"Dreams"
(Previous Post was Brian's "Vulcan Logic… Human Fears")
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Stardate: 60341.0330
The young woman stood in the opened doorway… her gaze gently washing
over the sleeping form of her adoptive daughter who slept as though she had
not a care in the world. As far as Talia had been concerned her biological
mother had simply been away… as she had been so many times before… and Talia
had full confidence that Enaii would be back. At her age the young child
had been old enough to understand the concept of death… unfortunately the
first lesson had been in regards to her adoptive mother who although had been
listed as dead after a starship accident, was later discovered to be
very alive. Sabrina Rikar, known then as Samantha Rikar, had simply lost
her memories of her life… memories which had included her entire family.
Although Talia had been told that her biological mother had *died*, the
child's comprehension of the term and her own experience with her
adoptive mother had left the daughter of the ANUBIS' ILO with the unshakable
belief that her mother would one day return. The young woman could only smile
as she looked upon her daughter… wishing that she could share in this
absolute certainty of Enaii's return. As hard as everyone onboard the ship had been working, the CO knew that the odds of successfully completing this
mission had been minimal at best and that the situation which had befallen the
Cardassians had only increased the possibilities that something would
go wrong. So far the only advantage that the HATHOR and ANUBIS had been
able to enjoy thanks to whatever this problem had been was to see their
journey to SURIAL III be far quieter than anyone could have expected it to be.
=/\= Bridge to Captain Rikar. =/\= The voice of Marine 1st Lt. Pravat,
currently the ANUBIS' Tactical Officer echoed through the room which
started the redheaded woman who rushed away of the opened doorway in an hopes
of not waking Talia hope.
"Go ahead Lieutenant… what is it?" The young woman replied, knowing
that something had happened for the Enaran to have called her at this hours
of the night.
=/\= Sorry to have disturbed you, but I think you want to be on the
bridge to see what the HATHOR has relayed to us. =/\= Prav explained, the tone
of voice of the Enaran had left no doubts that whatever the other ship had
found had been significant.
"I'll be right there, Rikar out." The CO replied as she glanced over her shoulder to see her adoptive daughter looking back at her through sleep eyes.
"Bina? Is Nan'Ha home?" The little girl asked in a half-asleep tone,
the child rubbing her eyes in an effort to keep them open long enough to
see her adoptive mother's answer.
"Not yet sweetie… not yet… but soon… mommy will be home soon." The
young woman said as she reached down and scooped the sleepy child in order to
bring her back to her bed. Sabrina could only draw strength and
comfort from her daughter's conviction that Enaii would return… if only the
universe could be so easily swayed by the dreams of innocence.
==========
"Sorry it took so long… minor motherly problems… what have we got?" The
redheaded woman offered as soon as she had set foot onto the command
deck of the ANUBIS, inwardly hoping that whatever the HATHOR had found would
not be as bad as the Marine 1st Lieutenant had made out sound as.
"The HATHOR intercepted a general distress signal… the signal strength
was very weak, so the quality of the image is less than good… but the
important parts are clear enough." The MCO commented as he motioned for Annie to replay the message that they had received on the main view screen.
The sound of static filled the bridge as the starscape was replaced by the almost unrecognisable image of a Cardassian standing in front of what appeared to be the command deck of a ship on the verge of destruction. The distortion had been so bad that that the young woman had been unable to make out what the Cardassian had been trying to say… but suddenly words became irrelevant as the silhouette of a strange being appeared behind the man. Before anyone could saw anything, the unknown being raised some sort of a riffle and shot the Cardassian dead… seconds later the image on the main view screen returned to the normal stars indicating that the transmission had ended abruptly there.
"Do we have anything on who or what that thing was?" The young woman
demanded as she made her way to her chair, glad to see that her ExO had
already been working on the case at the science station on the bridge.
"The image was very badly distorted and is making any sort of visual
recognition nearly impossible, I mean that it is going to take a while
for us to get a clear enough frame to digitally enhance so that we can make
out some of the details, but until then all that we can be certain of is
that the Cardassian onboard that ship were under attack… and apparently
lost." The CSciO explained as she quickly returned to her work obviously
unhappy in having been unable to give the CO any more than she had.
"Annie… hail the HATHOR." Captain Rikar ordered as she literally
dropped in her chair, her greatest fears about the situation surrounding the
Cardassian having apparently materialised.
[/\] HATHOR, Lt. Dawson here. What can we do for you Captain? [/\] The former CEO of the ANUBIS, now ExO of the HATHOR said greeting the young woman in a far more professional manner than Rikar had come to expect out of David.
"Thanks for the relay… have you been able to make out any more than we have?" The ANUBIS' CO inquired, hoping that maybe in the meantime the HATHOR had intercepted more such signals that would help shed light on the increasing mystery.
[/\] Sorry Captain… what you received from us is all that we got. We still don't have any idea as to what that thing was, but as far as our sensors can tell they are happily busy with the Cardassians and are letting us carry out to our objective unchallenged. [/\] Dawson reported, knowing that his words would not do a great deal in relation to easing the young woman's growing concerns.
"David… can we get to SURIAL III faster?" Rikar demanded, obviously wanting to get the to planet as fast as possible so that they could return to Federation space before things around them got worse.
[/\] Under normal circumstances I would have said no… increasing speed would increase the chances of either the HATHOR or the ANUBIS being detected. Of course these are far from being normal circumstances… so I would have to say that yes… we should be able to increase to warp 8, maybe 8.5 without taking too high of a risk of being detected. [/\] The CEO replied. It was easy to see that Dawson had not liked the idea but given that the Cardassian were in no way even searching for them, the HATHOR's ExO/CEO had felt it safe enough to support the ANUBIS' CO's plan.
"Alright… push the HATHOR to 8.5 and remain on course for SURIAL III.
I will have Elan rig something up so that we can start catching up to you
so that you are not stuck waiting for us for an hours once you reach
orbit." The redheaded woman stated, the situation having forced her to take
risks that she had not expected to take at this point in time.
[/\] Understood… see you at SURIAL III. HATHOR out. [/\]
"Captain… increasing speed to beyond warp 5 will render the Cloaking
Armour almost useless as a sensor deterrent, I mean at that speed any ship
with the most basic of sensor capability would be able to detect something
traveling through space and wonder what it is. We may be inviting being
discovered by the Cardassian only to reach SURIAL III about a day ahead of schedule." The CSciO and ExO of the ANUBIS offered obviously concerned by the sudden urgency the captain had demonstrated in wanting to reach the planet.
"I am well aware of the risk Maya… what I am betting on is that
whatever that thing was on that bridge is going to keep our Cardassian hosts
busy long enough to allow us to get there and back without any problems.
Bridge to Engineering." The young woman explained, jumping right away into her
conversation with her CEO.
=/\= Fairborn here Captain. =/\= The Oltharian replied as the redheaded
woman had expected knowing that Elan had not been one to take some rest
in times such as these.
"Elan… I need warp 9 or better." The CO stated without any advance
warning, something that did seem to catch the Oltharian by surprise as judged by the few seconds of silence which immediately followed.
=/\= This will greatly reduce our ability to bring the sensors back to
full operation. =/\= The CEO stated obviously not having been in a state of
mind to oppose the wishes of his captain, not that Rikar had ever thought
that Elan would ever contradict anyone for any reason.
"I understand… but things have changed and I think it would be best if
we could get back to Federation space as soon as possible." The CO
explained in a nutshell certain that every second spent talking about it increased their chances of getting into more trouble than they all cared to.
=/\= I am sure that I can find a way to give you warp 9 if not better… I will also have those teams working on the sensors double their efforts. We will be ready by the time we reach SURIAL III. =/\= The CEO stated, the confidence in his voice having been more than enough to make the redheaded woman smile.
"Helm… increase to warp 9 or better as speed becomes available." The CO
instructed the ship's Avatar who had taken over the position of FCO for
the time being. As the ship began to move faster, the young woman wondered
how she would break the news to Ens. Halliwell, the ANUBIS' CMO who had
already been working long and hard to use all of the available time to be ready to attempt the impossible… time that had now been made shorter.
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"We are Grey, we stand between the Candle and the Star, between the
Darkness and the Light" 2006 post #035
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Rikar/Draxx Quarters
Stardate: 60341.0345
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Bridge
Sabrina Jones {sabrina_sweet@hotmail.com}
Captain Sabrina Rikar
Commanding Officer
USS ANUBIS, NCC-18501
-Entilza Delenn, Babylon 5
