Chasing at Ghosts

Posted on 17 Dec 2025 @ 12:57pm by Commander Krea Rh'Vareth & Lieutenant Commander Raviran Dattek-Winters & Captain Bane Plase & Lieutenant Commander Temerant Bast & Senior Chief Petty Officer Morgan Harrison & Ensign Emilie D'Astous

2,364 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Shakedown
Location: Bridge
Timeline: Shortly after launch

The Bridge was its usual hub of activity. Only more so, since a lot of systems were undergoing a battery of tests, as was standard procedure after such an extensive refit.

Bast stood next to Émilie at the helm, going over the morning's plans. The computer would generate sensor echoes in the vicinity of the ship, anywhere within a radius of fifty million kilometers, in and around the Terylan asteroid field, halfway between Calisto VI and VIi. It was Émilie's job to try to catch these ghosts as soon as possible. The goal was to test the ship's maneuverability at sunlight speed.

"Using thrusters only, or the impulse engines as well?" asked Émilie.

"Both," said Bast.

Rh'Vareth let out an audible breath and raised an eyebrow but didn't make it clear to whom she was speaking when she added with thick sarcasm "... and with both port and starboard sides as well" she muttered.

The Ensign at Helm jumped and froze looking anxiously from the Commander to the XO and back in confusion.

Rh'Vareth put a reassuring hand firmly on one of the poor girl's hunched shoulders and added "A kinder XO with more forethought would have offered you that information before making you have to ask" she added and moved away to hover over the shoulders of another Ensign on the Science controls instead.

Émilie looked at Bast, her eyes wide as saucers at the affront. But Bast merely rolled his eyes, and held up a hand to block whatever remark her otherwise sharp tongue was about to spit out.

"Are you ready?" he asked simply, turning his back on Rh'Vareth.

"Just say the word," replied Émilie.

Bast sat in the center seat, and tapped the console on the armrest. "Computer, begin program Bast Helm 01."

The computer chirped in acknowledgement. Within seconds, a signal appeared on Émilie's console.

"Bogey at 286 mark 42. Distance, three thousand kilometers," she called out.

"Go," ordered Bast.

Émilie engaged the engines, gunning the ship to chase after the sensor echo. As soon as she arrived at those coordinates, the echo disappeared, replaced by another, and then another. Each response was carefully recorded and times by the computer, and fed into the database to be analyzed later.

"If anything," said Émilie, "I think the best way to put it is that the ship has a tendency to oversteer," she explained when the test was done. "The aft thrusters might be a bit overpowered." She held up her hands flat in front of her to demonstrate. "When I make a sharp turn, the aft thrusters turn us a bit too much, so I have to fire the forward thrusters to compensate, but that ends up pushing us sideways from where we're supposed to be."

Bast nodded in understanding. "We'll relay that information to Engineering, and run another test after they've made the adjustments."

"Good work Ensign" interjected the Romulan, taking the opportunity to smile very broadly at her and then glare pointedly at Bast as if to imply he'd dropped the ball on validating the work and even the Ensign. If the truth were known she wouldn't have praised the young woman herself just for doing her job competently but if Bast had done that, she'd have found a way to criticise applauding the Ensign instead. He was on a no-win road.


--- Senior Officers' Meeting Room ---

It wasn't very long after that event that Krea Rh'Vareth asked for a meeting with Captain Bane, Lt.Cmdr. Bast, Lt. Cmdr. Dattek-Winters and SCPO Harrison.

As they were all arriving, Krea helped herself to some herbal tea and sat down at the right of Captain Bane's chair at the head of the table. This was obviously Bast's place by custom but she was too busy passing round PaDDs to each of the incoming senior officers.

Ravi arrived next, acknowledged the Romulan Commander with a "Good afternoon Ma'am" and a nod, and went to the replicator to get her own drink before sitting a couple of chairs further down the table. On being passed one of the PaDDs on her way past, she opened it and began reading as the others began to arrive. She got paler at first and then flushed, and then the rigid, immovable 'Doctors' impenetrable face' slipped into place and she put the PaDD down on the table and waited.

Bast entered the observation lounge at a brisk pace. He had just finished going over the data from the flight test when the summons to this briefing had arrived, not even five minutes prior. He was surprised to find Ravi already sitting at the table, sipping her own tea. Her name had been absent from the list of participants to this briefing, which was labeled under Flight data review. And why wasn't Émilie sitting at the table?

"Ravi?" he said, puzzled. "Anything we can help you with?"

"I'm concerned Sir, I don't know why this has all come about, and so suddenly, and without consulting me regarding my department." Ravi replied with a very rigid look that was suppressing a lot of confusion but even more anger.

Bast frowned and opened his mouth to ask what Ravi was talking about, when the door opened again.

Morgan reached the briefing room, partly a little confused about being invited to a Senior Officer briefing, but he was in charge of the Non Coms, and of course, Captain Bane was aware of Morgan's skills and history, so Morgan knew he had a different perspective than others at times.

Bane came into the briefing room several minutes later, in visible frustration. "Thank you for your patience, everyone. Through some trial and error, I had to ask the turbolift to take me to deck 97 to get to this deck." He sat down in his chair and looked around. "Ok, what is this about?"

"I know of an old Earth legend that says there is a platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station in London, but I didn't know we were supposed to have 97 decks," quipped Bast.

Plase didn't know many Earth legends, but just smiled and winked, proving that he was, indeed, being humorous, much in the way he figured Bast was now being.

Rh'Vareth passed more of the PaDDs around the table and looked very pleased with herself as they all read the contents that Ravi had already been studying.

They contained a whole and complete reassignment of the duty shifts for all Sickbay staff. There were RADICAL changes to almost everything and every standard working practice that had been established and worked to ever since Ravi had first arrived and taken over from Devan, her predecessor and Mentor.

The Romulan Commander gave everyone a minute or two to complete what they were reading and then put her own PaDD down on the conference table in front of her with a flourish.

"It's wonderful isn't it?" she began, clearly very pleased with herself.

"It will make the whole department 100 percent more efficient. There are, as you can see, only three duty patterns now, instead of four, so a quarter fewer changeovers of staff and handovers of patients and their information and updates." She looked around but didn't see the admiring approval she was expecting so she continued quickly.

"Perhaps that alone isn't as impressive as it should be but with all the rest, it will soon be apparent that there will be less need for so many staff so several can be reassigned when we return to Earth and put to use in other needy places and positions.

"Furthermrore" she was almost crowing now. "We will see a huge increase in efficiency by the shifts being longer and a decrease in complacency where the mix of more junior officers per shift ratio, which will give them more of a straight learning run with more practice time to hone their new skills, taught to them 'in situ' as it were, rather than in theory!"

Ravi couldn't contain her dismay and outrage any longer.

"May I ask, Captain, did you sign these NEW rotas off? So, are they set in stone, Sir, because if they are then please accept my resignation as of right now." She managed to hold it together enough to be polite and hoping this was a nasty dream or a HUGE mistake or just a draft proposal, which was her only hope of a reasonable outcome to the horror.

The Captain opened his mouth to speak, but before a single syllable escaped, Commander Rh'Vareth spoke.

"Oh don't be so CHILDISH Doctor, you're over......" Rh'Vareth responded instantly, impatiently and interrupting any response the CO might have been about to make.

"You are WAY out of line, Commander," exclaimed Bast. "This is a direct interference in ship operations, and in no way related to your assignment as mission specialist."

He could have gone so far as to say this type of behavior was not entirely unexpected from a Romulan - he had about a century's worth of experience in dealing with them, first as Lamora and then as Willem. The number of times the Romulans scientific delegation had tried to hide their findings on the Breen energy weapon during the Dominion War... Merciful Tehlu, he thought. Dealing with Romulans was exhausting.

The Captain watched the exchange between the two carefully, his head bouncing back and fourth from Bast to Rh'Vareth as they spoke in turn. Things were certainly...exciting...in here.

"I wish to point out that I have not been interfering, Lieutenant Commander" the Romulan raised her chin haughtily. "I have re-organised and put forward a vastly improved template for a 150 percent more efficient rosta and staff improvements in making the admirable efforts that the medical staff offer up already, but in a better way of harvesting a better ratio of results for that effort expended. I have not been able to discuss this with the CMO - yet." Rh'Vareth smiled at Ravi with the best warmth she could manage.

"...but I wanted to show the improvements and ideals to the Senior Officers without delay." she gestured to the whole room with a small sweep of her arm. "before starting anything practical, so we could begin here and possibly extend the system throughout all the departments in due course, once the benefits have become apparent to all! It's something I would have expected to have already been in place but to install it from now on makes perfect sense and I was excited to share it with you all first!"

She drew in a satisfied breath and extended her smile to all, around the table, attempting to make eye-contact with them all.

When she got to the CO, last of course, she beamed wider than ever and added "I thought that it was a helpful thing to demonstrate instead of just *twiddling my thumbs* as I think the Terran expression goes, I have completed my *own* duties alongside this and will be putting in my report on that in due course, but I wanted to be useful in introducing new and improved ideas that I have gleaned from other starships and stations that I have visited and helped within my *vast* experience."

It was a clear sales pitch but there really *were* improvements showing in her data and figures.

Captain Bane nodded. He spoke slowly, but with the way only a Captain could convey aboard their ship. "You are correct, Commander, it is extremely helpful, and extraordinarily proactive of you. Well done," he said, looking to the other officers present. "Change is always most uncomfortable at the very first steps. I was even uncomfortable with all of the changes and upgrades to our ship, and probably will be, at least in some small degree," he confessed, "for a while. However, I have to admit that the changes are for the better, just as I have to admit, at least on paper, that these proposed further changes in duty rosters and shifts look promising, and at the very least, the Commander is trying to help. We are all on the same side here, and all wear the same uniform. Doctor, Commander," Bane said, looking at Ravi, then at Bast, "I encourage you to look at these changes not as an attack on your work ethics or your command decisions, but simply as a tool to help you better run your department, Doctor, and the ship, Mr. Bast."

Rh'Vareth's smile boadened and she began to suggest to Ravi that the two of them could meet after this meeting had ended to go though the details. She smiled at Ravi as if they had been best friends all their lives.

Ravi nodded in reluctant acceptance, still smarting from having been 'sidelined' a she felt, in not having been consulted first, during the initial drafting up of the proposals.

The meeting moved on to other urgent matters but as it wasn't a normal standard update meeting, it closed before long and Ravi tried to get to walk beside Bast as they were dispersing, intending to thank him for having her back as she saw it. Unfortunately for the CMO, the Romulan Commander had drawn the XO aside to remonstrate with him, apparently gently for all who might have been in a position to observe the exchange about not having the foresight to be doing all these kinds of things within his own usual hours. She was all smiles and nice words about it though so that anyone within earshot thought she was just giving him advice.

As soon as the Romulan had to let the Trill XO go to his next destination, so Rh'Vareth cornered the CMO and made arrangements to accompany her to the Main Sickbay to go over the proposals and they went off to that destination, leaving the other Senior Officers behind.

End.


A JP by:

Captain Bane Plase
Commanding Officer
USS Cygnus

Lt. Cmdr. Temerant Bast
Executive Officer
USS Cygnus

SCPO Morgan Harrison
Chief of the Boat
USS Cygnus

Ensign Emilie D'Astou
Helm Officer
USS Cygnus

Commander Krea Rh'Vareth
Mission Advisor
USS Cygnus

and

Lt. Commander Raviren Dattek-Winters
Chief Medical Officer
USS Cygnus

 

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