A Strange Meeting

Posted on Wed May 7th, 2014 @ 1:59pm by Lieutenant Commander Rosaleen O'Donnell & Lieutenant JG Kaylee Williams

Mission: New Frontier
Location: The Ratway

Making her way through the dark service corridor, dress and cloak flowing behind her like water and cowl in place, Rosaleen looked more like an apparition than a person. Today, the darkness was her friend...it had been one of those days. Early on, she had discovered that in the evening the service corridors were a great way to avoid people. She wasn't generally an anti-social person...she just needed a break at times.

As she moved through a particularly dark area, she unconsciously increased her senses, including her night vision. This had the effect of causing her blue eyes to take on a bit of a glow, and the temperature around her dropped a bit. Even with this, she did not see the crouched figure working on a panel ahead.

But that person most definitely saw her.

"Excuse me, you shouldn't be here, please identify yourself or else I'll have to call security." Kaylee said without looking as she worked on getting the comm systems.

Rosaleen moved forward into the dimly lit area where the woman was working. "Now that's not a proper way to introduce yourself to someone. I did not mean to startle you...usually these walkways are empty this time of the evening. She moved a bit closer. "I am Lieutenant Rosaleen O'Donnell, Commodore O'Shea's personal assistant."

"Nice to meet you, and normally we don't have people skulking these back corridors late at night, someone may think your trying to sabotage the station or worse blow it up. Anyways, I'm Lt Kaylee Williams, Director of Starfleet Corps of Engineers, or SCE for short." Kaylee said as she shifted her hand in the dark to another tool she needed and went to work again only to look up at her for a brief moment.

A hidden smile. "I had wondered if you had been able to get settled in yet. I apologize for the total lack of facilities for you as of yet. We are finalizing the designs this week, and hope to get started on them soon. The station is such a wreck that pretty much everything is being made from scratch."

"Yeah, I figured out the wreck part pretty quickly." Kaylee said looking up at her. "Well when I arrived I didn't bother to check in with anyone except for a Eliana Masters. I literally dropped in on her while trying to fix something near her and something exploded and I fell into her temporary office. Anyways, I am used to working with worse and almost no space, what so ever. So a station that is half falling apart, barely sticking in orbit and almost no facilities what so ever, then toss in the patch work and jury rig jobs to get things working so we can repair the station properly, its a walk in the park and quite a nice break from things exploding around you twenty four hours a day and seven days a week." Kaylee said, overly enjoying the challenge without the explosions from someone trying to kill her.

"I wasn't aware that the Corps worked in active combat zones...most unusual. Where was your last posting?"

"I worked for Guardian Initiative. I was a Marine before, discharged, got tired of sitting around so joined up with Starfleet and shipped here before my class was done. Marines have Engineers like anyone really but I worked as a combat engineer. Few resources to get jobs done and you had to be creative with what resources you had. But Combat Engineers are the same as Starfleet engineers with one minor difference, Combat Engineers get bigger and better guns, and more freedom to get the job done." Kaylee said in such a way she hinted at the fact in her mind she never really left.

Rosaleen was impressed. "Well, this is certainly a bit of a change of pace for you then. I can't guarantee that we won't deal with hostile environments out here, though...although we do have a Combat Engineering group with the Marines here." She moved a bit closer to the woman, studying her arm. "That's an interesting piece of hardware you have there."

"Oh this?." Kaylee said shifting her arm back into a hand. "Yeah, it was an accident with my time with the Guardian Initiative or TGI for short. I was dealing with trying to disarm a ancient trap but I failed, the trap went off and my arm got caught in the cross fire, I lost it but this was found in its place. I later found my tools were missing and later realized my tools were absorbed into the arm, so now I don't have to worry about losing any of my tools. So when I need something I think about it, then my arm shifts into the tool I need for the job. For the time being that's all I know about it. Not sure what other tricks it has but the arm is great for keeping my tools safe." Kaylee said giggling.

Rosaleen untied her cowl and pushed it back, letting her long, red hair flow down her back. The ringlets resembled coils coming unwound as they fell loose. "Well it is definitely unique. Hopefully it doesn't get mad at you one night for something and exact revenge. That would be a hell of a way to wake up."

"No, not yet anyways." Kaylee told her with a half smile.

"So..." Rosaleen took in a good 360 of the area they were in. "...what do you think about the station so far? Lot's of potential or just another piece of scrap ready for the boneyard?"

"Well, Sir." She said sitting down, leaning her back up against the wall, she took her helmet off and looked up. "The marine in me, believes this is a bad position. Tactical wise we are a sitting target waiting for the next fleet to come through and vaporize us. From a defense position a planetary outpost is far better than a space station. But the Starfleet in me, follows orders and work with what you have. We have a saying in the Corps, 'when you have lemons make a grenade'. That pretty much means that I work with what is given. If Starfleet and the Station commander wants this scrap yard fixed up to be operational then its up to my staff and I to accommodate their request. But I still believe we should strip this place down to the bare essentials, take what we can, find a planetary body and set up base their. It would be far better to do that and set up a shield generator on a planet than fixing this place in a timely manner." Kaylee said as she just realized she over stepped. "Sorry, sir. I'm used to speaking my mind for good or bad when asked a question. Hard habit to break. Not that my opinions will make much difference but I work what is given." Kaylee told the Lt, realizing she might have just given the Captain, once she arrived a reason to jettison her out the nearest air lock for a difference of opinion from that of her superiors.

"That is what Kathy expects from her officers. You can't run something like this without knowing the honest opinions of those working under you." Rosaleen's eyes were piercing, but kind. "But...we do not have a treaty for a full planetary base. Only the small office facility and hangers that we have down there. So, we make the best of what we have." She walked over to Kaylee and placed a hand on her arm...her real arm. It was almost ice cold. "And no, you are not the only one here that is 'different'. There is nothing wrong with it, and Kathy will not even think about it." She had picked up a bit of apprehension from Kaylee since she started discussing her arm.

Looking down at her arm, Kaylee looked back up. "Your not a vampire are you?" Kaylee asked point blank. "I knew a vampire once, a real honest to god one, she was nice until sex got involved and then she was a out of control maniac." Kaylee said a bit worried.

Suddenly the hand turned very warm. "Oh, nothing like that I promise." She dropped her hand, but the immediate are stayed noticeably warmer than it had been previously. "And we won't get into my sexual practices at this time." She stated with a smile.

"That's good, I rather not have my blood sucked dry and as for sexual practices, are you making a pass at me, sir?" Kaylee asked a bit curious.

A gentle laugh. "Not that I was aware of. If you took my actions for something they were not meant to be, I do apologize. And can the sir stuff...we are the same rank after all."

"Yes, sir." Kaylee said as she realized she did it again. "Sorry, si..." Kaylee said stopping herself. "Its something that's drilled into us during boot camp. Its drilled into us to say 'Sir' to everyone regardless of their rank or position, as its a sign of respect to the person. If we didn't call people at least, 'sir', we would go down for push ups a lot. Great upper body strength building, but you learn quickly to address an officer regardless of their rank as 'Sir'. Any sentence you tell someone you always put in 'sir' at the end. You can yell at someone, tell them they are being idiots, jerks, whatever as long as you put 'sir' at the end, that way your venting but also showing respect to the other officer in question weather they are the same rank or not." Kaylee said explained. "As for your pass, its ok, I go either way on the tree of love." Kaylee said with a half smile.

A slight smile. "Just remember, your not a Marine anymore. It's ok to relax a bit. And when Kathy gets here, you don't have to be all formal either."

"With respect, sir. I may not carry the rank of a Marine but that doesn't stop me being a Marine. We had a saying in the Corps it went like this....'Once a Marine, Always a Marine.' It means that even though I now carry the rank of Navy, I can't stop being who I am because of the Marines. They fashioned me into who I am today, sir, to turn my back on what the Corps taught me is like me turning my back on a part of who I am. But I will attempt to relax despite the condition the station is in." Kaylee said getting up from the floor and closed up her face plate. "I can escort you where your going if you need one. I'm done with the repairs in this area for now." Kaylee told the young woman.

'Five, four, three....' Rosaleen forced herself to calm down. Even as she did so, the temperature in the room dropped very noticeably. "I don't need a lesson in Corp's ethics, Lieutenant." Her eyes were piercing, and had taken on a hint of a glow. "I flew for the Corp's during the Dominion war...interdiction duty out in the asteroid belts of Parnaxum. Lost half our squadron in less than two weeks. In the end only three of the original team came home. I was one, the COB here on the station was the second, and the Commodore the third. So I don't really need the lecture." Rosaleen had pulled her cowl back into place as she spoke, hiding her face once again in the dim light. But her eyes still glowed a slight bluish hue...

Not noticing the change in the atmosphere much if at all, Kaylee stood there a bit lost as her Armors HUD went haywire with temperatures going on around her. Kaylee still confused, she came close to panicking herself but then remembered her own marine training which taught her 'panicking was the surest way to death'. "Calm down, Sir. Before you damage what I already spent hours fixing. Lets not lecture each other, you may have came home with three, but I came home and the rest of my division did not, I lost 10,000 friends. Are you willing to sacrifice the lives of those here on the station because you can't keep your emotions in check? If I lost my emotions I would have killed myself long ago so I may join my brothers in arms. The worst part of it was I was the sole survivor of 10,000 troopers in the dominion war. You were lucky to come back with two friends. I came back with none. So who is more hurt? Who is allowing that hurt to govern their emotional state?. Let darkness in and you will kill everyone." Kaylee said knowing she was drudging up her own past but she hoped her failure would calm the woman down.

But nothing changed around them. "I can assure you, Lieutenant, that the station is not in any danger. And trust me...my emotions are under control." 'But just barely' She had to admit to herself. But she had tried to be as personable to Kaylee as possible, yet everything had been thrown in her face. First being accused of coming onto her, then being lectured...it was too much for her to stand. And what was that damned warm trickle she kept feeling?

What actually started to confuse her was that no matter what she did to try to bring herself back into norm, it wasn't working. Just the opposite in fact...she was getting more and more agitated. Normally she had exceptional control...almost perfect. It was almost like something was pushing her...something was...

She suddenly grabbed Kaylee's right forearm. "What...what were you working on down here?"

"Communications relay." Kaylee said as she was quite confused as to what just happened 'maybe I should carry tranquilizers from now on?' she thought to herself as she didn't want to repair damage caused by someone who had no control over themselves.

Rosaleen's mind was racing as she picked apart and analyzed the situation. Something here just wasn't right. This wasn't anything near her normal state. I was almost as if...

"There is a radiation source somewhere close by. I don't know if it's a leak or what, but it's within 50 meters." She put more and more mental shields up as she fought for control. "It's metaphasic in nature."

"Do we have any metaphasic technologies on board the station?" Kaylee asked her quickly.

Rosaleen was already on the move, attempting to put distance and walls between herself and the source of the radiation. "Not that I am aware of. But who knows what was left behind here by the previous occupants."

"Great, we barely have sensors operational and we have to chase down a potential hazard that some targ was experimenting on." Kaylee said remote accessing the station's sensors with her helmets HUD, so sensor data or lack there of was fed straight into her helmet. "Either these sensors aren't working or they are but barely, we have two potential hot spots. Armory or some room that isn't even on the floor plans for the station. I opt for the scary room that isn't on the station's deck plans, lets go there first to check it out." Kaylee said as she ran along side Rosaleen. "This way." Kaylee said cutting off around a corner ahead of Rosa.

"I...can't. I need to put as much space as I can between the source and myself." But something else was starting to bother her even more. "Lieutenant, I take this route every day at least once, and this...this wasn't here before."

Kaylee stopped when she heard what Rosa said. "When was the last time you walked these halls in relation to your time here now? if we can work out a time frame we may be able to figure out the mystery behind this hidden deck that seems to be off the original deck schematics?, Maybe a power failure or something dropped a containment field and it leaked into the rest of the station. Maybe its previous owner knew of this and didn't inform Starfleet before we claimed it? Who else had the station before we did?" Kaylee asked as she rattled off questions to try and figure out whats going on exactly, as Kaylee accessed a console and erected a containment field around both Kaylee and Rosa hoping it would help her, at least long enough to get Kaylee's questions answered.

"I travel this corridor daily. Although...I have always just walked straight through without stopping anywhere, so that may be why I didn't notice anything before. And the Kzin Consortium held the station during the war, so who knows what may be hiding here."

"Hmmmm, Alright get out of here." Kaylee said remote deactivating the containment field's. Then thought who she could get to help her solve this mystery.

"Yes...thank you. Anything that you need to track this down, just let me know." Rosaleen quickly exited the area, mentally working on a new route to take to Main Operations for now. An inconvenience...but a necessary one.

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Lieutenant Rosaleen O'Donnell
Commodores Personal Assistant

&

Lieutenant Kaylee Williams
Starfleet Corps of Engineers