Christening Preparation

Posted on Tue Aug 28th, 2018 @ 11:48am by Captain Cynthia Jackson & Lieutenant JG Eric Thornton & Lieutenant Commander Charlotte Hudson

1,944 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Mission 0 - Christening of Legacy and Crew Arrival
Location: Briefing Room
Timeline: 2261.184 1145

Earlier in the day, Cindy had received a very curious message. Admiral James Wheeler sent her a personal message that a Junior Grade Lieutenant Communications Officer was being assigned to Legacy for Public Relations and that for all PR purposes, she was to cooperate with and report to Lieutenant Eric Thornton. Similarly, Commander Hudson was to cooperate and have the same duties. The arrangement, to say the least, was highly unusual.

The message thereafter was from Lieutenant Junior Grade, Eric Thornton, requesting that the Commander and Captain were to meet him in the Briefing Room at 1200 and to be prompt. Immediately, Cindy sent a message to Bec, letting her know that they were to meet there. She suspected that the communications officer already had notified Bec, but she wanted to be on the safe side.

She took a seat in the Captain's chair at the briefing table and strummed her fingers on the table, nails clicking lightly as she did so. Her eyes turned a greenish-brown, while she was deep in thought.

Bec entered the briefing room and gave it a cursory glance, so far only Jackson was there. She'd received the messages about meeting with the PR person and was thoroughly confused. She didn't understand why they would need one, though she had a feeling it was to do with the fact that the ship was made from parts of other, significant, fallen ships. She gave Jackson an nod as she slipped into the chair at her left.

Urgently, Cindy whispered, "What do you think of this? Why on God's green earth would we have a PR officer and why in the hell would we be ordered to follow the instructions of a junior grade lieutenant?"

Bec shrugged, unsure of what to say at first. She chewed her lower lip slightly as she thought. "Maybe because of the Legacy... how she was built," she whispered back, suddenly wondering why they were whispering when they were the only ones in the room. "And why are we whispering?"

"Because," Cindy whispered back, "I don't want the PR officer to hear us if he comes in while we're 'talking.' I don't trust this, Bec, not one bit. It would be one thing to have interviews and a lot of media attention but a full time PR officer that continues on the ship after we launch? And we have to follow that officer's instructions. That just seems wrong. There is no precedence for this, is there?"

Bec shook her head. "Not that I'm aware of, Captain." She tilted her head to the side and smiled. "But then, there is no precedence for Legacy either, she's the first of her kind."

Cindy disagreed in part. "It is a Constitution Class ship. No different than Enterprise. The only difference is that this one is more like Frankenstein's monster, combined from ships that are dead. I don't trust it, Bec."

"That's what I mean," Bec said, feeling somewhat exasperated. "They've never Frankenstein'd a Connie before. They're probably treating this as a huge PR push to get new recruits. Legacy is their weird proof that Starfleet can rebuilt after disaster."

Before the Commander or Cindy could utter another word, a junior grade lieutenant walked into the room. His hair was a very light blonde, almost white. However, down the center, his hair was dyed green to match his eyes and spiked. He wore a gold jeweled necklace and had a circular gold earring in each ear. In a musical high pitched voice, he exclaimed, "Oh! My beautiful Captain and Commander! There you are! I'm SO delighted to see you! You two are going to be marvelous! Gorgeous, you both are!"

Cindy looked at Bec, wondering what they had been thrown into.

He continued, "Now, I know that this going to be a bit awkward because I'm a Lieutenant but I really don't want it to be. I'm just here to make you even better than you already are." Moving over to the Captain, he said, "I just love, love, love your aura. You radiate such a bright aura." Looking back towards Bec, he said, "Odd. Your side of the table seems so dark. I'm sure that can't be right...."

Bec's eyebrows arched at the PR guy. 'If this guy tries to force me into a porno or to look like Barbie here, I will kill him,' she thought, a frown starting to form on her face. "Probably not," she said in a perfect monotone, just to see how annoyed the man would become.

His voice became slightly more nasally as he told Bec, "Oh, now darling, you should not say things like that! You're just gawgous and oh, my what I couldn't do with that body of yours." Slightly more quietly but rushed, he continued, "Of course, that negative nelly just must go. That will not do for the public...."

"You'll do nothing with my body," Bec said with a shake of her head. "And I'm not negative, I'm just not bubbly like the dear Captain here."

The Lieutenant took offense. "Oh, no, no, no my dear Commander! You are so not my type! I merely was envious, that's all." Backing away, he said, "Perhaps we will keep your speaking parts to a minimum. You do know how to smile, right?" he asked hopefully.

"That suits me just fine," Bec said, then gave the Lieutenant her best smile. It was soft, demure, and totally opposite of her current attitude. "Will this do?" she asked sweetly, keeping the smile and doing her best to look serene.

"Oh, my!" The Lieutenant said gasping with appreciation. His lyrical voice rose in pitch and continued nasally, "You really should do that more often. You could almost steal the show from our Captain Jackson here."

"Captain Cindy, if you must," Cindy corrected, stifling giggles as she watched the interaction between the Lieutenant and Bec. "But, I don't believe we have still been formally introduced. Your name...?"

The Lieutenant put both of his hands on his face and said, "Oh my Lawd! How could I be so ridiculously rude!" He motioned his right arm showing that he had been flaky. His hand ended perpendicularly to his wrist on completing the motion. He then offered it weakly to Cindy. "Lieutenant Eric Thornton at your service."

Cindy took the hand and shook it. The Lieutenant then offered it to Bec and said, "Charmed!"

Bec shook the odd man's hand firmly. "I don't smile that often because it brings unwanted attentions. Also, former security officer, I'm a bit rusty on being anything but gruff." She looked over to Jackson and tried not to roll her eyes, which she realized she was now in the habit of doing a lot. "Though Captain Cindy here is probably very eager to teach me better etiquette."

Cindy snickered. "I wouldn't say that it was awful."

Eric took his hand back and waved it a few times, showing that Bec's clutch took him unawares and probably hurt him a bit. Exasperated, Eric told Cindy in his lyrical voice that dropped in tonality, "I would not either. I would say abominable."

To nobody in particular, he gave a breathy, "Wellllllll," and then continued in a more self satisfying pitch, "Every rose has its thorn. We'll just have to prune hers off." He sighed and then continued talking to Cindy as if Bec was not in the room, "She must learn to smile, at least until the end of the banquet. After that, I doubt that it will matter much."

"Do you think that you can pretend to be happy and gay for a few hours?" he asked Bec.

"I don't have to pretend to be either," Bec gave the man an innocent smile. "I can smile for the ceremony and then I will go back to neutral face."

"You're quite the mystery, Commander," he told Bec. "In any case, there are going to be drones all around and we need to be happy, happy, happy! This is a happy day. We can't have sad looks. After all, the adoring public is going to want to know that this is a good day, despite remembering that awful, horrible, no good tragedy."

"I will keep that in mind," Bec tried to keep her face a little on the happier side of neutral, despite wanting to roll her eyes at this man. He was more annoying than Jackson, and she was quite surprised at this. "And try to keep a smile on my face. Though, dealing with large crowds isn't my strong suit."

"Oh, dahling, you don't have to do much." He made a downward motion with both of his arms by Cindy, "She's the star of the show. You are just going to have to be there and be your gawgous self. No speeches but you will have to be seen with Captain Cindy here and of course, get photos thanking the Admirals...."

Bec stopped herself from visibly shuddering. "Of course," she gave the odd man a nod. She turned to Jackson with an expression of bemusement. Bec wouldn't have to talk unless Jackson made her, but she doubted that would happen. It was, of course, Jackson's moment to shine.

"Don't you think that she should have a moment, as well?" Cindy offered, feeling that Bec might feel left out.

"Dahling, if everyone who you felt should have a moment and the Admirals should have a moment to speak, we would not be done with the ceremony for at least forty-eight hours and we do not want to put the audience to sleep, do we?" He shook his head emphatically in the negative to indicate there were no options.

"So, dress attire, which means those Gawd awful hats. Feel free, Captain Cindy to take yours off before your speech. We want as many head shots of you as possible. The breach of etiquette has been authorized by the Admiralty. This is a PR event, remember. I would strongly suggest that you make it inspiring. Find some good quotes that are positive and you probably should run the speech by me first. We would not want a boo boo, now would we?"

Eric looked back at Bec, "Just be beautiful and make sure you and your XO are there at least an hour early for makeup and any other fine details. Any questions? I'm here just for you."

Bec shook her head, not trusting her mouth to keep her thoughts inside. She wanted to get out of this meeting and go back to her usual routine. The thought of this man having final say on her makeup frustrated her more than it should have. She was already planning on a lighter look for the ceremony, but doubted the PR man would approve of anything she did. 'I'll do it anyway,' she thought.

Cindy stifled a laugh. She looked like she had swallowed a lemon. "I think that is all, Lieutenant. Now, as your PR work is completed, you are excused."

Eric replied, "Thank you, Captain Cindy. See you tomorrow." He turned on his heels and left.

"That was definitely interesting, Bec," Cindy told her first officer.

"Quite," Bec shook her head. "Now that I've met him, I agree with your assessment that we do not need a PR person...."

"So why did this Admiral Wheeler assign us one?" Cindy asked. "I don't like it, Bec, but I don't see what else we can do but to play it out. Do you?"

"Unfortunately," Bec shrugged. "I see no options but to play along for now."

RSS Feed