Artemis: Hidden in plain sight
Dori Smith
Patricia and Destiny walked into Engineering and looked around to see if they could spot Nate and Jacey. Patrcia asked a nearby Ensign who advised her that they were in his office. They walked around to it and rang the chime.
“Excuse me Commander, it’s Commander’s Piper and Fairchild, can we bother you for a few minutes.”
Nate rubbed his eyes, setting down a PADD and waving them to come in. The door slid open at his gesture.
“Commanders, it’s my pleasure. Please, come in, make yourselves comfortable. Coffee? Tea?” he asked, standing and stretching his back just a bit while giving them a warm smile.
"Thank you Commander Lewis. Just some water will be fine." Destiny said softly. "We were hoping to speak with both you and Lt Armstong. Is she available?"
“I’m sure she’s around. Her and I usually try to alternate shifts at least most of the time, but lately we’ve been doubling up. I’ll page her.” Nate prepared a glass of water for both women and delivered it, then tapped his Comm badge.
“Lt. Armstrong, can you come to my office for a bit?” He asked, trying to make his tone such that she may realize this wasn’t a personal request.
“And Destiny? It’s Nate. Or...Chief. That one’s growing on me. But only Commander Lewis if I’m in trouble, if you please.”
"Everyone seems to prefer first names." Destiny replied, but she was grinning.
"You called, Chief?" Jacey asked, before she was properly inside. Her next step took her in sight of the occupants and she paused. "Commander Piper. Lt Commander Fairchild. I hope this isn't anything...serious?" She asked, taking a seat.
Trish gave her a gentle smile and shook her head.
“Serious yes, trouble no. Neither of you are. We need your help with a crazy idea of mine.”
Nate waved Jacey over, then took his own place back behind his desk. “You know we’re good at crazy, Trish. What were you thinking? Just promise me it doesn’t involve a piano.”
Trish rolled her eyes and grinned.
“Jon and his piano..” She shook her head. “No, nothing like that. We’ve got our new guest coming onboard and there’s the problem we’ve got with she might not make it to us. Now, I had this idea of using physical decoys to misdirect any bad boys. So, we need to come up with a way to have a few shuttles give off Romulan bio-signs to confuse any bad guys and make it seem like our guest can be on any of the shuttles.”
Nate rubbed his chin in thought for a moment, then glanced at Jacey. “I assume we’d need the shuttles to appear Romulan as well?” He asked Trish, even as his eyes searched Jacey’s to try and look for what she might be thinking.
Trish raised an eyebrow.
“Ah didn’t think of that. I was just assuming we would use ours, but that might be a better idea. Can we do it?”
Jacey's eyes met Nate's, and she gave a small nod. "Theoretically. I believe it's been done before - when we were at war with the Romulans - but that goes back a hundred years. Mimicking another sovereign nation's ship would require data on how they set up their sensors, their warp signature, their communication frequency...in other words, it's possible, but would take some work." She had in fact done it before. It was not something she had expected she would do again, but if it meant the safety of another person, so be it.
Destiny nodded. "Intel keeps that kind of information. I can get it for you."
Patricia nodded.
“That’s great guys. So, this off the cuff and hair brained idea of mine might actually work. Okay, Jacey, Nate, how soon can you have this up and running? The Captain gave me an hour to come up with a viable plan, so some time frames would be good.”
“What was the rest of your plan, Commander?” Jacey asked. “And how long do we have to put the whole plan into action?”
Patricia suddenly had a dear in the headlights look and then laughed slightly.
“Um, until we reach the rendezvous, so about 2 days. As for the rest, I am thinking instead of transporting her across - because they can be intercepted - we’ll take a fully cloaked shuttle and get her in person, shuttle her back to the Artemis while the decoys do their job.”
“You forgot the security with their own personal cloaks to make sure nothing happens to her on her way over.” Destiny put in. “Nate, you got the memo about the danger that our Romulan guest Dr. Jarok is in, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t, but the details are abuzz.” Nate admitted.
Patricia gave a slightly wince.
“Oops, I knew that there was something I’d forget. Thanks for reminding me, Destiny.” Patricia looked at Nate. “So, can you do it in that time frame?”
“This team could do it in half the time, but I’ll take as many hours as you can give us. Jacey and I will get started right away. I’d appreciate getting looped in to any developments, and if Destiny can get us that Intel information, we’ll have a real shot at pulling this off.”
“I’ll get you the information, and a full report on what we know so far. I’ll also make sure you’re kept in the loop. Apologies for letting you slip through the cracks like that.” Destiny said smoothly.
Patricia smiled warmly at the two Engineering officers.
“Thank you so much for this. I can take this to the Captain now, and we can start refining the details.” Patricia stood up and nodded. “Thanks again, I really do appreciate your efforts on this.”
Jacey shrugged. “We’re at your service, Commander.”
Patricia just gave a small smile.
“I know, but it’s nice to be appreciated in your hard work. I’ll call by later to see how you’re going.”
Nate nodded, returning the smile. “Anytime, Trish. Jacey, let’s grab our stuff and head to Staff Conference Three. I want to see your initial thoughts and we can use that as our little headquarters for this task.”
“Meet in five. Commander, we’ll keep you updated.” Nathaniel was already working on a PADD, eyes a blur as he consumed new information.
End