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Calling for backup

Posted Oct. 31, 2022, 8:09 a.m. by Captain Sara Kiernan (Commanding Officer) (Sage Pennington)

Posted by Commander Mwezi (Executive Officer) in Calling for backup

Posted by Captain Sara Kiernan (Commanding Officer) in Calling for backup

Posted by Commander Mwezi (Executive Officer) in Calling for backup
Posted by… suppressed (9) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Sara sat in her ready room and reviewed some last minute facts. Things had changed suddenly. She needed a new Number One, in a hurry. All of her department heads were exceedingly qualified, but also necessary where they were. Then she found the one. A qualified officer, with an out of step career history. Possible. Very possible. She tapped her combadge. =/\=Mwezi to the Captain’s ready room. As soon as possible.=/\=

-CO

Mwezi was sitting in the Crew Lounge, idly filling out a sudoku, when the call came. His ears flicked from curiosity and he stood, placing his number puzzle in a pocket with one hand and tapping his commbadge with the other. =^=Understood, Captain. I’ll be there asap.=^=

It was unexpected, but Mwezi was… used to the unexpected at this point. From Home to Chernov and then to this entirely different timeline, his life had been full of crazy things. He definitely hadn’t expected this whole pirating… thing. He reached up to finger the three dull black rings in his left ear - replacements for the bright silver rings he had once worn. An outlaw could not wear the true ranks of a Galdori Officer. These people they had to interact with might not know Galdori Military customs, but he couldn’t risk it. The engagement loops in his right ear remained, however. He would not forsake the love of Kula and Shilo… even if they were currently mourning his supposed death or trying to reconcile their knowledge of his character with the criminal he might be reported as because of the Asimov’s mission. He thought about these things as he walked briskly to the turbolift, and from the turbolift to the Captain’s Ready Room.

He tapped the chime, still pondering the situation, and wondering what the Captain might want with him.

XO, Mwezi

“Come in!” Sara called from inside the office. As the doors slid open, the inside of the ready room had been similarly redecorated to the rest of the ship, beaten in, worn out, a bit dark. It wasn’t the cozy respite it had been not so long ago.

“Ah. You’re here.” Sara said. she gestured to an open seat opposite her. “Have a seat, please. Anything from the replicator? I’ve been surviving on coffee lately.” She joked and smiled faintly.

-CO

Mwezi gave her a stiff smile and a nod, his arm twitching slightly as he resisted the urge to salute. His hands were folded behind his back and he stood to attention in a very militant manner. Just like many in the crew, there was a ragged quality to him. A tiredness. “I’m not hungry or thirsty, but thank you for offering.” After a pause that was a little too long, he stepped over to sit in the offered chair. “What… I mean to say, why have you summoned me?”

Mwezi

Sara sighed. “Down to business then. Unfortunately, as you may have observed, we are short one officer. We do not currently have an XO for this ship. Normally, I would look to my bridge crew. These are not normal times. You have a security background, you have a history that makes you adaptable… in the current circumstances I have to think outside the box, look for a new way out.” Sara put her head in her hands, for just a moment and then looked back up. “After the cargo ship… a Lieutenant named Patton looked at me like I’d sold out everything I’d ever believed in. I need backup Mwezi. I can’t give you the shiny pips right now. I can’t really offer you much. But if we get through this, when we get through this, you’ll get all that and a big ceremony. So? Number One?”

-CO

Mwezi was silent for several long moments. He hadn’t expected to be placed in a position of authority in this time and place. He realized in that moment that a small part of him had still been hoping that he’d get to go home one day. The Chernov. Being First Officer here… It would require the death of that hope. The fullest extent of his body and soul committed to this time and place.

He reached up to touch the earrings on his left ear, clearly contemplative, then nodded. “I accept the position, Captain. I expect from what you’ve said that you’ve been made aware of my… unique origin?”

There were two biographies in his record. His public record listed his origin as being on a remote colony and his training as being at Starfleet Academy. The second, highly classified, explained the truth.

XO, Mwezi

“Yes, I am.” Sara nodded. She had been given an additional file along with his normal transfer papers when Mwezi first joined the Security department. “At least in its barest details. You were in Starfleet, in a different timeline, a couple centuries ago. Then you served an assignment in the here and now. If there’s anything you think might not have been provided to me when you came aboard that I need to know now… the floor is yours.” She leaned back in her chair.

-CO

“Life was different in that timeline. A little morally grey compared to this one, due to some events that occurred during my childhood. The missions on the ship that I first encountered in this timeline were also a little morally grey. I mean to say… I won’t have any issues doing what needs to be done.” Mwezi took a deep breath, reached up, and unclipped the two small silvered earrings on his right ear. He held them tightly in his fist for a moment, then held out his hand, and the earrings, out to Captain Kiernan.

“As a low-ranking officer, I could stand in the background and do my job on this mission without behaving too much out of my regular character. All a thug has to do is look threatening. If we’re going to impress that syndicate and do our job right, I will have to… As the second in command to a turncoat captain, I may have to be a person my Promised wouldn’t be proud of. These are… Like engagement rings. If you can return them to me when this is over, I would appreciate it.”

XO, Mwezi

Sara’s chest felt tight. She didn’t know much of the subtleties of Mwezi’s culture, but these earrings she knew were culturally and personally sacred. She took them gingerly into her hands. “I understand, as much as I can, what this means to you. If you’re certain, I will guard them personally.” She opened the breast pocket of her leather jacket and gently placed the rings inside. “They’ll be there until we’re out of cover.”

-CO

Mwezi felt a heavy weight forming in his stomach. “I once heard a vulcan say something. It stuck with me, and I think it applies in this situation. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. For the good of the Federation.”

“Very unfortunately wise words.” Sara said.

He pulled his arms back, and something seemed to switch. “So. I hear something about a bunch of us having fake names and all that. You want me part of that, or am I gonna stay Mwezi? Not a lot of Laleri out this way, I expect. We don’t spread out as much as humanoids.”

Mwezi, XO

After mulling for a moment, Sara said “if you weren’t issued one already, it’s likely unnecessary. The main function of that is to make it seem like there were more crew shake-ups after we went rogue. If you can act the part, you’re covered.”

-CO

There was a twinge at that. Right. Mwezi had to be himself while also being someone else. “Alright, got it. Anything else you want to talk on right now?” Mwezi decided to use a different, less formal dialect of his native language whole keeping up this cover. Because Federation Standard hadn’t been taught on Galdor when he’d been a pup, he barely understood it. The Universal Translator was his lifeline.

Mwezi, XO

Ooc: It’s gonna be hard to write Mwezi with informal speech, lol. I had to rewrite his dialogue three times because I kept writing it too formally.

“I’m going to step wholly away from my persona for a moment.” Sara became very stern. “Everyone comes home Commander. We have to look after them. Everyone who agreed to this madness deserves a chance to go back home. Understood?”

-CO


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