Safe Haven?

Posted on Thu Mar 25th, 2021 @ 5:52pm by Lieutenant Mila Lynn & Sublieutenant Miles Lynn & Subcommander Kaiae t'Lien & Major Ashley Rogers & Lieutenant Hatham tr'Krotash

1,388 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Chapter IV: Unravelling the Mystery
Location: Cera
Timeline: 238702.10

Miles pulled the Ourainavassa to a halt. "Welcome, everyone, to Cera. The place Mila and I once called home."

Mila stared out of the bridge window. It had been years since they had last been here, and yet, it looked no different to what it had done when they left. But there was no time for idle reminiscence. As soon as the warbird had stopped, a large ship approached from near the planet. To any observer, its design would have been rather bizarre. Similar in shape to a mid 20th-century Earth battleship, the vessel carried three large turrets on its upper surface, and two on its lower side. Painted on the side was the emblem of the Cera Defence Force - a simple pattern of green-white-green-red concentric circles.

They were hailed, and the viewscreen showed an older man in an elegant, black uniform with gold trim. "Unidentified wessel," the man said, speaking Standard with a heavy accent. "Zis is Captain Igor Fyodorevich of the CDS Legkiy. You have violated sovereign Ceran space. Identify yourselves immediately."

Commander Rogers looked over her blood stained counterpart and shook her head. The Major looked back and shrugged, "On screen. This is Major Ashley Rogers of the Ourainavassa, we are damaged and have suffered casualties providing aid to a convoy. We seek safe haven on your planet to make repairs to our ship. We have two former residents of your planet on board, we mean you no harm and do did not intend to violate your sovereignty. Please advise."

Fyodorevich paused for a moment. "Major Rogers. Your claim that your ship is damaged is plain to see. You took heavy beating, yes?" He scratched his chin. "You say you have Ceran people on board. Please, Major, name zem."

Elements, I hope the kids left on good terms Hatham thought, but being a normal (i.e., paranoid and cynical) Romulan he edged toward weapons controls just in case.

Mila stepped around the science console, into the Captain's field of view. "Kapitan Igor Fyodorevich, privet. My name is Lieutenant Mila Haraldsdottir Lynn, Chief Science Officer of this vessel. My brother, Sublieutenant Miles Haraldsson Lynn, serves as our chief helmsman. We were both born on Cera. Our parents are scientists at the Sunrider Institute, or at least they were before we left. What Major Rogers is saying is true. We have sustained severe damage and heavy casualties, and would like to cordially request permission to use the CDF's facilities to return our vessel to serviceable condition. We will, of course, be compensating the Ceran Defence Force for this privilege."

Fyodorevich pondered Mila's words for a moment, before nodding. "Very vell, Leytenant Lynn." He turned to one of his officers, and barked a few orders in what sounded like Russian, before returning his attention to the Ourainavassa. "Maior Rogers, you vill follow zis wessel to a docking berth, vhere you vill remain vhile ve verify ze claims of your crew. You vill not leave your wessel, or the berth, until ve give you permission. Is that understood?"

The Major smiled, "Understood. We appreciate the assistance. Ourainavassa out." She then turned to Miles and Mila, "Okay, tell us everything about this planet. I have every intention to be nice to them but if they try something, I'm going let the Commander go as Terran as she wants to be on it. And someone needs to let Gedak know that Mila just promised we'll pay them...."

That last statement stretched out for a moment as no one seemed eager to volunteer; and finally Kaiae sighed, considering what the response of the Ferengi she had interacted with during her time as comms chief to the Empire's delegation on DS9 during the war would have been, to being told that someone had promised payment without first negotiating terms. "I'll....handle that." With any luck, Gedak would be more interested in stemming the potential damage than in shooting the messenger.

Before anyone got very far a smaller ship warped in right behind them - an Orion freighter, one scored by disruptor burns and with a gash in her rear hull.

A static laced distress call broadcast "Ourainavassa request... emerg... transp..."

Major Rogers breathed a sigh of relief at the sound of T'Ango's voice but then her chest tightened up at the sight of her ship. "Other me, beam them all on board now!"

Commander Rogers was ready before the command was given, "Beaming them to the bridge now."

When the newcomers materialized, the Major went straight to hug T'Ango, "You and Mila are never allowed to do crazy shit like that again!"

"I didn't do anything crazy," T'Ango replied primly. Then she flashed a grin and tipped her head at Gunnar. "He, on the other hand, blocked their last shot at your warp engines with our shields."

"They held." Gunnar shrugged, then winced slightly. "But projecting them might have been a miscalculation."

Captain Fyodorevich came back on the comms, this time audio only. "Zis small ship, friends of yours, yes? Ve vill assign docking berth tventy-six, next to you. You vill be in tventy-seven. Is acceptable, yes, Maior?"

Major Rogers turned her attention back to duties, "Yes, Captain... They're ours. Thank you."

Mila smiled at the sudden hospitality expressed by the Ceran captain. "Cera is generally an extremely libertarian society, but what sets us apart from the Ferengi is that hospitality and helping those in need is still highly valued. Which is why they are helping us, now that they know we aren't a threat. Of course, they need to verify mine and Miles' identity, as the CDF is required to provide docking facilities, repairs and supplies to any ship that has Ceran crew, for payment of course. But even if we weren't on board they could not refuse our ship at least a docking bay so we could perform our own repairs, with our own materials and tools."

The Major looked over at Miles and Mila, "Before we get too comfortable, you don't have criminal records here or anything, right? Quite frankly, I don't think I want to break you out of jail and shoot our way out with 2 broken ships..."

"Speaking of which, I'm sure medbay needs help." Gunnar clasped T'Ango's shoulder briefly. "Come by and get checked out once the ship is berthed," he said before heading for the door.

T'Ango's ears went up. "You have those ribs checked or I will tell Gable," she called after him. "Medics," she puffed, smoothing fur over a couple gaps showing recently regen'ed skin. "Anyway, what can I do to help? If there's a complaint that can resolved with a honor challenge, I'll gladly step in as proxy," she offered with a chivalrous bow.

Mila went over to give T'Ango a friendly hug as Miles took what was left of the Cat Dancing in tow and manoeuvred to follow the CDS Legkiy. Once the course was set, he looked up at Major Rogers. "Don't worry, only bad thing we ever did here was run away from our parents. Our records are clean. If our parents hear we're here, though, that's not going to be fun."

His sister let go of T'Ango again, and sighed. "Yeah, we didn't leave on the best terms, did we. Still, we are here, we are in a safe place. We can patch the ship and crew up and get going again. Once we're docked, I'll see if I can do anything with that data we retrieved."

Moments later, the Ourainavassa arrived at the massive station orbiting the planet. Miles released the tow on the Cat Dancing and carefully moved the ship into her assigned berth, while the Legkiy pulled the battered little freighter into the bay above. When the docking operation was complete, Captain Fyodorevich hailed again.

This time, he was smiling. "Maior, I have good news. Command has verified ze identity of the Leytenant and the Subleytenant. Podpulkovnik Rukova, ze dockmaster, vill contact you later so ve can provide ze supplies and materials you require to repair your wessels. Velcome to Cera."

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