The Plan

Posted on Fri Aug 9th, 2024 @ 8:48pm by Lieutenant Commander Annalise Faulkner & Lieutenant Commander Lyra Cassiel & Lieutenant Commander Andrei Petrov

Mission: S1 Episode 8: Resolutions
Location: Ready Room; Vengeance
Timeline: Date 2371-12-28 at 1215
2176 words - 4.4 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

It had been just over an hour since Andrei and Kit had returned to Vengeance. He had obviously gone to meet Lyra and to make up for lost time. It was standard protocol to report in immediately, but varying by a small amount of time wasn’t completely irregular. As he exited onto the Bridge, he nodded at Sovas and walked past the current Tactical officer on duty toward the Ready Room. He pressed the chime, and then stood by patiently.

“Come in.” Annalise summoned calmly from inside.

Just as Andrei stepped to the doors of the ready room, the doors to the turbolift opened and Lyra stepped out looking just as she had when she had left and not a hair out of place. She glanced at Andrei’s retreating form and took her station. She wanted to be close at hand just in case her lover’s temper flared. He had been calm after he had been relieved from the bridge several days ago, but she knew that could change in an instant. At least she knew after having kept him for an hour and working out his stress and excitement with her, he was as relaxed as he would probably get for the conversation at hand.

Annalise was sitting behind her desk with several PADDs in front of her and her eyes on her console. When the door opened and Andrei stepped in, she looked up and greeted him with a polite nod. “Commander, good morning.”

She didn’t seem bothered in the slightest by his delay at coming to see her; if she was, she certainly wasn’t showing it at that point.

Andrei walked in with a smile on his face, something she hadn’t seen before this moment. Typically, he was either neutral or surly with her, but now he seemed to be in a very good mood.

“Good morning, Captain.” he said, stepping up to the chair opposite her desk and taking it. He relaxed his muscular frame and crossed his arms for the sake of comfort, the expression on his face satisfied and eager. “I’m happy to inform you that our trip was a success. I found the location of Dr. Pel’s assignment and it’s quite close.”

Annalise’s brows lifted slightly when she saw the expression on Andrei’s face; that was certainly new, and she couldn’t deny from an objective standpoint it made him look even more attractive. She tapped the control panel to close out what she had been doing and then sat back in her chair. “Tell me.”

“I acquired her location from the Vidiian Science Database with assistance from an employee of a hospital on the moon where the conference was being held. Dr. Pel is the lead medical researcher at a nearby frontier station called Research Outpost 413. Some additional records from the Rynall suggests the outpost is very lightly armed and her service record tells me she’s quite accomplished and has developed many cures others failed to find, including the one we’re looking for.”

“Hmm…” Annalise hummed pensively and activated her console again to access the information they had from the Rynall regarding the base. She read for a moment and then looked back to Andrei. “I feel like we should assume these are out of date like the information about Dr. Pel we had from the Rynall as well.”

Andrei’s smile faltered a bit, but didn’t go away completely. He raised an eyebrow at her comment and took a few short moments before he actually responded.

“If it is, it wouldn’t be any more than a couple months out of date,” he said. “Almost certainly nothing to worry about.”

“The Rynall’s database hasn’t been updated in four years. The information you acquired from the hospital is good I’m sure, but from a tactical standpoint, four years could make a major difference.” Despite what she was saying, Annalise didn’t appear to be giving the typical indications she had previously that she was about to balk at the idea.

Andrei nodded slowly, the smile giving way to a more sober expression.

“Well, we have a cloaking device here and on Gladius. We could send Stagg in to take some close scans and see what we’re working with. Then we could adjust our strategy based on what he finds. After all, Dr. Pel might simply help us out of a desire to save lives and, if not that, for fabulous wealth. Her science career hasn’t helped her finances much, apparently. Go figure.”

“I’m hesitant to send the Gladius alone, but perhaps.” She considered what was on her screen a moment more and then turned it toward Andrei politely so he could also look at the schematics they had of the station. “We also need to consider the possibility that your… decisions in acquiring the information will have these people on alert.”

Andrei licked his lips. It wasn’t as if what she was saying was wrong, but he found her caution excessive and that alone was frustrating him a bit.

“Then the Vengeance and Gladius can go in together under cloak and scope out the situation.” he said. “If all is as we expect to find it and the outpost is weakly defended, then all of this worry could be for naught. We won't really know until we can get a look.”

“You have known and worked with them longer than I have; do you think the commanders of the other fleet vessels are capable of keeping their slaves in check without the threat of retaliation from the Vengeance or Gladius if they were left behind?” She questioned, seemingly genuinely after his opinion.

“We updated our brainwashing and conditioning methods after the situation on the Lovarr.” he said, pointing to the patch over his eye. “I believe the slaves are quite well in hand, and the ones who aren’t are known and watched closely. We don’t have a flight risk by being away from the Fleet for a few hours, and something drastic would have to change on-ship for a rebellion to take place. We’ve gotten quite good at what we do.”

She nodded and went quiet for a moment, then tapped the panel on her desk. “Commander Cassiel, please come join us in the ready room.”

A few seconds later, Lyra walked in through the doors and her eyes immediately moved to Andrei to get a read on the situation. “What can I do for you, Captain?”

“As I’m sure you know, Commander Petrov has returned with information regarding the location of Dr. Pel and the potential cure for the disease plaguing our stranded crew. All signs point to her being on an outlier station on Vidiian territory; the tactical data we have on the Rynall suggests it is lightly armed.” Annalise stopped there, her brows raising as if she were waiting to see if something would happen.

Lyra looked at the woman sitting down, her intelligent dark eyes a sharp contrast to Annalise’s blue. Really everything about the pair was a contrast. She knew Annalise was probing and testing her in that moment.

“The data from the Rynall is over four years old though.” Lyra stated, watching carefully.

Annalise’s body relaxed just a fraction and she nodded. “Yes, it is, but I would like to formulate a plan with the two of you to see what we might do about it.”

Andrei nodded at Lyra in a businesslike fashion before splitting his attention between the two women.

“Our safest option is to get scans of the outpost before we engage with them, either in peace or in battle.” He said. “I suggested we send Gladius in under cloak to scan the area, but the Captain is concerned about taking that approach. If you don’t believe that Gladius is up to it, ma’am, we could always go and leave them to guard the Shadow Fleet.”

Lyra quietly listened to Andrei while looking between him and Annalise. She was gauging everything going on between the pair with a critical eye.

Annalise spoke next. “My concern is that too much of a delay might allow for Dr. Pel to be moved or for Vidiian reinforcements to be called to the base. Not to mention any improvements they may have made to it in the past four years from a defensive standpoint. There was a bit of an incident during the acquisition of the information that may spark a response from the Vidiians.”

“Incident?” Lyra questioned, giving every impression she had no idea to what Annalise was referring to.

“What incident?” Andrei asked, raising an eyebrow. He hadn’t filed his report yet, so he suspected the information came from Kit. The fact she had ratted him out made him quite irritated, and he considered all the people he should have brought along instead. Many others would have been loyal and kept their mouths shut about topics they knew very little about.

“Lieutenant Urso informed me that the Vidiians believe that Commander Petrov killed two of their own. She also informed me that she was relatively certain they were just using that as some sort of ploy to drive you both out of the conference early because they didn’t want Terrans there.” Annalise replied and looked at Andrei, lifting her brows to see if he disagreed with that assessment. “Which is why you returned so early.”

“The Vidians continue to make the wrong choice concerning their betters.” Andrei said, his face giving away nothing. “One day, we should deal them a blow they’ll never forget. But, today, all we need from them is a simple cure to an obscure disease, and Dr. Pel has it.”

It wasn’t lost on Annalise that Andrei had avoided answering and perhaps it would be something she would speak to Kit about again later. She was about to speak when Lyra did so first.

“We should take the fleet to the station. The Vengeance and Gladius can go under cloak, the Rynall and Lovarr can approach under the guise of allied ships against us. The Kez’ron and Jorran are small enough ships they can hide under the Lovarr and mask their ship signatures to blend in until we are close enough to strike. The Vengeance and Gladius can precede the rest and do our own scans to assess the threat and relay an attack plan to the other ships.”

“That’s a fine plan.” Andrei said, looking to Lyra. “And if they’re a simple, defenseless research outpost like the evidence suggests, it won’t matter anyway.”

He turned to Annalise and offered a curious expression. “Are you going to shoot first and ask questions later, or are you planning a bit of diplomacy?”

Annalise crossed her legs and looked between the pair in front of her. They were a couple, but they seemed to be able to separate that from the working environment; that was no small feat and she admired it in a way. “That will likely depend on what we are up against.”

“That is not the best choice, Captain.” Lyra said, firm but respectful. She looked at Andrei for a moment, then back to Annalise. “The Vidiians constantly bite the open hand; they are vicious little animals and should be treated as such.”

“Any difficulty I faced on the moon was a result of their stubborn arrogance. We can’t trust them to help us for nothing. Sometimes, I fear even basic self-interest eludes them as a motivation. A bribe may be a safe bet, but a sit down and chat won’t work.” Andrei said with a frown.

Annalise sighed, clearly conflicted over the matter, but after a moment she finally gave a nod. “Alright, Commanders. We will try it your way.”

“Once we close in on the station, I can take down a boarding party to find Dr. Pel, if necessary. Maybe we can get out cleaner than that, but that can be a worst-case scenario.” Andrei said, nodding and allowing some of his joy from earlier to return. “You won’t regret this, Captain. This will bring us a crucial step closer to getting our people back.”

“I will make the decision on the boarding parties when we have a better idea of what we are looking at. For now, both of you go and formulate a more detailed plan with the information you have. I will have helm adjust our course.” Annalise nodded and stood. “Dismissed.”

Andrei stood up immediately and gave Annalise a charming, light-hearted wink. Very little about him had been sociable or light-hearted in the last couple of months since the landing party and his family had been first confined to the planet. The look hinted at the fun, engaging person beneath his grief and determination.

“Captain.”he said, and then turned with Lyra to walk out of the room.

END