Scuttlebutt
Posted on Sat Mar 30th, 2024 @ 6:23pm by Staff Sergeant Shayla Kunadt & Ensign Connor Turner & Petty Officer 3rd Class Emiko Marley & 1st Lieutenant Edward O'Rourke & Chloe de la Vega
Edited on on Sat Mar 30th, 2024 @ 6:27pm
0 words; about a 1 minute read
Mission:
Episode 15 - The Evil That Lies Beneath
Location: After-11 - Deck 11 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD004 2330 hrs
In truth there had not been many disappearances, and yet to Shayla the ship seemed quieter, emptier. Perhaps it was because her CO Major Tremble was among the missing. To add to everything, every time she tried to get a hold of the Commodore, or anyone to find out what is being done to find the missing. She was sandbagged. For someone who is used to figuring it out this bugged Shayla to no end. She hoped that her journey in the middle of the night to After-11 would alleviate her of some of these thoughts. At least for the time being. She walked in and the usual fun and loud locale was silent as people simply sat and drank. They probably feel the same way as I do. She thought as she found a table by the window and took a seat. She ordered a gin and tonic with a twist of lime, and simply stared at the nebula that swirled just beyond the window.
Edward had been investigating the disappearances, Hermia being the first to go missing, it was personal.
It was thirty minutes before her shift and Emiko was in a rather disturbed state. Of course, anyone who saw the face that she presented to the world would not know so. Her outward appearance was serene and doll-like. She did not smile, adding to the almost porcelain facade.
Why doesn't he like me? Why does he not understand that I want him to have me? Is there something wrong with me? Emiko thought to herself, as she daintily plopped herself onto a stool at the bar in After-11, planning on ordering herself something that might help sort out what was wrong with her and how to make Edmund notice that she lived!
Shayla turned and sipped her gin as the others walked in. She recognized Edward at once. The other newcomer she was not too sure about. But the woman wore Intelligence gray so perhaps she knew something. "Oy! Sapper you going to let me drink alone. Why don't you pull up a chair and we can drown our sorrows together." Shayla knew this must be hitting him harder than most. His sister was among the missing. "You too ghost..." She directed that comment to Emiko. Shayla had taken to calling Intelligence Officers "ghost" a long time ago. It was on account of their gray uniforms and their jobs that no one sees them do.
"Of course not, Shay, I pride myself as a gentleman after all." Edward said. Then to the barman he said. "Jameson Whiskey, the older the better, I'll take the bottle and three glasses. I'll be sitting with friends." He added and made his way over to Shayla's table.
Emiko's internal moping was interrupted when someone called out to her and called her ghost. At some level, being called a ghost was annoying, at another it was flattering. The woman who called to her wore green. A marine? Interesting. Maybe I could get some more intel on Edmund.... A curl of a smile forming at her face, as she moved over towards Shay and Shayla's table.
When she arrived, she took a seat and introduced herself, "I'm Emiko Marley. Who will I be drinking with and what sorrows are we drinking away before I start my shift in thirty minutes? Make that twenty-nine..." she advised as she spotted a chronometer.
Just as she spoke, a gangly engineer with old-fashioned spectacles walked into After 11. He rubbed his eyes and started looking around for a seat, muttering in a British accent, "My kingdom for a cup of tea."
Shayla smiled and allowed her boisterous personality to shine through. It seemed that she would be the most outgoing of the group in After 11 at the moment. She chose to respond to people in the order that she noticed them. "Right Sapper you pour and I drink. Well, Emiko the names Shayla Kunadt but you can call me Shay if you wish. Pull up a chair and we can lament about the missing." Shayla turned to the new arrival. "If you want tea you may have come to the wrong place. But you would be welcome at our table."
Emiko was intrigued by Shay and her outgoing personality, but something that she said caught Emiko's attention. "What do you mean, 'the missing,' Shay?" Being in intelligence, Emiko would have thought that she would know about it if there was something unusual going on with the ship. Perhaps this was her chance to make a name for herself?
Connor, on the other hand looked at the table containing two attractive young ladies and one guy. It was an unusual table: two marines, one enlisted, and then him. Of course he was joining. How could he not join? It would be rude for him not to join, despite his discomfort. Think about Marjani. Think about Marjani. Silently, he sat down at the table, as he explained, "Just trying to get, um, used to, um, gamma shift. I'm, uh, um, Connor.... Connor Turner."
"Yes, disappearances, my sister, Hermia is among the missing." Edward said pouring three glasses of whiskey. He then called over one of the servers. "A cup of tea, for Mister Turner, please." The server nodded and went to create the ordered drink. Then returning to his three companions he said. "For those that don't know, she's the CMO." Before taking a sip of his drink he said. "Oh, and Mister Turner, don't worry about your girlfriend will think, we're just going to be drinking and talking."
Shayla's smile disappeared and she frowned. "Yes, thus far three of the Senior Staff have gone missing without a trace. Our Chief Medical Officer, my Commanding Officer and your Executive Officer, and the Chief Helmsman and he just became a husband and father. Gone without a trace. What makes it worse is that your Starfleet Commodore doesn't give a rat's ass..." Her voice turned louder and her tone angrier. "You Starfleet types you never care about us. We are simply grunts to you lot. So, much for this great experiment." Shayla had begun to rant and she caught herself and looked around. She realized that she had begun to draw looks so she stopped and raised her glass. "Here is to the missing."
Connor's eyes widened at the mention of him having a girlfriend. "How, um, how did you know that I had a girlfriend?" he asked, completely mystified. He then realized that in that moment, Shayla was looking over at Edward and he exhaled an, "Oh," while looking straight down at his feet.
Emiko looked over at Connor and thought to herself, That loser has a girlfriend? Really? Guess there really is someone for everyone. More interesting to her was the disappearance of three command staff. Why was this not mentioned in any briefings?
The engineer continued, "And how could three Chiefs disappear without the computer noticing?" He seemed to wake up with the mystery. "And the Commodore not caring? That makes no sense." He then became slightly indignant and said, "My girlfriend is a marine, First Lieutenant Marjani Smith, so don't give me that codswallop of Starfleet not caring for marines."
"Look I don't give a rats ass who you are playing grab ass with. The point is a high ranked Marine, the XO of this ship is missing and the Commodore doesn't even care. Hell, you didn't even know." Shayla began and then sipped her whiskey before she continued. "Oh, the computer knows they are not on the ship. Just don't know where they went. I never said no one noticed. I said no one cares to go looking for them."
"As an Empath, I haven't been able to reach out to Hermia or any of the others, either they're no longer on the ship, or something is blocking them." Edward said. "As for you Mister Turner, I read your emotions and your surface thoughts." He then turned Emiko. "I read yours too. Miss Marley. Not very nice." He said waving his pointer finger like a teacher scolding a student.
Connor defended himself, "Now you look here. I'm just a lowly engineer who is trying to get used to gamma shift. I'm normally not up at this hour. You think that the top brass tell us anything?" His anger apparently enabled him to talk to Shayla, rather than responding to her in his normal stuttering and shy self. "And if I knew, I would look. Are you certain there is no computer malfunction? I'm a computer specialist."
Emiko looked over at Shay and innocently proclaimed, "I have no idea what you're talking about, Shay. But, I would be happy to assist, as well. It is not strictly my field, but if my boss does not catch me working overtime, I'll put in extra effort to assist. Just tell me all the information you know about the last whereabouts of any of these people and I can work something up."
"I have no information save for the fact that they are gone. As to Commander McGowen, perhaps you should have a chat with her, I mean she is the Second Officer on this boat and also seems to not be caring about what is happening." Shayla responded to Emiko first, then sipped her whiskey and seemed to calm a bit. She turned her head to Connor. "Listen, I am sorry for the yelling and the words. I am just burned out and sick of feeling like I am the only one who cares. You want to have a look at the computer, be my guest. Speaking of we put in a request with Lieutenant Diari and got no response. Not like her, she is usually on top of things when they break as far as I know. It seems that you lot joined us at just the wrong time."
Shayla's shoulders drooped as the spirit drained from her. As if she was resolved that she would never see Neil again. She gulped what was left in her glass. "Hey Sapper this is good stuff. Mind if I have another?"
"Sure, Shay, I bought it to share." Edward said.
"Um, uh, when did you contact the Chief, er, Elen?" Connor asked remembering he was not supposed to call her Chief. He wondered if that applied outside of Engineering and shook his head. "She is, um, rather, well, non-traditional, so I expect she would have answered quickly." The engineer's computer mind started to calculate. If three heads were gone, it would be logical to take out the other chiefs one by one. What did that mean for him? Granted, he was not a lead of gamma until the next week's shift but.... What did that mean for the Assistant Chiefs? Were they next? Or were they the cause? Or was someone else? He did not like this train of thought at all. Maybe he did need to have a chat with the computer.
Emiko imbibed some of the drink thoughtfully. "Talk to the Second Officer? I'm a lowly petty officer. I doubt she would take anything that I say seriously, especially if what you say is true, Shay. That does not mean that I cannot snoop in other ways."
"Well, snooping, is what Ghosts do best." Edward said and took another sip of his drink.
Emiko winked at Edward with a knowing smile and said, "I would not say that's just what I do best."
Shayla poured another drink for herself and then sipped it. She decided to address Connor first. "We filed a request for Lieutenant Diari to have a look at the environmental controls down in the Snake Pit. This was yesterday, I think. Usually, we would get some sort of reply within hours. This time nothing." She sipped again and turned to Emiko. "You can snoop all you want but the Second Officer is the Chief Intelligence Officer, and you working in Intelligence you can go talk to her whenever you want." Shayla sipped again and turned to Edward. "So, how you taking everything? They tell you anything about your sister, hell are they looking for her?"
"I haven't heard anything yet, but it's not Hermia I'm worried about. In fact, I almost feel sorry for whoever's taken her. My sister is a Marine in all but name. It's Helena, her daughter, my niece that I'm worried about, she's a tough girl, but she's barely a teen. I'm going to see her in the morning, I think Nurse Rossi is looking after her at the moment." Edward said.
"What's wrong with the environmental controls?" Connor wondered tiredly. "I was not made aware of a problem there." He thought harder. "I don't even remember it on the task list. Then again, would that not normally be an ops issue?"
Emiko took another swig of whisky, which bolstered her courage. "Well, then, maybe I will go right on up to her? What's the worst that could happen? I disappear too?"
Shayla laughed heartily, partly because she was drunk and partly because the idea of Rowena making anyone disappear was humorous to her. She looked at Connor when she finished laughing. "I dunno what is wrong with the environmental controls. That is why we contacted Engineering to have someone go look at them. With all due respect, you would not be made aware. You are not the Chief or the Assistant Chief are you, and as to why they are not on the list. Probably because your Lieutenant Diari is missing and did not add it to the list. At least that would be my theory."
Shyly, Connor defended, "I'm going to be the Gamma Lead starting next week. So, um, well, I could go looking around. Or, um, we can try the computer now...."
"Be my guest." Shayla replied as she sipped the whiskey again.
"If we assume our people have been taken from the ship to someplace else, even if this destination is relatively close, it would require a large amount of energy to transport them." Edward said. "Perhaps we should look for power spikes corresponding with the time our people disappeared. It may give us a lead into where they have gone."
Connor rebutted, "Not necessarily close by. Warp is essentially the folding of space. At the end of the day, it is merely a calculation. That's all assuming that anyone was transported to begin with...." He then said tiredly, "Computer, please tell me the location of Lieutenant Diari."
The calm female sounding voice of the computer replied. "Lieutenant Diari is not aboard the USS Pioneer."
Shayla laughed again. "See, as I said she is gone just like those before her. I for one am not going to get taken. I am not going to wait around and let this, whatever it is take my friends one at a time. As soon as we are finished here, I am going to go up to that Bridge a demand that the Captain do something or I am simply going to shoot him and do it myself." She seemed to be deadly serious with every word that she said. But, most of it was the alcohol that she consumed and continued to consume talking.
Connor's eyes widened at Shayla's comments. Was she drunk or was she serious? If she was serious, he would have to report her. For the moment, he let it pass and said, "I had better get this information to the Assistant Chief. I'm also going to run a diagnostic. This seems rather impossible."
Emiko told Shayla, "I've been waiting for a mystery like this." A wild eyed grin spread across her face. "Maybe I will speak with the Chief, if she is here." She asked the computer, =^= Where is Commander McGowen? =^=
"Lieutenant Commander McGowen is in her quarters," came the response from the computer.
"Well, I suggest you get on the case. As for me I will get on this whiskey and then perhaps do something about all of this. Show those in charge what it means to actually get things done." Shayla took another belt of her drink. The way she had been acting was not her, it was clearly the alcohol talking. However, one had to wonder if she would take things as far as she said she would.
Chloe had been watching Shayla's table get louder and drunker, more bitter and angry as the night grew on. Now their words were spreading to other tables, the use of the computer twice in quick succession to locate senior officers adding more tension to the lounge that it didn't need.
Moving slowly from behind the bar Chloe smiled softly and a little awkwardly as she crossed the lounge to the table. "Shay... can we keep the noise down a bit please mi amor." She placed a hand on her shoulder softly as she looked at the others around the table as well before setting them back on Shayla.
Shayla took a look at the hand and smiled. She took the hand by the wrist and brought Chloe's palm to her lips. "I will try to keep the noise down for you darlin'. But you have to admit that this is damned crazy. People disappearing and no one doing anything about it. What would happen if you were next?"
"It is... I've noticed my profits going down and that's crazy." Chloe squeezed Shayla's shoulder before she removed her hand. It was a joke, maybe a poor one, but she was a complicated creature. "I have heard rumblings that Sergeant Barr has been making some noise about all of that... and frankly no-one would dare make me disappear. There'd be a riot if I went missing." she winked playfully.
Emiko placed down her shot glass daintily. "Well, I have a shift to begin soon. I may have to take a walk to the Chief of the Boat when I get bored with my Romulan conjugations."
Connor yawned. "Well, I cannot sleep now that I know this." His eyes were weary despite the tea that he somehow managed to drink during this conversation. "I'm going to test the computer before I do anything. There has to be a logical explanation for this." He hesitated as he tried to think of one but came up empty.
"Good luck, both of you." Edward said. "I'll stay with Shay, and make sure she doesn't shoot anybody she shouldn't."
"That sounds like the smartest thing that I have heard said at this gathering," Emiko replied. "But I like the mystery."
Shayla smiled. "I ain't gonna shoot anyone at least not with Chloe here. Much better things to do than shoot someone. But I will say that if someone doesn't light a fire under Malbrooke's ass I may have to."
"Let's have another drink, my friend, and once we know who's asses to kick, I'll be right there beside you, Shay." Edward said.
A Joint Post By
Staff Sergeant Shayla Kunadt
EVAC Specialist, The Cure
USS Pioneer
Ensign Connor Turner
Computer Systems Specialist, USS Pioneer
Petty Officer Third Class Emiko Marley
Intelligence Communications Specialist, USS Pioneer
First Lieutenant Edward O'Rourke
Combat Engineer, The Cure
USS Pioneer
Chloe de la Vega
Owner, After-11
USS Pioneer
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