Surprise!

Posted on Mon Jan 30th, 2012 @ 9:16pm by Captain Vorn Krace & Commander Acle Walex & Commander Jordan Gunning & Lieutenant Commander Zim Drex & Lieutenant Commander Sara Archer & Lieutenant Elena Valdez & Lieutenant JG Emily Hamson

Mission: Heart of an Explorer
Location: USS Iapetus - Mess Hall
Timeline: MD01 1630hrs

Krace had called each of his senior officers, in addition to a number of the more subordinate staff to the Ridge on the Iapetus' seventh deck; all except three of them. Arrayed about the room in a fashion that they could all look upon the doors to the room as they opened, the captain was satisfied that his set up was ready. He looked over towards Chef, and gave him a slight nod of his head.

Chef and his two assistants each pressed their Starfleet-issued combadge at almost the same time.

"Chef to Commander Gunning, security alert in the mess hall!"

"Mess hall to Lieutenant Drex, we've got a ruptured conduit up here!"

"Mess hall to Lieutenant Valdez, medical emergency!"

Satisfied that the calls had gone out, and that the three missing officers would be rushing to their location as fast as each of their legs could carry them, Krace didn't bother to try and hide his smirk as he turned towards the door and waited.

Gunning's desk in the security office suddenly found its contents strewn across the floor as the Lieutenant Commander threw his feet from it and brought himself to an upright position. "Vantas. With me," He ordered the young Trill before he slapped his commbadge, "Teams One and Three. To the Ridge, on the double!"

His heart was racing as he unlocked a phaser rifle from the armoury panel on the wall. He threw it to Vantas and secured a Type-II phaser to his hip. What the hell is going on down there? He thought, the pounding of his feet on the deckplate almost drowning out his own thoughts. As the pair reached the turbolift, he barked an order at the computer. "Deck Seven!"

In sickbay, Dr. Valdez was transferring a vat of glucojen from the replicator to her laboratory workstation when the call came in. Startled, the doctor spilled the viscous material all over herself, as well as a surprisingly large section of sickbay. Swearing profusely in Spanish, Elena grabbed her emergency med kit and ran for the door, leaving the poor nurses to deal with the mess.

Drex thumped his head on the low opening of the jefferies tube as the call came in.

"Ouch!" He shouted and reached for his commbadge, pressing it. "On my way."

The engineer opened a hatch leading into the cooridor and slung his kit across the thick grey padded shoulder. "Not again..." he muttered as he started sprinting for the messhall.

The sound of running footsteps came clear as a bell down the hall. When Gunning and Vantas rounded the corner, flanked by the personnel of two of their security teams, they found Drex and Valdez both running in the same direction.

"What's going on?!" Gunning shouted, pulling his phaser from its holster.

"No flippin' idea," muttered Elena in response. Her soiled uniform squelched as she ran, and was sticking uncomfortably, and embarrassingly, in numerous places. The doctor lengthened her stride, eager to get the emergency taken care of so she could rid herself of the sticky, sodden fabric.

Drex replied amidst a huff of breath. "Messhall reports a plasma conduit rupture. but I just repaired the conduits in that section this morning. I hope it's not my fault..." Drex executed a spin move to get around a crewmember who was a little slow to get out of the way. "Coming through!" he announced down the corridor.

Outside the messhall, he whipped out a tricorder and passed it in front of the door. "No sign of fire...Let's be careful, though." And dashed through the doors.

Krace and the others stood and watched as the trio of officers rushed in to the mess hall, ready for whatever emergency their imaginations had concocted up for them. Vorn couldn't suppress a laugh at their expressions, especially not after seeing the state of the doctor's uniform.

"Sorry to call you all down here at such short notice," he said, trying to keep his laughter under control. "But I had something for each of you that I thought would make a nice surprise." As the captain stepped towards the three officers, he pulled out of his pocket small devices, which he moved to affix to their collars; replacing both Gunning's and Valdez's hollow pips with solid ones, and adding a hollow pip next to Drex's already present two full pips. Taking two steps back, he surveyed the officers in front of him proudly, not even trying to stop the amusement at their still apparent shock from showing through. "Commander, Lieutenant Commander, Lieutenant; congratulations," he smirked.

Gunning's phaser dropped to his side as he tried his best not to let the red taint of embarrassment spread across his face. "You know, I believe that faking a security alert is a punishable offence, Captain." He told the man curtly before allowing a smile to spread across his face. "Under the circumstances though, I'm willing to overlook it."

Drex froze, still a little out of breath, but a slanted look looked back at the Captain. "You're joking, sir." Somewhat hesitant to try and look at the hollow circle being added to his collar. His eyes widened, and then he started pinching his forearm, and looking around. "Computer, end program." A pause. "Computer, exit!"

It took Elena a moment to reprogram her brain from 'emergency' mode to 'happy surprise' mode. Still catching her breath from their sprint through the corridors, the doctor noted with some amusement that Drex was also having problems processing their current situation.

Then, as viscous drops of glucojen fell slowly and heavily from her clothing to the floor, it occurred to the doctor that she should probably be embarrassed to be standing before the Captain and crew in such a state. Instead, Elena was elated to be receiving a promotion, although she was also feeling vaguely grateful that Star Fleet uniforms were black instead of white.

"Thank you, sir," she told the Captain with a broad smile.

Acle smiled, the rare expression somewhat at odds with his usual stony features. He waited until he was sure the captain was done with the "official" ceremony, such as it was anyway, and walked up to the somewhat stricken chief engineer and offered his hand. "Congratulations Lieutenant Commander." Acle said, the smile still affixed to his face.

Drex clasped one hand around the XO's grip and shook it. "Thank you very much sir." He then reached for two champagne glasses from a server's tray and tipped both back one at a time.

Acle nodded at the chief engineer again, then repeated his congratulations to the other two officers, before joining the captain who had moved off to one side.

Sara turned away from the Captain's little ceremony and turned back to the forward windows. She wasn't much of a fan of needless celebrations, and she really hated surprises. But, Counselor Lynn insisted that she go. Sara took another sip of water and continued gazing out into the stars.

Emily walked around congradulating each officer for their promotion before she got herself a glass of water to drink. She didn't enjoy soicalising very much as she wasn't good at it.

Krace stood to the side, sipping a glass of champagne that the waiters had put out and observing his officers as they congratulated the newly promoted amongst them, and began to enjoy the provisions of the Ridge. He enjoyed seeing his crew so friendly amongst each other, having a good time. There had been so much stress put upon each of them during the last few missions, and it was always gratifying to see them all have a chance to let their hair down.

After he had finished his drink, he beckoned Acle over towards him. "Give them all the rest of the day off, minimal shifts for the whole crew," he told him. "We'll schedule a briefing on our mission for the senior staff at oh nine hundred tomorrow."

"Aye Aye Captain. There are still a few transfers taking place as well. We are getting a new Chief of the Boat with this batch." Acle said, reaching to grab his PADD that he had left to the side. "I'll have a skeleton crew stand by at their duty stations, the rest of the crew will get shore-leave till tomorrow morning." the smile from before when he congratulated the officers still hinted about his features as gently clapped his captain on the shoulder before turning and silently leaving the room, unnoticed by most the of the occupants.


----------------------------------------------
A joint post by:

Captain Vorn Krace
Commanding Officer

Commander Acle Walex
Executive Officer

Commander Jordan Gunning
Chief of Security

Lt. Commander Zim Drex
Chief Engineering Officer

Lt. Commander Sara Archer
Chief Intelligence Officer

Lieutenant Elena Valdez
Chief Medical Officer

&

Lieutenant JG Emily Hamson
Chief Science Officer
USS Iapetus