Grenades!

Posted on Friday July 12th, 2019 @ 8:23pm by Civilian . & Lieutenant Carmina Barbossa

Mission: Welcome to Union Mining Station Number 42
Location: section that contains the living quarters
Timeline: night before going down to the planet

Namira knocked on the XO's door. After her night on the town, she had only taken a brief nap. One of the positive sides of her physiology was that she did not need a lot of sleep. She knew it was the middle of the night but she figured she'd better not wait until morning, not with the find she had made. There was a metal box sitting next to her on the deck, and she wanted to show Carmina its insides.

Lieutenant Barbossa was dead asleep with her hair disheveled and drool trickling down out the corner of her mouth and onto the floor as her head hung poorly supported over the edge of the sofa she had chosen to get some light reading done; Not much reading, however, was done. She had fallen asleep only after a handful of paragraphs.

A knocking at her door woke her up and she rolled out of the sofa scrambling for a tank top. What time is it? Did I miss my alarm? No, that was not the case. She was assured when she checked that it was still the middle of the night. She put herself mostly together in those quick few minutes to answer the door. She found one of the station's science officers standing there.

Carmina noticed the metallic looking box sitting beside the woman. "Come bearing gifts, Lieutenant?" asked the Executive Officer. She stepped aside and gestured the woman to come in. "Make yourself at home" she added.

"Of a sort", Namira smiled as she walked in with the heavy box, heaving it up on the table. "I found this while exploring the station, behind a wall panel that was supposed to hold a first-aid kit." She smiled at Carmina, then asked. "Looks like you weren't in bed either, good."

The Executive Officer was taken aback by that information. "You found it? It was on the station behind a wall panel that was supposed to have a first-aid kit and you brought it here?" Carmina yawned and shook her head. "Bed, no. I did manage to fall asleep on the sofa somehow...now back to that box. Have you scanned it to make sure it isn't an incendiary device of some sort?"

"I opened it and looked inside", Namira said. She opened it again and handed Carmina a small sphere, a little under ten centimetres in diameter. "Do not push the button. It will explode." It had Krill markings on it.

Lieutenant Carmina Barbossa was definitely wide-awake with that information. "Seriously?" she asked though she was fairly certain that the woman was not pulling one over on her. "It's an explosive device of some sort? How are you with Krill technology, Lieutenant?"

"Not particularly familiar", Namira said. "Too recent, I don't find it in digs. What is it you want to know? We could throw one in the simulator and see just how powerful Krill grenades are?"

"I wanted to see if we could date it" replied Carmina simply. "Was it here before we arrived at the station and for how long? Was it placed here recently? If it was placed here recently then this could be an attempt to take out the station or at the very least deliver us a blow" she stated. "If that is the case, this may be an attempt to ruin the mining negotiations."

"That's possible, I suppose", Namira shrugged. "I didn't scan it as an archaeological site, but..." She thought for a moment. "We could go back where I found it, and scan the rest of the compartment, see how much dust has settled around where it stood?"

Lieutenant Barbossa grabbed her uniform jacket and slid it on, adjusting it as she proceeded to the doorway. "You bet your ass we are going there" said Carmina sternly. "We need answers and evidence, Lieutenant. If this was an attempt to ruin the negotiations...I want to be able to prove it before I start making accusations."

"That seems reasonable", Namira said. "Except, I do not keep pets, so I have no ass to bet." She winked at her. "Follow me?" She started walking out the door. "Fortunately, there is no need to cross one of those dreadful walkways."

"Ugh dreadful" replied Carmina. "I hate having to cross those things, but what are you going to do. It's necessary to get around this place. You lead the way, Lieutenant."

"The skipper promised he'd build a solid structure around them", Namira said. "But he didn't say when, so I'm not holding my breath. Can't for long enough to get across anyway." She approached a stairwell that was closer than the lift. "You couldn't possibly nag him a bit to speed up the process, Carmina?"

Carmina smiled and nodded. "I wouldn't mind something more protected feeling myself. Can I get him to speed things up? Yes, but let's get through these negotiations before we try to get things sped up. The Captain is under a great deal of stress right now. Personally, I am thinking he needs to see Camm."

"Or run a programme of a more personal variety in the simulator", Namira smirked. "From what I understand, he's been imprisoned for something before coming here? The union must be really desperate, but it's good for him." Namira didn't mind his history. If he was a capable station commander, that was all she needed to know.

As Executive Officer, she should have just swiftly ended the discussion then and there. Scuttlebutt about the Commanding Officer had no place on the station; However, cutting Namira down over it would only cause more problems. "He served his time, Lieutenant. The Captain is a good man. I may not know him well enough personally, but the Union placed him here for a reason and we need to trust their decision. Four years in a Union prison may not fit anyone's ideal candidate for Commanding Officer, but he's our CO."

"Hey, that's fine by me", Namira said. "The only thing I'm beginning to have doubts about is getting put into one of those uniforms myself. I think I like civilian life better. Nobody tells me what I can or can't say, when and to whom." She stopped and opened a wall panel that had a medical symbol on it. "Here's where I tried to get to the medikit." The compartment was empty, except for the aforementioned layer of dust around the imprint of the box.

Carmina had known that the woman was uncomfortable with the whole uniform and rank thing. "It will take some time to get used to, but if you relax and let it come naturally, you'll learn to like it. At the very least you'll feel naked without it" said the Executive Officer. "Grab a commscanner and take some readings...see what we can uncover. They definitely picked a heck of a spot to conceal one."

"I don't mind nudity", Namira stated simply as she took out her scanner and ran it over the compartment. "Based on this layer of dust, I'd say we're looking at a time frame between two and six weeks." She gave Carmina a wry smile. "Sorry, archaeologists are very conservative in their dating unless several methods come together to produce a more exact result."

"That's alright, Namira. I understand all too well" replied Lieutenant Barbossa. "I had a brief relationship with a scientist some time ago. Everything has to be a certain way and as exact as possible, but you don't have enough to give an exact time...I'll take the window you've narrowed it to" replied Carmina. "Two weeks or Six, that places it awfully close to the change of crew and the miners being taken off the station, and the call for these negotiations" she added.

Carmina crossed her arms and thought for a moment. "A medical scanner may be able to extract DNA from the device. That would help identify whether it was handled by the Krill or if someone else planted the device. We may need to get Security and Engineering up here to deactivate it. We cannot afford to trigger the device, setting it off."

"It'll find my DNA mostly", Namira said. "I took it out, opened it, grabbed one of those things and wondered how I could use it to close a nasty gash on someone who had just accidentally cut himself. It's when I read the markings and knew they weren't medical devices."

The Executive Officer nodded. "Yes, your DNA will be all over the place and the device itself; However, fortunately, yours will not be the only one on there, especially on the inside components of the device...unless you are a Krill sympathizer and programmed the device yourself," said Carmina.

She shook her head. "This goes above the two of us, Lieutenant. We're going to have to call in some assistance and report this to the Captain. This may change the outcome or terms of the negotiations."

Namira nodded. "I suppose that's where my work ends and yours begins? Just, when you're done with them, take the explosive components out of one of them and return it to me? It'd make for an interesting conversational piece and paperweight for my office."

Carmina scoffed "Yeah, it comes with the job. Coordinating with the departments and overseeing everything with the proper paperwork. I will make sure that you get your interesting conversational piece of art of a paperweight" she said with a nod. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Namira."

Namira smiled. "I like your attitude. When I get someone waking me up at night, I'm usually annoyed unless it's for a few very specific reasons." She smirked, then walked away. "Enjoy your puzzle, I'll get back to mine."