Guest of Honor

Posted on Mon Jun 30, 2025 @ 7:04pm by Commander Jack Aeyers & Lieutenant Commander Gerald Reeves & Lieutenant Matt Hartley & Captain Helena Tel & Toja Pertal
Edited on on Mon Jul 7, 2025 @ 6:50pm

1,708 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: 1. Trouble Brewing
Location: Various
Timeline: Mission Day 1 - 13:01 Hours

[Starbase Icarus]
Operations Center]

It was a weird day for the servicemen aboard Icarus. The spacedoors were open (no one could remember the last time they were shut!), Traffic Tower was able to have cargo, commercial and military starships enter and exit the starbase on schedule with little delays, with operations able to disconnect the umbilical cord connections and fulfill their ship's needs. For security & medical, it was speciously quiet throughout the station, everyone was obeying the station rules.

What was shocking to the crewmen in Ops was the presence of their commanding officer, Captain Tel...

...Captain Tel had a blue bathrobe, tied in a double bow on her waist, her blonde hair (that was a rarity given how much temp hair colour she used) intertwined with hair curlers. Her pink bunny slipper ears touched the bottom of the system table, which displayed all ships in-system. "Another fucking Andoiran warship," she muttered, holding a decayed white mug that read 'Glaxies best Wife'. while watching the said warship make its approach. Helena was prettying herself up for confress call with SECDEF (Secretary of Defence), EXTSEC (Secretary of the Exeteior), the intel community, and a gala off station where she'd represent Starfleet interests... Whatever Starfleet's interests were in a masked auction of 21st-century items.

Jack conversed with Commander Reeves and a pair of crewman from the engineering and operations departments who were detailing the retrofit they performed on the residential power and security systems of Greenhill. It was a dry report, a stark comparison to the unusual scene that pulled Jack's attention to Captain Tel.

The eyes of the two Petty Officers immediately shot that way too, along with the rest of the staff in ops; the number of which had peaked as the lunchtime shift change approached.

Aeyers returned a PADD full of technical details to the two officers and thanked them for their time, then turned his attention to this walking... concern. The Commander cleared his throat, clasped his hands behind his back and stepped forward cautiously. "Captain Tel, good to see you," He called, closing the distance between them. In close, he was a little less hospitable. He was quiet, but pounced like a tiger. "Helena, what is this?"

Helena jumped out of her skin. She didn't expect anyone to approach her, let alone John... Or was it Jack? Something starting with a J. "It's the system table... The table that's been here since before you joined the crew." She quibbled with a wicked smile. "Another Andoiran Warship... They usually don't come out this far," she said, pointing at said warship which had cut speed and was using thrusters to fly through the spacedoor.

"I'll be damned, that's what that is," Jack quipped. He went after her, not relenting, "Forget the Andorians. I'm referring to your state of dress, Captain." The pronunciation of her title was a little cutting. Perhaps a little too much for Jack. But he was not impressed. Not after the questions he'd fielded from the crew since he stepped back aboard, or her negligence in answering his messages.

Helena was flabbergasted, being talked to this way by someone of lower status than her. Nevertheless, she entertained his question. "I've got meetings with bureaucrats, Secretaries of State and the like. I am simply preparing for a conference call." She placed her mug down on the table before starting another sentence. "Oh, C," C, short for Starfleet Command and not a James Bond spy. "What's me to attend a gala as their rep this evening, you're going to have to take temp command."

"Fair enough," Jack nodded, his lips pursed. At this stage, it was probably for the best.

[Starbase Icarus]
Traffic Tower]

"Sir," cried out Ensign Saket of Vulcan. Unlike other Vulcans, she had long black hair tied up in a claw clip of a flower from her planet, clearly she didn't follow the teachings of Sareek. Pushing the headset of her pointy ear, she spun her chair around to face the deck officer, Lt Hartley. "Cardissan Warship on approach." The UFP border was open to the Union, but the Union was a painful mess of bureaucracy and checkpoints to enter their space. "They identify as CUS Brvok and demand the handover of a Bajoran cargo ship." An enlisted human approached her, bent down, and whispered into her ear. "Confirmed, the Bajoran cargo ship docked in the interior dock 8, at 0413 hours."

"They can demand all they want, they'll be talking with command about it first." Matt approached the Ensign's station, he watched as the readout showed the Cardassian vessel on approach at high impulse. An aggressive move if ever he'd seen one. "Saket, prepare to close the exterior doors. We don't want the Cardassians getting close to that Bajoran vessel if they're feeling frisky. Prepare a message for all docked and incoming ships that we intend to close the doors for maintenance. Send it immediately if we make a decision with Ops to do so."

Saket didn't know if John had the authority to close the spacedoors, but she had the confidence of an Ensign and didn't want to stand up against her superior officer. "Yes, sir," she replied, placing her headset on its hoop next to the screen. She jumped out of her seat and made her way along the row she sat at, talking to the other controllers. "All ships, holding pattern," she repeated to them.

Matt tapped the comm panel next to the Ensign and hailed the bridge, "Traffic to Ops."

=/\="Trafic. Captain Tel. What's wrong?"=/\= She was now worried, in all the years commanding Icarus, Traffic only called with something terrible was coming.

"Captain..." Matt paused after hearing Tel's voice. He tried his best not to sound surprised, or let it distract him from the urgency of their situation. "We've got a Cardassian contact inbound. Registry codes are authenticated, showing the CUS Brvok. They're demanding we hand over the Bajoran cargo ship we've got at interior Dock 8."

[Starbase Icarus]
Operations Center]

"Communications, patch through the message from the Brvok on speakers," Jack called. He went to the map, pulling up the tactical sensors. Like anyone interested enough, he was watching the ship on approach. He gestured for Tel to take a look. "Brvok's a Hutet Class. They're not messing around. Gerald, you got the stats on the Hutet?"

Helena took her robe off and threw it under the system table. Now showing off the standard uniform with all her ribbons and awards on her left breast. "Hutet... Intel says it's a new class, right?" She asked, striding over to her XO, hair curlers bouncing from side to side.

Standing at tactical, Reeves did a quick scan of the Hutet class ship. "Armed with wave cannons, three heavy disrupters and deflector shields. Nothing really a serious threat for a starbase."

"Message from Brvok's captain coming through now," Petty Officer Gawn called from the comms station.

A voice came over the speaker. The tension in the room bore down. The arrival of a Cardassian warship was hardly routine, nor a calming event.

=/\=This is Gul Toja Pertal of the Cardissan Union Starship Brvok.=/\= Came over the speakers, stopped for a second, for dramatic effect. =/\= The union has been asked by a totally free galactic power, the Bajorn Assembly, to arrest a known Eco-terrorist aboard the freighter Ja'lek. The freighter holds a cargo license with us (The Union), them (the Bajorns), and you (the Federation)...We demand the rights to board and search for the terrorist. =/\=

"Don't open the channel yet," Tel ordered. She stood with a puzzled look on her face. She had been out of commission for a time and was struggling with solutions to this problem. "Suggestions." She asked her senior staff, hoping for something good.

"A paper trail doesn't give them the right to dictate jurisdiction in our space. I recommend we stall until we can get a better handle on the situation," Jack opined. He pushed the dressing gown aside with his boot so they could study the tactical reading. The Brvok was getting closer by the second. "We're going to need advice on this from command. But in the short term, we can use Federation bureaucracy to our advantage. Given they've asked us to board the vessel and perform their arrest, they at least have some diplomatic intent. We can acknowledge their request, ask for proof of this warrant and the identity of the suspect. We do our checks, see what we can find out about the Ja'lek, and determine if this is legitimate. Until then, we protect the freighter and stay neutral."

Helena nodded, taking everything onboard. Opening a comm channel to traffic tower, "Ops to Double T (Traffic Tower)... Maintain operations, keep the doors open, and put Gul Pertal in a holding pattern." She closed the comm channel before looking at her XO. "It's a good idea, Jim. Where's the Fading Sun? Is she within range of us?" Once again, isolation had made her forget her XO's name... What else had she forgotten?

"I've spoken with Mr Jefferson-Dal, the Fading Sun is en-route to Starbase 117. They're too far out for an immediate callback." Jack replied. "Gerald, what do you think about putting security on the docking port of the Bajoran ship? No one in or out."

"I agreed with this course of action," Gerald responded. "But we should figure out, if there is any truth to their claim regarding the Bajoran ship."

"That must be our top priority," Jack agreed. "Captain, I suggest we get our Admirals on the line. In the meanwhile, we'll need to show the Cardassians we're open to their claim. Though I'm loathed to admit it, for all we know they could be right." There was a flicker of hesitation in the Commander's voice. Things out here were rarely as simple as they seemed.

Helena was in agreement; if a terrorist was aboard the station, then they needed to know before doomsday. "Security, lock the Bajoran crew inside their ship, XO, you're on intelligence gathering, find our Intel Chief too, maybe they already have the intelligence we need." Grabbing her robe, she threw it over a raised arm. "I'll call Starfleet."

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