Side Quest Ep. 5: The Crew Returns Home
Posted on Sat Jan 25th, 2025 @ 12:23am by Captain Remy Johansen & Lieutenant JG T'lenn & Commander Maxun Spello & Lieutenant Commander Nash Winters & Lieutenant Commander Eirly Andersen & Major Clay McEntyre III & Lieutenant Phaedrae Cyn & Lieutenant JG Xalanth & Lieutenant JG Jezra Siv MD
Edited on on Sat Mar 1st, 2025 @ 3:50pm
1,986 words; about a 10 minute read
Mission:
Gone, Without Ever Knowing the Way
Location: Main Shuttlebay
Timeline: MD 0, 2000 Hours
Continued from: Side Quest Ep. 4: Not Quite a Clean Break
The Bridge had been mostly quiet, though everyone was focused on monitoring the area. They now had at least two concerns to monitor, Nash and T'lenn having uncovered a possible clue to a ship that had been missing for almost a decade while trying to track down a possible security threat. Now their team was on its way back, and had unexpectedly ended up bringing back their informant. Someone who had alledgedly been a long time Federation asset, though little was known about him and how he spent his off hours.
"Let's make our way to the Shuttlebay, Commander," the Captain stated, turning to her first officer. "Andersen, please come along and have Xalanth report to the shuttlebay. Consider yourselves a light security detail just in case."
Maxun stood up, nodding to Remy. "Aye, Ma'am. He then glanced over at the next highest-ranking officer who was going to be staying on the bridge, which was their Caitian Marine Commander. "McEntyre, you have the conn until we get back."
"Aye, Sir." Clay nodded, stand and moving to the big chair before sitting down.
The captain stood up and made her way to the turbolift with the other officers.
"Main shuttlebay, flight deck," the Captain ordered once they were situated.
"A light security detail, you say?" Eirly questioned with a grin as she felt into place behind Remy, "Surely this informant can't be that dangerous, right?"
"Hopefully he isn't dangerous at all, but we don't know anything about him really," Remy replied. "He somehow was close enough to some pretty dangerous people to get us information, so we should be cautious. But, he did get us the information - so let's not be too obvious about it."
The group arrived to the shuttlebay just ahead of the borrowed shuttle's arrival, and the Captain was opining on what might have happened to cause them to bring their informant back on such quick notice with Xalanth arrived.
Xalanth stepped through the doors all kitted out in light security detail gear. A hand phaser and a shield belt. Not the best the shield could only take a few hits before failing, but it would do. " Reporting for duty captain," he said waling over and snapping to attention.
Maxun glanced over at Xalanth and grinned softly. He just hoped none of the defensive measures would've needed for this meeting.
The team had taken a nondescript cargo freighter to the planet. Nash was able to pilot the freighter back to the Astrea and into the shuttlebay hanger without incident.
The Captain stayed in her spot near the Flight Deck Manager's controls while she waited for the team to disembark the ship.
On board the freighter T'lenn had released the airlocks, opening a hatch on the port side of the vessel. When she did so, a ramp descended down from the opening, which appeared to be at least one deck overhead.
"Do you have any special instructions for me?" Nor asked as he stood up and prepared to leave. He was cautious to make any wrong steps without permission just yet.
Nash felt the need to say something, but he thought better of it. He deferred to Lieutenant Cyn on this one. He looked in her direction and tilted his head to get her attention.
Cyn was surprised Nash had nothing to say and she let the expression show on her face without comment. "Tell the truth," she answered Nor.
As they deboarded, Nash caught up with Cyn. “Hey, Phae—-it was the kiss, wasn’t it? Did I overdo it?”
She scoffed at him and held up her hand to visually count it out on her fingers, starting on her thumb. "When we arrived at Freecloud, you let everyone know we were Starfleet officers before we even left the docks." Her index finger counted number two, "When we received our contact location, you were no where to be found even after agreeing to stay within close proximity to each other." Third finger, "After I made arrangements with Nor, you tell everyone in the Saloon who he is. The guy has a target on his back and the fact that you could have gotten him killed right then and there is unforgivable." Fourth finger, "I have no idea what else you did out of my view which may have compromised our mission. I hadn't realized how dangerous you could be off of the ship. The kiss," she tapped her final finger and brushed it off because it was the least of all the problems, "was disgusting and uncalled for, but it is hardly worth mentioning over everything else that went wrong."
“Now just hold on, sister. This is NOT my fault entirely. Inexperience I will gladly admit to. But I will not take responsibility for getting exposed. There were a lot of people around at the bar and I hardly announced our identities. Give me a break here. By the way, T’Lenn and I walked back to the ship to send a message back to Astrea. We waited for you with Nor and no one showed. So we left. I asked T’Lenn about trying to reach you on comms, but she nixed the idea to avoid drawing attention to ourselves. That’s where we were. So spare me the ‘holier than thou’ attitude. We still came away richer than when we got here. Just so you know, the kiss was supposed to be a convincer for Nor. If I offended you by doing that, I really am sorry. So that’s it. If you want another operative, you can find someone else. I have a ship and a family to take care of. I’ll stay home, thank you very much. I have to check in with the Captain and then I have to see my family. We’re done.”
T'lenn and Jezra followed behind Phaedrae and Nash. T'lenn considered the logic behind the intelligence officer's points, even though she was being rather emotional about the ordeal. She did not see the logic in voicing her own conclusions or taking sides in their disagreement, but she did consider that the chief engineer might have been more willing to listen to reason had Phaedrae not reacted in such an obviously visceral way toward Nash's behavior.
As the group stepped onto the shuttlebay floor T'lenn took a position to the side as the Captain and First Officer approached Lt. Commander Winters and Lieutenant Cyn. Jeda Nor, the intelligence asset that Cyn had brought back with them, stuck close to Jezra for the time being.
There was no objection from the doctor. To be absolutely sure, they did a quick visual inspection of Nor to make sure nothing happened to him.
"Are you good to give us a brief update?" The captain asked Winters and Cyn as they stepped on to the deck. She was unaware of the friction that had developed between the two on the mission.
Nash was usually very even tempered and rarely got angry at anyone. This time was different. He was still fuming over Cyn’s accusations and judgements about him. He would steer clear of her for awhile until things between them cooled down.
“Yes, Captain. I’ll give you a thumbnail version and submit a full mission report later on. First, T’Lenn and I made visual contact with the individual known as Axel, who was selling components, likely Federation and Starfleet. We were unfortunately not able to track him and he disappeared before we could gather more intelligence. As far as Mr. Nor is concerned, Lieutenant Cyn’s evaluation not withstanding, the meet was successful and he’s here to handover whatever intel he has. I believe he’s trustworthy and what he knows is credible. With your permission, I’d like to go be with Sara and the kids. It’s been an interesting few days."
The Captain furrowed her brow at the abrupt request. She turned to look at Spello for a sign that had any questions, "Commander?"
Maxun could feel the tension clearly. His El Aurian senses were picking up more than what was said. However, his gut told him that it wasn't something to be discussed out here, in the open. "We should do a debrief with each member of the away team, then speak to Mister Nor, Ma'am."
Remy nodded. "You're dismissed for now, Commander Winters, but we may be reaching out to you shortly to talk. We will comm you when we are ready to debrief."
“I appreciate it, Captain. You know where I’ll be when the time comes. Commander…” Nash gestured to Spello as he exited the shuttlebay.
The captain turned to her security team. "Lieutenants Andersen, Xalanth, can you please show Mr. Jeda Nor to some quarters. See to it that he has anything that he may need. We'll be interviewing him after we talk to Lieutenant Cyn, but I see no reason why he can't have a hot meal and some rest or a fresh change of clothes in the meantime if he likes."
The unspoken request was to keep an eye on him, but since she hadn't lifted them from their security detail she trusted that they would do their diligence in that regard.
"Yes, Captain," Eirly nodded before she turned to her own number two, "We'll take him out of the shuttle bay first, then to the VIP quarters for the time being, yes?"
Xalanth nodded. " Very well ma'am. Mr. Nor if you'd like to follow us." The lizard said in the tone one would expect of a federation security officer.
Eirly followed both of them out, keeping an eye on Nor as they walked.
Once Eirly and Xalanth had escorted Nor out of the shuttle bay, Captain Johansen looked at those who remained. "What happened back there? Do we need to be worried about having Nor on board?" Remy asked.
"There are people looking for him now. He asked for sanctuary - and that we do our best to win the race on this treasure hunt," Cyn answered. "I can't say we shouldn't be worried, but I did my best to make sure we weren't followed from Freecloud," the intelligence officer assured.
The Captain turned to the trill Chief medical officer. "Dr. Siv. Please get with Lieutenant Capulet and decide who from Science and Medical are best suited to look at what Nor may have brought back for us," Remy ordered. "After you've assigned someone to start working on it through the night shift, You should get some rest."
"Aye, Captain," Jezra answered with a nod.
The Captain next looked to T'lenn. "Lieutenant T'lenn, we'll send a team up to go over computer logs and sensor data. Please stay put to answer any initial questions about the ship and make sure they have access. Once they are good to go you are dismissed until we reach out to you for your debrief."
"Yes, Captain," the Vulcan responded with tempered stoicism.
"Commander, am I missing anything?" Remy asked as she turned to Spello.
Maxun considered everything that had occurred thus far, then shook his head. "I don't believe so, Ma'am. I'm sure more pieces of the puzzle will become apparent, after the debrief and various teams finish their assignments."
The Captain nodded. "I am sure it will. Lieutenant Cyn, I think it makes sense to talk to you first, and then you can catch back up with the security team and decide who talks to this intelligence asset that you've brought back."
"Let's head over to the Ready Room." Captain Johansen led the two others out of the shuttlebay as the engineering and operation crew shuffled in to assist T'lenn with assessing the ships telematics from the mission.
~tbc~
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