A Change in Plan

Posted on Wed May 20th, 2020 @ 12:11pm by Colonel Sehan t'Varis & Subcommander Kaiae t'Lien & Major Ashley Rogers & Lieutenant Rehana t'Shaan

1,520 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Chapter I: Resurgam
Location: Briefing Room, The Raven's Claw
Timeline: 238612.18

The last few days had been hectic. With less than four hours remaining to the Haakona shipyards, Commander Areinnye had received an urgent message recalling her to Romulus, and the Raven's Claw had returned to Verelan-Hdrael to drop her off. Along with the Commander, most of the Romulan crew that had boarded the ship less than a week earlier had also disembarked, but a few members of the IRW Dominus' were to remain with Raven and her crew, and they had been given a number of other preparatory tasks to perform until Areinnye's return.

So, with the ship a lot less crowded, they had once again left the station. Areinnye had left Lieutenant Kaiae t'Lien in command of the Romulan crew contingent, and so Raven had called her to the Claw's small briefing room, along with the Dominus' engineer Lieutenant Kerika Ch'Kretak. They were joined by Raven's own chief engineer, Rehana, and Ash Rogers, head of security.

Sitting at the head of the small table in the room, Raven looked around at the four other officers that had joined her. "Everyone," she said, cutting straight to the point. "We all know why we are here. Areinnye has had to go back to Romulus, and she's left us with a few jobs to do." She turned to the two Romulan officers. "We're being paid handsomely by your commander to do this, and I have promised her that I will do all I can to make sure your mission is completed."

"Paid rather handsomely indeed, though some are doing this because the empire has failed the people". Kerika added.

Nodding, Raven pressed a button on the panel in front of her, activating the little holographic projector built into the table. The projection showed an old, battered freighter.

"Our first task will be to acquire the parts most likely needed to reengage the warbird's singularity core. Areinnye gave me a list of components, and Gedak has managed to track down a band of smugglers that are likely carrying most of the parts we need on their ship. We have two options to acquire them. Try to purchase them off the smugglers at what will likely be a highly inflated price, or take them by force. Their ship is not likely to be very heavily armed, but that doesn't mean the smugglers won't try their hardest to defend themselves." Raven looked around the room. "I'd like to hear some thoughts."

"If we buy them, there will almost certainly be loose ends. If we take them by force we can clean up the loose ends at the same time therefore buying us more time. If the Tal'Shiar find out what we are doing prematurely it will mean the end of this little enterprise most likely just as we are getting started. As things stand now I only give us a one in three chance of success." Kerika replied. "Besides if we try to buy the parts we need it will most likely be a Tal'Shiar smuggling operation." She added.

Ash smirked, "Why not do both?" She looked at the faces around her, "Seems simple enough, we offer to buy those parts... Then we just renege on the payment part of the deal and fight our way out after we get what we need. That way, we don't risk damaging or destroying those parts in the process. The only downside to that is that we're going to make some enemies... so, I recommend we do a thorough 'clean up' once we're done... which may 'inadvertently' occur anyways given the current state of the freighter." While Ash may not be Romulan, she was no stranger to taking care of business with efficiency. Since she was relatively new to this ship and its crew, she still found herself curious how they would view her recommendations. She definitely was not in Starfleet anymore.

Rehana nodded understandingly. "I'd also like to take a look at the advertisement for these parts. The parts, too, if possible. There are a bunch of possible cons that involve trying to sell defective parts, and I know a lot of them. Hell, I've executed some of them."

Raven chuckled. "From the information Gedak gave me, it will take us about two days to reach the position of the smugglers, I will have him forward all the information to you, Red." She turned to Ash. "I like your idea. Put out word that we are looking to buy, and then clean up once we have the merchandise. Now, Kaiae, I know Areinnye put you in charge of her crew here, but, respectfully, operations like this are what I have been doing for years. So I will take charge of it."

Kaiae looked thoughtful for a moment, as if weighing the situation - or perhaps simply just not wanting to be seen as an easy surrender - and then gave a slight nod of agreement. "However we do it, we can't leave anyone to potentially betray us afterwards. Too many people are depending on us to risk that."

Ash shot Kaiae with a look that was a mix of confusion and offense, "You must not know me very well... But I'll be glad to demonstrate my proficiency at cleaning up messes... so there won't be any future doubt. I have quite a few ideas on how to make this happen." Her mind was already running wild with options, Ash couldn't help but grin at the possibilities.

With a smile, Raven nodded. "So we are in agreement then. We contact them that we might be interested in buying, set up a meet, grab the parts, and blow them up. Should be a straightforward operation."

"What about the singularity core I ordered from the Tal'Shiar? Is that mission a no go?" Kerika asked.

Raven pondered for a moment and turned to Rehana. "Red, do you have the specs for the core she ordered? Do you think we can do anything with it?"

"Do you honestly believe I would leave a detail like that out of a requisition"? Kerika asked.

Rehana shrugged. "I've never worked with you, so I have no reason to believe you would or wouldn't. But I'm pretty sure I can do something with singularity core parts."

Raven nodded. "Okay, you two work together to see if you can fix our own little problem with those parts, either the ones Kerika gets from the Tal Shiar, or ones we get from the smugglers." She looked around the room. "Anyone have any questions or are we all clear on the general plan then?"

Ash shook her head, "No questions, but Rehana has a point. This will be a good trial run of working together before the big show." She looked everyone in the eye, trust is definitely earned, and while this little excursion seemed relatively low threat, none of these people have earned anything from her yet. "Get me the list of parts and I'll put out the good word and hopefully those poor saps Gedak found bites on it. I'll also get working on some counterfeit credits to make it at least a convincing show of good faith." She cracked her knuckles in barely contained glee, "I have a few tricks up my sleeves that I think will be useful."

Kerika had put her plan in motion many cycles ago. Now she was being asked to take orders from what seemed like a bunch of pirates. She had implicitly trusted Commander Areinnye, they had served two tours together on both the praetorian guard and the Dominus. Technically she was already a criminal. She had decided to throw a good 40 year career down the toilet, for honor, for her Commander, but most of all for her people.."

"Rehana is it? What kind of problems are you/we having with supplies? What are you trying to acquire that you are having difficulties with?" Kerika asked.

Rehana frowned. "Besides damn near every replacement part you could think of? Well, the singularity core would have fixed a fair bit of it. I'm sending you the list now." Rehana made a few notes on her PADD.

Raven looked around the other officers and nodded. "Well then, if that is all, I will instruct Gedak to make contact with the smugglers. Red, I want you to work with Kerika to figure out a way to solve our little power system problem, and make sure the ship is ready for combat. Ash, you and Hatham best go and put together a team to retrieve the parts. Kaiae, please help Ash and Hatham, as you know your own officers far better than we do."

She nodded and smiled. "You may think we are just doing this for a pay day, but I do actually believe in Areinnye's vision. We can't leave innocent civilians to extinction just because their own government is not realising the danger they are in. We all have our assignments. Once Gedak has made contact, we will make our way to our target. Best make sure we are ready then. Okay, everyone, dismissed."

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