Lower Ranks

Posted on Sat Apr 6th, 2013 @ 1:08pm by Petty Officer 1st Class Mizatan Fij [Byrne] & Petty Officer 2nd Class Charles Rhodes

Mission: Klingons on the Starboard Bow
Location: USS Endeavour - Mess Hall
Timeline: Whilst in Orbit of Unknown Planet

Mizatan sat down at the table in the mess hall that he had become accustomed to taking whenever it was free; not right up against the large windows looking out into space, but with an uninterrupted line-of-sight for him to be able to enjoy the view whilst not being eyed up by those wanting him to move out of what were always considered the 'prime seats' in the lounge. He was very shortly joined by his seemingly ever-present bunkmate, Charles Rhodes.

"I wonder what crap the Captain has managed to get us all into this time?" Rhodes asked, in his usual jocular but cynical tone that he seemed to use permanently in almost every conversation the pair had.

"People are usually only entitled to say that after they've been on more than one tour with the captain," Mizatan responded. The pair of them had only joined the ship at Cestus III, and so this was their first mission under Captain Byrne.

"Yes, well, you know what these captains are all like," Rhodes responded, seemingly batting off the comment. "They're always taking their ships and crews into places where they shouldn't. You know; poking their noses into holes where a phaser is going to end up stuck up it."

Mizatan shook his head at the strange imagery. Had he been someone who outwardly displayed more emotion, he might have smiled, or even chuckled at the comment. "You know that isn't always true," he responded. "And Starfleet ordered us out here, to stop a war between the Klingons and the Gorn. So if anything, the question should be 'what crap has Starfleet sent us into this time.'"

"Yeah, but I'm not sure whether he's trying to shift the Klingons from the Gorn to us," Rhodes responded, leaning over. "Earlier today, the entire security department was put on alert - you know, like they do every time we go to red alert? The way I hear it, a Klingon ship de-cloaked, and the captain started ordering weapons ready to fire. If the guy hadn't cloaked again, he'd have been blown out of the sky!"

Mizatan knew that whatever information Rhodes had of bridge events was likely filtered down through about five or six different whispered rumours, and then applied a healthy dose of Rhodes' own slant on a situation. That slant always seemed to be towards the captain or other officers wanting to blow everything up. Since Rhodes was a brig officer in the security department, he did receive the same all-department orders as the officers on the bridge, but that was the extent of it.

"As far as I know," he said, taking mouthful of the food he'd brought with him to the table. "Klingon space doesn't stretch this far, so we're still in a neutral zone. Maybe the captain's been told to turn back any Klingon or Gorn ship in the region, so that they can't get close enough to shoot at each other?"

"Sounds like Starfleet," Rhodes answered, again seemingly adding his own slant to what had been said. "Probably want us to stick a Federation flag on every world in this area, claim it for the Great Blue like everything else."

'Great Blue' was Rhodes' nickname for the Federation, inspired by the colours of the Federation flag. To him, the Klingons were the 'Big Bad Red', the Romulans the 'Stinky Green' and the Cardassians 'Bloody Orange'.

Mizatan simply shook his head at the comment, knowing by now that it was useless trying to get into any sort of serious debate with Rhodes. It was like debating the merits of the Federation's lack of currency with a Ferengi. "Well, whatever we're doing, it must be important. I was given some fragmented datacores earlier - looked like they were from a ship that had been destroyed. Couldn't get anything out of them, but they had a Federation signature. The entire ship is gossiping about some wreckage that we found."

Rhodes nodded. "And half of the security and medical departments are now down on the planet," he jerked his thumb toward the window, and the large globe that the ship was perched over. "I reckon we managed to find the survivors of it, though gods only know what they were doing out here and who blew them up."

As Mizatan took the last bite out of the food that he had ordered, he pushed the plate away from him, noting how Rhodes hadn't actually eaten anything. It had become fairly normal for him to come here merely to talk and gossip and then grab food later - often in the enlisted shared bunk rooms, much to many people's annoyance. "I need to get to the library," he said, following his usual routine. The ship had trillions of volumes on computer coding on file, and he'd always take to reading up on them to keep his skills up after eating and before going back to work from his lunch break. He also knew that it was the one place on the ship where he could have some time away from cynical over-dramatisations of their situation - Rhodes had never stepped foot in the library, and seemed determined to keep it that way.

"Yeah, well, I've got stuff to do too," Rhodes said, clearly not wanting to actually bother with trying to make something up. "Let me know if you manage to find the meaning of life in there or something."

Mizatan simply nodded, got up and deposited his plate in the replicator to be recycled before leaving.