PLOT - JDL - Com Ivanova, Cmdr Waterhouse & Cmdr Dahe'el - "In Their Ships With Painted Sails"

Posted on Sun Jan 25th, 2015 @ 1:58pm by Commander Amelia Waterhouse & Admiral Rochelle Ivanova

1,569 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: A Spot To Kill
Location: Approaching Wormhole/Atlantis Prime Orbit

Time had propelled the Vindicator forward through the slipstream for a couple of days, the bright swirling blue haze that the stars had become was hypnotizing to anyone who witnessed it and the bridge functioned in almost absolute silence. The gentle tapping of the Cardassian Engineer's fingers on the arm of the command chair drummed out the constant beat of power from the engines. The Slipstream drive felt completely different from the normal Warp engine, it's rhythm was a constant, insistent whine against the background of the situational environment of the ship.

His hand found the comm channel on the arm console and thumbed it once, "Commodore, we're due to arrive at the coordinates within the next five minutes, preparing to disengage the slipstream drive and transition to normal space." he reported, a slight smile on his face as he ran through his mind how well the ship was performing.

"Excellent." Rochelle replied as the lift's doors opened and deposited her onto her bridge. It was an early morning, at least two hours before she was scheduled to show her face, but the redhead hadn't been able to sleep. She knew they were close and each second ticked away like cold molasses though she sincerely wished they would just fly by. "Proceed with disengagement, Commander." Looking at him revealed one very happy Cardassian that was practically humming along with the ship he protected and served leaving the normally stiff lipped Commodore with the promise of a small smile tugging at her lips as she made way to the replicator in search of hot coffee. This was still his show.

"Good Morning, Sir," Almar replied with a bright smile before returning his focus onto the viewscreen and the helm officer, this time a slightly more experienced officer than the last, "Helm, calculate our exit point and prepare to transition to normal space," the Engineer called out as he ran a few quick calculations on the console he had access to, "Transitioning to normal space in five, four, three, two," the countdown was cut off, the number one was accompanied by the return of the blackness of space and the bright specks that were the stars, "One." Almar finished as the overlay on the viewscreen changed, "All systems green, successful Slipstream exit."

"Morning." She replied and watched as the swirls of blue and white dissipated into the traditional black and cobalt of the space she was so much more accustomed to. Her head tilted as she realized just how smoothly the transition had gone. No jolt. No buck. No being thrown forward. While she should have known better, Rochelle simply didn't trust slipstream just yet. It felt like cheating, but in some instances there weren't any other options when it came to needing to travel and travel fast. "Begin running scans in a grid, starting with the section of space last known to house the wormhole." She ordered as she crossed back over the bridge, steaming raktajino in hand, "I don't want to waste time finding it, and when it's found? Make sure she's stable. The only other option for return is taking the long way and the long way is three-hundred million lightyears of travel."

The turbolift hissed softly as it deposited one willowy redhead with a grin on her face a lightyear wide. A slight pout took the place of the grin for a fleeting moment as her eyes took in the normal starfield on the viewscreen, as she'd missed sliding out of slipstream. She took a sip from her travel mug of tea as she made her way to her chair, nodding to Rochelle and Almar in greeting.

"What'd I miss?"

"Our light show going away and the commencement of sensor sweeps looking for the worm hole." The Commodore responded, regarding her Executive Officer with an upraised brow and pursed lips, before she settled back to business. The first order of which was motioning for the Cardassian playing as chair warmer to head back to his own console at Engineering. "You stand relieved, Commander." She chuckled lightly, knowing how easy it was to fall in love with the buttery warm depths of the big center chair.

"I am relieved, Commodore," the Cardassian replied as he stood and made his way to the primary Engineering station, dismissing the on duty officer with a nod, "Scans are progressing, sir."

Taking her seat, the Commodore crossed her legs and drew a tender sip of her coffee. It was hot enough to make her squint, the perfect temperature to start a day that would undoubtedly be remembered for a long while to come. "Thank you. Let me know as soon as we locate the wormhole and when we know if its stable or not. Vindicator is a very big ship. I don't want to push the limits too far with her."

"Is there any additional information in the file about the anomaly we're searching for, if there is a trace reading that I could use to refine the search, we could make it a little bit faster," the Cardassian replied as he traded some information with the duty science officer across the bridge who was feverishly working to analyse the scans as the sensors pulled them in and worked through them.

"I'm transferring the entire file Admiral Archer gave us to your console." Rochelle nodded, her nose wrinkling as she worked to quickly send the information across. Archer, admittedly, had sent an Akira class through, but what lay beyond served to trouble even the most steely resolved of Captains; the prospect of not coming home, of being stuck. She didn't like it.

"Plugging in the additional parameters, it'll cut down the search time by several hours per three sectors," Almar replied with a slight smile as he reviewed the file and adjusted the search.

"Perfect. I'll be in my ready room and you can have the con back." The Commodore grinned brightly and found her feet. It was but a brief visit to the bridge, but she knew better than to sit there harping over time spent hunting for something that may not even exist any longer. Archer had reported the wormhole was destroyed, but Taggart had stated it had reinvented itself and that had been the way he and his brother had found Federation space. There were no alternatives, Atlanteans simply didn't live forever and going around the long way just wouldn't have worked given time lines.

"You may want to reconsider that, Commodore," the Cardassian replied with a slight chuckle as the viewscreen flared blue for a second as the wormhole formed before them, "It seems our scans with these additional parameters have uncovered it, a wormhole is forming in grid alpha four." he added as he made additional notes in the file about the exact scanning parameters they had been using at the time and anything else he could think of which might have prompted the wormhole to open.

Amelia couldn't help grinning as she watched the wormhole show itself like a belly dancer dropping a veil. She'd just been finding her feet to follow Rochelle, as the handing of the bridge to Almar meant that the Commodore had intended for her to follow. She settled back into her chair to see Rochelle's mind before doing anything further, though she pulled up the data the sensors were pulling in with curiosity.

A single foot had lifted in the direction of her ready room, and the Commodore was forced to pause and pivot towards the screen with wide eyes. Worm holes weren't an every day thing, they were seldom seen and less than a handful of them were documented and known to exist. Stepping towards the image, the woman's shoulders dropped as her eyes searched the swirling mass of colored and light with wide eyes. While they'd shown and taught in the academy about the things, seeing one in person was something truly awe inspiring and hardly lost upon the young redhead.

"Begin scans for structure and stability." Rochelle finally managed to say, "Admiral Archer had reported it damaged and collapsed due to a battle."

"There doesn't seem to be any evidence of the fact," the Cardassian replied with a slight smile as the first round of scans started screaming across his console, "The wormhole appears to be stable and large enough to take the Vindicator through unscathed."

The Commodore nodded, absorbing information as she continued to watch the wormhole, "Then we proceed in an hour's time. Long enough for Science to make absolutely certain." She replied, finally dragging her eyes away from the thing and casting a glance over her shoulder to Almar, "I'll be in my ready room. Atlantis Prime is just on the other side. We'll be there within five hours or so depending on speed." She nodded to him and then to Amelia.

With that settled, Amelia found her feet to follow Rochelle to the ready room. She knew Rik was due to finally make an appearance some time today, and of course a better idea of what to expect when they reached the other side of the worm hole wouldn't be amiss. Then there was whatever Rochelle had on her mind.

=/\= End Log =/\=

Commodore Rochelle Ivanova
Commanding Officer
USS VINDICATOR, NCC 78213-E

Commander Amelia Waterhouse
Executive Officer
USS Vindicator, NCC-78213-E

Commander Almar Dahe'el
Chief Engineering Officer/Second Officer
USS Vindicator, NCC 78213-E

 

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