Message in a Bottle

Posted on Thu May 2nd, 2024 @ 9:21pm by Petty Officer 3rd Class Grexx & Petty Officer 3rd Class Cormus Fletcher

885 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Mission Interlude Starbase 76 & Serenity
Location: Civil Ops Quarters, Serenity
Timeline: MD07 1300 Hrs

Grexx leaned back in his chair and let out a sigh. Cormus looked over at him as he finished scrolling through the report he'd been reading. Again, no major clues had been found. On the wall in their quarters they'd started a sort of list of clues to begin working from. So far they knew that there were issues with the Romulans, the Vulcans, an extreme value for privacy and seemingly isolation, and they were also still wary of the Federation even after the help they'd provided initially.

"Well, that makes fifteen reports down, a ton more to go. I went ahead and shared out everything to the rest of the team via standard cypher just to be safe. I have no clue what the Atarans may or may not be monitoring" Cormus said.

Grexx finished reading his report before responding "Ya well, if someone hasn't found anything yet before, I doubt we're going to after but it's not like we have much of anything else to do at the moment. I've got our deployment plan together for when we reach New Sausalito and the team has their requested duties so they can prepare ahead of time accordingly."

Cormus nodded in agreement and then thought for a moment "You know, I wonder if Nevan is aware of the concerns. Plus he's go way more computer power and resources to go through things and look for patterns. He may be able to pick up on something."

Grexx was still a bit salty in hearing about their leader. Several of the decisions made for their mission loadout he'd been in strong disagreement with. "Perhaps, or maybe he's more worried about starting some sort of a fight considering the weapons he made us bring. These rifles, and that." The Bolian motioned to the footlocker they'd brought, it looked simple enough but in truth contained more specialized weaponry than he felt necessary for the mission.

"We never know what could kick off, or how long we may be without support once we reach the colony to setup. We need everything we can have for defense. Besides if you didn't want to be the trigger man you should've been a worse shot." Cormus was a bit jealous in the fact that he was the spotter instead but knew how much better he was at determining distances and calling out targets and shots than Grexx.

The footlocker contained a standard set of gear for a designated marksman team. A standard issue sniper rifle, spotter scope, camouflaged uniforms and scrambling fields, visual and electronic signaling devices, ammunition, rations, and specialized equipment for field sanitation. Protected by a series of scattering and scrambling fields so the contents couldn't be scanned or locked onto for transport, the only ones aware of what was inside were the two of them.

"Why we need it for a diplomatic mission is way beyond me though. We're here to help these people, not come armed to the teeth and shoot someone from a hidden position." Grexx was visibly annoyed as his skin tone darkened. "Kayto is way too by the book sometimes."

Fletcher chucked as he listened to his roomie join him in his previous stance against their leader. "He is, but he's also not wrong. You forget, we could also be asked to setup somewhere and just observe. Our mission is to strictly be defensive, we're not a kill team. You'd know that better than me." He turned back to his console to shift the conversation focus back to where he had originally intended it to go however. "Either way, we need to let him know about the situation. We could send an encoded transmission from the shuttle, go with one of our cyphers on a passive carrier wave. I think I have something in the manual that Nevan put together for us that would do the trick, what do you think?"

Grexx was still sitting there with his arms crossed, frustrated they hadn't found anything on their own, annoyed at having to be so heavily armed on a diplomatic mission, and angry at the fact that the Atarans, whom seemed so innocent and friendly, had some big secret they now had to find out behind their backs. "Ya I suppose so. Question is do we wait until later tonight to send it so we don't draw suspicion or do we risk sending it during the day?"

Cormus raised an eyebrow "Ya because night ops are never suspicious. You have your answer right here in front of you buddy, former maintenance pilot Cormus Fletcher at your service!" He gave a huge grin before continuing "I just tell them I've gotta check up on the shuttle, we go into the bay, I plug in a data chip we pre load with the commands, and the shuttle will do the rest. Piece of cake. Kayto put everything together here and as far as the shuttle piece, I've got that covered. I just need you to go with me to distract anyone that decides to ask too many questions.

The Bolian wasn't entirely amused by his friends antics but did lighten up some. "Alright then, let me see that. Start putting a message together and I'll work on programming the transmission. It's time to send our message in a bottle."

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