Post by Chloe on Nov 9, 2009 16:57:10 GMT -7
[[This is a private story. If you would like to comment, please PM me. Thanks. This story is unfinished, watch for its completion soon.]]
Chapter One
When I first received the letter I hardly expected such an adventure to commence. Instead of just one of the many letters of invite I commonly received, this letter intrigued me. As I read over the summons, I felt the slightest inclination to accept. I had often waited for a high-paying and prestigious mission. But this was hardly as much - it was just another mission upon the USS Voyager to find the lost Federation Ship, the USS Lewis & Clark. It had disappeared only two days ago, and only a few lightyears within what was an unknown black region that was similar to Earth's bermuda triangle. Ships went in, and we got contact, contact, and then they hit that space. And we never heard from them again. Probes were sent out and we had contact, contact, contact, and then they hit the 'black zone'. And we never heard from them again. It was a point of no return. A black space where nobody would ever dare venture. And so this Voyager's mission was to go in, find the Lewis & Clark and return them safely here - or report back on whatever was left of them. So this intriguing note that had only just arrived drew me in, and I decided that this was the mission I had been waiting for. I would accept.
I had little time to announce my acceptance to the Captain, a man I had only just learned was himself a little-experienced Captain. Captain London Flynn, and he was the new Captain of the Voyager - after its last loss of a Captain and most of a crew, they had to practically 'create' a new ship in order to continue its running, along with finding an entirely new crew. I stepped lightly out of my Teleporter and into the beautiful, brand-new base called Starbase 74. It was very nice indeed, with freshly painted and chromed walls and colorful lights. I had only a half hour to explore the base, gather my belongings that had been sent to me, and get onto the Voyager. Into a second Teleporter I went after twenty minutes on the base, and then a third. When I stepped out I was walking down the halls of the Voyager. It was a ship I had yet to encounter, and I was very excited. The rumors of its old heroes that Captained it, and all those grandeur adventures, made me an eager participant in this voyage. However, there was not one person on this ship who I had previously associated with, and even though I wasn't about to leave out a mission like this, I never liked to do a voyage without some knowledge of those I was risking my life for. And with little acceptance time, I had no time to do research on Captain Flynn. But I had learned some things from the crews around the base with what little time I had been allotted. The Co-Captain, or First Officer, was Captain Flynn's older brother, Officer Flynn. Strange as it may seem, the younger and less-experienced one was Captain. But that didn't bother me. I'd accept anyway, no matter the crew. Well, as long as they were a reasonable crew. But I had heard they were, and so I didn't fear the least bit.
I took out a single piece of paper I had received from a very enthusiastic man who would be apart of the 300-man crew we'd have on the Voyager, though he wouldn't be serving on the Bridge. The gift, which had originally been a stack of papers containing every name of every person on this vessel, was mostly residing in my personal bag. It would be found along with the rest of my bags down on my bunk. But this single sheet of seemingly meaningless paper, was grasped tightly in my own grip. I looked over the names of every crew member I'd be serving with on the Bridge. I skipped over the Captain and his First Officer, for I already knew them. But there were plenty of names to be reviewing. First was Clark Fox, our Engineer who would keep a close eye on the overall welfare of our ship. He controlled the oxygen levels, power levels, and kept the ship's core and mechanical temperatures down as well. The next two names were brothers again, it seemed this new Voyager centered around families. Nigel Barrus was the first - he was Left Wing on our ship. He was in charge of the ships Firepower, controlling when we attacked, what weapons we used, etc. He would also be one of my favorites on this trip, because he had the power to send out Probes. Because I used probes for Scanning, he was vital to the ship. I wasn't very surprised to see that his brother, Ethan Barrus, was Right Wing. They had most likely learned from flying smaller aircraft with very few jobs, to handle firearms and flight. It did make sense. But Ethan wouldn't only control the direction in which the ship was headed. He also watched the levels of Radiation hitting the ship and would warn us if they grew too high, or if the ship was filled with dangerous levels of other toxins. Obviously he, like everyone else, would control two different shifts of the main computer, because we were such a new and small crew we didn't have enough experienced volunteers. It was a good thing I was coming along then.
The fourth name to show up was Jenny Adams, followed by her sister Lydia Adams. Yep. Family ship. Jenny Adams was our Communications Officer. I had originally wished to pursue such a career myself, until I discovered the countless minutes of making phone calls and deciphering codes. I wanted a truly important, but not impossible, job. I ran the Sensors most of the time, but on such a small crew I imagined I'd get stuck with the Scanning Equipment as well. They were basically the same job, but I preferred not to get involved with jammed or reset Scanning Dishes. Oh well, I had already made up my mind to join this crew. Now I was stuck with it. But I didn't mind so much, it at least gave me something to do. The fifth name was, of course, Lydia Adams. She was in charge of Damage Control, where she would spend her entire time fixing things via a computer. She cleaned up our mistakes, and it was my least favorite job. The sixth name was me, Emily White. I had such a plain, ugly name. Nothing special about me. Under my job listings it said Sensors And Scanning. Yes, I was in charge of the ever-so-fun job of reporting updates to the captain and finding out if alien life was out there anywhere. Joy. Then I saw Jacob Charles and Raven Boud. Raven was the youngest, Jacob the second-youngest, and both were Security Officers. They managed who was on what floor, and controlled whether or not we shut down a deck for safety reasons. They also had a human count, like Ethan on Right Wing. I found myself having gone all the way to the Bridge now, and with a soft smile I folded and put away the name list. I'd memorize it shortly. I looked up to see Captain Flynn in his fancy vest, buttons done up and standing with a quiet grace and authority that was very peaceful and comforting. I approached him and smiled.
"Ah, Miss White, I presume?" He asked in a strangely shy and reserved voice. He was obviously a subtle person, let alone a subtle Captain. It'd probably be his brother making most of the choices. All the better though, no?
"Yes." He replied politely. "Captain Flynn, sir." I added respectfully. He nodded briefly before turning and removing his hands from behind his back to beckon someone forward. A man in the First Officer's vest stepped forward, and as I looked I suddenly felt a pure rage and then an even purer terror. It couldn't be. Oh, no, it just couldn't be, But alas, it had to be.
"Emily." The voice sneered. Officer Flynn. Oh, it was indeed that same Officer Flynn. How had I not put two and two together? For the man standing before me was a man I knew all too well. I knew him by his full name though, and must've overlooked such a minor detail in just the last name of an unknown man on a new ship with a new crew. Oh, how foolish I had been. How terrible this voyage would be now. I choked down my nervous, somewhat envious self and smiled in my most controlled, calm manner.
"Hello, Nathan."
-
"Well, I see you've gone back to doing our least important jobs now, eh? No more big shots? Given up on the almighty controller?" He taunted me, his face giving away every emotion he could contain that had to do with my own being. Of course he despised me. I didn't take too kindly to him, either. After all, we had a history with each other that I really didn't like. He probably didn't much like it himself, either. You see, two years ago I had been granted the charge of a smaller ship, and I was an eager new captain at this time. Much like Captain Flynn was now. And I was to choose my crew carefully from a large selection of very capable and experienced crewman. But they were old news, and were not close to what I had imagined my dream crew as being. I took the least experienced of every section needing be filled, and made sure each job received a new yet shining star under its command. This did, in fact, allow my ship to run smoothly on top of giving everyone necessary practice to reach a higher level of authority and a better ship choice for higher-paying and more adventuresome missions. Nathan, of course, had wanted a big job. I was a first-time Captain and he had experience he was willing to share. But I know Nathan well enough to say that putting us together as teammates would be a bad idea from the beginning. We hardly work well under any circumstance and we will never be allies. We were too similar - developing opinions and thoughts that the average man could not conceive, and arguing over silly points of slip-ups, flaws in our wording or even incorrect information. We fought at any given point in time, and I knew he wasn't about to worm his way into the powerful position of First Officer under my own self. I knew he'd run the ship without delivering a single snippet of information, and I knew I would never get around to doing anything my way. Therefore, he wasn't my most likely choice. Also, I hardly knew him at all. We'd met once before, and only a day previous at that, to discuss the events of his 'proper positioning' as he called it. I said no, and ever since then we've been rivals and enemies as far as the line is drawn. And now, he had the position I had refused him and he'd probably torment me all throughout this expedition. The only lucky point was that in serving my own job, I wasn't under strict order to report to First Officer like the other jobs. I reported all my findings directly to the Captain, and his orders would always come first. That was the only bit of comfort I could find in this new order of us.
