Charisma & Cosmetics

Posted on Wednesday, 20 May 2020 - 10:16pm by Commander DeVala Victrix Ph.D & Emerick & Lieutenant T'Lanna Vali

Mission: Operation: Recall
Location: USS Fontana | Deck 04 |Sickbay
Timeline: MD06

Lieutenant Commander Victrix sat on the edge of a biobed aboard the USS Fontana in Sickbay, her eyes locked downward at a PaDD which a clear bold heading Broz, the planet in which her starship was currently in orbit of. The planet had no orbital defenses and was a quiet minshara class world with one large continent of land encompassed by water. It was located outside of the Baker's Dozen, and strategically this was of importance to their shuttle dispersing. The USS Fontana had arrived in the sector and took it's positioning in orbit of Broz as the shuttles were dispersed to Morning Glory, Devotion, and Baker's World. Lieutenant Commander Soral and Doctor Ryan Rose; however, took the Casablanca, Fontana's runabout to the Qiris system to deliver medical supplies to Vashti.

"Captain, if you are going to insist on reading that PaDD, I'm going to have to insist that you hold off on this appointment we have here" Fontana's Emergency Medical Hologram stated in a slightly agitated voice. He reached forward and grabbed her jaw in his hands and lifted her head gazing into her eyes with admiration. "Stunning beauty," he said as he moved her face to the side, turning her head.

DeVala Victrix was used to be being looked at, but not in this way. She knew that hologram was not referring to her, but rather admiring his artwork. She had sat the PaDD down and allowed this Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni known as 'Emerick' by the crew to admire his handiwork. She was nothing more than a canvass for him. "If the whole holographic physician thing does not work out for you, maybe you would consider being a beautician," she said teasingly though she had to admit she felt gorgeous even if she had not seen the final results yet.

She could feel the hologram's touch against the elongated tips of her ears. He was proud of his work and she knew it. "You did a great job. I am sure Dr. Rose would be proud of your surgical skills" Victrix said with a pleasant smile. He allowed her to hop down from the biobed. Victrix and Emerick had been alone for the procedure, but she had summoned Lieutenant Vali and il'Vastam to report to Sickbay just prior to Emerick finishing off her makeup. Her brows were thin, dark, and sharpened to elevated winged points. Her eye shadow a lovely earthy purple and lipstick complemented it. She was dressed, not in her Starfleet uniform but of a uniform with a skirt that fell above her knees and had a snugly cinched waistline.

T’Lanna arrived in Sickbay, “Reporting as ordered Commander.” She was surprised to see Victrix looking so different, the doctor had done good work altering her natural looks.

Hardly ever one of his favourite places, sickbay had nonetheless become the popular choice of summons. Not withstanding the substantial ratio of able crew away for their own missions, the Fontana was a shell of its typically busy corridors. Thankfully it had not nearly been as crowded as some of the bases he'd been to, under normal circumstances. This was however, a much welcomed relief. Not that it would last.

Learning the generalised deck plans of the vessel had gone smooth enough, fortunately. Within a ten minutes of given notice he'd already been at deck four carrying an updated report from the developed algorithim. Stepping into the open bay, a quirked eyebrow slid back into its dormant position as he settled in front of the small gathering.

Palm out with the small tablet, he looked over to the biobed, assuming the personage given how everyone was treating her. "As requested, another update on our candidates and the progress of the search. I'll have more once one of the away teams hails a status report over." His gaze briefly assessed the new mock-individual, before resigning to a neutral speculation as he gave a brief nod to the psychologist and hologramme.

Victrix looked at the two individuals, both valued members of her crew and the two biggest factors in why they were even remotely close to Stillwater's trail aside from sheer determination and lady luck. "Thank you for the updated report" she said the man. "I'm sure you will have more when there's more to be had" she added.

The woman gave a small twirl around and placed a hand on her hip. "You two just going to stand there like you haven't noticed" she said with a small stifled scoff. "Nevertheless, you will want to find something casual and Romulan to where, Lieutenant" she said to Vali.

“Of course Commander” T’Lanna nodded. “I have to say the doctor did a wonderful job changing your looks, no one would ever suspect you weren’t Romulan.”

She smiled as she pressed on. "The three of us are beaming down to the planet's surface of Broz" she said swiftly. "We are going to need to pull of our best Romulan impersonations. The planet is pre-Warp, but the Romulans have visited Broz often prior to the Supernova."

Bounced looks of suspicion ricocheted between the females as Rhydian shook his head before frowning as he tuned his focus over to the EMH. Not much there either, unless fawning over perfectionistic art in the form of cosmetic surgery was alotted. "I do not wish to be rude, but are you certain it is wise to visit the surface of an early-state civilisation? It brushes uncomfortably close with some of the directives of your Starfleet. It may also be due to have some in depth knowledge of Romulan culture and the langauge as well."

Expression softening, he looked over at the lieutenant. "I suppose we'll have to make do. I'll replicate some attire." Briefly half-smiling at the psychologist he sighed. "Well at least neither of us will need cosmetic surgery. May need to pluck some eyebrows though."

“I don’t know about that” T’Lanna looked at Victrix, “Do I look Romulan enough? My pointed ears would pass but Romulans rarely take a female of another race as a mate, unless of course she’s a consort. It has been known to happen. I don’t want to cause us any problems by raising suspicions.”

"Your ears are pointed, you'll be fine" Victrix replied somewhat reassuringly. "I am not planning on staying long enough for a DNA blood test and a polygraph" she added patting the woman on the shoulder. "These are as the Cadet put it an 'early-state civilization' and I am not sure when the last time they had a Romulan on the surface of the planet, but chances are it's been at least a few years with the supernova" Victrix said.

T’Lanna nodded. “You’re right as always Commander, I guess I am being somewhat over cautious. Better than not being cautious enough though!” She smiled.

Victrix looked at Rhydian. "Yes, you are absolutely one million percent correct. My Starfleet directives are very clear cut about not engaging with a Pre-warp civilization; However, Broz has been culturally and technologically contaminated already by the Romulans. Does this make this any less problematic and questionable? No, but it is what we are going to do. I have orders, Cadet. They may not be Starfleet, but they are Federation" she explained, but did not give any details.

"Cadet, as I understand it the planet Broz has an self-sustaining automatic defense satellite in orbit?" she asked.

"Knowing the Romulans? Yes. I wouldn't doubt that for any micro-instant of time. It doesn't take a cadet who grew up around them a lot to know they're territorial. Broz itself was, at the point of discovery, pre-agrarian. Akin to what humans termed hunter-gatherer. Very small populace on an almost entirely pelagic planet. Several satellites, at least one tidally locked with a ring around it."

"Lieutenant Vali," Victrix said glancing over at the woman. "I'll need the Intelligence Department to pull anything they have on the indigenous Brozul people, though I would prefer to avoid them if, at all possible, I would like to know more about them, and this defense satellite," she said swiftly. Victrix was not about to abort her plans on Broz just because it would be difficult.

“Yes Ma’am” T’Lanna nodded. “I’ll do a search of the database and see what information has been collected so far. In my opinion it would be better, as you already said, to avoid contact wherever possible.”

Now, she turned her attention back to Rhydian. "Cadet, I am pretty cleaned out on helmsmen and auxiliary craft pilots right now with the shuttles and runabout gone" she admitted. "I have the one that ground against the Camelot, and let's just say I have not forgiven them for that yet" added Victrix. "You're a pathfinder and you know how to outsmart computers. Outsmart this one. I need to get close enough to Broz to transport to the surface and do so without setting off the defense systems of the satellite."

Frowning opposite the commander, the junior nodded briefly. "Plausible, albeit inadvisable. Romulans have perfected their short-range scanners and cloaking. If there is a defense satellite, and I've no doubt there is, it will almost assuredly be cloaked. Were we to approach, if it's anything in comparison to Federation perimeter buoys, it will detect us within a matter of seconds, if we go in at full power." He looked over the sickbay for a moment in search of a spare console, groaning at the state all of them had been allocated for medical.

Left with an immediate path ahead of them, he brushed his palm over the monitoring device on his wrist, producing a dim interface. "This won't be as productive as it would be from the computer core, but if I were asked now with no other information, we'll need to mask our energy signature. That takes no less than five hours to prepare, fully crewed, for a vessel of this size." Records flipped through the hologram as he navigated the interface, searching for the system.

"Give me half that; I'll get a programme together that can automate what we need, but it won't be as optimal as a proper engineer. Expect everything withstanding life support to be offline. Lights included. We'll have to go in on thrusters from the bridge. Beaming will trigger a brief, albeit noticeable spike if the sensors are being monitored. If our charts are correct though, we may be able to further mask our presence by via a stationary orbit on the dark side of the far moon. Preferably amongst the ring. Which is going to be a task of its own to navigate without shields. I should point out this is all conjecture. I'll need to run a full analysis from the computer core for anything more accurate."

"Hey hey,"replied Victrix seeing the look in the Braidean's eyes. He had that ready to scurry off look. "Before you dash to go make calculations, I think I heard 'life support' and 'offline' in the same sentence. How long can our skeletal last without life support?" she asked with genuine concern. She didn't want to put crew lives unnecessarily at risk.

"I said withstanding life support, commander. As in that would be the only system remaining online. I have no intentions of robbing our skeletal crew of the means to survive. To do so would be unethical. As could this mission if not handled properly."

"Sorry Cadet" she said apologetically. "I haven't had nearly enough coffee today and my ears are still humming from this surgical work" she explained. "See what you can do" she added.

Granted affirmation, Rhydian gave one of his typical, silent nods before heading out the open bay door. "Expect an update within the hour."

T’Lanna was feeling understandingly nervous about the whole venture, ever since she’d discovered she was pregnant her whole outlook had changed to one of protecting her child from harm. Not that she’d refuse to go on away party duty, it was part of her role. She did her best not to show outward signs of nervousness but her hands clenching together tightly was a dead giveaway.

Emerick was still active albeit idle as the others chatted as though he were a wall. He moved closer to Lieutenant Vali and placed a hand atop of hers reassuringly. "I would go in your place if I could" he said. It was an endearing gesture.

Victrix focused her attention to the Ship's Psychologist. "Lieutenant, are you alright?" asked Victrix. "If you are not feeling well enough for this, I can keep you aboard the Fontana" offered the woman.

“No, it’s alright Commander.” T’Lanna offered a smile. “I feel fine, it’s just ... my maternal instincts are kicking in and I just feel a bit nervous that’s all. I can’t, and won’t hide away aboard ship for the duration of my pregnancy. I’m a member of the crew and I’ll act like one until my maternity leave starts. Although I have no plans to leave the ship for that.”

"Good, that's what I like to hear" replied Victrix. "We have our mission ahead of us and some somewhat questionable orders, but our job isn't to question them. Our job is to see them through."

T’Lanna turned to Emerick. “That was very sweet of you Doctor, thank you.” She smiled and gently leant forward, giving him a kiss on the cheek. “You are more human than you realise Emerick.”

Emerick politely nodded and accepted the generous compliment. "Computer, deactivate the EMH" he said, and he left Sickbay to the others. They could carry on their mission planning or whatever the hell it was the Federation and or Starfleet had them chasing after.

Victrix took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. This was definitely not what she had in mind, but she would do what was asked of her. "Alright, you have you orders. Work on your assignments and report back to me when you are ready. From there, we'll just have to pull this off.