Nearly an hour had passed since they disembarked.
From where he stood near the entrance to the command center, Master Chief Petty Officer Colin Mackenzie shifted slightly. It was his usual position during these sorts of meetings, selected not out of any sort of discomfort around the senior officers, but because it gave him a clear view of the entire bridge staff. It also enabled him to be the first one out of the command center once the briefing was complete so he could begin disseminating the information his enlisted crewmembers needed.
As he glanced over the assembled officers, Mac wasn't particularly surprised to see Hess standing next to Lieutenant Commander Eisler. If he didn't know better, the master chief would believe some of the wilder rumors that were circulating around the ship about the two sharing a bed. Off duty, they would inevitably be found together, whether it was in the mess hall or the gym. Hess had even dragged the TAC to a movie night some weeks back to watch a recent Hollywood action adventure. It had been quite amusing to hear Eisler's contemptuous recitation of the many errors made by the ostensible hero of the piece once the movie had ended.
The new flight operations officer stood slightly apart from the other officers, emphasizing the fact that she hadn't fully integrated herself into the command structure yet. Under normal circumstances, Mac would consider Lieutenant Selina Mayweather an attractive woman, but her perpetual scowl and standoffish behavior made it difficult to recognize her as such. From his admittedly brief interactions with the new helmsman, the master chief had learned that she was one of the many Boomers who had joined Starfleet following the disaster at Thor's Cradle. Unlike most of them, however, she had not actually been at the Cradle.
Thoughts of the Cradle immediately brought to mind Allison, and Mac bit back the ever-present anger and despair that accompanied those memories. There were so many things that he wished he had done differently, so many things he wished he had said to her before she died. He had once heard that regret was useless, but found that it was slowly eating him up inside. A part of him was worried that the bottle of Beefeater Gin in his cabin was becoming a crutch for dealing with his problems, but it was a very small part. He had everything under control.
Lieutenant Commander Sato was standing next to T'Pol as the first officer manipulated the controls of the master display. It was an indication of how much the Vulcan trusted the lieutenant commander that T'Pol allowed Sato to stand quite as close as she did. Since he had been assigned to Endeavour, Mac had learned that the Vulcan had a distinct sense of personal space; he had seen her allow only three people to violate that space – the captain, Phlox, and Admiral Archer. It was understandable that Sato was allowed into that select group, of course, given her history with the commander.
"What do we have, T'Pol?" the captain asked as he entered the command center, late for the briefing as usual. As Tucker took his place by the Vulcan's side, there was no indication that they were more than officers and friends, although Mac knew better. Like most officers, Commander Hess had seemed to assume that when she ordered the three crewmen who had helped her install the door linking the captain's cabin to the XO's to be discreet, she would be obeyed without question, as if those instructions were being issued on stone tablets by God himself. Within ten minutes of the work being completed, however, Mac was aware of the installation.
Consulting him was an act of self-defense by the three crewmen; in the event that the captain and first officer were disciplined by Starfleet Command for their discreet relationship, punishment would also likely be meted out to any members of Endeavour's crew who facilitated that very relationship. After making sure that there was no mention of the identities of the three, Mackenzie had repeated Hess' order for them to keep their mouths shut.
Unlike the chief engineer, however, when the COB made a decree, wise crewmen obeyed.
"Starfleet's initial analysis was inaccurate," the Vulcan commander replied as she manipulated the controls on the master display. "I have reviewed their scans and determined that the mass displacement is not sufficient for a Romulan warbird."
"So is it a bird of prey or one of the warp-capable drones?" Tucker's hands went behind his back where he clasped them together in a stance that was eerily similar to the T'Pol's posture. Out of the corner of his eye, Mac saw Lieutenant Commander Sato-Reed hide a smile for some reason.
"Warp-capable drones?" Lieutenant Commander Eisler interjected before the Vulcan could reply, causing the captain to give him a nod.
"The Romulans deployed one a couple of years ago," Tucker stated flatly. "They were using an abducted telepath to control it."
"I have not detected any indication that a telepresence unit is being used," T'Pol declared. She gestured briefly to the system overview on the master display. "The target's impulse wake vanishes at this point, approximately seven hundred twenty-three thousand, two hundred forty-one kilometers from Neptune."
"Approximately, huh?" The captain gave his first officer an amused look that she returned without expression.
"Yes." T'Pol input an additional command into the computer; instantly, the location of every Starfleet ship and sensor buoy appeared on the solar system overview. "I am coordinating active sensor sweeps with the ships listed here, but the target has not yet reappeared on any of our scans."
"So," Commander Hess guessed, "it's on a reconnaissance mission?"
"Not necessarily," Eisler replied. "He's running silent, so it could be a stealth attack mission, like a ballistic submarine from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries."
"It's not a submarine," Hess retorted immediately.
"But the analogy is still apt," the tactical officer argued.
"It is illogical to speculate on this craft's mission without additional data," T'Pol pointed out abruptly, apparently tiring of the discussion. She returned her attention to the captain. "With your permission, I would like Lieutenant Commander Sato to assist me in tracking the target."
"Granted." Tucker gave the mentioned officer a slightly amused look. "Bet you've missed this sort of thing."
"Not really, sir," Sato replied with a smile. "I was getting used to having afternoons off." The captain almost laughed before quickly sobering.
"Coordinate your departments with T'Pol," he ordered. "Rick, I want weapons standing by for immediate action." The tactical officer nodded. "Anna, we may need warp speed on very short notice."
"On it," the chief engineer replied.
"I'll need you," Tucker said to Lieutenant Mayweather, "at the helm. If you're half as good as Travis said you were, then we're going to need your touch."
"Aye, sir," Mayweather responded stiffly.
"When we encounter the Grendel, what is the objective, sir?" Eisler asked. "Are we wasting our time trying to disable it, or-"
"What the hell is a Grendel?" Hess interrupted, frowning at the unfamiliar term.
"During the early parts of the Eugenics Wars," Mac offered softly, "European military forces called an unidentified hostile in friendly waters with an unknown intent a Grendel." He spoke only as a reminder that he was present; from the reactions of both Hess and Mayweather, they had forgotten he was there. He suspected that the ability to be almost invisible in staff briefings like this was one of the reasons Lieutenant Hayes had recruited him for Intelligence.
"It's from the poem Beowulf," Eisler elaborated. Commander Hess smiled.
"I didn't know you could read, Rick," she smirked.
"Starfleet Command," Captain Tucker announced, speaking slightly louder than normal in what was clearly an attempt to focus his chief engineer's attention away from harassing Commander Eisler, "has issued a shoot on sight order. Unless they're here to defect, we don't care why they're in the system." He frowned. "If there's nothing else, then brief your departments." Tucker gave them a nod. "Dismissed."
As Mac turned toward the door, the master display abruptly began beeping rapidly, drawing everyone's attention. Mac froze, hand poised above the door release, and glanced back. T'Pol's fingers were flying over the controls, inputting commands with a quickness that was nothing short of astonishing.
"What is it?" the captain asked. The Vulcan raised an eyebrow as she responded.
"I am detecting an impulse wake," she said. The image on the screen flashed as she highlighted the location of the newly located target. According to the sensors, it was nearly an astronomical unit away.
"Battle stations," Tucker declared, turning away from the screen. Mac pressed the release, and the door slid open without a sound.