Frostwolf
Posted on Tue Aug 17th, 2021 @ 2:57am by Commander Arianna Frost & Lieutenant Commander Leonora Wolf MD
Edited on on Tue Aug 17th, 2021 @ 3:00am
1,152 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
Mission 0: Everybody Has A Story
Location: Coridan III/ Memory Theta
Timeline: MD 11 (Barbarians at the Gates), day after 'Afterlife'
Leonora had spent nearly twenty-four hours preparing and plotting what she would say in this call after the 'final' visit from Karna. Finding out that it was Arianna Frost who'd been assigned to investigate Memory Theta was the easy bit. Setting up the script and securing a channel and the subsequent sub-routes to throw off the trace was the hard bit. The hardest though? How to tip Arianna off without pinging the fact that Karna was indeed alive.
The Norwegian had hopped a transport the following morning, arranging equipment and gear en-route to Coridan III. Now that she was finally here, sitting at the, finally set up, interface, her long blonde hair sprawled over her shoulders, Leah found herself hesitating.
Karna had advised her to not get involved. Part of her had agreed with him. The other part, the niggling, incessant one that often lead to her sticking her nose into things she shouldn't, told her she needed to call Frosty and tell her that things were deeper than they seemed, to look deeper than the reports, deeper than the surface of the place. To be careful.
The problem was avoiding the whys, the hows and the where-did-you-get-this-information-froms.
Before she could talk herself out of it, Leah initiated the channel connection handshake.
What...a...shitshow. Words Arianna Frost had repeated both mentally and verbally since she started looking into the mission reports. The Australian rubbed her temples as she re-read Lieutenant Xiong's report again.
As she read out the report, she noticed out of the side of her eye that her communication channel was flashing red. Frost straightened out and reached over, bringing the display up.
"Channel handshake?" She whispered to herself.
A non-verbal request for the recipient to secure their end before accepting the call. These were usually serious.
Arianna tapped a few commands and initiated the channel-secure process. Once that was done, Frost accepted the call.
Her eyebrows went up as she caught sight of her old friend. Leonora Wolf. She'd not seen the woman in years. Since their first op after cross-training. The two blondes were often called 'Frostwolf' not so much for their last names but demeanors, a mix of cold and ferocious when needed. It was the teasing nickname that they had adopted and started to have fun with which eventually lead to them bonding and becoming friends.
"There's trouble!" Arianna greeted with a cautious smile. "How you going, mate?"
The long-haired blonde chuckled, "hey Frosty. I'm...doing well. Being stood down feels weird, but not as bad as I'd thought."
Stood down? Oh, that's right. "Still, must be a change after Delphi shut down?"
Delphi, a black site, such as Memory Theta in another part of Federation space, had been run by Leonora Wolf before it got shut down not too long ago. Details as to why...sketchy. Part of Arianna had wanted to find out more, but she was too busy with the 'Hightower Incident and her re-assignment to Theta.
Wolf shrugged, "Humans get used to a lot..."
Indeed.
"You're not calling me on a secured channel to catch up." Ari decided to cut to the chase. Leah likely didn't have a lot of time to muck around.
The other woman shook her head. "Heard a story the other day." (I have information.)
Code.
"Yeah?" (Ready to receive.)
"La Finta Nona is but one of the versions of the Red Riding Hood. Apparently in this version, it's an ogre, not a wolf." (There is more to the case than you were lead to believe.)
Red Riding Hood was normally code for the subject and/or case one was involved with. Multiple versions likely meant more angles or more information existed than in the initial brief.
Arianna blinked. What did Leah know? "Really? I've only ever known the wolf version. How many more are there?" (Do you know how much more?)
Understanding seemed to appear in Leah's features, "The Tiger Grandma, for one, The Other Grandmother, Little Red Cap those are the ones I know. Don't know the details of each but it's very interesting that there are so many. Don't you think? (Three at least. Insufficient details but worth pursuing.)
Ari nodded slowly, still trying to read Leah's mannerisms through the live feed as she processed what her friend was trying to tell her. "Very interesting indeed. Is there a compilation anywhere so I can get my hands on it?" (Worth pursuing. Source?)
Leah shook her head, "not sure, I don't think people caught on yet. Which is weird, considering how old the story is." (If source, unclear. Not enough eyes. Ongoing issue.)
Frost nodded again, "oh well, I'll put it on my reading list. Thanks for that Pup, I'll let you know what I thought when I get a chance to read them." (Message received. Will keep eyes on it.)
Pup was Arianna's nickname for Leah, and Frosty was Leonora's nickname for Ari. Fond memories.
Wolf nodded, "we need to catch up when we're in the area." A quiet signal for the coded conversation to end.
"We definitely do. Send me time and coordinates and I'll see when I'm available." Frost nodded, adding a genuine smile. "Take care of yourself, Pup."
Leah grinned back at her, "You too, Frosty." With that said, the communication was closed.
The norwegian leaned back, releasing a deep breath as her screen went black. Hopefully, her message would get Ari to keep her eyes and ears peeled on the right leads. Wolf knew she needed to stay out of this one but hopefully, she'd gotten Ari to dig deeper without revealing that Karna was still alive. She would keep her old friend's secret.
Her musing was interrupted by her PaDD signaling it had received a message.
Leonora frowned as she fished out the PaDD out of her pocket and looked at the message. "Starfleet Medical needs me? Why?"
In her office, Arianna sat leaned back in her chair, reflecting on the cryptic warning of her old friend, notes half-finished on a PaDD.
Frost brought the PaDD closer and began taking down more notes;
- who else is involved?
- have unsubs changed?
- how long have they been involved?
- goals?
Then another note, she added - re-assess priorities and adjust for new parameters.
"Oh Pup, what did you just get me into?" Arianna sighed and closed her eyes, leaning her head against the back rest. Then she exhaled and attempted to clear her head before continuing.
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