Star Trek: USS Jupiter

Seven-USS Earhart

Present

Commander Kang Jun-Yeong's smile turns into a grin, ear to ear. "You're an engineer by trade, isn't that right Captain Kirk."

"Cut him off," Kristen yells turning to Theo and Charlie. The two officers yell, Aye captain! Then begin working diligently to find an off switch.

Kang draws on, taunting the young captain. He throws jab after jab at her. Throwing David Sherry under the bus, her previous captain, her parents and finally Christopher Pike. The last one has Kristen seething.

Kang never knew Christopher Pike, nor her parents. He has no right to drag their names through the mud. None at all.

"Cut off captain,"

Kristen glowers at the other ship. She pages her chief of medical. The CMO doesn't waste time responding. 'Captain,'

Kristen lets out a shaky breath. She does not want to give the order, but after what Kang said she can't take the chance and be unprepared. She's not going to lose an officer. Not today. "Prepare the medbay for radiation casualties,"

"What type?"

"Unsure,"

'Aye Captain,'

"Lee out." Kristen leans her palms on her knees, foot tapping. Her gaze locked onto the bridge of the Earhart.

In the depths of the USS Jupiter Ajaypal Behl's communicator goes off. The silly little jingle tells him it's Aslesha. His sister programmed it into his communicator during their first year at the academy. Nariem has a jingle as well. Albeit slightly different than his and their sisters.

Ajaypal opens his communicator to say hello but his older sister cuts him off. "Ajay run to the bridge, get this communicator to the Captain,"

"Why? What does—"

"Do as I say, Ajay!"

The young cadet does as his sister says and runs. He sprints as fast as his legs can take him. Past the warp core, through the engineering doors and to the turbo lift. Other cadets and lieutenants yell at him to slow down. Ajaypal does no such thing.

The young cadet keels over as the lift rockets to the bridge. Ajaypal braces himself on the wall, a deserved breather.

Then the doors slide open and he steps into the chaos.

"Captain Lee,"

Kristen checks over her shoulder. "Cadet? Wha—"

'Captain Lee, the first officer—'

"How are you able to communicate through the jamming?" Kristen swivels her chair to face the cadet. He doesn't have bridge duty, not for another eight days.

'Ajay—'

"I rigged up a sub-space signal to punch through jamming signals. It's short ranged but useful in tight situations,"

Kristen thinks back to the cadet's reports. As an engineer, Kristen likes to have each cadet in engineering work on a side project. It's a way Kristen can get to know the cadets. Ajaypal's is short-ranged transmissions. "Isn't this your big project for the year?"

"Yes ma'am,"

"Can you apply this to the Jupiter?"

Ajaypal freezes. His mouth gapes at the thought of rummaging around the Jupiter's com systems. He's good with handheld systems—but something the size of a ship. That is a whole other thing. A daunting task.