[Earth Spacedock, Promenade, Restaurant]
At first, the sounds around Caelene seemed to be drowned out and far away. Her mind was racing with all that she'd learned in a relatively short space of time. What did all this information mean? Was Lee (NPC) really dead? What could she or the others or...well, anyone, do about any of it?
"Vould you like a drink Kommander? Ze chai here is very good." She asked, indicating the pot of tea that was sitting next to her plate of eggs and bacon.
Finally, hearing Kachina's voice brought her back to the present. Her hand trembled as she continued running her fingers over the PADD, but Caelene looked up at the Flight Control Officer. It took her a moment to digest what had been said, but then the Trill nodded, "Thank you, yes...I think that might be a good idea."
Vance frowned as Caelene finished speaking and let out a sigh. He looked over to the Russian whom he'd never spoke to before as she begun to speak. After she had finished offering the commander a cup of tea. "Who is it?" Vance asked her, he could only guess Lee but he thought he'd make sure before drawing a conclusion.
Still not entirely snapped out of her thoughts, Caelene looked between the few concerned faces near her - Ardy was there as was Vance and a few others. Swallowing hard, she glanced over at Vance. Quietly, she replied, "Lee...It was Lee."
A few minutes later, a hot cup of chai tea was placed before her - someone must have ordered it for her when she wasn't paying attention. Caelene nodded to the server in thanks, then wrapped her hands around the cup, warming them. Leaning over, she took in the aroma of the chai and breathed deeply. Bringing the cup to her lips, she took a sip, feeling the warm slide through her.
Caelene knew she had to pull herself together. At the moment, she was the ranking member of the Shran here and she needed to take charge of the situation. Lee's fate was out of her hands for the time being. Either he was already dead, in which case she could mourn him later, or he was alive but likely captured by those who were involved with the assassination. If that was the case, her best chance of finding him was finding out what was really going on.
Feeling a clarity of purpose, the Trill slid the PADD into the center of the table. "This contains the message that Lee sent to me. Lee, Lieutenant Agathon, was on my shipyard Engineering team, but apparently he was also investigating the conspiracy surrounding our crew and the assassination. The information he sent me details the new Federation President's current whereabouts on a planet near the Romulan border and some initial information that he's working with the Tal'Shiar. Apparently the data that Captain Hawke hid is part of the puzzle and the rest we'd need to get from the new president."
"Considering what seems to have happened to Lee, I'd say that the conspiracy is ongoing and they're trying to keep us quiet. I think the only hope we have of clearing Captain Hawke and ourselves is to get the data the captain hid and go find the new Federation President. We'll need a ship and crew to do that. I think most of our crew is still around, so we might be able to gather them...and the Shran's repairs are nearly complete. The captain is under house arrest, from what I understand, though," Caelene explained. She wasn't entirely sure how to get James out, but perhaps one of the engineers or operations crew could figure out a way to trick the monitoring system into thinking he was still there... Or at the very least, they'd have to get him to give up the location of the data.
Staring down at her cup of tea for a moment, she then looked back up at those around her. "Look through the information if you like. I plan to go forward with this, but I can't ask the rest of you to risk yourselves or your careers. You have to make up your own minds... If you don't feel comfortable going, I hope you'll at least not say anything while the rest of us try. If you are willing to help, I'm open to suggestions," Caelene finished, leaning back in her chair with a worried, yet determined look on her face.
If Lee was dead, she was going to make sure it was not in vain. And she wasn't going to let James just sit and rot or continue to be accused of things that weren't true. It might not be easy to get the crew together or to steal the Shran, but if anyone could do it, it was the crew who had survived a planet full of raptors, the Borg, and a ship full of incompetent cadets.
OFF: Tag breakfast meeting peoples (Kachina, Vance, Ardy...anyone else who was there..).