Posted by Gamemaster Conspiracy Theorist (Weaver of Webs) in Meanwhile… on the Station (for those awaiting the ship)

Posted by Lieutenant Ky’Laria (Scientist) in Meanwhile… on the Station (for those awaiting the ship)

Posted by Ensign Karina Niles (Doctor) in Meanwhile… on the Station (for those awaiting the ship)

Ky’Laria, undaunted, glanced at Karina, then back into the room as she stepped forward to enter it. Why would one keep their office, or any meeting place, so dimly lit?

Karina ran her hands down her tunic and stepped in with Ky. Her voice raised in curiosity. “Forgive me, Sir. But I didn’t mean to intrude upon you. I had asked for a meeting with you tomorrow to inquire about my ship.” She didn’t admit that when she had run into Ky, this was exactly where she had been heading to begin with. No point in muddling points, now, since she had an appointment set.

Ensign Karina Niles
Doctor

“Forgive my misleading state of dress,” Ky’Laria offered after a moment. “I’ve accepted a posting to the Athena, on loan from my homeland,” she stated. She wasn’t one to waste time in meetings such as this, and she knew that a person in the station commander’s position was likely to share her outlook. There was no reason to divulge excess detail unless it was requested.

-Lt. Ky’Laria (Sci)

A tall man with piercing green eyes and silver hair motioned for them both to sit on a nearby couch and he hurriedly shut the door. His voice rumbled from somewhere deep in his chest as he harrumphed slightly. “You two are a godsend so please don’t be apologizing”.

Ky’Laria gave a small, tilting nod as she managed to successfully suppress a smirk; she usually had to interact with someone a bit more before they started describing her that glowingly. “Thank you, Commander,” she replied in a pleasing tone, noting the state of wear of the couch and the fact that it would only just about fit herself and the Ensign without quite becoming ‘cozy.’ Ever the diplomat - when it was called for - she floated gracefully down into the seat. Her suit creaked slightly against her body as she crossed one knee over the other, and she lifted her arm to the side and set it across the back of the couch. It served to open up slightly more space Karina to sit.

He sat on an old office chair surveying the dank interior of the room. “Names Andrew, Andrew Stone. Normally I abhor cloak and dagger but needs must… you see, we seem to have lost your ship and I was wondering if you could help us find it?”

Junior Gamemaster Conspiracy Theorist as Base Commander Andrew Stone

Ky’Laria’s careful consideration was interrupted by Karina’s youthful impatience, before she could speak.

Karina’s hand actually rose to her mouth as she bit her lip to chop off a laugh of disbelief. She look at him and dropped her hand, the mirth gone from her features. “With all due respect, Sir… she’s been gone a couple days. When I couldn’t find her upon my return, I spoke to Station Keeper her made an inquery and informed me that the Athena was not in close space.”

This time the slight shake of her head was one of helplessness. She looked down at her clasped hands. She took a deep breath to try and dampen down the fear that threatened to choke off her voice. Looking back up at the Commander, she managed to get the final words out. The strain evident in her voice. “I’ve been out two, maybe three days now,” she had lost track of time, “several times a day. I have covered nearly every quadrant radiating from the station. I cannot find her. Commander… she is gone. And I am not sure how we can help further.”

Whether it was because he truly hadn’t known till now, or if in investigating the person behind the request for audience tomorrow he realized he had held it from her from too long, Rin didn’t care. He knew, he was talking to her. Now she needed to know the next step.

Karina
Doctor

The gentleman took out a pair of ancient horn-rimmed glasses and carefully unfolded them before perching them on his nose. “Snippy one, ain’t you. Asking for your help now doesn’t presuppose that you haven’t been looking… but you’ve been looking in the wrong way, which is why what is need to know is about to become what you’re about to know. Don’t take my asking as an excuse to look at me like I’m some doddering old fool, whippersnapper, this is a matter of some urgency”.

“Apologies..” Karina nodded realizing she was walking the blade’s edge of insubordination with her obstinance.

The crest of spots over Ky’Laria’s right eye rose slightly. This man certainly had a way with words; specifically, using too many of them to convey his point. While she was no stranger to the art of speechcraft, it struck her that ‘a matter of some urgency’ was not the ideal time to employ it.

“You spoke of ‘cloak and dagger,’ Commander,” Ky’Laria opined in a strong tone. The easy confidence in her posture could make one wonder whose office they were in, were the centrally located Commander’s desk not obvious. “I fail to see why, at this time. Everyone outside this office seems to be working under added stress,” she explained, understanding that Stone would think it ‘just a hunch.’ “Is the ship’s disappearance actually controlled knowledge?”

-Lt. Ky’Laria (Sci) as Sqn Subadm. Ky’Laria (Alien Fleet Brass)

“A good question if a little rudely put… but I don’t have time to play so let’s move on” he pushed the glasses back up his nose slightly and continued, “The Athena didn’t just disappear, she was set up. Our investigators dug out a blank spot in our comm recordings, painstakingly put together from shadow data left as magnetic impressions on the wiped disk. Seems someone sent them off to investigate specific coordinates and used the previous base commander’s codes to do it. That’s why they called me in and that’s why I need your help, we’ve been compromised and I need some low-level help that won’t get the notice of the up and ups higher, Hence the need for the clandestine cloak and dagger and not being seen doing it. You up for that or do I need to go looking for the others joining the team?”

Junior Gamemaster Conspiracy Theorist as Base Commander Andrew Stone

Excessive word count notwithstanding, Ky’Laria suspended her annoyance and replaced it with intrigue. There was always room in the Kuras’ lively heart for a good, nefarious plot to unravel. Making her best attempt at a nod of deference, she smiled thinly and said, “I come from a… blunt, culture, Commander. Do not take it to heart.”

Well, that certainly answered some questions in the doctor’s mind. “So they were taken… there is no need to worry, Sir. I’m certainly capable and more than willing to help. Cloak and dagger aside, I don’t take kindly to people absconding with Federation personnel. And certainly not with my crew!” Her hackles had been raised and her determination to stop the universe in search of the Athena was evident as she straightened up on the edge of the couch in anticipation of her orders. It didn’t occur to her to see what the other woman’s choice would be. This wasn’t her ship, yet… Karina wouldn’t make her go to bat for people she hadn’t worked beside and nearly died with. She would have to make up her own mind.

Karina
Doctor
((whippersnapper extraordinaire))

“I may not have the least striking appearance,” Ky’Laria declared flatly. “But I have the advantage that most beings here do not know what I am, let alone who.” With a manner confident almost the point of nonchalance, she reached for her small rank pauldrons and unceremoniously unclipped them from her suit. “Now, I am low key,” she explained. “And nobody knows I am somewhere until I want them to.” A conviction in Ky’Laria’s features told that she certainly believed that these were not idle boasts.

Placing both shoulder pieces in one hand, she held them in Karina’s direction as an unspoken request to hold them for her. She leaned back slightly into the couch, seeming to all eyes as totally unfazed by the gravity of their situation. “What more do you know of this threat?”

-Lt. Ky’Laria (Personification of Humility)

OOC Haha, yeah right
IC

“They were lead to believe that there was a recurring “stable” wormhole in the area and that they were under orders to investigate it. They duly did and long-range sensors picked them up arriving at those coordinates at precisely the time a wormhole did show up. Two things though, the coordinates put them precisely in a position to be taken into and through the wormhole, which closed and never opened again, and secondly, no other person we know of knew anything about any wormhole out there. So whoever this woman was who sent them out to get literally sucked in, she had intel the likes of which we’ve never seen before.”

“But you haven’t heard the strangest part. The woman who sent the invite is a dead ringer for one Keiko O’Brien who’s whereabouts put her on Cardassia at the time of the Comms and current investigations have all but proven it wasn’t her who did it”.

Junior Gamemaster Conspiracy Theorist as Base Commander Andrew Stone

Unsure exactly why, Karina absently took the rank pieces from Ky’Laria and fiddled with them absently in her lap as she listened. “So you are saying someone looking, sounding and acting like Ms O’Brien with enough premise to pass for her, led the crew and ship into an ambush, then disappeared? Well, I understand how the investigation will proceed in trying to find the doppelganger, but how are we supposed to help find a ship that’s missing if it disappeared to the point even you all can’t find it? I truly want to help, but I am not sure how I can.”

Karina
Doctor