Explanations

Posted on 22 May 2013 @ 9:07pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Lieutenant Aria Rice & Petty Officer 1st Class Siren Hex Saalm & Lieutenant Commander Amynta Markos & Warrant Officer Evan Kell

3,745 words; about a 19 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: Runabout, Deep Space (Sector 025)
Timeline: MD 07 - 0500 hrs

Previously, on Mysterious Orders...

"If there are no further questions, you are all dismissed." the captain said after a long silence. "Get some sleep, commander, and report to Alpha shift in my absence. Everyone else, meet me in Transporter Room One in an hour." she ordered with a curt nod to everyone assembled. Reporting for an away mission in the middle of the night was not ideal, but sometimes it was necessary during the career of a Starfleet officer.

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

Standing in Transporter Room 1 with a large duffel bag of clothing and supplies slung over her shoulder, the Orion captain patiently waited for the rest of her team to arrive. Memories of her recent classified orders echoed throughout her mind and despite the information which she had obtained about the developing situation, she still had many questions. In addition, she wasn't very pleased at being called away from her ship mid-mission, but knew that Galileo would be in good hands with her XO at the helm. If all went well, she would only be gone from her ship for four days...nevertheless, they would be four very long days.

Kell entered the room first, with a small kit over his shoulder. One of his hands was grasping the kit, while the other was settled near his pocket. "Captain," the Capellan nodded toward Saalm mildly. "Morning." And a very early morning it was.

Siren finally moved on in too, her own bag on her back. Secretly, she would have preferred wearing her own clothes than the uniform, but that was purely because she didn't like it. Nothing to do with work. Still, she wore a crisp, pressed uniform with nice shiny boots. Her boots had been a matter of contention with officers in the past. She didn't want to cast a bad impression on Lirha. Not now. She smiled warmly to the Captain, seeming much more herself now she was more awake, her red hair still held in place with a couple of chopsticks now, in a loose knot high on the back of her head. She let the bag drop to her feet, taking a breath as she straightened up and caught her breath. "You have no idea how difficult it is to pack everything I need to travel into such a small bag," she said lightly, but with a small, almost teasing smile, trying to lighten the atmosphere with a playful dig at herself for being, supposedly, a bit 'girly'. It wasn't necessarily true, but it wasn't a bad assumption for others to reach sometimes. In fact, it could be useful.

Kell eyed Hex neutrally as she entered, noting the shock of flaming bright hair. As always, no opinion of her popped up in his head, that would take some time to develop. "What'd you pack?" Kell asked, leaning against the wall beside the transporter pad.

"Three skirts, four tops, a sweater, a pair of denims, five pairs of stockings, three pairs of shoes and a makeup bag the size of a melon," Siren replied easily, but she gave a playful wink to him.

"I like your style," Aria said as she walked in, her bag over her shoulder as she grinned. She wore her uniform, of course...her hair tied back, but there was red streaks in it now. "Sort of the same for me, just added boots instead..."

Amynta followed shortly after Rice, in her skirt uniform with her hair tied up as well. It had to be done while on duty. She stopped and put her bag down, her makeup flawless as she looked over at Siren, a small smile curling her lips. "I see you are well packed, Red. I approve...." she looked over at Kell, studying the man for a long moment. She had not yet had the chance to speak to the man properly. He was short for a Capellan...very short for the species actually. She remembered glancing at the Warrant Officer's file. She would make a point of reading it properly once she knew the man.

Aware of Markos' less than subtle scrutiny, Kell's head drifted lazily to one side, blinking slowly at her. He lifted up his bag. "I've got uniforms. And," he pulled out The Left Hand of Darkness by Le Guin, "light reading."

Aria looked at him before smiling, her eyes shining. "I always preferred George RR Martin myself..." she said teasingly, glad to see that someone actually did some real reading on this ship. "You know, for the ancient classics."

Kell flipped the illustrated PADD in his hand and caught it idly, using his finger to direct it to his bookmarked page. "Game of Thrones girl," he commented wryly.

"Of course," she said as she watched him, her eyes shining. "Had a thing for the Lannisters, but don't tell a soul...."

Amynta watched them as if they were speaking another language, looking over at Lirha before taking a breath. "Looks like we are all here, Captain."

Lirha nodded to Markos and the rest the assembled group. "Very good." she said rather simply, then stepped up onto the transporter pad into the front position. "Once we arrive on board Venture, I must briefly speak to the XO before we all depart. While I do that, the rest of you are to report to the main shuttlebay on Deck Four. I should be there in a few minutes." she instructed the group.

Aria looked over at Kell before smiling, giving a quick nod to Lirha. "Yes Captain, we'll meet you there," she said quickly.

Kell held Aria's eyes with a small smile, breaking the illusion that he was incapable of doing so, and nodded to the captain, adjusting his kit further over his shoulder and stepping up onto the pad.

Aria smiled as she got up as well, taking a deeper breath. "Happy days," she whispered softly. She wasn't too keen on transporters.

Amynta looked at Siren, her eyes shining before she moved onto the transporter pad. "Don't worry too much, girl..." she told Aria. "We are going on an adventure."

Siren laughed softly as she moved up with the others, bag slung over her shoulder. "Close your eyes and pretend you're dreaming," she gave a small smile to Aria before looking ahead, ready to beam. She wasn't keen on them either. They didn't have transporters where she was from, they were still new to her.

Aria let out a breath, closing her eyes tightly. "I'm dreaming..." she murmured, then repeated it into a whispering chant.

With everyone on the transporter pad, Lirha tapped her commbadge to notify the other ship of their pending arrival. "Galileo to Venture, we have five to beam over." she said, then waited a brief moment before the transporter operator's voice sounded in reply.

"Affirmative, Galileo. We're standing by." came the response over the comm, after which Lirha looked at her own transporter operator and gave him a curt nod.

The operations officer tapped several commands into the console and began the transport sequence, and a bright shimmer of white and blue particles de-materialized the five crew members and promptly reassembled them on USS Venture's transporter pad.

Lirha blinked as she took in the view of the Galaxy Class' larger transporter room, then proceeded to step off the pad and adjust the strap around her shoulder. She looked back at her team and gave them a nod indicating for them to proceed to the shuttlebay, then moved towards the exit to make her way to the bridge for a quick stop. "I will join you all shortly." she informed the group, then disappeared out through the door with a swish.

Siren moved straight for the bulkhead of the corridor, asking the computer for directions to get to the shuttlebay. She could see them getting lost otherwise. She walked with the others, following the directions that lit up on the bulkhead towards the shuttlebay. She made sure she was right, tight in the middle of the group as they walked, so she could keep her voice low. "I wouldn't want to be on a ship like this," she admitted quietly. "It's too big."

Following alongside Hex, Kell remained mostly silent, peeking through the corridors curiously. "I think this is the biggest ship I've ever been on," he commented to the group in the vast silence generated by wide open spaces, chrome and white.

After finishing up a quick chat with Venture's XO, Lirha departed from the bridge and swiftly made her way to the turbolift and down to Deck 4. It had been a little over a year since she had last served aboard a Galaxy Class, but the deck layout was still familiar in her head and she soon arrived at the large main shuttlebay. Stepping through the double gray doors and entering the expansive hangar, the Orion captain searched for her team and quickly found them standing around one of the Danube runabouts on the far side of the bay.

Lirha checked in with the shuttlebay manager then made her way over to the runabout, giving her team a polite nod. "Everything is all set, are we ready to get underway?" she asked, wondering if everyone was ready to board the craft and depart.

"Set and ready," Kell replied, and once the shuttle doors opened, he climbed inside and took a seat at the starboard side behind the copilot's chair.

Siren followed, her breath tight as she managed to set her bag down before taking a seat. "Ready and accounted for," she assured.

"And in one piece," Amynta said and looked over at Rice before moving next to Siren, with a small smile as she got seated.

Aria got in and took a seat, looking at Amynta before shaking her head. "I haven't seen my insides yet...my tummy is not happy!" she joked and eased back, getting comfortable.

Lirha was the last to climb into the runabout and she couldn't help but grin at the loose dynamic between Markos and Rice. She was pleased to see members of her crew in relatively good spirits despite the early hour of the morning and the covertness surrounding their departure from the Rojar system. Closing the hatch behind her and stowing her bag in one of the crew bunks, she proceeded to move up to the cockpit where she took a seat in the pilot's chair.

The pre-flight sequence was a bit more lengthy for the Danube Class than for most other smaller shuttles, but after about five minutes, the runabout's systems were fully operational and they were ready for departure. Lirha signaled Venture to indicate their readiness, after which the shuttlebay manager opened the massive door to the shuttlebay to allow them to exit the Galaxy Class' saucer section.

With careful manual manipulation of the flight controls, Lirha brought their craft into a controlled hover then slowly thrusted forward through the protective force field and out into space. After performing a quick maneuver to put some distance between themselves and the mothership, the Orion captain engaged the warp drive and runabout's nacelles briefly flared while snapping the craft into it's maximum velocity. The stars streaked by the viewports and the Rojar system quickly faded away behind them, signifying that their classified journey had begun.

Fifteen minutes into their trip, Lirha now had the runabout on autopilot and slowly stood from her seat. She stretched her arms out over her head and suppressed a yawn, then finally addressed her team. "Now that we are underway and out of direct comm range, I would like to brief you all on the details of our assignment." she said, then motioned with her hand towards the aft cabin which had ample room for them to all sit down around a table. "Shall we?"

Siren nodded and pushed herself up as she watched Lirha with curiosity. "I've been having to bite my lip from asking since you joined us," she admitted with a chuckle, heading through and slipping into one of the strangely comfortable chairs.

Markos watched her, taking a breath as she moved to take a seat. She said down and crossed her legs, taking her padd and tapping a perfectly manicured nail against it to activate it. "And knowing how things work in your world, Captain...then this will most certainly be very juicy..."

Aria watched them all before sitting down as well, glancing over at Amynta before around at everyone. This would most likely be very...security orientated. She was there as additional muscle she supposed. And that was bloody ironic.

After moving to the back cabin and procuring a warm mug of hot chocolate for herself, Lirha took a long sip of the foamy drink then sat down with her colleagues. "I would like to apologize for the sudden nature of our departure. It is not ideal for me to have to assemble on such short notice, but there is a fluid situation developing back at SB-185." she began, then unclipped her PADD from her belt and queued up several important pieces of information for herself. "What I am about to tell you is classified, level ten authorization only, and the contents of this briefing and mission will not leave the members of this room." she said, glancing around at all of the team members to make sure they understood her order.

Amynta looked around at the others before nodding, meeting her eyes. She rarely spoke about work to people anyway. Old habits broke hard.

"Hey, I won't babble," Aria said quickly, wanting to reassure Lirha as she met her eyes.

Siren gave a serious nod too, frowning slightly. "Of course, Captain," she said softly before glancing to Amynta, her co-worker in the intelligence department that she'd worked several hours worth of shift time with. It was a concerning opening gambit from Lirha.

Well-used to missions of this nature, Kell was calm and collected as he sat down at the table, hands folded over one another and posture straight. He was neutral, ready to accept what had come their way. He met Saalm's eyes and nodded evenly.

Lirha took another long sip of her drink to sooth her parched throat, then began to explain the complicated situation. "Last night I was contacted by Rear Admiral Janis, the CO of Starbase 185." she began. "She informed me that a Romulan defector had just arrived at the perimeter of her base's operations in a scout ship, and was subsequently escorted to the station and brought on board. This defector stated that she has critical and vital knowledge of her government's operations within the neighboring sectors and is apparently willing to share it with us provided she is granted asylum to the UFP. This information could very well pertain to Galileo's current mission in the Rojar system and could be linked to the recent intelligence reports of tachyon emissions in our expanded vicinity."

"When this defector arrived and was initially interrogated, she refused to speak to anyone...except myself." she continued, letting the words sink in for a short moment. "She specifically mentioned me by name and apparently knows who I am, and requested my presence at the negotiation table. And because she is refusing to speak further and only to myself, Starfleet is in somewhat of a conundrum. Command is wary of her intentions and my protection, yet her claims are too substantial to ignore...therefore I was recalled to the starbase in order to personally question her. She also...claims to have knowledge of Project Sienna."

"Do you have any idea who she is?" Kell asked the first and most obvious question.

"Yes, we do." Lirha answered the warrant officer with a curt nod. She tapped a few commands into her PADD and linked it to the nearby wall-mounted LCARS display, then swiveled in her chair to face the large monitor as the Romulan woman's head shot and profile information were suddenly displayed. "Her name is Commander Rendora and she is not only a decorated captain, but also a former member of the Tal Shiar. She participated in several critical engagements against Klingon forces throughout the late 2360s and early 2370s, and also participated in every major battle during the Dominion War in which Romulan coalition forces were involved."

"Our intelligence networks were able to gather a great deal of information about her over the years...that is, up until the Hobus disaster two years ago, after which she seemingly vanished without a trace in the midst of the chaos. With no leads on her whereabouts or activities, Starfleet Intelligence assumed that she had either been killed or exiled during the Empire's ensuing collapse and subsequent power struggles. Now, almost three years later...she has suddenly reappeared and wishes to defect. A most unusual situation." the captain explained.

"She's never shown signs of Federation allegiance," Kell gathered. "A reemergence like that could be a tactical ploy. You have any idea why she wants to talk to you specifically?"

Siren tapped her fingertips against the tabletop with a frown, clearly agitated. She sat back, letting out a long breath. "Smells like a trap. Don't play her tune," she said, shaking her head. She knew she was probably more suspicious and less trusting than the average person, but she didn't care, she said it anyway.

Lirha silently agreed with the two crew members' assessment but was also hesitant to jump to quick conclusions. Her past experiences working in Starfleet Intelligence had taught her that Romulan actions and motives were never easy to discern, and there was often always more than meets the eye when dealing with them. "Yes, it could possibly be some sort of set up, however the commander is already in custody aboard SB-185. The base is well-protected so I am not sure what she could hope to accomplish." she replied, then looked at Kell to answer his question.

"As for myself, I am not exactly sure why she wishes to speak to me, but her mention of Project Sienna might be a clue. I have the suspicion that Starfleet will provide us with more information once we arrive but as of right now, I do not have any more details regarding her request." the captain explained.

Siren nodded with a frown, letting out a long, tight breath as she looked down, swallowing hard. She didn't like the idea of Lirha going alone, base or not. She watched her with worry for a moment, her eyes honest with it as they met Lirha's. This wasn't the time or place to say it though, not in front of the others. "If she tries to send you off on a mission or a chase somewhere, don't go alone," she said quietly. She knew Lirha wasn't foolish enough to, she knew she didn't need to say it, but she wanted to. She had to. In place of what she was really feeling, a screaming instinct to stop her going.

Seeing the concern in Siren's eyes, Lirha gave her the smallest of most private smiles. She, too, didn't want to go off on another mission by herself, especially while Galileo was waiting for her back in the Rojar system. "Do not worry...that is why I brought you all with me." she answered.

Aria took a breath, considering it all for a moment. It was all complicated and with all of these Intel guys around, she felt a bit uncomfortable. "We all have your back, Captain," she said firmly, meeting Lirha's eyes. With how tense it was, she wanted to make Lirha see that they supported her and would do anything for her. And also, Aria couldn't stop herself. "Even if we have to paint Hex up green and send her in your place..." the last was added playfully and she glanced over at Siren, hoping the joke wouldn't fall on unappreciative ears.

Amynta chuckled despite herself, her eyes shining. "Might need to do something about the red hair then..." she added in. "Make it the best deception in the history of the Starfleet Intelligence Department..."

Lirha grinned at the prospect of seeing Siren with green skin and dark hair, and thought that she could probably pull off the look pretty well. "The idea certainly is appealing." she said in jest, then finally shook her head to return to a more serious nature. "However, I am confident that between all of us, we will be able to decipher the true meaning behind this Romulan's defection...if there is indeed one."

Taking another swig of her hot chocolate, Lirha looked around the table to see if anyone had anymore questions. She was a bit surprised that no one had asked about Project Sienna but that was also a relief since the less people who knew about the highly-classified experiment, the better. "Very well, then." she finally said after a short period of silence. "If there are no further questions, I would like everyone to go get some rest. We have a two-day trip ahead of us and I would prefer that everyone is sharp once we arrive at SB-185. I will take the first watch at the helm and we will rotate on four hour shifts." she explained.

"Alright," the Capellan sat up in his seat. "We'll see what happens, won't go in unprepared." It was like Rice said, they all had their captain's back. He stood and grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair. "Understood," Kell acknowledged, leaning on his hands.

Siren nodded, standing as well. She'd definitely grab some more sleep after the interruption to her night, but she'd also take the chance to read up on what she could get her hands on through the computer regarding what the Captain had told them. It didn't hurt to do a little homework, especially as she hadn't been on the Galileo as long as some of the others.

[OFF]

--

CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

Warrant Officer Evan Kell
Intelligence Officer, SFI
USS Galileo
(PNPC Liyar)

CN Siren Hex
Intelligence
USS Galileo
(PNPC: Lt. JG Scarlet Blake)

Lt. jg Aria Rice
Security
USS Galileo

LTJG Amynta Markos
Asst. Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Galileo

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