Waking to the low chime of her communicator Vai scrunched her eyes, and turned over pulling her pillow in closer to bury her face in it. Her short hair was tussled all about, and parted way around her pointed ears. With the third round of chimes the sound became louder. She grumbled and reached over to answer.
"Captain Page, you are needed back at headquarters."
"Admiral Muchara. What's the occasion." She responded rather casually, trying her best to not sound as though she just woke up.
"We have a assignment for you."
"Oh…?" She was in the midst of collecting her clothes from about the room. A room she was unsure how she got there. Running her fingers through her hair, she scanned the room for her dress uniform jacket. "Local or distant?"
"Distant. Quite distant."
"I'm listening." She responded, as she gently lifted the covers from her still sleeping Denobulan guest, and retrieved her jacket.
"Its sensitive information. Just hurry to headquarters."
"I'll be there soon." She responded quickly as she closed her communicator. Scanning her communicator at the small table next to the door of the hotel room, she left instructions to make any charges to her name, and that her guest may be a asleep for some time. She cracked a slight smile at the thought that last night's activity may have brought about an early hibernation for him. Rummaging through a few of what she believed to be his items, she found his communicator. Flicking over the back micro panel, a small view screen projected his identification. "Lieutenant Threpp, nice to meet you." She returned his things in a neat pile, and quietly left the room.
A little less than an hour later she was walking down the hallway at Starfleet headquarters. She had changed into a fresh new casual uniform. She was pleased with the new look, and that they finally accommodated to her half Vulcan needs for more insulation. Coming up to the conference room she spotted Admiral Muchara, and Admiral 4 of 7 discussing something over a projected screen from his arm.
"Ah, Captain Page, thank you for coming so quickly. We are only waiting on one more-"
Behind Vai a tall Trill male walked in, nearly bumping into her.
"Commander Ten. Perfect. We can begin at once."
Vai raised a brow at his name, but on seeing his neck she spotted a input port on the side of his neck.
Vai took a seat across from Ten, and looked up toward the main screen as Muchara motioned for all the windows of the conference room to drop down filtered screens. Seeing that she even flicked the sound dampeners Vai raised her brow yet again.
4 of 7 stood up, and plugged into the main podium with his arm. "As you are well aware there are still reports of rogue Borg present within the four quadrants. These have been dealt with accordingly. However,recent scout ships within the Gamma quadrant have spotted two cube vessels."
Vai inched forward in her seat and looked intently at the map 4 of 7 had up. The sites they had tracked the ships was a sector of open space with no real outstanding markers. The only near point to them was Meridian.
"On further scans we discovered this." 4 of 7 switched to a carrier probe feed. The probe captured a bright flash, a Borg cube slipping through the flash, then the probe lost connection. "Three separate ships went to recover the probe. The first two Starfleet ships were irreparably damaged, and the third Borg ship barely made it back."
All Starfleet members looked at the screen with shock at the damage of the Borg ship that returned. Borg ships were tough, and for one to receive that much damage from empty space did not make sense.
"What we discovered from our analysis of the footage was an unstable wormhole." The feed from the initial probe was slowed down, and on repeat on the main screen. "We have made attempts to study it, but it has only yielded sporadic and mostly inclusive data."
"The Borg ship that passed through the terminus seems to have some unknown modifications." Ten chimed in, as he brought up some images of the ship on his table screen.
"Correct. We have recently recovered a militant ship in the Beta quadrant that had similar modifications, and retrofitted them to probes. This is what we recovered."
On the screen footage of the probe entering the terminus, bright blue and white light filled the screen, then a violent jump into open space.
"What we are looking at here is the Andromeda galaxy. 4 of 7 continued."
Vai took in a deep breath of wonder, and then quickly began flicking through her charts on her table table screen. "What is its rate of decay?"
"That is where we were pleased to find the initial finding incorrect." Muchara answered with subdued excitement, the wormhole seems to be gaining stability with each cycle. Though there are issues with terminus entry, and most common probe materials used for research."
4 of 7 brought up some new images.
"Through our new alliance we have come together to build a ship that can withstand the terminus, and easily return with no damage." Muchara said pointing to the new ship.
It was a stunning new design, reminiscent of a Defiant class and trident class, but that was about as close as it came to familiarity.
"This is where you come in Captain Page. For the past year we have recorded several jumps of Militant Borg. We are sending you in the new prototype ship USS Argo, to investigate the activities of the Militant Borg, and to insert the 3-5 virus into any ships you come across. Your First Officer will be Commander Ten, and you will have to assign the rest of your limited crew within the next two weeks. Your crew will assemble at DS9, and will be shuttled through to our spacedock within the Gamma quadrant."
Vai showed little concern, considering the weight of this mission. She caught a quick glance of Ten across the table, but did not show any sign of disagreement with Admiral Muchara's decision.
"I am sending you further debriefing files, though I do have a feeling I know that you may wish to rush to your potential science officer. You will possibly need the most time for her." Muchara said with a raised brow.
Vai was looking at the files on her screen. She shook her head at the suggested officer. "I believe you may be right." She scooted her chair back and offered her hand to shake for both Muchara and 4 of 7. "Commander Ten, with me" she ordered after she shook his hand.
As they exited the conference room Ten almost stood a good four inches taller than Vai, though she had such an air of confidence that his height meant nothing. She passively flicked through some files from her pad, and waved to passing officers. Tapping her communicator she arranged for a personal transport vessel. Ten, following closely behind her cocked his head with this arrangement. Vai, not missing this, causally added "with Lal its best to catch her off guard."
Ten gave her a wide eyed look, and slowed his pace. Lal was a bit of an enigma. She had high marks with the academy, but unlike her father, kept to herself, and tended to turn down any assignments that had to do with being part of a crew.
"I was one of the few that worked with her on starbase 173, and she seemed to tolerate me quite well." Vai said, as she entered the elevator. "Dock level," she ordered. "We will be departing immediately, is there anything you require from your lodgings?"
"I can have it sent to DS9."
"Good. I'll be doing the same."
Within the next three hour period they collected any last bit of debriefing material needed for the potential crew candidates, and were departing spacedock on course for a research freighter vessel in the outskirts of the Beta Quadrant.
Vai sat at the helm, the autopilot was initiated, but she was busy looking over the data of their destination. The silence of her newly appointed first officer was starting to get to her. Though from the few conversations she was able to successfully initiate, they were dry and professional. Feeling the exhaustion hit her from the previous night's lack of sleep, she glanced over her padd once more. Shaking her head she knew that however much she prepared for her meeting with Lal it was a 50/50 chance.
"Okay… I think I will get some rest. You have the helm Commander."
"Captain… may I ask you something?"
Via looked over to him. He looked a little troubled, and perhaps had prepared his query for some time now.
"Sure. What is it?"
"Captains get the luxury of picking their first officer. Why did you accept this arrangement?"
She smiled at this, something that looked so utterly contradictory for half her species. "I lost a bet in a card game against Muchara back when I was her First Officer."
Ten looked utterly dumbfounded at this response.
Via was pleased by this, and decided to leave it for now. She gave him a firm pat on the shoulder and told him, "you have the helm Commander," and continued to the back bunks to get some rest.
Though her first officer may have been having some serious issues with her answer, she trusted Admiral Muchara. Vai had heard of Ten from other captains he had served under, and she almost read over his file twice now. The only red flag to her were his three commissions under four separate captains in just the last two years. There were no reports explaining the jumps. But it defiantly stood out.
Laying back in her bunk she closed her padd, and laid it on her chest. Taking in a deep breath she yawned. She was looking forward to her nap.