Echo's in the corridors

Posted on Fri Dec 26th, 2025 @ 8:05pm by Avalon [ADMIN NPC]

Mission: Season 6: Episode 6: Conglomerate
Location: Various
530 words - 1.1 OF Standard Post Measure

It started as a whisper.

A hushed conversation between two technicians outside the turbolift on Deck Fifteen.

“Did you hear? They met down in Cargo Bay Three last week.”

“Who?”

“Lower decks crew. Engineers, med staff, maybe a marine. Just to talk.”

“About what?”

“Command. And how long we’re supposed to keep pretending everything’s fine.”

By the end of the next day, it wasn’t a whisper anymore.

Deck 8 — Mess Hall

A group of security crew sat at the far table, voices low over steaming mugs.

“‘Just a chat,’ huh? That’s what they said on the Hathaway before their CO got spaced.”

“Relax. It’s probably just people venting.”

“Maybe. Or maybe it’s the start of something. Word is, Tol was there — and that Trill nurse. And they weren’t exactly singing the Commodore’s praises.”

Someone laughed nervously. “Don’t let the XO hear you say that.”

The laughter died quickly.

Deck 4 — Maintenance Alcove

Two engineers exchanged glances while rerouting power couplings.

“Can you blame them, though?” one said quietly. “We’ve been out here nearly a full year. no true idea of how we get home, nothing but danger at all times and now this! And Command keeps saying ‘soon.’ Soon what?”

“Careful. Internal sensors pick up everything.”

“Yeah? Then maybe someone should be listening.”

A few minutes later, a log entry appeared in the ship’s internal buffer — no sender, no destination. Just one line:

“They’re starting to talk.”

Deck 20 — Crew Quarters Block C

A young ensign lay awake, staring at the ceiling. In the dark, she could hear the muffled voices of her bunkmates.

“They say a marine was there too. That he’s recruiting off-duty personnel for something.”

“Recruiting for what?”

“Maybe for when Command loses it.”

The ensign rolled over, heart pounding. Nobody said the word mutiny — not yet — but she could feel it hovering in the air like static.

Deck 2 — Officer’s Lounge

Lieutenant Toren Varin from Operations sipped his coffee and listened as a junior officer spoke in cautious tones.

“Some of the enlisted think Command’s hiding something about the Circinus Galaxy. That the Commodore’s whole 'it was an accident thing' is not true."

Varin’s eyebrow rose. “And you believe that?”

The junior officer looked away. “I… don’t know what to believe.”

Varin didn’t answer. He simply looked out the viewport, where the expanse of the Circinus Galaxy stared back - no true way home, nothing.

Deck 12 — Rumor Reaches the Bridge

By the week’s end, everyone had heard a different version.
A secret council.
A plan to seize the ship.
A protest for transparency.
A social gathering gone wrong.

Each retelling added new names, new motives, new fear.

And when the whispers finally reached the bridge, carried on the breath of an ensign who swore she “just overheard it in passing,” the damage was already done.

Trust had cracked — not cleanly, but deeply, spreading through the ship like a slow, invisible fracture.

And down in Cargo Bay Three, someone had scratched three words into the side of a duranium crate, barely visible under the grime and weld marks:

“We deserve answers."