Returning For Duty

Posted on 19 Jun 2024 @ 8:21pm by Captain Mazal Falk & 2nd Lieutenant Cassandra Mathews

1,667 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: General Sim Postings
Location: Transition to SB51

ON:



2nd Lt. Mathews had awakened early. Not wanting to disturb the young toddler, Martha. That had fallen asleep with her the night before. Little paper books and stuffed animals littered the bed and the floor around the room. It had taken a great deal of effort to get the girl to sleep. It had been agreed upon by C'Tirr and herself, the night before that she would leave this way to avoid upsetting the girl any more than was necessary. Still, it was hard to not want to risk a kiss. Instead, she took a moment to memorize the angelic face framed in its dark curls. curled around a large black stuffed bunny rabbit her tiny thumb in her mouth. They had said their goodbyes last night, Calming the tears and fears with story books and plenty of cuddles, hugs, songs, and playtime. It had been so easy falling into motherhood. Cassandra had become consumed with it the moment shed laid eyes on the beautiful baby that was hers. So too had her brother C'Tirr. He was made to be an uncle. He spoiled the girl more so than Cassandra did. She took in the peaceful scene. fixing it into her memory like a snapshot. a perfect moment. knowing when the girl woke shed be swept away by C'Tirr for story time in the holodeck and her mind consumed with the invigorating tales of Fred the fish, and other things to distract her from Cassandra's absence. The tears would come later. Cassandra had faith though in C'Tirr's abilities to sooth Martha when that time od distress came. He would take the best care of her.

C'Tirr had greeted her in the main lounge of their shared family quarters on StarBase 51 with coffee and a worried smile. Both of which she drank in happily. He was recovering remarkably fast with the help of Doctor Hawthorne; the experimental procedures had been working wounders in fixing the damage done to his spine. Still, he was not yet ready to return to duty, so he would be staying here and taking care of little Martha for her as she, Cassandra deployed again. She drank her coffee and indulged in a warm brotherly hug before also bidding him a farewell.

Her life had changed so much in such a short time. She was happy. Never in her life had she felt so much joy and contentment. Never had she imagined it was even possible. Her life felt perfect and full. It was so wonderful that for once she actually felt a little guilty for having to leave so soon again. But that was the life she had chosen for herself, and she could not see herself doing anything else in regard to her career. The marines where just as much her family as Martha and C'Tirr were. She needed to be there for them as well.

Seabag slung over her shoulder, Cassandra reported to the operations desk and retrieved her orders being directed to a ship called the USS Themistocles. A Sovereign Class ship. Interesting. Still, she was excited to see more than a few familiar names attached to her new orders. Most particularly that of her good friend and superior officer the now Captain and second officer Mazal Falk. Cassandra let out a soft low whistle. "Couldn't have happened to a better officer." she said with no small amount of pride.

Oddly enough anther old friend was the MXO Captain Patrick Jackson. It was a regular old party. It served to only improve her already enthusiastic mood with the whole ordeal. She double checked her uniform, as she approached the office she'd been directed too. Not sure just who she'd find inside she wanted to look her best as always. Checking in at the reception desk, she handed her orders given to her by the operations officer to the officer seated there. They checked her in and bid her to wait as they contacted the officer within the office. So, she waited to be given permission to enter.

The chime sounded, Mazal looked up from the paper she was working on. Yes, paper and a pencil she was writing with. "Enter!" she called out, wondering who had chimed to gain entrance. When the door opened at first she couldn't make out who was there, then next Mazal thought she was seeing things.

"Wait... am I seeing things?" Mazal rubbing her eyes as if to clear them.

Cassandra had stepped through and come to attention as she gave the customary respectful salute. The Captains reaction nearly broke her military bearing. "Second lieutenant Mathews reporting in as ordered."
She said, then unable to help herself she added, "Congratulations on the promotion Captain." Cassandra couldn't help but smile when she said it. She was so proud of her friend.

Mazal flung away her own military bearing, moving up and sweeping her friend into a warm embrace. "Its just us." giving a tearful answer. "So rank is out the window, Cassandra. I am so glad to see you."

Cassandra hugged Mazal back tightly. "Like the majestic cockroach I don't go away or stay away easily." She joked, "I missed y'all too much. I think motherhood has made me soft." She added as the embrace ended and she had to wipe her eyes to hide the sudden unexpected tears. Happy tears. So different from when they had first met so long ago. "So who's sorry ass are we after now?" She asked both out of curiosity and to try and distract herself from the overwhelming emotions that had flooded like a tsunami through her. So much had changed and yet was so much the same. All in the best ways.

"Well there is a scientist that we were not able to acquire last time we were on Arth. Now we've got to find her and get her to stop breaking the prime directive. Who knows how much damage she has done since we had to leave." Mazal responded, moving to sit back down.

Cassandra understood the implications of those words. "Mad scientist. Sounds like more of a diplomatic issue unless we are past the point of diplomacy that is." She wondered just what the plan was. Inflation and retrieval? She'd have to wait for the briefing. It certainly sounded like it was going to be one of the more delicate missions then the usual.

"When I do the huge briefing as to what will take place and figure out the teams that people will be going on, more will come to light. I am not looking forward to the insects that are not insects but monitoring devices. That is something that was brought up in the briefing earlier." Mazal stated.

This actually caught Cassandra's interest. "Bugs? Now that is neat. They are like listening devices." Her smile broadened and she chuckled. "So be sure to wear plenty of bug spray then got it." She was itching to ask for more still she respected Mazal's position here and would wait patiently for the information she might need to know. "I wonder if it's going to be anything like the arachnids on Beta delta four mission. Big spiders little spiders every size in between including some humanoid ones that tried to mind rape you. Really knargley stuff. They had a subspecies of crabs critters that lived in the oceans and we'll just all over really. They were having a civil war of sorts and unfortunately a private transport had crashed down onto the spiders big nest area. Well nobody knew that the spiders were of the intelligent types and began to assimilate the information from the transport but more over through eating the people after these critters aye the betazoid onboard it gave birth to a litter of mind reading bugs. Just went to hell from there you can imagine. Was ugly.." Realizing she was going off topic by a lot here Cassandra shook her head. "Sorry boss. Didn't mean to ramble there. Just bugs are pretty neat."

Mazal chuckled, "its okay but these bugs are not natural, as they are monitoring devices. And who knows if they are packing some sort of weapons inside them. I just made my skin crawl with knowledge of that."

"It is a bit creepy." Cassandra confessed. Still though she couldn't help but be intrigued. "It's a shame that the federation is against such technology openly. The usefulness of such devices is limitless. Especially if it has a visual feed on top of an audio feed. Think of how many lives could be spared in recon work."

"I think though this is more for keeping control, so it isn't a good thing. That sort of action just can be very easily abused. It is such a grey area. I will agree though that can be used to help save lives when the crew goes on missions." Mazal responded. Taking in a deep breath Mazal let it back out in a quiet sigh. "Well, thinking about all what lies ahead I probably should get back to work. Once I call for the big meeting there will be more details to be had. You and I do need to just go out and have a little bit of fun once we get back from this mission."

"That would be fun. Definitely something to look forward to. I better get going myself lots to do before we head off. If you should need me you know where to find me." The goodbyes said Cassandra took her leave. She understood all to well how busy her friend was.

"Oh don't worry I will be calling upon you one form or other." Mazal said with a smile

END



MCapt Falk - MCO/2XO CM

 

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