241407.xx ¦¦ JL Lieutenant Thelin Th'Zarath & Dr Scarlet Rogers ¦¦ Gut Feelings

Posted on 241407.06 @ 6:42pm by Lieutenant Scarlet Rogers MD & Lieutenant Thelin th'Zarath

=/\=Present, USS Enterprise =/\=

Scarlet saw the PADD on the side of the bed flash on waking her up. She softly moved Thelin's arm from around herself and leant over him quietly to pick up the PADD, careful not to wake him. The light stung her eyes a bit but she moved to the other side of the bed laying on her stomach, and sitting up on her elbows. The bed sheets slipping down to the base of her spine, to reveal cold, goose bumped skin.

=/\= Several Hours ago, Pendragon =/\=

Having parked the Pendragon in its powered down state just outside the range of Zetari, Vokar was concerned that they might be detected by one of the patrol vessels that came and went, but the sensor output of the huge ship was minimal at best, being masked by expert knowledge of Starfleet's finest sensor systems.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the breast pocket on his jacket light up, his personal padd, the one that only messages from a select few would go to, or ones that were heavily encrypted, the former intelligence officer was always the first to see them, even where other people may be able to decrypt them for him.

After tapping a few buttons and securing his ready room, the Vulcan pulled the padd out and activated it with his thumbprint, it flashed up the encrypted message and he leant back in the chair slightly, it was not in any known code, but with any message, there were clues and it only took Vokar a few minutes to get into the real meat of the message.

"I hope the "family" is ok given recent events. I need your advice, and I know you always offer great words of wisdom. My captain has been taken by force and my acting captain is purposely putting us in danger. I need supplies for our medical bay, I offered a solo away mission not knowing our other options, including using some 'friends' of ours, the Ferengi. He is telling us that we should get a ship off of them and go incognito to a local bazaar to get supplies, but he hasn't considered just buying the supplies off them. He does not have control of his ship and does not have ideas that are safe. Please advise. Dr Scarlet Rogers, CMO of the USS Enterprise."

"Interesting," Vokar replied as he placed the padd down on his desk and linked it through to his terminal, "Computer, encrypt Vokar Alpha Theta Nine and return to source, dictation to follow."

=/\= Present, USS Enterprise =/\=

"Scarlet, suggest this course of action to the Acting Captain, do not go undercover, the Ferengi will smell you coming a mile off, especially on the Enterprise, no matter if you do find a civilian ship to commandeer," the Vulcan's message began, pausing for a moment before he continued, "Go to them openly as Starfleet, I know why he thinks you need to disguise yourself, but the Ferengi Alliance is just as vulnerable as Starfleet to this new enemy, there is no profit to be made in dealing with the United Federation of Planets."

The message flickered a few times and Vokar's image looked around the room a few times before he continued, "Do not let him push you around Scarlet, you are stronger than that, we both know this, Vokar out." the message ended and flashed up the Starfleet emblem which was quickly masked over by a green V before it cut off completely.

Scarlet read the message carefully, and then shivered. Not only was she cold, but something didn't feel right about Vokar's message. She was unsure on how to proceed, and so just kept re-reading the message.

Stirring slightly, Thelin rolled over and noticed in his half-sleep that Scarlet had moved away from him, the light drew his eyes and he moved down to her, running his right hand across her back softly, tracing symbols onto her."

She tore her eyes away from the screen and smiled to Thelin, "hey, go back to sleep," she said softly.

"You got a reply then?" the Andorian asked as he glanced at the screen as the emblem flashed up again, the green V prominently displayed across it, "What does that mean?"

"Hmm?" Scarlet questioned as she looked back to the screen, "I'm not entirely sure. This message doesn't seem right to me."

"What did he suggest?" Thelin asked quickly.

"Not to trust the captain basically," Scarlet said passing Thelin the PADD and faceplanting the pillow below.

"Anything that might be useful to us?" the Andorian replied as he placed the padd down next to him, paused on the mysterious symbol.

"Not really," she sighed, "He's basically suggesting a mutiny. I don't think that will help our situation though."

"What about just buying the stuff off them? Did he say anything about that?" Thelin asked as he rolled onto his back.

"He told me that we should go to the bazaar as Starfleet," she looked to Thelin and snuggled up to him as she shivered, and kissed his neck softly.

"So basically going in as ourselves, no disguises, no trickery," the Andorian replied as he wrapped an arm around her and reached down to pull a sheet up over them, "Sounds like a good idea to be honest, with the Enterprise on the scene, we're less likely to get betrayed, whereas if we go in using a different ship and get found out... well, you can imagine what might happen."

"I'm not sure how I feel about either option to be frank. If you think about, we have a chance of betrayal, but only having a few people killed, or we can go in as ourselves and risk the population of the Enterprise." Scarlet kissed Thelin's non flesh and blood hand without thinking.

"We run less of a risk being open and honest about it, Starfleet have a great number of allies, more than the new UFP council do, it was Starfleet who beat the Second Dominion, it was Starfleet who helped the Klingons in their civil war, it was Starfleet who forced back the combined arms of the Triad." the Andorian replied, not noticing the kiss to his cybernetic replacement, "We have a better chance with the Enterprise at our back than some random ship we buy."

"But we are in unknown realms," she began, "You ever thought about making your prosthetic a little more real?"

"Sometimes, I just haven't really got around to it," Thelin replied with a slight smile as he kissed her on the side of the head, "What were you thinking?"

"Well, I've read a bit on it, and I wouldn't mind trialing it," she smiled touching his prosthetic hand softly, "it's an odd process though, and it's probably more dangerous than it should be because it's not well tested. You'd basically get your sense of touch back fully though. It would be like your flesh and blood, but with mechanical muscle and bones."

"Once all this mess is dealt with, I wouldn't mind being your guinea pig," the Andorian responded, lifting her onto him with the arm that lay under her and kissing her softly on the lips.

Scarlet smiled sweetly, and folded her arms on Thelin's chest and rested her chin on it, "If," she reminded him looking away.

Thelin used his right hand to bring her eyes back to meet his, a soft smile crossed his face and he kissed her again, "When, we will get through this."

"The captain won't change his mind, I'm not sure how much I agree with Vokar. If we go with being undercover, we only risk a few lives, if with go with Vokar's idea, we risk everyone's. I'm not certain I'll come back from this mission though. I'm scared," Fear ran through Scarlet's eyes and she went cold and quite white.

"The captain will change his mind," the Andorian replied as he pulled the young woman close and held her, "If you go undercover, you risk your own lives, but if you can't get the supplies, everyones lives are at risk anyway, at least with the Enterprise at your back, it acts as a deterrent, not many people are stupid or bold enough to take on the flagship of Starfleet."

"We don't know who these people are though," she sighed, "For all I know this could be my last night with you."

"It won't be," Thelin replied, attempting to maintain the level of confidence he'd always tried to have while he was First Officer, "I'll talk with Rhodes, man to man."

"I'm not sure if he'll listen to you, but you'll have a better chance than me," Scarlet looked away again, "I know that no option is safe, and I know that we practically pledge our lives to Starfleet, but I'm not ready to die yet."

"Noone is going to die," the Andorian replied with another smile as he kissed Scarlet on the neck softly.

"I'm not so sure," she sat up pulling the bed sheet around her over her shoulders, "I just have a gut feeling that this won't go so well."

Thelin sat up with her and cupped her face in his hands, looking her squarely in the eyes, he kissed her softly and pressed his forehead to hers, his antennae resting on her head, "Whatever happens, you will make it through this, even if I have to come and get you."