Something New

Posted on Sun Oct 20, 2019 @ 12:09pm by Lieutenant Nicole Anderson & Lieutenant Penelope Naroot & Lieutenant Cassandra Kennings & Lieutenant JG Camille Lévesque PhD

1,730 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Nibiru
Location: Ward Room

Nicole ran a finger around the rim of her mug. She was trying to pick her words carefully, not wanting her response to what she'd just heard to be an overreaction, nor make it seem like she wasn't concerned.

"Well.....fuck."

Amber sat back at the head of the table and crossed her legs. "Indeed," she said. "We can't ignore it."

"Cass is going to be livid," Nicole said.

"I've already talked with her, and she understands," Amber said. "The fact that we found a shortcut at all gives us the time for a small side trip, so long as it doesn't take us more than half a day."

"That doesn't give us much time to formulate a plan," Nicole said. "Not to mention recon, fabrication, and everything else."

"We'll have to shoot from the hip," Amber said. "Nothing we haven't done before."

"So why the meeting?" Nicole said.

"You, Penny and Cass are still technically on assignment, so we're not expecting you to join in," Amber said. "But there's still the matter of our guest on board..."

"Oh," Nicole said. "Ohhhh....right." She had gotten so used to Camille knowing about her that she nearly forgot Camille didn't know about the rest of them, not even those she'd served with. Cassandra's little displays had been purged from memory and only Torres and the Captain knew about Penny, so their secrets were somewhat contained. But if that had to change...

"What are you going to do?" Nicole said.

"The only thing we can do," Amber said. "Make her the offer."

Nicole sighed. "All right."

Amber tapped her combadge. "Doctor Jones to Lieutenant Lévesque, please report to the ward room."

Camille, meanwhile, had returned to her and Nicole's cabin. She had been sitting on the ground, working on a special project that, even though she could have used the help of Meesa or Tommy Gun or Penny or anyone else, it was her project to do alone, which despite the friendly faces everywhere, was exactly how she liked it. Her uniform jacket was folded neatly on the floor next to her, combadge up. She was in her element, working away, so focused on her efforts that she barely heard the summons. But it was enough to break her concentration. "On my way." She stood, adjusted her glasses, put her jacket back on, and left for the ward room. Thankfully, the cabin and the mess hall-turned-wardroom were on the same deck, so she was there in no time flat. She stepped inside, smiled to Nicole, and stood before Amber. "Doctors. You asked to see me?"

Nicole couldn't help but smile a bit. Camille was still shaking off the cobwebs. Nicole knew the look; Camille had been engrossed in something. *Must have been playing in the lab,* she thought.

"Please have a seat, Lieutenant," Amber said, seriously.

"Merci," Camille replied and sat in the offered chair. She could sense the tension in the room. Whatever this meeting was for, it was important. "What's going on?" She looked back and forth between Amber and Nicole, her attention fully restored.

"Our original plan was to deliver everyone to Earth without a side trip," Amber said. "Circumstances have forced us to change those plans. Something new has come up." She tapped her console, bringing up a picture of the signal they'd encountered.

"The signal," Camille said, looking at the pattern. "The one from the transwarp conduit. Have you been able to decipher it? What is it?"

"It's a relay signal from what is, near as we can detect, an unmanned station," Amber said. "It's meant to relay information between Alpha and Delta Quadrants. We've located the station about six hours from here at maximum warp. We're en route to destroy it."

"Destroy it?" Camille asked. "Shouldn't we make an effort to learn more about who it's sending information to, what kind of information, and why?"

"We already know," Amber said. "The information is on ship movements in the Alpha Quadrant, and it's being transmitted to a listening post in the Delta Quadrant operated by a very dangerous man by the name of Darren Blackhawk."

"Darren Blackhawk..." Camille repeated, contemplating the name. "Why is that name familiar?"

"He was the focus of a set of incidents shortly before you came aboard. He sent an operative to infiltrate the Victory who was assigned to my staff, killed a crewman and tried to kill me," Nicole said. "I spent almost a week in a coma thanks to him."

"Sainte Marie," said Camille in astonishment. "I didn't know. I'm sorry."

"It's all right," Nicole said. "It's not my finest moment, I'm not eager to relive it."

Camille looked up to the wardroom's larger monitor, stood, and walked over to it. Having seen in the LCARS where material related to the signal was stored, she found and brought up a diagram of unmanned station. She looked over the available data. "This station is closely orbiting an M-type star. Temperatures are low but radiation is very high. The computer and transmitter on board must be very well shielded. Being unmanned, it probably has no life support systems. We could send an away team, in space suits, to retrieve the computer."

"Retrieval is not a priority, unless we find there is information we need," Amber said. "Right now our objective is to cripple Blackhawk's information network, and this looks to be a large part of that. Inhibiting his ability to coordinate efforts across the quadrants would be a tremendous boon to our work."

"But surely it would be useful to learn exactly what his cross-quadrant efforts are, non?" Camille suggested. "What if he's planning something big? Or what if the information permits Starfleet to disrupt even more activities elsewhere?"

"He is always planning something big," Amber said. "And Starfleet will never be privy to this information."

"Exactement," Camille said with a proud smile. "Let's go to Captain Edwards with a plan to disrupt Blackhawk's operations."

Amber and Nicole shared a glance. "All right," Amber said, sitting back. "Let's."

---

Captain Edwards and the rest of the staff, as well as the guests from Victory, filled the Ward Room. Camille and Amber stood to either side of the monitor, which still displayed the diagram of Blackhawk’s listening post.

“Any questions?” Camille asked the group.

"Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?" Penny said.

"Who cuts the barber's hair?" Meesa offered.

"Stop hazing the new girl," Tiffany said, her face lacking the smile that her chiding seemed to convey. She stared at the screen and tapped her fingers lightly on the table. "So far, the signal seems to be transmitting information about Starfleet ship movements. I'm not sure it's worth risking an away team to recover the computer core of a station sending information we already know."

"We don't know what's there, Captain," Camille affirmed. "We intercepted a message. There could be media storage on this station containing messages that were sent days or weeks ago, or messages yet to be sent. There might be other valuable information or technology." She stood straight, adjusted her glasses, and cleared her throat. "I know that you're the security experts, but I believe we need to take any opportunity to get as much knowledge as we can."

Tiffany looked over at Nicole, raising a questioning eyebrow. Nicole put her hands up and shook her head. Tiffany looked back at Camille and said, "all right. We'll take a look."

Tiffany turned back to the others. "John, Tommy, Meesa, get suited up. Penny, would you mind assisting?"

"Sure!" Penny said, brightly. "Can I get a new suit too, please?"

"Since you said 'please'," Tiffany quipped.

"Permission to join the away team as well, Captain," Camille asked.

"No," Amber and Nicole said in unison, albeit Nicole somewhat louder.

Tiffany held up her hand. "I'm sorry, Lieutenant," she said, "but I cannot risk your safety on this. You are not a member of my crew and I am responsible for your safe return to the Victory. I won't allow you to be put at risk."

"I'm familiar with this type of star, the radiation it puts out, any effects the planetoid or the metal of the station will have," Camille explained. Though she looked to Tiffany, her explanations were as much for Nicole. "I think I can also determine how the transmitter is configured to send signals through the transwarp conduit. That will prove invaluable, too. But I can only do any of those from the away team."

Tiffany could hear Nicole's teeth grinding from down the side of the table. She sighed and looked at Camille, then at Nicole, then Amber, who was looking decidedly irritated. "We'll send two teams," she said. "One to secure, and one to retrieve. John, Tommy, Penny, you're on the first team. Meesa, Camille--"

"And myself," Nicole said, her voice hard as a diamond.

Tiffany bowed to the inevitable. "All right. You'll bring up the rear. You do not go anywhere, touch anything, or engage anything without Lieutenant Hunter's express say-so. Is that clear?"

"Very clear, ma'am," Camille answered.

"I suppose, then, I'll get her gear put together," Amber said. At Tiffany's nod, Amber left the room quickly.

Nicole looked mad enough to chew neutronium, but held her tongue.

"Jas, get us there best possible speed. Dismissed," Tiffany said.

The crew dispersed to their pre-arrival duties, leaving only Camille and Nicole in the ward room. "I couldn't help but notice your loud objection to my being on this away team," Camille observed.

"I'd have you held back for a hearing exam if you hadn't," Nicole groused. "This is a bad idea. It's far too dangerous."

"This is a crew of experts, who know their job, and know how to do it safely," Camille reminded her.

"Be that as it may--" Nicole started.

"I'm going to tell you the same thing I told T'Mira before we left Victory," Camille said firmly. "I'm not some glass doll that needs protecting at all costs. I'm Starfleet-trained, same as everyone here. I'm capable on a mission and I won't let you or anyone tell me that I can't help my teammates because you think it's too dangerous."

Nicole huffed. "Fine," she said sharply. She stomped out of the ward room and to a turbolift.

 

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