[Juneau] Captain Oddas Aria: Operation Bodyguard

[Nicholas St Gabriel]

((Bridge, Deck 1, USS Juneau))

Aria didn't like deception, especially not with her own crew.  She didn't like the formal announcement that the Grace Hopper had been so badly damaged it was going to stay at the Ring while the Juneau did the heavy lifting - nor did she like lying to the Grace Hopper Crew and telling them they would be tracking down other leads.  

The coffee stung her lips as she felt the lie hit her tongue - no she preferred the truth.  She could deal with the aftermath of the truth, no matter how unpleasant.  "Aria, if you join Starfleet you can't come home" - truth.  The Bajoran could deal with that much more than she could ever deal with the platitudes of the lies many other families told each other, "we'll love you no matter what".

The Captain didn't suffer the delusions that her crew looked at her as if she were some sort of parental figure, but she had told herself she valued being truthful with them above all else - whether they knew it or not, and it was eating her up inside to have made false announcements.

They were slowing through the system's Oort cloud, giving the Away Teams a chance to excuse themselves via two shuttle craft, approaching their targets in ways that would - they all hoped - not draw too much attention.

On the viewer, the thick cometary cloud swirled around the screen as the Juneau pushed it out of the way forming deep blue and white eddies.  The bridge was eerily quiet, as if the crew knew subterfuge was afoot.

The comm system chirped.

Oddas: =/\= Go ahead. =/\=

Artifact Team: =/\= Response =/\=

Rescue Team: =/\= Response =/\=

Aria took in a deep breath and closed her eyes - she always got nervous before sending out away teams, and now the air felt even more heavy.

oO May the Prophets have you. Oo

She shook her head, the Federation types would not appreciate the sentiment, she was sure.

Oddas: =/\= Good luck, stay safe, and no purple hearts. Launch when ready. =/\=

Any: Response

She pushed air out through her lips before looking at the rest of the bridge crew.

Oddas: How long until we are picked up on the scrapyard's sensors?

Sera/Deveaux: Response

Her first instinct was to stand and begin pacing around the bridge, to bleed off the nervous energy - instead she forced herself to sit in the chair and direct her actions from there, let the crew see there was nothing to worry about.

Oddas: Good.  We have a list of things the administrator, Pila, has indicated he would like for trade, I'd like to engage him, slowly.

R'Kala: Response

Oddas: He's going to see we're Starfleet eventually, and so is whoever is he doing business with down there, but I want to be sure we seem like we have nothing to hide, and are just asking questions innocently, get them interested enough in us they don't notice two tiny shuttle craft entering their space from two other angles.

Any: Response

TAG, TBC

Captain Oddas Aria
Commanding Officer
USS Juneau, NX-99801
E239305OA0

Sense is never common. -Robert Heinlein

Wiki: https://wiki.starbase118.net/wiki/index.php/Oddas_Aria