Liaisons

Posted on Fri Jun 21st, 2024 @ 9:35am by Captain Shran dh'Klar & Commander Jonathan Grayson & Commander Samantha Howard & Lieutenant Commander Callie Raven-Grayson & Lieutenant Imik S'Niohun & Lieutenant Inara Senn & Lieutenant JG Kate Kono

Mission: The Andromeda Strain
Location: USS Washington

Jon had gathered the requested officers and they all were seated in the conference room. Shran made it clear he wanted everyone in top conduct. looking closely at Inara and Kate.

Jon sat in his accustomed seat to the right of Shran and he patiently waited for the other Washington officers to arrive as well as those from the Andromeda.

'Top Conduct.' Something Inara was unfamiliar with, it seemed Starfleet wanted soldiers again, not scientists. So Inara would comply. She'd already caused enough grief with her behavior and demeanor. She was a Scientist first and a Starfleet Officer second, many in Starfleet wanted it the other way around. She entered and sat down. Looking at no one in particular. It seemed Starfleet wanted soldiers who would stare forward and say 'yes, sir.'

Imik entered and bowed, "Blessings on all assembled here." She then crossed the room and sat beside Grayson, "It would appear we are about to embark on a mission Commander."

Lieutenant Kate Kono for a change, didn't rocket into the conference room with her usual vigor. She was however dressed in a uniform that looked as if it didn't have a single hint of a wrinkle, almost as if she had just put the uniform on without even sitting down in it once during the day that was supposed to be her day off. In fact, she was walking as if he were sore and she blushingly avoided eye contact with everyone as she slowly sat down and crossed her fingers together, palms down on the desk, and sat up straight until a goofy grin sprouted across her thin lips. "Captain," she whispered in greeting, "guys..." she nodded in their general direction. It was not her usual demeanor, but she was just -- obviously happy.

Callie entered and made her way around to a seat next to Jon, taking her seat somewhat gingerly she offered a polite smile to all present before stifling a yawn. She was more or less still on maternity leave after the delivery of the twins, but she wanted to remain in the loop as to what was happening.

Sam for once wasn't late, however she was still smoothing out her uniform as she strode into the room, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear as she did so. "Captain..." She nodded before taking her seat.

Deanna finished prepping the room before she sat down. She was doing a good job keeping the stray thoughts of everyone out, except Kate's which were a tad explicit. It seemed like Kate had taken to being promoted in the best way possible. She was grateful that Imik and Callie could keep their thoughts relatively shielded.

The doors opened and Ayana came in and announced Capt Hunt. The human strolled in with a smile. Dylan was followed by seven of his own officers, and it was clear he had brought over his entire senior staff.

The officers seemed to be in a line in order of rank. Dylan greeted Shran and then offered greetings to everyone else in the room before introducing his officers. First was his XO, Cmdr Rhade who looked to be human. Next was his Operations officer, Lt Cmdr Andromeda who was an android. This was followed by Lt Cmdr Rebeka Valentine, a human who was his CONN officer. This was followed by Lt Harper, his Chief Engineer and Lt Anasazi, his tactical officer, both human. He finished his introductions to a pair of his medical staff, Lt Gemini, his Denobulan Chief Medical Officer, and Lt Bem, his Tellerite counselor. Shran then returned the favor, introducing all of his officers present.

Once the introductions were complete, Shran looked to Dylan sternly, "Time for an in-depth briefing."

Dylan nodded in agreement. "As you are all aware, StarFleet has dozens of long-range scientific probes that were sent out ahead of our actual arrival. This gives us all typically at least a small glimpse into what we are going into. The first probes sent into this area by StarFleet were sent over a year ago. Data sent back to Command left more questions, so additional probes were tasked to study the area. Command dubbed the area the Temporal Expanse. Throughout the sector there are localized disruptions of the space/time continuum, but it is this point here, in grid 7 that is the most troublesome, as you have massive rips in space that are large enough for a Borg cube to pass through/ They are stationary, but so large that can be seen with the naked eye in space. The first vessel that was sent in to investigate was the Spector, an Akira class vessel. They sent continuous data streams to Command. In their final messages, Capt Bolivar spoke of small but powerful ships that were emerging from several of the rifts. We have been ordered to work together to investigate these anomalies, determine friend or foe status of these unknown vessels should we encounter them, and if practicable, close the rifts."

Shran looked at Jon and then his other people. "I believe the floor is open for comments" he said is his soft yet authoritative way.

Jon looked across the table to Hunt. He spoke what he was sure was on everyone's mind. "You said the Spector's final message captain Hunt, has her destruction been confirmed and have you found any survivors?

"It was the last message from the Spector that Command received. The ship was presumed destroyed. We will be searching for any signs of the ship or her crew as well, but Command believes the ship was destroyed with all hands" Dylan replied to Jon's inquiry.

Jon nodded in silent reply to Hunt's answer. He had friends on the Spector and now they like the ship were presumed dead.

"Blessings on your house Captain Hunt. Species 8472, have they been discounted from this equation? Or could a sub species of 8472 be responsible?" Imik looked at the assembled crews, "We know fluidic space covers many thousands if not millions of light years, but we do not know if 8472 is the only life form to inhabit that environment. There is a possibility that another fluidic space species has found their way to our space time."

"Do we have any idea of how to close these rifts should we encounter them?" Jon asked the Andromeda's officers.

"There is no evidence that these breaches in space time come from fluidic space" Rhade replied respectfully. "I for one do not wish to discount the possibility that the Spector is still out there somewhere. It may simply have lost the ability to communicate. The data that they sent back regarding the vessels indicate a species that uses temporal technology. It suggests they came from the future, though we can't say for certain they came from a future of our galaxy or universe. They could come from another reality for all we know."

"An intriguing thought" Deanna noted. "I would say we should minimize speculation and focus on the known at this time. The information the Spector sent says these rifts are openings in space time. We'll need to get additional readings of our own before we can determine if we can close them. At the very least, high yield tricobalt devices may do the trick, but I suspect it'll be more complicated than that. I believe Inara will have a unique insight regarding these temporal anomalies."

"I would prefer a scientific option to closing these rifts rather than a military solution, assuming that is an option: Andromeda put forward diplomatically.

"Just exploring and discussing possible options Andromeda." Jon replied. "Getting everything out on the table."

Inara listened. 'Once again, we've plugged in the overlord. I hope she does not decide that we're all better off as soulless cyborgs.' She thought to herself privately. "Small, powerful ships, Captain? From these temporal anomalies?" She noted. "Captain Hunt, with all due respect, this is quite possibly, in my opinion as a scientist, the most dangerous situation imaginable, and that being said, there is no shame in writing 'here there be dragons' on our star charts." Inara noted. The words 'temporal anomalies, filled her with a very familiar type of fear, she got the impression she shouldn't be studying anything in regard to time.

Sam sat back and watched the various theories blossom, get thrown around and come to their natural conclusion. Some grew wings, some withered and died amongst the thorough examination of open speculation. Whatever had happened it was going to be very interesting to find out.

Callie sat quiet just taking in what was being said, once the briefing was done she’d be heading back to Quarters in time to feed the twins. Keeping in the loop was one thing, feeling up to doing anything was something else.

Kate went from 'happy', to looking at if all the blood had drained from her face while sitting in on this.
"Captain, did you read my report from my temporary transfer last week?"

Kate didn't say much more but the thought of going up against shadow people caused her blood to run cold and she hoped it didn't have anything to do with them. She reminded herself that this happened in the void between galaxies and not voids within galaxies... She all but held her breath and hoped for anything other than the horror she had just come back from.

Inara thought a moment. 'How much are they willing to risk? To ask questions they do not want to know the answers to?' She thought to herself.

Deanna looked to Dylan, "Una salus victus" she said with a smile. "Audaces fortuna iuvat."

"Couldn't have said it better myself" Dylan replied.

Shran grinned at what the two former intelligence operatives were referencing. This certainly had the makings of a suicide mission. But Shran was a student of Kirk, and like Kirk, he didn't believe in the no win scenario. Every problem had a solution, you just had to be clever enough to discover it, and then implement it. Suddenly he heard Kate speak and he considered her words, "No, I don't think this has anything to do with that" he replied to her informal inquiry.

"Captain, you did not mention one piece of information that I think makes this even more dangerous" Lt Gemini spoke up. "The Spector crew reported that once they were within 500,000 kilometers of these temporal rifts, they began to experience abnormal and at times perplexing temporal anomalies within themselves. They were best described as momentary flashes, typically into the future, but for some into the past as well. These had the effect of disorientating crew aboard the Spector often at moments when they could least afford it."

"Sounds to me like they decided to stare into the abyss and didn't like what they saw" noted Lt Harper in sarcastic tone.

"One must be careful when one stares into the abyss, for while one does so, the abyss also stares back" Counselor Bem noted in a jovial yet grim way.

"It would seem Inara is correct; the anomalies are the most pressing issue. We will need to devise a strategy to protect ourselves from them" Shran noted.

Kate breathed a sigh of relief, and the color came back to her face despite the grim musings of what they were up to. Her shoulders slipped and she collapsed her back with the rest of the chair with an easy sigh.

"I looked into a real abyss once. I can handle whatever the heck this is. But it still doesn't mean we shouldn't be careful." Kate said. "Unmanned probes for data collection, take our time, maybe send in shuttles ahead of us with transporter locks on the whole shuttle in case people start having acid trips on the flight deck, every available precaution... It's not like it's a race. We can avoid being the next Spector of the Abyss as long as we work with the science teams hand-in-hand to get all the data we can possibly get before we Leroy Jenkins the entire situation," Kate pulled her leg into the chair and hugged her chin over her knee in that relaxed posture. It was clear that she was back to her normal self practically the moment Shran confirmed it was not anything to do with what she had just recently gone through.

Sam waited with bated breath as to what Shran would decide to do. Would he tackle the rift issue head out and to hell with the risks, or would there be a more cautious approach?

Jon listened as everyone had an opinion or suggestion in regard to what was before them. "I think if we tackle the rifts, we take the cautious approach especially as temporal anomalies are involved. Extensive use of probes and sensors is required. An away mission and shuttles may be needed but that is down the line."

"Just be careful about asking too many questions about time, as one should not ask questions for which one does not want to know the answers. This includes whatever questions on what's to come." Inara mentioned. "Let's just say I've meet some of these Temporal Affairs spooks, and you would get more personality from a borg drone. Furthermore, they also have the ability to crucify your Starfleet career. Also, conversation with them is dreadfully dull, and I don't want to talk to them."

As the conversation ebbed back and forth, Imik listened and thought. Standing up she spoke once again, "We know they are temporal anomalies, and that vessels have emerged from them. Also that Humans seem to be badly affected when the distance is closed on them." She turned to the Command staff of the Andromeda, "Captain Hunt, were any other species aboard the Spector? I ask because we might be able to filter out a species that is less affected and get closer to examine the problem."

She then turned to the rest of the assembled crews, "Having eyes on the problem can at times prove better than probes, but a combination of both I think would be better." She sat down and waited for a response, she felt sure that some species could weather the storm and get what was needed to close the anomalies.

"I want a full set of probes launched immediately" Shran said from a seated pensive position. Last thing I want is for us to have to deal with Temporal Affairs again. Inara is correct, I sooner sit and watch paint dry than deal with them again. I doubt they would be too keen on having to talk with us again. I think we are building up quite a file in their office. I think we'll come in cautiously, but no doubt we will have to get in close. Sam, no idea what we might be dealing with, so I suppose you'll have to be prepared for all sorts of injuries. I'd like to hope combat wasn't a foregone conclusion, but barring a minor miracle, the available information right now points towards combat. I'm thinking war footing might be in order."

"Finally, an opinion I can agree with" Lt Anasazi said forcefully.

Dylan offered a glance at his tactical officer before addressing Imik's query. "My understanding is that the Spector had a typical StarFleet crew, mostly human, but a variety of crew from Federation worlds." He looked to Andromeda, "Can you provide a breakdown of the crew?"

Andromeda nodded. "Certainly captain. The Spector had a crew of 500, made up of 350 humans, 50 Vulcans, 24 Andorians, 6 Tellerites, 40 Bajorans, 10 Betazoids, 5 Benzites, 5 Bolians, 4 Catains, 2 Denobulans, 2 Deltans, 1 Ferengi, and 1 Cardassian. A fairly diverse crew."

From the sound of it, I would say that currently, no telling how anyone will react to the anomalies when we get into close proximity. We'll have to assume the worst until we know otherwise." Shran looked over at Deanna and Inara, "I'll want the two of you to start analyzing all sensor data as it comes in. Coordinate with Cmdr Andromeda to compare notes." Shran stood up, nothing more we can do at this point. Up to our big brains to analyze data so we can make the best possible preparations. Let's get to work."