>>5582520Your Comms officer, Isobel Buxton or Izzy to her friends, is another classmate from your days at your family’s fleet academy. Perceptive and resourceful, she can always figure out just what makes people tick and how to use that information to her advantage — a useful trait when used appropriately but sometimes troublesome when she reveals secrets better left unsaid. Regardless, she works hard to be the best at what she does, often to the point of impacting her own wellbeing.
As relieved as you are to hear the voice of another one of your command crew, you wish the message she had for you was a little more cheerful.
“Say again Comms? Torpedoes? Mutiny?”
The rest of your crew all stop what they are doing to look at you in various states of confusion, consternation and horror. You belatedly patch through the comms channel to include them in the conversation.
“Yes Sir, the scopes up here are tracking some prism-like ship and the tactical station has registered ten torpedo launches. Did I pass out in the middle of today’s training exercise and you guys just left me here?” She sounds slightly hurt at the thought but presses on,
“Ship’s scuttlebutt is saying you’re the Acting Captain and you're threatening to throw people into the voidcore. I’ve gotta say Dallas, this is the most messed up scenario your Father has set us yet.”
Wild rumours in times of action and stress aren't uncommon aboard a naval vessel and it's the mark of a good leader to keep ahead of such things before they become a problem. In this instance, however, you haven't even informed the rest of your command crew how exactly you got the ship back to full power let alone explained yourself to the wider personnel.
"Izzy, this isn't still a simulation," your faithful Ops officer chimes in while your thoughts run wild, "we actually were attacked and the rest of us have been fighting a boarding party. Don't worry though, we beat them without taking a scratch!" He finishes with characteristic cheer, despite the grim circumstances.
“Not a sim? But then then these rumours-”
"Captain," your Tactical officer interjects sternly, "we could have less than thirty minutes before those torpedoes reach us. We need to prepare countermeasures immediately."
