"Trouble"
(Previous Post was Brian's "Worries and Options")
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Stardate: 61014.2315
The young woman stood on the large balcony of the palace's guest quarters…
her eyes glued onto the unknown constellations which kept the waxing moon company in the Irrajian night's sky. Despite the size and elaborate layout
of the balcony, the CO's thoughts had remained entirely focussed on their current mission… and the mess that they had seemingly found their way into. The stench of the sewers which the FCO, CSciO and ILO had brought back with them had been quite overpowering, but that had not been the reason why the redheaded woman had decided to seek some time alone away from the rest of the crew. There had been a reason for her madness as the saying went.
"So… what's going on?" Rikar inquired in a soft whispered voice without
as much as turning around to welcome her life-mate who had stepped out of
the shadows to join her wife and Captain on the balcony. Enaii had, more
out of habit than anything else, made her way to the ANUBIS' CO with the
outmost care to not make a single sound as she always did. The greeting that
Enaii received had caught her off guard for a fraction of a split second,
something that had truly been a rare occurrence, but the ILO continued
nonetheless her approach as if her feet floated over the floor beneath
her. Although the ILO had not displayed it she had been rather happy to see
that some of the intensive Intel training she had put the redheaded woman
through had seemingly… and finally… appeared to have sunk in.
"We are being set up," the Intel Operative replied as she moved straight to the point… the shorter blonde-haired woman never having been one for sugar-coating or side-stepping around what needed to be said or done as evident by the way she had retrieved the ANUBIS' FCO and CSciO.
Unlike the experienced ILO, the young woman had not mastered the art of suppressing her emotional reactions, and the announcement made by Enaii had been more than enough to trigger overwhelming surprise and shock in the redheaded woman. Rikar had spun on her heels and turned to face her life-mate ready to inquire as to the details of this claim when both women's attention shifted to the inside of the room and the commotion that had erupted.
"NO ONE MOVE!!! By Order of the King you are all under arrest!"
As CO of the ANUBIS and leader of the away team, the young woman had instinctively taken a step forward so that she could inquire as to the reason for this… after all they had received all of the proper permissions to be here and had done *nothing* to warrant being arrested.
"What is the meaning of this?" The ANUBIS' CO demanded, the mechanical torches wielded by the guards making them easy to locate in the darkness that had engulfed the large room.
"Lady Adeja, daughter of his Royal Highness King TKel Holoj has been kidnapped and you are to answer for this crime." The first guard replied obviously taking the charges and the task that he had been given with the utmost seriousness.
"This cannot be…" The young woman began before she stopped herself from saying anything more. To be accused of a crime which could not have occurred had been most puzzling… the rumours of the Princess' *kidnapping* having been a ploy, a ruse used by Admiral Koniki to warrant the presence of the Starfleet officers on IRRAJ so that they could quietly search for signs of enemy influence within the planet's ruling system. Obviously they had stumbled onto something important… maybe even a little too much so.
As she moved closer to the waiting guards, the young woman glanced over her shoulder to see if Enaii had anything to add but instead of finding the
ILO standing where she had last been seen, the CO had found nothing but an
empty balcony. Grinning inwardly the ANUBIS' CO found comfort in the idea
that Enaii had made a hasty exit and would be *out there* to help in resolving this situation, the ILO's true skill always having been found in the outlining shadows of any and all circumstances.
"Do not resist… we are innocent and we will make our case to the King himself." The CO instructed no wishing for any of her officers to be injured in or offering the guards and whoever had set this plot into motion reason for escalading the situation even further. In order to avoid this situation to turn into a full diplomatic nightmare or worse, the young woman decided that it would be best if they all cooperated… at least for the time being.
As the members of the senior staff were escorted out into the corridor and the CO and ExO locked eyes for a brief moment, Rikar quickly noticed that two members of the away team had somehow gone missing… namely Derek and Susan, the ANUBIS' FCO and Csn respectively, who had somehow managed to avoid the round-up. This of course meant that there would be several people working on the outside to solve this unexpected matter and maybe spring to the rescue should things turn nasty.
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"There is just too much traffic… we would have an easier time finding a
needle in a haystack." The Enaran MCO sighed as their latest attempt to
find the source of the cloaking field which they had discovered more than an
hour resulted in them having found nothing but empty space.
"The sensors of the ANUBIS would allow us to find any small metallic
object from orbit… unfortunately the source of this cloaking field appears to
be both exceptionally small and elusive." The ship's Avatar offered from
the Ops station.
"Whatever it is… it knows exactly how to navigate this orbital mess."
Pravat pointed out having grown increasingly frustrated by their lack of
progress with their efforts.
"We have not come up entirely empty-handed… we do know that the source
of this cloaking field is a small, manoeuvrable ship, likely some kind of
local scout." The Oltharian pointed out from the Engineering station which he
had taken over while the ship's CEO was on the planet's surface.
"How can you be certain of this?" Mattias inquired. Since they had not
been able to get the slightest sensor lock on the source of the cloaked
anomaly, the aCEO had been at somewhat of a loss to understand how the giant
engineer had managed to come up with the conclusion he had.
"The movements are specific… when we get close it moves away thus making the source of the cloaking field a non-natural anomaly." Annie jumped in with.
"And the fact that it seems to know exactly where to go and how to
avoid the heavy orbital traffic leads us to conclude that the pilot is very
knowledgeable in this planet's orbital flights."
"Great! Now all we need to do is find this guy and pin a medal on him
for having given us such a run-around for the last hour." Pravat snapped
sarcastically, the Marine having been more inclined to blast the pest
out of the skies instead of rewarding him for the trouble he had caused.
"Sir… we are receiving a transmission from the planet." Annie announced
as she relayed the urgent call for all to hear.
=/\= DRAGONSEYE to USS ANUBIS. This is an Emergency Alert signal… =/\=
"What did they do this time?" Pravat sighed thinking that the crew of
the ANUBIS had a knack for turning the simplest of missions into something
that bordered an all out desaster.
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"We are Grey, we stand between the Candle and the Star, between the
Darkness and the Light" 2006 post #199
Setting: IRRAJ Royal Palace, Guest Quarters
Stardate: 61014.2335
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Bridge
Sabrina Jones {sabrina_sweet@hotmail.com}
Captain Sabrina Rikar
Commanding Officer
USS ANUBIS, NCC-18501
-Entilza Delenn, Babylon 5
