USS Spectre Compile - June 1st-30th 2007 by Alan Reading ========================================================================= Mission: The Sword of Damocles Day: 4 Stardate: 2407.02.05 (USS Spectre - Jeffery's tube 41-D - Corporal Lewis O'Hara - 20:40) (USS Spectre - Jeffery's tube 41-D - Agent Smith - 20:43) (USS Spectre - Main Engineering - ACEO Ensign Robin Bourne - 20:43) (USS Spectre - Main Engineering- ACEO Ensign Jacqueline Bristed - 20:44) (USS Spectre - Main Engineering - Ensign Jacqueline Bristed - 21:02) (USS Hood - Guest Quarters - Ensign (JG) Jynea Kreung - 21:15) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - Captain T'Vhor - 21:24) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - CMO - Williams - 21:26) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - President Rondar Nell - 21:26) (USS Spectre - Turbolift 2 - Captain T'Vhor & President Rondar Nell - 21:30) (USS Spectre - Stellar Cartography - Captain T'Vhor & President Rondar Nell - 21:42) (USS Hood - Industrial Replication Shop - Ensign (JG) Serixs Ssarumon - 21:45) (USS Spectre - Main Engineering- ACEO Ensign Jacqueline Bristed - 22:03) (USS Spectre - Personal quarters - ACEO Ensign Jacqueline Bristed - 22:07) (USS Spectre - Ten Forward - ACEO Ensign Jacqueline Bristed - 22:11) (Romulus - Romulan Senate - Proconsul T'Hara-Jotal - 22:30) (USS Spectre - Captain's Ready Room - Captain T'Vhor - 22:50) (USS Spectre - Turbolift One - Captain T'Vhor - 22:59) (USS Hood - Transporter room 1 - Ensign (JG) Serixs Ssarumon - 23:00) (USS Spectre - Transporter room 3 - Ensign (JG) Serixs Ssarumon - 23:01) (USS Spectre - Engineering - Captain T'Vhor - 23:08) (USS Spectre - Engineering - Ensign (JG) Serixs Ssarumon - 23:09) (USS Spectre - Engineering - Captain T'Vhor - 23:14) (USS Hood - Guest Quarters - Ensign (JG) Jynea Kreung - 23:15) (USS Hood - Guest Quarters - Mark the Bunny - 23:15) (USS Spectre - Cargo Bay 1 - Ensign (JG) Serixs Ssarumon - 23:18) (USS Spectre - Personal quarters - Ensign Jacqueline Bristed - 23:20) (USS Spectre - Cargo Bay 1 - Ensign Jacqueline Bristed - 23:24) (USS Spectre - Transporter Room - Mark the Bunny - 23:25) (USS Spectre - Cargo Bay 1 - Ensign (JG) Serixs Ssarumon – 23:25) (USS Spectre - Cargo Bay 2 - Ensign (JG) Jynea Kreung - 23:25) (USS Spectre - Jeffrey Tubes - Mark the Bunny - 23:26) (USS Spectre - Corridor - TAC/SC Yelena Vasilyovna & Captain T'Vhor - 23:26) (USS Spectre - Cargo Bay 1 - Ensign Jacqueline Bristed – 23:27) (USS Spectre - Torpedo Bay - Ensign Jacqueline Bristed - 23:32) (USS Spectre - Daimon Brak's Quarters - TAC/SC Yelena Vasilyovna - 23:32) (USS Spectre - Forward Torpedo Bay - Ensign (JG) Serixs Ssarumon – 23:33) ========================================================================= Mission: The Sword of Damocles Day: 5 Stardate: 2407.02.06 (USS Spectre - Deck 4, Research - TAC/SC Yelena Vasilyovna - 00:01) (USS Spectre - CMO’S Office - CMO - Williams - 00:02) (USS Spectre - Jeffery's Tube 41-D - Corporal Lewis O'Hara - 00:30) (USS Spectre - Jeffery's Tube 41-D - Agent Smith - 00:34) (USS Spectre - Jeffery's Tube 41-D - Corporal Lewis O'Hara - 00:37) (USS Spectre - Corridor - Agent Smith - 00:42) (USS Spectre - Captain's Ready Room - Captain T'Vhor - 00:43) (USS Spectre - Corridor - Agent Smith - 00:45) (USS Spectre - Jeffery's Tube 41-D - Agent Smith - 00:48) (USS Spectre - Jeffery's Tube 41-D - Corporal Lewis O'Hara & Daimon Brak - 00:49) (USS Spectre - Deck 2, VIP Quarters - Captain T'Vhor & Lieutenant Commander Phillip Tovardi - 00:52) (USS Spectre - Jeffery's Tube 41-D - Agent Smith - 00:54) (USS Spectre - Jeffery's Tube 41-D - Corporal Lewis O'Hara - 00:56) (USS Spectre - Jeffery's Tube 41-D - Agent Smith - 01:00) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - Nurse Douwsy - 01:05) (USS Spectre - Jeffery's Tube 41-B - Agent Smith - 01:07) (USS Spectre - 10-Forward - CMO Williams - 01:10) (USS Spectre - Junior Officer's Quarters - Ensign Jynea Kreung - 01:15) (USS Spectre - Bridge - Ensign (JG) Jynea Kreung - 01:25) (USS Spectre - Personal Quarters - Ensign Jacqueline Bristed - 01:25) (USS Spectre - Crew Quarters - Ensign (JG) Serixs Ssarumon - 01:30) (USS Spectre - Deck 6 - Mark the Bunny - 01:33) (USS Spectre - 10 Forward - CMO - Williams - 01:33) (USS Spectre - 10-Forward - Ensign (JG) Serixs Ssarumon - 01:34) (USS Spectre - Jeffrey Tube 7-8A - Ensign (JG) Jynea Kreung - 01:35) (USS Spectre - 10-Forward - Mark no Rank - 01:35) (USS Spectre - 10-Forward - CMO - Williams - 01:37) (USS Spectre - Deck 10 - Ensign (JG) Jynea Kreung - 01:45) (USS Spectre - Ten Forward - Ensign (JG) Jynea Kreung - 01:50) (USS Spectre - Crew Quarters - Ensign (JG)Serixs Ssarumon - 01:55) ========================================================================= Mission; The Sword of Damocles Day: 4 Stardate: 2407.02.05 (USS Spectre - Jeffery's tube 41-D - Corporal Lewis O'Hara - 20:40) Well, that was it... If O'Hara had thought that he might be able to walk away from the situation he now faced until such time as they had docked or something, he was very much mistaken. The word had just come down from the bridge via his MXO that he was to proceed with the task in hand & make every effort to disarm & make safe the...whatever it was. The Captain had been made well aware of the unusual nature of this device & also that there appeared to be a person in some way associated with it, it made little difference though for it was of course imperative that they solve this one or risk losing the ship. O'Hara looked at Smith & then Smith in turn looked at Palmer, each of them hoping that the other would have something worthwhile to say on this, it seemed nobody did though so O'Hara took a deep breath, cleared his throat & then returned his attention back to his tricorder. "Ok, so here goes nothing", said the Corporal as he began carefully removing the outer bulkhead panels in order to expose the EPS nodes sitting behind it. It was simply a case of secure the conduits & then move them aside to reveal the next obstacle, piece of cake... or so it would seem! Ten minutes into the adventure however & more puzzles had been revealed than ever before, how the hell had this thing managed to get through to the place in which it now sat, there was clearly no conduit large enough to accept a person sized object to enter from this end, there had to be another entry point, either that or there was an unauthorized beam in & if that was the case, there would be a transporter record.... wouldn't there? "I'm wondering if we're going about this all the wrong way", said O'Hara as he bit at the fingernail of his index finger. "Oh, now you tell us", said Palmer flinging himself back once again into the other bulkhead. "Will you just cut the crap Palmer!", said Lewis in an aggrieved tone of voice, "if all you can do is whinge like a baby your no use here, either say something constructive or be gone", he added as he pulled aside yet another ODN conduit. Palmer huffed & then closed his eyes before taking a few deep breaths, then he opened his eyes again & turned to face O'Hara. "Ok, I'm Ok....so what exactly have we got here", said Palmer rhetorically, "we have a ticking bomb that may or may not be alive, it moves once in a while but it's definitely organic", he added as he suddenly stopped to think. Seconds ticked by, then all of a sudden he turned to his two cohorts, his brow furrowing slightly. "Has anyone thought to ascertain the nature of the organic material?", said Palmer, "I mean is it human, something else, what?", he added. "You know you might just have a point there", said O'Hara as he fired up the tricorder once again & then focused the scan on the organic material beyond. The tricorder pinged away actively as it scanned, then it began displaying compositive readouts on the object in question. "Ferengi?", said O'Hara quizzically. (Reply Smith) "Didn't we bring a Ferengi aboard at Carraya IV?", said Palmer. (Reply Smith) "If that's so then how did he get in there?", said O'Hara pausing then before reaching up to his combadge. "O'Hara to bridge", said the Corporal. (Reply Rogers, Any) "Sir, I need an exact fix on the Ferengi Daimon Brak", said O'Hara, "According to Agent Smith he is supposed to be confined to quarters & yet my readings say that he's currently sitting two & a half metres in front of me", he added. (Reply Rogers, Any) "Affirmative sir, standing by", said O'Hara as he resumed the task of removing more of the obstructions ahead of them in the hope that answers to the bizarre puzzle would reveal themselves in the process. (Reply Smith, Rogers, Any) (Posted by Alan Reading) (USS Spectre - Jeffery's tube 41-D - Agent Smith - 20:43) "Ferengi?", said O'Hara quizzically. “Ferengi what on earth would that be doing here.” "Didn't we bring a Ferengi aboard at Carraya IV?", said Palmer. Jo nodded. “Yes. A Daimon Brak but he was confined to quarters.” "If that's so then how did he get in there?", "O'Hara to bridge", Jo half listened to there conversation. ~He’s small enough to crawl in if there is a back route coz he did not get in this way~ "Sir, I need an exact fix on the Ferengi Daimon Brak", said O'Hara, "According to Agent Smith he is supposed to be confined to quarters & yet my readings say that he's currently sitting two & a half metres in front of me", As Rogers and O’Hara talked Jo looked again at the scan data. She frowned and shook her head. ~This is very strange. It going to be interesting when we finally get our hands on it and have a good look~ "Affirmative sir, standing by.” O’Hara began to remove the obstructions in front of him. Jo moved beside him and give him a hand. (reply any) (posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Main Engineering - ACEO Ensign Robin Bourne - 20:43) "DAMN IT!" Robin screamed when he reached the console. ~I have already done that!~ (Reply Bristed, any in engineering) "Hold on a sec..." he replied to the onslaught of eyes that were creeping around him. In a moment of madness, he repeatedly tapped the re-diagnose button, and watched the results. "Don't believe it, here look at this. Its random! The computer is spitting random results! Different repairs, different power flows, heck, different active fusion reactor numbers! " He let out an almighty leash of anger, smashing his palms of his hands against the console. (Reply any in engineering, Bristed) Robin looked down at his tattered uniform, rolling up the sleeve of his right arm, revealing the scar from long ago. ~I broke protocol.. you can't do it now, no matter what its producing.~ He rubbed it, hoping the memories would fade away. The darkness, the pain, the mistake... (Reply Bristed IYW) "I would say the diagnostics toast. If it was the whole system, then it would probably be having hail storms in here... You thinking what I am thinking?" he responded as he rolled his sleeve down to hide the scar. (Reply Bristed) (Reply any in engineering, Bristed, any) (Posted by Robin Bourne) (USS Spectre - Main Engineering- ACEO Ensign Jacqueline Bristed - 20:44) "DAMN IT!" roared Bourne. ~That's the general concensus, yes.Which particular 'it' are you referring to?~ "Need a hand?" Bristed offered. It was probably just frazzled nerves making react that way. He had every right to them, especially with that injury on top of everything else, but it was still a bit off-putting to have someone yelling like that And the engineering staff was already put pretty far off as it was, really. "Hold on a sec..." She did so, going so far as to count "one Eridani" in her head. It took him more along the lines of four or five Eridani's to speak again. "Don't believe it, here look at this. Its random! The computer is spitting random results! Different repairs, different power flows, heck, different active fusion reactor numbers! " His hands smashed into the console hard enough to make Jacqueline wince. It was like shooting the messenger, except the messenger happened to be a machine displaying screwy readouts. Somebody swore inventively in response to Bourne's outburst. One of the words was unfamiliar to Jacqueline, and she made a note to find out what it might mean when an opportunity presented itself. Robin continued acting strangely, looking down at his arm and apparently losing himself in some kind of reminiscing or something. He was staring at his arm with a sort of far-away look. There wasn't really time for something like that right now, though. "You, um, you okay?" she asked. "I would say the diagnostics toast. If it was the whole system, then it would probably be having hail storms in here... You thinking what I am thinking?" he responded as he rolled his sleeve down to hide the scar. "If you're thinking 'time to bust out the dynoscanners and the tricorders and hope we catch everything', then yes. Also, if you're thinking words that don't really belong in polite conversation, I'm reading you loud and clear. If not, then my mind-synchonization skills aren't working." She sounded like she'd walked out of a very old comic book or something of the like, bringing up weird superpowers in normal conversation. Next thing she'd be narrating what she was doing in her head in case the reader couldn't understand what was happening. It was really time to for a nap... NRPG: I assume they do catch everything, except for that one part with the shaking for a moment. RPG: "And if that bit with the scanners was what you had in mind, I've got a dynoscanner right here." She held it out to Bourne, hoping he'd calmed down now. The dynoscanner was somewhat less durable than the console, and it probably wouldn't survive a violent outburst. (reply Bourne) "I think we should just give everything a once-over with a tricorder, then use these if something looks screwy. Hey, if the diagnostic's gone crazy we might have covered everything already," she said with a faint smile. "So you want us all to get dynoscanners?" someone asked. "Because I don't think there are enough to go around." The voice was laden with sarcasm, something Jacqueline was not in the mood for right now. Bristed's smile transmogrified into a scowl almost instantly. (reply Bourne, iyw) ~Lesek, du tvi'och lunikkh ta'vik. ~ Sometimes it was better to curse at people in a language they didn't know. Even if they couldn't hear her doing so. "If anyone needs more detailed results than the tricorder will give, tap the combadge and ask for someone with a dynoscanner to come help out." (Reply any in engineering, Bourne, any) (Posted by Siobhan) (USS Spectre - Main Engineering - Ensign Jacqueline Bristed - 21:02) There was a sense of accomplishment throughout the Engineering section. A being done-ness that came with having somehow found a way to make everything work in a manner at least partially resembling the way it was supposed to. They had persevered, triumphed over the overwhelming odds to make things right again. With enough of what her father insisted on calling "macgyvering", some luck, and enough patience, they had managed to turn an impossibly screwed up mess into a reasonably functioning warp drive. What was more, Jacqueline decided, she had by this point journeyed from alertness to sleeping on her feet, and had probably passed to the invisible part of the consciousness spectrum. The name for that was probably "completely insane." Nobody in their right mind looked at the world and thought that kind of drivel. Nobody fully human, at any rate. Maybe...if they were crazy prose poets or comic book writers--no, she was getting off track again. Blinking away the stinging of exhaustion from her eyes, the young ensign attempted to focus herself to the job at hand. At the moment, that was making sure nothing decided not to work again now that the ship was ready for warp. The captain had told them to be prepared, and that meant they were getting their collective butts to theoretically safer territory, which was always a good thing. She stationed herself at the nearest console, putting her hands on either side of it in a not-so-subtle attempt to keep herself propped up should she doze off. "Tired?" someone asked. As if that wasn't obvious. "Not a bit. I'm holding up the wall here," she responded, not bothering to see who the wisecrack had come from. "Wouldn't want it to come off when we worked so hard to get things working." The underlying thrum of the engines propelling the ship changed, revving up to a mechanical purr of sorts. This was the sound of the warp engines operating, and doing so properly. Jacqueline grinned. She had survived her first outrageous Starfleet adventure that nobody back home would believe. Well, her mother wouldn't believe it anyway, but to that woman anything that didn't happen on Earth was automatically perceived as fantasy anyhow. Including, to some degree, her husband and her daughter, but that was a different story. She glanced at the console's readout, looking for anything unusual. She didn't have to look too hard. As the display's speed marker crept upward, the entire ship began to shake. The unexpected jolting knocked her off her feet, more because it was unexpected than from being remarkably strong. ~Missed my calling, should have been a ballerina~ she thought, sprawled inelegantly on the floor. Pulling herself up and pretending nothing had happened, she tried to figure out what was going on. Something was rotten in the state of Denmark...and by Denmark, she meant the final stage magnatomic flux chiller. ~Where am I getting this stuff? What does Denmark have to do with anything?~ She checked the readout again. No, not just the flux chiller, the wave matrix multiplexor had somehow disconnected itself. And somehow that same magnetic restriction coil she'd been fighting with before was threatening to commit mechanical mutiny. That thing had to go, and she promised herself she would be the one to do it as soon as a replacement could be found. "I'm gonna reroute the chiller's feed through tertiary channels. We can deal with that later, I think," she said to the room at large. Her fingers flew, trying to stop another miniature disaster from happening. The shaking stopped while she did so, indicating someone else had covered the multiplexor. Maybe things would go smoothly for the next hour or so, she hoped. The gentle increase of the warp's thrumming resumed. All was back to normal. "Awake now?" It was the same voice that had teased her earlier about being tired. She turned to see who was speaking. A very smiley young Tellerite stood before her, grinning as though things like this were perfectly normal. Apparently the Spectre, like every other collection of lifeforms in the universe, had an unbearably happy person among its ranks, one that would, if not guarded against, drive people crazy simply by existing. He would probably decide they were good friends if she deigned to answer his silly question. "Not really." She hadn't been able to think of a polite way of shrugging him off. "No, you don't look like it. Maybe when this shift is over we could get something to wake you up? It'll be fun!" The Tellerite grinned again. And there it was, she was now his friend. Friends with the kind of person guaranteed to drive any companion up the wall within the hour. There had to be a way out of it, something she could say to dissuade him from trying to get close to the "new kid". Just the idea that someone could be so upbeat after what had been happening over the past few hours brought on the warning signs of a galactic-sized headache. "Uh, um...uh..." she managed. And then, "I, you, um..." Apparently her new Tellerite buddy interpretted this as an acceptance of his offer. "Good, I'll see you then! I'm Therul, by the way. Gorlan Therul. And you are?" he asked. ~going to kill myself~ "Jacqueline Bristed." There was no way out, she was doomed... A glimpse of brown spiked hair on the other side of the room brought with it renewed hope. Maybe there was a way out of meeting Gorlan Therul, the way too happy Tellerite She was supposed to be meeting Bourne for a drink. Maybe, if she worded it right, she could make that meeting seem like more than it was and convince Gorlan he wouldn't want to meet with her at the same time. "You know about human courtship rituals?" she began, hoping she wasn't about to start shipboard rumors. The Tellerite nodded, obviously having no clue where this was going but eager to listen. "Humans have this saying, 'three's a crowd'. It means that men don't like other people around when they're trying to woo a woman--er, get her into a relationship with him. Romantically, not just friends," she said, realizing she was babbling. Why couldn't this have happened when she was more lucid? Or at least when words like 'woo' weren't popping into her head. "I'm only bringing it up because Ensign Bourne and I were going to get a drink. Getting drinks together is sometimes the beginning of a courtship ritual. So I think it would be better if...if you..." "Told him how you feel?" Obviously Gorlan didn't understand what she meant at all. "No! It's just...I think it would be better if he and I were alone. Just in case. Things could get very awkward if you just showed up, y'know?" The infuriating Tellerite grinned yet again. "Oho, I get it. You two go ahead, have fun together. Wouldn't want to make this Bourne feel threatened by my masculinity." He winked at her, edging just a little too close for comfort. ~Is he serious? He thinks...oh jeez, it's time to end this!"~ Jacqueline glanced at the console again, looking for any excuse to get away from this guy. The warning regarding the magnetic restriction coil was still up. Perfect, an excuse to put some distance between herself and Gorlan. Not only that, but there was really only enough room for one person up there, and the vertical distance couldn't hurt either. "Um, thanks. Actually, I've got to get back to work on that restriction coil. Before it, um, dies completely." Without waiting for a response, she walked as quickly as she could away from him. Thank goodness for convenient lies! (Reply Any) (Posted by Siobhan) (USS Hood - Guest Quarters - Ensign (JG) Jynea Kreung - 21:15) Jynea entered the quarters to see Mark flipping his head back and forth while sitting up on his hind legs. She suddenly realized how the little furry genius had made his escape and was trying again. "Computer, disable non-sentient dependant Mark's access to all doors." Jynea requested with a sigh. The computer chirped its happy compliance. The morale officer left Mark hopping at the door and started picking up bits of decimated pillow. "Low lying fluff clouds." Jynea muttered as she shoved another couple of handfulls in the replicator for reclaiming. She really hoped her new superior officer wasn't the sort to dig through a new comer's energy expenditures. First a site to site transport, then replacement of half the furnishings of her guest quarters, two new uniforms. She let out a puff of a sigh and shoved another several handfuls for reclaiming. At least manual cleaning meant that she would get some of the energy credit back! (Reply None) (Posted by Lorna Appleby) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - Captain T'Vhor - 21:24) The arrival of the Doctor into the presidents isolation room had been duly noted by the Captain & he acknowledged him with a courteous nod before moving closer to the President. William's was his usual self of course, glancing up at the indicators on the biobed readout above & nodding in response to an obviously favourable prognosis. Once he was satisfied though, he stepped back & allowed the CO to continue with whatever it was he had clearly just interrupted. "Sir, we are seeing conflicting indications in regards the location of the Steel Talons", said the Captain, "initial indications are that she is in orbit of Betazed but as you know, that cannot be", he added. (Reply Nell) The Captain nodded, it made perfect sense of course for the Talons true location to be guarded at this point in time, the Spectre was approaching the closing point of it's mission, the President was, 'in the bag' so to speak & all they needed to do now was to deliver him safely. It was quite probable of course that Doenitz would have anticipated every contingency, his men had failed to recover or assassinate the man after all & his strategy now would be to attempt to rectify this at the point of handover, i.e The USS Steel Talons. LoDona was a shrewed man & Doenitz knew this, cat & mouse games such as these were to be expected in times of war & he knew that the 52nd, like his own forces, would be operating a strict agenda of disinformation & slight of hand. If the Spectre was to complete it's mission successfully however, it's Captain needed accurate & reliable information now. Nell, clearly perturbed by this drawback had quickly offered his services in getting an accurate fix on LoDona's true coordinates & in so doing, he made to stand from the Biobed on legs that appeared at this time, to be unable to hold his weight. Both the Captain & Lieutenant Commander Tovardi instinctively moved to hold the man's arm to steady him of course but the President shook them free, it seemed as though he wanted to do this for himself without any help, for to show weakness now was clearly not an option for the true Federation leader & he obviously wanted to project that. "Doctor, do you have anything that might assist the President, something to boost his energy perhaps?", said the Captain. (Reply Williams) Doctor Williams seemed willing enough to let the President move about of his own accord now, his prognosis was after all, at an acceptable level & also on the up, but true to form, he still had some words of advice for the President himself. (Reply Williams) Nell nodded appropriately to the offered advice & then took the offered shot in the arm, then he moved towards the door as the Doctor handed the Captain a PADD detailing their current situation in regards their casualties. The Captain looked down & scrutinized the information contained upon it, then he handed it back to the Doctor with a nod. "Very good Doctor", said T'Vhor, "as always you have managed to stay in control of the situation despite our unfortunate losses, I will prepare a report shortly & inform loved ones & relatives appropriately", he added as he moved to follow the President & his senior bodyguard out through the door. (Reply Nell, Williams, Any) (Posted by Alan Reading) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - CMO - Williams - 21:26) "Doctor, do you have anything that might assist the President, something to boost his energy perhaps?", "Yes Captain." Andrew helped the president into a sitting position on the side of the bio-bed. He looked at him to make sure he looked okay. He then took a hypospray and inserted a vial into it. "This will get you on your feet. Mr President. Try to take it steady and not over exert yourself. If you feel worse don't hesitate to come back." (reply Nell IYW) Andrew watched as the president walked out of the room. He then handed his PADD to T'Vhor who looked at it carefully and then handed it back. "Very good Doctor", "As always you have managed to stay in control of the situation despite our unfortunate losses, I will prepare a report shortly & inform loved ones & relatives appropriately", "Thank you Captain." Andrew paused for a moment and then followed the rest of the group into main sickbay. (reply any) (posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - President Rondar Nell - 21:26) "Sir, we are seeing conflicting indications in regards the location of the Steel Talons", said the Captain, "initial indications are that she is in orbit of Betazed but as you know, that cannot be", he added. Nell narrowed his eyes at this Captain. "I hope you're not asking me, Captain." he spat, irritated. "Lets assume for a moment I believe you are who you say you are and not a Doenitz plant. The Federation is at war, and the ship you speak of is the Flagship of a combatant force. It holds the commanding officer of an invasion fleet. It's going to be hidden, its command codes changed, its location kept a strict secret so the ship can avoid over-whelming odds." The President was no man's fool, he HAD been a Starfleet Officer once. The Captain nodded, and seemed to go into thought. Nell frowned again, thinking furiously himself. HE needed to know if he was in true enemy hands, or if he'd finally caught a break. "My command codes are dead, but there might be... ways... to find the ship." The Captain seemed to like that idea. When Nell turned and tried to stand, the Vulcan tried to take the President's arm. Nell was going to have none of that, not until he was sure he was in safe hands, and instinct reaction caused him to jerk his arm away. ~Careful,~ he thought to himself. "Doctor, do you have anything that might assist the President, something to boost his energy perhaps?", said the Captain. Yes Captain." Nell almost grimaced as the Doctor helped him up and injected him with... something. A few seconds later, however, his head cleared a bit and he felt some strength flow back into his body. If it was a poison they'd injected him with, it was insidious. "This will get you on your feet. Mr President. Try to take it steady and not over exert your self. If you feel worse don't hesitate to come back." The President nodded, as much to get the doctor away from him for a few moments as anything, and made a small show of trying out his legs. Not that it was much of a show, Nell wasn't quite sure if his body was going to betray him or not at this point... it wouldn't have surprised him, everything (and everyone) else had. "Very good Doctor", said T'Vhor, "as always you have managed to stay in control of the situation despite our unfortunate losses, I will prepare a report shortly & inform loved ones & relatives appropriately" Nell looked at his Senior bodyguard, who looked back stoically. ~You'd better not be leading me into a trap, old friend.~ he thought as they all left Sickbay. (reply: none, yet) (posted by Trout) (USS Spectre - Turbolift 2 - Captain T'Vhor & President Rondar Nell - 21:30) All things said & done, the Federation President seemed to be in a reasonable state now considering what he had recently been through. Williams & his team had of course performed their usual magic in bringing him back from the brink of the void into which he had recently drifted, it was true that his chest wounds had been repaired of course, but the man's mind was still in a virtual state of flux, this was however, to be expected. The situation beforehand in the sickbay isolation room however, had been interesting to say the very least & the Presidents insistence on not standing in the way of any progress that might inevitably take him back to his beloved Federation, had taken Tovardi somewhat off guard. It wasn't to say that he was wrong of course for Nell's senior bodyguard had only had his best interests at heart, as far as Nell was concerned though, it seemed that he felt that the Captain had a point. Nell knew that a Captain's first priority was to his ship & his crew, outside of that situation he himself was undeniably a highly important man of course, that much went without question, but the hierarchy of a starship was an entirely different matter altogether. And so it was.... Standing in the turbolift now as it began it's smooth, downwards plummet through the Spectre's decks, the Captain could feel the Presidents emotions quite clearly, blocking them out was not an option at this time as they were overpowering in the extreme, even to his limited telepathic abilities. So much angst filled the man's mind, so many decisions made & not yet made, decisions that affected lives, decisions that affected entire planets & yet amidst all of this the Captain sensed a deeply passionate man. A man deserving of his esteemed position, wrongly taken from him by a zealot & a tyrant & in one moment, the Captain knew that this mission was a just one. "Sir....Please accept my apologies if I seemed overly insistent in my line of questioning earlier", said T'Vhor, "it is however imperative now that we locate the Talons in order to bring our mission to a logical conclusion, she is reported as being in an area she cannot logically be & yet....", said the Captain trailing off in thought. "Not at all Captain," Nell said with absolute sincerity. The more questions that were asked, the more Nell could put a finger on the Captain's true intentions. It would take a while before Rondar was convinced, one way or another, of this T'Vhor's honesty. Besides, he was very interested in finding this LoDona. Nell needed to know if the man was true, or if he was another pretender that had launched a Civil War in order to take the Federation over for his own interests. God help them all if LoDona was one of those, for Nell would no longer have anyone to turn to, the Federation would rip itself to pieces. "If I were you, I would rely less on official information and more on what you know of the man", said Nell clasping his hands behind his back now. "He's back from the fringe, or close to it, so Security is going to be that much more important.", said the President, scrutinizing the Captain surreptitiously as though testing his response in some way. The Captain pondered the sentiment that the President had posed, then, as the turbolift doors slid aside he gestured politely with his hand to allow the man to exit first. "I know Admiral LoDona enough to know that he will have preempted any move that the rebel leader might make", said the Captain, "Admiral Doenitz will know that logically, the most secure vessel in the 52nd will be our destination upon his failure to assassinate you directly", he added. Nell said nothing as they continued walking, letting the Captain speak, learning the man's ways. "According to logic, our best chance of getting you to that vessel, now that the Spectre has become known to Admiral Doenitz's forces, would be on another, less conspicuous means of transport", said the Captain trailing off now in thought.... "....or perhaps varying transports", he added, "but time IS of the essence here & it is now against us, the most direct & logical route under our present circumstances may indeed turn out to be the illogical choice", said T'Vhor, wondering now as to wether his rambling of logic & Illogic might be bothering the President as it often did with non Vulcans. The Captain quirked his head slightly as though to ease a little tension in his shoulder as he walked & listened to the President. It was clear that the man was no fool now & as the trio moved on towards their ultimate destination of Stellar Cartography, the Captain considered his earlier impressions via the unavoidable connection he had felt to the man's innermost thoughts beforehand. It was clear also that the President was unsure of the Captain's motives, that much was obvious but he seemed to be becoming more relaxed now as they continued on down the corridor, until they had reached the door that would take them into Stellar Cartography & hopefully, an answer to the riddle. (Reply None) (Posted by Alan Reading & Jeremy Trout) (USS Spectre - Stellar Cartography - Captain T'Vhor & President Rondar Nell - 21:42) Entering the largely transparent interior of the ships virtual observation bubble, the three men walked the length of the small transom leading out towards the centre console, the Captain stood aside as he reached it & then he invited the President to attempt whatever it was he had come here to attempt. (Reply None) (Posted by Alan Reading & Jeremy Trout) (USS Hood - Industrial Replication Shop - Ensign (JG) Serixs Ssarumon - 21:45) What had started as a group of about a dozen had grown considerably in a very short amount of time. People from all different departments filed into the Replication Facility on the USS Hood, all wanting to lend a hand to the on-going effort to fabricate spares for the USS Spectre. Now, there were well over sixty individuals all buzzing to get work done. The whole process had become a well-oiled machine. Some were busy replicating parts and setting them onto tables where others would grab them and move to assemble the larger components. After each assembly was completed, it was passed to another group who would test and calibrate it, then finally it would go to the final team who would serialize, inventory, and pack the components into cargo crates for transport to the Spectre when it arrived. The entire process amazed the tired Gorn. Seeing so many different people come together for a common goal was astonishing. As he worked, he noted the interactions and saw how these Federation people were able to do what the Gorn had been unable to do for centuries...work well with others. The position here, though, was tenusous for Serixs. Looking around, he was the only officer amongst a large group of Enlisted crewmen and that meant he was in charge. At the early point in his career, he had hoped that would be something he could avoid, but the best laid plans can always fall to the wayside. At one point, Captain Teleko had come down to check on the progress of the effort. He was pleased to see the work being done and had authorized additional power to the fabrication shop so that larger and more complex assemblies could be replicated in one shot rather than needing to be put together. This sped things up considerably. Also, Serixs found out how the command staff had managed to get so much help. Seems the Captain authorized Lt. Commander Harris to give a day off as compensation to anyone of the Hood's crew that came to assist. A day off for an hour and a half of intense work was more than a fair trade. Of course, Serixs would not accept such a thing were it offered to him. He was only doing what he could for his ship and crew. Serixs replicated the last component on his particular list and set it on the table for one of the other crewmen to take, then moved over to where things were being inventoried and packed. "How is the work progressing?" He asked the Vulcan who was busy noting things into his PADD. "Thus far, sir, everything is proceeding on schedule." He handed the PADD to Serixs, who browsed through the list, muttering quietly to himself. "Magnatomic Flux Chillers...Magnetic Reduction Assembly...Field induction coils..." Serixs realized he was mumbling to himself, then noticed the bottom of the list had an item that he had not requested replication. "An engineering diagnostic computer?" he asked, looking at the Vulcan crewman. "Yes, sir," the young crewman responded. "Petty Officer Ryan suggested that we create one as a backup in the event the one on the Spectre is damaged." "Good thinking." Serixs said in return. "That completes the list on the warp drive." He looked over at the other team assembling the Weapon systems as he handed the PADD back to the Vulcan. "How is your work progressing?" "We could use a hand, sir," Serixs heard one of the crewmen say. "We replicated over a hundred Phaser emitters for the Spectre's arrays and got the shield emitters done, but the Torpedo system's being a pain." He looked at the team that was finishing up the last components for the Warp drive and nodded. "When you are all finished, take five minutes to relax, then relieve them so that they can take five minutes." He said, much to the relief of the group he was speaking to. He then turned and made his way to the large industrial replicator once more. He switched his list to Weapon components and got a tally of what was left. There was still a lot left to fabricate, but with a little luck and a lot of hard work, they would have the systems completed on time. (reply none) (posted by Don Jones) (USS Spectre - Main Engineering- ACEO Ensign Jacqueline Bristed - 22:03) It had been long. It had been filled with insanity. It had been exciting and exhausting, pushed Jacqueline to the limits, and most importantly of all....it was over. It was, of course, her shift, her murderously long first shift aboard the USS Spectre. She was more than a little relieved. With the day's adventures ranging from the bomb scare (and subsequent discovery that the threat was probably real) with the cloaking device, her first ship to ship battle, getting boarded and hoping whatever deities were about would keep her safe, and the frantic effort to fix the warp drive to get themselves back home, she was more than just a little muddled by now. Hopefully, the old saying about the first day being the worst was true. A memory of someone or other in her past saying "no, it's the second day that's the worst," and following it with "the third is worst" until it became quite clear he found every day to be the worst. He had better have been wrong in this case, or else she'd be dead within the month. For the moment, though, the only thing she had to worry about was getting away without her Tellerite "friend" Gorlan Therul noticing and trying to tag along. She was too tired to pretend politeness at this point, but swearing and ranting and otherwise venting a massive load of stress on anybody this early in her career would be a stupid move. All she had to do was find Bourne and let him know to avoid the overly friendly Tellerite and then she would be-- "Oh no!" Slipping behind the nearest cluster of fellow engineers, she attempted to hide herself. She could see Bourne, who currently had his back to her, but Mister Therul was lurking in close proximity to him. ~Don't let him see me. Do not let me be seen. I am a shadow, an anonymous crewman.~ Upon second thought, maybe it would be better to make a break for it and hope for the best. She'd change, get to Ten Forward, grab a drink with Robin, and then after that...bed. A most deserved rest--except she'd promised to write Vashan. Okay, after writing a quick message to Vashan, then bed. (Reply None) (Posted by Siobhan) (USS Spectre - Personal quarters - Ensign Jacqueline Bristed - 22:07) Civvies felt good, which was interesting considering how diligently everyone had worked to get out of them back at the Academy. The uniform she had been wearing lay where it had been unceremoniously shed upon the floor in flagrant disregard for proper cleanliness. It wasn't as if she couldn't pick it up later. The morning, maybe. Or next week, whenever she woke up. The door chime rang. Jacqueline guiltily kicked the uniform up, deftly catching it and throwing it onto the bed before asking the computer to open the door. Outside stood Gorlan. "What are you doing here?" she asked. "You didn't go meet with that Mister Bourne fellow, so I thought you might have changed your mind about that courtship thing. So I thought you might like some company your first night aboard." He grinned as was his infuriating wont. The urge to strike him rose up in the young woman, but somehow she repressed it. There was a time and a place for hitting superhumanly annoying people, and this was not it. "I didn't follow him to his room, no. But I was planning on meeting him for a drink. After I got changed. Did you bother stalking him to find out if he went to the bar immediately?" "Well, no..." "That's because he didn't. He didn't want to show up looking like a lematya's breakfast," she barked, not caring how nasty she sounded at this point. The Tellerite merely looked thoughtful, as if the idea of changing after a shift had never occurred to him. "I...don't think there are lematyas on the ship," he said, rather stupidly. "Don't those live on Vulcan? And besides, how could a human look like something an animal ate?" ~You'd be rather surprised.~ "Yes, it's a rather nasty Vulcan predator. Goes after pretty much anything. Why am I even having this conversation? I'm supposed to be indulging in a potential courtship ritual with a member of my own species, not discussing the eating habits of a vicious Vulcanian predator with a nosy engineer I don't know!" Anyone else would have been insulted by Bristed by this point, but Gorlan didn't seem to mind. "Actually, about that ritual thing...I asked my human friend about it, but he said it doesn't always work like that. Are you sure you didn't misinterpret the arrangement?" He cocked his head to the side, somehow conveying genuine concern for this rather rude human he'd only just met. It was the most annoying thing Jacqueline had the misfortune to run into. Worse, he had probably made Robin think she had some kind of crush on him, because questions like that would definitely cause rumors. Before, she had found Ensign Gorlan Therul (whose rank she had only just then thought to check) merely rather annoying. Now he was an enemy, just as surely as Doenitz was. "I don't --j'ne feut pas-- no, I'll put it so you can understand. My courtship, if any, does not concern you. Do not discuss it with your bath'pa t'hai'lu--friends, do not tell people how you think I feel about them, and until I've had a lot more sleep, don't even talk to me! Do I make myself bloody well clear, Gorlan?" The man defied all normal patterns of behavior. "You're just tired, it's been a busy day for you," he said comfortingly. He reached his hand out, patting her on the shoulder. It was as though she hadn't nearly bitten off his head with an enraged tirade. People like that shouldn't be allowed to exist. "And by the way, I like that shirt on you," he added. "I have to go." She shoved past him, not sure she could restrain herself from causing him physical injury for much longer. She needed that drink now more than ever. (reply any, none) (posted by Siobhan) (USS Spectre - Ten Forward - ACEO Ensign Jacqueline Bristed - 22:11) Jacqueline arrived without further incident, much to her relief. Now all she had to do was find Bourne. Or, failing that, get herself a drink and wait for the man. Or better yet, get a drink and then find him. She wasn't sure what to order, and wasn't in the mood to fool around with it. "Hey, what should I get?" she asked the nearest person, an Andorian of indeterminate gender. She decided he must be male, just to be able to attach a pronoun to him/her. He looked a bit surprised that she was asking him any such thing, probably because he was consuming something with an alcohol content higher than anything Humans had concocted on their homeworld. "Have you ever tried Rahnen Stardust?" he suggested. "Yeah, but I don't intend to tonight " she replied. This Andorian was probably being a jerk for the sake of it. Stardust was the lightest drink she had ever come across, containing about as much alcohol as a small nebula. That was to say, enough to get only the smallest of rodents drunk. And with synthehol involved, she wanted something very strong, to at least simulate going out of her head for a while. "Then...perhaps you should order something a little harder. Fizz water, maybe." "Right, thanks." Fizz water was probably some nickname for a carbonated beverage, a soda or something. In honor of her ancestors, hailing from a land where anything less than whiskey was considered nonalcoholic, that wasn't an option. She was going for a Finagle's Folly. Failing that, she'd go for something equally insane, like...Vulcan port. She knew that would send her to a dreamless sleep in a hurry from experience. Vashan had thought her inferior tolerance levels to be quite an amusing phenomenon, when he had convinced her to try it. Luck was with her, and getting a Finagle's Folly proved to be an easily accomplished task. She had merely to reassure the bartender that she knew what it was she was ordering. By that time Bourne had arrived. Unless he had been there the whole time, which was possible considering she didn't check for him before ordering. "Hey! Were you here or did I beat you?" (reply Bourne) "Hmm..." She wondered if Robin had had the pleasure of meeting Ensign Gorlan Therul yet. She decided to ask. "Have you had the pleasure of meeting a Gorlan Therul yet? Tellerite guy, about so high..." (reply Bourne) "Let's just say I'm already tired of him. And I think he might have started a rumor about us...being together." (reply Bourne, iyw) "As in, he thinks were engaging in human courtship rituals...dating or something." (reply Bourne, any) (Posted by Siobhan) (Romulus - Romulan Senate - Proconsul T'Hara-Jotal - 22:30) Jotal had not slept well this day, the senate had been buzzing of late in regards the questionable movements of the split Federation & their exploits within Romulan space & from the moment he had entered senate, he knew that the imperial Praetor would be his usual, stick in the mud self. And so it was... As Proconsul, he had of course been keeping close ties with the goings on of the IRW DihVael & her Commander, N'alae had been feeding him her regular updates on their unusual situation with the renegade mercenary vessels & yet still, he felt as though he were not entirely privy to all of the facts. His countenance now however was one of quiet displeasure as the senate's proceedings finally came round to his report. "Proconsul Jotal", said the Praetor's adviser in a somewhat stern but obsequious manner, "your report on the current situation regarding the Federation if you please" Jotal took a deep breath & then stood to approach the raised dais, upon which sat the Praetor flanked as he was by his robed consorts, each of whom waited patiently with their usual & typical aplomb. At this moment in time though, the Proconsul himself certainly lacked such aplomb, in his hand he held the latest update from Tal Shiar Officer N'alae stationed as she was aboard the DihVael itself & the latest news did not look good. The situation had indeed escalated beyond what had been expected, it had been an unlikely outcome to say the very least & yet still the two reported Zulu Alpha's, despite their undeniable tactical superiority had been compromised by the actions of their own Warbird & the surreptitious 52nd fleet vessel. The senate had grown silent now in readiness & the Praetor himself had leaned both arms upon the desk in front of him, his face clearly showing his impatience for the Proconsul to begin his usual report on the matter. Jotal however had merely furrowed his brow & then glanced once behind him at the gathering, then he began. "Of course Praetor, may I begin by stating that my latest report from the Tal Shiar still raises definite concerns over the actions of Commander Talok in regards the Federation vessel he is currently tracking", he began as the Praetor himself leaned back into his chair & closed his eyes briefly as though not wanting to hear more of N'alae's brand of dubious & somewhat conspiratorial venom. "Tal Shiar officer N'alae herself documents & details nine separate acts of specific violation in regards the Commanders loyalty to Romulus & her people, she states quite clea......", said Jotal as he was suddenly cut off by the Praetor mid sentence. "Where is the DihVael now?", said the Praetor. The Proconsul stumbled slightly at the sudden, & in his own view, unwarranted intrusion, then he began again. "She is currently escorting the Federation vessel towards the neutral zone Praetor", said Jotal after glancing down towards the report pad in his hand for the relevant details. "Prior to this, it would seem that Commander Talok ordered the DihVael to engage one of the mercenary vessels in a questionable, & most likely forbidden alliance with the Federation along with one other unidentified vessel", said the Proconsul, "the target was subsequently annihilated", he added somewhat smugly. The imperial Praetor paused to take a drink from the small glass to his side & then after doing so, he offered his own input in favour of the Romulan Commander & based entirely upon orders given earlier in regards such acts within Romulan space. "Earlier reports have stated that all unauthorized vessels encountered within Romulan space were to be engaged & destroyed", said the Praetor with a huff, "does this not show that Commander Talok acted in accordance with dictate?", he added questioning both the Proconsul's & the Tal Shiar's insistence that the Warbirds Commander had in someway, gone against such dictate. "But he has clearly assisted the 52nd against such dictate Praetor", said the Proconsul, "he has NOT engaged the Federation vessel, the Tal Shiar is growing increasingly concerned as to the possibility of a fifth column within our own ranks", he added growing a little more confident & authoritative now in his line of counter question. The Proconsul then fell silent as the Praetor appeared to ponder this, then he became more confident & offered his own recommendations in regards action required. "We MUST deploy the fleet for a first strike", said Jotal, "the Federation itself continues undeniably to move on all fronts & there is clear evidence that this 'supposed' civil war of theirs is merely a ruse designed to obfuscate the facts", he added. The Praetor was having none of this of course, he was not about to be dictated to by an overbearing underling & he slammed his fist hard onto the table in response to the Proconsul's outspokenness. This had not been the first time that this had been suggested by him of course & there was still the fact that the fleet had already deployed to a state of readiness at all key locations along their borders. "There is STILL no direct & reliable assurance of this!", said the Praetor agressively, "there have been no offensive incursions into Romulan territory other than this one incidence", he added. "Do you really think that the Federation would send an invasion force of one vessel against the entire imperial fleet", said the Praetor resuming now to a less than agitated tone of voice. Again silence prevailed in the senate as all present allowed the sentiments of the Praetor to settle in. "One vessel Praetor?", said the Proconsul, "it IS true that it is indeed one vessel, but it is one vessel equipped with a phased cloak & a matter/antimatter device intent on parking itself directly beneath your imperial senate!", he added growing increasingly more agitated himself now at the very notion of such a possibility. Immediately the assembled senate grew restless of course as hushed voices could be heard all around the gallery. Surely this could not be so, would the Federation be so bold? "Heresay?", said the Praetor, "what assurance is there that this is so, on the unverified word of one Tal Shiar officer you expect me to order an all out attack against the Federation? this would be madness, nothing less than planetary suicide", he added. The Praetor's expression however had changed once again, this latest news prompted concern that much was certain, but to order a convergence of the imperial fleet in readiness for a first strike against the Federation itself still seemed one step too far. The Praetor took a deep breath, then he bit at his lower lip as though in deep contemplation. "This vessel is now heading for Federation space", said the Praetor stating this as an undeniable & verified fact rather than a question, "it is NOT heading for Romulus.....have the fleet remain at full operational readiness, order the DihVael to continue it's covert surveillance of the 52nd fleet & their allies", he added. "This matter is closed", said the Praetor as he stood & stepped down from the dais, much to the Proconsul's obvious displeasure as he himself gathered his small amount of personal belongings & then likewise retired.... (Reply None) (Posted by Alan Reading) (USS Spectre - Captain's Ready Room - Captain T'Vhor - 22:50) =/\=Sir, incoming communication from the Hood, Captain Teleko on secure channel one=/\= "Put it through Lieutenant", said the Captain as he reached in to remove the glass of cool Orange juice he had just requested from his personal replicator. The Captain took his seat almost at the precise moment that the somewhat relieved face of the Hoods CO appeared on the viewscreen of his desktop console. "Captain Teleko, I trust that the Binary Emergence was as spectacular as first reported?", said T'Vhor as he took a slow, much welcomed sip from the glass in his hand. Teleko quirked his head to the side & then smiled a somewhat knowing smile at the Vulcan hybrids calm innuendo. =/\=Better than the last I witnessed but not as good as the first=/\= came the nondescript reply as he then went on to more pressing matters in hand. =/\=So what's the story on the Warbird?=/\= "Merely performing it's perfunctory duties Captain, it's Commander is one fortunately unlike many others, he has insisted on a close escort until we are back in Federation space but I suspect that there is probably more than one motive for his insistence on this course of action", said the Captain. =/\=Probably....I have orders from the 52nd to pursue a non aggressive approach in regards the Romulans, so long as the Romulan commander keeps his cool I'll see to it that that is the case=/\= said Teleko wryly. "A wise move", said Captain T'Vhor, "no point in pressing Commander Talok whilst we are so close to Romulan territory, one must consider that it is us who has engaged in trespass here, not them", said T'Vhor. =/\=You have a point=/\= Said Teleko considering the underlying facts now. =/\=Current sensor readings show the Spectre is badly damaged Captain.... it seems that one of your own crew transfers has taken it on board to attempt to rectify this situation=/\= Said Teleko. Captain T'Vhor quirked his head slightly & then raised an eyebrow quizzically. "How so Captain?", he asked. =/\=One Ensign Serix's Ssarumon, a lizard no less.... I mean... well a Gorn, your Gorn it would seem=/\= Said Teleko wondering at that point if he should have even used the lizard quip on the Spectre's logical Captain. =/\=He's rallied the Hood's Engineering crew & the replication workshops into fabricating your most needed equipment, I'd say that it looks like he wants to make an impression on his new CO=/\= Said Teleko smiling once again. The Spectre's CO however, remained unemotional apart from a slight nod at the information given. "I will see to it that Engineering crews are on standby to assist in transport of the necessary equipment, inform Ensign Ssarumon & your crew that I am most appreciative of his & their actions", said the Captain without even the slightest show of emotion upon his face as he spoke. Could anyone ever tell wether a Vulcan was happy or not? Teleko drew a blank on that particular question of course, he had worked with Vulcan's almost his entire career & T'Vhor, regardless of his hybrid genetics was most definitely your typical, cold & unemotional Vulcan. If the Captain himself was happy now, it certainly wasn't showing as he calmly took another sip of his cold, refreshing orange juice. =/\=The Hood has been ordered to escort & assist you under impulse whilst you carry out improvisational running repairs, our orders are to proceed to the specified coordinates as relayed by.... well...you know=/\= said Teleko guardedly. T'Vhor simply nodded at the news as he thought back briefly to his earlier discussions with the President himself, whilst they discussed future proceedings in Stellar Cartography. =/\=So....you have the prize intact then?=/\= said Teleko enquiringly. The Vulcan CO simply furrowed his brow in response, the analogy just a tad lost of course on his purely logical outlook. "Prize Captain?", said T'Vhor, "by this I assume you are referring to our primary goal, if I am correct in that assumption then yes... we have the prize", said T'Vhor as he took another sip from his glass before placing it down upon the table beside him. =/\=Well that's one in the eye for Doenitz then, all we gotta do now is deliver=/\= said Teleko as he turned to one of his own bridge crew to discuss upcoming tactical arrangements. "The Spectre will be arriving in Federation space in approximately five minutes Captain, please ensure that the Warbirds Commander is given the necessary providence upon our arrival", said the Captain. =/\=As I said Captain...so long as he tows the line=/\= said Teleko, his face now taking on a more sombre look as he spoke. "I suspect that Commander Talok will not wish to provoke too much of a response", said T'Vhor, "as a Romulan I find him surprisingly logical", he added whilst again raising an eyebrow in quizzical fascination at such an unusual possibility, just as a communique from the bridge finally arrived to herald their imminent arrival back into Federation territory. =/\=Sir, we have now arrived at the designated coordinates=/\=, said the FO. "Understood Lieutenant, drop us out of warp & slow to one third impulse, take us alongside the Hood & prepare for equipment & crew transfer", said the Captain as he stood from his seat in order to return forthwith to the bridge. "Captain Teleko, I look forwards to meeting you in person... until then", said the Captain as the Hoods CO nodded & then closed the channel... (Reply Any, None) (Posted by Alan Reading) (USS Spectre - Turbolift One - Captain T'Vhor - 22:59) The Vulcan hybrid had simply closed his eyes as he leaned back against the interior wall of the turbolift as it began it's smooth decent. The last few days had been stressful even for one with blood normally associated with calm & the Captain, regardless of his parental heritage was relieved to be back in Federation space once again. The mission though was far from over, all could still be lost in an instance & as CO of this vessel, T'Vhor knew that to rest upon ones laurels now would be a foolish & illogical act. The recent update on their act of apparent sabotage had not been good to say the least, indications had seemed to show the involvement of the Ferengi Daimon Brak somewhere within this mix of events for his presence could not be verified now at all. The MXO had only stated that his man had found Ferengi lifesigns within the Jeffery's tube in question, but the Ferengi himself was indeed missing from his quarters, regardless of the fact that he had been confined there. It was most strange. Opening his eyes to the sound of the turbolift doors opening before his required deck however, the CO was brought quickly back to the here & now as a Female Ensign in medical teal stepped in, requested her deck & then turned about to face the closing doors after a curt acknowledgement of "Sir".... "Ensign", said the CO with a nod as the turbolift then continued on it's way. "Sir?", said the Ensign after a small pause, "the crew are talking about a bomb, is it true that we have a situation on board", said the worried looking Ensign. "It is true Ensign", said the Captain, "but it IS being dealt with & I have no reason to question the ability of those dealing with it", he added as the Ensign nodded but appeared to remain concerned nonetheless. "I understand we have a new Counsellor sir, an Ensign Kreung", said the Ensign attempting to divert her thoughts from the prior situation, "I've been asked by Counsellor Taxia to meet her when she beams aboard" The Captain simply nodded to confirm the Ensigns understanding, then he went on to mention that there were a number of other crew transfers from the Hood also, including a rather unusual Gorn officer. "Oh", said the Ensign just as the doors opened to reveal her required deck, "I wasn't aware of that sir, we only get informed of those coming to us sir", she added as she stepped out of the lift & then made to move off with a customary smile. "Ensign", said the Captain as she began walking off down the corridor. "Yes sir", said the Ensign stopping & then turning about briefly. "Please don't worry about the bomb, nobody else is going to die if I can help it", said the Captain in a calm reassuring voice, whilst at the same time hoping to himself that he was indeed reassuring her enough of that fact. The Ensign simply smiled again at his sentiment, "yes sir, I'll try not to", she said as she turned about & then made her way down to wherever it was she was heading as the doors of the turbolift closed again behind her. The Captain allowed his eyes to close briefly once again & then he relaxed as the turbolift continued it's decent & horizontal transit through the Spectre's network of decks. As the CO of a Federation vessel, it was of course a prerequisite that he held the care & wellbeing of his crew of foremost concern, not that that would have made any difference of course for in attempting to reassure the young Ensign earlier, he was only being himself anyway. As he relaxed against the rear wall however, he allowed his mind to briefly drift once again to Krysta. How he missed her so. It seemed odd that in the last few days he had not once allowed himself to dwell upon such thoughts, the burden of command invariably weighed heavy on any Captain & T'Vhor of course was no different. The thought's of his deceased wife however had comforted him & in so doing, he made a conscious decision to arrange a little time for meditation during their time in the company of the Hood. Whilst contemplating such things as this however, the Captain had not realized that his deck had now been arrived at & the doors had subsequently opened before him, upon opening his eyes though he took a deep breath & then gathering his thoughts, he then stepped out & into the corridor to continue on his way... (Reply Any, None) (Posted by Alan Reading) (USS Hood - Transporter room 1 - Ensign (JG) Serixs Ssarumon - 23:00) Not long before, Serixs received the order to report to the Transporter room from the Replication shop. Seems that the Hood's quarter master had already taken the liberty of sending over all of his personal effects to the Spectre. The timing was actually quite fortuitous. The crew in the Replication Shop had just finished calibrating and packing away the last of the components for the Spectre's quantum Torpedo launcher when the call came that the Spectre was coming out of warp...with "friends". Captain Teleko, per his word, had to reroute power from the shop back into the Hood's weapons to keep them at ready status, should the Romulan vessel that was escorting the Spectre decide to turn hostile. Luckily, though, that did not seem to be the case. Ryan had tried to hurry the Gorn out of there so he would not be late and as much as Serixs wanted to oversee the last of the operations in the Replication Shop, he understood that he was unwise to keep his new CO waiting. Thankfully, the engineering crew would handle the transfer of all the stock to the Spectre, so that would not have to be worried about. All that was left for Serixs now was to get on the transport pad and be on his way. Before doing so, though, procedure and courtesy would have to be maintained. With that, he tapped his comm badge. "Ensign Ssarumon to Captain Teleko," he began in order to get the attention of the Hood's CO. "Permission to disembark." =/\=Granted, Ensign,=/\= came the Captain's response. =/\=Good luck.=/\= "Thank you, sir," Serixs answered as he stood on the pad. He had hoped that counselor Kreung would be transporting over with him, but he was confident she would be along shortly. He looked at the transporter chief and nodded his head. Within but a moment, the familiar feeling of the transporter gripped him and the entirety of his word blacked out for but a moment. When light returned to him, he found himself standing in another transporter room that was all but identical to the one he had just left, though the man behind the console was certainly someone else. (Reply None) (Posted by Don Jones) (USS Spectre - Transporter room 3 - Ensign (JG) Serixs Ssarumon - 23:01) With a minor shake of his head, Serixs cleared the last residual effects of the transporter. They always had a tendency to make his skin tingle. He took a couple of steps from the pad and noticed that the Transporter chief was staring at him. Of course, he had to remember that a Gorn was an extremely uncommon sight on a Federation vessel. Much less wearing one of the Starfleet uniforms and carrying a PADD. "Ensign Serixs Ssarumon reporting," he began, tilting his head slightly. He swore for a moment that if the eyes in the chief's head bugged out any further they would probably fall out of their sockets. "Please inform Captain T'Vhor that I am en route to report to him." There was little response. The chief seemed to be dazed at the moment. "Chief?" he said next, his voice slightly raised. "Oh yes," the Chief said to him, relaying the information into his console. "Sorry, sir." Serixs could understand. With what he expected the crew of the Spectre had been through, this man was not so much in shock at seeing him, but rather running on sheer exhaustion. He suspected he would see much the same in a lot of the crew, given what's been going on. A ship behind enemy lines and under constant fire was by far one of the most stressful places to be. He had seen the same in his time in the Gorn Navy. "It is all right, Chief," Serixs said, nodding his head and smoothing out his voice. "Thank you." He turned, moving towards the doorway and into the corridor of the Spectre. The place was buzzing with activity as people rushed to do repairs throughout the vessel and get it back in running order as quickly as possible. ~Hopefully we were able to make the job a little easier,~ he thought as he made sure to keep out of everyone's way through the corridors. Silently, he shook his head. People were staring at him just a bit, though trying not to make it noticeable. It was common for him on a new ship, but it would pass in time as people became used to him. After contacting the bridge and being told the Captain was not there, he muttered and tapped a wall mount console. "Computer, where is Captain T'Vhor?" He asked. [Captain T'Vhor is on Deck 12] the computer responded helpfully. NRPG: Figured the Captain would be wandering around Engineering. If this isn't right, feel free to alter as needed. :) RPG: Well, he was way off the mark. The transporter had let him out at Deck 4. He muttered even more and continued in his quest for a turbolift. He had studied the deck layout of the Spectre for a while, but seeing the layout and actually being on the vessel were always two very different things, especially with some sections closed off due to repairs. Finally, he rounded a corner and found his salvation in the form of an open turbolift car. He stepped in and ordered it to Deck 12, giving a long sigh and rubbing his eyes as the turbolift made its way downward. He had not slept since he left the academy three days ago, not to mention that he was getting hungry. The lift car stopped somewhere around deck 8 or 9 before the doors opened. A young human ensign where Gold looked up at him and just froze. Serixs looked back at the young man and tilted his head slightly. "I'll....take the next car," the man said to him and jabbed the close button. As the doors were closing, Serixs let out a hiss. This was going to be an interesting assignment. The Turbolift resumed and finally opened onto Deck 12, much to the Gorn's slight dismay. The deck was a mess. It seems this section took quite a beating fighting the other vessels, but repairs were underway. As he made his way through the corridors, he encountered more sections that were out of order and grumbled, then turned back and realized he had not been paying attention as to which corridors he had taken. He looked back and forth, realizing he was now quite lost on the small ship. ~Definitely an interesting assignment and certainly the way to make a good first impression,~ Serixs thought to himself as he just shook his head and started to wander. He would either find someone who could direct him or a working computer terminal to guide him, one or the other. (reply Any) (Posted by Don Jones) (USS Spectre - Engineering - Captain T'Vhor - 23:08) The very first thing that the Captain had spied upon entering Engineering, was the fact that a number of personnel therein were obviously not Spectre crew. He knew of course that from the moment they had arrived back into Federation space, the transport of various needed equipment had begun in earnest, what he didn't know though was that some of the Hoods engineers had beamed over to assist also. With an extended crew compliment of two hundred & eighteen personnel, it was impossible of course for the Captain to know each & every face on board but needless to say, he had seen them all at one time or another & these faces did not fit at all. Walking towards one of the Engineers working on an auxiliary plasma flow conduit, he came to a stop behind the man & then announced his presence with a clearing of his throat, at which point the somewhat startled Lieutenant turned about, paused to note the rank & insignia on the CO's collar & then immediately came to attention before him. "Sir, sorry sir... Lieutenant Paul Forbes, assistant chief engineer USS Hood", said the man as a partial explanation now of his presence here. "I was not aware of Hood crewmen beaming aboard", said the bemused CO, "who authorized this?" "Captain Teleko Sir, he felt that the repair operations could be optimized if some of our Engineers came across to assist in the patching up", said Forbes, realizing as he spoke that this was probably not what the Spectre's Commanding Officer wanted to hear at all, after all, this ship had just exited a potential hot spot & had also endured hostile boarding. How was the Captain to know that a new & unexpected face was not one of those boarders engaging now in further sabotage? Forbes didn't even have to read the Vulcan's face & in a second, he had quickly offered further information to show his understanding of the current situation. "My apologies sir, we knew that the Spectre had been boarded, we should have known", said the Engineer, "I could be anyone couldn't I", he added. The Captain said nothing at this moment in time though, he simply gazed at the opened hatchway on the flow control panel & then turned again to the Engineer. "Where is the duty Engineer?", he asked, "Lieutenant Nix is working on the matter/antimatter constriction assembly sir, I was assured by him that it was ok to begin work on auxiliary plasma flow", said Forbes, "I can stop if you wish sir", he added. The Captain again said nothing as he looked down the Engineering corridor at a group of Engineers working upon the warp core, then he turned his attention back to the Lieutenant. "No Lieutenant, continue your work here", said the Captain, "the sooner we are somewhere near fully operational again the better", he added as he turned about & then moved off down the corridor towards the small group congregated around the slowly pulsing core. It was at that moment however that something caught his eye standing off to the left, he could hardly miss it of course for it stood at least eight feet high & bore the countenance of one who was searching & quite probably lost. The imposing figure however was not one of the ubiquitous Hood personnel, this one was undeniably green & most definately lizard-like! The Captain had come to a stop now as he gazed at the Gorn, whilst it in turn, looked about the Engineering section while occasionally glancing down towards the PADD it held within it's claw. Then it's gaze met his. (Reply Ssarumon, Any) (Posted by Alan Reading) (USS Spectre - Engineering - Ensign (JG) Serixs Ssarumon - 23:09) Serixs had been searching through the corridors for a while now and he was starting to get a little agitated. He had been trying to locate engineering to see if the Captain was there, but with the wrong turns he had taken, he was thoroughly lost. He could smell people closeby and he could hear the noises of people at work, so he knew he was close to where he needed to be. He scanned his PADD, showing the layout of the Spectre with the damaged sections overlaid so he could avoid them. Just up the corridor and to the right would be Engineering. All he had to do was make sure no one noticed that he had gotten himself lost. That was when a particular scent caught him. He had learned throughout his life how to differentiate a person’s species by scent, but this one was different. Not quite Vulcan... Serixs turned and saw the man standing there wearing Command-red. The tell-tale features of a Vulcan were very much about him in not only his physical appearance, but also in the way he carried himself. The Gorn was quite sure he was now face to face with his Captain. ~So much for first impressions~ Serixs thought to himself sardonically. Still, there might be a chance to salvage the situation. He stood straight and made his way to Captain T’Vhor, trying to give the impression that he knew exactly where he was and what he was doing. Whether it would work or not remained to be seen. His gait was a bit slow and lumbering, but he crossed the distance rather quickly and presented the PADD to the Vulcan, having paged it to his orders. “Ensign Ssarumon reporting as ordered, sir.” He said in his low and slightly growling voice while the Captain inspected the Gorn’s orders. (reply T’Vhor) “Yes, Sir,” Serixs replied. “Thank you.” He took a deep breath and gave some thought to his words before continuing. “I know it is highly irregular for one of my species to be present on a Federation vessel. However, the King and the Ambassador thought it would be in the best interest of the Gorn Hegemony for one of us to enroll in Starfleet Academy. I do not know why, but as a scientist, I am pleased for the opportunity.” He let a slight smile cross his sizable snout. “And I am equally pleased that the Spectre has safely returned to Federation space.” (reply T’Vhor) Serixs nodded his head slowly. “I will do as I can. My skills are at your disposal, sir,” he said. (reply T’Vhor) “At once.” He said, then accepted the PADD back from his captain. He nodded his head once and turned, making his way back towards the Turbolift. (reply T’Vhor) (posted by Don Jones) (USS Spectre - Engineering - Captain T'Vhor - 23:14) For a moment, the Captain allowed the bizarre vista of the eight foot Gorn dwarfing the entrance way to register fully in his mind. Ensign Ssarumon, for that was obviously who this was, remained unsure for a second or two, then, upon realizing that he had read the uniform & the countenance correctly, he moved heavily towards the Captain with something resembling a smile upon his lips. Well, the Captain hoped it was a smile anyway, it wouldn't do to antagonize such a large & fearsome looking creature as this one, it would have been both a foolish act & an illogical one for sure. "Ensign Ssarumon reporting as ordered, sir", said the Gorn as he dutifully handed the PADD to his new Captain who still appeared slightly in awe of the new crewman now standing before him. It was of course the first time the Captain had ever been face to face with a member of the Gorn race & the image on the viewscreen whilst speaking to him on the bridge, certainly did not do justice to Ssarumon's imposing stature. "Ensign Ssarumon", said the Captain, still somewhat taken aback by Serix's appearance & then suddenly becoming aware that he was quite possibly scrutinizing him now. "Please forgive me Ensign, I do not mean to scrutinize, I have never had the pleasure of meeting a member of your race firsthand", said the Captain as he wondered for a while wether or not there was actually a specific formal greeting that one should give to a Gorn. In the end however, he fell back on the time honoured & invariably satisfactory basic greeting handed out to most new crewmen upon their arrival. "Welcome aboard the Spectre Ensign", said the Captain, "I trust your journey to us was a little more uneventful that ours was getting here", said the Captain as he glanced around at the damage they had sustained in Engineering during their firefight with the Alpha. "Yes, Sir....Thank you", said the Gorn with a slight discernible growl to his voice now, before then going on to explain the Gorn Hegemony's basic reasons for wanting to enroll one of their own into the ranks of Starfleet. "......And I am equally pleased that the Spectre has safely returned to Federation space", said Ssarumon appending his last statement, just as the photonic blue glow of the warp core suddenly ceased as it was taken offline by one of the assembled Engineers. "As am I Ensign", said the Captain, "as you can see we had a few problems en route", he added motioning with his hand towards the various burnt out consoles in Engineering. "I would like to add that your resourcefulness during your time on board the Hood is most admirable", said the Captain, "it is clear that you like to make a good first impression, I hope that such resourcefulness is commonplace in Gorn officers, you are certainly a credit to your species Ensign ssarumon" "I will do as I can", said Ssarumon, "my skills are at your disposal, sir", added the Gorn with a nod. "I am pleased to hear that", said the Captain, "at this time however, most of the crew apart from those that are engaged in the repairs, are currently enjoying a little well earned downtime", he added. "As your duty shift has not yet technically begun, you are welcome to retire & settle in to your assigned quarters if you wish to, perhaps acquaint yourself with your fellow officers afterwards", he added. "However, I would not complain in the least if your eagerness to assist in our repairs began as of now, if that was what you preferred", said the Captain as he duly returned Ssarumon's PADD to him. The ever eager Gorn didn't even flinch or object in the slightest, he simply nodded & then took back the offered PADD. "At once", said the Ensign as he turned about & then headed out the door, seemingly with the probable intentions of continuing on the Spectre, precisely where he had left off during his time in the replication plant on board the Hood. The Captain then resumed his walk towards the assembled Engineers with one clear thought fixed in his mind. Having a Gorn on board was going to be an interesting experience, that much was indisputable... (Reply Any, None) (Posted by Alan Reading) (USS Hood - Guest Quarters - Ensign (JG) Jynea Kreung - 23:15) She was running late. She handed Mark and his belongings to the nice Yeoman who had shown up to assist her. "No matter HOW cute he looks, do NOT let him out of that carrier!" Jynea insisted. The cute in question was sitting in the carrier doing his best to look like a dejected, unloved, rabbit who just wanted nothing more than a hug and a smooch on the nose. "Don't trust him!" Jynea insisted. "He's very agile and quick!" She picked up her own duffel and tossed it over her shoulder. At least soon she would start getting answers about the mysterious USS Spectre! (Reply None) (Posted by Lorna Appleby) (USS Hood - Guest Quarters - Mark the Bunny - 23:15) He'd been lured into the small box warren by something yummy smelling and tasted sweet and had a nice crisp crunch as he bit into and chewed thoughtfully. Turning revealed the entrance of the warren had been closed behind his tail. He could barely sit back on his haunches. It was a good thing he was a loppy rabbit not one of those uppy eared strange lagomoprhs who'd get their ears squished on the top. He looked up. Or maybe their ears would go through the slots in the top. The provider of food was muttering to herself again. He didn't know why the two legs insisted on making all the noises they did, their body language was broad and unsubtle. Another two leg came into the room, she smelled of sparks and plastics. The two legs made noises at each other and the bigger one suddenly picked up the warren. Mark braced himself as the box swung back and forth, his yummy treat rolling. He quickly put his paw on it in case it could escape out the door of the box he couldn't get out of. He was taken out of the two foots warren and down the corridor. Hey! Where was he being taken this time? He'd just finished training that two foot! He scrambled at the carrier walls. The new two foot made noises he was probably supposed to understand. He tried to thump his displeasure at this situation, but the unsteadiness of his surroundings prevented it. More swooshy walls that appeared and disappeared and he was being placed with other boxes on a sparkly floor. The two foot made noises at another two foot behind a short wall and suddenly he felt tingly all over! (Reply None) (Posted by Lorna Appleby) (USS Spectre - Cargo Bay 1 - Ensign (JG) Serixs Ssarumon - 23:18) The trip up the turbolift shaft and the stroll to Cargo bay 1 was not very eventful. It seemed to Serixs that most of the crew that were still up and around were concentrating on repairs. This left the halls an almost eerie sort of calm while things in the lower decks were buzzing. Likely the bridge was an exception, but at the moment the bridge was not his destination. Once Serixs entered Cargo bay 1, he noticed the stacks of cargo containers neatly arranged along the walls on one side of the bay. On the other, though, was a haphazard collection of burnt and otherwise broken components. Most likely these were the parts being replaced, the old ones sent here once removed. He suspected they would end up being tagged for either refurbish or disposal. Situated in one corner of the bay was a simple desk and terminal. Seated at it was a human that seemed older than any other human on the crew. He was wearing Engineering gold and had hair that must have had color to it at some point, but had since lost all of it. He looked up from his work as the large Gorn ambled in, regarding the Ensign with sharp eyes. While time may have aged this man physically, Serixs could see that it had not dulled his mind in the least. NRPG: For anyone needing a visual, picture Sam Elliot. ;) RPG: "Need something, Ensign?" The man, a Senior Chief Petty Officer by the rank on his collar, said to Serixs. Much to both the Gorn's surprise and relief, he did not even flinch at the sight of an eight foot lizard. He suspected that, judging by the station and rank, the man was the Supply NCO. "I need the contents of containers 38, 39, and 40." Serixs said to him, handing him the PADD with the requisition on it. "Well I'm afraid I can't give them to you, sir." the man said to him, leaning back in his chair after looking at the PADD. "Don't suppose those yahoos at the academy taught how the Supply system works, did they?" "No," Serixs said to him. "They did not." "You see, sir." The man continued. "That's the problem. I'm guessing you're a science officer, since I doubt you'd be going into Medical." He said, referring to the Department color on Serixs' uniform. He stood up and walked around his desk, coming to stand in front of Serixs. "If you were coming for Transporter parts, or Warp drive parts, that'd be fine. Every ship has those, military or civilian." He tapped the PADD as he spoke. "These are parts for the Quantum Torpedo system." He looked up at Serixs. "It's admirable that you want to fix the thing. I know all the Engineers are knee deep in the Warp drive right now, but that's a controlled item." "I do not understand, Chief?" Serixs admitted, tilting his head slightly as though to inquire as to this man's name. "Mason, sir." The man said. "Chief Mason works for me." He looked at the PADD once more. "Let me give you a crash course on this," Mason continued. "Starfleet don't want to let just anyone get a hold of these parts, so they put them on a controlled list. That's why you gotta have the command staff's approval to make them." He handed the PADD back to Serixs. "If you want to check them out for maintenance, you need to either be an Engineering officer with Weapons clearance, or get one to check them out and delegate to you." Mason smirked a bit. "If I let you waltz out of here with those parts and no clearance, Lieutenant Vasilyovna would have my butt." "Who is available?" Serixs asked, since that was the next logical thing to do. "Well, let's see," Mason said next as he moved back to his console and pulled up the duty roster. "Probably Ensign Bristed." He looked up at Serixs again. "Seems the best at the moment. Everyone else is either busy or dead to the world sleeping." "Thank you, Chief." Serixs responded, then tapped his comm badge. "Ensign Ssarumon to Ensign Bristed." (reply Bristed) "I need you to come down to Cargo Bay 1 when you can." Serixs said into the Comm. "There are some parts I need to check out and it needs your approval." (reply Bristed) "Thank you." Serixs said finally and closed the channel. All he had to do was wait for her to arrive now. A thought occurred to him and he looked at the Chief once again. "You are not intimidated by me, are you?" "No, sir." Mason said flatly, sitting on the edge of his desk now. "I have experience with your race. Twenty years ago I was in the diplomatic corps shuttling around ambassadors all over the Federation. Zogozin was a regular." he said finally, saying the name of the Gorn Ambassador at the time. "Once you get past the teeth, he wasn't a bad guy. Even taught me how to play Su'Maat." This surprised Serixs and a toothy smile crept along his lips. "Perhaps once all of these repairs are complete, you would be interested in a match." Serixs had not had a decent match of Su'Maat in years. No one in the academy knew how to play it or had interest in learning. "No sir." Mason said, chuckling. "I'm too old for that. Why don't you get one of the younger guys to match you. I'm sure they'd be willing to learn it." "Good idea, Chief." Serixs said, thinking about it. It would have to wait though. There were still far too many repairs to be made and too much danger to deal with to think about games at a time like this. "That was a sharp move you did replicating those parts, sir." Mason said. "Good way to get in with the Captain." This was the third time it had come up that he had been trying to make an impression. Serixs just shook his head slightly. "I was not trying to ingratiate myself with the command staff." He said dryly. "I simple figured that the Spectre would be a wreck when it arrived, and I was proven correct." He chuckled. "The Hood had the power and means to do the fabrication, so it seem the best choice." He considered before speaking. "The same with my eagerness to conduct these repairs. It is not to earn favor, but simply to make sure we do not all die out here. I do not know about you, Chief, but I would rather have the ship functional than be killed should the Romulans think to turn hostile." "You got a point." Mason said to him and chuckled, then moved back around his desk and sat down. "I better get back to work, sir. Feel free to hang out until Ensign Bristed gets here." "Thank you, Chief." Serixs said, then walked over to one of the Cargo containers, quietly leaning on it and thinking about how things had been going lately. NRPG: Little set up for Siobhan for something she and I got planned. ;) (reply Bristed, Any) (Posted by Don Jones) (USS Spectre - Personal quarters - Ensign Jacqueline Bristed - 23:20) Jacqueline was more than ready for bed by this point, but shipboard living for most of her life had developed some habits in her. One of them was to put things she would need the next day out where she could find them, and to keep things clean. Her combadge was one of those items she would need in the morning, and the discarded uniform she had kicked aside earlier was very definitely the beginnings of a mess in her quarters. She'd take care of those first, then get that letter to Vashan out of the way, then pass out on the bed. But Fate did not see fit to let things happen that way for her. As she detached the badge from the front of the uniform, it chirped and an unfamiliar voice identifying itself as an Ensign Ssarumon addressed her. "Yo, 'm here. Whatcha need, Ssarumon?" she said, lapsing into the casual shipboard talk she'd used with her father and his small crew aboard the Minitel when she was growing up without noticing. It was a strange name, Ssarumon, and the voice was equally foreign. Sort of growly, and there was a strange accent coupled with a formality that hinted the speaker's native tongue wasn't Federation Standard. =/\=I need you to come down to Cargo Bay 1 when you can. There are some parts I need to check out and it needs your approval.=/\= "Yeah, I'll be there asap," she said, pronouncing the acronym as a word instead of individual letters. "Just give me a second or two." She probably should change out of her civvies if she was going to be doing anything official. On second thought, she was tired enough not to really care what she was supposed to do right now. She was in the process of attaching the badge to the blue shirt she was wearing when she heard the strange, somewhat growly voice thank her and close the channel. ~No, thank you, whoever you are. I wanted to be kept awake even longer.~ Hair loose, wearing civilian clothes, and formulating the letter to her friend in her head as she went, the young ensign made her way to the turbolift. (Reply None) (Posted by Siobhan Armstrong) (USS Spectre - Cargo Bay 1 - Ensign Jacqueline Bristed - 23:24) For once, Bristed found her way somewhere on the ship without getting lost in the process. It was a minor accomplishment, but it was something to make her just a little proud. Her train of thought derailed abruptly as her mind registered what she was seeing. Crates, and lots of them, none of which she could recall seeing earlier in the day. Crates that presumably held parts for all the screwed up equipment she and everyone else had been trying to patch together with chewing gum and wishful thinking. And with luck, there was a spare magnetic reduction coil in there as well... There were, of course, other people in the room as well. After all, that's why she'd been called down, to clear some parts for this Ssarumon character. The first one she notices was the older man sitting at a desk, although she didn't think he was the one with the growly voice and strange accent. No human she'd ever run into had a voice like that. The other, though...huge was the word that came to mind. There was no doubt in her mind that this being was the Ssarumon that had requested her presence. He was, it seemed, a Gorn. A giant reptillian being that reminded her of nothing so much as a very intelligent dinosaur, complete with a tail. "Jeez," she said under her breath. Maybe wearing her uniform would have been a good idea after all. It would have made her felt marginally less vulnerable in the Gorn's presence. It was too late now. Gathering herself, she stepped forward and announced herself. "Bristed here. You, uh...you said you wanted me to check some stuff out for you?" (reply Ssarumon, Mason) "Sounds good to me, I guess," she said with a shrug, accepting the padd from the supply chief. "Where did all of this come from anyhow? If I'd known it was here..." she trailed off. If it had been here the whole time, she and the rest of the engineers had been working insanely hard for no real reason, and that was just a little embarrassing. If it had only just arrived, it obviously had come from the ship they had made rendezvous with, and the question was a silly one. (reply Ssarumon) "Y-you? All this was your idea?" A wave of gratitude flooded her mind, and along with it a very strange urge to express it in a physical manner. And so, before she had really thought about what she was doing or the potential ramifications of doing so, she had leapt upon the Gorn officer and wrapped her arms around him in a heartfelt embrace. A few seconds passed before her mind actually registered what she had done, was still doing. Blushing furiously, she let go and stepped hastily away, now very aware of the dinosaur-like qualities this Ssarumon possessed. Her mind filled with images of his wrathful reaction, most of which were derived from books and holo-recreations of ancient films. Most of the scenarios that flitted through her mind involved lots of pain if nothing else. He wouldn't do that, the sensible part of her mind insisted, but the imaginative part either didn't want to hear it or couldn't comprehend it in her present state of extreme exhaustion. "Uh, uh, oh jeez, I'm--I'm sorry," she stammered out, unconsciously putting her hands in front of her as if to ward off attack. "It's been a long day, and...and I guess I'm running on autopilot." True enough. "Shouldn't have acted like I was still on...on Nevasu." (reply Ssarumon) "Uh, yeah," she said, fully aware that Nevasu had no such customs and not really caring. "Kind of silly...most people just say 'h-h-hello,' or wave, but they like contact out there. So they hug a l-l-lot, and if you're more familiar, sometimes they d-do...lip massage." ~Oh s**t, did I just say that?~ She could feel herself blushing, although she wasn't sure what was embarrassing her more; the hug itself or the outrageous lie she was concocting to explain herself. It was quite possible that the term "lip massage" was the culprit as well, a term she had picked up from Vashan that referred to kissing. How was she going to get herself out of this? NRPG: Cookies to anybody dorky enough to know where I lifted that "lip massage" term from... (reply Ssarumon, Mason, Any) (Posted by Siobhan Armstrong) (USS Spectre - Transporter Room - Mark the Bunny - 23:25) The tingly feeling stopped and his feet were itchy and his ears felt heavy and *SNEEZE!* Oh, he didn't like that at all! *SNEEZE!* The two foot was suddenly peering in his carrier at him. More mouth noises. *SNEEZE!* Stop making noise and make his nose stop trying to escape! The door opened and suddenly he was picked up while the two foot talked to yet another two foot. They made coo'ing noises and peered at him. Mark squirmed, didn't they know how to hold a guy? This was undignified! Feet in the arm, tummy exposed, geez.. and his ears were all floppy the wrong way! *SNEEZE!* Oh, and that was upside down too. NOT an improvement! He flipped over in the two foot's arms and she squeeled. Eeek! Danger! Hurt! RUN! He scrambled and she let him go. FALLING! Then there was carpet under paws and he was free. He had to find HIS two foot! And safety! Place to hide till his two foot came! Out a wooshy wall and out into a long room. The two feet were yelling and coming after him. What danger was chasing them!?! He had to hide!! (Reply, None) (Posted by Lorna Appleby) (USS Spectre - Cargo Bay 1 - Ensign (JG) Serixs Ssarumon – 23:25) Serixs had been more or less tapping his fingers on the cargo container he was leaning against, going over the names of the various members of the Spectre’s crew in his head and trying to match those with the faces he had seen thus far. He knew a lot of the Engineers from the Hood had transferred over, but only after they were already here. He had no recollection of anyone intending to come aboard. The scenario did not put him entirely at ease. This was his assigned ship now, and territorial instincts tend to come into play in instances like that. He would have to meet with the Chief of Security at some point and inquire about it. His thoughts were brought back to the present as an unfamiliar scent moved into the Cargo bay. He turned, seeing the human woman standing there wearing civilian clothing. He tilted his head slightly at the state of dress. He knew that Starfleet was slightly less formal than the Gorn Navy, but not to the point of allowing its crew to conduct business in civilian attire. “Jeez” he heard the woman whisper to herself, prompting Serixs to raise the ridge of one of his eyes and pull his lips back into an odd sort of scowl. "Bristed here. You, uh...you said you wanted me to check some stuff out for you?" She said, announcing herself finally. “I do, Ensign.” Serixs said as Mason handed her the PADD. “I wish to begin repairs on the forward Quantum torpedo launcher. “Need you to annotate here.” Mason said to her. "Sounds good to me, I guess," she said with a shrug, accepting the padd from the supply chief. ~She guesses?~ Serixs thought to himself. He figured others would be just as interested in getting the systems up and running again. He refused to believe that she was simply being nonchalant about all of this. It must be exhaustion. "Where did all of this come from anyhow? If I'd known it was here..." Bristed trailed off. Serixs, in turn explained the process he went through on the Hood, rallying the engineers and getting the parts fabricated for the Spectre so they would be here when the ship arrived. "Y-you? All this was your idea?" She asked him, giving him an odd look that put him just slightly on edge. He started to reply an affirmative to her when it happened. Before he could blink, she had attempted what he suspected was a tackle. He had not expected that his actions would have caused such distress in a crew member that she would try attacking him, as ineffective as it was. Still, it caught him entirely off guard, causing him to drop his PADD and doing the only thing that came instinctively to him. Serixs snarled low and loud. This little mammal clinging to him like this made instinctive thoughts of grabbing her head and pulling until it came off flash through his mind, but no. Such would be a bad idea on this ship. When it seemed she regained her composure, she hopped back and looked to go about four shades whiter. Had she realized she was very close to getting herself killed? Serixs looked at Mason who was, for his part, trying to stifle a snicker. "Uh, uh, oh jeez, I'm--I'm sorry," she stammered out, unconsciously putting her hands in front of her as if to ward off attack. "It's been a long day, and...and I guess I'm running on autopilot." True enough. "Shouldn't have acted like I was still on...on Nevasu." “Nevasu?” Serixs repeated to her, standing back to his full height once more and tilting his head slightly. “This is the greeting on Nevasu?” He asked again. He had heard of the planet. One of those that the Gorn had made contact and were intent on re-opening a dialog with, though intelligence on customs was scarce. The scientist in him took over and he smiled slightly, trying now to seem less threatening. “I see.” He said finally, making a point to not show his teeth this time. "Uh, yeah," she said, fully aware that Nevasu had no such customs and not really caring. "Kind of silly...most people just say 'h-h-hello,' or wave, but they like contact out there. So they hug a l-l-lot, and if you're more familiar, sometimes they d-do...lip massage." The term ‘lip massage’ was lost on Serixs. He had no understanding of it, but that might change soon enough. He could not be sure, but the Ensign seemed to be getting redder by the moment. Quite odd indeed, but she did not seem to be in any noticeable physical distress. He looked at the Chief once more, who was also turning redder, but he could see it was from trying to keep from laughing. Apparently something was greatly amusing to the man, but Serixs could not see what. It was not the first time he had not gotten a joke, though. He just shook his head and put that out of his mind, then looked at Bristed once more. “I am trying to compile a database of cultural traditions and customs. I could use the information you have to expand it.” He said to her. “I would appreciate if you could tell me more. I have no understanding on Nevasu culture or what ‘lip massage’ means.” He looked at the chronometer and considered for a moment. “You could come with me to the Torpedo bay and tell me more there, or I could meet with you another time. The decision is yours.” He said, tilting his head the other way and looking at Bristed. (Reply Bristed) “Very well.” He said, then stopped and looked at her once again. He felt if she was going to give him information, he had better do the same. “For the record, I should warn you that this..hug,” he said, referring to the ineffective tackle she gave him, “would be considered in my culture as either a challenge to the death, or your interest in conducting a mating ritual.” He chuckles softly. “Somehow, I suspect you did not intend either.” He said finally, gathering up the parts he needed now that he could and loading them onto a cart. Next stop, forward torpedo bay. (reply Bristed, Any) (posted by Don Jones) (USS Spectre - Cargo Bay 2 - Ensign (JG) Jynea Kreung - 23:25) Jynea stepped off the cargo transporter with crates in hand. Why was it she wasn't allowed to carry her own gear but a Chief had no problems kidnapping her to carry on replacements parts for her new ship? She would *never* get used to the various silly mandates of military life. COmmon sense seemed rarer than dilithium ground deposits. She happily handed the parts over to the very tired looking humanoids in yellow. "Is there anything I can do to help?" Jynea asked earnestly. The elder of the two stopped in mid-march off to the guts of the ship and looked at her teal uniform dubiously, "Do you know one end of a hypospanner from another?" he asked gruffly. "Absolutely not!" Jynea replied cheerfully, "But I can fetch and carry coffee and sandwiches." That got a genuine smile, "Now THAT'S a mighty fine offer, Ensign. Though probably not in the job description." A gentle reminder about the supposed proper behaviour of an officer to enlisted, she was sure, but the dfeth with it. "I'm your new morale officer, P.O., carrying, catering and gofer'ing ARE the job description!" She was pretty sure that Mark would find a way to destroy her new quarters and make them his own without her. "Well, alright Ensign, if you insist." He handed her a PADD, "Here's the list of on duty personnel and their locations. The computer will keep it updated for you. You'll probably want to get dietary preferences out of the personnel database." He picked up a crate and left her perusing the PADD. Some of the names had "CLASSIFIED" listed as their locations, she guessed her qualifications still hadn't come through.. or there were just some parts of this ghost ship she wasn't supposed to see, new officer a board or not. Jynea wandered over to the terminal and decided it might cooperate in linking with the PADD she was handed. (Reply None) (Posted by Lorna Appleby) (USS Spectre - Jeffrey's Tube - Mark the Bunny - 23:26) He'd seen a two foot disappear into a proper warren tunnel and followed, thinking it looked like a good and safe place to hide.. but the human had disappeared and the strange echoed thumps and zaps coming from inside the walls made him even more nervous than the yelling two feet. But the two feet had run off and he was getting hungry. Rabbits grazed like horses, always having food in their stomach to keep their guts working. Going more than a couple of hours without food could be disastrous. Mark ran out of a horizontal tube to hop down and sit up on his hind legs to look up. There was one of those climby things he'd seen the two legs use, but he wasn't quite sure how he was supposed to put it to use. While his front paws were quite clever, they couldn't clutch things like the grabby two feets. He sniffed a rung and tasted it; kind of salty. He could smell bread up above somewhere, and something acrid and bitter. He'd smelled that before in his first two foot's warren, every morning. That meant there was food up there! He twisted but could see no other way up. A bunny had to do what a bunny had to do! Front paws on the rung by his head, Mark gave a mighty leap upwards, front paws scrambling to hold his balance as his rear paws got up to their height and landed on the rung. Teeth gripping the rung, he put his front paws on the next one up with a bit of a stretch and repeated the leap. This was hard work! He was halfway up the ladder and the bread smell was fading, perhaps the two feet had eaten all of it already? But the acrid bevarage was still about.. somewhere up there! (Reply None) (Posted by Lorna Appleby) (USS Spectre - Corridor - TAC/SC Yelena Vasilyovna & Captain T'Vhor - 23:26) The Security chief was as weary & exhausted as the rest of the Spectre's crew as she walked the decks checking up on the current state of play in regards their security status. It was only a mild concession that the ship had now stood down from red alert, for the flashing red lights were beginning to induce something resembling a strobe induced migraine that was now threatening to spread throughout her cranium. As weary as she was however, Yelena wasn't so tired that she didn't recognize that some of those to'ing & fro'ing through the corridors with her, were not of this crew! When she had first noticed this, her security instincts had taken over somewhat & she had actually pulled a phazer on an Engineer dressed in dark overalls before realizing that the Ensign she had confronted was no threat! "Woah!, I'm friendly mam", the Ensign had cried as he backed up tentatively against the wall, "I'm from the Hood, just lending a helping hand see", he had added whilst unzipping the top of his overalls & showing her his uniform & rank pins beneath. Needless to say he was suitably relieved afterwards that she had finally seen sense to re-holster her phazer. The event, somewhat ridiculous as it had seemed had certainly prompted questions though, she was the Chief of security god dammit, why the hell hadn't she been made aware of this? Someone's ass was going to be in the sling on this one that was for sure. Entering a nearby turbolift however, Vasilyovna stated her destination & then tapped at her combadge to initiate a call to the Captain in regards the apparent security lapse. "Vasilyovna to Captain T'Vhor", said Yelena. =/\=Go ahead Lieutenant=/\= Came the reply. "Sir, I'm not happy", said Yelena curtly whilst at the same time picturing the Captain's inevitably puzzled expression in her head. The resultant pause after her remark had certainly implied that she was probably correct on that one, Vulcan's raised eyebrows when confused & she felt quite sure that the Captain's would be so now. =/\=Not happy Lieutenant?, please, explain this unhappiness=/\= said the Captain sounding more like a psychoanalyst to her now than her CO. "With all due respects sir, why was I not made aware that some of the Hoods crewmen had transported over?", said Yelena. =/\=Because I was not made aware of this either Lieutenant, this is something I have already noted myself but rest assured, there will be further questions asked in regards this matter=/\= "Thank you sir", said Yelena, "thankfully all of the captured boarding party from the Zulu Alpha are present & correct in the brig, otherwise I may have stunned one of the Hoods Engineers", she added as the turbolift arrived with a small jolt on her requested deck. =/\=Indeed=/\= said the Captain, =/\=perhaps it is wise then to remind you that there are also two crew transfers coming aboard, security should be aware of this but in case you yourself are not, one of them is green, & rather large=/\= "The jolly green giant sir?", said Yelena smiling at her own impromptu joke. =/\=Jolly... green.... giant Lieutenant?=/\= came the confused reply. "Nothing sir, an old Earth analogy, don't worry about it", said Yelena, "I'll keep a look out for it anyway, Vasilyovna out", she added as she then began walking the corridor towards the quarters that had been assigned to that damned Ferengi... (Reply Any, None) (Posted by Alan Reading) (USS Spectre - Cargo Bay 1 - Ensign Jacqueline Bristed – 23:27) “I am trying to compile a database of cultural traditions and customs. I could use the information you have to expand it.” He said to her. “I would appreciate if you could tell me more. I have no understanding on Nevasu culture or what ‘lip massage’ means.” He looked at the chronometer and considered for a moment. “You could come with me to the Torpedo bay and tell me more there, or I could meet with you another time. The decision is yours.” He said, tilting his head the other way and looking at Bristed. Jacqueline froze inside when he asked her to explain further, especially about the "lip massage." The term had been explained to her in a rather physical manner, rather than a verbal one, but she suspected that would be a rather stupid way to enlighten him...not to mention difficult. All those teeth, a facial structure radically different from her own...no, the only option was to explain it verbally, if she could bring herself to do so. Why had she opened her big mouth? Had she been more awake, she might have considered going to bed and explaining to Ssarumon that everything she had just said about Nevasu was an addle-brained lie, but at this point the only option seemed to be to finish what she had started. Besides, in her current state of mind, the situation was rather funny. As long as she kept a straight face, she might be able to pull this off. She could always explain it away later, right? "I'll go with you," she said, stifling a yawn. "Very well," he answered, then proceeded to explain the cultural significance of her exuberant hug. The phrase "mating ritual" reminded her of that idiotic Tellerite, Gorlan Therul, and her attempts to keep him away. “Somehow, I suspect you did not intend either," he said. "N-no, not at all!" she stammered. She followed him to the torpedo bay, hoping she would keep her feet out of her mouth in future with this new crewmember. (Reply None) (Posted by Siobhan) (USS Spectre - Torpedo Bay - Ensign Jacqueline Bristed - 23:32) "I don't really know how to explain lip massage to you," she said. "It's sort of like...have you ever seen..." Jacqueline stopped to think about how to explain this for a moment. "Humans, and some other species, too, express deep affection with...kissing. Sort of, eating each others' lips, but not biting or anything. And some people--" she paused, smiling as she remembered becoming acquainted with the phrase. "Some people, like those on Nevasu, get very into it. It's an important ritual, and highly enjoyable." This was definitely going into the letter to Vashan. (reply Ssarumon, Any) (posted by Siobhan) (USS Spectre - Daimon Brak's Quarters - TAC/SC Yelena Vasilyovna - 23:32) As she entered the quarters that had been assigned to the odious Ferengi they had picked up on Carraya IV, Vasilyovna took & deep breath as she noted his obvious attempts to make the place look less......spartan. In place of the uniform colours that normally graced standard Federation quarters, scatter cushions, drapes & throws of blue, green, gold & red were now strewn about in an haphazard manner, making the place somewhat resemble a beduin tent. There was also some rather dubious looking equipment standing upon the small desk beside the bunk with a rather predictable Ferengi stalwart, a small book bearing the title 'Rules of aquisition' upon it's cover. Yelena picked up the book & then began leafing through the pages briefly, stopping completely randomly at rule number one hundred & fifty five... "What's mine is mine & what's your's is mine too" Yelena huffed at the words, only a Ferengi could have ever devised such a selfish rule as that but the sentence brought a snigger to the normally serious security chief nonetheless as she continued on through it's well thumbed pages... "Never let a female in cloths cloud your sense of profit"... Yelena shook her head slowly from side to side in response as she wondered briefly of Brak's motives for trying to seduce her planetside, there would be no profit for him down that avenue that was for sure. "Uhh, pitiful, stupid, macho big headed gutter slime", said Yelena as she dropped the book back onto the table with the rest of the Ferengi's amassed junk & then moved on through his quarters in search of something, anything that might enlighten her. It seemed a pointless exercise though, apart from the fact that the place was distasteful in regards the new decor, everything seemed to be just as she would expect it to be. A few cases stood nearby, some typically garish suits hung upon a hook & the sonic shower cubicle door remained predictably open which somewhat typified the Ferengi's lazy manner. Brak himself however was of course nowhere to be seen, he hadn't been seen for hours now in fact & the computer seemed to be as oblivious to his wherabouts now as any of the crew. They had the reports of course regarding the DNA & lifeform readings but they were cryptic at best & they only hinted at what was really going on. If Brak was involved then surely there would be some sign of his involvement in his quarters. Perhaps he was still there somewhere, hiding! The marine Demo man however, seemed certain now that the Ferengi himself was actually with the device & Yelena had taken it upon herself to search his quarters for answers as to why that might be so. The entire plan however had drawn one blank after another so far & after a fair amount of time rooting through his cases & personal belongings, she was just about ready to give up when suddenly, she stumbled upon a set of unusual tools in an ornate metal case. At first the case seemed impossible to open but then all of a sudden, almost as though Yelena had accidentally triggered some kind of secret switch, the top slid back to reveal it's strange contents. The tools were unlike any she had seen before, they seemed to resemble surgical tools in their design but there was also a cybernetic element to them that prompted the Security chief to begin wondering if Brak himself was not entirely Ferengi! Some of the tools looked extremely complex & they actually seemed to be geared for accurately inserting electromechanical devices into small spaces, whilst some of the others had rather alarmingly self activated the moment she had picked them up. It had startled her somewhat at first but then upon closer examination of the now flailing robotic tentacle, it's small blue photonic glow emanating from it's free end, she realized that some of this equipment resembled Borg implant technology! It was at this point of course that Yelena realized that she would be needing a more expert eye on the matter since she knew now that she was totally unqualified to postulate any further. So, with that in mind she carefully returned the devices to their box & then made to leave the room. Once in the corridor, she turned about & then pressed the door closure panel before then instructing the computer to security lock it to command & security personnel only. [These quarters are now locked... access is restricted to command & security level crew only] Yelena then walked off down the corridor, her mind still wondering of the strange equipment she now carried with her. (Reply Any, None) (Posted by Alan Reading) (USS Spectre - Forward Torpedo Bay - Ensign (JG) Serixs Ssarumon – 23:33) Serixs had moved the cart into place and opened the crate while Ensign Bristed told him of the affection and nature of this 'lip massage'. While she spoke, he pulled out his tricorder and started scanning the launch mechanisms for damage, replacing parts as he went. Thankfully, the damage was not as bad as it could have been. The system won't need a total tear-down and rebuild. Mostly just replacing destroyed parts. "Some people, like those on Nevasu, get very into it. It's an important ritual, and highly enjoyable." Bristed said to him, concerning the whole close affection the Nevasu seemed to share. "So," he responded while pulling out burned induction coils in the launcher and replacing them. "this 'lip massage' is a greeting between two friends?" He asked to get clarification. All the while he was making mental notes to be sure he could add them to his database. "And this hug...that is a standard greeting?" (reply Bristed) "I see," he said. "We have a similar ritual amongst my people between two good friends, but it generally entails blood-letting," he said with a slight chuckle to give her some information in exchange for what she was telling him. "How is the intermix ratio?" He asked, reading from his tricorder and getting a second opinion before continuing. (reply Bristed) "Good," he responded, then looked at her once more. "So hypothetically, a stranger could greet the Nevasu in the same manner that you greeted me?" He tilted his head, clicking his jaws together slightly in a questioning manner and nodding his head a bit. (reply Bristed) "Excellent," he said finally. "This will go a long way to improving the scarce information I have on Nevasu culture." He looked at her, chuckling as he reached up and started to loosen the broken Gantry arm, but an odd look came over his face. He blinked his eyes a couple of times, then draw his head back and let out a rather thunderous sneeze, though it sounded more like a roar in the cramped confines of the launch bay. (reply Bristed) "I am alright...Thank you," Serixs said, sniffling a moment. He tried to get back to his work. "I just have a few...few...Ah...AH-CHOO!!!" The second sneeze was harder than the first, nearly knocking the sizable creature right off his feet..."allergies...." His eyes went bloodshot and he looked out towards the doorway. A low growl began in his throat after that. "I am allergic...to....TellaritesAH-CHOO!!!" (reply Bristed) The third sneeze finally did knock Serixs off of his feet and right onto his rear end. The tool he was using fell shortly behind him, bonking the large Gorn right on his head, which he clutched and let out a sound that seemed to be a mix of a growl and a whine. He looked towards the doorway again, making it pretty obvious he was getting mad. If there was a Tellarite there, he was not showing himself that Serixs could see, of course it was hard to see anything at this point with his eyes stinging and watering like they were. He had no idea there were Tellarites serving on the Spectre. Now he was going to have to start taking allergy injections again to keep from sneezing his brains out. He just looked at Bristed a moment and despite his large frame and earlier ferocity, now he seemed just a little pitiful. "Help." he said, trying to get to his feet and ward off another sneezing fit. (reply Bristed, Any) (posted by Don Jones) =================================================================== Mission: The Sword of Damocles Day: 5 Stardate: 2407.02.06 (USS Spectre - Deck 4, Research - TAC/SC Yelena Vasilyovna - 00:01) The very notion that the Ferengi may have been in contact with Borg technology sent shivers through the Security chiefs body, if there was one thing besides being the sole Human at a Klingon party that sent her stress levels into high orbit, it was the Borg. Needless to say she was not alone, their insidiously cold ruthlessness & their single minded drive to 'assimilate' everything in their path had left much the same feelings within almost every other race she had ever encountered, & to think that Brak might have now meddled with their technology was just too much. Entering into the Science research lab, Yelena walked straight up to the acting CSO working there & placed the container onto the desk before her eyes, then as she opened it up, she stood back & watched the Science officer gulp visibly. "What's this?", said Nolly's as she moved her hand to take one of the strange, metallic items from within, only to drop it quickly as it, just as it had done so before, self activated & put out a probe in search of any nearby living flesh. "Jesus, this is.....it looks like Borg, where did you get it?", asked a startled Nolly's. "The Ferengi's quarters, I knew that guttersnipe was up to something the moment we brought him aboard", said Yelena venomously, "Daimon Brak is currently missing as your probably aware but it's looking more & more likely that he's involved in some way with our missing warhead components", she added as Nolly's withdrew more of the organic looking tools from within the box for scrutiny. "It looks like it's heat activated!", she said tracking her hand above the tool in question & then noting how it followed her moves with almost hypnotic interest. "Or maybe it uses a proximal sensor of some kind, I dunno, I'll need to play with these a bit", said Nolly's as she quickly returned the tool in question to it's container along with the others for the time being. "Fine by me, if you can tell me what their for & wether the Ferengi has used them recently that'll be a plus", said Yelena, "I also need to know if there are any residual traces associated with our warheads on any of them", she added as she spun about & then headed for the door, only to stop in her tracks to turn about & add one last comment. "You might want to get the Docs opinion on them also as their clearly surgical, to me anyway", said Vasilyovna. "Fine, will do", said Nolly's, "I'll have reports sent to both yourself & the Captain when I have more information?", she added as the Security chief then disappeared back into the corridor. (Reply Nolly's IYW, Any) (Posted by Alan Reading) (USS Spectre - CMO’S Office - CMO - Williams - 00:02) Andrew was making the finishing touches to his records. O’Harper had transported to the Hood as soon as he could. He sent the finished file to the main computer. “Dr Williams.” Andrew looked up to see a security crewmen standing by his door. “What can I do for you crewman?” He placed a small parcel onto his desk. “This parcel came from the Hood. Its just past through security. I also have the medical report for the transfers as well” Andrew nodded as the crewman placed a PADD beside the parcel. “Thank you crewman.” The crewman nodded and left Andrew. He picked up the PADD and quickly scanned the information. ~I’ll have a better look at it later~ He placed the PADD back onto the desk and opened the parcel. In side was a small hand written note and a paper back book. Intrigued he took out the note. 'Hi Hunn hope you are well. I saw this and thought you might like it. Come and visit if the fleet ever decide to give you some leave' Andrew grinned. ~Good to know she still has a sense of hummer~ He picked up the book. It was by a man called John Birmingham. ~Hmm world war 2 with a twist~ He flicked it over and read the back. ~This looks good. Lets have quick read before I get back to work~ He leaned back in his chair and started the first chapter. (reply any) (posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Jeffery's Tube 41-D - Corporal Lewis O'Hara - 00:30) Lewis was now at a point that he was fed up with pussyfooting around with the current situation in the cramped confines of the Jeffery's tube, to be truthful he'd rather have been anywhere else other than there right now & although Smith & Palmer were company of sorts, the incessant hum of the nearby coolant intermix vessels was driving him to the point of insanity. The optical scanning equipment had done it's level best in pinpointing what lay beyond the bulkhead, & it was now almost certain that the Ferengi had somehow got his hands on the stolen equipment & had, for want of a better explanation, 'interfaced' himself to the core detonator & crawled on in there whilst they had been preoccupied with the prior conflict. With the removal of the last of the obstructing equipment, all doubts were duly settled for Lewis could now actually see the garish material of the aforementioned culprit's clothing as he suddenly attempted to scuttle further into the narrow channeling beyond his reach. "What the....", cried Lewis all of a sudden, startling the other two in the process as he reached in to make a grab at the now rapidly disappearing boot. "I was beginning to lose faith in my equipment but everything it's been implying is on the nail, it's him, it's the damned Ferengi in person!", said a shocked Lewis. (Reply Brak, Any) "How the hell did he get in there?", said Palmer. "I'd say through one of the coolant ducts themselves", said Lewis, "I can't see any other way, the question now though however is how we get him back out" (Reply Brak, Any) If it had not been so serious it would have been comical, if there had been any doubts beforehand as to the diminutive Ferengi's involvement then they had just been trashed in an instance at his outburst & insistence on their keeping their distances, lest he detonated himself without another word. Had he just said that, himself? It didn't make any sense but the Ferengi appeared deadly serious nonetheless. "Ok, let's not be too hasty here little man", said Lewis, realizing now that the Ferengi held all of the cards in this particular deck & that it was probably better now to appease him than to agitate him any further. (Reply Brak, Smith, Any) (Posted by Alan Reading) (USS Spectre - Jeffery's Tube 41-D - Agent Smith - 00:34) "I'd say through one of the coolant ducts themselves", said Lewis, "I can't see any other way, the question now though however is how we get him back out" Jo listened to the conversation that O'Hara and Brak were having as her mind ran quickly through the many possibilities that could be applied. ~Transport him, No he would detonate. Gas him out or Stun him, no the same result~ She paused trying to think of something that would work. "Ok, let's not be too hasty here little man", ~We could erect a level ten force field, might save some of the ship. He's here for the coolant. Take that away there will still be a big bang but not the whole ship~ She quickly out layed her plan about using the force fields to redirect the coolant. Probably would not save them but it would give them time. She tapped O'Hara on the shoulder and showed him the PADD. Ferengis had brilliant hearing and she did not want Brak to get wind of what they were doing. (reply O'Hara,any) (posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Jeffery's Tube 41-D - Corporal Lewis O'Hara - 00:37) "Daimon Brak, if you think you can get away with this your very much mistaken", said an increasingly agitated Lewis, "if your intention is to kill the President then you must know that he has now been moved to the Hood for security reasons", he added pausing now to let his words register in the large lobed Ferengi's head. "All you will succeed in doing is killing yourself", said Lewis as he turned briefly to face Smith & Palmer. "And us of course", said Palmer, "along with the rest of the crew", he added wryly. Smith said nothing as she began typing into the PADD left by Bourne when he had paid them his little visit. What had just been said about Nell had been a blatant lie of course, at the moment he was still on board but it would be an act of prudence now to see to it that he was transferred anyway. It was clear that Daimon Brak was in some way in league with Doenitz & that after all else had failed, the Ferengi was now attempting one last crack at the Presidents life. What exactly had the Admiral offered him though, it was preposterous in the extreme to think that a Ferengi ever did anything for anybody for nothing, so the price would have been high, of that Lewis was certain. It was at that moment however that Smith tapped the Corporal on the shoulder & handed him the PADD she had been inputting upon. O'Hara then began speed reading through the text whilst continuing with his attempts to talk down the unrelenting Ferengi, then he began inputting instructions into the PADD also before handing it quickly back to Smith with a thumbs up indication. His instructions had read... 'Negative on the redirection of coolant, too tricky. Retreat to safe distance, inform the Captain & MCO of recommendation to erect force field at location J41-D Junctions F1 to F3. Restrict all access of Decks six through eight to essential personnel only. Recommend transfer of President Nell to the Hood' (Reply Smith) O'Hara then returned his attention to the bulkhead & the Ferengi, who remained as he had been from the very start of all this. Dug in like a tick... (Reply Smith) (Posted by Alan Reading) (USS Spectre - Jeffery's Tube 41-D - Agent Smith - 00:40) 'Negative on the redirection of coolant, too tricky. Retreat to safe distance, inform the Captain & MCO of recommendation to erect force field at location J41-D Junctions F1 to F3. Restrict all access of Decks six through eight to essential personnel only. Recommend transfer of President Nell to the Hood' ~Good point~ Jo nodded. 'Don't go any where' she mouthed. She gave him a quick grin and then carefully moved down the jefferies tube as O'Hara turned back to the Ferengi. (Reply None) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Corridor - Agent Smith - 00:42) Jo sealed the jeffery's tube hatch as she stood up. She tapped her comm badge. "Computer open simultaneous communication to Captain T'Vhor and the MCO." There was a beep as the comm system opened. "Captain T'Vhor and Colonel Krige. Sorry to disturb you both but we have got some disturbing developments. We have found the Ferengi Daimon Brak, he is in Jeffery's Tube 41-D. He has interfaced him self with our missing warhead and is now beside the main coolant lines. He has the capacity to detonate himself at will." (reply T'Vhor, Krige, IUW) "Sirs Corporal O'Hara and I support his suggestion to erect force field at location J41-D Junctions F1 to F3. Restrict all access of Decks six through eight to essential personnel only. We also recommend the transfer of President Nell to the Hood as soon as possible." (reply T'Vhor, Krige,) (reply T'Vhor, Krige, any) (posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Captain's Ready Room - Captain T'Vhor - 00:43) "....Understood sir, assuming that our repairs go as planned we will be making way in approximately two hours & forty five minutes", said the Captain, "the Hood will remain on close escort until further notice as ordered", he added just as a communication came in suddenly from Agent Smith. "One moment sir, I have an important communique coming in that I must attend to", said the Captain as the face upon the monitor nodded & then waited patiently for the Captain to deal with whatever it was that had just come up. "Go ahead Agent Smith", said the Captain. =/\=Captain T'Vhor and Colonel Krige. Sorry to disturb you both but we have got some disturbing developments=/\= said Smith as she then went on to explain how the Ferengi had now been found interfaced in some way with the stolen warhead components, within Jeffery's tube 41-D. His intent to detonate was judged to be clear, as was his target, for it could only be the President himself now that Doenitz's assassination squads had failed to remove the man from the arena themselves. The news was not good news at all, in fact it couldn't have been any worse. Ever since Daimon Brak had come aboard he had been nothing but trouble, his promises had turned out to be predictably hollow & whatever it was that he was now doing could only mean even more bad news in the long run. Smith had quite rightly suggested a forcefield in the Ferengi's current location & also restrictions to certain areas on board. O'Hara, as the man on the scene had also recommended that it might be better now if the President were moved temporarily to the Hood, just in case things got any worse than they already were. These were wise precautions of course, the Captain had already assessed the situation anyway & had planned contingencies along those very lines. It was good to see the much maligned Smith thinking on her feet though, & it was good to see the changes in her since she had first come aboard. Gone was the mean, uncaring SFI automaton that had been stationed on board against the Captain's better judgement, gone was the single minded & almost relentless need for her to pursue the Doctor in her quest to discredit him. All in all she had actually turned out to be a valuable member of the Spectre's crew & as such, she at least deserved some recognition for that. "Understood Agent Smith, I'll make the necessary arrangements", said the Captain, "until then however, I would suggest you try & keep Daimon Brak as calm as possible", he added. (Reply Smith IYW) The Captain then turned his attention back to the monitor upon his desk. "Apologies sir...a situation has arisen that I must attend to", said the Captain, "we will proceed as planned to the coordinates given & await subspace transmission of the final coordinates at the proposed time", he added. "Until then sir, I bid you a safe journey", said the Captain as the communication was closed & the Captain rose to his feet to attend to what must be attended to. (Reply Smith IYW, None) (Posted by Alan Reading) (USS Spectre - Corridor - Agent Smith - 00:45) "Understood Agent Smith, I'll make the necessary arrangements", "until then however, I would suggest you try & keep Daimon Brak as calm as possible", Jo smiled to her self. "Yes Captain." With that she turned and climbed back into the Jeffries tube and worked her way back to O'Hara. She was not going leave her partner no matter how nasty it might be. (Reply None) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Jeffery's Tube 41-D - Agent Smith - 00:48) She slowly moved up to O'Hara. She placed a hand on his shoulder so that he would look round. When he looked round. She nodded indicating that every thing was going as planned as she did not want to tip off Brak that they were up to. "So how is our friend looking?" (reply O'Hara) (reply O'Hara, any) (posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Jeffery's Tube 41-D - Corporal Lewis O'Hara & Daimon Brak - 00:49) ".....so you just wanna blow the ship to kingdom come even though your intended target is no longer aboard!", said an increasingly agitated O'Hara as the Ferengi continued to be as obstinate as he possibly could be whilst situated safely out of their reach. Within the cramped confines of the bulkhead accessway, the Ferengi had simply screwed up his face & then huffed... "Just how much Latinum do you yourself currently have in your possession you militaristic buffoon?", said Brak in a wild eyed stab at the marine demo man's financial moral's. "Latinum?", said O'Hara surprised, "is that what this is all about....LATINUM!" Even as he said the words it had come as no surprise of course, Latinum & the Ferengi went together like the proverbial hand in glove & this particular Ferengi, wether cybertronically integrated or not was no different whatsoever to any other. "How much did it cost to buy you my large lobed little friend... how much Latinum did Doenitz & his cronies promise you to pull this little stunt off?", said O'Hara. "More than you could possibly imagine in your wildest dreams", said Brak, "so unless you can offer me more, which I very much doubt, then be off with you, allow me the dignity to detonate myself & become written into the annals of Federation history as the Ferengi that singlehandedly ended the civil war", he added. "Oh I get it", said O'Hara, "so this is not just about Latinum then, it's about infamy & getting your name up there amongst those that feature in tomorrows history books", he added with a nod. "You do understand that you won't be around to enjoy this don't you Daimon", said O'Hara, "you think that in this selfless act of yours, history will show the name Brak as having turned the tide for the better?", he added. "I think you should think again, your name will be remembered yes, but not in the way you want it to be remembered", said O'Hara, "Daimon Brak, the Ferengi that singlehandedly boobed on a universal scale & handed the galaxy to a tyrant on a platter", he added with a laugh. "Take that back!", cried the Ferengi from his little niche, "my family will prosper, the name Brak will reap great rewards & piles of Gold Pressed Latinum will be amassed in my honour for centuries to come", said Brak as he scuttled back further into the access way like some spoilt child hiding from it's overbearing parent. "Don't try & trick me with all that, 'the President is no longer on board' crap either, I know he still is", said Brak. Silence then filled the air as O'Hara sighed a heavy sigh upon realizing that he was getting absolutely nowhere fast. It was then however that Smith returned with news that all they had discussed beforehand was now being arranged. "So how is our friend looking?", said Smith as she took her place upon the floor next to Palmer whilst leaning her back up against the bulkhead. "Oh just fine", said Palmer sarcastically, "O'Hara here has been busy winding him up to see just how far he'll go before he blows himself, & us through the bulkheads & into space", he added. "Other that that, everything is A Ok.... everything is coming up daisy's"... (Reply Smith, IYW) (Posted by Alan Reading) (USS Spectre - Deck 2, VIP Quarters - Captain T'Vhor & Lieutenant Commander Phillip Tovardi - 00:52) It was but a short trip down from the bridge before the doors to the turbolift opened up onto deck two. As the Captain stepped out & began his walk towards the VIP quarters though, he had suddenly become aware of a sense of dark, almost tangible foreboding. It wasn't that he sensed immediate danger as such, it was just a thought that something was about to happen & from past experiences, he had learned to trust his Betazoid abilities whenever they had cause to make themselves felt in this way. For a brief moment the Captain simply stopped & then turned his head slightly, as though attempting to tune in to whatever it was that he was now feeling within. To the casual observer of course, nothing seemed amiss, crewmen occasionally passed him by oblivious to the disturbance he now felt as he stood there, & apart from their usual hierarchical & expected greetings, everything seemed perfectly fine. In a moment or two, the Captain had put aside the feelings for the time being & had then resumed walking, albeit with a conscious concern still lurking within. Moving on, the hybrid Vulcan rounded the corner up ahead of him & then he walked the final few metres towards the quarters that now housed the President. The sight of two of Vasilyovna's finest, stationed directly outside those quarters afforded him only the slightest feeling of assuredness as he approached them, they acknowledged him accordingly of course & then they stood to either side of the door as he moved to press the annunciator to the left of the door frame. The response didn't take much time at all, the door opened within seconds to frame the now familiar Lieutenant Commander Tovardi, who poked his head out surreptitiously to look both left & right, before finally allowing the Captain to enter. At any other time T'Vhor might have found the bodyguards overzealousness just a little too much, but upon taking into consideration his prior thoughts, perhaps that wasn't the case at all. Tovardi simply frowned as the Captain walked into the room, his previous, rather embarrassing tangle with the CO clearly very much within his thought's as he locked the door, & then followed behind him. Stopping in the centre of the room, the Captain looked about & then turned to the Lieutenant commander with an inquiring look upon his face. "Where is President Nell?", he asked after noting his obvious absence. "The President will be out shortly, he's refreshing himself in the sonic shower", said Tovardi in a somewhat self assured tone of voice as he moved to seat himself upon one of the nearby chairs. "I suppose you must think your pretty smart uh", said Tovardi, "outwitting me down in sickbay like that" T'Vhor simply raised an eyebrow at the brusque remark as he turned to face the Lieutenant Commander, who was now in the process of drinking an amber coloured fluid from a glass that he'd just picked up from the table. "I fail to see the relevance of intelligence in regards the ability to defend oneself Lieutenant Commander", said the Captain calmly, "I merely countered your move, you were off balance & telegraphing, your entire attack was most illogical", he added as he too moved to take a seat nearby. The expression upon Tovardi's face had now changed of course, for where it had once bore a rather smug smile, it now bore a rigid, neutral expression that showed his contempt for the Captain's last remark. "Crap!", said the Lieutenant Commander abruptly, "you were lucky, nothing more", he added. "As you wish Lieutenant Commander, but the final result was still the same, your tactics & mode of execution remain illogical", said the Captain calmly. That was it, an enraged Tovardi stood up straight & faced the Captain squarely, then he moved towards him in an aggressive posture just as the President suddenly appeared from the doorway off to the left of the room. Nell didn't even have to speak, he simply looked directly into the face of his senior bodyguard & frowned, that was all it took as Tovardi turned about & then retook his seat, clearly aggrieved at the putdown he had just been dealt. The Captain was of course, unmoved as he invariably always was, he simply turned to face the President & then he voiced his reason for being there. "Mr President sir, I am here to inform you that due to a very real & developing threat to your life on board the Spectre, it has been deemed necessary, for your own safety, to transport you temporarily to the USS Hood", said the Captain. (Reply Nell) (Posted by Alan Reading) (USS Spectre - Jeffery's Tube 41-D - Agent Smith - 00:54) "Oh just fine", said Palmer sarcastically, "O'Hara here has been busy winding him up to see just how far he'll go before he blows himself, & us through the bulkheads & into space", he added. "Other that that, everything is A Ok.... everything is coming up daisy's"... Jo shrugged & made her self more comfortable against the bulk head “Good for him. I was getting bored of this anyway.” She tapped at the PADD she had used earlier and indicated the force fields were ready at O’Hara’s command. Although she had the authority to carry out the commands. This was O’Hara’s party and she was just along for the ride. ~At least if he does blow up it will just be us. Rather then half the ship~ She passed the PADD to O’Hara and then looked at him with a sly grin. "Its a pity we could not bribe him with something?" (reply O’Hara, Palmer) (reply O’Hara, Palmer, any) (posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Jeffery's Tube 41-D - Corporal Lewis O'Hara - 00:56) "Its a pity we could not bribe him with something?", said the erstwhile Agent Smith as she handed the Corporal the PADD she'd been inputting into whilst quietly sitting there. "I don't suppose you have access to a few tons of gold pressed latinum to hand do you Agent?", said O'Hara half smiling as he spoke, "because between you, me & the rest of the universe, I think that's just about what it'll take to coax our large eared friend out of there right now", he added whilst gazing back into the aperture he'd recently opened up. "Hey Brak, did you hear that?", said O'Hara sarcastically, "how about a few tons of shiny latinum, would that about do it for you you greedy son of a.....?", he added as Palmer suddenly jabbed him in the side just before he'd managed to spurt out the final expletive. "I thought our orders were NOT to wind him up anymore than he already is?", said Palmer, "do you think it's wise to keep on at him like that?". O'Hara simply tutted & then shook his head in quiet disbelief. "If you think I'm gonna mollycoddle him until he falls asleep you got another think coming Palmer", said the already infuriated Corporal, "If I had my way I'd.... hold on a moment...", he added as he suddenly shuffled closer to both Smith & Palmer. "Asleep!", whispered O'Hara, his eyebrows now rising up in such a way that a comical light bulb, magically appearing above his head would not have looked at all out of place. "Don't you get it?", asked O'Hara.... Smith & Palmer just looked on with a somewhat quizzical look in their eyes & shook their heads in the negative. "Anesthezine gas", said O'Hara beneath his breath, "if we can pump some of that into the area he's occupying, we can just quietly put him to sleep & then deal with this at our leisure", he added. (Reply Smith) Smith had a point there, the last thing they needed was for them all to fall asleep as well, that wouldn't do at all. There had to be a way though in which they could target the gas discretely without affecting anyone outside of a given radius. "Will the forcefield contain it?", asked Palmer in as quiet a voice as he could manage so as not to alert the Ferengi of their scheming. (Reply Smith) "We could get the gas in there & then activate the forcefield, if he catches on before succumbing he may detonate, but at least we should be able to contain the explosion", said O'Hara. "But if he doesn't catch on...." (Reply Smith, IYW) "The only thing preventing us beaming him outta there is the fact that he's cognitive, if he's sleeping like a baby what can he do", said O'Hara as the three crewmen continued to whisper amongst themselves, like three schoolboys planning to release the most god awful stink bomb into the girls lavatory. At that precise moment though, the large sensitive ears of the Ferengi once again proved themselves a bane, for his voice had now begun to make itself blatantly clear as it echoed through the opened access way in response to their whispers. "What are you up to out there, what are you planning?", he cried, "don't you go getting ideas into your heads, it won't work whatever it is", he added clearly agitated now. "I can set this off in an instance", said Brak, "I'm in control here so you better remember that", he added. "One mistake & your all history, along with your precious Federation President", said the Ferengi acidically as he fell silent once again, apparently satisfied now that he still held all of the cards. O'Hara simply turned to Smith & just nodded, it had been an indication to arrange the gas as suggested & Smith knew what to do of course as she retreated once again to a safer comms distance. "Sure Daimon Brak", said O'Hara, "your in control, nobody's gonna try & trick you".... (Reply Smith) (Posted by Alan Reading) (USS Spectre - Jeffery's Tube 41-D - Agent Smith - 01:00) "Anesthezine gas", "If we can pump some of that into the area he's occupying, we can just quietly put him to sleep & then deal with this at our leisure", Jo thought about the plan. It was the best idea that they had had. There were a few points though. “Good idea but if we stuff it up we’ll all fall asleep.” "Will the forcefield contain it?", Jo nodded. “Yeh that would work.” "We could get the gas in there & then activate the forcefield, if he catches on before succumbing he may detonate, but at least we should be able to contain the explosion", "But if he doesn't catch on...." “He’ll be ours.” "The only thing preventing us beaming him outta there is the fact that he's cognitive, if he's sleeping like a baby what can he do", "What are you up to out there, what are you planning?", "don't you go getting ideas into your heads, it won't work whatever it is", "I can set this off in an instance", "I'm in control here so you better remember that. One mistake & your all history, along with your precious Federation President". "Sure Daimon Brak", said O'Hara, "your in control, nobody's gonna try & trick you".... Jo grinned to herself as she heard the ranting of Brak as she moved out of ear shot. (reply any) (posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - Nurse Douwsy - 01:05) Douwsy looked at the chronometer again. She was on the graveyard shift ‘again‘. She stretched her neck and tried to stifle a yawn. Sickbay was quiet and she found it very hard to keep awake. =^=Agent Smith to sickbay.=^= “Nurse Douwsy here.” =^=Nurse Douwsy is Doctor Williams there.=^= “I’m sorry Agent Smith Doctor Williams is not here sir.” =^=I need a canister of Anesthezine gas transported to my location.=^= “Sir I cannot authorise you taking the Anesthezine gas. I’ll have to contact him first.” =^=I promise that I’ll tell Doctor Williams the whole reason. I just don’t think its appropriate on an open comm system.=^= “I’ll contact him right away and get back to you.” =^=Okay I’ll wait until you to talk to Doctor Williams but I need it as soon as you can.=^= “Thank you Agent Smith I’ll contact you shortly.” As the connection cut, she accessed the database and found that Williams was in 10 forward. ~Probably can’t sleep~ “Nurse Douwsy to Doctor Williams.” (reply Williams) “I have a request from Agent Smith. She needs a cylinder of Anesthezine gas. She said it is very important and she can’t say on the comm system.” (reply Williams) “Yes Doctor.” Douwsy closed the conection and then opened to Agent Smith. “Nurse Douwsy to Agent Smith. Doctor Williams says okay I’m beaming it to you now.” =^=Thank you Douwsy.=^= Douwsy really hopped that every thing would be okay. (reply Williams) (reply Williams any) (posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Jeffery's Tube 41-B - Agent Smith - 01:07) Jo had moved away from the others and tapped her comm badge. “Agent Smith to sickbay.” (reply Douwsy) “Nurse Douwsy is Doctor Williams there?” (reply Douwsy) “I need a canister of Anesthezine gas transported to my location.” (reply Douwsy) “I promise that I’ll tell Doctor Williams the whole reason. I just don’t think its appropriate on an open comm system. (reply Douwsy) “Okay I’ll wait until you to talk to Doctor Williams but I need it as soon as you can.” (reply Douwsy) Jo waited as Douwsy cut the connection. She hoped that Douwsy would hurry as this was not she could hang around on. She looked up as the connection was reconnected. “Thank you Douwsy.” The canister appeared beside her. She picked it up and carefuly carried it back to O’Hara and Palmer. “Got a present for you.” (reply O’Hara) (reply O’Hara, any) (posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - 10-Forward - CMO Williams - 01:10) =^=Nurse Douwsy to Doctor Williams=^= Andrew looked up. “Yes Douwsy what can I do for you?” =^=I have a request from Agent Smith. She needs a cylinder Anesthezine gas. She said it is very important and she can’t say on the comm system.=^= Andrew paused for a moment. ~What on earth would she want with Anesthezine gas. Must be important~ =/\=Give it to her.=/\= “Yes Doctor.” ~I look forward to hearing the story but first I need to put my book back in my quarters and get some thing to eat~ (reply Any) (posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Junior Officer's Quarters - Ensign Jynea Kreung - 01:15) Jynea walked through the door ready to fall on her face on her brand new bed. Two hours of climbing up and down Jeffrey tubes with canteens of coffee and bags of food had meant she now knew just about every enlisted engineer who worked beta or gamma shift. She spotted more than one officer deep in ship guts, but didn't want to disturb them from their delicate and much needed work. The doors closed behind her with a gentle hiss. Jynea yawned and popped her jaw. Definitely bed time. Her belongings were left on the floor in the bedroom, there was no sign of her furry footed roommate however. She looked under the bed, in the bathroom, in the luxuriously large closet, and through out the living room. There was no sign of the rabbit. Muttering words of doom about certain Yeoman, Jynea initiated communication with the computer. "Location of non-sentient dependant Mark, please." [That being is not registered to the USS Spectre.] The computer replied promptly. Pain and mental anguish as Jynea realized that Mark was loose on the ship and she had no way to track him. She'd have to go up to the bridge and explain to the on duty officer *and* the Ops personnel why she wanted them to scan the ship for a small fuzzy terran animal. (Reply, None) (Posted by Lorna (Green Team #2) Appleby.) (USS Spectre - Bridge - Ensign (JG) Jynea Kreung - 01:25) The bridge of the Spectre was smaller than she expected. She wasn't quite sure what she expected, she knew repairs were in progress, but the bridge showed signs that the ship had been through a small war. She ducked an engineer carrying a toolkit and a stack of parts and headed to Ops. A tall gaunt Andorian stood muttering to himself as he stabbed buttons on the screen. Nervously she came up beside him "Excuse me, Sir?" "What?" Was the cranky, grunted reply as he looked down to the small woman. "What is it?" he repeated when she didn't answer immediately. "I was just wondering if internal sensors are back up to full yet?" She asked hopefully. Kator sighed the sigh of the longly done wrong. "These things are not fixed with a wave of the wand, and even once full repairs are completed there are diagnostics to run and schematics to study and energy patterns to study for weaknesses and.." Jynea's eyes glazed over as the Operations officer pontificated about the battle of the broken to the fixed. He seemed to stop when his console beeped. He turned from her to stab more buttons and to snap orders into his communicator. "You're still here." He said turning back, frowning. "What is it you need, Ensign?" Kator was trying his hardest to be patient, but why couldn't people just say what they wanted instead of all the small talk and pussyfooting? Things would be accomplished with much more speed and efficiency. "Well, you see sir, my non-sentient dependant escaped between the transporter room and my quarters.." She stopped because officer's body language had just changed from irritated and put out by everything to aggravated at *her* "Ensign, the sooner you provide me with all relevant data the sooner your problem can be resolved." Kator informed her with what he thought was the patience of a Vulcan. "Right. My Terran rabbit Mark is missing. Somewhere between Deck 3 Junior Officers quarters and Deck 7 would be his point of escape." Jynea spurted out. She'd never actually seen an Andorian twitch before. "Then I am afraid, Ensign, you will have to be searching the old fashioned way. I will put out an APB for your animal, but your search will be manual. Sensors are intermittent on Decks 6 and 7." "Uhm, thank you sir." Jynea sighed and it looked like she wasn't going to get *any* sleep before she had to report to the XO, and then the CO, and then.. well, she wasn't quite sure what the third "and then" was, but if she hadn't found a certain loppy eared furry fellow, she could be in real trouble! (Reply, None) (Posted by Lorna (Green Team #2) Appleby.) (USS Spectre - Personal Quarters - Ensign Jacqueline Bristed - 01:25) The letter was done. And with the completion of the letter came the completion of all the things Jacqueline had to do before finally going to sleep. Once again she would be sleeping in her clothes, because undressing only to put on so-called sleepwear at this point seemed ridiculous. She looked over the letter again. She had composed it by hand, using a pen and paper instead of more modern implements. Her fingers were stained with ink, and a few of the letters were smudged, but it was the thought that counted. Letters between Vashan and Jacqueline were always hand written. She'd worry about how to get it to him later, right now she was extremely tired. ~Dear Vashan, Things have been dull since I got to my new ship. Actually, since a little before that, while I was on that shuttle. Let's see...Someone tried to shoot that shuttle out of the sky, but the Spectre showed up in time to get me aboard safely. Got lost looking for everything on this ship, but I finally got my bearings. There was some fun with a bomb threat, and...wait, I don't think I can tell you about any of this. I can tell you about making an idiot of myself in front of a Gorn. I went crazy and hugged him, and then had to lie my way out of an embarrassing situation. He's now under the impression that the Nevasu people are very touchy-feely. And that good friends and family there engage in lip massage. No, I did not explain that term to him in the same way you explained it to me. Too many teeth. Shut up, I know you're laughing. Next time I see you, we can show him how that works together. Deal? Wish you were here. I think you'd get a kick out of the captain. He's not full-blood V, but he puts on a good show of it. Nothing illogical out of him. He'd probably hate you. You'd love it. Miss you, love you, mean it! Jacqueline XOXO~ It wasn't the galaxy's best literature, by any stretch of the imagination. It wasn't even very good as far as her own letters to the Vulcan went, but it would do. Hopefully there wasn't anything classified actually in the message. She hadn't mentioned the bomb threat had been in the cloak, or about their whereabouts or anything like that. And getting shot at wasn't secret, she didn't think. It should work. She folded the letter into thirds, slipped the pages into an envelope, and sealed it, slipping it under her pillow. On impulse, she pulled it out again and wrote "SWAK" across the seal, wondering if Vashan would have the faintest idea what that meant. Hopefully not; he'd make a list of guesses, most of which would come nowhere near "Sealed with a kiss". She pushed the envelope back under her pillow, crawled onto the bed, and fell asleep. NRPG: Oh, one more thing...I got a job, so posting may be spotty for a while. (reply, Any, none) (posted by Siobhan) (USS Spectre - Crew Quarters - Ensign (JG) Serixs Ssarumon - 01:30) Serixs stepped into the quarters he had been assigned after hours of going from place to place to get used to the ship. Granted several areas were still down or otherwise inaccessible due to damage, but he figured that would change soon enough. He looked around what would be his home and let out a slight hiss. "Computer," Serixs said. "Increase temperature to 37 degrees Celsius, Relative humidity to 75 percent, and increase gravity by zero-point-four." The computer chimed a response and did as instructed. Already the place became more hospitable to him. It would have to be. This was where he lived now. He looked around at his belongings arrayed on the beds and muttered. He was tired, but still had a few things to do before he was needed for his shift. He hung up his uniforms and placed bags aside. That would do for now, and he could unpack it all later. With just a moment of trepidation, he stepped towards his replicator. He remembered the one the Hood refused him coffee. With was with no small measure of irritation that this one, however, did not decline him due to a practical joke, but due to damage. He quickly logged a low priority trouble ticket with Engineering, then growled in frustration and made his way to his terminal console, going through the news reports from home briefly before moving onto his next tasks. There was nothing new here, thus far. Trouble with the Black Crest and Pirate activity seemed to dominate most of the headlines, and it was becoming a rather common occurance. With another tired mutter, Serixs got to his feet and left his quarters, making his way towards 10-Forward. At least there would be coffee there. (Reply None) (Posted by Don Jones) (USS Spectre - Deck 6 - Mark the Bunny - 01:33) He'd managed to find some crumbs the two feet had left behind, but it wasn't nearly enough for a growing bunny boy! Following the smell he found a tunnel exit and two feet beyond. He peered back and forth for a moment trying to decide if it was safer to stay in the tunnels or if food that he could smell was more important! Voices coming from behind him made up his mind. Two feet had very funny ideas about what was their territory and he did NOT want to be hugged again. With foot flicks he hopped out into the big, wide, tall tunnel and followed his nose. It seemed the self-confident members of the USS Spectre didn't look down often enough to spot a small grey and white mammal follow them into Ten Forward. *MECCA!* Mark decided as he sat up on his hind legs sniffing the delights of the food place. There were LOTS of two feets around, but they were being quiet and eating. If he was quiet he could eat too? Hop, Hop, Hop. He jumped up onto a chair, still warm from the two foot who had left it. A two foot sat on the other side of the flat surface thing, and had a delightful pile of greens in front of him! The two foot was staring at one of the unchewable things they seemed to like so much. Mark didn't see the point of them, they weren't food and they weren't toy. But, it did mean he could sneak up to the plate and nose the yucky-smelling thing aside and have some lettuce. Oh, there were several kinds of lettuce here! He tried the red stuff, but it was squooshy and didn't have much flavour, he let it fall out of his mouth beside the plate. Oh, what were these crisp things? Crunch, crunch, crunch! Apparently he made too much noise because the two foot reached towards him, looking past the plastic thing. Mark was torn between "Hide!" and "Yum! Food!" but the coppery smelling two foot just stroked his ears and made mouth noises. He had a very gentle touch, so Mark let him stroke his head and back. The two foot, more importantly, didn't seem about to take the food away! What a nice two foot, sharing! (Reply, None) (Posted by Lorna Appleby) (USS Spectre - 10 Forward - CMO - Williams - 01:33) Andrew sat down at the table. He placed his tray which contained a plate of food, his PADD and his habitual cup of caffeine in front of him. His plate was piled high with salad, chips and a strange meat thing which the chef assured him was edible. His stomach complained vocally about not being fed for the last eight hours. ~Okay, okay I’m eating~ He picked up his PADD and began looking at the Medical files of the new arrivals from the Hood as he picked at his food. ~Hmm okay we have a Gorn. That will be interesting. I’ve not met many of them. Will definitely need to brush up on my Gorn Anat and Phys.~ He sipped his drink as he carried on. ~Ow we have a new counsellor. That will be good for David. She’s an Orion, that will be nice for Douwsy~ Andrew stretched out his hand and felt something soft and furry on his plate. He quickly looked down to see a small Rabbit who was happily munching on his salad. He turned and looked over at the chef. “I know I said that I was hungry but this is taking the micky.” He saw the chef grin at him. “It looks like you found the rabbit. We had a notice from the bridge that an Ensign Kreung has lost her rabbit.” Andrew stretched out his hand carefully and stroked the rabbit. “You better get some more salad. Coz it's nearly finished mine.” He tapped his comm badge. “Dr Williams to Ensign Kreung.” (reply Kreung) “Hallo Miss Kreung sorry to contact you this early. I’m in 10 forward. I believe that I have found what you are looking for.” (reply Kreung) (reply Kreung, any) (posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - 10-Forward - Ensign (JG) Serixs Ssarumon - 01:34) Serixs strode into the lounge and made a bee-line for the replicator. With a final sigh of relief, he got his coffee and sipped at it, taking a moment to look out towards the room. The place was mostly empty, which he supposed would be expected considering the hour. The few crew members that were here paid him no heed, thankfully. Either they were already getting used to his presence, or were just too engrossed in their own matters to notice him. Either suited him. Serixs DID notice a familiar face though, in the form of that lagomorph that Jynea had on the Hood. The rabbit was perched on a table, munching away at the contents of one human's plate. Quietly, he stepped up to the table and looked at the rabbit. "Quite the escape artist, it would seem." Serixs said, chuckling softly as he sipped on his coffee. (reply Williams) "Yes, sir." He said. "I am Ensign Ssarumon, the new Science officer." He nodded his head and sipped at his coffee quietly. "At your convenience, I will need to meet with you to set up a schedule for allergy medication. It seems I have a problem with sneezing in the presence of certain members of the crew." He let out a bit of an exasperated half-chuckle. "It is a pre-existing condition." (reply Williams) "Thank you, sir." Serixs said next. "I shall not keep you from your....friend here." He reached and very lightly stroked his talons through the rabbit's fur. "I will say that of all the new transfers, this one right here is going to be trouble." He nodded once again, then stepped away, making his way to sit at a separate table. He needed to file a couple of maintenance reports to make sure all the paperwork was complete. (reply Williams, Any) (posted by Don Jones) (USS Spectre - Jeffrey Tube 7-8A - Jynea - 01:35) Jynea had borrowed a scientific tricorder from Serixs even if he didn't know it yet, and was tracking a trail of shed bunny fur. She thought she had read that rabbits only shed twice a year, but apparently Mark hadn't read the same database as her. She was just glad her little furry felon had left a trail she could follow. She'd originally thought she was going to have to program the tricorder to try and detect thermal prints left of a hop past. Okay, well, honesty time, she thought she'd be finding Serixs to program the tricorder for her, fortunately between finding tricorder and not finding an eight fool tall walking, talking lizard, she'd spotted stray bunny fur. She was pretty proud of herself for getting the tricorder cooperating from there. Her commbadge chirped. =/\=Dr Williams to Ensign Kreung=/\= Crap, was she supposed to have done her physical or something already?! "Uhm, Kreung here, Sir!" =/\=Hallo Miss Kreung sorry to contact you this early. I’m in 10 forward. I believe that I have found what you are looking for=/\= "WOO!" Jynea said, jumping up and thumping her head on the half-deck above her. "Kreg me'kar, sa'DAR!" she cursed, rubbing the spot, "Er, sorry Doctor," she said, blushing purple, remembering she had an audience, "I'll be on my way shortly, thank you so very much." She was about to tap off her comm badge when another thought occurred to her, "If he tries to leave, shoot to stun!" (reply Williams) Jynea shoved the tricorder in her belt and looked down the Jeffrey's tube. While she might be closer to deck 8 than 7.. down was definitely easier than up, and she was very tired. Putting the sides of her boots against the sides of the ladder, she let go of the rung and slid down a deck at rapid speed, catching herself at deck 7 with a giggle. Good thing there were no senior officers about to see their latest counsellor acting like a ten year old! Now, ten forward would be on deck ten, wouldn't it? (Reply any?) (Posted by Lorna Appleby.) (USS Spectre - 10-Forward - Mark no Rank - 01:35) Mark was running out of salad, which just wouldn't do! He was a hungry bunny who had been forced to exercise and go without food for *hours!* He sat back on his haunches and looked around for more food to be delivered. Oh! There was the big scaly green thing that had petted him before in his second two foot's warren! Hopping forward on his rear feet often earned him treats, but didn't seem to get him any immediate results this time. Instead he war forced to stick his nose in the big two foot's hand to check for hidden raisins. That earned him an ear stroke, but no raisins. Hurmph. Who had raised these two feet? Didn't they know 'feed the bunny'? A two foot in white showed up with more plates, one of them with more greens. YAY! Nice two foot! Mark licked the hand that was putting down the plate in front of him. He ignored the mouth noise making beings in favour of the food in front of him. Oooh, crunchy bready bits on the romaine lettuce. This latest two foot knew how to treat a rabbit! (Reply any) (Posted by Lorna Appleby) (USS Spectre - 10-Forward - CMO - Williams - 01:37) Andrew cringed as he heard the thump over the comm system. =/\=WOO!=/\= =/\=Kreg me'kar, sa'DAR!=/\= "Er, Sorry Doctor," =/\=I'll be on my way shortly, thank you so very much.=/\= =/\=If he tries to leave, shoot to stun!=/\= "Don't kill yourself on the way." "Quite the escape artist, it would seem." Andrew looked up to see a large Gorn standing beside him. ~Hmm must be one of the new transfers~ "You can say that again Ensign. That's for sure. Are you one of our new arrivals from the Hood?" "Yes, sir." He said. "I am Ensign Ssarumon, the new Science officer." "At your convenience, I will need to meet with you to set up a schedule for allergy medication. It seems a have a problem with sneezing in the presence of certain members of the crew." "It is a pre-existing condition." Andrew nodded and gave a smile. "Sickbay is always open Mr Ssarumon. Come by any time." "Thank you, sir." Serixs said next. "I shall not keep you from your....friend here." "I will say that of all the new transfers, this one right here is going to be trouble." Andrew grinned. "That's very true." He looked back at the rabbit who was still happily eating his salad portion of his meal. ~I really hope the chef hurries up with that other salad or I'm going to have nothing left~ (reply any) (posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Deck 10 - Ensign (JG) Jynea Kreung - 01:45) She'd been around the deck twice but no sign of anything close to resembling a lounge was to be found. Obviously this ship had been designed by a drunk Bolian who thought he had a sense of humour! The computer panels were non-responsive and apparently on the 'to fix' list some engineer had concocted. Probably silly things like life support and warp control were further up on their list. Imagine that. She almost ran into the yellow shirts coming off the turbolift. "Hey! It's ensign sandwiches!" Said a swarthy man with a grin. Jynea rolled her eyes in good humour. "Yes, yes.. ensign sandwiches, who'll bring you up on charges of some sort if you think that nickname is going to stick!" she teased. "I'm worried, I am, Ensign. I figure I'll be transferred off this ship and retired by the time you figure out the legal database on what charges you should be bringing." "Hurumph." She said in mock grumpiness, "I'd just ask another officer, I may be technologically incompetent, but I'm not stupid!" "If you say so, Ensign." He replied, eyes dancing in merriment. "Now, before you disappear into the guts of the ship once more, where do I find Ten Forward? One would THINK deck ten but.." She held out her hands. Snicker. "It's up on deck six." Came the reply from a young petty officer. "The whole calling the lounge ten forward is a nod to the Enterprise and honouring its accomplishments." "Oh yes, because fates forbid we call it 'six forward' to indicate it's on deck six, at the front." Jynea muttered then brightened, "Thank you for the assistance once more brave engineers, I am off to discover the land of beer and popcorn." "Oh, have one for me!" was one of the many silly farewells from the trio as the doors of the turbolift closed. Jynea propped herself up against the wall. "Deck Six please." No need to be rude, just because it was a computer. Fates Above knew enough star fleet ships had developed sentience at one time or another.. and she'd rather be remembers as the cute friendly pixie of a counsellor than the grumpy green skin who was surly and rude. She rubbed her eyes as the turbolift climbed and stifled a yawn. If she was lucky she could coral a rabbit and be in bed for four hours of sleep in mere minutes. Somehow though, she just didn't feel lucky! (Reply None) (Posted by Lorna Appleby.) (USS Spectre - Ten Forward - Ensign (JG) Jynea Kreung - 01:50) It wasn't hard to find her rabbit in the crowd, he was the one sitting on the table, eating a salad, being observed by an eight foot tall science officer and the ship's chief medical officer. The latter looked as tired as she felt. "Thank you very much sir!" she greeted Williams as she came up to the table. "And here's your tricorder back" she said to Serixs, handing the tricorder over that he probably didn't even know was missing. Hey, it saved her a trip back to science. (replies?) Jynea picked up Mark who looked like he was finally running out of enthusiasm for a never ending pile of salad. If bunnies could burp and rub their tummies, he'd probably be doing that. "And I'm never letting YOU out of my sight again, brat!" Mark's very concerned response was to flop his chin on her shoulder and close his eyes. Nap time. (reply, any) (Posted by Lorna Appleby.) (USS Spectre - Crew Quarters - Ensign (JG)Serixs Ssarumon - 01:55) The large Gorn was rather amused at the antics of Jynea's pet, but while she was dealing with the rabbit, he kept off to the side to take care of his reports. Once those were out of the way, it was time to finally catch some sleep. True, he could go another week without feeling any real adverse effects, but the morning came early, as did his duty shift. It would be best were he refreshed and ready to deal with it. Quietly, Serixs set the Tricorder the Orion counsellor had handed back to him on the table. He had no idea one was missing, but then again he had not ventured to the Science labs yet. At least the forward Quantum launcher was now working as it should, in case things got hairy again and most of the repairs elsewhere were well underway. With more than a little exhaustion, he got out of his uniform, leaving a pair of boxers on for the sake of comfort. In reality, it was not like he had anything to hide or modesty to worry about, but better to maintain decorum in case someone came knocking. He deposited his old uniform in the closed hamper and sat at his desk. One more thing to do, then he could sleep. Serixs remembered what Bristed had told him about the Nevasu and their cultural greetings. Silently, he opened up the cultural database he had been compiling for the past ten or so years, and added the information. He then forwarded part of the Database to the lead aid of the Gorn Ambassador. With this new information, negotiations with the Nevasu might actually bear fruit. Once that little chore was over, Serixs opened up the Gorn news feed once more, tilting his head at the lead article and letting out a long sigh as he read it. [Commodore Ruxsa Zernix, age 105, killed in freak transporter accident.] Serixs growled slightly and scanned through the short article. It was typical to release these short blurbs until further investigation had been completed and the whole story came together. Silently, he shook his head in disdain and continued reading. [Shortly after her promotion to Commodore and assignment as Commander of the 31st Expeditionary wing, Ruxsa Zernix was in transit back to her former command, the GDV Sssharussa. The vessel had sustained damaged aiding an ally in an undisclosed sector of space. Upon the activation of the transporter system on board the Sssharussa, the system suffered a fatal malfunction.] [Commodore Zernix was dead before she could be retrieved from the matter stream.] [Commodore Zernix gained notoriety for her vocal criticism of the Federation under control of President Doenitz, and equally vocal criticism of our own government for not providing direct military aid to the forces of Admiral LaDona and the 52nd Fleet, whom she described as the only legitimate Federation.] [King Su't'nok has stated that this matter will receive a full investigation. He declined further comment, only stating that an investigation is underway.] [Commodore Zernix is not survived by any family members. She was 105 standard years old.] Again, someone of influence in the Gorn Hegemony has been killed. Serixs felt it a bit convenient that, as commander of the 31st Fleet, the Commodore would have been given the authority to do as she wanted and provide aid to Admiral LaDona, but it was just a speculation. The Gorn could not quite be sure. He leaned back in his seat a moment, considering what to do with this information, the nodded his head slowly to himself. She provided aid to the Spectre, perhaps Captain T'Vhor would wish to know what has happened. "Computer," Serixs said. "Translate the currently open article into Federation Standard, then forward it to Captain T'Vhor. Low priority." [Message transmitted], the computer responded. That was that. Serixs got to his feet once more and made his way to the bed. Finally he would get some sleep. Heavily he crashed out on the mattress and closed his eyes. This had been one seriously bad day. (reply any,none) (posted by Don Jones) ==========================================================================