Does Anyone Know How to Tell Someone No?
Posted on Tue Nov 28th, 2023 @ 6:02am by Lieutenant Helena Issacks
1,022 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission:
Pressure
Location: Security Offices, Command Center
Timeline: MD 02: 1923 Hrs
It was not uncommon to see the odd person out in the security offices. While they did not work in conjunction with the local law enforcement most times, there was occasionally a person or two who came moseying in. Insistently. With some problem that was better served by the Haumea police.
Today would seem no different to Helena as she watched the young civilian sheepishly make his way through the main office hub, stopping in the middle to take in his surroundings. He was dressed in an Airspace Control uniform, one Helena recognized as belonging to those who guided commercial crafts. If there were issues, he was explicitly stated to report this to their orbital station, or at least to the Marines who worked in conjunction with the station's defense crew. So, to come to the security side of the offices threw a red flag up for her. Either this was an issue that the marines felt better suited to her team or, and this was more likely, it was an issue that the individual thought was not suited for whoever else was about.
She waved away the nearby ensign who she was discussing an umpteenth test of the unidentified blood they had discovered in the Captain's apartment earlier. If there was anything she knew about this colony, it was that if any one thing went ignored, it may turn into something much bigger. And if she let that happen on her watch, she would never forgive herself. "Hey, you!"
The man's head turned to Helena, eyes wide with fear at her voice. He pointed at himself, cluelessness written all over his face. Helena nodded him closer, to which he obeyed the same way a child was about to get caught red handed with a mess. The PaDD in his hand shook as he slowly offered it to her. "Ma'am, I didn't know who else to turn to about this. It seemed important, but no one in the control tower seems concerned. They're all worried about what's going on on colony and-"
Stopping him with a hand, Helena nodded her head. "Let me see." If at nothing else, she could look and appease his concerns. She perused the offered device, brow furrowing instantly. It was a report that had yet to be officially filed, about a large ship that entered into the system. While it was still far enough away to not be the biggest of issues currently, the projected flight path was about to enter the air space. "... Why are you bringing this to me?"
"I-I didn't know who else to go to," came the reply. "Ma'am, I tried getting a hold of them to see who they were. They're unscheduled, and they aren't responding to hails. And the craft has an unidentified signature. I-I thought it was related."
Helena looked over at the man, gaze fierce with annoyance. "Related to what exactly?"
Her snap came out a touch more severe than she would have liked it, evidenced by how long it took for the man to respond. "The Captain? That's why I came here. If it was related to the Captain, why not tell the people who were working on finding him?"
Flimsy as the logic was, Helena could not fault it. Weirder things happened on the colony than this. She pinched the bridge of her nose with a belabored sigh. "So they're not responding to hails, they're unscheduled, and we have no idea who they are?"
"Yes Ma'am."
"Do they appear hostile?"
"They don't appear... anything, Ma'am."
Helena's nose scrunched. "No sign of alterations, Borg tech, Tholian crystals, or any other sort of potentially hostile threat controlling or interfering with any of our attempts to communicate with them?"
"N-Not that I can see? I don't know... how to look for all that..."
Fan-fucking-tastic. This may have been related, Helena decided to herself. But this was also well out of her wheelhouse. There were other people to deal with this. That being said, Shaun would want to know. "File this report, and make absolutely certain it gets to the orbital base."
The man tilted his head to one side. "But-"
"I'm not gonna be able to do much from the ground, bud. Not in my training." Helena gave him a shrug. "There are people who are already up there ready to respond to this, and way faster than I can. When you do, make it clear you can't contact them. They're gonna wanna make sure we can talk to someone before potentially blowing them out of the sky."
"What if they're friendly?" came the ask.
Helena's brow rose. "If they're friendly, they'd have a way of saying that. And if they don't, we send a team to find out. There's procedures. Explosions don't just happen around here-" She held up her hand as the man was about to dumbly point something out. "The Caverns were a fluke."
The man looked down at the information on his PaDD, before pressing the giant 'complete' button at the bottom. "I guess that makes sense."
"It better make more sense once they rustle together what's going on," Helena snapped back. The man jumped, causing her to reign in her annoyance. "Look, I'll contact who I can to help out. But keep an eye on it, and make sure the people who can do something about it will. I'll do what I can on my end, but I can't do much. Just get it to the right people."
The man was faster to leave than he was to arrive, something Helena was grateful for. If she could have helped him more, she would have. His concern was not unfounded, but she was surprised it was her office he came to. But there was something about the trajectory that the man mapped out that alarmed her. Hopefully it was a miscalculation, but she was far from qualified to figure all that out.
She tapped her badge. "Hey, Colonel Bradley? We may have another issue coming down the pipe that you're gonna wanna take a look at."
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