Out of the frying pan

Posted on Sun Aug 4th, 2019 @ 6:11pm by Captain Abigail Laurens & Commander Ichiko Gail & Lieutenant Commander William Rogers & Lieutenant Jack Carver & Captain Amanda Foxwell & Lieutenant Aleksander Voroshilov

Mission: War and Peacekeeping

The stars whipped past the viewscreen as the Astraea cruised through the vacuum between worlds. Bill glanced away from the view, a double check of his instruments.

"We're approaching the Zendaya now, Ma'am." He turned slightly in his seat to address the captain.

"Notify Lieutenant Carver, drop out of warp when they're ready," Abigail ordered, watching the view screen determinedly.

The streaks of starlight elongated and collapsed as the ship dropped out of warp appearing alongside her fighters in perfect synchronicity, arrayed in an exemplary screening formation. The Zendaya filled the viewscreen. Motionless. Lights dark in some sections, glowing brightly in others.

-=- Out in the black -=-

Six additonal, smaller streaks materalized flanking Astraea. Six Gryphons of Revenant wing, lazily holding position - two flanking left, two flanking right and two holding above and a bit to the front.

=/\= Revenant wing, sound off. =/\= Jack's voice came over fighter comms, a separate frequency from what Astraea and Zendaya would be monitoring, to ensure they didn't interrupt each other.

After Jack's call a series of five quick mic clicks told him that everyone had arrived and was holding position. They were on yellow alert; shields up but weapons cold.

-=- Astraea -=-

"Want me to hold station here or get us into transporter range?" The helmsman asked.

"Take us within transporter range. Notify the Zendaya that we will be ready to transport the Trions within twenty minutes, then notify our senior staff of the same." Abigail issued the order with surprising calmness as she stood up from her command chair, tugging at the front of her jacket. "Lieutenant Rogers, I want continual scans on the Zendaya.
Notify me the moment anything changes. Commander Gail, Lieutenant Gunnison, Captain Foxwell, you can join me in transporter room one."

Ichiko stood as the request was made, smoothing out her uniform in a smooth motion, "Of course Captain." she turned to make eye contact with Gunnison and Foxwell, and gave a nod to each of them to follow.

Amanda had been on the bridge covering for the Chief of Security, who was dealing with a Security issue elsewhere on the ship. She had been briefed about the situation, and had made sure that her marines were close by, in case they were needed. She left her station, headed to the turbolift and waited for the rest of the team to join them.

Bill watched the diplomatic team depart. "I never get invited to the fun parties." He chuckled to himself.

=/\= ZENDAYA =/\=

Vicente and his team were arranged neatly on the transporter pad, smiling warmly at the crew that had brought them this far. Sorry, he wanted to the tell them, but you were only a minor actor in the grand scheme of things, "Adios! Thank you for your hospitality my friends, may we meet sometime when order is restored to Trion."

Captain Rex glared at the man, exhausted from the near 24 hours he had spent on writing reports. Looking over to the transporter operator he whispered, "The moment you get the go ahead, kick these bastards off my ship."

=/\= TRANSPORTER ROOM =/\=

Stepping into the transporter room, Abigail stepped to the side, allowing everyone else to enter and assemble around the room, Lieutenant Gunnison immediately moving to the transporter console, relieving the junior officer that was on duty.

"Is everything in place?" Abigail asked quietly, glancing first at Lieutenant Matashi and then Captain Foxwell.

Amanda nodded. "Yes Captain, my teams are all in place." She had allocated two of her marines as sentries outside the guest quarters, and had a team of four marines waiting outside the transporter room to escort the guest.

"Very well, notify the Zendaya that we are ready to transport on their order." Abigail said calmly.

The order came quickly and within a few seconds four lifeforms shimmered into existence, the leader a tall and tan man in military fatigues with a neatly trimmed beard and a wonderful locks of hair. Stepping off the pad he approached the lovely woman adorned with three pips with a charming smile, "Permission to come aboard ma'am?"

"Welcome to the Astraea," Abigail said quietly as she stepped forward, with a polite nod. Stepping back, she indicated to Ichiko and Alanah. "This is Commander Gail, my First Officer and Lieutenant Matashi, my head of Security. Lieutenant Matashi has a security detail outside in the corridor ready to escort you to your quarters, so if you'll be so kind as to follow her. I must, however, apologize in advance. Due to the rather delicate nature of all of our guests we must ask that you remain in your quarters unless you are allocated time in recreational areas, which, for your own safety of course, will be under the accompaniment of my security staff."

"How do you do ladies?" He could see that Starfleet was not lacking in the department of aesthetics. Winking at the XO he looked back at Abigail, "Of course, I wouldn't trust the government. Why do you suppose the war even started?" Laughing he waved his team towards him, nodding to Abigail, "We are at your command mi señora."

"You are both our guests and you will both treat each other with respect, is that understood?" Abigail cautioned quietly. "If you don't, rest assured, Lieutenant Matashi will find you some far more suitable accommodations in our brig."

Vicente chuckled as if what the Captain said was a joke, "Of course, of course. No concerns from us," He smiled at the Security Officer, figuring there were worse people to restrain him, "We just want to get back home."

"Oh, rest assured, we want nothing more than to get you all off our ship as quickly as possible," Abigail replied semi caustically. Resisting the urge to roll her eyes as she turned away, Abigail looked toward Amanda. "Please escort our guests to their quarters on deck three and make sure they stay there. Thank you Lieutenant."

Through it all, Ichiko was silent though present. At the wink, Ichiko tried not to show a response aside from a standard friendly smirk. Though, what she was doing was giving Vincente and his crew a good glance over. Stance, stride, attire, faces, scars, ticks, motions and gait. Things that couldn't easily be disguised if one were to wear a different outfit. To use a more direct term, she was downloading their physique.

"Aye Captain." She replied, heading towards the door and motioning for her team to form up around her.

Vicente's team formed up around him, having told them all to be on their best behavior in front of the Fleet officers. With any luck they would come off as the rational ones, despite any previously held prejudices, "After you Lieutenant."

Abigail watched as the assembly of newcomers followed Captain Foxwell out into the corridor before looking across at Ichiko quickly. "Well, I think this means we're officially out of the frying pan and into the fire."

"Let's try not to get burned." she replied, with a shake of her head.