Back On Board

Posted on 09 Jul 2017 @ 6:29pm by Commodore Harvey Geisler & Lieutenant Danyl Adan & Lieutenant Avery Stuart Ph.D. & Lieutenant JG Felix Langston & Lieutenant JG Catherine Cooper

1,555 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: The Finnean Crisis
Location: USS Black Hawk
Timeline: MD 5 || 1400 hours

The journey back from Deep Space 15 was uneventful, much unlike what the station was experiencing right now. Over a thousand crew members had been released from captivity. Many of whom were still being processed by the Black Hawk's small medical staff before being allowed to return to duty.

Still, the entire situation had left Harvey on edge. Matters still weren't adding up. There were still too many pieces missing to this mystery, and Harvey was nowhere closer to finding the probe than when they'd first begun.

The turbolift ride from the Flight Deck to the bridge was short, and soon Harvey found himself stepping out into his new command center. "Looks like you held us together in one piece, Lieutenant," he greeted the Chief Flight Control Officer whom Harvey had left in command.

"Aye, sir," Langston replied, rising from the chair, "although I'm sure it was a cakewalk compared to what you had to do at Deep Space 15." He motioned to the central seat, "I'm sure you'll be wanting this back."

Aside from being without his bridge for several weeks on his former command, Harvey had indeed never longed more for his chair as he did now. "Thank you, Mister Langston. How was your first round in the chair?"

Felix chuckled and shrugged his shoulders a bit. "Well, Cap," he said, "it wasn't easy. I kinda had to make sure everyone didn't kill everyone else." He scratched the back of his head. "There were a lot of itchy trigger fingers out there."

Despite the tension associated with recent events, Avery couldn't help but smile at Felix's response. "Tell us about it." She'd considered heading straight for sickbay right away to assist with the processing of the hostages, but she decided to stay on the bridge for a few moments just to assess the larger situation herself and just in case she was needed to advise the Captain. Like Harvey, Avery wasn't entirely satisfied with the solution they'd come to and she wasn't sure they had all of the facts. "The ship is still in one piece and so are all of you, so I'd say you did a great job," she added.

Harvey had seen the Dosi and the Ferengi ships as his runabout returned to the Black Hawk. "Looks like you did a good job. You didn't have to sell or buy anything to do it, did you?"

"I may or may not have let them take a couple joyrides in the runabouts," Felix said with a smirk. "The bridge is yours, Captain. Permission to return to the helm?"

"By all means, Lieutenant," Harvey said, sitting down and making himself comfortable. "Have us take up a position between the Rakhari and our new visitors."

"Aye, sir," Felix said as he walked toward the helm station. The relief helmsman silently stood up from the console and backed away as Felix sat down. His hands moved swiftly along the controls as the Black Hawk glided gently through space to take its position between the two opposing parties.

Cooper monitored her systems, pleased they were back at patrol standard for this mission. For a minute there she was sure someone was going to start blasting away. Langston had done a good job in his first command, she filed that information away even as she was pleased at the Captain's return. There may be hope for this situation yet if all the balls in the air settled as nicely but just in case they didn't, she kept a quiet watch.

Harvey's eyes turned to the screen where the Ferengi and Dosi ships sat waiting. This next part for him would be interesting, if not uncomfortable. "Miss Cooper," he said at last, "Status of the Ferengi and Dosi vessels?"

Cat glances at the readouts and does a quick analyses of the ships actions, "They have stood down from combat action but based on an analyses of their recent ship movements, they are trying to loop closer to the planet but carefully with minor course changes in the hopes we won't notice..." She pauses to review something else on her console then continues, "They've also tried to establish a comm link to the planet but have failed...." She was not entirely surprised, there was a reason they were monitoring this lot. Still once she would like to be surprised in a good way.

"Any idea who they're trying to reach?" Harvey asked, looking to his right to face the Lieutenant.

Cooper glanced up from her console, a slight frown on her face, "Unfortunately no, if they try again we may be able to triangulate but as it is the connections for such are too few and too short." She said, her mind currently playing Bach's Contrapunctus 1 from the art of fugue. The complexity and depth of music doing its bit to keep her on point because by giving her overly active mind something else to gnaw on she actually seemed to be able to better focus.

The Captain could only nod in response to the woman at tactical. It was encouraging to know that neither party had tried to force their way down to the planet.

Yet, that is. Harvey had a new task in front of him, and that was making arrangements with the others who had agreements with the Finneans, and, for now, make good on the Rakhari's request to keep the Ferengi and Dosi off of the station.

"Mister Adan," Harvey said, shifting in his seat, "Hail the Ferengi and Dosi."

Lieutenant Adan was glad to see the Captain back and in charge, although he thought Felix did a great job. Quickly, he obeyed the Captain's orders and slid his fingers across the console in front of him to raise both ships.

Captain Geisler looked up at the screen to see the faces of the Dosi and Ferengi captains. "I am Captain Harvey Geisler, commanding the USS Black Hawk."

"I take it that the negotiations went well?" asked the Ferengi Daimon. "Or are you here to join forces with the Rakhari?"

Harvey unsuccessfully fought a frown from appearing on his face. "We are not here to join the Rakhari," he simply replied. "And yes, our talks went well. The Rakhari have agreed to restrict the blockade, and the Selubassari have agreed to allow the Dosi and Ferengi to continue business with their clients."

"That is agreeable," said the Dosi commander.

The Daimon grunted, a passing attempt at an acknowledgement.

"You must also be aware that both the Dosi and the Ferengi are not permitted to do business, much less board, Deep Space Fifteen for the foreseeable future."

"This is an outrage!" shouted the Daimon. "You are indeed puppets of the Rakhari and the Selubassari scum!"

Harvey rose from his chair and held a hand out to caution the Daimon. "It was either this or nothing at all, Daimon. You are free to conduct business with your clients in the appropriate steadings. Access to the station will come in time--"

"Hoo-mons..." snarled the Daimon. "You lack the lobes for business." Immediately, the Ferengi's channel closed, leaving the Dosi Commander behind.

"Does the treaty that the Dominion and Starfleet share mean anything to you, Captain?" asked the Dosi commander. "We want access to the station."

"In time, Commander," Harvey replied. "I assure you it will happen." Harvey didn't go into the details in regards to the mess that the Consortium caused that created this whole debacle. Perhaps another time, or when it was more appropriate.

"Very well," the Dosi woman declared in a cold tone. "Access to the planet is appreciated."

The screen then immediately cut out, leaving the crew to watch both ships turn towards the planet. Harvey lowered his head and sighed. At least that portion of business was over with, and now they were free to take care of what they needed to. "Mister Langston, contact the T'Pol and the Chanett. Have both ships take up an geosynchronous orbit around Finnea Prime, both above the Selubassari steadings. When that's done, let's flank Deep Space Fifteen. Until the Vasco da Gama can leave port, I don't want to leave the station or the da Gama unguarded."

"Aye, sir," Langston replied as he went to work relaying orders to the other ships in the area. He swiped his hand over the console and the Black Hawk immediately began gliding towards its position nearby Deep Space 15. Langston kept his eyes fixed ahead, focusing on the task at hand.

Avery hoped Harvey would be proven right and access to the planet would be granted eventually, but she wasn't so sure. Technically, the Captain had not lied as long as there was hope for that eventuality. "With your permission, sir, I'll head to sick bay and assist with the processing of the hostages. Thank you for the opportunity to assist and help make sense of all of these relationships. Please let me know if I can be of further assistance."

Harvey nodded to the Counselor before returning his attention to the viewscreen before returning to the command chair. There was still too much that wasn't adding up. Hopefully the other teams were having more success. As soon as everyone was back, he intended to meet with them. Until then, all they could do was watch and wait.

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