Flashback: Early Days Of The Cassandra

Posted on Sun Oct 24th, 2021 @ 5:56am by Lieutenant Alisha Reno

1,718 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Handling the Fallout
Location: USS Cassandra
Timeline: June 6th, 2390

It had been a month since Alisha had reported on board the Cassandra, a month of boredom and annoyance as she'd watched her entire department of five officers and NCOs do the least amount they could do. Now she sat in the Intelligence office, just looking at the detritus of the paper basketball game they'd been playing to kill time was strewn across the floor. Balls of paper, PAPER, that missed the garbage can were everywhere. Why did they even use paper? Every desk had a pile of the stuff, mostly with words actually written on them. Why not just use PADDs? They were neater and stacked better. Of course, every desk had several PADDs randomly across them as well.

Alisha Reno sat at hers, the only one that looked like someone worked there, five PADDs stacked up at the corner by the wall, the papers '(PAPER papers, God Save Me.)' and part of her wanted to despair. They were on a shakedown loop after a major refit, due to return to Earth early in the morning and she wanted to jump ship already. Of all five of them, she was the only one who completed her work each day, didn't play games and joke with the others and maintained a neat workspace. Of course she'd had her share of ribbing from the others, who put it all down to her being a newbie. They'd all come to her, INCLUDING Lieutenant Narizi, to tell her to loosen up, that she'd gotten into the easiest job on the ship.

But Alisha wasn't the type to just do the bare minimum, she'd had to work hard to get into her first career, from a young age joining drama productions, having the leading roles in school plays and musicals before she'd finally gotten a callback for that role in a TV show, then more hard work to get top billing. After THAT career had gone down the crapper, she'd worked hard on her second career with Starfleet... To end up here. But she wasn't going to just sit down and die, no... She needed a plan and she had nothing BUT time tonight. Nothing would be written down, no, something like this had to be done with no one realizing a thing.

So she plotted with herself, just doodling drawings for an hour, then pulling out the bag she'd brought and continuing to knit a sweater. After all, her duties were to review incoming data and requests for the overnight shift, and there wasn't anything coming in. So she thought hard and developed an idea. By the time the first of the NCOs came in, she'd already started a pot of coffee for them and made sure it was extra strong. She wanted them as jumpy as possible. "All right, Ken, nothing came in last night and we're already settled into orbit. I'm going to go get some sleep, I'm dead tired." She yawned hugely as another of them came in, the Lieutenant.

Naziri saw the yawn and chuckled, "Thanks for taking the overnight this week, Alisha. We won't disturb you, I promise." Alisha knew that promise was worth it's weight in... Paper. Nothing at all. She waved at him with another yawn and made sure to stumble out the door as if she really were as tired as she claimed.

As soon as she made it out of the area any of the other two would come in, she stopped the act and quickly made her way to her quarters where she locked the doors and got started. There was one person that every Intelligence officer that went through the Academy on the track had to have as a teacher. Captain Azalea Martine, an analyst that had made a name during the Dominion War and had parleyed that into an Academy teaching spot for the last fifteen years, teaching promising young officers how she herself had found the information that made her well known.

Superficially, Alisha bore no resemblance to her, aside from standing at nearly the same height. But what someone looked like could change quickly, if one knew what to do. It took her an hour and a half with the use of cheek padding and a mouthpiece to widen her face, brown contact lenses the use of a hair dye to go from a bright blonde to a dirty blonde, with a streak of black over her left ear. It wasn't really a dye, but an artificial coloring that would wash out readily with vigorous work. A set of Captain's rank pips and Alisha used the mirror in her quarters to practice the distinctive pacing walk that Martine used to get around, hair done up in a severe bun that wouldn't move even if a hurricane hit it. And she was ready. The only thing she couldn't fake was the commbadge, so she had to make sure no one actually commed her.

Where Alisha Reno walked with more timid steps, Captain Azalea Martine stalked through the halls of the Cassandra until she came to the Intelligence office and walked right in without any sort of warning. She came to a stop almost as soon as she entered and looked around, then barked with a burr that the soprano Alisha could never have matched, "What the hell is this?" She demanded, causing the two officers and two NCOs to jump to their feet, the overly strong coffee making them seem to hit the roof in their effort.

"C-Captain?" Lieutenant Mario Narizi stammered, recognizing the bane of all Intelligence students ready for a rampage. Martine had a reputation for showing up on random ships just to check out their people, but usually there would be SOME warning from someone. "Wha-what are you doi-" He cut himself up, "We're on duty, ma'am, reviewing data from the overnight."

The Captain kicked at one of the paper balls on the floor, a new one since Alisha had picked up the debris from the ground at least, then scowled at Petty Officer Lisa Agnew, one of the better of the people, but Alisha couldn't play favorites, "What's this? Bad information?" She waved a finger in a 'no-no' gesture that she saved for the students who failed her most, "Whose desk is this?" She gestured to the one she was standing by.

"Mine, ma'am." Petty Officer Benjamin Vitrelli admitted.

She looked at him, the scar from a knife attack during the war prominent on her face, at the desk, at him again, then reached down and swiped everything off with an arm, "That looks better, less of a mess. If you can't keep organized, you're better off making a wild guess." It was one of the mantras she'd kept repeating in the classroom. She took three steps to the Lieutenant's desk, just as messy, with a freshly crumpled piece of paper on it, "And this is yours, Lieutenant?" He nodded slowly, then grimaced as the contents of the desk also found a new home on the floor.

Ignoring the other two desks, Martine stepped over to Alisha's desk and looked it over, "Whose desk is this?" She demanded.

"Ensign Wiener's." The Lieutenant got Alisha's last name wrong.

"Reno, sir." Lisa hissed at him.

"Ensign Reno's, ma'am." Naziri corrected himself quickly.

"And where the hell IS she?" Martine spun on him, now in his face as he'd followed her.

"She was on the overnight, ma'am, I'll get her." He began to reach for his commbadge to call Alisha, but was stopped in mid-reach.

"No." Alisha Reno/Azalea Martine grabbed his hand to stop him, "If she's asleep, let her sleep. Besides, this is the ONLY desk that looks nice, neat and organized. Too much actual paper, but organized." She stabbed a finger towards the Lieutenant, "You leave her be, Lieutenant." Her eyes went up to a chrono mounted on the wall, which had several time marks and their locations, "I have a meeting back on planet in half an hour, so you get a reprieve, Lieutenant. I'm going on a tour of the Titan Fleet Base in a few hours, but you've got a few days before I send one of my adjutants up to make sure you've got your house in order. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, ma'am." He agreed rapidly, "I'll make sure everything is in tip-top shape for them, ma'am."

"Good, because if it isn't..." She raised both eyebrows in her trademark 'Or Else' look. He just nodded, and she waved a hand, "Bah." She buzzed in her alto burr, then stalked out the door just as she had entered before. No nonsense from Captain Azalea Martine.

As she left the area, she maintained her stalk, eventually turning into the crew quarters area again and skipped the last few steps into her own quarters and began to take out the prosthetics and cleared her throat. It took a few minutes to rework the pips off and begin the job of becoming Alisha again. She knew she only had a few minutes as she ducked her head into the shower and scrubbing vigorously. The 'order' that 'Martine' had given Lieutenant Narizi would only hold so long as they thought the Captain were on board. Anytime, they'd ask the computer if Martine were still on board, and as soon as they knew she wasn't...

The comm sounded, "Reno? Reno, wake up."

She shut the water off and rubbed her face to take off the fake scar and made her voice sound fuzzy, "Huh? Yeah, hey, Lieutenant, I'm awake, I'm awake..." She sounded dead tired.

"We need you in the office real quick, we had a visit from... Her." As if she'd know who 'her' was. Of course she did, it was HOW Azalea Martine was known in starship Intelligence offices.

"Gimme a minute to grab a shower to wake up... I'll be there in ten." She got an acknowledgement as the comm went off and she indeed grabbed a rapid shower. She was going to be tired that evening, but it would be worth it. If what she had in mind had worked, it would ALL be worth it.


Posting By:

Ensign Alisha Reno
Intelligence Officer
USS Cassandra

(or also
Lieutenant (jg) Alisha Reno
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Myogi )

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