Time to Get this Show back on the Road

Posted on Tue Aug 25th, 2026 @ 9:34am by Captain Freya Mannerheim & Lieutenant Commander Mila Lynn & Subcommander Kaiae t'Lien & Centurion Nancy Gable & Lieutenant Ashix Zirda & Major Ashley Rogers & Lieutenant Commander Savin & Centurion Hatham tr'Krotash & Lieutenant Seira t'Reiza & Jerant van Rijn

4,491 words; about a 22 minute read

Mission: Chapter IX: Shady Business
Location: The Forum, Haven Colony
Timeline: 2387-10-15; early evening

Finally, Ourainavassa had arrived back at Haven Colony. Captain Mannerheim allowed a few days for the crew to settle back in after their journey to Cera while the supplies on Professor Lynn's behalf were unloaded. Already, teams had been formed to begin preparing fields for the new crops, and the colony's power grid had been bolstered by new generators developed at Cera's Sunrider Institute. A meeting of the Leadership Council had been scheduled to determine how best to use those new resources.

Meanwhile, Freya had begun reaching out to Raven's old contacts, fully assuming the mantle as the 'new Raven'. Between those and Valdus' acquaintances, discussions had begun for Haven Colony to acquire additional shipments of weapons, without the red tape still tying down the shipment of decomissioned phasers she had managed to secure from the Federation.

With everything set in motion, it had become time to assemble the senior staff of the Independent Romulan Warbird Ourainavassa for the first proper operational briefing since the evacuation. Accordingly, a message had been sent out summoning them all to the Council chamber on the upper floor of the Forum in the early evening.

Freya was the first to arrive. After some thinking, she had decided to replicate a custom uniform. She had taken the standard cut of the Starfleet uniform jacket, but used the same fabric pattern seen on Romulan uniforms instead, and combined it with the black skirt and boots from her Terran uniform, along with a simple, white shirt. The room itself was pretty plain, with eleven tables and chairs arranged in a circle around the centre of the room for the nine members of the Council as well as the two non-voting advisors who often also attended the meetings, with a holoprojector in the centre.

As the commanding officer, Freya of course took the seat usually reserved for Vareth as Treasurer and leader of the council. The seat to her left would be reserved for Kaiae as the senior Romulan officer on the crew, while the seat to her right would be taken by Major Rogers as executive officer of Ourainavassa.

Hatham arrived promptly - despite years as merc, Galae training in that still held - and nodding formally to the head of the table, took a seat a bit farther down as befitted his station.

Rather less formally, Dr. Gable arrived next, and with barely a glance to ascertain that the meeting wouldn't be starting yet as not everyone was here, she sat down and began marking notes on her PaDD. She had instructions both for the hospital and because she'd worked in ecology before switching to medicine, she had ideas on best use of crops and water systems for the farms being established.

Years of being a covert operative led Ash to arrive to meetings when the majority of the other attendees trickled in. No need to call attention to herself by being first or last. She took her seat quietly, nodding to Freya, Hatham, and Gable politely.

Not quite sure what he was expected to wear, Savin had opted to wear his Starfleet medical uniform, tricorder attached to his right side but otherwise unarmed. He was flanked by Jerant who instantly beelined to a spot on the side of the room. As this was his first official meeting, he assumed introductions would follow. Equally unsure whether there was arranged seating, he selected a seat in a position that made it easier for him to see everyone.

Kaiae arrived unfortunately-late-as-usual-lately after being stopped on the way to mediate a disagreement, and took a seat next to Freya. Putting the uniform back on had felt just as strange as finally taking it off had, but it was her only somewhat appropriate attire for this meeting at the moment, given she'd burned her formal robes months ago when they'd first arrived on the planet. A few steps behind her was Seira, who had been walking with her to the meeting and who took a seat rather more intentionally and carefully in what was hopefully far enough down the table to not seem to be taking an inappropriate position while also hopefully not being so far down it seemed avoidant or timid.

Next to arrive was Mila, who made a beeline for the empty seat next to Seira. She had received a full commission into the CDF's sciences department, and had appropriately donned the current version of that uniform, a look highly reminiscent of the attire worn by naval officers on Earth in the 20th and early 21st century. On her right arm, two dark blue chevrons topped by the emblem of a crown - "the crown of freedom", as it was officially known - denoted her position as a science officer.

Just as Mila took her seat, a young Romulan man entered, pushing a small cart with a few pitchers of water, a flask of tea, and a number of cups. Wordlessly, he placed the refreshments cart to the side of the door and departed again.

Ashix entered the chamber with a measured, deliberate stride as she gave the room a precise, analytical pass. Choosing a seat with a clear, unobstructed line of sight to both Freya and the central holoprojector, she sat down with rigid precision, placing her PADD onto the surface before her with a faint metallic click. A low, mechanical hum resonated briefly through her jaw as her implants calibrated to the local network feeds, her synthetic voice remaining silent as she prepared to report on the warbird's operational status.

Once everyone had arrived and taken their seats, Captain Mannerheim stood and raised her hand to bring the meeting to order.

"Good evening," she began. "Thank you for making time to attend this meeting. With the work on Ourainavassa finally complete, it is time for us to look at what is going to happen next. First, let me go over the agenda of this meeting." She pressed a button on her table, and the holoprojector hummed to life, displaying the same agenda she began reading out.

"Firstly, we will begin with some administrative matters. Then, we will hear a summary of the work done on Ourainavassa, after which Subcommander Kaiae here will give us a brief update on the status of Haven Colony. Lastly, we will be discussing our next mission."

Freya looked around the room for a moment, before turning slightly to face Savin. "So, let us begin. I would like to welcome Lieutenant Commander Savin to the table, our new Chief Psychologist, on detachment from Starfleet. The man with him is Mister Jerant van Rijn, who will serve as his interpreter where needed, as Commander Savin is deaf. Mister van Rijn will also work in our communications department."

Next, the Captain looked towards Seira. "I would also like to congratulate Lieutenant Seira t'Reiza on her promotion to Chief Helms Officer, as Lieutenant Miles Lynn has requested leave of absence for family matters and stayed on Cera. Lastly, I would like to congratulate Lieutenant Commander Mila Lynn on her commission into the Ceran Defence Force, and thank her for offering to continue to serve as our Chief Science Officer."

Despite her efforts to remain stoic, Ash couldn't help but to give Mila a smile. The young kid that she first met has grown up quite a bit since then.

Freya reached into the small bag she had placed under her table, and took out several small boxes. "On that note, I have the great pleasure to hand out some new rank insignia to a number of people around this table. First, of course, to Lieutenant Seira. I am also honoured to confirm the promotion of Hatham tr'Krotash to the rank of Centurion, and the full commission of Lieutenant Ashix Zirda to Romulan rank." As she spoke, she made her way around the room, pinning their new pips onto the officers she had mentioned.

Hatham stood, coming to attention, and inclined his head in appropriate formal respect after the rank had been affixed, before giving a Romulan salute.

Ash nodded at Hatham, he's more than earned her respect and trust. The promotion was well deserved.

Kaiae, who had stood to stand by Freya during this process, returned Hatham’s salute with textbook precision, then watched as Seira, with the far less practiced control befitting her age (or lack thereof), stood, wide eyed and shocked somewhat, as she received her own and gave and had returned a similar salute to Hatham’s, albeit with the rigid over emphasis newer crew and officers were often prone to.

Savin hadn't given much of a reaction at the introduction beyond a brief nod, keeping his eyes mostly on Freya. However at a strong sense of surprise, he turned his head towards Seira. Even as he sensed the emotion, he could see it written all over her features. Still not certain he was to respond, as he wasn't familiar with this crew's procedures, he said nothing and merely offered a small smile as acknowledgement.

Mila couldn't help but chuckle at Seira's slightly awkward response to her promotion. Of course, her own newly-acquired rank of Lieutenant Commander was probably even more preposterous given her age. Once the round of promotions was complete, and Seira had resumed her seat, she leaned over. "Gotta have the rank match the position, no?", she whispered.

"Later." Seira risked a near-silent whisper to Mila out of the corner of her mouth as the two sat once more; she'd already embarrassed herself enough with the uncontrolled reaction, she wasn't about to start making it worse with an entire public discussion.

Once everyone had resumed their seats, Freya took out another box. "One last administrative matter remains. The question of uniform. With the demise of the Romulan Star Empire, even those crew members who were in active service, the matter becomes a little tricky. Thus it has been decided that there will be no formal requirement to wear uniform either at Haven Colony or in active service on Ourainavassa. However, in order to be clearly identifiable as members of the crew, all are expected to wear their communicator badges and rank insignia in an easily visible location. Furthermore, the front plates of the badges have been slightly redesigned."

She reached into the box and took out one of the badges. As before, it was of an oval shape, but now held in black, with the Phoenix emblem of Ourainavassa embossed in a bronze colour. "The Haven Militia, as it has now officially been named, will wear similar badges, however with the emblem in silver," she added. "Equally, members of the Militia will not be given a standard uniform at this time, however they, too, will be required to wear their badges as identification. Lastly, those identifiably in service to either Ourainavassa or the Militia will not encounter any questions when seen to be visibly armed, as, well, that's part of their job. The redesigned badges will be distributed tomorrow, and once you have received yours, you are required to wear it. This requirement includes those wearing the uniform of another service," she added, looking at Savin and Mila specifically.

"Does this enable me to carry my sword?" Savin asked carefully, glancing around the table for reactions to his question. "I was advised not to for now."

Mila chuckled at the Doctor's question. "There was never a rule against being armed, but when you walk around armed without a good reason to be, most Romulans would think you're up to something. I'm sure the Romulans here will confirm that."

"My general impression is that people seem to think counselors are always up to something," Savin deadpanned as he watched Jerant sign. "And what defines a good reason beyond the defense of oneself or those around you?"

Nancy chuckled, nodding approvingly. "Glad to have a medical officer who agrees with me on that one."

"An entire sword is perhaps...ambitious...as everyday carry; but I don't see a reason why not, especially aboard ship." Kaiae shrugged her eyebrows. "Open carry in a civilian settlement, as opposed to the usual and near-universal concealed, is traditionally a bit of an intimidation tactic or sign you expect a fight; but it would not surprise me if it becomes more common now, given the situation."

"I agree," the counselor acknowledged, "however I do not possess any other weapons of your description. Should I acquire any?"

"I can solve that, yes; let's discuss it later." Kaiae nodded to Savin.

Ash smirked, how anyone can be unarmed is a foreign concept to her. But then, in her previous life, anything was a weapon and nothing was out of bounds when it came to achieving her... objectives.

"Now, that concludes the administrative business. I will be handing each of you their new badge after the meeting." The Captain pressed another button on the projector control, and a schematic view of Ourainavassa appeared. "Now, for an overview of the work done on our ship, I invite the representative of the Ceran Defence Force, Lieutenant Commander Mila Lynn."

As soon as Freya had called her name and returned to her seat, Mila stood. "Right. Thanks, Captain." She took a deep breath, visibly somewhat nervous at having been called out to speak in this manner. "Over the past three weeks, Ourainavassa has been completely refurbished. Any structural damage has been repaired, and any damaged or worn out components have been replaced. In that regard, she is as good as fresh from the shipyard."

She picked up her PADD, which had been connected to the projector, and zoomed in on the engineering section. "As I am sure you are aware, one big weakness of singularity core drive systems is that, should anything go wrong, it is likely to be catastrophic. In order to mitigate that risk, a reinforced shielding system has been installed, powered by its own dedicated generator in the form of a miniaturised matter-antimatter core. As an additional benefit, this generator can also provide emergency power to essential systems, such as life support, in case of a failure of the energy harvesting systems. The power grid has also been upgraded in order to better handle higher power demands."

The image shifted to an overhead view of the ship, with the weapons emitters highlighted. "Which leads us to another major upgrade. With the increased capacity of the power grid, the main drawback of the polarised disruptor emitters we use has been eliminated. Just as before, their polarised nature increases their effectiveness against shields and ships' systems by basically causing miniature EMP effects upon contact. This had the unfortunate side effect of requiring higher power, though, which meant that the overall firepower against any target where that EMP effect had no effect was greatly reduced compared to standard disruptor systems. Well, since we now have more power available to distribute, that's no longer a problem. The shield emitters have also once again been upgraded, providing more shield strength and faster recharge."

With a sly smile, Mila changed the image yet again, now showing a basic floor plan of the ship's quarters. "Then we have a little quality of life upgrade. The living quarters, mess hall, recreational facilities, even the bridge have been given a new coat of paint. Oh, and brand new computer terminals with even better response times, improved haptic feedback, and just generally better screens. The replicators have also been improved to be faster, and their recipe library has been expanded. As specifically requested by the Captain, however, holographic communication systems have not been installed."

Better replicators and more recipes? Ash raised an eyebrow. Renee is still going to prefer cooking from scratch. And honestly, her cooking beats replicated food any day, so long as Ash didn't anything to piss off her ex.

Kaiae nodded slightly in approval at this last bit; she too considered that sort of system an unnecessary risk and had always been mystified why the Federation was so enamored with it.

"Finally, the medical bay." The hologram changed yet again. "Based on specifications given my Doctor Gable, the medical facilities on board have been remodeled and improved. The suggestions added by Doctor Kaol Ralaa, meanwhile, have been ignored, except for nicer chairs for the medical staff in their offices."

"Thank God," Nancy said drolly, and then more sincerely. "And thank you. We've needed the upgrades, even the nicer seats."

Kaiae made a mental note to dig up later exactly what Kaol's suggestions had been; she could use the laugh.

As Mila concluded her presentation and sat back down, Freya nodded. "Thank you, Commander Lynn. Anyone got questions?"

"Given the enhanced power draw capability, have there been tests yet to ensure and re-align the cloaking systems to avoid emissions or power signatures bleeding through under cloak?" Kaiae pursed her lips slightly; this had always been, and remained, a major and delicate balance in play on most warbirds.

The Chief Science Officer blushed and began to stammer. "Oh. Yes. Cloak. Helvitis. I knew I forgot to say something." She began fiddling with her PADD, and several of the earlier schematics flashed up on the projector. "Right."

She took a deep breath and stood up again. "My apologies, Subcommander. Not only has the cloak been adjusted to the increased power distribution, it has also been upgraded to allow us to fire our energy weapons while cloaked. Well, almost. What I mean is, before, we had to wait for the cloak to drop before we could fire the disruptors, now we can do it while the cloak is dropping."

"Excellent." An edged grin - possibly imagining and appreciating potential uses for this improvement - crossed Kaiae's face at this last update.

As Jerant signed, Savin did his best to keep track of the conversation. While he has very briefly served on a Romulan vessel before he couldn't recall ever having traveled under cloak. "Can I request necessary amendments to the alert system to my assigned quarters," he requested, "or who should I speak to?" All the technical babble was well beyond him and he didn't even pretend to understand.

"Mila will be able to handle that best." Kaiae glanced over at the young Ceran, who had probably already made similar modifications to her own.

"The internal sensor grid and alert matrix can be calibrated to send localized visual or tactical cues directly to your quarters' terminal," Ashix interjected, her synthetic voice cutting smoothly into the discussion. She shifted toward Savin with cold, matter-of-fact precision, "Additionally, as Chief Systems Control Officer, I have already updated the internal network integration. Your quarters will be synced with standard visual warning light sequences and direct PADD alert feeds within the hour."

Mila rolled her eyes at Ashix' interruption. She sighed, then began to sign at blistering pace - noticeably faster than Jerant's interpreting of the discussion. [You might find that the standard alert systems she's referring to aren't quite adequate. At least, that's how I personally found them when I first came on board, since I like to disable my hearing implants whenever I'm in my quarters alone. Helps me relax. So, I'll be happy to assist you with customising them to your needs.] She glanced over at Jerant. [I can relay things to you in these meetings as well, in case he's got somewhere else to be,] she added with a grin.

Savin blinked in surprise at the rapid signing, which was faster than he and Jerant exchanged between themselves, but his expression was one of delight as he interpreted the signing. [I do not have implants, I usually have a strobe for door signals and vibration in my commbadge and bed for alert systems. But if you have improvements, I am curious to see them.]

Jerant was equally surprised at being acknowledged at all as usually he was very much ignored by everyone but Savin. [My place is with Savin until otherwise assigned.] He signed quickly.

[For now, yes, but I'm sure there will be times when you're just not available.] Mila smiled. [We'll talk more later.]

Freya watched the signed exchange, but quickly gave up, completely unable to follow Mila's rapid hand movements. "Well. You can discuss that among yourselves later. For now, let us continue with the next item on the agenda, status updates on the Colony. Subcommander and Councillor Kaiae, if you would."

Kaiae, watching the speed at which Mila was signing, thought privately to herself that given Mila was practically achieving warp speed with whatever she was saying, she never wanted to hear anyone say another word about difficulty following the speed at which a pair of native Rihannsu speakers could converse; this easily left that in the dust; then stood.

"Much to, no doubt, everyone's relief, power generation capacity has now been enhanced such that I suspect reasonable - albeit not unrestricted - use of replicators is likely to soon be approved for both food and household goods." Kaiae grinned briefly in a such a way that left little doubt that the next statement was being made by a species that were definitely not vegetarians. "Hopefully, meat will soon be back on the menu. To conserve replicator and power capacity, however, we are also proceeding with preparation of farmland and planting of crops using the modified seeds also received in the supplies from Cera. Construction is continuing on several more buildings, including additional housing stock, as well as defensive bunkers. Finally - " here, a far less predatory sort of smile crossed her face " - I am pleased to announce that the population is up by three over the last two weeks with the delivery of several infants." If it was not the sort of thing usually discussed or noted at a meeting, to Kaiae's view it bore definite mention regardless: every birth was a victory now, as was every child who successfully survived to come of age.

Nancy smiled proudly at the last - they put a lot of work into setting up maternity and prenatal services, and it was paying off.

Savin tried to suppress a shudder at the mention of meat, the very idea of consuming any made him feel unwell. It earned him a grin from Jerant, who looked delighted.

Freya smiled. "Excellent news. Given how the only food replicators available so far were in the medical centre and the tavern, this is definitely going to raise morale. And I'm sure I speak on behalf of the entire crew when I express heartfelt congratulations and best wishes to the new arrivals and their parents."

Freya stood once again. "Thank you for that report, Subcommander. Now, onto the final and most important matter on the agenda - the immediate future. Currently, our Colony is highly dependent on outside charity for things like supplies, as we neither have much to trade, nor do we have any other way of getting money to come in to the treasury. I have discussed this matter extensively with Treasurer Vareth and Weapons Master Valdus, and we have come to the conclusion that it is time for Ourainavassa and her crew to return to mercenary work. Any money made thus will be divided equally between the ship and the treasury. And we have our first contract."

A familiar image to most around the table appeared on the projector. "We are, once again, heading to everyone's favourite station. Drozana. A trader there has offered us several crates of equipment for the militia, sourced from the Klingon Empire. We are talking rifles, pistols, even a few bat'leths. However, there is an issue. The ship carrying those, as well as some other merchandise, has failed to report in on schedule. So, the merchant and I have come to an agreement. We have been tasked to locate and recover the ship, if possible, or at least the merchandise. As payment for our efforts, any recovered goods, be they the weapons or other items, will be ours to keep, with the exception of one crate containing certain valuable items that the merchant has already sold elsewhere."

"All hands are required to report to the landing pad by 1200 hours tomorrow, for transport to the ship. It's time to get back to work. Any questions?"

"In the interests of making sure we are not unprepared for any unusual requirements, I don't suppose the merchant has shared the nature of the contents of this other crate?" Kaiae was sure the humans would call her paranoid about this; but top of her mind was that any merchant dealing in weapons out of the sort of place as Drozana could well also be dealing in anything from chemical or biological specimens and weapons requiring special handling to exotic zoo animals or things she couldn't even easily imagine.

"This is Drozana we're talking about," Freya replied, rolling her eyes. "Worse still, a Ferengi. All I know is that the contents of that crate are valuable, but don't require any special handling. He mostly deals in antiques, the weapons are just a lucrative side business."

"Still, just to be safe, I think we should have a containment field on hand for it," Nancy put in. Yes, she probably sounded like she'd fully assimilated to Romulan level paranoia. No, she did not care. Her Academy A&A course had been replete with examples of 'antiquities' that had turned out to involve chemical, biological, and/or interdimensional hazards.

Hatham nodded approvingly, albeit with a teasing smile. "Nice to see you've fully come around to our way of thinking."

"I think it is common sense, rather than anyone's way of thinking," Savin countered, "Humans have a saying....better safe than sorry."

"I mean, we could always just look what's inside," Mila suggested with a shrug. "That way we'd know what precautions to take. And if the merchant complains that the crate was opened, we can always blame whoever stole it in the first place. Say we found it like that."

"No," Hatham said flatly. "That is precisely the opposite of being safe rather than sorry. You want to scan it - from outside a heavy duty containment field! - that doesn't seem to be outside mission spec, but there is no way I'm agreeing to open it. If we start noticing trouble that traces to that crate, I vote to space it and drag back to the merchant with a tractor beam."

Freya held up her hand. "Everyone. We will have plenty of time to decide what to do about that mysterious crate. First, we have to find the shipment. And to do that, we better make sure we get everything out of that Ferengi. Right then, folks. Get yourselves ready, and report to the ship. Time to get this show back on the road."

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