Hriss pushed out from the service hatch to stare at my holo avatar, "You are kidding, right?"
We were almost done completely going over every single system I had on board. My actual avatar was over on Vulcan Gateway with Captain Montgomery, we were scheduled for a meeting with Admiral L'Set in a couple of minutes.
Shifting my holographic avatar down to sit with my back against the panel next to her, I shook my head as I crossed my legs, "Nope. Never tried rock climbing. I know they offered it back at the Academy, but I didn't really get much into sports."
The Caitian shook her head and then scooted back in, taking a tool along, "You have to give it a try. It's focusing, relaxing and challenging at the same time."
I frowned slightly, "Relaxing?"
"Yeah. Just you, the rock and the view. All the troubles in the world just go away."
"...I would think hanging on for your life just remove any relaxation from it."
That got a laugh from her, "That's what safety equipment and holodecks are for. Honestly, I prefer climbing in the holodeck as then I can skip all the rope, harnesses and anti gravity belt."
"I guess I can see that."
"I have holodeck time booked for next week, right?"
"Mhmm, Thursday at eighteen hundred."
"You should join me, I'll give you some pointers." she said before she hmmed, "There. How's that?"
I nodded, "Sure we can do that. And yeah, I think that did it. I'm reading the relay properly again. That's the last one in the lab."
Letting out a sigh, she scooted back out and got onto her feet, "Damn, it's been a while since I did this much technical work."
"Well, hopefully you won't need to do it again anytime soon." I chuckled and got my hologram up as well, "Most of your staff is finished as well."
She nodded and then bent down to press the cover back in place, "How are we doing over all?"
I shrugged one shoulder, "Okay. We are mostly done to be honest so we should finish at our planned deadline. I have a good crew."
Hriss grinned, "Damn right you do. Now if we are done, I'm going to go grab a shower, there is only so much of crawling around in machinery I can do before my fur start to protest."
"Hey! Are you saying I'm dusty!?" I exclaimed in mock outrage.
She just laughed at me.
XXXXXXXXXX
I raised a eyebrow in slight surprise as we entered Admiral L'Set's office only to find two more people present. A man wearing a uniform with red shoulders and the rank of commander. The second was a AI avatar with a asian look and long black flowing hair, wearing command uniform as well, a dagger riding on her hip.
Warship then.
Hmm. She was cute. But what are they doing here? This was going to be a one ship mission.
"Captain Montgomery, Andromeda." Admiral L'Set said and got up to round the table, offering her hand. She was a older Vulcan, her grey hair cut short, "Welcome."
We shook hands and exchanged greetings before she turned to the other two, "May I introduce Commander White and Sensor Ghost from the Ethical Terraforming Investigation Section. There have been a adjustment to your mission."
ETIS.
I only knew who they were because I had transported a squad of them before during the Romulan war. It was a carefully kept secret, but their name had nothing to do with the work Section did.
They were black ops, a part of Starfleet Intelligence.
My Captain also shifted slightly at the names, "And what can we do for ETIS?"
It was a command level secret. A 'need to know' one. And unless you were the captain, AI, first officer and possibly chief of security on a ship carrying one of their groups... you didn't need to know.
Commander White smiled slightly and got up to offer her his hand for a shake as well, "Nothing drastic. You can just continue on with your mission like planned, you just need to drop Sensor Ghost and us off at a spot in your planned flight path."
Hmm.
Our flight path didn't bring us past anything remotely important. The closest interesting part of space would be...
Tholian space.
That's not good.
I turned to look at Sensor Ghost only to find her watching me in return. She raised a eyebrow with a small smile.
'Figure it out?' she transmitted.
'Tholians. I know, I know, Top Secret need to know. I just don't like it.'
'Don't worry, it won't be a problem for your crew, just drop us off at the closest part of your normal course.'
Yeah, I know. If ETIS was involved in the first place it was something really important for Federation Security.
Captain Montgomery shook his hand, "I'm sure we might be able to accommodate you assuming Sensor Ghost is small enough. Rommie is just a Nova, not a lot of space."
Sensor Ghost smiled from her seat, "I'm the size of a Runabout. It's going to be a close according to the schematics, but I should be able to squeeze in?"
I smirked at her, "I'm sure we can. Just need to move the shuttles to the side and I should be able to fit you in. Hopefully it won't be too tight for you, just be careful, you might be a bit big for me."
Every non-AI in the room rolled their eyes, including the Vulcan.
AN// This is what happen when nobody volunteer to beta.