Flt. Capt. Karrod Niac - Subspace Tea Leaves

[Karrod Niac]

((Ready Room, Deck 3, USS Ronin))

The screen on his desk terminal blinked off and Karrod pinched the bridge of his nose, the beginnings of a headache already forming behind his eyes.  Divining the intent of Starfleet Command from subspace communiques was always a bit hit or miss but this last one had hit the trifecta of problematic indicators, the first two being extreme urgency & absolute secrecy. The third and most alarming wasn't even in the message itself but was instead buried in the headers, a bit of innocuous routing information that said more than a thousand missives from the Admiralty.  

Their orders, by way of Starfleet Command, had been copied to several other groups at the same time it was transmitted to the Ronin.  One, Starfleet Astrobiology, was unusual but that in and of itself wasn't all that concerning.  The second and far more hair raising addition was Starfleet Intelligence.  With a security classification that was usually reserved for highly sensitive strategic information.    

His beard had begun to itch before he'd even made it past the first paragraph.  

Allowing himself a final huff before shaking his head at the darkened screen he reached for his comm badge.  

Niac:  =/\= Niac to Raga.  Commander, sound the general recall, we need to break orbit as soon as possible. =/\=

Raga:  =/\= Response =/\=

Glancing back at his desk terminal before responding Karrod tried to keep the irritation out of his voice.  

Niac: =/\= Everyone is on need to know until we're briefed by two specialists Starfleet has already dispatched.  Once the crew is aboard we need to intercept the USS Goodall...I'm sending their current position to the helm right now...we're supposed to get more information once we connect with them. =/\=

Raga:  =/\= Response =/\=

Karrod ground his teeth together in frustration but the orders he'd received left them zero leeway.  The intercept would be tight as it was.  

Niac: =/\= Unfortunately there's no time for our traditional gathering.  I'll make an announcement to the crew after we get underway and meet with a few of them in person...but we'll have to do it on the fly.  How long until we can get all our people off the planet? =/\=

Raga:  =/\= Response =/\=

He did some quick mental math and glanced again at his darkened desk terminal.  

Niac: =/\= Tell them to skip the souvenir shop.  And advise Chief Tucker we're going to maximum warp as soon as we break orbit.  Hope you enjoyed our little vacation while it lasted Toryn.  Advise me the minute the last groups are back aboard. =/\=

Raga: =/\= Response =/\=

As the commline closed Karrod stood and crossed to the viewports in his office, the view of Lolagi IV below shimmering along the terminator as the sun set behind the planet.  He'd only gotten a chance to visit briefly but from what scuttlebutt had made it up to him, the crew had enjoyed themselves...even the ones who'd been briefly detained.  He had to hope it had been enough...because he suspected that whatever Starfleet had in store for them it would be anything but easy.  The itch in his beard deepened as he scowled out the viewport towards whatever it was that had Command so worked up.  

He trusted the ship.  He trusted the crew.  What he didn't trust were vague orders which contained words like 'imminent threat to the Federation.'  His jaw tightened as he tried to make the stars give up their secrets.  

The cosmos did not oblige.  

[Tags/TBC]

((OOC:  Alright folks start wrapping up those shoreleave scenes - we'll be kicking the mission into gear over the next few days and will do a modified version of our awards ceremony as we go!  Keep an eye out for a prologue from our visiting simmers!))

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Fleet Captain Karrod Niac
Commanding Officer
USS Ronin - NCC-34523
V239509GT0