MSNPC Havun - Words to Haunt a Decent Man

[LtCmdr Tamio K'Wara]

(( Bridge - Deck 1, Afalqi ))

Lers: ::strained breathing:: We’ll be reaching the sector border, in twenty minutes.

Havun tried to not tap his fingers too audibly against his thigh as he listened to the pilot’s words coming from behind him. The Afalqi’s Bridge was built around the Shu’Da’al dais, putting Lers in the center of a tiered circular room with consoles encircling the dais. Havun was seated in the Captain’s chair and had his back to Lers, though the massive viewscreen had nothing to show him.

They were at warp. Traveling.

Muriný hadn’t been able to keep up the cloak long enough to clear Outer Seedea’s perimeter, and as a result, they now had to get creative. Ce’Mond’s warning that Starfleet - the Artemis itself - had gotten involved had been a shock, and one that had lit a fire under the team of ship thieves. Havun still recalled the chaos of the Impact, the fear and panic that spread as the airborne Da’allium had turned friends and family into frothing madmen.

While not many Da’al would admit to it - including Havun - they owed the Artemis a debt for their actions on that day.

He would have to settle that debt another time. For now, they were an extra concern he didn’t need.

Havun: Can you hold out?

He heard his brother-in-law scoff at the question.

Lers: Don’t underestimate a retired pilot. I can keep us sailing until the others have rested up.

Havun hoped so, but it was becoming apparent that they wouldn’t be able to stay at warp for long enough to reach the meeting point in one go. They would need to slow the Afalqi down, proceed at cruising speed until a couple of pilots would be ready to sustain warp for longer stretches.

Cen’Rivo: Havun, once we cross the border, there’ll be a limited time to engage the cloak before we’re registered by patrols.

Havun: Will you have it working in time?

He heard the intake of breath as his oldest student considered the question. They’d already pressed Ta’Mora’s device to the breaking point twice in their journey, and while they did have replacements constructed, replacing it would be costly in both time and resources. Not to mention, it would risk discovery. Havun had many skills, but diplomacy was not one of them.

Not today.

Not with Falon stuck to a sickbed four decks below them.

Havun: Get it working, Cen. 

There was no other option. The lilac-eyed engineer nodded, their expression making it clear they knew what was at stake.

Cen’Rivo: ::To Lers:: Twenty minutes?

Lers: And not a second more.

Cen’Rivo left their console behind, heading straight for the junction ladder leading down to Deck Two and the core corridors spidering throughout the Afalqi’s hull. Havun left the Captain’s seat, stepping around to face Lers as stood locked into the pilot cocoon, the neural receptors on his exposed scalp twitching as he maintained the Afalqi’s warp bubble.

Havun: We need to slip by unnoticed, Lers. We either need a distraction to slow Starfleet down, or we need to find a way to eliminate the irregularity echoes. 

Lers: We’ve been trying to fix the echoes for weeks, Havun, with no success.

He wasn’t wrong.

Lers: ::sighs:: What do you have in mind?

They didn’t want to hurt anyone. That had never been part of the plan.

Havun: If we don’t want them to be looking at us, we give them someone else to look at. ::considers:: Yeno, do we still have some of the prototypes in storage?

The youngest Engineer on the team, adorned by a massive mop of mint green curls and a manic look in his eyes, nodded. Havun had always suspected that Yeno had stuck his fingers into one too many electrical sockets as a toddler, but Falon had always had faith in him. Said he just ‘needed direction’.

Well, they had plenty of that now.

Yeno: What do we need blown up, pops?

Havun: Something important enough for our hosts to get real angry at the first Ship they can see, with as few casualties as possible.

He would be forever haunted by the fact that he had said ‘few’ instead of ‘none’ that day...

TBC

MSNPC Havun

CO & Chief Engineer

Afalqi

As simmed by

LtCmdr Tamio K’Wara

Chief of Ops

USS Artemis-A
A240006GS1