[Raiser, Bridge]

The Captain sat in her throne, silently reviewing the data on her screen. It was quiet... perhaps too quiet. She knew that her senior officers were experienced in their roles but even they should be reporting up to the Bridge occasionally. Her jaw set tightly, something was wrong, she couldn't place it but something was definitely out of place.
"All stations report." she spoke cautiously, edged with steel.

"Repair teams are underway, there is a requisition for additional staff on the lower decks but in general, progress is average." the young Operations officer reported

"We are holding steady, Captain, warp drive is still to unstable to use effectively." Ashford reported

"Scanning the nebula has still not rendered any new developments, Captain." Science reported from their corner.

And then there was silence, a pause too long for the Marswoman. Half rising from her chair, she turned to Kajeet, her gaze fully on the ensign.
"Report, Ensign." her voice almost growled.

"Um..." Taj froze, his eyes looking up at his CO in mild panic.

Cathy remained silent, trying to avoid not looking too threatening but it was futile; there were not many things more frightening to a new Ensign than to have the Captain staring at you.

"We..." Taj paused again, took a deep breath and spoke again in a hurried tone,
"We have reports of an armed assailant on the ship, he was threatening people with a sword.. samurai sword... security has been dispatched and they are trying to corner him now and there has not been anyone injured yet but I am not sure and I think-"

"Stop." Cathy cut him short, the urgency digging into her mind. Her heart had started to beat faster, what had happened? Who was this assailant? Why was she not informed? Was everyone OK? Was he LFS? Or Starfleet? Or... She shut off the questioning, focussing on the essential.
"Have they captured him?"

"One...one moment..." Taj stammered,

"Ensign, I need you to calm down and do your job. Take a deep breath and focus on the task. Send an enquiry to the Security Centre, ask if they have him yet."

"Ye-es..." Taj sent the request, staring at his screen instead of the Captain who was now starting to rise from her chair. Cathy's leg protested at this move, making her action slower than usual, but, by the time Ensign Kajeet had got the information, she was standing and moving towards the console near him.

"Yes, Captain, they have him." He replied triumphantly.

"I want the responding officer to report to me as soon as they can." her voice now edged with annoyance, too many questions, too little time. The only relief came in knowing they had captured the man... whoever it was... Slowly, she lowered herself back down into her chair and began to review the initial chatter.

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Capt. Catherine Raiser, USS Victoria (ret.)

Cathy Knights