Mission Request Approved

Posted on Thu Jul 27th, 2023 @ 5:56pm by Captain Charlotte Rhodes & Rear Admiral Sergei Denovitz

534 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: Episode 2: The Passage
Location: Captain's Quarters, USS Defiant
Timeline: MD 0: 0500 Hours

The chime started quietly. Across the room a subtle beeping emitted from the comm terminal in the corner. Its not-overly-pushy tone took more than a few minutes to worm its way into her sleeping mind, at first just blending in the ambient imaginings of her dreams. Eventually, it became more recognizable. Charlotte, still mostly asleep, shrugged it off. If it was important, they'd call her on her communicator. How important could it be at this hour anyway.

As if on cue, the communicator chirped loudly and any remaining illusion of sleep evaporated. A long, resigned groan followed as she sat up in her bed, disturbing her very comfortable cat in the process. Her still groggy mind took a second to acclimate before she clumsily retrieved the communicator from its charging station on her bedside table.

She flipped the device open with a frustrated flick of the wrist. "This is Rhodes. You know its 0500, right?"

"Apologies, Charlotte but I wanted to give you as much of a head start as possible."

Recognition washed over the Captain's face as she recognized the voice on the other end to be that of Admiral Denovitz, her mentor and the commander of Starbase Arcadia. "Sorry, sir. Didn't mean to bite your head off. It's just...very early." She paused for a moment as the words caught up to her. "Head start?"

"Yes indeed. Command has finally responded. Your request to take Defiant into the nebula has been approved," the Admiral replied. "And perhaps, as some retribution for the number of requests you sent, they have set your launch date...for tomorrow."

Rhodes shook her head. The brass could be a little petty sometimes. In their defense though, she'd been relentless. "I suppose I earned that. I'll have to inform the crew though. They're still scattered about."

"Hence the head start," Sergei replied. "So, I'd get that coffee. You've got a long day ahead of you."

"So it would seem," Charlotte admitted, working her way out of the bed and to her feet. She started to make her way into the kitchen of her quarters. "What about our request for those nebulaic probes?"

"The USS Ibn Battuta is en route to the edge of the nebula as well. They'll be assisting with your initial mapping before you go deeper into the cloud," Denovitz continued, as Rhodes got to work brewing her morning coffee. Achilles wrapped himself around her heels. "They've got your probes aboard as well, so you'll make the transfer on site."

That was reassuring. Starfleet sent an entire additional ship. They were clearly taking this seriously. "Understood. Anything else I need to know?"

"I don't believe so. Just...be careful out there. Things go south with that thing and you could end up a long way away from help." The concern in the Admiral's voice was clear.

"We'll be careful. I promise," Rhodes said, retrieving her mug.

"In that case, I'll let you get to it. Good luck, Captain. Denovitz out."

As the communicator went silent, Charlotte reached down to give the very eager Achilles a scratch on the head. "What do you think Ace? Want to go find a door to the other side of the galaxy?"

 

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