Taylor
YaBB AdministratorHost CO Combatant Serenity Crew
Dude! Where's my starship?!
Posts: 236
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OOC this takes place a few days before USS Saturn arrives, it's a link from Taylor's time on USS Horizon
ON
<< Briefing Room – Sovereign Class USS Astalder>>
<08:00 hours>
Dan sat quietly in the briefing room, awaiting Jackie’s arrival. His message to her had been phrased politely, yet it was still an order. Yet more proof of his unique position in the chain of command at this time, organising a few days crew rest and re-supply had been easy, especially in light of Commander Nutley’s recent re-assignment. From his personnel files he would have expected Toby to be down about another ship based posting, yet he had seen himself how happy the young man seemed.
Pausing for a moment it suddenly filtered through his brain that he had just described Commander Toby Nutley as a young man, Dan himself wasn’t that old yet it seemed as though there was a life time between the pair. Events in Taylor’s life had caused him to grow up quickly, thinking back to Toby’s personnel jacket he realised that Toby’s life had been different but no less challenging.
The more similarities he saw between them the more different they seemed too be; it was true what they said about Starfleet Officers. Give 10 Officers a problem and get 10 resolutions, there is no one size fits all way of dealing with issues.
The comm. Crackled to life “Bridge here, we thought you would like to know Rear Admiral Clawson is on-board”
Dan smiled “Thank you bridge, please execute your orders now” he paused for a moment before adding “execute them silently”
“Understood sir” came the reply from an officer who didn’t understand his orders; he just knew he had to comply with them.
Dan picked up a few PADD’s and arranged them on the desk, each one was a different issue he had to talk to Jackie about, by his estimation it would take about 6 hours to read them through. By that time they would be well outside of the Raeyan sector.
Leaving the PADD’s in place he walked over to the replicator and ordered two drinks, a raktajino for Jackie and a hot chocolate for himself. As he sat down at the table Jackie entered. With a smile he greeted her, determined to keep her entertained.
“Ah, Jackie please come in, sit” he pointed to the chair with the raktajino in front of it “I prepared you a drink, I’m sorry there isn’t more Bloodwine” he rubbed his head for a moment before continuing “I think I drank too much of it last night at that Klingon Bar”
Jackie smiled lightly.
“Raktajino will suffice.” She noted. “I’m not much of a bloodwine drinker myself. Certain occasions.. only. Although apparently I don’t do that bad a flying job after a few mugs of bloodwine” She smirked. “Not that I’d do it again, unless there was a need for it…” she shook her head lightly before reaching for the raktajino. “Raktajino helps me think, I’m pretty much up to triple shots since…” she tapped her rear admiral’s bars and the tailor made uniform she was now clad in. “heh…I’m just hoping I won’t be up to more than a triple shot of raktajino after today” She smiled, realising that she sort of just rambled on a little and Taylor didn’t really need to know that.
He pointed to the first PADD in the line on the desk “First things first, we need to discuss a few sensitive Intelligence Issues” he passed a copy of the PADD to Jackie; he let her read the contents. He knew from his own copy that several clandestine intelligence cells were operating in the Raeyan sector trying to infiltrate pirate clans and other assorted evil enterprises within the Raeyan system. In reality Jackie had no need to know about any of these operations, it was one of those issues he should be discussing with one Falco Tauvits the same man who broke Taylor’s nose at last years betleH competition. But he hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Falco around Starbase Bravo, and Starfleet Command just listed him as TD – totally detached.
Dan could only make guesses at where he was.
Telling Jackie of course, meant that she would be forewarned and fore-armed against bringing in any of these cells. Years of intelligence could be ruined by a chance encounter with the latest flagship of Task Force 58. At least if she came across them now she would be able to do something about avoiding them, or if push came to shove let them slip off the hook.
“Any particular reason you’re telling me this?” Jackie asked. “Provided that the results are there…” she tapped the PADD, scrolling through the information once again, trying to get it all in. Was she really meant to be on top of every thing that happened in the Raeyan Sector? How was she ever going to remember all that and keep up to date and command a ship at the same time?
Jackie regarded the pile of PADD’s on Taylor’s desk, her mind wandering back to her own pile of PADD’s aboard the Horizon; the pile that was there even before she got promoted and got handed the reigns of Task Force 58; how much more would that pile multiply after a while?
“Simply because” he paused for a second “we really can’t afford for you to mess things up by stumbling on something plus any one of the ships within your command could end up causing us trouble. Believe me when I say, this is only a very small slice of the Intelligence activities I could be briefing you on today, I’m only telling you what we absolutely need you too know”
He took a sip of his drink before adding “Forewarned is forearmed”
He let his words sink in to Jackie’s brain, no use in bombarding her with information, it would only cause problems later. “You are going to find” he continued on “that you suddenly become privy to all kinds of things you think you don’t need to hear” another pause came as Dan took another mouthful of his drink “But listen to this if you listen to nothing else, keep your eyes and ears open to everything. You’ll be more help the fleet if you don’t limit yourself to a limited view of your role”
Jackie smirked at that.
“Not the type to limit myself to just one thing, Mr Taylor” she quipped. “It’s not really my nature. I was trained to keep my eyes and ears open to everything. Both as a security officer and as a fighter pilot. Up there you blink at the wrong moment, you’re a goner. I suppose it applies in other situations as well” she noted, nodding at the PADD with the Intel. She reached for her raktajino, as she glanced over the Intel data once again, letting Dan’s words sink in her mind at the same time.
Dan smiled “Your preaching to the converted Jackie” the smiled deepened as he added “you aren’t the only pilot in this room Miss Clawson, I know all about ego’s and training” he paused once more as if he had finished then suddenly added “Nothing can prepare you for this job, except doing the job”
He drained the last of his drink before standing up and heading to the replicator, “Coffee now wait cancel that, Vodka neat double shot” he suddenly decided that he needed something stronger for the next part of their conversation.
“Jackie, your about to have to deal with your first real Task Force issue” he smirked and then drained his drink in one mouthful “You are going to this years bet’leH competition on Serenity Base” she moved to say something but Dan silenced her with his hand “let me finish please”
“This is what we call flying the flag, at the betleH competition you will be the face of Task Force 58, now it’s up to you whether that face competes or just attends. I can organise either for you” Again he alluded to the pull his orders created, not something normal for a civilian, even one temporarily wearing a Starfleet uniform “You may not want to do this, you may feel there are more important things to be doing” he threw a PADD which detailed the orders he had left for Commander Nutley in her direction as he spoke the next set of words “or you may be worried about your crew”
“Don’t be, you have to do this. It’s an unwritten requirement”
Jackie blinked a few times as she read the orders on the PADD. This seemed rather.... sudden. And curious, why the competition....
"Whu...betleH competition?" Jackie queried, she wasn't fully sure of what it was exactly, but she had a feeling it had something to do with battling with Klingon weapons. In particular the bat'leth. To date, for a decade or so she's used Klingon training scenarios to train herself and her security department in the holodeck as she found the Klingons' ways of battling very effective. And their ways definitely woke up the fighter in her. After you have a few unpleasant run ins with Klingon weapons, you notice things; and you definitely don't want to be on the receiving end of a bat'leth, a mek'leth or a Daqtagh. the predator in the Caitian has finally found something to feed upon and aid Jackie in her career over the long run.
Even she herself admitted to using the scenarios in her leisure time because she enjoyed the battles and the weapons she used even if they weren't particularly 'the real thing' Jackie never thought of herself as someone worthy of having real Klingon weapons in particular because she didn't know a lot about the Klingon culture and their ways; the experience is different when you're experiencing it as opposed to hearing about it or reading about it. She knew about rituals and ways they did some things, but Jackie knew she herself would need a lot more training and discipline in order to become skilful enough with a Klingon weapon to actually own the real thing and do it justice. She kept her secret indulgence to herself and the holodeck. At once she wondered if Dan knew just how much she loved those scenarios.
"Why...?" she asked after a long pause. "Attend or compete, what's... " she paused, stealing a look at her empty coffee mug, "I should be meeting the Task Force staff, not attending competitions, certainly not competing in them. I mean I barely...." she fiddled with her mug, part of her longing for something way stronger than just the coffee. "I don't even have a... bat'leth....per se..."
Jackie looked to the side, something inside of her had woken up; the fighter, the part that she briefly unleashed on Powell back on the Horizon, the part that let her remember how she was back before she took a command. The Caitian closed her eyes for a moment to mull things over. She wanted to fight. But she also knew things changed, and right now she had other things to do. She was no longer a Lieutenant, she was a Rear Admiral, she had to act like one, not fold onto her own urges. Jackie held her head with a hand as she felt a hint of a headache coming on as she mulled things over fighting off the urges rising inside.
“Consider this your final fling Jackie” Said Dan as he passed her another handful of PADD's for her to read thought at a later date “Besides, you can't really say no now since the Astalder left Starbase Bravo as soon as you came aboard” as he spoke he pointed to the window behind Jackie the familiar view of the stars from a ship at warp. They flashed by for a few minutes as the room filled with silence, Dan thought it best to leave Jackie to think things over. He didn't think she would attack him for this, but it couldn't be ruled out.
Jackie stared out the window, as his words sunk in; she was too astounded to say anything in response for a few moments. The PADD she was holding slipped from her grasp and hit the ground, breaking the silence in the room. How can he do this? Her first instinct was to lash out and let him have it, but Jackie stopped the thought even before it fully formed in her mind; she couldn’t go anywhere, she had no choice as Taylor just said, fighting him wouldn’t make things any better. This was a clear case of kidnapping, considering she wasn’t informed about this. But if he would’ve informed her what are the odds she’s agree? Just how much did he know about her character and ways to do something like this?
She sat in silence for a brief moment, fighting urges inside, her ears flickering. Urges not to maim the human in the room for blind siding her in such a way, but urges to answer a calling that her soul wanted to answer right now, regardless of her current rank and position. Regardless of the extra responsibility dropped onto her shoulders by Starfleet when she least expected it.
Jackie haven’t felt that way in a very long time, as the urge had overtaken her and before she had a chance to stop herself even if she wanted to, she caught Taylor’s attention with a hand, and took yet another flying leap to face her fate and let her instinct guide her; it only took part of a second, but she knew it was what she really wanted.
“Where do I sign up to fight?” She asked her voice firm and steady, as she allowed herself to do what she yearned to do for a long time: let go of the responsibility of a command, let go of her worries and be herself; just like she was when she took a fighter out for a ride or flew the Horizon.
She realised that Taylor had just given her a chance to expand her horizons and possibly the last chance she would have to unwind and probably truly be herself before she had to take on her new given responsibility and live up to her rank. Her gaze levelled and intently gazing over at Dan Taylor before he left the room the Caitian broke into a grin that very few people got to see; for a moment showing the real Jackie Clawson that she was when she didn’t have to worry about anything for a brief moment or two. Jackie had no idea what exactly she agreed to; but right now the Caitian didn’t care. All she wanted to do now was to find her true self once again and come back to her ‘roots’. As the Astalder swiftly passed the stars, leaving the USS Horizon and Starbase Bravo and Jackie’s worries further behind as it sped to its destination.
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Catnapped (Read 793 times)
