Discoveries

Posted on Wed Aug 26th, 2020 @ 12:53am by Major Ashley Rogers & Colonel Sehan t'Varis

2,442 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Shore Leave: Welcome to Drozana
Location: Commander's Ready Room, Raven's Claw
Timeline: 238612.31

"Thank you, Gedak. That definitely sounds promising."

Raven closed the comm channel and nodded to herself. The Ourainavassa. If what she had heard of that ship was true, she was a truly unique prize. The Ferengi had said he was not yet sure where the pirates were hiding it - or even who they were - but one thing was now confirmed: They had it.

She brought up the specifications for the Mogai-Class up on her console. Not only was it a truly gorgeous ship, its capabilities would suit their operation very nicely indeed. Maybe this mission would turn out to be a success after all.

Ash checked the chronometer, Gedak should have given Raven the heads up about the Ourainavassa by now. Ash looked through the data on her PADD again. It was not exactly the most complete report, but it's definitely actionable intel. She looked at her reflection on the panel... she looked like hell. Ash couldn't decide if she looked worse after her impromptu promotion celebration on Christmas or now after deep diving into the dark world she thought she left behind. She sighed and rang the door chime to Raven's Ready Room, what she had to tell Raven had to be in person.

The "colonel" looked up as the door chime rang. Earlier that day, the door lock had finally been repaired - and it was now properly voice-activated, too. "Enter!", Raven said, and the door slid open - right as it should.

"Well I am glad that that has finally been fixed properly," Raven said with a chuckle. "Ash, how can I help?"

Ash gave Raven a tired smile in return, "More like, how can I help you? Or more accurately, how can I help us." She hands Raven the PADD in her hand. "Gedak told me about some pirates trying to sell the Ourainavassa a couple days ago and I've been digging around. Based on everything, I believe it's the real deal. The technology on that ship is still cutting edge, not too many people know how to operate and maintain those systems. Those pirates can't fix it so it's worth nothing to them broken... which is why they're trying to offload the ship. From what I can tell, the pirates are pretty low threat, but they work for someone bigger. Not sure who they work for though and I'm not sure if we're equipped to find out without that ship." Ash sat down and let out a tired sigh, "Everything I know is on that PADD. And it took a hell of a lot to get that much. What do you think? Worth making a play for it?"

Raven quickly skimmed the PADD. "Do we know what's wrong with it? After all, it's no use to us either if we can't fix it. I mean, Red is a damn good engineer, but even she will struggle to work miracles." She paused for a moment. "But yeah, it may well be worth a shot. Opportunities like this one do not come often. Okay, how do you suggest we play this? Gedak still has his fake latinum, doesn't he?"

Ash nodded, "If you keep scrolling, I managed to get us the schematics to the Ourainavassa. We can show it to Red to see if it's within her capabilities to tinker with. I'm sure any engineer worth their title would love to get their hands on that kind of machinery regardless." She then chuckled with a raised eyebrow, "The fake latinum trick again? Didn't we learn our lesson from our last attempt to swindle a trade deal? We need to see if we can get some intel on the ship's current status, figure out what exactly is wrong with it, and in the meantime get a sense of who these pirates are... we just might be able to take the ship by force. I know... i know... that's not the Ashley Rogers' way of handling things and there are a lot of variables and risks. But we won't know until we make some moves."

Raven smirked. "We never got as far as actually trying to swindle on the deal, if you remember right, Ash. I've known Gedak for as long as I have been a freelancer, and he has always wanted to try this trick." She looked at the PADD again. "But I agree. I doubt there is any command course in the galaxy that does not teach you to gain as much intel before engaging a potential enemy as possible. Establish contact with the pirates, under false identity. Tell them we are interested. Make sure they don't sell before we can acquire the merchandise ourselves. Try what information you can squeeze out of them - gently, of course."

Suddenly, a chime from her console interrupted her. It was an incoming communication, but the origin had been encrypted. Raven frowned, and accepted the call.

"Sey t'Varis. Four years I have been looking for you. Remember my voice? I'm sure you remember Christmas '82. I have something to tell you that would certainly interest you. You're Tal Shiar now, I'm sure you can trace back this call and get in touch."

The line closed, and Raven stared at the console, as if frozen in shock. It had been a man's voice - one that she had not heard since that fateful day at the Academy. Why did he call her now? What did he have to tell her? Why was the past still hunting her?

Ash's brow furrowed with concern, "What the hell was that?" Between what's happened to her over the past couple of days ever since the existence of the Ourainavassa entered their world and now that call for Raven, there's definitely something more than meets the eye.

Raven ripped herself out of her paralysis. "That was a voice of the past. Greg. He was a classmate of mine, back when I was at the Academy. Before-" She stopped herself and shook her head. "Don't worry about it. Something for me to deal with."

"No," Ash said definitively, not leaving room for protest. "You don't get to dismiss something as a voice from the past. I'm nursing a healing broken nose and some cracked ribs from yesterday because I got that PADD from my fiancee's father... my ex fiancee. He didn't take too kindly to me popping up on his radar after I disappeared on his daughter. Now if I'm going to stick my neck out for you and this crew, you have to level with me. What happened Christmas of '82?"

Raven sighed. "Fine." She reached into a cabinet under her desk, and pulled out a bottle of rum and two glasses. She filled one of the glasses to the brim, downed it in one mouthful, and then poured two more normal sized drinks for the two of them. "You were Starfleet, weren't you. Then you've probably heard about the aftermath of a cadets' party at the academy, Christmas '82. When they found a stabbed, dead girl on a beach, and a guy with a snapped neck next to her." She necked the next drink, and refilled it again. "That's what happened."

Ash started to put the pieces together, "You're the cadet that disappeared. They looked for you for a good while." She took a sip of the drink in front of her, not eager to repeat what happened almost a week ago, "Now you have me intrigued. Which one did you kill?"

Another drink went down. "Ellie and I had been at a Christmas party, we were taking the long way back to her place. I was going to move in with her soon. This group of drunk guys came out of the bushes. I don't know what happened next, it was all a blur."

Raven fell silent and stared into the void for a moment. "The guy was still holding the knife when I snapped his neck. It was easy. Surprising, since the guy was at least thirty centimetres taller than me. I turned and ran. Grabbed some stuff, and hit the next shuttle off the planet. Never went back."

Ash put her glass down and just looked at Raven, "So the guy that just messaged you... was he there? Who the hell is he?" Ash immediately went into protection mode, her need to eliminate threats and rid the universe of those that shouldn't be alive increasing with each breath. "I can take care of him for you..."

"He was a classmate," Raven replied. "I have no idea what he wants. But don't worry yourself, Ash. I will deal with it myself."

"What part of no do you not understand?" Ash insisted. She can't believe she was saying this, maybe her conversation with Miguel has affected her more than she thought. "You can deal with him yourself, but you won't be alone and I won't stop worrying. Since you shared a part of your past with me, maybe it's time you learned a little about me. Did you know Section 31 recruited me straight out of the Academy? Which means they had their eyes on me long before then. My entire Starfleet career was a lie... a glorified cover story. I lied to my best friend and it cost him his life. I walked out on my fiancee because..." Ash paused and changed the topic, "I've spent my entire life dealing with things alone... and look where it's gotten me. I'm what... ten years older than you? Is this where you want to be a decade from now? We don't have to tell the whole crew, but you're not going to meet him without backup."

"I appreciate your concern, Ash, I really do," Raven replied. "But when I said that this is something I need to deal with on my own, I meant it. Believe me, if this ends up being a threat, you will be the first to know. But these are my demons, and as much as you may want to help me, sadly, they are mine to deal with." She smirked and put a finger on her rank insignia. "Don't make me pull rank on you, Centurion," she added, with a sarcastic emphasis on the last word.

She decided to change the subject. "Still, I can't imagine having been this involved with 31. We heard rumours of course, at the Academy, and I have had a run in with someone who claimed to be S31 when I first started out as a small-time smuggler. I don't like them much. Nor do I like the Tal Shiar," Raven added, with a glance at the tattered banner on the wall behind her. "This commission and all that, they are a means to an end. That's all."

Ash grumbled at her commander, "Fine." She didn't have to like it, but she can understand it. Dear lord, she sounds like Miguel. Ugh. Taking the bait for the partial subject change, "The Section is definitely real and you won't hurt my feelings if you don't like them much. I was one of them and it's been a love hate relationship the entire way."

Ash took a sip of her drink, taking the hint that Raven would want to talk about anything but that call, "When I was recruited, I was actually excited. They pitched it to me as doing more than your standard officer in keeping the Federation safe. Doing the things that others can or will not do. It appealed to me. I loved it. The double life was a little tough at times, but I was quite adept at cleaning things up for the greater good, the numbers are pretty staggering if I think about it. How naive I was..."

Ash looked out of the window, "Until someone up top decided one day that I was the threat that needed cleaning up... They gave me a mission... I was supposed to be a double agent to gain trust with the enemy. It was war, we were trying win... trying to save lives. Until the Section betrayed me, got my ship destroyed after I was exposed as colluding with the enemy. I still remember the look on my best friend's face when the mole on the ship was revealed to be me." She took another sip. "The rest of the story doesn't get much better... It took me this long to figure out that I don't belong with 31 or Starfleet. A lot of detours along the way..." she sighed wistfully. She raised her glass to Raven, "Here's to the means to an end... doing what needs to be done, no matter what the cost."

Raven simply raised her glass in response. "To what must be done." Inwardly, she smiled, although her face would not have shown it. Ash had gone through a lot, that much was clearly obvious. But Raven was glad to have someone like Rogers on the crew. Someone who understood that when things must be done, one cannot afford to hesitate. She took a deep breath. "We will find this Vulture, whoever it is, and we will make them pay. And for that, we need the Ourainavassa. Whatever the cost."

Suddenly, Raven's voice was full of determination. "Vacation is over, Centurion. I want this crew and this ship ready for battle. Get as much information about our opponents as possible, and make sure that even the rats in the storerooms are ready to fight. I want a full inventory of our armoury, and full reports on our combat readiness, within 24 hours."

Ash stood up and nodded, "Yes ma'am. I'll make contact with those pirates and get as much out of them as I can. We'll be ready for whatever they can throw at us." She then smirked, "And you can keep the PADD, there's a lot of good information in there and I didn't get my ass kicked for you to just skim it... with all due respect, of course... Colonel."

Raven nodded, but handed the PADD back to Ash. "I want you to make some copies. One for myself, one for the Subcommander. Then make a copy of the technical data for our chief engineer. You may as well keep one, too, while you investigate. And keep an eye out for our new Tal Shiar 'friend'. I don't trust him." She turned on her console and started the process of tracing back the call from earlier, but suddenly turned back to Ash. "And, thank you, Ash. Good work."

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