Station #54: There and Back Again

Posted on Sun Nov 10th, 2024 @ 10:52pm by Captain Tore Bjorgo & Lieutenant Commander Billi & Lieutenant Sheyla {MD} & Lieutenant Griffon Resch "Nazgul" & Lieutenant Ainkara "Kara" & Penni {P.E.N.N.I.}

Mission: FINAL JUDGEMENT
Location: USS NAZGUL
Timeline: Current

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The USS Nazgul had intercepted Delta One, dropping from warp and holding position while Lieutenant Kara piloted her craft and landed in shuttlebay 1. Once word was given that the small craft had landed Bjorgo got to his feet.

"Number One, Resch, Sheyla, you're with me." Tore ordered. "Mister Loewen, you have the conn. Get us headed back to M-69, warp eight." Walking to the lift, Bjorgo entered with his entourage, ordering the turbolift to the shuttlebay deck while Sean took the center seat.

***

On Delta One, Kara went through post-flight and shut all systems down while Penni stood over her shoulder and watched everything she did. Of course, being who she was, Penni recorded it all to her memory core. Not out of malice but simply due to the fact that she was a learning computer with a practically endless supply of storage for the little things in life. Kara stood up and looked at her guest. "Penni, the Captain will be coming down to greet us. Standard procedure. I need you to remain behind me and to be respectful. He is the commanding officer for this starship and that makes him the top officer. For example, a lord who overseas his own realm. Do you understand?"

Penni gave a nod, her eyes showing a bit of fear, her hands coming up and holding each other just below her breast bone on her torso. She looked like a teenager getting ready to face off with angry parents.

"It will be okay," said Kara reassuringly. "Try to remain quiet until I can introduce you properly." She got another nod of understanding from Penni, then led her into the back of the ship. Going to the hatch release Kara tapped the open key, the hatch folding out and down to form a ramp, with Kara descending once it had reached a flat plane as it continued to fold down. Penni got in right behind her, no more than a pace back, trying to make herself as small as possible as she used Kara as a visual block. Her eyes darted all over the shuttle bay, and if not for the situation, she would have been completely excited to see it all. But, Kara had said the mean man in charge would be judgmental so she did as Kara had asked. That was when her brain and eyes began to note the entire room in a tactical way. Cover, things to leap on and from, anything that could be used as a weapon, all of that.

Getting onto to Nazgul deck plates and moving forward a pace, Kara came to a stop with the other four officers standing before her. The Captain the point of a triangle as Sheyla stood next to his left shoulder and Billi on the right. Resch was alone, seemingly aloof, standing a pace to Sheyla's left, his eyes more on the figure behind Kara than on the Lieutenant herself.

Penni, her curiosity stronger than her anxiety, craned her neck to peek over Kara's left shoulder and around the back of her neck, taking in the other four. They were all healthy looking specimens, and her eyes widened a bit at the sight of the green skin and the blue skin, with the blue-skinned being having waving antenna. Was she some kind of insectoid, she thought to herself. Penni noted that their eyes were mainly on Kara, but did go back and forth between Kara and herself, so she chose to duck back behind Kara and remain hidden as she listened.

"Good to see you, Lieutenant Kara." Bjorgo said, smiling at the sight of his officer safe and sound.

"You too, Captain." Responded Kara, noting Tore's eyes glancing passed her to the being behind her, as did everyone else's. "Good to be back, and see all of you."

Billi, not trying to be harsh but wanting to move things along, chinned behind Kara. "Is that the positronic being?"

"Yes, Commander," answered Kara. She felt a slight pull to the back of her shirt at the lumbar region and could only surmise that Penni had took hold of it as a form of security blanket. "She is anxious and afraid, not knowing much about the galaxy. Like I was when first awakened."

Sheyla was the next to speak. "You did let her know we are not here to hurt her, correct?"

Before Kara could respond, Resch spoke up. "Is she armed?"

Kara decided to answer in order. "Penni has been told you mean her no harm, but actions do speak louder than words." Her eyes shifted to Griffon. "As for weapons, she is not armed in the conventional sense."

As Resch went to ask what that meant, Bjorgo cut him off. "Not now, Griffon. As Starfleet, diplomacy first, remember?" He looked over at his Security Chief and received a nod before his eyes went back to Kara. "Her name is Penny?" BJorgo asked. "Good to know. Shall we begin introductions?"

"Yes, Sir," said Kara. "Penni, with an 'I', Captain. It is, as she says, her designation and I have yet to ask her what exactly it designates. A moment, please." Kara moved her right hand behind her back, fondling Penni's hand that held her shirt tail until she grasped it and allowed herself to be led around to Kara's right side, standing in front of the strangers. "Everyone, this is Penni."

Penni kept her shoulders slumped as if she was trying to look as small as possible under the multiple gazes, which were all staring at her like she had something on her face. It was disconcerting. Try as she might, Penni could not keep her eyes from wandering back to the blue woman with insect parts. Maybe she was an automaton, as well. Penni kept a good grip on Kara's hand for security, which tightened slightly as the Captain person came closer and extended his hand for a handshake. Penni got in closer to Kara's right side, trying to use the Voran's right arm as a form of protection like any child would with a parent.

"No need to be afraid, Penni." Bjorgo said with a calm, friendly tone backed by a smile as he kept his arm extended. "We mean you no harm. I'm Captain Tore Bjorgo, commander of this vessel. These are my officers." He pointed them out and introduced them one at a time. He noted that Penni kept her eyes mainly on Sheyla with an expression in her eyes that showed the utmost curiosity. "I wish to welcome you aboard the USS Nazgul, a Starfleet vessel in service to the United Federation of Planets."

As he said that Penni had a slight fuzzy glitch flash through her memory core and her vision, everything going red for those brief moments like one would see with a black and white change to scenery in a color video. To prevent the others from knowing about it, she remained collected and pushed it away. She could recall later to see what the problem had been. "Kara spoke of Starfleet. Your paramilitary organization you think of as a peace keeping armada when, in fact, it is a military."

Billi giggled and smiled. "She's not wrong."

Penni finally shook the Captain's hand, finding the man to not be mean, nor overbearing. Kara had never said those words directly, but Penni had formed her own thoughts by the way Kara had spoken about him being a lord. Her brain gave her the right words to say. "A...pleasure, Captain Tore Bjorgo. I am Penni, Unit-001." The others came in, even Resch, and shook hands. Kara stood and waited for them to finish, understanding the newness of the situation for them, as it had been for her. "I am hungry, can we eat?"

Everyone grinned at that, the bot-girl changing subjects with little regard to propriety.

Kara got her hand separated from Penni's and side-stepped to normal spacing now that any threat Penni felt had been eased by the introductions. She put her hand on Penni's shoulder. "We'll get some dinner. As I said, you can stay in my quarters since I need a shower and a change of clothes, anyway. The replicator will provide you with meals."

Bjorgo gave nods to that, still observing Penni, trying to decide how to proceed fully. "Alright, Kara. You need time to re-align. Take Penni with you, get her fed, and clean up. We'll talk later. Carry on."

"Come on," said Kara, putting her hand on Penni's back and getting her moving. They went to the bay exit and departed the compartment.

Tore looked at Resch. "Griff, post two sentries outside Kara's quarters, phasers on heavy stun. Hopefully, if Penni misbehaves, stun will be effective."

"Aye, Sir. Thank you for reading my mind. She seems innocent enough but something is gnawing at my gut." Resch admitted. "She seems...I don't know, too nice?"

Billi seemed to agree. "I can't help but think the same thing. Hopefully, we'll be proven wrong. But, until then..." She let it trail off.

"Until then we keep our wits about us," Sheyla added. "I could read her with my antenna, but it was all the power within her, the energy signature. Other than that she's a cold fish."

"If anyone knows about cold, Sheyla, it's you," quipped Bjorgo, continuing before she could respond. "She is a curiosity, for sure. I feel it too. Let's be nice and polite but also aware. Let's get back to the Bridge." The entourage departed the shuttle bay.

Kara and Penni walked through the corridors, and the Voran woman could not help but grin as she saw Panni's eyes go wide in wonder and surprise. Everything technological got a double-take as they passed, Penni commenting over and over again how amazing it all was. People passed by them in the corridors, many staring and straining their necks to follow her form as the duet kept walking. Some even came to a stop and watched until they disappeared either around a corner or around a bend. Arriving at Kara's quarters they went inside. The Lieutenant immediately showed Penni how to operate the replicator, setting the Security safeties on it so that only food and utensils could be made, and then explained she was going to bathe. Leaving her guest to her culinary delights, Kara went to her bed area to dress down to her bath robe and head for the shower.

***

Several hours later the USS Nazgul arrived back at M-69, sliding into a holding pattern and setting the auto-pilot to maintain course and speed. Bjorgo announced that shore leave was available via transporter, but only during off-duty hours for all personnel. Tore had plans to go over and visit Captain Green, and to take Sheyla on a real dinner date.

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