Inspection (Part 2 of 6)

Posted on 29 Jul 2022 @ 3:55pm by Commander Morgan Tarin & Commander Scarlet Blake & Lieutenant Aria Rice & Ensign Amanda Turell & Petty Officer 3rd Class Jeysa Zeror
Edited on on 29 Jul 2022 @ 3:57pm

3,322 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Episode 18 - Cold Station 31
Location: USS Galileo-A - Deck 3, Security Office/Brig
Timeline: MD 06, 1422 hrs

Previously, on Inspection (Part 1)...

As Morgan left, Jeysa finished her note-taking then gave Nesh an apologetic look. She hoped the rest of this inspection went better than this had or half the crew were going to be in trouble. "See you later Nesh." She said before turning to follow the Captain.

Blake looked between Nesh and Laeon for a moment before arching an eyebrow, a small smile pulling at the corner of her lips before she shook her head gently. She let out a soft breath, moving to follow.

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

Deck 3, Security Office/Brig

The turbolift ride down to next deck was short. Too short, in fact, for the acting captain's tastes. With her small cadre in tow consisting of the XO and their yeoman, Tarin had opted to use one of Jefferies tubes to crawl down to the adjacent level. The short trip not only gave her some physical exercise and greater familiarity with Galileo, but also a larger appreciation of the starship's engineering design.

Down on Deck 3, a wall panel hatch suddenly opened and was pushed aside. Morgan crawled out of the service corridor on all fours then stood and stretched her back. She moved to the side to make way for those behind her. "I didn't think Jefferies tubes could get any smaller," she remarked to the XO.

"We're just the lucky ones..." Scarlet replied between breaths as she pushed herself out and up, stretching her legs out, circling an ankle. "They do the job though, but I wouldn't envy our engineers."

Following behind the officers Jeysa had trouble keeping hold of everything Morgan had wanted her to carry as she crawled, why on earth Morgan had wanted them to go through the jefferies tubes to their next destintion she had no idea.

When the yeoman exited the hatch, Tarin pushed it closed behind her. "Take us to the brig, Number One," she ordered. In light of the uncertainty they were facing in this mission, it didn't hurt to be prepared for all possibilities.

"Well, that's not the largest either," Blake motioned through as she led the way in, her hand sweeping in the direction of the detainment zone. As with most areas of the ship, it was modest, compact but functional. "But it serves us; thankfully, it's not a resource we have to use often."

"In that sense, we are lucky," Lieutenant Aria Rice said, looking at the three. There were no colours in her hair except the one that it was dyed in, her make up was, as always when on duty, within regulation and her uniform was neat. She wore her hair in a tight ponytail and she gave a small nod. "Captain. Commander. Yeoman," she acknowledged them. But she was tense. This was looking like more than a casual drop down. It looked like...

An inspection. A tour. An execution?

She kept her features neutral as her brain went through all scenarios of what this was.

"Lieutenant Rice," acknowledged Tarin who wore an evaluative expression on her face. The red-collared commander clasped her hands behind her back while slowly walking around the room and observing its layout. Unlike other larger Federation starships, Galileo's security office was located in the same room as its brig. There were two single-occupant cells and one larger group cell, all currently vacant. Which was a good thing. The administrative desk was located along the opposite wall facing the detention chambers. The walls were littered with various-sized LCARS consoles displaying colorful yellow, blue and orange symbols. Tarin turned back to Rice. "This is a ship-wide inspection. Show me your workstation and prisoner accommodations."

Aria blinked for a moment as she heard it, before she glanced around. Huh. Not really expecting that. She nodded and motioned to the brig, because the cells were closest. "Yes Captain," she walked over, heading towards the two cells. "These are our single two cells, and we have a larger one too should we...be in serious trouble," she said and pressed the wall button to bring the forcefields on, so that she could see. "I will be honest, Captain, I haven't had the chance to double check the forcefields since we got onboard. I am aware that they were configured while we were on shoreleave. We took priority double checking our armory," she offered no real apology, more fact. From what she gathered, excuses would not go very far with the Acting Captain.

With a frown to the shorter security chief, Tarin walked to the center of the large cell's entrance. The glowing cerulean edges were a visual indicator that it was futile to attempt to pass through. She slowly extended her hand and fingers, then forcefully attempted to push her palm through the field. A sparkling shimmer of white particles manifested and stopped Morgan's hand as soon as the two came into contact. She held it there for several seconds, pushing harder and putting her body weight into it. The sound of the forcefield buzzing increased in volume until she quickly removed her hand. It hadn't been a pleasant feeling. Needles of pain were still shooting through her hand, wrist and forearm. She opened then closed her fingers to shake out the sensation before looking to the XO and yeoman. "Commander, petty officer. Check the other two the same way."

Blake glanced to Jeysa for a long moment before looking back to Tarin with a mixture of confusion and concern. "We could just check the readings or run a diagnostic," she pointed out softly, unsure why there would be a need to inflict pain on a crew member unnecessarily.

Jeysa was glad Blake had said something, the idea of deliberately putting her hand into a active force field was not her idea of fun.

The look on the first officer's face appeared trepid to the new acting captain. She privately hoped the former Marine wasn't averse to a few pin pricks. But Blake did have a valid point. Morgan's methods were often unorthodox, and maybe with this new crew, she could preserve the baby-like softness of the skin on their palms. "We don't have time to wait for a Level 2 diagnostic to finish." She thought back to some of the procedural shortcuts she'd learned on the Yeager and Lexington over her career.

"Lieutenant Rice, temporarily disable internal weapons sensors in this room," she ordered, then pulled her phaser from its holster.

Aria's eyes went to the phaser, her entire body tensing up. She tightened her jaw, and walked to the desk. She hesitated before her fingers pressed the controls, ignoring the warning that came up. Yes, my tough little ship, this is a horrible idea but the Captain told me to, so we both have to suck it up, she thought before she looked at Tarin, her features oddly still. "I've disabled the internal weapons sensors, Captain."

Tarin looked down to her Type II hand phaser and clasped it firmly along its curved handle. It fit like a familiar glove in her hand. Using her thumb, she tapped repeatedly on the beam intensity push button to increase the level of phased energy discharge all the way up to setting ten. It was the maximum disruptive effect level before reaching explosive properties in the higher bands. She looked from side to side to visually clear her line of fire away from the XO, yeoman, and security chief. Her weapon hand extended out towards the center of the brig cell, after which she depressed the fire button.

A bright flash and luminescent orange phaser beam erupted from the handheld phaser. It slammed into the brig cell's force field with raw power, causing the field to repeatedly shimmer and fluctuate as it tried to compensate and avoid collapsing.

Aria looked at the reading, frowning slightly. "It is holding, but another twenty seconds and it will fail, Captain," she said, which wasn't exactly brilliant. She could have Operations look at that, it just within the parameters, but only just.

Tarin released her finger from the trigger after six seconds of sustained fire. She recorded a mental note of Rice's readings then moved to the next smaller adjacent cell and repeated the test. Another phaser burst struck the new force field which violently shimmered and buzzed.

That force field, luckily for Rice's sanity, held properly. She nodded, taking a breath. "That one is holding, Captain," she said as she looked at her...wondering what was next.

The phaser beam ceased its assault. A final makeshift test of the third and final brig cell then began, with Morgan walking in front of it and repeating the same firing procedure. Hand extended at a safe distance, her thumb pressed on the hand-held weapon's trigger. Another burst of sustained, orange phased energy impacted the new force field with similar visual and audible results.

"Holding," Aria said as she looked at the Captain, taking a deeper breath. "I'll get Operations to have a look at cell 1, see if we can improve that one, Captain," she added, her hand already taking a PADD to get the request through.

"Good. And I want a Level 1 diagnostic run on the system during Gamma shift this evening." Tarin re-holstered her phaser into its black belt pouch then walked back to the first officer. "An old trick I picked up back on the Yeager," she quietly said, explaining her methodology behind the unorthodox tests.

Aria was tempted to say that it wasted a phaser when you could do a diagnostic, but she kept her opinion to herself. Instead, she straightened where she stood behind the desk, her hands going behind her back, gently interlocking.

Morgan briefly considered doing a desk check of the security station but threw that idea away. She was interested in more practical matters for the time being. "Show me your armory," was her next order to the security chief. Small arms and explosive ordinance would hopefully never have to be employed, but if it did, it needed to be fully functional and properly maintained.

"Yes Captain," Aria said and led the small group to the armoury. Once inside, she stepped to the side so she was by the empty wall, giving Tarin and Blake full view of the weapons lockers. She could answer any questions they had if needed, although she suspected Tarin would know a lot about weaponry.

The sight inside the weapons locker was...depressing. Tarin first observed then counted the total number of phasers contained within. 15 phaser rifles of the Type IIIC variant and approximately 60 hand-held Type II pistols. Along with a scant pocket of eight photon grenades, that rounded out the entirety of Galileo's personal armaments. Unacceptable.

"...You don't even have enough rifles to arm half the entire crew..." Tarin said in disbelief. She pulled her PADD back from her belt and re-checked the Nova-class' operational inventory requirements. To her extreme disdain, it listed the current catalog as 'standard'. She waved her PADD with agitation at both Blake and Rice. "Who approved this inventory for official deployments?!"

"Starfleet HQ, Captain," Aria said, her voice level, steady. She stood there, back straight, arms behind her back. At ease, but with a posture she remembered her father having. Her light blue eyes were calm as she watched her new Captain, not realising that she had adopted the bland facial expression that ran in her father's side of the family. "It is the standard of a ship of this class." Of course, at times they had exceeded that, but usually when being pulled into some sort of dodgy dealing. Last time Aria remembered would have been when they were fighting Borg, because the TR-116 was not standard. But back then there had also been Intelligence personnel running around, so there was that.

Tarin rolled her eyes and shook her head. Of course that was the excuse. When in doubt, defer responsibility to Starfleet. If it had been her in charge of the department, she would have made special requests for additional small arms. And if said request had been denied, she would have found a way to make it happen. But she wasn't the young lieutenant. Her disdain quelled and she quickly came to accept that, however absurd the thought might be to her, this was the norm on Galileo. "Present that rifle for inspection, lieutenant," she ordered, pointing to one of the middle ones in the rack.

Aria walked to it, taking the rifle. She made sure it wasn't pointed at anyone as she checked that it was secure, that it hadn't been switched to active. She did this slowly, so that Tarin could see each movement, follow what she was doing. Only when she had confirmed the rifle was secure did she offer it over to Tarin, holding her eyes, before a movement behind Blake and Jeysa caught her attention. Amanda Turell. But so close to the Captain, Aria couldn't use any body language to warn the Ensign to leave, and get out of the firing line of the Captain's clear...military-style approach to inspections. And unrealistic expectation of what the ship should or shouldn't carry considering it was a freaking science vessel.

Returning from her latest patrol Amanda passed through the doors into the security office into a sea of red collared officers, high ranking ones at that. 'oh crap' she thought. Knowing that Tarin or at least Blake would have heard the doors opening she wouldn't really have a chance at slipping back out un-noticed she decided to stand off to one side at attention hoping neither officer would ask her to do something.

Blake looked briefly to Amanda, nodding lightly towards her, but she remained where she was. "This is Ensign Amanda Turell, one of our newer crew members," she introduced, but casually, so that the Captain could choose to ignore her and continue inspecting the rifle if she pleased.

The acting captain took brief notice of the new security officer when entered. She remembered her from their early morning PT drill. The one who couldn't do two sets of pushups before asking for a medical exemption. "Fall in for inspection, ensign," she ordered while keeping her eyes on the weapon presented to her. Tarin accepted the rifle from Rice, clasping a bottom hand on the foregrip and a top hand on the rear stock.

"Aye Sir." Amanda said very glad that she'd straightened up her uniform before she'd entered the room. She moved to stand nearer to Aria and gave her a worrying look.

Phaser rifle in hand, Commander Tarin diligently performed a visual inspection. She first ensured the weapon safety was on by cycling the selector and removing the power cell. Her attention then focused on the muzzle break, the handguard and the upper receiver. She ran her fingers along the hardened external shell to feel for any damage or imperfections, then rotated it to inspect the trigger guard, grip and lower receiver. Morgan flipped the holographic sight lens up then down several times. "When was the last time this rifle was cleaned?"

"Sometime before shoreleave, Captain," Aria said as she looked at her, standing very still. "The plan of the former Chief was that we did half before shoreleave, then the other half after." But since they had to basically cut shoreleave short and run, understaffed, Aria had focused on inventory rather than cleaning. But she had a feeling that the Captain would not care at all, so she had the sinking feeling of a bollocking coming her way.

Tarin pulled the trigger several times. Slowly and methodically, to test the feel. She looked back at the holographic lens then shook her head with dissatisfaction. "Dust buildup in the sight aperture. Trigger reset is soft, not crisp." She held the rifle with one hand then reloaded the power cell with an audible slap of her palm into the magazine chamber. Her thumb toggled the weapon's power-up sequence while she watched the energy indicator bars quickly rise into the green. They stopped one small bar below maximum capacity. "And this battery cell isn't fully charged." She handed the rifle over to Blake for the first officer to verify.

Blake took the rifle, looking it over for herself. "One peg down," she nodded to her, setting it back safely away. In truth though, it was still enough to see her through a fight. It wouldn't be the first of her worries in the case of battle. Somehow, she suspected that wasn't what Tarin wanted to hear though.

Training her focus back to the security chief and Ensign Turell, Commander Tarin spoke with unimpressed creases forming at the outer edges of her eyes. "I want all of these weapons broken down, cleaned, reassembled, then fully charged by the end of your shift."

Aria looked at her, meeting her eyes. Well, what did you say to that? I'm going to have to get Gabriel to help, no way we can finish that in the time we have without all hands, she thought, keeping her breathing level. "Yes Captain," she said instead, because it was easier than saying anything else. The Captain wanted to rock the boat, figuratively, and stamp her style on them all. And Aria, well, she wasn't going to get herself into trouble. Besides, this is temporary. She'll replace me quickly enough with someone she sees as more capable, or Saalm will come back and Tarin will be gone. I can deal.

Amanda sideways glanced towards Aria, she was glad her rifle was locked away separate to the other phasers, if Tarin had been that unhappy with the standard issue rifles she'd have had more than a few unhappy things to say about her personalised one. Spending the remainder of her shift cleaning phasers would be a nice relaxing job for her, it felt therapeutic at times.

Letting out an unsatisfied breath, Tarin regarded the remainder of the small arms locker. There wasn't enough time to inspect each and every weapon contained within. She would have to trust that her order was actually carried out. The thought left her feeling slightly on edge. "Number One, you're familiar with personal weaponry. I want you to assist them." At least one set of command eyes would be on the task. She looked back to Rice and Turell. "Take me to the forward torpedo magazines and launchers."

Aria met Blake's eyes briefly, almost grimacing, but keeping her face still. Blake had better things to do than to help them with this, and she felt bad that she was now going to be stuck with them. She looked at Turell, giving a nod. "Perhaps you'd like to lead the way, Ensign?" she suggested. Because since she was here, it might as well be a good thing to put Turell to use.

'Damn' Amanda thought, she'd hoped to escape the situation without incident, maybe make a start on the weapons maintenance Tarin wanted but that wasn't going to be the case. "Aye Sir." She turned and headed for the exit then in the direction of the nearest turbolift.

As Tarin followed Amanda, Blake took the moment behind with Aria to clap the Chief of Security on the back lightly, a silent gesture telling her not to worry about it. There were worse tasks for the ex-marine to be given.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CMDR Morgan Tarin
Acting Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Saalm]

CMDR Scarlet Blake
First Officer
USS Galileo-A

PO3 Jeysa Zeror
Yeoman
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Mimi]

LT Aria Rice
Chief of Security
USS Galileo-A

ENS Amanda Turell
Security Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Mimi]

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