Getting to know the messenger

Posted on Tuesday 9 March 2021 @ 12:25 by Civilian Sansa Draxx-Jones & Chief Petty Officer Marika Beck

Mission: A Cry from the Darkness
Location: Diplomatic officers / Sansa's quarters
Timeline: MD2 1000
1213 words - 2.4 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

Marika sat in the small alcove that served as her office. She had been at work for a little over an hour, after dropping Wyatt off at the ship's school. She liked it here already. She had some relaxing piano music playing low and was looking over the latest diplomatic protocols for the sector the ship was currently in when her desk computer chimed. She put the PADD down and tapped the comm unit.

It was a message coming through using a diplomatic parcel code. Not unusual, except for the recipient. It was Sansa Jones, the Captain's daughter. She reached into one of her desk drawers and pulled out a PADD, then instructed the computer to download the message, marked for Sansa's eyes only. The download took a little under a minute, and then she stood. She stopped in front of one of the other diplomatic Corpsmen, a second class petty officer whose name she couldn't remember at the moment.

"I'm leaving for a bit. Have to deliver a message. " she said.

"Yes Chief. " said the petty officer.

Sansa was in her quarters studying. Hayley had left for her shift about an hour ago and Belle was curled up on her lap watching her curiously. Suddenly the door chime sounded.

She looked up and called out "Come in."

Marika walked into the set of quarters and saw a lovely young woman. She had a PADD in her hand and appeared to be studying. There was also an adorable puppy in her lap.

"Hello. Sansa? " she asked.

Sansa was quite surprised at this beautiful Orion woman in uniform she had not seen before. "Hello. Yes, I'm Sansa. She stood, setting the PADD on the desk and carefully putting Belle on the floor. The playful pup let out a small woof before approaching the newcomer and sniffing her boots curiously. "Sorry, this is Belle and she's please to meet you, as am I. What can I do for you?"

"I'm Chief Beck, from the Diplomatic Office. This message came for you in a diplomatic parcel. Your eyes only. " said Marika.

Sansa smiled at her. "Oh thank you," she replied as she approached and accepted the PADD. "Please, can I get you a drink or something?" Sansa indicated to the sofa, inviting her guest to sit down. "Are you new onboard? I haven't seen you around before?"

"Oh, no, thank you. And to answer your question, yes. My family and I just reported aboard. My husband is with the Marine detachment. I work in the Diplomatic Corps. But anyway, can I ask you a question? Feel free to not answer. It's really none of my business but I'm curious. " said Marika.

Sansa grinned as she sat down on the sofa, the little pup came over and she picked her up and put her on her knee, then started to stroke her back. “Sure, go ahead. If you tell me what your first name is Chief Beck.”

Marika smiled. "Marika. " she said simply, finding herself liking this young woman. Then she cleared her throat and continued.

"So how does a civilian dependent get a diplomatic package? " she asked.

"That's a lovely name and I'm not sure? let's see who it's from" Sansa looked at the PADD. "Ooohhh, It's from Fay and Abigale. You might want to sit down, this is quite a long story." Sansa replied getting comfy on the sofa.

She took a deep breath "So the Merlin encountered a probe that was identical to the one that had visited Earth, sent by a race attempting to contact humpback whales. We found their home planet. Mom took a shuttle down to try and make first contact with these beings. I ended up down on the planet along with the away team. Now, these aliens, while they had physical bodies, they were massive and deep underwater. They communicated with us in something called the Etheria, like another plane of existence place where their consciousness interacted. These aliens were been manipulated by something called The Puppetmaster, we've run into him before, not a very nice person.

So Mom had to convince these aliens that we were indeed friendly and they had been lied to and..... She succeeded. So, in an attempt to strengthen our peace treaty it was agreed that some of our people would stay on the planet and someone would have to host the consciousness of one of the aliens so they could experience our reality first hand. And, I volunteered. Her name was Fay and she was brilliant. We became good friends. We came back to Earth and we had a great time together. She then transferred into Abigale, who is a diplomat and a friend of Mathias in order to get back home and tell her people all about us. I suspect she arranged to send the message this way. I've probably missed out lots of details, but that's it in a nutshell." She suddenly remembered, "Oh and we found the crew of an old starship that had been there over 100 years too and brought them home so.... yeah, that was pretty cool too."

Marika smiled. "It sounds like there won't be many dull moments around here. " she said, flabbergasted. "You actually volunteered for that or was it forced on you?" she asked.

Sansa nodded "Yeah I volunteered. Fay said she could not stay inside someone who was not willing to have her there and I thought it would be a real opportunity to learn more about their race and show them that we were not a violent people. Because of that Puppet Master, they were going to punish Mom for how humans had treated the humpback whales. It was touch and go there for a moment. They actually communicate with Humpback whales. Have you ever seen a humpback whale? I've been as close to one as I am to you right now. They're massive and mysterious. I took the opportunity to learn all I could about them Mom and Hayley weren't too happy with me volunteering at first but Mom supported me. Hayley needed.... a little more time to accept it." She added wistfully. "But I did learn a great deal about Fay, and she learned a great deal about us. Have you met Mom yet? She's great, I think you'll really like her."

Marika shook her head. "Not quite yet. But I'm sure I will. From what I've heard she's pretty great. " she said.

Sansa nodded. "She is. And, she's expecting twins! I'm going to have two baby brothers in about 7 months. I suppose I picked a good time to move in with Hayley, Mom's going to need the extra space. Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"I don't know. I was abandoned as an infant and raised by a human couple. I was their only child. " said Marika.

"Well, you've got a friend here," Sansa replied with a warm smile. From her lap, Belle let out a tiny woof. "Make that 2 friends."

Marika smiled. "In that case, you can call me Rika. I only let people I like call me that. So far that's just my husband, at least here on Merlin. " she said.

OFF:

Sansa Draxx-Jones
Civilian
NPC Jones

Chief Petty Officer Marika Beck
Diplomatic offier
NPC Beck