80930.18
During The Force Behind it All: Two
-=Main Bridge, USS Serendipity=-
"You have the bridge Mr. Dengar."
Those words sent what was more than a chill down Rada’s spine, you knew a chill would eventually pass. Sure they’d just broken a hole in the fabric of subspace in a battle against a species with the capacity to alter their perceptions of reality itself but now this was truly dangerous; they were letting Rada near a very big chair.
He felt like all eyes were locked onto his position asking if he were going to sit down. He knew that he could avoid making a decision as long as he still appeared to have something to do at the Engineering console…checking…checking *Damn it,* there was nothing wrong. If only there were an antimatter cascade in place then someone would have take over here while he hurried to fix it and then everyone would be safe.
*Calm down, you can just call the Captain at the first sign of trouble* he told himself before it occurred to him that there may be a problem with their communications. He rapidly began verifying them with the computer and breathed a sigh of relief that they seemed to be okay.
This was crazy; surely someone on the bridge out ranked him. In fact he was certain that it must have been a mistake that Salvek said his name; Dengar does just sound like so many other names. He realised that this was crazy but still what if he were right. What if Salvek had actually said someone else’s name and Rada took command in an emergency? They’d call it mutiny and he’d be before a court martial in a second, that’s if he was lucky.
He knew that there was a connection between The Alchemy Project and Temporal investigations and realised that he’d pay heavily for attempting to steal their favourite little project here. Who knows if they’d even give him a trial? He might not be too familiar with their work but what if they could just travel backwards in time a few decades, take a trip to Angosia III and tell his father about how his mother’s didn’t like animals that much. He’d never ask her out, they’d never fall in love, they’d never get married and Rada would never be born. He could wake up tomorrow never having existed. This starship command thing was much riskier than anyone had warned him.
He’d have to ask someone if he was the one in command. The problem was that Dengar didn’t really sound like anyone else’s last name and if he asks someone if that was what Salvek had said then they’d think he’d been going deaf. Half of his job here involved taking orders which he couldn’t do if he didn’t hear them. Endangering the ship like that by allowing himself to be the only Engineer on the bridge in his condition was tantamount to the most extreme case of negligence. When they heard at his trial about how he’d risked the lives on four different ships including those of his own family he’d was sure that they’d throw away the key. He’d never convince them that he could hear. He was sure he’d come to regret having existed at all if he had to spend the rest of his existence in prison.
He knew he would just have to call the Captain if something happened but those Turbolifts could take so long to get her here that he might destroy the ship in the mean time. He knew he could always just use the transporters to get her here quicker but realised that it had been several seconds now since they were last successfully used. He rapidly verified them as well. They were fine, everything was fine.
He noticed that his checks had drawn the attention of Sue Tenney and realised that he’d have to move now. He rose from his seat and began to move slowly towards the chair, taking the long route around so that no one would notice if he turned away at the last second.
What was he going to do when he got there? If the Captain caught him sitting in her chair then she might think that he’s trying to take the ship from her, he did try to kill her once and so she probably wouldn’t put stealing past him. Still, what if she caught him not sitting in her chair? He was one of the senior staff and if she thought that he couldn’t step up in an emergency then that would quickly end.
Yes, he’d shown his ability to take command in a simulation once where he thought that almost everyone else was dead but that hardly counts when you consider the question of really, if almost everyone else was dead, who was he commanding? He could try to explain to her how sitting in her chair was just such a big role to fill, win her over with flattery, but what if she thought that he was calling her fat? That wouldn’t be flattery at all.
Maybe it wasn’t that bad, maybe the Sylph had made good on their threats to capture the ship and this was all part of their therapy technique. Rada had done some reading on therapy techniques, know thy enemy and all that and he remembered that it was supposedly very important to confront their fears however ridiculously unlikely. That could be just what was happening here, the Sylph were making them all confront their most ridiculous fears.
Rada’s fear was something that could never happen, him being given control of the bridge. Somewhere out there Dabin Reece was probably settling down into a nice accountancy position, February Grace was throwing out all of her pink clothing, Salvek was hugging everyone in sight and the Captain was probably naked in front of the whole crew. Actually he thought he’d heard something about that last one, how long had they been in here?
No wait, he realised by patting his pocket that he still had his toffees; obviously they weren’t confronting all their fears today. Besides, the incredibly traumatic experience that was the Sylph encounter had no real affect on him last time and so it seemed his mind was safe from them, he really felt unlucky about that now.
He reached the chair and cursed himself for not walking slower. This decision had come too soon. He ran a hand along on the arm rest and reminded himself that he could still get out of this; he could just claim that he’d walked over to check the chair was in good working order, do the whole Engineer thing and then return to his post. He looked around the bridge and saw that no one was actually looking at him, he could just walk away.
He stopped for a second and properly looked around the bridge, this place was…beautiful. He’d never noticed it before but the view from here was just beautiful. A seat lined up to watch the stars pass them by in the middle of the room where it all happened. This entire ship; all controlled from this spot. He saw all the constant little adjustments were being made around him that kept it all running so well. Never before had he considered just what all those repairs he’d done actually meant to the ship, they all came back to giving control to this chair. He had to see what it was like.
He slowly lined himself up, threw a toffee in his mouth and lowered himself down. It was much more comfortable than it looked.
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
NRPG: Damn! You guys keep making me cry this week LOL though I was laughing at the same time.
Classic Rada Dengar logic: "He could wake up tomorrow never having existed." ROFLMAO
Douglas Adams is smiling in heaven. The torch is carried on.~ZL