A Little Shuttle Has A Story To Tell Part 2

Posted on Sat Feb 1st, 2020 @ 2:03am by Captain Rueben Gregnol & Executive Officer Valiyi Uhin & Chief Operations Kendra McIntyre & Chief Helmsman Eden Bowers

Mission: Mission 10 - Temperance
Location: Type 11 Shuttle, Near to Yeager
Timeline: MD 02 18:00
1589 words - 3.2 OF Standard Post Measure

The small alarm that woke Zaza from his sleep was annoying. He rolled over in his bunk to turn it off and realised that it wasn't the alarm clock that he had built but something a lot more interesting they were pretty much at the ship. He staggered from the bunk tugging on a shirt as he went to turn the noise off.

Ona groaned when she'd lost her warmth. One eye opened. "What's going on?" She mumbled, not lifting her head from the pillow. But after a few seconds, the realization that it was an alarm had her nearly hitting her head on the bunk above her. She frantically pulled back her blonde hair into as neat of a bun as she could manage without a brush handy, pulled on her jacket and followed Zaza out.

Because it was his watch, Atyss turned to face the others from his chair in the cockpit. "We've arrived at the designated coordinates," the Andorian said. As the ship brought itself out of warp and started to drift, it was rather obvious that there was a problem. "We have company," he stated, "It's an old Constitution-class, civilian modified by the looks of it. We have not been discovered, it's sensors aren't strong enough."

"Always a hitch in the plan," Ona sat down, wanting a closer view. "Good, keep us back. Have they boarded it?"

Nodding his head, Atyss pointed toward the two ships on the viewer. "They've engaged the docking corridors, there must be some reason they aren't using transporters," he replied as if giving statistics.

"Perhaps they're not working." It didn't really matter in any case though Ona enjoyed musings. "Life signs on the yeager?"

"Five or six. They are pretty close together so this thing is struggling to distinguish them." Zaza muttered with a roll of his eyes before turning his eyes to the Constitution-class. She was a pretty ship, old but highly modified. He would have a field day exploring her.

"Well, that's all right then. We just have to scatter them and clean out the hen house." She leaned on the back of Zaza's chair.

"Are we sure they're civilian?" Lihau called out from the back of their little ship. "Just because the ship's marked civie doesn't mean anything. Tons of sting operations in and out of Starfleet to mess with."

Zaza shrugged. "Who knows, cannot exactly know from here. The only way to find out would be for us to go over and find out." The man hinted. He was excited for a little fun outside the confines of the damn shuttle they were trapped on.

"Careful, our fight isn't with civilians," Atyss clarified. Their goal as an organization was to ensure Starfleet's survival by making it strong. "Perhaps we can pick up few recruits?" he smiled, though the sentiment was serious.

Ona put a hand on Zaza's shoulder and squeezed lightly. Patience. "I doubt they'd use something so old, even Starfleet has standards. And you're right Atyss, they could be friendly . . . maybe we should extend a hand. The more the merrier and we could use some extra bodies getting her up and running."

The Engineer slumped slightly in his chair as the squeeze on his shoulder and the words from everyone. He wanted to just find out who he was dealing with and what both ships were like, was that too much to ask? It had been years since he had, had anything as big to play with.

"It's not as old as the Connie they're using." Slumping into her seat, Lihau examined the radar on their screen. "I'm actually surprised a Connie like that is in circulation. Last one I saw was ripped to shreds after it's diplomatic attempts in Gamma. That didn't last long."

"Well, either way, we need to get over there at some point," Zaza said trying to get someone to agree to let him go look at either ship. He wanted to look at both ships but one would do. He glanced up at Ona with a pouted look for a moment before looking back at the console in front of him.

"Yes we will. In fact, I think we should right now. Let's hail them and be as friendly as possible. Ask them if they need any help. Squeeze our way in."

"Wait," Atyss interrupted before pointing out, "They are a civilian ship. Who says they aren't doing something that they don't want discovered?" Looking at his crew, he threw glance to Ona, "I say we send one of us to snoop around on the Temperance, see what they are doing. Then contact them if needed."

"I volunteer." Lihau quirked a brow. "I've got enough training for a Yeager to get in and out undetected, and if they're trying to not call attention to themselves, who better than a Starfleet officer who's records are scrubbed?" She shrugged. "Worst case, I take over the Yeager, call you guys in, pass over the reigns for our team, and we can shoo the civies out. Best case? We've got a whole crew."

Zaza half put his hand up with Lihau put herself forward and it was most likely for the best, he would only be distracted by the ship and not the people. He could not hide his disappointment but he did move off the Engineering seat so the woman could look at specs they had properly.

Ona wondered why Atyss had suddenly changed his mind on being friendly but she didn't ask. "Fine," she replied, feeling like this mission was way more complicated than when they had set out. Why did she always get herself into trouble? "But be careful and report back as soon as you can."

"So how are you going to get on board and what do you need from me?" The Engineer piped up. If he was not going to get to explain he was going to make sure she was prepared at the very least.

"What's that the humans say... careful is my middle name?" Which was partially true, so long as Lihau was driving and her symbiote wasn't barreling through everything. "Schematics," she continued, turning to Zaza. "I know the ship, and I should know the layout, but just in case something's changed, a map'll be key. And I might ask you a few questions while I'm over there."

"Well, I am sure you will be the bug in my ear," Zaza commented on with a roll of his eyes as he turned to start retrieving the information that the Trill had requested. "You do normally get into trouble one way or another." It was easy things that he needed but it didn't stop the glance at Ona.

Lihau tilted her head over toward Zaza. "Correction, I used to get in trouble. Not my fault Intelligence saw fit to flush out half that crew after we came back from that hiccup. I'm surprised one of the civies is a Starfleet Captain now. So backwards. So goddamn backwards."

"You're going to be extremely careful because we can't afford to make any mistakes with this. Right?" Ona smiled but there was just a slight edge to her voice that she was sure the others would recognize. "Let Zee help you get there and if you do this right there might just be a little reward in your future."

"Stay away from open areas and keep your head down," Atyss stated. "They are civilians, so that means they are either gathering supplies or have been paid to do something less than legal. Keep that in mind, none of us want Starfleet to catch wind of our activities."

The Engineer among them just stayed silent. He knew if Starfleet caught wind of any of the activities they had going on it would be game over and some of them would spend time in a penal colony. "So we going?" He asked finally as the realisation of what was ahead of them sunk in.

"You all know I've actually got security training for this, right?" Lihau pointed out in irritation. She sprang up from her spot, singular device in hand. "I've got my unmarked tools, my various different names with totally fake stories, and if someone recognizes me, I've got stories for that too. But civilian ship. If they're doing something less than legal, they're not gonna want Starfleet catching wind of them either. If they're just gathering supplies... I'm just passing along. Saying hi. Fellow civilian to fellow civilian." She gave Atyss a look. "Assuming I even run into them. The plan is to crawl through all the hidey-holes and make myself seem less than appealing to look for. Better to be a bunch of tribbles showing up on scan than a bipedal person, right?"

"Everyone gets told to be careful, especially if they can't take suggestions without becoming defensive." Ona reminded her. "I wouldn't be allowing you to do this if I didn't know of your training. But all the same . . ." She left the rest of the sentence open. "Report in when you can." She made a gesture with her eyes as if to say, 'get moving'.

"This is all for the cause, we're on the same team," Atyss replied. "It's just important to me that the people of the Federation wake up. We must stay vigilant."

OFF::

Zazkeal 'ZaZa' Elms
Engineer
(PNPC Gregnol)

Atyss Th'thialan
Tactical
(PNPC McIntyre)

Ona Silang
Command
(PNPC Bowers)

Lihau Nezri
Operations
(PNPC Uhin)