JL | Atarah, Zett, VAdm Scholtz-Archer, RAdm Hawk, RAdm Sha'mer | Departure

Posted on 241710.12 @ 12:34am by Admiral Sabine Scholtz-Archer & Rear Admiral Cintia Sha'mer & Rear Admiral Indi Hawk & Danielle Atarah

Mission: Hush [BQ Plot]

The shuttle landed on the pad with an audible tap, and Dani smirked, giving Zett an amused look.

Zett glanced at her sideways, grunting with a smile. "There's no chance for a perfect landing here within all those Starfleet insignia and pajama people. It's too distracting."

Dani grinned. "Uh ha, that's what distracted you."

Zett gestured at the window, getting up from the pilot's chair, "seriously, D, it's like they're trying to brainwash you. Staaaaaaarfleeet..." she intoned, chuckling to herself, "staaaarfleet everywhereeee... wear your pajaaamas..."

Dani laughed and reached for her bag. Zett turned from the hatch and put a hand on hers, gesturing towards one of the burly guards who accompanied them. Dani snorted, shook her head, but allowed the guard to heft the bag to his shoulder.

"Well," she examined her posse with a smirk, "we're definitely going to make an entrance."

"You're lucky I didn't insist on the honor guard and red carpet," Zett grinned, brushing Dani's arm.

"You just couldn't wait to show off," Dani whispered at the Trill as they exited the shuttle and both guards joined, closely, at their tail.

"This isn't showing off," Zett snorted. "This is arriving in style."

"It's definitely a style," Dani agreed, and they continued down the hall and through the dock, towards the hatch for the Endeavor. Dani watched the fleet's latest improvements with some interest, and Zett, obviously mustering her most nonchalant facade, examined the people wearily.

[Down on Earth...]

Sha'mer stood quietly in the corner of their bedroom and waited while Indi packed her bag. There wasn't much to pack, since neither of them had much stuff. Some toiletteries, some spare clothes. The main reason why Sha'mer watched in silence was because all the things she could say would sound stupid, sounded stupid even to herself: 'I wish I could come'. Yeah, because you would be so useful on the trip or there. Of course you want to come. So would every parent of every person on that ship, or every partner or every child, whether they wore pips or not. The bottom line was that Sha'mer still felt as helpless and powerless to act as she did when she first heard the news, just like everyone else did. The difference was now that at least Indi and others could *act*, and she could not. It was unfair to snap at Indi for that reason, or to look for pity, so she just held back.

She would go up to Spacedock to see Indi off. That was the least she could do, the only thing she could do. She would go up and watch the ship disappear into the distance. A younger Sha'mer, or one less bound by Starfleet rules, might have tried to sneak on board as a stowaway. But with age or pips came responsibility and second thoughts and maybe a smattering of wisdom, so though the thought was very appealing, she already knew she wouldn't do it. Pips and responsibility and wisdom be damned.

"I'll keep you updated as much as I can," Indi spoke at last, zipping up the last pocket. She could easily swing her bag over her shoulder as it held almost nothing. She felt - rather than heard or see - Cin sulking in the corner of the room. She understood it, she really did. If things were reversed, she wasn't sure she'd have the same restraint. Then again, Sha'mer had always been much more an adult than she'd ever be. There only wasn't much she could say that would make her wife feel better, so she'd chosen to pack quietly. Now though, as they were about to head out, it felt wrong to let the silence linger any longer.

"I know you will," Sha'mer said, keeping the frustration out of het voice with an effort. She even managed a smile, though she was grabbing the bars of the crutches so hard it hurt. "But I'll miss you." There, that was safe to say. "You're ready?"

After Indi's affirmative response, it didn't take them long to get to the main transporter room that would bring her straight up to Endeavour. "I'll miss you, too," she finally responded to the statement spoken while still at home. "As soon as I hear anything from Ra'lin, I'll let you know. We won't be gone long."

[USS Endeavour]

The ship was at her bidding, working at her behest. It was odd that she'd chosen not to be on the bridge for departure, but Sabine still stood by the windows watching as the behemoth cleared first the pylons, then the station, then the system before it shot off at break neck pace towards Beta Quadrant. It was only when they were safely tucked away in slip stream, the purple and blue and white aurora undulating past them, that Sabine finally chose to address the group sitting in the locked officer's lounge.

"Thank you all for choosing not to make this journey any more difficult than it needs to be," She heard herself start, her eyes finding Dani. Whether it was intentional or simply coincidental, no hints were given. "I'm told that we'll be there in a couple days and in that couple days we'll be pushing this ship harder and faster than she's been pushed since the war. She's an old lady, and I doubt we can do anything worse to her than what's already been done." After all, she thought, she was once Fleet Admiral Red's little war wagon. None of it needed to be voiced, but it was an amusement none-the-less. "Does anyone have any questions so far?"

Indi was long happy she'd made it this far without getting into another argument with Dani. now, they were even in the same office, seated at the same table. There were quite a few people in between them, so that helped. "No questions here," she spoke, shaking her head. They were going to CST, Dani was going to do her Engineering trick, and they'd get her son back. Easy as pie. No questions.

Dani saw Sabine's glance and responded with a smirk that had a bit too much self satisfaction in it. Her reputation preceded her, she mused, and with a little too much amusement.

"Yeah," she responded to the Admiral's question, because of course she would. "Who's the Chief Engineering Officer, and where is their office? I have some comments." She gestured as if encompassing the ship in general. She actually meant to get access to the systems she'd need in order to work on contacting the beacon, but the implication that her comments were also generally related to the state of the ship was a misunderstanding she had no intention to correct. To be fair to whoever was chief - no one did things properly except Dani, especially in Dani's eyes. She smiled and raised her eyebrows, as if to emphasize the question.

"Lieutenant Joseph Tempest." Sabine replied, wry as ever but getting the general gist of the smart ass's request. Dani was an onion, but not all of the layers made you want to rip out your eyeballs and cry for mercy. "Anything else?"

Dani was about to ask another question, but holes bore into her skull. She glanced, a little further down the table, and spotted Andrea, stoic and quiet, and looking at her with the warning eyes of a wolf that was quietly about to jump at its prey and eat its heart.

Dani's smile wavered slightly, then she shrugged, giving Andrea a defeated smirk, and shook her head no.

There will be enough time to be the smartass she always wanted to be around Admirals on this trip... she doesn't have to oversaturate the smartassness on their first date.

She smiled to herself, and tried to ignore Andrea's continued stare. There'll be more chances later, she knew. Many more.

---

Vice Admiral Sabine Scholtz-Archer
Commanding Officer
Alpha Quadrant
Starfleet

Rear Admiral Indi Hawk
Director
Alpha Quadrant Security
Starfleet

Rear Admiral Cintia Sha'mer
Director
Starfleet Operations


Commodore Andrea Levine
Dean, School of Science
Starfleet Academy

Danielle Atarah
Privateer