ࡱ> Z\UVWXYo@ rnbjbj p p "oorfLLLLLLL L\ /$$$$$$$$$RmfL$$$$$LL$$$"L$L$$(LL$ p{`eF0/\`d$LLLL$L$$$$$$$ DPZDPr ZTop of Form Stardate: 2403.10.08 (USS Mystique, Main Bridge, OPS, Lt (jg) HHril, 2020) (USS Hood, Bridge, OPS, Lt (jg) HHril, 2027) (USS Mystique - bridge - CO Captain Vanyssa Winters - 2115) (USS Mystique; Bridge;TASC Ensign Travis Keswick- 2215) (USS Mystique - Bridge - CSO Ketal - 22:25) (USS Fairchild - Bridge; Captain Harvik Shras; 2230) (USS Fairchild - Engineering section 4 - Cloak Control; Lt Cmdr Forrest Letwin; 2239) (USS Fairchild - Bridge; Captain Harvik Shras; 2240) (USS Mystique - Bridge; Security Officer Ensign James Tanner; 2250) (USS Mystique - Bridge - Ensign Jason Dema - 2252) (USS Mystique - Bridge - CSO Ketal - 22:53) (USS Fairchild - Bridge; Captain Harvik Shras; 2255) (USS Mystique; Bridge; TASC Ensign Travis Keswick ; 2255) (USS Mystique - Engineering; Lt (jg) Tasha Hayridge; 2255) (USS Mystique - Marine Center -Cassandra Dema- 2259) (USS Mystique - Bridge - Master Sgt Oo'lish 2300) (USS Mystique - Marine Center - Major Richard Ian Lee - 2301) (USS Mystique - Bridge - Ensign Jason Dema - 2303) (USS Mystique - outside engineering - Ensign Jason Dema - 2305) (USS Mystique - Brig TASC Ensign Travis Keswick 2305) (USS Mystique - Sickbay - Dr. Kellita Weir- 2305) (USS Mystique - turbolift/sickbay - CO Captain Vanyssa Winters -2307) (USS Mystique - Deck 4 outside sickbay - COUNS Dr. Riven Mias - 2308) (USS Mystique - Deck 17 Brig level - COUNS Dr. Riven Mias - 2310) (USS Mystique - Deck 17 - Lt (jg) Tasha Hayridge - 2310) (USS Mystique - Sickbay; FO Lt Cmdr Peter Belinia; 2315) (USS Mystique - Sickbay; FO Lt Cmdr Peter Belinia; 2325) (USS Mystique - Sickbay; FO Lt Cmdr Peter Belinia; 2330) (USS Mystique - Sickbay; Ensign Tourana:2330) (USS Mystique - Bridge; FO Lt Cmdr Peter Belinia; 2345) ================================================= ================================================= (USS Mystique, Main Bridge, OPS, Lt (jg) HHril, 2020) HHril had continued his work on the bridge. There was much to do in this instance as no real answers had yet been found. Suddenly, a comm channel opened and HHril heard his name. =/\=Belinia to Lieutenant HHril and Ensign Tourana, meet me in docking bay one. Lieutenant Sarouk prepare a class eleven probe to scan for any residual cloaking field radiation, communications relays, un-identified communication bouys and cloaked or masked warp signatures. Also I want a class six comm relay probe. You have ten minutes and have them in the Danube class Runabout in docking bay one. Belinia out.=/\= ~I guess we are going to try and get to the bottom of this.~ he thought to himself as his right hand rose to his commbadge. "On my way, Sir. HHril out." he replied as he rose to his feet. He did not get two steps away, however as Ketal was standing directly in his path. "Mr. HHril," said the half Vulcan man. "I must apologize for my earlier brusque treatment of you, I have no excuses." Had he not known better, he could have sworn that Ketal was showing some signs of emotion... but that couldn't be right. "Water under the bridge, Ensign." he replied, a smile playing on his lips. "It's not everyday that your Captain has a knife thrown at her. So what do you have?" he asked. Ketal handed a PADD to the Chief of Operations for the Mystique. "Your reports," began Ketal. "Mr. HHril show that the supposed intership beam was a ruse and is backed by my researches and those of Mr. Dema." HHril scanned the data on the PADD as Ketal continued. "Mr. Dema was called away rather quickly and I do not take chances, he was supposed to contact the Captain about our findings but his errand was rather urgent. Would you contact the Captain for me about the beam discrepancies?" "Gladly, Ensign." he replied, not looking up. "Do you have anything else for me?" Another PADD was handed in his direction, a nod accompanying it. "Also Mr. HHril,this PADD shows the composition of the intended murder weapon, as you can see the 40/60 ratio of Vibranium and Duranium is rather rare. The knife could have been smuggled aboard butitis possible it was replicated here. Would you check your reports for the last three days to determine if that is so?" HHril looked at the data on the second PADD. "I will run the check immediately upon my return, Ensign. Good work." "Thank you Mr. HHril" he replied and was about to head away when the Captain broke in. "Report. What have the two of you discovered?" she asked. "Captain the intership transport reported earlier has been found to be false by the researches of Mr. Dema and myself and verified by the reports Mr. HHril made on power consumption from Transporter #2. The Intership transport Captain was a ruse, perhaps to lead us to believe your assailants had escaped the ship or perhaps for some other purpose. At the least your attackers are still on board Captain and at worst they may have something else planned that we do not know about. I urge extreme caution." "Agreed, Sir" broke in the Romulan OPS officer. "I will continue running scans in an attempt to discern what exactly happened with the transporters." "Also Captain," continued Ketal. "I have found evidence in your Ready Room that should prove invaluable in identifying your attacker." He handed the PADDs to the Captain. "Mr. Hhril, aren't you going with Commander Belinia?" asked the Captain, without looking up from the report. "Yes, Sir." he replied sheepishly. "I am on my way." With that, he stepped back, nodded and headed for the turbolift doors. (reply none) (USS Hood, Bridge, OPS, Lt (jg) HHril, 2027) "We need to discover if the Captains attackers came from another ship, or had any type of communication with another ship, or direct comms with the Alpha quadrant. Or any variant thereof. Ensign take your station and begin the pre-flight sequence. Lieutenant." HHril followed behind the FO as they entered the ship. Lt. Sarouk was loading the probes into the ship for launch. "Thank you Lieutenant." said the FO, meaning Sarouk and not HHril, who took his seat. "Make sure that you have an open link with the comms probe, we my need it. Also you will be receiving everything we get from the class eleven probe." "I'll take care of the comm link, Sir." HHril answered. "Thank you Lieutenant, I'll see you when we return." With that Sarouk walked out of the Runabout. "Lieutenant, make sure that all the data we receive is recorded on both probes, I intend to retrieve both if we can. Also have the computers on the Mystique and Hood record the data in a secure file. I'm taking no chances here." "Already set up, Sir." replied HHril. "Secure data relay in place and the files will be dumped into my OPS station. The only people that can unlock that station besides myself is you, the Captain, and Ensign Dema, should the need arise." Both officers advanced the the bridge compartment of the ship where the Ensign had been busy readying the ship for launch. "Lieutenant, open a channel to the Mystique." "Channel open, Cmdr." replied the Romulan. "Captain, we are ready to depart. I'll see you soon." The Runabout reached its destination quickly. HHril had busied himself with diagnostics of the primary and weapons systems. ~Can't be too careful.~ he thought to himself as he received the final data. "Ensign, full stop." said the Lt. Cmdr. "Lieutenant, launch the probe, and begin scans of the area." "Aye, Sir." replied HHril and began the scans. (reply none, any) (posted by Matthew Elias) (USS Mystique - bridge - CO Captain Vanyssa Winters - 2115) Herk automatically tracked the progress of the shuttle.S/he had briefed Tourana on the operations of the ship, but it was too soon to put that into practical use.The Hermat could just hope it was enough.Tourana seemed to have picked it up pretty well. "Conn, all stop," brought hir back to full focus, "until we hear back from Commander Belinia. I have a bad feeling.I don't want to be too far from him." "Aye captain," Herk replied," full stop." The next hour was an excruciating wait, as bits and pieces of information filtered back to them.As Herk was well aware, hours of patience paid off in moments of tension.That moment had arrived. =^=Hood to Mystique, we are being followed by a Defiant class ship. Need urgent assistance, over.=^= The captain stood up and called out, "Red alert. All senior Officers to duty stations."She turned to OPS. "Get the Ambassador up here."She stated. She turned to Herk. "Get up to the Hood as quickly as you can. What is our ETA? Can we see them on long range sensors ?" Herks slender fingers were already moving over the controls and the ship jumped into full impulse."At full impulse we should rendez-vous in about 30 minutes." Herk adjusted the ships controls to see if s/he could get any more out of those impulse engines.~Time to put those tech specs to the test.~ (reply none) (posted by Al Muir) (USS Mystique; Bridge;TASC Ensign Travis Keswick- 2215) Travis was just walking out of the turbolift when he herd the CO call out Red Alert. Travis ran to his station. "Shields up phasers and torpedos armed and ready captain". He said typing commands into his console. "I have the Hood on censers". "Tactical, issue a call to Geneva and to our Escort, requesting assistance. I doubt anything is in range, but include what we've found." "Captain Geneva said there sending help but there 3 days out. Travis said looking up at her from his tactical station. (USS Mystique - Bridge - CSO Ketal - 22:25) When the DNA strands werefinallybroken down by the computer Ketal immediately called Dr. Radchenko. "Dr. Radchenko this is Ketal, I have important evidence against the Captain's attacker available and need to consult with you immediately, please reply." (Reply: Dr. Radchenko) Ketal leaned back in his chair and began monitoring incoming telemetry from the runabout whichFO Belinia was commanding, with so much to do in the last two hours he was having a much easier time focusing onobjectives rather than combating himself. Hewas looking over some interesting informationwhen the call came in. "Hood to Mystique, we are being followed by a Defiant class ship. Need urgent assistance, over." Vanyssa stood up and started issuing orders. "Red alert. All senior Officers to duty stations." She turned to OPS. "Get the Ambassador up here." Then turned slightly towards Conn. "Get up to the Hood as quickly as you can. What is our ETA ? Can we see them on long range sensors ?" Ketal had already engaged long range scans. "Affirmative Captain, I have the two ships on long range scanners." The half Vulcan engaged the screen so the Captain could watch what was transpiring, as of yet the ships were small and slowly growing and the flashes of weapons fire could be seen. Vanyssa turned slightly towards Engineering, Science and OPS. "This isgoing to take some ... coordination. As soon as we are close enough, beam them on board. I don't care what you have to do to do it, just get them back here as soon as possible. That shuttle isn't capable of taking on a Defiant." "Aye Captain.: Ketal replied. "Tactical, issue a call to Geneva and to our Escort, requesting assistance. I doubt anything is in range, but include what we've found." She stated, taking her seat again. She watched the Hood racing towards them, the Defiant not far behind. (USS Fairchild - Bridge; Captain Harvik Shras; 2230) The Fairchild had been ordered to remain in the beta Quadrant, at their current co-ordinates, and to await a masked comm signal from the USS Mystique. It would come via a comm probe, cloaked to avoid detection. The Captain had heard it as it came in. Now it was his job to go rescue the operatives before they were discovered. He did not like this at all, he was Andorian, and loved a fight as much as the next species. But against another Starfleet ship, that was something he thought he would never have to do. But he had his orders. Just then his OPS officer spoke. "Sir, detecting a Danube class Runabout at bearing seven three nine mark five zero nine. We are within visual range." "On screen." He ordered. He had seen the evidence against the 52nd Fleet, he believed them to be traitors and had taken the assignment with relish, he wanted to see the traitors squirm. It was almost a passion now, an obsession. His crew were all volunteers, having been briefed of the defection of Admiral LoDona and his Fleet. He knew he could trust everyone of them. He could depend on them following his orders, even if they contradicted Starfleet regulations. "Sir, they have detected the comm probe using a Tachyon pulse. They are now beaming it aboard." "Understood. Damn we should have destroyed it!" Harvik rubbed his forehead, and stroked his left antennae. (USS Fairchild - Engineering section 4 - Cloak Control; Lt Cmdr Forrest Letwin; 2239) The data was coming through, they had detected a Danube class ship, they were friendly and Forrest had to think fast. He did not have the time to inform his superior of the hastily put together plan, before they left for the Beta Quadrant. He knew that she would know something was wrong, he had not contacted her for 2 days. He was sure Admiral LoDona would not know what was coming. They all knew something was going to happen, but when and where had been left secret. Now they were playing their cards. Forrest sat calmly at his station, he had been trained well. Sudden inspiration hit him and he started work immediately. He pulled up the cloaking device's controls and started to change frequency's. It took him barely a minute to complete, he hit the initiate button and the cloak switched its frequency. It was simple, and subtle but he hoped that someone would see the momentary ripple in space. It wasn't much, but he could do nothing else. If he was discovered then the whole operation could fall. He could deal with Starfleet Intelligence's 'interview' techniques, after all it was what he had been trained to deal with, but Admiral LoDona when he was angry would not be good. Forrest sat back and hoped the three officers would make it. (USS Fairchild - Bridge; Captain Harvik Shras; 2240) As the Fairchild was approaching the Danube, slowly, his OPS officer shouted. "Sir, they are transmitting a Tachyon Sweep, in our direction." James looked at his CO, concern in his eyes. "That was a lucky guess." Harvik sat in his chair watching the small runabout on his screen. The Tachyon Sweep hit and the small Danube turned and sped off. "Decloak. Pursuit course. Match speed. Prepare to fire. "The Fairchild decloaked and sped after their prey. "Fire when we are in range." The Captain was rather cool and collected. He was enjoying this, the thrill of the chase. "Helm full speed, lets see if we can ram them. That'll shake them about." The Captain was smiling. "Phasers and torpedoes, firing pattern Delta Phi." The Tactical officer was relaying his actions. "Direct hits, their shields are down to fifty four per cent. They are taking damage." Just then the small Danube pulled a surprising maneuver. She went up and around in a tight loop. The hunter had become the prey. "Aft torpedoes, now!" Harvik shouted. "Sir..." James, the OPS officer said. "They are no longer registering on sensors." "What, how can this be? Find them, NOW!" Harkiv shouted and rose from his seat. All of a sudden there was an explosion, then another. "REPORT!!" "The tactical sensor array has been damaged, the Impulse engines have also been hit. Switching to manual targeting." Came the reply from tactical. "How?" Harvik looked at James with a hard look. It was not long before he got his answer. The ship lurched as the runabout sped out of their shield bubble. "Clever, very clever." He turned and ran to his seat. "After them, hit them with everything Katriana!" "Aye! I'm attempting to lock phasers. Damn that pilot is good. It's going to be lucky if we hit them." She said as she tried to predict the movements of the unpredictable shuttle. She fired a full spread of torpedoes, and phasers. All missed their targets. Then her console beeped. "Sir, the Mystique is heading for us." "On screen." The screen changed to that of a relatively small Mystique, which was getting bigger. "Sir they are hailing us" James called out. "On screen." Harvik replied. "Sir, I have a partial lock on the runabout, firing torpedoes." Katriana sounded. A moment later. "Direct hit to their port nacelle, they are losing control sir. Readying the tractor beam." "They have launched an escape pod sir." Came James' voice. "The runabout is set to auto destruct." A moment later it blew up. (reply none) (pb John) (USS Mystique - Bridge; Security Officer Ensign James Tanner; 2250) James had been given his assignment, and he knew that he would either die in the attempt or be caught.He knew that the Captain was being guarded by a marine, but everyone knew that Starfleet marines were large, bulky, slow moving, young men, whose only purpose in life was to serve as front line assault grunts so that the real fighters, that is Security, could do their jobs. The attack by the Fairchild was serendipitous - it meant that Janella in Engineering could arrange to get them out, and Krister could go after the children.The Admiral, when he had sent the patrol of four on this mission, had told them that their job was to do as much damage without getting caught. They were to kill as many people as possible. That this Captain was a weak-willed Counselor, unworthy of her command. And no one aboard the ship knew that Doenitz had arranged for this Captain's daughter, who lived on Betazed, to be captured, and the Captain's grand-mother killed. Doenitz knew that the unknown would be far worse than the outright death of the little girl, who was.... well, James didn't know.All of the operatives for this mission were telepathic to some degree, James was one of the few human telepaths, Janella a Betazoid, and Krister... well, no one really knew what species Krister was, he had at least seven different species in him, most of which had some telepathic ability. Krister was a laboratory experiment.But the three didn't know who the fourth was.The fourth was a deep mole, and they weren't supposed to even investigate. They knew that this person was there, but not if he was male or female or neither. It really didn't matter.James had arrived on the Bridge and had not seen the marine guard. That was rather clumsy of them, and made his job much easier. He breathed a deep sigh and took over one of the science positions, right behind the Captain. James had been taught to be inconspicuous, and now was the time to put that training into use. When Janella had managed to contact the Fairchild, James took the initiative, and grabbed his phaser and his knife.The phaser shot went wide as the Captain seemed to sense what was coming, and the knife just grazed her.That was enough, the poison would spread from there.Then the marine commando chick had come out of nowhere with a knife to his throat. ~Where the hell did she come from?~James thought to himself. And then the Fairchild was gone. "It doesn't matter if we die."James spit in the Captain's face as security arrived. "You are a traitor to the Fleet and all of you will die, especially the ones you love."He laughed as he was dragged away. Janella was angry that she hadn't managed to get them free and off the ship... Krister... Krister had managed to get a knife intoa marine and a phaser blast to the head of one of the children.Krister was now dead at the hands of the surviving marine.The other child was probably unconscious, if not severely wounded.Their mission was complete. And there were more like them under the command of the Great Admiral Doenitz. He'd been planning this a long, long time. (reply security and marines, any on the Bridge who want to react) (pb melinda :-) (USS Mystique - Bridge - Ensign Jason Dema - 2252) Jason was sitting at his console on the bridge, being curious as he was, and especially in tense situations, Jason always looked at the different movement and sounds in the room, also when he heard the doors open from the turbolift, he looked back to see a security officer entering the bridge. ~I didn't call for anymore backup then there already is.~ he thought, but decided to let it go. Suddenly Jason heard a phaser discharge, grabbed his phaser and aimed at the direction the sounds came from, he could hit the person with no problem, but when he turned and aimed, he noticed that the marine already had him under control, he still kept targeting his phaser and went over to him. the officer started shouting at the Captain, and after he spitted in her face, he was dragged away. suddenly Jason received a report from the security officers protecting the children. =/\= security to Ensign Dema =/\= =/\= Ensign Dema here, go ahead =/\= =/\= we've been attacked in the marine staging area, and I regret to say that there are several wounded. =/\= Jason looked in Vanyssa's eyes to see see was worrying about her daughter. =/\= how many wounded..... and how are the children. =/\= Jason asked with a terrified voice =/\= Both wounded =/\= Jason did his best not to show his tears, he wanted to ask the Captain if he could go see, knowing she would come along, but he hesitated and waited for Vanyssa's reaction (reply Vanyssa, any) (Ensign Jason Dema) (USS Mystique - Bridge - CSO Ketal - 22:53) "Captain," Ketal called. "Sensors show hits on the enemy vessel, their targeting sensors have been heavily damaged as have their impulse engines. Shields are currently at 85.3 percent but their combat ability has been severely degraded. Shields on the Hood are heavily damaged, estimate 26.3 percent capability remaining and the enemy ship is still firing." "Can we beam them out ?" The Captain asked to no one in particular. Thereply came from the engineering console as Sarouk gave an affirmative answer. Suddenly the runabout's shields were breached and it took a direct hit and began to careen out of control. "I don't care if we have to lower our shields, get them aboard." Vanyssa demanded. "Do we have an ID on that vessel ?" Ketal answered. "Their identification transponder has been disabled however the USS Gallant was the last known Defiant class ship in the area. An escape pod has just been jettisoned from the Hood Captain, estimate 3.5 minutes before retrieval." (Reply: Dr. Radchenko,Any) (Posted by Charles) (USS Fairchild - Bridge; Captain Harvik Shras; 2255) =/\=This is Captain Vanyssa Winters of the Federation Starship, USS Mystique. Why are you firing on my runabout ?=/\= Came the voice, then as the screen changed he saw her. She was standing, looking very tired and weak. Harvik smiled as he too stood. "We wanted some exercise Captain." He pulled himself up to his full height. "Captain Vanyssa Winters, you are hereby ordered by Starfleet Command to lower you shields and surrender your vessel. You and your crew will be charged with insubordination, High Treason against the Federation and conspiracy to incite Civil War." Vanyssa stood in shock with the words read against her. "I apologize, Captain. I just got my ship yesterday, I'm not ready to give her up yet. I have my orders from Admiral LoDona, and I assume that you have yours from Admiral Doenitz. Since you can't take on an Akira, how about we talk, diplomatically." Vanyssa temporized. "Sir, she is correct. We cannot take on an Akira. We don't have the power, or the targeting scanners!" Katriana said in a low voice. "My desire to fire on a Federation ship is small, Captain, and since I spent my days as a Counselor, I have no desire to see death happen. "Inspiration hit Vanyssa. "Captain, may I introduce you to Ambassador Anastasia Tar-Thurian. You don't have to talk to me." Vanyssa said, taking her seat again, and crossing her legs confidently. "But I would like you to at least listen." She said, motioning for the Ambassador to speak. Harvik stood motionless, he was surprised that the Captain did not want to fight. Traitors always wanted to fight. As he watched Winters sit, a beautiful woman appeared on the screen. He obviously had no choice in the matter. "Very well Captain, as you wish." Harvik took his seat. "Ambassador, I presume you will seek a peaceful resolution. I am willing to listen, but everything you say will be considered testimony." Ana stood to her full height before speaking as all Efrosian Warrior-Priests did before speaking or going to battle. "Captain, I am Council Member Anastasia Tar-Thurian, I arrived here on behest of Admiral LoDona to Observe the actions from Both sides. I required your Name Captain." Harvik sat there smiling, he was intrigued about this woman. "My name is Harvik Shras, as you can tell I'm Andorian." He glanced at his OPS officer who was trying to get his attention. He muted communication with the Mystique and walked up to James. "What is it?" Ana caught the slight look one gives when someone has just tried to speak to you and knew that someone out of view was speaking to Harvik. James looked at Harvik. "Sir, they want to speak to you." He reported. "Who?" He replied. "The three operatives on the mystique." James said. "Very well, put them through." "Aye, audio only." James said as he pushed the buttons to open the comm link. "You have one minute thirty seconds." =/\=Captain, we request immediate extraction for two.=/\= Came the voice. "Understood, but it will be rather hard to mask a transport signal." Harvik was feeling anxious, he did not want to provoke the Mystique openly, he much preferred to do it verbally. =/\=We have a plan. One of us works in Engineering. Look for the shields dropping. It will only be a short time before they bring them back up, so lock onto the active ETT's.=/\= Watching the body language of Harvik, Ana knew they were up to something, what she didn't know. "Captain, they are up to something, watch out." She told Vanyssa without moving. "Understood, Fairchild out." Harvik turned to face the view screen. The Ambassador was still stood there, waiting patiently. He nodded for the conversation to be resumed. "Pleasure to meet you Anastasia. Now, I seem to be at a disadvantage, so what say we cut to the chase. What is it you want from us?" Ana bowed to Harvik when he came back on, "And it is a pleasure, I hope Captain, to meet you. My Dear Captain, I had not and the council had not known that there was any hostilities between any of the Fleet. Why has Admiral Doenitz not brought this before us?" "Admiral Doenitz has provided evidence that you, and the rest of the 52nd have dissented from Starfleet. All the evidence was submitted to a selection of the Admiralty. They agreed that the evidence was compelling. There no 'hostilities' in the Fleet, because you are not part of the Fleet." Harvik was getting worried, they needed to get out of here, fast. He was trying to conceal his true mission, and those of the other nine ships in this Quadrant. And that number would increase within the coming months. "It would seem Captain that the information went only to Admirals that were loyal to him, if not he would have sent the information to all the Admirals. As I have said, I am here gathering information to inform the council of what is going on in the fleet. So, Far Captain, I have only seen hostilities from loyal subjects of Doenitz, this will not set well with the council. So, if you don't want more to be added, I suggest you leave this ship alone." Ana saw that Harvik was getting nervous and wondered what was going on with him, he had to have something going on in the background that she could not see. While Ana was talking to the Captain Vanyssa got a very strange feeling. ::Riven ? Something is wrong.:: Vanyssa sent, still looking straight ahead. Her eyes didn't flicker and nothing indicated that she was speaking telepathically to her Counselor Riven had been reading the thoughts of Captain Harvik and missed the person that had walked up behind Vanyssa and he almost screamed at her when he saw someone else was already reacting. Vanyssa froze as she felt someone coming at her from behind. She ducked and came up with her phaser pointed at the crewman. Her Bodyguard already had a knife to the guys throat. Vanyssa rose, walking over to Ana. "So this is how you decide to play fair with me, Captain? Assassination of a Starfleet Captain on her own Bridge?" Vanyssa was angry. She turned around to her CE. "I want an identity of this one. And I want to know who his conspirators are." Vanyssa turned back to the screen, She waited for the Captain's response. "I have no idea what you are talking about Captain. I assure you that this was not authorized by Starfleet Command." ::Vanyssa the shields will drop in a moment and they are going to beam the assassins off. There is one in Engineering getting ready to do that.:: Riven sent to Vanyssa quickly. It had all happened too fast. He had no choice. Harvik turned to James and Katrina and gave the signal to end communication with the Mystique. They had been compromised and he was not taking any chances. "Target their weapons array, phasers and torpedoes full spread. Helm, head for the emergency rendezvous point, maximum warp. Deploy cloak. Engage." All at once the Fairchild had loosed its weapons and was now heading out of the vicinity, cloaked and free. ~They will have to get out of that themselves.~ He thought. There would be further opportunities, after all, the Mystique was a ripe target. "Evasive Maneuvers." Vanyssa declared. The Akira ship easily evaded most of the weapons, taking one glancing blow to one of the warp nacelles. "Damage report." Vanyssa said, as steam came from one of the conduits. (reply tactical, Conn, OPS) "Can we trace the Fairchild ?" Vanyssa demanded. (reply tactical) Vanyssa leaned back and sighed. She looked up to see security arriving for the prisoner. "Sergeant, please inform Mr. Lee that one of the conspirators is in Engineering. That should help." She looked over at Riven and sighed. "Dr. Mias, please come with me. I'll be in Sickbay, speaking with the away team. As soon as we have estimates for repairing the damage, call me." She entered the turbolift and headed towards Sickbay. (Reply all mentioned) (Posted by John) (USS Mystique; Bridge; TASC Ensign Travis Keswick ; 2255) "Do we have an ID on that vessel ?" As the CO said that Travis was typing commands into his station trying to get the ships ID. Captain according to censers it is the USS Fairchild. he said looking at the captain with a look of concern. Travis stood there with a stone look on his face. as the captain talked to the Fairchildcaptain. Without any warning he sow an assassin going for the captain but the marine guarding the captain restrained the assassin. Travis was standing by the captain with his phaser in hand as the marine removed the prisoner from the bridge. (Reply any) (PB Keswick) (USS Mystique - Engineering; Lt (jg) Tasha Hayridge; 2255) Tasha was at her station, monitoring the power flow readouts from the warp core. She was using that as a cover for what she was really doing. She had put in place the security software Doenitz's lackies had given her. she was certain no-one knew of her involvement with the plot to kill the Captain. She was doubly certain nobody could detect what she was actually doing. Tasha was trying to lower the shields so that she and 'Keys' would be able to be beamed off and into safety. This had been a bad mission, their plan had not succeeded completely. But now the entire fleet would feel glittery, and that was something she felt good for. Just as she was about to lower the shields all heck broke loose. Danny had tried to kill the Captain again, as planned, but he had been dragged off to the Brig. She saw the Fairchild on her little monitor, and she saw the attack, the ship lurched as it was hit, and the Fairchild was gone. "No, no, no!!!" She half shouted. This was going from bad to worse faster than warp nine. Now she was stuck with trying to hide in the crowd. This was what she had not wanted, but she knew that the Fairchild would have had no choice. She deleted all her files pertaining to the current mission and then dumped the software in the redundant memory core. She had to get to Danny, somehow. Reports had come in that Keys had been killed in the Marine Centre. He had been given the task of killing the kids. That was the only part of the mission she detested, Doenitz actually requested that they target the Captains kid. She felt nauseous when she read that the kids were being taken to sickbay. Tasha held her stomach, after a pang of nausea ran through her. She was scared, and she knew that scared people made mistakes. She had to somehow be inconspicuous. She tapped into the Brig systems and modified the force field of the cell Danny was in. It would flicker in the code which had been developed by Doenitz's covert OPS department. All operatives knew that code, so Danny would know what she was intending. She grabbed a tricorder, and also an Engineers toolkit. She walked over to the small arms locker and opened it using the codes stored in her tricorder. She removed a type I phaser, which she placed in her belt pocket, And 2 type II phasers which she placed in the toolkit. Once she was certain nobody had seen her she closed the locker and walked towards the turbolift. As the doors opened security entered Engineering, in force. She stepped onto the turbolift and the doors closed. (Reply any) (pb John) (USS Mystique - Marine Center -Cassandra Dema- 2259) Cassandra was playing with Jennah when they noticed someone talking to the marine guards, when suddenly the person pulled a knife and his phaser, stabbed the knife into ones chest and aiming his phaser at Jennah, but at the moment he fired....... Cassandra jumped in front of her. "JENNAAAAH." She yelled before receiving the blast on her head. (reply anyone) (posted by Anthony Struelens) (USS Mystique - Bridge - Master Sgt Oo'lish 2300) There was no hesitation. At the first sign of quick movement the Marine was already moving forward. At the sign of a phaser her knife was out. She was just behind him when he fired and tossed the knife, both missed the Captain luckily, and half a second later she had jabbed in the kidney with her phaser and gotten the knife around his throat. "One move," she whispered harshly, "And Ill not only slit your throat, but wear your balls for a necklace and eat your kidneys medium-well." (reply: if desired) She braced herself and dragged the prisoner back as the Captain continued talking to the rebel ship, "Oo'lish to all security forces, we've had another attempt on the bridge, stand alert!" The Captain turned to her briefly with a demand for his identification, the Marine nodded sharply at that. After a few more minutes, the Fairchild had fired on them and engaged cloak, and the bridge was again fairly quiet. The prisoner had gotten a small nick on his throat, less by accident and more by design, a warning that even under fire she wasn't going to let him go. He didn't look overly happy at that. She handed him over quietly to the guard that took him away spitting curses and dark promises. The combat knife was quickly slipped into the sheath it came from. "I'm sure someone will be along to talk to this one shortly," she told the guard. (reply: Security, if desired) "Sergeant, please inform Mr. Lee that one of the conspirators is in Engineering. That should help." She looked over at Riven and sighed. "Dr.Mias, please come with me. I'll be in Sickbay, speaking with the away team. As soon as we have estimates for repairing the damage, call me." Oo'lish fell into step behind the Captain, her phaser openly at her side, there would be no more near-misses. "Oo'lish to Lee, the Captain informs you that there is one more conspirator in Engineering." =^=Who? I'm on my way, Security team to Engineering, wait outside the doors, don't cause a stir!=^= The Master Sergeant looked over at the Captain, who had already called for Sickbay to the turbolift. She had heard the question, the Marine wouldn't need to repeat it. (reply: CO, Mias, any) (posted by Trout) (USS Mystique - Marine Center - Major Richard Ian Lee - 2301) Rich ground his teeth together, he disliked waiting, he vowed for the hundredth time that he would be on the bridge the next time there was a problem. =^=Oo'lish to all security forces, we've had another attempt on the bridge, stand alert!=^= Rich was on his feet a moment later, and had only just gotten out his door when he heard phaser sounds. His sidearm was out and he joined the immediate rush of Marines into the back administrative rooms. The sight that greeted his eyes was not immediately pleasing, there was a Marine in SDU on the ground, trying to stem the flood of blood from a chest wound. One of the Marines knelt by him and ripped out the first aid kit most Marines carry as Rich continued. He was not pleased. "Medical team to the Marine center on the double!" he barked after tapping his badge, "Three casualties, one knife wound, two phaser blasts." The ship suddenly rocked, but his duty was here. Someone pushed a hypospray filled with a mild sedative into the remaining child, but it didn't do much.The very small kit that Marines carried wasn't meant to act as a hospital, and it was mostly filled with pain-killers and anti-biotics, of the few drugs it sported. He holstered the phaser and turned to the surviving guard. Without a word he grabbed the man's arm and shoved him out the door. "Report," he said in dangerous tones. The Marine came to attention. "Sir, the traitor came up requesting status of the children. I answered him succinctly but did not give him the option of seeing them. Then," the Marine paused, "He got a funny look on his face sir, which I thought odd. Yahan apparently thought that look dangerous, he was the first to pull his sidearm. By the time he had gotten it out of the holster though, he had a knife sticking out of his chest and the man had barreled through." The Marine's face hardened, "Sir, it took me only a couple seconds to turn and draw, but by that time he had already executed one of the children and was already firing on the second by the time I shot him. His aim was poor and he only clipped the second, That is where you found us." Rich moved in close, "You will have a chance to rectify this mistake, Marine. You will serve the dead child's Honor guard, and by God you will be sleeping next to the survivor. It had better be you dead rather then your charge if there is another attack." Rich's words weren't particularly needed, the Marine's face was solid rock. "Sir, AYE sir!" He turned, "I want no less then a Squad in defense this time. I *WILL* eat the heart of those that fail after this, Do you get me?" "OOWAH Sir!" came the reply from those around. Most of the Marines he saw were spitting mad, someone had waltzed right into their home and attacked one of their charges. That didn't go over well, they would be looking for payback later. =^=Oo'lish to Lee, the Captain informs you that there is one more conspirator in Engineering.=^= Rich bolted for the door, "Who? I'm on my way, Security team to Engineering, wait outside the doors, don't cause a stir!" (reply: Captain) This was an internal Security matter, he didn't want a dozen Marines storming into Engineering, Security was far better suited to an action like this. He would think and mourn over the dead child later, when there was time. (reply: Captain, Medical, any) (posted by Trout) (USS Mystique - Bridge - Ensign Jason Dema - 2303) When Jason heard Major Lee asking for a security detail to engineering Jason turned to the Captain again. "Captain, permission tolead that group." (reply Vanyssa) With that Jason walked of the Bridge tapping his commbadge. =/\= Ensign Dema to security, I want a fully quipped team with type III phasers set to heavy stun, wait for me at the entrance of main engineering =/\= =/\= Acknowledged Sir, team underway =/\= Jason entered the turbolift. "Engineering." The lift beeped in acknowledgment and went on his way to engineering. (USS Mystique - outside engineering - Ensign Jason Dema - 2305) stepping out of the lift Jason walked to the main doors where his team was already waiting. "Good, listen up, we are here to apprehend a conspirator who is yet unknown to us, we will wait here for Major Lee who will brief us further. I don't have to tell you guys how important it is to capture the subject, so watch any suspicious moves, and take no chances, call for backup, is that clear." "Yes Sir." Just then Jason saw Lee arriving at their position. "We are ready when you are Major." (reply Lee) (posted by Anthony Struelens) (USS Mystique - Brig TASC Ensign Travis Keswick 2305) Travis wasso mad at what this man did he didn't say a word as he put upthe force field Locking the him into the brig. Just then Travis herd The captain say over the intercom. =^=Security team to Engineering, wait outside the doors, don't cause a stir!=^= Travis turned to the security and marine officers that escorted him and the prisoner to the brig. "I wont you two to stay here with the prisoner." =/\= on my way captain =/\= rushing out the door heading for engineering On his way to engineering Travis had allot going threw his mind about the last 3 hours. But if there is one thing he knows it is he will stand by the Captain and first Officer Know matter what happens in this crazy mess there in. When Travis got to the door leading to engineeringthere where already Security officers standing by. (reply any) (Posted by Keswick) (USS Mystique - Sickbay - Dr. Kellita Weir- 2305 =^=Medical, prepare for site to site transport of two wounded children and one marine.=^=Kellita heard over the comm a few moments after the emergency team arrived on the scene.Kellita hadalready activated the small pediatrics ward, complete with smaller biobeds, and she signaled the affirmative. As soon as the two children were there, she started scanning them.One was brain dead, the older of the two, the other wasn't in as much danger. Kellita motioned the nurse over to take care of the younger one, then began barking orders for a stimulator and several other aperatus.She attached the stimulator and pulled up the schematics, noting how various organs were shutting down.She frowned, stabilizing the body on life support as she began to stimulate the brain. She sent electrical shocks in, and was gratified to see after two and an increase in the adrenaline hypo, that the brain functions started. She knew that she would have to go in and surgically graft repair tissue to the burnt and injured areas of the young woman's brain, but that could wait for a couple hours.It was a delicate procedure, and she would need to discuss with Dr. Radchenko how best to go about it. Kellita did not consider herself to be a skilled surgeon, and she hoped that the good Doctor was. Kellita turned her attention back to the other girl, and felt a lot of concern for her.Someone whispered that it was the Captain's daughter. Kellita noted that Dr. Radchenko had already started treatment for the shock and phaser burns. "Doctor, anything that I can help with ?"Kellita asked, as she pulled up the file on the brain-dead girl, a Cassandra Dema. (reply Radchenko) Kellita nodded, studying the file for any drug allergies, and when not seeing any, set the treatment plan, as well as the stimulator to keep her under.Kellita frowned at the readings that she was getting, apparently the girl had fractured her arm in several places, and one of her eyes was badly burnt. The fracture could be dealt with, but the trauma to the eye....That would take some regeneration of the optical nerves, and possibly a replacement. Kellita then covered the eye with an optical regenerator and set it to do the work.She quickly aligned the fractures in the arm, sealing them and allowing them to heal. She slumped from the work and noted that only 45 minutes had went by. She went back to the CMO office, where Radchenko was sitting, and spoke to him about the condition of the Dema-girl. (reply Radchenko) (pb Melinda :-) (USS Mystique - turbolift/sickbay - CO Captain Vanyssa Winters -2307) =^=Who? I'm on my way, Security team to Engineering, wait outside the doors, don't cause a stir!=^= Vanyssa grinned at Lee's remark, and tried very hard not to laugh. She stumbled and Riven caught her as she briefly saw through Jennah's eyes, and then felt Jennah fall. Vanyssa looked up at Riven's wide concerned eyes and then ran down the hallway towards sickbay.She got there and... it was nightmarish.She saw her FO sitting in a corner, being treated by a nurse. She walked over to him, and inquired after how he was doing, one eye and part of her mind on the small pediatrics area in the corner. "Report, Commander."She said in a flat tone of voice. She wanted all of this mess mopped up before it could get any worse. She had caught the last edge of the Fairchild's Captain's thoughts, and they didn't leave her happy.She would also have to deal with Riven and the fact that he wasn't obeying the telepathic laws.She realized with a shock that he probably thought he was doing fine. It was war, and having a telepath read what he could, well it was permissible right ? Vanyssa shook her head mentally, something that she had always a tendency to do physically while thinking. She had a lot of moral questions that would require answering before she was satisfied that what she was doing was right. (reply FO, Sickbay, any) (posted by melinda ) (USS Mystique - Deck 4 outside sickbay - COUNS Dr. Riven Mias - 2308) Just as they were about to reach Sickbay, Riven felt what Vanyssa had saw in her minds eye. It caused her to stumble and as she was falling, he reached out to catch her. All he could do was to look at her and let her know that he was also concerned for the safety of Jennah. Then Vanyssa steadied her feet and ran the rest of the way toward Sickbay. He was about to run after her, but having spread his thoughts out to the crew in a general manner, he picked up several key thoughts that contained the name of Jennah. Having heard that name, he centered on the one that it had came from and what that person was doing. Looking down towards sickbay, seeing Vanyssa enter in a rush, he quickly and angrily decided that someone else needed his attention more than Vanyssa at that point. He turned around and ran to the turbolift. He was glad that he was not far from it and as he jumped in, he shouted, "Brig level, Deck 17 emergency." (USS Mystique - Deck 17 Brig level - COUNS Dr. Riven Mias - 2310) Riven ran out of the turbolift just as the doors open and started to run to the brig when he got the feeling that his prey had not gotten there yet but was heading down the turbolift as he did. He walked over to the brig and stepped inside just enough to see a guard there. "There is a brig break about to be attempted, watch your prisoner heavily." He shouted then he was back out the door and heading to the turbolift. He had managed to arrive about half way from the brig when the doors opened and he got the sight of the one he was wanting to intercept. He had done this before, but, he had not liked doing it unless it was necessary. He knew that she had been part of the attack not only on Vanyssa but on her daughter Jennah as well. He also knew that the other child had gotten in the way so that Jennah would not be dead now. Riven was going to make sure that this one could not interfere with them getting what they deserved for their actions. His rage at the attacks only fueled his abilities and was threatening to over flow into this woman, this assassin. He saw the weapon come forward but before she could fire, it was too hot in her hands to hold it and she dropped it. He also made sure that she stepped out of the turbolift into the corridor onto her knees. He was oblivious of his surroundings at that time, he was solely focused on her and what she helped to be done. (reply any) (pb Frank Rogers) (USS Mystique - Deck 17 - Lt (jg) Tasha Hayridge - 2310) Tasha was nearing her destination. The doors opened and her senses told her that someone was waiting, she drew her type I phaser from its hiding place, but it became too hot. She dropped it and looked to see Dr Riven in the hall. Suddenly, her head was filled with immense pain. Her ears were ringing louder than a torpedo explosion, and they started to bleed. She fell to her knees trying not to scream. As she fell she dropped the toolkit, and it opened. Her instincts took over and she regained control of her thoughts. She had not been trained to attacklike he was doing, but she could repel. It took physical effort to send his burst back to him, she was sweating profusely. He riled back as his assault was returned. She quickly grabbed a type II phaser from the floor and fired it at Riven. She had no intention of killing him, and it had been on the lowest setting. He fell to the floor, but she knew that his mental ability gave him a greater recovery time. She scooped up the toolkit and ran, phaser in hand, towards the brig. As the doors opened she noticed the warden holding a type III phaser rifle. She rolled to the floor and fired first, he fell in a slump onto the console he was standing behind. Tasha had to work fast, the alarm in the security centre would indicate that there had been phaser fire in the brig. She neglected her carefully selected tools and fired at the console which controlled the force field to Danny's cell. The phaser was set on full power, and the console blew out, and so did the field. She threw the phaser at Danny and took up the wardens rifle, pocketed the type II and then proceeded to initiate a site-to-site transport. She was stopped in her tracks as the Dr came rushing in, the mental attack was so powerful Danny fell to the floor, obviously with a brain anurism. Tasha was experiencing slight nausea and pain in her head. Her ears started to bleed again, but she continued on with the site-to-site. She repelled his attacks, but it was getting increasingly hard to do, her ability was not as advanced as his, she was getting weaker by the second. She could tell that it was weakening him somewhat aswell, it was not helped by the fact he had only just recovered from a phaser shot. She was nearing her goal, she could almost taste her freedom. Then he sent out such a wave as she had never felt. She was conscious enough to see him topple to the ground, moments before the darkness smothered her. (Reply Riven, Security [when you find us!]) (pb John) (USS Mystique - Sickbay; FO Lt Cmdr Peter Belinia; 2315) When Peter had been placed on the bio-bed, his adrenaline dissipated. He screamed in agony as the full weight of the pain, and shock spurted forth. He did not realize that several ribs had broken in his chest, his spine had been splintered. His left hand was burnt, and it looked un-usable. His head hurt, the blood had dried and crusted over his face, the deep gash on his forehead was a dark red stain. He looked up as the doctor's face appeared before his. He was saying something, but Peter was slipping into unconsciousness. Finally all was black. (Reply Doctor, any in sickbay) (USS Mystique - Sickbay; FO Lt Cmdr Peter Belinia; 2325) Peter came around, groaning loudly. He still hurt, but it was duller. He made to sit up, but someone's hand was on his shoulder. It was firm, but gentle. He remained on his back for several more moments as he readjusted to the light, and sounds of sickbay. "What's happening?" Peter asked, still groggy from whatever drug Radchenko had given him. He was now aware of the voices around him. Tourana was still there, she had not been as badly hurt as him, or even as HHril. (Reply Radchenko, any) "HHril, Tourana..." Peter was cut off by the doctor. (Reply Radchenko) Peter sat up and swung his legs around the bed. He noticed that his hand was all healed, his chest and back were still sore and were tight. His head, still hurt but it was a dull ache. Peter stood off the bed. "Aaaaarrrghhhh!" He cried as his legs and spine took his weight again, amidst some revolt. He noticed that the Captain was standing next to him. ~It must have been her hand.~ "Captain, not bad for a shakedown, huh?" He said trying to laugh. (Reply Captain) "Yes Ma'am, I'll be right there." Peter said as he took his first tentative steps towards the door. (Reply ALL) (pb John) (USS Mystique - Sickbay; FO Lt Cmdr Peter Belinia; 2330) After Peter had spoken with Radchenko, the Captain came over and bellowed "Report, Commander!" Peter was still dazed and a little wobbly on his legs, but he swallowed and focused on the Captain. "Ma'am, I'll skip everything before the attack, it will all be in my report." Hes aid, wincing as he shifted his weight. "Once we had retrieved the cloaked probe, Ensign Tourana here spotted a cloak phase shift and we sent out a Tachyon pulse to confirm. Suddenly the Defiant class was on top of us, no word of warning. The opened fire as we turned to escape. "I took the decision to run as I did not think it would be a good career move if I got the three of us, and the evidence, destroyed." He tried to laugh, but it was too painful. "Ma'am, Ensign Tourana is the reason we are here, and not space dust. It was her flying that kept us away from the majority of the weapons fire. She deserves the credit." Peter wanted to continue his report, but he almost fell. He was tired and he hurt, but he could pull out some energy if he needed it, although the doc would not like it. (Reply Winters) Peter was ordered to the Bridge to co-ordinate the retrieval of data on the current situation, as the Captain went to speak with the good doctor about the children he had just noticed were lying on bio-beds. ~Someone needs to fill me in on the situation.~ (USS Mystique - Sickbay; Ensign Tourana:2330) " I really am perfectly all right, honestly nurse ", Tourana insisted but the nurse refused to let her get up until the Doctor had checked her over. " Look, I just want to check onthe others " she pleaded, referring to Hhril and Peter. Hhril was unconscious when she last saw him, and Peterhad beenin terrible painand covered in blood. All Tourana had wrong with her, as far as she was concerned, was a little bump on the head, a stiff neck, and a tiny cut, barely a scratch even. The nurse decided to show Tourana that she was a little underestimating of her current state,so made her look in a small mirror. " Oh " she responded, " well, maybe I will wait for the Doctor then ", then she promptly threw up. The mirror had revealed a very swollen face on the right side, a black eye, busted cheekbone, and her hair was plastered to her head by dried blood. She barely recognized herself but thankfully the appearance was purely cosmetic and should be easily fixed once the dermal regenerator was to be used but she was not badly injured enough to warrant being seen to immediately - Peter and Hhril needed the Doc far more than her. She admitted defeat and agreed to wait quietly, much to the nurses relief ! (reply Doc ) Tourana noticed the Captain enter sickbay. She looked composed but worried at the same time. Although Tourana could not see from where she was laying, apparently the Captains daughter was also in sickbay, suffering from phaser burns if she had overheard correctly. A short while later, she heardthe Captainbellow at Peter for a report on what had happened. Peter was speaking too quietly for the Ensign to hear his response to the Captain but she hoped he was not getting blamed for the destroyed runabout - that was down to Tourana not being quick enough to dodge the fire from the Defiant and she would tell the Captain so herself when she got the chance. It seemed that opportunity would be sooner than she thought. The Captain and Peter finished their conversation and Winters was heading for the Ensign now. Suddenly she felt very intimidated as the Captains eyes met hers.... ( reply Winters ) (pb Patch) (USS Mystique - Bridge; FO Lt Cmdr Peter Belinia; 2345) Peter stepped off the turbolift into a hive of commotion. Obviously something had happened. He needed to sit down, so he strode to the command seat. During all the previous dilema nobody had sat in the chair since the Captain had vacated it. "Report." He bellowed as he sat down. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stardate: 2406.10.08 (USS Mystique - Deck 17 - Ensign Jason Dema - 2319) (USS Mystique - Bridge - Ensign Jason Dema & CO Captain Winters - > 2120) (USS Mystique - Deck 17 brig - Counselor Dr. Mias - 2325) (USS Mystique - Deck 17 brig - Ensign Jason Dema - 2327) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------- Stardate: 2406.10.16 (USS Mystique - Phaser range - Ensign Jason Dema - 2030) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------- Stardate: 2406.10.17 (USS Mystique - Marine Center, Helldeck - Major Lee - 1220) (USS Mystique - quarters - Ensign Jason Dema - 1230) (USS Mystique - Quarters - CO Captain Vanyssa Winters - 1800) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------ Stardate: 2406.10.18 (USS Mystique - Sickbay - Ensign Jason Dema - 1206) (USS Myqtique - Holodeck - Ensign Jason Dema - 1234) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------- Stardate: 2406.10.21 (USS Mystique - Bridge - CSO Ketal - 1302) (USS Mystique - Bridge - CONN Lt.Herkimer 78- 1310) (USS Mystique - Bridge - CSO Ketal - 1702) (USS Mystique - Personal quarters - CSO Ketal - 21:55) (USS Mystique - Captain's Quarters - Captain Winters and CSO Ketal - 22:00) (USS Mystique, Personal Quarters, CO Captain Vanyssa Winters and CSO Ketal, Day 2 - 0225) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- Stardate: 2406.10.22 (USS Mystique - Sickbay - Ensign Jason Dema - 0540) (USS Mystique - Bridge - Ensign Dema - 0558) (USS Mystique - Observation Lounge - CO Captain Vanyssa Winters - 0845) (USS Mystique - Observation Lounge - Ensign Jason Dema - 0848) (USS Mystique - Observation Lounge - CSO Ketal - 0904) (USS Mystique - Observation Lounge - CO Captain Vanyssa Winters - 0905) (USS Mystique - Observation Lounge - Ensign Jason Dema - 0909) (USS Mystique - Observation Lounge - Conn- Lt. Herkimer 78- 0920) ---------------------------------------------------------- Begin Compile Stardate: 2406.10.08 (USS Mystique - Deck 17 - Ensign Jason Dema - 2319) The silence, allthough short, seemed like it lasted for hours. Jasondidn'tknew about the status of the suspects, as the guard, either way he had to be carefull in case one of them, or even both were still moving, also he didn'tknew if the transport system was brought offline in wich case they would besomewhere else on the ship, but Jason had the advantage that if that was thecase, that he knew the suspects name. The waiting lasted too long soJasondecided to take a look, he signaled the others on the oposite side to givecover and signaled two of his team to join him. As Jason neared the door he couldn't hear any sound, they wereexpectingthem or they were allready transported to another part of the ship. Jasondidn't think about consulting the computer about their whereabouts andfellin keeping his eyes peeled, only to see Riven and the guard unconsious onthe floor and a bit further the 2 suspect in fairly the same condition. =/\= Ensign Dema to sickbay, 4 men down, one severely, 3 others appear unhurt, probably stunned. =/\= (reply anyone in sickbay if needed) Jason closed tha channel and opened another one to Vanyssa=/\= Ensign Dema to the Captain, we captured the suspects =/\= (reply Vanyssa) =/\= As you wish Ma'am =/\= "You heard the Captain guys, let's put them in confinement, preferred seperate."Then Jason walked over to Riven who was still lying on the floor. "Don't worry, they'll bring you back from the darkness." he said ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stardate: 2406.10.08 (USS Mystique - Bridge - Ensign Jason Dema & CO Captain Winters -2120) Jason entered the bridge, and went to Vanyssa. "reporting in Ma'am, if you have the time." Vanyssa looked up at him and nodded. "Call me if there is anything."She said, getting up and heading to the conferance lounge with her bodyguardfollowing.She sat down at the head of the table and said, "Yes, Ensign ?" The part ofher that was a Counsellor warred with the part that was the CO, and so sheleft it at that. Jason kept standing, cause it didn't seem right to sit down at a moment ofapology."Ma'am, I just wanted to apologise for my behaviour these last days, Iwasn't thinking about what I was doing, I know it's no excuse, but I justwanted you to know how sorry I am and that I'll do my best to change." Jasonstated, still thinking about his other question he wanted to ask, but hewasn't sure if this was the right time. Vanyssa nodded. "Well, apology accepted, Ensign. Major Lee will ensurethat there will be no other outbursts. But that isn't the only reason that you have come, is it ? What would you like to talk about Ensign ?" Jason was surprised, yet he knew that Vanyssa would know he had otherreasons, even in the short time he knew her, he came to know that youcouldn't keep a secret from her."It's about my sister Ma'am. I got this feeling that she doesn't belonghere, that something will happen to her..... I'm not a psychic or somethinglike that, but I just got this feeling..... What do you think? did I do theright thing by keeping her with me and not sending her back to our sister?"Jason paused, thinking, waiting for a reply from the Captain Vanyssa sighed, the words echoing from a conversation she had with Kestrawhen she left Kat and Jennah back on Betazed. "Was it the most responsiblething to do ? Probably not. Was it the adult thing to do ? No. Was it whatwill make both of you the happiest ? Probably yes. Sometimes, though." Andshe crossed her legs, frowning. "We have to be the adult, and do things thatare in our charges best interest. You may not realize it, but I have a babygirl, about two years old on Betazed. Her name is Kathleen and I left heron Betazed with my grandmother. Jennah was supposed to stay with her, butsnuck back aboard, and she was allowed to stay because i wasn't quitemyself." Vanyssa's mind came out of the memories, and the lonigng for Davidand their daughter. "We will do the best for them,Ensign, that is all thatwe can do." She grinned. "And you concentrate on becoming a betterofficer!" "Yes Ma'am, let's do our best."Jason smiled after that, it showed happyness, yet exhaustion from the longday and was now waiting to be dismissed so he could finally get some sleep. "Dismissed Ensign" Vanyssa said, watching him leave with a strange look.And with that, Jason walked out of the room to his quarters. After he was gone, Vanyssa turned to Oo'lish. "Sergeant, I devoutly hope that the Major can turn that boy into an Officer." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stardate: 2406.10.08 (USS Mystique - Deck 17 brig - Counselor Dr. Mias -2325) Riven had thought that he had the female under control as he was stronger than she was or at least he thought he was.He had not noticed that she also had mental abilities and was trained in defense with it. When she had sent his own ability back at him, it confused him for a moment. When he quickly recovered she had a type II phaser in her hand and was firing. He did not have the time to move. It hit him full and stunned him as he fell to the floor. Even though he had been stunned his mind was already recovering before he had hit the floor.Not only had the attack on Vanyssa's daughter, Jennah and the other Girl, Cassandra, made him mad, but, now the fact that this murderous female had bested him, made him that much madder.He had not been this mad in a very long time, not since the time he met Vanyssa. The thought of her had given him a center of calm which he carried for many years.It had taken a bit, but, he was finally able to rise once again. Tired as he was, he still had the rush that had started him on her in the first place. Getting up, seeing that she was gone, he concluded there was only one place that she would have gone, the Brig.Turning around he ran for the door and entered to look straight at her.He leveled an attack at the two of them that most people would have died from automatically. He watched as the male dropped, but, the woman just stood there and bore the brunt of it. He noticed that she was experiencing nausea and pain then her ears started to bleed. He pressed the attack on her, but, he was getting to ends of his strength. He knew that if he did not best her soon he would falter and she would get away. He could not have that and with the last bit of his strength, he sent her one last massive attack.As the darkness was surrounding him, he saw that she was still standing when the darkness finally overtook him. "Don't worry, they'll bring you back from the darkness." He heard someone close, very close, say. He slowly and painfully tried to open his eyes. As he barely got them opened through the pain, he saw the one called Dema close by him. "The ... assassins..... gone?" He barely squeaked the question out trying to get the information if they had gotten away just as he passed out once again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stardate: 2406.10.08 (USS Mystique - Deck 17 brig - Ensign Jason Dema - 2327) Jason noticed that Riven tried openining his eyes, even only a bit, andheard Riven asking him something with a quiet raspy voice. "The ... assassins..... gone?" But before Jason could answer, Riven passed out again."No, we've confined them again, you did well." Jason said not knowing ifRiven would hear him, and right at that moment the medical team arrivedexamining Riven and the guard first. "If you want to examine the prisoners, then have at least one securityofficer with you just in case." The medic nodded as he continued examining Riven. Jason then walked out,looking back at Riven and remembering their volleyball match on the Nimitz~Guess he's harder to crack then I thought~ Jason smiled and stepped to hissecurity teams."A job well done, I still want two to protect the doctors if the prisonerswake up, any vulonteers?" Two immediatly raised their hands, and another one stepped forward. "I only asked for two, no need for more." "Actually Sir, I had a question, if I may." "Ask away." "Why a job well done if we didn't do anything?" Jason was surprised by the question, he looked at Major Lee, and then backto the officer, he was young, about the same age as Jason, maybe evenyounger."It's not what you do, but it's the way that you do it that counts, followorders correctly, do what is expected from you, and you'll do fine, andmaybe one day have your own team to lead." The officer smiled and felt relieved as he got back in line. "You two, assist the doctors, the rest, dismissed untill further notice."Jason then walked over to Lee, waiting for him to say something. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stardate: 2406.10.16 (USS Mystique - Phaser range - Ensign Jason Dema -2030) Jason made a habit of it of working out, but cause of his sister beeingin sick bay, he couldn't stop thinking about her, not even by doingsports, but he tried the phaser range once and it seemed to disconnect him from this world. He sometimes got in trance and forgot about everything else going on, focussing on the targets appearing. the standart for security officers was a hit ratio of 80 % at level 17. Jason had 95%, but never was allowed to go to a higher level. But nowhe had the chance to improve himself. he trained the last days till hehad a hit ratio of 80% at level 20, but he wanted to be the best so he kept on training. Today, the same ritual as always, after visiting hissister in sickbay he went to the phaser range. "Computer, what is the highest difficulty level?" He asked [level 25] "Computer, please raise the the level to level 25, 25 targets." [the computer beeped in acknowledgement] Jason concentrated, and cleared his head of any disturbing thoughts. "Engage." As soon as Jason started the simulation a circular dot appeared to thesize of a hand and started moving slowly, but as everytime Jason hitit, it got faster, thus harder to hit Jason tried to aim, but keptmissing, until the simulation was over, and the computer announcing his statistics. [Shots fired: 256, Hits: 25, misses: 231, hit ratio: 9.77%] Hearing that Jason got a bit irritated. "Computer, restart training." The computer resetted the level and started over again. This time Jasonknew how it was like and tried to fire more carefully. Knowing he didbetter he listened to the computer listing the statistics again. [Shots fired: 214, hits: 25, misses: 189, hit ratio: 11.68%] Allthough it was a little improvement, Jason got mad. "Computer, restart level." He said with his voice raised a little. Again, the computer resetted the level and commenced again. in hisirritation Jason lost his patience and fired away, like he was possessed. again, the computer listed his stats. [shots fired: 687, hits: 25, misses: 662, hit ratio: 3.64%] Jason kept get more angry, and everytime he restarted his stats becameworse [ hit ratio: 2.89%.......hit ratio: 2.56%........ hit ratio:2.14%........ hit ratio: 1.89%...... Warning, heart-rate unstable,ending simulation] With that, Jason realised the getting angry wasn't the sulotion, so hetried to calm down and relax. He sat down on the ground, feeling hisheartbeat slowing down. the sweat was dripping from his chin, hisbreathing started to stabalize again, and when he started to feelrelaxed again, he stood up, but still waited for a while, and then.... "Computer, restart level." The computer complied and started the simulation again, Jason concentrated, aimed and fired, while he still missed a lot, it wasn'tas bad as when he lost his mind. keeping relaxed the whole time, he finished the level and listened to his stats. [Shots fired: 126, hits: 25, misses: 101, hit ratio: 19.84%] Hearing the result, Jason eased up a bit, and feeling good that heimproved since he started. He decided to stop training for the day andcleaned himself up, and before going to bed, he visited his sisteragain in sickbay to kiss her goodnight. and then he went to his quarters. He decided to practice firing everyday, he wants to reach at least 50% on level 25, wich was still a long way to go, but he wouldn't give up before he reached it. Then he went to bed. "Computer, lights out, alarm at 0500 hours." The lights dimmed and Jason fell asleep. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stardate: 2406.10.17 (USS Mystique - Marine Center, Helldeck - Major Lee -1220) "Computer, what are the vitals of Ensign Dema at this moment?" [Ensign Dema's vital signs are stable, he is sleeping, Major Lee.] Rich grinned evilly as he looked around the holodeck. There were two squadspresent in the grid, both were exhausted from a long day and had no ideawhat was going on. "Computer, run program Lee Beta 2." The grid was immediately replaced by internal decking, the completeengineering schematics of the Mystique. He had rummaged them up and createda perfect simulation of them during the week-long trip here. "Computer,simulate current crew that is not currently present on the holodeck." [Done] Rich rubbed his hands together; There would be holodeck simulations of theMystique's crew on board now where they generally should be at this time ofthe night. He had already programmed the computer to include personalityprofiles into the recreations; they would react as well in simulation asthey computer could figure from its records. "Computer, beam Ensign Demafrom his quarters into his holodeck quarters by site-to-site transport, anddo NOT warn him ahead of time, I want him to continue sleeping. Authorization Lee Omega Seven Beta Five." A few seconds passed, then [Ensign Dema has been successfully beamedintohis recreated quarters, his vital signs have not changed, he remains in asleep state.] "Excellent," he breathed. "Alright," he paused as he switched to a privatefrequency within his BDU. "Computer, unless the ship goes to an alertcondition, consider all orders given on the holodeck as holodeck only androute the appropriately to the intended holodeckrecipitant. If he calls foran Engineer, I want him to have a holodeck engineer. No communications gooutside of the holodeck without my authorization." [Done, all internal holodeck communications are now prepped to route throughthe holodeck.] Rich smiled large, now he was done. The holodeck was now a completerecreation of the Mystique. Any orders given would be given to holodeckpeople, any 'casualties' would appear to be real due to his priorprogramming. Only the Marines themselves knew what happened in that case,that the computer automatically created a fake body and made the realpersoninvisible. As for as Ensign Dema knew, he never left his quarters and hewould be going straight into real combat. "Alright Marines," he said out-loud. "This is the usual drill for us, but NOONE tells the Assistant Chief that we are on the holodeck, I want him tothink he is in real combat." He crossed his arms, "Understood?" "OOAH, SIR!" The two squads bellowed. They were currently in the 'MarineCenter' as the on-duty squads, that is where they would nominally be anywayin the event of a Red Alert. HE went back to his previous secure channel, "Computer, simulate a sudden attack by the Xenolithe, a sudden weaponsbarrage and utter shield failure followed by a forced boarding." The computer didn't even beep, but the ship shuddered fiercely and thelights immediately went to Red Alert, then went completely out. Theemergency lights came on a moment later. Only Lee had been ready for this,several of the Marines had fallen to their feet when the ship lurched fromweapons fire. =^=Red Alert, Red Alert, All hands to battle stations, boarding Xenolitheships have appeared and are beaming aboard!=^= Came the call over allcom-badges from the bridge, it sounded like the First Officer's voice. Rich was on his feet a moment later, "Lee to all Security and Marine forces,prepare for battle and get to your emergency stations, repel all borders!" He grabbed his scatter-gun as Marines, both real and holographic, began torun out the doors for their battle stations. The Xenolithe were evil, purekillers/hunters. Rich barked into his armor once more, "Ensign Dema to theMarine Center on the double!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stardate: 2406.10.17 (USS Mystique - quarters - Ensign Jason Dema - 1230) Jason was sleeping very tight when suddenly the ship started shaking. Jasonfell to the floor. he instantly stood up only to see the emergency lightsturning on. =^=Red Alert, Red Alert, All hands to battle stations, boarding. Xenolitheships have appeared and are beaming aboard!=^= Jason heard about that race, it was a feared race, only out for the blood ofthe oponents, anything was allowed to repel them. "Lee to all Security and Marine forces, prepare for battle and get to youremergency stations, repel all borders!" Jason immediatly went to his safe to take his BCU and type III phaser andset it to the level 14. "Ensign Dema to the Marine Center on the double!" =/\= Ensign Dema here, I'm on my way =/\= Jason walked out and as soon as he did, he saw a Xeno, who instantly startedfiring, Jason was just in time to see and dodge. Jason remembered hisposition and came out of cover to shoot, but he saw that the oneturned into5, aiming at his direction. Jason quickly fired a few shots and went backfor cover. =/\= Ensign Dema to Major Lee, I hope you got a minute, I'm cor........Jason wasn't done talking when suddenly a Xeno screeched, hurting Jason'sears, and he went back into his room. "Computer, lock the door."Jason looked for something to put in his ears to silence the screeching. Hewalked to the replicator"wet toiletpaper."the replicator energized and Jason took the paper and stuffed it in hisears. In the meanwhile, the Xeno were about the smash the door as Jasonlooked for cover in his room. Jason grabbed his type II phaser in his otherhand and also set it to level 14. As soon as the door was breached 2 fell infollowed by 3 more. Jason started firing at the 2 first with both phasers,catching the other three by surprise of the attack, he hit one and the other2 ducked for cover. Jason saw the bodies of the three he hit desintegrating. seeing their companiens dissapear, the 2 started screeching, hoping todistract Jason, but with the wet paper in his ears, Jason could easily standthe noise. As the 2 stood up to attack jason was still aiming at theirpositions, leaving them vulnerable to a first attack. Jason hit another one,the other dodge the shot succesfully and ran very close to Jason, extractinghis claws. Jason looked around, but didn't see the last one. suddenly theXeno stood next to him, slashing with his claws. Jason was barely in time tododge, and jumped away, but the Xeno reacted and hit Jason in his left arm.jason droppeds type III phaser, and with a lucky shot he hit the Xeno withhis hand-phaser, making the Xeno fall down to the floor, alsodesintegrating. Jason quickly patched his arm with his medkit in thebathroom, and injected a painkiller. =/\= Ensign Dema to Major Lee, I'm on my way =/\= Jason said breathing veryhard and with a cracking voice. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stardate: 2406.10.18 (USS Mystique - Sickbay - Ensign Jason Dema - 1206) As usual, Jason went to sickbay after attending his duties to see how his sister was doing, he couldn't stop worrying about her, even when he was on duty, his thoughts dwell about his sister, wich sometimes got him a little distracted from his duties. But he always came to see her.Although she was in a coma, Jason talked to herabout thing from earth."Remember," He started "Back on earth, when we used to play poloce and the bandit? Remember how you always wanted to be the good guy, not only cause you liked to play the good guy, but you also loved to hit me.Remember the time in the barn, where I disarmed you and threw your weapon in the hay? you ran to it, but I stopped you, we fell in the hay together. I was holding your arms and you were defenseless, but suddenly you felt something. you thought it was your stick, and hit me on the head with it...... too bad it was a hamer." Jason had to laugh, looking back on that moment. "The next month you kept by my side, always taking care of me because you felt guilty. You never left my side, even at night you kept watch over me, allthough you were always asleep in the morning. And then you were always mad because I didn't wake you up." Jason showed a smile on his face, his eyes glared, and hewas about to shed a tear. "You always took care of me when I was injured or sick, and seeing you here, I don't know how you kept up with it." He started to cry, his face turned sad, and his voice got deeper. "I don't know why but, I feel so helpless now, I just can't stand to see you suffering..." Jason really started to cry now, tears started rolling over his cheeck, one after the other, they just kept coming."I'm sorry Cassie, I'm sorry I brought this upon you, it was my duty to prevent this, but I failed." Jason just couldn't hold it anymore, he ran out of sickbay, he just couldn't stand the thought of his sister hearing him cry. He went straight to the holodeck and loaded a program he made to surprise his sister. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ (USS Myqtique - Holodeck - Ensign Jason Dema - 1234) When it was activated, a beach showed up, with palm-trees scattered here and there, a terrain with a net meant for beach-volleyball, and a beautifull blue ocean. on a rock hill there stood a big white beach-house, 3 stories high, large windows pointed at the direction of the see through wich you could see the sunset on cold winterdays next to a fireplace, and a balcony for hot summer-nights. behind the house was a tennis-court, well maintained to play any day of the year. A big garden, with statues, fountains, a large open grassfield, with to the sides lawns with flowers. in the middle there was a small pond with a bridge, leading to an island, just big enough for a small group of people. the time in the simulation was about sunset, only one hour to go. Jason decided to sit down at a palmtree, and he removed hiscombadge from his clothes and looked at the sky, with tears still draining his eyes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stardate: 2406.10.21 (USS Mystique - Bridge - CSO Ketal - 1302) Ketal was sitting at the Science Station checking the alignment on the lateral array, after the diagnostic was over he began checking the readings. The last few weeks had made quite a difference in his composure as he had had a lot of time to meditate and reflect on his inadequicies. The incident on the bridge the night of the attacks had been quite forgotten by everyone else presumably but not by him but he had regained the Vulcan mein and manner that accompanied his appearance. The regaining of control had been difficult considering the savagery and suddenness of the attacks but it seemed Mr. HHril was the only one who looked at him in a calculating manner, seeming to divinehis thoughts and intentions. Suddenly the OPS officer announced he was picking up a "strange" signal. "On screen, Lt." The Captain ordered. Ketal looked up to see a/an (Female?) alien life form playing a musical instrument. The audio was distorted, but was soon cleaned up by the computer.Ketal turned from the screen and tried to pinpoint the source of the signal, this was the reason they were in this section of space, to seek out other peoples for study.Behind him he heard Vanyssa speak over the continuing music. "Can we isolate where this broadcast is coming from ?" Ketal had it on the readout finally."Affirmative Captain, the source of the signal is 5.3 light years away at a bearing of 83 degrees. Long range sensors show a class M planet." "Set course for it, warp 4." She said, rising. "ETA?" (reply conn) "Excellent. Please have Dr. Mias, and Dr. Harper, as well as Mr. Ketal review these, Number One. I'd like to know something about them before we reach their planet."She then left the bridge. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stardate: 2406.10.21 (USS Mystique - Bridge - CONN Lt. Herk - 1310) Herk sat at the Conn thiking how boring things had gotten. There had been alot of excitement on the crew shakedown. Mystie, as Herk liked to call her,had performed admirably. She was a wonderful ship, and handled like adream. Herk still liked to have some semblence of control over the flight controlsand so ususally flew with minimum coomputer assistance. S/he felt that itkept hir instincts sharp, in case of an actual emergency and they lostcomputer control. Besides, there were always little adjustments to be madedue togravitational forces and spacialanomolies, that even the mostsophisticated computer had trouble adjusting to. S/he was really excited about moving into unexplored territory. Herk had aworking theory that long range sensors can only show you so much, and thatthe actual space you travel to might vary slightly from what the sensorspick up. So far s/he hadn't been let down by hir philosophy. The Ops officer commented on an anomoly that he detected. Herk wasintrigued by the image that came on the screen. It was one of the mostexotic women s/he had seen. S/he could help but wonder slightly oftheirmating habits. The woman looked somewhat feline, and Herk wondered if theywere related in some manner. The most interesting aspect of the blue tingedbeauty were the wings that sprouted from her back. ~Intiguing doesn't saythe half of it.~ The picture continually change, showing other performers It must be someform of satelite entertainment broadcasting. Herk had read about suchthings in hir history classes. It was a most intriguing manner of"watching" something entertaining. Herk prefered the interactiveentertainment that s/he participated in. The captain hummed and then asked where the signal was coming from. Withthaqt information she turned to Herk. "Set course for it, warp 4." She said, rising. "ETA?" "At warp 7 well be there in 3hours 50 minutes," Herk replied, hir fingersalready setting the course. "Excellent. Please have Dr. Mias, and Dr. Harper, as well as Mr. Ketalreview these, Number One. I'd like to know something about them beforewe reach their planet." As the Captain Winters left the bridge the ship shot to warp 7. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stardate: 2406.10.21 (USS Mystique - Bridge - CSO Ketal - 1702) The sensors were showing some intriguing information about the planet, Ketal was busily coordinating the different sensor readings and departments as the data was analyzed.The laterals soon registered a ship coming around the planet'shorizon. "Enlarge and identify against Known Federation Starship design." The Captain ordered. (reply) "Huh." She said and paused. "Do we have an identity of the ships name ? Can we cross reference to get manifest and flight plan ?" (reply :-) Vanyssa noticed something strange about the ship. "Engineering, is thatship decaying into the athmosphere ?" She asked. (reply Sarouk) "What would be the ecological devastation of such a decay, Mr. Ketal ?" Ketal didn't need to look in the computer banks to give an answer. "The ship as you can see Captain is very large and not all of it would burn up in the atmosphere. I estimate some sections as large as 20 tons would hit the planet. If it strikes inhabited areas there could be great loss of life, fires and temporarily severe weather changes. There is also the probability of course of radiation leakage from the wreckage with a half life of several generations which could alsopoison water sources. The damage ecologically would then be catastrophic, especially considering all the inhabitants are clustered in only five large city-state areas." "Spend the next two hours running simulations, Mr. Ketal, Mr. Sarouk, please help him. I want to know what impact that ship will have, as well as alternatives for preventing it. Mr. Bellenia, call a senior staff meeting in the conferance lounge for 0900 tomorrow morning.Please have the Counsellor and the good Doctor, as well as theAmbassador work on figuring out their language and culture." Vanyssa said, watching the feed they were picking up from the viewscreen."Archive the data as we receive it and zip a copy off to Geneva for analyzation." Ketal immediately began carrying out her orders. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stardate: 2406.10.21 (USS Mystique - Personal quarters - CSO Ketal - 21:55) Ketal was sitting in his quarters in deep meditation, since his initialproblems at the beginning of the voyage he had immersed himself as muchas time permitted in the rejuvenating state. After a few days of thishe had realized that in spending so much time on preparing Mystiquethis part of his regimen had lapsed leading to a corresponding lapse indiscipline but now he was as close to fully controlled as he had everbeen. The half Vulcan was dressed in a loose fitting tunic and pants as hesat in the chair he had pulled away from the desk and placed in acorner of his cabin, he gently withdrew from the state while savoringits peace. Slowly opening his eyes and looking at the chronometer inhis room he saw it was nearly 22:00 hours. There was an errand to takecare of before it got too late and since he knew that Vanyssa kept latehours he decided that it was a valid time, not exactly regular hours ofcourse but still a valid time. Since he was off duty and it was gettinglate he left his cabin as he was. His errand was quite simple: With Jennah and her friend fullyrecovered it was nearly time to begin the tutoring he had promised her;Ketal was sure in speaking with her several times along with whatVanyssa had told him that she would be a splendid pupil plus it wouldgive her an escape from the boredom of shipboard life. ~ Perhaps also ~ He considered, ~ Her friend Cassandra might also beinterested at some point. ~ He realized also as he entered the turbolift he had not expressed hiscondolences about David's death, he had learned of it late; too late tohelp in her initial consolation and beyond the point of bringing it uptactfully but for some reason he felt it was now the proper time. The turbolift soon stopped and he walked to the Captain's door andpressed the chime, he could have called of course but he did not likespeaking to someone without facing them unless it was necessary; somewould call it a quirk, he preffered to think of it as polite. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stardate: 2406.10.21 (USS Mystique - Captain's Quarters - Captain Winters and CSO Ketal - 22:00) After a decent dinner, Vanyssa was sitting in a corner of her Quarters,the lights mostly off, just staring out at the stars. This wassomething that she liked to do every once in a while. Jennah had longsince went to bed, and Vanyssa...her bodyguard was outside. Her MCOhad made things very clear that she was keeping one, whether she likedit or not. She had taken a moment to change out of the dress that she normallywore during off-duty hours into a very sheer nightgown, that David hadgiven her when they first started dating. Vanyssa had taken all thepins out of her hair, letting it cascade naturally down her back,almost to her knees now, in red spiral curls. She had been meaning to dictate a letter for a while now...and decidedthat now would be a good time to do it. She laid back on her couch andthought for a moment, then began..."Computer, compose letter to Captain Devan Sash, USS Nimitz." Thecomputer beeped in acknowledgement. "Dear Devan..." She began, as thechime sounded, causing her to jump in surprise, then fall off the couchwith an "Oomph." She got up and said "Computer, cancel letter." Shelooked around her living room for her robe, then realized that it wasone of the things that she had accidentally left behind on the Nimitzin her haste to depart. ~Oops.~ She thought, looking around as the door slid open and Ketalentered. Vanyssa relaxed a bit, Ketal wouldn't mind. "Computer, lights to normal conversation level." Vanyssa stated,moving a bit forward, catching Ketal's eye. "My friend, what brings youto my door so late?" She began, then felt something which she decidedto ignore. Ketal had entered under the watchful eye of the Captain's bodyguard andstepped inside as the door closed behind him, as the lights brightenedhe blinked slightly then nearly started in shock as his eyes lit onVanyssa. As the half Vulcan tried to drag his eyes away from her theyglided down over the swell of her breasts unhidden by her gown, hertrim waist and softly curving hips. The red flame of her hair burned inhis mind as he finally managed to disengage his gaze and he realizedfor the second time in three weeks he was furiously blushing. ~ The involuntary responses are always the hardest to control. ~ Hethought as he looked toward the window in her room. "I apologize Captain," He said as the greenish tint spread over hisface and neck. "I thought you kept later hours. I came aboutJennah's schedule for the lab work but it can wait until the morningifyou would like." Vanyssa watched the blush spread over Ketal's face. "There is no needto be sorry. Please have a seat." Betazoids, as a general rule, didnot tend to care about nudity or clothing, but apparently Ketal did. ~Vulcans shouldn't.~ "Ketal, is there something wrong ?" Vanyssa asked kindly. "Do youneed someone to talk with ? I've noticed that you are having problemscontrolling emotions, something which you used to pride yourself on formastering. Has something changed ? I ask as your friend, not as theCaptain." Ketal straightened somewhat at her question and cupped his hands in the small of his back in unconcious imitation of his mother and the other Vulcans he had seen. ~ What is it about her that causes such a loss of control on my part? ~ He asked himself while avoiding the answer he had half admitted to himself after the last incident. "Captain I ... Of the people on board you are the only one who knows my background, how I was not born on Vulcan or even raised among Vulcans. My mother taught me the rudiments of control but I was born on earth and raised among humans and the preponderence of the influences in my life have been human ... and emotional. It is true I have lived above that for the most part but on the Vanguard and here..." He shook his head slowly and sat down in a nearby chair. "Around you I..." He stopped when he realized what he had said but it was too late.~Maybe she will let it pass without comment.~ He thought though he knew better, she was far too sharp to miss something that obvious. Vanyssa listened. That was the job of Counsellors. "Does it botheryou that I know your past, my friend ? Or does it bother you that you are attracted to me ? You never told me if you have a mate on Vulcan, but I would guess not." She laid her hand on top of his. "You can ask anything of me at anytime, my friend, and if it is within my power to give it, I will." She smiled, hoping he understood what she wassaying. "On the whole." She decided to say. "Humans are incredibly prudish about sex, sexuality and sensuality. And you are telepathic and possibly picking up on my....feelings." She said, maintaining the contact with him, letting him feel what she thought. ::Friends should always be open with each other.:: She sent through that contact. Vanyssa's hand seemed to burn like a hot coal on his as the half Vulcanstiffened at her touch, his control over his telepathic powers wasminimal at best; that was another thing he desired to travel to Vulcanto rectify. An untrained Vulcan using telepathy could put both partiesin danger, the touch of her mind lulled him though as he thought back. :: No I have no mate and no bride has been chosen for me on Vulcan,that is the inheritance of my mother's family who were stirred againsther marrying a human.:: It was after this when he tried opening his mind to the emotions shewas radiating that it happened. Before he could put a stop to it heremotions flooded him, the grief for the loss of David, her longing forSash, her loneliness and her desire swept through him like a torrent,engulfing him and consuming him and his emotions fed back in turn intoher mind magnified. Through the link came 20 years of pent upyearnings, longings and desires; He found that even his most closelyguarded and tightly locked feelings for her were released, freed by thelink. The emotions were staggering and rocked them both. Vanyssa jerked her hand back and shielded herself very quickly, but thedamage was done. "I didn't mean for that to happen." She said,remembering her meld with Sevant, and how the unexpected happened therealso. She noticed the emotions in his eyes, and felt incredibly sorryfor what had just happened. Then she noticed the tears rolling downher face. Ketal reached for her before he thought, his hands clasped her forearmsand he rose from the chair and pulled her to him meaning to comforther. The link was gone and no danger to them. Vanyssa looked into his eyes, and felt her control slipping. She heldonto it with tooth and nail, refusing to let the link spring up again.And of course it did. She felt herself riding memories of her lasttime with Sash. She looked up into Ketal's eyes. ::Are yougoingthrough Pon Farr? :: She asked concerned. As the link reignited a lightheadedness fell upon Ketal and heheard her say as from a great distance.:: Are you going through PonFarr?::He looked once more into her eyes as his hands clasped her armstightly below the wrists and he realized that one of the roots of hisstruggle had been excised, his feelings for her had been exposed andcould never be buried or hidden again.He shook his head slowly as he leaned forward. "No Vanyssa, I wantyou!" Vanyssa reeled with the emotions going through her, and realized thatthere was nothing that she could do to stop it, even if she had wantedto. It would be unthinkable, cruel to stop. They could deal with therepercussions afterward, if there were going to be repercussions. Sheslowly tried to pull away, leading him towards her room. Jennah wasthankfully still asleep, there were things that she didn't need toknowabout. Then the doors slid shut and she and Ketal were all alone in her room.Vanyssa worried about making the first move, and what to do, but Ketalsolved that problem for her. As they entered the room Ketal swept Vanyssa into his arms tightly,because of the spiraling emotions running through him he pressed hismouth against hers with bruising force, as he kissed her heavily hesensed the salty taste of blood from her mouth as her lip was nickedagainst her teeth and he pulled back slightly though he kissedher still as hungrily. As the embrace continued his hands left her armsand he caressed her shoulders, running his hands down her back, hisfingers tracing her spine all the way to her soft buttocks. The linkpeaked and then stabilized as he found he could exert some control overit, thediscovery wasn't as important though as the sensations coursingthroughhim as their bodies touched.Ketal broke contact with her lips only long enough to pick herup easily and carry her to the bed where he laid herout full length and ran his hands down over her breasts and stomach,lingering on the soft peaks capped by the dark mounds of her nipplesbeneath her gown. Vanyssa shuddered under his hands and abandoned herself to thesensations, she was one of those that preferred things to be a bitrough, and let that ripple down the link. She cried out,telepathically and vocally as his probing hands found a very sensitivespot. Then she felt him on top of her, emotions coursing through her.She was drowning in them, even when he ripped her gown from herbody.... His light clothing soon followed hers to the floor as he lost himselfin the sight, feel and mind of her and the smell of her heady woman'sscent. She wasmoaning and writhing beneath him as he began to lick and kiss herbreasts, as he moved over her belly and to her thighs she gave awhimpering cry and shuddered in passion. The link gave him guidance toher most erotic and sensitive places; he took his time not in a hurryto put an end to the glorious feel of her.After turning her over none too gently he began to nip at her shouldersand down her back, knowing intuitively that she enjoyed it. He soonbecame lost in a hodgepodge of sensations, the bow of her back beneathhim and her thighs straining forward against his hands as she moaned inecstacy. And then a warm peace and the feel of her warm and stillagainst him. Vanyssa sighed, then came to herself. This was wrong. She had Devan.Devan wasn't here. Ketal was. And Ketal needed her.She could sort it all out again, in the morning. And with that, shegave herself up to it, waking several hours later in his arms, verysore. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stardate: 2406.10.21 (USS Mystique, Personal Quarters, CO Captain Vanyssa Winters and CSO Ketal, Day 2 - 0225) Vanyssa woke up, very warm against a lean body. She looked up into hisface, and saw him asleep. She leaned up and kissed him, licking hisnose, and saw him wake up slowly, stretching in contentment. "We should probably talk." She said, being serious again. "No, I don'tregret what happened. I think it was divine faith, providence,whatever, that brought you to my door. But I'm the Captain, and Ireally shouldn't be involved with the crew." She said, half-heartedly,realizing what Devan must have went through all those nights that shehad teased him with her body, and he broke it off right before itbegan. ~I'll have to apologize to him.~ "Do you regret it ?" She asked him, being the Counsellor again. Ketal reached over to stroke her cheek and neck as he answered herquestion. "No Vanyssa I don't regret it and I never will." Rolling overhe reached for his clothes, wondering what the guard would think thendeciding it really didn't matter. "Where are you going ?" She asked, concerned. "Did I ask you to leave?" The half Vulcan turned to her and looked at her lying there, totallyfeminine and totally beautiful and desirable. He dropped the clothes tothe floor once more and put an arm over her stomach, pulling her close."Vanyssa I know... that there is another, it came across very clearlyduring the link. Are you sure... that you want me to stay?" "Absolutely." She said, completely convinced. "After tonight, I'm notsure. Would you like to know about him, about Devan Sash ?" She asked."Or about David ?" Vanyssa felt her heart torn. She had finallyfigured out how to let people in.... after David's loss, she had justbeen so scared, so very afraid. Now she wasn't. "And what do you wantto come of tonight, Ketal ?" He thought for a moment and said quietly, "I am sorry about David,Vanyssa, I got the news of his death too late to contact you, I wasvery grieved for you and for Jennah." There was a pause as heformulated his next thoughts. "If you would like to tell me about theNimitz Captain you may, I am sure he is an extraordinary man. As fortonight... you don't have to make me any promises. I haveheard somewhat of the pressures and responsibilities of being a Captainand I know this might make things harder for you. I also realize as youstated earlier that this might be frowned on by some. Quite simply Iwant as much of you as I can have." He leaned over and kissed heragain, tenderly this time; reveling in the contact as the link joinedtheir minds again, taking them to a place where only they existed and no one else could intrude. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- Stardate: 2406.10.22 (USS Mystique - Sickbay - Ensign Jason Dema - 0540) Before his Duty, Jason went to sickbay first to check on Cassandra. He's been there every day since she got hurt, he didn't even worked out, as he couldn't concentrate. it did interfere with his duties a bit, as he was distracted sometimes. After checking the time, he went on his way to releave Keswick from his duty. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- Stardate: 2406.10.22 (USS Mystique - Bridge - Ensign Dema - 0558) Jason walked onto the bridge. "Ensign Dema reporting for duty." Jason walked over to Keswick. "I'm here to releave you Ensign Keswick, get some rest." (reply Keswick) as soon as Keswick left Jason sat down and checked the systems and waited for his first orders of the day. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- Stardate: 2406.10.22 (USS Mystique - Observation Lounge - CO Captain Vanyssa Winters - 0845) Vanyssa sat in the observation lounge, sipping her juice and reading through her orders again. Her orders were to observe and archive, and get that ship out of the way.She wondered how they were going to do the later. The reports showed that there were rudimentary weapons on the ship, as well as the fact that the power supply on the ship was failing, which was why it was falling. She hoped that OPS had managed to find the manifest and crew of that ship. That would tell her a lot about why they were out here. As far as she could vaguely remember from her classes in school, while Earth did send out a number of generation and colonization ships, none were to this area of space. And the policy was to not colonize a world with people already on it. She leaned back, twirling a stylus around in her fingers, thinking. These people, whoever they are, obviously had developed a sophisticated society with some technology and a high appreciation of art. They had obviously interbred, and as such could be considered a new race, despite the fact that they were, at one time, human. She looked up as Mr. Ketal walked in, he was always first, and she remembered that she needed to thank him for everything that he had done, including coming to visit Jennah and her friend Cassie. It seemed vaguely wrong to have the two of them out here in the middle of space... all alone, with no other children. Especially after what had happened to them right after the ship had been launched. It wasn't fait of them to be caught in the middle of this civil war. They were, after all, just children. She realized that the rest of her crew had filtered in and came to start the meeting. "I've called you all here, because I've received orders from the Admiral about this new race. We are to observe, and collect data, as well as come up with a way to remove the ship from it's decaying orbit. We've also been tasked with sending down a team to do some first hand research. We are to spend a week here, gathering what data we can, and then continue on. We are not to make first contact, and we are not to reveal ourselves as outsiders. The Admiral wants to minimize cultural contamination. Doctor Harper, Ambassador, Counsellor, the three of you have been studying these people, what can you tell us about them ?" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- Stardate: 2406.10.22 (USS Mystique - Observation Lounge - Ensign Jason Dema - 0848) Jason walked in to see Vanyssa and Ketal allready present. "goodmorning." Jason said as he took seat. Jason watched as the rest of the crew entered the room, and replying to all hello's till everyone was present and Vanyssa started the meeting. "I've called you all here, because I've received orders from the Admiral about this new race. We are to observe, and collect data, as well as come up with a way to remove the ship from it's decaying orbit. We've also been tasked with sending down a team to do some first hand research. We are to spend a week here, gathering what data we can, and then continue on. We are not to make first contact, and we are not to reveal ourselves as outsiders. The Admiral wants to minimize cultural contamination. Doctor Harper, Ambassador, Counsellor, the three of you have been studying these people, what can you tell us about them ?" Jason listened to Harper, Ambassador and the counsellor while thinking of a way to remove the ship. as soon as the three were done speaking and they went over to any ideas, Jason was the first to rise. "for the moment I can think of 3 things, 1, If the scans can show that the hull integrity is strong enough, why not tractor it out, 2, calculate the ship's mass, and customize 1 or more torpedoes to destroy every inch of that ship, and use phaser to destroy smaller parts if there are any, though I wouldn't recommand that cause the people on the planet will see the explosion, 3, I don't know if this is possible, but maybe we can make soft impulses with the deflector array to push the ship aside." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- Stardate: 2406.10.22 (USS Mystique - Observation Lounge - CSO Ketal - 0904) The half Vulcan was more calm and focused this morning than he had been in many years as he sat in the lounge waiting for the meeting to start. As Ketal watched the others file in he considered the gravity of their mission, the ship alone was a large problem but it would pale in comparison to a first contact, they were always dicey affairs because of the prime directive; especially those with a non-space faring race. He looked over at Vanyssa then back at the others as he considered what had happened last night. ~ No the meeting comes first, private matters are secondary. ~ He thought as she stood to begin the meeting. "I've called you all here, because I've received orders from the Admiral about this new race. We are to observe, and collect data, as well as come up with a way to remove the ship from it's decaying orbit. We've also been tasked with sending down a team to do some first hand research. We are to spend a week here, gathering what data we can, and then continue on. We are not to make first contact, and we are not to reveal ourselves as outsiders. The Admiral wants to minimize cultural contamination. Doctor Harper, Ambassador, Counsellor, the three of you have been studying these people, what can you tell us about them ?" (reply Counsellor and Ambassador) After listening to their views on the indigenous peoples Vanyssa nodded then looked toward him. "Mr. Ketal, I know that Lt. Sarouk is busy in Engineering, but the two of you were working on a way to remove that ship from orbit. What have you come up with ?" Ketal leaned forward as he spoke. "Captain this region of space is riddled with subspace faults and ripples and it is dangerous to use either our tractor beams or transporters as well as any sort of focused energy beam lest there be a collapse in the fabric of it. Warp drive should also be held to less than warp three to minimize damage to the subspace fabric. Without using these we would recommend sending shuttles with an engineering team over to try to affect repairs to the vessel and make use its own failing power supply to lift it out of its low orbit into a safer one until further action can be taken to move it safely away from the planet. Lt. Sarouk is certain he can replicate any needed components and I estimate the ship has sufficient fuel for the attempt though with little margin for error." Having said that he settled back in his chair to await further discussion. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- Stardate: 2406.10.22 (USS Mystique - Observation Lounge - CO Captain anyssa Winters - 0905) "I've called you all here, because I've received orders from the Admiral about this new race. We are to observe, and collect data, as well as come up with a way to remove the ship from it's decaying orbit. We've also been tasked with sending down a team to do some first hand research. We are to spend a week here, gathering what data we can, and then continue on. We are not to make first contact, and we are not to reveal ourselves as outsiders. The Admiral wants to minimize cultural contamination. Doctor Harper, Ambassador, Counsellor, the three of you have been studying these people, what can you tell us about them ?" (reply Counsellor and Ambassador) Vanyssa nodded. "Mr. Ketal, I know that Lt. Sarouk is busy in Engineering, but the two of you were working on a way to remove that ship from orbit. What have you come up with ?" (reply Ketal) "Ms. Tourana, your background is in astrophysics, do you concur with Mr. Ketal ? Is there anything about this section of space that we should be concerned about in using the tractor beam ?" (reply Tourana) Vanyssa nodded. "Suggestions?" Vanyssa asked of the table. (Reply, room for debate here) "I suppose that the next order of business is actually going down to the planet. Mr. Bellinia, please work Mr. Radchenko on choosing crew members who are close to the 'normal' that have been observed. Mr. Radchenko, how hard will the alterations be to make ?" (reply Radchenko) Vanyssa turned to her team of cultural experts, if anyone was in this room. "How hard will it be for our team to be believable ? Can they be from one of those cities ?" (reply Counsellor, Ambassador) Then she caught Hhril's eye. "How are the modifications going on the universal translator ?" (reply Hhril) Vanyssa took a deep breath. "Security. Normally, marines accompany away teams, but I want one of the assistants with the away team. Mr. Lee, please select a couple of marines to go with the away team, as well as one of the assistant tactical officers. I am sure that you have some that are used to working undercover. Mr. Dema, I want the weapons modified to cut through the interference in this sector. I am nervous about an attack by Starfleet." She took a deep breath. "Mr. Keswick, please assist Mr. Dema on this assignment." (reply Lee, Dema, Keswick) "Lt. Herk, find me places to hide in this sector where we can observe and mount a rescue mission as needed. I want to avoid combat as much as I can. " She took a deep breath. "And finally Intelligence says that there might be an attack, and the Mystique is on the search and destroy list. There will be no boardings, there will be no chance at negotiation. They will destroy us and make an example to LoDona if they can. I do not want to give them a chance. Mr. Ketal, Mr. Hhril, the two of you are the experts on those sensors. I need to know when we are being approached, from as far away as possible." (Ketal, Hhril, iyw) Vanyssa sat back. "Questions, Suggestions, Input ?" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- Stardate: 2406.10.22 (USS Mystique - Observation Lounge - Ensign Jason Dema - 0909) Jason was listening very carefully to everything beeing said, untill Vanyssa turned to security. "Security. Normally, marines accompany away teams, but I want one of the assistants with the away team. Mr. Lee, please select a couple of marines to go with the away team, as well as one of the assistant tactical officers. I am sure that you have some that are used to working undercover. Mr. Dema, I want the weapons modified to cut through the interference in this sector. I am nervous about an attack by Starfleet. Mr. Keswick, please assist Mr. Dema on this assignment." Jason stood up firmly. "it will be done Ma'am, and if I'm allowed, then I would like to volunteer for the away-team." (reply any if needed) The meeting went on and Jason was thinking the whole time of ways to get rid of the ship and he noted down some thoughts untill he heard Vanyssa again. "Questions, Suggestions, Input ?" Jason stood up. "Captain, if I may." (reply if needed) "for the moment I can think of 3 things, 1, If the scans can show that the hull integrity is strong enough, why not tractor it out, 2, calculate the ship's mass, and customize 1 or more torpedoes to destroy every inch of that ship, and use the phasers to destroy smaller parts if there are any, though I wouldn't recommand that cause the people on the planet will see the explosion, 3, I don't know if this is possible, but maybe we can make soft impulses with the deflector array to push the ship aside." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- Stardate: 2406.10.22 (USS Mystique - Observation Lounge - Conn- Lt. Herkimer 78- 0920) Herk listened to the meeting with interest. It sounded like they were in for a little bit of an adventure. This ship was turning out to be one adventure after another. That's just the way s/he like it. It gave hir a little thrill. "Lt. Herk, find me places to hide in this sector where we can observe and mount a rescue mission as needed. I want to avoid combat as much as I can. " She took a deep breath. "And finally Intelligence says that there might be an attack, and the Mystique is on the search and destroy list. There will be no boardings, there will be no chance at negotiation. They will destroy us and make an example to LoDona if they can. I do not want to give them a chance. Mr. Ketal, Mr. Hhril, the two of you are the experts on those sensors. I need to know when we are being approached, from as far away as possible." (Ketal, Hhril, iyw) Vanyssa sat back. "Questions, Suggestions, Input ?" Herk had been playing with the PADD s/he had brought with hir. S/he had taken the liberty of downloading all the information of this star system on it before hand. As the captain gave her orders s/he started hir search, so that by the time Winters had asked about input s/he was ready. "Captain," Herk said, "I may have a hidey place in mind. May I?" Herk stood and went to the console. S/he put hir PADD beside the computer console and uploaded the information into it. The holo-display came to life, showing a star map of the system. "If you look in sector 36, grid 12 you'll notice that there is an energy displacement high in the IR band width. It may be a protostar in a dromant phase. If it is, we can hide quite effectively in there. Sensors should not be able to detect us, and with a slight adjustment , screening out the radioactivity and graviton fields, we should be able to get some decent resolution out of our sensors." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stardate 2406.10.08 (USS Hood, Bridge, OPS, Lt (jg) HHril, 2230) Stardate: 2406.10.14 (USS Mystique, Deck 4, Officer Quarters, OPS, Lt (jg) HHril, 2015) Stardate: 2406.10.15 (USS Mystique, Bridge, OPS, Lt (jg) HHril, 1300) (USS Mystique - FO's office; FO Lt Cmdr Peter Belinia; 1800) Stardate: 2406.10.17 (USS Mystique - quarters - Conn- Lt Herkimer 78- 1235) (USS Mystique - quarters - Ensign Jason Dema - 1238) (USS Mystique - Main Bridge; FO Lt Cmdr Peter Belinia; 1240) (USS HOLO-Mystique, HOLO-Main Bridge, HOLO-OPS, Lt (jg) HOLO-HHril, HOLO-1241) (USS Mystique - Main Bridge; CSO Ketal; 1242) USS Mystique - near marine center - Ensign Jason Dema - 1248) (USS Mystique - Quarters - TASC Ensign Travis Keswick - 1900) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------- Stardate: 2406.10.18 (USS Mystique - Bridge - Ensign Jason Dema - 1156) (USS Mystique - Sickbay - Ensign Jason Dema & Cassandra Dema - 1206) (USS Mystique - ready room - Ensign Jason Dema - 1241) (USS Myqtique - Holodeck - Ensign Jason Dema - 1321) (USS Mystique - Lounge - Ensign Jason Dema - 1423) (USS Mystique - Lounge - Sarah Nevada - 1451) (USS Mystique - quarters - 1453) (USS Mystique - Sickbay - Sarah Nevada - 1503) (USS Mystique - Lounge - Ensign Jason Dema - 1520) (USS Mystique - Sickbay - Ensign Jason Dema - 1524) (USS Mystique - Phaser Range - Ensign Jason Dema - 1634) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------ Stardate: 2406.10.19 (USS Mystique - Sickbay - Sarah Nevada - 0900) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------- Stardate: 2406.10.21 (USS Mystique, Bridge, OPS, Lt (jg) HHril, 1700) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------------- Stardate: 2406.10.22 (USS Mystique - Personal quarters - CSO Ketal and Captain Vanyssa Winters- 03:40) (USS Mystique, Observation Lounge, OPS, Lt (jg) HHril, 0856) (USS Mystique Observation Lounge TASC Ensign Travis Keswick 0900) (USS Mystique, Observation Lounge, CO, Captain Vanyssa Winters, 0916) (USS Mystique, Observation Lounge, CSO Ketal - 09:25) (USS Mystique, Observation Lounge, CO Captain Vanyssa Winters - 09:35) (USS Mystique, Observation Lounge, TASC Ensign Travis Keswick - 09:36) (USS Mystique, Bridge, CEO, Lt(sg) Sarouk, 0940) (USS Mystique, Ready Room, CEO, Lt(sg) Sarouk, 0943) (USS Mystique, Ready Room, CO Captain Vanyssa Winters, 0945) (USS Mystique, Ready Room, CO Captain Vanyssa Winters & CEO Lt. Sarouk, 0946) (USS Mystique - Bridge - Ensign Jason Dema - 1000) (USS Mystique, Bridge, CO Captain Vanyssa Winters , 1045) (USS Mystique, Deck 14, CSO's office, CSOKetal , 1050) (USS Mystique - computer lab - Ensign Jason Dema - 1124) (USS Mystique, Observation Lounge, TASC Ensign Travis Keswick - 1145) (USS Mystique, Observation Lounge, OPS, Lt (jg) HHril, 1922) Begin compile ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------- Stardate: 2406.10.08 (USS Hood, Bridge, OPS, Lt (jg) HHril, 2230) The Defiant class ship was bearing down on the little Runabout. They had literally no chance of surviving this attack. The fact was, that the Mystique was a match for their pursuers, they were not. The Cmdr had directed Tourana to take the ship back to the Mystique. Perhaps the sight of her would be enough to make the defiant break away. ~Here's hoping.~ he thought to himself as another shot blasted their shields. "Shields down to 54%, Sir." HHril said as the hull shook under the force of the blast. "We really can't take much more of this." "Ensign, evasive maneuvers. Pattern Delta Sierra." order the FO of the Mystique. One thing was certain, their pilot may be young, but she certainly was not unskilled. The maneuverability of the Runabout was their only chance to survive the attack, and she was certainly putting the little ship through its paces. " Hold on tight, here we go " she shouted as the Runabout performed a tight loop, allowing the larger ship to slip beneath her. " They were going to ram us, and I haven't finished trying this baby out yet, Sir ! " Continuing evasive maneuvers, Tourana kept the Defiant class ship within a safe distance, not allowing it to turn and fire the pulse phasers at them but allowing the Runabout to fight back. Three torpedoes sped away from the little craft, all impacting on the shields. "Direct hit to their dorsal shields, Sir. Minimal effect." informed HHril. "Their shields are weakening, but they have regenerative shielding. I'm charging phasers to two hundred per cent. This will fry some systems, so lets hope they won't be vital ones. Ensign, we'll need some fancy flying, but make sure we are still within range." HHril began routing power to the phasers through non-essential systems in the hopes of frying systems that they could live without. ~I doubt anyone will be ordering up tea any time soon.~ he thought to himself as he routed all power from the replicator. "Ensign, take us underneath her, Lieutenant change shield frequency to nine one point zero zero four." "Aye, Sir." HHril answered and completed the task asked of him. "Ensign, when we go underneath the ship, our shields will merge, be ready to make a speedy getaway. It'll be a bumpy ride!" Now realizing exactly what the FO had in mind, HHril quickly adjusted the frequency of their shields to match the larger ship which was now above them and set their scanners to automatically adjust the frequency to allow the ship pass through as easy as possible. "Hold on to be fried!" the Cmdr yelled as he fired the phasers.Flashes of light emerged from all around the bridge. Sparks fell and panels hung from their hinges. Suddenly, HHril's chair was struck, turning he saw that it was the FO, lying sprawled on the floor, a welt on the side of his head anda seared hand. "Cmdr," he said, rising to his feet. "They are still in persuit. We caused damage to several non-essential systems as well as to their targeting systems. They are still in hot pursuit, and still have the upper hand, but we may have evened the odds a little." Suddenly, an alarm blared and the craft lurched to the side. " Sir, I'm losing directional control, one of you had better fix it and fast" "I'm on it," Yelled HHril in replyto Tourana's request. "Just don't slow down." HHril hit the floor under the conn of the ship, where Tourana was trying her best to keep them from getting blown to bits. It was not a pretty sight. Circuits were fried and isolinear chips were fused. The only way to fix this problem was to hot-wire the directional controls. For that, he would have to tap into the navigational array and sensor grid. He knew that he could do it, but did he have enough time. "We are out of control. Ensign, try your best to regain control." said the FO as he fired away at the Defiant. Sparks shot out under the console as each torpedo sped away searing his face and eyes. If not for the second set of clear eyelids all Romulans and Vulcans had, HHril would have been blinded. "Navigational deflector is offline. The EPS conduits in that section have damaged it beyond repair! Ensign, have you ever flown blind before?" "Actually, Sir. That is me." broke in HHril before Tourana could reply. "I will have directional control in a few moments but we will have lost the navigational sensors in order to do it." " Sir, I can fly this thing standing on my head AND blind if you need me too! ", Tourana shouted asthe ship shifted to manual piloting control. This approach was much less efficient, but it should keep them alive. " Hold tight, incoming missile and I cant evade this one too well, its going to graze us at least ! " The ship jerked as it was struck, pieces of debris from the fried circuits fell in his face causing lacerations. The green blood flowed from his cheeks as he pulled himself from under the console. "Shields down to twelve per cent, port nacelle is.........not there, life support is failing and the warp core may breach any time now." There was no hiding their situation, and the tone in the FO's voice spelled it out. They were in serious trouble. HHril was thrown to the wall as the Hood went into a flat spin, slaming him into the console and breaking a few ribs. "Sir, there is nothing I can do, we have to evacuate if the Mystique doesn't hurry up !" said Tourana very matter-of-factly. "Beam the probe to the Mystique. Before we blow up!" said the FO to HHril. "Aye, Sir" he said. He locked on with the scanners and beamed it directly to the Main Science Lab. "Transport successful." "Ensign, prepare the escape pod for release. Abandon ship." HHril still had to send their talematry back to his station on board the Mystique. A few key buttons and the info was sent. HHril headed to the escape pod and helped the ensign into her seat. She was bleeding much worse than he was. And the Cmdr himself, was in no condition to be out and about himself. Once she was seated, he turned to help Cmdr Belinia into his seat before strapping himself in. "Ensign, release us." order the FO of the Mystique. The pod shot away from the Runabout and the battle, hopefully, the Defiant class ship would not just shoot them out of the sky. "Pod released "answered to pilot. Her first days work and she had earned her wings. That was in fact an understatement. She had saved their lives. Tears welled in her eyes,and she looked away from HHril. He too had not expected this for their second day of work. He closed his eyes and leaned into his seat. "Ms. Tourana," began the FO. "It was not your fault. You did everything you could, and against a Defiant class, you excelled yourself. You kept us alive, and without you we would not be here now. Hold your head high, you are a credit to your uniform, and I am in your debt." ~As am I.~ thought HHril to himself. He felt disoriented. Conversation continued in the pod, but HHril heard none of it. There was something wrong. Something had happened that he had not realized and his body was no longer able to deal with it. An audible groan escaped his lips and his body leaned forward.Darkness. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------- Stardate: 2406.10.14 (USS Mystique, Deck 4, Officer Quarters, OPS, Lt (jg) HHril, 2015) It had been days since the run in with the USS Fairchild. HHril was feeling better, all things considered. The fact that they had been attacked by a Federation ship was bad enough. The fact that they had been attacked by an unprovoked Federation ship spoke volumes. They were considered traitors. More than likely, the Captainand crew of the defiant class ship did not know the truth. More than likely they were just following orders. More than likely... The fact was that he believed in LoDona and the cause of the 52nd fleet. The fact was that based on what he had been told, andbased on what he had seen, there was no way that he was being misled. But he was certain that there were those on the other side, those still affiliated withStarfleet that had been told and had seen things also. War was never easy. And thiswar had all the makings of a terrible one. He picked up the PADDfrom his table next to the empty plate. He had managed tosecure a cooking console for himself and had finished up the plate of chicken and rice thathe had made for himself. Thereplicator could never get things right. He preferred todo things himself when possible, and cooking was one thing that he was able to do by himself. On thePADD was all the information he had amassed about the subspace relay module that he, Tourana and Belinia had retrieved. The modifications had been done by someone with an understanding of cloaking technologies.Out of the known conspirators, onlyHaydridge could have performed the modifications.And even then, she would not have had the security clearance to obtain the necessary equipment. So how did she get access to the relay module. And, for that matter, how did she get hold of a modular cloaking device. It certainly was a mystery. One that he felt would continue to unfold as their missions continued. He placed the PADD on the table, rose, and crossed his quarters to the replicator placing the plate and utensils on the surface. Two buttons and three beeps later the plate vanished. One more button, and the replicator was ready to process his request. "Raktajino." A whir and a cup filled with the hot liquid appeared where the dishes had been placed. Taking the cup from the replicator, HHril crossed the room to the couch on the far side. He had secured a bow and arrow set, his grandfathers, to the wall directly over the couch. He looked at it before sitting down. His time with the Tal Shiar had trained him to be suspicious. That was, after all, the job of a Tal Shiar agent. To be suspicious beyond even regular normal Romulan citizens. They had shown him that every piece of data, no matter how insignificant could lead to a great discovery. ~How could she have gotten hold ofthe materials!~ he thought to himself. ~It just doesn't make any sense.~ He continued to look over the schematics of the module on the PADD. ~What is special about this module. What have theychanged on it other than to add a cloaking device.~ "Computer." began HHril. "Commence recording OPS officers report." The computer beeped to notify that the command had been carried out. "OPS officers report. Lt HHril reporting. Further inspection of the subspace module has shown nothing new. I will continue to conduct test to try and determine exactly what it is about this probe that would be worth attacking the Hood for. The fact is, the Fairchild would have been more effective had they remained anonymous to the Mystique. To reveal themselves to us for a simple subspace relay module seems... illogical." he paused and smiled to himself. ~I sound like a Vulcan.~ he thought to himself. "Computer end recording. Add to previous entries, save and file." The computer beeped once again in acknowledgement and then the room was quiet. HHril sipped the last of his drink as he walked towards his bedroom. ~Another day, another mystery.~ he thought to himself as he lay down for sleep. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------- Stardate: 2406.10.15 (USS Mystique, Bridge, OPS, Lt (jg) HHril, 1300) The last few weeks had given the Mystique, the newest Akira Class vessel in the fleet to show why Admiral Ladona had decided to commission an older design. The ship handled better, moved faster, and was more defensively capable than any Akira that had come before her. She would certainly be a force to be reckoned with in the battles to come. HHril had recovered from his injuries. They had not been severe, but his body had buckled under the strain. That was something that he would not allow to happen again. He had increased his physical and mental training to assure that he would be prepared for anything. The Mystique had been ordered to an uncharted area of space to continue the testing of some of the newer systems. The Shielding was of a new design as was the cloaking device. Hopefully with some tweaking, both systems would be perfected. HHril was in the process of running passive scans on the system. He was about half way through his second shift. Although they had picked up a full crew compliment at Geneva, HHril had continued to work double shifts and would continue to do so until everything on board the ship ran without anyone having to do anything. A beep and a flashing light pulled him to the right hand side of his console. An unusual signal. "Captain Winters." began the ch'Rihan."I'm picking up an unusual signal, Sir." "On screen, Lt." came the anticipated reply. HHril pushed two buttons and the image appeared on the screen. A musician was playing a strange instrument. But the instrument was the least strange thing on the screen. The one playing it was a species HHril had never seen before, and doubted that anyone else aboard ship would have either. The audio was distorted and HHril worked with the computer to clean up the signal. Suddenly hitting the correct frequency, the sound cleared and filled the bridge. It was intoxicating. Once finished, the musician stood and bowed to her audience, displaying a pair of wings which protruded from her back. The image then changed, to that of a humanoid. But he was not human... much closer than the first creature mind you, but still not the same. This one had pointed ears, and HHril found himself thinking of his own ears as he watched. No fur was present on this second creature,but the wings were. Who were these strange people. "Hmm." The noise had come from the Captain. That noise summed up what everyone witnessingthe theatrics was feeling. "Can we isolate where this broadcast is coming from?" she asked. "Affirmative Captain, the source of the signal is 5.3 light years away at a bearing of 83 degrees. Long range sensors show a class M planet." The answer had come from Mr Ketal at science. "Set course for it, warp 4."She said, rising. "ETA?" "At warp 7 well be there in 3hours 50 minutes," replied the CONN officer. "Excellent." replied theCaptain, satisfied with the answer. "Please have Dr. Mias, and Dr. Harper, as well as Mr. Ketal review these, Number One. I'd like to know something about them before we reach their planet." Without waiting for an answer, the Captain headed off the bridge to her ready room. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------ Stardate: 2406.10.15 (USS Mystique - FO's office; FO Lt Cmdr Peter Belinia; 1800) Peter sat listening to his favorite music while reading the latest reports from the ship, Geneva and those reports from anywhere else that Fleet Command allowed him to see. It was quite busy being FO, he had no idea of how hard it could be. Had he been trained this would all be easier, so he imaginede, but he had not had the luxury ofattending the Command course before he took his post as FO of the Mystique. He had healed quite well, there was a small scar on his left hand, but it was not distracting. He had been ordered to report to the Counsellor once a day. But he was far to busy for that. They had only had one session, but Peter knew it had helped. He had read several reports on the interegation of the survivingmember of the spy group who had successfully infiltrated the Mystique and the 52nd. It was not going according to expectations, but they were holding out hope. The current thinking was that she, like the three others, wererecruited after the transfer to the Beta Quadrant. But information wasscarse as to who recruited them, where and when. They were heading down the Courts Martial route at the moment, but that did not seem to phase the prisoner. It looked bleek for the moment, but they wereoptimistic that they should prevail. ~I hope they do, it does not bode well if we fail at this!~ He stoodand wandered the short distance to his couch. This office was smaller than his office at Geneva, but it had a couch, windows and quite a large desk, which was no longer visible under all the PADD's and Computer Access Terminals [CAT's]. He thought back to his time on Geneva, his friends and colleagues. He missed them. He held in his hand a picture of his parents, they were in London and were standing outside Buckingham Palace, the glorious home to King Edward XXVII. Peter was missing them alot, he had not told the Captain much but he suspected she knew anyway. Mostly he was frightened, frightened that he would have to fight his mother in the months to come. Fleet Commandhad informed him that his mother was now Captain of the USS Earheart, a Soveriegn class vessel. He was intereupted from his thoughts by the computer. =/\=Priority message from Starfleet Command=/\= Now that was odd, for several reasons. Firstly all communications hadto come via the Bridge, Seondly, and most importantly, Starfleet Command would not send him any communications. He stood and nervously switched his mini view screen on. The window directly above the couch dissapeared and the Emblem of the Federation hung on a black/blue background. Then a face he did not recognise came on. =/\=Lieutenant Commander Peter Belinia, I am Rear-Admiral Fenton Caunt. This messege was recorded on stardate 2406.10.06. Concerning your father, David Belinia. It is my sad duty to inform you of his untimley demise. He died on stardate 2406.09.28, due to an experimental warpcore going critical. Fully half of the scientists based at Starbase 156 were lost. Your father was transfered to that station only one month before the accident. His funeral was conducted an stardate 2406.10.05, in attendance were your mother, and the majority of your family, colleagues of your father and representatives of the Federation and Starfleet. Your mother was presented with the UFP flag, and has since returned to duty. Your father is buried on Earth in your family's crypt. My condolences.=/\= With that the screenagain showed the Emblem of the Federation. The screen dissapeared as Peter slumped onto his couch once again.He was numb, and tears fell down his cheeks. He checked and recomposedhimself. "Computer encode messege and relay to Fleet Command, priority Alpha one. Authorization Belinia Omega nine nine Phi. Send messege." =/\=Message sent=/\= "Belinia to Bridge, did any communications register on the commrelay.?" (Reply any on Bridge if you want) "Are you sure that none were recorded?" (Reply any on Bridge if you want) "Very well, never mind. Belinia out." Peter huffed and decided to goto his quaters. It was a short walk. [An understatement if ever there was one!]. Once inside he went straight to his bed. Removed all his clothes and lay there naked. There he wept. =/\=Priority messege from Starbase 953=/\= Peter wiped his eyes and sat up as the computer terminal on the wallopposite his bed came to life. It was pictures of a dissaster. A spacestation, in peices. Escape pods and debris filled the surrounding space. Then it changed to inside the station. It was recorded on a rescue camera. Peter could see devestation, dead bodies and maimedpeople all over the place. It was horrific, Peter held back a wretch, barely. The scene changed again to a cargo bay of a ship or station. It was filled with covered bodies of the deceased. They were covered in blood, body parts were piled next to them, and entrails were visible. Peter had no time to make it to the toilet, he threw up on his bed. He stood, turned away from the screen. Although there was no sound he could feel it on his baack. "Computer.....end transmission. Record and send to Fleet Command. Authorization Belinia Omega nine nine Phi." =/\=Communication sent=/\= Peter took up his sheets and stuck them on the replicator pad. In a few moments they had dissapeared and he headed to the shower. It was a lovely water shower. He had not had a water shower for years, just sonic ones. This day was getting weirder by the second. He knew that, like the other messege, this one would not have been sent via the main comms relay. Which meant that another ship was close by. It was unlikely that they would be attacked so soon after the last encounter. But it was still unnerving to realise that fact. He then made a note to inform the Captain. He replicated some more sheets, andusing his command codes, he also replicated a hypospray loaded with a mild sedative to enable him to sleep. He was fully aware that the Docwould know by the morning, but he would deal with that then. he went to his room, made his bed and then injected himself. He fell asleep. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------------------- Stardate: 2406.10.17 (USS Mystique - quarters - Conn- Lt Herkimer 78- 1235) Herk heard the red alert and raced into the hallway of the crew quarters.S/he stopped short at the sight that was before hir. In the hallway,several Xenolithe were moving menacingly away from hir. Stepped back andtapped hir comm badge. "Herkimer to the bridge, we have intuders on deck 2." There was no reply. Suddenly Herk caught a motion out the side of hir eye and mved just as Xenolithe warrior leaped. Herk stepped aside and fired hir phaser. It had little effect, except maybe to make the Xenolithe mad. It snarled an ugly snarl and pressed it's attack. Herk paried the attack swinging behind it, driving a strike into it's back.Long, shaprp claws appeared as the warrior attempted to slash at theHermat. Herk caught the wrist of one of the arms and spun around using hirfull strength, momentum, plus the leverage s/he had managed to get, and twisted the arm at an impossible angle. It was accompanied by asickeningbreaking sound, and followed by a shriek. Herk then grabbed the head, rolled behind and twisted and pulled until there was another crack. The Xenolithe fell to it's knees but continued to try and skewer Herk. In afit of rage, Herk found a soft spot in the Xenolithes neck and sank hircanines into it, ripping tendons and blood vessels. After a few moments theXenolithe stopped moving. Herk looked up with a feral look in hir eyes andblood covering hir face. "This is going to be harder than I thought," s/he said. S/he looked up tosee three more Xenolithes coming towards hir. "Much harder." As the intruders advanced on Herk, s/he saw something or someonerunnig downthe corridor. They were in a modified BDU. The only possible person towear such a thing would have to be Dema. Herk could see that his arm wasalready injured. Her rolled hir eyes. "My hero," s/he said sarcastically. Suddenly the three Xenolithes attacked simultaneously. Herk barelyhad achance to defend hirself. One of the Xenolithe's fell, but it was notenough. Herk heard a strange sucking sound, and felt something odd in hirchest. S/he looked down to see two sets of claws protruding through hirbody. S/he looked up at Dema's face as he turned the corner, reached forhim, buthad trouble speaking. All that came out of hir mouth was a small river ofblood. Herk's eyes rolled to the back of hir head and s/he stoppedbreathing. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------- Stardate: 2406.10.17 (USS Mystique - quarters - Ensign Jason Dema - 1238) After Jason finished his attackers he looked over the corner to see if anymore Xeno's would appear, but it was safe for the moment, so he started torun to engineering. As he went down the corridor he could hear noises ofcombat and decided to take a look. Just as he passed the corner he could see three Xeno's and Herk. Herk was taken by surprise as s/he looked at Jason,but right at that moment they attacked hir. S/he tried to defend herself,one fell to the floor, but another one stabbed Herk with his claws asJasonwas running to hir to help. He quickly drew his phaser that was still onlevel 14, and fired at the Xeno on the floor and the Xeno not stabbing Herk,he quickly lowered the level to 12 and fired at the other Xeno untill hefell down to the floor, only to see Herk fainting too. Jason ran to hir andcut through his claws with his phaser. Jason checker hir polse, but there was none. =/\= Ensign Dema to sickbay, we have a crewmember down, prepare for asiteto site transport.=/\= Jason didn't wait for a response and activated the transporter. Seeing thesight of Herk covered in blood dissappearing made Jason mad..... very mad.He set his phaser to the highest level and shot the 2 dead Xeno's lying deadon the floor. They desintegrated immediatly. Jason face showed anger as hewent berserk. He started walking at a very fast pace, he didn't even feltthe pain in his arm anymore as he walked through the corridors on his wayto engineering. He stumbled upon another Xeno squad who started to ran athim. Jason didn't budge an inch and fired his phaser at the Xeno's. Thexeno's tried to dodge, only 2 of them were able to dodge as the dropped tothe floor. but Jason kept walking to them but Xeno's never fear and attackedonce more, only to be shot down by Jason. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------------- Stardate: 2406.10.17 (USS Mystique - Main Bridge; FO Lt Cmdr Peter Belinia; 1240) Peter was sat in the Command seat reading the latest departmental reports when a shout came from Tactical. Seven ships were coming out of the strange anomoly they were monitoring. "I was begining to like the silence!" Peter said as he rushed to his feet. "On screen, analysis Mr Keswick. What are their tactical capabilities?" They did not have time to find out. 17 of heir torpedoes had shattered the shield grid with the back ups down aswell. "Red Alert, Red Alert, All hands to battle stations, boarding. Xenolithe ships have appeared and are beaming aboard!" Peter shouted over the comm. The first he saw of them were seven who beamed directly onto the Bridge. Peter dived behind the command seat and grabbed the phaser that was situated in a side holster on the chair. He quickly set it to kill and started to fire it at the intruders. They were incredibly hard to kill! Peter looked around the Bridge, dived towards HHril who was lying on the floor, shooting at the two Xeno nearest him. Peter relocated his fire towards those and their combined effort brought one to the ground, where it fizzed out of existence. They turned to the next one, it was moving closer. Peter glanced around him to see three moreconverging on their position. He turned to fire on them, and managed to slow one down. In doing so the two flanking the Xeno recieving Peters fire rushed him. He was overwhelmed and the two Xeno thrust at him, their claws wereshoved deep into his chest. He screamed as he was lifted from the ground, pain he had never felt before. Blood was now spurting from his mouth and chest in a veritable river. One of the Xenos removed his claws in a ripping manner slicing Peters stomach open. His entrails fell to the floor in a steaming heap, they kept unraveling in a sickening slurp-slap-slurp. Bile and vomit were dripping down his body, his legs were now covered in excrement, vomit and blood. The stench was unbeleivable and his screams were earpeircing, even they were bleeding now. Then he was thrust into the air, flying over the Bridge his entrails forced to follow. They draped over all who were beneath him. Blood was gushing from his wounds and as he hit the CONN his screams stopped. His back was now crushed, the blood in his body was gone and as he took in the scene before him he could see that theBridge crew were lying dead, most had his bile and guts plastered over them. Peter had not known such pain, his eyes were getting heavy. His last act was to set the self destruct sequence. He started to speak, but it was a gurgle of blood. The computer did not recognise his voice. He slumped into a heap and slowly died. The remaining five Xenos screamed so loud as to shatter the consoles. Two of them rn over to Peters now dead body and held it highover their heads. The knew it was he who was in command, so the ripped his body in half. They threw his legs over towards the tactical station and then left the Bridge. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------------- Stardate: 2406.10.17 (USS HOLO-Mystique, HOLO-Main Bridge, HOLO-OPS, Lt (jg) HOLO-HHril, HOLO-1241) HOLO-HHril sat at his HOLO-station at HOLO-OPS. It was a perfectly normal HOLO-day on the bridge of the USS HOLO-Mystique.Not that he knew that.Being a hologram himself, all things around him seemed real. Hell, all things to the real people seemed real on the holodeck, why not to him. HOLO-HHril ran scans of the HOLO-area.They had been sent out on a mapping mission in order to fully test the systems on the HOLO-Mystique. Suddenly, the HOLO-sensors picked up 7 Xenolathe ships coming out of an anomaly. HOLO-HHril heard the HOLO-FO speak as 17 torpedoes sped away from the enemy ship striking the shields and dropping them.Suddenly, the mighty HOLO-Mystique was being boarded by the savage beasts. HOLO-HHril jumped from his seat as the first wave of them appeared on the bridge. Being an accomplished marksman, HOLO-HHril pulled and fired at the first Xenolathe as it began stalking towards him. The blast from the HOLO-phaser tore into the body of the creature burning a hole into the right side of its body. Undeterred, the hunter sought out its prey striking HOLO-HHril in the chest, sending him hurtling backwards into the HOLO-viewscreen. The pain was unbearable. As the creature continued to approach him, the HOLO-FO, Lt Cmdr HOLO-Belinia stepped over to where HOLO-HHril was lying on the floor and together, the two bridge officers fired, dropping the beast to the floor. But the creatures continued to advance on them, one tearing into HOLO-Belinia, the other gouging at HOLO-HHril. Within moments, HOLO-Belinia was ripped into two pieces, and HOLO-HHril was full holes with green HOLO-blood pouring from the wounds. The last thing that HOLO-HHril saw was one of the creatures holding the two halves of the once proud and noble HOLO-Belinia in the air above his head. Then all faded to black, as the algorithms that made up his existence retreated to the holodeck processing computer. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------ Stardate: 2406.10.17 (USS Mystique - Main Bridge; CSO Ketal; 1242) Ketal was monitoring the readouts on a quasar that had just been discovered only minutes before when the cry went up on the bridge from Ensign Keswick Xenolith ships had been sighted. He heardCommander Belinia shout. "On screen, analysis Mr Keswick. What are their tactical capabilities?"A quick reset of the sensors showed three enemy ships were launching torpedoes at the Mystique, before he could cry a warning the concussion from multiple impacts had shaken the bridge. Ketal checked the auxiliary shield generators but the blast from 17 missiles had blown them out also. He heard "I was begining to like the silence!" from the FO then he shouted over the comm."Red Alert, Red Alert, All hands to battle stations, boarding. Xenolithe ships have appeared and are beaming aboard!" The next sounds the half Vulcan heard was the carrier wave of a transport beam as Xenolith began beaming to the bridge. Turning he saw seven materialize as he was taking his phaser one from his belt. Knowing stun was all but useless against them he set it on 14 and raised it toward the nearest one. The Xenolith was fast however and was on Ketal before he could pull the trigger, a slash of the beasts claws knocked the phaser from his hand as green blood began to ooze from his wrist. Ketal grabbed the creatures otherwrist asit tried to stab him withits claws and moving into a clinch hegrabbed the creatures other armwith his injured hand as he heard the sounds of phaser fire.The Xenolithsnapped toward him quickly, trying to reach him with its teeth butwith a lunge he tossed the creature toward the rail, there was a snap as its back struck and it lay still. Ketal felt a sting along his right side and saw that he was bleeding profusely from a slash the monster had gotten inat the last moment. Looking toward OPS he saw several Xenolith rshing the FO and RomulanOPS officer and locating his phaser he lunged toward it but was intercepted by another Xenolith that had come upon him from the side, the two wrestled for a moment before it got one hand freeand raised it for the killing blow, there was a Xenolith scream of triumph and blood began raining over the bridge as the creatures claws descended across his throat then all went black. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------- Stardate: 2406.10.17 (USS Mystique - near marine center - Ensign Jason Dema - 1248) Jason was almost at the marine center. He turned around the corner to seeMajor Lee in the far distance, giving instructions. Jason's face stillshowed his madness. blood was allready dripping through his bandage, leavinga trail of blood behind him. Jason started to feel a bit weak due to hisbloodloss but he kept going cause of the adrenaline running through hisbody. But suddenly a lone Xeno attacked him from out of nowhere, Jason couldhardly dodge his claws. He fired his phaser, but the Xeno dropped tothefloor, dodging the shot, and stabbed his claws into Jason's left leg, makinghim fall down to the floor, Jason dropped his phaser. The Xeno got up again,looking at his victim lying helplessly on the ground. Jason tried to crawlfor his phaser, but he felt another stab , again in his left leg but higherthis time. Jason yelled in pain as the Xeno came to sit on top of him. "playing with your victim..... only amatuers do that." Jason said, who wasabout to pass out. Then the Xeno stood up and prepared to make the final blow. Jason took gripwith his left leg in an attempt to jump away, his timing had to be perfect,there was no room for mistakes. Then the Xeno slashed and Jason saw hismoment, he pushed him away with all his strenght to reach his phaser. Jasonwas struck on his side while doing so, he did managed to get his phaser, butthe Xeno was allready attacking again. Jason closed his eyes, only to hearphaser-shots. and when he opened his eyes, he saw the Xeno dead next to him. Jason tried to get up, but he was to weak. he tried again, but his armsdropped lifeless to the floor, and Jason's eyes closed..... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------------- Stardate: 2406.10.17 (USS Mystique - Quarters - TASC Ensign Travis Keswick - 1900) Travis was eating his dinner that consisted of skull stew and bloodwine. he became acostem to Klingon food during his training on Qo'nos. Well he eat he could not get Ambassador Anastasia Tar-Thurianout of his mind. Her jet black hair that seamed to glow under the lights, and her athletic tanned body and her Dark blue eyes that seamed to hypnotize him her beauty was like no other."these are not the thoughts that a Starfleet security officershould have" he sead to himself as he stood up from the table. Travis sat at his desk "Computer start a new letter" he sead as the computer monitor came up from the desk. "Hi T'Kar my old friend how have you been. I hope you are still not mad about me beating you in the Bat'leth ternimint and coming in firstMaking me the first and only human to become grand champion.How is life on the Negh'Var. I hope things are going well for you.Sorry it as taken me so long to get back to you. Alot as happened to me in the last couple of monthsI'm the Assistant tactical chef on the USS Mystique. it ha been a vary crazy first couple of weeks on board. I can't tell you about it you understand.I find it harder to make friends here the I did on Qo'noS. I know you tried to brake me of it but I'm still find it hard to talk to people. Hell you had to beat me with a pain stick before I talked to youhahahahah.But I'm trying, infact there is someone on board that I can't stop thinking about but I don't think biting her arm and smelling her blood will work with her if you know what I mean".Captain Winters is a vary strong and capable leader. Lieutenant Commander Belinia has a lot to learn still but one day I think on day he will make a grate captainI hope to here from you agen soon. Oh by the way thank you for the case of bloodwine I will enjoy it". "Computer end letter and send" Travis stood up from his desk and walked over and sat in his reclining chair with his favorite Novel in hand "Sherlock Homes" and not one of thows on a padd A real book he finds it easer to get into the story that way.and before he new it he was fast asleep. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------------------- Stardate: 2406.10.18 (USS Mystique - Bridge - Ensign Jason Dema - 1156) Another quiet day on the bridge. Jason's shift was about to end and was looking forward to see his sister again like he did every day. The Ensign entered the bridge who was on the next shift, so Jason stood up so that the Ensign could take place, then Jason left the bridge. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------ Stardate: 2406.10.18 (USS Mystique - Sickbay - Ensign Jason Dema & Cassandra Dema - 1206) Jason entered Sickbay and a nurse came to him. "Good news, she's awake." Jason's couldn't believe what he heard and quickly went to her bed to see his sister's eyes open. Jaon hurried over to her and gave her a hug. Cassandra still didn't had all her functions back, but she was getting better.Her senses were almost completely restoredand she couldmove her fingers a bit. "Hey Cassie." Jason said. "Hey big bozo." Jason smiled, at least her sense of humor was still working, Then he noticed the bunny. "Cassie, did you see the person who brought you that bunny?" "No." She said. "I thought you brought it here, I saw it when I woke up." Jason was puzzled, and he was thinking of who would put flowers at cassandra's bed....... Then something came to him. =/\= Ensign Dema to the Captain =/\= I need to talk to you =/\= (reply Vanyssa) "I'll be right back." Jason said to his sister, and then he walked out to the Captain's ready room. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------------- Stardate: 2406.10.18 (USS Mystique - ready room - Ensign Jason Dema - 1241) Jason arrived and knocked on the door. (reply Vanyssa) Jason walked in and sat down and started talking. "Captain." He started, but he then turned his voice to a caring voice. "Vanyssa." He continued showing he wanted to talk over something private. I know you probably feel guilty, but placingflowers and a rabbit-doll at Cassie's bed? it is appreciated, but you really don't have to do that." (reply Vanyssa) "You mean you didn't do it?" (reply Vanyssa) "Well, it seems that someone is putting present's at my sister's bed while I'm away or on duty...." (reply Vanyssa if needed) Jason started to think... "Captain, can I have a day of leave tomorrow? My sister is concious again, so I would like to spend a day with her, and maybe I will see the person who brought those presents." (reply Vanyssa) "Thanks, I really appreciate it." Jason then stood up and left the room. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------- Stardate: 2406.10.18 (USS Myqtique - Holodeck - Ensign Jason Dema - 1321) Jason, who was still sitting at the palmtree watched as the sun almost touched the sea, and would be tucked in by the waves to let the moon take guard over the sky. "Computer, add an acoustic concert-guitar from the year 1990." The computer beeped, and a guitar appeared next to Jason, Jason took the guitar and started to play a goodbye song to the sun as the sun was sinking into the ocean. After the sun was gone it get darker, and torches scattered all over the place started to light, making a romantic mood, only, what is romance if you're just on your own. "Computer, end program and save it as Summer beach, and lock the file for now." [File stored and locked] Then Jason walked out to find a place with more people, so he decided to go the the ship's lounge. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------------------- Stardate: 2406.10.18 (USS Mystique - Lounge - Ensign Jason Dema - 1423) Jason entered the lounge and sat down on a couch close to a window, and looked to the stars. He wasn't looking for long, when suddenly a sweet voice spoke. "Mind if I join you." the voice said. Jason answered without looking behind him. "Depends on who's asking." The voice giggled. "Your guardian angel." It said. Hearing that, Jason couldn't hold it, and his eyes started to get wet again. "Then where were you when I needed you?" "How do you mean?" Jason turned around, and saw the person talking to him. it was a woman, about the age of 21 he thought, she was very beautifull, and she seemed to be honest about asking him, but Jason still dismissed her. "I thank you for your concern, but I would like to be alone for the moment." The girl saw his tears, and decided it was best not to go further into it. "Okay, well, I come around here every day, so if you need someone to talk, just ask for Sarah." "Thanks." He said. "Oh, may I ask for your name she asked." "Jason, Jason Dema." "Okay, see you soon then." With that, the girl walked away and Jason was all alone again, waiting for something, only, he didn't know what. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------ Stardate: 2406.10.18 (USS Mystique - Lounge - Sarah Nevada - 1451) After Sarah went to talk to Jason she started thinking about what was bothering him, she was even surprised he didn't remembered him. But she started to think again about Jason's problem and went to her quarters. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------------- Stardate: 2406.10.18 (USS Mystique - quarters - 1453) Sarah sat down at her small modest desk. "Computer, display all public information about happenings of Dema." [there are 2 results, please specify] She started thinking something would have happened between them if they were related. "Computer, are these 2 person related to each other?" [Affirmative] "What's both their status?" [Jason Dema is on active duty as Assisstant tactical and security officer, under the command of Major Lee, Cassandra Dema is registered as a civilian, currently recuperating in sickbay.] "What was the diagnose of Cassandra Dema?" [That information is confidential] "Computer, what is Jason Dema's workschedule?" [from 0600 hourstill 1200 hours] Sarah was thinking of a way to cheer Jason up a bit, knowing he was down about his sister now, she decided to pay a visit to Cassandra, and hoped to find out more, she replicated a bouquet of flowers and want on her way ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------------- Stardate: 2406.10.18 (USS Mystique - Sickbay - Sarah Nevada - 1503) She was a bit nervous, and hoped she didn't ran in with Jason, she wanted to be anonymous for a while. She walked in and asked for Cassandra Dema, Telling she was an old friend. She was allowed to see her. The nurse accompanied her to Cassie, where she saw her lying lifeless on the bed with a neural shocker to keep brain activity going, and when she walked to the left side of her, she could also see a phaser blast on her head. She started to realize why Jason was so down. She put the flowers next to her bed and took Cassie's hand. "I'm gonna need your help soon little girl." Sarah turned to the nurse. "Please, don't tell Jason I was here, I want it to be a surprise." The nurse nodded and Sarah walked out. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------------- Stardate: 2406.10.18 (USS Mystique - Lounge - Ensign Jason Dema - 1520) Jason sat there long enough and decided it was time to visit his sister like he did everyday before he went to practice shooting. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------- Stardate: 2406.10.18 (USS Mystique - Sickbay - Ensign Jason Dema - 1524) As Jason walked in the room, he walked to Cassie, and noticed the flowers next to her bed. He walked over to the nurse. "Who brought those flowers?" He asked "Those flowers? oh, someone dropped them there, don't ask me why." Jason noticed the sarcasm in her answer and left it as it was. whoever it was, he really appreciated it. He walked over to cassie, and sat down next to her, with still no response coming back from her, he looked at the light blinking on the stimulator. He just sat there for an hour, hoping that something would happen, wich didn't. He decided to go practice again and would visit her again after. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------ Stardate: 2406.10.18 (USS Mystique - Phaser Range - Ensign Jason Dema - 1634) Jason walked to the middle of the room again. "Computer, start simulation at level 25, 25 targets." The lighths dimmed and Jason concentrated. "Engage." Again, a light started to float around the room, Jason mind was set to reach a hit ratio of 30%, even 40 % if possible. He ran the simulation time after time, his ratio varied between 18% and 28%. It was with the 16th try he got an unbelievable ratio. [shots fired: 50, hits: 25, misses: 25, hit ratio: 50%] Jason couldn't believe it, he reached a higher goal then he wanted, but he was sceptic about it and started over again, this time ending with a ratio of 32%. Jason was happy about it and left the room satisfied and went on his way for his quarters for a shower and rest. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------------- Stardate: 2406.10.19 (USS Mystique - Sickbay - Sarah Nevada - 0900) Sarah knew that Jason was on duty so she decided to pay Cassandra another visit. The nurse remembered her and allowed her to go through. Sarah pulled a chair closer and sat down and took a small fluffy rabit-doll out of her pocket, and placed it on top of her stomach, and held her hand again. Suddenly she felt grip on her hand. It was Cassandra squeesing her hand a little bit. She immediatly called for the doctor. "Doctor, doctor, she's moving." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------------- Stardate: 2406.10.21 (USS Mystique, Bridge, OPS, Lt (jg) HHril, 1700) The Captain had been notified that they had gained orbit around the planet. On approach, HHril had begun running intensive scans of the planet itself and its population. As Captain Winters stepped onto the bridge, HHril began to relay the information that he had found. this was definitely an Earth-like planet in almost every way. The environment was a little cooler than what could be found on the Terrain home world, but still considered comfortable. There were two main species of humanoids on the surface, both had been represented in the broadcast seen earlier. The more human of the two species out numbered the hairy creature by about 7:1. Falling into standard orbit, the Mystique began to circle the planet. There, ahead of them in orbit, they saw a ship. "Enlarge and identify against Known Federation Starship design." ordered the Captain. HHril began to punch instructions into his console. What he found shocked the OPS officer. "Sir." he said, "It is a UNSS ship. That is, Pre-Starfleet. It appears to a Conestoga Class Ship." "Huh!?" came the reply from the Captain. "Do we have an identity of the ships name ? Can we cross reference to get manifest and flight plan ?" "By rights, Sir." continued HHril. "This ship should not be here.There were no known Terrain colonization missions into the Beta Quadrant. This ship either ended up way off course, or no one wanted to say where it was going." HHril continued to punch buttons on his console as he paused. "This ship, if it is indeed a Conestoga Class ship was designed for surface landings and disassemblage by the colonists. To find one still intact is not only unusual, but unheard of. The Daystrom Institute only has a replica of a Conestoga Class ship, if we could secure this ship, it could help shed light on that part of Human history." "Engineering," asked the Captain. "Is that ship decaying into the atmosphere ?" (reply Sarouk) "What would be the ecological devastation of such a decay, Mr. Ketal ?" "The ship as you can see Captain is very large and not all of it would burn up in the atmosphere. I estimate some sections as large as 20 tons would hit the planet. If it strikes inhabited areas there could be great loss of life, fires and temporarily severe weather changes. There is also the probability of course of radiation leakage from the wreckage with a half life of several generations which could also poison water sources. The damage ecologically would then be catastrophic, especially considering all the inhabitants are clustered in only five large city-state areas." The Captain began issuing orders. "Spend the next two hours running simulations, Mr. Ketal, Mr. Sarouk, please help him.I want to know what impact that ship will have, as well as alternatives for preventing it.Mr. Bellenia, call a senior staff meeting in the conference lounge for 0900 tomorrow morning. Please have the Counselor and the good Doctor, as well as theAmbassador work onfiguring out their language and culture.Archive the data as we receive it and zip a copy off to Geneva for analyzation."She finished. HHril turned back to his station to consider the situation and what would be their best course of action. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------ Stardate: 2406.10.22 (USS Mystique - Personal quarters - CSO Ketal and Captain Vanyssa Winters- 03:40) Vanyssa looked up, quite content into Ketal's face. She brushed it with her fingers, giggling when he reached out and bit it. "I like biting." She said in a small voice, sharing her desires for pain. It wasn't something that she had ever shared with anyone. David had started it, awakening it in her, and Devan... he was so gentle and loving. There was a hint of roughness, but only the hint. Vanyssaknew, clinically, that some cultures used it, and some sects of Betazoids did, but she had never experienced anything like what they had done. "It was my first time...doing that." She said, wrapping her arms around herself, cold. "I'm supposed to be the Captain, I'm supposed to be strong. " She realized that she was crying, somewhat ashamed that she had enjoyed surrendering completely to him. "When I was on the Nimitz, we got sucked into an alternate reality. My counterpart there kept a slave, an Officer that had been given to her for failing to perform well. She was the First Officer there, and ruled with an iron fist. While...." And the sobs got worse. "While there, one of the telepaths implanted her personality in me. She was Dominant, to a point, but loved pain. And I'm afraid that I'm turning into her. I still have some of her memories in me." Ketal listened closely as Vanyssa began to open up to him completely, he had never been this close to a woman before and he was savoring the feel of her nearness. There were no emotional walls or shields up, they had all come down during the link and he was loathe to raise them in her presence; there would be time this morning before the meeting to prepare himself. Also he was beginning to wonder how this would affect him long term but there would be time to consider that later. When she began to cry he took her chin in his hand and turned her to face him once more, it was amazing to him how their touch caused the link to spring up unbidden as he saw the hurt in her eyes. Through the mental contact he could feel something in her mind like a raw wound and his eyes widened as she shuddered then allowed him to see in his mind the horrors that had been inflicted on her, the evil Vanyssa standing over her with a hypospray, her hand similiarly grasping her chin. Hefelt as the dark Vanyssa used her mind to rip away the helpless Vanyssa's defenses and felt an echo of the pain that she had felt, he gritted his teeth at that echo but held on to the link,after what seemed like an eternity the false Vanyssa had gone and left her helpless underthe mental assault of several others one by one as they took turns assaulting her mind, the pain seemed unending and a few minutes seemed to pass by like hours. Ketal tried to help ease the memory, willing strength to her through the link though he wasn't sure if he had helped or not but the memory receeded and hecringed at the thought of the horrible mental rape she had undergone. Ketal took his hand from her chin and used it to wipe the tears from her face as he consideredwhat had happened to herthen his eyes were drawn to her hair once again, he loved the long redtresses and he reached over and stroked it, enjoying the rich feel and softness of it. He had no problemsigiving hersome pain during lovemakingsince that was what she enjoyedand he now knew where at least part ofher desire for it had come from, he decidedthey could explore that part of their relationship as they went. After a while he lowered his head andbegan tobite her shapelybreasts lightly, as she giggled and squirmed he wrapped his hand inside her beautiful hair and pulled down hard. Vanyssa froze under him, her breath deepening and her eyes glazing over, as the familiar feeling that she remembered both her counterpart and the implanted Kestra experiencing came over her. She relaxed into it, her body relaxing, taking what was given to her instead of fighting it. Ketal stopped and looked up at her, causing her to come out of it. She realized that she was cold, and pulled a blanket around her, feeling him against her. "What was that ?" She whispered, her voice hoarse, shivering against him. "You felt it ?" She asked looking up into his eyes from the protective circle in his arms. Somehow being near him made the loss of that feeling easier, which was not something she remembered from her counterparts. There they had just left the person to come out of it as they would, pain and hurt being the main reactions. The counterparts there loved the fear and ache that the slaves would experience. Vanyssa shared the way the telepaths there fed on terror, eating emotions. She shared the memories of the long halls where there were cages, each with a person in them, experiencing intense emotions of all kinds. It was like a buffet for the telepaths.... And it generally drove the victims insane. "Ketal please tell me I won't end up like her, please." Vanyssa knew that she should go talk with Riven about this. Riven was the one that had originally re-made Vanyssa, and kept the memories away. Now they were resurfacing, generally as dreams. Ketal sat up and pulled her up with him, drawing her back against his chest and her head against his right shoulder with his arms crossed underher breasts and his hands on her stomachas he set his mouth close to her left ear. :: Don't forgetyou areVanyssa Winters; Captain of the United Federation of PlanetsStarship USS Mystique. You are not like them and will not become like them Vanyssa.:: Ketalshivered slightly at the images she had shown him, that a racecould be capable of such acts of terror wasunimaginable. Knowing that they were connected on an emotional level and what he was feeling was transmitted to her he began not a deep meditation but a calming routine in his own mind. Withinminutes a relaxing mental wave was being transmitted through the link. As Vanyssa sighed and settled back against him he wondered at this mindlink they were sharing.Ketal knew from thememories that not only wasshean accomplished telepathbut had received some augmentation to her abilities during the encounter butaccording to everything he understood about telepathy and his lack of ability thisease of sharing would seem to be impossible, he decided to ask her later what it might mean. ::Perhaps you need to see someone about this Vanyssa and don't forget I will be here for you whenever you need me.:: Ketal thought to her as he held her close. Vanyssa nodded, thinking about going to talk with Riven. She was also thinking about David. About the bond that she had shared with David. About Cyan. About Sash. All the men that she had ever loved.... she had bonded closely with all of them. Something about her caused that bonding to take place. But it hadn't with Sash, not on the level that it was with Ketal. "Betazoids as a general rule don't have red hair and blue eyes." Vanyssa said, looking up at Ketal. "Maybe whatever that causes that and for me to be such a gifted telepath also allows the linkage during..intimate...times." She said, thinking of the other people she had been with. "Telepaths as a general rule tend to be more intimate and share more." She yawned and realized that she was beginning tofall asleep. "Did you mean that, about not leaving me ?" She asked, eyes wide, and a little bit scared. Ketal didn't even think about it when he did it, it seemed so natural at this moment but he smiled down at her, a small smile perhaps buta smile nonetheless. "Yes Vanyssa, I meant what I said." He soothed her. "I will always be here for you." She looked up at him and then asked the question she had been dying to ask. "Why me ?" Ketal turned her face to him and looked deep in her eyes. "Do you remember on the Vanguard when I came aboard? I was scared and lonely and far out of my element on such an esteemed starship and you befriended me. I have never forgotten your kindness and your friendship Vanyssa. That helped me more than the counseling you gave me." He let his mouth crook once more as he laid back with her in his arms." And I have never forgotten it." Vanyssa smiled, snuggling closer. "Is that all?" She asked half asleep. "Not all." He replied as she began to take deep breaths. "I have never forgotten your beauty or the emotions you awakened in me." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------ Stardate: 2406.10.22 (USS Mystique, Observation Lounge, OPS, Lt (jg) HHril, 0856) HHril had stayed up late working to discover more about the unknown ship. He had brought up all the known data on the Conestoga Class ship and had downloaded it to a PADD. The missions of Terran ships in the 21st century where poorly classified. Most of the information pertinent to the individual missions had been lost on Earth and had to be retrieved from the Earth colony directly after colonization. This ship in orbit may have been lost completely from records. Stepping into the observation lounge, he took the same seat that he had on his first occasion, towards the far end of the table. "I've called you all here, because I've received orders from the Admiral about this new race." began theCaptain as the last few officers entered the room."We are to observe, and collect data, as well as come up with a way to remove the ship from it's decaying orbit.We've also been tasked with sending down a team to do some first hand research.We are to spend a week here, gathering what data we can, and then continue on. We are not to make first contact, and we are not to reveal ourselves as outsiders. The Admiral wants to minimize cultural contamination.Doctor Harper, Ambassador, Counselor, the three of you have been studying these people, what can you tell us about them ?" (reply Counselor, Ambassador) "Mr. Ketal, I know that Lt. Sarouk is busy in Engineering, but the two of you were working on a way to remove that ship from orbit.What have you come up with ?" (reply Ketal) "Ms. Tourana, your background is in astrophysics, do you concur withMr. Ketal ?Is there anything about this section of space that we sould be concerned about in using the tractor beam ?" (reply Tourana) "Also, Captain." broke in the OPS man once Ensign Tourana finished. "The Structural Integrity of that ship could not withstand the stresses of being pulled out of orbit by our tractor beam." The Captain shrugged her shoulders before saying. "Suggestions?" "For the moment I can think of3 things," began Dema. "1, If the scans can show that the hull integrity is strong enough, why not tractor it out, 2, calculate the ship's mass, and customize1 or moretorpedoes to destroy every inch of that ship, and use the phasers to destroy smaller parts if there are any, though I wouldn't recommend that cause the people on the planet will see the explosion, 3, I don't know if this is possible, but maybe we can make soft impulses with the deflector array to push the ship aside." "Captain this region of space is riddled with subspace faults and ripples and it is dangerous to use either our tractor beams or transporters as well asany sort of focused energy beam lest there be a collapse in the fabric of it. Warp drive should also be held to less than warp three to minimize damage to the subspace fabric. Without using thesewe would recommend sending shuttles with an engineering team over to try to affect repairs to the vessel andmakeuse its own failing power supply to lift it out of its low orbit into a safer one until further action can be taken to move it safely away from the planet. Lt. Sarouk is certain he can replicate any needed components and I estimate the ship has sufficient fuel for the attempt though with little margin for error." Having said that he settled back in his chair to await further discussion. "If I may, Sir." began HHril. "It is the SI field that is not stable or strong enough right now. This class of ship from the mid-to-late 21st century on Earth were built to make it to their destination, land, and be disassembled.They were alsodesigned for a 10-20year mission duration with a hull lifeexpectancy of approximately 40 years at best.The fact that this one isstill intact at all is a miracle. I feel that sending a boarding team over to the ship may be too dangerous. I suggest that the only way we are going to be able to remove that ship from orbit is to finish what the colonists started." HHril pausedfor a moment beforefinishing his analysis. "We have to disassemble it. The problem is, we can't land it here on this planet without disrupting the natural evolution of the species below. And we can'tpull it outof orbit to another uninhabited planet in one piece because it will break up causing a cataclysmic event. I suggest we use the Sphinxpods that we have aboard. There are 10 aboard. They are designed to move large pieces and effect repairs. If we co-ordinate our efforts correctly, we should be able to takethat ship apart one piece at atime and move it out of the atmosphere. This would also allow us to save the ship for further study." (reply Captain, any) HHril sat back and continued to follow the discussion that was taking place in the observation lounge. It was a touchy subject, sending people down to the surface of a pre-warp society. Normally this type of mission would be left to specialists, but it was not as if the 52nd, could just call Starfleet Command for a science vessel to be dispatched. "How are the modifications going on the universal translator?" the Captain asked, her eyes in his direction. "We are making some progress, but it is slow at best." replied HHril. "We end up with parts of sentences and the computer is having a difficult time extrapolating the remaining phrases correctly. I will continue to work on it, Sir." (reply Captain, IYW) Seemingly satisfied with his answer, the Captain turned to others in the room. HHril sat back in his chair and listened to the conversation, attentive to any instance where he may be able to add to the information being given. "Lt. Herk, find me places to hide in this sector where we can observe and mount a rescue mission as needed. I want to avoid combat as much as I can. "The Captain paused, taking a deep breath. "And finallyIntelligence says that there might be an attack, and the Mystique is on the search and destroy list.There will be no boardings, there will be no chance at negotiation.They will destroy us and make an example to LoDona if they can.I do not want to give them a chance.Mr. Ketal, Mr. Hhril," continued the captain dentifying the half-Vulcan and the Romulan. "The two of you are the experts on those sensors. I need to know when we are being approached, from as far away as possible." HHril considered the situation and looked over at his counterpart. "Sir, given the unstable nature of this area of space, we may encounter significant difficulties in attaining and maintaining a high resolution with our sensors. They have been working admirably up to now, but we have had to clean up the distortion significantly. With Mr. Ketal's help, however," he said shooting a nod in the direction of the science officer, "I'm certain that we can come up with something." "Captain," Herk said, "I may have a hidey place in mind.May I?" All attention in the room shifted to the cat-like creature that was their Conn officer. "If you look in sector 36, grid 12 you'll notice that there is an energy displacement high in the IR band width.It may be a protostar in a dormant phase.If it is, we can hide quite effectively in there.Sensors should not be able to detect us, and with a slight adjustment , screening out the radioactivity and graviton fields, we should be able to get some decent resolution out of our sensors." HHril considered the location and hit a few buttons on his PADD. "The adjustments could be done, Sir." he said, indicating the Captain. "But we may lose some additional resolution and it may take some time once within the protostar to make the necessary adjustments." He continued to look at the PADD while he considered his next statement. "We certainly would be hidden though. The high radiation will make a cloaking device all but useless and that may give us a further warning system. No one will be able to sneak up on us." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------------------- Stardate: 2406.10.22 (USS Mystique Observation Lounge TASC Ensign Travis Keswick 0900) Travis walked into the observation lounge taking an empty chair across from Ambassador Tar-Thurian. Travis was trying focus on his PADD but he found himself looking atthe Ambassador. He was just about to get the nerve to talk to her when the captain started the meeting. "I've called you all here, because I've received orders from the Admiral about this new race. We are to observe, and collect data, as well as come up with a way to remove the ship from it's decaying orbit. We've also been tasked with sending down a team to do some first hand research. We are to spend a week here, gathering what datawe can, and then continue on. We are not to make first contact, and we are not to reveal ourselves as outsiders. The Admiral wants to minimize cultural contamination." Travis listed to the others give there reports. Then the CO looked over at Ensign Keswick Dema And Major Lee and sead "Security. Normally, marines accompany away teams, but I want one of the assistants with the away team. Mr. Lee, please select a couple of marines to go with the away team, as well as one of the assistant tactical officers. I am sure that you have some that are used to working undercover. Mr. Dema, I want the weapons modified to cutthrough the interference in this sector. I am nervous about an attack by Starfleet." She took a deep breath. "Mr. Keswick, please assist Mr. Dema on this assignment." Travis looked the CO "Understood captain I have some ideas I will goover them with Ensign Dema". he sead as he taped his PADD. Then Travis turned and looked at Lee. "Major I would like to volunteer for this mission if you will have me. (reply Lee) Travis taped his PADD as the meeting continued. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------- Stardate: 2406.10.22 (USS Mystique, Observation Lounge, CO, Captain Vanyssa Winters, 0916) Vanyssa had been listening to her senior officers hash out the various problems that were going on. That's the one thing that she truly loved about senior staff meetings, people worked together to get the problems done. No petty fighting, no jealousy, none of that, just one focused mind, and it worked well. It had been determined that the structural integrity field of theConestoga ship was too flaky to be able to send in a repair team. This particular area of space made it impossible to use the tractor beam and the transporter.It also made it harder for them to observe. "If I may, Sir." began HHril. "It is the SI field that is not stable or strong enough right now. This class of ship from the mid-to-late 21st century on Earth were built to make it to their destination, land, and be disassembled.They were alsodesigned for a 10 20year mission duration with a hull lifeexpectancy of approximately 40 years at best.The fact that this one isstill intact at all is a miracle. I feel that sending a boarding team over to the ship may be too dangerous. I suggest that the only way we are going to be able to remove that ship from orbit is to finish what the colonists started." HHril pausedfor a moment beforefinishing his analysis. "We have to disassemble it. The problem is, we can't land it here on this planet without disrupting the natural evolution of the species below. And we can'tpull it outof orbit to another uninhabited planet in one piece because it will break up causing a cataclysmic event. I suggest weuse the Sphinxpods that we have aboard. There are 10 aboard.They are designed to move large pieces and effect repairs.If weco-ordinate our efforts correctly, we should be able to takethat shipapart one piece at atime and move it out of the atmosphere. Thiswould also allow us to save the ship for further study." Vanyssa nodded, understanding what her Ops office was saying. They needed an Engineering Officer up here to work with them. "Has there been any record of this ship or the flight plan on how it got here ? Is there any way to interface with the computer system on the ship ?" She looked at Hhril and to Ketal for the answer to that. (reply Hhril and/or Ketal) "Lt. Herk, Ensign Tourana, please work on plans to disable thatConestoga ship and Mr. Hhril, convert space in one of the cargo bays for storage of the pieces." Vanyssa listened further. "I feel uncomfortable sending a team in until that Universal Translator is working properly. That should be a priority. We only have a week here, people, we need to make the most of it." Herk spoke about the hiding place, and Hhril about ways to adjust the sensors, which were somewhat useless at the moment. "Have Mr. Sarouk add it to his list of things to work on, Mr. Bellinia." Vanyssa said."I like having a place to hide. Program in that course and have it ready the instant another ship comes into the area." She looked down at her notes. "How long will it take to disassemble that ship ?" Vanyssa inquiredof Herk and Hhril. Then the thought occurred to Vanyssa. "Will the...natives...be able to observe the disassembling of the ship ? If so, can we work around it ?" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------------------- Stardate: 2406.10.22 (USS Mystique, Observation Lounge, CSO Ketal - 09:25) "Has there been any record of this ship or the flight plan on how it got here?"continued the Captain following the propositions by the senior staff. "Is there any way to interface with the computer system on the ship ?" Ketal watched curiously as HHrill took the floor again, the Romulan had proven to be an extremely intelligent and capable young officer which Ketal could never pretend to beand hewas a true asset to the ship. While Ketal was more of a pure scientist and had hoped to save the ship intact for further study it appeared the concensushad turned toward dismantling it and if that was the Captain's decision then he would abide by it. "To answer your first question, Sir," began the Romulan looking at the PADD in his left hand. "There is no visible registration on the hull of the vessel, nor is there any type ofidentification transmission. The data files we have archived in our computer dating back prior to 2090 are incomplete at best. What we do know is that therewere 7 Conestoga class ships that were lost between 2072 and 2086. 4 have since been accounted for. That leaves three. The Okanagan, the Algonquin, and the Tsalagi. It could be any one of these three. None of these ships were intended to travel to this area of space. All had intended targets in the Alpha quadrant. In order to be here, the ships would have had to have gone extremely far off course." HHril paused, considering the second question. "It should be possible to interface with the systems aboard the ship, Sir. The only problem is that we do not know what kind of shape the computers aboard that ship are in. These ships were intended to be dismantled, Sir. The computer, if it is still functioning properly, will have been running for over 300 years. There is no telling what a low-jack of the system by our computer will do to the ship." "Lt. Herk, Ensign Tourana," continued theCaptain. "Please work on plans to disable that Conestoga ship andMr. Hhril, convert space in one of the cargo bays for storage of the pieces." "Aye, Sir." replied the OPS officer. "How long will it take to disassemble that ship ?"the Captain inquired of Herk and HHril. "Will the...natives...be able to observe the disassembling of the ship ? If so, can we work around it ?" "I believe the only way to determine if the, um... natives, will be able to observe the disassembling of the ship will be to determine if they have already perceived the vessel in orbit, Sir." answered HHril. "We have no way of telling if they have perceived its existance or not. And if they have, we have no way of knowing if the vessel holds any signifigance for them, culturally. If they have perceived it's existance and we remove it, we may be causing as much damage as allowing it to fall through the atmosphere." Ketal nodded and spoke up. "Indeed Captain cultural contamination is the greatest danger we face in this instance, and the Prime directive is very clear inregards to a pre space-faring race, it would seem our only choice in the matter is to first observe the native population before deciding on this course of action. The only inhibiting factor is the amount of time we have available for study before the ship begins breaking up." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------- Stardate: 2406.10.22 (USS Mystique, Observation Lounge, CO Captain Vanyssa Winters - 09:35) Vanyssa listened to all of her Officers speak, her eyes lingering on Ketal. "Indeed Captain cultural contamination is the greatest danger we face in this instance, and the Prime directive is very clear inregards to a pre space-faring race, it would seem our only choice in the matter is to first observe the native population before deciding on this course of action. The only inhibiting factor is the amount of time wehave available for study before the ship begins breaking up." Ketal concluded. "Then it would seem that the number one priority would be to go downto the planet and see if the natives do." She looked over at the Ambassador and Counsellor. "In your estimation, could we, with our present knowledge, pass for natives on that planet ? Albeit from a city far from the one we will chose." Vanyssa flat out asked. "Ifnot, how long do you think it would be before you could assemble the necessary data and coach some of our people on the relevant points ?" (reply Ambassador) "You all have your assignments." Vanyssa said, rising. "Please getstatus reports to me by 1600, as well as ETAs." She smiled around at them all. "You are a good crew, you all make me quite proud to be here, with you." And with that, she closed the meeting, leaving them all to their various devices. She, for one, wanted to go watch some of the broadcasts from the planet. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------ Stardate: 2406.10.22 (USS Mystique, Observation Lounge, TASC Ensign Travis Keswick - 09:36) Travis was already formulating a plan on how to cut threw the interference.As he worked on his padd and listened to the captain continue the meeting.As soon as the Captain started to talk to the Ambassador he could not help but look up at her from behind his padd agen and he listened to her report hanging on every word forgetting for a moment what he was doing.even after she finished her report he found himself still staring at her and quickly went back to his padd hoping she didn't notice. when the captain sead "You all have your assignments." "Please get status reports to me by 1600, as well as ETAs." She smiled around at them all. "You are a good crew, you all make mequite proud to be here, with you." Travis put his padd back down on the table and listened to her closingremarks.and then people started to get up and leave. "Ensign Dema I have some ideas on how to cut threw the interference."He sead as he stoped Dema."I had a problem I had to solve at the Academy during a trainingmission." "I think I still have my notes from that if you think they might help.""If any thing it will be a start". ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------ Stardate: 2406.10.22 (USS Mystique, Bridge, CEO, Lt(sg) Sarouk, 0940) Sarouk stepped off the turbo lift onto the bridge. He moved up to Captain Winters, who was sitting in her command chair watching somebroadcast from the planet below. "Captain," Sarouk said, in his typical calm Vulcan tone, "if I mayhave a word with you in your ready room?" Vanyssa nodded. "In my Ready Room" And she gestured to her readyroom. Sarouk followed the Captain into her Ready Room and waiting for thedoors to close and her to take her seat behind her desk before hecontinued. "I have reviewed the data we have collected on the derelict colonyvessel and I have devised a plan to alter the ships decaying orbitslightly." He handed the Captain a PADD he had been carrying that outlinedhis plan before continuing. "An engineering team would go over to the shipvia shuttle and repair or re-enforce the ships decaying SIF and thrustersystems. Then using the ships own thrusters we can alter it's orbit to one more stable. This would have the end result of delaying the ships decentinto the atmosphere, allowing us more time to determine what if anycultural impact removing it from orbit might have on the inhabitants. Iestimate that this plan has a 97.6783% chance at success." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------ Stardate: 2406.10.22 (USS Mystique, Ready Room, CEO, Lt(sg) Sarouk, 0943) Vanyssa reviewed the details on the PADD. "How are the enginesdoing?" She asked, paging down through the schematics. "I truly wish thatyou had been at that meeting - none of us have the level of engineeringknowledge that you do, Sarouk." Vanyssa looked up at Sarouk. "We don'thave readings on what the interior of that ship looks like, Sarouk. Orhow bad the SIF actually is. Can you modify the transporters on the shuttle you are taking to do a short range emergency transport ifneeded? And augment the shields on the shuttle in case? Probabilities areall well and good, Mr. Sarouk, but I'm worried about reality. And realityis almost always that 2.5%. If you can make this as safe as possible forour people, it's the best plan I've heard so far." "The engines are, once more, operating within establishedparameters," Sarouk said, with out missing a beat he continued. "Captain,I assure you, every possible convergency will be accounted for with crewsafety in mind. I would not send myself or any of my staff into anenvironment that I thought unsafe. The entire team will be in full EVAsuits in the unlikely event of an explosive decompression. The odds of abreathable atmosphere remaining on the ship after this much time are0.45675%. Though I do recommend a small security team accompany theengineering team. I know from experience that the unexpected can occur." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------------------- Stardate: 2406.10.22 (USS Mystique, Ready Room, CO Captain Vanyssa Winters, 0945) "I have reviewed the data we have collected on the derelict colonyvessel and I have devised a plan to alter the ships decaying orbitslightly." He handed the Captain a PADD he had been carrying that outlinedhis plan before continuing. "An engineering team would go over to the shipvia shuttle and repair or re-enforce the ships decaying SIF and thrustersystems. Then using the ships own thrusters we can alter it's orbit to one more stable. This would have the end result of delaying the ships decentinto the atmosphere, allowing us more time to determine what if anycultural impact removing it from orbit might have on the inhabitants. Iestimate that this plan has a 97.6783% chance at success." Vanyssa reviewed the details on the PADD. "How are the engines doing ?" She asked, paging down through the schematics. "I truly wish that you had been at that meeting - none of us have the level of engineering knowledge that you do, Sarouk." Vanyssa looked up at Sarouk. "We don't have readings on what the interior of that ship looks like, Sarouk. Or how bad the SIF actually is. Can you modify the transporters on the shuttle you are taking to do a short range emergency transport if needed? And augment the shields on the shuttle in case ? Probabilities are all well and good, Mr. Sarouk, but I'm worried about reality. And reality is almost always that 2.5%. If you can make this as safe as possible for our people, it's the best planI've heard so far." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------ Stardate: 2406.10.22 (USS Mystique, Ready Room, CO Captain Vanyssa Winters & CEO Lt. Sarouk, 0946) "The engines are, once more, operating within establishedparameters," Sarouk said, with out missing a beat he continued. "Captain,I assure you, every possible convergency will be accounted for with crewsafety in mind. I would not send myself or any of my staff into anenvironment that I thought unsafe. The entire team will be in full EVAsuits in the unlikely event of an explosive decompression.The odds of abreathable atmosphere remaining on the ship after this much time are0.45675%. Though I do recommend a small security team accompany theengineering team. I know from experience that the unexpected can occur." Vanyssa nodded. "Take a few of the Combat Engineers along with you.They will be invaluable if something untoward occurs. How soon can you make the necessary modifications and assemble a team ?" "3.6 hours to gather the required equipment and make the necessary modifications," Sarouk replied. Vanyssa nodded. "Make the modifications, and then head out tomorrow morning at 0900. This will give more time for further study of this new race. Also, it will allow your people to be fully rested.Order your team once the modifications are complete to take the afternoon off." Vanyssa finished, looking down at her notes. "Anything else, Lt?" "Just one. While on board, I would like permission to attempt gaining access the to the ships computer logs." "Granted. Is there anything that you will need to do it ? I don't think such ancient earth technology will be compatible with our own." "No," Sarouk said, "I should have no problems establishing a suitable interface to download the ships logs to the shuttle before transmitting them to the Mystique for further analysis." "Then make it so, Mr. Sarouk. Is there anything else you would like to discuss ?" "No, Captain. That is all." Sarouk finished. "Then start your work, Mr. Sarouk. I'm sure that Dr. Weir will want to spend some time with you this afternoon." And Vanyssa did smile a little bit. Sarouk's brow rose at the comment, but he said nothing. He inclined his head, slightly, then turned to leave. Vanyssa grinned as he left, shaking her head. She really did not understand Vulcans, although she was beginning to. She went back to her work, smiling. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------- Stardate: 2406.10.22 (USS Mystique - Bridge - Ensign Jason Dema - 1000) After the meeting, jason went to do as him was told, he sat down at his station. he first saved all the data about the current configuration, just in case things would go wrong. After the download was complete, Jason tried to find a pattern in the interference, hoping he could let the weapons adjust along. he scanneda big area of space withenough anomalies to find a resemblencefor more than an hour, he then downloaded the findings to a PADD and started to look for a pattern. He walked out of the bridge, leaving another Ensign at the station and went down to the computer lab. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------- Stardate: 2406.10.22 (USS Mystique, Bridge, CO Captain Vanyssa Winters , 1045) "Captain, there is another one of those arts transmissions with the winged beings in them." The Ensign at Science spoke. "On screen Ensign, and patch in the universal translator to see what it can translate." Vanyssa watched in fascination as One of the winged beings gestured to a building made out of stone, with roman columns. "With good honor welcome Raellus number one first building learning Kindros. Now begin opening student learn. (untranslatable) Good teacher honor priviledge, Tyrus, Great One, Earthian." The person next to the light pink skinned person began to speak."Honor teach (untranslatable) Kindros number one first building learning. First building learning big Raellus Earthian, Raellian, welcome. Learn book, write (untranslatable) story Greeku, Romenu, Amerikanu. Story those father before. (untranslatable) Good honorteacher learn." Vanyssa looked the person over. No wings, but the pointed ears, the cat like eyes, and light green tinged skin, almost a seafoam color. "Know (untranslatable) flying box of forefathers." Vanyssa blinked as the universal translator. "What flying box of the forefathers?" She asked, looking over atscience as the small broadcast ended. "Forward that down to the Counsellor, Mr. Ketal and the Ambassador. I'm sure that they will be interested in it." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------ Stardate: 2406.10.22 (USS Mystique, Deck 14, CSO's office, CSOKetal , 1050) Ketal was sitting at the desk in his office poring over the reports being generated by the various science departments aboard the ship and had been there since the meeting had ended. He stood up andwalked to the replicator and ordered a cup of hot tea which he then took back with him to the terminal. After taking a sip of the tea he looked at the next report, this one was from planetary mapping. ~ Somewhat arid with only a 40% water concentration and the oxygen is 2 points below Earth normal but certainly habitable. ~ Readings were still coming in on the vegetation and those wereshowing that the planet was sparse in that regard also. Most of the habitable land was barren except around the settled areas that were clustered very close together,the colonists had logicallybeen forced to intermingle with the natives because of the relative barrenness of the surface. The cities were also set close to the only large water source in the area, that being ariver that flowed from a largeridge of mountainsto the northeast. Possibly the most interesting of the reports though showed an immense impact crater on the far side of the planet from the habitations, there had not been enough time yet though to make an accurate reading of its age but it was certain this must have been the cause of a cataclysmic event in the planet's history, one possiblygreat enough to have caused current conditions. Ketal took another sip of the teaas he sat back in his chair and thought about the morning's meeting. He had noticed the Captain's attentions of course and had looked her directly in the eyes when speaking. He had always considered Vanyssa a fascinating womanand even more so now. Ketal knew there would be no more emotional gaffes in her presence as there had been on the Vanguard and here, what they had shared precluded anyfurther awkwardness.His reverie was interrupted by the computer. [ Message forwarded from the Bridge to CSO Ketal.] Ketal cocked an eyebrow and said."Play message,"and saw one of the wingedbeings gesture toa building made out of stone, with romanesque columns. "With good honor welcome Raellus number one first building learning Kindros. Now begin opening student learn. (untranslatable) Good teacher honor priviledge, Tyrus, Great One, Earthian." The person next to the light pink skinned person began to speak. "Honor teach (untranslatable) Kindros number one first building learning. First building learning big Raellus Earthian, Raellian, welcome. Learn book, write (untranslatable) story Greeku, Romenu, Amerikanu. Story those father before. (untranslatable) Good honor teacher learn." On the second being there were no wings, but the pointed ears, the cat like eyes, and light green tinged skin that wasalmost a seafoam color. "Know (untranslatable) flying box of forefathers." Ketal's eyebrow quirked at the phrase"flying box of the forefathers." It certainly could be a clue to what they were looking for however he was aware it could also be a reference to something else such as a mythological object or flying construction however the level of technology would seem to discount the latter. Ketal was no linguist but it was obvious some of the words had old Earth english roots and they were of course being picked up by the translator while others were of alien originor a mix. The more transmissions they received with a mix of the words the greater the database of translatablewords the translator would have to draw from.It appeared that the first being was introducing a teacher of some sort (The second being) who then made some kind of acceptance speech or an invitation for those viewing to learn; Ketal leaned toward the latter. Earthian he took to mean one who had their roots inan Earth origin and thereforeat least somehumanancestry, that might account for his lack of wings. Ketal focused on the transmission and then played it over several times. These transmissions were a fascinating subject. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------- Stardate: 2406.10.22 (USS Mystique - computer lab - Ensign Jason Dema - 1124) Jason sat down at the computer terminal and inserted the data into it. He then let several calculations loose on it, and logic solutions. the computer started calculating and comparing. And after a long time of thinking, he couldn't come up with a solution, he decided to ask the science chief for help. =/\= Ensign Dema to Ensign Ketal, I need some help in the computer lab if you have time. =/\= ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------ Stardate: 2406.10.22 (USS Mystique, Observation Lounge, TASC Ensign Travis Keswick - 1145) Jason was working in the computer lab, when suddenly Keswick entered "Ensign Dema I have some ideas on how to cut threw the interference." "Go ahead." Jason said "I had a problem I had to solve at the Academy during a training mission. I think I still have my notes from that if you think they might help. If anything it will be a start". "Well, any help is welcome, try to find your notes and bring them here, inthe meanwhile I'll keep searching for a pattern in the interference." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------ Stardate: 2406.10.22 (USS Mystique, Observation Lounge, OPS, Lt (jg) HHril, 1922) "Has there been any record of this ship or the flight plan on how it got here?"continued the Captain following the propositions by the senior staff. "Is there any way to interface with the computer system on the ship ?" HHril once again took the floor. "To answer your first question, Sir," began the Romulan looking at the PADD in his left hand. "There is no visible registration on the hull of the vessel, nor is there any type ofidentification transmission. The data files we have archived in our computer dating back prior to 2090 are incomplete at best. What we do know is that therewere 7 Conestoga class ships that were lost between 2072 and 2086. 4 have since been accounted for. That leaves three. The Okanagan, the Algonquin, and the Tsalagi. It could be any one of these three. None of these ships were intended to travel to this area of space. All had intended targets in the Alpha quadrant. In order to be here, the ships would have had to have gone extremely far off course." HHril paused, considering the second question. "It should be possible to interface with the systems aboard the ship, Sir. The only problem is that we do not know what kind of shape the computers aboard that ship are in. These ships were intended to be dismantled, Sir. The computer, if it is still functioning properly, will have been running for over 300 years. There is no telling what a low-jack of the system by our computer will do to the ship." "Lt. Herk, Ensign Tourana," continued theCaptain. "Please work on plans to disable that Conestoga ship andMr. Hhril, convert space in one of the cargo bays for storage of the pieces." "Aye, Sir." replied the OPS officer. "How long will it take to disassemble that ship ?"the Captain inquired of Herk and HHril. "Will the...natives...be able to observe the disassembling of the ship ? If so, can we work around it ?" "I believe the only way to determine if the, um... natives, will be able to observe the disassembling of the ship will be to determine if they have already perceived the vessel in orbit, Sir." answered HHril. "We have no way of telling if they have perceived its existance or not. And if they have, we have no way of knowing if the vessel holds any signifigance for them, culturally. 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