On the Road Again

Posted on Sun Feb 28th, 2021 @ 1:25am by Lieutenant Mila Lynn & Major Ashley Rogers & Lieutenant T'Ango

2,445 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Chapter III: The Hunt is On
Location: Munin
Timeline: 238702.04

Ash was letting T'Ango fly the ship for a little bit to help with continuing the shakedown of the vessel. Getting another experience pilot to test it out was prudent. "What do you think of this little ship?" she asked.

"She's responsive!" T'Ango flashed a Cheshire cat grin as she jinked and corrected, then turned into a long spiral. "Pity White isn't here. He'd have loved this."

Ash appreciated T'Ango's glee flying the ship, "Glad you approve! Yeah.... he would have definitely loved this. Go wild, my friend. If we want to have this thing fully operational, we need to test its limits... and hopefully not accidentally time travel again...." Ash then smirks at Mila before looking at T'Ango, "Bonus points if someone pukes."

T'Ango's tail beat a tune against chair support. "You know I love a challenge..." She slammed the ship into top speed and pulled 'up', sending the craft into a loop-the-loop that she then tilted until they were following a path in space like the coils of a slinky descending a staircase. "Wroo-yah!"

As T'Ango puts the Munin through its paces, Ash found herself looking around the ship, having not had a chance to sit back and enjoy the ambiance the last time. Well made vessel... she thought to herself before she happened to glance down and notice some bruising on Mila's wrist. Her demeanor changed from being jovial and enjoying the trip with her friends to feeling anger at whoever caused the bruising. She took a calming breath, not wanting to scare Mila by blowing up at her... its not her fault... and Ash would never imply it was, "Mila... where'd you get that bruise on your wrist?"

Mila jerkingly pulled he sleeve over her wrist, as if to hide the bruise. "What? Oh, the bruise? Oh, don't worry, that's nothing, I was playing with the boss' pet yesterday, it must have happened then, you know?", she stammered, while inwardly cursing herself for not having used one of the dermal regenerators she had in the science lab to get rid of the bruise. Seeking to change the subject, she leaned over the side of T'Ango's seat in front of her. "Yeah, the inertial dampeners on this thing are really not set up for comfort, much more to give feedback to the pilot. Great invention, Miles loved it when he took her for a spin yesterday. He's jealous that he couldn't come, but, you know, only three seats. Besides, the boss wanted him to make sure the maneuvering thrusters on the Ourainavassa are properly calibrated so we are all set for combat. I think they're taking her around the asteroid field where we tested Munin's weapons, you know? I hope you like the name, it's from earth mythology. The people in the north of Europe used to believe that the king of their gods had two ravens, Hugin and Munin, that gave him information on what was going on in the mortal world. So I thought it was a perfect name for a scout ship, especially as the Colonel calls herself Raven, you know? I also finally got the torpedoes sorted, we have six photon torps loaded just in case we run into trouble and the quad cannons aren't enough to get us out. And I fixed the spontaneous time travel thing, so no need to worry about that." Mila stopped herself from going on. Idiot, she thought inwardly. She always started rambling when she was flustered. Still, hopefully Ash was going to be happy with her excuse. She really did not need to find out about the Gorn. "Still," she finally said to T'Ango. "We should probably set course for Hobus, I've programmed the nav computer already."

One felinoid ear, then another swiveled toward Mila as she ran on. Wow. She was really trying not to say something - by saying everything else she could think of But it didn't seem right to step into a mother/daughter-ish thing. "Hobus it is," T'Ango said cheerfully, accessing the Hobus course. "And remind me to introduce you to Arnason when we get back. He can tell you all about Odin's ravens," she chuckled. "Heck, if you get him a little sloshed, he recite bits of saga about them in something pretty close to the original language."

Ash just stared at Mila stunned, "I don't think you've said that many words to me outloud all at once the entire time we've known each other...." The girl was obviously hiding something and Ash was... hurt? that she didn't feel like she could tell her the truth? She leaned over to T'Ango and whispered in her ear, "Take your time to Hobus..."

Ash then looked back to the teen, "Mila..." She paused, not sure how to handle this. A part of her wanted T'Ango to continue flying like a mad kitty so Mila would be distracted by the discomfort of trying not to vomit... but that's almost using an interrogation technique. Ash has spent most of her life embroiled in lies and leading a double life, she didn't want that for Mila... especially not because she didn't want to tell her the truth.

"Mila... those aren't the kind of bruises you'd get from Eavy..." she started, trying to avoid eye contact with Mila. "Whatever happened, I know you don't feel comfortable telling me the truth... and I don't know why. But.... I've spent my life lying to everyone that I've ever known.. it's not a good way to live. I don't want you to feel like you have to lie to me, Mila. Those look like bruises from someone grabbing you. I'm very familiar with being on both sides of bruising like that. I'd like for you to tell me what happened... but, only because you want to. Okay? We can talk about it when... if you feel comfortable.... okay?" Ash was finally able to look at Mila, trying her hardest to soften her usual intense glare. Now she was kicking herself because now she probably looks even more uncomfortable than she feels... and who knows what Mila now probably thinks. Idiot, now you scared the kid... she berated herself mentally. She tried to make eye contact with T'Ango through the reflections on the consoles... willing the feline to turn around and help her fix this.

T'Ango could feel the eyes on her, and purposely oriented both ears straight forward. "You know I think it might be best to approach slowly. Take some time to get really precise readings from a few lightyears out," she said casually.

Mila sighed, and decided to come clean. "Yeah, I know. Eavy is strong for a creature that tiny, but not that strong. Truth is, I went to the bazaar to pick up some stuff to replace what the pirates looted. On the way back, some Gorn tried to rob me. He grabbed me, and threatened me with a bat'leth. But before you plan to hunt him down, Raven already took care of it. She came around a corner just as the dang lizard drew his sword-thing and literally cut him to pieces with that new weapon of hers before putting a bullet into his peabrain. Damn impressive weapon, that thing. I wish she'd let me have a look at it and try to reverse-engineer it, really. But yeah, I was stupid, I turned my implant off so I didn't hear the 200 kilos of angry Gorn coming. I didn't even have time to get out my phaser. I was stupid."

"It was, but surviving stupid makes for a very solid lesson," T'Ango said, hoping to head off whatever might come out of an angry upset Ash.

Mila smiled, grateful for the pilot's timely intervention. She, too, was a little anxious about Ash's reaction, especially since the Major had taken to being the twins' replacement parent. "Oh, I definitely learned my lesson. As much as the noise around the station gives me headaches, I won't be turning my hearing off again." She decided to change the subject back to the ship's name. "My parents come from a colony called Nygard, pretty far out on the edge of the quadrant. Many people there still worship the Asgardians to this day. And of course, they recite all the sagas, in the Old Tongue. My full name is Mila Haraldsdottir Lynn. Even though Cera is a place of science and technology, my parents did make sure that Miles and I also knew about the old ways."

Ash mouthed a silent Thank you, to T'Ango... because her feline friend knew her too well. Her gut reaction would have been to seek revenge for whoever hurt Mila and questioning her for more details. The additional conversation was a welcome distraction and let Mila open up more than she's ever done before. Ash had no idea what the girl's middle name was, nor where she and Miles were from. She put a protective arm around Mila, "We should do dinner tonight with T'Ango and Gunnar. T'Ango is right, he would have so many stories to tell. I think you and Miles would love him."

She then signed to Mila, I'm sorry if I made you think you can't tell me something. I know I can be scary... I can't help that. It's my truth. But I just want to make sure you and your brother are safe and I'll do anything to make sure of that. I won't be angry at you, I won't think you're stupid if you make a mistake... I've made more than my share of mistakes and it was people like T'Ango that helped get me out if the trouble I've made for myself...

Ash then pat T'Ango on her scruff, "And maybe afterwards T'Ango and I can teach you some moves to defend yourself next time?"

T'Ango had waiting when it was clear Ash was signing. Obviously whatever was being said was private, but she jumped right in at Ash's suggestion. "Oh, definitely. If I can teach Arnason, I can teach anybody," she declared, throwing a grin at Ash since she'd get the joke. Gunnar had avoided fights most of his life just by virtue of looking like someone who might fit in with those Asgardians, but he absolutely hated hurting anyone. "You'll like him, Mila. He comes from a little island in earth's north sea and what you call the Old Tongue is just what they speak alongside Standard. They learn the sagas just as heritage though. The only real old ways tradition thing is that his surname's Arnason because his dad's name is Arne."

Before Mila could respond, a chime from the nav computer indicated that they had reached their destination, and Munin automatically dropped out of warp. Spreading out in front of them was a completely ordinary star system. "Right," Mila said, looking at the readouts on the console next to her. "From what I can tell from here, there isn't really anything interesting going on in this system. But there has to be, I mean, why else would the other Ash have come here and then abandoned her vessel? And before you ask, I checked. We did not time travel."

Just then, she noticed something strange on the scanner. "Okay, wait. There's some kind of station orbiting the star, and quite closely, too? T'Ango, see if you can get us in for a closer look. But fly casual. You never know who might be flying around here under cloak."

"Slow and easy..." T'Ango said, setting the ship into a impulse glide, "...just some tourists checking out a star..."

Ash looked closely at the readings on the console, "What is that?" she mumbled to herself. "Everyone be on your toes, I don't trust myself..." she looked up to the confused looks in T'Ango and Mila's faces, "The othermyself. If I don't like leaving things up to chance, I'm sure she has some tricks up her sleeves too..." As they get closer to the star Ash is even more confused, "What are we looking at?"

Mila looked out at the strange station, and back at the scanner. "I... I have no fucking clue." Just then, a voice sounded through the communicator. "Unidentified vessel. You have entered restricted space. If you do not depart within sixty seconds, you will be fired upon." As if to reinforce the warning, a ship decloaked right in front of Munin.

"Hzzt." T'Ango's ears flattened against her head. One hand reached toward weapons, ready.

"Now what the hell is that?", Mila exclaimed. "It looks Romulan, but, not Romulan?" She turned to Ash. "Have you ever seen anything like it?"

"Shit," she looked over at T'Ango. "It's Tal'Shiar. What the hell are they doing here?" She then turned to Mila, "Can you tell if they're our Tal'Shiar or if they've got some different quantum signature from another universe? In less than 45 seconds?"

Mila shook her head. "Nope. And this thing looks like it's packing firepower. I recommend we get out of here. Even a temporal displacement drive can't put spacedust back together."

"Mila, grab as many scans as you can on what the hell they're doing orbiting this star... whatever is happening here has got both me and my alternate counterpart intrigued. T'Ango, get us the hell out of here as close to that deadline as possible to give Mila time to collect data. And..." Ash checks on the status of every system onboard.... "I hope we ironed out all of the bugs...."

"Timer set. But if it comes down to it, temporal displacement is an idea..." T'Ango narrowed her eyes, watching the other ship - but with the look of a predator eying prey. "Just a little closer and a jump would leave their forward section in a wake of temporal disruption."

"We don't have enough control of the temporal systems," Mila said, as she hastily gathered as much data as she could. "All I can tell is that the station, or whatever it is, is heavily shielded. Scanners can't get through, at least not ours. I think I have what I can get, now let's get going!"

"You heard her! Go go go!!!" Ash ordered.

"Going." There was note of disappointment in her voice, but T'Ango spun the ship and jumped to warp, accelerating to the ship's top capability. She sighed - she didn't like running, but maybe it was for the best. "At least this way we should be home before dinner."

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