Secret Orders

Posted on 17 Nov 2021 @ 8:05pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Petty Officer 3rd Class Jeysa Zeror
Edited on on 18 Nov 2021 @ 4:33pm

1,177 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Episode 18 - Cold Station 31
Location: Regula I - Level 16, Administration Module
Timeline: MD 02, 0855 hrs

[ON]

Starbase Regula I was an hour into its morning duty shift rotation with little of note occurring on the station. The laboratory modules were filled with their assigned civilian scientists and the main corridors were sparsely populated and quiet. The casual partying and celebrations from the previous night had led to a predictable hangover period for many of Galileo's crew. Most of them were either still in their temporary quarters or nursing hangovers in the station's mess halls.

In one of the starbase's administration modules, however, stood Captain Saalm who was in the middle of packing two standard-issue duffel bags. She'd awakened early in the morning at 0600 to prepare for her imminent departure from the station. It was an order she'd received the previous day at the command debriefing but one which was also confidential in nature. With her presence absent from Galileo's senior staff for the immediate future, she summoned her yeoman to give proper notice.

"Saalm to Zeror," the captain said after a tap on her commbadge, "meet me in my office. Level 16, section five, starboard hub."

Unlike a lot of the other crew Jeysa was fresh and ready to take on the day though she planned on changing that that night, so when Lirha's voice came over her combadge she quickly tapped it to respond, she had been expecting that Lirha would still require her for a few jobs here and there even though they were on shoreleave.

"I'm on my way Captain." She responded as she headed for the door of her temporary quarters.

Being a few modules away from where Lirha was it took her several minutes to arrive there but eventually she reached the room the Captain had told her of and tapped the chime.

"Yes, come!" came the reply. The single door hissed open to present the interior of the room. The captain's desk was at the center of the circular module with several chairs, a replicator, and a sofa lining the walls. A row of large windows were embedded into the vertical bulkheads, giving a 270-degree view of space and the purple planet below which the station orbited.

Jeysa entered, Quite a view She thought as she took in the scene, she saw the two mosly full duffel bags and instantly became curious. "You called for me Captain."

Saalm looked up from her desk at the yeoman then deeply inhaled and let out a long breath to slow herself down. She spread her arms to the side to convey her busy morning. PADDs were loosely scattered across her desk and several unfolded Starfleet garments were half-stuffed into her bags. "I'm glad you came. How has your morning been?"

"Certainly less hectic than yours by the looks of it." Jeysa replied, her morning so far had been quite dull.

"Yes, so it seems," the captain agreed with a roll of her eyes. "You're probably wondering about all this. I've been called away from the station on short notice and am scheduled to depart on a shuttlecraft within the next hour."

"To where?" Jeysa somewhat blurted out, it wasn't her place to ask but it was a surprise, it took her a moment to regain composure. "If you can tell me."

Saalm shook her head. "I can't. It is...classified." As much as she wanted to give her yeoman her full itinerary, it simply wasn't compatible with the orders she'd recently received. "But I am scheduled to return to Regula One in approximately two weeks. If all goes well, I will be back at the end of shore leave in time for our next assignment."

"Have you informed Commander Blake or do you need me to?" Jeysa asked, she knew better than to probe at anything listed as 'classified' but anything where the Captain had to leave the ship for something classified was worrying.

Lirha shook her head negative. "I will send her a message shortly. I've been a little preoccupied," she admitted with a soft sigh. "But she might not understand why I'm leaving, and you probably don't as well. Please reassure her that I will return once I take care of this matter."

Jeysa nodded slightly. "Understood Captain. Are there any special instructions for the crew while you're gone?"

"Yes. I'm assigning you to Commanders Blake and Warraquim in the interim." If Galileo's captain wouldn't be around for two weeks, then the yeoman needed to be temporarily attached to a new administrator. "Report to them for duty and help them with any administrative needs they might have while I'm gone."

"Understood." Jeysa said, she'd expected to be assigned to help the command team if Lirha wasn't around. "Good luck on whatever this assignment of yours is."

Lirha gave a light shrug. "I don't anticipate any problems. But thank you nevertheless. I haven't been away from the crew for some time...maybe it will be beneficial to everyone." Probably not, she quickly doubted as soon as the words came out of her mouth. The captain turned her attention back to her bags but still spoke to the yeoman. "What will you be doing with your time off?" she inquired.

"I'm not sure." Jeysa replied. "Might wander around the station until my feet won't carry me any longer, there's nothing wrong with the Galileo but seeing the same few rooms go past each day is a bit dull. And after my feet won't carry me anymore, sit on a chair in a bar and treat myself."

The captain smiled to herself then looked over her shoulder with a grin of approval. "Good. Make sure you do treat yourself. I don't want you to do anymore work than necessary this shore leave. Consider that an order."

Jeysa smiled, that was an order she'd have no trouble fulfilling. "Yes Ma'am."

"Oh," Saalm suddenly remembered with a snap of her green fingers. She abandoned her bags and started to sift through the various sized PADDs on her desk. "I almost forgot. You will need to file all of the current and upcoming maintenance reports - both from Galileo and the station's personnel." She finally found the correct data pad at the bottom of the pile then handed it to Jeysa. "The ship's senior staff will also need copies of them. This way we won't accidentally detonate the warp core because a repair to the anti-matter injectors went unreported."

Taking the Padd Jeysa slipped it into her pocket, she'd read it later when it came to distributing its contents. "I'll make sure they get it Captain."

Lirha sighed and looked around one last time. "I suppose this is the last time we will see each other for a while. Thank you, Jeysa. Enjoy your time here and I will see you soon. Dismissed."

"See you in two weeks Captain." Jeysa turned and headed for the door.

[OFF]

--

CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-A

PO3 Jeysa Zeror
Captain's Yeoman
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Mimi]

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