Knocking On Wood

Posted on Thu Jul 18th, 2019 @ 5:30pm by Captain Abigail Laurens & Commander Ichiko Gail

Mission: Getting To Know You
Location: CO's Ready Room

Abigail had just set the cup of tea on the desk in front of her when the door chime for her ready room entered. She sank into her seat, wrapping her own hands firmly around her own mug as she looked up with an expectant smile, watching as Ichiko entered. "Tea's hot and fresh," she said with another smile.

She waited until the Ts'usugi first officer had taken her seat before she started speaking. "Forty eight hours out and we've had no signs of trouble. I don't know if I should be relieved or concerned," she said with shake of her head before blowing across the top of her mug. "Have you heard anything about coming back from the crew about our guests?"

Ichiko entered with all the grace and style that she usually displayed. Professionalism and protocol were high on the necessary skills in Ts'usugi society, so it blended nicely here. This time when she entered, she had a PaDD in her hands, though set it aside for the business at hand. She took her tea and gave a soft smile. "A girl could get used to this." she teased with a giggle. "Thank you."

"Honestly, I'd say take the quiet while we can. We're bringing one of the two leaders of a civil uprising to the region OF the civil uprising." she pointed out. "There's bound to be screaming."

"As for anything about our guests, I've heard nothing good or bad, so I'll take that as a good. What's that quaint earth expression? No news is good news? Such a bleak outlook." a slow sip of her tea.

"I have a bit of a proposal for you. I already approached Jack Carver about it, and he seemed interested." a bit of an understatement. She handed the PaDD across the table to Abigail, which currently showed the technical specifications and the rendered image of the standard Ichruga class Blink Fighter.

"I know of two Ts'usugi Blink Pilots in or around this quadrant of space. Bringing two of them aboard would make this the largest single concentration of Ts'usugi in the Federation. It'd send a hell of a message back home that our ideals and practices can exist within the melting pot of Starfleet. Nevermind casting this ship as the flagship for joint Earth and Ts'usu operations." she pointed out.

"The pilot dossiers are there too. I just figured I'd sell the point by putting all the impressive material in the front." much like the same demo she showed Jack, the media didn't show the fighter's true potential right away. Simple maneuvers, transitioning to and from atmosphere, firepower and supremacy. There was a touch-button to continue to the true demonstration at the bottom.

Abigail laughed as she took the PaDD and scanned over the contents. "You know, you didn't have to go to so much effort, I would have said yes even without the audio visual displays, but they do look impressive." She handed the PaDD back to Ichiko and smiled before taking a sip of her latte. "I have no issue with it at all, though we may have to start capping out our Ts'usugi population after this, people might think you're trying to take over the ship," she teased lightly. "Just let Lieutenant Gunnison know so he can make any relevant arrangements for anything that either you or Lieutenant Carver may think necessary for them to come onboard."

"I prefer a little extra effort." she offered in a counter. "Imagine if you had questions?" she asked with an amused smirk.

"They're actually older designs, but the newer designs are only superior in atmospheric flight speeds. They're 'slightly' faster, but the Ichruga can almost literally turn on a koku. Okay, about thirty koku, but still. The only disadvantage that the Blink Fighters will have in Federation competition is that they don't have any form of warp engine or dark engine. There's no room and the Dark engines simply can't get any smaller than they already are."

"I'm certain Starfleet engineering will design something to compensate." she giggled, and took a sip of tea. "I'll coordinate with Gunnison and Carver, and arrange all the transfer documentation for your final approval. Despite my attempts at a non-hostile takeover, it's still your ship." she teased, and smiled softly. One would say that a teasing glance danced along her eyes, but those eyes reflected nothing. Not even the glare from the tea as she drank it.

Abigail was about to speak when her commbadge chirped and Lieutenant Gunnison's voice came over the comms. "Commander Laurens, we have an urgent communication from Captain Sorenson on the Zendaya, he is requesting to speak with you immediately."

Concern crossed Abigail's face as she cast a glance toward Ichiko. "Alright, patch it through please."

There was a moment of silence before the figure of the Captain appeared on her screen. "Captain Sorenson, what can we do for you?"

Sorenson shook his head slightly. "Unfortunately Commander Laurens, I don't have good news for you. The Zendaya is dead in the water, so to speak. We've suffered multi systems failures and we've been forced to take our warp core offline after our warp field destabilized. Our engineering department is still investigating. I've contacted command and they've said that you're the only ship in the area. It'll take them three days to get anyone out here to pick up the Trion's and continue their journey. Your orders will be coming through from Command shortly but you will rendezvousing with us and relieving us of our guests before you continue to Trion 8."

"You are aware, Captain, that we have the Trion 8 Governmental delegates aboard? The whole reason they were put on two different ships was because it was determined too risky to have them in the same place at the same time?" There was a hint of incredulity to Abigail's voice as she spoke.

"We are aware, Commander," Sorenson replied, a tone of caution to his voice as he addressed her by rank. "Regardless, you have been given your orders, my Operations officer has indicated that your ETA should be within the next fourteen hours. I'll be expecting you."

The screen went dead and Abigail shook her head, turning her attention toward Ichiko. "Well, so much for knocking on wood," she said quietly. "Somehow I don't think they're going to accept No for an answer."

"As one of my favorite philosophers once said..."

Takeshi Kosh, Book of Dreams and Visions, Third Edition, Page ninety six

"... the Avalanche has begun, it's too late for the pebbles to vote." and with that she took a sip of her tea. "The peace was nice while it lasted though. At least we have that. So, confinement to quarters is out for guests. Perhaps confinement to key decks?" she offered.

"We'll need to speak with Operations, work out how much space we can realistically put between them without stretching our own crew too much. Maybe bring the marines up to speed and use them as hired muscle?" She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "I'll speak with Lieutenant Carver, we'll have the fighters assess the Zendaya and surrounding space before we rendezvous... maybe even see if we can get Engineering to help buy us some time? I suspect we're going to need more than fourteen hours to be able to make this work."

"To be direct, his Operations officer's time is off." she commented over her tea. "We haven't directly been given our orders yet from Starfleet. Merely advised of their eventual arrival from another Captain." she pointed out. "It's a bit petty, but it'll buy us at least twenty minutes."

"I'd agree with mobilizing the marines. Supplement the security forces. We'll be bringing two hostile forces inimical to one another. Like mixing chemicals." she pointed out, for effect.

"Scouting the area, also agreed. This could be a trap." she stated the obvious. "I don't suppose we could get away with towing the Zendaya the rest of the way?" she said with a smirk. She already knew the answer.

Abigail suppressed a slight smile in response. "Tempting, but I suspect Engineering would have an issue with that." She shook her head. "How many bodies can we fit in a shuttle? Maybe put one group on one shuttle off to the port, the other in a shuttle off to the starboard, Astraea in between, and then surround the entire thing with fighters. Think that'd work?" She was well aware that the idea was completely preposterous, but the moment of silliness she was allowed with her first officer did help to make her feel more at ease, at least for now.

"If this were a Dalacari ship I'd say absolutely. The warp dynamic on those craft are incredible. Pack everyone on their own shuttle, tractor beam the lot, and expand the warp field over everyone and just leave it at that." she half-suggested. "Though, if we have to respond reasonably, we may just need to have an active security presence."

"And to answer your question..."

Akira-Class. Shuttle compliment. Class-9 Shuttlecraft.

"... six. Two crew, four passengers. They're the biggest passenger craft we have." Ichiko offered. "Though, worst case scenario there is... oh, you weren't serious." she smirked, taking a sip of her tea.

"It's tempting though isn't it?" Abigail said with a sigh. "We should get Voroshilov in here, see what his take on all of this is. What do you think?"

She gave a nod, "Oh definitely. The more minds in this Think Tank, the better I say."

Reaching up, Abigail tapped her commbadge lightly. "Lieutenant Voroshilov, report to the Captain's ready room immediately," she ordered tersely, closing the link without waiting for a reply.

Taking a sip from her latte, Abigail cast a faint smile at Ichiko. "There is a certain enjoyment that is going to come out of messing with his head," she said quietly by way of explanation over the unusual summons.