Through Time, Darkly

[Pryce]

Pryce.Research.N101
Mess Hall

The Mess was mostly deserted, the crew on their various duty shifts.

Elias Nickatelli sat at a table. He had just finished a late breakfast, and was just about to leave when Captain Wells dropped into the seat across from him. There was an instant were Nickatelli considered making some excuse to leave, then he realized he was trapped.


Wells saw the expressions flash across the mans face and correctly surmised their meaning. He sat a moment before speaking. When he did, the words came evenly, and with a slight aura of menace;


"What.The.Hell. Happened down there?" Wells stared into Nickatellis' eyes and the even gaze made Elias want to squirm in his seat.


Nickatelli replied. "That man down there is dangerous, dangerous, I'll telling you. He's a threat to the ship."


Wells was always one to hear someone out, to listen to the opinions and suggestions of his crew. He was well liked because of this, and had gotten out of, or avoided altogether, many tight spots because of that input.


But the main consideration remained that this man had almost started a gunfight in the cargo hold.


"The way I hear it, *you* are the one thats a threat to the ship. Robert told me that you ordered him to shoot our guest. Now, I admit, I almost double checked, but I seem to remember that strike force commanding appears nowhere in your list of duties. Now think carefully, and tell me what you have to say about that."


Nickatelli replied; "I thought he was going to start shooting any second. It was getting out of control, and we had to regain the upper hand before he exploded. He was getting agitated for no reason, and we should have taken him down.You weren't there, and you don't know what it was like."


Wells shook his head. "But I was there. I was watching the visual feed from the hangar. I saw you creeping up on him with that helmet. You escalated the situation when giving our guest a little more space would have defused it. Denise saw that soon enough. I can't understand why you didn't."


"She has no idea what she's doing, can't you see that? She isn't a scientist, she's just an assistant! They've got this clueless school girl messing with squids, radiation, and all kinds of deadly whatzits and no one is saying anything about it. Well I'm saying! She's a clueless as a rock school girl and she's gonna get us killed! She's wanted to be best pals with this guy from point one. The man says he's from the past. That he traveled here, from Sol. *That* *Is* *Crazy* And she takes it as truth right away. I thought these lab types were all about facts. Where's hers?"

Wells hated to admit it to himself, but Nickatelli had made a valid point. He replied carefully;

"I hear what you're saying Elias, but that wasn't the way to voice those opinions. It's moot now. Doctor Ross is calling the lab shots now, so I guess they'll take a more "Lab type" approach.

Nickatelli bared his teeth. "Don't you get it? Ross and Denise are old pals. Denise is still right in the mix, and she's gonna end up doing what she wants anyway.

Wells replied; "Look Elias, I need cool heads, you copy? I need you to stow your baggage and keep your actions squared away. I know Denise, alright?. She's level headed, and she has good instincts that I trust. She's never steered us wrong before."

Nickatelli sneered. "You think she's this perfect little blonde labcoat, who will one day stop refusing you and finally let you bend her over and.."

"Congratulations," Wells interrupted, "You have just won yourself a free ticket off my ship." He'd finally lost his patience.

Nickatelli stood. "It'll be my ship soon enough. Then we'll see."

Nickatelli angrily left the Mess hall.

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