COMPILE FOR: 26th June - 1st July

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HEADERS


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Day -6

 

(USS Nimitz - personal quarters - Ensign Jason Dema & Cassandra Dema - 0530)

(Steele Talons - Transporter Room - CO Captain Vanyssa Winters - 0628)

 (Steele Talons - Transporter Room - Ensign Jason Dema - 0629)

 (Steele Talons - quarters - Ensign Jason Dema & Cassandra Dema - 0650)

(Steele Talons - Captain's quarters - Ensign Jason Dema & Cassie Dema - 0736)

 (Steele Talons - Captain's quarters - CO Captain Vanyssa Winters - 0738)

 (Steele Talons - Captain's quarters - CO Captain Vanyssa Winters - 0738)

 (USS Steel Talons - Admirals Office - Admiral Robert LoDona, Captain Richard Ian Lee & 1st Lt Richard Ian Lee - 1120)

 (USS Nimitz, FO's Office, Captain Vanyssa Winters & Ensign Jason Dema, 1302)

 (USS Steel Talons - Admirals Quarter, Admirals Office - Admiral LoDona & Ambassador Tar-Thurian - 1400)

Day -5

(USS Steel Tallons, Captain Winters' Quarters, Captain Vanyssa Winters & FO Lt. Cmdr. Peter Belinia, 1040)

  

Day -3

(USS Steele Talons - Personal Quaters; Lt Cmdr Peter Belinia & Ensign Jason Dema; 10:00)

 (USS Talons, CO Mystique Quarters, Federation Ambassador Tar-Thurian, 1130)

 (USS Steele Talons - Outside Ambassadors Quarters - Lt Cmdr Peter Belinia & Ambassador Anastasia Tar-Thurian - 16:00)

  

Day -2

(USS Steele Talons - Observation Lounge; Lt Cmdr Peter Belinia & Lt HHril; 09:00)

  

Day -1

(USS Steel Talons - Conference Room; Lt Cmdr Peter Belinia & Major Richard Ian Lee; 06:30)

  

Day 1

(Steel Talons - Observation Lounge - Flt Adm LoDona, Capt Winters, Capt Sevant & Lt Major Lee - 0900)

 (Steel Talons - Winter's Quarters - Lt Major Lee, Jenna Winters-Dark & the Suicide Kings - - 0920)

 (USS Mystique - Transporter Room - Lt Major Lee, Jenna Winters-Dark & The Suicide Kings - 0935)

 (USS Mystique - Marine Center, Meeting Center - Major Richard Ian Lee - 1120)

 (USS Mystique, Bridge, CO, Captain Vanyssa Winters - 11.30)

 (USS Mystique - Bridge - Ensign Jason Dema - 11.33)

 (USS Mystique, Ambassadorial Quarters, Federation Ambassador Anastasia Tar-Thurian, 1135)

 (USS Mystique - Bridge - Conn- Lt Herkimer 78 and Captain Winters- 1200)

 (USS Mystique, FO's Office, Lt Cmdr Peter Belinia & Lt Sarouk - 12:15)

 (USS Mystique - Marine Center, 'Helldeck' - Major Richard Ian Lee - 1353)

 *(USS Mystique, Bridge, CO, Captain Vanyssa Winters - 14.10)

 *(USS Mystique, Bridge, FO, Lt Cmdr Peter Belinia - 14:00)

 (USS Mystique - Main Bridge - Ensign Ketal, CSO - 14:13)

 (USS Mystique - Main Bridge - CSO Ensign Ketal & CO Vanyssa Winters, - 14:16)

 (USS Mystique, Bridge, FO, Lt Cmdr Peter Belinia - 14:20)

 (USS Mystique - Captain's quarters - CSO Ketal - 14:23)

 (USS Mystique - Bridge - Ensign Jason Dema - 14:28)

 (USS Mystique - Bridge - Ensign Jason Dema - 1450)

 (USS Mystique - Bridge - CO Captain Vanyssa Winters & FO Lt Cmdr Peter Belinia - 1457)

 (USS Mystique - Shuttle bay - CXS - Dr. John Nathaniel Harper- 15.05)

 (USS Mystique - Bridge - CXS & CO - Dr. John Nathaniel Harper & Captain Winters- 15:10)

 (USS Mystique - Bridge - Ambassador - Anastasia Tar-Thurian - 1525)

(USS Mystique - Observation Lounge - Major Richard Ian Lee - 1557)

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BEGIN COMPILE


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=/\=Day -6=/\=

(USS Nimitz - personal quarters - Ensign Jason Dema & Cassandra Dema - 0530)

It was night, Jason and his sister Cassandra were still sleeping in their bed... Well, Jason not really, he was worried about his sister, and rather he made the right choice of having her with him. afterall, it's still on a ship, with few or no other children. No doubt Jason and his sister were very close to each other, but would that be enough for Cassandra? Would he be able to replace their mother? Would he....

Then suddenly the alarm went off, it was time to pack, and leave the Nimitz. Jason got up, looking at his sister that slept through the alarm.

"Hey Cassie, time to wake up."

Cassandra moaned, she was still very sleepy, but Jason finally got her up. They took their things and before Jason walked out he went to his computer and sended the mail he wrote ahead, to all his fellow crewmates, to let them know he was proud of beeing part of such a fine crew, and that he left and that everyone took a place in his heart.

"Time to go." Jason said, and they went to the ship Steele Talons.

(Steele Talons - Ensign Jason Dema & Cassandra Dema - 0628)

Jason stepped directly to Vanyssa once he saw her.

"Reporting for duty Vanyssa."

Jason knew that Vanyssa would hear the doubt in his voice, either that or she could read his doubts.

(reply Vanyssa)

(posted by Anthony Struelen)

=

 

(Steele Talons - Transporter Room - CO Captain Vanyssa Winters - 0628)

  

"Reporting for duty Vanyssa."

  

Vanyssa, who had been standing in the transporter room, greeting her staff as they came on board frowned. She looked around her, and say that her First Officer and the Ops Officer on board the Talons were handling getting people sorted out.

  

Vanyssa leaned down to Jennah. "Take Cassie to our Quarters to play, ok?" Vanyssa told her daughter.

  

"Ensign, lets take a walk." Vanyssa said, motioning him out of the room. "Ensign, yesterday, I told you that I expected proper Starfleet behaviour out of you." She began. "Do you remember this ?"

  

(reply)

  

"Excellent." She spoke, softly, quietly and positively. "Do you think that coming into the Transporter Room on a ship and calling your Commanding Officer by her first name, in a room full of other Officers, was proper command procedure ?"

  

(reply)

  

"Do you think that you were setting a good example as a Senior Officer ?"

  

(reply)

  

"Then why did you do it ?"

  

(reply)

  

"Ensign, This is my second warning about your behaviour. It will improve, or you will find yourself on punishment detail and attending a class in your off-time on appropriate Starfleet behaviour. Do you understand me ?" She said, her voice growing hard.

  

(reply)

  

"Please report into your Quarters, and settle in with your sister. The First Officer will be scheduling meetings with all the senior staff. Please take the next couple of days and review the appropriate documentation on Starfleet behaviour, as well as the documentation on the Mystique's weaponry and deck plans. That is all, Ensign, dismissed."

  

(reply)

  

Vanyssa watched Ensign Dema walk away, wondering what she was going to do with him. He just wasn't getting it. There was a fine line between being an Officer and being a Friend. She hoped that he would take the hint, being cold and hard wasn't in her nature. Part of her ached at having to speak to him the way she did.

  

She shook her head and headed back for her Quarters. She had a mound of paperwork to attend to that was probably multiplying by the very second. It constantly amazed her that useless things like paperwork seemed to breed, while other, nicer things did not. Probably just one of those laws of the Universe.

  

(reply Dema, any)

 (pb melinda :-)

  

=

 

(Steele Talons - Transporter Room - Ensign Jason Dema - 0629)

  

"Ensign, lets take a walk." Vanyssa said, motioning him out of the room. "Ensign, yesterday, I told you that I expected proper Starfleet behaviour out of you." She began. "Do you remember this ?"

  

"Yes I do."

 

"Excellent." She spoke, softly, quietly and positively. "Do you think that coming into the Transporter Room on a ship and calling your Commanding Officer by her first name, in a room full of other Officers, was proper command procedure ?"

  

"No I don't."

 

"Do you think that you were setting a good example as a Senior Officer ?"

  

Then suddenly Jason remembered they weren't alone in the room, but he got to focused on Vanyssa, that he forgot about all the rest beeing in there...

"I guess I wasn't."

 

"Then why did you do it ?"

  

"I didn't knew if we were allready on duty or off duty... and I was focused on you and guess I forgot about the rest....."

 

"Ensign, This is my second warning about your behaviour. It will improve, or you will find yourself on punishment detail and attending a class in your off-time on appropriate Starfleet behaviour. Do you understand me ?" She said, her voice growing hard.

  

"Yes Ma'am."

 

"Please report into your Quarters, and settle in with your sister. The First Officer will be scheduling meetings with all the senior staff. Please take the next couple of days and review the appropriate documentation on Starfleet behaviour, as well as the documentation on the Mystique's weaponry and deck plans. That is all, Ensign, dismissed."

  

"As you command."

 

Jason then walked out and went to his quarters to unpack his things and then to check the weaponry on the ship.

 

(reply none)

 (posted by Anthony Struelens)

=

(Steele Talons - quarters - Ensign Jason Dema & Cassandra Dema - 0650)

Jason arrived at his quarters to see his sister allready busy unpacking, so Jason came in to help out, and shortly after it was done.

"Let's go play." Cassandra said.

"I'm sorry, but first I have to check the weapons and tactical data on the mystique, but I'll be free after I report it to the Captain."

"Oooh, oooh, may I come too? I wanna see her too, she seems nice." Cassia winked at Jason while giving him little pushes with her elbow. Jason started to blush.

"Well, yeah, you could say that."

"Jason is in love, Jason is in love."

"Stop it, no I'm not." and with that Jason started to tickle his sister wich started to become a real wrestling fight, with pillows as the favourite weapon. Then suddenly Cassie turned jason on his back and climbed on top of him and put her knee on his groin.

"Okay stop, I give up, I give up." Jason shouted

"Haha, I win, you lose, I win, you lose." Cassie started to dance around the room yelling that she won."

As Jason got up, he still felt a bit of pain.

"Yes you did, but please, don't do that again, it kinda hurts. And now I got to work a little."

"Okies." Cassie said, and then very silently: "Loverboy."

"Cassie." Jason blushed again while going to his computer and checking the data of the mystique.

(Steele Talons - quarters - Ensign Jason Dema & Cassie Dema - 0730)

After making a report of the mystique Jason turned to Cassie who was exploring the room a bit and testing the holo-screen.

"Okay, I'm done, shall we go and meet the Captain?"

Cassie jumped up. "Yes Yes, let's go."

So they walked out and headed to the Captain's quarters.

(Steele Talons - Captain's quarters - Ensign Jason Dema & Cassie Dema - 0736)

Jason knocked on the door.

(reply Vanyssa)

"Captain, sorry for bringing my sister with me but she wanted to see you, I hope it's okay, and I have made a report about the Mystique as you wanted."

(reply Vanyssa)

(posted by Anthony Struelens)

=

(Steele Talons - Captain's quarters - CO Captain Vanyssa Winters - 0738)

 Jason knocked on the door.

 "Come in!" Vanyssa called, watching her daughter try to build cards into a house. It was supposed to test patience and dexterity, but personally, to Vanyssa, it was teaching anxiety and frustration.

 "Captain, sorry for bringing my sister with me but she wanted to see you, I hope it's okay, and I have made a report about the Mystique as you wanted."

  

Vanyssa looked at Cassandra and Ensign Dema. "At ease, Ensign." She said, motioning for him to have a seat. "How are you, Cassandra?" Vanyssa asked, quietly. "Do you like the Talons so far?"

  

(reply Cassandra)

  

Jennah hopped up and ran over, the card house toppling over and going all over the floor. "Cassie!!!!" Jennah cried out, laughing.

  

(reply)

  

Vanyssa turned her attention to Dema. "Ensign, I think that you should meet with Ms. Rilley and discuss Cassandra's studies at some point. As you know, she will be the teacher for the few children on board the Mystique." Vanyssa then looked down at the PADD. "Good work, Ensign." She said, initialing it and handing it back to him. "Is there anything else?"

  

(reply Demas, any)

 (pb Melinda :-)

 =

(Steele Talons - Captain's quarters - Ensign Jason Dema - 0738)

 Jason knocked on the door.

 "Come in!" Vanyssa called, watching her daughter try to build cards into a house. It was supposed to test patience and dexterity, but personally, to Vanyssa, it was teaching anxiety and frustration.

 "Captain, sorry for bringing my sister with me but she wanted to see you, I hope it's okay, and I have made a report about the Mystique as you wanted."

  

Vanyssa looked at Cassandra and Ensign Dema. "At ease, Ensign." She said, motioning for him to have a seat. "How are you, Cassandra?" Vanyssa asked, quietly. "Do you like the Talons so far?"

  

"It sure is, well, actually, I'm just glad to be here with my brother."

 

Jennah hopped up and ran over, the card house toppling over and going all over the floor. "Cassie!!!!" Jennah cried out, laughing.

  

"Jennah!!!!!" Cassie yelled and started laughing and playing too

Jason's eyes glared to see his sister play with Jennah, it was a most entertaining event.

 

Vanyssa turned her attention to Dema. "Ensign, I think that you should meet with Ms. Rilley and discuss Cassandra's studies at some point. As you know, she will be the teacher for the few children on board the Mystique."

Jason totally distracted by the 2 playing didn't heard a word that Vanyssa said. ~Am I really doing the right thing for her?~ he thought for himself.

(reply Vanyssa)

Vanyssa then looked down at the PADD. "Good work, Ensign." She said, initialing it and handing it back to him. "Is there anything else?"

  

(posted by Anthony Struelens)

=

(USS Steel Talons - Admirals Office - Admiral Robert LoDona, Captain

Richard Ian Lee & 1st Lt Richard Ian Lee - 1120)

 

Rich looked at the aide with a quirked eyebrow, and the Betazoid just

looked right back at him. After a few moments of silence, the Aide

finally said. "Admiral LoDona will see you, 1st Lieutenant."

 

"My thanks," the Marine finally said as he turned to the doors. Without

missing a beat he stepped forward, and through them when they opened.

The office was large, it was a double office and strategy room, and it

had a couple couches off to the side for what looked like informal

meetings. Rich paused inside and looked around, this was the first time

he would be in the presence of the Fleet Admiral, or anywhere near his

flagship. The Office itself was simple, the only overt decoration he

could see were a couple Marine unit patches near the desk. That wasn't

surprising, Rich knew LoDona had started his career as a Marine, a

Combat Engineer.

  

The man himself was bent over a tactical map off to the side of the

room, rather then behind the desk. The entire console was glowing, and

off to the side was a 3d holographic representation of *some* area in

space. He put his hands behind his back and spread his feet just-so, and

announced "1st Lieutenant Richard Ian Lee, reporting as ordered."

 

LoDona didn't so much as twitch a muscle, just remained bent over the

table looking at something closely. "I rather figured, Lieutenant." he

said eventually. "Had you been an aide, you would already be talking my

ear off. And, had you been an assassin, one of the two of us would

already be dead." The Admiral looked over his shoulder then, then

gestured with a head movement to the table. "Join me, we need some

words."

 

Rich took two steps, then half-turned as the door opened again. He did a

double-take and blinked his eyes a few times. Sure enough, he hadn't

seen wrong, standing before him was a perfect copy of himself, except

for a few different scars on the face, and the number of pips on the

uniform. The first lieutenant snapped to attention, but couldn't keep

the confused look from his face. The other Rich Lee chuckled, "Don't

ask, its as odd for me as for you."

 

"Yes yes, come already you two." the Fleet Admiral said from the other

side of the room. "You two can get together and chat when you're off the

clock."

 

Both Lee's walked over and stood next to the table, the Captain directly

across and Lee to the side. Once he got a look at the table, he whistled

and concentrated on what he was seeing, it was a full Tactical layout of

the 52nd. Robert, who was leaning on one hand looking at the map, said.

"Lieutenant; this is, of course, Captain Richard Ian Lee, my head of

Strategic Operations on the Night's Watch. Captain, 1st Lieutenant Lee

of the Nimitz."

 

The Fleet Admiral looked up a moment later when neither Lee answered,

both were intent on the map. Captain Lee had, of course, seen it

before... He probably looked at it more then Robert himself did. It was

all new information for the Marine though. Robert inwardly chuckled,

even in alternate universes people thought the same. The Marine, had his

life been different, would (and still could) end up much like the

Captain here. "I brought you both here at the same time for a good

reason, I intend to give this Grunt here a promotion, and give Stratops

another operative."

 

"Sir?" both of them said at once. They paused, and looked at each other.

The 1st Lieutenant said, "Sir, with all do respect, Ill keep quiet until

you speak." He looked slightly unnerved, but then again, so did the

Captain. Robert, on the other hand, was clearly enjoying himself as he

looked between the two of them. Captain Lee gestured to the Marine, "I'm

just a spectator for the moment."

 

The Marine nodded his head, then turned to the stone-faced Admiral. "You

were saying, Sir?"

 

Robert took a PADD from the table-top and handed it over. "Two things,

you are transferring to the USS Mystique and putting together a new

demi-company. And, secondly, you will be an acting advisor to Strategic

Operations in terms of Marine strength. You are one of our more

experienced officers, and one of five I'm tapping for their knowledge."

 

The Marine grunted as he took the PADD, "Pleasure & Pain, huh?" he said

as he scrolled. "Who else are ou tapping?"

 

"Colonel T'Vanek of Geneva, Major Dorkin who will be on the Nimitz soon,

Colonel Masters of the Angelfire, Brigadier Donna'wa of the

Stormbringer, and finally Brigadier Ja'lin of the Thunderchild."

 

The Marine Rich grunted again, "Big names, I know a couple of em

anyway." his eyebrows went up again as he looked at the PADD. "A double

promotion?" he said as he looked up. The Admiral nodded and tossed over

a small box. "For the special projects, you needed a little more then

1st Lieutenant to play ball, even if it would be the perfect rank for a

demi-company."

 

Captain Lee cleared his throat, "I've already had Stratops codes

installed onto the Mystique, and your Captain will be informed that you

are going to get the occasional classified subspace communiquŽs." He

looked at the Admiral for a second, then looked back. "At least for the

time being, the ship probably won't be operating under Radio Silence, so

it won't be an issue. I have her marked in the fleet as pure exploration

for the moment, only an emergency will change the nature of her

missions."

 

The Marine looked at the box in his hand and popped it open. ~Two stars

and a bar, my my.~ he thought. "Alright, I accept." he said, looking up

again. "When do I pack?"

 

(reply: none)

(posted by Trout)

=

(USS Nimitz, FO's Office, Captain Vanyssa Winters & Ensign Jason Dema, 1302)

  

"Ensign, I'm glad to see you, please have a seat." Vanyssa gestured with her hand from the box she was packing on the floor.

  

Jason went on to sit down and noticed the mess in the room, it looked like Vanyssa was moving, and then when she sat down on her desk, Jason noticed something different...

  

"Is that a fourth pip on your uniform? No one tols me that Sash was fired."

  

 

Jason saw that Vanyssa smiled.

  

"I've had a discussion with Captain Sash, and if you would like to follow me to the Mystique, you would be welcome."

  

"The Mystique? What's that? Where is that and why me? And what about my sister?"

  

Vanyssa grinned. "The USS Mystique is an Akira class starship. I, and my Officers leave tomorrow morning aboard yonder Steel Talons for her, and I am to be her Captain. Why you, that Ensign, is a complex question."

  

She got comfortable. "You are wasted here, with very little hope of advancement. I trust you, you have proven to be an honorable man. I know that I can lean on you in an Emergency. I would like you to be my Chief of Security, if you want the job, that is. As for your sister, my daughter and her Goveness will be coming with me. She is welcome to study with them."

 Jason's eyes got wider as soon as he heard the name Akira...

 "An Akira class? A real Akira class? Offcourse I will join you."

 Jason got totally excited of the news that he started dancing around yelling and doing goofy, but then, he realised he was making a fool out of himself.

 "Oh, I'm sorry, I got a bit excited there, but I thank you for your trust in me, and I'm sure my sister will be happy to hear the news, and thank you for the promotion."

  

~He's so young.~ Vanyssa thought to herself, watching him. He would probably die in the coming war, and under her command. Her eyes shadowed over at the thought of how many people were going to die.

  

"What do you know about the Akira class?" Vanyssa asked curiously. "To be honest, I had never heard of it until the Admiral mentioned it to me...and I haven't had time to look up the specs yet."

 Jason noticed something in her eyes, he didn't really know what, but he could tell that she was concerned about something, so he tried to cheer her up a bit.

 "I think I'd better let you read the stats as I may forget to mention something, cause knowing your ship is very important, but I can tell you this, with an Akira, your survival is guaranteed."

  

Vanyssa frowned. "What do you mean, Ensign ?" She wondered. Survival was never guaranteed in Starfleet. That was part of the job description. "And Ensign, I expect that your behavior will improve, and you will stop the silliness as part of my senior staff. If you do not, I will have to assign you punishment detail, and that is something that I really do not want to have to do. I asked for you specifically, please don't let my faith in you down." Vanyssa candidly dealt with the one thing that truly bothered her about Dema, his clownish behavior. It would stop.

 "I'm sorry Sir, I'll keep it under control, I just wanted to improve your confidence as it looked like it was getting down a bit."

  

Vanyssa grinned. "Then, in private, Ensign, you may act as silly as you want. I have a habit of being much too serious at times, and David...." and with that she choked back tears that had been threatening all morning. "Let's just say that he spent a lot of time cheering me up, too. " She grinned. "I suggest that you go collect your sister, Ensign, and pack your Quarters. On my authorization, you may arrange a site to site transport of your luggage between here and the Steel Talons's Quarters. I have alerted the Ops staff to have a two bedroom suite available for you." And then, Vanyssa rose from behind her antique cherry desk. "The Talons leaves tomorrow morning at 0700. Please report in at 0630 to me, aboard her. Dismissed, Ensign, and enjoy your last day aboard the Nimitz. I have relieved you of duty."

 "Will do Sir, see you tomorrow at 0630."

 Jason stood up and go closer to Vanyssa.

 "Also in private, and since I'm now off duty..."

 Jason took Vanyssa by her shoulders and pulled her closer and gave her a hug.

 "Everything will be okay, don't worry about it." Jason said, and with that and a smile, he walked out of the room.

  

(reply none)

 (posted by Anthony Struelens)

=

(USS Steel Talons - Admirals Quarter, Admirals Office - Admiral LoDona &

Ambassador Tar-Thurian - 1400)

 

Ana had recently arrived at Geneva to only be told that she was to

report to Admiral LoDona immediately upon her arrival. She had

received a secret summons from Admiral LoDona and she had no

understanding why he wanted her. She had not even met this Admiral and

from what she had heard, he was a rogue. He had pulled the 52nd fleet

away from where they had been in what she had found out from her

sources, a disagreement with Doenitz. Most of the fleet could not

understand what was going on either and had went with what Doenitz had

told them.

 

She could have ignored his summons, but, she wanted to find out just why

such an important person as LoDona had done such a treasonous act. So,

she had taken her Danube ship and left Earth without telling anyone,

especially those that worked with Doenitz and headed for Geneva. She had

found that the Station had moved as the Admiral had said it had and she

had no problem finding if from what the Admiral had given her.

 

As she left Geneva with her aid in tow, she haded for the USS Talons and

her meeting.

 

Ana docked with the USS Talons and as her aid was taking care of the

ship, as she had no idea whether or not she would need it or not after

her discussion. The Talons was a great ship from what she saw as she

headed for the Admirals office, which she had found by stopping at a

terminal and inquiring. People watched as she made her way up into the

ship as if they had not seen an Efrosian before and she guessed that

maybe they had not. She wore her finiest Warrior-Priest robe as

Starfleet had granted her the option to wear. It resembled the finest

Japanese robe that she had seen but had a bit more room in case she had

to move in defense of herself.

 

Finally arriving at the outer office of the Admiral, she saw he had a

Commander as his aid and walked up to him.

 

"I am Ambassador Anastasia Tar-Thurian. I have a meeting with the

admiral is he in?" The commander stood as she had approached and saw

that his tag named him, Carval.

 

"Yes Ambassador he has been expecting you, just one second and I will

let him know you are here." Commander Carval replied.

 

"Thanks Commander." She replied and looked around the office which she

noticed was sparingly equiped.

 

"Ambassador, you are cleared to enter." Carval told her after a brief

talk with whom she supposed was the Admiral.

 

"Thank you commander" she replied with a smile as she turned to walk up

to the door. As it opened she walked in to see a rather distinguished

looking gentleman rising to greet her.

 

"Admiral LoDona, I presume? It is indeed an honor to meet you." she

said as she came close to him.

 

Robert stood as the Ambassador came in, "Ambassador Tar-Thurian, it is a

pleasure." he said. "I was afraid you wouldnt want to see me." He didnt

say why, he didnt need to. She was a diplomat, she knew just how

undiplomatic he had been lately, some things were better left unsaid.

"Can I get you anything to drink?"

 

"Yes please a cup of tea please. You know I have become quite fond the

stuff since I have been on Earth." She Answered him with a smile and a

slight bow to him. "You have caused quite a stir amongst your fellow

admirals. I almost decided that I would not come, but, something

intrigued me about you, which I had to satisfy."

 

She walked over to the couch that was in the room and sat down to wait

on the admiral. "I guess I should ask you, Admiral, is why you took

your fleet and seemed to split from Starfleet? Is that part of the

reason you have summoned me? To explain?" She smiled and accepted the

offered tea taking a sip from it. "Hmm good"

 

Robert chuckled very dryly as he tapped a command for tea, and watched

it materialize. Once she had finished, he took a moment to think and

said, "I think, Ambassador, you hold something of a gift for

understatement. If I know some of those admirals, they are ripping out

thier hair. I can't say I blame them, I didnt have a chance to do as

much as I would have liked before I had to flee with the fleet." He

handed her the cup and sat back on the desk itself facing her, a

conscious gesture to look informal. "I would be more then willing to

tell you everything, I have a feeling if you decide to stay that your

services will be required. I don't seek to upend the Federation, but

there were things I learned about Doenitz which proves that the

Federation was already being flipped inside out."

 

He took a breath and looked at her, "I will give you proof once Im done,

but the short of it is that Doenitz has been placing people in command

and slowing taking over the fleet. Including, I might add, destroying

Starfleet ships that got in his way or had served his purpose. The

Nimitz was the one that tripped me onto the subject, only some

fortuitous events saved her." He looked out the window briefly, "I sent

a message with a lot of the information I gathered to all the fleet

commanders, and I took the 52nd out to keep it from being disbanded and

destroyed. I don't want a civil war, but I don't think I will be able

to avoid it." He looked back, "Im not fighting to gain control, Im

fighting to remove him and his taint."

 

Ana watched the Admiral's body language as she listened to him as she

was pretty good at reading how people are when they lie. From what she

was seeing from him was a sincerity of what he had to do and she

noticed that she thought of the words 'had to' from his demeanor. She

was very curious about this information that he was telling her as

there had been no dissemination of it from what she knew. She thought

that either Doenitz had intercepted what the admiral had sent out or

Doenitz had been able to keep the fleet quite about it. She also knew

that information of this sort would have had a very detrimental effect

on the people of the federation.

 

"Admiral, why did you not bring this to the Council if you are so

convinced the evidence is geniune?" She asked after a bit of digesting

what he had said.

 

"Because, it would have taken nothing for him to grab the council

immediatly and throw the Federation into a full-scale civil war before

any chance for resistance could be built." He spread his hands, "I have

the 52nd here, ready now. Two other fleets have called in as well,

lending support. As of this moment, we have defendable grounds and the

seeds of resistance should he do so anyway, which I would imagine will

happen if he starts taking losses and getting unanswerable questions."

He folded his hands back together again, and rubbed at the

borg-implants in an unconscious gesture as he considered his words,

"The longer this stays from the public, the more chance we have of

removing him quietly and forestalling the blow to the confiedence

everyone has in Starfleet. IF I can take care of this quietly, I will.

I just don't see that happening, I hope Im wrong. If it turns out

everything I found from all over the fleet is fabricated, Ill be the

first to put myself up as a traitor."

 

He shook his head, "Its not false though, I made very sure. And, I am

not a traitor."

 

Ana could see that this admiral was one that, if he had still been in

the fleet and nothing like this had happened, would probably run

starfleet in the future. She was not sure now what his future would be

or of those that decided to take him at his word about the evidence that

he had. She was not so sure that Doenitz could have taken the council,

but, she was unsure of some that were on it. She had seen things that

she did not understand, but, she had kept out of it as it had not been

correct for her to ask.

  

"Admiral are you telling me that you think that the council has been

subverted?" She asked wide eyed. "Do you have any evidence if you

are?"

 

"No doubt, I have a couple names, but I didnt have access to many

council records, just Starfleet records." he said, "I have programs in

motion to discover jut that. But, Ambassador, I wasnt talking about

subverting the council. I was talking about bald force, taking the

council and putting the Federation under Martial Law. There are a

couple distant laws that allow Starfleet to put Earth under Martial Law

in the event of an Emergency, a large-scale defection would certainly

qualify. I caught him well before he would want to do so though, that

he hasnt done so combined with the intel Ive been getting says he isnt

far now though, he has been moving pieces into place since the 52nd took

off en-masse for this area."

 

Ana's face must have turned white as a sheet at what the Admiral had

just said and it bothered her. Her sense of right and wrong flared up

which was threatening to burn her alive. She could not believe such a

person could be alive that would do such things, even to his own people.

Something had to be done to stop him and from what she had heard so

far, the Admiral was the answer to saving a lot of people. If what he

was saying could be proved then she had to help him prove it.

 

"What is it that you need of me Admiral?" She said finally after

recovering and regaining her composure.

 

Robert quirked his head, "Your skills," he said. "And your moderation.

For three reasons, in fact." He brought up a hand and extended one

finger, "Until things come to a head, we are in a new area and we have

to make friends with any locals. Second, we are not the only ones to

have ever explored this area, there are some of the better known

governments here, Romulans and Klingons and Ferengi.. oh my."

 

He sat forward, "And, third. Whatever happens, we are going to need a

calm voice once we start talking with Earth again, we will need a level

headed diplomat who is well known to speak our side of the truth. Me,

Im a War-horse and everyone knows it. My past history is definatly of

the warrior-persuasion, and I can think of a dozen excuses right off

the top of my head why I might have 'defected', if I have someone well

known speaking for the cause, then my warrior's mentality will not be

nearly the issue as otherwise."

 

 

Ana got up and walked to the window to peer out and think about what he

had just stated. After a few moments she turned to the Admiral and

looked him straight in the eyes. "I understand the warriors mentality

Admiral as I am not only an Ambassador, I was first a warrior-Priest for

my people and in some ways I still am. Being said that, it also may

come in handy in the long run for you." She paused to contemplate her

next statement to him.

  

"Admiral, I understand what you have just said and I agree that you will

need a level head to speak for you. Not only with the ones that you

meet out here, but when you do go back and try to explain what

happened. I hope you do plan on doing that one day." she looked at him

questioningly before continuing, "I will join your, how they call it,

merry band of warriors, but only to see what you do and to record it so

I can one day speak either for you or against you. Are you willing to

agree to that?"

 

LoDona inclinded his head, "I can survive with it. We are launching a

new ship, for now we are putting her on the rim to train her command

staff, I don't intend for her to go into battle immediatly. For a

start, that would be the place to put you, if you are agreeable."

 

"I am agreeable with that Admiral, with one stipulation, I want a copy

of your evidence that caused you to do what you have done. I will

ensure that it does not fall into the wrong hands." She replied not

sure if he was trusting her enough to let her have a copy of his data to

examine. "And then just point me to the captain of your new vessel and

I will be on my way." she pondered a moment before he answered,

"Admiral, I was not sure what or who I would find when I arrived. I am

honored to have listened to my gut feelings and came to hear what you

had to say."

 

Robert nodded, and after a few moments of thought, turned and punched a

button on his desk. "See that the Ambassador gets a full copy of the

evidence against Doenitz before she leaves."

 

=^=Aye, Admiral=^=

 

He turned back, "I will get you more as it comes, we are recieving

tid-bits as we go. But my own stipulation, is that I will not tell you

our fleet manuvers or data-sources until you fully sign with us, I will

not endager my own ships and men should you decide to go back." He

straignted, "The ship is the Mystique, I will be taking her CO later

tomorrow to the ship, so I will have quarters assigned to you here on

the Talons."

 

"Agreed Admiral and that would be nice. I look forward to meeting the

Captain on the morrow. If you can have someone escort me to my quarters

until then." She said as she reached out to shake his hand.

 

Robert took her hand, "No, thank you, Ambassador." he said, before

gently putting a hand on her back in accepted fashion to show her the

door. "Every little bit helps, and Id rather diplomacy at this point."

The door opened to let them out, and Robert gestured to one of his

Aides. "See that the Ambassador gets quarters in the Ambassadorial

section." he said. Since this was a fleet flagship, it had a few more of

the enemities of comfort then most ships. He turned back to her, "I am

available at most times, if you have questions or concerns."

 

"Until later then Admiral" she replied then started for the commander to

retrieve the information that he had for her.

 

(reply: none)

(posted by Frank Rogers & Trout)

 

=/\=Day -5=/\=

 

(USS Steel Tallons, Captain Winters' Quarters, Captain Vanyssa Winters & FO Lt. Cmdr. Peter Belinia, 1040)

  

Vanyssa had spent the morning carefully explaining to Jennah the reason

 they had to leave the Nimitz and her beloved Captain Sash. Needless

 to say, Vanyssa's twelve year old daughter wasn't taking the change

 very well. She was off with her Governess, exploring the ship.

  

Vanyssa had been going through the files of the people to be

 transferred from the various ships, but hadn't had a chance to meet any

 of them yet. The person she really wanted to meet was her First

 Officer, a Mr. Peter Belinia. Oddly enough, Vanyssa, a former

 Counsellor, felt vaguely shy about meeting him.

  

She looked up as the chime sounded. "Come!" She stated, in a very

 confident voice that belied the shaking that her insides were doing.

  

Peter was now all settled in. His departure from Geneva had been

 huried, and he did not have time to say all his goodbyes. So he had

 sent letters to the various members of the crew he had left behind.

  

He had read over the PADD with his commission on over and over, he

 still couldn't believe it. He had been handed seven PADD's upon his

 arrival on the Talons, most were information on Command procedures. He

 had briefly read over them, but he had an entire week to memorise them.

 He was happy that he had this oportunity to serve the Fleet.

  

"Computer, locate Captain Winters." Peter asked.

  

=/\=Captain Winters is in her quaters=/\= Replied the computer.

  

Peter stood, and headed towards her quaters, he was looking forward to

 meeting her.

  

Peter stood outside the Captains quaters and pressed the chime. "Come!"

 Boomed the Captains voice. Peter stepped through the now open doors and

 allowed them to close behind him.

  

"Lieutenant Commander Belinia, your new First Officer." He said.

  

 

Vanyssa smiled at her new first Officer. "I'm very pleased to meet

 you." She said rising and offering him her hand. "Please have a seat.

 I know very little about you and vice-versa. Please tell me about

 yourself?"

  

Peter sat in the seat he was offered. "Thank you...er....sir?" He

 enquired, he had never had a female CO before.

  

As the Captain also sat in her seat Peter began to talk. "There really

 isn't much to tell, really. My entire family was in Starfleet. My

 mother is the First Officer of the USS Endeavour, my father is a

 theoretical scientist and specialises in warp theory. I suppose you

 would say that I was the product of a scientific experiment." Peter

 laughed at that memory, it had been a long time since he had thought of

 his family. "My mother used to say that Starfleet gave them the perfect

 marriage. They never saw each other and so I never really saw them

 either. I joined Starfleet out of a desire to do the right thing, but

 it was also to keep my parents quiet. Then, about a year ago, I

 graduated from the Academy, was posted to Geneva, and now here we are.

 That's me in a nutshell, well actually this is me in a nutshel; 'Help,

 help, I'm in a ruddy great nutshell, help. What kind of nut has a shell

 this big anyway?'" Peter did the motions as if he were stuck in a

 nutshel and laughed when he was done. He never got the opportunity to

 be funny on Geneva, it was always work, work, work.

  

Vanyssa laughed. "Wow." She said. She had been in the service about

 seven years before they had made her the First Officer. Now she had

 someone barely a year out of the Academy.

  

"A little about me. My name is Vanyssa Winters, I have two daughters,

 one named Jennah, the other is on Betazed, her name is Kat. I was

 married to the MCO of the USS Nimitz before he was injured in the line

 of duty and died." She closed her eyes very briefly against the pain

 that that particular thought brought her. "Despite the fact that I

 don't look it, I am a Betazoid. I am bringing some crew with me from

 the Nimitz, but we can discuss this later. Suffice it to say,

 Commander, that despite your relative youth, I expect you to act

 professional at all times while we are on-duty. Off duty, you are

 welcome to make any jokes that you wish. In fact, you may find a soul

 mate in Mr. Dema in that regard." And she smiled briefly at the

 thought. "To be honest, I'm a little uncertain I should be here. I'm

 scared. I've only been the First Officer for a couple of months and

 now I am dumped here, with my own command, with someone a year out of

 the Academy to be the person I need to lean on. I'm scared to death,

 Commander." She got up. Betazoids always shared their feelings, and

 she would share them with him, now, in private.

  

"I would like to be your friend, I would like us to be a team." She

 got up and walked over to the window to look out at the stars. She

 turned back around and smiled. ::You are doing fine.:: Vanyssa heard

 Riven from across the ship. She smiled at his reassuring words.

  

 

 

"I understand you reluctance Captain, I would feel the same if I were

 in your position. We should trust in the judgement of our superiors and

 that their faith in our abilities is justified. I intend to prove them

 correct." Peter said as the Captain moved to the window. As she

 returned he added, "I also would like to become your friend, and

 confidante. You can trust that I will be every bit the Commander on

 duty, and every bit a friend off duty too."

  

Vanyssa nodded. "Maybe I will tell you about the Nimitz, one day."

 She spoke quietly.

  

"We should go over the crew." She said, regaining her focus. "I would

 like to start with.... " She said, looking down at her files. "I lost

 my train of thought." She looked up and grinned. "Ah yes, Mr. Dema."

 She said, pulling out her file on him. "i requested his transfer from

 the Nimitz because he seems to be a very good tactician. I am of the

 opinion that I have seen too much death in my life and would prefer to

 end things without loss of life to my crew." She said. "He also has

 a quite whacky sense of humor, and some problems with Starfleet

 protocol. I would like you to schedule some sessions with him, and help

 him overcome these. He is going to be a brilliant Officer, in time, and

 I want him to become one." She smiled and waited for the Commander's

 reply.

  

Peter looked down at his PADD and saw the name. "I will make a note of

 that." He said in response to the Captain's first comments. "And I will

 also look for a potential sidekick in him!" He smiled at her in a

 classic 'You are going to regret this' way.

  

Vanyssa nodded. This was something that was normally done with the

 Counsellor, and not the Captain. She was a Counsellor, she was the

 Captain, and she knew these people pretty well, some of them. She

 didn't have a Counsellor yet, and it would be good training for her FO

 to see how one of these should be done.

  

"Next I'd like to discuss the marines." She said. "Major Lee is a good

 friend of mine, and he is well capable of training these people into a

 Company. I know that his squad is very well trained. I want you to

 liase with him and keep up to date on the training reports from him.

 There will inevitably be problems with the marines, drinking and

 brawling. When that happens, I will need you to adjudicate that."

 Vanyssa leaned back in her chair, thinking. Most of these people had

 not been through an invasion. She had seen three in her life. "I want

 you to also schedule some drills with the Major. I've been through

 three invasions of the starships I've been on, and I want to make sure

 that if it happens again, my crew is prepared. Again, do variations on

 the drills. Keep me informed."

  

Peter started to write on his PADD all the information he was going to

 have to remember. This was all new to him and he did not want to let

 the Captain down before they even left spacedoack. "I will organise

 something with the Major and his men as soon as we arrive." He started

 to note some ideas down. "I will keep you appraised of any decisions we

 decide to make regarding that." Peter started to relax a bit now, as

 they were both getting to know one another. He waited for the Captain

 to speak.

  

"I feel a little uncomfortable about having a Romulan aboard." Vanyssa

 said, shivering despite herself. "However I do agree to it's necessity.

 The Romulans have explored this sector of space, and it would be goot

 to have one of them on board. However, some of the crew will take

 exception to it. We don't have a Counsellor yet, but I want you to be

 aware of it. How do you feel, personally about having a Romulan on

 board ?"

  

Peter was taken back a little by this, but thought that he should be as

 honest as she was. "Personally, Captain, I hate the Romulans. I chose

 not to say anything about Captain Rofellian, but I hated almost every

 second of the first few months. I learnt to swallow the anger and

 hatred I held for his kind after a while. I will be as dutiful in me

 First Officer position so as not to offend this person, under the

 Articles of the Federation, we, as Starfleet Officers have a duty to

 uphold all the rights of all sentient beings. I for one, personally, do

 not agree that we should extend this coutesy to the Romulans, but these

 people are in Starfleet and we owe them the same loyalty as they give

 us." Peter waited for the Captains reaction.

  

Vanyssa nodded. "I'm glad to hear you say that. Lt. Hhril has been in

 Starfleet for several years and his loyalty has been proven. He will be

 our Chief of Operations, please include him in your liasons with the

 Marines." Vanyssa looked down the list of crew members. "We will be

 getting several young Ensigns straight out of the Academy. Their

 loyalty has not been proven. I would like you to assign them mentors in

 their division, and meet with their division heads on a Quarterly basis

 to review their progress. The first year out of the Academy is the most

 important in my opinion, and that is what will shape them into good or

 bad Starfleet Officers. I want all of my crew to be good. Mr. Keswick,

 the Assistant Tactical Chief may need some help settiling into his

 position. Again, speak with Mr. Dema about it."

  

"I will make anote to speak with all the new Ensigns and theri department chiefs, I want them to be as loyal to you as they are to Starfleet. Some of them may know about the split, but some may not so I will keep a guarded eye on them fo any sign of espionage." Peter was begining to feel a little out of his depth, but ws determined to see it through. It was only his first day as FO and they were not even on the ship yet.

  

Vanyssa leaned back and thought about things for a few minutes.

 "Arrange a meeting between Mr. Radchenko, our new Doctor and Mr. Hhril

 once we reach the ship. I want to make sure that sickbay is completely

 stocked for any emergency. If necessary, we will make a side-trip to

 Geneva to take on supplies." She nodded as she continued to scan her

 list of senior officers.

  

"I will make that a priority. If we do need to swing by Geneva may I also suggest that we order the crew some R and R, for a day maybe? We do not know how long we will be gone, and it will give the newbies a chance to have some fun, before the real isolation kickes in." Peter was being presumptuous, but he was thinking of the welfare of the young officers, he did not want to have them mopeing around for six months while there was work to be done.

  

 

"We will be somewhat unusual in that we will be having an Ambassador on

 board. Please liason with Ms. Tar-Thurian at some point to see if

 there is anything that she will require. She will be on level with the

 Chief Counsellor of the ship, and the two should get to know each

 other, once one is found. As I've said, I prefer to talk my way out of

 situations, rather than fight."

  

"An Ambassador, I will certainly enjoy that." Peter said sarcastically. He knew how awkward these negotiators could be.

  

Vanyssa looked into his eyes. "I think that is everything." She leaned

 back in her chair as her daughter and the Governess came back into her

 Quarters. Vanyssa leaned down to give Jennah a hug.

  

"Commander, this is Jennah Winters-Dark, my daughter and her Governess,

 Ms. Leona Rilley. Ms. Rilley will be our schoolteacher for the few

 children that will be on board the Mystique. Jennah, this is my First

 Officer, Mr. Peter Belenia. "

  

"How do you do, Commander." Jennah said curtsying. "I hope that you

 like working with my mother." The little girl with the brown hair and

 dark brown eyes said.

  

"I am certain that I will." Peter replied with a smile. He turned back to Vanessa. "Well, if that is all Captain. I must attend to arranging these meetings. I will see you again, today?" He asked as he stood.

  

(reply none)

 (pb Melinda & John)

  

=/\=Day -3=/\=

 

(USS Steele Talons - Personal Quaters; Lt Cmdr Peter Belinia & Ensign Jason Dema; 10:00)

  

Peter was sat reading his PADD containing the crew manifest, when there was a knock at the door. ~Novel and punctual, I like that!~ He tought. "Come!" He yelled. The confident Ensign strode into the room.

 

"Good morning Ensign, please take a seat at my desk. Would you like a drink?"

  

"I'll just have plain water, I kinda got a sore throat, must've swallowed a bug last night."

 

Peter, laughing, rose and headed towards the replicator and ordered the drinks. Once Peter had returned to his desk, he placed the drinks down and picked up his PADD. He was silent for a while, making the tension tighter.

 

Jason took a sip from his drink while waiting for the first word from the commander. He noticed he was building tension, but it took more than that to put pressure on Jason.

 

"I see from your record that you were posted to the USS Nimitz, how did you find that?"

 

"Well, altough it was short, I did meet a few good crewmembers, and I enjoyed working with them."

 

"Well, I am glad to hear that you enjoyed it so much. You are the new CTSO of the USS Mystique. tell me, how do you feel about that?"

 

"Well, I'm honoured that Vanyssa asked me, though she doesn't know me that well, she did picked me, and that also makes me surprised, but I'll gladly accept the job."

 

"I am glad to hear that aswell. First of all, while you are in uniform it is Captain Winters. Now there is one matter we need to concentrate on." Peter leaned forward and placed the PADD on the desk. "You have a somewhat lax attitude to accepted Starfleet protocol. What exactly do you expect to gain from such an attitude?" Peter was not being fair to the young Ensign, but he needed to be sure that they could rely upon him to take orders.

 

"I try to pick up the morale of the crew from time to time, the better the morale, the better people will function. and I know that you, like anyone else, rather works in a pleasant environment. and I know what your thinking, space is a hostile environment, but that doesn't mean that inside the ship, the mood has to be hostile."

 

Peter was anooyed that he hadn't answered the question, but allowed him to continue down this path - until it was too much. He tried to bring it back to the point. "Ensign, I do not want to start on the wrong footing, but I will not tolerate any behaviour which is in breach of protocol. You have license to intepret orders as far as they allow, but when the lives of this crew are at stake, you will follow them to the letter. Do I make myself clear Ensign?"

 

Jason was getting annoyed, this commander did only not know him, he was also judging him by hearing or reading about him, and that's a trait Jason hated. So he looked Belinia straight in the eyes.

 

"Off the record Sir, I'm proud to be a starfleet officer, and I would do anything to uphold starfleet's beliefs, and to protect my fellow crewmembers, there is a time of fun and leisure, but also to be serious. Yes I can see a difference in them, and know that when the time comes, then I'll be the first to be there to do what I have to do."

 

"First of all, nobody said anything about being off the record, this will be noted in my report to the Captain. You have been called here at my request to talk about your record and your duties. But nevertheless I am glad we understand one another. I will keep a close eye on your progress, I will expect that your attitude and your knowledge of Starfleet protocol to improve 100 fold by the time you assume your station."

 

Jason was getting irritated about the commander still nagging about the same thing while he allready made clear that he knew what his job was about, and so he answered with a strict voice.

 

"Sir, I know we are here to get to know each other, but if you're gonna judge me by reading that PADD only, then be free to do so, but if you want my full respect, then make your own judgements without pre-judgements from a PADD. I have proven myself before, and I'll do it again. I know my duties."

 

Peter was highly annoyed at this brash officer sat opposite him. "We seem to be getting off on the wrong footing after all." He said. "You are an Ensign, while I am a lieutenant Commander and your First Officer. When I say jump, you intepret how high I would like you to jump, then you do it. Without thinking or even objecting. You are a junior officer, with the potential to be greater, you will not make it if you simply rebel against the Chain of Command." Peter moved on. "I will judge you as I see fit. I have no personal experience of your abilities and I am acting upon the request of others, you have no authority to challenge me on this matter. What is on this PADD is what I have to judge you by, then I will add to that this meeting. It is not going well for you, I will admit that."

 

That last, surely was over the edge for Jason, the vision he had about the FO, wich seemed nice in the beginning, turned into an FO that was out on making the rest feel small, like drill sergeants do, and he especially hated that the FO used their difference in rank to ampliffy that. But still, Jason kept calm.

 

"Yep, wrong footing it is it seems, judge all you want, but don't be blinded by a PADD Sir."

 

Peter ignored tha comment, he was hghly frutrated, this was not how he had wanted to start his career as First Officer, but he knew it needed to be done. "Now, onto more operational matters. I would like you to schedule some time with the Major and myself in regards to the security of the Mystique. I want daily training drills and reports on the operational preparedness of the crew and the Marines, report directly to myself on any matters which need addressing. I will forward them onto the Captain if she needs to be informed." He handed the Ensign a PADD with all the neccesary data on.

 

Jason was getting tired of the commander who kept talking about what to do, while he allready knew what his duties were, but he just complied.

 

"Yes Sir."

 

"I also wanted you to arrange a meeting with Mr Kesswick, your subordinate. But I think I will conduct that meeting. Mr Dema, you are at leisure until we board the Mystique, I want your attitude to have changed. IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?!!" Peter shouted that last bit to emphasise his frustration at Jason. "DISSMISSED!!!"

 

Jason, not even a bit intruiged by the commanders shouting, stood up and started walking out, but before he walked out he turned around.

 

"Seeing I'm of duty now, then here's some advice from a friend, I came here with good intentions and a good thought about you... but now, it seems that you're a commander that is blinded by protocols and reports from others. So do,'t let the power flow to your head to much, I don't want to see throw you in the brig when I'm on duty."

 

"Mr Dema, I would aprecite it the next time we meet that you are able to differentiate between what is acceptible behaviour when addressing a superior officer, and what is not. I would hate for you to be an Ensign for the rest of your career."

 

Jason said that with a friendly smile, to show the commander that his intentions were good, and then Jason walked out.

 

As Jason left Peter drank his tea, shaking. He had kept his emotion under control, even when shouting, but now that the Ensign had left he allowed it to surface. He was not expecting to do that so soon. It did not feel right to tell the Ensign that Peter was quite pleased with the meeting. At least he knew that the officer was loyal, if a little outlandish. "Computer, play Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, dim lights." Peter leant back in his chair and closed his eyes. He hoped that the young Ensign would become a friend, but that seemed far off in the future now.

 

"What a beautiful start to the day, I am sure Captain Winters would really apprecieate it if you didn't alienate the whole crew!!!" He said to himself. He rose from his seat, took up his PADD and started to enter data into it.

 

(Reply none)

 

(Posted by John G and Anthony Struelens)

=

(USS Talons, CO Mystique Quarters, Federation Ambassador Tar-Thurian, 1130)

 

 

Admiral LoDona had introduced Ana to the Captain, Vanyssa Winters earlier,

she looked like one that could be a very good Captain. She did not know this

Vanyssa Winters, so, she had no knowledge to pull from, but, records could

be attained. She hoped that the Captain would be forthright in what

information she needed, with the exception of what LoDona had said would be

kept secret for the moment.

 

Ana finally decided it was time to see the captain. The computer had located

her in her makeshift office she had set up in her temporary quarters. She

walked up to the captains door and pushed the chime to gain entrance.

 

Vanyssa looked up from the piles of somewhat archaic paperwork around her.

As usual, it had been a somewhat busy morning. She was delagating as much

off to her FO as she could, but it was still a lot of work. Red tendrils of

hair had escaped Vanyssa's bun, curling around her face from the

perspiration.

 

~Who is it now?~ She wondered to herself, almost entirely to herself,

keeping the thought well shielded.

 

"Come!" She called out, glad that she had figured out the trick of

portraying confidence.

 

Ana had heard the captain tell her or more like whoever to come in. She

moved forward and as the door opened she walked right in to find the captain

behind stacks of paperwork.

 

"Captain maybe this is a good time to take a break and get to know each

other." Ana said smiling walking up to Vanyssa.

 

Vanyssa looked up at the smiling woman approaching her. She seemed overly

friendly. ~Maybe this is my missing Counsellor!~ She thought with a lot of

hope.

 

"That sounds like a wonderful plan, ergh, I'm sorry, but I don't know who

you are. Or why you aren't in uniform." Vanyssa said, assuming that this

person was a starfleet officer.

 

"Captain Vanyssa Winters, Admiral LoDona introduced us briefly earlier this

morning. I am Anastasia Tar-Thurian, Your Federation Ambassador." Ana said

smiling, but, she was actually annoyed that the captain had dismissed the

meeting.

 

Vanyssa thought back over all the people that she had met in the last three

days, and blushed, completely red, almost as red as her hair. And she firmly

pulled her mind out of the string of subspace numbers that she had been

trying to compute. "I'm sorry. I could make excuses as to why I forgot, but

they would be just that, excuses. Good morning, Ambassador, please have a

seat." And vanyssa indicated the somethwat uncomfortable couch that she had

been given. "May I get you some refreshment?"

 

"No thanks Captain and I can imagine what it might be like trying to put

together a new ship and crew." Ana replied as she sat down on the couch,

"Making sure that all the correct supplies are loaded for each department.

It must be hair pulling to say the least." Ana finished as she watched

Vanyssa's body actions.

 

Vanyssa nodded and relaxed, then realized that her hair was literally flying

away. "Just so. No hair pulling yet, but from the supplies manifest I've

been given, many things are missing. and there is meeting with the crew,

meshing personalities..." Vanyssa let her voice trail off as she moved back

to the couch with a glass of cold sweet earth tea.

 

"What can I do for you, Ambassador ?" Vanyssa asked. "I actually just sent

you about meeting with me to get to know each other a bit before setting

out."

 

"Well for one thing what do you exactly expect from me?" Ana replied knowing

what she was going to do, but, wanted to know what the captain thought she

was going to do.

 

Vanyssa leaned back. "I hadn't given it much thought, to be honest. I would

like you to be on the same level as my Counsellor, have a station on the

bridge, advise as necessary. I would like you to go on away missions with

the crew, and, well, I have to say that my intuition says that there will be

a bit of First Contact going on while the Mystique is out exploring. First

Contact is something better left to diplomats. Plus," And then Vanyssa

grinned. "I would much rather talk my way out of a battle than have to

fight. We are in a war, and well, everything is valuable while in a war.

That goes from the people to the equipment, Ambassador. I've seen too much

death and destruction in my life, and would rather not see any that can be

prevented."

 

"First Contact would be a good thing Captain and I would be most happy to

help there." Ana replied but she wanted more information, "May I ask you

something Captain?"

 

Vanyssa nodded. "Ambassador, to you, off-duty, please call me Vanyssa."

 

"What is the motivation behind LoDona and his moving of the fleet?" Ana

asked her to see just what answer the captain would give her.

 

Vanyssa froze. "What has he told you about the current situation ?" She

asked cautiously.

 

"With all due respect Captain, I want your take on it not what he has told

me." Ana was wondering if Vanyssa would actually tell her anything.

 

Vanyssa sighed and sat back. "What being said, does not leave these

Quarters?" She sighed again, mentally filtering through the number of things

that she knew of. "the 52nd Fleet in Breaking Away from the rest of

Starfleet because a good portion of the rest of Starfleet is corrupt and

under the control of Admiral Doenitz. Doenitz is ruthless and will kill any

and all who stand in his way." Vanyssa closed her eyes briefly at the

thought of the number of people this Admiral had killed, including some that

she knew. "He planted a few saboteurs aboard the Nimitz not long ago, and

attempted to blow her up because she had one of his former coworkers on

board. Luckily that person discovered what had been done and put a stop to

it. There have been other instances where Doenitz has attempted to kill and

has suceeded, those that stand in his way. I do not know all of them, just

the ones that have touched me. I do not know why he wants control of the

entire Federation, but that is his ultimate goal. I do know this, I trust

Robert LoDona with my life. He is an honorable man, with only the good of

the Federation in his heart." Vanyssa leaned back, trying to relax her neck

muscles. "He brought you here, Ambassador, to serve with us in this. He

would not have done that if he were less than honorable."

 

"Or covering his tracks." Ana replied to see what reaction that Vanyssa

would have. "Who did Admiral Doenitz try to kill and where was this suppose

to have happened?" She had read over the report that LoDona had given her

but she was also trying to see just how much might be true.

 

"On board the Nimitz ? Who was he after ?" Vanyssa asked softly. "A friend

of mine."

 

"Was this friend in starfleet or a civilian? Could this person have done

something that caused the admiral to want them dead?" Ana could tell by the

way Vanyssa was acting that she was holding something back.

 

"Yes, he used to be one of Doenitz's operatives." Vanyssa said. "He is in

Starfleet, but has left that life behind. The other purpose in destroying

the Nimitz seemed to have been to kill the Executive Officer of the ship at

the time." Vanyssa was cold. She didn't know how much of Falthgood's past

she could reveal. Hell, she didn't even know it all.

 

Ana decided to play a hand with Vanyssa to see where it would lead her.

"What happened to the Nimitz beyond the river?" She asked knowing part of

what the answer could be but wanted it from her. "If I understand it right,

the information was put together beyond the river on the Nimitz, am I

correct?" In playing this hand she might be letting Vanyssa know a bit more

of what she knew of what was going on than she should.

 

Vanyssa nodded and told the story of what had happened, and all the damage

that the Nimitz has taken. "I was only a lowly Lt at the time, and didn't

here all the details." She finished, relating from her experience.

 

Ana listened to what Vanyssa had to tell her and there were things that she

had not heard or read about the experience of the nimitz beyond the river.

The story was compelling with evidence that Doenitz was indeed planning to

take over the federation or at least he was the one behind so many

suspicious deaths around Starfleet. Though Vanyssa seemed to have told her

everything, Ana could sense there was something very personal that she would

not go to. Ana wanted to ask about it but decided to respect her privacy.

 

"Captain, I want to thank you for being very open with me. Most of what you

have said I did not know, only small bits and pieces I have been able to

find. I now know that we can be honest with each other and have a honest

working relationship together. LoDona had given me what Aragorn and Captain

Rivers had about Doenitz and now I see that it was indeed correct. I look

forward to working with you in helping the Fleet in any way I can."

 

Vanyssa was shaking by the end of her speech. Reliving it, reliving when she

had heard that David was dead..... It was hard on her.

 

"Yes, Ambassador." Vanyssa said, then looked up in curiousity. "Indulge my

curiousity, if you please. Could you tell me about your attire ?"

 

Ana smiled as she stood up and rotated so that Vanyssa could see more of

what she was wearing. "Well, Vanyssa, it is a lot like the ones that the

earth people called Japanese wear but I think ours is a little different as

it signifies what we are on our planet. I wear what we call on my home world

the robes of the Warrior-Priest."

 

Vanyssa was fascinated. "I have a good friend who wears robes similiar to

yours. He is a Priest of the Goddess Allura of Betazed. Tell me about your

order, please? What does it mean to be a Warrior-Priest?"

 

Ana sat back down, "There are only a few that go through the rigors of

becoming warrior and priest. First you have to go down the hard road to

become a warrior." Ana stopped to think of an example that might help

Vanyssa, "it is like a Klingon child becoming a warrior. We also go through

what they call Ascension. The Klingon rite of Ascension is almost as hard as

the one that we have to go through. Most stop there and become our warrior

forces but others aspire to more enlightenment and go on to be a priest

also. These become the warrior Priests." She stopped there as she could not

tell Vanyssa that part that was their religion.

 

Vanyssa nodded. "Thank you, Ambassador." As her chime went off again. "It

seems like more work has come to me. " She sighed and placed her cup of tea

back in the recycler. "I look forward to future talks."

 

"I will look forward to our little chats and yes I have taken up too much of

your time. I will leave as I have some things to take care of also." Ana

replied as she got up and started for the door.

 

Vanyssa nodded, watching the Ambassador go. It had been an interesting

discussion. As the Ambassador left, a crewman walked in, containing a pile

of PADDs for her. Vanyssa sighed quietly to herself and settled in for more

bureaucracy.

 

(reply none)

(Pb Frank and Melinda)

=

(USS Steele Talons - Outside Ambassadors Quarters - Lt Cmdr Peter Belinia & Ambassador Anastasia Tar-Thurian - 16:00)

  

Peter was walking down the corridor, holding yet another PADD, containing data on the Ambassador. He pressed the door chime, and the doors opened. He cautiously stepped inside. He had never met an Efrosian before, nor had he spoken to an ambassador. This was a day to reckon with, and no mistake. Again he was trying to portray an officer aware of what was going on, but quite frankly, he did not have a clue. He was just winging it, hoping that it would all somehow slot into place. He glanced at the woman who was standing, with her back to him, looking out into space. She turned to regard him and Peter was struck by her beauty, this was not what he was expecting from an ambassador. She was neither old, nor cantankerous.

  

Ana had been looking out the window of her spacious temporary quarters aboard the Talons when her aid, Cheri, came to tell her that someone wanted to speak with her. Without turning from the window she motioned for Cheri to let the individual approach. She had heard someone enter and when that person stopped she turned around to meet them.

  

"I take it that you are the FO, Commander Belina" Ana asked already knowing as she had already reviewed all the crew members that would be on the Mystique, especially the command crew.

  

"I am indeed, Ambassador." Peter replied. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you. And I am glad you agreed to meet with me. It has been somewhat of a busy and tiring day."

 "Yes indeed it has been a tiring day" She replied then motioning for him to have a seat on the sofa. "Would like something to drink Commander?" She asked as she was heading to the replicator to get something to drink herself.

  

"Well thank you very much. Could I please have a hot cup of sweet tea?" His British accent coming through thick. He took a seat on the sofa, and awaited the ambassador. Once she had brought their drinks over he settled back. "Ambassador, forgive me if I am abrupt, but as I say it has been a hard day so far."

  

"Abrupt sometimes means to the point and I like that. Please continue with your questions." She replied knowing that this commander would like to know many things and there were only a few that he would really get.

  

"Well thank you. Ambassador, what do you think will be your primary role aboard the Mystique?" Peter did not want to beat around the bush, he was tired and he still had more work to do. There would be plenty of time to get to know her later, he just wanted to know some details about why she was coming aboard.

  

"I am here at the request of your Admiral LoDona." she replied taking a sip of her tea then looking at him directly, "What do you think my role aboard the Mystique should be?" She asked turning the tables on him.

  

Peter was distrustful of diplomats, they always returned questions, instead of answers. "Your role, as I understand it would be to, how would the Admiral put it," Peter thought for a second. "Ah! To make friends!" He looked at her, full in the face, and swallowed some of his tea. "Ambassador, I realise that your skills will come in useful, and I dare say that we will be grateful for them. But I do not want to waste valuable time in going to unknown parts just to say a quick hello and hows your neighbourhood. My question is simple, will you be commedering the Mystique to conduct any kind of Ambassadorial mission?" Peter sat in the silence that followed.

  

"Yes, I guess that would sum up what the Admiral had told me also." Ana agreed with the FO smiling. "Now that is a good question Mr. Belina and the only answer that I can give at this time is that I go where the Admiral sends me just like you do."

 Ana watched him for a second the added, "I tell you now that I have no intentions to go against the captain unless she gives me or the admiral a reason to. Do I pass your interrogation Mr. Belina?" She finished with a knowing smile.

 Peter returned the smile and simply nodded. "You passed it." His face turned sour at his next thought. "Ambassador, your role will be immensley important to the 52nd, and to the Federation. I would ask that whatever you plan you keep either myself or the Captain informed. For the safety of the ship, I don't want to be chasing shadows, so to speak." Peter rose, he wanted to get back to his paper work, not that he liked it but because it needed to be done and this conversation could go round in circles all day.

  

"My dear Mr. Belina, I assure you I will not have you,,,, chasing Shadows,,, at least." She replied to him with a shy smile.

  

"Thank you for your cooperation." He said sarcastically. He turned to walk towards the door and halted. "I would like to be friends with you Ambassador, please do not take me to be a blumbering idiot. Too many people seem to make that mistake."

  

"Mr. Belina, I do not take anyone as anything other than what they portray themselves. As Friends, I am friends with everyone." Ana replied knowing that the FO just implied a threat and she skimmed over it without a second thought. She stood to walk him to the door, "I look forward to arriving on the Mystique."

 "Thank you Ambassador. I, too, look forward to your joining our merry band." With that the Ambassador and Peter headed towards the doors and Peter left her in her quaters. He strode down the corridors with his head full of suspicion.

  

(Posted by John Gibson and Frank)

  

=/\=Day -2=/\=

 

(USS Steele Talons - Observation Lounge; Lt Cmdr Peter Belinia & Lt HHril; 09:00)

 

Peter sat with his back to the entrance, he was staring out into space, the stars wizzing by as the Steele Talons sped at warp to their new home. He heard the doors open, then close. "Good morning Lieutenant." Peter said without turning round.

 

''Good morning, Sir!'' replied the young man, obviously uncomfortable in the new yellow uniform. ''Lt HHril reporting as ordered.'' The OPS officer of the newly commissioned USS Mystique stepped towards the table, the PADD containing his orders and updated personnel file in his right hand. It was not so much feeling of the newly replicated material, but more the change in colour that bothered him, It felt oddly tight and rigid... unforgiving. So too were the responsibilities that came with his new position at OPS.

  

The FO motioned for him to take a seat at the table.

  

Peter sipped his tea and placed the PADD he was holding on the table opposite him, next to all the others. As the Lieutenant came and sat next to him Peter spoke. "Beautiful, isn't she?" Peter put his cup of tea down. "Space I mean, she is one beauty I have devoted my life to exploring."

 

"And a worthy cause she is, Sir.'' replied the Romulan. ''The endlessness of it. It is like infinity personified.'' HHril shifted in his seat. This was his first assignment as a department head. First impressions of the First Officer would be extremely important. What would he think of a Romulan officer assigned to him. He did not have to wait long to find out.

  

"I would tend to agree Lieutenant. I would like to ask you a question off the record, if I may."

 

~That was quick~ Hhril thought the Lt to himself.

  

He did not wait for an answer. "Where do your loyalties lie, Lieutenant? I ask only because I am immensley distrustful of Romulans, generations of conflict you understand. Personally I have learnt to subdue my feelings, due to my previous Captain being a Romulan." Peter stopped to hear the Romulan answer.

 

''Sir.'' began HHril, flashes of his earlier years on ch'Rihan, his training with the Tal Shiar, and the reason for his families departure burning in the back of his mind. He had been prepared for this line of questioning from the first day he arrived at Starfleet Academy. ''My loyalties lie squarely with Starfleet Sir. I believe in the ideals and directives laid out in the charter and have pledged to follows orders from any ranking officer within Starfleet or the United Federation of Planets.'' He passed over the PADD to the FO. ''The fact is, Sir. I am ch'Rihannsu. Romulan as it were.'' He paused, taking a long, audible breath which betrayed his outward stoic expression. ''I cannot change that. But I can assure you that my loyalties are far from divided. I may have been born to them, but they will not claim me as their own.''

  

"You must understand that that was nothing to do with the Captain, just something I needed to clarify. For my own peace of mind, you understand. I never thought that your loyalties were divided, but I simply had to ask. Please take no offense." Peter drank the last of his tea and looked longingly into his cup. "Would you like anything from the replicator?" Peter asked as he rose.

 

''None taken, Sir!'' replied HHril, rather relieved that the conversation had gone so well. ''If I may, Cmdr'' began HHril, now more comfortable with a hot cup of coffee in hand ''Will the Mystique be operational upon our arrival?''

 

Peter, now in his element, took up a PADD from the pile on the table. "The Mystique will be operational. She will still be in Spacedock when we arrive and there will be several things for her Commanders to attend to before the staff can get their mitts on her." He said with a smile.

 

''What about full crew.'' continued HHril. ''I have maintained a rather low profile during the trip to date.''

  

"The crew will still be arriving when we do. We are getting some resent graduates from the Academy and some transfers from other vessels. You will receive the final roster, when I do!" Peter glanced at his PADD and took a moment to think.

 

"Lieutenant, I will be frank with you. Since we are in the Observation Lounge rank really does mean nothing here. Unless otherwise stated by a frown on the Captains face!" Peter smiled and allowed himself to relax with HHril, they were going to spend an awful lot of time together running the ship so it was imperative that they got along. "OPS is a bitch of a department. You are the nuts and bolts of the ship. You will be required to perform all sorts of tasks by all departments, and then there is all the away missions and support craft. You are going to be busy. And at the moment OPS is just you!" He waited for that statement to sink in.

 

''I believe you will find me to be more than up to the task, Sir.'' replied the Romulan. A flash of the ch'Rihannsu self confidence, which often times is taken for smugness or arogance floating in the air. ''My previous postings have prepared me well to undertake such a monumental task. I look to it as a mountain... that I have every intention of climbing.''

  

"I am glad to hear you say the Lieutenant, we need someone with your gusto on the Mystique. I will be availible for you to ask any questions at any time. Please do not hesitate to ask, remember, no question is too stupid." Peter was enjoying this meeting, it was more informal and relaxed. He still had not adjusted to the new pip, it would take some adjusting to. "Are there any questions regarding the ship or departments, or indeed, anything else for that matter?"

 

HHril hesitated for a moment, an unwillingness to seem too inquisitive as is often an unwelcome trait in Romulans, and in junior officers. ''I believe that is all, Sir.'' He replied. "If I do have any further questions, Sir, I will know how to find you.''

 

HHril stood and waited to be dismissed.

 

"Well, if you are certain Lieutenant. You may return to whatever you have planned. Welcome aboard." Peter faced the young lieutenant and the officer turned about and left the room.

 

Peter returned to face the stars, they were an awsome sight. Even though they were wizzing past so incredibly fast. He returned to his reading and allowed himself to become immersed in his duties.

 

(Reply None)

 

(Posted by John Gibson & Mathew Ellias)

 

=/\=Day -1=/\=

 

(USS Steel Talons - Conference Room; Lt Cmdr Peter Belinia & Major

Richard Ian Lee; 06:30)

 

Rich looked out the window, letting his fingers run gently over his

dog-tags as he looked at the moving stars past the Conference room

window. The last week had been quiet, he hadn't been doing a lot but

waiting for his arrival and his new Command. He had spent time with the

Squad, they hadn't had much of a break in a long while and it had felt

good to just sit back and have a drink with them. There was no pressure

on them, not until they took up arms on the Mystique. He had spent some

time with Jenna as well, since her mother had just become exceptionally

busy prepping to take command of the Mystique.

  

By habit he had risen at 0600, but with nothing in particular to do, he

had decided to come out and look at the scenery for a while. The stars,

beautiful things that they were. He had come out to listen to their

symphony. He had been among them so long, as a youngster he had fallen

pray to the La r�ve des Žtoiles, the Dream of Stars. For so many years

recently he had lost that dream, the stars had stopped singing for him

in their movement. Now they sung for him again, but their song was

getting dark again, this part of his universe was becoming a war-zone.

Happiness, pleasant times, they were all going to become a thing barely

remembered in the next few years to come.

 

Peter was feeling groggy as he approached the Talon's Conference Lounge.

He held his favorite mug in his right hand and in his left was a stack

of PADDs. He walked into the room and yawned. He saw the looming figure

of the Major standing in the darkness looking out of the window into

space.

 

"Good morning Major." Peter said as he placed his mug and PADDs on the

table. "Won't you join me?" Peter sat in a seat and drank deeply from

his mug of tea. "Computer, lights."

 

Rich turned on his heel slightly, hiding his momentary irritation at

having the solitude broken. ~Ah well, it was bound to happen.~ He

nodded briefly and took a seat. "Congratulations on your promotion,

Commander. The Mystique is a lovely ship from what I've read and seen."

 

"I am glad that you think so highly of her Major, you will be

responsible for her protection if we were to need your services. The

Marines have become somewhat of a necessity of late, would you not

agree?"

 

Rich sat back in his chair and put out a hand, though he resisted the

temptation to drum his fingers. "Sadly."

 

"Major, I will cut to the chase, the reason this meeting is so early is

because you and I will be very busy throughout the rest of the day."

~And probably for the whole damn time we are out here.~ He added in his

thoughts. "The Captain would prefer it that we would never need your

services. However, you and I both know that is wishful thinking."

 

"That's why we are here, Commander. To bleed for the cause when needed,

though with luck that need is rare." Rich said, in an even tone.

 

"I agree Major, wholeheartedly. Your job after we arrive, and indeed

until you feel that your men are up to standard, is to design and

perform training drills. You are to have your men practice Ship

Invasion, Away Team protection, Infiltration and any other scenario you

can cook up. Also please include Tactical and Security staff in your

training schedule. They are to be in training drills daily. Have the

Marines train as often as you see fit, but at least once a day. Give

them a half day off a week and a full day per month. As well as any time

you feel appropriate for them to be off duty. You will maintain a state

of Operational readiness as of 00:00 tomorrow, so you had better get

cracking!" Peter was not interested in chatting as he was busy with

other things, he also anticipated that the Major would be more willing

to accept orders from someone capable of giving them.

 

Rich failed in his will-power, and did tap his fingers against the table

as he thought. "Commander, I am going to be frank." he said. "The

Nimitz has been through hell in a leaky-hand basket. I have personally

seen the death of nearly three squadrons worth of men, from under my

own command, because of the battles we have been through. In the last

year, I have been through one Romulan hand-to-hand ship invasion, I've

been through the work of psi-onic creatures, and a dozen other fun

things that I rather never would have seen. Me and the King's, at the

very least, know how to train for Ship-to-Ship invasion, and all manners

of protective measures. Ever single thing you have mentioned is on my

training schedule, and I would imagine you will get more then an

eye-full if you see the Combat Engineers at work."

 

His eyes bored into the Lt Commander. "In my demi-company, you have

experience in things that will curl your toes. You have experienced

body-guards, you have grunts, you have Trained explosives experts and

Assassins. Oh yes, You have Mad-Dog killers at your fingertips, equally

qualified to Pound a hard point into the ground, selectively murder

people unknowingly, or blow another ship to bits with a few ounces of

explosives and some bailing wire."

 

The Major took a breath, "My training schedule is brutal, and it

involves all Security Forces. The second I step on that ship, I'm on

duty, and my life will be the forfeit before I allow harm to come to

her. I trust this is satisfactory?"

 

Peter was rather shocked, and somewhat disturbed, by the Major's

frankness. "Major, you must understand that it is my first priority to

protect the lives of the crew and any civilians we have on board. I was

merely trying to cover the bases so to speak." Peter sat back in the

chair and stared Lee in the face. "Major, I am already having

difficulties with some staff, I would appreciate a little cooperation

from you. After all, we will need to liaise on a regular basis. I do

hope that we would not need your 'experts' as you would call them."

Peter paused to mull over his next statement. "This is my official

position as First officer. You will not and I repeat you will not

utilize your assassins. I find that particular area of Marine training

to be quite unnecessary and contrary to the Charter of the Federation."

 

"The Marine Corps disagrees, as does Starfleet Tactical, and it wasn't

me that requested a Combat Engineering squad on the Mystique, Sir."

Rich said, slowly. "If I am ordered, and odds are I will, then I will

use every tool at my disposal. Only five people in the universe can

order me otherwise, all of them higher ranking then you. The Captain is

one, LoDona another, and the other three are well beyond our range right

now." He quirked his head, but continued looking at the Lieutenant

Commander. "With all due respect, I hate the idea, but its foolish to

throw away a conceivably useful tool just because it's distasteful. Our

whole rebellion is distasteful, I've not heard that you tried stopping

LoDona however."

 

Peter stood, slammed his hands on the table and stared wide eyed at the

Major. "HOW DARE YOU question my loyalty. Need I remind you that I may

be a mere Lieutenant Commander, but I am the First Officer and you will

follow my orders unless they are superceded by either the Captain or the

Admiral." Peter straightened and walked towards the windows to stare

into space. "And as far as my not questioning the Admiral, I was only a

young Ensign and fresh from the Academy when he announce his decision.

You have no right to question my choices, though they were the right

ones. I lost a great deal, we all did, when we chose to follow the

Admiral."

 

Rich turned, his face determined and ringed with not a little bit of

anger. "Good, so you have some balls. Now listen up pup, off the

record. You're loyalty is questioned by everyone, in and out of the

fleet. To Starfleet, we are both traitors. To the 52nd's high command,

we are always suspect as plants from Starfleet. Get used to the

feeling, boyo. Get used to being bloody, your hands are going to be

soaked in nearly as much as mine will. Get used to using tools you find

distasteful, they might save your life AND our ideals. Get used to a

lot, and do it quickly, or you could kill us all." He all but growled

the last sentence, and after a several second pause, he said "Sir."

 

Peter swiftly turned to face Lee, scowling at him as he did so. "That's

damn right Major, 'SIR'!! Don't you forget that, eat it and swallow it

for breakfast. You are MY subordinate and I will not have you telling me

how to do my job. I may be new to this but I am not as ignorant as you

may think. I have faith in my commanders, even if you do not. Starfleet

may brand us both traitors, but we are both in the same boat and up the

same creek! You better get used to this matey, I outrank you and that

is something that is going to please me at some point in the not so

distant future." He move around the table and faced Lee.

 

Rich suddenly grinned, "Sir, we'll see if you can command a tea-pot,

much less a ship. In the mean time, you have the benefit of the doubt.

If you get me and mine killed, I won't be pleased, but there is little I

can do about that." His grin slipped, "Just remember you aren't the

ultimate authority on this ship, your word is not law, Captain Winter's

word is law." He sat back in the chair, his body relaxed by willpower.

"If you expect respect because you are the lawful First Officer, then I

think you have one more lesson to learn. And you will, or you will

drown trying."

 

"Major, I represent the Captain's will in all matters she sees fit to

inform me on. If there is a change in the chain of command then I am

sure she would inform me. As far as I am aware I am still your superior

and you are still only a Major. I will do my best to keep you and your

Marines alive, loath to it as I am. Remember this, on a majority of

matters Starfleet does NOT outrank the Federation Council and the

Charter stands above all else. You will respect that, if you know what

is good for you!"

 

"I have absolutely no problems with the charter," Lee said with a wave

of his hand, "But it was the Council that approved the Marines, and the

Combat Engineers have been an accepted and established part of the

Marines for well over a century. If you suddenly want to become a

lawyer, I would start with issues that haven't been so universally

accepted. In fact, I would know what you are talking about first. I have

a feeling that my CE's are unlike anything in your previous

experience." He leaned forward, "Now, if you want to bring me up on

charges, do it now. Otherwise, I'm going to go train my Marines and

wait for the day I'm ordered to deploy them. Contrary to popular

belief, I only deploy when ordered, and I never use assassination

techniques unless ordered, or I Feel in the split second that a murder

is justified for the good of Ship, Corps and Federation. So far,

Starfleet nor LoDona has had no issue with my judgment." He stood, and

began walking for the door.

 

"Major, one more thing." Peter walked up to him and stuck out his hand.

"Welcome aboard."

 

Lee turned, then took the Commanders hand and gave it a shake.

"Commander," he said lightly. He turned half a second later and

continued out the door, musing.

  

(reply: none)

(posted by John Gibson & J Trout)

 

=/\=Day 1=/\=

 

(Steel Talons - Observation Lounge - Flt Adm LoDona, Capt Winters, Capt

Sevant & Lt Major Lee - 0900)

 

=^=Sir, we have passed the Defensive net.=^=

 

Robert nodded to himself as he looked out the windows of the lounge,

"Very well Captain, bring us into a standard orbit." He turned to

Captain Winters, this would be the first official view of her ship, once

the docks came into view. Her new MCO was also present, standing at

light attention, his new Company patch decorating his arm. Rich and

LoDona got along well, they had much in common.

  

The Talons turned slightly, following a set path through the defensive

nets, and bringing the yards into view. He grinned as he saw the ships

in place, the Boudicca was there being patched up. And right next to her

was the Mystique, fresh out of repairs and ready to be commanded.

  

"Captain, I present the Akira class Mystique." he said, as he gestured

out the window to the Akira.

 Vanyssa grin widened, as she leaned slightly forward. She knew Rich

well, and was glad that he was here with her. It was unfortunate that

David could not be, he would have been so proud of her. "She's

beautiful." Vanyssa breathed out, her words very light. Her eyes

wandered over the Mystique, and she felt herself fall in love. This was

the feeling that all the Captains talked about, the first time you saw

the ship that you were going to Command, it was bliss, it was better

than any drug you could take. It made everything, almost, worth it.

 

The doors slid open, and a well-built half-vulcan walked in. "Admiral,

Captain, Major." he said in a bass voice. Sevant was no stranger to any

of the people in this room, he had served with all but the Admiral on

the Nimitz not so long ago. Rich Lee nodded to the Captain and turned

back to his new command as the Vulcan slid next to him. Sevant spent a

few moments looking at the Mystique, then turned his gaze to the nose of

his own ship, the Boudicca.

  

Both ships were a departure from traditional designs. His was a warship,

hers would be an explorer. In a way, he almost envied Winters, she would

only need be on the front lines when it was necessary. He would be going

back almost immediately. He placed his hands gently behind his back,

"She is a lovely ship, Captain Winters." he said quietly. "Serve her

well, and she will assuredly do the same for you."

 

Vanyssa looked up at someone else she knew fairly well. "Thank you,

Captain Sevant." She said, very formally, her eyes never leaving the

Mystique...until the view changed to that of the Boudicca, showing

closer looks at the damage that had been done to it. "My goodness." She

breathed out, and took another deep one in. She had heard of all the

things that had happened on the Boudicca, but she hadn't believed that

the damage could be as bad as it was. "How long ?" She asked Sevant,

knowing that he would know exactly what she was asking.

  

The Vulcan narrowed his eyes at the ship briefly, "If all goes according

to plan, two months. There is more then just battle damage to contend

with, she was originally rushed through her refit and into duty, these

yards weren't around then." he said in the same even tone. It was nearly

a physical ache, looking at his ship hurting as she was. The Boudicca

had been his first assignment out of the Academy, and she had been his

first permanent command. He abruptly turned on his heel, "And, myself

and Mr. Grailik have work to do on her." He half-bowed to Winters, then

looked at the Admiral. "With your permission, sir?"

 

The Admiral nodded, "With my compliments, Ill be over later."

 

"Aye, Sir." Sevant said. He walked up behind Winters, then paused. He

put a hand on her shoulder, "Keep safe, Vanyssa, as much as you can."

 

Vanyssa looked up into Sevant's eyes, and squeezed his hand. "I should

be wishing you that, Cal." She gave him an impulsive hug and projected

to him. ::I think that both Vicki and David would be pleased with us.::

 

 

The Vulcan smiled, thoroughly grim. "I'm suited to this duty, though its

logical enough to wish us both luck." he said as he pulled away from the

hug. ::Likely, I can only hope. Pain eventually fades, as does the

memory of love. with luck the hole it leaves will not be replaced with

dark hatred. Keep safe, Vanyssa, and pray I do my job well enough that

you need not join me on the front lines. We have all lost enough

already.::

 

Captain Sevant nodded to Lee once, then turned and left before he could

receive an answer. Robert turned on his heel, "We are well within

transporter range, Captain. Shall we?"

 

Vanyssa looked up at the Admiral, wondering if he knew what had just

passed between them. "Yes, Sir. My daughter has been talking non-stop

about this, Sir." Vanyssa felt Rich's comfortable presence behind her.

  

Richard chuckled, "Ill bring her aboard once the formalities are over,

Captain." he said. "I've got to get the squad prepared for transport

anyway, I can pick her up en-route to the transporters. So, with your

permission?"

  

Vanyssa nodded. "Thank you, Rich. " Vanyssa said, turning to LoDona.

"Shall we ?" Her heart was beating almost too fast for words.

 

Richard gave the Fleet Admiral a snappy salute and moved his 7 foot

frame out the door. Robert placed his hands behind his back and

habitually rubbed at the Borg Implants on his hand as he, too, walked

out of the Observation Lounge and onto the bridge. Someone called

"Admiral on Deck!" but LoDona waved them back down a moment later. He

stepped into the second turbolift and called out the nearest

transporter.

  

Once there, he stepped on the PADD and immediately gestured to the PADD

next to him. His face was serene, this was part of his job he actually

enjoyed, even if the reasons were dark. "Energize," he said quietly.

  

A flash of light, and then they were in a standard Transporter room

elsewhere, which was filled with people. He looked at the Officer of the

Deck once he had picked him out of the crowd and stepped forward. Also

included were several other temporary officers, mostly crew from the

docks. The OOD was nominally in command at this moment, though LoDona

was the Captain on paper, since there was no other official CO. "Fleet

Admiral and party requesting permission to come aboard." he said.

  

"Granted, Sirs." the immediate reply came. Robert turned on his heel and

pulled out a PADD. Without looking at it, however, he said "Vanyssa

Winters, Captain of Starfleet, by virtue of my Command of the 52nd

fleet, I hereby ask and require that you take command of the USS

Mystique on this, Stardate 2406.10.07. I stand ready to be relieved of

command, Do you agree to do so?"

 

Vanyssa had been silent all through it, and then she found herself

standing in a room full of people, most of which were not familiar to

her. "Aye, Sir, I relieve you." She spoke, her voice clear and full of

command. She looked around her, at the serious expressions of the

people around her, her Officers. ~Did Devan feel this way when he took

command from Cal?~ She wondered to herself.

 

Robert nodded sharply, "Computer, transfer all command codes and

protocols to Captain Winters, authorization LoDona Omega Seven Five two.

I stand relieved."

 

The computer verified the transfer of command protocols just as the OOD

came to attention and pulled out his bosuns whistle. The electronic

whistle echoed throughout the entire ship, followed rapidly by his

voice. "Captain of the Mystique, arriving."

 

(reply: none, yet)

(posted by Trout & Melinda Martin)

=

(Steel Talons - Winter's Quarters - Lt Major Lee, Jenna Winters-Dark &

the Suicide Kings - - 0920)

 

"Ahhh," Rich stooped from his seven foot stature and picked up little

Jenna, and threw her over his shoulder like a sack. "Heya Girlie, ready

to see the new home? I've got marching orders to drag you over kicking

and screaming if I need too." He chuckled to belay the apparent

seriousness of what he had just said, it was a joke after all.

  

"Argh, put me down!" She squealed. Rich had a habit of doing this to

both her and Vanyssa...well at least to her. The last time Jennah

remembered him doing it to Vanyssa was when the bad teddy-bear man

killed the dolphins on the Beach.

 

She giggled as he put her down and looked up at him out of her pretty

sailor dress. "Are we really here ? I can see the Mystique?" Jennah

looked out of the door of Quarters and saw some of the marines there.

"It's really time to go ?" She asked, grabbing her sunhat. Vanyssa

had told her to be pretty, and that it was going to be very formal.

 

Rich looked at his squad, "Yup, its time to go." The XO of his squad

took a half-bow, "We're your escort, only the best for the CO's kid."

 

The MCO shook his head, "Now now, let's not spoil her -too- much, I have

to deal with her mother after all!" The XO chuckled as Rich took the

girls hand, "I hope you like transporters, that's where we're headed."

 

Jennah nodded and the rest of the marines fell in behind her. "I'm not

spoiled!" She said, sticking her tongue out at Rich. "Can I see her

from here, before we go to the transporters? Please?" Jennah begged.

 

Rich considered that for a few moments, "Only if you don't dawdle, kid."

he finally said, "We have to get over soon." He turned to the XO, "Ill

see you in the transporter room, we won't be long."

 

"Aye, Sir." he said, before winking at the kid. He took off informally,

with the other 13 men of the 'Kings following behind him. "You bring

him back now, Ms Dark," one of the troopers said as he passed back. "Who

would pay us otherwise?"

 

Jennah giggled. She knew some of them, when they had been her Daddy's

Squad. "Did you come here to be with Mom?" She said, staring out of

the window that Rich had led her to. "Which one is the Mystique ?"

Jennah demanded with wide eyes. "And why is that one broken ?"

 

Rich chuckled, "I came here because my boss said I had to, or he would

kick my butt. And know what, I believe he would. Still, I wasn't

complaining when I got that order, I like your mom." He looked down

briefly, "And you, monster, for some odd reason." He said with a wink.

 

He picked her up so she could follow his line-of-sight. "Alright," he

said as he pointed. "That funny looking one that looks like its held

together by straps, that's the Mystique." He looked aside with a

professional eye and again looked at the Boudicca. "Remember Caladryll

Sevant?" he asked, "The vulcan that left Nimitz a few months ago?

That's his ship, the one he left us to command... the Boudicca. She is

in for repairs, he went and messed up her paint in a battle."

 

Jennah nodded. "Why does the Mystique look so funny?" She asked. "Is

she going to fall apart?"

  

Jennah then got quiet. "Is he ok ? Jane and T'loren's Daddy?" Jennah

knew what battle was. She had been raised aboard starships her entire

life. Battle was bad. Battle was when people didn't come back. Like when

David didn't come back from the planet. Like when Jane and T'loren and

Miss Vicki went away and were never going to come back.

 

"Uhmm, Can I ask you a question?" Jennah said, growing suddenly

philosophical as she turned away from the window, not wanting to see

the battle scars on the Boudicca.

 

Lee put her down and knelt beside her, even balancing on the balls of

his toes he was nearly as tall as she was at age 12. "Ill take your

second question first, he is fine. I saw him just a bit earlier, in

fact. He just looked tired is all, but good and healthy. Now, what

question do you have?"

 

"Why do you make battle if battle means that people don't come back,

like Jane and T'loren ?" She asked, perfectly serious, and very

concerned. "Why did David ? David said that battle was bad, that battle

made death. Why did he do it then? Why do you ?"

 

Rich sighed slightly, ~Right out of the mouth of babes.~

 

"If I could answer that question, why people make battle, then I would

be able to stop it. Some people just like to do so, for various

reasons. Some because they like it, some to hurt others, and some to get

what they want by any means possible. Some of us don't like battle, but

do it when we have too. Sevant, for example, has never liked war. He

lost his family to it, most all of it from what I've heard. He fights

now to make sure others don't loose theirs." Rich turned his shoulder

slightly so she could see her shoulder patch. "You know I'm a Marine,

just like David was. My job is to protect people, with my life if

necessary. You've seen what happens when I go to war, things get blown

up. Sadly, that is the only way to stop trouble, sometimes. I don't like

fighting, Jenna, I'm happiest when I don't have too. However, when I

have to, its always to help and stop bad men from killing us. That was

David's job as well and the reason he fought."

 

Jennah thought about it for a minute or two. "I guess that makes sense.

The marines are the good guys. David said that they have honor, like

klingons." And she grinned at the thought of comparing the Starfleet

marines to the klingons. "Mommy said that there were going to be

special marines on board. Is that true ? And you were going to be their

leader ?"

 

"Indeed," he said. "I'm their commander, I pay the bills." he grinned

and jerked a thumb over his shoulder, "and Ill be protecting that

bucket of bolts, which will not fall apart by the way." He stood again,

"And we should be getting there, we've already taken longer then we

should have."

 

Jennah nodded and slipped her hand into his, confidently. He would

protect her. "Are you sure it won't fall apart?" She asked as they got

on the transporter.

 

 

 

(USS Mystique - Transporter Room - Lt Major Lee, Jenna Winters-Dark &

The Suicide Kings - 0935)

 

"Major Lee and Entourage, requesting permission to come aboard," Rich

said seriously, with his hand on the girls head now that they were

over.

 

The OOC looked at him for a few moments, causing Rich to frown

ever-so-slightly. But before he said anything, the measly Lieutenant

said, "Permission Granted, Major."

 

Rich grunted and turned, "To the Marine Center, Ill be along shortly."

 

"Sir," his squad XO agreed. "Move it, apes."

 

Lee chuckled once they had all filed out of the room. "So, whatcha think

kid, going to raise some hell here and give your mom a few more white

hairs?"

 

Jennah blinked at him. "Why did we have to ask permission to come aboard

? Isn't it Mummy's ship?" She was a little bit confused, which wasn't

surprising, it had been an exciting day. "And Mummy said I couldn't

crawl around the Jeffries tubes." She said, referring to the time she

had ran away from Betazed and lived in the Nimitz's Jeffries tubes for

a couple of days. "She said that no one would try to make me leave."

 

Rich chuckled, "Starfleet has lots of rules, one of them being that

everyone has to ask permission to come aboard the first time. I would

imagine your mother had to do the same thing." He took her hand and

began leading her down the path to a turbolift, so they could get to

the Marine center. He tapped his badge, "Lee to Captain Winters, free

yet?"

 

Vanyssa looked up from what she was working on with Admiral Jopek and

hit her comm badge. "No, not yet. You can take Jennah to my Quarters,

or wherever she wants to go. I know she's safe with you, Major."

 

Jennah looked up at him. "Can I please go to the marine center ?

Please?"

 

Rich nodded quietly, "Understood Boss, Lee out."

 

He tapped the badge to close the connection and continued walking.

"Alright then, little monster, Ill go show you my office."

 

Jennah grinned up at him and moved closer. "Why do you call me little

monster?"

 

The MCO laughed as they stepped into the turbolift, "Because you ARE

one!" he said with a grin. "Tell me you are a perfect angel, you might

convince me of it eventually." He looked up, "Marine Center."

 

The computer beeped and the turbolift started moving. He looked back

down, "Alright, Jenna. I'm gonna be having a word with my Marines when

we get there. It won't take long however, think you can stay out of

trouble for a couple minutes while I'm talking?"

 

Jennah nodded. "I'll be good. And I'm not a monster. Just....

ingenious. Can I explore the marine staging area? David took me to

the one on the Nimitz a couple of times...." And she grinned. "Please?

He showed me what NOT to touch."

 

"Once I'm done," he agreed. "In the mean time, you might have fifty men

trampling on you, and taking you to sickbay on your first day here

would get me killed by your mother." He grinned, "And I think the word

you were looking for was Infamous, not ingenious."

 

She giggled. "What does infamous mean ?"

  

Rich paused before the door to the Marine center, "Hmm, unforgettable.

Ask your mother for further detail later" he said with a wink. He

pushed a button, and the big double doors opened to admit them. Rich put

on a much more serious face and stepped through, immediately the 'Kings

XO saw him, since he was expected, and snapped to attention.

  

"Officer on Deck, All hands stand to review!"

 

Rich crossed his arms as the doors closed behind him, and the

now-complete Demi-Company rapidly assembled. He watched his own squad,

battle-proven, come to attention along with the other squads of his two

platoons. This was a brand new company, assembled from various units

around the fleet, the demi-company 'Pleasure & Pain'. He had read the

files on all the squads, and all the men. A good half of them were new,

and had never seen action. The rest varied, but he had the makings of a

good unit here with some practice. He looked around for a moment, then

bent down to talk to Jenna, "Stay here for a couple minutes, ok? I

gotta talk with the boys and convince em I'm big and mean."

 

"You aren't big and mean." Jennah said, standing off and watching Rich.

She had seen David with his marines, and the big, cuddly David that was

her Daddy certainly wasn't the same David that was with his marines.

Mummy said that he was still the same David, but he had to be big and

tough and act that way to be respected. David said that it was another

way that the klingons were like the marines...the strong led. With an

iron fist. Jennah didn't really know what an iron fist was, but she

thought it might hurt when used.

 

Rich walked up the line silently, looking back at the men and women of

the Corps as he did so. With his hands behind him he stopped at the end

of the line, then slowly made his way back to the middle. "To think this

had to happen to me," he said in a dull tone, "I don't have Marines, I

have apes. Good Lord on a jumped-up chariot driven crutch, we're in

trouble. Alright then, if that's how it has to be, that's how it has to

be. I'm going to lay it down, so listen closely." He looked around,

"You all know the situation, we're in trouble, and our blood is going

to spent in purging the Federation of Traitors. I don't care what your

political persuasion is, but if you have a problem with your side

you're on, you better tell me now."

 

Not a word was said, and Rich nodded sharply. "Good. Then from here, we

start training, and we begin thinking like the team we are -Supposed-

to be. I will be running you ragged, I will make you hate me, and I will

be enjoying every cursed minute of it. Do you get me?"

 

"HOOWAH, SIR!" fifty plus marines rang in chorus.

 

"Good, then fall out, we begin tomorrow."

 

Rich watched the men and women of the core falling out to what they had

been doing. He shook his head and walked back over to the kid,

"Marines, gotta love em." he said.

 

Jennah looked up at Rich's very far away face. "Did you mean what you

said ?" She asked, not trusting her empathic abilities. Then

mischievously, she said. "David was meaner" She grinned.

 

Rich chuckled, as he knelt beside her. "If they make me mad, maybe, we

will have to see." He looked around, "I don't get mean until I need to.

Besides, I'm bigger then David is." he turned back and winked, "So I

don't need to sound as mean."

 

Jennah nodded. He was much bigger than David. "That is certainly true.

NOW can I explore?" She asked him, sounding vaguely impatient.

  

"HA!" Rich said as he stood again. "Just don't poke anywhere you're not

supposed too, and if someone tells you to leave something alone, listen

to em."

 

"How do I know where I'm supposed to poke if you don't show me, Mr.

Lee?" She said, sounding vaguely like her mother.

 

Rich cocked a grin, "How else but by poking around? You lead, Ill

follow."

 

Jennah nodded and then went poking around, to the somewhat mostly amused

looks of the marines around. Most of them didn't know who she was, just

that the Major was keeping an eye on her, she could tell that. "Rich,

what's this ?" She asked pointing at the gun that someone was working

on. "What kind of gun is it?"

 

"Something that would mess up your hair if you get to close," he said as

he looked. "Heavy Support Phaser, Angel Mark 2." he said. The Armorer

looked up at the girl, "This is Christine," he said as he gave the

weapon an affectionate pat and with a clunky grin. "My girl."

 

Jennah blinked. "I'm Jennah Winters-Dark......"

 

"My girl." Vanyssa said walking in casually to the marine center. She

walked over to the armorer and Lee.

  

Rich immediately snapped too, "Captain on deck!" The sounds of fifth

marines again dropping what they were doing echoed through the room,

except for the Sergeant who had to put 'Christine' aside first lest all

the pieces go flying.

 

Jennah looked around at the people who had all jumped to attention.

Vanyssa smiled to her marines. "At ease, Marines." She said, loudly

enough that her voice carried through the room. "I want to thank you all

for coming with us in this fight." She began. She caught the eyes of

each of them as she swept the room with her gaze. "I am not your

typical Captain." She said, landing her gaze back at Lee. "It means a

lot to me, to Vanyssa," and with that she touched her chest, "That you

are loyal to Admiral LoDona and are here with me on the Mystique.

She's a new ship, yes, with a new crew, just like you are a new Company.

We will all come together with time, hopefully before we face a Battle

situation." She then smiled. "I know your Commander, Major Lee, and I

know that he is one of the finest Marines in Starfleet. I know that he

will train and guide you well." She said looking around the room.

  

"I want you to know that contrary to the given attitude, you are not

expendable. Each and every one of you is a valuable resource, and you

are to do everything to preserve said resource. It's going to be a long

road ahead, and it's going to be a tough battle getting there." She

stopped her formal speech and looked down at her daughter. "This

minxlette that has been watching you, is my daughter, Jennah." Jennah

blushed bright red and tried to hide behind Vanyssa. "Thank you for

taking care of her, and thank you for being here." She turned to Lee a

few moments later. "Any problems?"

 

Rich shook his head as he waved the Marines down. "A few things to

discuss with you later, the minx here was well behaved." He looked down

at her and winked, "Remember, infamous."

 

Jennah laughed and took her Mum's hand.

 

::infamous?:: Vanyssa sent to her daughter.

 

::Uh huh. Rich said I'm Infamous. He didn't really say what that

meant, though.::

 

Vanyssa gave Rich a strange look. "We'll discuss it then. I've promised

my minx a chance to see the Bridge. She wants to compare it to the

Nimitz. After that, her Governess should be aboard and I will be in my

Ready Room." She nodded to the Major.

 

Rich nodded himself, "Aye, Boss. Ill talk to you then."

 

Vanyssa grinned and headed out of the marine staging area with Jennah.

She was having a hard time finding the line between where being the

Captain ended and where being a friend began. She knew that other

Captains handled it by holding themselves aloof of their crew, but she

had spent her entire eight years in the Fleet as a Counselor, and she

intended to find a medium ground between the two. It just wasn't

natural. The coldness had it's place, but her crew was very important to

her, and they were a very valuable commodity out here. It would be hard

to find loyal replacements. She shook her head and gave herself over

to the pleasure that her daughter was feeling over the new ship. She

certainly was quite beautiful

 

(reply: none, yet)

(posted by Trout & Melinda Martin)

=

(USS Mystique - Marine Center, Meeting Center - Major Richard Ian Lee -

1120)

  

"Alright," Rich said as he leaned forward.

  

The small room was filled with either other men, the XO of his own squad

and the seven other Squad CO's within his demi-company. Some of them

were new, a few were veterans, one was nothing but a high-level NCO. IT

was an interesting mix of experience and raw talent. This was their

first meeting as a company, his little love-note to the company-at-large

hadn't been very thorough.

  

"Starting tonight, we are going to start high-intensive drills. We are

going to focus on defensive measures, at first, we don't have enough men

to storm anything though anything but guile. A hundred marines, however,

could make-or-break an invasion attempt." He sniffed and rubbed his nose

as he put the PADD down and looked at the men and women of his command.

"We will be running the helldeck at all hours, and Ill probably grab one

of the larger Holodecks so we can double-duty with the Mustard shirts.

The Captain and I both come from a ship which has been through a couple

invasions, hand-to-hand and strong-hold scenarios. The Suicide Kings

will be playing the bad guys for the start, we've been training for

nearly a year straight on this. After that, Ill be programming some

particularly nasty setups. We have to get used to fighting our own, at

least for the time being, and I intend to make that part of the

training."

  

He leaned back again, "The sooner our Marines get used to seeing the

guts of humans and vulcans bleeding on the open deck, the better off we

will be."

 

"Aren't you exaggerating some?" one of the young men said, a fresh third

Lieutenant. Rich looked at him for a moment and made an effort to place

the face, he ran 'Method of Force', and was only six months out of boot.

That was fine, he hadn't been a smart-arse about it, Rich decided he

wouldn't be condensending.

  

"No, I'm not." Rich said firmly. "Think on this, let your mind run wild

with the possibilities... We are fighting our own, our own men and

ships. I already know that Stratops has informed the Marines Corps here

to be prepared for greater hand-to-hand. Our Upper Echelon on high have

decided not to destroy every ship we come across, if at all possible.

First, because we can take and use those ships if they aren't badly

damaged. Second, because the less of our own we can kill, the better off

we will be when this whole mess is cleared up. Most, and I mean that,

most of the people in this fight against us are following the orders of

Starfleet Command. They think we are rebels, traitors, in a way they are

right... We are defiantly fighting against Starfleet. It's those people

pulling the strings we have a problem with. So if we can invade a ship,

we can take it and save lives. And the same applies to those that don't

want to see our ships destroyed, we are traitors but the ships aren't. I

fully expect to be through at least one friendly invasion before this is

all over."

 

The Third Lieutenant looked thoughtful as Rich turned his gaze and

pointed at the CCE of Blackops, the Combat Engineering squad. "Meaning,

you are going to be running every squad through some advanced training

yourself. Your squad is better trained for guile and subversion." He

looked at everyone again, "We are all trained for ship-to-ship, but we

have to be better then trained. We don't have many replacements through

the fleet. IF we all die, there will be no one to replace us. When we go

to war, we have to be better then anyone, just so we can survive to

continue the fight."

 

The CCE nodded. Someone else snorted. Rich turned his head slowly, the

white pupil of his beam-damaged left eye centered on the individual in

question. Rich found that not many could comfortably stand to be stared

at by that injury, Rich himself hated the glowing after-glow of the beam

which had come far to close to his optic nerve for his liking. The man

was a 1st Lieutenant, the head of 'Joy of the Hunt.'

 

"You have a... problem?" Rich asked, almost sweetly.

 

"I doubt we'll last long enough to implement all your sweet training,

that's all." was the mans response. Rich quirked an eyebrow, and the

room passed in silence for many long moments as the two large men

starred at each other. Finally, Rich said. "Perhaps your XO will feel

more open-minded."

 

The Marine in question only gave a lopsided grin, "If you think you can

remove me..." he began as he started standing up. He stopped suddenly,

his grin frozen on his face, as a phaser was shoved up against his

temple. Rich shifted his gaze slightly, the CCE had a small type 1

phaser. What was more distressing was that his hand wasn't shaking in

the slightest because he was holding it up against another Marine's

skull.

  

"Now, Jonnie." the CCE said in a deceptively gentle voice. "I was in

this squad with LoDona a while back, I know the man rather well I would

say. If you think we're bound to get killed, I would say yer wrong. I

would also say that we are operatin' under the Articles of War, and

treason against your superior officer is an offense punishable by...

Oh... I dunno, say a level three phaser beam directly into your empty

skull."

 

Rich watched a very interesting play of emotion play over the Squad CO's

face, followed with a grudging. "You might be right." He sat back down

from his half-standing position, the phaser followed him all the way.

Once he was down, the CCE looked up at Rich with a quirked eyebrow of

his own. Lee nodded once. As if by magic, the phaser disappeared from

Jonnie's head and went into a small arm holster.

  

"I trust that is taken care of?" Rich said, giving a significant glance

to everyone. When no one answered, he said "Good, then lets look at our

training schedule and decide who goes where. We start immediately."

Posted by Jeremy

=

(USS Mystique, Bridge, CO, Captain Vanyssa Winters - 11.30)

  

The tour had been over for about 45 minutes, and the final transfer of personnel & supplies was taking place from the Talons to the Mystique.

  

"Ops, how long until the transfer of personnel and supplies is completed?" Vanyssa asked from her chair in the middle of the Bridge. Her chair. She was the Captain. The moment she had sat down, she had been hit with a very heady feeling.

  

(reply Ops)

  

"I'll be in my ready room, if someone needs me." Vanyssa said, getting up and heading into it. She stopped two steps in, and the door closed behind her. Someone had certainly known her, and planned accordingly. She surveyed the room with a practiced eye, and grinned, then went over to the corner and opened one of the boxes and proceeded to settle in.

  

Posted by Melida.

=

(USS Mystique - Bridge - Ensign Jason Dema - 11.33)

  

Vanyssa was getting the ship to launch, and after several stations:

 

"Mr. Dema, please signal the SpaceDock for permission to undock."

  

Jason turned to Vanyssa, and looked straight in her eyes, and said with a big smile

"As you command... Captain Winters."

Jason requested permission to launch, and after they allowed it...

"We have clearance, and were waiting for your approval."

(reply anyone if needed)

(posted by Anthony Struelens)

=

 

(USS Mystique, Ambassadorial Quarters, Federation Ambassador Anastasia

Tar-Thurian, 1135)

 

Ana arrived with Vanyssa, the Captain and proceeded to her quarters. She

walked in to the room with her aid to see that they were spacious quarters.

She looked around to find that it had a bedroom, Spacious living/work area,

a personal view screen, ultrasonic shower but also had a bathtub/water

shower, things she didnt normally use. There were provisions for pets,

which, she did not at the present have one. There was a food replicator

which is normal, a null-grav sleeping chamber.

 

Her aid had quarters close by so that she could be at Ana's beck and call.

She made it a note to see if any other VIP/Ambassador quarters had room for

her aid to stay with her.

 

"Candie, please put my things away, I am going to do some reading." Ana

asked her aid, which Candie usually did without her asking but she thought

it would be nice to ask instead of taking it for granted.

 

She replicated herself some tea then walked over to the working area and

pulled out reports that she had gathered before she left Talons. She had

gathered files on every crew member that was to be assigned to the Mystique

and her command crew. She wanted to know more about the people she would be

around.

 

(reply from any that wants to meet her)

(Pb Frank Rogers)

=

(USS Mystique - Bridge - Conn- Lt Herkimer 78 and Captain Winters- 1200)

 

As Herk stood on the turbolift looking onto the bridge, s/he took a deep

breath. S/he loved the smell of a new ship. It was so clean. And

with hir heightened sense of smell, that was a meaningful thought. But

s/he could also smell the atitudes on the bridge. it smelled of

excitement and anticipation. And a little fear thrown in, just to keep

things interesting.

 

As s/he stepped onto the bridge s/he scanned the crew. S/He didn't see

the captain, but knew she had to be there somewhere. The logical place

to look was her ready room. ~Loggical? Good heavens, I'm sounding

like a Vulcan. Ewww.~

 

Walking across to the ready room Herk noticed the long looks from the

other crew memebers. Most likely they'd never seen a Hermat before.

Maybe s/he should show what they're looing at. Under certain

circumstances s/he would just strip hirself down naked and give them a

 real show. But s/he was in a hurry.

 

S/he reached for the door chime and waited.

 

Vanyssa looked up as the comm went off. ~ Again ?~ She thought to

herself, while saying "Come" She looked up at the very interesting...

person... that walked in. Vanyssa smiled, at this person.

 

Herk moved across the room, hish hips swaying a little. S/he stopped

at the edge of the desk. "Captain Winters, I am Lt. Herkimer 78,

reporting in."

 

He gently put the PADD he'd been carrying on the desk in front of her.

"I will be your new Conn officer."

 

Vanyssa nodded, examining the PADD, she noted the species. "I'm sorry,

Lt, I've never met one of your species before, Would you indulge my

curiousity and tell me more about them ?" She indicated that hir

should take a seat.

 

~Ah a captive audience.~

 

Herk smiled a genuinely gleeful smile. "I'd be honored." S/he sat in

the seat across from the captain and began to speak. "Now, I've been

 told that I tend to over explain things, so please stop me when you've

had

enough."

 

(reply Winters)

 

"Hermats are a race that evolved from a sentient feline race. We have

many similaar traits to your "cats" on Betazed or on Earth. Our vision

tends to be a little sharper and we recquire little light, to see

 clearly. We have a sensitive olfactory sense. I've never measured this

myself, but I'm told that we are a bit stronger than most humans."

 

S/He paused to see it there were any questions. Since none come up Herk

went on. "I guess the most interesting thing that most races seem to

fixate upon is our gender status. Hermats are bi-gendered. That is I

 have both male and female...," s/he smile, "equipment. I know that

there

 aren't a lot of Hermats in Starfleet. As a general rule my species

likes to

keep to themselves. It has been our experience that many species

have...

trouble, accepting our lifestyles."

 

"Your lifestyle ?" Vanyssa asked, completely fascinated. "You don't

have to answer that if you don't want to, Lt. I don't mean to make you

feel uncomfortable."

 

Herk gigled, "Me? Uncomfortable? Nah! Most Hermats are just very

friendly. Very friendly. And we like everyone, men, women, Vulcans.

Eveyone. Sometimes that's just hard to understand. I don't know why.

 I guess with the humans it's their monogomistic culture."

 

Vanyssa tried very hard not to giggle. Betazoids had nothing against

 sex and sexuality. "Welcome to the crew, Lt. " She said,

 drawing the interview to a close. "I'm sure that you will enjoy it

 here. Please speak with Ops about Quarters, and there will be a

 meeting at 1600. I'm sorry, but I've promised Mr. Hhril already that

 he can pilot the ship out of Spacedock, since we weren't sure that we

 would be receiving a qualified pilot. After that, though, the Conn is

 yours."

 

Herk tried not to look to disappointed. S/He'd always wanted to bring a

new ship out of spacedock. "I understand Captain. I shall be an observer

for the event. 1600 it is. Thank you."

 

(reply none)

(posted by Al Muir and Melinda Martin)

=

(USS Mystique, FO's Office, Lt Cmdr Peter Belinia & Lt Sarouk - 12:15)

  

Peter sat at his desk, his computer terminal was on and displayed data on the Mystique. He sat behind numerous PADD's, mostly to do with the Mystique and Akira class in general. Some, however, were documents on dealing with unruly crew. He had 3 cold cups of tea, and a new hot mug placed next to the rest, behind a small pile of PADD's containing the crews data files. His head hurt, he was having to learn a lot and fast. The door chimed and Peter, distractedly, muttered "Come." Nothing. He put the PADD he was reading down hard and shouted, "COME!!" It was a little too loud and Peter regretted it as soon as it left his mouth.

  

A rather confident officer entered, Vulcan and rather dashing. "Good afternoon Lieutenant, glad you could join me. Please have a seat won't you?" Peter did not rise, instead he rifled through the PADD's to find the right one. "Ah! here you are." Peter leant back into his chair and glanced over the PADD.

  

Sarouk raised a brow as he looked at the young human before taking a seat. He folded his hand before him and waited patiently.

  

Peter wanted to start the conversation with small talk, to get to know the Lieutenant before they got down to the serious business of talking over the Mystique. "How are you finding the transfer?" He asked, trying to start on a subject that wasn't too trying.

  

"The transfer was logical, considering the situation," Sarouk said, simply never one for small talk.

  

"I am glad about that." Peter said sarcastically, but he doubted the Vulcan would appreciate his dry wit. "Interesting, you have been here for a while. Tell me a bit about your last post?"

  

"My last post was overseeing the construction of the Mystique, as I'm sure your well aware. It too was logical."

  

"No a talkative chap I see. Well no bother, I just wanted some quality time with you but as I say, no bother." Peter turned his computer terminal so the Sarouk could see it. "How is she?"

  

Sarouk ignored the emotional overtones of the Lt. Commanders words. He glanced at the computer screen, memorizing it in seconds. His facial expresion didn't change in the least.

  

"She is operating within established parameters. A full shakedown cruise, however, is in order to determine if any further adjustments need to be made to the cloaks power distrubution system or the sensor network."

  

"I was under the impression that she had already had a shakedown. And am fully aware of what happened during that initial 'test'. Okay, I'll tell the Captain we need to run tests on the cloak. What about the propulsion systems, I take it that they are up to scratch?" Peter pulled up some schematics on the Tactical systems and glanced at them as Sarouk answered. His mind was racing over all sorts of data and was probably not even making sense to the Lieutenant.

  

"She had a partial shakedown. The 'incident', resulted in the admiral concluding the shakedown before it was completly finished, as some battle damage was sustatined. The cloak was added at 'the last minuet' as you humans call it. That resulted in some massive reconfiguring of the ships power systems and the computers engineering subroutiens had to be reworked to include the added power consumption curve. The ships warp and impulse drives are operatinng within established parameters, with the exception of a small sub-space varience encountered traveling above warp 5. It is a minor problem easily tracked and corrected once we leave dock and the warp drive is engaged."

  

"Good good. Now we have had to lose some tactical advantage to include the cloaking device. How does this effect us, and what did we lose, exactly?"

  

"Yes. There is a loss of phaser power of 23.5693% Our torpedo complement has also been reduced to make room for the added equipment."

  

"That is a lot of power. Could that effect our defensive capability? And how do you plan to cover that? We will need phasers, and that means the power to fire them aswell. Have a meeting scheduled with Ensign Dema, and myself later today to discuss this further."

  

Sarouk's brow rose slightly at the emotional outburst. ~Much too emotional.~ He thought regarding the Lt. Commander silently before replying.

  

"Sir, the reduction in over all phaser output is standard for a ship of this class carrying a cloaking device. She is still quite formidable for a ship of her size and more than able to hold her own in a fire fight. The altered tactical specifications where authorized by Admiral Jopek himself when the order to install the cloak came in. The Admiral is confident that the current tactical configuration does not jeopardize the safety of the ship or it's ability to defend itself in combat. Now, while the Mystique might not have the endurance of an Akira with out a cloak, due to the reduction in our torpedoes stores, the cloak makes up for this deficiency by giving us the tactical advantage of 'invisibility'. However, if you still wish to meet with Ensign Dema, than I shall schedule the meeting, as you wish, but nothing can be done to the Mystiques offensive capabilities with out sacrificing other systems."

  

Peter was caught by surprise, he must sound like a prize winning fool to the Vulcan. "Huh, sorry if I am being a nuisance Liuetenant, but I am trying to be as thorough as I can possibly be. I would rather not be the bearer of bad news on day one! You understand. I thank you for yur patience, I think we can forget the meeting.with Ensign Dema. I think that you two will not get along anyway." Peter looked at his pile of PADD's and then again at Sarouk. He sighed and rose from his seat, it felt odd being on his feet again after so long sitting down.

  

He gestured to the door. "If that is all, would you accompany me on a stroll to Engineering? I have wanted to see it without the Admirals poking around."

  

"Of course sir," Sarouk said, rising to his full 7+ foot height, "Though I am unaware of any Admirals poking anything on board this vessel, let alone in engineering."

  

"Hahaha, well let's be off then. I need to stretch my legs." Peter strode towards the doors and they opened, he turned to see Sarouk walking behind him, they both left the room and headed towards Engineering.

  

(Reply None)

 (pb John G & Wes)

 =

(USS Mystique - Marine Center, 'Helldeck' - Major Richard Ian Lee -

1353)

  

Rich crossed his arms as he watched the two squads at work. The helldeck

was working overtime, Rich had loaded a few of his own training programs

into the computer. Since this was the first day, he wasn't going to dig

them immediately into the Federation scenes, this was a jungle setting.

There were four squads working in two teams, against each other. Unlike

the computer, 'real' squads sometimes made very dumb mistakes or had

true flashes of inspiration.

  

There were several live marines standing next to him, all in full BDU.

They were invisible to the troopers still active in the fight, they were

casualties. The Holodeck had immediately formed an exact duplicate of

them as they 'died', complete with gore and blasted BDU parts. It was a

lovely programming bit, it allowed the 'dead' Marines to step back and

continue to watch their comrades, and it provided a very powerful bit of

realism for the troopers still fighting. This might be a holodeck, but

it was as real to combat as it could get. Rich had seen troopers break

down and get sick at the way the computer rendered dead comrades.

  

He wouldn't be taking active part in these missions for at least a

couple weeks, he wanted to study how the squads reacted first.

  

The Blue team was his own squad, the Suicide Kings, and the Recon group

'Joy of the Hunt'. The Red Team was the Infantry group 'Watchful Eye'

and the Combat Engineers, Blackops. Only the single Infantry group was

truly in its element, his own Heavy Assault couldn't use their big guns,

the CE's were not dealing in stealth, and the Recon group was bogged

down in heavy fighting. It was not an ideal situation, but it was a

situation he wanted to see.

  

His own squad had been training lately on Federation missions, he wanted

to throw them into something new. Blackops had a long history of

excellence, but they were a CE squad so jungle ops were not their

specialty. The Recon group was trained more to run then fight, though

they were fully training Marines, their BDUs were made for speed and

endurance and not heavy combat.

  

So far, it was the blue team that was getting hurt worst. Rich was

recording everything, and making notes into his BDU's computer for later

review.

  

After a few more minutes, the Blue stronghold was broken by a

coordinated effort by some of the CE's, bodies fell from high-levels

(thought he computer broke their fall at the end) as men fought

hand-to-hand or were phasered down by snipers and the assault group.

Rich called out "Computer, freeze program and reload to Lee 10-2."

 

The computer stopped, all movement in from trees and nature paused, then

every 'body' disappeared and the trees were replaced with very rocky

terrain. "Alright," Rich called out loud. He turned and waved the

'deceased' up to their squads again. "Same squads, direct assault. Take

your places."

 

Men started to scramble, they had already figured out that he didn't

always wait until they were ready, two of the Red Squad had died

immediately when he started the previous simulation with them still out

of cover. He noticed with some amusement that those two had already

ducked behind two rocks. He closed his eyes when he said "Computer,

simulate a mile between the two squads."

 

He heard nothing, but when he opened his eyes, he could see nothing but

empty terrain. He turned his head and saw telltale flashes of light from

BDU's that hadn't yet taken desert cammo. That was why he had closed his

eyes, the computer had to really screw with visual reality when dealing

with 'distance'. "Alright, start up!" he bellowed.

 Posted By Jeremy

=

(USS Mystique, Bridge, CO, Captain Vanyssa Winters - 14.10)

  

All the transferring of materials had taken place, and Vanyssa stood on the Bridge of her ship. "Mr. Sarouk, are the engines on-line ?" Vanyssa asked, feeling a bit strange but oddly elated.

  

(reply Sarouk)

  

"Mr. Dema, please signal the SpaceDock for permission to undock."

  

(reply Dema)

  

"Mr. Hhril, please program in the Departure vector that Phoenix has given us, and take us out slow, 1/4 Impulse." Feeling a bit impish, Vanyssa continued. "And mind the other ships in the area." She said, sounding half-serious and half-silly.

  

(reply Hhril)

  

Vanyssa watched in fascination as Hhril weaved his way through the maze of ships until they were clear of the Dock.

  

"Helm, set a course for Geneva and engage at warp 6." Vanyssa spoke confidently. "Number One, please schedule a meeting of the senior officers for 1600." Vanyssa said, heading for the turbo lift. "I want Departmental Reports by then, including preliminary lists of the supplies that we are going to need from Geneva. We will be picking up the rest of the crew then." She said, smiling as the turbolift doors opened.

  

(reply All,)

 (posted by melinda :-)

 =

(USS Mystique, Bridge, FO, Lt Cmdr Peter Belinia - 14:00)

  

Peter had been really busy for the whole day and had made his way to the Bridge so he could be there for the launch. He still had masses to do, but this was the most important day in his life so far, he was not going to miss it. As the turbolift opened he stepped out onto the Bridge and looked towards the Captain, she was walking around, checking all the dutystations. Peter knew she was filling time before they launched, he smiled and stepped down to his chair.

 

It was the second time he had sat in it, the first was only a brief stop to see how it felt. He pulled up the data on the launch and what was still being checked. Everything was fine and so he allowed himself to relax, a smidgeon.

 

A while later, what seemed an age, Peter heard the Captain prepare to launch. Eventually he watched Vanyssa as she headed to the turbolift.

 

"Helm, set a course for Geneva and engage at warp 6." Vanyssa spoke confidently. "Number One, please schedule a meeting of the senior officers for 1600." Vanyssa said, heading for the turbo lift. "I want Departmental Reports by then, including preliminary lists of the supplies that we are going to need from Geneva. We will be picking up the rest of the crew then." She said, smiling as the turbolift doors opened.

  

"Yes Ma'am." Peter followed her to the turbolift and said quietly. "Are you not staying for the launch? I thought you would want to see it from your chair."

 

(Reply Vanyssa)

 

"Ah, I see. Well I shall see you, no doubt, before the staff meeting?"

 

(Reply Vanyssa)

 

"Have fun." Peter waited until she had left the bridge and announced. "I have control." It was standard Starfleet practice to announce your command when it had not been overtly stated. He walked back to the command seating and stared at the CO's chair. He smiled and sat in his. "Main viewer on." He ordered.

 

The screen appeared out of nowhere, the wall which had the emblem of the 52nd Fleet emblazoned on it, dissapeared and the holographic viewscreen in its place. On it Spacedock Pheonix and several other vessels. The ship turned and headed out on the designated flight path.

 

On the screen now were several small attack craft, and 2 Defiant class starships, their escort. "Report when we have cleared the defense perimiters."

 

(Reply ANY)

 

(pb John Gibson)

=

(USS Mystique - Main Bridge - Ensign Ketal, CSO - 14:13)

Ketal had just run a diagnostic on the sensors when the Captain stepped out on the bridge, paused for a moment then began giving orders to get under way. The diagnostic he had run reflected exactly what his readings showed; that the repairs that he and Sarouk had made to the sensors after the ship's meeting with the "Intrepid" were complete.

 Ketal listened closely to the replies of the other bridge officers as he didn't wish to interrupt their replies to orders already given, as the ship began to manuever out of the Spacedock and toward open space he turned to the Captain who was standing at the rear of the bridge and anticipating her orders called out.

"All sensors are working normally Captain, Navigational sensors and the Lateral array show green and short range sensors are showing normal traffic within the system. Long range sensors are on standby to be activated at your order."

Having made his report he turned back to his console and watched for any abnormal readings.

(Reply: Captain Winters, Any)

(Posted by Charles Gatling)

=

(USS Mystique - Main Bridge - CSO Ensign Ketal & CO Vanyssa Winters, -

 14:16)

 "All sensors are working normally Captain, Navigational sensors and the

 Lateral array show green and short range sensors are showing normal

 traffic within the system. Long range sensors are on standby to be

 activated at your order."

  

Vanyssa nodded. "Excellent, Mr. Ketal. If you would be so kind as to

 come with me, for a moment." She said, motioning to the turbolift. Vanyssa turned around to see her first Officer there.

  

"Yes Ma'am." Peter followed her to the turbolift and said quietly. "Are you not staying for the launch? I thought you would want to see it from your chair."

  

"I have seen the launch, and I will be back." She lowered her voice and said, "I have a little girl who is scared and lonely and in need of reassurance."

  

"Ah, I see. Well I shall see you, no doubt, before the staff meeting?"

  

"Absolutely." Vanyssa tried to keep the thought out of her mind that her FO was not only irritating her, but also questioning her orders. On the Bridge in front of the crew. She tried to not let it show to Ketal, but she was pretty sure that he picked up on it. He didn't seem to miss much. They would have to have a talk, Vanyssa and her First officer.

  

As Vanyssa motioned Ketal toward the turbolift Ketal blinked in surprise,

 he nodded his assent and motioned to the ensign at Science 2 to take

 his place at the main console. As the dark haired man rushed to take

 his place the half-Vulcan followed the Captain into the lift.

  

~I understand there is some nervousness associated with a first

 command, perhaps I overstepped my bounds. ~ He thought. As she spoke

 however it became plain a reprimand was not in her thoughts.

  

Once they were inside, she smiled. "It's good to see you again, my

 friend. I wanted to thank you for the work that you've done getting

 this ship in order. When I heard that you were here, working on her, I

 knew that things would be perfect. Were you the one that advised in the

 decoration of my Ready Room ? I didn't realize that you knew me so

 well." She said smiling. "Turbolift, Pause between Deck One and Two."

  

The halting of the turbolift was quite unexpected but as Ketal

 remembered Vanyssa could be very mercurial in her ways and hard to

 anticipate, that would surely come in handy when it came time to face

 off against their own kind.

  

"I cannot claim much credit Captain, Sarouk is highly adept at managing

 the repairs and it was a joint effort. As far as the decorations go I

 remembered you had a very eclectic taste, some of the pieces were hard

 to come by on such short notice and there were two I was unable to

 acquire, perhaps later on they can be added to your collection." He

 looked at the woman and realized that even though it had been several

 years since he had seen her she had lost none of her beauty.

  

~ Beauty is a human affectation and because I am half human and born

 and raised on Earth perhaps I am susceptible to it as well. ~

  

"You look well Captain, I must say I was gratified to hear you would be

 taking command of her, she seems to be made for you."

  

Vanyssa smiled and laughed, happy and ecstatic again. "Thank you.

 Ketal. She is quite lovely, isn't she?" Meaning the Mystique. "Now

 tell me a bit about Mr. Sarouk. I don't know much about him, other

 than he is very experienced. How does he seem to you ?" She asked,

 curious. "And don't tell me that a half Vulcan doesn't have feelings.

 I'm just asking for your impression of him."

  

Ketal considered the question for a moment before replying, the dilemna

 was that any reply not directed specifically about the CEO's

 qualifications would be borne from an emotional or subjective response

 whereas commenting on his abilities pertained strictly to known facts.

 The half Vulcan sighed, a most un Vulcan like response, he knew it was

 no use preteding in front of her, she had always known he was

 different. The facts were that his emotional controls were not up to a

 Vulcan's standards which was something he wanted to travel to Vulcan

 one day to remedy.

  

"The CEO is highly intelligent and dedicated and seems to have the

 safety of the ship and crew uppermost in his mind. He is also

 very disciplined and focused. After working with him for some time I

 would not hesitate to extend to him the courtesy of trust." He paused

 for an instant, that last part sounded somewhat emotional to him,

 perhaps it was time to deflect her attention to something else and away

 from his own failings.

  

"How is Jennah? She was barely old enough to walk when I saw her last."

  

Vanyssa nodded. She had adopted Jennah very young. "She's doing well.

 Almost thirteen!" Vanyssa smiled. "She's very curious, extremely

 trusting. She says that she wants to grow up to be a Starfleet

 Officer, just like her mother and father. I guess, both sets of us

 now." And Vanyssa grinned. "She wants to be a science officer. I had

 been meaning to ask you if you would be interested in tutoring her.

 There aren't enough children on board to warrant a schoolteacher, so I

 found her a Governess, but.... she's more into the why and how to

 behave than the practical." Vanyssa smiled thinking about her

 daughter. "I'm going to see her, if you would like to come along. I

 doubt she remembers you, Ketal. Most children don't remember things

 from that young."

  

Ketal nodded, relieved to be focusing on something else rather than his

 subjective thoughts. "Of course Captain I would tutor her if Science is

 her desire, we could deduce that rather quickly from her behavior. If

 she does have the talent for it how much time would you set aside for

 her instruction? It is best to start one so young off slowly and if

 they prove it is not drudgery and hold or raise their level of interest

 then more time could be added. I would suggest two or three days a week

 at two hours at a time to start and after three months considering her

 progress her instruction could be modified. And of course I will go

 with you, there is nothing pressing at this time that I have to attend

 to."

  

Vanyssa nodded and agreed with Ketal. "Thank you." She said.

 "Turbolift, resume" She stated, then led the way to her Quarters

  

Jennah was sitting in her bedroom, and Vanyssa was a bit surprised at

 the opulence of their Quarters. Jennah had a rather large room to

 herself, and Vanyssa's was larger. "Quite a change from the Nimitz,

 Ketal, thank you." She said, moving into Jennah's room. "Hey, Minx, I

 brought someone you might remember. Do you remember Mr. Ketal, from

 the Vanguard?"

  

Jennah shook her head. "Well he remembers you." Vanyssa grinned.

  

Ketal looked at the child for a moment remembering her as a toddler.

 "Good day Jennah, I seem to remember you were rather fascinated by my

 ears when you were very young though I am sure that was too long ago

 for you to remember."

  

Jennah frowned. "I don't remember, but they are rather nice ears for a

 vulcan." She looked from Vanyssa to Ketal. "Mr. Ketal, how do you know

 me ?"

  

"I was in an internship with the Academy and placed in a research team investigating life forms on Regalius 5 for a short term on the Vanguard,Jennah. I was having trouble "adapting" and the Captain," here he looked at Vanyssa to show what Captain he meant, "helped me. So you see I saw you many times upon the Vanguard. Your mother." Her corrected himself. "Rather the Captain has told me you are interested in Science and wishes for me to tutor you. What do you think of spending some practical time in the labs learning to take

 readings and later on possibly using the equipment?"

  

"It would have to be with oversight of course but first you will have to learn how to handle specimens and later you could learn how to operate the equipment." Ketal said .

  

Jennah's eyes gleamed. "Really ? You would let me into the lab ? I

 won't let you down, I promise!" She said, throwing her arms around Mr.

 Ketal's legs and hugging him, meanwhile projecting rather loudly her

 enthusiasm. Vanyssa winced, her telepathic senses finally healing from

 her possession, and rather raw. ~I miss Riven...~ She thought to

 herself, watching her daughter interact with Mr. Ketal.

  

"I need to get back to the bridge. I am expecting some new crew to

 arrive. Jennah, hun, feel free to finish settling in, or go see Miss

 Dema is you are bored. Have Ms. Rilley escort you, though." Vanyssa

 warned. "This is a new ship, with lots of new people, and I don't

 trust them with you, yet. They might not know what to do with a small

 child crawling around the ship." Vanyssa finished cautioning her

 daughter, then gave her a big hug. ::Love you, minx.::

  

Jennah responded with a grin.

  

Ketal nodded, "And I should go to my office for a moment to get some reports before the meeting." He nodded to Jennah and Vanyssa. "I shall see you shortly Captain." Then turned on his heel and left the room.

  

Vanyssa leaned down to give her daughter another hug, then headed out, sparing another glance for her very large, very spacious and quite opulent Quarters. ~Maybe being CO does have some perks.~ She thought to herself. "Bridge." She commanded, heading up there.

  

(reply any, none)

 (posted by Charles and Melinda)

 =

(USS Mystique, Bridge, FO, Lt Cmdr Peter Belinia - 14:20)

  

They were now well clear of the defensive perimiters and had said their formal farewell to Spacedock pheonix and her Commanding Officers. Peter, still sitting in his chair, glanced over the Bridge. The Captain had yet to return and the Bridge was full of highly charged officers.

  

"Lieutenant HHril, report." Peter asked.

  

(Reply HHril)

  

"Very well. Carry on." Peter turned to his other orders now. He pressed the comm button on his console. "This is the First Officer to all Senior staff. The Captain will be holding a Senior Staff Briefing at sixteen hundred hours, in the Briefing room. Belinia out." Again Peter closed the comm link and opened another. "This is the First Officer to all departments. Please report on your status and current departmental needs and requirements. Belinia out."

  

(Reply All Senior Staff, Dept. heads, ANY)

  

Now Peter was excited. He knew that the majority of the people those messages were for were on the Bridge.

  

He stood and paced along the Bridge. The viewscreen was dissabled and he stood before the plaque of the 52nd Fleet. His thoughts turned to his family. His mother was possibly a Captain, and his father still at Jupiter Station if he had managed to wrangle out of the top secret program Starfleet was ushering him into.

  

Would he have to fight his mother?, were his parents in trouble because of his decision to follow LoDona? These questions ran circles around him, trying to disorient him. How ould he cope with all this, especially with his mother? ~Ah, the burden of loyalty. The taste of betrayal and the sweet aroma of justice. If only I coud speak with her once more, just for a brief moment. O mother dearest, how I love you.~ He thought. ~But that love only extends so far...........~ He felt the tear fall down his cheek, he brushed it away and turned, Once he was seated in his chair he began to think of what needed to be done.

  

"Bridge to Engineering."

  

(Reply Sarouk)

  

"Good, are we ready to test the Cloaking Device?"

  

(Reply Sarouk)

  

"This is the First Officer to all personelle, we are going to test the cloaking device, this is only a test. All stations report test readiness." Peter waited as the reports came in fromm all stations. "Ensign Dema, deploy the Cloak." Peter stood as the ship entered 'cloak mode'.

  

"Ensign, a fifteen minute test should suffice." Peter looked at the young officer stood before his console. "And I would like a full report before the Briefing."

  

(Reply Dema)

  

(Reply all mentioned)

 (Posted by John Gibson)

 =

(USS Mystique - Captain's quarters - CSO Ketal - 14:23)

Ketal was leaving the Captain's quarters when the ship's intercom sounded.

"This is the First Officer to all Senior staff. The Captain will be holding a Senior Staff Briefing at sixteen hundred hours, in the Briefing room. Belinia out."

 Immediately after the announcement Ketal's comlink sounded and he tapped it.

"This is the First Officer to all departments. Please report on your status and current departmental needs and requirements. Belinia out."

Ketal lengthened his stride intending to make his way to the CSO's office so he could compile the information the FO wanted. As he entered the turbolift another announcement sounded.

 

"This is the First Officer to all personelle, we are going to test the cloaking device, this is only a test. All stations report test readiness."

 Ketal suppressed his initial reaction but only just barely.

~ I am not on the bridge and he will start a cloaking test? Sarouk and I spent many hours formulating the exact settings to adapt the cloak to these new technologies and the cloak has not yet been tested. The ship was attacked on its shakedown cruise before it could be started. I should be monitoring the readouts at the Science station! ~

His voice was slightly too rough as he said to the turbolift. "Bridge!"

 As the lift started he went through a calming routine his mother had taught him and when the doors opened he quickly swept past several startled crewmembers to Science 1. The Ensign at the watch must have sensed him coming for he whirled around in the chair and jumped up when he saw the CSO near. Perhaps it was the reaction of the other crew that had alerted him. As Ketal neared the station the COS said.

"Acknowledged Sir, engaging cloak, power stable, shields and weapons are offline, we are now fully cloaked."

 

"Ensign, a fifteen minute test should suffice, And I would like a full report before the Briefing." The FO said.

Ketal quickly scanned the readouts as he sat down at the station, the cloak was active however the energy reading on node three was beginning to spike. Knowing Sarouk was seeing the same thing he withheld comment and while holding the power readings he also brought up the scans from the lateral array and what he saw was not good. He tapped his combadge and said.

"Chief Sarouk the power spike on node three is causing a leakage of neutronic radiation outside the cloak at the rate of 1.3 to the tenth power millirens per second. Can you stabilize the energy vectors?

(Reply: Chief Sarouk, any)

(Posted by Charles Gatling)

=

(USS Mystique - Bridge - Ensign Jason Dema - 14:28)

  

THe FO was getting everyone ready to test the cloaking device

"This is the First Officer to all personelle, we are going to test the cloaking device, this is only a test. All stations report test readiness."

 Jason turned to the FO. "Standing by Sir."

"Ensign Dema, deploy the Cloak."

"Acknowledged Sir, engaging cloak, power stable, shields and weapons are offline, we are now fully cloaked."

 

 

"Ensign, a fifteen minute test should suffice, And I would like a full report before the Briefing."

 "Yes Sir."

(reply any, if needed)

(posted by Anthony Struelens)

=

(USS Mystique - Bridge - Ensign Jason Dema - 1450)

After the test Jason was downloading all the data related to the cloaking device down to a PADD, and then he noticed some unusual fluctuations in the power grid, wich had to be resolved, cause they could pose a threat once in deep space. Jason then stood up and went to the FO

NRPG: dunno where you would be at that time, so I'm just gonna give it to you, wherever you are.

RPG:

"Here's the report about the cloaking device Sir."

Jason handed over the PADD to Peter

(reply Peter)

(Posted by Anthony Struelens)

=

(USS Mystique - Bridge - CO Captain Vanyssa Winters & FO Lt Cmdr Peter Belinia - 1457)

  

Vanyssa came back to the Bridge after the meeting with her daughter and Mr. Ketal. She took her seat, and looked down at the messages that had been forwarded there. "How did the test of the Cloaking Device go, Commander?" She asked, curious.

  

"The test was sucsessful in the fact that we maintained the cloaking field for the full fifteen minutes. The results are still being intepreted and we should have the full report at the Briefing. Ensign Dema has given a full account of all stations and their reactions to the cloak. All was well there, nobody reported any malfunctions apart from the third node. I have no idea what went wrong but I am sure Ketal and Sarouk shall inform us in detail in the Briefing." Peter looked at the Captain. "We had a malfunction with the third node, it was leaking neutronic radiation outside of the field."

  

"And from our escort, have we gotten their sensor readings?"

  

"They were rather shocked at the leakage, the Captains of the USS Earheart and USS Hermes A, the Defiant class starsips, have taken a great interest in it and will be sending data on their cloaking devices so we can crossreference our data."

  

Vanyssa nodded. "Well, it's not too surprising. The cloak was installed at the last minute, and hasn't been particularly modified for this ship. We'll talk with Mr. Ketal and Mr. Sarouk at the meeting. Once they have a repair ETA, We will test it again. I want the cloak fully operational by the time the Escort begins to peel away."

  

"I thought the same. It will be a priority. Do you want to have more tests en-route to Geneva.?"

  

Vanyssa nodded. "Absolutely." She said. "We have six weeks of shakedown time, and I intend to use all of it."

  

"I hoped you would say that." Peter replied with a smile. "There is a small Asteroid feild nearby, three days away. I thought some practice in there would be good. Test our weapons and smaller craft. The Marines could use it for anti-grav training. What do you think?"

  

Vanyssa shook her head. "Unfortunantly no. We need to rendezvous with Geneva, and pick up the rest of our crew. Then we have orders to head to Sector 28972 and do mapping of it for the shake down time. Maybe there will be an asteroid field there, Commander." She said with a grin. "Although my intuition tells me that we will find something very interesting there."

  

Peter smiled back at his Captain and handed her a PADD with the rescent data of the test on it. "I am sure there will be other opportunities. I'll have Geneva's Stellar Cartography and Astrometrics see if they can pull any information on that sector."

  

Vanyssa scanned the PADD over, noting the results, and wishing that she had more engineering background to understand them better. She had the basic command course, of course, but that was it. "Excellent, Commander, please do so." Vanyssa was feeling suddenly restless again, somewhat lethargic at the same time. She realized that it was all catching up to her again. "Commander, if we could speak in my Ready Room." Part of Vanyssa thrilled to those words. ~My! Ready Room!!~

  

"Certainly." Peter said in following her to her ready room.

  

Vanyssa waited till the doors shut, then went over to her replicator. "Can I get you anything ?" She asked.

  

Peter walked quite tentativley into the room. "A cup of tea would go down quite nicley I think." He said, smiling again.

  

Vanyssa nodded, "Computer, two cups of tea." She spoke. "One Lady Grey and One Earl Grey." She handed her First Officer one of the cups of tea after it had come out of the replicator.

  

She took a sip and spit it out. "Oh, my God." She said, choking on the bitterness of it. "It tastes awful." She made a Mr. Yuck face. "Yours?"

  

Peter chuckled at the Captains face and took a sip from his cup. "I believe we have the wrong cups." His face was not as twisted as the Captains but it did show his distaste to the tea.

  

Vanyssa laughed and swapped cups with him. "I'm glad that the replicators aren't malfunctioning." She said.

  

Peter, laughing and handing the Captains tea over and accepting his. "I would not have liked to see Mr. Sarouks face if that were the case."

  

Vanyssa grinned at the thought. "Or Mr. Hhril's, for that matter." She sat her tea down and rubbed her head. Another headache was coming on. "Why did you question me, when I left the Bridge with Mr. Ketal?" Vanyssa asked, quietly.

  

Peter was shocked, but understood why she saked it. "I was merley wondering why you were leaving the Bridge so early on. I am sorry if you were offended by my actions."

  

Vanyssa nodded. "I was not offended, merely surprised. Have you ever been a parent, Mr. Belenia ?"

  

Peter was amused at that question. "No Ma'am. And I intend to keep it that way."

  

Vanyssa smiled at the clear amusement on his face. "Jennah is the most important thing to me. I made a promise that right after the ship was launched, I would come and see her. I also wanted to speak with Mr. Ketal. He is an old friend of mine from the Vanguard. I'm sorry if I surprised you, but you do understand that I can't have you asking those kinds of questions on the middle of the bridge, especially over insignificant things."

  

"I perfectly understand Captain. You see, this is my first time in Command, I am still learning. I will endeavour to keep my inquisitive side in check." Peter sipped at his tea and savoured its taste.

  

Vanyssa nodded. "What do you think the crew thought when they saw the First Officer questioning the Captain not 3 hours after the Captain took command ? "

  

Peters face was full of anguish. His first day was not going as well as he had hoped. "I would imagine they would not have thought it a prudent move on my part."

  

Vanyssa shook her head, glad for all the years she had spent as a Counsellor. "Would they be thinking, 'Well if the First Officer can't even trust her, why should we ?' or 'What has Starfleet saddled us with, is she a bad Captain, to need a Keeper ?" Vanyssa leaned slightly forward. "I need you to trust me." She said, patting his knee. "I need to know that I can trust you, and that you trust me. The crew needs to see us as one unit, not a unit split and divided in distrust."

  

Peter placed his cup down and looked at the Captain, his eyes were full of sincerity. "Captain, I trust you. I will follow every order implicitly and further I will never doubt your Captaincy or your ability to Command. I am your First Officer and shall be at your side. This will never happen again, I will think before I speak out again."

  

Vanyssa nodded. She could only hope that that was indeed true, that he would think before speaking. "Is there anything else on your mind, Commander?" She said, letting the matter drop.

  

He swallowed his thoughts about his mother, he would bring them up with her at another time. Peter thought about his run in with both Ensign Dema and Major Lee. "Captain, if I may be frank?"

  

Peter, thankful of this time with her and able to open up. "Captain, there have been some incidents where I have had.....arguments, with some members of the crew. I did not want to bring this to you formally, and so I am informing you only because it involves you. Although indirectly."

  

Vanyssa's eyes shot up. "how does it involve me? And what happened?"

  

"It involes your friends, Ensign Dema and Major Lee. I will speak about Ensign Dema first. His attitude is somewhat lax, and at the time, he was also indifferent to our respective ranks. He even went as far as trying to tell me how to do my job. Mr Dema obviously feels that due to his friendship with you that he is untouchable, he even called you by your first name." Peter did not know how she was going to react to this news.

  

Vanyssa nodded. "I've noted this, and have spoken to him about it several times. I have told him that if another incident occurs, then he will be on punishment detail." Vanyssa sighed. "His friendship with me is mainly through his sister and my daughter. They are good friends. I believe that he also has feelings for me. He is very very young, and very new to Starfleet. He has so much potential, though." She sighed again. "And it's a fine line that he strides most of the time, Commander. You, as First Officer, are perfectly capable of assigning punishment duties as you see fit." She felt her headache growing. "How did you react to his insubordination ?"

  

"At first I tried to ignore it, when it continued I tried to deal with it diplomatically. At the end I had to shout at him to leave my quaters. It was a wake-up call for me, and I hope for him aswell. I am unsure of how to deal with ths at present, but I hope that I can smooth it over and appeal to his more friendly side. I would hate to put him on punshment detail, he is quite a competant officer."

  

"You shouted at him?" Vanyssa's eyebrows rose even further. "Did that seem to work ?"

  

"I actually think it did. I was loath to do it, I am not a monster Captain. He seems to be more respectful and also seems to be following Starfleet protocols rather well, but only time will tell."

  

Vanyssa nodded. "Well, it comes to all people in different ways. I was assigned to emergency hull duty in engineering at one point when I was an Ensign to learn respect for the Third Officer of my ship.

  

Peter looked at her with a quzzical eye. "You, punishment detail. Now that is worrying. I hope I never slip up." He laughed a little.

  

Vanyssa grinned. "The 3O of the Vanguard was a disagreeable woman who thought she knew how to Counsel better than I did. She did not." Vanyssa's frowned deepened, remembering Delilah WildRose very well.

  

Peter smiled at her, he enjoyed her company. "I am sure that you were correct!"

  

Vanyssa suddently sobered as she thought of Lee. "What happened with my Major" She asked, frowning deeper. Lee was an incredibly disciplined person, who was technically brilliant. It was not like him to lose his temper.

  

Peters face grew rather dark as he remebered the incident. "We met in the Conference room of the Talons, yesterday. We got into a conflict of personalities would you say."

  

"Elaborate further, please." Vanyssa frown deepened. This was not a good sign.

  

Peter took a deep breath. "Well for my part I wanted to simply inform him of my concerns over the security of the Mystique. He intepreted it as an attck upon his ability to command his men, he dropped a few names and called me a 'young pup'. I tried to maintain my authority throughout and that led me into somewhat of a power struggle with him. I exerted my authority, he exerted his friendship with both you and Admiral LoDona, and eventually he left the room. We shook hands before he left, at my request. But mainly, we argued his ability to caommand, he also questioned my loyalty to the 52nd, in a round about sort of way."

  

Vanyssa nodded. "I am not surprised by that. You do realize that the Major is close in rank you yourself? And that his position among his marines is very similiar to that of the CO?" Vanyssa leaned slightly forward. "Have you had any experience with the marines before this, Commander ?"

  

"Only with Colonel T'Vanek and his men on Geneva. Nothing quite on the scale of Major Lee though!"

  

"And the Colonel is a Vulcan." Vanyssa replied. "Vulcans are very different than humans, and I would imagine that he makes a very different sort of MCO."

  

"I am sure he does, Captain. I would like to impress upon you that I think nothing less of the Major for his outburst, and as far as rank is concerned, we may share the same amount in pips but I am still First Officer. No matter how close a friend of you he is Captain I need to know he will follow my orders if the time came."

  

Vanyssa's eyes hardened. She had been trying to justify Lee to her First Officer. "I can assure you that the Major will follow orders, Commander. I trust him with my life, and more importantly with my daughters life. Lee will do what he thinks is best, Commander. In a way," And she felt herself soften a bit. "I would think he was testing you. He is probably under the Admiral's orders to ascertain if there are any traitors in the Fleet. And I assure you, Commander, there are, it's just a matter of finding them. Lee answers to you and me, We answer to the Great Admiral..... and he answers to his own conscience." Her philosophy abated. "If you continue to have problems with him, please notify me, and I will have a talk with him."

  

"Thank you Captain, but I think we can forget about it. I am not one to hold a grudge. And I plan to talk to him, clarify our positions. I am glad to see that you are open minded about this Captain. I was worried that your feelings would get in the way of your judgement. For that I can only apologise."

  

Vanyssa sat in shock. Her feelings get in the way of her judgement !?!?!?

  

"How do you think I feel about Mr. Lee, Commander ?"

  

Peter was surprised about this reaction. "I meant nothing intimate Captain. Simply when one is in relationship with someone feelings become a part of that relationship. Even if it is just a friendship, I was worried that your friendship would have effected your perception. That wuld have been a more tactful way of putting it." Peter smiled despite himself. "I just keep on digging, don't I Captain?"

  

Vanyssa nodded. "I think I understand. And if you mean the Earth expression of deeper holes, then no. I just don't know you well enough yet, and Ethics don't give me the luxury of just reading your mind to figure out what you mean. Emotions, yes, but only if they are strong."

  

"No," vanyssa said sadly. "I would send Lee to his death all the same. I would weep after it was all done, though."

  

"Captain, I will be honest, I do not envy your position. It must be a heavy burden you bear."

  

Vanyssa looked up. "I didn't realize how heavy before." She said, with the realization that she probably would have to send Lee into precarious situations, and most likely he, and lots of other people would die under her command. "I knew that Susan Rivers grieved when she sent my husband into a hostile situation, and he ended up brain dead." Vanyssa knew that very well.

  

Peter, full of sorrow, looked into her eyes. "If only things were different. I can only be there at your side, to share that burden. And I am sure that Lee would do all he could to stay alive, if only to protect you and Jenna."

  

Vanyssa sighed. "No more sadness. We are launching a brand new ship. No one is dead yet. I plan to keep it that way."

  

"I can only hope that that is true Captain. We both know there is no use in deluding ourselves. We can thank the Admiral we have a few months before we are called to the frontline. Hopefully a little longer."

  

Vanyssa shook her head. "If I have my way, no one will die. Call it a delusion, but it's my mission to make sure that as many people live as possible. As for when we are called to the frontline.... I only pray that there won't be a front line. "

  

Peter smiled, it was nice to see her full of passion. Even if it was, in his opinion, misplaced. "I am sure you will succeed Captain."

  

(reply any, none)

 (pb melinda and John)

 =

(USS Mystique - Shuttle bay - CXS - Dr. John Nathaniel Harper- 15.05)

 

 

John placed his feet on the deck of the ship it was a most unsavory environment and the reprocessed air made his gag little. Pausing for a moment he looked around and identified the position of the turbolift. Moving over slowly he took his time to walk, there was no real hurry the Captain would just have to wait for him. He had been recalled from his expedition to a planet in the early stages of evolution and this had not produced a weary traveler. Added to that a Klingon pilot that possibly proved that Primates do exist in space. John was not a happy bunny, zipping up his tight Starfleet uniform he commanded the lift to the bridge.

  

 

~A Primary conclusion would be that the woman in charge of this ship would be on the bridge. I do hope she can direct properly! ~ John thought to himself.

  

 

(USS Mystique - Bridge - CXS & CO - Dr. John Nathaniel Harper & Captain Winters- 15:10)

  

 

On arrival at the bridge John looked around, it was pretty standard nothing really that stood out from the various other bridges he had walked around. Most Starfleet ships lacked neither inspiration nor a good grasp of aesthetic value. Everything was so bland and boring, how any one could like these were beyond him. Seeing a woman sitting in the command Chair John moved over to announce his presence.

  

 

"Captain Winters I presume, im Dr. John Nathaniel HarperPHD. Here as your Head of Xenobiological studies,"

  

 

Vanyssa looked at the person who had been assigned to her as head of Xenobiological studies. ~Since when is there a department called that? ~ She half wondered to herself.

 

 

"Welcome, Doctor, to the Mystique." Vanyssa wondered if she should mention that he needed a haircut. "Come, let us go into my Ready Room. Mr. Belinia, you have the Bridge." She said, leading the way in. Once they were inside, she sat down on her very comfortable couch and crossed her legs. "I must say that I wasn't aware of your arrival, Doctor. " She said, looking over his orders. "Although your orders do appear to be in order. Could you tell me a bit about yourself." She said, gesturing for him to have a seat. She wanted to have these one-on-one conversations with most of her crew as they came in.

 

 

John rolled his eyes and let his displeasure at being questioned obvious, tutting he lowered himself into a seat and attempted to appear that he was interested.

  

 

"Well Captain Im a Doctor in Xenobiology, archeology, History, Philosophy and im half El-Aurian. My cat is called Aristotelian and my favorite color is black. I hate talking to people and enjoy my work,"

  

 

Vanyssa laughed at the obvious displeasure of having to talk to her. Any man that had a cat had to be good, somewhere inside. She compared the good Doctor to Lt. Falthgood, and briefly wished that he were here. Now Zach knew how to laugh.

 

 

"Where were you last stationed?" She inquired, very fascinated. "Would you tell me what your research focus is?"

 

 

"I was last stationed on a ship, my research is cultural and biological research of alien species however I thought the Xenobiological would have give that away," John stated making his sarcasm more poignant with his pause. "Dear Captain, I only wear the uniform because civilian scientists get stuck in a lab and this was a easy way of escaping for first hand. I don't fight, do away missions or stand around looking interested by anomalies. Nor will I pretend to be interested," John stated.

  

 

Vanessa's eyebrows rose and she tried very hard not to stare at him. "Well, as a Xenobiology and a member of Starfleet, you will be going on away missions." Vanyssa had learned a lot about watching various COs deal with Zach Falthgood, and knew that if she pushed the pertinent points, the rest, well, the rest didn't really matter.

  

 

"Yes quite we shall see dear Captain," John stated.

  

 

Vanyssa wanted very hard to laugh at his pompousness. "Have Quarters been assigned? Have you met the CSO Mr. Ketal?"

 

 

"Dear Captain you are the CO I have only just arrived. The Pleasure of no doubt the company of a pup out of the academy I have not met yet. Also Captain im obliged to tell you that im also a linguist,"

  

 

Vanessa's eyes rose further. He was definitely more infuriating than Falthgood.

 

 

"Mr. Ketal is a Vulcan, and a gifted scientist. I'm sure that you will get along famously. I suggest, Doctor, that you report in to him, and then settle into your Quarters. There is a senior staff meeting at 1600 that I would like you to attend, if for no other reason than to meet the other senior officers, who you will be working with. And that is an order, Doctor. Any questions?" And Vanyssa smiled. "I won't interrupt your work any more than I have to, Dr, and I am glad to have someone with your skills aboard." ~If not someone with your obvious arrogance. ~ She concluded to herself.

 

 

"Hum I shall not be reporting to any one besides you dear Captain,"

  

 

Vanyssa frowned. "Mr. Ketal is the chief Science Officer of this ship, and the head of your department. You WILL report in to him, and see what his orders for you are. You are a Starfleet Officer, Doctor, and that means following the chain of command." ~He is completely tone deaf. ~ Vanyssa thought to herself. ~He questions my orders. If he does, what do the others think? ~

 

 

"Chain, why chain why not level? Also it was my understanding that a Lieutenant Snr grade out ranked an Ensign. That is my understanding however, you might look on it differently also as it was explained to me I would be given allot of freedom to do what I wanted and im your chief linguist actually your only linguist,"

  

 

Vanyssa sighed. There was a reason this man, no matter how gifted he was, was not the CSO. "Doctor, in this matter, he does outrank you. He is the CSO, not you. There is a reason for that. You are a very gifted Scientist. You don't want to be bored with all the administration. You will have a lot of Freedom while on board the Mystique, as well as a lot of experiences that other people won't have. Will it be so hard for you to follow the chain of command?" She smiled winningly at him. She didn't want to have to be hard with him, but she would if need be.

  

 

"Erm yes I don't like the chain of command I detest the military, the military is a broad sword when a scalpel is required. The military historically in thousands of worlds is used only to enforce rule upon its people and to be cruel. Science is held back by Chains of command, I do however offer you a alternative,"

  

 

Vanyssa listened. "And your alternative is what, Doctor?"

 

 

"Well me and the chief work more hand in hand rather than one above the other. He is a Vulcan they are prides fools with no sense or passion for science. I have passion, he can do the paper work and I shall devote myself to being on hand to assist,"

  

 

Vanyssa tried not to grin. "Yes, he is a Vulcan, but I wouldn't say that he has no passion. I would rather that the two of you do work as a team." Vanyssa then did let the grin out. "In fact, I want everyone to work happily together, Doctor. If I promise not to waste any more time than needed, will you come to the meetings with the CSO?"

 

 

John rolled his eyes, he could not argue with a pleading woman. Pitiful as it was John took a breath and curled his lip.

  

 

"I shall roll over and wag ones tail dear Captain,"

  

 

Vanyssa tried very hard not to laugh. "Thank you, Doctor. I think we have reached an understanding?"

 

 

"Quite, no doubt. Do tell me Captain as chief linguist is there any need or desire to make me sit on the bridge?"

  

 

Vanyssa smiled. "No, Doctor, not unless we are in an emergency situation and the computer can't translate, or unless we encounter an alien civilization. Only then will I expect you on the Bridge. As I've said, I want you to spend as much time on your research as you can, Doctor." Vanyssa nodded.

 

 

"Jolly Dee, then I suppose im done then. Good day Madame Captain," John stated standing and beginning to walk out.

  

 

Vanyssa nodded. "Excellent. Now, go and meet Mr. Ketal, and I'll see you at 1600 for the senior staff meeting. Thank you, Doctor, for your time."

 

 

John grunted and continued to walk, he never remembered the militaristic ideas of the Starfleet that required for him to be dismissed. Walking out made life so much more easily. Now he had to go play nice with a blasted Vulcan.

  

 

(Reply any)

  

(Posted by Richard)

=

(USS Mystique - Bridge - Ambassador - Anastasia Tar-Thurian - 1525)

 

The captain had said that she wanted Ana to be on the same level as the

counselor and have a station on the bridge. Ana had decided to arrive on the

bridge and watch the workings of the bridge personnel. As she moved around

the bridge she noticed that a young human had entered to scan the bridge. He

did not seem overly impressed with the way it had been built then moved over

to the captain. Ana moved a bit closer so she could hear the conversation

that went on between them.

 

"Captain Winters I presume, I'm Dr. John Nathaniel HarperPHD. Here as your

Head of Xenobiological studies,"

 

She knew that his arrival could help her when they met up with species that

the Federation had not met up to this date. With her being a linguist and

his studies, together they would be able to make first contact that much

more beneficial. Unfortunately, what was said next put a bit of a dampener

on what she had planned.

 

"Welcome, Doctor, to the Mystique." Vanyssa said "Come, let us go into my

Ready Room. Mr. Belinia, you have the Bridge." Then they both left the

bridge.

 

She was going to have to meet this, Harper, and get to know him then get him

to be her partner in all first contact missions. She had to wait for him to

reemerge before she could talk to him, so, she continued her observance and

making notes for later references.

 

After what seemed like a very unusual amount of time, The Doctor walked out

of the room and he looked like the meeting did not go the way he had wanted

it to. She stood up as he was walking toward the turbolift and moved toward

him. "Doctor, could we have a few words together?"

 

(reply Harper, any)

(Pb Frank Rogers)

=

(USS Mystique - Observation Lounge - Major Richard Ian Lee - 1557)

  

Rich entered the room, paused for a moment to crack his neck, then took

the closest available seat with a heavy *thump*. He hurt, he was tired,

and the day had only just begun.

  

(reply: any)

(posted by Trout)

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