Second Officer's Log 5003072.0

[Cmdr JFarrington 0]

Second Officer's Log, Stardate 03072.0

Chief Science Officer Jami Farrington, MD

USS Manticore NCC 5852

 

"What's wrong with this picture?"

 

With Jami on the bridge, the entire demeanor of Manticore changed from one of calm control to one of anxiety.  Jami wondered if the change could be because the bridge crew was not used to her being in command.  No, she decided.  She had been in command many times before; surely they were used to her style. Perhaps the absence of Atragon *and* Sovak?  Um...maybe.  Because she was a woman? Not likely.  There were many women in command in Starfleet, and few had risen to that position without gaining the confidence and respect of their respective crews.

 

Maybe it was because the Manticore had just violated the Romulan Neutral Zone, been rightfully attacked by a Romulan Warbird, the Manticore's systems were iffy, several crew were injured, and Jami had coolly ordered the ship to reenter the Neutral Zone by passing in gray mode right between two of the three Warbirds that now faced them?

 

Yep.  That might cause anxiety. There was definitely something wrong with this picture.

 

All joking aside, Jami seemed to have changed personalities and elected to take risks she, herself, would question, were she not in command.  Moreover, she had a cold, calculating air about her - one that many of the crew had never witnessed.  Especially the Tactical Officer, Mitar Precip, questioned her strategy -- and rightfully so.  But Lt Precip didn't know the full story and what was at stake.  What was worse, he may never know.  Such was the nature of Black OPS.

 

Black OPS often meant working in the dark -- no pun intended -- trusting the commanding officers implicitly.  So, now came the ultimate test: would Precip trust her, or would he press his reservations to the point that an order requiring split-second timing would be questioned?

 

Jami leaned back and took a deep breath to clear her mind, then focused on her main objective: using Melville's last known location to ferret out illegal technology.  Atragon was aboard Pegasus looking for Melville, himself, so Melville wasn't on her menu - yet.

 

She considered several possibilities regarding the Romulans:

1) that Manticore outsmarted them and they did sneak between the ships without detection;

2) that the Romulans allowed them to slip through so they could capture Manticore later and either parade her in front of the Federation or steal her technology, or both;

3) that the Romulans were working with Melville for whatever motive.

 

As an ice moon, from whence the latest questionable signals emanated, filled the viewscreen, all action on the bridge came to a standstill.  Either their sensors were glitchy, they were in mass hallucination, or they had just come upon one weird moon.  All eyes turned in wonder to the viewscreen as a mountain range on the moon disappeared and reappeared moments later.

 

There was *definitely* something wrong with this picture.