Echoes of Adelphi

Posted on Sun Feb 25th, 2024 @ 10:52pm by Ensign Sheila Mulhern & Lieutenant Commander Emni t'Nai & Lieutenant Nico Oliveria

Mission: Stardust and Sin
Location: USS Sojourner, Bridge
Timeline: Mission Day 2 at 2000

[The Bridge]
[USS Sojourner]
[MD 2: 2000 Hours]

The immediate crisis had, it seemed, passed. Of course Timmoz and his little band of covert-ops investigators -- see: not exactly an expert, crack team of sleuths -- had gotten themselves in trouble. And of course they were now being held for arraignment in the space station's version of prison. And of course of course it was now up to Commander t'Nai to meet with The Governor and try to smooth the whole thing over and get them out.

Lieutenant Oliveria had, of course, done his part to help in coordinating the various communications around that effort but, thankfully, the rest of it was completely above his pay grade. At least the situation didn't sound that serious? It seemed like a bit of a misunderstanding had perhaps taken place -- hopefully t'Nai would straighten the whole thing out in very short order.

For now, all the Chief Engineer and de facto bridge commander had to concern himself with was keeping the Sojo secure while the away teams were still on the station. And so far at least, no one had been stupid enough to try breaking into the ship through the connected airlock. Timmoz and company aside, Oliveria's stint on the Bridge was turning out to be fairly uneventful, minus the bored chatter from officers who almost literally had nothing to do at the moment. With t'Nai taking over the effort to free their people, conversation had begun to pick up where it had left off.

"...which is why I said 'No' to begin with," came the smokey, haughty laughter of Ensign Mulhern, who was manning the Engineering console. "Who in their right mind would say yes to being dipped in a bunch of little insects like that?" She visibly shuddered at that particular mental image. "No thanks."

"Sheila," Ensign Davies spoke up drolly from the Science station, "you do realize the insects don't hurt you, right? They literally just eat dead skin off your body. It's like being exfoliated by millions of little helpers. You feed them, they make sure your skin is healthy: it's win, win for everyone."

Nico shuddered at the mention of insects. "I don't think I could handle that," he said to Ensign Davies. "I remember once, on Vega colony, I stumbled upon a nest of giant spiders. I was horrified! The spiders were as big as my hand, and their webs were everywhere. I couldn't get out of there fast enough." He paused, taking a deep breath to calm himself. "But enough about that. How are the away teams doing? Who's due to check in?"

Davies had been about to comment on the spiders but, with the request for reporting, he went quiet. Any telepaths that might be picking up on his thoughts, though, might hear his internal monologue that large spiders were often the gentlest and most beneficial variety of arachnids, especially when it came to interacting with humanoids. A mental punctuation mark studded the end of the thought as Brian looked over at Ensign Nevek at Tactical to hear his report.

"Well, aside from the trouble with Lieutenant Timmoz' group," the Andorian spoke up, antennae waggling slowly as if to taste the air, "the other groups have all checked in. Debbie and David are supply shopping in the Exchange. Doctor Xex and his team are pursuing a lead in the station's Infirmary, where Kaldri was possibly treated for injuries. Lieutenant Irynya and her group are looking for Kaldri's ship in The Chop Yards, hoping to find clues onboard. And Commander t'Nai and her team are headed to speak with The Governor in his office both about Kaldri and getting our people released."

"And the Captain?" came the voice of Ensign Samla from the Operations console. "Last we heard from Commander t'Nai, someone was following him, right?" The Bajoran had a soft spot for the Chameloid and her worry shone through her eyes.

"Yes," Nevek nodded, "she did report that but the Captain indicated he had things well under control. Still, doesn't hurt to be safe," the Andorian said. "He's not due to check in for another half an hour but we could always check in early if you wanted, sir?" he asked of Oliveria.

Nico paused thoughtfully, the rhythmic click of his tongue a familiar sound as he considered Nevek's words. He leaned back in his chair, letting the steady thrum of the Sojourner's engines envelop him, a reassuring reminder of his connection to the ship.

"Nevek, let's hold off on checking in with the Captain for a bit longer," Nico said, his tone light but carrying an underlying current of concern, especially for Timmoz, his Ashka, who always seemed to find himself in the thick of things.

"You know, while we wait, how about we share some stories about the most unusual foods we've ever tried?" Nico suggested, a playful glint in his eyes, momentarily pushing his worry for Timmoz to the back of his mind.

"I'll kick things off," he continued, his smile widening. "Even though I grew up on Vega Colony, my parents were from Brazil, and I've always felt a strong connection to my Brazilian roots. The first time I actually visited Brazil was a bit of an adventure. I tried Mandioca worms there. Yeah, you heard that right – worms," he laughed. "They're these big, roasted grubs, a real delicacy in the Amazon. I was hesitant at first, but they weren't half bad. Kind of nutty, actually. Reminded me of Klingon Gagh, just without the squirming."

Nico looked around the bridge, inviting his crewmates to join in. "What about you folks? Ever come across something in your travels or home planets that took you by surprise?"

"Worms?!" Mulhern replied, a look of mixed disbelief and distaste on the engineer's face. "Roasted or not, you won''t find me eating anything like that," she asserted. "There's a reason I never frequented the Klingon joints at the Academy. Oof," she said with a visible shudder.

"On Andoria," Nevek spoke up, hoping to break up Sheila's yuck to Oliveria's yum, "ice spiders are considered a particular delicacy. But growing up, I was far too afraid of them to even consider eating one...even if it was dead," the Andorian laughed, remembering himself as a fearful child of six. "But my mother and the other members of her polycule kept encouraging me until, finally, I relented at the age of 13. And honestly?" he chuckled, his antennae shaking in conjunction, "it was one of the best things I'd ever eaten. Sweet with just the right amount of spicy. Of course," he admitted with a shrug, "we do prepare them with spices and such in the frying. Not sure how good they'd be raw."

Ensign Davies -- who, as the ship's entomologist, had no issues extracting helpful byproducts from insects, arachnids, etc. -- visibly paled. "You eat them?" he asked in disbelief. "But they're such helpful creatures. Their venom is a marvelous pain reliever in controlled micro-doses. I should know...I have one in transporter buffer storage," Brian admitted. "Stella is a common sight down in the bio lab. I often let her out of pattern buffer stasis to walk around my desk and hang out atop my lamp: she likes the heat, apparently. When she's nice and relaxed," Davies smiled excitedly, "she'll let me extract some venom for Doctor Wang."

"Well I know where I'm going for my next meal," Nevek smirked.

"So funny," Davies shot back, eyes narrowing.

As the group continued their chat, Nico listened with a mix of amusement and interest, occasionally chiming in with his own comments, but a part of his mind remained alert to their current situation.

Gradually, the conversation started to wind down, and Nico's attention subtly shifted back to his responsibilities as the de facto CO. He glanced at the chronometer, noting the time with a slight furrow of his brow, "Looks like the Captain has missed his check-in," Nico remarked, his voice carrying a hint of concern.

"Nevek, a channel, please?" He waited for the standard tone, continuing, "Lieutenant Oliveria to Captain Kodak, do you copy?" There was a brief moment of silence, the tension on the Bridge palpable as everyone awaited a response.

"Repeat, Sojourner to Captain Kodak, do you copy?" After a few more seconds of static silence, Nico exchanged a glance with the other officers, his expression turning more serious. He turned his attention to the tactical and communications system readouts from his chair controls, double-checking systems and ensuring everything was transmitting normally. Still, he looked back to the Andorian, "Nevek, confirm transmission and reception status. Can you get a lock on the Captain?"

"Confirmed: our messages are going through. And I'm getting the standard bounce ping back, just not a reply..." Antennae lifting in alarm, Nevek started plugging commands into his console but found the tactile response too slow given his extreme amount of concern. Toggling on the holographic interface, he started flicking, swiping, and grab-throwing the glowing yellow grid-lined objects that represented the functions of his console. Now he was left with a map of the station -- as it had been transmitted to them when pulling inside the station to dock -- and the Andorian was using his hands to sift through cut-away layers in search of Kodak and Drol.

"Found them. Section 20, level 36," Nevek reported. "They appear stationary and...wait, that can't be right," the Andorian shook his head. "According to my readings, they're stacked on top of one another. Unless the Captain and Drol are...well, a lot closer than any of us know, something is off here," the tactical officer said grimly. "If I had to guess, I'd say I'm just getting their combadges. But I'm pulling up that section of the station now to scan for lifesigns. It's heavily shielded and readings are sporadic, though. Going to need more umph to scan through that."

"Davies, bring the dorsal array up to full power," Nico ordered. "Fry every relay if you have to, but find the Captain. Mulhern, let's be ready to maneuver quickly; take us out of low-power mode. Nevek, take us to Yellow Alert, but don't raise the shields, and give me another channel, please, to the XO," The lights around the Bridge darkened as the yellow alert chime sounded throughout the ship, "Sojourner to t'Nai, I'm afraid we have a problem."

As orders were followed around the Bridge, t'Nai's voice filtered over the comm:

"This is t'Nai. Go ahead Lieutenant." The voice on the other end was crisp and with an extra briskness to it as if the XO were moving as she spoke. Or perhaps being jostled.

As the yellow alert chime echoed through the USS Sojourner, casting the Bridge in a dim, urgent glow, Nico tensed, ready to relay the situation to the XO. "Commander t'T—" Nico began, but he abruptly halted. The background noise filtering through the comm line caught his attention, concern flashed across his face, and he glanced at the other officers on the Bridge, his expression questioning.

Shaking off the momentary hesitation, he cleared his throat and continued, "Commander t'Nai, we've got a situation here. The Captain and his party are missing. It looks like their combadges have been removed, and we're currently trying to locate them."

He paused, ensuring he was clear and concise, "Their last known position was Section 20, Level 36 of the station, but we're getting some odd readings. We've tasked the dorsal array to boost our scans." Nico paused and glanced towards the science station to see if they had been located before continuing, "But so far, we have been unable to find them."

As Nico waited for the XO's response, he felt a twinge of guilt mixed with relief that at least Timmoz wasn't in danger.

The pause on the other end the line was uncomfortably long filled only with the sounds of foreign voices, the jumble of which seemed to give the universal translator some difficulty. Finally the XO's voice came back across the comm. "How long have they been missing?" There was an edge to the woman's voice now, tension added on top of crisp coolness.

As the XO's question filtered over the comm, Nico glanced over to Nevek, who forwarded the data to the console to Nico's left, which he palmed open, "Their communicators last moved about 10 minutes ago from the internal combadge telemetry when they were all stacked on top of each other."

Another pause and this time when t'Nai's voice filtered across the comms there was less of a brittle edge to it. "Ok." The reply was brief with only the shortest breath before, "Keep me posted. We're on our way to see The Governor now. Perhaps he will be able to help on this front. t'Nai out." And the line closed.

"So the Captain is missing," Nevek said quietly, "and the XO sounds liked an overworked Lorox." The Andorian shook his head. "Normally I'd suggest leading a security team myself to track the Captain down and get him back. But Lieutenant Bridgeport already took pretty much everyone else over there, save a few people to guard the airlock and myself to man the Bridge. Your orders supersede his though, Sir. With your permission, I'll grab who I can and go."

"No," Nico clipped in response. This felt all too much like a decision he had been forced to make on the Adelphi, which had resulted in the deaths of his subordinates... his friends. He turned to look at the bridge crew and tugged his uniform straight, sliding back into his seat. He hoped he appeared confident, "We can't afford to reduce the crew compliment further, and the Captain and XO know this. Continue your scans and keep the shields up." He continued settling in his chair as the crew returned to work looking for the Captain. Silently, the Chief Engineer brought up the prefix code system and set about resetting the passcode in case the Captain or XO were compromised. At least Timmoz and his group were safe.

=/\= A joint post by... =/\=

Lieutenant Nico Oliveria
Chief Engineer

Commander Emni t'Nai
Executive Officer

Sheila Mulhern
Engineering Officer

Other NPCs by Brad