"Smiles"
(Previous Post was Brian's "Let the Games Begin")
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Stardate: 61014.1000
The young woman sat in the central chair… her attention having momentarily drifted away from the main view screen and towards the Tactical station and the Hirogen standing there. Although Uxtar still held the rank of Ensign, the FCO turned Sec/Tac had proven his worth in his new role and had continued to do so by acknowledging the unspoken question of his CO before she had even began to voice it.
"Still no new signal from Lt. Cmdr. Maya or Ens. Stormwind," the Hirogen stated in a mixture of concern and calmness which had made the redheaded woman think of the Vulcan hybrid FCO… obviously the two of them had begun to spend a little too much time together as the young woman thought that Uxtar had taken some of the *Vulcan* traits of the ship's FCO and friend.
"I am sure that there is nothing to be concerned about… they did report
in several times before and did indicate in their last encoded message
that everything had so far proceeded according to plan. It is possible that
they have discovered something and that they are unable to communicate with
us at this time," the ExO quickly chimed in with knowing that the scenario
that had been presented had only been one of several likely possibilities.
The young woman smiled and nodded her head as she accepted the First
Officer's reasoning… being concerned for Maya and Derek had been all
nice and sweet but as the ANUBIS' CO Rikar had to also have confidence in
her officer's skills and resourcefulness. As she considered the situation
that the ship's CSciO and FCO where in the thoughts of the young woman moved
onto another member of her crew and the situation that he faced - Elan and
the ANUBIS' Avatar Annie. The giant had spent every waking hour trying to
fix Annie who had been out of commission since the retrieval of Enaii from
the atmosphere of SURIAL III. Although the situation had been isolated to
a single room several decks below the CO could in some way feel that the
tension created by this problem had grown to touch almost every member
of the crew in one way or another.
"We are receiving a signal from IRRAJ… they wish to know the reason for
our arrival into their system," the Enaran MCO announced, Pravat having
taking the role of Ops officer while Annie and Derek were off the bridge.
Given the large number of unknowns they might have to deal with during their
approach, the redheaded CO had thought it best to have at least one
experienced officer sitting at the controls of the ANUBIS.
"Relay the message which Commodore Koniki provided us with… it will
give them all of the information they need and should clear us for final
orbit over the capital and the Royal palace," the young woman instructed
having thought it best to send the pre-recorded message instead of answering
the message live and risking saying something that might not be favourable
in the eyes of their hosts.
Several moments passed as the message was sent as per the CO's orders
and the reply was anxiously anticipated by all on the bridge… eventually
the MCO turned to look at the woman sitting in the central chair and offered a
favourable smile.
"We have been cleared for orbit over the palace… but that may prove to
be an easier thing said than done," the Enaran stated as he glanced at the
flight instruments and noticed just how busy the arbit of IRRAJ had been.
"It's a zoo out there… as far as I can tell there seem to be no pattern
or guidelines to the flight paths of the ships coming or going from the
planet's surface," the Hirogen stated with a heavy sigh.
"We could always activate the ablative armour and just plough our way
through," the CEO grinned as he leaned over the engineering station at
the back of the bridge.
The redheaded woman shot a quick glare at the man before she turned to
face the main view screen which had been made to display a magnified view of
IRRAJ which clearly showed several ships flying in what appeared to be
erratic and intertwining courses.
"I really wish that our FCO was here… or at least our Avatar… either one of them would have been able to fly through that mess without as much as blinking an eye," the young woman announced as the CO thought that she might have to move the Sec/Tac officer back to his former position for this delicate approach. The last thing the ANUBIS or the Federation needed at the moment was to get involved in an interstellar *fender-bender* which would likely leave one or more alien ships damaged if not incapacitated.
"It is an honour and pleasure to grant your wish Captain," the giant Oltharian said with a beaming smile as he stepped out of the turbolift followed by the mechanical woman which everyone had grown to accept as a full member of the crew.
"Annie!" Ens. Mei, the ship's Cns exclaimed, obviously not having expected to see the mechanical woman be where they had found her.
Several looks of puzzlement came to pass as the Oltharian and android boarded the bridge followed by none other than the ship's CMO. Had Annie be anything other than what she had been the sight would not have triggered the reaction that it had, but knowing that the woman was a collection of mechanical circuitry had left everyone wondering what Lt. Summer's role had been in the Avatar's recovery.
"Captain… I have certified Annie to be ready to resume all of her former duties," the Robotics Engineer announced, the bright smile on the CMO's face clearly indicating that Doctor Summers had been in full agreement.
"By all means…" the young woman offered as she motioned the ship's
Avatar toward the Ops station which the Enaran Marine had been more than happy
to vacate.
"What happened?" The ExO inquired of the Oltharian, the First Officer
not having received any reports on the progress which had obviously been
made in regards to the Avatar's situation.
"It was awesome… Doctor Summers suggested that maybe we should find a
way to get *inside* Annie's head. Lt. Fairborn took the suggestion literally
and began to explain that he had opened and verified all of the circuitry
inside her head… that's when I thought of another way to get *inside* her
head," Ens. Norheim, the new ANUBIS' aCEO jumped in with clearly excited by
what had happened.
"The idea was borrowed from some of the work done at Starfleet HQ on
the Soong androids… we linked Annie's *brain* to the ship's holodeck matrix
through an interactive two-way link and we were able to explore the
situation in a unique way," the Oltharian explained in a calm and
collected manner as compared to the more excited way of the ship's aCEO.
"I will be looking forward to reading your full report on this… but right now I think we all have other matters to take care of," the redheaded woman announced as she smiled at the Oltharian and turned back to face the front of the bridge and witnessed the ship's Avatar having already begun navigating the large SCARAB-Class cruiser through the many smaller ships coming and going from IRRAJ.
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"We are Grey, we stand between the Candle and the Star, between the
Darkness and the Light" 2006 post #187
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Bridge
Sabrina Jones {sabrina_sweet@hotmail.com}
Captain Sabrina Rikar
Commanding Officer
USS ANUBIS, NCC-18501
-Entilza Delenn, Babylon 5
