Cynndle’s Quarters – 21:45

Cynndle threw himself onto the sofa in his quarters. The last couple of shifts hadn’t been especially demanding per se but they had been long and coupled with the rather intense training programme he stupidly decided to run in the holodeck he was exhausted. After he lay there for a moment he roll over and glanced at the clock on his wall and grimaced at the time; 21:45. 

“Better get some food and cleaned up,” he grumbled to himself as he walked over to the replicator. Before he was able to take two steps the console on his desk chimed indicating an urgent coms request. Letting out a sigh he dropped into the chair, “Let’s see what this is about.”

A moment later the face of his CO appeared on the screen. “Lieutenant, sorry to bother you at this time but we have an urgent request for assistance come through from the research station on Cardai 88 inside the Paulson Nebula,” she began while Cynndle nodded along. “Their reactor has failed for unknown reasons and it has left the research station with minimal power. The failure also caused a power surge which damaged several pieces of equipment and shut down their replicators. It has taken them a couple of days to get their communications back online.”

“I assume you want me to conduct the supply and repair run?” he asked.

His CO let out a short laugh, “In short yes, you have been given command of the USS Bodkin, one of the Arrow class runabouts station here. I want you to assemble your team, ideally someone with some knowledge of slightly out-of-date reactors and depart within the next twelve hours. Repair their systems and try to determine the cause then report back.”

Cynndle perked up as she spoke, the job wasn’t overly exciting but it would be nice to get off the station for a few days especially as he hadn’t left it since he was assigned to Bravo besides the incident onboard the USS Lorenza. “Won’t be a problem, sir, I have someone in mind already.”

“Excellent, I have sent over the written orders as well, you should have them any moment. Good luck,” with that, his CO closed the channel just as his console chimed again and Cynndle saw the orders come through. 

URGENT ORDERS

Lieutenant Odin’sun, CO8928A

– Delivery of equipment to the civilian research station on Cardai 88 within Paulson Nebula

– Departure within the next 12 hours; command of USS Bodkin, Arrow Class runabout has been granted.

– Approval for recuritment of required officers and crew

– Equipment will contain; see attachment for complete inventory

• Power plant equipment
• Medical and scientific equipment
• Replicator equipment

Cynndle double-checked the orders and attachments then opened coms request, “Oin’sun to Lihran, you got a minute?”

Lihran’s Quarter’s – 22:00

Lihran was fast asleep when the coms chirped right beside him. He groaned and reached over, grabbing his combadge off his nightstand and tapped it, “Mrhph…” He cleared his throat and tried again, “Lihran here. Yeah, I suppose I do.” He yawned and sat up, rubbing his eyes. His voice had that husky hoarseness of someone who just woke up, “What can I do for you?”

Cynndle grimaced as he realized he had woken up the engineer. “Sorry, didn’t realize you were asleep.”

Lihran checked the time, emitting a small snort, “Cynny, check the time. I don’t mind. What’s up? Gotta be important I reckon.” He moved to stand up, feeling it was something he needed to attend to right away.

“I have just been ordered to resupply and provide assistance to a civilian science outpost on Cardai 88,” Cynndle said. “It is a few hours from here inside the Paulson Nebula and I will need an engineer to help get their reactor back online. I need to depart in the next twelve hours. Are you interested in joining? I have just sent you the orders and the attachments. Figured you would be able to get it up and running in no time flat.”

Lihran stepped over to the console in his room as it chirped. He plopped down into the chair and started to read as he replied to Cynndle, “I am indeed an engineer. One moment reading…” He hummed as his eyes scanned over the orders and files. He nodded, then remembered Cyn can’t see it, “Yeah, that sounds good. Count me in. Twelve hours you say?” He debated sneaking in a short nap.

“Great, meet at 07:00 in hanger bay 5? I want to double-check the equipment before we go to make sure everything is accounted for. That should give enough time for a quick sleep and time to review reports on the planet and such before 07:00.” Cynndle said over the coms as he glanced at the time.

Lihran checked the time currently as he spoke, “Alright I’ll see you there. Lihran out.” He closed the comm line and went to catch a few more hours of sleep before meeting with Cynndle.

Hanger Bay 5 – 06:50 (the following day)

Cynndle arrived at hanger bay 5 a few minutes earlier than intended but he figured he mine as well get a start on things. After his call with Lihran, he spent the next two hours reviewing reports that Star Fleet had on the planet and the surrounding space. Beyond the increased general turmoil within the nebula, nothing jumped out as a possible threat but he knew that pirates and such should not be discounted. Stepping into the hanger bay he stopped for a moment and took in the sleek shape of the USS Bodkin, an apt name he thought for an Arrow class runabout. Walking up to the ship he used his clearance code to access the ship and step inside. It had been a couple of years since he had been on one of these ships but the layout was familiar and he made his way to the cargo bay and began to cross-check the items there with the manifest.

Lihran stepped into the hangar bay, eyeing up the runabout. He pulled the antigrav sled with him towards the little ship. He lowered it to the ground and picked up the crate of engineering tools he brought along as if it weighed nothing. He didn’t need the antigrav sled, but he also didn’t want to alarm other humanoids by lifting something far heavier than humans could carry. He stepped on board and made his way to the cargo bay, setting the crate down with a heavy thud, “There you are…” He smiled and looked over towards Cynndle, “All good to go on my end.”

Cynndle glanced over at Lihran and the large crate he had just carried in and smiled, “Ah, I see you brought everything, including the kitchen sink then?”

Lihran grinned, “Of course, can’t go without my snack supply, you know. I gotta keep up this physique somehow.”

Cynndle let out a chuckle and looked around the packed cargo hold, “Up for some routine cross-checking? I have gone through about a quarter of the materials so far and everything is as it should be but want to make sure it’s all here.” Without waiting for a response Cynndle tossed a second PADD to Lihran with a quick, “Catch.”

Lihran deftly caught the PADD and nodded, entering his credentials and unlocked it. He started to walk around, scanning crates of supplies and checking them with the lists on the PADDs. He absently asked something that has been bugging him for a while, “I’ve been denying promotions the last little while out of fear I may become corrupt and terrible…” He let silence fall for a moment, “You don’t think I am terrible, do you?”

Cynndle glanced back at him and failed at suppressing a surprised laugh, “Really?” Setting down the PADD he turned to face Lihran, leaning back on one of the large crates. “Honestly?”

Lihran nodded, “Yes, seriously and honestly.”

“You should not be an ensign, given your experience, even outside Star Fleet I would think you should be significantly higher. Your experience and knowledge are being wasted.” Cynndle paused for a moment before continuing, “Not wasted but mismanaged I would say.” Cocking his head to the side he thought about what to say next, “If we were having a drink I would have to make a joke about you being a terrible person, blah blah blah,” he said with a wave of his hand, “But in short, no I do not think you are terrible or corrupt. You have taken risks throughout your life; made decisions to get to this point showing you are not. I know it is cliche but worrying about that shows you are not. I would not be afraid or worried; you should take the promotions when offered.”

Cynndle began to reach for his PADD before pausing, “Besides, I will knock some sense into you if I think you have taken a turn to the dark side.”

A small smile crossed Lihran’s lips as he listened to Cynndle talk, “Thank you, that means a lot to me, actually. And reassures me more than you know. I think I will accept the promotion after all.” He chuckled softly, “The dark side has cookies, hard to resist.” He recalled that really old Earth joke from.. somewhere.

“Good, I am glad to hear that,” Cynndle said as he bent down to examine the crate nearest him. “Hmm, well this wasn’t on the list,” he said as he stepped back and flipped open the lid of the crate revealing a row of the newest phase compression rifles. “Think we need to speak to my CO about this, what do you think?”

Lihran walked over and both brows shot over, “Uh, yeah, I think we should. What the hell is that about? That’s a concerning amount of weapons, new tech too.”

A few minutes later they found themselves in the cockpit of the runabout as Cynndle activated the communication channel and the face of his CO appeared, “Lieutenant Odin’sun, what are you ready to depart?”

“Not quite yet. Ma’am,” he said, “We have found a discrepancy in the manifest and what is on board. There are several boxes from the station’s armoury with phaser rifles. Given that the rest of the items are repair and scientific related I wanted to check in regarding this.” 

She frowned slightly, “I know the crate you are referring to, it was a mistake that they were left off the manifest. They should be there. Given the insecurity in the region, we wanted to ensure the station had them on hand.”

Cynndle glanced over at Lihran and nodded, “Very well, I will amend the manifest and attach a log of this for the records. We should be ready to depart shortly.”

His CO nodded slightly, “If you must.” Before he could respond the line was cut.

“That was odd,” Cynndle said looking over at Lihran.

Lihran furrowed his brow, “Odd and highly suspicious if you ask me. My paranoid Romulan senses are going crazy at the moment.”

Cynndle exhaled and clicked his tongue a couple of times after he updated and sent the manifest. “Well it is recorded now,” he began to say when he was alerted to a message from his CO confirming the message. “Looks like she has confirmed it, could have just been an oversight as she said. Either way, we need to get these supplies out there but let’s keep an eye on things.”

A few minutes later, after clearance from flight operations was obtained, the large bay doors before the USS Bodkin slid open and the sleek runabout shot forth into the void. As the ship navigated around the heavy traffic surrounding the large guardian station a small courier vessel noted its departure before the Bodkin’s nacelles flared to life and the ship vanished in a flash.