What Now?

Posted on Mon Oct 28th, 2024 @ 3:55pm by Lieutenant Commander Deanna Celes & Commander Jonathan Grayson & Lieutenant Commander Callie Raven-Grayson

Mission: The Gambit
Location: USS Washington

Deanna exited the turbolift and made her way over to Jon. Things had not gone as planned or as expected on the planet and she had no clue where they would go now to find the captain. She looked a bit dejected, and it could be heard in her voice as well. "Apologies for remaining out of contact so long, it couldn't be helped. We sadly found no trace of the captain, and very little evidence that the Romulans had even been on the planet. From the looks of the engineering teams about the ship, I'd say you might have had a different experience."

Jon nodded, "Nothing for you to apologize for Deanna. It couldn't be helped. I am just glad you and the rest of the away team are unharmed. We had a run in with some Cardassians as well the Romulans you didn't find. However, after showing them the error of their ways, they didn't press the argument." He paused for a moment, then continued. "I have some news that may brighten your spirits a bit. It concerns the captain, I saw him, and I know where he is and where he is going." he finished as he waited for her reaction.

Deanna did instantly pep up hearing this. "I assume we are prepared to get under way then?"

Jon nodded and smiled, "You assume correctly Deanna, don't you want to know more?" He questioned, "Like who else I saw?"

"I want to know everything" she said a bit enthusiastically. 'But where are we headed?"

By way of an answer, Jon spoke to L'Rissa. "L'Rissa set course for Salva II warp 7."

"Aye sir" L'Rissa purred.

Looking over at Deanna, Jon spoke again. "Shran is on one of the Romulan warbirds and it is commanded by Admiral Lovok. I spoke with Lovok. Its where I saw Shran. He looked right at me Deanna."

Deanna's eyes went wide. She didn't know what to think. She was angry with herself for not being on the ship when this encounter happened. Perhaps she could've gotten some information from the captain telepathically. And the idea that Lovok was now an admiral...it worried her. It meant he had consolidated even more power since her last encounter with him. "The captain is alive, that is at least one positive. I assume he looked well, or you would say something more. Obviously undercover. And I can tell you that the Romulans got nothing of value on the planet. The Iconian technology is as uncooperative with their technology as it is with Federation tech according to Imik."

"Excuse the interruption Commander, but you are receiving a Priority 1 message from Admiral Carroll" Ayana mentioned a bit sheepishly.

Deanna looked to Jon, "He doesn't contact people over subspace unless absolutely necessary. He may be wanting to give information about the captain."

"Channel it into the captain's ready room please Ayana." Jon replied. "Deanna, I want you in this as well." He added as he headed for the ready room and to hear what Admiral Carroll had to say.

Deanna followed Jon into the captain's Ready Room and watched as he swung the computer terminal around and activated it. Suddenly a familiar face appeared.

"Commander, my apologies for not contacting you sooner. I see you have Deanna there. I assume she has informed you of everything she was aware of up to this point. What is your location currently?" the admiral asked, being brief and to the point, rather like the captain.

"Admiral Carroll, good to see you sir. Yes, Deanna is here with me, and she has informed of everything she knows. We are currently orbiting Veloz Prime sir, getting ready to break orbit and be enroute to Salva II sir." Jon replied crisply.

"Did you find anything on Veloz Prime?" the admiral asked.

"We did sir. An Iconian facility ruins in a remote mountain region. We determined the Romulans arrived and looked at it before us, but it seems Iconian technology causes the same issues it causes ours. They got nothing useful from it beyond visual studying of it. We destroyed it, but we took scans afterward for scientific purposes once our equipment was rendered functional again" Deanna answered.

"Very well. I'm dispatching the Nova and the Grissom to Veloz Prime to do more detailed studies of these ruins" the admiral stated as he looked to contemplate something else.

"I would suggest having something with more kick in case the Romulans or Cardassians return. We had spoken with Cmdr Kira on DS9 prior to our arrival here" Deanna offered.

"I'm aware Deanna" the admiral replied. "The Defiant is needed at DS9, but you may be correct. The Phoenix and Rutledge are in that sector. I will redirect them to the area as well. Lovok won't want to combat 4 Federation vessels" the admiral replied, almost nonchalantly.

Deanna looked to Jon. She wanted to make sure he picked up on the fact that the admiral was aware of who they were dealing with despite neither Jon nor her saying anything.

"What is your ETA to Salvo II?" the admiral inquired.

Jon answered instantly "At warp 7, 16 hours Admiral."

"I am authorizing you to suspend warp speed limits. Increase to maximum warp so that you can either arrive before Lovok or roughly the same time. Be prepared for a conflict. You are to hold your ground. Expect them to attempt to press any advantage they have, but understand, you won't be alone when you deal with him. This cat and mouse chess game is about to come to a very loud end" the admiral stated. "You took a big gamble going after your captain without authorization commander. I admire that kind of loyalty, that sort of brashness. I can understand why Shran chose you for his XO. Continue your pursuit commander. You are the hound leading them to the hunter. We'll speak again soon. Carroll out."

Jon looked at the blank screen and then to Deanna. "Glad the admiral is in our corner." he quipped. "So, he knows it Lovok as well, interesting." Jon stood up, "You heard the mam Deanna, we have a very important appointment to keep, and we don't want to keep anyone waiting."

He exited the ready room and strode back onto the bridge, Deanna at his heels. "L'Rissa set course to Salva II maximum warp. Ayana, red alert and bring all weapons online. Sensors on maximum as well. We're going into a fight, and I don't want us to be caught flat footed or off guard."

As Jon sat in the command chair, he looked to Callie, "Going to need you to use your abilities to alert me to what you sense as we get closer to Salva II Callie. Especially if you pick up anything from the captain."

“Of course, Sir” Callie nodded and smiled as she reverted back to the expected professional decorum.

Deanna sat in the XO chair. It still felt unnatural to her. One day she'd be worthy of such a role, but she was content with her current position. She considered everything that had occurred in the conversation with the admiral. It didn't surprise her that he knew everything. You don't become the head of Intelligence without having a steady flow of information. He said something that had her thinking though. Perhaps this wasn't quite the rescue mission she thought it was. Jon had said he had seen the captain on Lovok's ship. Admiral Carroll referred this as a cat mouse game and inferred that the Washington was the hound leading the prey to the hunter. It was a human analogy, about the ancient pastime of hunting quail or some other game, she wasn't entirely sure. The admiral liked to use older vernacular to disguise things, she knew that. And he kept his image on the viewer close up on him, likely because he didn't want anyone to know where he was. Deanna had a thought on that. He was on a hunt, likely to eliminate Lovok.

Jon looked over at Deanna and could see she deep in thought. The conversation with Admiral Carroll had him thinking. The Admiral knew more than he was letting on and it was clear he knew who Lovok was and was eager to deal or settle a score with the Romulan. "Penny for your thoughts Deanna and I'll raise you another penny by saying I imagine they are pretty close to mine. So, speak up."

"I had thought this was a bit of a rescue mission we had undertaken. Come to the rescue of the captain, that sort of thing. I no longer believe that to be the case." Deanna replied is a hushed thoughtful tone. "The captain is most certainly in deep cover, that remains true, but we are no longer the surprise element meant to rescue the captain. I believe the admiral, to use a human phrase, is playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers. I believe we have been deliberately placed as the catalyst to draw Lovok out and force him to make a play. Inara would call this a spy craft game, but she doesn't understand the admiral. It goes so much beyond that. This isn't some personal vendetta, this is most definitely regarding something larger, bigger picture. He used the phrase hound to the hunter. That is an old Earth colloquialism if I'm not mistaken. Something the admiral used to say to the captain when we were working for him at Intelligence comes to mind. He used to say that in the game of thrones, you either win or you die. It was his way of telling people that despite the fact that most look at things as shades of grey, he saw things as black and white. Our last mission would've angered him the way they sent us in with so little information. He doesn't like sending people in blind Jon. He keeps things close to the vest, but if you know him, you can pick up on things. It is a lot like dealing with the captain in that way. We're going into a fight that is meant to look like we are outmatched. You encountered Lovok, did battle with his forces. He'll be more prepared in our next encounter, have more ships. You showed that this ship can handle quite a bit. I am guessing you didn't show off the big surprises yet. That will give us an even bigger edge. But we'll be in for a fight to be sure."

Jon offered a tight smile to Deanna. "I don't know the Admiral as well as you and the captain, but I picked up things as well Deanna, like him mentioning Lovok and us being the hound. Lovok didn't become an Admiral by happenstance. I won't underestimate him." His smile grew. "Oh, I can play things close to the vest as well Deanna and no I didn't show off the big surprises. A time and a place for everything after all."

"Lovok being an admiral is disturbing to me. It means he consolidated even more power after Shinzon's coup. He is the quite possibly the most dangerous Romulan I have ever known" Deanna replied.

"This ship and crew will be ready for him. You'll be ready for him, and I'll be ready for him." Jon answered with quiet conviction. "Let's get to it. We have an appointment to keep." He looked to Ayana, "Ayana, don't fire until I say so. Let's see if we can get Lovok to tip his hand."

"Aye sir" Ayana replied.

Jon spoke to L'Rissa, "L'Rissa, increase to maximum warp. Let's see if we can be there waiting." He said to Deanna.

“Jon, what’s going to happen if we end up getting into battle? We can’t risk harming the captain, no matter how much we might want to win.”

"We have orders to hold our ground. Knowing the captain, I imagine he has a contingency plan ready and if he doesn't, we do." he replied resolutely.

L'Rissa hit the controls gracefully. "Increasing speed to warp 9.975" she purred. "ETA now 1 hour, 12 minutes."

"Considering that engineering wouldn't want us at that speed for much more than an hour even though we can maintain it for 12 hours, I think that is sufficient" Deanna mused aloud.