Message in a Buoy

Posted on Wed Mar 29th, 2023 @ 8:06pm by Captain Michael Murphy & Lieutenant Commander Steve Ryan

Mission: The World We Never Knew
Location: Deck 6 - Mess Hall

The mess hall of the USS Montana was busy with officers getting their meals and chatting in between one rotation and the other. Steve sat silently and lonely at one of the tables close to the entrance of the room. He liked that place. It was probably the less crowded part of the room and allowed him the best view of the area. On the table was an empty dish and in his hands a “USS Montana” cup from which, from time to time, he sipped some hot tea.

Overthinking, he found himself scanning all the officers in the area to then stop at the entry door of the mess hall, checking who was coming in as the doors slid open.

Commander Murphy walked in, lost in thought. He almost missed the days when he held a lower rank and had only one problem to deal with at a time. He stopped and looked around, not quite remembering where he had been walking to.

Steve noticed Commander Murphy was quite lost. “Looking for something...or someone... Sir?” he asked, smiling while laying his mug on the table in front of him.

Murphy turned his attention to the Lieutenant. "No. But it seems like a good time to grab a cup of coffee. Mind if I join you?"

“Please, have a seat” he pointed to the chair in front of him. “How are things coming along?” Ryan asked.

"About as well as can be expected," Murphy answered. He realized he had never gotten the coffee, but wasn't worried enough about it to get back up. "How about with you?

Steve frowned “I think I can say the same” he moved the mug between his hands “We’ve been working on the warning buoy to be released at the identified coordinates. We’re “pimping it up” to better withstand the space weather” he paused “ Engineering is doing a great job on that. We just need to come up with the right message. Not too long, not too short” he smiled.

Murphy nodded. He almost suggested a message, but stopped himself. He knew he could count on his crew, and they were obviously putting effort into the thought process. "Thank you again for taking point on this. It's nice to have one less thing to worry about."

Steve cracked a smile “We’re a crew, we perform well if we work together and share both burdens and victories.” he slowly raised the mug towards his lips when Ens. O’donnel rushed into the mess hall glancing here and there actively looking for someone.

Her blue eyes locked on Steve’s ones. They both smiled and she headed straight for the table in which the two officers were sitting. It took Deborah just a fraction of a second to spot commander Murphy at Steve’s table as well. She snapped to attention and saluted. “Good morning, sir”.

"At ease, Ensign," Murphy answered, keeping a serious face. "I don't believe we've met."

The blonde woman relaxed her posture and shily smiled to the commander "I'm ensign Deborah O'donnel, sir. engineering technician" she answered to Murphy.

"Glad to meet you, Ensign O'Donnel. It's always good to meet a member of our engineering team," he said, sincerely.

“My pleasure, Sir” she smiled “I came to give good news to St…lieutenant Ryan. We finished the preparation of the beacon buoys.” she stated mostly directed towards Steve than Murphy.
“thankyou ensign” Steve thanked pointing her to a chair next to him “please, have a seat”

O’donnel eyes darted from Steve to Murphy a couple of times before she politely refused the seat “no, thankyou, I just wanted to update you and...well…I’ll return to my quarters to get some rest” she smiled “but before that I wanted to tell you that I also took the liberty to come up with a sample of broadcasting message too.'' She took a PaDD from the waist holder and tapped a few commands to recall the programmed text.

“Here it is” she laid the PaDD over the table so as both the commander and the lieutenant could see it.

The PaDD screen showed the following text: “Attention all vessels, keep clear of this area of space. Danger ahead. In case you get trapped in this space-anomaly, exit procedure follows.”

“This message shall be transmitted when a ship enters the buoy’s sensors” the blonde woman locked her shining blue eyes on Steve “as you requested” she said to then continue the explanation. “The exit procedure will be added once it will be made available from the competent department and will be transmitted and downloadable as a data stream together with the broadcasted message” she concluded watching the senior officers in anticipation.

Steve nodded a couple of times, “Seems more than appropriate to me” to then look over at commander Murphy’s reaction.

Murphy finished taking in the information and then looked back up at the Ensign. "This is fantastic work, Ensign. Thank you."

Deborah’s face lit up “Oh, thankyou, sir” she said recovering her PaDD from the table. “Then I’ll get it saved and programmed into the buoys before heading back to my quarters”. She saluted commander Murphy and smiled back to Ryan before leaving the mess hall in a hurry.

Lt. Ryan smiled her back and watched her leave before returning his stare towards Murphy “Sounds like we’re done with our part of the job. Now it’s up to the science department to get us out.”

Murphy nodded in agreement. "Lieutenant Wilson is as good as they come. He'll get us out."

Steve slightly bowed his head in acknowledgement. "I'm sure he will" he echoed as he sipped the last bit of tea from his mug.


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Commander Michael Murphy
Executive Officer

Lieutenant Steve Ryan
Chief Communications and Operations Officer

Ensign Deborah O'Donnel
Engineering Technician