RP Log: A Spooky Visit
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| 2022-08-04 07:08 | |
- VIP Quarters 2C1 <USS Buran NX-96400>
- This luxurious room is spacious and built for comfort. The deep blue carpet is soft and thick, giving the room the appearance of a still ocean. Before the door is a sofa and two armchairs, arranged around a mahogany coffee table. The bulkhead adjacent to this setting is adorned with a holoimage projector that can be adjusted to display an image of the occupant's choosing. To the left of the entrance is a dining table for four, placed in front of a replicator, and an ornate sculpture above which is a row of shelves. To the right of the door is an LCARS panel, and beyond that, a study area with a desk and chair built into the bulkhead. A bedroom can be found through a doorway in the far bulkhead, where there is a double bed with the sheets emblazoned with the seal of the United Federation of Planets. Two doors in the sleeping area lead to a walk-in-wardrobe and a bathroom. The lighting, while adjustable, is at a default setting that causes the overhead panels to bathe the room in a soft, welcoming glow. Out the viewport: The yellow hue of the nearby star can be seen.
The door chime at Out sounds, "*be boowoop*"
The door leading to Out swooshes open.
Branch Admiral Kemper arrives from Deck 2 - Corridor.
The door leading to Out swooshes closed.
Tink is standing in front of a large mirror as she brushes out her hair. She turns toward the door when it slides open, her face paler than usual and with uncharacteristic dark circles under her eyes.
The Branch Admiral enters the VIP suite and allows the doors to cycle closed behind him as he scans the room with his gaze for its occupant before speaking. "Well, Counselor," Kemper begins, "you look like hell." He's silent for just long enough to create a pregnant pause. "I heard what happened to the Versailles." Another pause. "I'm so sorry."
When she sees who has come to visit, Tink experiences an almost physical shock. She fumbles the brush in her hand and it hits the carpet near her bare feet and bounces away. She makes no effort to retrieve it. Instead she stares slackjawed at Kemper, emotions swirling and not knowing how to respond. After a few seconds she manages to stammer with a tight voice, "Thanks... S-Sir." Part of her wants to rush to him and sob into his chest, but another part has no clue whether this would be appropriate.
The Betazoid offers Tink a sympathetic expression and shifts his posture to a less stiff, more casual one, opening his arms just enough to give Tink the opening to rush up to him if she chooses. "It is good to see you, but I wish the circumstances were happier."
Tink does go to him, though not in so much of a rush. Still, the closer she gets the faster she goes until she's finally got her arms around his middle. She buries her face into his chest and the tears do come, but not the heavy sobs she half expected. "It's so good of you to come," she mutters into his uniform jacket. "And what a surprise. I had no idea you were out here." She sniffs and looks up at his face without letting go of him, her swirling emotions focusing a little into concern. "What /are/ you doing out here?" she asks.
Peyton offers Tink a reassuring smile as she approaches him and he wraps his arms around the petite woman in a firm, supportive hug. "The circumstances surrounding the Versailles' loss are just flat out bizarre," the Branch Admiral offers. "I can't imagine how I would have responded to a ship I commanded just exploding out of nowhere." A wry grin crosses his features, "Slipstream makes it quite easy to get from Spacedock all the way out here." A pause. "I was not in the area."
The door chime sounds and Tink turns her head to look at it. "Come in, she calls, heart warming a little at what Kemper has just said.
Temple walks into the quarters, he looks around and he see's Tink and then the Admiral and immediately goes to attention saying "Apologies I was not aware you had company already Commander, I just came by to check up on you"
"At ease, Lieutenant Commander," Kemper says, turning his attention to Temple, relaxing his hug around Tink so she can easily pull away if she wants. "I'm here doing the same." A beat. "I think lots of people have been doing the same, lately."
Tink releases her hold on the Admiral's waist and steps back. She dabs at the corner of her eye with a knuckle. "They have," she agrees with a nod. "And I really appreciate it. Alex here had to... well... cut me off at the wine bottle the other night." Her cheeks darken a little but she doesn't shy away from admitting it. "Thanks for that too, Alex. I was quite a mess. Very embarrassing."
Temple nods and says "Anytime Tink, just remember this you're not alone Tink, we're all here for you, just so you you know the Versailles black Box analysis is still ongoing but if I were to theorise I would say the pocket universe that formed within the Versailles intersected with the warp core and destabilised the core"
"You're granted a pass for that every now and again, Counselor," Kemper says toward Tink, stepping away so Temple isn't just awkwardly standing behind him in the doorway. "Especially given the circumstances." He shakes his head and just kind of presses his eyebrows together. "I've never heard of this type of phenomenon before." A beat. "It makes sense, of course, but... still."
"Wrong place at the wrong time," Tink says with a sad sigh. "No one to hold responsible, just a freak accident of nature?" After a slight pause, "This is an act of nature, not malice, isn't it?"
Temple ponders and says "Not sure on that, we have those scans from an unidentified source to consider aswell" he sits down on a chair
Tink nods once slowly. "If my people died because someone..." She trails off and glances at Kemper, her cheeks darkening again. She turns away and walks over to pick up her hair brush from the floor where it fell earlier. She keeps her face turned away from the others while she struggles to contain her emotions, though Peyton will no doubt be aware of them anyway.
Temple nods and says "We're still investigating, for all we know the scans and the pocket universes are two seperate incidents, the scans happening around the time the pocket universe was forming may have been just a coincidence" he ponders
Tink takes another moment with her back to the others. She puts her brush away and wipes her face again, then smooths her robe before finally turning back. "I need to know, Alex. I know you know that, but I'm saying it again anyway. I need to know."
Temple nods and says "I know Tink and you will, Lepage and his team are working on the black box, when all the data is extracted we'll know more"
"I'm not sure which explanation would keep me up at night more," Peyton begins as he strides over toward one of the chairs and begins sitting. "On one hand, the explanation is the universe just decided to eat them because ... nature ..., and on the other, someone blew up the ship on purpose." He leans back now that he's seated and crosses his legs with his right ankle atop his left knee. "Neither are great."
Tink shakes her head. "No, neither are," she says softly. She looks between the other two and blinks. "Can... Can I get either of you something from the replicator? I'm sorry, I seem to have lost my manners."
Temple nods and says "A Coffee will be fine Tink, the repairs to the Tucker are complete so when we have the answers you want Tink I can take you back to Utopia"
"I'm fine for now, but thank you, Counselor," Peyton replies toward Tink. It's less a formal tone and more an endearing one when he calls her 'Counselor'. "What had the diplomatic corps all the way out this way, anyway?" he asks. He could have, of course, pulled up the mission profile, but this is a more interesting way to learn about it.
Tink goes over to the replicator, slightly shuffling her bare feet across the carpet along the way. She orders up two coffees as she starts to explain. "There's a Saurian scientist who has gone missing. We were asked to reach out to our near neighbors for some information." She brings two coffees back over and gives one to Alex, keeping the other one for herself. She sits on one end of the sofa and crosses her legs as she continues, "The last public appearance of this scientist that we could find was at a symposium on Bajor. There was a skuffle during one of his presentations among three Cardassians, an unusual thing to happen at a scientific symposium. The security officer who was in charge and who handled that altercation was tracked down to Dreon, now retired. I came here to talk to him to see if he might remember where this Saurian was planning to go after Bajor." She sips her coffee.
Temple sips his coffee and listens to Tink and asks "What were the subjects on discussion at the Symposium? I'd be interested in what speciality the missing scientist specialised in"
"Yes, that," Peyton says, nodding toward Temple. "What makes this scientist so remarkable?" he asks. "Anyone going missing is certainly a tragedy, but dispatching a full diplomatic corps unit for a single missing person feels like a lot."
Tink shrugs. "I'm not sure exactly what his field is called, but his public papers have been pushing his theories for the transmitting of energy remotely, from a distance. The presentation at the Bajor symposium specifically was about signal degradation in power transmissions. He was highly motivated and believed that his theories would be the next big step in supplying energy to the masses."
Temple nods and ponders "Not sure how that would motivate anybody to kidnap him, I suppose it would depend on how much power he was talking about" he sips his coffee
"Sounds like a modern day Nikola Tesla," Kemper replies, hmming softly as he considers the implications. "I'll have to look into him further, if for no other reason than that my interest has been piqued."
Tink sighs. "I hate leaving that mission unfinished, but with the Versailles..." She swallows hard and fights to keep her emotions in check. "I'm sure it will be assigned to someone else, of course." Her eyes drop to the dark liquid inside her cup.
Temple hmmms and taps in a few commands into his uplink padd and he looks down at a diagram of a Tesla Coil and ponders "You know there is the possibility the scientist may have something to do with the Versailles loss, if he was trying out his theory of transmitting energy remotely from a distance, he may have inadvertedly overloaded the Versailles Warp Core.."
"I didn't exactly want to jump straight to that, but..." Kemper starts, his voice trailing off as if leaving the implication unsaid. "That was sort of my first thought when you explained his theories."
Tink blinks and looks up. "But... as far as we know, he's not here in the Dreon system. I tracked down the security officer to this planet, not the scientist."
Temple ponders and says "Doesn't mean the scientist didn't leave the equipment with the security officer" he ponders and says "We're also dealing with cloaked cardassian vessels" he shrugs and says "We have a few theories to go on at the moment, the Versailles Black Box will hopefully shed some more light when the data is fully extracted"
"I had forgotten about your penchant for finding evil and mischief around every corner," Peyton says looking toward Temple with a bemused smirk. "And I'm the spook."
One corner of Tink's mouth twitches up a little. "Still, now you have me wondering if it might be possible," she says.
"But hopefully not likely," Kemper replies. "At least, not intentionally." He stands. "I will check in on you again before I leave the system, but for now, I need to return to the Copernicus to deal with some spooky business." It may or may not be a joke. "Good to see you again, too, Commander."
Branch Admiral Kemper goes Out.