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"Life Continues"
Previous posts (ANU) "Deeper Darkness" / (BAS) "To Boldly Go... Home"
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“Life is about how much you can take and keep fighting, how much you can suffer and keep moving forward.”
- Anderson Silva
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Setting: USS ANUBIS, Observation Lounge
Stardate: 33120.1300
The Native American stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his gaze shifting between the USS IVANOSKI and the planet it was in orbit of. Thanks to Commander Shar'El and the team, the treat on board the medical frigate had been taken care of ensuring that things on the surface could proceed more smoothly. The mission was far from over but a lot of progress had been made on all fronts thanks to the dedication and expertise of each and every member of his crew.
"Captain, here is the latest report from Doctor Bruxa and her team," Ensign Jones said offering the PADD in her hands to the ship's CO. He had requested to be kept informed of any changes hence why Tanith opted not to delay for the man's return to the bridge to relay the information.
"Thank you, Ensign," Erik acknowledged accepting the PADD and giving the FCO a gracious nod of the head which made Tanith return to her duties.
A quick peruse of the displayed information made the Native American smile. The cure discovered by Doctor Bruxa and her team for the Shadow Virus was performing well, reversing the spread of the epidemic. The Captain was certain that someone somewhere would be very unhappy about this, but it would not be anyone on board the ANUBIS. The key now was to ensure that the advantage remained on their side of the game board.
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Setting: USS ANUBIS, Captain's Ready Room
Stardate: 33120.1330
Erik returned to his office to find his First Officer sitting across his desk, waiting to submit her report on her team's work while on board the USS IVANOSKI.
"Welcome back Commander, I was not expecting you here. Had I known, I would have not taken so long to return."
"No worries Captain," Shar'El said. "I will admit that I found being alone with my thoughts for those few minutes actually soothing."
"Is everything all right?" Erik asked as he made his way around the desk in order to face the woman.
"Everything is fine," Shar'El confirmed. "I just welcomed the opportunity to relax. Doctor Drake Varjo, or whatever he is now, is here on the ANUBIS under the heaviest possible security measures along with one of the medical technicians who clearly was an accomplice. Jayson and Sonja are also back although we did leave the D.R.O.N.E.s behind to keep a closer watch on the frigate's power grid, just in case we missed something."
"How did you deal with the absence from the IVANOSKI of the two individuals we now have here?"
"It was easy for Sonja and Jayson to gain access to the ship's computer and create a false transporter record that shows Doctor Varjo and an assistant beaming down to the planet's surface. As far as everyone else is concerned, they left the IVANOSKI for an unspecified reason and vanished into the Galemaen population. At least that way, if anyone goes looking for them, they will not be looking our way," the First Officer explained.
"Well done Commander, now all we need to do is to find a way to get the rest of the medical team on board the IVANSOKI to reach the planet's surface without causing a full social uproar," the Native American noted.
"That was one of the reasons why we implanted the transporter record for Varjo, this should push Doctor Zane Onwatu to see his people go down to help. This may actually be easier than we might have initially believed thanks to Counselor Lopez's work as a news broadcaster. Her pirate broadcasts have steadily pulled more and more spectators, so much so that according to some of the message intercepted by the IGC, she is considered to be the 'voice of truth and courage' by going against the standard Senate approved cover stories."
"It was never our intent to create discord on GALEMAE," Erik pointed out with sadness. "That goes directly against the Prime Directive. Our one and only objective was to make sure the Shadow Virus did not spread beyond this world."
"This was not an easy situation, far from it," Shar'El voiced. "If you and I followed those instructions to the letter, we would have left the entire population of that planet die, likely to wait and see it happen all over again. At least this way, the Senate will still have a people to control, maybe not quite as severely as they once did, but the culture of this world will continue. In the end, I would say that this is a win-win scenario."
"I guess you are correct," the Native American reluctantly admitted. "I am just not used to facing such positive results, especially not since we have started fighting against the Lokustaar."
"Another reason for us to accept what we have here," the First Officer offered. "We lost the battle at TAU OMEGA in more ways than I can count, so it is nice for us to be able to claim victory here at GALEMAE."
"Sounds like a plan. What's next?"
"Adriana will continue her broadcasts in an effort to keep the Galemaen Senate from undoing what Doctor Bruxa and her team have been able to accomplish. Hopefully, this will mean that Doctor Onwatu will be able to join the medial efforts soon and make sure that the virus is completely vanquished. As for the rest of the ANUBIS' team, I want us to focus on whatever other Shadow agents may be present. I want to make sure we stop them before they find a way to undo what we have done or worst to leave the planet and start everything over elsewhere."
"Go for it, keep me informed of your progress."
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Setting: USS ANUBIS, Captain's Ready Room
Stardate: 33125.1300
The Native American glanced at the mountain of PADDs on his desk. It had been five days since the discovery and use of the cure for the Shadow Virus. Since then, and thanks to the medical team from the IVANOSKI joining in on the fight against the epidemic, the number of Galemaen infected had steadily decreased.
Most of the PADDs on Erik's desk were reports from various locations on how the virus had been stopped. A few gave details as to how the infection seemed to reappear for no reason but was quickly dealt with before it could go any further. A handful of the PADDs were about the Galemaen Senate efforts to help in the fight due to popular pressure brought on by the pirate new broadcast that the government officials were still trying to identify the origins of. This left a single PADD holding all of the information the crew of the ANUBIS possessed on a single individual known as Mordana.
Commander Shar'El and the IGC team had worked long and hard to identify the person responsible for the chaos that had spread over GALEMAE, the person responsible for the thousands of deaths and the one individual whom they suspected was at the heart of every resurgence of the virus.
=/\= Bridge to Captain Morningstar, =/\= Lt. Ya'Han's voice sounded excited.
"Go ahead."
=/\= We may have a lead on this Mordana. Cmdr. Shar'El is on her way down to GALEMAE with a security detail. She said that if all goes well, she will be back within the hour. =/\=
"Wish her good luck for me."
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Setting: USS ANUBIS, Bridge
Stardate: 33137.1300
The Native American sat on the edge of his seat. It had been nearly two weeks since the manhunt for Mordana had almost pinned the Shadow agent, but every time they were close to apprehending her, she found a way to escape.
"Sensors are still unable to get a lock on her," Lt. Stark reported with frustration. "Shar'El and Ya'Han are close but I can't help them from here. It's like trying to catch an actual shadow with your bare hands."
"We did manage to stop her from leaving GALEMAE," Sonja added, focussing on the one piece of good news they had in regards to the Shadow agent. "It's just a matter of time before we get those bare hands around her neck and squeeze the life out of that bit..."
=/\= Away team to ANUBIS! Emergency beam out. It's a trap! =/\=
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Setting: USS ANUBIS, Captain's Ready Room
Stardate: 33165.1300
It had been about a month since the ANUBIS had left GALEMAE to pursue the Shadow agent Mordana. The woman had proven to be very slippery, always evading capture whenever the ship drew close. The spirit of the crew was starting to show the scars of their repeated failed attempts, but at least the agent had been too busy running to spread chaos and destruction on a large scale.
"Captain, I thought you would like to see this," Counselor Lopez said handing a PADD over to her Commanding Officer.
"What is this?" Erik inquired, curious as to why this particular message had been brought to him by the Ship's Counselor.
"It's a message from Luranax, the little girl Satella, Ya'Han and Maya saved back on GALEMAE."
The Native American quickly perused the content of the message causing a bright smile to form on his face. "Looks like she is no longer an orphan. Brossyx finally got the official adoption documents. That's one happy ending through all of the darkness that we have been dealing with."
"You said it yourself Captain," Adriana smiled. "No matter what darkness is out there, life continues and will continue as long as we do not give in into this spreading shadow."
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Setting: USS ANUBIS, Deck 14, Bio-Chemistry Lab
Stardate: 33232.1100
"You wanted to see me, Doctor?" The Native American rhetorically asked as he walked into the laboratory to find the CMO and CSciO working together.
"Since our departure from GALEMAE, Maya and I have been working on better understanding the Shadow Virus," Satella explained. "The goal was not only to make sure we have a cure on hand for other similar viruses that might be unleashed by the Lokustaar but to also try to get into the heads of those walking shadows by figuring out how they created that nasty little bug."
"It took a while but we made some rather interesting discoveries," Maya continued. "The molecular composition of the Shadow Virus is like nothing we have ever dealt with, and the more we figure it out, the more we realize that we have come across a seemingly endless pool of possibilities, all of them good."
"The problem is that we are rather limited in our ability to research our findings more in-depth. The ANUBIS may be very advanced in regards to Intel gathering, but as far as medical research is concerned, we don't have the equipment needed to unlock all of the potentials we have discovered," Doctor Bruxa detailed. "We need to bring these findings to a better equipped Federation medical facility."
"We can't," Erik quickly threw back. "We are too close to capturing Mordana."
"With all due respect Captain, you and Commander Shar'El have been saying that for months now, and still we are no closer to putting our hands on her. As a Shadow agent, she is as slippery as they get."
"Continue with your work, I will see what I can do."
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Setting: USS ANUBIS, Captain's Ready Room
Stardate: 33365.1600
"Captain's Log. Our efforts to capture Mordana are still ongoing. We have chased her through more than three dozen systems and we are no closer to apprehending her then we were back on GALEMAE. Several members of the senior staff have started referring to the woman as Moby Dick, an odd irony given that the mythological creature was a white whale, but the link has not been missed on Shar'El who is the one most obsessed with taking that agent down once and for all. I suspect that my ILO has taken the woman's repeated escape personally."
The Native American paused for an instant, gazing out the nearest window at the streaking stars. "Given the dark chaos that continued to reign throughout the Federation and neighbouring governments, I agree that Mordana is a high priority, but Doctor Bruxa and Lt. Commander Maya have made their case more than once. It seems that we will have no other choice but to break off our pursuit and bring the discoveries made to a better-equipped facility. End recording."
Erik sighed. Back on EARTH, the celebration of a New Year was almost upon them, but here in the void between stars, the crew of the ANUBIS had nothing to celebrate. The War of Shadows was far from over and as long as operatives such as Mordana were still out there, it was unlikely that the conflict would end soon. The best each and every one of them could do was to hold on to whatever good they had managed to create in order to off-set the spreading shadow and celebrate their own good fortunes. As difficult at the year that had passed might have been, they were still here, fighting against the darkness and ready to tackle the challenges of a new year.
--==(/\)==--
Francois Charette
Commanding Officer
USS ANUBIS, NCC 18501
AND
Robotics Engineering Officer
NEW ALEXANDRIA