Home Sweet...Home?

Posted on Fri Jul 26th, 2019 @ 8:50am by Executive Officer Jake Ford

Mission: Mission 9 - Daucina
Location: SS Mary Rose - Officers' Quarters
Timeline: MD-09 - late afternoon
546 words - 1.1 OF Standard Post Measure

The Rosie, as the deck crew had referred to her, was like something out of an old holomovie come to life. A museum, perhaps. Jake might have used the word antique, but got the impression that there were a lot of folks on board who might take exception to the phrase; as though she were too old to be useful for anything practical any more.

She was certainly practical. Just about everything still worked. Jake had been surprised and impressed by whoever had done the patch job on the security systems. They weren't exactly modern military spec, but for a ship this age it was impressive. His predecessor had done a reasonable job under the circumstances.

Jake had taken the first few hours of his time on board taking her in; appreciating the architecture, the nostalgic elements of a ship of her time. He'd also had a chance to meet one or two crew members he'd be working with. He didn't get a sense that they were intimidated or threatened at all, which was a good start. Another sign his predecessor had done a decent job. And thus it was at the back end of the day he finally found his way through the ship to his new berth. He was ready for a sonic shower and a late afternoon nap.

As he entered his new quarters, however, something struck him immediately: the chief armoury officer's quarters were empty.

Not even furnished. Nothing on the shelves, or the walls. There were marks on the decking where the bed had once been, for sure, but no bed. No bedding to go with it. Even the wardrobe door had been taken.

There was a long pause where Jake simply stood in the doorway and stared. He took a step backwards, checking the markings to ensure he had the correct room. Deck 5. Compartment 416. "Chief Armoury Officer". The inscription confirmed it.

"You gotta be..." he sighed, tossing his duffel out in front of him and letting it slide across the floor. His security-trained mind formulated two possible options: either the crew were so desperate for equipment and supplies that every unoccupied room had been raided. Or, he figured a little more likely, this was some sort of hazing ritual for new arrivals. It reeked of first-year cadet-level hijinks. It was hard to tell if this bunch were prone to such behaviour, though that hardly mattered in this particular moment.

Scratching his head, Jake approached the sonic shower in the back, finding to his relief that the unit still had power and was functional. Sensing trouble, though, he had the foresight to activate it before stripping off for a hot one.

The shower hummed to life, before blasting Ktarian fire powder from the ceiling unit. "Sonofa..." he mumbled to himself. Had Jake actually been inside when it was turned on, he imagined he would have spent a week getting the reddish-pink substance out of his skin and hair, during which period he would likely have had to explain to everyone he met what had happened.

His suspicions confirmed, Jake made for the door. Without a bed or a shower, he only really had one option left: coffee. Heaven help anyone who stopped him from getting caffeine after booby-trapping his new quarters.