[Raiser, back 'home']
Cathy's brief beach break had been just what she needed. She could feel her skin still glowing from the sun as she dressed into more comfortable clothes. Strangely, her commbadge buzzed
=/\="Bridge to Captain Raiser."=/\=
She frowned, she was still off duty, and every member of the crew knew only to bother her off duty if it was urgent.
"Go ahead, Lieutenant." she replied, moving back to her commbadge on the table.
=/\="I am sorry to disturb you, ma'am, but there is a high priority transmission for you. It contains encrypted data and will only activate with your voice authorization."
"Send it through." she replied, taking a seat at her console. "Computer, seal this room, disable all recording and listening devices. Authorization Captain Catherine Raiser, code Alpha Three Gamma Pi Three."
The computer beeped in recognition as the screen flickered on with a man clad in marine green, but with a blue trimming. His medical symbol on his breast betrayed his profession. The expression was sober, concerned, slightly distressed,
"Are you Catherine Josephine Raiser?"
Cathy grit her teeth, she hated it when people ignored her rank,
"Yes, I am Captain Raiser, Commanding Officer of the Victoria."
The expression changed to slight relief,
"Good, to be sure, can you input your current authorization code? It changed this morning according to my records."
Cathy narrowed her eyes, not trusting the uniformed man in front of her. She had been fooled before and had had close people near to her abuse the trust she had placed in them. People like Summer who, despite it not being her fault, still remained at a distance from the elder Marswoman. Her voice was laced with apprehension,
"Not until you tell me who you are and why you need that information."
"My name is Lieutenant Henri Renault, Assistant CMO of the Manhattan outpost. I need that information because what I have to say next requires me to speak only to Catherine Josephine Raiser and no one else. This is why this call is encrypted and carries an Alpha Two level clearance."
"Very well, authorization Alpha Three Gamma Pi Three."
"Thank you, Captain." he nodded, and seemed to check something off screen, "The authorization checks out..." he cleared his throat
A thousand possibilities raced through her mind, who or what would require them to speak only to her and carry such a high level of security. He had addressed her as an individual, not as her rank nor position on the ship. Did someone re-open the incident where her parents were killed? That was an open and shut case. Her sisters were both working on normal things, nothing that warranted clearance. And anything to do with Cate would have come from her family. There was one loose end, one possibility that sat in her mind...
"We have found..." Henri seemed to struggle to think of the words, "Um, well, we have found what appears to be a cyborg..."
'Jack'"At least, it is a Terran humanoid with mechanical components making up a majority of his body." Cathy let him continue, her jaw tightening in surprise,
"He...er... it seems to be badly damaged and unresponsive to verbal commands. When we ran a search on the DNA, your name came up as an emergency next of kin."
There was a pause; a tear threatening to show on her face before she forced it back. Holding back the brimming emotions, she could only nod and reply,
"Is he alive?"
The officer shifted in his position,
"Well...you see..." before trailing off,
"Answer me, Lieutenant." she growled, the usually patient Marswoman snapping, the emotion gripping her hard in the chest now.
"It's a matter of op-"
"Yes. Or no." a flash of anger past her face as the officer avoided her question.
"Yes, Captain...but..."
This time, she let him continue, a drop of relief sizzling on her fiery thoughts.
"But we cannot be sure... there seemed to be a spike in activity when we repeated the name..." his eyes looked at her directly, "...your name."
Her stomach turned as she nodded. Had she really meant as much to the veteran soldier as he had meant to her? Had she really missed out on a different... perhaps better, life than this by choosing her career over her lovelife? The path glowed before her as the words tumbled out,
"Do you need me to come to you in person to see if the response is greater?"
"I..." it was clear that Renault wanted to ask exactly that and was caught off guarded by how she had anticipated the question.
"I... Yes, ma'am, we do, but we don't know how long this will take."
There was a pause, only the hum of machinery and the distant chatter of crewmen on the ship. The Marswoman was lost in thought. There was no telling how long Jack would be alive, even if it was still Jack under all that machinery. Something stirred in her heart, something tugged at her mind, something told her that perhaps, now, her life needed her more than her career. Her jaw set tightly, eyes bright, her words assured,
"I will let you know when I leave."
...Cathy sat in her anti-grav chair, looking up at the bare chested man as he spoke,
“When was the last time you had a good hot shower, Catherine?” his eyes were soft, a contrast to the tough and strong body that housed them, “Because I would really like to wash your back.”
Cathy sighed and looked at her leg, it had been a while since she had really enjoyed a good shower. Not being able to stand for a long period without a fear of falling down really put a limit on the time she spent cleaning herself.
“I… I can’t.” she swallowed hard, saddened by her shortcoming - the doubt in her eyes was evident.
Her heart skipped a few beats and she struggled for words, but he beat her to it as he closed in on her, placing an arm on each side of the floating chair she had made her way to his room in. He moved in so close that she could feel the heat coming off his body as he said, “I promise not to let you fall in the shower. I’ll hold you up myself if I have to.” He continued moving in, pressing even closer and whispering in her ear, “I promise.”-----------
OOC: Guys I am away in Belgium this weekend (yay!) so I won't be able to post during this time. Hence why I have jumped from down on the surface back to the ship
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Capt. Catherine Raiser, USS Victoria (ret.)
Cathy Knights
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/15/2012 04:17AM by Cathy Knights.
