By Samthia Wej Blakeslee
100301.1232
During Lockdown: Part 2
-=Blakeslee Quarters, USS Serendipity=-
100301.1232
During Lockdown: Part 2
-=Blakeslee Quarters, USS Serendipity=-
“Yeaaahhhh!!!” The combined screams of joy from the two boys at being back in their own room was ear piercing at best. The screech caused Ensign Valeria to cover her ears and grimace.
The ensign was the shuttle pilot who flew the Blakeslee family from the Alaskan shuttle terminal home to the Sera. She had volunteered for the assignment mainly because after four years in the Academy and three years as a shuttle jock she had only been on one starship and that was only for training.
When the opportunity came up to fly a senior officer back to their ship in orbit arose she jumped at it. She even volunteered to help Lt. Blakeslee take their bags to their quarters, just so she could get the opportunity to walk around a starship for a little while.
The young boys' mother seemed to be unaffected by it as she simply made her way over to the stacks of luggage that had been transported from Earth. She made a quick look over to make sure that they had all of the bags, once Valeria went back to Earth they would not see any bag they had forgotten for quite some time.
Samthia glanced back and saw the look on Valeria’s face. She turned and walked to the doorway to the boys' room.
“Thomas, Johannes, stop that noise. It is very rude.” She commanded in a very soft and melodic voice. Both boys stopped the yelling immediately and then ran to the doorway and in unison apologized.
“Sorry.”
The Ensign could not help but to smile. “That's OK.”
Both boys, satisfied that they had made amends, looked up at their mother for approval. Samthia smiled and hugged her sons to her hip. “Now go and unpack your bags.”
Grinning from ear to ear the boys ran over to grab their bags.
“My turn for top bed!” Johannes said as he grabbed his bright blue yet worn out Starfleet carry-all. He had found the bag in his fathers’ closet at their cabin on Earth. Once he had found out that it had once belonged to his grandfather he had refused to let it out of his clutches.
Thomas who had grabbed a black bag with a picture of a football on the side immediately objected to his brother’s obvious misinterpretation of the previous sleeping arrangements. “What! No way, I gets the top bed.”
Both boys stopped and stared at each other, brows furrowed in a set of determined stares. Then in perfect unison both boys turned to their mother. “Mom! He says he gets top bed!”
Ensign Valeria, seeing that the situation was going to deteriorate faster then a warp core meltdown quickly looked for an escape route.
“Um, well if you are all settled back in lieutenant?” She asked hopefully.
Samthia sensed the ensign eagerness to escape the developing situation. “Of course. Thank you very much for your help.”
Valeria nodded and quickly exited the Blakeslee quarters.
Samthia turned back to her twin boys. “Thomas, I do believe that Johannes is correct. You had the privilege of sleeping on the top bunk last time.”
Johannes immediately reacted to the good news by sticking his tongue out at his brother.
“Now stop that!” Samthia raised her voice ever so slightly but it was enough to cause Johannes to suck his tongue back in and look at the floor sheepishly. “It is not very nice to treat another that way, especially your own brother.”
She placed he hands on her hips. “For that I should allow your brother to sleep in the top bunk.”
Thomas smiled his hopes rising only to be crushed again.
“But I will not, this time.” She warned sternly. “Now go and unpack.”
Both boys quickly made their way to their room, dragging their heavy bags behind them. Samthia smiled warmly as she wished that her husband was with her.
= Now =
The Serendipity shuddered violently knocking glasses of milk over at the Blakeslee dinner table. Samthia's eyes grew wide with surprise as she quickly reached out and grabbed each of her children by their arms to prevent them from falling from their chairs.
The ship shuddered a second time and then went silent and dark. It took only a second for the lights to come back up as the three members of the Blakeslee household looks at in other in shock.
Johannes looked at his mother in terror. “Mommy?” He asked.
Thomas on the other hand was all smiles. “Wow that was so cool!!”
Samthia slowly released the grip on her boys once she was certain that the shaking had stopped.
“Mommy?” Johannes asked again.
“It is alright.” Samthia assured with a forced smile. “Stay at the table.”
She stood and walked over to the small desk that served at her husband's office space in quarters and took notice that none of the security monitors were functioning. Suddenly Thomas called out.
“Mommy look at the stars!” He shouted as he pointed out of one of the windows.
Johannes and his mother turned to look at what his brother was talking about.
“Neato.” Johannes and Thomas both leapt out of their chairs and dashed to the window with their mother close behind. Outside of the windows the stars had turned into randomly flashing points of light that seemed to give the sensation of movement.
Samthia turned away from the window and quietly listened as her sons marveled at the light show outside. The Sera’s engines were silent. Once again she knew that this could not be good news.
That is when the voice came over the communications system.
[Attention crew of the USS Serendipity, You are now defenseless. All weapons on board your vessel, including handheld, have been disabled using frequency jamming. We have your Captain, your Security Liaison, and the illustrious Director Lindsay.]
[For the first three attempts at resistance, or any refusal to offer assistance we may require, one of them will be killed. At the fourth your ship will be destroyed. Any attempt to repair your vessel beyond basic operations, or if any harm comes to our officers on board who are to be promptly released from your brig, and you will be destroyed. In short, you are now under our control.]
Both boys turned to look at there mother. “Who was that?” Thomas asked.
Samthia turned back to her boys and ushered them back to the table. “I do not know. Now you can look at the lights outside after you finish eating.”
“But my drink spill’d.” Thomas complained looking for a excuse not to eat the Deltan Bean Sprouts his mother served as a side dish.
Samthia smiled. “I’ll get you more. Now eat.” She picked up the turned over cups and cleaned up the spilled milk. She then made her way back to the replicator to find it offline. Luckily she still had some drink packets left over in her bag from the trip to the shuttle transfer station.
She had opted to take the shuttle off planet and back to the Sera so the boys could experience it for the first time. They had gotten so used to transporters as a means of getting around she thought they would have fun, and they did.
She retrieved the drinks and gave them to her sons, all the while worry began to creep into her heart as to what was going on outside of their quarters.
Lt. Samthia Wej Blakeslee
Stellar Cartography
USS Serendipity NCC-2012