[Act III] LtCmdr Jovenan – We need to hurry, and not just because I’m freezing in here
Jovenan
((Storeroom, underground facility, Kurtûl III))
The blue light that had briefly engulfed the storeroom faded away and left behind the Starfleet team. They were each carrying torches, with the beams crossing through the space and piercing the darkness, light scattering from the dust particles floating around. Jovenan held her phaser up, ready to fire, but the quick sweep through the room proved their sensor readings correct: their beam-in location was unguarded. She didn’t lower the weapon yet; her heart raced in her chest in the understanding that they were now standing in the enemy territory. “Enemy”, perhaps not in the sense the military strategist spoke, but true to the sentiment behind the word. Wars had laws, soldiers of the opposing side could often be expected to honour them. These people were but criminals; they had already demonstrated their lack of respect for justice.
She departed from the formation of her team and checked the behinds of a few barrels tucked in the corner of the room. Nothing besides dust there, not even spider webs, and a thin layer of frost over the pile. The blood rushing through her body had kept her from noticing the uncomfortably cool temperature. Figuring out the classification of the planet as a frozen but otherwise habitable planet, she had found herself a minute in the midst of the quick preparations to swap her skant uniform, with its skirt and short sleeves, for the trousers-and-jacket variant and her old thermal layers. Despite their coverage and the insulation of the room, her Edo physiology disagreed with the coldness. They’d have to keep moving.
Jovenan: Clear. Lifesigns?
Storm/Breys: Response
She could lower the weapon a bit and redirect her torch so that she could see the faces of her teammates without blinding them. Lt Storm, while a tactical officer and not security, was almost certainly the most capable fighter among them, and besides that, she was already familiar with the mission parameters and what they knew of the facility. Ensign Breys, still a relatively new officer among them, probably didn’t have much combat experience as the two more senior officers, but then again, she wouldn’t have been the first junior officer to surprise Jovenan. There were no plants for the botanist to study, but with the potential thalaron technology somewhere in there, she preferred to have another capable scientist with her to seek and, in case they needed it, to dispose of it.
Jovenan: Good. Can you tell where the thalaron decay readings are relative to our position?
Storm/Breys: Response
Jovenan: And Mister Havun?
Storm/Breys: Response
Nodding in response to the reports, Jovenan turned towards the closed door. Haste was a key to the success of their mission – finding and safely destroying the thalaron generator, and capturing the suspected ringleader – but the external forces kept pushing her to waste absolutely no second in the job. Even with the Captain and her team trying to prevent the Nascaik intervening with their objectives, there were no guarantees that either of the Starfleet teams on the site managed to beat their ambiguous “allies” to the prize. Then, there was the chaos in the orbit. As much as Jovenan wished that Vitor didn’t need to put himself in the dangerous and demanding position, she considered herself lucky that her skills were more needed on the planet. She had led the ship into battle once before, and she didn’t want to repeat that experience. Meanwhile, her diplomatic experience still stood at zero. She trusted Vitor’s abilities as the ship’s commander more than her own.
Stepping closer to the door, she stood beside it so that she could swing it open and allow her companions to secure the corridor behind it. Before doing so, however, she glanced at both of them, as if evaluating whether they were ready for what they were about to embark.
Jovenan: We won’t stop until we’ve reached either of our objectives. So, if you need any last minute clarifications, now’s the time.
Storm/Breys: Response
TAG/TBC
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Lieutenant Commander Jovenan
Chief Science Officer
USS Artemis-A
E239911J11