Poking the Bear

Posted on Sat Nov 30, 2019 @ 9:31am by Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit & Lieutenant Nicole Anderson & Admiral Alan Markus

1,470 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Nibiru
Location: Starbase DQ8

[Starbase DQ8]

Walking toward the command level of the station, PaDD in hand containing a copy of the readiness report she’d filed 8 minutes earlier detailing the on-going work as part of the ships post-shakedown availability (PSA) to focus on issues identified during the shakedown cruise bringing the starship out here, Kennit’s thoughts were primarily annoyed exasperation with the rising number of arrogant desk jockeys making their way out to the Delta Quadrant. All they were doing was making the job harder for those who actually got it done...

Life out here had been much more straightforward when the Brass were 70,000 light years away and thus, the level of bullshit they generated was substantially reduced.

Entering the command center, she approached the Admiral’s flunky and said “Captain Kennit, of the USS Victory, here to provide a briefing on the Victory’s readiness status.

The Yeoman looked up from her station and smiled politely. "Yes ma'am. Admiral Markus is expecting you." She stood up and gestured towards a door. "Please, follow me."

She walked quickly to the door to the Admiral's office and pressed the panel. The doors opened and she stepped aside, gesturing for the Captain to continue.

The office wasn't large, but it was spacious enough to house a group for a briefing as needed. There was a desk in one corner, a few spare chairs, and a small sitting area with couches and a coffee table. On one wall was a large monitor showing ship movements, several knick-knacks on shelves and cabinets and a painting on the wall behind him of a young blonde woman in an Engineering uniform.

He was sitting behind his desk facing a small brown-haired girl with regal, pixie-like pointed ears and having an animated conversation with his hands. She was signing back just as quickly and looking somewhat pouty. Finally he tilted in his head in that look every child knows as "I mean it" and she put her lower lip out a bit further, but nodded, signing "ok" at him, then gave him a kiss on the cheek and a hug. As she stepped back from the hug, she looked up and saw Rhea and her brown eyes got wide. She immediately turned tail and ran through another exit, her braid trailing behind her.

Admiral Markus looked at the new visitor and gave an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry," she said. "Gabrielle is nervous around strangers."

He stood up and came around his desk, holding out his hand. "Admiral Alan Markus, and you must be Captain Kennit. A pleasure."

Accepting his hand, she returned the handshake with a firm handshake of her own. “Yes sir. I am here to bring you the final readiness evaluation for the Victory following completion of PSA. At this time, the ship has passed qualifications and we are filing flight plans for departure in 48 hours.” She could sense the Borg implants in him, didn’t need to see the visible implants on his face to know. A deep part of her psyche shifted and stirred in response, his systems were obsolete. Inferior...

"And yet they're somehow intriguing," he said, sensing her sensing. "Never mistake old for inferior. You'd be amazed what outdated technology can accomplish in the right hands." He accepted the padd and gestured to his couch. "Please, have a seat," he said. "Can I get you something to drink?"

She just smiled slightly at his words, not surprised that his own implants recognized her own as being Borg, even with the differences in technology and function between them. “Ice water would be appreciated, thank you sir.” the Captain answered as she took a seat on couch.

He nodded and ordered one for himself as well, handing her a glass before coming around the coffee table. He sat down across from her, crossing his legs and going through the padd. "Everything appears to be in order," he said. "You are aware of Starfleet's policies regarding regular ship updates, I presume?"

“I am.” Kennit answered simply.

"Well I'll thank you to loosen them slightly," he said. "If there's nothing to report, a simple 'all's well' will do. A summary every other week will suffice unless something of note happens. You may divide that responsibility among your department heads as you like. I see no reason to take up your time, nor mine, with any more paperwork than necessary."

Taking a sip of water from the glass he’d offered, she nodded. “Understood. This ship currently produces an abnormal level of paperwork and reports. With it being new construction, the requirements of shakedown testing and subsequent PSA has kept everyone busy.”

"I have no doubt," he chuckled. "I've launched more ships than I can count, and it's always a mountain of details. i'll do my best not to add to them. That said, your maiden voyage is your discretion. Put her through her paces and shake out the bugs, as usual. Is there anything you require of me, or any questions you have?"

She shook her head, “No. Not at the moment. Although, I will say that I hope you have base security on their toes. This is not yet common knowledge, but there is some information which I feel you should be aware of. There is a fairly large, and...well established territory out there which is held by refugees from an alternate universe. The Terran Empire was quite dangerous in its own universe, until their own hostility and mistrust brought about their fall. The survivors made it here, and they hold their part of the Delta Quadrant quite firmly. They have been here for some time and, if the information shared with me is true, they have infiltrated the Federation though the exact extent of that possibility is unclear.”

"They aren't refugees, they're an advance force," Markus said, his voice grave. "This isn't the first time, either. They've been trying to establish a foothold in the Alpha Quadrant for years now. At one point, they were poised to take down the entire Federation through a computer virus that my counterpart wrote. I wound up spending several months in their universe trying to determine if my counterpart was friend or foe." He gave a wry smile. "As usual, those concepts involve shades of grey. I was able to stop their efforts, and my people were able to thwart their virus on this end, but it cost me...quite a lot." His smile dropped and he was back to all business. He stood up and snapped his fingers at the display behind his desk, which showed several areas of DQ space and a list of personnel on the right-hand side. "They are spread out among five sectors. These are the ares we believe they operate in; however, without a centralized base of operations, they're nebulous, and difficult to wipe out. These four officers are ones we've identified as being operatives. Three were taken out. The fourth we've allowed to remain in the hopes that he will lead us to more of them. At the very least, we can feed him misinformation."

“And if the data collected by the old Victory during battle is accurate, they are playing with Genesis. Just how they got that little bit of nostalgic history remains unknown.” she told him.

"I've heard those rumors as well," Markus said, nodding. "My guess is they have an agent in Intelligence who has been digging in old files. If that's the case, however, it will help us flesh out other operatives." He turned back to Kennit. "But, that is the larger picture, and the grisly duty of old men like myself to tackle. You, young lady, have far more enjoyable matters to attend to." He turned and opened up a storage cupboard, and pulled out a tall, glass bottle. "With my compliments, Captain. Fair weather to you, and your crew."

That made her laugh unexpectedly. As she accepted the bottle she said, “Young lady? Thank you Admiral. The complement is appreciated but.. it has been quite a while since that particular phrase could accurately be applied to me.”

"I'm speaking comparatively," he said, giving her a wry smile and walking her to the door. "Oh," he said as the doors opened, "and one more thing. Don't let that young Doctor's head get too big. We need to keep her humble." He gave her a conspiratorial wink.

“Way too late for that,” Kennit said in wry tone.

"Yes, well," he said in a lamenting tone, "hope springs eternal." He gestured to the door. "Your ship awaits. Safe travels, Captain."

Giving him a nod of the head, she said only “Thank you Admiral. As soon as we have a finalized departure set I will see the information is transmitted over.”

"Excellent," he said. "I look forward to it."

***

 

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