A Long Few Days

Posted on Fri Jul 8th, 2022 @ 2:22pm by Caeda & Endia
Edited on on Wed Aug 9th, 2023 @ 10:03pm

Mission: Adventures of the ISS Terror
Location: Ready Room, ISS Terror
Timeline: Date 2371-5-19 at 2030
4620 words - 9.2 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

Ready Room, ISS Terror
May 19th, 2371 - 2030
Vengeance Episode 1: Mission Day 2

As the clock struck 2030 Hours, another page turned in the book. It was sitting on an irregularly shaped glass desk, its reader's pale feminine hands moving over the smooth surface of the paper. Only a few chapters in, she showed no sign of putting the book down soon. She would do anything in this moment to keep reality at bay.

The ISS Terror had been in the Delta Quadrant for five days, pulled here by a strange entity known as the Caretaker. After mounting repairs to their ship, having been pulled over 70,000 lightyears for the sake of an experiment none of them qualified for, they had departed to try to find another way back. To search for a wormhole or a species with the power to help them.

Nadine Granger had always gotten irritated when she didn't get what she wanted, but the last few days took the cake. A promising career and the chance to make history in the Empire was 70+ years away now. So she was avoiding reality in her alone time.

The crew of the Terror had finally started to come to terms with and cope with the events of the past few days. Their abduction, the subsequent collective violation of their bodies, and now the fact they were facing a journey back home that likely very few would live to see the end of. It was a lot to say the least. As second officer, Maura had done her very best to assist the crew in the uncertain times ahead while grappling with her own fears and doubts in the privacy of her quarters. She had just finished putting the finishing touches on the reports from her department and moved toward the admiral's ready room to leave it on her desk for the morning. Unaware that Granger was already inside, she opened the door and immediately jumped in surprise as a pulse rifle was leveled on her by Niall Bolton, Granger's bodyguard.

"Hells!" She cursed and stepped back, "Admiral, I'm very sorry. I had no idea you were in here."

Granger had jumped when Maura screamed, instinctively slamming her book shut and moving it off of the desk, like she had been trying to hide it. Niall was aware of it, but he was like her shadow. She barely noticed him in the corners of the room unless he spoke. She tucked her bare feet under her seat as well, having abandoned her uncomfortable boots hours before. She was quite young for a Rear Admiral and had hidden an overt imposter syndrome, even though she'd earned it through some substantial ruthlessness.

Manually, she relaxed her face, willing herself to seem calm and unbothered. Her nerves were frayed.

"Niall, let her in." she said in a somewhat monotone chest voice. "Come in, Commander. Sorry for the startle. Niall is a zealous defender."

Nadine gave a sarcastic expression and rolled her eyes slightly, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. She appreciated her bodyguard, of course, knowing how brutal some subordinates could be.

Bolton straightened and silently went back to his standing at ease position, though he was eyeballing Maura very warily as she just looked at him for a moment. Niall was half Vulcan which made him a much more potent bodyguard, but he hid that heritage by keeping his blonde curls longer to sit over the tops of his pointed ears to keep them hidden. "He does his job very well considering he also had the restraint to not pull the trigger." Maura mused and put the PADD down on Nadine's desk. "Were you reading anything interesting?" She probed with a gentle, respectful curiosity and a smile to match.

"Ugh...no. A complete snoozefest." Nadine said, visibly kicking the book behind herself in a way that Maura would certainly notice and clearly lying. She smiled coyly, rather unusual for an Admiral, and took the PADD in her hands. "A girl's got to keep some secrets, hasn't she?"

She nodded at Niall, telling him silently to relax, though she knew it wouldn't work. It never did with good bodyguards. She was more than capable of defending herself in most situations anyway.

"Mmm..." Maura leaned into the desk but didn't move to sit since she hadn't been given any sort of invitation. Her own expression turned coy and her blue eyes lidded just slightly. "Maybe when you're done with it I might borrow it, Admiral?" She asked in an almost suggestive way. "I've been having trouble sleeping."

Nadine blinked a few spaces, her mouth opening ever so slightly as she processed what was happening. Real or manipulation, she liked it. She smiled then.

"I'll make sure it gets into your hands, Commander." she said and gestured for the seat across from the desk. "Sit. We haven't really had time to talk since you came aboard. I like to get to know my officers."

“Thank you.” Maura said and moved to sit down, that coy and playful smile still on her face. She wanted to be clear there were no mixed signals given her commanding officer’s reaction. “I’m sorry I haven’t made time to speak with you.” Of course it was understandable given the situation but she did seem to mean it.

"Well, you'll just have to do better with that, won't you?" Nadine asked, turning her head in a playful fashion, though her smile was difficult to read. "Especially because we're lost in the middle of nowhere and I can't seem to keep my mind on anything else."

Nadine leaned back in her large chair, her eyes never leaving her second officer.

"Distract your Admiral, Commander. And that's an order." she said in a jocular manner, though it came from a woman familiar with command. She smiled more brightly this time, but there was still an air of mystery behind her gaze.

“A song? Dance? Perhaps you’d like me to read some of your book to you? I’m very good at voices.” Maura said with a lingering note of suggestion in her words. “I’d there anything that might strike your fancy?”

Nadine's eyes flickered down, looking at Maura from head to toe so far as she could see her through the glass table. Moving her naked foot back, she found the book with it and slid it forward with enough force for it to land at Maura's feet. She looked at the Commander, her hand sliding onto the desk, her fingers dancing absent-mindedly.

"I've found chapter 5 the most entertaining so far." she said, her eyes flitting to Niall by the entrance. She wondered what he was thinking about all this. She thought about asking him if he wanted to leave, but she thought perhaps that might be premature. A lover made a wonderful assassins, after all. She knew that very well.

Laughing softly, Maura picked up the book and gave a sigh as she righted herself, making her breasts rise and fall more dramatically as she settled in. Opening the book, she quickly found the start of chapter five and skimmed it until she found a more interesting passage. “Ah alright. Here.” She smiled and briefly flicked her eyes up to catch Nadine’s gaze briefly then looked back down to the book. “Liliana’s heavy breasts heaved up and down with her excited breath. Sweat dripped from her skin and down into the cleavage between her supple orbs. She licked her full lips, a soft and needing moan escaped from them. She was breathless. She needed more. Crawling across the bed she reached out and spoke, her voice quivering ‘Morgan, please…’.” Maura hadn’t been lying, she spoke the words exactly as the author had intended, her voice taking on that breathless quality after a moment of satisfying heated passion. She looked up to Nadine again, this time holding the woman’s eyes as she finished the last words. “‘I need you. I need more…’.”

Nadine had watched Maura read the book, recalling the scene in her own mind again. It had done its job the first time, but now that it was being read to her, it was working on overdrive. Unconsciously, she started to focus on the woman's straight brown hair and even, as much as she reasonably could without making a face, picturing her sitting before her wearing nothing at all. When she locked eyes with her, Nadine's smile was gone, replaced by a look of engaged arousal. Her lips parted slightly, her breathing increased Between her legs, underneath her uniform pants, her panties had gotten even wetter than before.

"You have a talent for the spoken word, Commander." she said, placing her hands on her recently crossed legs. She wondered what else the woman could do with that tongue of hers. She grinned gently. "It's...very distracting."

“Thank you, Admiral.” Maura purred softly and smiled, looking quite pleased to have elicited such a reaction, and surprisingly there didn’t seem to be anything swirling underneath the expression. She actually just seemed… pleased. “Would you like me to continue? Maybe you’d like something to drink too? I know an excellent herbal blend that is sure to help you relax.”

Nadine thought for a moment, seeming to consider her options very carefully. She was always thinking, always figuring, and very rarely saying what she came up with. She was one of those people who had a closed process; she never let anyone into it. She had to be careful with entanglements like this one when she was emotionally vulnerable. Her pleased expression didn’t go away, but it was clear her mind started racing again.

“I’ve honestly had enough of being served, Commander.” She said, shaking her head and closing her eyes as she did, her smile turning a bit sad as it so often did. This had been a difficult few days. She knew how to climb the latter, but now that she was near the top, she wasn’t so sure what to do with herself. “I want you to tell me what you want. I mean, you’ve got to be having a hard time being so far from home. Maybe I should..distract you for a while.”

“I can’t say I would be opposed to that.” Maura replied and seemed to take the rebuff of the offer of tea in kind. It really wasn’t about the tea, she just wanted an excuse to show off. She moved to stand then and slid her way around Nadine’s desk. Maura had a lovely figure and opted to show it off with the skirt variant of the uniform. Her long legs smooth and unblemished. She took a seat on the edge of the desk, still a respectful distance from her Admiral to not be too forward, but just forward enough. “Though I’m also a fan of mutual distraction.”

Niall for his part was still standing still and at ease. He was watching them with what appeared to be passive and expressionless interest, but the beginning of a slight bulge in his pants was speaking a different story.

The closeness of Maura had made Nadine feel a rush of adrenaline that she expressed with a slight puffing out of her chest and the licking of her lips. She looked at Maura with a deeper interest than before. Her night had certainly changed quickly.

“Mutual distraction is the best kind, Commander.” She said, her voice low and more emotional than before.

“I’m glad you think so, Admiral.” Maura purred and shifted just a bit, causing her skirt to hike up a bit more on her toned thigh. “More reading? Or perhaps you’d like to play a game? Count the freckles, perhaps?”

“Oh, I think I might have some skill at that one.” Nadine said, placing a hand on the woman’s thigh and beginning to move it slowly up her leg, her eyes growing expressively more aroused and engaged, looking the woman in the eye as her fingers finding the panties over her mound and moving her digits ever so subtly over the fabric. “I think I found at least twelve on the way over, Commander.” She said, moving her fingers in alongside the woman’s lips and massaging them gently.

Maura let out a soft, pleasured sigh as Nadine’s fingers started to caress the soft skin of her thighs. She licked her lips, leaning closer into the other woman so her lips were close but not quite touching. “Begging your pardon, Admiral. I think you may have missed a few.” She teased and very slightly shifted her legs apart a bit more. Maura continued to hold the admiral’s gaze with still no signs of any subterfuge or treachery. Just more than a little lust at this point.

“Oh, there it is.” Nadine said, her eyes growing wide in mock surprise as her fingers found the outline of the woman’s clit through the fabric. She moved her hands around it skillfully, knowing exactly what to do. “Do you like that, Maura?” She asked, the question more aggressive than a genuine question.

"Yes, Admiral." Maura replied with a soft moan. Her head tilted back and she lifted her hips just slightly so she could press into Nadine's touch. She leaned in close as if she were about to kiss Nadine. Suddenly, the doors to the ready room swished open. Niall was still just as quick to react and leveled his rifle at the newest intruder and wondered to himself why the Admiral didn't lock the door. Of course he said nothing, but he wondered.

Walking in was Commander Gregor Stahl, the Terror's CMO.

"Get out!" Maura spat in a natural reaction to being walked in on, and between that and the pulse rifle now at his chest, Stahl immediately did a one eighty and did just that, the door sliding closed behind him.

Maura immediately slapped a hand over her mouth. "Oh, Admiral. I'm so sorry. I didn't... it was just a reflex." She said apologetically.

Again, another startling experience had always made Nadine jump. As Maura shouted and the door opened, she moved her hand rapidly from between the woman’s legs. She was red in the face, but made no discernible face besides the moment of surprise. She shook her head.

“I know.” She said, looking at Niall with a frown. “I know I should lock it. Honesty, I just like the look on everyone’s faces when they get that rifle in their face. It should teach them to knock first.”

She wondered what the Doctor wanted, but she pushed it away. It would be far too strange to stop him now and ask. Instead, she turned her mind, most immediately, back to her work, opening the screen and looking for ship status. When she saw that nothing was out of the ordinary on ship systems, she relaxed.

“It was probably nothing.”

Niall quirked one slightly too slanted brow and gave a nod of agreement to Nadine. He was not one for words unless a question or something requiring his commentary was brought up. He served best as a silent shadow. Maura licked her lips, looking flustered on more than one level. She glanced down to Nadine and resisted making a small sound of disappointment over her withdrawn attentions. After a moment, she spoke up quietly. "Would you like me to go now, Admiral?"

Nadine looked at Maura with a sort of withdrawn expression. It was clear that she wanted to go on, but the mood had been shattered. Just as she was about to respond to the question, their commbadges chirped simultaneously.

"Admiral Granger, Commander Rinne, report to the Bridge immediately." came the authoritative no-nonsense voice of Commander Ronald Latham, the ship's Executive Officer, now standing watch on the Bridge.

The remaining desire in Nadine's eyes faded behind her workaholic habits. All the attention she had been directing at Maura Rinne's body was now pointing squarely at official business. She tapped her commbadge.

"On our way." she said, and bent over in her chair quickly to slide on her socks followed soon-after by her boots. Standing, she pulled on her half-jacket and zipped it, adjusting her collar and looking at Maura. "Ship shape. I'm not quite ready for the entire ship to know."

Maura had already been in the process of addressing her own uniform though it was much less of a task considering they really hadn't gotten far. She gave the Admiral a small, regretful smile that they didn't get to continue but didn't say anything on the matter; nothing really needed to be said. She waited for Nadine to finish adjusting herself so that they could leave together as if they had been speaking in a meeting and nothing more.

The two of them walked through the door together and onto the Bridge. Latham stood from the center chair immediately, his expression one of terse curiosity. The only other senior staff member on the Bridge was the good doctor.

"Admiral, Commander. Since the two of you are up, I thought it might be best for us to go over the astrometrics survey now instead of waiting until tomorrow." he said with an emotionless stare. "I sent Stahl to get you but he was shouted down."

"You're prying, Commander." Admiral Granger said, her piercing eyes resting on him. "Don't send people to fetch me, I'm not a chew toy."

"Of course, ma'am." Latham said with a slightly lowered head. He looked at Maura for several seconds, seeming to size her up. "How are you this evening, Commander Rinne? Staying out of trouble, I hope?" he asked, and then leaned in slightly closer to her, lowering his voice. "Keeping your eyes on your work?"

Maura gave a soft, slightly exasperated sigh as Latham leaned into her. “I keep my eyes on what brings glory and power to the Empire.” She replied simply and stepped away to briefly go to the conn and check on the controls. She gave a smile to the ensign sitting stationed there. She didn’t like Latham. He was nosy and not subtle about it and seemed to feel for some reason that he could intimidate her. Turning back to her commanders, she gave a pleasant smile and moved back to join them. “Well if we want to do that I am quite ready.”

“Am I needed?” Stahl asked dryly, looking highly unamused where he stood but otherwise he hinted at nothing.

“I didn’t call you up here, Doctor.” Latham said. “Deliver what you must to the Admiral and then leave so that we can get to work.” Some people believed that Latham’s coldness came from a hard heart, but the people who knew him personally, who were very few in number out here, knew that he had a love of frankness and efficiency that drove him into administrative roles. An Intel officer being fast tracked in command, until they ended up out here. What was inefficient was what he expected was going on between his Commanding Officer and his chief competitor. He pursed his lips. He was watching her; quite literally.

“They are the results of the last of the medical evaluations.” Stahl replied, looking to Granger. “Would you like them in hand, Admiral, or shall I leave them on your desk?”

Rinne had simply been calmly standing and waiting, but when she felt Latham's eyes boring into her, she turned and looked at him. “Do I have something on my face, Commander?” She asked, both her eyebrows raising and a small amused smirk appearing on her face.

"You look like you soon will, unless I do something about it." he said quietly, though he knew he could be heard by at least the Admiral.

Nadine smiled but didn't take part in her scuffle. She seemed to be rather enjoying it on a certain level and only looked to the Doctor in order to quickly answer his question.

"From now on, just submit your special documents to the Command Yeoman, Gregor. It will get to me. I don't think the 'drop it on my desk' approach is going to work anymore." she said candidly, her face neutral, rather than a smile or frown, before she directed her attention back to the two senior officers beneath her. She'd learned through years as a Discipline Inspector that these conflicts could be excellent opportunities to understand a persons psychology, test their loyalty, and take note of their pressure point. If it meant she gave her XO more leeway than some others, then it was a small price to pay. She was a gentle hand, but when she inserted the knife and twisted it, it was always deadly.

"Of course, Admiral." Stahl said, his eyes scanning the trio before he gave an internal sigh and turned to get back to his own work. He was relatively sure at what he had seen, but it had all happened very quickly. The fact that he had been yelled at by Rinne though made it just a bit more telling. Something for him to mull over later.

Rinne had just continued to smirk at Latham before she chuckled softly and gave a dismissive wave of her hand. "Weren't we supposed to be looking over this astrometrics survey? Since you sent for both of us with such urgency I'm sure there must be a... work related reason for that."

"Of course there is." he said, dismissing her with a glace and looking to the Admiral. "Ma'am, the Science Department just forwarded this information up here. Lieutenant Jen was working late with her staff to verify the scans. I think you'll find them of great interest." he gestured to the back of the Bridge. "Please."

The Latham lead the two women down the two stairs out of the command area and up a ramp toward the back of the Bridge, past the tactical console. He pulled the integrated chair out from under the Science I console and sat down. After a few clicks, a scan of local space popped up.

"As you can see from this projected map, our chosen course leads us through a territory which many different minor powers inhabit. We don't know what lies beyond, more than fifty lightyears away is a mystery. But we should be able to pass through here with relative difficulty." he said. "I think the question that's on all of our minds is...how should we proceed and engage with these powers? Should we ignore them, or should we make waves?"

"An interesting conundrum to be sure." Rinne spoke up first, "Obviously any waves would only delay us further in getting back home, but it is also possible some of these aliens could have technology that would be of benefit to us that we can take from them. However, as much as I am loathe to say it, we are alone out here and risk being overpowered."

“We have no information on technology and cultural development. It might be that these peoples are stronger than us, in which case making the wrong call could spell our doom.” Latham said. “I say we go in with a conciliatory attitude; play nice, you might say, until we know what we’re dealing with. We can always show our true intentions later.”

"That may be wise, but at what cost? Will we ignore the prime directive?" Rinne asked and looked between the other two.

“No, we don’t.” Admiral Granger said, her arms crossed under her chest. “That Directive is our glue. It’s what holds this ship together; not good will and friendship, but the power of the Empire exercised through us.”

Granger thought, looking at the charts now.

“We should show our teeth. We are one of the most powerful ships in the Terran Fleet and we should act like it.”

Because of how Rinne was positioned, Latham would see just the smallest shifts in her expression to one of doubt. Granger would not be able to see it, but he would. It cleared quickly and Rinne stood up a bit taller, examining the map. "So which way do we go, is the question. Perhaps it might be wise to see if we can find some singular vessels on our travels? We could raid them not only for supplies and slaves but their computer information of the upcoming sectors."

“I’d recommend a divide and conquer approach, ma’am, if you wish to go the conventional route.” Latham said, calling back his successful career in military intelligence. “We need to pick a relatively isolated clan and discover what they value. When we get control over it, they won’t have a choice but to give us what we need to move forward.”

“I still recommend seeking out singular vessels to raid and extract information from regarding the sector we are in.” Maura crossed her arms, looking at the screen. She hated the thought that they might run into a superior force here, but it was a very real possibility.

Nadine Granger had a nickname in Imperial Starfleet which she didn’t like very much at all: “the Black Widow. She never responded with anger or irritation when it was used, but on the inside, it did bother her. All that she had ever done, she did in compliance with those values they were always taught in her childhood. She was calm, private, and unconventional. Confident and gregarious in her own way, but certainly not a people person. She had made herself an Admiral but she was a strange fit for command.

The woman, twirled her hair as she listened, her face neutral still. She had perfected her body control long ago.

“I think there’s merit in what you’re both saying. We need leverage, but we are hugely outnumbered.” She reasoned aloud, folding both of her arms under her chest. “But I think Commander Rinne is right. Establishing relations with alien races from weakness is risky. We will start by extracting information from a single ship.”

Commander Lantham pursed his lips, his head turned away from both of them and toward the screen.

“I suppose that’s a start, ma’am.” He said dryly.

“Find one and arrange it then, Mr. Latham.” Nadine said. “Now, if the two of you will excuse me. It’s been a very long day. I’ll be in my quarters.” She finished, making meaningful eye contact with Maura before she walked away, stepped into the turbolift, and was gone. Latham, for his part, merely stood silently from his seat and pushed it back under the console.

"Cheer up, Ronald." Maura thumped him on the back of the shoulder. "You'll get the next one, I'm sure. Now if you'll excuse me..." She said and grinned at him, heading toward the turbolift.

“I’ll have to get better at eating pussy then, won’t I?” He asked, causing some of the ears of the junior crew on the Brige to perk up and they looked over, as overtly as they dared. “Because I suppose that’s your plan to run Granger.”

"I'll give you some pointers later." She winked as she stepped up to the turbolift. "But let's not mix words. I'm not looking to run her. That would be stupid. I just haven't gotten laid in a while... I'm sure you can relate." Maura then stepped onto the turbolift and gave him a little wave goodbye as the doors closed.

END