Arrival

Posted on Fri Sep 29th, 2017 @ 6:55am by Captain Michelle Bartlett & Commander Rostra Tang & Commodore Jason Myers

Mission: https://wellington.pegasusfleet.site/index.php/sim/missions/id/3
Location: Transporter Room 1
Timeline: June 15, 2399 @ 12:30 PM

Ross, Myers, and Bartlett headed towards the transporter room to greet their guest. It had been years since Jason saw her at least on a face-to-face basis. Even longer for Michelle. On the way, she turned to Ross. "Trust me... you won't even need Suvir and Del. Send them on holidays. She can pretty much run both departments.

"I look forward to that." Ross said. "Not that I have a problem with Del and Suvir." he said as they entered the transporter room.

"She's also got some contacts on Dalacar that might be able to fill in those blanks in Lieutenant Suvir's memo this morning." Jason said.

"You can hardly blame them for not being as forthcoming with us." Michelle said.

"You can't." Jason said. "But we need to get things back to normal as soon as is possible."

The trio arrived in the proverbial perfect timing as the swirls and starlight of the transporter faded away, revealing a pair of figures on the transporter pad, along with a box or three of personal effects. After a moment where each twin held their breath for a moment, then released it, they were convinced their molecules were in all the right places. As Jason and friends entered the room, each twin's face lit up with a smile each.

"It's so good to see familiar faces again." one of the twins spoke, while the pair descended off the pad together. "Jason Myers. COMMODORE Jason Myers." she corrected, "Permission to come aboard?"

There was a momentary pause, before her twin spoke next, "And, following such, permission to hug?"

"Granted, and granted." Jason said, relaxing to recieve the hug.

One of the forms that comprised Rostra Tang came forward and wrapped the Commodore up in the kind of hug that spoke of the depth of their friendship. Longer than the 'pat pat' of a hug that you'd give family members that called you out of your quarters to greet, but not long enough to confuse their status as anything other than the best of friends. "It's so good to see you again." spoke the one form that would normally seem out of place, standing there. Though, once you understood Dalacari physiology, and accepted the slight loss of sanity required to work with Dalacari, it all made sense.

"I hope you've got one energy for one more hug." Michelle said with a grin. "It's been far too long."

"Entirely too long." Now spoke the one that was finishing up the hug with Jason, while the one previously standing there moved to give Michelle the promised hug. "I may damn myself for saying it, but I kinda missed all the chaos and excitement of reporting to Commander Bartlett."

Once the hug concluded, she finally admitted the truth, "I will miss my personal assistant, but it's the small sacrifices that we make to better the..." and the speaker just up and stopped. Boom. Conversation over.

Though her twin picked up the torch like she was the initial speaker. "... lives of everyone around us. Oh, Rostra Tang where are your manners." then both of the twin forms turned towards Captain Ross, and the pair bowed their heads in greeting in a demonstration of synchronized manners.

"Apologies. I'm here greeting old friends when there's a new one..."

"... to be made. My name is Rostra Tang, I'm a counsel in the field of mission advisement, an expert on xenocryptography, xenolinguistics, exobiology, and in..."

"... two weeks I can take my certification for long range tactical harassment, advance scouting, and resource denial." she paused, "Oh, that means sniper."

"I've heard much about you." Ross replied. "Welcome aboard. An impressive list of expertise..."

"Thank you. I think the only society that puts as much emphasis on education as the Dalacari would be the Ts'usugi, but they start their programs at a much ..."

"... younger age. I hear they've even started teaching their toddlers non-verbal communication before they even say their first words." Rostra stated, clearly impressed.

"Then again, the Ts'usugi for the longest time felt they were on their own, and had to prepare themselves for the future." she paused for a moment between her selfs. "You'll probably get the chance to meet..."

"... one of their more respected shipmasters. It's their term for Captain." she explained. "And despite him being in charge of a warship, he's actually an advocate for peace."

"I placed the name in yours and Commander Bartlett's report." Jason said.

"I look forward to meeting him. Will he also be at the negotiations?" Michelle asked.

"He insisted on it." she stressed.

"I've only encountered them in passing. It'll be nice to meet one up close." Jason replied before turning to Captain Ross. "Rostra was a junior StratOps Officer on the Yorkshire until I promoted her. Captain Grant made her Second Officer a year or so ago just after I left."

"I see." Ross said. "How did you decide on Starfleet?"

"Process of elimination. Either join the Bureau of Exploration back on Dalacar, and catalogue the universe we knew... or reach out to a new organisation that seemed..."

"... very much a like minded group. We're explorers driven by our curiosity. YOU'RE explorers driven by your curiosity. We form alliances to defend ourselves and..."

"... ensure all sides benefit. YOU form alliances to defend yourselves and ensure all sides benefit." the pair smirked, "Seemed logical. I wanted to see more, I had to..."

"... leave the proverbial nest."

"That's always a good reason to get involved. That's what I did years ago. God.. back in the days before the Borg were ever in the Alpha Quadrant. We'd just re-established contact with the Romulans and we could never imagined such a horror as the Dominion War. Or being in the Delta Quadrant without actually being a lost vessel like Voyager was. Janeway would have killed for a support network like what we've got now." he said with a chuckle.

"Undoubtedly so." Jason said.

"The Voyager tended to attract a lot of violent attention, from a lot of very powerful or far reaching groups. We did what we could to keep most of the more dangerous..."

"... trouble off their tail, but for the most part we... and when I say we, I mean the Defense Accord... decided not to directly interfere. It seemed her primary mission..."

"... was to return home, and exploration was a secondary objective. If the promise of friendly settlements, allied powers, and safe haven were offered it might have..."

"... discouraged the drive to return home. We were afraid that offering them sanctuary would turn into accepting them as refugees." a pause from the pair. "We were prepared to do so but..."

"... everyone doubted that it was what the Voyager wanted."

"Very likely not." Ross said. "They were incredibly determined to get back. Though I do bet they wish they'd have found that wormhole."

Everyone began walking towards the diplomatic quarters. "So... Dare we ask how it's going with the Klingons?" Michelle asked.

"It wouldn't have helped them." Rostra pointed out. "It wasn't stable, or remotely useful really, before the Darklight project. It's resource intensive, but the project..."

"... certainly has proved itself."

She then paused, and each twin rubbed the bridge of their muzzle, "Ever scream at paint to get it to dry faster?" she asked, knowing well the answer to a rhetorical question. "They're expecting a full release of their..."

"... captain, and their actually bargaining with a promise they won't bring about retribution for imprisoning one of their own." the silent twin shook her head. Almost incapable of believing it. "It's a mess."

"So basically... 'Give us back the guy who blew you all up and we promise not to blow any more of you up'." Michelle said. "Sounds reasonable to me, I guess we can all just go home." she added sarcastically. "Mind boggling we managed to sign a peace treaty with them."

"You know when you put it that way..." Rostra started, but just shook her heads instead of finishing.

"Have I mentioned it's good to see you all again?" and now, the pair giggled.

"Do I get my own..."

"... office? Those chairs were really comfy."

"We'll make sure a quarters and office are assigned for the duration of the mission." Jason said. "I'll probably be on the bridge mostly myself."

"Can't get away from it, hmm?" Michelle asked.

"I feel uncomfortable being behind a desk sometimes. I'd rather be on the bridge where all the fun happens." Jason added.

Ross chuckled. "If you call it that."

"I can't help it, it's the Dalacari in me." Rostra said with a smirk, "After all, a bridge is so open and wide and spacious and... well in a pinch..."

"... a desk is cover." she pointed out.

Michelle chuckled. "She's got a point. Now you know why I prefer the desks." she said playfully to Ross.

"Commodore, was the dear Commander here ever as stubborn about the big chair with you as she is with me?" Ross asked.

Jason laughed. "She likes the idea of the chair more than actually permanently occupying it." he said as he recalled many of the conversations he had with her about moving up the chain.

"We need to break her of that before you leave." Ross said.

Rostra again went into observation mode, as it were. Watching the interaction between two of her oldest non-Dalacari friends, and what was looking to be a new addition to the friend list. A few notes were taken mentally, but she tried her best not to make it look like she was studying them.

"You know, there's a Ts'usugi saying about those who enjoy the idea of command over the actual act." she finally spoke. "To want for the warmth of the flame, but to fear its burn."

"There are many in the Ts'usugi navy who look at the chair and want to command. Finding someone who wants it after the trials is somewhat rare. Which is why..."

"... Ts'usugi captains usually keep their postings seemingly forever." she giggled at the thought.

"There's a few Starfleet captains that like to do that too. One of our greater captains once said 'Never let them promote you to Admiral." Ross replied. "I've tried to heed James Kirk's advice." he added before turning to Jason. "No offense."

"Kirk wasn't wrong." Jason said with a smirk.

Rostra rolled her eyes, an interesting maneuver for a Dalacari. "Let's be safe and say he wasn't right either. I've read the bylaws... you have HOW many exceptions and instances put in just because of that man?" she asked, but it was rhetorical. Everyone knew there was almost an entire chapter in the charter about Kirk.

"I lost count." Ross replied.

"Me too." Jason added, to which Michelle just nodded. She did have a point.

"I'll call the senior staff together, and I'll look forward to seeing you all there." Ross replied. "If there's nothing else?"

"Nothing that I can think of." Rostra pointed out. "We'll know more once all the pieces are on the table."

"Then we'll see you all in a bit." Jason said.