All Hands to Stations

Posted on Thu Mar 18th, 2021 @ 1:02am by Colonel Sehan t'Varis & Centurion Nancy Gable & Sublieutenant Renee Hernandez

1,946 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Chapter III: The Hunt is On
Location: I.R.W. Ourainavassa
Timeline: 238702.08

"Time to destination?" "Eight hours, ma'am"

Raven nodded as the crewman who had taken over the helm while both Seira and Miles were off-duty. Since they had left Drozana, their journey had gone smoothly, without any incident, and now, they were finally close. She glanced at the chronometer - 2100 hours. With a determined nod, the colonel opened a shipwide channel.

"Attention all crew, this is your commanding officer. We are eight hours out from our destination, ETA at 0400 hours. I want everyone at battle stations at 0330. And I mean, everyone. So stock up on the energising substance of your choice and be ready for action. While I do not expect our targets to reveal themselves before the arrival of the convoy, which is expected for around 0800 based on current intelligence, we need to be ready for battle as soon as we drop out of warp. You have all been briefed on your assignments, and I do not need to remind you all of the importance of this mission. Get some rest, folks."

She closed the channel, and stood, looking around the bridge. All of the usual suspects had been dismissed from duty early, so it was only a caretaker crew monitoring the Ourainavassa's progress. The colonel turned to the Uhlan at the communications console. "You have the bridge. Alert me immediately if anything unexpected happens. I'll relieve you at 0300." "Yes ma'am." As the Saurian took the centre chair, Raven nodded at him, before heading off the bridge. She was going to take Eavy for a quick walk, and then head to the mess hall for a quick dinner before going to bed.

---

Half an hour later, the colonel entered the mess hall, with Eavy happily running beside her. Unsurprisingly, the room was almost empty, with only a few members of the crew finishing off their meals and talking in hushed tones. As combat was imminent, she had ordered that no intoxicating substances be served. At a table in the back, Doctor Gable was sitting on her own, so Raven decided to go and join her.

"Good evening, Doctor," she said warmly as she picked up Eavy and sat opposite the human. "I trust everything is ready down in medical?"

"As ready as it can ever be," Nancy replied, and cast a smile at Eavy. She was a sweet thing and Nancy hoped she'd never have to play vet to her. "Shouldn't you be catching some shut-eye?"

Renee noticed Raven walking in with her Eavy and she genuinely gave the creature a smile and did her best to fake one towards Raven. Raven trusting the Terran version of her ex with the Ourainavassa still does not sit right with her. Ash Rogers in any universe is a dangerous wild card that answered to no one... and from their brief interaction, the Terran is even bolder than the Ash she nearly married.

"Colonel," Renee greeted Raven as cordially as she can muster. "Late night?"

Raven nodded, noticing the apprehension in the chef's voice. She must have heard about the role Commander Rogers was going to play in the mission. Still, the colonel could not afford to let her in on her thought process, at least not yet. "Busy, as everyone. Big day tomorrow. So just a light dinner tonight, and some fruit for the little one."

Renee nodded at Raven and then turned to smile at Nancy, "Anything else I can get for you? And shouldn't you both be getting shut eye?"

Raven sat up straight and pointed at the badge on her chest and the rank pauldron she was wearing. "May I remind you that I am the one in charge on this ship, not you, Miss Hernandez?" She chuckled. "But you are absolutely right. Still, I don't sleep well on an empty stomach. I fancy some pasta, what's on the menu tonight?"

Renee smiled in amusement to Raven having the audacity to pull rank in the Mess Hall. "On the lighter side, I still have some garlic parmesan with a hint of lemon and if you want to pass out in a carb loaded coma, I have my 7 layer lasagna," she offered. "And I have a delightful selection of fresh fruit for this little sweetheart," Renee said as she pet Eavy, who clearly enjoyed the attention.

If Raven hadn't said she was going right to bed afterwards, Gable might have pulled CMO rank to order it. The rules might not apply the same as on a Starfleet vessel, but she had no compunction about doing it anyway. She approved of pasta for a before bed meal though, and the offerings caught her interest. "Lasagna, you say? I was going to just have chicken, but that sounds really good."

The colonel laughed. "You call her a sweetheart now, but just you wait. She definitely puts the omni in omnivore. If she can fit it between her tiny teeth, she will devour it. As for myself, I'll go for the cheese. I love me some Cacio e Pepe. With a lot of Cacio and even more Pepe."

"I figure if I feed her something more appetizing then my hands, she'll leave them alone," Renee said, further petting Eavy, who definitely wasn't complaining about the attention. "But I'll have both of your orders coming right up." The pace of the night seemed oddly normal, despite knowing that they're about to embark on a dangerous mission. That was somehow comforting to Renee. From what she has seen of the crew, they're all good people and it's a credit to Raven's recruitment. She trusts Nancy, T'Ango, and Gunnar to be able to give it their all to keep everyone alive. And... Ash. Her Ash, not the Terran. From what she's seen of the big security chief, Hatham... she knows between him and Ash, no one stood a chance. The wildcard in her mind was still the Commander and she can only hope that she wasn't an enemy.

Renee plated the food and and brought it out to Raven, Nancy, and Eavy. She even made herself something to eat, "Seems like things are quieting down, mind if I join you for dinner?"

Eavy immeditely jumped at the bowl of fruit that Renee had brought out, and began devouring it like she hadn't been fed in weeks. Raven chuckled. "See, told you. She'd happily make you believe she's been starved for months even when she's only been fed an hour ago." Still smiling, she turned to her own plate. "Looks absolutely stunning, Miss Hernandez. And sure, join us. I would have said have a glass of wine, but, not on the night before battle. we're not Klingons after all."

"Speak for yourself," Nancy joked in reply to the Klingon remark. "But I intend to abstain from bloodwine until we have have something to celebrate." She gave Renee a quick smile. "Then maybe I'll help subdue two Rogers with one booze binge."

Renee still struggles to reconcile her feelings for this universe's Ash, as they tended to bounce between a need to punch her in the face again and a mature acceptance of each other as reasonable adults. But the addition of the Terran version has thrown her... she almost wants that Ash to be up to something... to give her a reason to hate her...

After getting Raven her wine, Renee sat down with her plate and smiled at Nancy, "We will need all the help we can with one Ash... maybe we need to sic a hungry Eavy on the other..." She then turned to Raven, "I know you hired me on as a chef, but I'm also aware that it's all hands on deck for this mission. I'd like to offer my services in any way."

Raven looked at the glass in front of her. "Hey, I said no wi- oh whatever. Not that it matters. One of the perks of being part Orion and part Romulan." She took a sip. "Ah, yes. Sublieutenant Lynn keeps singing the praises of your wine selection, and I can see why. Excellent pairing with the pasta, too." For a moment, she ate in silence, as Eavy nudged the empty bowl towards Renee. "Someone wants a refill," Raven noted with a laugh. "Don't give in to her, no matter how big her eyes get. So, you worked in the section with Rogers and the others, right? Okay, I have a job for you during the mission. And I have a feeling you already know what I am going to say." She looked around to see that the mess hall was now completely empty, except for the three of them. "Keep an eye on Rogers. Not the Major, the other one."

"The wine hopefully will help you sleep later," Renee glanced at Nancy with a smile, "I may not be a doctor, but I've seen my fair share of officers sitting eating a late dinner the night before a big mission. Consider it my prescription..."

She then looked at Eavy and just took her bowl away... "If you behave maybe I'll accidently drop some kitchen scraps later..." The creature appeared to consider Renee's words and just pouted on the empty bowl.

Raven chuckled. "Hey, don't give her any ideas." As if to reinforce her point, she pulled away her now empty plate from Eavy, who had moved jumped onto her lap and started to lick off the remaining cheese. Eavy looked up, folded back her ears, and squealed sadly. "You little glutton had enough for one day!"

Renee looked over at Raven and then at Nancy, wondering if the doctor had revealed that had been coordinating, "I have definitely worked with Major Rogers, as well as the Doctor, T'Ango, and Gunnar. They are good people that I'd trust with my life. It would be my pleasure to keep an eye on the Commander... and if she may need medical attention... I hope, Doctor, you won't mind if I personally hand her to Kaol..."

The colonel shook her head. "The poor man. Don't make the best surgeon in the quadrant suffer too much. And besides, let's hope it doesn't come to that."

"Yes, let's," Nancy agreed. "Besides, I'd prefer you don't make me or anyone else suffer too much." She carved a bite of lasagna. "If you have to hand her to someone don't make it the person who'll ignore every other patient to fix her up perfectly and erase the scars."

Renee chuckled, "Touche. Maybe I'll just leave her with our Ash and Hatham, I'm sure they can figure out something. I'm not the crazy one, right? Nancy, you've known her for as long as I have... Two Ashley Rogers is too much, right?

"You are not crazy," Nancy assured her firmly. "One Ash doubles my work. I'm not sure if two means it increases by 4, squares or goes exponential."

"The other one tried to flirt with me... I'm going to put my money on exponential. I can't imagine the two of them together," Renee said shaking her head.

She knew what Renee meant, but the sudden thought of what Divash might have said about that almost Nancy choked on a bite of lasagna wrong. She coughed and reached for her water, taking a gulp. "Sorry. Wrong thing to think about when swallowing."

Renee glared at Nancy with wide and shocked eyes, know exactly where her mind went, "No.... nonono.... that is not what any of us need right now... I'd like to schedule a lobotomy please. I can't unthink that...."

Nancy laughed. "I'll look into my brain bleach supplies."

 

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