Annoying Pencil Pushers

Posted on Sat Apr 19th, 2025 @ 4:39am by Lieutenant JG Nayisa Wrea & Commander N'Garzi Zora

Mission: Character Development
Location: Spruance
Timeline: MD 6 - After "It's Just Too Risky"
1500 words - 3 OF Standard Post Measure

Nayisa smacked her desk out of frustration once she finished the chat with one of the Fives, before standing to pace in her quarters with her hands behind her head. Darius was close, yet the Pandora Protocols kept them from pursuing. It was infuriating to know that he was just within reach, easily stoppable, practically delivered on a silver platter, and she couldn't just grab him! It wasn't like she was critically needed on the ship; the scientists were still poking at the wreckage, the security teams were back, and an investigation was already underway to find the unaccounted raiders. She needed to vent, and there was only one person she could actually rant to. Taking a deep breath, she pulled herself together before leaving her quarters, grabbing a PADD along the way.

It didn't take long for her to transport over, making up some excuse to physically go to the other ship. Nobody knew her on the Spruance, but she still kept a strained aura of cheerfulness as she asked the ship's computer for Darin's whereabouts. As suspected, he was in the intelligence suite, so she briskly headed up, un-clenching her fists whenever she found them tightly balled. She knew she needed to check herself so she wouldn't reveal anything publicly, and during the transporter ride she closed her eyes for a few seconds and forced some deep breaths to keep her anger at a simmer. Hearing the lift doors open, she opened her eyes again and approached the intel suite.

Once inside, it wasn't hard to spot the mess of red hair wandering around, so giving a strained smile to the people who clearly didn't recognize the mess of silver hair in their space, she walked up to Darin. "Hey loser," she said to him, putting on the best display of disgusting optimism she could muster. While disguising real emotions in an intelligence suite was about as effective as a stealth mission in a neon pink suit, she didn't want to show just how annoyed she was. Not yet. "You should answer your calls once in a while. I need a second opinion on this." Holding out the PADD to him, the contents simply read: We need to talk. Now.

"Nay, what are you doing...." Darin began to ask before the PADD was thrust upon him. He didn't need to read it to know something was wrong but he read it anyway and then eyed her suspiciously. "This way," he said before he headed deeper into the suite, to one of the private rooms in the back. Once inside, he pressed a few buttons on the door's control. The door let out a light beep and then emitted a locking sound. The room was bathed in bright white light, which bounced off the singular metal table in the centre with two pairs of chairs on either side. "We're safe to talk here," he confirmed. "What's wrong?"

A few seconds after the doors locked, Nayisa dropped her composure, placing the PADD onto the table with slightly more force than necessary. "What's wrong is that this project is run by idiots who are disconnected from what goes on in the field," she grumbled. Hands on her hips, she began to pace as she recounted the interaction she had with the bane of her existence, User 0502, how they refused to issue orders to pursue despite the insistence that she and Darin could accomplish it. "This is huge, Darin. He's within arm's reach, but we have to let him go because the ones in charge are too scared to take a risk!"

"You're kidding? This is the best lead we have had in years!" Darin said, not trying to hide the disbelief from his voice. He knew he shouldn't be playing into the narrative that it was us against them, that was only going to fuel Nayisa's anger. She was unpredictable at the best of times, but when she was like this, anything could happen. His job had always been to talk her down from the ledge, the calm in the storm. He was very aware of that role at this moment. "What are you going to do?" He asked, as he searched her face for common signs he had grown to know so well.

"What can I do?" Nayisa countered in an exasperated tone. Stopping her pacing, she crossed her arms across the back of one of the chairs and leaned into it. "We're under Pandora Protocols. If I took a shuttle to go after him, even if I explained to my boss what I was doing first, it would still be a massive violation of protocol that puts my track record to shame. Unless we're willing to break a lot of rules --a number that results in a hefty prison sentence if we're lucky-- I think our hands are tied." Irritation bubbling up in her again, she stood upright, pressing her palms into the cold metal. "I mean, who cares that he killed a dozen people with that little stunt?? I told 0502 to stick it, because apparently making sure we "don't expose the project" is more important to them than actually capturing our target!"

Darin sighed heavily and slumped into one of the seats. Normally he could see the logic in their decisions, in fact, he would usually have to explain this to Nayisa, but he was struggling this time. "Predominantly this is a science and tactical mission," he said referring to the planet killer. "There's not a lot for us in intel to provide. I am not saying that means we can steal a shuttle and go rogue," he quickly added before that idea seeded in her head, "but surely there's a way we can track Darius without compromising the Pandora Protocols?"

Nayisa took a couple seconds to roll her head in an effort to relieve some of the tension in her neck. As much as she wanted to take a shuttle, stick a finger to the Mosaic higher-ups, and go after Darius, it was only guaranteed to cause problems. "As far as the squadron knows, we're keeping an eye on the raider vessels that got away. It's all we can do at the moment, given squadron priorities," she confirmed. If her words weren't assurance for herself, they were to make sure that their story was straight, just in case. "We believe that our primary suspect, Kazik, is on one of those vessels. Long-range sensors will eventually lose them, but we're doing long-range scans to make sure they don't come back with reinforcements." Only part of her stress was related to the mission; it was one thing to come across his trail months later and pick it apart, but to scramble for information while he got away was an entirely different level of infuriating. "Have we found anything to suggest that he took something?"

Darin shook his head sadly. "No, we're still running comprehensive analysis. It would go faster but trying to stealthily search while also not tipping our hand to the engineering guys what we're looking for is proving...frustrating." He sighed and scratched his chin. "We'll get him Nay, maybe not today but we'll get him for everything."

A grunt of disapproval was Nayisa's response as she thought. "This is a mess," she grumbled. She knew he was right, there was only so much they could do before their own investigation became apparent.

Darin hated seeing her like this. She was usually full of life and excitement, the kind of friend you had to pull back from running into the road because they were too busy with something else to pay attention to where they was stepping. He knew how much this meant to her, how much she wanted to nail this guy and they were so close. "We have a dozen starships in this system and twice as many support ships too. We have sensor data coming out of our nacelles. In fact we have so much sensor data we don't know what to do with it. Is there a way to link it all together? Use every ship in the fleet to track the missing package?"

Nayisa breathed a sigh. She'd have to be ok with him getting away, this time. "There is. I've done it before, and I can do it again." What would she ever do without Darin's brain? Looking up at him, she flashed him a grateful smile. "You're right, we'll get him. Maybe not today... frustratingly... but hopefully soon."

Darin made a sudden movement and closed the gap between him and Nayisa. He touched her shoulder reassuringly and gave her a friendly smile. His fair skin made the fleckles across his face stand out more prominently, and the harsh fluorescent lighting didn't help much either. "You can count on that."