Mystery Encounter

Posted on Tue Mar 19th, 2024 @ 9:46pm by Lieutenant JG Elspeth McArthur & Commander Saul Whitford

1,134 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: First Deployment
Location: Armory Officer
Timeline: After Dawn

::ON::

Whitford sighed and reclined in his chair, throwing his PADD to the desktop. Long day, he reflected, inventory just isn't my favourite thing. Rubbing his eyes he reflected after counting the list thrice and visually confirming that the correct cases were here with the correct tags, it was an error on the list that there was a missing box of phase pistols.

Still, he'd have to fill in the report next, and run it up the chain. Just to be thorough. He stretched, coffee first though.. Getting to his feet, he looked about the spartan, metallic walls of his office and through the large window into his Armory proper. It was always quiet in this part of the ship. Not many people had reason to be down here, and most of his men were scattered about the ship either performing their security duties, or fetching and carrying materiel for the other departments.

As he was turning his back to the window and to his coffee machine, he heard the door swish open. Turning back, he saw a pale redhead step in to the room. Intrigued, he stepped to the door of his office and called out, 'can I help you ma'am?'

The LT JG turned and smiled. "I am Lieutenant JG McArthur. I was sent here to get fitted out for the away mission. I am in Comms and the Colonel wants me down with the away team to facilitate Communications."

Nodding his understanding, Whitford ceased leaning on the doorjamb and waved towards his left, 'comms equipment is down towards the back there - gimme a sec to pick up my PADD so we can record this correctly.' He grinned as he turned, 'Starfleet lives on paperwork.'

Quickly collecting his PADD off his desk, he about turned and went jogging off after McArthur, calling out, 'another left, right at the back there!'

"Well hidden" She called back as she found the stash. She frowned. "When was this stuff last checked?" she picked up the first battery pack.

'When they were brought aboard,' Whitford confirmed as he caught up with the Comms officer. 'Not all the gear is great - the war is causing shortages, and we're one of the newest ships in the fleet. I assume Starfleet thinks that we can charge all these up on the way to the Front.' He sighed, and picked up another battery, 'I wasn't expecting so many of these to be flat though.' Wandering down the row, he found one near full charge. 'This should be OK - it's near full.'

Holding out the battery he smiled, 'it has capacity for two weeks in the field. I suggest while you're training to familiarise yourself with the comms pack, you charge the battery while it's not in use.'

Elf knew about that sort of stuff. "I will." she replied as she considered how many she could carry and charge at the same time. "Will I need to be armed?"

'Most likely, can't rely on those MACOs to do all the ground work,' Whitford smiled, wandering to the end of the rack, picking up a field comms pack. 'You'll need this as well - I take it you know how to adjust it to sit comfortably.' His brow creased, 'well. As comfortable as these things can be.' He hefted the pack in her direction, giving it a quick once over. 'Stick it on, and we can activate it to check it's actually working.'

Elf slung it on and adjusted the straps. "Ok." She said as she finished. "I am turning it on."

'Suits you,' Whitford replied, walking around her and checking the systems as they booted up. 'Looks like it's in working order,' he said as he heard the inbuilt systems warble their readiness. 'Alright. You said something about a weapon?'

"I am only cleared on basic phase pistols." Elspeth said. "So... will that be ok?"

'Phase pistols are fine if that's all you want to carry,' Whitford said with a smile, 'you're on the ground with MACO troops - they should be doing the hard fighting while you concentrate on the comms.' He shrugged, 'my view is if you need any more than a pistol, something's gone very wrong with the operation. Follow me.'

He beckoned the Comms Officer to follow him towards the rear of the Armoury. At a sealed door, he set a hand against a palm reader and waited patiently for the Main Computer to recognise his prints. After a moment, he was given a warbled approval, and the door unsealed with a hiss. Stepping through the open door, he retrieved a phase pistol and a brace of power packs. He held them up for the officer.

'When were you last certified?'

"um... 12 months ago or so. It was just after I was assigned to Earth Dock." She followed him and took the pistol.

'You should be alright certification-wise,' Whitford replied, 'but you can have a round or two on the target drones, if you'd like?'

She flashed a grin at him "And embarrass myself?" She asked with her accent coming out as she did so. "I will trust your team and the Macos and just keep my head down."

'Sure no worries,' Whitford grinned in return. 'Your accent - it's interesting, where you from?'

"Scotland" She smiled. "Born and raised."

'No way, my dad's family was from Somerset. Not a million miles away,' he sighed fondly. 'I spent a period of leave hiking round the Highlands. Really beautiful country.'

"I am from Aberdeen. My mother is a lecturer at the University there." Elf said with a smile. "I do miss it."

'I bet. I miss home something fierce. But Mars is a very different kind of beautiful. If you ever get the chance to head out from the domes, it's incredible. Even in a suit,' Whitford replied wistfully, 'hopefully we won't be stuck out here fighting too long, we can get the job done, and get back home.'

"And home to find them safe and sound." She smiled and holstered the phase pistol carefully.

Whitford gave her a nod. 'There, you look ready for anything Lieutenant - anything else I can help you with?'

"No thank you Lieutenant, This will make the away mission much easier" she thanked him warmly. She saluted and turned to the door.

Whitford gave her a casual salute in return, and retreated to his office and began noting down the equipment removed from his stores.

::OFF::

Lieutenant Saul Whitford
Chief Armory Officer
Unicorn

Lieutenant (JG) Elspeth McArthur
Communications Officer
Unicorn

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