Pre-Mission: Assembling the Team / Taval N’Vek

After Saren’s surprise encounter with the exchange officer, he traveled across the facility to locate the centurion he planned to recruit. One of the things that the facility had was a ground-based shipyard for small vessels like the Malem-class. And that is exactly where Saren headed to find this centurion.

As Saren entered the facility, right before his eyes was exactly that, a Malen-class is under construction, well half of it anyway. The hangar doors above were closed, as they would only be open when the construction was near complete. As Saren stared at the sight before him, a sublieutenant approached him and asked if he needed assistance. Saren simply asked the sublieutenant where he could find Centurion N’Vek, and the sublieutenant pointed. After Saren expressed his thanks, he headed straight over to where N’Vek was at.

Taval N’Vek was leaned over a blueprint of the ship being worked on, arms braced on the console in front of him. An assortment of tools and parts lay strewn about the work place and at his feet. His work area could be best described as an ‘organised mess’. He heard footsteps approach from behind. He straightened and turned, “May I help you?”

Saren smiled apologetically. “My apologies for disturbing you with your work, Centurion. But I have come with a proposition for you.” Saren told him as he approached N’Vek’s console to take a peak at the display to see the blueprint of the vessel. “A very modern version of the T’Liss.” Saren commented.

N’Vek looked over at the blueprint and nodded slowly, “It is an interesting project to build. I quite like working on it.” He shook his head, “I do not mind the interruption. I need a break every once in a while.” He lifted a brow slowly and folded his arms, “And this proposition?”

Saren pulled out a small padd and set it down next to the console’s display. He then pressed a few commands, minimizing the blueprint for one, then syncing the data from the padd to the console. Once complete, he brought up the data from the scout ship. First, the image of the Valdore-class clearly showed it to be adrift, and the data from the long-range scans. Next to it all was a small galactic map that pinpointed where the warbird was.

Saren gestured N’Vek to the display as he cleared his throat to begin. “A scout vessel found this warbird, adrift in non-aligned space that used to be claimed by the Romulan Star Empire. Ever since their collapse, there are Imperial Naval remnants everywhere. Assuming claim here and there to worlds that are declaring independence.” Saren pointed at the warbird. “This bird is likely an Imperial vessel.” Then he pointed to the scan data. “As you can see, the scout ship picked up the usual emissions from an active singularity core, so the scout vessel’s commander chose not to approach the warbird, in case it was a trap.” Saren then took a step back to allow the engineer to examine the data. There wasn’t much there but it was enough to get some sort of clue that the vessel was not functioning with how it is rolled and angled in the still-shot photo.

N’Vek stepped over to study the data that was displayed, “A strange situation. no contact has been formed? It was wise not to approach.” He paused, clasping his hands behind him, bluntly asking, “Why would this pertain to me?”

Saren shook his head. “No contact.” Saren then smiled at the question. “The co-leader of this team is quite knowledgeable on where this particular Valdore-class warbird was built. She made it clear that there is no runaway electro-plasma distribution, otherwise, we would be seeing one of these nacelles flickering or worse, ignited. But as I stated to them, this data is from long-range. The safeties that our singularity cores have, may still be intact. Question is, for how long?” Saren let that sink in before he continued. “But, if by chance everything in the engineering bay is fine and the singularity core is at no risk of imploding, then it is a matter of figuring out why this warbird is adrift. Main computer problems? Command interruptions from the bridge? Something’s amiss here. And I need an engineer who knows these birds.” Saren looked at the bird of prey that was being constructed.

N’Vek nodded slowly as he listened to Saren speak. He replied slowly, “I take it you are needing an engineer. I am an engineer.” He paused momentarily, “And I am to assume you looked into me at least a little bit?” He studied Saren closely and rather warily.

Saren smiled. “Well, like I said.” He turned away from the bird of prey and looked at N’Vek directly. “I need an engineer who knows these birds. Your expertise would go a long way. If the singularity core needs repairs, you’re the man for the job. If it’s fine and we just need to restore functionality, I would still count on you. I need one of the best and I happen to be looking at one.”

N’Vek nodded slowly as he listened. His brow arched a little as he was called one of the best. He’ll take a compliment when he could get one. He looked over his shoulder, and frowned at the ship under construction, as if it held the answers for him. He found construction rather… Boring. He wanted to be on the ships rather than build them. N’Vek looked sharply at Saren, “Alright. I am in. When and where are you departing?”

Saren smile turned into a grin. “Fantastic. We will be departing from one of the main hangars here at command and it will be in a couple of days. Bring what you need with you, we will be taking a Kestrel runabout, so that will have plenty of room for the team.” Saren explained before he began to head off, only to stop in his tracks to turn and look back at N’Vek. “One thing I nearly forgot to mention. Command has decided to assign an exchange officer from Starfleet to the team. The only reason I’m mentioning this is that they are a junior engineer. So you may be doing some mentoring on this trip. See you there!” Saren smiled and took his leave.

N’Vek nodded a few times, “Alright, I will look forward to meeting the rest of the team. I will be there.” His brows shot up upon hearing the news of the exchange officer. N’Vek had mixed feelings; on one hand he didn’t trust a Starfleet officer not to accidentally blow something up due to the technology differences, yet on the other hand he could train them exactly how he wanted to for peak efficiency. He gave a single nod of his head, “I apprectiate the advanced notice. I will see you then.”