EXETERRPG: (4, 0800) CO, Captain Trip Williams and FO, Commander, Ailynn Bracken

[Will Banowsky]

NRPG: Funerals for the crew killed will be done off screen, but feel free
to reference them if you want.



Mission: Murder on the Exeter Express

Day:04

Stardate: 2445.12.04



(USS Exeter – Ready room - CO, Captain Trip Williams and FO, Commander,
Ailynn Bracken - 0800)



“Excellent timing,” Trip said as his First Officer walked through the door.
“Have a seat. I just got done with a conference call with Starfleet JAG,
Intelligence, Security, Temporal Operations, and Fleet HQ. To say it was
busy, uggh, so glad it’s over.”



Ailynn smiled as she sat down, she'd opted for the dress variant of the
uniform this morning, and smoothed the skirt under her as she sat down "I'm
sorry I missed it" she quipped gently. She'd slept extremely well, and
although she'd had some unusual dreams, she'd woken up refreshed, and
feeling better than she had in a long while.

"And the outcome?"



“Had to brief them on the official story and the actual events of the
Maxine episode. But they’re all in agreement. Maxine was the visitor and
now she’s dead.”



Ailynn nodded. The last couple of days had been tremendously stressful to
all, the fact that they were talking about official stories rather
suggested that certain things were being swept under the carpet, or hidden
from view more likely. “And the unofficial one?”



“The 'unofficial' story," He said with air quotes. "the true story, is the
Maxine somehow leveraged Thorn and Bult to help her. Not sure why, both had
been model officers. We’re not sure why they turned as neither had
explained anything in logs. The three were not even that close before hand,
so the guess is they were manipulated somehow. Maybe they were swapped with
agents before, we don’t know. So Starfleet Intellgience is going to meet us
on Bolarus, under the guise of counselors from Starfleet Medical, along
with some actual counselors. And will interview the entire crew. When
they’re satisfied we are who we are, then we stay. Any one suspected, or
anyone to emotionally compromised will probably be transferred.”



“Intel posing as counsellors?” she shook her head, a look of disapproval on
her face. “I mean, I understand the need, but that’s not a crossover I
exactly approve of.”



“Your mom signed off on it. Apparently her idea.”



NRPG: All this will be done off screen, congratulations all your characters
passed.



RPG:



“Hmmm.” She grunted, “Mum and Intel go a little too closely for my liking.
It’s about the only thing that her and Dale don’t see eye to eye about. I
understand their necessity of course, but still. So, officially it’s all on
Maxine?”

“Yeah so thats gonna suck. 'Officially'," he said once again in air quotes
"Maxine went rogue. She was a ¼ bajoran, among the crew that was taken by
the Prophet’s Flame cult. So we'll  say that the Story is that she was
radicalized there or might have been a mole. Tyko Nix’s mission in cleaning
up the cult had him follow her to the Exeter. She found out, and somehow
convinced Thorn and Bult to help. SFI got a sworn affidavit from Trost’s
daughter claiming that Maxine was a member of the cult and Thorn was a
sympathizer. They were working with her the whole time and Maxine was part
of the reason our Bajoran crew got kidnapped so easily. That is of course a
lie. But they lowered Trentin’s daughter’s sentence and gave her nice
accommodations for it. What the hell do I know.”



Ailynn shook her head irritably “Cover ups and kickbacks. I hate this part
of the job. What of the others?”



“Bult on the other hand, his grandfather is a Bolian politician. So that
was a bit more delicate. While we know he was guilty, SFI is umm, covering
that up. They’ve altered the record that he was actually an undercover
agent trying to bust Green, and then she found out and killed him.
Politics…. Always politics. But so that’s the official story. Maxine Green
was a member of the Prophet’s Flame, recruited Thorn, Bult got into her
inner circle, was working with Tyko Nix to stop her, she found out Tyko was
onto her, killed him, Thorn died trying to stop us. Green killed Bult
because he was SFI, and then Maxine went nuts and killed our crew in the
holodeck as revenge for shutting down her cult’s path to true enlightenment
or some shit like that.”



“I think an interdimensional Emperess bent on causing widescale devastation
actually makes more sense than that, but who am I to question Intel’s cover
stories.” she sighed.



“Too early for a drink?”



Shaking her head, she got up, and walked across the room, picking up two
glasses and opening a cupboard. She then removed a bottle and poured them
both a small shot of bourbon. Coming back to the table, she handed one to
Trip. “For medicinal purposes.”



"Salud." He replied.



Sipping at the spirit, she knew it was a terrible idea having a drink at
this time of the morning, traditionally the sun needed to be over the
yardarm, however, in their case it was barely over the horizon. “So are we
at Bolus for Christmas?” She asked quietly



"No. We depart two days before. Christmas will be on ship."



“That’ll be nice, not as nice as being at home I’ll admit, but nice
nonetheless.”



"However, we've been asked to attend a conference on the 29th.
Archeological in nature I think. They said you and I needed to broaden our
academic horizons. Consider it continuing education."



“Archeological conference? Really?” She rolled her eyes slightly and sighed
again, taling another sip of her drink.



"So while you and I will be stuck in lectures for a few days, the rest of
the crew will have leave on that planet."



“You’ve lost me,” she said puzzled. “Which planet?”



"Risa."



“Wait? What? They go to the beach for a few days and we get to sit in a
conference room? That sucks. No fair, I wanna go to the beach.” She sulked
gently, actually unsure if Trip was joking. She wouldn’t put it past the
Admiralty to think it was a good idea.



"Yup."



“I really hope you’re pulling my leg.”



"Well if you'd rather go to a conference on the mating habits of targs at
deep space K7 we can change our destination."



“Lets go to the mating one. At least we can sit at the back and laugh at
the mucky videos.” She quipped, her hopes of spending some actual quality
time with her girlfriend, her family and her friends sailing away into the
distance.



"I picked Risa. The crew needs this."



She nodded. “They do. It’s been a hellish time of late. They need to kick
back and blow off some steam.” Draining her drink she shuddered, and
coughed gently “that...was a bad idea.” Smiling wistfully, she looked up at
her old friend. “You’re teasing right? About the archeology thing?”



"No."



"Ugh. I could step down, promote Kiera and she can go?"



"Did I mention the conference is casual clothes and only a total of four
one hour lectures and we'll be on Risa for a week."



Ailynn’s eyes narrowed. “No, you neglected to mention that, you made it out
to sound awfully like entire days full of ponderously slow talks about who
knows what.” she smiled gently. “I hate you.” She winked.



"I love you too."



“Risa for a week though? I hope they know what’s about to hit them.”



"Yeah. They'll have the option of staying on planet or on ship. But I'm
gonna have Ash plan a formal gala for new years eve at the Starlight
Lounge."



"She'll enjoy that, she loves planning those formal things, and I...have
the perfect dress, Ronnie gave it me." She smiled. "Might stay down there
myself, get one of those little beachside cabins"



“You’re welcome to join Ash and I, unless you want to have some alone time
with you know.” Trip winked.



Ailynn Laughed and blushed slightly. "I need some lone time. Being a
suspect hit Caity harder than she lets on I think, besides, you guys need
some time alone too. Not going to be long and your life will utterly
change."



“Five months give or take.” Trip said smiling.



"So, Cerise has asked for some time. Hardly spoken to her which is bad of
me, I guess I can't see past the high school her."



“She’s changed a lot. We all have. Lynn, she’s not the same girl she was.
She is a completely different person.”



"So I hear from Ash, we have all changed, beyond recognition. I need to
give her a chance, and I know I haven't had or made time for her."



“Honestly she’s a sweetheart.”



Sighing gently, and definitely regretting the drink, Ailynn shifted in her
seat. "Anything else we need to look at?"



“Just make sure everything is in order for our time on Bolerus.”



She nodded simply. "I have a list."



“I’m looking forward to the rest time. But we still have work to do, and I
got to give a formal Statement to the crew, prepare the funerals. Tyko Nix,
David, Clarke, and Nesha Kervik, and Jorash Bult will have a formal
ceremony open to the public. I know, Bult is guilty as sin, but, we got to
sell the story. I’ll hold a private ceremony later for Thorn and Maxine.
Don’t know Thorn’s motives, but he deserves to be laid to rest. Properly.
As for Maxine, we know...we know the real Maxine perished on Starbase
Freedom. She deserves to be honored with those we have lost, but we can’t…”
He began to get a bit angry, “we have secrets to keep. So I want to honor
her sacrifice. Even if I can’t do so publicly.”



“I hate that,” she said. “The person that is actually the most innocent has
her memory forever and irreparably tarnished, while one the most guilty
gets a pass and his guilt covered up because his father is a two bit
official. Can you imagine if it were you, or I?”



“Yeah.” he said.



“We’d stand up and own our guilt, our families wouldn’t stand for that kind
of nonsense.”



“I’m not sure about that. Our parents, your gran, they have more secrets
than we know. We go could go rogue and then somehow they’d still build a
statue of us.”



“Maybe.”



“But it’s all behind us. She’s dead. The empress is dead.”



Ailynn nodded somewhat subdued. “I’d better get on. Catch up at lunch?”



“Sure. I’ll see you then.”



Standing up, She put her glass on the tray to be cleaned, then nodded to
Trip. “Captain, with your permission?”



Trip smiled, “Of course.” He then giggled to himself. “Careful Lynn,
showing off those killer legs of yours, trying to impress Caity?”



Ailynn looked down, smiling as she blushed. "Well, I have to play to my
advantage, don't I." She winked playfully. "You're incorrigible Trip
Williams."



“Dismissed.” He said laughing.



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(posted by Will and Mark)
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