Astrea Bingo

Posted on Tue Jul 16th, 2024 @ 2:05am by Captain Remy Johansen & Commander Maxun Spello & Lieutenant Eirly Andersen & Lieutenant JG Xalanth

1,801 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: The Menagerie: side stories & mischief making
Location: USS Astrea... From the Lower Decks
Timeline: MD Alpha

"Ow! What the heck." The ensign in gold rubbed her shoulder and lifted her palm sized phaser, sometimes called a cricket and got ready to fire back at an ensign in red when Captain Johansen rounded the corner.

"What is going on here?" The Captain asked, her voice both with an edge of concern and a note of discipline as she was already suspicious. The young man looked like he was thinking about running for a split second before his brain kicked in and and he stayed put.

"Nothing, Captain," the female ensign stood up straight and and stared at the wall behind the Captain. "Just an accident, it won't happen again."

"It better not. I recognize you from Commander Winters' rotation in engineering. Why are you aiming phasers at one another in the corridors?" Remy asked. "And don't make me ask twice."

The young man in red handed the Captain a PADD. "We're sorry, ma'am."

The Captain eyed both officers as she tapped the PADD bringing it to life. The words "Astrea Bingo" filled the top of the screen followed by a bingo card with several items marked out. Remy's eyes widened. In her day the game was a list with not quite so many items on it. The crew could turnover cards, or play blackout and this game could run for quite a while.

Captain Johansen looked at the two sternly. "You two are going to tell Lieutenants Andersen and Xalanth everything you know about how this is being played right now. And we'll decide what to do from there. Waiting your turn to work a Bridge shift and getting a chance at Conn is one thing. But, I can't have my officers engaging in phaser duels in the hallways. Understood?"

The two stood at attention, their faces reflecting an appropriate amount of shame - whether it was remorse at getting caught or for their actions would be sorted out another time.

Remy tapped her communicator, "Captain Johansen to Chief Andersen and Assistant Chief Xalanth. I'm on my way to Deck 5 interrogation facilities. I have two ensigns to pass off to you."

Xalanth had been cleaning the ship's heavy phaser's rifles when he heard the commbadge. " On my way ma'am." he said re assembling the rifle and putting it away safely again.

Eirly had been going over the security clearances for the enlisted crew and had almost finished when the Captain called through. Interrogation facilities, what the? "I'll be there shortly," came her reply as she stood up and walked out of her office.

Captain Johansen looked at the two junior officers and held our her hand. Each turned over their compact phaster to the Captain. "Let's go," she ordered them.

As the two led the way to the nearest turbolift with the Captain closely behind them, Johansen tapped her communicator, "Captain Johansen to Commander Spello and Chief Kayto. Please report to the Ready Room in thirty minutes. Johansen out."

***Bridge***

Maxun was sitting in the center seat, when he heard Remy's call come in. He reached up and tapped his commbadge. "I'll see you then, Ma'am. Spello out." He then double-tapped his commbadge and sat back, wondering what the meeting was about.

Just off to the side at a nearby auxillary station going through some rosters and reports, Kayto gave an acknowledgement as well "Aye Captain". Unfortunately he'd been too bust as of late to give much thought as to what it may be about. The man had been more or less a robot the last couple of days.

The trip to Deck 5 was intentionally quiet. Captain Johansen certainly wasn't about to hold up anyone's career for a harmless game, but shooting each other with a phaser in a public corridor was one of the dumber things she'd cought a junior officer doing in her career and they needed to get a handle on this game of "Bingo" before it got out of control. After passing the ensigns off to Lieutenants Andersen and Xalanth and copying their little "rule book," Captain Johansen made her way to her Ready Room to meet with the First Officer and Chief of the Boat.

When the turbolift doors slid open, and Remy entered tge bridge, Maxun stood and handed the Conn off to the next senior officer. He then joined his captain as they made their way to her ready room.

Nevan, taking note of the Captain's arrival also got up from his station and followed in tow just behind the other two.

When the three of them were in the ready room, and the doors were closed, Maxun interlocked his hands behind his back and asked, "What's up, Captain? You seem...out of sorts about something."

The Chief himself moved around and stood next to the XO, curious as to what had gotten the Captain concerned. He'd felt lately more often than not that the enlisted had been causing more than their fair share of issues, but he wasn't sure if that was because he was now more aware or of it was actually true.

"Nothing too serious. I just caught a couple of ensigns shooting one another with type one hand phasers, to try to knock out a bingo square," Remy stated seriously. She handed Spello the original PADD she had confiscated from the pair.

Spello took the PADD and sighed. "Enterprise...well...Astrea Bingo..." he shook his head in mild resignation. "I've certainly experienced this in the past. He'll, I may have even partook in it myself, when I was younger." He frowned in thought, before adding, "How did they deactivate the internal sensors? When they started to shoot each other, the alarms should've been tripped."

"I'm not sure if it didn't. I took them straight to Lieutenants Andersen and Xalanth," Remy responded. "They weren't fighting with them - looks that challenge might be a who is the quicker draw sort of thing. They were using the new palm-sized crickets on what had to have been the lowest setting. I heard the shot and Ensign Jayl sounded like she'd been hit - but she was walking and her uniform didn't look touched."

Maxun nodded thoughtfully, then looked over at Remy. "So, Captain, what do you want to do about this newest iteration of bingo?"

"Yellow alert?" Remy chided. "Your office made the list, what do you think?" Remy asked. "Chief Kayto, care to weigh in, it's my understanding the enlisted crew enjoy playing as well."

"This is all a bit disturbing to say the least. I myself never participated, but what happens when one of these pairs runs across another crew member that doesn't realize their playing bingo and thinks something serious is actually happening with these crickets? Someone risks actually getting shot as a result. In addition, there are many enlisted that can end up participating, so it sounds like I'll be preparing my self to write up a lot of non judicial punishments here soon....." Nevan said.

Astrea Bingo

Serenade an unsuspecting subject
Klingon live food challenge
Sign the Scorch
Unauthorized Space Walk
Phaser Duel
Change the Language to Andorian on the UT
Sit in the Captain's Chair
Order a Protein Shake from the XO's Office
Drink Coffee in the Ready Room
Convince Someone to Overdress to a Work Event
Gravity boot hang challenge
Turbolift two-floor shout challenge
Change person's food with transporter while they are eating
Program Civil Ops computer to play Klingon Opera at "lights"
Sneak a tribble into the transporter buffer
Rearrange a dept's conference room furniture
Set dept's conference room replicator to only make durian fruit
Hide something on display in your CO's office
Medical Tricorder Vulcan Marsupial Challenge
"Decorate" a public area for a holiday

After looking over the list of tasks, Maxun chuckled. "I must say, this list is certainly more comprehensive than I've seen in the past.

Remy took in a deep breath and sighed audibly. "That's what I'm afraid of. Normally this goes on a week or two. This could take months. Holodeck cleaning and waste reclamation duty for the minor infractions. We might have to take some of the more serious ones on a case by case basis?"

Spello nodded. "Some of these require security access tampering of some kind. Perhaps, for those, we find a punishment befitting each one, as you said."

"Something to keep an eye on," the Captain said. "I thought it would be good for each of you to get an eye on the list so you'd know what you were looking for if you see a junior officer behaving strangely."

"Anyway, that's all I got for now. Commander Spello, you and I can talk after the Andersen and Xalanth have concluded their interviews, and we've had a chance to take a look at their files. Xalanth has already revoked their ability to withdraw weapons from any of the lockers," Remy added.

"You can both get back to what you were doing unless you have anything else?" Remy looked at each of the officers.

Maxun shook his head. "Just that I might just set a little trap in my ready room, try to catch our little game players in the act." He smirked as he spoke. He then stood, and dipped his head towards Remy. "I'll be on the bridge if you need me, Captain." He then turned and strode out of her ready room, resuming his post at command.

Kayto remained a moment "I'll hold a meeting with the senior NCO's this afternoon to remind the enlisted that anything on this list that constitutes an infraction or security violation will be severely dealt with. I'm not going to allow the good order and conduct on board to begin unravelling from the bottom up. I'll make sure they have copies of this list, if for some reason they already don't. If you have any updates Captain, please don't hesitate to let me know."

"Plan on it," Remy responded with an affirmative nod.

Nevan maintained a serious look as he left the office. he wasn't entirely sure how to read the woman at the moment. Concern, surprise, maybe some amusement. It was apparent he'd need to take some time this evening to relax and re center himself.

~tbc~

Captain Remira Johansen
Commanding Officer
USS Astrea

Lt. Commander Maxun Spello
First Officer
USS Astrea

Chief Petty Officer Nevan Kayto
Chief of the Boat
USS Astrea

Lieutenant Eirly Anderson
Chief of Security and Tactical
USS Astrea

Lieutenant J.G. Xalanth
Assistant Chief of Security and Tactical
USS Astrea

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