Getting Status Reports

Posted on 04 Dec 2023 @ 8:39pm by 1st Lieutenant Josefina (Fina) Macapuno & Sergeant Major Bronco (Bronc) Hardway & 2nd Lieutenant Cassandra Mathews
Edited on on 02 Feb 2024 @ 11:15pm

2,500 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: S3 Episode 5: Diplomatic Incident/Hydaransz Again (Incidentals)
Location: Roosevelt
Timeline: On the way back to Tomcat

[ON]

=/\= Macapuno and Matthews meet me at the mess hall in 30 minutes.=/\= the deep voice of Bronco resonated over the combadge. He tapped the combadge to close up the connection and headed to the mess hall for some chow.

Fina gave a bit of a start hearing Bronc's voice calling him for a meeting with him and Matthews. She was a bit worried as to what Bronc needed. Still, he called and she was going to find out just what he wanted. Besides she didn't want to get him ticked off at her. She got ready and headed towards the mess hall.

Cassandra had just sat on her bunk. She was a bit shocked at the message she'd just received from her old counsellor and good friend Jane. They were at Starbase 51. They had Martha with them... The voice of Bronc had little effect on the feelings of combined excitement and nerves that were churning within her. She wanted to message C'Tirr. To let him know about it. He didn't even know that she'd kept the baby. She wished he respond to her. He hadn't even opened the last four messages she'd sent him. It was making her begin to worry. It wasn't like him to ignore her.
Her feet were carrying her to the mess hall, her body following orders even as her mind tried to work through the kaleidoscope of emotions. Emotions she'd need to pack away once she reached her destination. Still, through all her worry the image of a bright-eyed curly-haired baby smiling through the screen at her made her heart feel much lighter than it had been in a very long time. The mess hall was suddenly there and Cassandra let it go for now. It was time for work.

Bronc was seated at a table, sipping at a cup of coffee. His broad shoulders were hunched over as he seemed to be peering into the steaming surface of the black liquid like it was a crystal ball. When Fina came up to the table, Bronc looked up from it and then motioned for her to have a seat. Fina took a seat. When Cassandra arrived, he waved her on over.

"Coffee anyone?" motioning to the pot of coffee nearby. He scooted a couple of mugs towards the two ladies who joined him.

Fina gave a nod and quietly poured herself a cup.

Cassandra wasn't really in the mood for anything to drink. Still, she also took and poured herself a cup out of solidarity. "You look a bit troubled." She commented as she warmed her hands on the warm surface of the cup. "What's the skinny?"

Bronc took a sip of his coffee and then began, "I'd like to find out about how your missions went. From what I read in the reports you did well, but I still want to hear it from you. I'd like to start with you, Matthews."

"Which particular part? To be honest, my first assignment was something out of an old Resident Evil movie. We infiltrated the indicated area. Found the station to be full of dead bodies and a man-eating monster that the locals had named Delilah." Cassandra took a deep drink of the coffee as though she wanted to wash the taste of the name from her mouth before continuing. "That made securing the place easy enough. The only survivor was a kid. She was rescued and brought back to the Rosey. I mean to the Rosevelt." That was the shorthand of it. She wasn't going into detail if she didn't have to. Nothing like being stalked by a man-eating monster in a station full of dead bodies to bring on nightmares. She waited for any questions.

"Did you lose anybody during that mission?" Bronc asked before he took another sip of his coffee.

Fina was a little bit worried about Bronc's questions. What was he trying to find out?

"No sir. Thankfully we didn't. Not on mining station three." They had come close though. Cassandra remembered that moment when one of her troopers had been ripped from the rope in that lift shaft. His terror-filled screams were part of what echoed in her dreams. That horrific disaster when they had all nearly been blown to pieces by their grenade after Delilah had spit it back out at them. "We ended up blowing it from the sky. There were no survivors minus Maybell. ER, the child we rescued. The command wasn't happy I gotta an earful about them wanting to secure the mines. I told them that if they wanted to go kill themselves over a bit of gold-pressed latinum they could be my guest. If the child is to be believed those mines were crawling with 'Delilahs' and if you had seen that creature I am sure you would agree it wasn't worth losing good men and women too." Cassandra took another sip. "I hear that science took Zane from medical. The trooper who was injured. Any word on when he will be returning to my team? I keep asking about him but I'm getting the shut out. I'm about to give them a piece of my mind about it and maybe a kick in the ass if they don't return him real RikiTik-likee. He's my responsibility. I'm peeved and dishevelled that I have not seen him since that deployment. Try to bully them a bit for me if you can and see what they are doing to my trooper won't you?" She asked not bothering to hide her ire at the situation.

Zane had been the trooper pulled from the rope Ensign Christian Zane. The baby of her group so to speak. This had been his first deployment. He was the only one who had made any physical contact with the creature Delilah. The fact that science had pulled rank and taken him away, in combination with the command's continued interests in the mines had her hackles on edge. Part of her wondered if she hadn't been shuffled out to her second deployment so soon to be out of their way. Especially since Maybelle seemed to be under their tender care as well. Not that Cassandra had issues with science folk. It tickled her their curiosity about things. Still, sometimes they put that curiosity against other people. Helpful as they were they did not occupy any warm fuzzy portion of her heart, nor did she trust the lot of them. Secretive little bats that most of them were. She delighted in reminding them that she was keeping her eyes on them and holding them accountable for Zane if anything went wrong. She'd personally track every one of them down and stomp them into the ground.

Bronc set down his coffee, "I'll make certain that information will be found out. I'll even speak to Falk about the situation at hand. I'm sure she'll be rather interested in Zane disappearing so to speak. frowningn.

Fina took a big gulp from her cup almost choking on it. She covered her mouth to make certain she didn't spew out any coffee over the table. "Oh gosh that is terrible!" she exclaimed once her coughing fit was over.

Cassandra felt an almost evil smile cross her face. "Yeah, terrible for them science folk. Falk will roll in like a tempus. If they hadn't pissed me off I might pity the poor bastards."

Fina took a look at both Bronc and Matthews. "Do you think that they are going to do some experiments on him?" She gave a bit of a shudder at that very thought.

"He would have been sent to medical first wouldn't he have or both," Bronc stated.

"They better not. If they know what's good for them." Cassandra growled as she finished her coffee. She couldn't deny that that very thought had crossed her mind a few times. hence her consent nagging and harassment of the science team. She worried about her trooper and more so about Maybelle who had no one in the universe to advocate for her. She was found alone on that station for Goddess knew how long. Surrounded by the dead bodies of her family and community. She should be in counselling being smothered with hugs and hot chocolate. Not in a sterile lab being used as a guinea pig. The cup in her hand shattered in her grip, startling her and she looked at her sliced fingers with annoyance. "Sorry about that." She managed to say through gritted teeth as she went to the replicator for a first aid kit. She needed to calm down. Unfortunately, calm was in short supply these days. Worry seemed to occupy a majority of it. Worry about C'Tirr, about Jareel's funeral and adopting his girls. Worry about Maybelle and Zane, and mostly about Martha her daughter and just how the hell she was going to balance being a mother and everything else... Worry about just what sort of mother she might be to all three girls once they fell under her care. So much was in transition in her life. At least she still felt in control. Which was a small comfort. She had considered taking Maybelle as well. But that was unfortunately out of her hands. Some white coat had already stepped in and gotten a power of attorney over the kid. Besides Cassandra wasn't sure what she was going to do with the three kids already in her care. She decided to just focus on fixing her injury instead of letting that thought, or the thought of Zane and Maybelle being experimented on, consume her again.

Fina moved to go get a med kit to take care of Cassandra's hand. "You seem to have quite a bit going on with your life. Are you going to be okay?" Fina asked as she began to sort out the injury.

Bronc growled slightly setting his cup down on the table. "You know you can talk to me Matthews, what's going on inside your thoughts?"

Cassandra shook her head, "Just got a lot on my plate. That's all. I don't fancy the idea of anyone hurting one of our men. Especially those that are supposed to be on our side doing it. That's all. Just riled up." She said as she let Fina help her with her hand.

"What's your take where Falk is concerned? How do you feel about her? I do know that she had felt you were able to lead a team on part of the mission and the same for you, Macapuno. " Bronc asked while he rose from the table to clean up the broken coffee mug.

"Think I think she doesn't get paid enough for the shit she has to put up with," Cassandra remarked. Then more seriously. " She's a fine officer that I am proud to serve under. The fact that she has displayed such confidence in me makes me feel more confident in myself. She doesn't dick around. I think she'd make a great Captain someday."

Fina nodded. "I agree, though I noticed her expression when she found out that Captain Jackson wasn't going to be a part of the mission. That he was ill, it was like she had been given a sucker punch to the gut. She managed though to work through it."

Bronc had finished cleaning up the mess and sent the broken pieces of the mug to the recycler. "I've not had the chance to truly work with her. I've been more used to working with Captain Jackson, so this is a new one for me," he stated, taking his seat once more.

Fina was done with working on Cassandra's hand. "There you go. How does it feel?"

"Better, thanks. Sorry about that." Cassandra retook her seat. "I have been meaning to ask how Maz. Lieutenant Falk has been doing. I have not seen hide or hair of her since the mission's conclusion. Has anyone been to check in with her since then?" She found herself asking. She was worried about her friend. Didn't want her to disappear as Captain Jackson had done. Rumours that he was on a secret mission, had gone AWOL, or gotten injured because someone recalled seeing him in medical sometime ago. Which was the closest to the truth. He'd gotten sick and placed into a coma. He was recovering now. That made her think again of C'Tirr and then Haze. Which deposited her mind to the present. "During my second deployment, we did lose a few men during the assault." She had been trying hard not to dwell on that. She had so much going on that she wasn't sure her heart could take it. Still. Cassandra took a bit of time describing the incident and what had happened from her understanding. It wasn't fun reliving it again but she understood the necessity of it. After the debriefing, she sat back in her chair looking at her injured hand thinking what a blessing it was to just be sitting here able to bleed still. "We should do something for Lt Falk and Captain Jackson." She said.

Bronc nodded, "We'll see about doing something. And she's probably getting some rack time that she's been needing. The Lieutenant hasn't been sleeping much due to the whole business." just as he said that there was a chirp.

=/\= Matthews, this is Falk. What's your location?=/\=

Fina said quietly to Matthews, It seems that we said her name a bit then she decided to call."

Bronc broke out with a huge smile. "Guess she's not going to sleep just yet." along with a chuckle.

"No rest for the wear," Cassandra replied to Bronc's comment. Then tapping her comm badge she replied, =∆=I'm currently in the mess hall. Did you need me somewhere else?=∆= she inquired.

=/\=Let me know when you're done eating came Mazal's reply.=/\= I'll be near the shuttle bay that's where we can meet up at.=/\=

Bronc looked at both Cassandra as well as Fina. "Well ladies, it looks like we'll call this at an end. I just want to say thanks for a job well done on both of your parts."

Fina gave a nod. "Thanks for believing that I could lead, and the same for Falk."

"Thanks for helping me out Lt. Macapono," Cassandra said holding up her bandaged hand. Then to her Comm badge, =^=I'm on my way. =^=. She gave Bronc a friendly nod. "See ya round Hardway." Then, I headed out to meet with the MXO.

Fina gave Matthews a nod and a friendly wave along with a smile "Take care and you are welcome."

[OFF]

 

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