Captain Tanar leaned on her elbow at her desk in the ready room. Her raktajino mug was long empty, and while she could get up and replicate another, she didn’t feel like it.
She had shown up to her ready room “to do some paperwork” about two hours earlier than she usually would, well in advance of Alpha shift. This was largely because she hadn’t slept at all, due to receiving a private communication just as she was about to turn in for the night.
Captain Tanar,
A server at a particular cafe (or the closest equivalent Romulans have) handed me a Menu-PADD that had the following on it rather than the drink menu:
“For Captain Tanar Laron:
Philliarus VI may put you on the trail of who you seek. His Nausicaan cohorts are his weakest link. Your quarry is sly, with friends in high places here. Until matters change, consider Romulan territory friendly to him. We regret we cannot say more.
–The Indebted”
Never did get the Romulan Spice Tea I was looking for. Congratulations on the promotion, by the way.
Captain Gabriel Price
Special Attaché
Federation Embassy, Romulus
PS – I can’t order you to send me a courtesy copy when you try to make contact with members of the Romulan government, but I would appreciate it if you could at least give me a warning in the future. Ambassador T’shar might crack her Vulcan reserve if I told her about this.
She glanced at the PADD where Price’s message was still pulled up, and for what was probably the dozenth time in the last eight hours she cursed under her breath. This round of cursing was, if translated by the universal translator, a stream of invectives that roughly translated to “spies and Romulans deserve each other”.
She had already informed Ensign Anjohl that she wasn’t to be disturbed (the Yeoman took that as well as she usually did). Kertog had the command chair during Charlie shift, and the Benzite thankfully didn’t seem remotely perturbed at the Captain showing up halfway through his shift and locking herself in the ready room.
She groaned and leaned back in her chair. She was not looking forward to today’s shift at all. Growling, she focused on her computer screen and went back to the documentation for the smattering of promotions she was pushing through. Getting this done and the announcement pushed to the crew would take this off her mind for awhile.
Promotions to Lieutenant Commander:
- Lieutenant Ordren
- …
Promotions to Lieutenant:
- Lieutenant Mahak
- Lieutenant May-Li Shan
- …
Promotions to Lieutenant, Junior Grade
- Lieutenant JG Rick Castillo
- Lieutenant JG Conom Rahn
- …
Finalizing the announcement, she pushed it out to the crew at large, then sighed in annoyance, looking back at the PADD with the damning communication.
“It had to be Price, didn’t it?” She got up and moved to the replicator, leaning on the wall next to it and drumming her fingers. “Raktajino. Hot, add cream and psart fruit.” A moment later, a mug shimmered into existence. She took it and went back to her desk.
She took a long swallow of her beverage and considered. “Of course the wraith-damned pirate is in bed with the Romulans deeper than I thought.” Out maneuver him, then. She could hear Caraxxus’s voice in her head mocking her– don’t you have a command team you could be bouncing ideas off of, hmm? She growled. Bastard is probably dead asleep in his quarters and he’s still giving me unsolicited advice.
She pulled up Lahl’s record for the tenth time in the last two hours. If you can’t trust your hand-picked command staff, who can you trust? Trust had always been a difficult thing to come by for Tanar. It came with the territory. Besides, it was almost certain that her first officer was asleep at this prophets-forsaken hour. She flicked through the files on the others as well, chewing her lower lip.
After a few minutes of drinking more caffeine and staring at personnel files, she finally sighed loudly and slammed her computer shut, leaving her desk smooth and “empty” save for the PADD. She tapped her commbadge.
“Tanar to Mourad. Sorry to wake you.”
A moment later, a somewhat groggy reply came over the comms. “Mourad here, Captain. Something wrong?”
She considered her response for a moment. “Tell me, pirate, what do you know about Philliarus VI?”