CAG - Lunch Time Blues

Posted on Friday 11 November 2016 @ 02:27 by Major David Scarlet & Captain Melody Jones & Commander Save'ena (Sav) Tillatix

Mission: Old, New Ship
Location: USS Merlin, Deck 9, CAG Quarters (Converted Junior VIP)
Timeline: MD9 Very late morning and Lunch Time
3480 words - 7 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

==== Turbolift between CAG Offices and Deck 9 ====

Crewman Wyn Rhoderick was with Lieutenant Save'ena Tillatix on the Turbolift. Lieutenant Scarlet had managed to get the CAG moving again as well had given her permission to take Sav to Sav's quarters for a brief rest before continuing her day of duty. Whatever was going on had affected the CAG hard. But, as she was a senior officer, would probably recover if given some time to get her head fully back into the game, as it were.

Sav was still beside herself. First the XO's accusations and threatening manner, then the CTSO's round about words of confirmation, as well as a missing part of her morning yesterday was just keeping her off balance. Fortunately, she had her duties to fall upon, to act upon, but inside, she needed time to calm down, to think, to do... something. And, what about Melody?

Crewman Rhoderick was watching the CAG very carefully. They hadn't really interacted much since she had come on-board, but she could tell that the Mephetian was distracted at the moment. Also she was getting a strange feeling as she looked at her. Members of her race had always had a 'sixth sense' that picked up others health and well being and the feeling she was getting from Save'ena was giving her cause for concern. She cleared her throat "Excuse me. If you don't mind me asking, are you feeling ok?"

Sav shook her head, "Not really, but yes, I'm doing okay, considering. I just need some time to wrap my head around what's going on, is all." Sav had already forgotten about Wyn having smelled something off in her breath earlier when Sav had first arrived to the CAG's office. That was their first time to 'officially' meet as Wyn had been assigned just the day before and had to get switched over for being the CAG's personal assistant.

==== Deck 9, VIP Quarters, Temp CAG Quarters ====

Sav got off the Turbolift with Wyn and headed to her quarters, or rather, more like guided to her quarters. She activated the door once there and the two went inside. She gladly took a seat on the couch, mumbling, "Chamomile and Spearmint, please." Sav knew the tea would be replicated as her personal set was still in the CAG Officers, but, right now, she didn't care. She was thinking about how to protect Melody, and herself, from the XO if the XO was truly an agent from Diostros... and, she had to protect everyone from herself, Somehow. She did not remember anything of what happened during her blackout, and that set off a very bad inkling of what probably had happened. Thank goodness Melody was okay.. this time.. this time. But, what about next?

Still concerned Wyn moved over to the replicator. "You stay there and I'll being the tea over." She acquired the cup from the replicator and headed over to the sofa. As she offered the cup to Save'ena she asked again "Are you sure you're feeling ok?"

Sav accepted the cup of tea from Wyn, smiling up at her assistant, "Thank you, Wyn. Yeah, I think I'm doing better. Everything happened so fast, so many what ifs, and, I fell right into it. Just, give me a little break, I'll be okay." Sav snorted out in light humor, "After all, I just made Lieutenant and am a Department head, just like Lieutenant Scarlet said, and I think there is a maturity process in there somewhere.. I just have to find it."

Wyn just looked at her for a moment, still not totally convinced that she was ok. "Well, I haven't had anything to eat in ages and I can't be certain but I don't think you have either, shall I get us something to eat?"

Sav churred gently, "That is a great idea, lunch in my quarters sounds good. Just, bring me soup and bread, best thing for me right now." Sav smiled up to Wyn, then added, "Oh, wait, Brenda.. um, Crewman Aumento is supposed to meet me for going to TIC for training. If you see her in the cafeteria, bring her back with you, okay? And don't forget to get something for yourself."

Wyn's whiskers flicked a tiny bit "You are suppose to be taking things easy right now, I'm not sure going over training covers that. If I see her I'll let her know ok. Are you sure you'll ok?"

Sav sighed, deciding not to mention that the training would be after lunch, they would not be going over training during. She just stated, "I'll be okay. Security is probably with the XO right now, so I don't have to worry about him looking me up. Go on already, I'll be fine."

"Ok, I won't be gone long," Wyn said reluctantly as she headed out of the door.

Sav watched Wyn go, then turned to stare at the replicator in the quarters. While the officer quarters had small ones designed for beverages and snacks, meals to be taken with other officers in the mess, the VIP quarters had a full size one, with override functions, and could have been used for their meals. However, Sav did not want that. Besides, it had to be logged in the Senior Officers Mess that she had lunch, even if someone grabbed it for her. And, she needed time alone to think. Her mind was in overtime. She had blacked out, Melody was in trouble because she slapped Sav, Sav couldn't remember it, and Wolf had been diving into her incident on Apollonia... 'Dear Creator, I went into a nightmare and popped my claws. Melody or Wolf could have been...."

A very abhorrent, but needed, idea came to Sav. Now she was glad that Wyn was gone for a bit. She had to do this quickly, and alone. She got up and went to the replicator. She stared at it for a bit longer, then transmitted a special program to it, one that she had gotten from Mr. Thompson, of all people. The replicator lit up, performed its duty, then chimed and opened. Inside were two overlay mesh gloves with between finger solid woven metals with small inserts and two overlay mesh slippers with between toe solid woven metals with inserts as well. There was a security band upon each to keep them locked into place until the decision to remove them. The locking cube was attached to one of them, waiting to be handed to the 'keeper', who in this case would be Merlin Security.

Sav took them out and went to the couch. She could not believe she was doing this, especially as it would leave her defenseless, but she had to, for her own peace of mind, and to not get Melody in trouble again. She removed her special shoes that would let her foot climbing claws to come out, and she burst out in a mindless giggle, saying, "No need for them now." Trembling, she slipped on one foot slipper, its inserts nestling over her foot claw tips. It felt so weird to once again have her claws become ineffective, to return to her life as it had been in the dungeon. As she locked the ankle security band, it felt as though the band, the weave, and the claw blocks were burning into her. She whimpered out in pain as the bands tightened and pressed against her skin through the fur, but, it had to be done, for Melody, for the crew, and for her.

Sav slipped on the other foot slipper, tears slipping down her face as it tightened and locked into place. Now, it was time for the hands... the hands, which would make her completely defenseless for anyone on the ship. She slipped on the left mesh glove, the strands and wrist lock burning into her flesh as she secured it and felt its hold upon her. She was openly crying now as she put on the final one, and upon its tighten, burst out in a sob. Now, she was branded, now having a stigma upon her, as though a slave once again in the dungeon. Anguish and shame went through her as she felt as though she was an inmate being kept from hurting others, or having them on in school to show no control over herself. She put the cube into her Sashe to hand to Brenda when she showed up for lunch. That was the failsafe, and only security would have the unlock code with the transmit module to remove them.

Sav squealed out with a quick case of the heebie jeebies, shaking her hands, wrists, and feet, the pain and chaffing of the inserts already being felt. Anybody seeing those would know she could not control herself, a social stigma and admonition, to caste pity and shame onto her, as well as know their power over her. She sobbed out, "Okay, Diostros, come and get me, I'm all yours."

The sudden emotional attack slowly went away. Sav worked on calming down, to quell her crying, as she just sat on the couch, staring at the claw blockers, waiting for Wyn to get back with the food.

==== Senior Officers Mess ====

Wyn had collected some soup for Save'ena and a sandwich for herself and was heading back out of the crew cafeteria with a tray when she bumped into Crewman Aumento. "Ahh Brenda, there you are. I'm taking this lunch back for Lieutenant Tillatix. She mentioned you were suppose to meet her and that would you mind coming back to her quarters to go over the TIC training."

"Hey Wyn." Brenda grinned and ran her hand along her temple, putting just a little pressure there to counter the headache and disguising it as a simple brush of her hair. "Sure, I'd love too. Lead away."

==== CAG's Temp Quarters ====

Returning to Save'ena quarters, Wyn entered "I found Crewman Aumento and........" her voice trailed off as she saw Save'ena sitting on the couch, tears matting the fur on her face. She looked at her hands and feet, recognition dawning upon her what Sav had done. Quickly and quietly she set the tray down on the table, reached out and took Save'ena by the hand. "Excuse us a moment Crewman" she managed to get out to Brenda as she pulled Sav into the private en-suite bathroom.

Brenda stood there in shock for a moment, seeing Sav in such a state was unexpected to say the least. "Yeah... sure Wyn..."

==== Bedroom ====

When the door shut behind them, she turned, her whisker twitching. "Why have you done this?" Wyn asked, a look of confusion on her face.

Sav was trembling lightly, not able to look Wyn in the eyes. She said, "I get bad dreams, and when they happen, I am fighting for my life, clawing anything about me. I.. yesterday, I blacked out during couns.. couns... un, in Care with Wolf and Melody. Now, Melody's in trouble, the XO said she slapped me, and she was gone when I came out, and my nightmares changed somewhat last night. I... must have popped my claws during the blackout, and I can't afford that again. So.. for my peace, and others, I'll wear the stigma of the claw blockers. They just... just..." Sav quieted, deciding not to say anything about the bad memories associated around the blockers. She took in a breath, let it out, and said, "I'll, I'll be okay."

As Save'ena explained, Wyn calmed down slightly. She could understand why but she still wasn't happy with the idea. After a few moments she said "Well, they don't look very fetching and totally don't match your uniform. Is there anything we could cover them with? Hang on sec....... Melody slapped you???"

Sav sighed out while looking at her hands, "You heard the XO, he said she slapped me and was confined to quarters. Lieutenant Scarlet's words, thought roundabout, backed it up. So, yeah, while I don't remember, she must have, and something happened." Her ears twitched, "Umm, fingerless gloves, to match my duty Sashe, would hide them, and nobody would think anything out of the ordinary, probably."

Wyn's tale shook in agreement. "Well, at least they'll match your sashe" she said with a sigh, as she quickly replicated them for the CAG.

Sav took the replicated gloves from Wyn and put them on. They fit, and matched her sashe. Even though she knew, she still felt better for it. She quickly went into the fresher to wash away the tear streaks from her muzzle, then dried it with the sonics wand. Returning to the bedroom, Sav nodded to Wyn, "Okay, let's go eat lunch."

==== Main Room ====

Satisfied that the situation had been resolved, Wyn led Sav back into the main living area where Crewman Aumento was waiting. Wyn twitched her nose "Sorry about that, slight fashion crisis"

Still worried, Brenda hadn't moved from her spot. "Is everything ok hun? Nothing to do with last night is it?"

A trembling smile came to Sav's muzzle as she answered Brenda, "Yeah, it will be, and no, nothing to do with last night. Sorry for the worry." She sat down to eat. She continued, "Sorry for the change of place for lunch. And, umm, the why I am out of sorts. The XO came to visit, and, well, what started pleasant went South in a hurry. He accused me of getting Melody into trouble, then tried to read me mentally somehow, and Security had to show up, and... it all got to me. Wyn brought me here to get a brief rest before going to TIC for early afternoon training." She churred out gently, "I hope your day is going better than mine."

Brenda sat down next to Sav as she explained what happened. "He did what?" Brenda squinted her eyes at the last part. "He tried to use telepathy? Without your permission... well then, that settles it." She took a deep breath and looked Sav right in the face. "I guess I have to rip his balls off." She said in a perfectly serious tone without hint of sarcasm or humour. She had managed to keep a straight face for a short time before grinning.

Sav's eyes opened wide at what Brenda said. Her mouth moved as she tried to answer, the ingrained respect and trust for the chain of command still a deep core value within her. "Wh.. What? But, he's the Executive Officer of the..... " The grin breaking out on Brenda's face put it into perspective, "Oh... kidding.. you're kidding."

As Sav had not been trained for CAG, she still did not realize that a CAG was a 'captain' in his/her own right, equal to a ship's Captain, and only 'under' Apollo when not in ops, and considered equal when in ops. Her position was actually higher than the XO's, even though respect for that position usually put them on equal footing for duty and off hours. However, on ops, she could give him an order if necessary. Right now, to Sav, she was under Apollo, Cale, and Melody, under flight ops.

"Seriously though... next time he comes into the office when I'm on duty I'm going to give him such a run around he'll be lost for a week." She smiled warmly. "Seriously, no one messes with my friends. Just let me know if you need anything."

Sav churred out, feeling much better at Brenda's words. She was hoping to be friends with Brenda, and Wyn, besides Melody, but did not realize they had progressed to that stage. L'Tandrey friendships took longer to develop than other races Sav was learning. She smiled to Brenda, "Thanks, Brenda, for being here, and for being my friend. I... usually only have acquaintances who need me for what I can do for them. Thanks."

Brenda just laughed. "Girl, you kept up with me drink for drink. The celebration was only supposed to be the first drink. Everything after that was just hanging out with friends." She glanced at Wyn and her eyes widened as her grin managed to get even bigger. "Oh... first chance we get, we're all getting sloshed."

Sav smiled to Wyn, "I mean the same to you, Wyn. I realize you being my assistant throws a monkey wrench into that, and me being an officer, but, off duty, that all goes away, understood?"

Wyn smiled, her whisker twitched "It's no problem Sav. Of course I'm here for you."

Sav finished her soup and bread, surprised that she had become hungry in the middle of eating. She shook her head, "I think the shock and adrenaline has went away. I got hungry in the middle." She looked up at Wyn and Brenda, then reached into her Duty Sashe and brought out the small unlock module. "Here, Brenda, this is for you. Please give it to Lieutenant Scarlet next time you see him."

"The hell is this?"Brenda chuckled. She raised an eyebrow. She was about to make a joke asking if it was the key to her chastity belt, but considered the serious nature and bit her tongue.

Sav blushed, then reached out her hands and removed a glove from one. With the claw blocker now on display, Sav's hand began shaking a bit. "It's for.. it's for.. these." Sav took a breath, then said, "Special claw blockers, designed specially for me. I.. um.. " Sav closed her eyes, "The security codes to unlock them are in that module." She opened her eyes and looked at Brenda, now saying out the correct L'Tandrey protocol for transferring the cube, "My defense and life is in Security's hands, you and yours."

Brenda stiffened a bit and looked down at the unlock module now as if afraid it would burn her. "Sav... no..." She shook her head. "You give me one good reason why I shouldn't just unlock this right now?"

Sav looked at the claw blocker as she responded, "The XO said Melody slapped me, she is confined to quarters due to it, it happened when I had a blackout in my quarters with Wolf asking questions about a past, really bad, incident... and in my nightmares, I shred my linen. I have climbing claws, really nasty, sharp claws, and until I know what happened.. I feel safer for the crew with these on."

Brenda frowned. "Fine... but you know I'm not happy with this." She looked back down at the module and hated everything that it represented. She held it in her hand for a moment longer before putting it deep inside her pocket.

"I'll get this to Lieutenant Scarlet shortly." She said in a defeated mumble.

Sav pulled back on the fingerless glove. "Please, don't feel bad, Brenda. When Lieutenant Scarlet says they come off, I will personally ask for you to do it. I don't want them on long myself. The memories for why they were... were..." Sav seemed to lose some of her voice timber, "the fantasy dreams of a rave girl starving for attention as determined by the court." Sav closed her eyes and sighed. She forgot that any mention of anything dealing with Mr. Thompson would bring out the programmed speech, especially as something like that could never actually be from such an outstanding friend of Diostros. Move on people, don't pay attention to the man behind the curtain. She shook her head, saying, "Just.. leave it be."

Brenda frowned, and then sighed. "Alright Sav. I'll drop this for now, but I don't like seeing you beating yourself up."

Sav sighed now herself, looking down at the table, and muttering, "Yeah, me neither, I've had enough of people doing that to me." She did a quick shake of her head, trying to clear it. She snorted out a cleansing breath to get out of her mood. It was time to get back to her duties, just as Lt. Scarlet had told her.

Standing up, Sav got serious and said, "Hey Wyn, Brenda and I have to get to TIC for our early afternoon training session. Go back to the office and hang out, please. I should be there at about 1430 to 1500 hours."

Wyn nodded "No problem. I'll hold down the fort till you get back."

Sav smiled to Brenda and said, "Common Brenda, rather, Crewman Aumento, lets get to the TIC, and after that you can deliver the cube to Lieutenant Scarlet."

"Sure thing sir." Brenda replied quickly as she stood up as well. "I'll make sure he gets it before the end of the day."

Wyn's whickers twitched "I'll see you both later." as she headed for the door.

OFF:

Lieutenant Save'ena A. Tillatix
CAG / Uroboros Squadron Leader
Bridge Command Specialist
USS Merlin

Crewman Wyn Rhoderick
CAG Personal Assistant
Fighter Maintenance Tech
USS Merlin

Crewman Brenda Aumento
Security Specialist/NPC
USS Merlin