USS Spectre Compile - April 1st-30th 2015 by Alan Reading ================================================================= Mission:Shore Leave Day: 1 Stardate: 2414.11.01 (USS Spectre - Bridge - CSO LT.jg Kurt Palmer – 17:08) ================================================================= Mission:Shore Leave Day: 3 Stardate: 2414.11.03 (Betazed - The Tropics - Dr. Michaella Kirien & Cadet Gabriella Wilson-Kirien - 22:50) (Betazed - Dreamscape - A Couns, Lt. Dr. Riven Mias - 22:51) (Betazed - Tropical Bungalow - A Couns, Lt. Dr. Riven Mias - 22:53) (Betazed - Tropical Bungalow - Dr. Michaella Kirien - 22:55) ================================================================= Mission: Stone Skipping Day: 10 Stardate: 2414.11.10 (USS Spectre - Observation Lounge - FO/CEO, CSO LT.jg Kurt Palmer – 10:15) (USS Spectre - Bridge - CSO, LT.jg Kurt Palmer – 10:45) (USS Spectre - Bridge - CSO, LT.jg Kurt Palmer – 12:59) (USS Spectre - Bridge - CSO, LT.jg Kurt Palmer – 13:08) (USS Spectre - Bridge, CONN - Pilot Officer, Second Lieutenant Jennifer Smith – 13:13) (USS Spectre - Main Engineering - ACEO, Ensign Jake Haltom – 13:13) (USS Spectre - Bridge - CSO, LT.jg Kurt Palmer – 13:15) (USS Spectre - Bridge - FO/CEO, Lt Remae Ktell – 13:20) (USS Spectre - Bridge - TAC/ASC, Ensign JG, Kedar Dallin – 13:20) (USS Spectre - Bridge - TAC/ASC, Ensign (sg) Fairfield - 13:22) (USS Spectre - Bridge - CSO, LT.jg Kurt Palmer – 13:22) (USS Spectre - Bridge – CMO, Cmdr Andrew Williams – 13:25) (USS Spectre - Observation Lounge - FO/CEO, Lt Remae Ktell – 13:40) (USS Spectre - Observation Lounge - CSO, LT.jg Kurt Palmer – 13:42) (USS Spectre - Observation Lounge – CMO, Cmdr Andrew Williams – 13:48) (USS Spectre - Observation Lounge - TAC/ASC, Ensign Fairfield – 13:48) (USS Spectre - Observation Lounge - CSO, LT.jg Kurt Palmer – 13:51) (USS Spectre - Observation Lounge - ACEO, Ensign Jake Haltom – 13:53) (USS Spectre - Bridge – CMO, Cmdr Andrew Williams – 14:00) (USS Spectre - Deck 2, Admiral's Quarters - Admiral Sevant - 14:02) (USS Spectre - Bridge - TAC/ASC, Ensign SG Will Alexander - 14:05) (USS Spectre - Deck 2, Outside the Admiral's Quarters - TAC/ASC, Ensign T’Solen Fairfield - 14:07) (USS Spectre - Bridge, CONN – Pilot Officer, 2nd Lieutenant Jennifer Smith - 14:08) (USS Spectre – Deck 1, Corridor – The Smiths - 14:10) (USS Spectre – Bridge – TAC/ASC, Ensign Will Alexander - 14:11) (USS Spectre – Bridge – Liutenant (J.G.) Jo Smith - 14:13) (USS Spectre - Bridge - FO/CEO, Lt Remae Ktell – 14:15) (USS Spectre - Bridge, CONN – Pilot Officer, 2nd LT Jennifer Smith – 14:20) (USS Spectre - Bridge - FO/CEO, Lt Remae Ktell – 14:25) (USS Spectre - Bridge – Security Officer, Jo Smith – 14:28) (USS Spectre - Bridge - FO/CEO, Lt Remae Ktell – 14:29) (USS Spectre - Deck 2, Admiral's Quarters - Admiral Sevant - 14:30) (USS Spectre - Bridge - OPS, ENS Will Alexander – 14:30) (USS Spectre - Bridge - OPS, ENS Will Alexander – 14:32) (USS Serenity - Bridge - CO, Commander Jay – 14:33) (USS Wraith - Bridge - CO, Captain Jana Bell – 14:35) (USS Spectre - Bridge – CMO, Cmdr Andrew Williams – 14:36) (USS Wraith - Observation Lounge- JAG CO - Captain William G. Alexander – 14:36) (USS Spectre - Bridge – CMO, Cmdr Andrew Williams – 14:37) (USS Wraith - Bridge - Captain William G. Alexander - 14:39) (USS Tempest - Captain's Ready Room - Sulia Madon – 14:48) (USS Serenity – Conference Room – Commander Jay – 14:50) (USS Spectre - Bridge - FO/CEO, Lt Remae Ktell – 14:50) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – CMO, Cmdr Andrew Williams – 14:52) ================================================================= Mission:Shore Leave Day: 1 Stardate: 2414.11.01 (USS Spectre - Bridge - CSO, LT.jg Kurt Palmer – 17:08) Kurt entered the bridge to hear a slew of commands from the center as they docked at Geneva. Rushing to his post he relieved Crewman Michaels whose only duty at that moment was not to do anything but to observe the external proximity sensors. As the crewman stepped back, he gave Kurt a look as of to say 'really?! You feel the need to take over this menial task?' (Reply None) ((Posted by Cody)) ================================================================= Mission:Shore Leave Day: 3 Stardate: 2414.11.03 (Betazed - The Tropics - Dr. Michaella Kirien & Cadet Gabriella Wilson-Kirien - 22:50) It was a cool night on Betazed. The ship was in for repairs and improvements at Geneva and crew had been allowed leave. It hadn’t taken long for Michaella to decide that she wanted to go home to Betazed and see her daughters, both of which were on Earth at the time. She had pulled some strings behind the scenes, getting first the elder of her twin girls, Gabriella released from the internship program that she was in pre Academy at Starleet Medical. Her younger, Elizabeth, was currently at Utopia Planetia flying the little shuttlebots around the various ships, as well as ferrying crew members. It had used her remaining favors but both her girls were on Betazed with her and Riven. And the next day, the very next day, she would be standing with Riven before one of the Priestesses and forging her vows to Riven, binding their souls together in a ritual as ancient as time. She brushed the curtain back, looking out into the tropical night. It was beautiful here, peaceful. She hadn’t thought that the nightmares would have followed her here from the last mission of the Spectre. The Void. Hell. But. They had and she shivered in the warmth of the air, her skin kissed by the nightly dew on the plants. Shrugging on a long, silken robe in earth colors, she let herself out of the cottage to walk barefoot in the dewy, damp grass. “I heard you get up.” Her elder daughter spoke behind her, the teenager’s maturing body dressed in a similiar robe. “What is troubling your mind? Is it Devan?” Gabriella had adored the Captain of the Nimitz who had been as a surrogate father to both of the girls during their childhood. “No, Ella, it has nothing to do with Captain Sash. I was thinking about the Spectre’s last mission. We were in this space between the planes, I think. Some place the Goddess couldn’t reach, and the Betazoids and some of the Vulcans aboard were the only ones to stand between madness and death for the crew. It was horrible, the visions I had. It was like The Yakretti had escaped the Goddesses’ hold and taken over, showing me that my children had died, that my husband was insane, that I would die as well. Riven became more concerned about me than the ship and shielded m e, to the point that he collapsed under the strain and I thought that I had lost him as well. I was a wreck, unable to serve the ship that I had pledged myself to, and all I could do was sit in sickbay and hold Riven’s hand and pray that we would make it out of the Void and that I wouldn’t lose his sanity in the process.” Michaella looked over her shoulder, past her daughter towards the cottage. She was speaking to her daughter as if she was an adult and Gabriella was indeed a young adult. Elizabeth it seemed hadn’t matured as much. And it seemed that Gabriella’s telempathy had also improved as she grinned, following her Mother’s thoughts, silently agreeing. “Thank you for your trust.” Ella spoke softly in the night. “Riven takes on so much, doesn’t he? But Mother it’s part of his nature as a High Priest of the Goddess, it isn’t something that you can change, it’s part of who he is. And it isn’t as if this is going to be the last time that he flings himself into danger at a moment’s notice, especially if it is to protect you.” Ella’s emphasis on you was slight but audible. She scooted closer to lay her head against her Mother’s shoulder for a moment. “When did you grow so wise?” Michaella murmered as she gently touched her elder daughter’s face. “I am glad I sent you two off the ship and to the Academy and that you both managed to avoid the Void. I don’t know what I would have done had I to worry about the two of you as well.” Ella laughed softly, “We weren’t exactly sent Mother, we worked hard, even Beth. I’m glad that I am entering the Academy in a few months. I can’t wait until you and Riven attend my commissioning ceremony. Maybe I will even get posted to the Spectre.” She grinned. “Now, are you feeling better? Are you ready to be married in the morning?” Ella asked, a slight teasing sound in her voice. “It’s more than marriage. It’s… two souls becoming one. I hope that you will experience it some day, preferably before the children come.” Michaella was speaking of her one night affair with a Lt. John Wilson that had resulted in an unwanted pregnancy and her two very precious identical twin daughters. “Your mind was so disturbed. I’m surprised that it didn’t awaken Riven, if you two are already so close. You should get some sleep, Mother.” Ella wasn’t going to touch the topic that her Mother had broached, not understanding the slight stigma that was still attached to a single woman bearing children without a husband. It was a human thing, and Ella chose to view herself as a Betazoid more than a human, while her sister Beth was the opposite. “It was just the Void. It haunts my nightmares. I should likely seek Elani’s aid aboard ship, or allow Riven to assist me. But…” How did Michaella tell her daughter that she thought that being unable to handle the Void was something that she found a weakness in herself? She wanted to be strong, as strong as Riven was, and she did not want to admit this weakness. It was why she had slipped from the bed and done her best not to awaken him. “But Mamma,” And it was unusual for Ella to refer to her Mother so, “If you are bonding your souls together, he is going to know. Shouldn’t you talk to him now, before it happens?” It was a sensible suggestion. Michaella leaned over and kissed her daughter upon the brow before standing and heading back inside, no other words spoken as she headed back to the large room that the two of them shared. Shaking his hsoulder slightly, Michaella tried to wake him. ::Oh love?:: She asked, shaking him slightly. ::I need your help.:: It felt like weakness to admit to him that she did, but this was something that needed settling this night before they bonded in the morning’s light. (Reply Riven, any) (posted by Melinda Gatling) (Betazed - Dreamscape - A Couns, Lt. Dr. Riven Mias - 22:51) Everything around him seemed to be dim as though seen through a panel of smoked glass. Riven strained to hold back the darkness from further encroachment but it was pressing in relentlessly. He could feel himself weakening bit by bit and knew it was only a matter of time though in a deep part of himself there was the looming knowledge that an ending was coming soon but what it would be he wasn't sure. Sounds were a part of the vision as well and weren't pleasant, an example was the malevolent whispering heard as though from far off. "Stay back Void!" He shouted into the menacing scene. "I won't let you win." A crew member seemed to go insane right before his eyes, moaning then gibbering in fear. As he stepped before the woman she ran off screaming. The whispers grew louder and he could feel himself sinking to his knees despite his best efforts. The deck was cool on his right cheek as he sank down further. He tried to rise but it felt as though ten tons was pressing against his back as he rolled to his stomach. (Reply None) (Posted by Charles) (Betazed - Tropical Bungalow - A Couns, Lt. Dr. Riven Mias - 22:53) ::Oh love?:: His eyes opened with a start and he sucked in a deep and gasping breath as she shook him. He was lying on his stomach with the pillow snuggled against his chest. ::I need your help.:: He rolled over in the bed after releasing his death grip on the pillow and was blinking his eyelids against the light in the room as she came into view, she looked worried and was projecting unease into his mind. He stifled a groan as his back and chest unknotted from tension. He had suffered as a result of overextending himself during the mission in the Void, more so than he was willing to admit. For a while it had been touch-and-go according to the medical staff and Michaella who had been by his bed most of the time during his convalescence on the ship. The doctors here had not been happy nor had his contemporaries in the temple when they had found out how badly he had pushed his body beyond its limitations. To this day he still carried the penalty for it. Would its full repercussions fade in time? He wasn't a young man anymore, hadn't been in a long time, his only worry was that it would get worse rather than better. He kept that from Michaella though, it wasn't something she should have to worry about. ::What is it my love?: He asked her as he held out his arms to comfort her. (Reply: Michaella) (Posted by Charles) (Betazed - Tropical Bungalow - Dr. Michaella Kirien - 22:55) As Riven held his hands out to her, she slipped out of the robe and curled up against him. Betazoids had no taboo on nudity, and tomorrow they would be performing the rituals and saying their vows nude as well. “I dreamt about the Void, thinking that they were coming after me again. It was as if I was there again. Stuck in a center of madness, watching the various hallucinations of the crew, not knowing where out was, until you grounded me. I woke Ella up with my nightmares, and she suggested that I come to you.” Michaella had a good idea of what she was asking of Riven, and as a medical doctor she had an especial insight into the damage that he had done to himself on the Void mission. She wouldn’t have asked his help, but her daughter was right and she could not bond with her husband fully in the morning with the disquiet in her mind. Part of her wondered how the other telepaths aboard the Spectre were handling it. In a way she envied the Captain his Vulcan training that she assumed allowed him to handle the experiences better than she was. At least she hoped that he was handling it better than they were. ::Riven, are you… would it harm you to aid me? I want to go into the soul bonding with a whole soul, but…:: She frowned, ::I don’t feel whole. And I don’t think that you are either, my love. Perhaps we can go outside and sit under the moon and maybe we can heal each other?:: (Reply Riven, any) (Posted by Mel Gatling) ================================================================= Mission: Stone Skipping Day: 10 Stardate: 2414.11.10 (USS Spectre - Observation Lounge - FO/CEO, CSO LT.jg Kurt Palmer – 10:15) The first officer addressed his standing room only audience of department heads. He outlined the mission ahead speaking to each department. His gaze finally shifted to Kurt. "Mr Palmer, the Messiah is something we’re going to need to know more about. We’ll have a talk about that shortly.” Kurt nodded and made a note on the top most PADD in the stack in front of him. Remae continued “Implement the parasite scanning technology to the Spectre… if anyone gets infected, we want to know at once.” He paused to speak broadly to everyone present. “Starfleet have given me command of this mission but not command of the Spectre, so we’ll depart as soon as the Captain is ready but you can expect the Spectre, while traveling at extreme speeds, to act differently that you are used to." After a brief preparedness spiel, the room began to clear. Kurt collected his ever-growing PADD collection and filed out behind his colleagues. His first order of business- figuring out what this 'Messiah' was. (Reply, any) ((Post by Cody)) (USS Spectre - Bridge - CSO, LT.jg Kurt Palmer – 10:45) Kurt was seated at the back control bank in sciences. He finished a data transfer of pertinent information before swiveling his chair and heading for the turbolift. As the doors swooshed closed behind him he shuffled his PADD collection to attend to the next matter on his list. The lift glided down several decks before pausing to let someone else on. The science chief glanced up. He smiled "Ah! Just the person I wanted to see." (Science, Any takers?) "We need to set up a detection algorithm, and I need someone to help choreograph efforts between a few departments." Kurt grinned "Feel like a project?." (Reply, lucky science contestant) ((Post by Cody)) (USS Spectre - Bridge - CSO, LT.jg Kurt Palmer – 12:59) The science chief strolled onto the bridge. His department was in readiness. He passed the third chair at the center of the Spectre's control center, and entered the science section. The third chair, he feared, was collecting dust. It had been some time since he was assigned to the Spectre. It was a major shift in his job description. While he was settling into his role as chief of sciences, he had yet to put on his second officer hat. He had spent the last few months convincing himself he always needed to be posted at sciences.... (Reply None) ((Posted by CCody)) (USS Spectre - Bridge - CSO, LT.jg Kurt Palmer – 13:08) Sciences reported in ready, and peered over his controls at the empty second officer's chair. Departments were reporting in ready and affirmative beeps and chirps echoed across the bridge. Kurt looked back. There were two science officers behind him, essentially twiddling their thumbs. He looked back at his console and back at his bridge support. He nodded to the main science controls. "Mr. Michaels." Kurt maneuvered around the console toward the center of the bridge. He paused, forgetting how to operate a chair momentarily. Though an outsider wouldn't have the slightest notion of his internal dilemma, he felt it took an eon to sit in this chair. He finally sat on the very edge of the second officer's chair. The upholstery creaked out of lack of use. He turned to the small display to his left. He quietly looked around before he discretely brushed off the thin layer of dust that had accumulated over the past few months. He covered by sweeping his hand up from the display to scratch his forehead. (Reply, any) ((Post by Cody)) (USS Spectre - Bridge, CONN - Pilot Officer, Second Lieutenant Jennifer Smith – 13:13) "Thrusters at station-keeping." Jennifer tapped her console as she brought the manoeuvring thrusters to station keeping. "Take us out but let's give everyone watching a good look at us. Turn us around and face us forward.” ~Okay lets show then why you are the best ship in the fleet A grin spread across her face as her fingers danced across the console as she manoeuvred the Spectre with in her own turning circle so that she was facing the middle doors. It was not a complicated maniuver but as the Spectre was 450 metres long and the docking bay that they were berthed in was just big enough for the turn with tug assistance but there was no way that she was going to have the Spectre being pulled by a tug. She reversed the turn as the doors appeared into her view and pulsed the impulse engines to give some forward momentum. She watched as the speed gradually increased making sure they she did not exceed the docking bay speed or she would get her licence revoked. As the Spectre glided through the doors and into space Ktell spoke to her. "Full impulse. "Put us on course for Starbase 39-Sierra." She began to increase the impulse engines. "All decks, all divisions. This is the First Officer... the Spectre is about to jump to high-warp speeds... expect turbulence. We're not quite sure what to expect as a result, all decks, Yellow Alert." The light strip on the top of her console turned yellow as she entered the coordinates for Starbase 39-Sierra. She watched as the heading spun around to what she had requested. The indicator reached full impulse as her fingers hovered over the warp activation button. "Very well. Ensign, ease the Spectre up to warp 9 and hold her there.", ~Okay baby lets show them what you got~ "Aye sir easing up to warp 9.” She could not hid the grin from her voice as she activated the warp engines. ~Ow this is going to the fun~ She felt the Spectre begin to vibrate as she eased up past warp 5. It was not that the spectre could not handle the speeds it was just that they were accelerating faster then was normal. The vibrations became more obvious as they reached 7.5. She tried to balance out vibrations by increasing and decreasing the nacelle power but it did not work. As they reached warp 8 the Spectre dropped slightly like she hit a bit of turbulence. It was not enough to throw people off their feet but it did make their stomachs drop. ~Come on baby don’t fall apart on me now~ “Sorry about that.” Her fingers danced like crazy across her console as she hoped that the ops was keeping the structural integrity in line or there would be some nasty accidents if they bounced around to violently again. “We are at warp 9 sir.” ~There you go. I know you could do it~ “Should not be getting any more manoeuvring issues at the moment.” ~I hope. Just hold together until we got to Sierra~ (Reply Ktell) (Reply Ktell, Any) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Main Engineering - ACEO, Ensign Jake Haltom – 13:13) Shakedowns were always edge- of -the- seat affairs, even when it was taking a ship out after general repairs there was always something that could have been overlooked. Jake was glad of the tension though, starfleet engineers and technicians always got underfoot when in spacedock. Here in the bowels of engineering he couldn't feel the mooring lines detach though the ship's outline on the display in front of him showed their locations blip from red to green showing a successful readiness for departure. His fingers stroked the touch sensitive controls and waited impatiently over the impulse engine power-up sequence. When in dock it was standard procedure that they and the warp drive engines be powered down to guard against a catastrophic release of energy. Manuevering thrusters would get them out of dock, the impulse engines would be powered up and then the warp drive in preparation for deep space travel. The impulse drive began a rising hum as the acting captain called upon the needed energy, the ship vibrated in response to increasing speed and Jake's eyes flicked to the inertial dampeners readouts which were oscillating. "Engineer Gork I need a hand over here!" He called out and could hear her disagreeable mutter from a distance. (Reply: Any in engineering iyw) "The inertial dampeners are unstable," His voice rose a bit over the climbing whine which was a by product of impulse engines trying to overcome inertia and a climbing destabilization of the inertial dampening field. "We need to find the issue it before the ships starts shaking apart. (Reply: Any in engineering) In impulse it wasn't as much of an issue but if they carried the destabilization into warp... he forced an involuntary shudder to behave and sit. "Right, get it nailed down before we go to warp pronto." (Reply: Any in engineering) (Posted by Charles) (USS Spectre - Bridge - CSO, LT.jg Kurt Palmer – 13:15) The yellow alert signals flashed around the bridge, and Lieutenant Remae gave the order to engage. Slowly the Spectre seemed to come to life. Kurt’s eyes fluttered from the front viewer to his small armrest readout and back. Somewhere around warp 8, the deck jolted beneath them. Kurt strained his calves to stay in his chair. ~Well thats a lot easier in a chair.~ An apology came from the pilot, and a few moments went by before she announced their arrival at warp 9. The science chief glanced up to see how Crewman Michaels was holding up. They made eye contact and grinned, both seeming pleased with themselves so far. He looked back at the small display on his left. “Structural integrity holding, sir.” Kurt announced looking over his shoulder at the First Officer. (Reply, Remae) Before he could take a breath, an alarm sounded on the science console. ~Damn.~ Kurt lept to his feet, and immediately grasped the chair behind him for balance. As he got his footing on the vibrating deck he directed his attention to the crewmen at sciences. “What is it” He leveraged himself around the science console as Crewman Michaels stepped aside. Palmer's fingers slid across the display, landing at the center to bring up the department notifications. He glanced over the readout. ~Well that didn't take long...~ “Sir, internal sensors are picking up one instance of the parasite.” He tapped the readout again, but the location on the alert was blank. “But I can’t seem to isolate where.” He looked up at Lieutenant Remae. “The modifications were only seventy percent complete when we left Geneva." (Reply, Remae, any) ((Post by Cody)) (USS Spectre - Bridge - FO/CEO, Lt Remae Ktell – 13:20) The Spectre was still at Yellow Alert. The reason? Remae had no idea what was going to happen when the ship exceeded the speed she was designed to travel at. It would take time to get to their destination which meant, they would need to travel at high speed for an extended time. “We are at warp 9 sir.”, said Jennifer and Remae smiled. Problems had shown up and been solved quickly. Remae looked over at the Pilot Officer and nodded. “Structural integrity holding, sir.”, said the Chief Science Officer. Remae thanked the CSO, it was good to have Lt Palmer back on the Bridge, it had been too long since they all had been together. "Ensign Smith, we're not done yet... but we'll be holding Warp 9 for now but when we are stable, we'll be accelerating to whatever top warp speed we can maintain.", he said grinning at the prospect. The FO's smile didn't last long. “Sir, internal sensors are picking up one instance of the parasite.”, said the CSO “But I can’t seem to isolate where.” He looked up at Lieutenant Remae. “The modifications were only seventy percent complete when we left Geneva.", he reported and Remae looked up at Ensign T'Solen. "Mr Fairfield... we need a deck by deck search on all crew members, we need to check for the host of the parasite.", he said and then with several blank looks all around him, it became clear that time had not allowed everyone to learn what they were dealing with. "Sorry.", he said looking over at the CO. "Fairfield, Kedar, Wang and Palmer, report to the Observation Lounge please. Bridge to Commander Williams, please report to the OL on the double.", he said on the COMM as he stood up. He would need the Chief Medical Officer advice as well. (Reply from Williams, Fairfield, Kedar, Wang, Any) (Posted by Anthony Keen) (USS Spectre - Bridge - TAC/ASC, Ensign JG, Kedar Dallin – 13:20) "Fairfield, Kedar, Wang and Palmer, report to the Observation Lounge please. Bridge to Commander Williams, please report to the OL on the double.", he said on the COMM as he stood up. He would need the Chief Medical Officer advice as well." "Yes sir," Kedar replied and headed back into the observation lounge. No lack of excitement here, he thought. I've been here about four hours only to discover I could be contaminated and not warned ahead of time. Entering the observation lounge Dallin took a seat on the left side of the table and looked out the window getting his first glimpse of warp 9 first hand instead of projected through a view screen. (Tag all) (Posted by Leigh Rachal) (USS Spectre - Bridge - TAC/ASC, Ensign (sg) Fairfield - 13:22) "Mr Fairfield... we need a deck by deck search on all crew members, we need to check for the host of the parasite." T'Solen's face was completely blank of expression at the order, "Aye Sir," he replied. He covered the shiver he felt through pure force-of-will. If there was anything he feared... being taken over was fairly high on the list. He had too much hard won self control to like the thought of being taken over. He turned to his console and started typing commands. "Fairfield, Kedar, Wang and Palmer, report to the Observation Lounge please. Bridge to Commander Williams, please report to the OL on the double.", he said on the COMM as he stood up. He would need the Chief Medical Officer advice as well. "Kedar, Wang," he said absently. "Report to the observation lounge, I will join you shortly." (reply: Security) He finished off his preliminary commands, but didn't send anything. Instead, he transferred them to his PADD and shut down his station, leaving Station 2 for the relief officer. "Report anything... anything... out of the ordinary to the Chiefs immediately," he barked before heading to the observation lounge. (Reply Any) (Posted by Trout) (USS Spectre - Bridge - CSO, LT.jg Kurt Palmer – 13:22) As soon as the report exited the chief science offer's mouth, he realized he may have said too much. ~Yikes.~ "Sorry.", Lieutenant Remae looked over to the Captian before turning back to the rest of the bridge. "Fairfield, Kedar, Wang and Palmer, report to the Observation Lounge please. Bridge to Commander Williams, please report to the OL on the double." Kurt grabbed the top PADD off of his collection and caught up with the first officer. Trailing just behind, he raised a hand and drew in a breath to address the situation with his superior. In the same instance he decided it was not the time. ~I'll hear about this later, I'm sure.~ (Reply, any) ((Post by Cody)) (USS Spectre - Bridge – CMO, Cmdr Andrew Williams – 13:25) Andrew’s mind raced at warp speed as he heard Palmer’s report. ~How the hell did they get on board~ He tried to remember all the information that he had received on the subject. ~We screened the crew before we left Geneva as well as end of mission medical~ His mind came back to focus as Ktell spoke. "Fairfield, Kedar, Wang and Palmer, report to the Observation Lounge please. Bridge to Commander Williams, please report to the OL on the double." A smile danced across his face as he moved out of the alcove by the turbolift which he had been standing to keep himself out of the way. It was so unusual for him to be on the bridge that he understood why Ktell had though that he would automatically by in sickbay. Hi smile vanished as he headed for the observation lounge. (Reply any) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Observation Lounge - FO/CEO, Lt Remae Ktell – 13:40) By the time Remae had prepared what was going to be said, everyone invited had reported in the lounge. "This will be quick as time is not on our side anymore. I had planned to give a more detailed briefing on the parasite that has infected Starbase 39-Sierra and the other ships across the Federation.", he said looking around. "A scanning technology was developed and was used to scan all Federation outposts, stations, starships and any found were cleansed. Or that is what I was told. However, Lt Palmer has scanned a single parasite on the Spectre right now.", turning on the viewscreen as he finished, the parasite showed up for all to see. "Two main things to consider, 1, the parasite controls the host but at the same time, the host loses their memory of older events... 2, the small protrusion from the back of the neck is easily seen in the older cases but I should warn you that there is no guarantee that is always the case.", he concluded sitting down. "The PADDs you have in front of you detail what we know about this. Please get up to speed." The FO paused for a moment and then added, "Mr Fairfield, we'll need a check of all personnel, use all available security teams to conduct this check. Mr Palmer, please issue tricorder scanning specifications to all personnel so they can scan at close range for the parasite." "I suggest we begin scanning personnel in rank order. Starting with the highest. I believe Admiral Sevant is back onboard. We don't see a lot of the STRATOPS these days, not since the war ended but I think that is a logical place to start." Remae then looked over the Chief Medical Officer. "Commander, you'll have complete access to all the attempts to remove the parasite but, in all cases tests, medical attempts proved fatal to the host.", he said looking over hopefully at the Doctor. "We'll remain at Yellow Alert to allow the scanning to happen, we'll keep everyone on their toes but we also have to proceed with the primary mission and get to the Starbase.", he said and then added, "Any questions?" (Reply from Williams, Fairfield, Kedar, Wang, Any) (Posted by Anthony Keen) (USS Spectre - Observation Lounge - CSO, LT.jg Kurt Palmer – 13:42) The first officer opened the briefing."...I had planned to give a more detailed briefing on the parasite that has infected Starbase 39-Sierra and the other ships across the Federation." He continued by explaining the scanning technology. "...Lt Palmer has scanned a single parasite on the Spectre right now." Kurt squirmed. As the observation screen clicked on to display a schematic of the parasite as Lieutenant Remae explained the two telltale signs of an infection. Then came a set of precise orders to Ensign Fairfield and the science chief. The first officer was swift with his delivery of the remaining information. "Any questions?" Remae tacked on to the end of his briefing. Kurt had one minor experience with this particular parasite during his career with temporal investigations. Even though he had trivial data, it behooved him not to announce it in this setting. "Sir, I would like permission to work with Commander Williams during this situation." (Reply any present) ((Post by Cody)) (USS Spectre - Observation Lounge – CMO, Cmdr Andrew Williams – 13:48) The briefing had been concise and to the point by Ktell which he had expected. Some for the information he knew and had guessed but he was still shocked to actually hear it out loud. ~This is going to get nasty and ugly fast if we don’t find this soon~ "Any questions?" Remae tacked on to the end of his briefing. "Sir, I would like permission to work with Commander Williams during this situation." Andrew turned and nodded to Palmer. “I was given data from the Captain about the parasite when we were chasing the Garallon and I would appreciate a new set of eyes as well as coming from it for a different direction.” (Reply Palmer) (Reply Palmer, any) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Observation Lounge - TAC/ASC, Ensign Fairfield – 13:48) "We'll remain at Yellow Alert to allow the scanning to happen, we'll keep everyone on their toes but we also have to proceed with the primary mission and get to the Starbase.", the FO stated, followed by; "Any questions?" The chief bubble-head said; "Sir, I would like permission to work with Commander Williams during this situation." To which the Chief Butcher replied: “I was given data from the Captain about the parasite when we were chasing the Garallon and I would appreciate a new set of eyes as well as coming from it for a different direction.” T'Solen grunted. "No questions, Sir." (reply: anyone else) Once the room had started clearing, T'Solen gestured to the two new Chiefs to stay behind. "These bastards are slippery, expect the unexpected. If found, take the host down as quickly as possible - they know we're onto them, the Gods only know what they'll do when found." He paused as he looked at them, "In lieu of the chief, I'll head up distribution of forces. Kedar, you have one third of the teams and decks six through eleven. Wang - same thing, decks twelve through seventeen. I'll take the first five..." he paused and sighed, "Including the Admiral, gods help me. I hate Admirals." He shook his head, "Stick with the First Officer's suggestion of highest rank being searched first, with one proviso; anyone who goes near weaponry or antimatter gets checked first. Engineering, Security, anyone with regular access to materials that could turn us into a bright streak of light against a cold, dark sky. Understood? Questions?" (reply: TAC/ASCs) (posted by Trout) (USS Spectre - Observation Lounge - CSO, LT.jg Kurt Palmer – 13:51) “I was given data from the Captain about the parasite when we were chasing the Garallon and I would appreciate a new set of eyes as well as coming from it for a different direction.” The chief medical officer replied to Kurt. (NRPG: leaving room here) The conversation continued for another few moments before. The group dispersed. Kurt caught up with Commander Williams on the way out onto the bridge. "Shall we look at some data at my station? I have a hunch." (Reply, Williams) As they crossed the bridge Kurt picked up on some chatter from the OPS officer about a course change, and before he could open his mouth... =/\=This is Admiral Sevant. It has come to my attention that the Captain and First Officer of this ship, at the very least, have been infected by an alien parasite.=/\= As the announcement continued the skeptical science chief immediately popped open a panel under the main science console to retrieve a tricorder. He turned on his heels, flipped the device open and aimed it at the first officer. As he was going through these actions an ensign toward the front of the bridge already had a phaser out. ~Who has a phaser on the bridge?!~ Kurt pecked away at his scans, half listening to the concerned ops officer. In a matter of moments his scans revealed the two were clear, but he knew this was not a time to speak up, as he could also put himself in a compromising position. He stood there, tricorder still open as he awaited the Captain and First Officer's responses. (Reply, Williams, any present) ((Post by Cody)) (USS Spectre - Observation Lounge - ACEO, Ensign Jake Haltom – 13:53) Jake was restless as he waited for the briefing to begin and he wondered if he might be called to task for the rough state of their departure from space dock. His disquiet however just got worse when he learned the real reason for the briefing. "This will be quick as time is not on our side anymore. I had planned to give a more detailed briefing on the parasite that has infected Starbase 39-Sierra and the other ships across the Federation." "A scanning technology was developed and was used to scan all Federation outposts, stations, starships and any found were cleansed. Or that is what I was told. However, Lt Palmer has scanned a single parasite on the Spectre right now." Jake watched the viewscreen as it was turned on then started getting a little green around the gills at the slug that came up for view, it was ugly, nasty and just plain damned disgusting. And to think these things may have been infesting people around him at some point, he shivered a bit then perked his ears to hear more. "Two main things to consider, 1, the parasite controls the host but at the same time, the host loses their memory of older events... 2, the small protrusion from the back of the neck is easily seen in the older cases but I should warn you that there is no guarantee that is always the case.", he concluded sitting down. "The PADDs you have in front of you detail what we know about this. Please get up to speed." The engineering officer picked up the PADD and scanned the first page quickly knowing that they wouldn't have time for a leisurely read and he would have to finish it later while on duty. He was right as the FO began calling on Fairfield, he looked up and turned his attention to them. "Mr Fairfield, we'll need a check of all personnel, use all available security teams to conduct this check. Mr Palmer, please issue tricorder scanning specifications to all personnel so they can scan at close range for the parasite." "I suggest we begin scanning personnel in rank order. Starting with the highest. I believe Admiral Sevant is back onboard. We don't see a lot of the STRATOPS these days, not since the war ended but I think that is a logical place to start." ~So they're going to scan us all.~ He sighed, ~What else is new, grin and bear it.~. "Commander, you'll have complete access to all the attempts to remove the parasite but, in all cases tests, medical attempts proved fatal to the host.", he said looking over hopefully at the Doctor. "We'll remain at Yellow Alert to allow the scanning to happen, we'll keep everyone on their toes but we also have to proceed with the primary mission and get to the Starbase.", he said and then added, "Any questions?" A bit of hubbub ensued as several began voicing their questions and concerns, Jake wasn't the center of attention, engineering rarely was unless there was a mechanical issue so he kept his mouth shut and waited to see if there might be anything else for him before the meeting concluded. (Reply: Any) (Posted by Charles) (USS Spectre - Bridge – CMO, Cmdr Andrew Williams – 14:00) Andrew walked out of the Observation Loungeas the thoughts danced around his mind. ~I bet Sulia Madon has something to do with this. Espeshaly after what happened with the Garallon. Just what is she up to now and how does that link into every thing else~ "Shall we look at some data at my station? I have a hunch." Andrew looked over at Palmer who had walked up beside him as he was deep in thought. “Yes Kurt, that sounds like a good place to start.” He followed Palmer across the bridge still thining about the information that the Captian had given to him when the comm system activated. =^=This is Admiral Sevant. It has come to my attention that the Captain and First Officer of this ship, at the very least, have been infected by an alien parasite. Due to the clear and present danger presented by this affair, I have taken command of the USS Spectre and have rerouted us to a neutral starbase where all personnel can be scanned and, as necessary, be quarantined. I will be scanning individual members of the crew on an at-need basis, in order to maintain basic security and engineering necessities. If you have not been tested, I ask you to remain in your quarters and not try to break the quarantine I have placed. If I or the security teams I clear see you in the corridors, we will assume you are infected and looking to sabotage the ship - use of deadly force has been authorized. That is all =^= ~What the hell is he talking about! I scanned all the crew as well as the Captain and First Officer what the hell’s going on~ "Sirs," "I want to trust you, I do, and it seems we may have found our infected passenger. But rather than gamble with all our lives, I need to do my due diligence. Sirs, I need you to prove your innocence." Andrew turned to look at Alexander who was standing beside T’Vhor and Ktell with his hand on a phaser. ~Will what are you doing?~ "Look, as someone who has had his mind swapped before, and then put in to a different body. As someone who is an interloper in someone else's body and has had someone pretend to be them and parade around in their body. Well being taken over by something else, being under someone's control is easier than it seems. I know you've probably been tested, scanned and eliminated has a suspect. But I can't take chances, mind swapping isn't the same as a parasite, but I've seen first hand how easy it is to parade around in someone's body and pretend to be someone else. So I have to ask right now. Are you who you say you are? Before I start accusing an admiral, sirs, I have to know. Let me see your necks?" He took a subconscious step towards Alexander and was about to speak to him when suddenly one of the doors to the bridge crashed open and Jo, Robert, Scott and Kenneth Smith charged into the room heavily armed and wearing BDUs. He froze as he saw them scan the room for targets as Jo’s rifle settled it’s self onto Alexander. “Ensign take your hand off you phaser and step back from the Captain and the First Officer NOW!” Jo ordered Will ~this has just gone absolutely mental~ (Reply any) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Deck 2, Admiral's Quarters - Admiral Sevant - 14:02) “Come.” Sevant turned in his desk chair as he reached out to shut down the holo-interface he had set up with his Stratops database. He quirked his head slightly as an Ensign stepped inside. “Admiral-” the man said. “It has come to our attention that a parasite has made its way onto the ship. With respect, you must be scanned.” The vulcan quirked an eyebrow. “Indeed?” “Yes, Sir.” He started to raise a tricorder, but Sevant’s eyebrow dropped. “Negative, Ensign.: “Sir?” the man asked, neutrally. Sevant stood and put his hands behind his back. “I have been in the presence of security and starfleet administration for my entire time on the Starbase. Further, nobody has visited me since my arrival - this you can verify through the computer. Your time would be better spent amongst the engineering crew, to ensure the ship is not sabotaged.” “Sir...” the man’s face hadn’t changed, except for a slight narrowing of the eyes. “It will only take a mom-” Sevant chopped at the man's neck, but the officer was already moving and only caught a glancing blow before he jumped through the door. "FIRE!" he bellowed, but only a couple of phaser-beams came through the door before it closed. "Computer, institute Sevant Omega Seven Five. Execute." [Protocol Omega Seven Five, activated.] "Starfleet Emergency, transfer all command codes of the USS Spectre to me. Lock out all senior officers from computer control, institute immediate security lockdown of all decks." A few seconds passed, [Transfer of Command Codes, accepted. Admiral Caladryll Sevant is now in command of the USS Spectre. All Senior Officers of the USS Spectre have been placed on inactive duty and removed from all secure computer access. Confirm this action.] "Confirmed, Sevant gamma nine-er two." He took a seat and smiled. "Route all bridge control to the Stratops Command Center, and change course for Starbase 863 around Ceti Gamma Two, best possible speed." [Confirmed, course correction set.] "Engage." The Admiral sat back in his chair and folded his fingers together. "Open the 1MC to the whole ship." He waited for a beep and the annoying bosun’s whistle that would catch everyone’s attention. "This is Admiral Sevant. It has come to my attention that the Captain and First Officer of this ship, at the very least, have been infected by an alien parasite. Due to the clear and present danger presented by this affair, I have taken command of the USS Spectre and have rerouted us to a neutral starbase where all personnel can be scanned and, as necessary, be quarantined. I will be scanning individual members of the crew on an at-need basis, in order to maintain basic security and engineering necessities. If you have not been tested, I ask you to remain in your quarters and not try to break the quarantine I have placed. If I or the security teams I clear see you in the corridors, we will assume you are infected and looking to sabotage the ship - use of deadly force has been authorized. That is all." The channel shut down, leaving Sevant alone with his thoughts. "Sooner than I'd wanted, but it works well enough.” (Reply any, all) (posted by Trout) (USS Spectre - Bridge - TAC/ASC, Ensign SG Will Alexander - 14:05) Will had been a little queasy during the jump to high warp, but he held through. His body was built like a rock. The hard work and dedication of someone who took pride in the work accomplished. Only problem was it wasn't Will's work. Still he was thankful for it. It made him feel less queasy then he probably would have with his original body. Still it was kind of exciting to be traveling at such high speeds. Still he was on edge. The sensors had found an instance of the parasite on board. The CSO Palmer had spotted it, and it was enough to put people one edge. The FO had met with the Security personnel to come up with a plan. Will couldn't help but think that if Frost had never had his accident and Will's brain pattern had never been merged with Frost's body, that Frost would have been in that meeting. Still, Hindsight is always 20/20. Still, being at OPS he had a job to do, and unfortunately, it appeared that it might be bigger than he thought. "CONN," Will said with shock. "The OPS station is indicating that we have changed course. Is this a glitch, please confirm." (Reply Smith) "This isn't good. I'll run an a scan of our systems, maybe our systems have been overridden by a bug or glitch." Will replied with urgency. He went to start the scan, but found he was locked out of his console. ~What the heck. I don't like this one bit.~ Before he could comment, there was an announcement over the COMM system. =/\=This is Admiral Sevant. It has come to my attention that the Captain and First Officer of this ship, at the very least, have been infected by an alien parasite. Due to the clear and present danger presented by this affair, I have taken command of the USS Spectre and have rerouted us to a neutral starbase where all personnel can be scanned and, as necessary, be quarantined. I will be scanning individual members of the crew on an at-need basis, in order to maintain basic security and engineering necessities. If you have not been tested, I ask you to remain in your quarters and not try to break the quarantine I have placed. If I or the security teams I clear see you in the corridors, we will assume you are infected and looking to sabotage the ship - use of deadly force has been authorized. That is all.=/\= When the channel shut down Will reached for the phaser he was wearing on his belt. He placed it on stun but did not remove it from his belt. He walked slowly to the command chairs and slowly approached the Captain and First Officer. "Sirs," he said. "I want to trust you, I do, and it seems we may have found our infected passenger. But rather than gamble with all our lives, I need to do my due diligence. Sirs, I need you to prove your innocence." ~This is dumb Will, your going to be in trouble. But, well, you have to know. When you've gone through what you have...well.~ "Look, as someone who has had his mind swapped before, and then put in to a different body. As someone who is an interloper in someone else's body and has had someone pretend to be them and parade around in their body. Well being taken over by something else, being under someone's control is easier than it seems. I know you've probably been tested, scanned and eliminated has a suspect. But I can't take chances, mind swapping isn't the same as a parasite, but I've seen first hand how easy it is to parade around in someone's body and pretend to be someone else. So I have to ask right now. Are you who you say you are? Before I start accusing an admiral, sirs, I have to know. Let me see your necks?" (reply T'Vhor, Ktell) (Reply T'Vhor, Ktell. Smith, any) (posted by Will Banowsky) (USS Spectre - Deck 2, Outside the Admiral's Quarters - TAC/ASC, Ensign T’Solen Fairfield - 14:07) “Holy Shi-” T’Solen rubbed his rapidly bruising neck and winced, “That b*stard can hit.” He shook his head, “Computer, override the door to the Admiral’s Quarters.” [You do not have permission to perform this action.] “...” was all T’Solen said for a long moment. “Sir, I just lost access to all security functions on the tricorder.” The part-vulcan turned, and then brought up his own tac-corder. Indeed, the connection to the security database had been severed. He frowned, the stirrings of a bad idea formulating in the back of his mind. He reached up and tapped his badge, “Fairfield to Security.” Only a buzz greeted him. “T’Solen to Captain and First Officer.” Another Buzz. “Computer, is the comm system down?” [Inter-ship communications is restricted to officers and crew of the USS Spectre.] “... right.” He looked at the sergeant with him, who tapped his badge and then shook his head. “.... figures.” he replied, before pointing at the closest of the security team. “You two stay here. If that b*stard leaves the room, turn him into dust.” “Aye Sir.” T’Solen turned on his heel and started walking down the corridor. He turned on his heel to walk into the turbolift, only to smack into the door when it refused to open. The security officer paused, and then pushed a button. Nothing happened. “He’s taken over all functions of the ship, and put us under lockdown.” He said, in a quiet voice which he only used when battle-fury was upon him. “Then I’d guess we’re in trouble, sir.” one of the team said to him. T’Solen slowly turned, and then rotated his head until it cracked. “Oh yes. But now the fun is just getting started. Tell me, any of you ever want to try out for the Combat Engineers?” The confused look the team gave him was... gratifying. His return smile chilled them all just a little bit. (reply: any, none) (posted by Trout) (USS Spectre - Bridge, CONN – Pilot Officer, 2nd Lieutenant Jennifer Smith - 14:08) Jennifer was preparing herself for taking the Spectre as fast as she had ever travelled through the warp when suddenly her console bleeped at her. In a split second she realised that something was wrong. She had been locked out of helm and the Spectre was turning towards a new heading her fingers worked furiously as she began to fill with dread. ~This is not a bug or a glitch…~ "CONN," Will said with shock. "The OPS station is indicating that we have changed course. Is this a glitch, please confirm." ~Dam it I have been over ridden. Someone has taken over my system~ “Working on it.” She did something she had hoped never to do as she knew that the consequences would be catastrophic if she was wrong but the mission was of immense importance she should could not let the Spectre by hijacked. She entered a sequence of commands and sent the message which was just two words "Field Trip". This was the family code for the ship was being hijacked or over run. Jo had placed the coded sequence when she knew that members of the family would be on board as a security precaution. That family came from a long line of marines even the ones that had joined the fleet had gone thought family boot. Which had been taught by Aunty Alice a marine special forces Colonel and Aunty Heather a fleet Admiral in special operations clandestine department. "This isn't good. I'll run a scan of our systems, maybe our systems have been overridden by a bug or glitch." ~Way ahead of you~ As her mind danced back her console she saw the ships heading before her console went blank. ~Damn it now I have to look out of a window to see when we drop out of warp~ =^=This is Admiral Sevant. It has come to my attention that the Captain and First Officer of this ship, at the very least, have been infected by an alien parasite. Due to the clear and present danger presented by this affair, I have taken command of the USS Spectre and have rerouted us to a neutral starbase where all personnel can be scanned and, as necessary, be quarantined. I will be scanning individual members of the crew on an at-need basis, in order to maintain basic security and engineering necessities. If you have not been tested, I ask you to remain in your quarters and not try to break the quarantine I have placed. If I or the security teams I clear see you in the corridors, we will assume you are infected and looking to sabotage the ship - use of deadly force has been authorized. That is all =^= ~What the hell~ She froze as she heard Alexander’s voice from across the bridge. "Sirs," "I want to trust you, I do, and it seems we may have found our infected passenger. But rather than gamble with all our lives, I need to do my due diligence. Sirs, I need you to prove your innocence." Her hand slipped into the concealed palm phaser that she carried but new that she would not be able to turn around and stun him in time so she sat still waiting her chance. All she had to do was stay calm and help would come. ~Hope they get here soon~ (Reply any) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre – Deck 1, Corridor – The Smiths - 14:10) The Smiths came along the corridor like wreathes in the dark. Jo was in front aiming a type 3 – C phaser rifle and wearing combat battle dress uniforms with Robert and Scott in the middle and Kenneth taking up the rear. They had managed to get themselves stationed on deck four for the high speed warp trip. Jo and Kenneth were in Security Station Alpha, with Scott working in Tertiary Engineering Section and Robert doing a stint in transporter room 2. When the message from Jennifer had pinged them they had raided the security stations armoury and headed for the bridge to get their sister. They had managed to get deck two before the Admiral had shut everything down. Scott had bypassed and manually popped a deck hatch which would lead them to deck one. They came to a T junction Robert swung right to guard the deserted corridor as Jo moved left towards the bridge when Kenneth passed him Robert slid back into formation as they headed towards their destination. Jo moved up to the bridge door as the other stacked up behind her. She got the tap on the shoulder to indicate that everyone was ready as she flipped open the emergency manual door release. The door whooshed open as the four of them moved inside. Jo went left with Robert and Kenneth and Scott went left. “No body move.” She scanned the room as out of the corner of her eye she was Jennifer swing up from the CONN console and cover the bridge with her phaser. She saw that Alexander standing beside the Captain and First officer with his hand on his phaser she swung her rifle round so that it was pointing at Alexanders head. “Ensign take your hand off you phaser and step back from the Captain and the First Officer NOW!” She had to make sure her targets were covered. Her sisters life was important but they also had a mission to preform. (Reply Alexander) (Reply Alexander, any) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre – Bridge – TAC/ASC, Ensign Will Alexander - 14:11) “Ensign take your hand off you phaser and step back from the Captain and the First Officer NOW!” ~Seriously~ Will thought to himself. ~A swat team, really, am I the ONLY ONE thinking straight~ "I assure you I mean no harm to the captain, first officer, or anyone alright, so if you just hold on a second, I'll toss you my phaser, and we can rationally discuss the situation ok." Will said calmly, trying to show hes not a threat. (reply Jo Smith) Will then removed the phaser from his belt and tossed over to the heavily armed security officer. "Listen ok, before you try and throw me in the brig and think through this rationally alright. We have an admiral who is accusing the command staff as being compromised and has taken control of the ship. An admiral who is one of the Strategic Operations Heads of the 52nd fleet. Which means in order to take back the ship, we are going to have to take out an admiral. Something that isn't always the best option. Especially if there is a chance the admiral is telling the truth, we need to investigate the claim. Rule it out before we go barging in on an Admiral. Maybe he's being controlled by a parasite, maybe he is not. I like to have all the facts first. I wasn't going to use my phaser, it was there in case the Admiral was right. Captain, Lieutenant Remae, I am sorry, but I need to make sure you aren't possessed before we try to go guns blazing after an admiral. I understand you are loyal to the captain and trying to do your job, but think about this logically. An Admiral just accused our Command staff of being compromised, we have an easy way of checking whether they are or not." (reply Jo Smith) "I can't believe I am saying this, but think about it, the most logical course of action is to rule out any possibility they are possessed. But I have said my piece. I'm just a lowly ensign whose mind was stuck in a transporter for years. Sirs, I ask you again to just rule out any chance you are compromised. But it seems I may be the only one who feels that way." He then glance an angry look at the Smiths. Will then raised up his arms. "In a show of good faith, Lieutenant Smith, you can take me to the brig. But I stand by statement. I'll face the consequences, but I'm not going to try and take down and admiral without all the facts." Will then waited to see what would happen next. (reply Smith, any on bridge) (posted by Will Banowsky) (USS Spectre – Bridge – Liutenant (J.G.) Jo Smith - 14:13) "I assure you I mean no harm to the captain, first officer, or anyone alright, so if you just hold on a second, I'll toss you my phaser, and we can rationally discuss the situation ok." “Do it.” Jo watched him carefully the phaser rifle never moving from his head as he removed the phaser from his belt and tossed over to her "Listen ok, before you try and throw me in the brig and think through this rationally alright. We have an admiral who is accusing the command staff as being compromised and has taken control of the ship. An admiral who is one of the Strategic Operations Heads of the 52nd fleet. Which means in order to take back the ship, we are going to have to take out an admiral. Something that isn't always the best option. Especially if there is a chance the admiral is telling the truth, we need to investigate the claim. Rule it out before we go barging in on an Admiral. Maybe he's being controlled by a parasite, maybe he is not. I like to have all the facts first. I wasn't going to use my phaser, it was there in case the Admiral was right. Captain, Lieutenant Remae, I am sorry, but I need to make sure you aren't possessed before we try to go guns blazing after an admiral. I understand you are loyal to the captain and trying to do your job, but think about this logically. An Admiral just accused our Command staff of being compromised, we have an easy way of checking whether they are or not." Jo continued to look at him. It all made sence what he was saying but she was not going to stop until she saw sure. “And.” "I can't believe I am saying this, but think about it, the most logical course of action is to rule out any possibility they are possessed. But I have said my piece. I'm just a lowly ensign whose mind was stuck in a transporter for years. Sirs, I ask you again to just rule out any chance you are compromised. But it seems I may be the only one who feels that way." She watched as he raised his arms "In a show of good faith, Lieutenant Smith, you can take me to the brig. But I stand by statement. I'll face the consequences, but I'm not going to try and take down and admiral without all the facts." “No need for that.” She looked over at Robert. “Scan them.” Robert pulled open his tricorder and activated the subroutine that Coronel Alice had given him before this mission had started. He carefully scanned the bridge crew and he was satisfied that they were all clean. He then looked back to Jo and nodded. Jo gave a sigh of relief and nodded. “Were good stand down?” She watched as the Scott, Robert, Kenneth and Jennifer lower their weapons as she did the same. She looked over at Alexander. “Sorry about that Ensign.” (Reply Alexander) She looked over at T’Vhor and Ktell as she came to attention. ~Aunty I really hope you were right~ “Sorry sir. We are following orders from Admiral Heather Grey Special Operations: Clandestine Department.” (Reply T’Vhor, Ktell) (Reply Alexander, T’Vhor, Ktell. Any) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Bridge - FO/CEO, Lt Remae Ktell – 14:15) Remae watched the craziness unfold in front of him but after Alexander had been scanned, the weapons lowered and an apology given, did Remae explode. “Sorry sir. We are following orders from Admiral Heather Grey Special Operations: Clandestine Department.”, said Lt Jo Smith. "What in the hell are you doing?", he said getting very close to one of the Smiths, "Do you like the idea of becoming the first mutineers in recent history?", he said regaining his composure. "I should throw you all in the brig.", he said growling... he looked around, Admiral Sevant had taken control of the Spectre and everyone was waving weapons around. "Lt Palmer, take that tricorder and scan everyone in this room and as far as you can... Ensign Kedar, this lot... 'the Smiths' - take them into a corner until I can talk to him.", he said waving to a corner of the Bridge but he left Jennifer Smith, at CONN. Remae looked around at the rest of the crew on the Bridge -- a lot of the senior officers were with him, a lot of people, a lot of ideas. The Spectre had changed course and was accelerating, they were already beyond Warp 9. "Computer, where is Admiral Sevant?", he said and the computer replied. [You do not have permission to perform this action.] "What is my level of access?", he asked and the computer replied. [You do not have permission to perform this action.] "Ensign Alexander, tell me what is happening to the Spectre... Smith, Jennifer, you at CONN, tell me where we are going and what our speed is, even if you have to use a tricorder to scan the stars outside the viewscreen.", he added and looked around again. "Ensign Haltom... the Engineering console, take it apart and get me access to my ship.", and thought for a moment and added, "Whatever it takes.", he said and then looked over at the gaggle of Smiths. The Spectre groaned, she was still increasing her speed... where were they going? (Reply from Palmer, Kedar, Haltom, Jennifer Smith, Any) (Posted by Anthony Keen) (USS Spectre - Bridge, CONN – Pilot Officer, 2nd LT Jennifer Smith – 14:20) As soon as Jo and the others had lowered their weapons Jennifer slid her phser back into its hiding place and sat down at the CONN chair. ~This is not good we need to get control or we could be flying into a sun~ She tapped a few commands into her console but nothing happened. ~Come on baby don’t be like this~ She heard the others talking but focused on what she was doing. "Ensign Alexander, tell me what is happening to the Spectre... Smith, Jennifer, you at CONN, tell me where we are going and what our speed is, even if you have to use a tricorder to scan the stars outside the viewscreen." She half nodded as she flipped it open and scanned the images from the view screen. She felt the ship groan as the speed was increased. ~Ow this is not good~ She double checked the information with what she had glimpsed as her console had died. She turned to face Ktell. “Sir from what I can gather we are heading in the rough direction of Starbase 863 around Ceti Gamma Two but it’s all I can tell at the moment. We are pushing it fast Sir. If we are not careful something is going to break.” (Reply Ktell) (Reply from Ktell Any) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Bridge - FO/CEO, Lt Remae Ktell – 14:25) Remae left the crew to their work so he had time to find out a few answers... he walked over the corner of the Bridge, it was time to talk to The Smiths. "Ensign Kedar, did they say anything to you?", he asked and he looked over them each, one at a time. (Reply from Kedar) "Lt Smith, better start talking, who is this Admiral you spoke of who gave you orders... and why in blazes didn't you come to me sooner about this? You understand everyone is in danger because of your actions?", he asked and waited. His patience was wearing thin and the answers were needed. (Reply from Multiple Smiths (Scott, Robert, Kenneth, Jo), Kedar, Any) (Posted by Anthony Keen) (USS Spectre - Bridge – Security Officer, Jo Smith – 14:28) Jo and the others had move over to the corner of the bridge that Ktell had indicated and waited for him to come over. She looked at Kedar who was hovering nearby but kept quiet. She glanced at the others as Ktell came closer "Ensign Kedar, did they say anything to you?” (Reply from Kedar) "Lt Smith, better start talking, who is this Admiral you spoke of who gave you orders... and why in blazes didn't you come to me sooner about this? You understand everyone is in danger because of your actions?" There was a glance around the group before Jo stepped forward and brought herself to attention before she spoke. “Sir this was never supposed to happen. This was supposed to be a contingency plan that would not be needed.” She paused for a moment realising that she needed to explain her self-better. “Sir Admiral Heather Grey is my aunt and a close friend of my parents. She is part of some long term special projects unit in the Special Operations: Clandestine Department. From what I know they look a look at the tenth man directive. It states that ten people looked into big picture problems. If the first 9 dismissed an issue or potential danger to the federation, then the 10th member was forced to overrule them on principle and look into the issue no matter how far-fetched the problem might seem. Admiral Heather Grey was the 10th member and she knew this was going to happen but she did not know how far it had spread so she contacted my parents to work out a contingency plan that was below the radar and out of official channels. As I was already on board dealing with Doctor Williams’s loyalty with his sister it was decided to place us on the Spectre as she was the most likely vessel with our cloak as well as our advanced weapons and speed to get taken first. She placed Robert, Kenneth, Jennifer and Scott into key positions on board with the express instructions to make sure the ship and crew were safe.” She paused again. “It was not until we got leave after chasing the Garallon that we got our new orders from Admiral Grey. She assumed that the spectre might be a target but did not know who was infected. We were tasked in keeping the Spectre out of the infected hands by any means possible while keeping the command staff alive and uninfected. I am sorry for keeping you in the dark but the admiral swore us to secrecy.” She stood a bit starter. "We come from a family that can trace our line in the Corps for generations we take our word very seriously." Jo took a mini-PADD from her BDU entered a command to activate the PADD and handed it to Ktall. “Sir this is our orders from the Admiral.” (Reply Ktall) (Reply Ktall, Kedar, any) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Bridge - FO/CEO, Lt Remae Ktell – 14:29) The ship rocked to one side, it was hurtling towards an unknown destination, but Jennifer had worked out where they were heading. “Sir from what I can gather we are heading in the rough direction of Starbase 863 around Ceti Gamma Two but it’s all I can tell at the moment. We are pushing it fast Sir. If we are not careful something is going to break.”, said Jennifer at the CONN, a few moments before was listening to the Smiths tell their story. "Oh great.", he said and he knew exactly where they were heading. Although it wasn't common knowledge so he let it go for now. In the meantime, the First Officer listened to Jo tell the tale, and when she was done, she passed the PADD to the Bajoran. “Sir this is our orders from the Admiral.”, she said and for the entire time, they had been at attention, proud and committed. Remae suddenly realised he was surrounded by security officers, marines and so on. The Bridge was full of officers, it was overloaded with people. "Thank-you.", said Remae more than a little coldly but for now, he had to focus on the problems they had. For a few minutes, Will had a theory and Remae listened... there was a lot to take in and Remae was just taking in the big picture. "This is only theoretical. A manoeuvre like this has never actually been done outside of simulation. I've never tried it before even in that. And There is no guarantee it could work. But we are looking at an operation that would take no more than 30 minutes, rather than say a couple hours. It's an option sir. We can call it Plan Z.", he said concluding his plan. “Sorry to interrupt sir but I need to got down to sickbay to make sure we are ready in case the ship does blow up.”, said Williams. “I need to get my information so that I and Lieutenant Palmer can get out heads together.” “Do you want to work here, sickbay or your office?”, said the CMO to Palmer. Remae interrupted for a moment, "Before you decide that, nothing works under our current level of computer access. This is also means the lifts and doors?", he said just in case anyone had forgotten. "Lt Smith.", he said calling over the Security Officer. "While we are working on getting devices working, take the Doctor and the CSO down to Sickbay via the jeffrey's tubes. If we get things working before you get there, we'll let you know.", he said, thinking about the long climb they had ahead. "Ensign Alexander. Prepare your plan, I want it as an option as required.", ordered the FO. A few orders given, the crew began to break up and Remae headed over to the Engineering console where he had left Ensign Haltom. (Reply from Any) (Posted by Anthony Keen) (USS Spectre - Deck 2, Admiral's Quarters - Admiral Sevant - 14:30) :... yes, the systems are all locked down." Sevant looked at his monitor as he continued his telepathic conversation, :I've had a single security chief try to get in a couple of different ways, one of them ingenious. I pulled the man's records, he's a defrocked combat engineer. He and the rest of the staff will give me a number of problems - I'll have to move shortly.: ~I bet none of them have tried tracking a Vulcan ex security chief and war veteran through a ship before` :Do what you can, I'll turn up the distractions as I am able. You know my restrictions.: Sevant felt the communication break off, leaving him alone in his skull again. A moment's disgust rolled over him, though it was quickly replaced by a sense of bitter resolve as he absently rubbed the battle-scars on his face. The half-vulcan turned and opened his safe. From it, he withdrew a phaser in a shoulder holster and a PADD. He quickly slipped the phaser on, after taking off his formal jacket so he could move freely. He checked the settings and power level of the device, and nodded as he slipped it in. He hadn't worn a phaser since he had commanded the Boudicca in wartime. It felt good. It felt right. Sevant looked at his monitor again, the virus he'd put into the computer to augment his admiral's command protocols had fully developed. He had no doubt the crew of the Spectre would eventually regain control, no doubt they had or were in the process of testing the command crew now - but he still had breathing room. Still, the moment had arrived. He took a seat at his chair and opened a priority channel to Starfleet Command. "Computer, record and send this message to the Starfleet Admiralty, care of Starbase Geneva." he paused, "This is Admiral Sevant, Strategic Operations Officer of the 52nd fleet. My flagship has come under attack by parasites. I have locked out all command systems, but there is a 95% chance they will regain control within the next two hours. The command crew and most of the senior staff has been infected - treat any communiques with this ship as suspicious. Do not let this ship dock with any starbase, shoot to kill if they try. Use standard decontamination procedures if they cooperate. I will not message again, treat any further communications from me as suspicious. This is Admiral Sevant, out." He sent the message and then leaned back in his chair. A pang of pain hit him, but he smothered that as quickly as he'd smothered the disgust. "Computer, inform me if anyone comes within fifteen feet of my cabin, in any dimension. And map all the locations that come close to this cabin which do not have active sensors." he leaned forward as the computer presented him with a multi-dimension map, with a few passageways and engineering spaces highlighted. He hummed lightly to himself as he looked them over, and prepared an escape route which would signal the second act of his grand play. (reply: any) (posted by Trout) (USS Spectre - Bridge - OPS, ENS Will Alexander – 14:30) After the whole hullabaloo with the Smith Swat team Will returned quietly to the OPS station. The Captain did not look pleased and The First Officer had chewed out the Smith family. He went back to work trying to see if he could get back into the system, still he was locked out. The first officer didn't have any luck either, the computer didn't seem to recognize him. Everything Will tried, the computer didn't want to give him access. His codes didn't work, biometrics, it was if he had been banned from the system. The First Officer issued orders and Will tried his best to come up with an answer. He was locked out of the system, seemed everyone was. ~What is going on.~ Everyone seemed to be working furiously, the FO trying to get information. Will had overhead something about an Admiral. He was frustrated and was getting desperate. He was still trying to catch up to the advances in technology that had taken place while he was 'under'. In a bit of rage he slammed his fists into the console. Nothing seemed to be working. It seemed the Admiral had them locked out. There was a work around though,, there always was, and he could figure out a way. The it donned on him. "Lieutenant Remae!" Will exclaimed excitedly as he hurried over to the First Officer and the Smiths. "I just had an idea." (reply Remae) "It seems that the Admiral has locked all the Senior Staff from the ship. While we could somehow manage to get non senior staff crew members to operate the ship, control of the Spectre will still remain under the Control of the Admiral. His access codes out rank those of an ensign. Their are protocols to prevent that from happening. So for the time being we are playing by his rules. But what if we, change the rules a little bit. You mentioned mutiny. The Admiral thinks we are going to Mutiny, so why don't we give him what he wants. (Reply Remae) "Maybe the problem isn't solved by going by the Starfleet book, but like thinking like a pirate. The Smith's little display got me thinking. We do exactly what we are accused off. We give him a mutiny to try and fight off. He will be monitoring the situation try and take us out. In order for my plan to work, I'll need a distraction. Sevant is a tactical genius. If we play him like it is a chess game, we will lose. So let's be irrational and not play chess." (reply Remae) "Why let him have full control of the ship, we don't have control, let's even the playing field. There was an old 21st century joke saying when there was computer problem the first question to ask is have you turned it off then back on and then see if that fixes the problem. It could take us hours to try and figure out how to override his orders. So let's take a short cut. An Electro Magnetic Pulse would temporarily shut the Ships computer down. Then the fail safe would kick in fast no longer then 10 seconds. the Computer coming back online due to EMP anti electronic warfare protocols. Part of the protocol then would be the ship booting up in safe mode. As you know Safe Mode allows for operation on a littlle more than auxiliary power, life support, artificial gravity, shields, communications and impulse only. This is so that, an OPS or engineer could enter into the computer and make sure that there is no lasting damage to the ships computer due to the pulse or a possible hack. Like with older computers, such as in the 21st century, safe mode operates on bare minimum principles. It will allow me to get in and remove anything that could be critically damaging to normal operations. Through this I can delete any sort of override Sevant has placed, reboot in normal mode and control is back. But there are problems. First I would need to get to the Secondary Computer core on deck 10. The console there is the one I would need to access. Second we would need a team to get in position to set of an EMP at the the exact moment I get to computer core. That could be bad, who knows what Sevant has up his sleeves, so we would maybe need a third team, a distraction team to I don't know, try and hijack a shuttle. That could divert most of his attention. Then comes the bad part. The EMP will shut off all power to the ship. We'll drop straight out of warp. Like slamming on the breaks. So we would need to make sure we drop out of warp first to prevent any structural damage. At that moment the power goes off we will have 10 seconds on the most bare minimum life support and no artificial gravity. There is also a chance that well, the ship doesn't reboot in safe mode and we are dead in the water. We will have gravity and life support but thats it. But we would be on even playing field. Of course there is a slight chance it doesn't even reboot at all and we are all dead. Or the ship could ummm blow up if the pulse is too strong." (Reply Remae) "This is only theoretical. A maneuver like this has never actually been done outside of simulation. I've never tried it before even in that. And There is no guarantee it could work. But we are looking at an operation that would take no more than 30 minutes, rather than say a couple hours. It's an option sir. We can call it Plan Z." (reply Remae) (Reply Remae,any) (posted by Will B) (USS Spectre - Bridge - OPS, ENS Will Alexander – 14:32) "Ensign Alexander. Prepare your plan, I want it as an option as required.", ordered the FO. "Aye sir," Will replied as he went to the OPS station. He had read about a plan like this during his time attempting to catch up to the years lost, and it seemed crazy but like it could work. It would involve three teams, one would have to cause a distraction, serious enough to distract most of the attention away from the other two teams. The second team would need to set off an EMP pulse that would disable the ships computer momentarily. The third team would head to deck 10 to the secondary computer core, and while the computer was being reset, manually remove the Admiral's overrides. This would allow for the Spectre crew to regain control of the ship. At least long enough to get to the Admiral and take him into custody. The question then would be where do the other two teams go to pull of this 'heist'. The best bet would be for a team to try and 'hijack' one of the shuttle crafts from deck 5's shuttle bay. This would hopefully place attention on all that team, allowing two smaller teams to go unnoticed. The second team would need to set off an EMP. If he remembered anything from the acadaemy, it could be possible to jerry rig the phase cloak to emit an electro magentic pulse, given the right tinkering. Of course this would knock the phase cloak out for a few hours. As a drawback the ship would instantly drop out of warp, and be dead in 'the water', to steal an old naval term, for awhile. The third team would then 'fix' the ships computer. With the locations decided, Will knew he needed people to fill out the teams. A security team might be the best bet for attempting to hijack the shuttle. Both Ensign Haltom and Lt. Remae were both capable enough to set off an EMP pulse. As for the third team, Will would be more than capable to pull off the reboot, and one man team could slip in without anyone knowing. He had his plan, is plan was set. Of course it was all in his head. He would have liked to map it out a map, but he didn't have access to that computer function. So instead he used his finger to sort of trace out the plan, all the while counting and mapping in his head, with some degree of accuracy. He waited for the First officer to discuss matters with Enginer Haltom before being rude and interrupting again. "Sir," he said from his station. "I am ready to present my plan as an option whenever you have a moment. (reply Remae) (reply Remae, any) (posted by Will Banowsky) (USS Serenity - Bridge - CO, Commander Jay – 14:33) Jay watched through the Serenity’s massive wrap around view screen as they increased speed and put some distance from Starbase Geneva. It had been a good stop over getting the Hazardous Support Flotilla finally recognised was good as well as catching up with Andrew. She glanced over her shoulder to where Audrey Williams was at the helm neural linked to the ship. ~At least they had opportunities to mend some bridges~ She was about to speak to Greyjoy her first officer as the comm system activated. =^= This is Admiral Sevant, Strategic Operations Officer of the 52nd fleet. My flagship has come under attack by parasites. I have locked out all command systems, but there is a 95% chance they will regain control within the next two hours. The command crew and most of the senior staff has been infected - treat any communiques with this ship as suspicious. Do not let this ship dock with any starbase, shoot to kill if they try. Use standard decontamination procedures if they cooperate. I will not message again, treat any further communications from me as suspicious. This is Admiral Sevant, out. =^= ~What the hell~ She looked at Greyjoy for a stunned second before she snapped out of it as Audrey’s voice came over the comm system. =^=Captain I am being contacted by the Captain=^= Jay looked at the screen as her boss Captain Akess who was in her command centre on board the massive mobile rapier dock Lily Sloane which was the mobile command base for the Hazardous Support Flotilla and still docked to Starbase Geneva “Captain?” =^=Commander Jay I have been asked by Admiral Jopek to send you as a primary response vessel. There appears to be some kind of parasitic infection on board the Spectre which needs to be contained and quarantined. From our telemetry it seems that the Spectre is heading for the Ceti Gamma Two we need to make sure that the infection dose not spread off the Spectre and into the system to prevent a system wide pandemic. I need you to begin outbreak procedures and investigate the parasite when you get there. The Road Runner is on its way to Dellian 5 to deal with the Denebian Phage which has taken hold there so she won’ t be able to assist for a while but we have the Free Booster to provide logistical support depending on what you find=^= She paused for a moment. =^=There seems to be something else going on as Admiral Jopek is freaking out as much as a Vulcan can but he is not shearing. I will remain here on the Lily Sloane and see if I can get any more information out of him. A tracking vessel has been sent to try and catch up with the Spectre. So good luck and don’t take any chances=^= Jay nodded. “Yes Captain.” As the screen went blank she turned and looked at Audrey reclining in her pilots chair with its neural interface helmet resting on her head. Her eyes were closed and she looked like she was asleep as she always looked when she was connected to the ship. “Audrey go.” She was a flicker of a smile crossed Audrey’s face as she spun the Serenity and leaped into warp. Jay looked back at Grayjoy. “Okay let’s get the team up to the speed. We better get Dr Moss, Senior Chief Snow and Commander Sazboe up here in twenty minutes. We are also going to need the Sargent Major and Lieutenant Perr’Mess we may need his boys and girls as well as her kittens when we get there.” He nodded and moved away to contact the rest of the command team. Jay turned back to the view of the stars streaking past as they travelled at warp. The crew were made up of Star Fleet, Federation Naval Patrol and the Albatross Organization personal but it did not matter which organisation that came from a person in need was a person in need no matter who it was. ~If we are not careful this is going to go to hell very fast~ (Reply any) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Wraith - Bridge - CO, Captain Jana Bell – 14:35) =^= This is Admiral Sevant, Strategic Operations Officer of the 52nd fleet. My flagship has come under attack by parasites. I have locked out all command systems, but there is a 95% chance they will regain control within the next two hours. The command crew and most of the senior staff has been infected - treat any communiques with this ship as suspicious. Do not let this ship dock with any starbase, shoot to kill if they try. Use standard decontamination procedures if they cooperate. I will not message again, treat any further communications from me as suspicious. This is Admiral Sevant, out. =^= "What was that?", said Captain Bell. The Wraith was patrolling close to Starbase Geneva and Jana had a special reason to keep an eye on the Spectre. She wanted to see her depart. Although she smiled throughout the Spectre's launch process and departure at high warp, she didn't want to contact them, it would be too complicated and too hard. Not only for herself. As the sister ship of the Spectre, the Wraith had spent most of the civil war ducking in and out of hot-spots. Dropping off troops, talking important people back and forth and so on. The message from Sevant blasted through the speakers. The Spectre was so close to the orgin point, just about everyone in earshot of the Spectre heard it. Admiral Sevant hadn't used a secure channel. Captain Bell knew enough about the Admiral to know, he didn't make mistakes, perhaps there was a reason... "Captain, we have an incoming message from Admiral Jopek.", reported OPS, the Ensign looked all of 19 years old and was shaking. "Thanks Ensign -- put the Fleet CO onto the big screen.", she said and the Vulcan appeared. =^= I take it you heard that, Captain? =^=, said the Admiral, raising one eye and when Jana simply nodded, he continued, =^= The Spectre has accelerated to high warp and is now on course to Ceti Gamma Two. Our estimations show it to be heading for Starbase 863. The home of Strategic Operations. =^= , he said and paused for a moment. =^= We have nothing I can contact in time, between there and here, that can catch the Spectre but I am ordering you to pursue, under cloak and keep an eye out.=^= , he said simply. =^= We also have a hard time believing that the CO and FO and others are infected but we can't take the risk that they managed to by-pass our scans. Find out, Captain -- good hunting. =^= ~ Good hunting? ~ Ever since the war, each mission had become a possible tactical mission and this habit noone was going to break. The Wraith had her orders. "Lay in a pursuit course. Maximum warp.", she ordered and on command, the Wraith spun neatly on a delicate circle, came about and jumped to warp. "OPS... engage the phase cloak and keep a lock on the Spectre, she will get away from us, don't lose her.", she ordered and the Bridge dimmed as the Wraith engaged her phase cloak. (Reply from none) (Posted by Anthony Keen) (USS Spectre - Bridge – CMO, Cmdr Andrew Williams – 14:36) ~blow up the ship this is getting crazy by the minute~ He looked around the bridge and shook his head at what had happened since he left the briefing room. ~Okay get back and focus. I need to work out how many other people are infected as the Admiral being the only one is stupid~ He looked over at Ktell as Alexander was finishing his explanation. “Sorry to interrupt sir but I need to got down to sickbay to make sure we are ready in case the ship does blow up.” He glanced at Alexander and a ghost of a smile danced across his face. He looked back at Ktell. “I need to get my information so that I and Lieutenant Palmer can get out heads together.” (Reply Ktell) Andrew nodded and he moved over to Palmer. “Do you want to work here, sickbay or your office?” (Reply Palmer) (Reply Ktell, Palmer any) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Wraith - Observation Lounge- JAG CO - Captain William G. Alexander – 14:36) Will was sitting in the observation lounge of the Wraith using it as a make shift office. He had taken a runnabout to the Wraith earlier that day and thanks to the hospitality of her CO he had taken up a pseudo residence in the observation lounge to get some work done. He was in the process of going over some case files for an incident on a one of the ships in the fleet, the research ship USS Lemaître. One of the crew members got into a fight with a civilian consultant who was on board working on a project. Things got heated, the civilian threatened to press charges as well as a civil suit. Will was called in to mediate the situation before any sort of civilian legal action could be started. He had been on his way when his runnabout began experiencing failure with its warp drive. There was some issue involved and he was unable to actually jump to warp. When he realized the problem the nearest ship was the Wraith and she thankfully offered to take him in and begin repairs. So while he waited, he decided it best to do some work. Unfortunately that work was interrupted by a rather disturbing message. ^= This is Admiral Sevant, Strategic Operations Officer of the 52nd fleet. My flagship has come under attack by parasites. I have locked out all command systems, but there is a 95% chance they will regain control within the next two hours. The command crew and most of the senior staff has been infected - treat any communiques with this ship as suspicious. Do not let this ship dock with any starbase, shoot to kill if they try. Use standard decontamination procedures if they cooperate. I will not message again, treat any further communications from me as suspicious. This is Admiral Sevant, out. =^= ~The Spectre, Captain T'Vhor, infected by something. That can't be right. I hope everything is ok.~ Of all the Ships in the fleet the one Will loved the most was the Spectre. He had been her 3rd Officer, 2nd Officer, CONN Officer, OPS officer, even a few hours as her Strategic Operations Officer. He had served on her twice, both times leaving her to become a First Officer. He loved that ship and when it came to the crew on her he had served with, he loved that Crew. He even sort of had a twin or clone on the ship. That she could be in trouble worried him. He poured a lot of love into that ship. He even was one of the key developers of the Ships Strategic Operations Center back when they first installed it early 2407. He gave a lot to that ship. It gave him the career he had. There were some regrets. He always wondered if he missed his chance for true love that he chose career rather than a budding romance with Yayla Nollys. Still, the fact that the Spectre was in trouble worried him, he wanted to help her, but he didn't have a ship and he had his orders. He was an administrator in one sense, a bureaucrat in another. The Joke among some of his friends on Geneva that he was just one or two retirements away from being promoted to an Admiral's attache. Still he missed being Commanding officer of a ship, and in this instance he wished he had one, then he would be able to go help the Spectre. Maybe he baked some cupcakes for Admiral Jopek he'd get a transport vessel and work his way up from there. He tried to keep the Spectre's predicament out of his mind and focus on work, but then he noticed something familiar about the Spectre class ships, her course heading was changing, and her phase cloak was engaged. The lights had dimmed, and not that noticeable, but for someone who had been the OPS officer aboard a class with a phase cloak, he knew the signs all too well. ~Ok, now I need to know what is going.~ Will got up from his seat and headed towards the bridge. (Reply None) (Posted by Will) (USS Spectre - Bridge – CMO, Cmdr Andrew Williams – 14:37) Andrew turned and was about to head to for the jeffrey’s tube hatch in the corner of the bridge when he heard Ktell calling out. "Lt Smith." Andrew turned to see Jo Smith nod as she moved away from the others "While we are working on getting devices working, take the Doctor and the CSO down to Sickbay via the jeffrey's tubes. If we get things working before you get there, we'll let you know." Andrew nodded and not for the first time he was glad that the Spectre class designers had decided to put sickbay on deck three compared to other star ships which had then on decks ten or twelve. He looked over at Jo who had gotten the Jeffrey’s hatch open and was descending into the crawl space. ~Great a nice little crawl around the ship~ He looked over at Kurt and smiled. “Shall we!” (Reply Palmer IYW) He then moved over to the hatch and crawled inside. (Reply Palmer ,any) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Wraith - Bridge - Captain William G. Alexander - 14:39) Will entered the bridge from the observation lounge and noticed things had started to go into operation mode. The mood was somber and serious. ~Have they been issued orders?~ "Captain Bell," he said quietly yet confidently, "Is everything alright? (reply Bell) (reply Bell) (posted by Will Banowsky) (USS Tempest - Captain's Ready Room - Sulia Madon – 14:48) Madon drummed her fingers upon the desktop as she perused the recent report regarding the activity of the two Starfleet vessels, and the curious comms traffic thereof. Nothing here wads adding up at all. Indeed it seemed highly suspicious even for her, which was saying something. The comms chatter had been encrypted, that much went without saying of course, so it was to her advantage that she had one of her old cohorts with her right now to crack it. Damok had been a Gul when he'd last worked alongside her, Madon hadn't entirely trusted the Cardassian during their attempt to overthrow the Geneva Station a few years ago, although now he was one of her most trusted aides in whom she had the utmost respect. This was the second time she'd gone through the report and it still baffled her as much as it had the Tempest's CO, who she had already ordered, yes, ordered to his own ready room! Adams arrived promptly, moving to the chair opposite his own table and then waiting for Madon to motion him to sit. She did not do so, so the Captain took matters into his own hands and sat anyway. Then he waited... "Tell me Captain", began Madon, "why would Starfleet be sending a ship in pursuit of one of its own. A ship that, so far as I am aware, would have no reason to have raised suspicion in any way shape or form" Captain Adams raised his eyebrows, pursing his lips and then shaking his head. "I'm not sure", he answered. "Perhaps they recovered the Garallon from the void, gained access to information of what had occurred", he offered. "There were cadets still aboard when it was cast adrift" Madon pondered that and then shook her head. "No", she snapped, "that can't be. The ships self destruct was set. Nobody could have disengaged the destruct in time" Captain Adams fell silent. If not the Garallon, then what? "There are two Spectre class vessels out there. One was initially following our own course, but then changed course abruptly", she mused. "The second vessel, the Wraith is now following that ship, but the communications between Starfleet and the second ship are not making any sense", she added. "How so?", enquired Captain Adams. Madon swiped through the report on the PADD before her, then she brought up the transmission logs that Damok had previously accessed and decrypted. "The Spectre is reported to have been infected with some form of parasite", said Madon, "orders have been given to prevent her from docking at any Federation starbase or outpost. But WE.... ", she said, pausing briefly at the final word, "have not infiltrated that ship" Adams nodded. "It is curious, yes", he said, seeing now the obvious flaw in the scenario. "Are you sure that we do not have an operative aboard?", he added, at which Madon stood, clearly enraged at the suggestion. "You're implying that I don't know what we are doing!", she cried. "I, the single most pivotal element in our plan!" Adams bit his lip, clearly wishing now that he had not suggested what he'd just suggested. He might be the Captain of the Tempest, and as such, a respected member of Starfleet, but Madon was now his superior and he answered to her alone. He could almost 'feel' the lifeform within him squirm at the obvious bile she had spat forth. Sulia, retook her seat, her anger quickly subsiding. She wasn't at all used to being second guessed these days, not since the days of her youth before she had been recruited to the Detapa Council, and thenceforth to the Obsidian order which first brought her into contact with the lifeform. The important thing though was that nobody did so now, and with that in mind she exhaled heavily, her mind once again upon the problem at hand. The Tempest had now left Starbase 39-Sierra, four operatives inserted as planned into its command structure to begin the infestation thereof. Right now they were on course to the Deneb system, but this latest development with the two Spectre class ships and Starfleets latest recommendations, certainly warranted further attention. The cyborg entity, Venom 9, had last reported that it was en route to the second reported lead for the next part of Medusa, so it could not have been anything to do with him, if indeed Venom 9 could be regarded as 'him', that is. No, this was something else entirely... "What are your orders?", enquired Captain Adams, dutifully. "Do we remain on course for the Deneb system, or.... . Madon drummed her fingers once again. The unusual transmissions were worrying her, another reported infestation that appeared unconnected. Of course, she could not let it lie. "Set a course", she ordered. "Intercept the lead vessel, maximum warp" Captain Adams nodded and then stood from his seat, then he turned about and headed to the door, stopping as Madon interrupted his progress. "Oh and.... Don't EVER second guess me again Captain", she said in an abrupt tone. "Do it again and I'll have you spaced" Adams nodded, visibly worried at that suggestion. If there was one thing that he'd learnt since Madon's arrival aboard the Tempest, it was that you didn't cross her if you valued breathing anything other than a vacuum, and in consequence to that he would be certain to think before offering any advice the next time.... (Reply None) (Posted by Alan) (USS Serenity – Conference Room – Commander Jay – 14:50) Jay looked at her team who were sitting around the table. They seemed intrigued and ready to get started. ~Looks like the rumour mill is hard at work~ She made eye contact with everybody took a breath, smiled and started. “Okay every one. I know that the rumour mill has gone crazy about what we are doing so this is what I know. So Admiral Jopek of the fleet has asked the Boss for us to do a primary response.” She paused as the others around the table grinned. “I know that Captain Casper and the Road Runner usually gets those but they are sprinting to Dellian 5 to stop the spread of the Denebian Phage. She noticed Gwen Moss her CMO wince at that. She knew that Gwen had help to try and stop the Denebian Phage before. “So what know is that the Spectre has been infected with some kind of parasite and needs to be contained and quarantined. The problem is that she is speeding it to Ceti Gamma Two. I don’t need to tell you what will happened if the infection is allowed to get off the Spectre and spread across the system.” “It would be like Graces Hope all over again.” Said Sazboe her chief science officer. Jay and the others nodded to. They all remember how quick it went out of control due to a breach of quarantine. “Depending on what we find on the Spectre or Ceti Gamma Two we have the Free Booster to provide logistical support.” “Ow the Mental Main Frame will like that. She gets a kick off braking the warp speed transit record.” Jay looked at Hamish McDonald and gave him a disapproving look. The Master Chief who was her chief engineer gave a lop sided grin at his use of Lieutenant Coleridge’s unofficial name. “You better not let her hear you say that Master Chief.” He nodded. “Yes Skipper.” “So getting back on topic. We know where the Spectre is going and also that Admiral Jopek has send a tracking vessel to try and catch up with her but we don’t know who it is.” She paused for a moment. “Audrey do we still have the Spectre on sensors?” =^= Yes Skipper. I have her for another hour before she will be out of range but I still can’t get the tracking vessel I guess its stealth or has cloak=^= Jay nodded at Audrey’s disembodied voice came through the conference room’s speakers. Trying to put all the strange peace together in her mind. “Thanks Audrey, when we do we lose her we will follow her track until we get to Ceti Gamma Two or we find the Spectre.” “Okay Chief how are the engines?” As she looked over at Hamish again. “If we push the engines much more they are going to drop off.” She had ordered maximum warp and they were traveling at Warp 9.982, she could feel the slight vibration through the hull due to their fast warp transit. “I know chief but we need to keep up for as long as possible.” Hamish nodded not liking the reason but understanding why she was pushing his beloved ship to the limits. She looked at Gwen Moss the CMO. “Sickbay?” Moss shook her head. “We are ready to receive casualties and I will put the mass casualty and decontamination protocols in place after this. From my understanding a Spectre Class starship can hold 300 crew as max capacity which is under our medical max capacity so space is not an option. If it gets an issue we have enough status chambers to cover it.” Jay nodded and looked over at Senior Chief Snow who was her Trauma Response Team Chief. “If we need to deploy your teams I want them in combat haz-mat suits I don’t want this spreading to our own crew and maximum decon at the triage staging areas. Use the docking collars airlocks if needed. ” “Yes Skipper but it will reduce movement time for my teams and any casualties.” Jay nodded. “I know but better it takes a little longer then we get exposure on the ship.” Snow nodded in return as Jay looked at Sazboe “How is labs doing?” “We are good to go. Do you have any information about the type of parasitic infection?” Jay shook her head. “No you know as much as I know but as soon I get anything else I will pass it on.” Sazboe nodded. “How is tactical looking Master Sargent?” She looked at the hydration suit that kept Kindoo Pachakan’s Pacifican’s biology functioning at peak ability. “Weapons are at maximum efficiency and my boys and girls are ready for a stroll.” Jay nodded. “Good we may need you and them if we have problems getting on board the Specter.” She looked at the newest member of her senior staff Lieutenant Perr'Mess her Unmanned Multimode Tactical Support Crafts pilot. They were testing these small crafts to see how they worked in combination with mother ship and Jay was happy with how the experiment was going. They had six craft on board which greatly increased their search capably as well as giving them some extra teeth when needed. Perr'Mess was a feline from Caitian Homeworld was their pilot and this had meant that the crew had called the Unmanned Multimode Tactical Support Crafts her kittens which had stuck much to Perr'Mess delight. “How are your kittens today?” She was a Perr’Mess’s whiskers twitch with pride as she talked about her craft. “They are ready for anything just say the word and we will be off” “Good we will need them to track the Specter if she tries to escape when she gets to to Ceti Gamma Two.” She turned to Greyjoy. “How is the crew?” He gave her a slight smile. “No problem apart from the normal. They just want to get started.” She returned a smile of her own. “Yeh me as well.” She paused before she carried on. “Just so you know we are not getting any physical support from the Lily Sloane or the Boss as she will be staying on Geneva and try to get some more information about what we are up against. So we are dealing with something new and nasty I don’t need to tell you this but stay sharp and careful out there.” She paused looking around the table at her crew and nodded. “Okay let’s get this started.” And with that the meeting was dismissed. (Reply any) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Bridge - FO/CEO, Lt Remae Ktell – 14:50) Remae knelt down next to the Ensign and the panels around the engineering console was all over the floor. "Any successes, Ensign, can we get around the Admiral's transfer of command?", he asked the ACEO. (Reply from Haltom) "I'd prefer not to tempt fate and explode the ship but I will if we have no other options and as time goes on.", he said but the FO didn't like their chances of achieving it. The security protocols were setup to prevent what they were trying to do. (Reply from Haltom, Any) (Posted by Anthony Keen) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – CMO, Cmdr Andrew Williams – 14:52) Andrew entered sickbay whose doors had been jammed open to let any injured people to move freely. There was a couple of people on the bio-beds but it all looked calm and quiet. He spotted Douwsy who quickly came over to him. “How are things?” She smiled at him. “We are okay here a few cases of nausea but nothing mental at the moment.” She paused “Well, nothing different from the normal.” She glanced at Jo who had taken position by the entrance to sickbay and Palmer before looking back at Andrew. “The Admiral said that the Captain was controlled by a Parasite?” Andrew shook his head. “It’s not true they have been conformed free but that does not mean that everyone else is free. I would shut the doors and scan each person who comes in.” Douwsy nodded. “That was my plan and I’ll get the EMH to help as the other medical people get here.” Andrew nodded as well knowing that the EMH would activate no matter what the security restrictions were on board. “I am not going to be long. I need to get something from my office and then we will be heading back to the bridge.” “Okay I’ll send a runner if I need anything.” Andrew smiled and looked over at Kurt. “Why don’t we go to my office?” (Reply Palmer) With that he headed to his office. (Reply Palmer, any) (Posted by Robbie) =================================================================