"Eureka"
(Previous Post was Serena's "Executive Curiosity")
==========
Stardate: 61012.0945 (32 days after the last post)
The first week after their return to NEW ALEXANDRIA had been hectic and
tedious… filled with meetings, debriefings and more meetings. Everyone
had taken whatever free time they had been given to work on various
projects… some dealing with the Imperian threat while others pursued more
personal goals. The weeks that followed saw the crew gradually fall into a
routine that most would have described as *boring*. Each time Admiral Koniki
had been asked about when their next mission would be, the flag officer had
been elusive in his reply, always able to provide some technical factoid to
support his inability to give a specific answer.
At first the young woman had been mildly satisfied with the Admiral's
reply when he had stated that the ANUBIS' systems needed to be repaired,
verified and even upgraded. By the end of the second week, and the repeated
reports from Lt. Dawson claiming that everything had been done, the ship's CO
had grown tired of the Admiral's unspecific replies.
"Both the SEKHMET and HORUS have been gone for days and we are still
here waiting for our new orders," the ANUBIS' half Human, half Romulan ExO
said as she walked up to the young woman and joined her as she looked onto
the fully repaired form of their ship.
"Maybe all of the *bad people* in the universe have vanished and we are
no longer needed," the redheaded woman chuckled dryly all too aware that
there had been no way for her suggestion to be true. Even if the Tal'Shiar,
Obsidian Order, the Dominion *and* the Tholians had all vanished
without as much as leaving a single trace there would have been more than enough *questionable* elements present to keep all of NEW ALEXANDRIA busy for
decades to come.
"Unlikely… Admiral Koniki is still here… I saw him no less than ten
minutes ago," the hybrid ExO said in all seriousness which made the young woman laugh out loud… something that she had not done in a very long time.
"Then I guess I'd better go and pay the Admiral *another* visit… maybe
this time he will have something more to say than just 'relax and take it
easy'."
==========
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" the flag officer of NEW ALEXANDRIA
inquired of his Chief of Operations. The plan proposed by Commodore
Simmons had been as simple as could be yet the Admiral seemed reluctant to
authorize the deployment of the resources requested by the former CO of the USS ANUBIS.
"The Kingdom of Irraj is deceptively advanced despite all outward appearances. It would be to our advantage to insure that the higher echelons of the governments have not been infiltrated by such forces as the Romulans and the Dominion which could have easily reached the system through various covert operations," James explained sounding strangely tired. This had been the third time the NEW ALEXANDRIA Chief of Operations had presented the proposed mission to the Admiral and it was clear that Koniki did not want to send the ANUBIS' crew on this mission… for a reason only known to him.
"Aside from their space travelling capabilities, which by the way do
not go beyond Warp 2, I have yet to be made aware of any detail that would
make me consider sending a single operative to that world… let alone a full
ship," the Admiral pointed out with zeal.
"With all due respect Admiral… Irraj has been ignored by us for far too
long. It has an active import and export industry which allows for
countless other races to freely move to and from the planet with the
most basic of security being enforced on them. Best case scenario would be
that we discover that no external influence has been exerted on the King and
his advisors and we open the door for a possible Federation alliance in the
long run… the worst case scenario is that we discover that an adversary
government has already taken control of the planet and is using it as a
covert base of operation against us," James offered, the frustration of
his repeated arguments having for the first time surfaced in his voice.
Koniki smiled as he turned and glanced to the status of the Egyptian
gods which stood guard behind him before he looked through the large glass
window to gaze on the form of the ANUBIS.
=/\= Admiral… Captain Rikar wishes to see you, =/\= Allyson announced
happily as the receptionist and secretary to the Admiral always did.
The NEW ALEXANDRIA CO waited for a brief moment before he turned back
to face the base's Chief of Operations and sighed in what James could only
guess had been a sign of capitulation.
"Allyson… show the Captain in."
"So you will authorize the mission to Irraj?" James inquired, silently
hoping that the crew of the ANUBIS would finally be sent back into
action… something that had been well overdue.
"Admiral Koniki… we need to talk!" the young woman exploded with as she
stormed into the office of the flag officer. It had been easy to see
that Sabrina had been a woman on a mission, one that the base's Chief of
Operations understood all too well.
"Captain Rikar… what a pleasant surprise… please have a seat… Commodore
Simmons and I were just talking about your next mission," Koniki
announced as he invited the redheaded woman to take one of the vacant chairs
located in front of his desk.
Stunned by the unexpected warmth of the Admiral's greeting, the young
woman hesitated for a few seconds before she accepted the man's invitation,
still not entirely convinced that this had not been yet another ruse to delay
the ANUBIS and its crew from actually *doing* something.
==========
The young woman stood at the end of the elongated table glad to see
that each and every member of the senior staff had eagerly responded to her
summon. As she met each and ever set of eyes trained on her the
redheaded woman could tell that everyone had been anxious to know about their
next mission… something that many of them had been waiting to hear for days
and even weeks.
It truly felt weird to have the ILO present in the room… although Enaii
had been *awakened* from her slumber over two weeks ago the young woman had
seen her life-mate for no more than a few seconds at a time as they crossed
in the ship's corridors or while on NEW ALEXANDRIA. Rikar had understood
the need for Enaii to find her emotional and psychological footing after
what she had endured but the young woman would have appreciated having been
more involved in the process instead of being made to be nothing more than
an observer.
"Since you have all been waiting for this, I will skip the pleasantries
and jump directly into the core of the situation… this is Irraj, the third
planet in a system of eight located on the outer rim of Federation
space," the young woman offered before she glanced to her CSciO whom she knew
would be able to provide the rest of the information on that world faster
than anyone else in the room.
"I remember reading about that world… it is a living contradiction of
technological advancements and social evolution. The entire planet is
ruled by a family which has been in power for hundreds of generations. Under
the king's dictatorship the planet has actually managed to have certain of
its industries evolved while others were made to remain in what we would
consider to be *primitive* levels. Irraj possesses scout ships able to
travel at warp speed while their streets are still patrolled by horse
drawn carriages. Their medical technology, if you can call it that employs
archaic tools and methods while their agricultural research is almost
comparable to our own. I would love to be able to study that culture up close and see what triggered such a wide gap to develop between some of the scientific fields," the CSciO said in what had seemed to be a single breath.
"You will get your chance to do just that," the young woman announced
as she inwardly wished that she had not given Maya the opportunity to jump in
with all that she had.
"Our next mission is *on* Irraj?" the Marine CO gasped in dismay as he
envisioned the *military* forces of that world to be sword-yielding
knights on horseback.
"Commodore Simmons needs us to perform an Intel evaluation of the
planet, its culture and most important to see if the government had been in any way influenced by external forces such as the Dominion or the Romulans,"
the redheaded woman explained as she produced several PADDs which were
passed around the table until each officer had one in their hands.
"Why would the Romulans be interested in such a backwater world?" the
CMO inquired not able to picture the Tal'Shiar taking the time to
infiltrate a planet with such limited technology.
"The civilization's resources are not at question here… it is the
planet's location that makes it a potential target. Being so far away from
standard Federation patrol routes it would be easy for anyone to establish a
hidden base from which they could monitor and maybe even negatively influence
Federation activities," the ExO explained as she read the information
on the PADD that had been provided. Serenna's *intimate* knowledge of the
Tal'Shiar had made it easy for the hybrid to understand whatever
reasoning would be at play in this particular case.
"I doubt that the King is going to let a bunch of Federation officers
just stroll right in and ask questions," Ens. Mei, the ANUBIS' Cns pointed
out as she expected the mission to Irraj to be slightly more difficult than
the CO had made it out to be up until then.
"Quite correct… Admiral Koniki has arranged for us to be *invited* to
the royal court. Apparently a plot to kidnap the princess had been
uncovered and our services have been offered to insure that the King's only
daughter remains out of harm's way," the redheaded woman confirmed with a gentle smile over her pink lips.
"So Koniki cooked up this kidnapping scheme to get us inside the royal
court… I pity the poor King," David sighed not at all surprised by the
deviousness employed by the NEW ALEXANDRIA's CO.
"I don't know… keeping an eye on a princess sounds like an interesting
mission to me," Ens. Norheim, the new ANUBIS' aCEO chuckled.
"This mission has nothing to do with protecting the princess…" Uxtar
growled in a low tone as he allowed his apparent dislike of the whole idea
become public.
"I would not be so quick to say that Ensign… your task will be to
instruct the princess in self-defence techniques so as to increase the odds of
her evading her abductors should they pass through our security measures.
This will also permit you to get close to her and maybe gain her confidence
so as to see what information she may have on her own government's affairs,"
the young woman said as she tried to contain her playful amusement to
herself.
"This is going to be *one of those* missions isn't?" the ANUBIS' FCO
inquired not at all liking the idea that he would be planet bound
instead of behind the helm of the ship for the greater majority of their new
mission.
"The ANUBIS will depart at 0600 tomorrow morning… you all have until
then to become better acquainted with Irraj, its culture and the roles that you will be playing while on the planet. So have a good evening and I will see you all back tomorrow morning… dismissed."
==========
"We are Grey, we stand between the Candle and the Star, between the
Darkness and the Light" 2006 post #161
Setting: NEW ALEXANDRIA, Section A, Level 2, Observation Platform
Stardate: 61012.1015
Setting: NEW ALEXANDRIA, Section A, Level 6, Administrative Wing, Admiral Koniki's Office
Stardate: 61012.1700
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Deck 1, Conference Lounge
Sabrina Jones {sabrina_sweet@hotmail.com}
Captain Sabrina Rikar
Commanding Officer
USS ANUBIS, NCC-18501
-Entilza Delenn, Babylon 5
