To Venture Out In Search

Posted on Wed May 31st, 2023 @ 8:13pm by Captain Calypso Skyie & Lieutenant Commander Alexander Espersen & Lieutenant Mark Valleroy & Captain Natalya Markova

Mission: Ancient Civilizations
Location: Captain's Ready Room

Calypso knew she had to review the monthly reports of each department, she just ever so hated to do it. It couldn't even be pawned off onto Alexander, these ones, because even while he had to look over them and endorse them, it was on her to know what was going on with her ship at all times. Science had definitely seen an uptick since Rebecca had arrived, a solid guiding hand, despite her size. That was probably her biggest worry overall, because Chimera was on her own. Otherwise, Engineering was still her biggest weakness, but with Alex and Jenna and the others, it would hold together. She hoped.

She placed the PADD down on the table and rubbed her face, Trarim had been interesting and there were a series of PADDs that had leads on things that had been discovered by various of her crew. She had to go see Rebecca about a nebula she and one of her scientists had found, soon even. And now there would be a diplomatic team on the way to Trarim from the Federation, maybe just a single small ship to establish a consulate, but it was a start. The Governor had assured her that it would be welcomed with open arms and that a diplomat from the Dashian Hegemony would be called in to make THAT contact official as well. "Ugh." She said to herself, wishing that SOMEONE would disrupt this process of reading.

Steam rose in two small tendrils. The travel mugs, one in each hand, held freshly brewed coffee. Fresh, not replicated.

Nat's hair was pulled back into a tidy, right ponytail. Her uniform, fresh and straight from the wardrobe. In all outward appearance, she was cleaned up, straightened out. It was a veneer. A shell.

Her elbow came up, pressing against the chime on the door.

"YES!" Excitement in Cally's voice as the chime sounded and it wasn't obvious if she were excited about the 'interruption' or if she were startled, but either way, "Come in, come in!"

The doors parted, and Nat stepped in. "Welcome back on board, Skipper." One of the mugs was set on the desk and pushed towards Cally. "Straight from the personal store down in Barracks. From one Marine to another." Nat smiled, though it was a smile that ended at the mouth. Her eyes remained like ice.

As if expecting the cup to be stolen at any time, Calypso reached out like a snake and snagged the coffee and cradled it to her, inhaling the deliciousness already, "Much, much better than replicate. SO much better." She took a sip, then looked up to Nat, "What can I do you for?"

Nat slid into a chair, and took a breath. "I was wrong." She began. "I wanted to stay onboard, to enjoy not having my life on the line. Turns out, sitting still is boring." She almost chuckled at herself. "Scuttlebutt says we're looking at a Nebula? Captain..." The usual jovial attitude was a blank slate. "Give me something to do?"

"I suppose we could have you shoot the nebula." Somehow outside of anyone's notice, Alexander Espersen had walked into the Ready Room and stood beside the Captain's desk. "Actually, I'm glad to have caught you, Captain Markova." He slid a PADD on the desk in between the two captains. "Recognize this?"

"It's a map." Cally stated deadpan, "One of the ones that you got on Trarim, since we really didn't have anything beforehand. What's so special about it, though?"

“This,” he began, pointing to the colourful cloud on the periphery, “appears to be the nebula you’re so interested in, Captain. And this,” he continued, pointing at a dot very close by, “is the system where the artifact I bought was excavated. According to our Trarim sources, there’s an abandoned archaeological dig site. Ruins of an Irol colony, barely touched in millennia.”

The door chimed, and Mark entered after being directed to enter. "Sorry for being late," Mark said. "The fun of watching over two tween human males. Hope I didn't miss anything."

"You're just in time, Mr. Valleroy," Alexander said, gesturing for the security chief to come in. "We're talking about the Captain giving me permission to go on an archaeological expedition."

"I am?" Cally slowly brought the coffee up for a sip, then inhaled some of the delicious aroma, "Well, you're talking about asking me to take let you take a runabout to go investigate something that's really boring while we go and investigate something really boring!" She smiled broadly, "Do I have that about right?"

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that assessment," Alexander said. "I've studied Irol technology, Captain, and this expedition may prove fascinating." He stood up straight. "I'd like to take a small team aboard our Argo. An archaeology specialist, an exobiologist, someone from Ops, and some security, just in case."

"Hmm...." Cally mulled over the request for a few seconds, meanwhile wondering just what she could do without her Executive Officer around. Maybe a party in the conference room? It could be interesting, only one way to find out, "All right, you got it! Six people in all, seven if you must, but that might make the Argo a bit cramped unless you take the dune buggy out. You two up to being the security team?" She looked over at Nat and Mark, "Would get you some fresh air? Maybe?"

"Of course, Captain," Mark said. "I do get to be the one to drive the dune buggy if we use that, right?"

"I suppose that you've officially claimed the fun spot of driver, Alex's gonna be your shotgun though, rank hath it's privileges of course..." She mused for a moment, "Delacroix is an archaeologist, Stanson is an exobiologist if memory serves me right. Larson from Ops? Those three, you three and the runabout?"

“Sounds perfect, Captain,” Alexander said. “It will take a few hours to get everything loaded. Mr. Valleroy, Ms. Markova, report to the main Shuttlebay at 1500 hours. I’ll find Delacroix, Stanson, and Larson.”

"Sounds good Alex, meanwhile, I'll find out what Nat was plying me with coffee for?" She gave Nat a searching look, "But I know that my evil plans for Mark have just been thrown out the airlock." She waggled a finger at the security chief, "I'll just have to torture you after you get back, mister!"

"Forgive me for not quaking in my boots, Captain," Mark said with a smirk "After all, your 'torture' will just fall flat just like all your other attempts."

Calypso grinned, "Oh, just you wait, Mark, just you wait. Now go on, you three, get outta here!"