A Valuable Asset Part 2
Posted on Wed Jan 18, 2017 @ 6:24am by Lieutenant Marisa Cheshire & Commodore Michael Aravan
Mission:
An Orion to Die For
Location: Orion sector
Timeline: MD 3 || 1400 Hours
=A=USS Triumphant, this is Lieutenant Marisa Cheshire with the 514th wing, 32nd Blazing Angels Squadron out of DS K-7. We have orders to support you for the rest of the mission. We picked up some extra contacts near your location, anything we can help with?=A=
=^=Identify confirmed, Lieutenant,=^= a male voice came a moment later. =^=We were having a bit of a scrap, but I'm afraid that you're a bit too late for the party. It looks like you brought a full house with you. Settle into flight pattern Delta Four and prepare to release control to flight control for Drop Hanger One.=^=
Marisa chuckled a little, rolling her eyes inwardly =A=Of course we did.=A= she said, her tone tainted with exasperation =A=You answered my next question Triumphant, thanks.=A= She continued while dropping her irritated cadence. =A=Flight pattern Delta-Four, Control will handle approach. Angel Three-Two-Papa=A= She gave a brief pause in her transmission to let whoever was on the other side correct her if she miss heard anything before opening up again. =A=Triumphant, can I get a secure line to your CO?=A=
=^=One moment,=^= the male voice said. The Landing Assistance Tractor Beam came out of the massive Odyssey class ship and began to bring the Valkyries in one by one into the hangar bay.
=^=This is Captain Aravan,=^= A deep but crisp male voice said. =^=How can I help you, Lieutenant? Things are a bit hectic right now.=^=
=A=I can appreciate that sir. Thank you for taking the time=A= Marisa said, maintaining the same rhythm =A=We heard that you were chasing a certain syndicate person of interest and I didn't want to compromise any compartmentalisation you had going. My CO didn't get the briefing through normal channels, but we're all very interested in bringing your guy in.=A=
=^=I would appreciate it more if we discussed this matter in person, Lieutenant,=^= Michael said. =^=No matter how secure the comm is, there's always someone out there who may be a bit better.=^=
=A=Understood sir. I'll make my way to the bridge after touchdown. I would recommend that you advise your mess to prepare for a squadron of pilots that have been on nothing but inflight rations and Klingon food for the past week. Probably better advise security too.=A=
=^=I'm sure we can accommodate them adequately, Lieutenant=^= Michael said. =^=Meet me in my ready room when you're aboard.=^=
=A=Aye Aye sir. Cheshire out.=A=
Marisa then began discussions with control, getting her craft bumped up to the top of the list so the Captain wasn't waiting for too long while her formation circled his ship.
=A=These Odyssey class ships are something else=A= her wingman said over the radio as they passed under the saucer section. =A=Definitely a step up from that old rust bucket=A=
"Got an idea for your next assignment Mobius?" Marisa replied as she lowered her systems to idle as control brought her in for the final approach.
=A=Maybe, I don't get the stink eye from every flag officer that drops by so Personnel might take my opinion under advisement.=A=
Marisa gave a slight chuckle but didn't say anything as the hangar aperture larger and larger. She braced herself on the handles of her canopy, partially because there was a chance the controller would mess up her approach but mainly because if she didn't she'd instinctively claw at her controls.
Her ship shuddered a little as it came down on the deck, making Marisa lurch forward a little in her seat. The next moment she'd pulled the canopy's lock and pushed it open before unclasping her harness and standing up on the seat. All the while her ship continued to taxi through the large hangar.
While the crew was lining up a ladder for her to climb down from atop her craft she was diving into her flight kit to grab a clean PADD so she could transfer her orders from the computer and hand them to the Captain. Once that was done she removed her helmet, dropped it in her seat and climbed out of the cockpit in one fluid motion. At the foot of the ladder she quickly greeted the deck crew and asked directions to the nearest lift before advising them not to get too carried away servicing their Valks.
Still dressed in her well fitted red and sliver environment suit with her flight gear still harnessed to her body she followed their direction and jogged to the small door at the far end of the hangar.
After the doors had finished opening Marisa stepped on to the bridge, made her way down to the command deck and came to attention. She made sure that she was at the edge of the Officer of the Deck's vision, and took the time to ensure she wasn't to interrupt anything important.
A Bolian female Yeoman glanced up from a holographic interface near the turbolift door and arched an eyebrow. "Can I help you, Lieutenant?" she asked.
Marisa turned her attention to the blue woman, maintaining her stance but giving her a polite smile. "Yes, the Captain has asked me to report to him. Could you advise him that Lieutenant Cheshire has arrived?"
"Certainly," the Bolian said as she reached for the interface, her fingers moving over it and then nodded. "He's in his ready room," she said and nodded across the bridge to a door between two potted plants that seemed to be contained in forcefields.
"Thank you." Marisa said with a polite nod.
She walked the distance mainly trying to keep her awe contained at the sheer size of the command center. She'd read about the Odysseys in the fleet magazines they leave in the officer's break room and remembered balking and the holographic displays, but being on one in the real world took her back to the time she first set foot on the home world when she was a teenager, standing in awe at the foot of the towering silver monoliths surrounding Tokyo Interstellar Port.
Plants contained by forcefields, the decadence!
She put that to the back of her mind as she approached the ready room door. Having already conferred with the Yeoman she hit the button on the key pad, opening the door with a pneumatic hiss.
Captain Michael Aravan sat his seat at the head of a huge glossy, black-surfaced table which dominated the center of the room which had a dozen chairs around it. Each of the four walls in the room had large monitors on them and one was currently displaying a picture of Raimus and information on him. Plants were at the corners of the room and most of one wall was filled with shelves which contained over a dozen species of bonsai trees, some elaborately sculpted around tree houses, some made to look like homes built into the ground and others that looked like they were just starting. Another table off to one side held a decanter of strong black coffee with several cups around it, a bowl containing sweetener and another for some type of cream.
She identified who she assumed was the captain and turned to face him. In a fluid, effortless motion she came to attention and brought her environment-suit clad hand to her forehead in a salute. "Lieutenant Marisa Cheshire reporting as ordered, sir." she said with the cool confidence of a career officer and a warm twinkle in her eye.
Michael came to his feet, all six foot four inches of him and looked at the blue-eyed blonde Lieutenant who nearly was his equal in height. "Welcome aboard the Triumphant, Lieutenant Cheshire," he said. "Would you like a cup of coffee or some refreshment before we begin?"
Marisa lowered her hand and widened her stance. "When we're done I'll visit the mess for something that's neither liquid nor living, but for now I'm fine." she said with a bit of a smile as she reached in to her flight kit and garbed a PADD. "Here are my orders sir." She said, stepping forward to offer the Captain the device. "In summary me and my squadron are under your command for the remainder of the mission, if you'll have us, sir."
Michael took the PADD and looked at it. "Have a seat, Lieutenant," he said as he sat back in the seat he had been at. "Academy Flight Instructor? Very impressive. Air Demonstration Squadron as well? I sincerely hope you're not one of those hot shot pilots who think they have something to prove." He continued looking over her record and nodded. "I believe I've heard of Dun boQqa'pu but thought that was just a legend spoken of by freighter captains. I'm please to have met the actual person behind it, but I am curious if the legends are as true as they say they are."
Marisa had to to try and stop herself from laughing as she took her seat. "I realise that this probably isn't the most politically advantageous thing to say, but contrary to what it's like in the Fleet those are not considered prestigious positions within the pilot community. There's a couple of songs about those roles I'm aware of that adequately frame my feelings about those postings if you've got some time and a tolerance for some crude humor, sir." She responded with a wide self deprecating smile before turning wistful "I am proud of the relationships I developed with those that traversed my patrols though," She shook her head "But I have no desire to live up to their reports. Some of those captains seem to be under the impression that I can banish ion storms and breath raw vacuum."
"So the reports are partly true and partly the stuff that legends are made of," Michael noted. "In regards to crude humor, I'm former Security and have a fairly thick skin about such things. I wouldn't go out of your way to offend, though. You've made it this far in your career and I'd hate to have to put you out of an airlock without your fighter." The look in his green eyes may have been serious, but a faint smile tugged at the corners of his lips.
"Yes." Marisa said, clearing her throat with a nod. "I'd rather not test if that particular aspect of my legend is true if it's all the same to you sir."
"Anyway," Marisa continued with a more serious tone "I was under the impression that you were going after a Syndicate POI that we've been trying to get cross hairs on for the last few years. Is my intel solid?" she finished with a quizzically raised eyebrow.
Michael raised an eyebrow and got up to pour himself a cup of coffee with one sugar before he returned to the table and gestured towards the screen. "That would be Raimus," he said before he looked back at her. "My question is how you found out about our op?"
Marisa let of a soft chuckle. "Sir with all due respect, there's an Odyssey class ship busting down doors in the Orion sector. As you might understand, the main thorn in the side of the Klingon and Romulan border patrol wings is the Syndicate, so I wouldn't be surprised if there are more than a few outposts with break room screens feeding in from the sensor buoys. As far as the specifics." Marisa shuffled in her chair a little as she cleared her throat. "My old CO pulled some favors from Intel. My squadron are all due reassignment and our ships are due a refurbish so we're all heading back to the home system." She explained "We've been wanting to put some hurt on the Syndicate for ages but they always escape our jurisdiction. With us passing though he clearly felt that this was a good time to claim those favors. The stars aligned, sir."
"Ever since the Orion Sector Tactical Command sent out a distress call less than a week ago, it seems like everyone knows what's going on in this sector of space," Michael said with a frown. "We just learned about the whereabouts of Raimus yesterday from a prisoner we brought aboard a few days ago." He paused to take a drink of his coffee and thought about it. "There has to be someone who leaked that information and I plan to find out who did it."
"At any rate, Lieutenant, we could use a good Group Commander, if you're up for the job. You're not the first late arrival getting to us and your record speaks for itself."
"Ah, damn it." Marisa said with her mood slightly deflated "Well, if you're passing by K7 there's a pot of latinum with your name on it."
There was another couple of seconds while Marisa processed the rest of that sentence. She shook her head a little and scratched the back of her neck. "Uh, sorry sir, I didn't copy that last part." She said finally, looking at the Captain with an incredulous look. "Could you repeat that?"
"A pot of latinum?" he asked as an eyebrow went up. "I wasn't aware that there were bets on who would get him. As for what I said, we have an opening for Group Commander on the ship...unless you'd rather decline the position."
"Uh, no sir." Marisa said, shaking her head, still flabbergasted. "It's just a bit of a shock is all. Are you sure you're looking at my file?"
"I'm not in the habit of repeating myself, Lieutenant," Michael said as he took another drink of his coffee. "I just reviewed your record and commented on it while we spoke, unless there's another Lieutenant Marissa Cheshire whom you're impersonating."
Marisa shook her head "Not that I'm aware of, sir." she said, losing some of her composure. She broke eye contact for a moment, looking to the side thoughtfully and swallowed. "I don't mind taking up the position while I'm here sir, but can I sit on the offer until the end of the mission?"
"That's not typically how it works in Starfleet, Lieutenant Cheshire," Michael said. "If you accept the post, then you'll be the official group commander for the fighter division until such time as you decide to transfer to another ship or base."
"If you stay, you'll be part of a community that's larger than the ship and part of one of the best crews in Starfleet," he continued after another drink of his coffee. "I'm impressed by your record, so please impress me more by accepting my offer."
"Well then." Marisa said with a bit of a sigh and a slight smile. "Any pilot to turn down a posting like this would be a fool, I'm sure. Sorry if I seem a little hesitant, I was not expecting this when I got the redirect this morning." She took a sharp exhale and put on her most professional tone. "I accept your offer Captain. Are there slots open for my squadron though? I've still got to get them home safely."
"If they wish, this can be their new home," Michael said with a smile as she accepted the offer. "There's plenty of quarters on the ship and spots for all of them. The Triumphant was actually slotted to have one hundred and fifty fighters total and I believe that the group you brought fills that complement very nicely."
"I'll extend the offer." she said with an understanding nod before leaning forward in her seat, clasping her hands together and pressing them into her chin as her elbows rested on her lap. "But before I go, I've got to ask. Now that you've captured Raimus are you done in this sector?" There was a slight curve to her mouth and the sparkle in her eye had become almost predatory when she mentioned the name.
Michael watched the look on her face and arched an eyebrow. "Actually, we're looking for the personnel from Orion Sector Tactical Command," he said. "Our next stop is Stameris, and we have very little to go on at the moment. Do you know something about it?"
"I do as a matter of fact." Marisa said leaning back to get access to one of the pockets of her flight suit. Her face scrunched up as she contorted in her seat, the life support shroud around her shoulders making it all the more harder. Eventually she was able to fish out a second PADD.
"This is a report I was going to file with intel when I got back to Earth." She said, holding the device up to show the captain the screen "The short of it is that Stameris is where the Syndicate does a lot of it's... Uh" she hesitated, looking up to the side for the right word "Humanoid Trafficking? Sapient Trafficking?" She said thoughtfully before placing the PADD down and sliding it across the desk with a shake of her head. "Anyway. The majority of it is uncorroborated information, just information we've fished out of the freighter captains over the years, and it wasn't enough for our intel liaison to action. But there is a definite pattern. They've got one or two sites that they use that are traditional meeting places that predate the Federation, but we're pretty sure that they move it around." She looked up at the captain with energetic expression "Now that's good if you want to avoid Star Fleet probes, but not so great for business." She had to stand up to reach the PADD and began to scroll down through the data, making sure to the Captain could still see the small screen. "If you look in through the document to- ah- here." A gloved finger pointed at the screen "you'll see I drew special attention to a subspace frequency band and a pass code." She lent back and folded her arms and gave the Captain a wide, ever so slightly proud grin "I think if you get on that frequency and send that code they'll give you vectors to the market, and if Sec-Com's team isn't there then I'm sure there will be something there to point us in their direction."
Michael looked and listened, then tapped a surface of the table near his coffee cup and the surface lit up in a incredibly large LCARS. "Computer, link PADD held by Lieutenant Cheshire to the current display," he said. "Authorization Aravan Epsilon Omega Alpha. Add Lieutenant Marissa Cheshire as current Group Commander."
"Confirmed," the neutral sounding computer responded. A moment later, the information on the PADD appeared on the conference table and he examined it a bit closer. "Very interesting, Lieutenant," he said. "I'm glad that you were in the area. Five minutes as a member of the crew and you're already making valuable contributions. Take this information to Lieutenant Rho in Intelligence and go over with him, if you would."
Marisa gave a bashful smile and a bit of blood flushed her cheeks "It's been a communal effort for the last few years. We've never liked Slavers playing in our back yard." she said as she gathered her PADD. She regained her composure in the time it took to collect it and then proceeded to line her back up and bringing her feet together. Her hand came up to her forehead in a firm salute. "Aye Aye sir, good to be here."
"I'm glad to have you, Lieutenant," Michael said as he came to his feet. "I'm certain that in the days to come, you'll prove to be even more invaluable. Get settled in and report to Lieutenant Rho as soon as you're able, then get your Medical taken care of as soon you can. Our Doctor is a bit of a perfectionist on some things and might hunt you down if you don't. Also, did you wish to bunk in Fighter Country or in the Senior Officers quarters on deck twenty-two?"
"I'm all about the square footage sir." Marisa said, lowering her arm "I'll set up a hammock in the office if I need to be on site more."
"Glad to hear it," Michael said. "If there's nothing else, I'll let you get settled in and started on things."
Marisa gave another salute before she pivoted on her foot and headed out the door.
