Chris: Nightmares and Challenges

Who: Chris Harris
When: After a night's drinking in Parrot's
Where: His Quarters
Chris was walking down a long white corridor, he'd been somewhere he wasn't
supposed to be that night, he couldn't remember where, and he wanted to get as
far away from there as quickly as he could physically manage without giving
himself away.
He walked down some steps, before continuing along a gleaming white corridor. He
raised an arm to say hello to a passing lieutenant, not wanting to appear
overfriendly, and he controlled his emotions well, the lietenant even seemed
pleased that his superior knew his first name.
He was quite close to his quarters, and was smiling to himself as he quietly did
some calculations out loud regarding the last, and rather disconcerting 12
minutes that the crew took to respond to an emergency situation, and then
suddenly he couldn't talk anymore.
A pain spread through his abdomen and a someone in a mask walked rather briskly
away as he turned to look. Chris looked down to see blood rapidly diffusing
across his shirt, and to his horror, saw a one inch gash where he assumed a
knife had stabbed him, and he knew then that he was going to die as he realised
the knife wound was just in line with his mesenteric artery.
He collapsed on the floor, feeling very tired and resisting an overwhelming
desire to close his eyes and just fall asleep, his last thought in this life
being how alone he felt at his death. He could no longer resist the urge to
sleep, and gracefully closed his eyes as he took his last breath, and he drifted
off peacefully, as blood trailed down his cheek from the corner of his mouth.
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Chris awoke with a start, his immediate reaction to wrap his hand around the
hilt of his newly refurbished GunBlade and wield it ferociously in his hand as
he jumped out of bed and raised his weapon to protect himself.
Realising he had been dreaming, he breathed heavily, as he wandered around his
quarters to ensure there were no interlopers lurking in wait, to strike when he
had lowered his defences.
He sighed heavily, feeling momentarily as though the energy had been sapped from
him, his hand unclenched around his weapon, the blade falling to the floor, as
he sunk to his knees, resting his head in his hands as a single tear trickled
down his cheek.
Wiping the tear off, he began to breathe normally again as he sat down to drink
a cup of tea, while he waited for the shower to run hot. An idea came to him as
he did so, based partly on his dream, and he called up various figures on his
computer and did the same calculations regarding battle drills again, before he
went to have a shower.
As the warm water fell over him, Chris felt a pain in his abdomen again. Not as
bad as it was originally, but it had never really healed, he still bore a large
scar, and it frequently twinged as though it was happening all over him. The
dreams were becoming increasingly irksome for him, but he was determined not to
let them bother him any longer, and busied himself thinking about his current
plan, smiling to himself as he did. He did enjoy this kind of thing.
After he had got dressed, he attached the GunBlade to his waist and walked along
to the security office, pausing briefly to wish his subordinates a good morning,
then continuing into his own office.
Upon entering, he closed the door before turning to the large screen on his
wall, "Holly, mate, got big plans for today, need your help."
Holly then appeared on the monitor, "'sup?"
"We're going to have a battle drill that doesn't just involve my staff in
security for once. I know Jay's on the away team, but we haven't had one in
months, so please let him know, would you? I've already let Phil know. These
drills are my perogative, so I'll be taking charge. Please let the department
heads know, and tell them to act as though it were a real situation." said Chris
"Sounds like we're going to have some fun. Care for a small wager on how long it
takes them to respond? I say over 20 minutes"
"My money's on under 15. If you win, I'll erase all your favourite books from
your memory so you can read them again. If I win, you find me the best bottle of
whiskey in the cargo that we're carrying."
"You're on, mate" said Holly, spitting on his hand then wiping it on the screen.
As Chris looked at him quizzically, he responded with "It's the closest I can
get to a real handshake, sorry.", before somehow getting a can of Mr. Muscle and
cleaning his screen.
Chris shook his head before adding "Please keep the statistics regarding all
crew performances, indiviual performances, departmental statistics et cetera
regarding this drill. I'm sure CK's department will be at the bottom of the
table yet again this season, but if any department takes too long, I'll mandate
them with extra security drills, done by me, before the next shipwide drill.
Also, can you come up with the appropriate nonsense when the crew try to scan to
see what the emergency is, try to destroy the ship we're fighting et al, mate?
I'd like to keep this drill going as long as possible to see how we perform.
However, please don't ACTUALLY let them fire at anything. Jay'd never forgive me
if we blew up the sun while he was still over there. You get what I'm saying,
right?"
"You've crossed the t's and dotted the i's as per usual, Chris. You want the
kitchen sink thrown in there as well?" retorted Holly.
"Smeg off, Holly!" laughed Chris, "Be careful and thorough here, ok?"
"You got it. I look forward to reading Jenna Jameson's autobiography again."
said Holly, sticking out his tongue.
"I'll deal with the announcements mate, you sort out all the technical crap for
me, and communicate with Callum on the false scanner readings and such, subtley
of course. Have them lock weapons on us in 60 seconds. I'll give the word when
the drill is over. Please keep all the automatic sensor date and continue
looking over it in case anything happens during the drill. Especially the
science vessel, the starbug and the supernova. See you later mate." replied
Chris as he chuckled, and Holly winked before disappearing from the screen.
Chris's computer beeped to indicate that Holly's false sensor data had been
implemented, at which point, Chris reached over and pressed the button on the
wall to activate the shipwide speaker.
"Attention all hands, this is Lieutenant Commander Chris Harris. There is an
enemy ship in sensor range, they appear to have shields and weapons online. We
should prepare for boarding parties. BATTLESTATIONS."
<Tag - you heard the man, BATTLESTATIONS everyone!!!>
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OOC: I've been a bit busy with my real life, but I thought I owed it to you all
to come back now that I've made the time again. Also I just had surgery and will
be in bed for two weeks and needed something to do, but largely because I had
the time and I had a REALLY awesome idea to come back with. If it in any way
interferes with the main action at this time, then it doesn't have to last very
long, I just thought it'd be an interesting subplot.
Hope you all enjoy. It's great to be back.