JL | Atarah, Comm Levine, VAdm Scholtz-Archer | "Say What?" Pt 1

Posted on 241710.25 @ 1:47am by Admiral Sabine Scholtz-Archer & Commodore Jorgun & Danielle Atarah

Mission: Hush [BQ Plot]

"So how is bunking on a Starfleet vessel again? Did you revert to wearing their pajamas?" Zett's voice was amused through the video comm, and Dani turned her head to the side to look at the device, smirking.

"I have my own PJs," she gestured to herself as she lay on the bed. It was late, at least in ship-time terms, and after working for two whole days with Andrea on trying to decipher how to properly activate the device for two-way communications, she decided to take a relatively early night tonight, taking a shower and slipping into bed before calling Zett through the Bristol's secure channel.

Zett's face moved closer to the camera on her end, as if she was examining Dani more closely. "You never wore that pajama with me."

"I don't wear any pajama with you," Dani grinned, and shifted to lay on her side, facing the video conversation. "I can keep it if you like it."

"I need to think which I like more," Zett chuckled and the screen moved and shifted as she, too, leaned back on the recliner they owned from their apartment back on Earth.

"Have you saved the day yet?" The Trill yawned. "I want you back here."

"Not yet," Dani sighed, the grin fading, her eyes turning frustrated. "We've been having an issue sending commands to the unit. I guess that's one reason temporal mechanics were always my least favorite subject." She yawned and turned her body around again to lie on her back and stare at the ceiling. Zett blinked slowly, looking at her while she spoke, knowing her enough to expect a rant -- one she probably won't fully understand, but that Dani needs to let out.

"It's like playing with an invisible toy that fell into a whirlpool in the middle of the ocean. It's there -- you know it's there -- you can see it while it's going round and round--" her fingers moved, making fast circular motions -- "but all you have is a rope, and you keep missing the toss."

Zett's lips pursed; it was clear she wasn't completely in the loop here, especially technically, but Dani was ranting and when Dani was ranting, Dani just needed to let it out and reflect. So she tried.

"Heh, like that time in the bath with my necklace..." She mused, smiling at Dani through the comm.

"Hah," Dani chuckled, "yeah, we both panicked so bad, you almost ordered maintenance to block the pipes."

"Yeah, and then you ended up diving and catching it just before it went in... you just emerged from the bubbles like a sea monster--" Zett continued, remembering, the screen shaking as she chuckled.

There was no response for a moment, and Zett's laugh died, the video stabilized, her eyes narrowing at the screen. "D? You there?"

"Holy mother of space vortex." Dani muttered, now prone, and Zett's eyes narrowed further.

"What?"

"The vortex--" Dani started "-- the vortex is directional."

"Uh, okay?"

Dani turned, abruptly, and jumped up and sat prone, her arms moving in excitement. "Kal! You're a genius! I know how to grab the beacon!"

"... I... okay." Zett muttered, confused enough to not formulate full sentences, but knowing Dani enough to just let it go. The woman was obviously happy about something. "Well. Go save the day, D."

"Shit. I need to tell Andrea... we need to bypass the chronosynchronizer to-- to-- dude, we'll be able to reverse the temporal polarity and have a full bandwidth connection!" she grabbed the screen and kissed it. "Zett, you're a fucking genius, I miss you. I gotta go." And ran towards the door.

"Dani-- I-- you might-- clothes, Dani-- eh. Nevermind. Good thing you're wearing pajamas over there," she called out through the screen.

It was too late. Dani was out of the room, running barefoot down the hall. Zett considered whether she wanted to keep the connection open or wait for Dani to call her back.

"Computer, where is Andrea Levine?" Dani barked at it, already running towards Andrea's quarters, expecting the woman to be there. She skidded to a stop when the answer came, and changed her direction abruptly, running to a turbolift.

* * *

"I forgot how awe inspiring moving through space actually is," Andrea mused, sipping from her cup of tea, looking at the vast viewport at the lounge. It was quiet and dark; they were the only ones in the room, the other crew either sleeping or too proper to attempt sharing the room with the Admiral. It wasn't too far off from seeing your students avoid you in the quad. Andrea smiled at Sabine, and took another sip from the tea.

"That's right... It has been a minute for you since you were active up in the black." Sabine nodded in perfect understanding, the smile behind her tea cup spoke volumes of her comfort level when it came down to sharing time with the Commodore.

Andrea Levine was known for being an intellectual, a brain first and a person later - but there sitting on the sofa, relaxed though poised, was the perfect amalgamation of both. She wasn't snooty, wasn't cruel, wasn't one to laud her intelligence or experience over others and that, alone, was refreshing to Sabine. Sabine who often was immersed deeply in a world of posturing a people consistently trying to step over one another as they vied for some higher accolade or title. It was no secret that the hierarchy of Starfleet, of the Federation, had been shaken by the war and would remain as such for some time to come - but those who tried to profit over the ruins would fall by their own greed while others, those like Andrea, like Rochelle, would succeed because of their selflessness.

"Mmm," Andrea nodded, holding her cup within her palms, "I like being back in the Academy, back on Earth, but I have to admit," she gestured at the moving field of stars with a soft smile, "I do miss space. My children basically grew up on a ship," the smile widened a bit, the edges stretching to her eyes as she spoke of her children. "They might pretend they're planet-bound, but I recognize the spirit of spa--"

She was going to end this sentence, about to, too, with a point made about children and space and ships and starfleet and exploration -- but she couldn't. The words were cut off, abruptly, her mug shaking in her hands, as sound -- something between a moan and a yelp -- eminated from the hallway. Andrea's voice trailed off and she blinked, tilting her head in confusion, looking at the door for the source, when a form bounced in, skidding the corner, ducking through the door, running into the room and towards her, breathless.

"Profess...or... I got it! We... the frequency... circular motion, it... it rotates..." Dani, who stopped her own forward energy by literally grabbing on the couch Andrea sat on, panted through the confused sentence, trying to motion with her arms an idea that could not come out through her ragged breaths.

Andrea didn't quite startle, but it was a close call, as she balanced her cup of tea in her arms to avoid spilling it over her uniform jacket. She blinked, looking at Dani with alarm, and then with curiosity, as the sentence attempted to come out, and Andrea, the ever-present Professor she was, recognized the urgency of a "eureka" moment.

"Dani," She attempted, for a moment forgetting the Admiral, trying to make sense of the broken sentences the ex Engineer was trying to form, "breath, calm down, and make an actual sentence."

"Aah--" The woman breathed, nodded, and gestured a careful 'wait' motion with her palms as she moved her body up and down carefully, simulating slowing down her breathing.

Poised to draw breath, Sabine nearly dropped her tea at the sound of sudden intrusion. Dani's bare feet slapped against the fine tiled stone floor of the lounge like scuba flippers against a pool deck, and the out of place noise reverberated against every bulkhead of the otherwise silent space. "Oh my dear girl..." the Admiral quickly set the cup down, not wanting to scald herself or the Commodore beside her, "what on Earth are you... You're smiling... What is it?" She asked, trying first to comprehend the woman's lack of dress. The flimsy shorts did little to conceal most of the woman's body from waist down and the think tank top wildly boasted Wonder Woman's crest - something Sabine readily recognized from the days James had spent meticulously collecting old comic books. It was surprising to say the least.

Dani, her breath slowing, looked like she just now noticed the Admiral at all. She blinked, looking at the woman with surprise, as if her brain was attempting to make the connection of where she was, or what the woman was saying. It seemed to work, at least partially, as Dani's smile came back full force, and she took another careful breath.

"I know why the device doesn't work. I mean... I mean it does work, just not for our commands, but it could, if we adjust."

Andrea lowered her head, her eyebrows tilting up in question. Dani nodded victoriously and looked at her, then at Sabine, then back at Andrea.

"The singularity... it's like a whirlpool." She started, grinning at Andrea, who kept staring at her. "The signal in it... it's acting like a whirlpool... it's rotating... like a whirlpool..." She continued, gesturing circles in the air, and the light that appeared in Andrea's eyes lit the room like a torch. "Oh... Dani!"

"YES." The woman nodded, and then spread her arms to the side, bowing at the two women. "We need to adjust for rotational movement along the temporal axis, and it'll be like we're right there next to it."

"That actually makes sense!" Sabine exclaimed, nodding emphatically, "How soon can we make this happen? How soon can we get them the hell out of there?!"

"Well," Andrea nodded at Sabine thoughtfully, scratching the corner of her forehead above her eye, "we'll need to adjust the deflector array to correct for rotational capa--"

"Way ahead of you," Dani grinned, and pointed at the hallway. "If I remember right, there should be an access panel down that way. I can switch the polarity in a minute." She grinned and turned to run towards the panel, right outside the hallway. "Get your PADD ready!"


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To Be Continued...
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Vice Admiral Sabine Scholtz
Commander, Alpha Quadrant
Starfleet

Commodore Jorgun
Commander, Cheydinhall Sector
TAD - USS VINDICATOR, NX-78213

Commodore Andrea Levine-Grant, PhD
Dean of Science, Starfleet Academy

Danielle Atarah
Privateer, Ex-Starfleet Engineer
Earth Syndicate