A Needle In A Stack of Needles
Posted on 15 Oct 2024 @ 3:45pm by Captain Corvus DeHavilland & Captain Carwyn Bowdler & Commander Thaddeus Zayne & Commander Róisín O'Damhain
Edited on on 08 Jan 2025 @ 9:42pm
Mission:
M4 - Falling Out
Location: Obsidian Command
Timeline: MD26 - 1730 HRS
2504 words - 5 OF Standard Post Measure
“I can confirm all emitters have been disassembled and replaced with the standard Starfleet components for those sections,” the spry blonde woman explained, leaning onto the back of the desk chair in front of the Captain’s desk. Her thick Ukranian accent flavored every word as she spoke. She had pulled double rotations of all three shifts to take down all the cloaking emitters about the ship from stem to stern. They were about to go into the thick of Starfleet territory and the last thing that they needed was for someone to notice something slightly out of place, especially in a Starbase filled with those that knew exactly how an Odyssey class was configured.
“I have also gone through the entirety of the refit logs, twice. Every alteration has been revised to standard configurations,” Commander Kovalenko went on. “Only a detailed scan of the individual components would reveal that they are all brand-new. I would expect that if we reach this point, our secret will already be known,” she added, looking across the table at her Captain.
“Thank you, Valeria,” Captain Bowdler nodded gratefully, looking to her reflection in his viewport glass, his focus on the gas giant they were in deep orbit of. They had needed time to effect repairs after the incident with the Pyrryx and so had holed up here, but it didn’t take his Chief Engineer long to surmise that they needed repairs that they couldn’t complete themselves. So their makeshift repair stop had turned into emergency disassembly as they couldn’t show their face in any Starfleet station with Romulan holo-emitters all over their hull.
That meant a slow down in their mission, and for Carwyn it meant reporting in to his overseers that their secret mission was effectively on hold. Something he was both terrified and eager to tell them in equal measure. Terrified, because he had no idea what kind of trouble this would bring down on him, but eager because it took them out of the shadows. He didn’t like this kind of work. He preferred to be up front and engaged, not skulking in the shadows. At least, not doing so while risking the lives of his crew.
“Of course,” Commander Kovalenko nodded, pushing off from the chair and turning to leave. She knew her skipper well enough to know their conversation was done. He was in his own realm now and standing there waiting for him to reply further wasn’t a productive use of her time.
For an outsider, it would have seemed like an eternity that Carywn spent staring out the viewport, but inside his own mind it seemed only moments as he considered his next play. They had to put in for repairs and the most logical place to do that seemed to be Starbase Four where they had originally departed from and had left their civilian families. However, he couldn’t help but think that wasn’t the right move and the more he considered it the more he convinced himself he was right. SB four wasn’t safe for them. They needed more assurances. They needed to know that their secret, if accidentally discovered, would be safe. That those in command would keep it that way without requiring him to pull rank or obscure code section.
The answer came to him like a bolt of lightning. He knew exactly where he could find a Starbase to make repairs and feel safe knowing that their secret would be kept if by chance it leaked. He knew it, because that Starbase’s Captain already knew it. He grinned broadly to himself in the reflection.
“Obsidian Command it is,” he said to no one as he nodded to himself. “Has to be.”
Captain Bowdler resisted the urge to get to his feet as the Alabama dropped out of warp. His legs wanted to pace the bridge as they approached the station to be ready for anything out of the ordinary, but his logical mind knew that to pull this off they were going to have to act like nothing at all was out of the ordinary. They were just another ship on patrol that had a routine need that couldn’t be seen to without the assistance of a starbase shipyard. He knew that Kovalenko would refuse any assistance from the starbase teams for her repairs, so there was a degree of comfort nothing would be compromised that way but at the same time every second that they spent here they risked questions being asked.
“Station control is responding. Docking arm fourteen,” Lieutenant Asaam offered from the Operations terminal to no one in particular.
“On approach,” Lieutenant Eme offered in reply from the CoNN.
“We’ll have to let some crew ashore to avoid suspicions,” Commander O’Damhain offered quietly to her skipper, drawing his eyes away from the thrilling view of a starship slowly rolling into a base.
“Let’s keep it restricted to senior staff,” Carwyn replied.
“That’s a lot of traffic, even for a command starbase,” Lieutenant Ellis mused from the Tactical arch, looking over the Captain and XO’s heads as they traversed through the wide opening of the base into the interior.
Carwyn looked at it too, cocking his head to the side curiously, then glancing to his XO who had bristled into a more upright posture.
“Mahmoud?” Carwyn asked, turning back to Operations.
The Operations Lieutenant smirked, his finger pressed to his ear and then turned that to the Captain. “OC is hosting an Engineering conference. There are dozens of ships here for it.”
Carwyn shared the man’s smirk, coming to the same conclusion as his trusted officer. If there was a major conference going on here that would mean that everyone’s attention was on that. The repair and security teams would have their hands full with all those vessels so their time here could more easily come and go without so much as a second glance.
“Perfect,” Bowlder grinned crookedly at his XO. “We’ll still keep it to senior staff at first, we can rotate the next level of staff as the situation unfolds.”
“I’ll prep the rotations,” Róisín replied.
It might have been simple enough to steam the ship into the starbase, but the actual docking process took a bit of time and formality as the station staff coordinated with Eme and Kovalenko to make sure everything was in order, the umbilical attached and all other systems steadied before it was safe to attach the docking arm and began to disembark anyone. By then, Captain Bowlder was standing at the docking port waiting for Commander Kovalenko to make the final seal with the station and open the hatch. He wanted to be the first one off the vessel, and get straight to Captain DeHavilland’s office. She was the key to this whole thing going off without a hitch.
“Cabin fever?” Róisín asked quietly, so that Valeria couldn’t hear.
“Mm? What?” He replied with a shake of his head. “Oh, sure. I guess,” he agreed, realizing he was bouncing slightly on his feet like a kid being told he had to wait to leave.
She nodded slowly in reply, clearly not believing it. “Redheads do that…” she trailed off.
Carwyn snapped his head over to her, opening his mouth to reply, but instead turned beet red. “I assure you. That’s not the case.”
“Go away out of that,” she muttered, folding her arms across her chest.
Bowdler was just turning for a rebuttal when Kovalenko hit the button and the doors popped, then hissed open to reveal the gangway and the waiting station crew there to handle the formalities of their disembarkation saving him from having to acknowledge the statement. He quickly put a jovial, smiling expression on his face as he stepped forward to greet the crew and lay down the story he’d been practicing.
It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for a vessel to show up at Starbase unannounced but it was slightly unusual that they weren’t on the stations list of ships working in the area or on any communicates indicating that they might be. It definitely got bit more scrutiny than it might have before but Bowdler deftly brushed it off.
It wasn’t long before Carwyn was stepping off the gangway into the entry assembly area of Obsidian Command, or at least he would have had there not been a small mob already assembled there. He stopped dead at the end of the gangway, staring at the crowd until Róisín drew up beside him, folding her arms. He glanced over at her.
“A needle in a stack of needles. We keep our heads down, we’ll be out of here without any trouble in no time,” he smiled.
“I’m not sure I believe that, Carwyn,” she replied tartly.
“Why?” He all but breathed.
She cocked her head towards the crowd, “Because Captain Trouble is right there, looking right at us.”
Carwyn snapped his head following her indication and stared for a moment, unsure what she meant until he saw the woman in question. The unmistakable profile of Captain DeHavilland surveying the oncoming crowd of people. At least, she had been. Right now, here eyes were locked right on him.
“… shit,” he replied.
Róisín sighed, turning to her skipper. “I’ve got your back, Carwyn. You know that. But. For the record. We should have never accepted these orders.”
He nodded in agreement and shook it at the same time, “You say that as if we had a choice.”
She just shrugged, gave him a reaffirming nod and turned to walk on, joining Lieutenant Ellis as he headed into the station.
Carwyn turned his attention back to DeHavilland, still watching him attentively. He cleared his throat, sighed and nudged his head the way his XO had gone and started walking that way. DeHavilland turned as well.
As nonchalantly as he could, he made his way to the queue for the turbolift, glancing briefly back to see that DeHavilland was with him and joined him at the queue. She smiled falsely at him as she joined him with.
“Welcome, Captain. I’m Corvus DeHavilland, I command this station. This is my First Officer, Commander Zayne,” she said, introducing the younger man. “Please, there’s another lift through here for station staff,” she said, gesturing to his right and gently leading him that way.
“Thank you, Captain,” Carwyn replied, nabbing his own XO as he passed her in the small crowd queuing to get on the lift. “This is my First Officer, Commander O’Damhain,” he threw in.
“Pleasure, Commander,” Corvus continued in her all-too-sweet tone.
“Thad Zayne,” her own XO offered as they stepped through the door into the secured corridor and turned left towards the lifts again under DeHavilland’s lead. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch what ship you were with,” Thad added once they were in the quiet of the secured corridor.
“The Alabama,” Carwyn offered as Corvus was pressing the button for the lift.
Thad flicked his eyes to O’Damhain and then back to the Captain. “The… Alabama?” He asked warily. “You’re… Captain Bowdler?”
“That’s correct,” he nodded with a tight, slightly nervous smile.
“I see,” Thad replied, drawing his fingers along his chin thoughtfully. “I’ve actually… wanted to meet you for some time,” he went on.
Carwyn nodded, “I get that a lot,” he smiled patiently, feeling a bit of relief. This one was a variable. He knew Corvus, Róisín knew the deal with Corvus. Unless DeHavilland had completely dropped the ball, there was no way this guy knew anything. But, as much as he hated the stupid marketing campaign that Starfleet had tricked him and his crew into, if this one being a fanboy kept the suspicion off them he was willing to take it this time. “Well it’s a pleasure to meet you, Commander,” he offered as brightly as he could, taking a step towards him and offering his hand. Beside them, the lift doors opened and Corvus stepped into it, blocking the door open.
Thad stared at the offered hand, the muscles in his jaw clenching. “You ever been to Kotanos, in the Orrudias system?” He asked calmly yet coldly. The ice in his voice was abundantly obvious.
“Christ,” O’Damhain swore quietly.
The color on Bowdler’s face vanished in an instant. “That… listen, friend. That was…”
“Friend?” Thad harrumphed, clearly now agitated as he swept his hand along the right side of his face, sweeping his hair up and back. He shook his head, opened his mouth to say something, then grimaced as if he’d smelled something sour. “Fuck it,” he snarled angrily and stepped up with a punch across his body straight to Bowdler’s jaw, spinning the man around like a rag doll. He fell towards Corvus who stepped back in shock and the man landed on the deck on his face, out cold.
“Commander!! What the hell was that about?!” Corvus boomed as Commander O’Damhain hurried to her skipper to roll him over and try to snap him to.
Thad just stood there seething as he shook his hand, flexing his fingers.
“Thaddeus?!” DeHavilland demanded, stepping closer.
He finally looked up, adjusting the cuff of his sleeve. “I’ll report to the brig,” he said finally, clearing his throat. He plucked his badge off his chest and offered it to DeHavilland who took it with stunned surprise. Without a word, he stepped past her into the open lift that had been waiting for them. The doors swished closed and he was gone, leaving DeHavilland with the mess.
Corvus watched him go and then turned back around, seemingly coming to her own senses. She had no idea what had just happened, but was relieved to see Captain Bowdler coming to.
“Do you need a Doctor?” Corvus asked.
“No, no, I’m fine,” Carwyn replied with a slight shake of his head, wincing as he did. “Thank you,” he said, Thanks, Ros,” he smiled to his First Officer, gently shaking them both off of him.
“We need to talk,” Corvus insisted. “My quarters. I can’t afford to have you two in the CIC right now,” she said, quietly, calling the lift again. “You owe me more than one explanation.”
“Agreed,” Carwyn replied, adjusting his uniform.
The lift doors opened a moment later and Corvus stepped in to hold it open, gesturing for Carwyn. He gave a nod, “Thank you,” He said as he took a step forward and fell flat on his face once more.
