Failure to Target

Posted on Thu Sep 8th, 2022 @ 10:59pm by Lieutenant Commander Lyra Cassiel & Lieutenant Johnathan Anderson III

Mission: In-Between (S1:E3-S1:E4)
Location: Shuttle Bay
Timeline: Mission Day 5 at 1500
3600 words - 7.2 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

Madeline walked at a leisurely pace down the corridor toward the shuttle bay. She was reading the PADD in her hand and reviewing the request for assistance in recalibrating the shuttle targeting scanners sent up by Flight Control. While either she or Christoph could have assigned it to an underling, she had decided she would take the project on herself. It had been a while since she had done work like this on a shuttle and she liked to keep her skills sharp. Since she would be going to her shift immediately after, she was dressed in her uniform, though her jacket was open to reveal the standard issue tank underneath.

She walked into the shuttlebay and looked around. Seeing no one, she shrugged to herself and walked toward one of the shuttles that had its hatch down and looked inside. “Hello?”

"Yeah!" A familiar voice called our. "Maddie, that you?"

Johnathan was on his back, on the deck plating, inside the control panel up to his chest, working on the internal systems.

Madeline's eye twitched slightly as he called her by that name, but she put on a pleasant smile and moved to where she had heard Johnathan. "Whatch'ya doin', Johnny?" She called out to him, standing at his feet and crossing her arms under her chest.

"Damn targeting sensors keep crapping out on this shuttle!" He exclaimed, followed by a yelp and a curse, as a spark was seen flashing inside the compartment.

"Well... isn't that why you called me?" She asked with a dry chuckle, standing at Johnathan's feet and lifting a brow as she watched the sparks flash inside. "You alright?"

The young pilot crawled out of the compartment, rubbing his singed fingers. "Yeah...just annoyed at my stupidity." He chuckled softly at his expense.

Madeline leaned in closer to look at his fingers and shook her head. "Well... yeah, probably shouldn't have done that." She flashed a smirk at him and then knelt down by the open console. "When you say 'crapping out', what exactly do you mean? Losing their lock? Turning off all together? Misreading their target?" She asked, trying to get more specifics out of the younger man.

Sliding over, to give her a better look at the innards of the tactical systems, Johnathan replied. "A bit of a combo. It keeps loosing target lock, because the programming the runs the friend or foe identification keeps switching back and forth. I was trying to find the source of the malfunction, when I called you and asked for your help."

"Well, obviously you pilots haven't been giving the lady enough attention and now she's mad at you." Madeline quipped and then got down onto the deck, working her torso into the open console to look around. "Good gods, who last did maintenance on this thing?" She asked after seeing the state of what was in front of her. "It looks like they did it blindfolded and missing a hand."

"Pulmer," he said with an annoyed tone to his voice. "He is as lazy as he is stupid. I honestly don't know how he got a berth on this ship, let alone getting into the Academy." Johnathan shook his head. "I'd replace his ass, if I could. Unfortunately, one of the drawbacks of being seventy thousand light-years from home, can't get replacements all that quickly." He let out a slight chuckle at that.

“Pulmer…” Madeline thought a moment while her hands worked on undoing the damage in the console. After a moment she paused and slid out enough so she could look up at Johnathan, her brows raised. “Pulmer… wasn’t he the one that landed himself in the agonizer for something a few days ago? What did he do?”

Johnathan nodded as he wiped his hands on a rag. "Yeah, he decided it was a good idea to assault and nearly rape Tuli, all over a slight mistake that, truthfully, had nothing to do with his position." To tell the truth, Johnathan had not liked the man since day one, and had initially requested a transfer for him before they left Spacedock. However, Starfleet Personnel denied the request, so now his was stuck with the sub-par excuse for an officer.

For just a moment Madeline’s hands stopped moving inside the console as those words processed, then she started again. Accidents did happen. A slave was one thing - not that she actually approved of the act - but for many once they had a taste for that kind of thing, they wouldn’t stop until they succeeded and rarely then. “He’d best be careful, then. We only have so many truly reliable slaves on the ship and the women are quite good at manipulating the men to the point they are granted freedom. Pulmer may find himself taking up domestic duties.”

Johnathan sneered. "That's doubtful. There isn't a woman on this ship that would put up with him." He shook his head. "He's a pathetic excuse for a man and a pompous asshole. Did you know, this is the first time, in his life, that he wasn't surrounded by sycophants doing everything for him."

“I’d say that’s true for quite a number of people on this ship and it didn’t turn all of them into rapists.” Maddie sighed and shook her head. “Check the targeting sensors now and see where we are, will you?”

Nodding, the young pilot moved to sit in the seat next to Madeline's left hip. After activating the system, Johnathan had it run a check. A few seconds later, a warning light came on.

"Damn," he cursed. "Problem must be more involved than I thought. Looks like I'm going to have to rebuild the whole assymbly." He was sounding very annoyed by that prospect. "Pulmer should get another day in the booths for his incompetence."

“He’s your officer, I wouldn’t blame you. I’d probably do the same.” Madeline said and pulled herself out of the console, sitting on the deck and looking up at Johnathan. “If you want to get started now, I have about half an hour before my shift. I can help out.”

He smiled down at her. "Thanks, I appreciate the offer." He offered her his hand, to help her up into the seat next to him. "Since you are more familiar with the programming of the tactical systems, and I'm great at tinkering, why don't we switch positions?"

Maddie took his hand but got up off the deck under her own power and took the seat he was guiding her to. “Works for me, I’d rather not have to go and change my uniform, this one is nice and clean.” She smirked and tapped the console to activate it again. “So what will you do about Ensign Inept?”

He smirked playfully as he moved from the seat he was sitting in, back down to lay on the deck. "And we wouldn't want to dirty your nice uniform, would we? At least, not yet." He chuckled softly as he slid back into the open console and started to dismantle the old unit. "As for Pulmer...well...I'm not sure, beyond putting him in the booth. You have any ideas?"

Madeline glanced down to Johnathan briefly even though he couldn’t see it. “You’d be well within your rights with a showing like this to assign him extra tasks to improve his skills and if he doesn’t, well, more time in the booth until he finds the proper motivation to not be a useless pile of shit.” She paused and looked down again. “I will say though, if he decides to graduate from assaulting slaves to assaulting free women, the Gods won’t be able to help him.”

Johnathan considered her suggestion for a few beats, then nodded, though he realized after that she volunteered see his face. "That's a good idea. Thanks." He grunted a little as he finally worked the assembly loose. "And I agree. If he tries anything like that in the future, he will not like what I do to him." He looked over the assembly in his hands, then cursed aloud. "Fucking incompetent piece of shit!" He crawled out of the access hatch and showed her what he found.

"That dumb sonofabitch tried to force in the wrong assembly and pass it off as fixed! Had this shuttle actually been in a firefight, the first time her weapons were powered up, the whole console would have exploded! This assembly was never designed to take that amount of power! This is a backup impulse control assembly!" It was clear that the young pilot was getting very angry.

Looking up at Madeline, he asked, "Would you please have a couple of your men go grab his ass out of his bunk and drag him down here? I don't care it he's rubbing one out, I want him here, now. But I don't want him to know why yet."

Madeline rolled her shoulders and shook her head before tapping her commbadge. "Cassiel to Simmons and McKnight. Please go find Ensign Pulmer and bring him to the shuttle bay immediately."

"Yes, Lieutenant."

She looked to Johnathan then and leaned her head back in the chair. "So here is the question - do you think he knowingly did it, or is he just an idiot?" Her dark eyes were intense, she was obviously mulling over the possibilities available to them in this moment.

Johnathan considered her question for a couple beats. Then shook his head, fuming. "The two assemblies may look similar, but, they don't attach to the system in the same way, on purpose. The engineers back home did it, to keep something like this from happening!" He had to force this assembly into that slot! That alone screams deliberate action, in my opinion." He took a breath and added, "Had he asked for help when it didn't fit the first time, things would be different. But instead, he didn't and now this entire bird is going to need to have every single system and subsystem physically checked. Same goes with the rest of my shuttles. Any that he has put his hands onto, which is all of them, need to be red tagged and gone over with a fine tooth comb."

Shaking his head in disgust, he said, "Gods forbid the Captain had wanted to use one of the shuttles before I found this!"

"If you think he did it knowingly and on purpose with full knowledge of what would happen when the system was activated, then put it back." Madeline said coldly. It wasn't an order, obviously, but it was a strong and pointed suggestion to the younger man.

Johnathan looked at her. For a few seconds, he seemed confused. Then it came to him. "Evidence."

“That’s right.” She nodded and popped her feet up on the console. “Would you like me to take the lead when Ensign Asshat gets down here?”

Johnathan frowned and shook his head. "No. He's my problem. I have to handle it. Otherwise, how can I possibly do mu job as Second Officer, or one day hopefully, Captain of my own ship?" He then added, "However, I won't be surprised if he does something and you just happen to activate his agonizer before I do..." he grinned slightly as he finished speaking.

Madeline laughed softly. “You know I can’t do that. He’s not in my department and I’m not part of the command staff that have that access.” She sat up and reached up to put a hand on Johnathan’s shoulder. It was respectful, but commanded his attention. “If he has intentionally sabotaged the ship, that falls to me. A good captain and commander knows when to rely on those who have more experience in certain situations.” She let her hand fall away. “But if you want to take a crack at it, that’s your choice.” She gave him a smile then, obviously not challenging him, simply offering advice in a gentle and respectful way. The kid seemed determined to prove himself, but taking that too far could be just as detrimental as not aspiring for enough.

Johnathan nodded after a few beats. "You're right." He let out a frustrated sigh. "Keep him tied up while I put this back in there. It'll take me a few minutes." He started to crawl back in, then stopped and looked up at her, an honest expression on his face. "Thank you, for your advice. I appreciate it a lot."

She simple nodded and offered a half smile. "Work quickly, I'll stall him for as long as I can." She moved to exit the shuttle and tapped her commbadge.

"Cassiel to Ivers, I may be a bit late for my shift if you don't mind covering a little extra time, I'm investigating a possible situation down here."

"No problem, keep me apprised." Christoph replied.

Just as Madeline cleared the ramp, the main door opened. Simmons and McKnight walked in with a rather disgruntled looking Pulmer between them. For her part, she put on a smile. "Ah, good afternoon, Ensign Pulmer." She may have smiled, but her eyes were intense, unyielding.

"Lieutenant, good afternoon," Pulmer replied, a sour tone in his voice. "Would you mind telling me why in all the Hells, two of your goons just dragged me from my bed and brought me down here?!" He was clearly in no mood to be toyed with.

Madeline's brows went up, but instead of mad she just looked amused, like she was about to laugh at him. "Because I wanted them to. I felt we needed to do a bit of chatting after your recent visit to the agonizer." She walked toward him then, drawing very close and towering over him; she stared down at him imperiously. "Make sure you understand what happens to naughty children like yourself."

To his credit, Pulmer wasn't intimidated by Madeline's proximity. Sure, he had seen what she did to the Kazon scum, but they were just animals anyway. They deserved what they got. He was the eldest son to the Canadian Minister. When this mission was over, he was supposed to gain his own title and lands from the Emperor, as was his right. The fact that he was stuck in the armpit of the universe was aggravating to say the least.

Sticking out his chin defiantly, he responded. "That little slave bitch got what she deserved. She should know better than to act out of her station."

"See, everyone I talked to about it said that she didn't really deserve that and I'm inclined to agree. Slave or not. A message didn't get delivered and you decided a good punishment was... rape? That's imperial property." She lowered her face down to Pulmer's. "What's the matter, Matty, can't get your dick wet any other way? All the girls see you for the little piggy you are?"

Pulmer sneered at the insufferable woman. He was about to speak when another voice joined the conversation.

"Ensign Pulmer!" Johnathan barked as he stepped out of the shuttle. "Come here, I'd like to ask you a question."

Pulmer's eyes lit up with even more hatred. The assassination attempt on the Chief Flight Officer had failed horribly back in the Alpha Quadrant. He had since been planning on a finding another chance. But, like so many other things, life had a way of getting in the way. No matter, Pulmer could be patient when need be.

"Of course...Sir," he grumbled as he shook off the grips of the two security meatheads.

Madeline motioned for Simmons and McKnight to wait outside the shuttle and moved to walk behind Pulmer. Being as tall as she was, she simply looked over his head at Johnathan, catching his attention and very visibly mouthing "slowly" to him.

"Yes, Lieutenant Anderson and I have been doing some work in here, but we can't quite figure out something. We were hoping we could rely on your expertise to help us figure out the problem." She put her hand on Pulmer's back then and firmly walked him up the ramp of the shuttle, if he tried to resist it became a much more direct and unyielding guidance. She spun the chair that both she and Johnathan had occupied around, grabbed Pulmer's shoulder, and easily forced him to sit down.

"Have a seat." She said as she did as if he were making the choice. "We have been doing some looking at the targeting systems on this shuttle, but we are having a bit of trouble figuring them out. You were the last one to do some maintenance, so we were hoping you'd be able to help."

She lowered her ear down to Pulmer and spoke softly, dangerously. "Power up the weapons, Pulmer. Why don't we see what happens?" Since Johnathan was quite sure that this was intentional, Madeline was betting that he wouldn't exactly want the console blowing up in his own face. It wasn't meant for Pulmer, but it was meant for someone, obviously.

Sitting in the control seat, with both Anderson and Cassiel, Pulmer took on the look of annoyance as he growled a reply. "I don't answer to you, woman!"

Johnathan stepped forward and loomed over Pulmer. "But you do, ensign. Now, either you activate that weapons station, or there will be consequences."

Looking up into Anderson's steely gaze, Pulmer started to sweat noticeably. "No...Sir."

In a flash of motion, Johnathan had grabbed the front of Plumer's shirt with both hands and hauled the pitiful excuse for a Twrran to his feet. "You dare disobey a direct order?! Is it because, you know what will happen when that console is activated?! Talk!" He shouted directly into the other man's face.

While Johnathan certainly wasn't the biggest or scariest man on the ship, his behavior right now scared Pulmer enough that he actually wet himself.

"I-I can't!" He hung his head, disgust clearly on his face.

"And why is that?" Johnathan asked him as he tossed him back down into the seat.

"I put a weaker assembly in...hoping it would blow up in your damn face, you wretch! You have no family to speak of, raised in a fucking orphanage! You should have stayed down in the gutter where you belonged! You have no right holding a place of power and authority over me! I am going to be named a Lord when this damn mission was finished!" He stood back up, getting red in the face as he continued his tirade. "I should have been placed in command of the Flight Ops, not you!" He then reached back and swung at Johnathan.

The swing was never finished, as his personal agonizer was activated, dropping him to the deck in a quivering mound.

Johnathan looked down at him. "Lieutenant Cassiel," he used her rank and last name to make it official. "Arrest this man. Charges are, tampering with Imperial property, disobeying a direct order from two superior officers, attempted assault of his department chief, admitting to planing an assassination plot, again against his department chief, and conduct unbecoming Terran Officer, for losing his bladder control due to fear." He then deactivated Pulmer's agonizer. "Get him out of my sight."

"Out you go, Piggy." Maddie hauled Pulmer up just enough to toss him down the ramp in front of her, startling her own officers but they were intelligent enough to grab Pulmer and haul him up to his feet. "Ensign Pulmer is under arrest. Take him to the brig. I'll be along soon to file the report." She didn't wait to see her orders were obeyed, she didn't have to. She turned and moved back up the ramp and into the cockpit.

She looked at Johnathan. "Deep breath, Johnny."

Johnathan was fuming a bit as he looked over at Madeline. "I don't get it, Maddie...the Hells did I do that two people have wanted to kill me since we started this mission?"

Madeline shrugged and leaned on the wall, looking down at Johnathan as he stood there fuming. "Pulmer is an entitled little asshat that thinks because daddy is a lord it means he's worth something. Pretty common, really, and they don't like being told what to do by peasants. The other one I really can't say."

He shook his head, still not sure why he was being target so much. After a few beats, he finally sighed. "I could use a drink. How about you?" He looked up at her as he asked.

"I could, but unfortunately I do have to go to work." Maddie smirked and shook her head. "Rain check, though?"

Johnathan nodded then looked around the shuttle. "Yeah, I gotta start tearing this damn thing apart, make sure there's no other surprises." Looking back at Madeline, he snarled slightly. "Make him scream like he never has before, will ya?"

"I will." She flipped her hair back over her shoulder and gave him a smile. "Don't forget to file your report and let the captain know you had him arrested." She didn't linger anymore and turned to leave the shuttle to head to the bridge and relieve Christoph. Johnathan had potential, but he lacked discipline and control. Even such, he seemed to be open to learning and that was more than she could say for most.

Maybe he would make something of himself yet.

END