Posted by Lieutenant Commander Matthew ‘Junior’ Grimshaw (Shady Character) in Junior’s Arrival
Out of the blue an unexpected runabout dropped out of warp near the Viking, but not so close as to be in weapons or transporter range. Despite clearly being a federation runabout, the posture was clearly defensive.

=/\=Runabout Cerydd to USS Viking. This is a Code 47 transmission. Request urgent docking clearance in accordance to Starfleet Directive 927,=/\= the clearly nervous voice, male voice that was familiar with Starfleet egulation.

Were the bridge officer to scan the runabout, they would detect that the runabout had one human occupant and that the shields were raised, but weapons powered down. A clear defensive posture from a ship that was no match against even a museum class starship…

-Junior

OOC: Woohoo! It’s so good to have you back on the ship, Jim! :)

IC: She had no remit to report to the bridge in her current, increasingly insignificant, role. But as the cerebral centre of the Viking and one of only a handful of locations on this vast, echoing ship where the safety of company was guaranteed at all hours, Kara Nakuto found herself here often. She considered it a blessing that Captain Ravenfall had shown no resentment towards her own, continued presence. Indeed, in the current absence of a ship’s counselor, the half-Klingon former commanding officer had been invited by Viktoryia to make the right-hand seat her own.

And so it was that one evening, three hours into gamma’s graveyard shift, Nakuto had abandoned her attempt to find sleep amongst the cacophony of whispers plaguing her own quarters and had sought solace on the bridge in its stead. Dozing lightly in her chair, the sound of a now-familiar voice over the comms channel was like a bowl of ice water to the face. The last time she had heard it had been in the narration of a distressing scene involving her former Chief of Medicine and one-time dear friend. In truth, she had been waiting for the situation to rear its ugly head once more.

Rising slowly to her feet, her hand almost instinctively reaching for her phaser and finding empty space indicative of her current lowly status instead, Kara took up a position at the shoulder of the seated helm officer and observed with increasing anxiety as he attempted to formulate a reply with a half-Klingon breathing down his neck.

=^= Runabout Cerydd, this is the USS Viking =^= Ensign Poe replied. =^= Proceed to docking bay two.=^=

As the comms channel was closed, Nakuto had already reached the bridge exit and declared herself the head of the welcoming committee. As she forged a determined path through the ship, she pounded her commbadge and called in others to join her.

=^= Lt Commander Sigmundsson, Lt Mackenzie, I apologise if I have woken you but I require your presence at docking bay two immediately. It appears as if an old ‘friend’ has decided to drop by.” =^=

Sigmundsson would no doubt know of whom she spoke. Mackenzie was not yet in this particular, twisted loop. But he was about to become as entangled as the rest of them.

• Kara Nakuto (Consultant)