Quote the Raven... Lying Much?

Posted on Tue Jul 26th, 2011 @ 12:03am by Captain Jackson Hawkins & Commander Raven Adams

943 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Winds of Change
Location: Hawks Quarters

Captain Hawks laid in his bed, the sheets and pillow cool against his flesh. He had just closed his eyes when his sheep counting skills were interrupted by a strange sound.

An odd fluttering at the door was followed by a soft thud. The door chimed once.

Donning only his sleep pants, Hawk pulled himself out of bed and stumbled to the door, opening it and looking out, seeing no one.

"Captain Hawkins," a small, bird-like voice said from the region of the ground. "Sorry to bother you." A faint squawk. "I have information. Commander Raven thinks you should see it right away."

Hawkins looked down to see a mechanical raven. "Ummm... Come in?"

The bird flew into the Captain's quarters and landed next to his computer. The screen turned on and a picture of Yerdi appeared. "Commander Raven sent information on a secure channel. If I found anything I was to bring it to you,"

"And?" The Captain was still a bit off put by mechanical raven.

The raven turned to face the computer screen. Data began to scroll across the screen. Images, dates, names, video. "This was retrieved from a Yerdisian ship."

Hawk watched the clips and saw a flash that disturbed him. "Pause playback." He stared intently at the slides. "Reverse four slides." The computer slowly scrolled back to a picture of the royal family. "Computer hold image and zoom." Jack sighed to himself. "We have a problem." He looked down the little bird. "Is there a way we can communicate with Commander Adams without giving away their position?"

The bird gave him an imperious look. "Of course. How do you think she told me to bring this to you?"

The Captain resisted the overwhelming urge to stop the bird into the deck plating. "The Commander could have transmitted the data when there was no one else around." He threw on his silk nightshirt and approached the computer station in his quarters. "Computer, open a priority one encrypted channel to Commander Adams mimicking a Romulan carrier wave."

"Use Raven Delta Gamma 3572," the raven added. He looked at the Captain. "Intel encryption."

Hawk again nodded, still not pleased about dealing with the bird. "Computer, make the necessary changes."

Edgar nodded his head in satisfaction and perched on top of the computer monitor while the connection was established. There was a soft chime at the other end. The raven bent over and looked at the computer screen. "Obfuscation." The computer chimed again. A moment later Raven appeared on the scren. "Captain Hawkins?"

"Commander, we have a bit of a problem." Hawk hit a few buttons transmitting a picture of the Royal family. "Any of these characters look familiar?"

It only took a moment. "Kendar."

"That's what I'm thinking as well Commander. I'm going to confront him immediately. We don't want any further problems stemming from this if they can be prevented." Hawk looked seriously at Commander Adams. "Keep your head down out there. You might be able to out gun them for a bit, but they out number you 300+ to one."

Raven nodded. "Although, from what I have seen, Kendar -- or whoever he is -- may need asylum. The situation here is grim."

"Agreed Commander, but if he is sincere, he needs to start talking beyond his religious rebel obfuscation." Hawk sighed.

"Obfuscation seems to be the norm or this regime. At least from what I've learned of the Regent. There isn't much data on her, but the Yerdisian laws are extremely harsh."

"Understood Commander. Well keep up your research and then high-tail it home. The last thing we need is to be discovered." Hawk looked around for his decanter of water and found none.

"I will do my best not to be discovered, sir," she promised. She wasn't going to mention rescuing the rebel ship. What's she'd done was covert; so, technically, she ws still following the Captain's orders.

Edgar had been preening his feathers while he paid rapt attention to the conversation. His head came up and he looked at the Captain for a moment. He flew into the bedroom and returned a moment later with a water bottle. He set it on the counter beside the computer and resumed his preening.

Hawk's brow furrowed with confusion as he picked up the bottle and broke the seal. "And Commander, we might want to have a discussion about getting you some additional staff when you return." He took a drink of the water and was satisfied for a moment. "Though I appreciate the water, I'm a bit concerned about a bird that can connect the dots and react." He smiled pleasantly at the woman.

Raven's eyes twinkled. "He compiles, collates and extracts data ten times faster than any human. He doesn't need to eat or sleep and he doesn't gossip. But I'll be happy to talk about more personnel when I return."

"Yes Commander, I think I much prefer Delilah." Hawk nodded and yawned.

Raven wondered briefly who Delilah was. "That's why you're the Captain and I'm the Intelligence Officer, sir."

Hawk looked confused. "Sorry Commander. It's late. I'll check in with you in a few days if I don't hear from you first."

"Yes, sir. Adams out." The connection closed.

Edgar looked at the Captain for a moment. "Will that be all?"

"You may go..." Hawk looked at the bird, still puzzled by it.

Edgar nodded and flew towards the door. "Nevermore," he said. The door opened and the bird turned down the corridor and disappeared from sight.
__________

Captain Jackson Hawkins
Commanding Officer
Starbase Typhon

Commander Raven Adams
Chief Intelligence Officer
Starbase Typhon

Edgar
Computer Avatar/AI
Starbase Typhon

RSS Feed