"Time"
(Previous Post was Julians' "An Engineer's Perspective")
==========
Setting: IRRAJ, Royal Palace, Guest Quarters
The young woman stood on the elegant balcony which overlooked a small
flowery garden. Although the redheaded woman would have liked to see
more of the main city, the walls which surrounded the Royal Palace had
simply been too high for Rikar to be able to see anything. After what the
Hirogen Sec/Tac officer had reported though, the CO would have been happy to
see for herself the Jem'Hadars that Uxtar had claimed to have seen.
As Captain of the ANUBIS, Rikar had immediately taken Uxtar at his
word, but as the diplomatic enjoy of the federation to IRRAJ, the young woman had not had the luxury to react as she might have liked to given this latest
piece of information. The best the young woman could do had been to wait and
see what would happen next and try as best as she could to ascertain as to
whether or not the King had been aware of the presence of Jem'Hadar
soldiers training his guards.
Rikar allowed a sigh to escape her pink lips as her emerald eyes
drifted upward onto the starry night's sky as she wished for the ANUBIS to be
out of harm's way and for the ILO to have rediscovered her inner strength and
somehow found her way down onto the planet where she would be most
useful. Contacting the ship at this time, even through the most sophisticated
and encrypted of methods would have been too dangerous at this time.
Hopefully Serenna, Lea and Susan, the ANUBIS' ExO, CMO and Cns would be
able to find something as they travelled the maze-like palace in search of
clues as to the reason for the Jem'Hadar's presence.
==========
Because of the specifics of their mission to IRRAJ, the Enaran Marine
and his men had been left onboard the Federation vessel ANUBIS with orders
to wait for further instructions. The reason for this had not been
because the CO had wanted not to have Pravat or his troops on the surface but
rather because she had wanted them to be able to react with the utmost
rapidity should something unexpected occur.
The official reason for the ANUBIS' journey to IRRAJ had been to offer
His Royal Highness, King TKel Holoj the Federation's assistance in
protection his daughter from a kidnapping attempt which had begun to rumour within the common population of the planet. The truth of the matter had been that the kidnapping attempt had been a ploy used by the federation to get
several of their operatives to the planet to search for signs of coercion or
infiltration by other forces opposed to the Federation's values.
From orbit IRRAJ appeared to be as peaceful as could be, yet the Enaran
Marine had not fallen into a sense of false security having long ago
learned that appearances could and were most often misleading. Has the Marine
CO studied the results of the latest sensor sweep, the Marine was joined
by the only other member of the senior staff who had remained onboard
following the beam down to the planet's surface of the ship's ILO.
"The modifications who had requested to the primary sensors array have
been completed," the Oltharian giant offered as he stepped onto the command
deck of the ANUBIS, his white eyes instinctively having fallen on the form
of the ship's Avatar.
"Perfect… due to the heavy traffic of ships in orbit there is almost no
way for us to get any clear readings beyond a few hundred kilometres," the
Marine CO announced as he quickly put the modifications made by the
Robotics Engineer to the test.
"Are you suspecting that there may be something out there hiding from
us?" The Oltharian naively inquired, the gentle giant never having been one
to consider the darker side of people in anything he did.
"Suspecting it… no. Expecting it… yes. I would be extremely surprised
if our arrival into orbit didn't send a slew of people and their ships in
hiding. Most will be because they fear what we might do if we found
them here… the others would simply wish to have their presence here remain
unknown. Those are the ones I am looking for," the Enaran Marine
explained with a hint of glee in his voice.
"There is the possibility that IRRAJ is what it appears to be… a simple
trading port which has grown to be very popular," Fairborn countered
with as he thought that maybe Pravat had become slightly paranoid in his
perception of the universe.
"Annie… can you move the ship on a heading of 1-1-6 mark 74… I would
like to get the primary sensors in direct line with that section which the
ships seem to be purposely avoiding," the Marine CO said having ignored the
Oltharian's last comment entirely.
"Engaging manoeuvring thrusters… heading 1-1-6 mark 74," the ANUBIS'
Avatar replied almost instantly as she complied with the request of the
officer in charge.
"I still believe that it is a waste of time… but if engaging in this
search will put your mind at ease…" the Oltharian began before being
interrupted by his creation.
"If my understanding of human behaviour is accurate, I believe that the
*discovery* will prove to be far more satisfying than the *search*,"
Annie pointed out which made the Oltharian actually smile since the comment
made had indicated without a doubt that the Avatar's personality had not
suffered from her previous accident and condition.
"There is definitively something there… but it is using some sort of
cloaking field that we cannot penetrate at this point. There is just
too many ships passing between us and it to get a solid lock on whatever is
out there," Pravat announced with a clear hint of frustration.
"Moving closer would only force some sort of engagement… one that we
might not be ready or willing to get in the middle of at this time. Patience
may be our best course of action at the moment," Elan cautiously offered
having obviously accepted that he had been wrong and that the Marine's
paranoia had proven to be accurate.
"This is the part I truly hate…" the Marine CO sighed knowing that the
giant had been correct and that the best thing for them all to do at this
point had been to wait and see what, if anything, would happen next.
==========
"We are Grey, we stand between the Candle and the Star, between the
Darkness and the Light" 2006 post #195
Stardate: 61014.2000
Stardate: 61014.2000
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Bridge
Sabrina Jones {sabrina_sweet@hotmail.com}
Captain Sabrina Rikar
Commanding Officer
USS ANUBIS, NCC-18501
-Entilza Delenn, Babylon 5
