Who's Distracting Whom?

Posted on Sun Jun 26th, 2022 @ 12:48pm by Captain Temperance Harding & Lieutenant Commander Andromeda Lightfeather & Lieutenant Commander Nyx Valentine & Lieutenant Absinthe Harper & Lieutenant Xavon Starkweather & Lieutenant Rose Kersey & Lieutenant Sarok & Lieutenant Scott Mitchell "Ghost"

Mission: Mission 2: Chasing Shadows
Location: Lambetta Nebula
Timeline: After Intermission

ON

With the plans altered, and the ship ready, Temperance Harding leaned back in her command chair, an air of calm and control about her. The words of the counsellor were still in her mind. "Lieutenant Harper. Program a Class IV Recon Probe for a course around the nebula. Let's keep an eye on the other side. Launch when ready."

As the order was issued, Absinthe cast a glance toward Captain Harding for confirmation. As a general rule, in her experience, if the Captain was on the bridge, the Captain was usually the one to be issuing the orders to the crew.

"Ma'am?" The Ops Officer looked up. "I'm picking something up, coming... out of the Nebula. Too small to be a ship. It seems to be a comms buoy."

"It looks like some kind of hailing signal?" Abby suggested. "Or, at the very least, it appears to be a communication of some kind, though it's not entirely exactly sure of its origins."

Looking at Harper "okay Lieutenant Harper, let's hear it" Commander Lightfeather said.

She looks at the Captain "are you as alarmed by this as I am Captain?" Lightfeather asked in reference to the Communication buoy that just exited the Nebula.

Harding raised a subtle hand to Harper, as she counted to three before reacting, staring at her XO with a mixture of incredulity, and bafflement. "Alarmed? No. If they want to talk, let's talk." She held the stare for another second, before looking over at the Ops station. "Send a message by text to the Shuttlebay. I want the Runabout Avon prepped for launch in minutes."

Her hand, which had been a visual order for Harper to belay the Commander's instruction dropped. "On screen Lieutenant - tight on me, I don't wanna give away any more information than we need to."

Abby raised an eyebrow at the comment of the Executive Officer. Alarmed? By a communication buoy? Wasn't communication usually the way most encounters started? Would Lightfeather have preferred that the other parties perhaps shoot first and ask questions later? She sighed. Clearly, this was going to be an 'interesting' mission.

"Captain, I've got visuals in tight on your location, and I'm routing your return audio through your commbadge, applying a dampening field outside of your immediate radius. That way, it should help decrease any other bridge sounds..." Her fingers danced on the console for a moment. "Communication in three... two... one..."

On cue the channel was open and the screen in front of them changed.

Arriving on the bridge at that moment Rose quietly made her way across to her seat, settling into it she wondered what it was she’d managed to miss.

Meanwhile, Nyx's attention was fully on her passive sensors, pulling in as much data on the comm buoy target as she could. She opened her mouth to request permission for an active clan but shook her head even as she closed it. The data in front of her was interesting, there were several signals coming from it, one a standard sensor suite to detect and lock onto any potential objects of interest. Then there were at least two streams of data heading back into the nebula, but there was something else that seemed to be a ghost of a third stream, but she couldn't lock it in. Sensor data, a comm signal and what else?

Looking over to Rose "Hi Rose a communication buoy has exited the Nebula and we are about to make contact, but we are having trouble it would seem, in case you are wondering" Andi said explaining in brief what happened before Rose arrived on the bridge.

“Interesting” Rose nodded. “I’m not sensing anything out of the ordinary right now, but I’ll keep my senses alert in case that changes.”

"If only we had technology and devices with near-perfect precision when it comes to determining what may or may not be out there," Abby murmured acerbically. "Oh, wait..." With a shake of her head, she re-modulated the dampening field around the Captain's immediate location to account for the additional noise from the needless chatter.

The viewscreen changed. A shadowed, low-lighting view. Clearly a ship's bridge. The sight of a centre chair just highlighted at its edges and a figure. Humanoid, cast almost entirely in shadow, but again highlighted at the edges. "Captain Harding, I presume?"

Without taking her eyes off the viewscreen, Harding set her hand on the small control screen set into the armrest of her chair and pulled up the text option. "You have me at a disadvantage, Sir. I would very much appreciate knowing who I am talking to." She said with a smile, keeping her voice neutral.

"I suppose I can be a little courteous. Please feel free to call me the White Wolf. Tell me, Captain, are you planning on stopping me?"

"I was considering it, yes," Harding replied airily. "Unless you wish to surrender, of course. That would remove the need for any hostile action."

Even as she spoke, her fingers danced with minimal sign of movement. The Captain touch-typed a text message to her XO's display.

'Assemble Away Team. Stay silent on the Bridge. Take the 'Avon'. The squadron will launch and scatter to cover your path. Mitchell will be your pilot. Await my command to launch.'

Tapping back "understood" she made it look like she was checking something, as she was typing "Away Team assemble full gear at the AVON" she spoke to the captain "the way this White Wolf is showing to use on the screen Captain reminds me of that time Captain Picard dealt with the Sheliak," Lightfeather said briefly making eye contact and a quick wink to indicate the team was assembling as requested.

As her XO chose to give a verbal response, ignoring the order given, Harding's jaw clenched even as she maintained eye contact with the person on the screen. She didn't say a word in return, nor did she even look away, yet inside, her anger began to rise. It would definitely be something she'd need to speak to the woman about when the mission was over. An order was an order that had to be obeyed.

Scott hung his head as the XO spoke, 'Guess the Commander missed the section on radio silence at the Academy,' he thought to himself. He quickly typed some commands to the launch deck before he pulled himself out of his chair wincing at the soreness still in his legs.

Nyx rapidly typed a hurried series of messages and exhaled deeply as she got confirmation on the two she REALLY needed to see before she pushed herself back from the console and an Ensign took over for her. Gigi would be taken care of while she was off and away on this excursion, and that was the important thing. "Don't worry, you're just going to be relaying to the main engineering." She whispered in a very hushed word to the young officer, patting him on the shoulder.

Abby made a final check of her station before she stepped back, motioning for Ensign Mackelvoy to relieve her. There was not a word spoken, instead, simple gestures were made. One for silence. One to indicate that the other officer should maintain the status quo, another to symbolise that he should watch carefully. Finally, a simple incline of the head toward her Commanding Officer, acknowledgement that orders had been received, understood and would be carried out. Striding calmly across the bridge, Abby's palm glanced over the phaser on her hip. She'd need to swing by a weapons locker and grab some supplies before they left, just so she could be prepared. Still remaining silent, she made a mental checklist of what was needed.

It was only once she was in the turbolift with the others departing for the away team, doors safely closed and shielding them from the bridge that she spoke out loud. "I suggest, Commander, you brush up on basic tactical skills because if you break the silence and put this team, or any other life I'm responsible for on the line again, I'll shoot your ass myself, you won't have to worry about the pirates."

Without missing a beat, she turned toward Scott and cast a glance over his form before offering a smile. "So, you're the resident flyboy huh?"

"Yes, he is the one" Lightfeather said as she joined them in the lift then as the doors closed she remained silent after that, Andi had a feeling something was going to happen, then again she got this feeling on every Away mission she was on.

Scott's eyes narrowed as he glanced over at the Commander before returning his gaze to the stunning Security Chief. He took a deep breath before flashing his all too infamous smile, "Yeah that's me. Lieutenant Scott Mitchell, my friends call me Ghost."

The Turbolift came to a halt halfway to reaching the Main Shuttlebay. Chief Kelly stepped in, duffel bag on his shoulder, and offered a nod to everyone. His expression was blank, if not stern. He was in 'Mission Mode'.

As Chief Kelly entered the turbolift, Abby cast a glance at Scott and grinned. "Catch you on the flip side Casper," she said with a wink before she slipped through the open doors, disappearing down the corridor. While time was of the essence, she needed hunting gear before they left. A small smile danced on her lips as she moved. Her first mission was on this new assignment and it looked like she was going to get to have some fun.

Nyx sighed as the security chief left the turbolift, "I'll be the one to keep things held together I suppose?" She used the reflection in the turbolift console to double-check her face and nodded infinitesimally, she still looked proper, and lipstick seemed unsmudged, "I've got my mission bag on the way to the shuttle already."

Andi was the last to step out of the lift as it hit her what Harper said, Andi was going to set the record straight with the big-mouthed Lieutenant Harper, she was stepping beyond the boundaries, she followed the others over to the shuttle they were going to use.

OFF