Lt. Cmdr. Alora DeVeau - "Strange Signals"

[Amanda Nordstrom]

((XO’s office, Starbase 118 Ops))


Alora was exhausted.

In the week since the return from the Terra Prime mission, she had felt
it more than usual.  It was almost a bone aching weariness that drew a
veil over her every moment of the day, only to suddenly take the
forefront with little warning at the most inconvenient times.  Alora
found herself taking naps, something she had rarely done since she was
two.  She was grateful for shore leave, which allowed her more
flexibility for that sort of thing.

Fatigue or not, she still had work to do, even during shore leave, so
she occupied her office often enough.  Yet, there were other matters she
had to attend to.  In his weekly call with her, Ryzek had noted how
tired she looked, but who wouldn’t be after dealing with all that had
happened?  Once their meeting ended, Alora would have loved to do
nothing more than take a nap right then and there, but she’d already put
off the next to-do item on her list, and so she elected to take care of
that first.  That meant making more calls.  Tapping the combadge, she
opened a channel.

DeVeau: =/\=DeVeau to Blackwell, Renot, and Sera.=/\=

Blackwell/Renot/Sera: =/\=?

DeVeau: =/\=Please report to my office.=/\=

Blackwell/Renot/Sera: =/\=?

Alora wouldn’t go into details there and wouldn’t bother til they
arrived.  Normally, she probably would have made her words sound less
ominous, but the fog in her brain refused to concern itself with nuances
and instead, she turned to the report on her desk.

She didn’t have to wait long, for the officers had come quickly.
Unfortunately, by that point, she was already fading, and when the doors
opened to allow them entry, Alora’s eyes stared at the PADD in her hand,
her head resting upon her hand, elbow propped against her desk, but she
wasn’t really *reading*.  She was just sort of staring.  Their arrival
forced her to perk up a little, and she raised her head and managed a
small smile before motioning to the two chairs available.  Oh yeah…two. 
Not three.  Hm.

DeVeau: Oh…sorry about that.  I don’t usually have more than a couple of
people here.

Rising, Alora gathered other PADDS that lay on her desk before she
circled to the other side and motioned for the trio to join her.

DeVeau: Egil, if you’ll pull a chair over.

Stepping off to the side, she approached an L-shaped sofa that
comfortably sat three people.  Lowering herself onto one section, she
waited for the other officers to settle down before she handed out a
PADD to each of them.  If she didn’t have company, Alora likely would
have stretched out and just taken a nap right then and there, but it was
not the time.  Maybe after they left.  Then she could set a timer and
rest just for a few minutes.

Blackwell/Renot/Sera: ?

DeVeau: Ops picked up an interesting signal in the communications center
this morning.  Now, there’s nothing that indicates anything malicious or
dangerous, but encoded in it is a verbal message, but in an unknown
language.

That was highly unusual.  While space was vast, and not every inch was
explored, no one expected to get some sort of signal like that.  So
curiosity was piqued, and people wanted to know the answers.

Blackwell/Renot/Sera: ?

DeVeau: That’s a very good question.  We don’t know.  Supposedly, the
universal translator *should* be able to decode it, but for some reason,
it can’t seem to do so.  So, I’m assigning you three to this.  We’re
wondering if the universal translator might need some adjustments to
crack whatever this is.

It was not a high priority, as it didn’t seem urgent, but it was a
curiosity.  Since Starfleet’s main goal was to seek and find out, to
discover and learn, this was an opportunity to do so.

DeVeau: I know it’s shore leave, but I’m hoping you’ll all be up to the
task.

Blackwell/Renot/Sera: ?


--
Lt. Cmdr. Alora DeVeau
First Officer
Starbase 118 Ops
al...@blar.net
M239008AD0