Jayme had been on station for several weeks and had discovered quite by accident that the station was bugged. She'd collected all of the ones she'd found last week and placed them in a stasis containment vessel.
Unable to sleep for the third day in a row, she dressed and headed out for a nice long run. When she knew she couldn't go any farther and still hadn't formed an answer but had realized that any transmissions would occur while they were blind to any signal either incoming or outgoing... So the next time they went dark they'd need to watch with limited sensors for any outgoing signals. She still had several hours until her first class of the day started so she showered, dressed in fatigues and a tee shirt. She grabbed her own studies and decided Sickbay would be the quietest place to study.
"Please state the nature..." The holographic doctor frowned when he saw the Jayme enter his domain. "Is there a problem, Captain Alcon?" He crossed his arms in front of him and waited for the answer.
"No. Just looking for a quiet place to study." She set her PADD down on the desk and walked to the replicator. "Pekoe tea, hot." She leaned against the counter and waited for her tea.
"If you're looking for quiet then I suggest your bunk." He noticed the limp and the dark circles under her eyes.
"Already been there, done that." Jayme fetched her tea and took a sip while moving back to the desk.
"I can recommend several sleep aids to help you," he said with a smile. Moving to a side table, happy to be of some use, he checked his apothecary.
Jayme counted silently to ten. "Normally, better living through chemistry doesn't bother me. But I'll pass this time." Jayme looked up at him as he moved closer to her. "Don't even think about it!" She spotted the hypospray in his left hand and two G'kar physicians entered from the hallway. She rolled out of her chair and stood two meters out of reach. As she stood there she tried to formulate a defense against the hologram.
Both doctors entered and froze. The EMH let out an exasperated sigh then said to the captain, "If you're going to drink tea then add 20 grams of fructose to it!" " Why?" she asked, looking at her tea cup. "What is wrong with straight tea?" She noted the whine of her own voice.
He shook his head and rolled his eyes, then added, "Because you've lost five kilograms since being sent here." With that he stalked off to the office.
Jayme turned and tried to see just where she might have lost the five kilograms. With a frown of her own she sat back down and started reading and shuddered at the thought of tea that sweet. Five kilograms, my ass! She shot a dirty look in the direction he'd left and turned on the other two physicians who both made themselves disappear. Jayme studied until her chronometer beeped and then she headed to the classroom where she'd spend the day teaching.
The next watch Jayme had off and forced herself to eat a meal, workout with Issira, and sleep a little longer then she had the previous couple of nights, but she was having dreams that kept dragging her back to the past on Europa, fights with her mother, and LI & survival training school--none of which she felt should have been causing her to lose sleep. It was also back to being hotter then hell around the base. The day before, they'd had several alerts called and went dark once.
She prepared for the day and decided that she wasn't going to sickbay to study and have a recurrence of yesterday's fight with the hologram. So she wandered around and found that the areas where she'd collected the electronic bugs were once again "buggy". She thought about her plan as she drank some bad coffee and waited for her watch to start.
She had started sitting watches in the Combat Information Center, C.I.C, as a senior officer. Most of the time it meant supervising sensor watches and juggling the internal affairs of the shift. It wasn't dull nor was it generally slow since the area was treacherous with rocks, junk, and other ships. Occasionally they moved in and around the asteroid...not just Federation authorized ships. In cases where they were close, she had to authorize going dark, and place them on a higher level of readiness.
"Ma'am. Two of our cruisers are in system and requesting instructions on docking," the young communications officer said over a shoulder.
Jayme stood and walked over to the scan and even though the codes were in another language she was able to see that they were the only ships in system and that the IFF was circles around each ship were Green (indicating friendly) and not Red (indicating known hostile) or Blue (showing Federation ships). "Have them proceed in. Also, contact the docks and have them ready to receive troops and have their barracks opened and the mess hall set up with a meal."
"How long till they are hard docked?" She asked the scan tech.
"Two hours and ten minutes for the first ship; and three hours zero minutes for the second, Ma'am." Jayme looked at her chronometer and noted that she still had another six hours on watch.
Both ships docked with out incident and went emission silent...being too large to land in the space dock they had tubes that mated to the outer skin. Jayme had left the Operations NCO in charge and she'd walked to the bay to receive both groups. Everyone exited the first ship with duffle and spots darkened by the sun. The bay was almost cleared of troops when the second airlock opened and another three hundred troopers came streaming out. After all was done the senior officers and ships crews exited. Jayme recognized several of these men and women from her time on Swarva.
"Hey, it's that thin-kinned human! Where did your spots go?" F'lak asked with a smile and a quick hug.
Jayme frowned and then remembered her freckles that had shown up while in the sun on Swarva... "Living in this cave made them fade. Glad to see you all intact...how was the hunting?"
"Hunting was good--Swarva was generous!" the senior of the group said with a laugh. "Oh--we stumbled upon a ship, what you listed as an Orion Pirate. It was loaded. We have crates stacked everywhere on both ships with barely room to move. I have an inventory for all three ships for the officer of the watch. Except, I see no one has arrived to greet us?" He looked around and then with a shrug, said, "We have the ship being brought in by a crew and they should arrive in a few days and with its cargo."
"F'lak, I am the Officer of the Watch!" Jayme said. "My orders are to get both ships unloaded ASAP. In case you need to move--we've had a lot of Mulluran activity in this sector. Check with the Deck Officer to find out where to store the supplies."
"Nah, not one skinny-shiny-skinned HUMAN..." F'lak frowned and placed both hands on his hips. He was studying the young woman who was serious, but still didn't believe her.
Jayme stepped up very close and was still about twelve centimeters short from even reaching his eye level. "I am Officer of the Watch! Hand over that inventory or I'll have you up on charges, MISTER!"
A very guttural sounding tirade whipped out from the edge of the crowd, which parted and allowed Mer'an, the commanding officer of the La'kon Legion, to move to the front. Both F'lak and Jayme came to attention and waited. The voice continued to lash out at both officers as they stood eyes front. Jayme was getting better, as she was able to translate about every third word, in Mer'an's reprimand which was in the G'kar language. Finally, the tirade stopped and the rest of the group moved out smartly to carry out the order to unload the ships.
Finally, "At ease!" Mer'an said as Issira moved in to join them. He looked at Jayme and then to their kin. "Jayme is Officer of the Watch--hand the inventory over so she can go spend hours translating it." F'lak gave the chip over. Mer'an then turned to Jayme. "Our quarters for dinner at 1800 and bring the hard copy interpretation of the inventory. Dismissed!"
It took Jayme and the Operations tech to interpret and prepare the report for the three ships. The Swarvans had been generous with parts, cloth, and food stuffs with included seeds. The other vessel, while having an Orion crew was a pirate, and the items listed were of Federation origin, mainly Isolinier computer systems and medical supplies. The attached manifest for that freighter had it headed for Mullura.
Psyched for the dinner she took the hard copies of the inventory and manifest and headed for Mer'an and Issira's quarters. She arrived and found she knew everyone except for on extremely tall thin G'kar who was introduced as Rae--F'lak's medical officer and wife. Rae handed Jayme a large goblet of deep purple. A quick taste froze the breath in her chest and she found Rae thumping her back and laughing. Jayme flushed, both from the liquor and from being the center of attention. "Wow! Maybe we just need to brew this stuff and sell it for operating capital!" She took another tentative sip and handed the printouts to Mer'an, who headed to the table with a wink.
Dinner came and went with no other surprises and there was a broad enough variety of items that Jayme found a few things to eat. Jayme had first watch, and classes to teach later in the day, and so she went easy on the wine and was allowed to leave early.
"Cargo has been unloaded and Mer'an authorized that ship to pull out and head back to Homeworld. He also ordered level two-tier alpha to be stripped out and another agro bay created. Techs are there this morning."
Jayme sat at the computer and looked at the sensor sweep logs and savored her cup of coffee and ignored the pounding at the base of her brain. The doors opened around midwatch and F'lak and Rae entered. "Isn't much different from the bridge of my ship," F'lak stated. Jayme stood as a ship's captain outranked a Marine captain. She saw him wave her off.
"Ms. Alcon, we are receiving incoming communications from the Orion vessel."
"Do you have a visual?"
"Yes, ma'am. We have a visual." F'lak moved to the screen and verified the ship personally. "That's the ship." He watched with pride as his son brought the ship in. Since it was small it was brought directly into the bay. "Shall we go greet them?" The two G'kar left the CIC for the docking bay. Jayme pulled on her remote com, stuck the earbug in, and followed a few minutes behind the other pair.
Several hours later, she was due to go off watch and teach her medics course when the communications officer's voice shouted in her ear piece and the base klaxxon sounded twice. She was already moving for CIC. She paused and turned to F'lak and yelled, "Make sure that ship of yours is dark--and ready to leave without notice!" Jayme raced the stairs out of the bay up to the observation area which was CIC. The report was two unidentified heavy cruisers 3AU from station just entering the outer debris field. She took a deep breath and strode onto the bridge. Appearance was everything, she'd been told by Issira. "Status report?" Jayme asked as she walked to the scan station and watched the screen for a moment.
"No change, Ma'am."
Jayme took the seat mid-station and waited. Mer'an and Issira had just stepped onto the bridge when the tech announced, "Large ship turning...we are in the arc for his weapons and scans."
Mer'an nodded and Jayme gave the order. "Go dark." All of the ventilation, lighting, communications, and scanners shut down and everyone stopped moving and sat where they were in the base until the condition cleared. Jayme softly authorized the scan tech to remain on passive watch. Everyone looked at her but she just nodded and waved him to watch.
It wasn't long until the tech reported. "Several narrow beamed signals were just sent out from here." He turned with confusion racing across his features.
"Can you tell where that signal was sent from?"
He noted two more signals. His fingers flying, he was able to find them on the map and stated, "Level three-alpha 2." Jayme stood and Issira handed her a phaser. Jayme checked the level and then both women headed out barefoot for Level three-alpha two. Both women moved quietly and arrived at the area noted and found a dozen techs sitting around but one stood out as he exited the area. Seeing the two armed women, he made a run for it but was tackled and restrained by one security operative who'd been on his rounds when the 'go dark' order was given. A young humanoid female with dark wavy hair was escorted out of the room. After a quick search of her person, a transmitter was confiscated along with several items that could be used as a trigger for an explosive device.
In CIC, Mer'an watched and waited. Several signals were aimed in the arc for the bases...but when no signal answered the three vessels powered up and raced for the edge of the system. When no longer on scan, he gave the order. "Resume normal operations." He paced and waited for Issira's call. "Operations, you have the watch." Mer'an then left the CIC and headed to the security station to help interrogate the prisoner. On arriving he saw Jayme, and said, "Good job. You're relieved to carry out your other assignments." Jayme stood and nodded, torn with the desire to request permission to be present and the need to follow orders. She decided she needed to follow orders this time.
Later that watch Issira found Jayme and told her that the woman had implicated three male counterparts to the bugging and espionage, and that they'd had orders to destroy the station. Jayme leaned againt the counter, arms crossed while an assault team practiced trying to take one of the shuttles on the dock.