Tempting Fates... Again

Posted on Fri Jul 15th, 2011 @ 4:49pm by Captain Nathan Cowell MD & Lieutenant Colonel Anastasia DeVries

Mission: Too Close for Comfort...
Location: Commodore's Ready Room, Bridge, USS Arizona
Timeline: Following 'What's My Name Again'

Commodore Nathan Cowell sat in his office, mulling over his next course of action. The away mission had, in part, given him a bit of time to reexamine his crew, and in this examination it became clear that he'd been beating around a bush that he probably shouldn't have bothered with. Granted, the object of this 'bush beating' would likely want to set his command chair on fire for what he was about to do, but he supposed he was due for a new on anyway so it would be a win-win for everyone. Nathan sat back in his chair, contemplated even putting his feet up on the desk, while he waited for the woman to show up. He didn't, but he would have gotten away with it had he, it was his boat after all.

Having received the 'call' to join the Commodore in his office, Stace S. DeVries wasted no time in gathering her information PaDD and making her way towards the information hub of the ship. Entering onto the bridge, she did her best to ignore the insanely shocked looks of Sweeney and instead cross over the threshold that led her to the main man. "Afternoon," she greeted as she made her way past her favorite chair and straight towards his desk. "I have gone ahead and complied several key points of interest concerning our recent discoveries below on the planet and have thus contemplated several ways to go about handling this business."

The Commodore gave her a once over and frowned, "Who the hell are you and what have you done to my Security Officer?"

"I'm the person who's going to save your ass... again," Stace retorted with a strong shake of the hand that held the PaDD.

"Oh..." Nathan said with a shrug, "Then take a seat and let's talk."

Pulling a chair around to bring it right up to the edge of the Commodore's desk as if it were her own desk - Stace crossed her arms and exhaled sharply. "Section 31 is stealing brains... and transplanting them."

"Stealing... brains? How do you figure? I've never seen that before, and I think we both know I know medicine," the Commodore said with a frown.

"I encountered an agent below on the planet... he failed to recognize me... he should have," Stace continued. "It was as if his memories had been sucked away. Can you explain that?"

"I don't know... Only thing I could think of is they are playing Dominion now... making agents instead of recruiting them," Nathan shrugged.

The Colonel frowned at his statement. Perhaps... perhaps the man was on to something. "I will look into it... in the meantime... there is no doubt. Section 31 was responsible for the bombing. They were hoping to remove us from the equation. I suspect we are closing in on things they rather have us not know."

Nathan couldn't argue with that, he'd been the ass end of that desire already and it wasn't something he cared to second guess. The problem was, they were all being branded as the terrorists, something not easily overcome.

"What would you recommend we do since we're not going to be welcome back down there any time soon. I'm of the mind to just up-channel this shit and wash my hands of them for the moment. Thoughts?" the Commodore said.

Stace nodded. "Probably would be for the best. I personally see no further use of them."

"Good... Now to the most pressing matter..." Nathan said, straightening up a little, "I need you to take over the First Officer post. You're trustworthy, and you get shit done. Can't find that just anywhere, and I need to take full advantage of it. So, in defiance of the fates you're convinced will come crashing down on us... you're my Executive Officer starting now. Any issues with it?"

The woman blinked at his assumption. Though she could not argue the fact that she was one of the stronger candidates for the position, she distinctly remembered an earlier conversation where she expressed her desire not to resume a command post. "Quite a few actually. Shall I note them in short form or long?"

"Write them up, and delete them... do you more good..." Nathan said flatly, "I need you, the ship needs you... whether anyone thinks you deserve it is irrelevant. Needs out weigh wants."

Stace shook her head and crossed her arms slowly. So... it was going to be like this... again. "Very well... however... you have no idea what you're getting yourself into. You truly don't. People change... as does time. You know this better than most... and this will be no exception. So... I suppose now that that's that... we're making route to starbase?"

"Yes, we need to make the last drop offs and pick ups before we get the hell out of Dodge, and I need to report our... incident..." Nathan said with a frown.

She shrugged indifferently at the news of 'reporting incidents'. "Make it short and to the point. They can fill in the blanks for themselves... they have plenty of free time to get it done. However... while we're on the subject of drop offs and pick ups... I do have a few of those of my own to secure. Executive Officer prerogative of course."

"No more Chets... that's my only condition. Otherwise, do what you want," the Commodore said.

Stace raised an eyebrow. "I was thinking of losing a few Shreks."

"Oh... well that's fine," Nathan shrugged, "Anything else, Colonel?"

She shook her head. "No... I'm super peachy now."

"Good," the old man said with a smirk, "Like it when my crew is happy, they work harder. And speaking of that, I need to get back to what I was doing. Thanks for dropping by."