here..." he moved away from him, kneeling to pack up more tribbles. Personally, he wanted to pack the cadet in there as well. Whining, generally annoying...he hadn't met someone quite like that in some time. It was rather remarkable.

"No Master Warrant, we're not," Wintrow whispered, shaking his head as he was loading up another crate. He didn't look up, instead made it a point of being busy loading the crate so not to look up at anyone. Of not having to look anyone in the eyes. "But there's been gossip around the ship of them being experimented on, of them being killed. And that saddens me."

"Well, cry me a river," Amon said and shook his head. "Kid, a harsh lesson for you is this. Any concerns you have, to take up the chain. You don't listen to rumors and you sure as hell don't repeat them aloud whilst on duty. Now keep quiet, do as you are told and stop gossiping about your betters."

Turning to face the others with a Tribble in hand Dea address them as calmly as possible. "Here's the deal Cadet. Every ship you serve on you will have to work to earn that respect. You may not always like what people call you but that goes with the territory, part of properly earning that respect through your actions. Shoving crates around is not a way to do that. We may not all agree on our view of the tribbles but we will not accomplish our goal debating the topic. We have a job to do as I said before. Follow orders and let's get this job done." Mialin wasn't yelling but her tone clear that order was one to be obeyed.

Wintrow bowed his head as he reached down to pick up a stray Tribble, which had somehow gotten away from one of the bags. "Yes ma'am," he replied, his voice subdued now. He could sense her frustration, and knew there was more to it than she was letting on. Yet, he knew better than to ask, especially after the berating he got in the briefing. He wanted to reach out, but knew better. "Understood," he added, barely audible.

Dea's attention then shifted to Jaana who'd been pretty silent except for an initial comment about how heavy the crate was. " Glad to have you joining us. Let's make sure these crates are properly secured for transport. We have a lot of work to do but we also want to make sure we don't have any Tribbles escape."

"Sorry for dropping it. It was all moving and then the weight. I don't know, I think I got the bigger one." Jaana rambled. "Anyway, Im glad to be here, and not in the cave. I've seen enough of it."

"I can help you carry, if you like," the teenager offered quietly, almost afraid now to even say something lest he'd be told to just be quiet and keep working. He knew he was physically stronger, than he looked.

'Thank you," Jaana said shyly. "My arm is still giving me some trouble." She hated needing help.

Dea nodded to Jaana, "I've seen enough of it as well." Carefully placing the last of the Tribbles in her current crate before closing the lid and temporarily sealing it for transport so none of the creatures could sneak away. "Let's ensure we've got crates on the pad ready to go."

"There's no shame in asking for help ma'am," the youth whispered as he closed his crate, then moved to help Jaana lift hers onto the transporter pad. "Would you assist me with mine, when we've placed yours?"

Jaana looked up at the cadet. Had she said that out loud? "Uhm, yes, sure" she said as she grabbed one side of the crate with her good arm.

Watching the progress of the crates Dea continued to fill her own. Once she finished with her current one she prepared it for transport then lined it up with the others filled with Tribbles.

Lirha's voice suddenly crackled through static and sounded in the transporter room. "Saalm to Galileo, the entities appear to have accepted the tribbles and have already 'taken' those in the crates we brought with us. You have permission to commence transport of the remaining tribbles on my coordinates. Once all of our storage devices have been filled, use the transporters' bioscanners to locate all tribbles on the ship and send them to our location. Saalm out," she said through her helmet's comm link to Galileo.

Tapping her comm badge as she signaled the transporter Chief to begin transporting the first set of crates to Lirha's location. "Mialin here. Copy that Ma'am. Beginning transport of Tribbles from Transporter Room 1." Dea then addressed the rest of those present in Transporter Room 1. "Time to get these off the ship."

"Not a second too soon, ma'am" Mormont said lightly with a smile, his body relaxing at the order. And they could make sure to get them down there as soon as possible.

Jaana placed a lighter crate on the padd as soon as the first few were beamed down. "Let's get rid of them"

"Keep those crates coming," Dea commented placing her next crate on the pad. It would be good to have the Tribbles off the ship for good. Moving out of the way so someone else could place the next container.

Afraid to say anything now, Wintrow continued to work in utter silence, keeping his eyes, and his mind on the crates. He loaded them up, then carried them over to the transporter, for Dea to delegate down to the planet.

"Prepare to beam down the next lot when the pad is full. Then be ready to fill it up with another load," Dea wanted to keep things moving as smoothly as possible. It would be nice to have the ship back.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CDRE Lirha Saalm
Mission Advisor
USS Galileo

CAPT Jonathan Holliday
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

LT Olsam Mott
Asst. Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

ENS Janna Voutilainen
Stellar Cartographer
USS Galileo

LTJG Tuula Voutilainen
Medical Officer
USS Galileo

LTJG Luke Wyatt
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo

Oren Idris Ph.D.
Archaeologist/Anthropologist
USS Galileo

LT Norvi Stace
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

LT Andreus Kohl
Asst. Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

LCDR Dea Mialin
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo

LCDR Allyndra Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

CMDR Scarlet Blake
First Officer
USS Galileo

ENS Aria Rice
Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo

LT Jacob Pendleton
Chief Research Officer
USS Galileo

MWO Amon Mormont
Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Markos]

PO3 Melinda Clare
Operations Officer
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Williams IV]

CDT(SO) Wintrow Paragon
Support Craft Pilot
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Murray]

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