Dropping the facade
Posted on Sun Jul 26th, 2026 @ 8:44pm by Commander Mashiro Munetani "Shiro" & Captain Akeno Misaki & Captain Elias McEntyre & Lieutenant Commander Raelyn Mckenzie & Lieutenant Luna Eclipse of the House of Martok & Lieutenant Charlotte Averis
867 words; about a 4 minute read
Mission: Hunted
After their little 'chat' in the ready room, Akeno and Elias returned to the bridge. Akeno seemed far more relaxed, far more like her true self and not the 'perfect Captain' act she had been forcing herself to put on. She crossed the bridge and sat down in her chair.
"So... Yeah." She said. "We got found out. It seems we make terrible actors," she admitted to the bridge crew. She looked over at Elias. "But seriously though, rate our peformance. Did we even manage to pull off even a semi-decent impression of 'The perfect Starfleet crew'?"
"Pfff! Er...sssorry, Captain." Luna sputtered, finally completely dropping her Klingon 'knock-em-over-the-head' attitude toward Captain Elias.
“I thought it was a fine performance.” Elias commented brightly.
“Though I have told your captain that in order for this evaluation to be accurate I need to see y’all as you operate normally. So stand at ease, I don’t expect perfection I just expect yourselves”
Charlotte had arrived on the bridge, monitoring everything on a PADD, virtually simultaneously with the Captain making her comment and she stopped dead in her tracks with a confused look, “We were supposed to be acting like a competent crew? Did I miss a memo somewhere along the line? Sorry, Cap’n, I’ll do better next time.” She gave a warm smile that only slowly faded, knowing how she could put on an act if and when needed, but competence wasn’t one of those.
(Pffff! This just got even better!) Luna was trying to keep it together.
"You did just fine, Lieutenant," Mashiro assured her. "Under normal circumstances, a 5% variation in thruster performance would be nothing to write home about."
“I wasn’t worried, always better to have to investigate better performance than something bad. Makes me look better.” Charlotte quirked a smile, “Especially when I accidentally optimized the hydrogen flow rate, so we’ll have increased operational capability along with a tei percent lower fuel consumption.”
"Well, we're going now aren't we? Speaking of which. Luna, it's going to take a few days to get there right? Can we maintain our cruising speed for that long?" Akeno asked.
"Aye, Cap'm. I can keep 'er cruising at a Zlil's pace if you'd like." Luna winked, completely at ease now.
"Oook then..." Akeno said as she raised an eyebrow. "Lets keep her at a steady warp six. The starbase staff were kind enough to give the nacelles a good scrub, so lets not burn them out yet shall we?"
"Hehehe, yes, Ma'am. Maintaining Warp Six." Luna allowed her fingers to set the ship into her grove, then stretched.
Akeno looked over at Elias. "Captain. Don't take this the wrong way, but you do look a little out of place standing there. Why not take a seat with us? Stop making the place look untidy?" She commented with a wink as she indicated to the small guest bench like seat to her left.
Mashiro looked as if she were about to faint again; well absolutely no disrespect was willfully directed towards Captain McEntyre, surely, Akeno knew that this was a horrible idea, considering how visibly uncomfortable Mashiro was in Captain McEntyre's presence? It was practically taking every ounce of strength to keep it together as it was!
Akeno glanced over at Mashiro, a huge mischeavous smirk on her face. She kenw exactly what she was doing.
Elias nodded before he walked over and took the offered seat next to Mashiro, crossing his leg as he did.
Mashiro felt the Caitian's leg brush up against hers, and- fighting down an urge to scream- audibly sucked in her breath.
Akeno looked around, the bridge had fallen into its own rhythmn. She pushed herself up out of her chair. "Captain MxEntyre. I'm going to go look around at the other departments that we have on board. Care to join me?" She asled polietly. She glanced over at Shiro for a moment letting her know to take control of the bridge.
“I’d be happy to” Elias nods as he stood to follow Akeno to the turbolifts.
Akeno made her way towards the turbolift doors followed shortly by Captain McEntyre. "You kids have fun. No wild parties or anything whilst we're gone." She told the bridge officers before stepping into the turbolift.
Mashiro mouthed a curse word under her breath.
Luna giggled under her breath as the Captains left the Bridge.
"Rats" Raelyn quipped as Akeno and Captain McEntyre left.
Elias gave a knowing nod to Gil before the doors closed.
"So..." Charlotte said in a conspiratorial voice, but loud enough to be heard, "Who brought the beers?"
Luna was doubled over in silent laughter, trying desperately not to snort or howl at the absurdity of Charlotte's comment.
Posting by (in order of appearance):
Captain Akeno Misaki
Commanding Officer, USS Wayfarer (NCC-72113)
Captain Elias McEntyre
Mission Advisor
Lieutenant Luna Eclipse of the House Martok
Chief Flight Control Officer, USS Wayfarer (NCC-72113)
Lieutenant Charlotte Averis
Chief Engineer, USS Wayfarer (NCC-72113)
Commander Mashiro Munetani
Executive Officer, USS Wayfarer (NCC-72113)
Lieutenant Commander Raelyn McKenzie
Chief Security Officer, USS Wayfarer (NCC-72113)
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