Uneasy Feelings

Posted on Mon Feb 16th, 2009 @ 1:56am by Captain Vorn Krace & Commander Acle Walex

Mission: Dark Discoveries
Location: En-route to Dark Matter Nebula
Timeline: MD3; 1320hrs

"Captain, we're receiving a hail from an unmarked shuttlecraft, requesting we drop out of warp. It's identifying itself as "Ghost One", Captain," was the slightly confused report the Ops officer directed towards Vorn in the Command Chair.

Vorn, for his part, simply smiled slightly, sitting back and relaxing in his chair. "Helm; drop to impulse." he ordered, confidently and with a slight sense of happiness that he knew what was going on when his crew didn't.

"Aye... Captain." the reply from helm was slightly hesitant, but only just. Vorn hoped that that same hesitance wouldn't be there if or when he needed quick response from helm in the future.

Inside Ghost One, Acle sat back further in his seat. He was looking forward to seeing his old crew mates.

In front, the co-pilot turned around to look at Acle. Acle had not even bothered to talk to the crew before this, knowing that they would not have replied unless directly ordered to. As such, he had not bothered to look for any rank or other insignia until now.

Of course, such would have been futile, Acle noted sourly, as the pilot's uniform bore none.

"Sir," the pilot began "We are about two minutes out from the USS Iapetus."

Acle nodded then looked past the pilot to the view port beyond. He could not see it yet, but, he could well imagine the graceful curves of the star ship. Looking at such things reminded him of his very first days as an enlisted recruit. How far away those days seemed.

Forward in the craft, Acle heard the pilot speak into a microphone "USS Iapetus... This is Ghost One. Requesting landing permission. We have cargo that must be transported to you ASAP. Be advised, Ghost One will dust off as soon as our cargo is off-loaded."

Acle grunted at hearing himself be called "Cargo", but, otherwise remained silent.

Vorn nodded at his Ops officer. "Direct them to the shuttlebay. I'll meet them there," he said, as he stood and made his way off the bridge and his bridge staff looked at him with a look of slight confusion. For all they knew, their Captain was meeting with some elusive agency with some unknown purpose... Vorn decided to keep them in the dark just a little longer, just for the fun of it.

The shuttle was just going through the final stages of coming to rest and being able to drop off it's 'cargo' when Vorn entered the shuttlebay alone. There were a few of the Flight Control staff around the shuttlebay too, tending to the various shuttles, but the pilots of "Ghost One" had obviously instructed them to stay clear of it.

The hatch of the shuttle craft began to crack open, finally opening all the way to admit a tall human. With a slight word of thanks to the pilots, Acle stepped out of the craft, his uniform immaculate as always and a small duty bag held in one hand. As soon as he cleared the hatch, the shuttle craft began to once again seal itself, beginning pre-take off checks. Acle noted that he had immediately drawn the attention of everyone present in the bay. He smiled slightly, then he spied his captain.

Dropping his bag softly, he brought himself to attention and rendered a salute to his old comrade. "Sir. Lieutenant Commander Walex reporting for duty. Permission to come aboard?" Acle said, the timeless tradition of boarding a new assignment or star ship having been ingrained in his mind. Behind him, he heard the shuttlecraft begin to rise, fully intent on returning to whatever dark place they had come from.

"Oh, drop the salute, Acle." Vorn replied, smiling as he held out his hand for his old friend to shake. "Permission granted, welcome aboard the Iapetus!"

Acle allowed the grin that he had been hiding to show then, dropping his hand and extending it out to his friend to shake.

"Thank you Captain... It is good to be back to ship-side duty. We have much to discuss... Privately." Acle said with a look about the bay.

Acle bent to retrieve the bag that he had earlier dropped then returned to the Captain. "You will also have to tell me what happened with the Lincoln... I have not had the chance to look at any reports or anything of the like. Besides, I have found that a person's account is much better."

"Of course." Vorn replied. "Come on, I'll show you my new ready room." he said, a childish grin on his face. The ship was all still very much new to him, and still held that element of excitement.

The two officers moved out of the shuttlebay, and directly towards the turbolift which would take them up to the bridge, where they would be able to walk through to Vorn's ready room. Still happy to keep the confusion going for a while longer, Vorn enjoyed the glances the two received from the Bridge crew as they entered his room.

"Would you like a drink?" he asked.

Acle smiled. He was quite aware of the glances that he and the captain were drawing from the rest of the crew. They would learn of him soon enough.

"Certainly." Acle replied before walking about the room slowly. "I see that Starfleet has treated you well." Acle said with a slight smile.

He finished his circuit of the room and came back to face the captain. "I wish to get the... Unpleasantness out of the way first captain. I don't really know why I was chosen to be assigned to you, much as I might like it. A week ago, I was slated to become a controller for several deep-cover agents. Now, I am your intelligence officer... My training that I have received thus far leads me to believe that several of our... missions might come from a source other then what you may think though. I don't know if my coming is a good sign or not captain..." Acle trailed off.

Acle did not like not knowing. He never had, never would. He did not like surprises. Most of all, he did not like it when someone decided his fate without his knowing, or the fate of his friends.

"What're you having?" Vorn asked as he went to the replicator.

"Same thing you are Captain, I'm not all that picky." Acle replied.

Feeling the change in the mood, he ordered himself a large scotch before getting Acle his drink. Handing the glass to his friend, he took a seat on the couch, and turned towards him, the smile gone from his face for the moment. "Can you give me any idea of the problems that you're worried about?" Vorn asked. "Anything that is giving you a bad vibe, other than the sudden assignment?"

Acle joined his friend on the couch and paused to take a slight drink before replying, "My training specializes in counter-intelligence... The assignment that I was going to have was not in enemy space... It was in Federation Territory." Acle paused for a moment, looking up at the captain and offering a small smile "So, either my dream assignment picks actually go looked at, or, more likely, an overly paranoid admiral thinks that we are going to run into enemy agents." Acle took another drink. "This is what logic seems to suggest anyway. As far as why he might think that, I cannot say. I am sorry that I cannot tell you more Captain."

Vorn let out a stream of breath through his nose. "Well that's not good news." He sat and thought for a moment, taking a sip of his drink as he did so. "I think we can hope that our current mission is not included on any such agenda; we were assigned no duties; my orders from Admiral Locke were to simply test out what the ship can do, and whatever catches my fancy. The Iapetus is still a brand new ship, and only a week or two ago, I was still in command of the Lincoln."

"I do not mean to ruin your day or anything with this Vorn," Acle had, without even realizing it, slipped from calling the other by his rank, "As I said, it is merely supposition on my part. I thought it would be unfair of me not to tell you this. Besides, it is my job now to tell you these things." Acle said with a slight smile.

"So tell me about how you ended up on this ship and perhaps what happened to the Lincoln." Acle said.

"Oh, it's a fairly mundane story," Vorn replied. "I was called to Admiral Locke's office on 386 where he gave me my fourth pip, and then about a day or so later, I was called back and told that the Lincoln was being decommissioned, and put into an extensive refit program, to re-enter the fleet in a year or so's time - maybe more, depending on the amount of work needing done.

"To stop me and the crew from having a year of nothing to do, rather than let us spend it on Risa, the Admiral assigned me to the latest Luna-class ship to roll off the production line. Pretty nice, isn't she?" he said, once again smiling.

"I think so Captain. She is a sleek vessel, and one with plenty of room. A true beauty, you should be proud." Acle said with a smile. Acle finished his drink, then said to the captain "We will have to do this again soon... But, I must take my leave. I fear that I have many, many reports to read before the day is over."

Acle stood then, gathering his bag. "It is good to be here Vorn... Truly I am glad. I only wish that I did not bring anything with me."

"I could always confiscate your bag?" Vorn joked. "We'll be dropping out of Warp again at 0800 tomorrow; I'd like you on the bridge, if I can tear you away from the reports." he said.

Acle nodded to the captain once more before leaving the room and entering the turbo-lift. Once inside, he discreetly looked at his PAD to determine where his office might be. Upon finding it on the device, he confidently set out towards it. He made a note to explore the ship at some later point. Technology could only do so much.