"Not. A Happy. Feline Part 2"

[Kansas_Jones 0]

08.25.07

USS Agincourt NCC-81762

“Not. A Happy. Feline - Part Two”

 

Written by: Lieutenant jg. Nimetti and Lt. Commander JoNs

 

Chief JoNs exited the turbo lift onto the bridge and immediately made tracks for Lieutenant Nimetti at the tactical console; Master Chief Keltex followed closely behind the feline. The Klingon enlisted officer was attempting to visually track the agitated security chief’s swishing tail.

 

Nimetti was in the process of closing out his program when he heard the doors to the turbo lift open and heard the distinctive walk of his chief exiting it. Looking over to his chief, the young officer could tell that this wasn't a pleasant visit.

 

She made no eye contact with anyone else on the bridge, other then her gaze bearing down on the security lieutenant. Once she was within earshot, she spoke quietly, but with a slight snarl in the tone. "Observation Lounge. Now." With that said, she continued walking past tactical to the intended room.

 

Gulping, Callack quickly and quietly finished closing the program, and made for the Observation Lounge. Noticing the slight snarl, he knew instantly that he might just be joining Midshipman OBrien in the Jeffries tube. Keltex took over at the tactical console.

 

Once the door to the lounge had closed, JoNs whirled on her security officer. "What in the name of the Great Predator Bird were you playing at up here Mister Nimetti? I got the report from Lieutenant Kassem, so don't try and jerk me around. Speak."

 

Snapping to a sharp attention and staring beyond JoNs, Callack gulped and then replied. "Ma'am. I didn't do anything to jeopardize the away team in any way. All I did was locate Midshipman OBrien's comm badge and piped music down to him. I didn't think that it would cause any problems, ma'am." The young lieutenant's voice drop from his normal, semi cheerful tone to a steady matter-of-fact tone, "I made sure that my concentration was never fully removed from the away team for more than 10 seconds ma'am."

 

"Key words there - you didn't think. You used our internal sensors to locate that comm badge, and then re-routed the internal comm lines to do your impression of a disc jockey via the engineering consoles. You were on bridge duty Mister. Ten seconds you said? And that makes it right?"

 

"No ma'am, that doesn't make it right. But I also didn't use the internal sensors to just search for OBrien's comm badge. I used the internal sensors to run a full internal scan of the ship. Due to our past encounters in this area of space, I didn't want to chance anything. I just took notice where he was and then had the computer play music from the nearest command console from him ma'am. I know I shouldn't have done it. I guess the lack of sleep the past 52 hours is impairing my judgment, ma'am."

 

"....are you telling me your judgment is impaired Lieutenant?" The chill in the room was palpable.

 

A slight shiver ran up the lieutenant’s body, "I honestly don't know ma'am. I just know that I've been up for about 52 hours and I didn't want to say anything since I'm the only one that knows how to fully operate the SitRep program."

 

"Fine. Then we remedy that now. You will be training myself, Petty Officer Katt, Master Chief Keltex, Lieutenant Mical, and Lieutenant Black-Knight on the SitRep program for future away team missions. Then, we can avoid you being up for 52 hours, and being the only officer capable of running the program. Now that we have that little issue cleared up, let’s get back to the primary issue – your mis use of ships systems to moonlight as a fragging DJ."

 

"Understood ma'am." Callack's body tensed quite visibly, as he feared he would end up receiving the same punishment as his midshipman counter-part did.

 

The lieutenant commander turned and paced away from Nimetti, coming to a stop at the large picture window showcasing the starfield, her gaze focused on a distant starpoint. "Mister Nimetti, we've all put in long hours from the moment this ship got stranded in the Perseus Arms. And we'll continue to do so."

 

Relaxing a bit, the young lieutenant shifted his position to get into a more comfortable attention stance.

 

"Now, with that said, I consider your lack of sleep excuse to be in poor taste." The feline senior officer slowly turned, her gaze latching back onto Nimetti.

 

"Yes ma'am," were the only words out of the lieutenant’s mouth.

 

JoNs began to walk toward Nimetti. "If you ever compromise your duty station due to lack of sleep, I will drag you into a holo sparring program and beat the ever living daylights out of you."

 

Wincing at the thought of claws digging into his flesh, Callack dared only to reply, "Understood, ma'am."

 

"You are a senior line officer Lieutenant. If you need sleep, and are unable to perform your duties, you had damn well better make the proper decision and have someone take your shift." Her ears had gone flat.

 

"Yes ma'am."

 

"As for the music being piped down to engineering to entertain Cadet-Midshipman OBrien. It is funny, I admit that. I myself did the same thing during one of my training missions....a TRAINING mission Mister Nimetti...NOT during an away mission when you were responsible for keeping an eye on us."

 

Nimetti knew that he had severely disappointed his chief and was, at this point, wondering if he had damaged any trust she may have had for him. "I understand ma'am."

 

"Good. I need to know that my senior line officers have my back if I happen to be away from the ship."

 

"What I did was a massive lack of judgment and I deserve any punishment you give me, ma'am"

 

"I'm glad you feel that way Mister because your human rear end is mine. You are off the duty roster and confined to your quarters for the next seventy two hours. Perhaps you can manage to get some sleep during this time. Also, I expect a training roster and outline drawn up for the Sit Rep program and sent to my desk console within the next two hours."

 

"Understood ma'am."

 

The female Caitian fixed hard - though weary - green eyes on her officer. "You are dismissed Lieutenant."

 

"Aye ma'am" At that, Callack turned on his heels and started to head for the exit. "I'll have the report to you right away ma'am."

 

Once Callack had left the observation lounge, JoNs walked back over to the observation port. She lifted her forearm to rest on the transparent aluminum window as she gazed out again at the starfield. Despite living on a ship that had hundreds of other crewmen and officers…the feline lieutenant commander very much felt alone at that moment.

Edited August 26, 2007 by Kansas_Jones