CDR Naxell — Delicate Dictates
Naxell
((OOC: Apologies for the delay on this sim, I was traveling for my friend's 50th birthday celebration, and Las Vegas is not, it turns out, especially conducive to my writing.))
((Bridge, Deck 1, USS Khitomer, Ceram Archipelago))
The Denobulan in the command chair extended an arm and held out his hand towards the junior Andorian, waiting for the PADD that was inevitably produced as explanation whenever an Ensign took their place on duty for the first time.
Dewitt: ::quietly, sideways to the Ensign as he passed, trying to mimic the way he pronounced his name:: Welcome aboard, Mr th’Vrosa.
Valeris: Welcome to the party, Doc.
Naxell: ::gesturing to the seat on his left:: Please, sit. I could use a Counselor. Commander Valeris has just raised a complicated question, and I'd like your take on it. In the event that our efforts to signal the away team stir suspicion among the Velithari, should we have a plan of action? Or take things as they come?
The question was intentionally couched in a way that allowed the Ensign to answer in a variety of ways. No matter what path the young Andorian chose, it would give the Captain a good sense of the young counselor, and how to interpret the advice Naxell was going to rely upon in the future. Apart from his wives and his First Officer, there would be fewer more valuable sources of wisdom for a Captain to draw from than the ship’s counselor corps.
th’Vrosa: ::Quickly, but with a very round softness to his voice:: I think we should always have a plan, sir. ::There’s a short warm chuckle:: But I’ll be the first to admit I don’t have nearly enough information.
Seated beside him, Ensign th’Vrosa turned to look at Lt. Commander Valeris. Naxell smiled softly at the start of the Ensign’s answer—it was a solid hedge. Plans are good, yes, but not worth much if you don’t know what you’re planning for. That was precisely the dichotic challenge the Captain hoped to overcome.
th’Vrosa: You will have to forgive me, Commander, I’m playing catch up here. ::There’s a warm smile:: I also didn’t hear the full initial question as it was posed. Could you give me more context?
Valeris: ::Shrugging slightly:: I was just askin’ if we had a plan in case our attempts to communicate cause an issue, or if we should “play dumb.”
th’Vrosa: Are our communications compromised in any way? Even something as simple as the- uh, filaments corrupting a signal. ::There’s a puppetry gesture in a bid to mimic strings:: Or an encoding issue where we send something and it turns out horribly wrong.
Their heads turned together to look at Lt. Commander Dewitt. As First Officer, ship’s functions were as much his purview as an Engineering or Operations Officer’s. Ensign th’Vrosa was gathering a lot of information about their situation, and Naxell was eager to see how he intended to put it all together.
Dewitt: Comms have been… creative… this afternoon, Ensign. The nebula blocks several frequency bands, so we have been threading messages through what the Velithari keep open for us.
Valeris: And with the filaments reacting differently to different frequencies, we don’t know if trying to get a message to the away team will cause similar reactions.
Commander Naxell nodded approvingly of their summary. There was a great deal that they didn’t know, but at least they could be satisfied that they were aware of their ignorance. His thoughts returned to their arrival in the Ceram Archipelago, and to the Sheliak and Tholian ships bound up in and floating away from the cloud that would eventually envelop them, as well. Neither species was known for its spontaneity. Their enemy did not eat breakfast without a plan. Then again, he wasn’t sure Tholians ate breakfast at all.
Finally, the new counselor addressed their Security Officer, playing at Tactical.
th’Vrosa: And finally, in your professional opinion, do we have solid evidence as to how dangerous this quagmire is or are we proverbially flying blind?
Morda: There’s a lot we’re still figuring out about the other players and the terrain we’re operating on. We’re just starting to make headway on these filaments that’ve permeated the ship, but we haven’t quite yet regained maneuver, let alone initiative.
Dewitt: We know the room better than we did an hour ago. The largest masses are asleep and not spreading any further. ::pointing up:: Hence the music. We are applying the same technique throughout the ship.
Naxell nodded, again.
Valeris: Thankfully to similar degrees of success. Now we have a lot of tired pasta instead of angry.
Naxell: So, there— ::a brief, confused glance to Valeris:: Nevermind. ::back to th’Vrosa:: There you have it, Ensign. A thorough lay of the land. With all that we don’t know, is there merit to even attempting to put a plan together for the contingent of intercepted communications? Or should we trust in our adaptiveness and creativity?
th’Vrosa: Sir, not only do we need a plan but I propose we implement a plan to cut off any suspicion at the pass.
The Captain’s cheeks pressed up towards his ears in a highly exaggerated smile. Ensign th’Vrosa could have hedged again. But making a recommendation spoke to the counselor’s confidence in his thinking, and his trust in his Captain not to misuse it. It almost didn’t matter to the Denobulan which way th’Vrosa’s conclusion played out, he was gaining a great deal of insight simply from listening to his process.
Dewitt: If we sell a malfunction of the deflector, how would that need to look like?
Valeris: Power fluctuations, rouge signal bands to hide the purposeful ones? ::beat, glancing between the Captain and First Officer. Maybe a little too excited at the thought:: I could blow something up?
Naxell gave Lt. Commander Valeris another glance, this one more concerned than confused. He was used to trigger-happy Tactical Officers. Those were a dime a dozen, and easily managed. Far more dangerous and unpredictable were engineers who liked big booms, and couldn’t lie. The problem with them was that one could never be quite sure whether any innocuous item might have been jury rigged an entire horizon beyond its safety margins. The Captain suddenly found himself apprehensive about touching anything around him.
Morda: Response
Dewitt: How long do you need to implement those changes?
Valeris: In theory, only a few minutes. Maybe reprogramming a couple of EPS junctions, then boom.
The Commander nodded along, digesting the plan. They would begin stressing the ship’s deflector systems ahead of their transmission, and emit a few strays when they did begin to signal the crew. If the signals were intercepted, they could play ignorant, even to the point of actually damaging some subsystems to sell the thing. It made Naxell uneasy, but it was, so far, the best plan he’d heard.
Naxell: Alright, get to work. Ensign Morda, please assist the Commander.
Morda / th’Vrosa: Response
Dewitt: One more contingency, Sir. If the Velithari read our buzz as anything other than the men of this ship being clumsy, it should be me on the comms. She has already accepted my… capabilities.
The Denubulan said nothing, for a moment. He pressed an index finger against his lips, and tapped thoughtfully. Deception was often necessary in first contact situations, especially when it was an unplanned contact without the requisite investigation and observation to confirm suitability. But relationships built upon lies were difficult to maintain.
Valeris: As long as we don’t need to start drooling on ourselves to sell the incompetence.
Naxell: Deception compounded. ::to th’Vrosa:: Do you have an opinion, counselor?
Dewitt / Morda / th’Vrosa: Response
Valeris: ::Tapping at his console:: Modifications underway. We should be ready to malfunction all over the place when we call out.
Naxell raised a hand to indicate his acknowledgment of the Engineer’s report, and then gave Ensign th’Vrosa a nod to continue. The counselor was building towards something, he was sure.
Dewitt / Morda / th’Vrosa: Response
Naxell: I agree. ::to Dewitt:: Number One, this charade needs to end at some point. I don’t know whether we’ve reached that point yet, but we’re going to. And soon I think. That’ll be delicate work.
Valeris / Dewitt / Morda / th’Vrosa: Response
TBC
——— ●●● ———
Commander Nax-Ellarneii-Tellargo
Commanding Officer
USS Khitomer (NCC-62400)
A240001NH3