'Meeting Interrupted'

by Lt. Cara Hatcher

Chief Tactical Officer, USS-Grail

Still sitting at the bar, savoring the last drink she would allow herself before going back to the meeting, Cara witnessed a violent altercation between a Cardassian and a Terran. Within a remarkably short laps of time, she saw Castle's expression take a furious shade, and he jumped to his feet, hurrying to the spot where the shouting had come from. He put himself between the two opponents, keeping them apart from each other, preventing a fight…

'He's doing his job nicely, Cara noted. I'm not worried for the security of the ship.' She just hoped in her inner self, that he would not have to take action against her someday. As much as she wanted to be a good Starfleet officer, she didn't know when her instincts would rush back to the surface, nor how much damage they could cause, this time again. She could only hope she could keep her resolutions this time.

Castle came back a few minutes later. She smiled at him, and watched the Cardassian step into the turbolift. The Security Chief made a few requests to his department to get information regarding the two fighters. Cara did not really pay attention to the details of the conversation, though she usually made a hobby out of spying other's dialogues. Right now, she was rather concentrating, and succeeding considerably well, to stand straight; she realized, now that the second part of the meeting was only 5 minutes away, that her last drink may have been the one too many.

But, then again, she knew it wouldn't show if she did not want it to. Only… she would have to avoid talking too much. That was the only thing that could give her away. She wasn't drunk; she only felt a bit… light-headed.

She preceded Castle in the Ready Room, and went directly back to her seat. Only when she was sitting comfortably did she realize that her report was not quite ready. Oh, she had been working on it, alright, but there were a few details she was supposed to go through today. It had completely slipped out of her mind.

The crew roster was almost complete. She just had trouble choosing the Tactical Personnel who would be working with her, during the Alpha shift. Cara knew fairly well that she had a temper hard to adjust to.

And if she picked up violent coworkers, or some SHE was incompatible with… that could help pulling her into trouble. Especially, Vulcans had that ability… They could drive her crazy in no time with their often illogical use of logic. She was no racist, but… well, maybe actually she was. A little. But never would she admit it to herself.

That would give Starfleet another reason to hate her, and they didn't need an additional reason.

Cara's attention was caught back by the strong voice of Corvette Hunt.

She had left her mind sail adrift, and secretly hoped the meeting had not begun a long time ago. She didn't want to make a bad impression at the first meeting. She glanced around quickly, making sure that no one paid her attention. Then, she focused on the Lieutenant's speech with all her might, gladly realizing that the effects of the synthehol had already started to fade away. Well at least, her concentration was back.

Following Hunt, other officers presented their reports. Castle, Mallory, Brennan and Hargen… Several of them reported abnormal happenings that could reveal the presence of a saboteur onboard - already. A plasma coolant tank had been ruptured, there had been an attempt to violate one of Mallory's labs… Cara remained silent. There was little she could say for the moment, anyway. If they had to investigate, she knew Mr. Castle would soon have plenty of job. Maybe she would offer her help to the security department. In fact, she certainly would.

She followed closely the rest of the discussions <<As seen in 'Security Response'… I'll save you the details! :) >>. The events were pushing the ship into Yellow Alert status, which meant she would have job to do as well.

The meeting was obviously nearing a conclusion.

Castle looked at Epic. "Well, Commander?"

Epic considered it for a long while. Then, he said, in a tone that held real gravity. "Execute those orders. Meeting adjourned."

"Lt. Hatcher...", Epic looked at the woman. "We are at Yellow Alert. Sound the Alert."

She nodded.

Everyone rose to go.

Cara headed straight <<really, 'straight'? ;)>> to the bridge. 'This will give me some extra time to finish my report, she thought. And I still have to find my assistant… In the mean time I'll be doing a two men's (or women's) job.'

<<My NPC's and some Tactical work (I should as well start now!) coming soon (on Wednesday... or sooner if I can). BTW, will there be a PC assistant Chief Tactical officer or do I 'create' one?>>