Patience is a Virtue (Part 1)

Posted on Sun Feb 6th, 2022 @ 9:20am by Captain Kelly O'Connor & Lieutenant Commander Amaya Capac & Lieutenant Glenn Radars & Lieutenant Dacia Stallworth & Lieutenant Cyrus Jericho & Lieutenant JG Cara Ross & Lieutenant JG John Adams

2,866 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Mission 8 - A Blast from the Past
Location: Meeting Room
Timeline: 2296/03/13 0800 hours

It had been ten hours since the Avian creatures had taken their leave from the America. O'Connor had expected a response in about an hour. But this was ten and this was getting absurd. She slept fitfully while America peacefully orbited the planet. Even her Irish whiskey had not taken the edge off. So when she woke, she was in a fitful mood.

First she checked in with her yeoman. He had no news, which earned him a scowl and an irritated grunt. Why had they not contacted her? Well, if she could not figure it out, she had better get the other brains involved in deciding what to do next. So, she called over the comm, =^= All Chiefs and Assistant Chiefs of Staffs, report to the meeting room. =^= With a short wry, laugh, she thought to herself, Let Adams chew on that.

O'Connor made her way to the meeting room. Arriving first, she took a seat, folded her legs underneath her, and swiveled in the chair impatiently for people to arrive.

Amaya was the second to arrive. Thanks to Cyrus she was in a good mood. "Good morning," she said cheerfully and took her seat.

Adams walked in and took his seat.

O'Connor gave Adams a brief nod for acknowledgment.

The doors opened up and in strode the ships Chief Engineer, Glenn Radars. He was accompanied by Sistine Fibel who he had an arm around her shoulders. "Hey Cap, I found little White Cat 'ere hanging around in the corridor, looking all bored. So I rescued her and I thought I'd drag her along for some comedic value? Can this meeting involve her as well?" he asked with a mischievous grin.

"Stop it, Glenn..." Sistine muttered. Indeed she had been half dragged there, but it wasn't like she wasn't enjoying this turn of events. She blushed a bright shade of red as Glenn pulled her into the room.

O'Connor furrowed her eyebrows at the Chief Engineer and Fibel. "Mr. Radars, this is inappropriate and you should know better. I suggest that you not put Ms. Fibel in a compromising position in the future. Ms. Fibel, please see yourself to your station."

"I should know better. Doesn't mean I'm not going to do it" he grinned. "I'll see you later white cat" he said as Sistine hastily made her retreat. With a smirk he strode to his seat and sat down.

Capac looked at Sistine with a raised eyebrow. This meeting was for department heads and their assistants, and this girl was neither. Even though the fault was clearly Radars', the girl knew better. And, as a communications officer, Maya would need to have a talk with her later. And another one with the engineer.

Ross had come in on the tail end of that conversation, and paused in the doorway, debating if she wanted to ask what it had all been about. Deciding that discretion was the better part of valor, she covered her mouth with the back of her hand, pressing a yawn, and moved over to her seat. She looked rather tired, her hair pulled back into a tight ponytail at the base of her skull, and her skin still a little flushed with the look of someone for whom the bed had been but a few short minutes in the past.

"Morning all," she murmured, shooting a tired smile to a few of the other officers as she set down a rather heavy dataslate full of notes.

Cyrus finally arrived, walking in quietly, offering only a nod to those who noticed before walking to the replicator. He made his beverage before taking an empty seat. Briefly, he looked around, before meeting eyes with Amaya. He simply smiled and winked before hiding his mouth behind his raised mug, taking a sip was his eyes wondered around again.

Amaya's eyes smiled warmly at Cyrus before focusing on the captain.
Stallworth came into the room with her tablet, she had a good cup of Java before coming so she is awake.

"Good day Everyone." She greet as she swiped her skirt before sitting.

When everyone appeared and had sat down, O'Connor stood back up and said, "Alright, people. We have heard nothing from the species down below. Let's review what we know and determine what we should do from here. We will start with you, Commander."

"They are a male-dominant species with a hierarchical order. The Captain was going to report to the Elders. So, what we're likely waiting on is the Elders to make a decision and contact us. Or we can simply contact them and ask for a meeting," Amaya said.

"Could they be giving us the cold shoulder given that the Captain is clearly not male?" Cara asked, then frowned, "Presuming they can tell the difference between us, I suppose. Avian versus mammalian biology, that determination may be a wee bit of a struggle for them, given what tech levels we've seen so far."

"I think they know the difference of our sexes. Yes, they are a male-dominant species, but I found them to be willing to accept our ways, captain. Their silence may be that the Avian captain's crew is afraid of contacting us, or the Romulan spies, which I am sure are on the planet, are keeping the Avain leader under wraps." Adams reported.

"Their standard clearly has a Romulan accent, but I doubt the Romulans are interested enough to have someone on their planet. And from the conversation I had I'm sure they're impressed by Captain O'Connor. She acts like a male of their species." Amaya couldn't help smiling at that. "They didn't seem afraid of us when they left."

"But how did they get in touch with the Romulans and why have they not contacted us yet?" O'Connor asked, almost as a demand.

"No one here seems to bringing up the only other obvious choice?" Cyrus said as he leaned back slightly in his chair, looking around the room, before looking down to his mug. "They could be delaying in order to give their Romulan friends time to get here. We are the only Starfleet ship to encounter them, am I wrong? For argument's sake, removing us from the equation, will keep the Romulan's involvement a secret. Any ship comes looking they can simply shrug their shoulders and claim to not know what happened to us after we fixed them up and helped them back." He paused slightly, taking a sip, before adding. "I know its a grim idea, but something tells me whatever connection they have to the Romulans, our knowledge of it won't sit well. That would either place us or the Avian species in danger. Considering what we know of the feathers technology they wouldn't be much of a threat, which makes them expendable should they prove useless now that we know the Romulans are involved. Whatever use they had for them is no longer useful and that makes them expendable. Given what we know of the Romulans, and their knack for sneaky tactics, we should be vigilant. Less we get caught without shields down playing diplomat because we want to make friends with the birdies and expecting everything to go peaceful like."

"We can't overlook that possibility," Amaya said. "But we also don't know if they contacted the Romulans or if the Romulans contacted them. We really don't have enough information. All we do know is that we helped them and they were excited about the idea of learning from us." Without any solid information, she preferred to be cautiously optimistic.

"Of course they were excited." Cyrus added with a smirk, leaning forward slightly in his chair, placing his mug down on the table as he continued. "We basically showed them our technology and offered to help further them along. Its the equivalent of showing a caveman a phaser rifle by demonstrating how it can take down a wooly mammoth. Then handing it to them and walking away. Chances are the Romulans made them the same promises and now we've show them an alternative to whatever arraignment they originally made." He paused for a moment to look around them table, releasing a bit of a sigh, before adding reluctantly. "I get they needed help and we were in the best position to do so. No one here, as far as I know, will argue that point. However, once the idea of advancing their technology was placed in their minds, we lit a dangerous fuse. A fuse that has the potential to cross paths with the Romulan Star Empire. One my world, their bird creatures, are stuck in the middle and are potentially being fed false promises. Possible even led to believe the Romulans will go as far as protect them as long as they are given whatever it is that brought them to the world in the first place. If you want my opinion... this became less about first contact and more about learning and understanding what the Romulans want and how we can get these Avians out from under foot. Whatever brought the Romulans to these species, and convinced them to manipulate these creatures to the point where they had to insure they saw us as a threat, can not be any good."

"I made sure that they didn't see anything sensitive, when I guided them to their room." Adams looked at Cyrus. "All they had to do was look out a porthole on their ship to see how advanced our ship was compared to theirs."

"May I remind everyone that they did achieve warp." Amaya turned to Glenn. "Lieutenant Radars, you were in charge of ship repairs. What percentage of the technology is explicitly Romulan and what percentage avian?"

"First things first," O'Connor stopped the conversation. "While I do want to hear what Radars says on the matter of the technology, have we intercepted any communications from these creatures to the Romulans? If there have been any communications, then I am inclined to agree that we should be prepared for battle and we should also let Starfleet know the situation we have encountered. But if there are no communications, then what could they be doing?"

Glenn shrugged. "You know, I'm not sure" he said simply. "I'm not an expert on Romulan technology, it's still alien to us. For all we know it might be their own, or theirs. I know that some things shouldn't work together physically, but they do. Two different types of designs seem fishy"

"May I point out that you did say it would be hard to establish what they have and don't have until we are able to get down to their planet to see for ourselves. Yes, they have achieved warp but we don't know if it was on their own or through the Romulans help. Also, because they achieved warp, doesn't imply they developed the same technologies Earth or any other world has achieved prior to warp. When we showed them a simply holographic image of a Romulan they seems more impress with that than anything else. They seemed very eager to be taught or given the technology to develop the same type of computers we have." Cyrus replied, looking to Amaya for a brief moment before looking to John to add. "Seeing our ship, whether from the outside or inside, plus being tended to in our sickbay and escorted to their own room which we personalized for them is enough to demonstrate to anyone, warp capable or not, how much we've come through. They don't have to have access to anything sensitive to know we've achieved more than they have. I wasn't accusing you of not keeping them away from anything important, but there are certain things they can see with their own eyes and understand how far we have gotten. Keep in mind they were told about Starfleet or the Federation in advanced by the perspective of the Romulans so they would already be on high alert from the beginning to it would seem only natural to assume they took their time to look around as much as they could and assess what we are capable of having been told we could be dangerous. If only they felt the need to defend themselves. It's what we would do if in the same situation, isn't it? Learn as much as you can to assess the enemies strength and potentially establish a means of escape if necessary."

The fact the Romulan ships display a Bird of prey prominent; would that maybe be what gave them an 'In' one might say? Implied an understanding with these people and the Romulans are Male dominated thus far, the ship crews are Male for the most part from what litt we know. Could that be how they weseled their'all way into where they sit now?" Stallworth asked.

"But females also are rather prominent power figures in the Romulan empire, as our limited intelligence has informed us," O'Connor tossed out there. "However, the Bird of Prey ship is definitely something to consider."

Cyrus let out a slight chuckle. He certainly knew all about females in prominent power from back home. There are, and were, a lot of strong women. His mother weighed heavily on his mind from the comment before adding. "While I do think Romulans and these Avian species are connected the fact their ships are called a Bird of Prey and happen to have a bird on the hull is a bit of a stretch. Klingons travel in ships often referred to by the same name. They also have ships called Warbirds. Are we to assume, using that logic, they are connect to these species also? Or a different bird species all together?"

"So do you think they're proverbially blowing us off now?" O'Connor asked, her voice dropping and her eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Ah am not a Tect-tical Officer, but their displaying the Emblem and the limited sensory capacity of the Avians could be little more than a sort of radar and visual confirmation. Aad is it not obvious we are being..." The doctor gave a southern smile. "'Blown off ' as you so put it? Romulans are not the type to share, so worst case senar-io is they are cooking up something special for us."

Cyrus could have sworn he made the same point about the Romulans, if they have been informed of their presence, could be using this time to plot against them. Of course, Cyrus who was known for often talking more than necessary, may have not made that clear. He held his hand slightly out to Stallworth as he replied calmly, hoping not to offend or disrespect her in anyway. "I understand that fact, regarding the emblem, but we have no way of knowing that until we learn more about them and the Romulans have never been forthcoming about details of their customs and motives. For many years, from Earth to other alien species, have been known to paint a lot of things on their crafts as a means to intimidate or just to personalize it in some way. What I learned of Earth's war history they did the same thing with some aircrafts and vehicles. On my own world they do the same thing. I, personally, was of the opinion it was the same thing. If we learn otherwise, than I apologize for not thinking it, Lieutenant Stallworth. But, you do understand my point? It doesn't matter what kind of department any of us work in. Until we get down there, and learn more, we are all speculating."

"I agree. We don't have enough information at this point," Amaya said. "They told us very little of their beliefs and we've only seen the one ship. We have no timeline, and no real reason to believe that they'd get back to us immediately. I believe our options are to wait for them to contact us, or reach out and ask if they'd let us meet them."

O'Connor's face scrunched up tighter. "I hate waiting and if the Romulans are waiting to do something to us, it is better that we preempt it." She hopped off her chair, paced to one side of the room and then back. "Something non-threatening then. We should send a communication checking on the welfare of their Captain. Perhaps that will get them talking."

Amaya wasn't sure a welfare check would be well-received. They might wonder if something untoward happened. But she also didn't think it would do any good to once again suggest they just contact them and ask for a face-to-face. "It shouldn't hurt to contact them directly if you think it's been long enough."

The Captain gave a questioning look at her XO. That was downright deferential. And yet, there was something lacking about her XO's conviction. "Other thoughts?" the Captain asked, in a daring statement.

"Why don't we go down to the planet without going down to the planet?" Cyrus said aloud, and rather ominously, before taking a sip from his mug.

[TO BE CONTINUED]

 

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