Odin's Curse

Posted on 17 Sep 2020 @ 9:31am by Colonel Sarah Deco

1,038 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Ab Intra
Location: General Stanton's Office, Solaris Station

Sadie impatiently flicked through the list of reports and memos that scrolled down the screen of her data-tablet. Each one was flicked one way to be saved and read later while the others were flicked the other way so they would become the problem of...someone else. If it wasn't her problem, she wasn't going to keep ahold of it. It just wasn't her style, and she preferred to share the annoyance around.

One that stood out, however, was about the USS Odin. It was the latest update from Lieutenant Colonel Reyes. That ship was getting annoying, and she was wondering if Reyes was...as active a watcher as she wanted. On impulse, she pressed a button on her desk. "Deco to Stanton's office at your earliest convenience."

The way Sadie's voice sounded and the way the order was phrased, was enough to made Sarah scrunch her nose. Her office was just down the hall of the other woman's, but right then, she wasn't inclined to make her way over in any superfast manner. So, instead, she had the decency to reply: "I'll be there in 15 minutes." and closing the comm system before her boss, and friend, could get another reply in.

Exactly 15 minutes, and a few reports of her own later, Sarah was immediately waved through to the Commander's office. She glanced at the data tablet and sighed. "Fed up about paperwork again? You should really make someone else do that first pass. But anyway, you summoned me, so I guess I'm not going to like it?" she asked, sitting down without waiting for an invitation. Not many people could afford that casualty, but she could, and she would.

The red light from Sadie's prosthetic eye flickered over her friend's face as the general pursed her lips slightly. "I don't know if you'll like it or not, but I presume you've been keeping up with the matter of the Odin? That random-ass, out of time ship that's now gallivanting around our space?"

Sarah didn't miss the fact that Sadie skipped all the pleasantries even though she gave plenty of openings for the other woman to raise to the bait. "Yes, I've been keeping an eye on them, but I have to admit that I haven't seen as much about them as I'd expected. Where's is gallivanting at the moment?"

"Last report, it was in the vicinity of Alym Colony," Sadie said, finding a data-tablet in the stack and passing it over to Sarah. "Colonel Reyes doesn't seem to be quite forthcoming on the matter of reports as I would have expected. I was hoping for a little more."

"Alym Colony?" Sarah asked wistfully, momentarily forgetting the tablet she'd been handed. "Do you remember that mission where we had to go look for that Vulcan ship that was supposedly scientific? I nearly crashed the ship into that Colony. Now I forgot the planet's name, but it's not important."

"For the best you didn't," Sadie commented. "Nothing good has ever seemingly come from it, but I'm not entirely sure what the Odin is doing around there now. I think I may need to change out the on-board observer for that ship again, despite having just put Reyes there." She wasn't a woman that normally liked to make that many changes so close together, but needs must and all that.

Sarah now glanced down at the tablet she'd been handed and scrolled through the information on it. There wasn't much, so it didn't take her long to look back up at Sadie. "Why did you even send them out there? They're an unpredictable variable in an already tough situation."

"I couldn't keep them tethered here forever, and they weren't posing enough of a threat to blow them up," Sadie said with a wave of her hand. She would dress down most anyone for second-guessing her this way, but not Sarah. "I figured if we keep a tab on them, maybe they'll prove useful."

The other woman was impressed that Sadie had grown so much over the years. Not that long ago, she *would* have blown them up. She smirked to let some of that thought out, but then cleared her throat. "You realise that, depending on the kind of missions you send them on, we're hardly going to see each other anymore?"

Sadie pursed her lips as her dark brows rose. "What, are you a mind reader now?"

"Yours? Yes," Sarah deadpanned before shrugging. "Just tell me I'm wrong."

"I wasn't planning on it," the general replied with a snort that Sarah would recognize as her version of a laugh. "I need someone better to observe that ship. After two already, I'm done with guessing and gonna send someone I know can do the job."

Sarah sighed and let the silence linger for a while. She knew what she had to reply, she knew what she had to do, but that didn't mean she had to like it. A vote of confidence was one thing, but if it led to something like this - being shipped off to be forgotten - that was quite another. "Fair enough," she spoke at last.

Although the general wasn't as perceptive as some, she wasn't entirely dense either. She knew her friend and deputy didn't like this, but Sadie wanted eyes on that ship that she trusted to do the job. "You'll do fine," she said. "And perhaps it won't be for long."

"Not for long," Sarah repeated. She had to go where she was sent, and she wouldn't dispute it. She'd follow orders, good little soldier she was. "Do I fly out there or are you going to recall them any time soon?"

"Fly out there," Sadie replied. "I'd rather them not be back here unless absolutely necessary. That ship is odd."

And she was being sent to that oddity. Gritting her teeth, Sarah climbed back to her feet. "I'll arrange a ride. I'll let you know when I leave."

Sadie knew her friend wasn't happy about this, but that was unavoidable right now. She needed eyes she could trust on that ship, and her previous choices weren't working. "Good luck, Colonel," she said instead. This was just what the job required sometimes.

 

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