"Cargo Bay"

[Damian Porter 0]

"Cargo Bay"

 

A log by Ensign Damian Porter. Very special thanks to Sam Kent. 

 

 

 

Damian had gotten sick of listening to the Fleet's communications. Instead he had decided to leave the OPS station to crewman Fisher. He was in the turbolift now going down to one of the cargo bays where he wanted to find out how far the reports of what the stowaways had taken had proceeded. While standing there with his arms crossed and his back against the wall he pondered the whole Breen situation. He knew the Breen had destroyed the station before, even though that had been before his time. But what had happened to them this time? It was all very weird.

 

Damian's contemplations were interrupted by the bustle that started as soon as the turbolift doors opened. The cargo areas were always busy places, it looked very chaotic, but Damian knew that it was all well planned and very efficient. He stepped out of the turbolift and looked around him. This was so different from the Control Tower. Orders were shouted over a distance down here, a lot of people were running about and there were only very few consoles here. 

 

A man pointed towards a woman standing near a bulkhead holding a PADD on which she was taking notes, when Damian asked him who was in charge. He walked over and say: "Chief Petty Officer, do you have a minute?" 

 

CPO Rosalind Wills did not have a minute. It was bad enough that she and her teams had been turning themselves inside out to get the station ready to change position, and then to find out that they weren't actually moving after all; this issue with stolen supplies to be replaced was just another bit of trouble she had to deal with. Through the chaos around her she discerned the sound of her rank, and her head snapped up. Ensign Porter, OPS, was crossing the room at her. She groaned inwardly. She didn't need CT staff breathing down her neck right now. "What do you need?" she asked.

 

"Always that snappy tone CPO, I'm here to inquire about my reports of the supplies that the stowaways took." He knew they had a stressful time down here, but so did he, and it was their job to keep track of stuff. In fact, they should have reported missing goods to him much sooner than they had done. On the other hand, he should be grateful to get a chance to get away from the CT now, otherwise he'd be listening to comm chatter for the next few hours.

 

Wills grunted. "I got them, dealing with the replacement shipments as we speak, sir," she said curtly. She had yet to pin down where the broken link in her personal command chain was that had caused the breakdown in communication over the missing supplies, and she didn't like that not knowing; this situation had her frustrated and she didn't have much patience for Porter's solicitation, even if he did outrank her. She'd dealt with the bad-tempered Operations officer before. "If there's a problem, you'll be the first to know, don't worry. Anything else?"

 

Damian's mood did not improve at that reply. He knew that Wills was on the station for a long time and she was doing her job for even longer and he had only just started, but still, he was in a bad mood. He muttered: "If I were the first to know, I'd have known long ago." It felt good to vent, even though, CPO Wills didn't deserve this. Louder he said: " How is everything going with the move? I imagine that once the Breen situation is resolved the Captain will want that to happen asap."

 

"You heard as soon as we knew, sir, and not a moment before," Wills replied sharply, catching his mutter and not appreciating it much. "And the move's been ready for days and now all we're doing is waiting. You wouldn't happen to know what's actually going on up there, would you? 'Cause all we get down here is rumours and that doesn't make my job easier."

 

Leaning against the bulkhead, Damian took a deep breath and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "We're not sure, a huge Breen fleet was approaching, thus the red alert. All of a sudden they started phasing in and out and then vanished. Nothing's been heard or seen of them since. We sent out a fighter to get better scan results, now everybody's hunting for chronitons it seems." Damian shrugged, he was no scientist and didn't know much about chronitons and the like, he associated them with time travel and Romulan cloaks. "I don't like this at all, the Breen might be cloaked somewhere out there or they were just as surprised by this as we were, in which case I'm glad it was them and not us."

 

Wills grimaced. She didn't like uncertainty much; it was her job to keep timetables running and things moving on track, and this sort of upheaval didn't do much for her peace of mind. "Sounds like a barrel of laughs," she drawled, tapping off the PADD and shoving it into the arms of a passing crewman, who nodded at her and disappeared out into the corridor. "Bet the CT must be a fun place right about now."

 

 "Oh yes, loads of fun, we can hardly stop laughing up there. Not to mention that dip infestation. I'll be glad to get this whole thing on the move, and preferably leave the whole dips wing behind." Yes, he was much better off down here. Crewman Fisher could have all the fun for a while, he was happy to share.

 

Wills snorted. "Don't get many dips down here, and most days that makes me glad I took the job." Another PADD was shoved into her hands and she glanced over it and tapped the approval button, handing it back to the overworked-looking PO who had approached her from behind. "Let me know if you need a can of repellent, I'm sure we've got a can of it somewhere in these shipments."

 

At this Damian grinned. "Oh that would come in handy, I'm sure. Well, I don't want to keep you from anything. I guess I should better be heading back up to the CT. Just be sure to send those reports." He turned to leave and heaved a sigh, he really didn't feel like going back.

 

Wills laughed. "I multi-task; if you were really keeping me from anything, you'd be out of here on your rear by now. Sir," she added belatedly, though Porter's mood seemed to have improved enough that she felt relatively safe in the joke. "I'll have the reports up in 36 hours at the latest, assuming no one else shows up to point guns at us."

 

While waiting for the turbolift to arrive he turned around to her again and managed a smile. "Better don't assume anything, you never know out here." Then the doors in front of him swooshed open and he entered. When he looked at Wills again she was already busy with a PADD again.