Bad to Worse

August 23, 2009 on 9:43 pm | In SS-Elise, Serial Story | No Comments

“Buggerfuck.”

Cav looked up from the console to see Ellery run a hand over his close-cropped brown hair.  Shawn Ellery was the epitome of cool under fire. When he broke out the compound curses, things were not good. “What’s the problem?”

“I just received the order to start preparing for power down for the engine swap. Six hours.”

Cav’s spine went ramrod straight.  “Fuck.  Didn’t you talk to the Captain?”

Ellery ran his hand over his head again, his eyes dodging hers. Double fuck. He hadn’t.

Conscious of the crew members watching her, she chose her words carefully. “Commander, you have to tell her.”

His nostrils flared, but Cav refused to drop her gaze.  He knew she was right or he wouldn’t be so pissed.  He should have told the Captain as soon as he found out.  As far as Cav could tell, Ellery’s ego and need for control had convinced him to take a gamble on the arrival of the escort ship, banking on playing hero.  Now he was out of time and out of line, and he knew it.  Fortunately, though Ellery might be a bit of a glory hound, he wasn’t an asshole. She waited for him to come to that conclusion himself.

His breath hissed out between clenched teeth. “I know. I know I fucked this up. Shit.”

Ellery’s head fell back and he stared at the ceiling as if expecting a miracle to appear.  Cav kept her silence, knowing anything she said wouldn’t help.  She glanced out of the corner of her eye, caught Dex Hiroshitu’s gaze.  She flicked her eyes back toward Ellery.

She saw Dex release a long breath.  He didn’t want to say anything either.  Well, hell. They couldn’t just let Ellery stand there all day. Every passing minute cut off options.  Bracing herself, Cav took a deep breath.

Ellery’s head nodded forward.  He pinned her with a glare.  “No. I know. I’m going. Fuck.”

He turned on his heel and stalked out of Ops.

Cav turned to face Dex.  Dex wiped the back of his hand across his mouth.  They both knew the shit was about to hit the fan.

*******

Tania rolled her shoulders. This was shaping up to be a bad day. Dealing with the politics of command never got easier, and she was more aware than most of Enchev’s issues. In fact, she wouldn’t be surprised if Steesk didn’t have any idea what was driving Enchev to resist the obviously necessary upgrades. Still, understanding didn’t excuse his insubordination.

Her complink beeped again. She bit off a weary curse. What now?

“Go ahead.”  Her voice didn’t sound as resigned as she felt. Kudos to her.

“Captain, you should tune in the news feed.” The slightly sibilant voice of her Communications Officer did nothing to allay her burgeoning headache. “There are reports from Drekne that a team of New Juneau scientists believe they manufactured a species-blind shield against plague. They’re reporting that it’s being synthesized aboard the Mercy, which is en route.”

Tania shot to standing. “What?” She queued up the news feed on her media wall. There it was, leading all the feeds. She didn’t know any curse words bad enough for this. “Thank you for alerting me, Shizha.”

“My honor, Captain.”

She had no sooner clicked off the complink than it went off again. What the hell?

“Go ahead.”  Now she was more annoyed than resigned. She needed to figure out how to stem the complete disaster that loomed in front of them because of this media leak.

“Captain, I need to see you.”

She rolled her eyes.  Ellery never asked. He skated the line of outright obnoxious in favor of slightly grating, but today she just didn’t have the time or energy to play nice with him. “I’m busy, Commander.”  She skimmed through the levels of feeds. The story popped on all the feeds, and media hounds had already started plotting their route on holo-grids. Nice of them to draw a map for the pirates. How the hell was she going to deal with this mess? “How important is this?”

A slight hesitation clued her in. Please, no. When Ellery stopped to think, she could count on it being bad.

“I believe it is of utmost importance and urgency, Captain.”

Tania closed her eyes.  Very bad. “In the bridge briefing room in five, Commander.”

“Yes, Captain.”

That sealed it. She needed a drink, but it looked like she wasn’t going to get one yet.