"Fight"
(Previous Post was Serenna's "Executive Fears")
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Stardate: 60341.1735
The young woman stood behind the Intel station… a mixture of awe and sorrow engraved on her features as she carefully studied the 3-D recreation of the inside of the HATHOR's 5 decks. The ANUBIS was truly a remarkable ship with abilities that were the envy of the majority of the fleet, but although the ship had been the best the redheaded woman could have ever hoped to command her being where she was right there and then had left her feeling a deep emotional emptiness. The ANUBIS, despite its full compliment of personnel and all of its state-of-the-art gadgets had simply felt incomplete… without its ILO.
As much as Sabrina wanted to rush back as fast as possible to SURIAL III, the young woman knew that her duties and responsibilities to the crew of the HATHOR… who were actually officers under *her* command had been more important… not to mention urgent. According to the fully restored sensors of the SCARAB-Class Intel Cruiser, the DEFIANT-X-Class ship was on the verge of a complete systems failure, but thanks to the Imperian's ability to remain undetected no one onboard the ANUBIS could even attempt to guess as to where the intruders had been.
"Maybe we should just beam everyone onto the ANUBIS and then try to
find away to deal with the Imperians without fear of injuring anyone
onboard, I mean it is obvious that they are fighting a losing battle," the CSciO suggested from the science station located at the back of the bridge.
Strangely enough the last words spoken by the Shillian had been in
complete contradiction of what she had reported only minutes earlier when the
acting ExO had pointed out that Lt. Pravat and the rest of his assault team
had progressed through the decks of the HATHOR.
As she glanced at the CSciO the young woman could not help but wonder
if the suggestion had originated from a professional evaluation of the
situation or from a more basic desire to see a specific member of the assault team return safe and sound to the ANUBIS. Whatever the reason had been though it had not changed the reality of the situation… the Imperians had gained
access to a highly classified ship of the NEW ALEXANDRIA fleet and they could not be permitted to report back to their superiors what they had discovered.
"As long as there is hope to save the ship, I am inclined to let Lt. Pravat and the rest of the Marines try and regain control of the ship… if we evacuate the HATHOR my next orders *will* have to be to fire and destroy it. We *cannot* afford to take the risk that the computer's information might fall into their hands… information which contains amongst other things the schematics to the ship's own cloaking device, the identity of every ship which operates beneath Admiral Koneki and least of all the location and access codes to the NEW ALEXANDRIA complex," the redheaded woman explained without any hints of hesitation. If the situation should call for such actions to be taken, it was clear to see that the ANUBIS' CO had been ready and willing to make the tough decision. Of all the time she had spent in the company of the ILO, the young woman had at least learned this… that hesitation was something that any officer working in the field of Intel could never afford to have.
The focus of everyone on the bridge shifted to the turbolift doors as
they opened to allow the massive Oltharian to step through onto the bridge…
everyone had been curious to see why the giant had returned, not to
mention that it had been impossible to ignore the CEO who came across as a
walking mountain. Obviously not having been expected, the giant made his way
directly to the redheaded woman whom he had noticed standing at the
Intel station.
"You look you have a chip on your shoulder Elan," the young woman
offered as the Oltharian approached having noticed a rather sombre expression on his normally gentle features. The CEO instantly stopped in his tracks and
brushed his shoulders, obviously trying to remove whatever it had been
that the young woman had noticed. Sabrina tried her best not to sigh out
loud, having been made to remember although a little too late that most
common expressions were beyond the grasp of the giant who had spent the
majority of his life in the company of non-humans.
"I thought you would like to know that I have been able to arrange for
an energy transfer to be available between us and the HATHOR. Auxiliary
power has been rerouted to the main deflector dish and we can target a narrow
beam to the HATHOR restoring at least secondary system long enough for them
to be able to effect repairs," Elan explained, his words not at all matching
his tone of voice which was on the borderline of sad.
"You do know that you are required to smile when presenting your CO
with good news?" the young woman sarcastically inquired while looking up
into the white eyes of the giant. At first Rikar had expected the Oltharian to apologies and give some strange reason as to why he had sounded so
unhappy when he had relayed the news, but instead the young woman say the
expression of the CEO darken even further.
"There is one problem though," Elan offered like a child about to admit
to his mother that he had broken a family heirloom.
"I had gathered that much… just say it," the redheaded woman said
trying to downplay the news even before she had heard it.
"Under normal circumstances I would not have hesitated to perform such
an energy transfer, but the problem is that we are dealing with the
Imperians… a robotic race of which we know little about," the giant said, his
explanation dragging on much longer than the young woman had cared for.
"The power transfer would not only re-energize the HATHOR's secondary
systems but might very well boost the energy of the Imperians onboard…
making them stronger and likely more dangerous," the CSciO jumped in
with having figured out the one snag in the Oltharian's idea.
"In other words… good plan… bad idea. Keep working on it, maybe you
can find a way for us to help without making the situation worse than it
is," the CO ordered dismissing the CEO back to his department.
"It does look like Pravat is on his own," the Shillian added as the
Oltharian left the bridge.
"Maybe not entirely… according to these readings there is some activity
onboard the HATHOR… the problem is that we just can't tell if it will
work or not. As much as I hate to admit it… the best thing we can do right
now is to wait. Acting or reacting too soon could make matters worse and I
would very much like to avoid having to explain to Admiral Koneki why
we came back with 1 less ships. That is one battle that I would rather
not have to fight," the young woman offered with a deep sigh feeling that
she and the rest of the group had found their way between the proverbial
'rock and a hard place'.
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"We are Grey, we stand between the Candle and the Star, between the
Darkness and the Light" 2006 post #087
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Bridge
Sabrina Jones {sabrina_sweet@hotmail.com}
Captain Sabrina Rikar
Commanding Officer
USS ANUBIS, NCC-18501
-Entilza Delenn, Babylon 5
