Into the mystic

Posted on 07 Oct 2023 @ 12:18pm by Captain Jonathan Reynolds & Lieutenant JG Ron Bumble & Commander Amelia Fox & Lieutenant Cassandra Higgins-Stevens & Lieutenant Syvar MD & Lieutenant JG Cihl Theidi

Mission: Time changes everything
Location: Conference room
Timeline: MD2 11:00
2159 words - 4.3 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

The reception had run a little late and Jon had noticed his XO had cracked out a barrel of Klingon blood wine. He had decided that was an ideal point in the party to usher Eddie out and make a discreet exit.

However, he was not a cruel Captain so he set today's staff meeting for the later time of 11 am in case anyone's heads were a little bit squiffy.

What he wasn't expecting as he poured his coffee and waited for the rest of the senior staff to come join him was Comms to notify him that J'Tan from the crossroads was requesting to board having appeared on a small trader vessel in the sector they were currently passing through.

"Beam him over and into the conference room," Jon said knowing that the purple alien and Iola were his liaisons to the large alien market space station in this area.

The transporter beam appeared and deposited the purple alien.

"Captain," he said. "I need to share information with you."

"Well you can share it with my entire crew they are all en route for a meeting. Coffee?" he offered.

The purple alien looked intrigued and took a cup as they both waited.

Feeling horribly out of place, Syvar took one of the vacant seats. It was obvious he still needed to get used to both the absence of his mentor and his promotion into the chief medical officer position. Even more so, he had to get used to his new rank. "Captain," he greeted politely, "sir..." he awarded the alien with a polite nod.

Cassie was on his heels as she followed Syvar into the conference room, dropping down into the seat across from the Doctor while a familiar face entered from the opposite side. Blond hair, less pronounced but still evidently Klingon ridges running down his forehead. Ensign L'johK Adams, a Klingon/Human hybrid on loan from Deep Space 21 entered the room.

"My apologies if I'm late sir!" he said as he took moved around the table and dropped down into a seat by the side of the Vulcan medical officer.

Having turned down his reassignment as Chief Engineer of Deep Space Station K-7, Lieutenant Cihl Theidi stepped through the door into the Conference Room as silently as he could muster. Having only been aboard the Andromeda what seemed like a blink, the young Ventaxian quickly found a chair and sat down waiting to hear what was going on.

Jon nodded at the new security officer grateful to Commodore Haistro for the loan just as Ron Bumble and Ollie walked in clearly clueless as to why they had been summoned.

“Please all help yourselves to refreshments. I think we are just waiting on the first and second officer, and chief flight officer now,” he indicated the coffee and tea.

Oliver smiled at his wife, taking a seat next to Lieutenant Bumble.

Cihl had heard the offer of refreshments, but chose to ignore the recommendation. He had not yet found the need to indulge in such 'creature comforts' when he was attending meetings with the senior staff of the vessel on which he served - well yet anyway. He was more eagerly awaiting getting back to his engine room to become better acquainted with his new ship.

Amelia entered the conference room in a surprisingly good mood. "Good morning Captain, Good morning all." She smiled and nodded at her husband, keeping things professional while she was on duty." She poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down.

Syvar smiled back though somewhat uncomfortably. His sudden promotion to CMO was still something to get used to, especially since he had been a somewhat junior officer only a few days ago.

When everyone had arrived Jon kicked off the meeting. "I have some introductions and changes before we start. This is Lieutenant Theidi our new chief engineer. Lieutenant Stevens will be overseeing Ops until I can get a proper chief in. Commander Datari, I want you to focus on being second officer and your speciality presently. You will see why when I get into things. That frees you up Lieutenant Bumble as acting chief of science. And finally, Lieutenant Syvar is now the chief of medicine."

Amelia acknowledged all of the new arrivals with a polite nod in turn.

Cihl stayed quiet as he was introduced by the Captain of the Andromeda. Going as far as offering a polite smile, the Ventaxian was not really comfortable with social interaction. He was, however, at home in the engine room. During his time at the Academy many tried to get him to 'come out of his shell,' but he still hadn't gotten the knack of it.

Tag any reactions.

"Also for anyone who has not met him this is J'Tan," Jon indicated to the purple alien. Did he have a last name? He wasn't sure. "He has joined us to share some information."

That got them all up to speed. Jon didn't know anymore that that in terms of J'Tan either. "J'Tan is from the agora crossroads marketplace," he added for anyone who had not met him before. "Shall we start with that?"

J'Tan nodded. "Captain your intel man you have had working in my bar. He has disappeared and I fear he has betrayed you. I was told that his last known location was on a freighter going to the league of five who are Cetea friendly. There has also been a lot of Cetea sniffing around both the crossroads and the surrounding areas asking questions about you."

Jon nodded. It wasn't surprising. "Ensign Adams are you up to speed on the Cetea?"

"In all honesty Captain, I am not" he smiled sheepishly. "I only found out moments before Andromeda was set to depart about the transfer orders!"

The request he had put in had come on the heels of the women he loved having died at the hands of some geneticist and his toy that had been tested on the station.

"No problem. The Cetea are a bit of a radical break off group of the SoNa. They are the ones who never reunified with Baku 20 years ago. They are angry and the Andromeda before our shakedown cruise ended up tussling with them on star base 308. We managed to stop them from bombing the station. Unfortunately they are a little testy about that.

I had a chap in intel working undercover at J'Tans bar finding out more information but it seems he has gone missing or," he looked at the purple alien, "Rogue possibly."

Who knows Jon pondered. He never imagined Ethan would do such a thing but life had a way of surprising you and friends could turn out not to be friends at any point. Even fooling an empath it seemed.

"So," he told his acting security chief. "There's a chance they could come after us in retaliation. Several of their people died in the incident."

"Understood sir" he nodded, a dower expression on his features. "If working with Commodore Haistro for the last year has taught me anything is that one needs to be eternally vigilant".

"Moving up," Jon said. "I also have the unhappy task of telling you somehow the press managed to convince someone higher up that we had to have a correspondent onboard. Some of us have crossed paths with her before in the aftermath of the star base 308 incident - Felicity Strick. I'm not going to order anyone not to cooperate but think about how much information you do say if you do talk to her. And obviously nothing classified."

During his prior assignment, Cihl had to deal with a Court Reporter who had monitored the mission of the vessel on behalf of the Criminal Investigative Service. He hadn't really been a fan of their tactics then, and he was sure he still wouldn't be.

For the first time in the meeting he spoke up, "Captain, due to the sensitivity of the equipment within Engineering I will have to insist that the reporter not be given access to the Engine Room. Much of the equipment there still classes as classified, even now."

"Oh I concur. In fact number one draw up a list of places that are off limits to the press. You may organise one visit to the bridge but then I do not wish to see her on my bridge again," he ordered Amelia.

Cihl was gratified to hear that the reporter would not have access to the Engine Room. It was incredibly reassuring to him to know that the Captain took his recommendations seriously.

Amelia sighed. "Aye Captain." This was not a duty she was particularly looking forward to. She also realised that this reporter would probably protest about being kept out of engineering and the bridge but this was a starship, not a pleasure cruise.

"So moving on. Our new mission. Intel and our friends," he looked at J'Tan, "At the Agora crossroads have identified a strange area of space believed to once be the domain of a species called the Techne Empire. Starfleet wants us to investigate further."

"It's full of ghosts. Many have ventured in that direction. They all turn back," J'Tan stated. "Finding nothing but large asteroids and being spooked."

"I don't believe in ghosts Mr J'Tan," Jon said simply. "Especially ones that can send out messages on repeat."

The purple alien's mouth opened and closed a few times. "Messages."

"You're not our only intel. And perhaps people from your agora crossroads do not routinely scan as many frequencies as us," Jon stated. He pressed a button and pulled up the information the computer had managed to get.

"I'm no linguist Commander Datari but i think that looks like a message to me. That's your mystery to work on,"

The Trill's eyes lit up at the sight of the alien, unknown language. "I'll get right on it," he promised, almost too eagerly. It'd been so long since he could truly turn to his passion, he was grabbing the opportunity with both hands.

Jon nodded. He could sense the man's sudden happiness to be doing what he was properly skilled and interested in.

"Counselor, perhaps you might like to assist the Commander, as if it comes to first contact I want you on hand," Jon nodded at Cassie.

"Of course Captain". Cass chimed in before looking toward Datari with a nod.

"Right as I understand it its ETA about 5 days till we get to this region of space. So everyone go about business as normal until we are close enough to get more of a picture of where we are headed. So lets do the usual departmental report and then I will let you all go free."

"Lieutenant Theidi, how are the new upgrades from our time at DS21?" he asked.

Cihl had been focused on the discussion of the Techne Empire that he had, barely, heard the references to himself and his engines. That wasn't like him. Nonetheless, the situation involving the message was fascinating to think about.

Pulling back to reality, he realized his knowledge of the upgrades was rather limited due to his recent arrival, "I am still in the process of reviewing all of the upgrades made at the station, Captain. Thus far, however, I am pleased to report that I am seeing no glaring items of concern or defect. The station team did well."

"Excellent. I look forward to the report on the new upgrades that were fitted," Jon nodded.

The Ventaxian nodded in agreement.

"Science - is the new team we have been sent settling in?" Jon asked.

"They are sir," Ron answered.

"I understand we have a pair of Bynars," Jon asked.

"Yes sir. They are very fast and seem to have a strange sense of humour,"

"What about Medical doctor?"

"We're coping," the newly minted CMO answered quietly, "sickbay is operational, we're just a little short on experienced doctors at the moment. I need to check whether the EMH is actually up to date."

"And counselling?"

"I have had a few meetings with one or two officers" she said somewhat cryptically to keep thinks confidential. "and a few of those will be having repeat sessions. Beyond that my only concern is morale though I should be able to handle that along with my other duties."

"Number one anything to add?"

Amelia shook her head. "Nothing Starfleet has sent us their own long range scans of the area. There's no mention of ghosts or goblins," She added dryly.

"it all looks pretty standard but the scans are at extremely long range and are limited."

"I guess we will find out soon then. Right dismissed. Lieutenant Kannu let me know as soon as we are approaching the sector,"

OFF:

Captain Jonathan Reynolds
CO, Andromeda

LtC Aidan Datari
Second Officer
pnpc Syvar

Lt Syvar
CMO

Lieutenant (J.G.) Cihl Theidi
Chief Engineer

Lieutenant Cassandra Higgins-Stevens
Ships Counsellor
USS Andromeda