Lieutenant Amelia Semara - Adapt, Improvise, Overcome

[Max]

(( OOC: I did a tiny edit of a couple tags, adding `=/\=` to help me keep straight what's meant to be heard by comms and what isn't later on.  Lemme know or just tweak if I've goofed. ))

(( Bridge Deck 1, USS Khitomer, Ceram Archipelago ))

Somewhere out there in the swirling mass of purple, something loomed.  The sense of it being there rode the very edge between intuition from the evidence of wrecked ships between them and a nearly perceptible empathic sense of being watched.  No hard evidence to point to backing her up that they needed to try the communications array as urgently as she suggested, but...  The Lattice Alliance almost certainly didn't try that tack.  It had that to recommend it.

Korras: It will not hurt to try, I agree.

Stros: It is worth a shot, as they say.

A. Dewitt: The wider the frequency band the more chance there is of someone hearing us.

Amelia's shoulders relaxed.  Everyone was convinced.

C. Dewitt: Alright… Mr Korras, open a wide-beam channel on any frequencies we believe can penetrate the nebula. Use all data we’ve got. At the very least, this won’t come across as desperation.

The Klingon was remarkably efficient with the console.  Outside, there were little hairs of yellow something-or-other that briefly flashed into a squirming existence.  The task of getting a signal through that soup was unenviable.

Korras: It will take a moment, I need to reroute power manually to the communication array.

Stros: I may be able to direct some power away from the tactical systems. ::Shrugging:: They aren’t much use if we do not have a target.

C. Dewitt: Do it. But keep a minimal reserve for shields. Just in case.

Now with remarkably little to do, Amelia peeped around the Vulcan's shoulders to learn what she could.  One would think the intelligence manual would come with more information about tactics than it did.

A.Dewitt: Yeah you know just in case it goes horribly wrong and we find ourselves in a life or death struggle. :seeing the reactions: Yeah probably won’t happen :beat: Maybe.

She looked up at Ayemet and snorted.  The two hadn't worked closely on a mission together since a whole pip ago.  Amelia barely knew the counselor back then, but already had an appreciation for her.  Admittedly, she didn't know anyone back then.  Too bad she didn't have any uttaberries now.

Semara: :: A cheeky grin. :: 'Course not.  Not as long as we got somethin' to say 'bout it...

A moment of quiet, then...

Korras: Channel is open, sir. We are broadcasting on as many frequencies as we can at the moment.

Stros: Now to see if there is anyone out there to listen.

A.Dewitt: Well let’s introduce ourselves.  See if there’s a free bar here.

Another little pursed-lipped grin.  Good to know Amelia wasn't the only one with an off-track brain and sense of humor today.

C. Dewitt: =/\= This is Connor Dewitt of the starship Khitomer. =/\=

Connor had really stepped up to the center spotlight after so long down in the ship's bowels.  Maybe he needed more to fix the little slump in his shoulders from too many hours hunched down fixing something, but he certainly sounded appropriately commanderly.

C. Dewitt: =/\= We are not hostile. We are currently experiencing navigational and power interference within the region. If there is anyone receiving this… we request assistance. =/\=

The wait unspooled for a long time, everyone just waiting for something...  Anything...  Amelia leaned onto a console-free section of the horseshoe.  For a moment, she wondered if she was wrong about all of this, but then when she actually bothered to think about it there was a tap-tap-tapping curiosity bleeding in from somewhere out there.

The viewscreen flicked to life, the image clearing as UT subroutines adjusted to negotiate with hitherto-novel protocols and handshakes to make communication possible.

Velithari Comms Officer: =/\= Identify yourself. =/\=

Slowly but surely, Amelia's mouth slipped open, lips arcing into a huge, childlike, toothy grin in tandem with the realization of what was happening waxed.  There was truly no intoxicant like first contact, no matter how strange the alien.  In fact - the weirder, the better.

She shot a big smile at Stros.  She leaned in conspiratorially.

Semara: :: Barely a whisper :: You think they have indoor plumbin' to add to the collection?

Stros: Response

C. Dewitt: =/\= My name is Conno… =/\=

Velithari Comms Officer: =/\= ::sharply:: Unacceptable. =/\=

The face did not shift - the hard, shining structures around the huge, multifaceted, crystalline eyes couldn't.  Though there was a little quiver in the fine hairs that draped in a riot of shimmering greens, blues, and purples.  Amelia sensed the slick slither of deep-seated disgust.  She (for some reason, the being on the other side felt to Amelia as uncompromisingly feminine) was not happy with something she saw.

Velithari Comms Officer: =/\= I will not address a male. You will present a female authority or this channel will be terminated. =/\=

Amelia's brows furrowed, but fortunately Connor was thinking quicker on his feet than she was.

C. Dewitt: =/\= Of course. ::voice lowered:: I am merely assisting the command authority aboard this vessel.=/\=

Connor was suddenly gesticulating at - more like practically clawing for - his wife like a life raft.  Amelia's eyes pinched, arriving at the improvisation a solid several seconds behind everyone else.

C. Dewitt: =/\= Thi… Uhm… This is Captain Ayemet Dewitt of the USS Khitomer. =/\=

A.Dewitt: That will do Connor. Take your place to my side.

Captain Ayemet Dewitt.  Right - what was it that the pirate captain in the reports had said she used to parley with?  "Mighty feminine power"?

Stros / Korras: Response

If this part was true, which other parts were, too?  Were they going to eat Ras?  The rational part of Amelia's brain argued the opposition to that idea, with no particular part arguing in support of it.  The inner debate kept her distracted for a moment, forcing Connor to signal a little more vigorously to get her attention than he should have.

In response, she mutely scampered around to the front of the bridge like she was late for class.

Velithari Comms Officer: =/\= Acceptable. ::pause:: Stand by to talk to the Captain. =/\=

In an attempt to recover the illusion of competence, she straightened out into practiced poise, and turned to put her back to the viewscreen so she could lean in to give what little last-minute intelligence she could to Ayemet without her voice being transmitted.

Semara: :: To the rear of the bridge, leaning in toward Ayemet. :: Guess the rumors are true and these are the amazonian predators we heard about...  Intel only knows a' one encounter.  A woman called "Lioness of Lowka."  Claims she survived by playin' it up to their matriarchal foibles, and even managed to barter for salvaged weapons.  :: To Ayemet. :: But she could'a been lyin' 'bout that last part.

Amelia took the cue to give Ayemet her space.  A predator species would need to see someone in a position of dominance.  Ayemet was the captain now, and Amelia was...  Well, whatever Ayemet needed her to be.  She followed the glance back towards Stros.  She kept her back turned for just a moment longer.

Semara: :: Hushed :: Can we triangulate the comm signal?  A directional scan might cut through the nebula 'nough get us a tactical analysis if they're close enough.

Might as well put some of her science skills to use.   Then she put on a smile and turned to the screen, hands behind her back.  Sitting in any of the three chairs felt like too much.

Stros / Korras: Response

Through the flicker, another figure entered into view.  The woman gave a clear picture of calm dominance.  Again, she gave a clear empathic impression of feminine identity even through the heavy layers of beautifully iridescent chitinous exoskeleton.  In a way, it reminded Amelia of storied matriarchs of Betazoid legend, floating ethereally through high society with their gilded dresses and hair and the ability to steer the fortunes of entire nations with a single wise thought powerfully projected.  Only the woman on the screen sported a body built with armor and sharp bladelike claws and mandibles.  There could hardly be a more different sort of societal dominance from Amelia's own cultural history.

Rana: Response

A.Dewitt: =/\= I am Captain Ayemet Dewitt of the Starship Khitomer. =/\=

Amelia suppressed what would have been the most inappropriate laugh of all time.  Ayemet was clearly enjoying this.  But seeing just how delicate the moment was and the fact that she still had some scrap of dignity left to retain, she kept quiet.

C.Dewitt / Korras / Rana / Stros: Response

A.Dewitt =/\= :glancing at Connor: We are bonded, and he took my name :beat: it was my gift to him. =/\=

Now Amelia was looking at Connor (who had stationed himself conveniently out-of-frame), half looking for guidance on what she was supposed to be doing in the middle of the bridge besides looking pretty, half because she was quite sure Ayemet would want him to call her "Captain" in private later with how she was playing this.

C.Dewitt / Korras / Rana / Stros: Response

Amelia kept behind Ayemet, the half-Bajoran surprisingly at ease with taking control of the situation.

A.Dewitt: =/\= We were investigating the ship before us as it appeared to have been badly damaged, and then we appeared to be caught by the anomaly we now find ourselves in. If you cannot assistance we can be on our way. =/\=

A bit of activity from Connor, Korras, and Stros caught Amelia's eyes.  It looked like they had something.  Amelia made a little inquisitive head-tilt trying to ask them to put whatever they had on screen.

A box appeared in the lower-right corner of the viewscreen with a grainy sensor scan of...

Semara: :: Quietly, to Connor :: That's a ship?

It wasn't just the bulk of it, but the construction and architecture and materials... External structure was all graceful, sharp, bladelike spindles in every direction from the main body.  Or was it more like a thorax at the center?  What little scans showed of internals and subsystems looked more like the combination of a coral reef or an ant colony at first glance.  There were huge portions that read inconclusive for life forms, probably indicating heavy use of organic compounds in the hull itself.  Whole sections of the ship disappeared from scans into the background noise of the nebula, then reappeared as whatever modifications the trio had come up with struggled to compensate.  Amelia would have been a happy scientist having a year to study it.

Then there was simply the sheer scale of its size and power output readings.  Even in open space, the thing would have been a monster.  Maybe Stros or Korras could make them out, but Amelia couldn't spot weapons systems at a glance.  Not that they weren't there, but Amelia wondered if the preferred method of attack was to stick one of the sharp pointy bits of their ship into their victim, and use it as a boarding tunnel.  Like an insect would use a stinger or proboscis...  Any ship would already be paralyzed by this nebula, ripe for extraction.

C.Dewitt / Korras / Rana / Stros: Response

Amelia carefully caught Connor's, then Ayemet's gaze, checking for permission before stepping up just behind Ayemet to offer a little additional morsel that might just be tantalizing enough to the other captain to convince her to be patient.

Purely automatically, she curtsied to the alien.  Hopefully it wasn't some forbidden gesture in their society...

Semara: =/\= Pleasure to make your acquaintance.  :: Beat :: For some time now, we've been dealin' with invasions into our own territory from the same pair of species you've expertly dispatched.  We didn't want 'em establishin' a foothold in this nebula, but it seems we didn't need to be worried. =/\=

A. Dewitt / C.Dewitt / Korras / Rana / Stros: Response

(( OOC: Going to keep fresh tags few for now.  Excited to see what happens! ))

Tag / TBC...

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Lieutenant Amelia Magnolia Semara

Intelligence Officer

USS Khitomer - NCC-62400

A239710MA0