Communicative Arts
Posted on 21 Jan 2021 @ 12:12pm by Commander Calliope Zahn & Lieutenant Theodore Winslow
Edited on on 23 Jan 2021 @ 10:24am
Mission:
M1 - Emergence
Location: Obsidian Command, CiC
Timeline: MD06 2000 HRS
1858 words - 3.7 OF Standard Post Measure
Theo sat in the operations centre looking through the statements that he had gotten out of a few of the Romulans that were not in sickbay. They were all saying the same thing that they were trying to escape warlords and tyrants on the other side. It was a logical move, desperate times called for desperate actions but how was he going to explain all of this to people.
He scrubbed at his face feeling the day-old beard growing on his face and it just reminded him that he really should have gone to bed a while ago. After he had finished the interviews instead of sat there fretting.
From her workstation at the center of the CiC, Calliope looked over her shoulder at Winslow. She remembered her promise to Lance and closed down her workstation to speak with the security chief. As she approached she could see the weighty expression in the man’s brow.
“Lieutenant Winslow?” She quested, trying not to unintentionally sneak up on him while he was deep in thought, pouring over his own reports.
The man looked up as if he had been electrocuted and frowned as he realised that the Executive Officer was standing there talking to him. “Apologises Sir. Can I help?” He wondered quickly trying to work out if he had been asked something and missed it with his deep thoughts.
“I heard the Appalachia was ferrying something off-manifest.”
Theo nodded holding out one of the PADDs that was littering his workstation. "Three men. Five women. Six children." He admitted.
She accepted the padd, noting they had medical check ups. Some were admitted for care, some had been provided temporary quartering. Under current logistics limitations, it wasn’t going to be anything terribly nice, but anything was more sufficient than a shipping crate. “Did any of them interview?” Sometimes refugees declined or resisted talking.
Theo decided to sit back in his chair to answer that question as it would just lead to what had come up in the questioning. “Once they were sure we were offering them actual medical care instead of what they were used to.” He said slowly hoping she understood what he had the potential to mean.
Calliope frowned. “Prison or a bad camp experience? Where are they escaping from?”
“Some are escaping from prison and some are running from bad camp experiences. It is more the women that are running from the camps. Two of the men are part of a group that were broken out of a prison.” He admitted trying to not sound worried or too blasé about it as it all seemed very grey. “They claim they were there due to not supporting the current regime.” He admitted.
“Did they say what planet? I can try to get a current report from Intel to compare their stories with.”
“Nothing that came out as a planet. The universal translator was having a little trouble with the dialect. I was having to use words like healer to get them to understand doctors.” He quickly glanced through the record of the conversation and there was nothing that sounded out of place that could be a planet name. “Just said beyond our control.”
“I wish we had more resources available. It sounds like we could really use a linguist. Were you able to parse out their names? Any of the names of the regime or camps?”
Theo really wished they had some more resources himself but he was trying the best he could with what he got. “The lead man who seemed to be the sickest is called Norrok but nothing about the regime or camps just that they were wrongly accused.” It was what pushed him past his frustration as he knew what it was like to be wrongfully accused of something.
“Keep trying.” Calliope bit her lip in thought. “Might just be that we have to just hold out a couple of weeks until we can get an expert from sciences to tune the translator for their dialect.
“I am Sir. It will be my first thing to go back to in the morning. We all needed a time out and rest.” Everyone needed rest, even stoic romulans and cool security chiefs.
“Boy do I hear that.” It wasn’t lost on Calliope that Winslow preferred to consistently reference authorities as Sir. Not that she cared, as it was common enough, just that she noticed. “Meantime, how is the integration with the Marines going in your department?”
“They are a much needed morale boost for myself and my officers due to what they have found. A security officer is only as happy as his armoury is full.”
She smiled at that. “I saw them restocking the armory cabinet here in the CiC, too,” Calliope added. “I haven’t heard any complaints about their integration on Security teams. That’s a happy twist. Usually there’s all kinds of flexing and spitting contests with Marine and Fleet cooperation.”
Theo offered a bit of a smile to the woman. “Oh a few of them have strutted around like peacocks but only so much strutting you can do when people do not respond or just get on with the job.” He had warned every security department member to not attempt to strut as there was no time for that or to play ego boosting games. He was not going to play it when they have such a mammoth task to secure the base.
“You’re leading the department well in that regard. By the way…” Calliope fidgeted for a moment folding and unfolding her fingers. “Thanks, for yesterday. In the marketplace. I should have been on my guard. I was so enamored with the place, I let myself get distracted.”
Theo winced a little. He did not do well with praise, it left him looking embarrassed as much as she most likely felt. “You are welcome, I guess, but it was my job to protect everyone there. It was almost nice to let loose and reassure myself of my abilities still, Sir.”
Calliope caught on to how he shifted under gratitude. Now that she was thinking about it, he’d looked about the same amount of discomforted as he had when Corvus had praised him in the market. “Are you trained under certain forms or disciplines? I could be wrong, but it didn’t look like just the standard hand-to hand combat.”
For a moment the man was lost in a memory of something long almost forgotten but remembered in every time he fought or practiced. Long gone were the days of drilling himself in fight scenes from holo films in secret and avoiding the questions from his father about his activities. It was an uncomfortable feeling of being judged despite knowing that the woman was simply asking out of interest.
“No it is not standard, Sir, nor a certain discipline. I feel like the standard taught hand to hand training is just that, standard and run or the mill. Everyone knows it as does anyone wishing to cause us harm.” He admitted realising he was most likely talking more to his executive officer than he had to the rest of the senior officers combined.
Calliope tilted her head with the thought. It made a lot of sense. “So you devised your own style?”
“I guess you could call watching hundreds of hours worth of martial arts holo films devising your own style, Sir.” He finally said not at all sure why he admitted that but the blush was evident even under the beard that was starting to grow. He had never admitted that to anyone before not even his ex wife or academy tutors when questioned which was puzzling him. He barely knew this woman but was sharing something so personal at least to him. She probably thought him peculiar more than people normally did.
“You recreated a fusion of martial arts from holovid?” Calliope was impressed.
“From several hundred hours of holovideos, yes.” He shrugged, it was not that impressive. He had seen documentaries from pre holodeck and how people had learnt such skills without training. “Not much to do when you live in a colony that relies so heavily on religion and old fashioned ways. You either tune in to that or make your own entertainment.”
There was something weighty there for Theo and, as much as she wanted to ask about his colony, Calliope decided not to tread into it, today. She didn’t need to alienate yet one more person. She swam back to the conversational surface, for Theo's sake. “Do you have any favorite action stars? I always loved Zabrin Kurtzweil, his early stuff, before they got really outlandish.”
Theo quickly bit his lip to stop any more secrets about his past coming out than was necessary. He was meant to be the aloof and cold security chief yet here he was leaning against his console having a proper conversation with another living breathing human. “Zabrin Kurtzweil is alright but I really appreciate some of the old films like crouching dragon, hidden dragon and Invincible. Byron Mann is one I have tried over the years to the see everything he has been in.”
“Byron Mann. I’ll have to watch some, I’ve never heard of him," Calliope said.
“He was in a lot of television programs and films in the early twenty-first century. He had a variety of roles too, not just the good guy or the bad guy either.”
"Maybe when we get the holodecks running, we can run training simulations." She suggested. "I’d like to brush up and add to my predictable academy moves.”
The suggestion of training made him nod quickly. He would actually like that, it actually felt like an honest offer that he would file away to redeem once the holodecks were back on line. He could and would make do with what he could find to keep fit until then. “I would like that Sir but if you ever just need a running partner I’ll happily run a circuit around the base with you.”
“I’ll take you up on that. It’ll be nice to have a running routine back. Any routine at all, really.” Calliope’s eye line tracked Corvus across the command center and, feeling like she was being watched, possibly judged, Calliope straightened up. She tapped the pad with the security reports against her leg. “Well, if you find out anything else about those refugees, I’d be interested to hear it, Lieutenant.”
The security chief tracked when she was looking and stood up straight himself despite how relaxed he felt talking suddenly. “I will Sir but I am going to try and catch a few hours sleep before attempting again.” He had to get some sleep that was not on his office couch or wherever he dropped. The last week had taught him he could and would sleep anywhere. “Good night Commander.”
Calliope turned her face to hide her fallen expression. Another night on John's couch lay ahead of her. "Good night, Mr. Winslow."
