Project: Sentinel

[Rodent]

Assault Carrier Immortal, Omicron Mu system.

Moiraine Damodred was watching from her vantage point on the bridge. That was mostly what a Captain of a starship did. The individuals operating their consoles were highly trained professionals, and all the Captain does is to channelize their efforts in the right direction...then watch. In times of quiet, that was all she would do for hours yet.

Combat situations were different, but the Immortal was not looking for action. The blanket of secrecy around Mu held, for now. The Nomads being unable to locate it, or unwilling to. She did not want to know. In her head, Ishamael murmured and chanted the names of those lost.

Private Ryan Stone, Corporal Jason Turnbridge....

A tap on the shoulder broke the chant. She turned, it was an Ensign...Yelena, was it? She prided herself on remembering everybody's name on the crew.

"What is it, Ensign?"

"Ma'am, encrypted comms for you. It's from Taweret."

Moiraine nodded, and got up. What could Taweret want? She'd not had much contact with the 'right hand' of Eriksson Ravenov..and even more unsettling, nothing was known about her, barring the fact that she was female. At least the voice made it seem so. Ishamael quited down in her head, and she walked into the comm room.

The scanning began immediately, signs of a Holographic call clear. A few moments of lag, and then it was clear.

A woman, seated in a chair, many terminals pulled up around her. In the background was an amazingly lifelike portrait of Toledo in it's current state. She looked up as the connection stabilized.

It was the first time Moiraine had seen the other. Short black hair, on a sharp angular face. She looked middle-aged, but fit. Her sharp green eyes met Moiraine's own, and then she began.

"Miss Damodred, I'm Taweret."

"Apparently. What is the reason for this call?"

Taweret smiled slightly.

"Straight to the point, Good. Very well...I trust you're aware of an individual named Michal Golanski. He was one of the leaders of our outfit before the...incident."

"I am."

"In the battle, he was caught under a bulkhead collapse. He has several bone fractures, a punctured lung, and a twisted vertebrae among other injuries. He is currently stable, but comatose. It'll take a spirited effort to restore him to full capability...and you are the one that can do it."

Moiraine was slightly surprised, but did not react outwardly.

"I'll assume that fixing him is possible, but not an easy task. What leads do we have?"

Taweret tapped a few buttons on one of the terminals before replying.

"I've forwarded likely leads to your private neural net. The documents will erase after a single reading. I have also taken the liberty to give you a cadre of Order agents under your direct command. Together, they represent all skill sets and stratas you are likely to need..and will follow you implicitly. Make good use of them. Also...I want you to run extensive psych-analyses on him, determine how he'll be the most effective."

"What do you mean?"

"Simply put, whether letting him retain his free will is preferable to us implanting a control chip in his brain. Michal Golanski is a skilled individual, but we need to make the most of him, morality be damned. That'll be all, Miss Damodred. Good luck."

The holographic communication cut.