Tea, Biscuits, and Days that Never End (Part II)

Posted on Thursday, 23 July 2020 - 1:36pm by Captain Barret Stillwater & Commander DeVala Victrix Ph.D & Lieutenant Aristede Hobbes & Lieutenant Ryan Rose MD & Lieutenant T'Lanna Vali & Lieutenant Raith Kolani & Lieutenant Talarn Zilth & Zelon Bakar

Mission: Operation: Jabberwocky
Location: Starbase 118 - Wardroom
Timeline: MD 3 - Late Evening

The room was abuzz with a leisurely chatter, mostly Captain Adelia Dashwood rambling on about various things wrong with the starbase and how she's been through eighteen different interior designers for her office, but none of them had sufficiently captured her style. This was her starbase after all, and it was her office. So, of course, the furniture and overall design should be reflective of her. She was enjoying a cup of tea and biscuits when the doorway parted ways and Adelia let out a, "You-Hoo," to the officers who were assembled in the wardroom. "My Executive Officer," she said, gesturing to the woman who had just stepped into the room.

"Sorry I missed the tea party," the Executive Officer of Starbase 118 said. Though several individuals in the room knew her more cordially as Devala Victrix, formerly the Acting Commanding Officer of the USS Fontana which was now the USS Standing Bear under Commander Barret Stillwater's command. "Stillwater, Kolani, and," she could not remember the Cardassian Ex-Borg's name but knew him to be Stillwater's husband. "Mr. Stillwater?" she took a bit of a swing as she grabbed herself a mug and poured herself some coffee and doctored it up to her liking.

"Oh dear!" shouted Adelia. "Have you already been introduced? Did I overlook something again?"

Victrix flashed a smile at Captain Adelia Dashwood. "The Merian class starship docked out there. That was the Fontana, my previous command. This was the man I was telling you about, Delia. The one I was sent to find and then he was given command of the starship."

It was as if everything made sense for once. Her mouth hung ajar for a second and then she clasped her hands together and announced enthusiastically, "Yes, yes of course. I knew that. Prairie," she said as two and two finally came together and Victrix took her seat next to Aelia. "Ah yes, now that we are all here... shall we begin, DeVala?"

Victrix took a few sips of coffee before setting the mug down. "Commander Stillwater, it is a pleasure to see you again. All of you," she said to the trio. "Is Soral not attending? I would have thought your First Officer would be here."

Barret Stillwater raised his hands and shrugged. "Shore leave, what can I say? They wanted some time to frolic among the pansies somewhere."

Lieutenant Commander Victrix snorted just slightly. The thought of Soral being with nature and frolicking among flowers was amusing to her. "Nevertheless, I am glad you and the... Standing Bear is it now? Anyways, I am glad you are here. This is a scientific station and our Diligent class starships, as quaint as they are, are more useful for scientific endeavours. They have become target practice lately, and we are in the middle of a problem. Some Federation communication relays have been tampered with."

Talarn nodded politely, but made no attempt to correct anyone or inform any of them of his first name, Mr Stillwater was just fine in his book. Although, having now met Lieutenant Commander Victrix, he wondered how the dress he had picked out looked on her. He kept silent, for the time being, just nodding and smiling a little stiffly.

Raith smiled as he recognised Commander Victrix and nodded politely as she addressed him. "It's a pleasure to see you again, Commander, you're looking well," he said as he listened to the conversation. "Hopefully, we can find a solution to what's going on with these starships and the relays." Taking a sip of his drink, Raith continued, "How are you finding being on aboard a Starbase for a change?" he asked.

"If I spent more time on the starbase, I could give you more of an answer. Honestly, Captain Dashwood has done most of the administrative work oddly enough. I've been handling the fieldwork by taking command of the Gentry and Monarch, but as I said... they've been taking a beating," she added. She shot a look at Lieutenant Hobbes. "What would you say Hobbes, about a week or two the Gentry will be sidelined?" she inquired knowing the man was most likely up to date on the repair work.

Hanging on to his coffee cup, as the lifeline that it was, Hobbes took a moment to answer. While not officially in charge, he generally knew what was on the schedule and what wasn't. Given Lapid's tendency to change things at whim, he'd taken to checking twice a day and still managed to be surprised at least once every other week. "I would say closer to three," he said, "though that could be cut down with some shifts in assignments."

Victrix appreciated the honesty in man's response. She did not know him to ever inflate numbers nor sugar coat them. She pressed onward with the matter at hand. "We know the where, what, and why, but the who and how is what remains uncertain," she stated. "Whoever is behind this has managed to tamper with some of our relay stations, hijack it, and are transmitting material for their own financial gain. An 'entertainment' industry: Bloodsports, if we're to be frank. They are broadcasting this... savage brutality. Chasing down and slaughtering sentient prey. One of the more recent transmissions, I watched a female member of the Selay species being slain."

Hobbes had spent his childhood entertaining people on one world or another and the notion that a being could derive pleasure from brutality was beyond his comprehension. Cheap glitter, copious amounts of sparkle, and the goofy antics of the clowns, sure. But this? He thought about the long hours, the ongoing, merciless training schedule, the behind the scenes work that never seemed to end, and all for the entertainment of the crowd. I suppose, he thought reluctantly, his innate fairness forcing him to consider the alternatives, that there are those who make of themselves a weapon. Could they also see themselves as entertainers? Or is it darker? The need to cause harm? What kind of mind thinks that way?

Stillwater had remained silent as he listened to the information and his crew chattering with Victrix and the others. "The Selay homeworld is in sector 500, the Beta Renner system. That's a long way from here," he said curiously about the circumstances. Interesting, he thought as he contemplated what was going on and who could possibly be responsible. A Selay being killed pointed to the logical suspects, their neighbors, the Anticans.

It was as though Victrix knew where Stillwater's mind was going. "If you're thinking Antican, add it to the list of possibilities. The problem is our communications network is broad and without getting a closer look at one of the tampered-with relays, we cannot pinpoint exactly where the source transmission is coming from, but we haven't seen any more Selay in these transmissions as prey. There's been a diverse range. We suspect whoever is behind this has abducted their prey from various places."

"It sounds like there are plenty of options and suspects to have a look at... we're almost looking at a potential needle in a haystack," Raith remarked. "Are there any clues that we can work with to try and understand some sort of pattern as to what's happening?" He was interested in trying to find out some sort of lead that would offer an explanation in what was happening to the various starships and communication relays that had been tampered with... however, it also sounded like there were some very unsavoury species in the area as well.

Commander Stillwater shot a look at Raith. "Too many suspects and not enough time to sit around postulating," he commented swiftly. "Lieutenant, is T'Lanna back on the starbase?" he asked the other man knowing how close he was to the ship's psychologist. "She may be useful on this mission," Stillwater noted. He was already thinking about this mission without it being formally assigned.

Raith nodded as he answered the Captains question. "I believe so, sir," he said. "Knowing Tee....T'Lanna, she loves a good challenge and I dare say that she'll be up for this one." Raith smiled as he thought of her being back on the Starbase and also wondered about the next time he might get to see her. From the sounds of things, there was a lot of work ahead.

Victrix was amused yet not surprised. This was sort of mission that Stillwater, given his background, would have always jumped at. "Sounds like you are going to be offering more than your insight on this," Lieutenant Commander Victrix said. "If that is the case, I am afraid to tell you we're a little lacking on manpower right now. The Gentry is in no shape to be taken out and I saw what was going on with the Standing Bear. That leaves us with the Monarch and not a lot of personnel. A large portion of our engineering and operations personnel have been put to work on the Gentry and we lost our Chief Medical Officer."

Stillwater nodded. "I just was given an Assistant Chief Medical Officer and Doctor Rose is on shore leave, but last I checked he was still roaming around the starbase. I might be able to at least get one of them. I understand the need to repair the Gentry as Standing Bear requires its own work right now, but we will need a sufficient engineer for this mission."

Adelia cleared her throat. "You-Hoo, I am still here dears," the station commander said. She gestured to Aristede Hobbes. "Lieutenant Hobbes is a fine engineer, and I think we can probably spare him for this mission if it is alright with the two of you... and of course you'll be fine with it, won't you, dear?" she said looking at Hobbes.

"Of course, Ma'am," Hobbes replied but there was a wealth left unsaid because it was best not to go down that path. What did the Vulcans say? Kaiidth. What is, is. He'd learned to understand the twisting, winding depths of it all. Though to his mind, it didn't mean that you couldn't work at changing the 'is' to something vastly better. But then again, wasn't that what engineers did? He ran down the list of preventative routines on his week-long schedule. Nothing that wasn't easily shifted though he suspected it would all be waiting for him (and more) when he returned.

There was; however, something not being brought up. Commander Stillwater and Talarn were not exactly free of responsibilities, they couldn't just up and leave on a mission. They had two individuals under their care: Ansel, the boy rescued from the Scarlet Tanager was still not officially turned over to the Federation, and the Orion male that they had come into possession of. These were not immediately on the gung-ho Commander's mind.

Talarn eyed Barret over the conversation, casting sideways glances. "What about the boy?" he finally asked softly. "I want to help," he added.

"Boys," Stillwater replied to Talarn. Of course, the Orion was not really a boy, though Stillwater did not know his actual age. He was sure that the medical personnel on the Standing Bear had likely made that deduction based on comparative Orion anatomy with bone and dental scans; however, Talarn's inquiry was not misplaced. They did have both of them to consider.

Adelia was perplexed, a feeling she was not fond of. She preferred to always present herself as all-knowing which was certainly useful when she applied her Betazoid abilities to get an upper-hand. "Boys? What boys?" she said confuzzled for only a moment as she pried into Stillwater's surface thoughts. "You did WHAT?! Oh, dear. Oh dear oh dear. Those poor... what are you ever going to do with them?"

Stillwater glared at Adelia Dashwood. The yellow toad knew no boundaries when it came to privacy. "We have not made any final decisions on either yet. The child is non-communicative from what we can tell. His parents missing. We've contacted the Federation about him and they are trying to see if they can find any living relatives that can take him in. If not, then we will likely have to turn him over soon to be taken into Federation care for fostering," Stillwater explained about Ansel.

He did not know what to say about the Orion. "The other... is a different matter. We have been providing him guest quarters aboard the Standing Bear, and trying to get him to open up a bit. We would like for him to request asylum, but we're running out of time for that. If Admiral Raitchaak had his way, he would have been in the Brig and turned over to Starfleet Security for detainment. I will not have that, but I do not know what to do in the meantime. If Talarn and I go on this mission... we cannot just leave either of them behind."

"Nonsense," replied Captain Adelia Dashwood. "Bring them to me. I am good with children, they can stay with me until you return from your mission."

Stillwater shot a look at Talarn. He was not sure how his husband would take to the Captain's assistance, but their backs were pretty much pressed up against a bulkhead.

Talarn made a low growling noise in his throat, that was just for Barret, expressing his frustration. "Do we have a choice..." he finally responded after several moments of silence.

Stillwater tapped his comm badge and made the first call. "Stillwater to Lieutenant Vali....T'Lanna can you report to the starbase's Wardroom, and if you could please bring Ansel and the Orion?"

T’Lanna just happened to be in Sickbay visiting Ansel when Stillwater’s voice came over the comms. “Aye, Sir. We’ll be there soon.” She looked at Ansel hoping this was going to be a good thing and not anything else.

Next, was the matter of getting a medical officer to thus drop of a dime mission. Rose or Alexander? That was the question he juggled in his mind. Rose arguably had more experience but was on leave. Stillwater knew the man needed some time before dragging him off on another away mission. It would; however, have been a wildcard to test Doctor Alexander under these conditions. His command experience led him to the logical conclusion. He tapped the comm once more: "Stillwater to Dr. Rose. Could you please report to the starbase's Wardroom, and I'm sorry to roll you off whatever sofa you are on right now, but we're going on a bit of an adventure."

Ryan had to fumble for his combadge, having a bag of sheet music in one hand, and a to-go box with an entire cake in the other. He turned an apologetic look to Kay'la then finally managed his combadge: "Yes sir, I'll make my way there."

A few minutes later T’Lanna materialised inside the wardroom with both Ansel and the Orion, as Stillwater had requested. “Sorry for the abrupt arrival, Sir. It seemed the easiest way to get our guests straight here.” She looked around smiling warmly as she saw Victrix in the room as well. “Commander! It’s good to see you again.”

Sheered panic immediately took over the green male’s visage as his eyes cleared, grasping over his arms to see if they were still connected to his body. He’d been collected by a person he was both unfamiliar with, and someone representing a group he was still entirely mortified of. On less than a credit’s note with little to no explanation he was transported over a matter stream for the very first time in his life and deposited into a room. A room with more uniformed people…from the very same faction which instilled a pure sense of fear into his heart.

His adrenaline spiked through an uncomfortable gulp as he realised he’d become a much disliked centre of attention from people he wanted little to nothing to do with. Nor was the escort he’d been assigned present, or anyone else familiar save for the man which kidnapped him, and another he knew as the group’s leader. A man that went by the name of Stillwater, as if the implicative moniker offered any soothing measure to his chills. Surrounded, he made for his best effort to cower up against the nearest wall, loosely beckoning the child which had accompanied him in effort to keep him safe.

"And good to see you too" replied Victrix with a warm smile. She also took note of Ansel and the Orion, giving a little wave to both of them though it was clear that the Orion was older and more mature physically than Ansel was.

Ryan hadn't gone to change, as the call seemed a bit urgent, so he showed up to the wardroom in the civilian clothes he'd been wearing while shopping. He stepped in, and was a bit taken aback by how many people were already in the room. "Sirs." He nodded to both the Station CO and Stillwater in turn.

DeVala Victrix looked at Doctor Rose and had she been standing would have placed a hand on her hip. "Boy, I hope that was addressed to me to or your mother will be hearing about that," she said teasingly. "Or are you still sour over my killer performance at comedy night?"

Ryan blinked, momentarily stunned and unsure of how to deal with Victrix. He stuck to the purely professional. "To you as well, of course sir." He made no comment about dead mothers or drunken comedy nights.

Stillwater cleared his throat. "Right, Lieutenant Commander Victrix...if you would be so kind as to fill in the rest of the crew," he said trying to make it clear that he wanted the room cleared out so that he and Captain Dashwood could talk. "Talarn, you and the boys stay with me" he added looking over to his husband.

Victrix stood from her seat and nodded. "Vali, Rose, Kolani, and Hobbes, you four with me," the former Commanding Officer of the Fontana said. "We're going to head to the USS Monarch. Vali and Rose I'll fill you in along the way. Let's just say it is not pleasant, and I need your help shutting down some criminal operation...oh joy."

Ryan stepped in beside Vali, needing the comforting presence of the counselor for a moment. He wasn't sure he was quite ready to be tossed back into the fire so to speak, but it didn't look like he had any choice in the matter.

Hobbes, who'd barely written five words on the PADD, sent his note such as they were off to Dashwood and then surged to his feet. Dangerous or boring, he'd be doing the job rather than just wasting time repeating unnecessary procedures. For as long as it lasted, he'd be doing the job he knew how to do and that felt good. He fell in at the rear, since he wasn't part of the group and knew it, and sifted through the facts and figures that cluttered his mind for specifics on the Monarch.

T’Lanna offered Ryan a warm smile, she could sense his feelings of uncertainty and she’d be right there to help him if he needed it. She also smiled at Raith, it made her feel safe having him along. “So tell us more about this criminal operation Commander.” She looked at Victrix curiously.

"Walk with me, I'll explain some on the way" replied Victrix.