Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Lower Decks - The Shadow - 0020) The Shadow savored the feel of the people around him. They were it's protection, salvation, a sweet blanket of animosity that would grant the agent time to finish its work. The brief battle with the Major earlier had given the Agent a good headache, but exposure to combat techniques had also given the Operative much-needed insight into attacking people. By design, the agent hadn't had much practical experience, to do so would have meant to break cover. The agent wasn't about to fully break cover yet, there was so much to do. Yet, things had to be slowed down a bit. If they weren't, then this ship would stand a chance at succeeding it her mission, and that just couldn't be. The agent briefly closed his eyes and reached out, past the pain from the last attempt at hurting someone. This time, it was going to be different. The shadow's consciousness floated through the ship, looking for the intended target... And then, there he was! With a sigh that approached ecstasy, the shadow grasped the mind of the scientist in question and gave it a good 'squeeze'. The shock his target felt was delicious, but the shadow couldn't stay. One thing it had learned, it didn't have to kill in order to disrupt activities. It left the scientist passed-out cold with shock and injury, right at the feet of many other scientists. It had taken seconds, and it was enough. The Shadow pulled back amidst the confusion, and into it's own body. From there it took a drink of the glass still held, and smiled large. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca – Ten Forward - TAC/AST - 1245) John was enjoying a little free time in Ten Forward with ensigns Samuels and Hodges when the announcement came to expect unexpected movement. All three had looked at each other, then at their drinks and tossed them back just as the ship started surging under them. =/\= Red Alert, all hands to battle stations=/\= came the announcement from the ships comm. system. John looked back to his new friends. ”looks like it back to work time guys” he said as all three ran from the Ten Forward area to the bank of turbo lifts. Hodges and Samuels headed back to their post as John jumped into to first available one. Once inside he called out “DECK ONE, BRIDGE !!!” =/\=Ensign Frederickson to the bridge.=/\= Came the call from his comm. badge. =/\= Frederickson here, on my way=/\= John noticed a strange sensation as he traveled rapidly to the upper decks, The normally rapidly blinking lights had begun to blink slower and stay on longer, even his movements had become exaggerated and sluggish, then it was over and everything had returned to normal. ~Me and my big mouth~ thought John. ~I had to go and wish for some excitement~ As the doors opened and the Bridge was revealed John headed over to the Tac station to see how he could best help. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Engineering - ACEO Enaj - 1245) Saim was checking on the warp field injector. Things were now starting to cool down for her. The past months when every else had been chilling she had been running around repairing the ship and learning her way around. Now Saim knew the Boudicca like the back of her hand, better even. However she had not had the time to socialise and while everyone had been cementing friendships she had been left out on a bit of a limb. Saim promised herself that she had to make more time for activities away from engineering. She remembered the words of her mother, "You must be more diverse Saim. I know you love tinkering but people are not all bad." Saim swore to herself, ~I will go to bed at a reasonable hour, I will eat properly and I will try and be more friendly.~ While making her "New Year's Resolution" the ship started shaking. Saim dashed to a console to see what was going on. Suddenly the engines kicked out. Saim started to try to frantically get them back online when West tore in. Everything slowed right down and then sped up again. "What was that?!" (reply Trevan) "All departments, report to the Observation Lounge in ten minutes with reports. We are continuing at Red Alert indefinitely," blared from the intercomm. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca – Bridge – OPS Lt. Schafio - 1245) Yalta and Skylynx were two peas in a pod ever since there first date, 9 days ago. They were back from diner with a laugh and once on the bridge, they were serious again. She gave him a smile and turn her attention to her console. Yalta heard the conversation that the Captain was having with a science officer. Until Sevant decided to explore what was going on. "All hands, brace for possible lurches, we are heading near a high-gravity well." He turned, "All SIF and IDF fields to full." He said to Operations and Engineering. "And I want a constant watch on the engines. At the slightest problem, I want to know immediately." “Understood Sir!” Yalta was already on it. Her attention shifted when the ship rocked and it wasn't natural. She heldherself with the arm rest of her chair and turn to look at the viewscreen, the comfirmation came quickly. "A ship is coming out of the gravity field; the distortions hid her, Firing!" ~I knew that this time of quiet was too good to be true!~ "Evasive maneuvers! Red Alert, all hands to battle stations!" He looked at Tactical, "Report!" Sevant said. "No damage to shields, the ship is Federation, defiant class running without signature." "Continue evasive maneuvers, get us back to the river!" he said in a deadly voice. "Another ship just exited the river, firing!" ~This goes bad from worst!~ Yalta was busy sending repairs crew to make sure the ship would hold. Yalta was too focused on what was going on through out the ship but then everything seem to slow down. Her hand seem to take forever to reach the keys on console. She turn her head, and saw that it was happening to others as well. ~What the???~ Yalta return to her console, her slow movement were frustrating her. Then suddenly everything came back to normal "We are sailing clear, Captain." Came the exhausted voice of the Flight officer. "Full scan, find those federation ships." Sevant said, "And get us away from this damned singularity!" he barked. “No casualties, but I have reports of cuts, bruises, broken bones, ten forward, deck 3, 17 and 9. The structure hull suffered a little but no integrity failure reported by the sensors or other wise. Engineering is putting things in order again, repair crews have been dispatch on deck 4, 6 and 12.” (reply: Tactical, Conn) Yalta listen to what was going on with one ear and work dispatching, she knew what would happen next when she heard the science officer say. "A star calibration confirms it; we are seven-hundred and twenty years, plus or minus ten, from the time we started." "Time travel," Sevant muttered darkly. His first instinct was to deny it, but what was the use of scientists if he didn’t believe what they told him? He turned back again, "All departments, report to the Observation Lounge in ten minutes with reports. We are continuing at Red Alert indefinitely." Sevant had just stood up when the scientist said "Sir?" Sevant turned and said not a word. The scientist smiled wanly, "There is evidence of a pre-warp culture on that planet." “Red alert indefinitely Sir!” Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Bridge - TAC/SC - 1245) Ryko was laughing. He was making his way to the bridge, as usual with Yalta, standing in the turbolift doing what had become comfortable to him. He held her hand, savouring the last few minutes of freedom before they were separated by rules and authority. ~Life is good,~ Ryko thought. He was right, it had been great in this past week or two. He and Yalta were like 2 peas in a pod, ever since they had that breakfast those three months ago, Ryko had a feeling she was special. Now he knew for sure. He was happy, but his mood was about to change. He took the tactical station, brought the defensive systems to power, and waited. There was nothing much else to do, considering they were dropping sensor beacons and not much else. He looked at the main viewer at the same time everyone else saw it. A multi-singularity. It was eerily beautiful, he had to admit. But looks were decieving. "All hands, brace for possible lurches, we are heading near a high-gravity well." Sevant said. He turned, "All SIF and IDF fields to full." He said to Yalta and Trevan. "And I want a constant watch on the engines. At the slightest problem, I want to know immediately." "Understood Sir!" Yalta was already on it. Ryko looked at her. ~Well, she's calm, nothing to worry about.~ Ryko had learned to trust Yalta's intuition. If something wasn't wrong, don't worry. But the next few seconds suddenly changed his mind. The ship rocked violently. At first Ryko thought it was a gravity spike, but the tactical sensors told him otherwise. "A ship is coming out of the gravity field; the distortions hid her, Firing!" He shouted, readying himself for combat. ~So much for a quiet day!~ Ryko thought, making sure he was ready. "Evasive maneuvers! Red Alert, all hands to battle stations!" He looked at Tactical, "Report!" Sevant said. Ryko wasted no time in moving the Boudicca out of harm's way. "No damage to shields," Ryko said. Then his face turned to surprise. "Sir, the ship is Federation, defiant class running without signature." "Continue evasive maneuvers, get us back to the river!" Sevant said in a deadly voice. "Another Defiant off our starboard bow, just exited the river, it's firing!" ~Hold her together, Yalta, this is gonna be a bumpy ride,~ Ryko thought. He knew he wasn't telepathic, but he hoped she would hear him anyway. "Aim to disable, destroy if necessary!" Sevant's voice nearly deafened him, trying to be heard over the constant hail of fire. Ryko's wrists flexed. "Alright, y'all. Time to show you why they call me "Sky"." Ryko said, very quietly. He moved his hands, and the response was instant. The boudicca arced through space, and drew level with the closest Defiant. A head on attack wasn't really an option, as the Defiant was designed to resist such a thing. Ryko moved through manoeuvers automatically, all the time searching his mind for a tactical weakness. Then he remembered his training. Of course, it was simple. The slice and dice manoeuver. He checked the engine status. They were a little pressed, but they could handle it. "HOLD ON!" Ryko yelled above the din, before wrenching both of his hands back to bring the Boudicca perpendicular over the attacking ship. He twitched his right thumb, and a low intensity phaser beam burst out of the Boudicca's forward array, contacting the target's rear dorsal hull. Ryko waited for about 3 seconds and fired off a volley of torpedoes. The manoeuver worked, the torpedoes managed to slip through the vessel's shields and detonated against the engines. The defiant ground to a halt. Ryko brought the ship back to forward position, preparing an offensive on the second ship, when the sensors went haywire. "It's no good!" Ryko yelled. "There's too much distortion, I can't get a positive lock on the remaining ship!" he said. Sparks flew and Ryko cursed. The best he could do was guess and avoid. That was all well and good in a fighter, but the boudicca was too large for a scheme like that to work. Ryko thought for a second, before he saw a huge mass of white on the viewer. Nothing but eery, unholy white. And then there was one word. "Contact." Ryko looked at Yalta, and thought he had died, he seemed to be looking at her indefinitely, unable to move. He tried to look back to his console, but it took him what seemed like ten minutes just to move his head. It was like the whole ship was just...slowing down. Ryko hadn't encountered time dilation before, but he had what his father had told him. ~"If there's one thing you have to stay away from, it's a temporal anomaly." Yeah, like those wise words are any use now,~ he thought. Suddenly time was moving normally again, and the next thing Ryko heard lifted a huge weight off his shoulders. "We are sailing clear, Captain." Came the exhausted voice of the Flight officer. Ryko breathed. He glanced around. Everyone seemed okay, albeit a little shaken. "Full scan, find those federation ships." Sevant said, "And get us away from this damned singularity!" he barked. "No casualties, but I have reports of cuts, bruises, broken bones, ten forward, deck 3, 17 and 9. The structure hull suffered a little but no integrity failure reported by the sensors or other wise." Ryko smiled weakly as for the briefest second he thought Yalta looked at him. He merely shrugged and busied himself with his work. "Engineering is putting things in order again, repair crews have been dispatch on deck 4, 6 and 12," Yalta said. "Shields at 86 percent, regenerating," Ryko said. "But there's no sign of those ships," he reported. ~That's impossible, there was one dead in space!~ Ryko looked up. "Where the hell are we?" he said. "A star calibration confirms it; we are seven-hundred and twenty years, plus or minus ten, from the time we started." Yalta said. Her voice was clear and undaunted. Ryko was surprised to say the least. He said it the same time as Sevant. "Time travel." "All departments, report to the Observation Lounge in ten minutes with reports. We are continuing at Red Alert indefinitely." Sevant had just stood up when the Scientist said "Sir?" Sevant turned and said not a word. The scientist smiled wanly, "There is evidence of a pre-warp culture on that planet." Ryko couldn't help the tiniest little smile as the tension mounted in silence. "Red alert indefinitely Sir!" Came his immediate reply. Ryko looked back to the tactical station. Evidently Sevant's nerves were at breaking point. He wrapped up his business and tapped his badge. "Ensign Frederickson to the bridge." He said, knowing John understood that he was to relieve the tactical station, and closed the channel. He headed for the meeting. Stardate:2406.10.18 (Boudicca - Bridge √ ACSO Ens Vegra Gretud- 1252) "Very interesting," he finally said. "Very interesting indeed." He crossed his arms behind his back as he looked at the sensor readings. They had exited the River a few hours ago, intent on dropping another of their sensor buoys and doing a full survey scan of the area for later use. They had stayed longer then he had intended, they had come across a very interesting area of space. "Yes sir," the scientist said. He pointed to the screen, "We've gathered, so far, that this isn▓t just a subspace singularity... but multi-singularity; multiple singularities revolving around each other at greater then the speed of light. Its gravitational pull is truly awesome, we are more then five million kilometres from it, and we are working our thrusters pretty hard." "This star system here is three light-years away, fully, and the gravity from this anomaly is pulling dust and debris away from that star, across the three light-years of space, and into itself. It's quite lovely actually; I've never seen anything quite like it. The debris seems to be consistent with an imploded planet, heavy concentrations of minerals in the rock." The scientist snorted, "This singularity might even have been the cause of its destruction in fact, and the only planets left in that system are those closest to the Star." "If we get closer to that anomaly, will the debris cause us any significant problems?" Sevant looked at it, the dust wasn▓t thick, the scene reminded him of stellar matter from a large star being sucked into the gravity of a denser one. The fact that the anomalies gravity-well was strong enough to yank dust and debris from the gravitational field of a star from three light-years was absolutely phenomenal and Sevant wanted more information about it. The Scientist considered for a few moments, "We would want to go in under full Combat shields, Sir; our navigational shields wouldn▓t be up to it. But as long as you have us steered away from the worst, we would be ok. I don't recommend getting closer then a couple hundred thousand kilometres however. One burp from the impulse engines and thrusters and we would be lost forever." The Captain nodded, "All hands, brace for possible lurches, we are heading near a high-gravity well." He turned, "All SIF and IDF fields to full." He said to Operations and Engineering. "And I want a constant watch on the engines. At the slightest problem, I want to know immediately." (Reply: Engineering, Ops, if desired) Sevant sat down, "Shields up," He said. He didn▓t order any alerts, he shields were up for something other then combat. The ship had already been warned everything was tight. "Take us in,■ he said quietly. "All sensors to full and record." ⌠Sensors recording■ said Vegra As Vegra said that a few moments later the ship lurched every were with torpedo hits. As they went though the event horizon Vegra fell and hit is head but stood straight back up. (Boudicca - Bridge √ ACSO Ens Vegra Gretud - Infinity) Vegra could feel everything slowing. "Report," barked the captain "Sensors report nothing, we appear visually to be within a few hundred kilometres of the anomaly, but sensors report we are actually more then ten billion miles from it." Came a slow response. "Turn the nose!" the captain said, "Get us turned away from that multi-singularity plot a course around this anomaly," he said, "And get us out where we came in." Vegra felt time getting slower more. ⌠Captain the singularity is distorting the gravity on the ship. Sir I hate to say this to but I think were in a infinity time zone■ Said Vegra =^=Impulse engines are back! =^= came the CEO's voice over the comm (Boudicca - Bridge - Capt Sevant - 1310) As the ship came back out of the multi-singularity Vegra heard the captain tell everyone to meet in the observation lounge in ten minutes as Vegra prepared to leave he downloaded all the visual and sensors scans to a holo-projector and left. Stardate:2406.10.18 (Boudicca - Bridge - Capt Sevant - 1252)  Sevant quirked his head as he looked at the screen. "Very interesting," he finally said. "Very interesting indeed." He crossed his arms behind his back as he looked at the sensor readings. They had exited the River a few hours ago, intent on dropping another of their sensor buoy's and doing a full survey scan of the area for later use. They had stayed longer then he had intended, they had come across a very interesting area of space. "Yessir," the scientist said. He pointed to the screen, "We've gathered, so far, that this isn’t just a subspace singularity... but a multi-singularity; multiple singularities revolving around each other at greater then the speed of light. Its gravitational pull is truly awesome, we are more then five million kilometers from it, and we are working our thrusters pretty hard." He gestured again, "This star system here is three light-years away, fully, and the gravity from this anomaly is pulling dust and debris away from that star, across the three light-years of space, and into itself. It's quite lovely actually; I've never seen anything quite like it. The debris seems to be consistent with an imploded planet, heavy concentrations of minerals in the rock." The scientist snorted, "This singularity might even have been the cause of its destruction in fact, and the only planets left in that system are those closest to the Star." "If we get closer to that anomaly, will the debris cause us any significant problems?" Sevant looked at it, the dust wasn’t thick, the scene reminded him of stellar matter from a large star being sucked into the gravity of a denser one. The fact that the anomalies gravity-well was strong enough to yank dust and debris from the gravitational field of a star from three light-years was absolutely phenomenal and Sevant wanted more information about it. The Scientist considered for a few moments, "We would want to go in under full Combat shields, Sir; our navigational shields wouldn’t be up to it. But as long as you have us steered away from the worst, we would be ok. I don't recommend getting closer then a couple hundred thousand kilometers however. One burp from the impulse engines and thrusters and we would be lost forever." The Captain nodded, "All hands, brace for possible lurches, we are heading near a high-gravity well." He turned, "All SIF and IDF fields to full." He said to Operations and Engineering. "And I want a constant watch on the engines. At the slightest problem, I want to know immediately." (Reply: Engineering, Ops, if desired) Sevant sat down, "Shields up," He said. He didn’t order any alerts, the shields were up for something other then combat. The ship had already been warned, everything was tight. "Take us in." he said quietly. "All sensors to full and record." (Reply: Conn, Science, Tactical) Sevant had just folded his hands together as the ship started moving when the ship rocked. Sevant's eyebrow immediately went up and he gripped his armrests and pulled them down by habit. It had NOT been gravity which had shook the ship! He was about to order a report when Tactical said "A ship is coming out of the gravity field; the distortions hid her, Firing!" The ship rocked again and Sevant cursed, "Evasive maneuvers! Red Alert, all hands to battle stations!" He looked at Tactical, "Report!" "No damage to shields, the ship is Federation, defiant class running without signature." "Continue evasive maneuvers, get us back to the river!" he said in a deadly voice. "Another ship just exited the river, firing!" The ship shuddered again, Sevant caught a glimpse of a second Defiant class ship. This was not a good situation; this was supposed to be a peaceful shakedown. He grit his teeth, "Get us close to that anomaly," he said grimly. If they could get closer, then the gravity would distort not only their weapon trajectories, but their sensor locks as well. The ship lurched, "Return fire," Sevant said to Tactical in quiet tones, "Aim to disable if possible, destroy them if necessary." He added. He could almost hear the roar of the Boudicca's weapons, though no sound carried in space. The Boudicca was a warship; this was what she had been born and bred to do, even as the Defiant class was born to do. The ship shuddered again, this time with the rapidly changing gravity, as a couple photon torpedoes sped past their location. He folded his hands together and sat back. "I can't get positive locks on the ships anymore," His tactical officer reported. "The gravity is too strong." "Very well," Sevant said, somewhat satisfied. "Keep us as close to the multi-singularity as you can, and..." His words were cut off as several more torpedoes rushed past him and exploded. Sevant gripped the arm-rests again, they weren’t going for targeting anymore, they were launching proximity weapons, hoping to score a few hits. "Evasive maneuvers!" he said again as the ship shuddered with a near impact. The Boudicca's nose heeled over as the Conn officer fought with the controls, and for a moment it looked like they would leave the immediate area of the bombardment, when a couple torpedoes slammed into the rear shields. The Boudicca lurched under Sevant as someone, he wasn’t sure who, bellowed "We've lost our engines!" Sevant's mouth opened as the ship's nose turned to the anomaly. "Three hundred thousand kilometers to the anomaly!" Operations reported. "Getting closer!" "Engineering, we need impulse!" he bellowed, "Full back, all thrusters!" (reply: Engineering, Conn) He could feel the ship straining, but there was nothing that the thrusters could do. They were hopelessly out-matched by the absolute gravity this close to the Event Horizon of the singularity. The Captain grasped the arm-rests even tighter; there was nothing he could do. "Distance to the event horizon?" he asked as calmly as he could. "One hundred thousand kilometers." Was the response. Sevant closed his eyes briefly as the distance announced was cut by half, then half again. He opened them again for a moment; the singularity had taken over the whole screen at 1:1 magnification. ~The story is not supposed to end like this,~ was his one irrational thought. His muscles and sinews were all tense as his Conn officer said, "Contact." (Boudicca - Bridge - Capt Sevant - Infinity) Time seemed slow, his movements slower. He blinked his eyes a few times, but the light seemed dim. They were still alive... "Report," he said, with what seemed to be exaggerated slowness. On the screen he could see a bright light in the middle of what appeared to be a huge space. This singularity was only supposed to be a few meters large, where did all this space come from? His mind whirled, but he didn’t know enough about special subspace physics to even take a guess. "Sensors report nothing, we appear visually to be within a few hundred kilometers of the anomaly, but sensors report we are actually more then ten billion miles from it." Came a slow response. The Vulcan's mind raced, they were experiencing time dilation. If what he feared would happen actually happened, then time would continue to stretch... in essence, they would be stuck in their final moments forever. "Turn the nose!" he finally said, "Get us turned away from that multi-singularity!" Sevant had absolutely no wish to live forever in one moment of pain. He could almost hear the thrusters engage. With agonizing slowness the ship turned away from the anomaly, onto a more parallel path, perhaps an 'orbit' of the multi-singularity. There was something else odd going on, the shields were reacting with something in the anomaly; flashes of light could be seen that left streaks behind them. Sevant filed it away for later study, assuming they survived, which was not for certain in any way. The ship continued to turn, then the power of the thrusters met their match and the ship would turn no more. Sevant leaned forward, "Plot a course around this anomaly," he said, "And get us out where we came in." Time hadn’t sped up any, but it wasn’t getting any 'slower' either, now that they were no longer plunging head-long into the multi-singularity. He knew that anything being done would be done by experience and guesswork, the sensors were useless here. (reply: Any so far, if desired) =^=Impulse engines are back!=^= came the CEO's voice over the comm. Sevant almost smiled, and he decided that whatever else his faults, West was going to be nominated for saint-hood once this was over. The shield reaction continued to get worse as the ship struggled its way around the multi-singularity until the flashes nearly blotted out everything else from the viewscreen. The Conn officer moved like a person possessed, trying to get the ship back into position. (Boudicca - Bridge - Capt Sevant - 1310) And then, either seconds or days after they had entered, the ship broke the event horizon again and the impulse engines engaged full strength. Slowly, ever so slowly, the power of the engines broke the Boudicca free from the utter intensity of the gravitational forces. Sevant's heart-beat raced in time with the engines, all the while he waited for them to fail and the ship to fall back into that hell of a subspace event. After several moments however, it was over. "We are sailing clear, Captain." Came the exhausted voice of the Flight officer. "Full scan, find those federation ships." Sevant said, "And get us away from this damned singularity!" he barked. (reply: Tactical, Ops, Conn) Moments passed, and his tactical officer said. "There is no evidence of either Defiant class ships, Sir." "Keep searching," he ordered. "We are steady at seven hundred thousand kilometers." The Conn officer said after several tense minutes. Sevant frowned, "All stop, station keeping." He said. He turned in his seat and looked at the science officer on duty. "Care to explain any of that to me?" he finally asked. The scientist turned back to him, his face white. That wasn’t surprising; Sevant's color probably wasn’t the best either, after that hell-ride. Sevant could recall one such trip that had been taken by a Starfleet ship in the past, but the details of it were beyond him at this moment, he would have to look at it later. Most ships that entered a subspace event never returned. "Sir, those flashy reactions we had while under the event horizon..." the officer broke off and swallowed. "Sir, I was recording everything and I was looking at them to keep my mind off..." he didn’t have to finish that sentence, Sevant perfectly understood it, he too had been sure they were going to die in there. He nodded for the scientist to continue. "Sir, those flashes were a reaction of our shield harmonics and some of the dust that had been sucked into the anomaly by that planet, or, dust we dragged in with us and were caught in the shield matrix. Uh, some of the minerals and metals contained within reacted in a very strange manner. Either way..." Sevant frowned and leaned forward. "Continue," he barked. "Uh, there is no more dust here. And, sir..." he turned and punched a button on his console. In the corner of his eye he saw a flash, and immediately turned to look at it. It was a long-range sensor scan. Sevant was about to turn and demand to know just what the Scientist was smoking when his eyes suddenly narrowed. He looked at it closer, and then counted the planets he saw. There was one more present then there was before they had entered the anomaly. "Explain that," he said quietly. "Sir, that planet's orbit is consistent with the debris field that was left. The preliminary figure I had figured before... all this... was that that planet had been destroyed between six and eight hundred years ago." Sevant closed his eyes briefly and turned back. He didn’t say a word; the question was plainly obvious on his face. The scientist went whiter still and nodded, "A star calibration confirms it; we are seven-hundred and twenty years, plus or minus ten, from the time we started." "Time travel," Sevant muttered darkly. His first instinct was to deny it, but what was the use of scientists if he didn’t believe what they told him? He turned back again, "All departments, report to the Observation Lounge in ten minutes with reports. We are continuing at Red Alert indefinitely." Sevant had just stood up when the scientist said "Sir?" Sevant turned and said not a word. The scientist smiled wanly, "There is evidence of a pre-warp culture on that planet." Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca, Bridge, Lt jg Trevan West, 1253) Trevan was at his duty station, making sure everything was nominal when the Captain's voice boomed. "All hands, brace for possible lurches, we are heading near a high-gravity well." He turned, "All SIF and IDF fields to full." He said to Operations and Engineering. "And I want a constant watch on the engines. At the slightest problem, I want to know immediately. Trevan turned in his seat at the engineers duty station, "SIF and IDF are now at 110% percent. They'll hold for a while. Everything else is operating normally." It was at that moment, something in the back of Trevan's head, told him he should make his way down to engineering. "Captain, I should be in engineering sir. In case of...." his voice trailed off, it wasn't necessary to finish, the Captain looked like he understood. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca, Engineering, Lt jg Trevan West, 1255) TRevan burst into engineering speeding out of the turbo lift and heading directly for the warp control area. He checked the status screens and made sure everything was okay. Then he proceeded to try and boost more power to the fields. "Bridge, West here. SIF and IDF are now at 113.2% percent, I can't make them any stronger unless I rob power from other systems." (reply Sevant) "Aye sir, standing by." Then, while checking out some other power systems, the room was rocked several times, from the jarring motion, Trevan knew it was weapons fire. No gravity anomaly would effect them that severely. He hoped anyway. Engineering were running rampant, damage control teams were being dispatched to affected areas, Trevan was busy maintaining shield power, then he knew they were being attacked. The Red Alert klaxon sounded. A few more hits, sounded like they hit the hull, however all pressure readings were normal so that was a good sign. Trevan was about to contact the bridge when the impulse AND warp drive went off line. =/\=Engineering, we need impulse!" he bellowed, "Full back, all thrusters!=/\= Was what came through the speakers, "Aye sir, thrusters are online." and he closed the channel, trying to get impulse engines online was going to be a huge task. "Computer, this is West, theta 2 9 9 7. Transfer replicator power to Impulse systems, re route impulse control through the secondary computer processors." "That procedure is not recommended." "Computer, override safety systems." "Confirmed." Within minutes the impulse engines were warm again and good to go. "West to bridge,Impulse engines are back.You now have 3/4 impulse. Give me another few moments and you'll have full impulse." Then suddenly, he felt the hull start to strain. They were too close to the singularity, the hull was beginning to weaken. "Bridge, micro hull fractures forming along outer edge of the ship. Stress points above tolerance. CONTACT Time seemed to compress, everything moved slowly, of course it was all, relative. Basically in human equations, Time equals infinity. You could spend 30 minutes in the singularity, hoping the ship would survive, and have days pass above you. However, most ships couldn't handle the stress, except the Boudicca. His ship. Stardate:2406.10.18 (Boudicca-Bridge-Tactical Station-Ensign (jg) John Christopher Fredericks-13:00) ~700 years back in time~ John tried to reel in his rapidly changing thoughts. ~Got to concentrate on the here and now~. “Next time I ask for a little bit of action somebody kick me” He mumbled to himself. John had already run through the checklist and everything on the tactical station and everything was good to go. Sensing that there was a great tension on the bridge, John opened himself up to the feelings being projected on the bridge and as far out as he could sense. ~I’m not prying he told himself, after all I was trained for this as well and if someone is going to snap I would like to know where it is coming from~. John didn’t feel anything close to terror or even as much fear as he had felt when he boarded the ship after the “Psyders” had attacked. Satisfied and since this was as close to mentally spying on his ship mates as he wanted to get even though he was just receiving he re-established his own mental shield and once again concentrated on the matter at hand. On an impulse John had the computer do a quick search for the time 25 years proceeding this time period to the current present date and send it to his reader in his quarters. ~should make for interesting reading later~. After a bit he called down to the Security office to check and see how things were going. Ensign Hodges had told him that at first there had been a small disturbance but everyone had gone back to either their duties or quarters with no further disturbances to worry about. Stardate:2406.10.18 (Boudicca - Sick Bay - CMO Lt. McQuade - 1311) "WTF.... " Chris had started to say when his entire Sick Bay was being thrown here and there. All the intruments had been scattered all over the floor. As motion become normal once again, he tapped his combadge, "Sick bay to Bridge, I know that we have not seen any action in a bit but do you need to upheave my entire Medical Department to give us something to do?" (reply Bridge) "Aye, if possible give us a bit of a warning next time. We are ready for any casualties and in fact we have some arriving now. McQuade out" He cut the line as the influx of injured starting to come in steadily. As Chris and everyone in his department was tending to the rush of so called injuries, they all come in when the ship has a slight bump, the captain put a call out for all department heads to be in the observation lounge in ten minutes. "Oh good I get to report on all these major injuries that he caused." Chris said in a half joking manner. "Well at least *I* will get a break from them anyways. Do you people think that you can live without me?" He asked his staff. They all feigned that they needed him without a question and then started laughing. In that he went to his office to get the PADD with all his reports then walked out heading for the meeting. Stardate:2406.10.18 (Boudicca - Bridge - Capt Sevant - 1312) "CAPTAIN!!!!" Sevant turned his head, his entire face tight. "Report," he barked. "One..." He said still short of breath and leaning against a near-by wall. "I monitored the entire trip we just took and I being one of science can't even start to believe the readouts. Two..." By now he had caught his breath and returned to standing at attention. "I came across something very interesting in my father's diary... He went on to talk about one such federation ship which endured the same such 'time travel'. Since my father was onboard many ships during there maiden voyage of shaking down the warp core and testing certain equipment Sevant quirked an eyebrow as he moved to stand next to the officer. "I will require more then half-remembered memories." "Certainly, I have the diary right here sir." Sevant took the diary and thumbed it. His mind was certainly not on reading however. "Should I return to my post sir? or stay present for now?" the CSO said. "Be at the meeting; otherwise be where you will be the most use." (reply: if desired) Stardate:2406.10.18 (Boudicca - Counsellor's Office - Dr. Domini Alizara- 1312) Domini woke up on the floor of her Office, with a nasty bump on her head. She got up, feeling somewhat confused. ~What just happened?~ She thought to herself, holding onto the table. She looked at the flashing light, and hit the button. The Captain had ordered everyone to report to the Observation Lounge. Domini leaned against the wall, running her medical tricorder up and down her body. She didn't see anything out of the ordinary, other than elevated levels of adrenalin. ~I guess the Captain will tell us what happened.~ She thought to herself, hitting herself up with a hypo of anti-dizziness medication, and seeing the world stabilize she took a tentative step away from the wall. She then took another and another, as the medication took effect, she walked faster towards the door, her mind on getting to the observation lounge, hopefully on time. ~I wonder if Spider will be there~ She thought, drifting dreamily into the conferance lounge and looking around the table. She leaned over to the person nearest her. "What is going on?" She whispered. Stardate:2406.10.18 (Boudicca - Bridge - CSO/2O Kyle Morie Rin - 1312) Bursting out of the turbolift with his father's diary in hand, Kyle spotted Sevant standing at his chair addressing one of his scientists. "CAPTAIN!!!!" He said trying to grab his breath from the considerable running he had just did to get on the bridge. (reply Sevant) "One..." He said still short of breath and leaning against a near-by wall. "I monitored the entire trip we just took and I being one of science can't even start to believe the readouts. Two..." By now he had caught his breath and returned to standing at attention. "I came across something very interesting in my father's diary... He went on to talk about one such federation ship which endured the same such 'time travel'. Since my father was onboard many ships during there maiden voyage of shaking down the warp core and testing certain equipment." He paused for a second or two as Sevant walked over and stood next to him about to say something in response. (reply Sevant) "Certainly, I have the diary right here sir." Kyle reached out with the diary in hand as Sevant took it and began to read the passage Kyle had marked. "Should I return to my post sir? or stay present for now?" Kyle stood and waited for a response from Sevant as he watched the captain continue to read the passage. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Conference Lounge-TAC/SC - 1320) Ryko sat down in the same chair he always did, near one of the windows. Yalta smiled at him and he returned the smile. It was good to see that she wasn't hurt. All the better, she looked like she had enjoyed his little "ride". He cleared his throat and paid attention. All the while he was waiting, one thought played through his mind, and he actually smiled as he dismissed it. ~So this is it, we're going to die,~ he thought. Rubbish. Utter rubbish. Not on his watch. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca, Observation Lounge, FO & MCO, Commander Grailik & Major Straton, 13:20) Grailik entered the lounge walked over to the replicator and got himself a fresh cup of hot coffee before moving over to his usual seat, to the right of Captain Sevant's seat. He sat sipping his coffee, nodding a greeting at the other officers already present. ~600 to 800 years in the past? I suddenly don't feel so old any more.~ A short time latter the doors to the Observation Lounge opened again and Major Straton walked in, sweeping the room with her hard icy stare. Without a word, she moved over to a seat and sat down to wait for the meeting to commence. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca- Conference Room- Science Officer- Lt. Madison Munroe- 1321) Lt. Madison Munroe stood outside the conference room contemplating why she had been asked to join a staff meeting. It was her first time and she was a little nervous. She never considered herself to be an officer, but a scientist. In her mind the Lt. was an honorary thing. It was the PhD. that was impotant to her. Of course, even that was not as important as her work. As a starfleet cultural anthropologist, meeting new races was always an experience in thinking fast and interpretting data quickly enough to make generalizations, that would quickly turn into specifics of another race. And if she didn't mind saying so herself, she was pretty darn good at it. of course her favorite time period to work around was the late 20th early 21st century Earth. They had the most amazing toys to play with. And Maddie loved her toys. She was still a little shook up from their experience just ten minutes earlier. She got the impression that they were lucky to still be around. She took a deep breath and pulled herself to her full 5' 8" height. She new whe was shorter than most, but tried to compensate in attitude. She tried to tone down her excitment at being invited to a staff meeting and then walked through the door. Once inside she came to a full stop. Apparently she was one of the last to arrive. The room was already filled with the senior staff. She forced her leggs to move around the room, smiling at the officers she knew, and trying to make eye contact with the ones she didn't, which was most of them. She knew that making eye contact was important. It let them know that she wasn't a prey. She had to go all the way around the table before finding a seat. It happened to be beside the ships Counselor, Domini Alazaro. She flushed a little when she saw who it was. She enjoyed the company of the Betazoid counselor, although it made her uncomfortable with the idea of how she really felt about her. She tried to stay focused and keep her emotions in check. "Hi counselor, fancy meeting you here." ~Oh God, what a dork.~ Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca- Conference Room- COUNS- Dr. Domini Alizara- 1322) "Hi  counselor, fancy meeting you here." Domini heard from next to her, pulling her out of the clouds of what she had been thinking about, back to the conference room. "Madison!" Domini said with a smile. "I didn't know that you had been invited, but I'm glad that you are here." Domini said, grinning foolishly, for a second. Something about Madison made her feel like she was fourteen and in lust for the first time. ~Now, Domini, there is nothing in Madison's files to indicate that she is interested in anyone, let alone a girl. And besides, you have been having a lot of fun with Spider.~ She thought to herself, glancing over at Spider and then back at Madison and truly flushing. ~God I hope Sevant starts this meeting soon.~ "I..uh..Madison, do you want to go get lunch together after the meeting ?" Domini asked, feeling on somewhat firmer footing with Madison than she had with Spider. It was not the first time Domini had asked a girl out, after all, and Madison was just a friend. ~Yeah, and that's how you feel about her. Right.~ Domini noticed her hand shaking a little bit and put it firmly in her lap, telling herself to calm down. ~Please please please let Sevant start this meeting, please please please....~ She prayed to herself. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca – Conference Lounge – OPS Lt. Schafio - 1325) Yalta took a moment to observe everyone, she saw the look that Counselor Alizara gave to Spider and thought. ~Humm, I'm not the only one I guess.~ She look at them again, mentally picturing them together. ~They look good together and it's nice to see that she doesn't look stress out. We will need a girls night out, that would do us good too.~ Yalta wonder what was thinking the Captain, his silence and deep in thought was more or less reassuring. The new officer looked at her and smiled. “Hi... Lt. Yalta Schafio... OPS. There would have been better ways to meet everyone but you know.” She lift herself up and extended her hand to her and they shake. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca, Observation Lounge, MCO, Major Straton, 13:25) Eva sat silent, looking over a PADD that contained the marines current training schedule. It's what marines did on a day to day basis. Train mercilessly and keep their equipment in top working order. When the time came to do battle they would be ready. Her and Drizzt had made sure of that. The Wolf Pack, the company's new name, would be ready. Eva suddenly felt an unfocused wave of emotion wash over her and looked up from her PADD, her penetrating glare locking on the culprit of the emotional projection, Domini. ::Domini, your shields. You are projecting,:: Eva sent to the Counselor, returning her gaze to her PADD, forgiving the Counselor her unintentional slip. As an empath a Betazied could not only sense the emotions of others, they could project their own emotions onto others. An ability that could be used to exploit the unaware or overly emotional races, but to do so was a severe breach of social etiquette by Betazied standards AND against the code of honor of both their Orders. (Reply Domini iyw) A few minuets latter and the Captain called the meeting to order. Eva sat silently listening to their current situation, only her eyebrow rose at the news of being 700 years in the past. Her thoughts turned to her home world and what life would be like their during the present time. ~Some of the greatest masters of the Order lived during this time. Meeting them would be a great honor.~ Sevant turned to the Marines next, "I want the Marines on standby, there was no evidence that there were any space-borne races near us at the time, but we didn't have much research time. And..." he turned to look at Security again, "I'm putting you and yours under Security, just in case we are followed through the anomaly." ~Under? UNDER!?~ Eva's eye's narrowed at the Captain's choice of words. Her hard gaze moved from Sevant to Skylynx, were it rested for a second, then moved back to Sevant. ~Skylynx is a reckless inexperienced pup. His 'heroics' during the psi-der conflict nearly resulted in the total destruction of the ship. Only Drizzt and his CE's quick thinking saved the ship from a warp core breach. I will not take orders from the likes of him.~ "The marines stand ready to work *WITH* security, Sir," She replied, none too diplomatically. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca  Conference Lounge  SO- Lt Maddison Munroe- 1326) "Madison!" Domini said with a smile. "I didn't know that you had been invited, but I'm glad that you are here." Maddie couldn't help but notice that the counselor seemed suddenly flustered. She kept looking up to see if Captain Sevant was looking or speaking. "I..uh..Madison, do you want to go get lunch together after the meeting ?" Maddie beamed, her bright green eyes shining. "Sure, I'd love too. but no shop talk." Then Maddie noticed someone looking over at her. If she wasn't mistaken, the woman looked Elasian. She smiled at the woman. Hi... Lt. Yalta Schafio... OPS. There would have been better ways to meet everyone but you know. Schafio stood up and offered her hand. Maddie put out her hand aswell. The Elasian's grip was firm and strong, but not over powering. "A pleasure," Maddie replied. She wasn't sure what else to say. "Ummm, we're going to get a bite to eat after the meeting. You could join us, unless you're supposed to be on duty." But the next sound they heard was Sevant as he began the meeting. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca – Conference Lounge – SO- Lt Maddison Munroe- 1326) "Madison!" Domini said with a smile. "I didn't know that you had been invited, but I'm glad that you are here." Maddie couldn't help but notice that the counselor seemed suddenly flustered. She kept looking up to see if Captain Sevant was looking or speaking. "I..uh..Madison, do you want to go get lunch together after the meeting ?" Maddie beamed, her bright green eyes shining. "Sure, I'd love too. but no shop talk." Then Maddie noticed someone looking over at her. If she wasn't mistaken, the woman looked Elasian. She smiled at the woman. “Hi... Lt. Yalta Schafio... OPS. There would have been better ways to meet everyone but you know.” Schafio stood up and offered her hand. Maddie put out her hand aswell. The Elasian's grip was firm and strong, but not over powering. Ryko watched from his seat as the present crew greeted the new SO. ~More meat for the grinder~ he thought. ~Seems like we're getting a lot of new crew around here.~ He watched as she greeted Yalta and Counselor Alizara, but didn't offer greeting himself. He thought for a moment about what had happened. Flung back 700 years in time to a point where everything was different. Earth didn't exist in the way he knew it. His great-great-great-great grandfather hadn't even been born yet. This was getting too wierd. Ryko hoped for answers and a way back to the norm. ~Well, here's hoping,~ he thought as Sevant started to speak. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca – Conference Lounge – OPS Lt. Schafio - 1327) “Hi... Lt. Yalta Schafio... OPS. There would have been better ways to meet everyone but you know.” She lift herself up and extended her hand to her and they shake. "A pleasure," Maddie replied. She wasn't sure what else to say. "Ummm, we're going to get a bite to eat after the meeting. You could join us, unless you're supposed to be on duty." But the next sound they heard was Sevant as he began the meeting. “For eating, that is perfect... it's been a while since we had a girl get together. Has for duty, that will depend on what will transpirer on this meeting. This might interest you by the way, sensor scan of the post-warp planet.” Yalta showed her a padd. “Unless you have this result already!” Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca – Conference Lounge – Dr. Domini Alizara - 1328) Before Domini could respond to Madison, Yalta butted in. Domini tried very hard not to scream. ~What does SHE want...stupid interloper....~ “Hi... Lt. Yalta Schafio... OPS. There would have been better ways to meet everyone but you know.” "A pleasure, Ummm, we're going to get a bite to eat after the meeting. You could join us, unless you're supposed to be on duty." Domini was happy that Madison seemed unsure of how to proceed with Yalta's interference. ~Good maybe Yalta will get the hint.~ “For eating, that is perfect... it's been a while since we had a girl get together. Has for duty, that will depend on what will transpirer on this meeting. This might interest you by the way, sensor scan of the post-warp planet.” Yalta showed her a padd. “Unless you have this result already!” Domini wanted to shake her head in disgust. Instead she ignored Yalta, and glanced out of the corner of her eye at Madison. She really was quite pretty. Then Domini's blood ran cold. Was Yalta interested in Madison ? ~Don't be silly, You don't even know if Madison is even interested in girls...~ Domini's thoughts ran around in a circle. Sevant had tried to start the meeting, but hadn't succeeded as people were collaborating back and forth, talking about the various things that had transpired. Domini learned a little bit, somehow they had been flung back in time ? She continued to try to catch Spider's eye, but he was talking with Eva. ~I wish I were anywhere but here. Maybe back on Earth with Jade. I miss her and Meiko....~ Domini thought, then remembered that Meiko had died a few months previous on the Cochrane. ~Poor Meiko.~ Jade was a pretty high profile person,a nd thusly protected from Doenitz's displeasure. But Meiko had only been an Ensign...she didn't deserve to die killed by a rogue Admiral. Domini sighed softly, fantasizing about something not here... Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Conference Lounge - Sevant - 1328) Sevant tapped his fingers, letting the officer's talk amongst themselves for a few moments. He had tried once to start the meeting, but a report on his PADD had distracted him and the crew were talking shop amongst themselves, or introducing themselves to new key members that Sevant himself had ordered over. It was, however, time. Sevant stood and rapped his knuckles hard on the table, making sure that everyone heard him. "That will be enough." He said in short tones. "We can have a coffee and tea break when we are off red alert." (reply: any, as desired) "Alright," Sevant said as he sat back down. "We have problems, serious ones." He leaned back and folded his hands together as he looked at everyone. "For those who were not on the bridge, we were briefly attacked by Federation attack craft, Defiant Class. We were forced..." his face took on an almost pained expression, "into a multi-singularity. Only the quick work of various peoples, foremost Engineering in getting our engines back online and Conn for the unassisted flying, got us back out again." Sevant paused, and then gestured to the scientist that had been advising him from the start of this mess, an astrophysicist. "We skipped ourselves seven hundred and twenty years into the past," the scientist began. "How we did so is still being worked on, my best data so far is that a metal mix in the space-dust from a destructed planet in near-orbit reacted to our shield harmonics and perhaps some other few ungodly variables. The result is we hopped back, to a time before that metal mix existed." He looked at Sevant briefly, "I haven't had enough time yet to discover what exactly about the dust was reacting, nor in what ratios, I can't wager a guess yet if we can get back the same way." The Astrophysicist looked over at the CSO, the head of his department. He was good at what he did, and he had been on-station from the start, but he wasn't the big man around. (reply: CSO, if desired) Sevant looked at everyone over his folded hands. "That is the long and short of it." He finally said. "We are stuck seven hundred years from home. The reasons we came are still under investigation," He threw a significant glance at the CSO and Astrophysicist, "And those reasons WILL be discovered." He looked back. "Our other major problem is that the planet which had been destroyed in our time now shows evidence of a pre-warp civilization. We are going to move as close as we can without being detected so we can study them, also in preparation if we have to go planet-side to grab a few tons of dirt and metal, or whatever else we might need to get back after we find out what exactly was reacting inside that anomaly." Sevant looked around, "Comments?" (reply: any) Once that was over, the Captain sat forward. "And now, before we go anywhere. Lieutenant, status of the Engineering section?" (reply: Engineering) The Vulcan turned his gaze to the Operations officer. "Status of the ship on the whole?" (reply: Ops) "Tactical status?" he asked once Onyx had spoken, "And status of Security forces?" (reply: TAC/SC) He turned to the Marines next, "I want the Marines on standby, there was no evidence that there were any space-borne races near us at the time, but we didn't have much research time. And..." he turned to look at Security again, "I'm putting you and yours under Security, just in case we are followed through the anomaly." (reply: MCO) "Medical status," he said as he turned his head to their new Medical Chief, the same one who had said a few rather unprofessional things earlier. "How many serious injuries and such?" (reply: Medical) "I know it's too early," Sevant said, "But once our situation gets out we are going to have a number of counseling issues, fear and paranoia at not getting home." He looked at the counselor. "I want to know the second such issues start arising." (reply: Couns) He turned and looked at his Scientists for a few moments; they were the department the most represented here. "Chief, I will rely on you and yours to get us out of this mess. The goal is obvious, we want back home in our proper time." He turned his head slightly to look at his Cultural Anthropologist, who was the closest thing to a First Contact Official they had onboard at this moment. "And I will rely on you as well once we get close to that planet." He looked at both of them in turn, "I want a general plan in one hour on how we are going to approach that planet, you have free use of all our long-distance arrays in order to ascertain their current level of detection technology. We already know this planet is destroyed sometime in the near future, the Prime Directive is more malleable here then otherwise." (reply: CSO, Maddison) "Is there anything else?" Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Conference Lounge - TAC/SC Ensign Skylynx - 1328) Ryko allowed his gaze to drift to the window he was sat next to as the crew continued conversation. In his mind there was nothing to be said, and he was surprised at how calm he felt in this situation. Sevant stood and rapped his knuckles hard on the table, making sure that everyone heard him. "That will be enough." He said in short tones. "We can have a coffee and tea break when we are off red alert." Ryko looked away from the window and towards Sevant. Yalta sat opposite him, just as she always did.He shared a brief smile with her and paid attention. "Alright," Sevant said as he sat back down. "We have problems, serious ones." He leaned back and folded his hands together as he looked at everyone. "For those who were not on the bridge, we were briefly attacked by Federation attack craft, Defiant Class. We were forced..." his face took on an almost pained expression, "into a multi-singularity. Only the quick work of various peoples, foremost Engineering in getting our engines back online and Conn for the unassisted flying, got us back out again." Ryko felt a little depressed for a fleeting moment. The Slice and Dice had been no easy feat, especially with increased gravity and flying near blind. It didn't matter now. Sevant paused as the resident Astrophysicist summarised the situation. Ryko barely listened. This was old hat. He knew where they were and what was going on. He caught Sevant's eye and straightened up. THe last thing he needed now was a lecture on conduct. The captain spoke. "That is the long and short of it." He finally said. "We are stuck seven hundred years from home. The reasons we came are still under investigation," He threw a significant glance at the CSO and Astrophysicist, "And those reasons WILL be discovered." He looked back. "Our other major problem is that the planet which had been destroyed in our time now shows evidence of a pre-warp civilization. We are going to move as close as we can without being detected so we can study them, also in preparation if we have to go planet-side to grab a few tons of dirt and metal, or whatever else we might need to get back after we find out what exactly was reacting inside that anomaly." Sevant looked around, "Comments?" Ryko merely looked out of the window again, almost oblivious to responses for this particular question. "And now, before we go anywhere. Lieutenant, status of the Engineering section?" (reply: Engineering) Sevant turned his gaze to Yalta. "Status of the ship on the whole?" (reply: Ops) "Tactical status?" he asked once she had spoken, "And status of Security forces?" Ryko breathed. "Weapons systems are ready to go at a moments notice. With the quick thinking of Mr. West, the thermal problem in the torpedo launchers has been fixed, and all security teams have been placed on level 3 quarantine, just in case something gets on board," Ryko said. He glanced at Straton. "Having said that, those manoeuvres I took this ship through managed to shake off our attackers, but they still managed to take a chunk out of our shields. They require some minor tweaks, on decks 12, 14 and 18." Sevant followed Ryko and turned to the Marines next, "I want the Marines on standby, there was no evidence that there were any space-borne races near us at the time, but we didn't have much research time. And..." he turned to look at Ryko again, "I'm putting you and yours under Security, just in case we are followed through the anomaly." (reply: MCO) Ryko caught Straton's eye again and nodded. Last time they had worked together he had come accross as more than a little reckless. He hoped she wouldn't hold that against him. Working with Spider, on the other hand, was going to be fun. A fellow marksman and like-minded combat thinking officer was going to be an asset to him. "Medical status," he said as he turned his head to their new Medical Chief, the same one who had said a few rather unprofessional things earlier. "How many serious injuries and such?" (reply: Medical) "I know it's too early," Sevant said, "But once our situation gets out we are going to have a number of counseling issues, fear and paranoia at not getting home." He looked at the counselor. "I want to know the second such issues start arising." (reply: Couns) Sevant turned to the Scientists for a few moments; they were the department the most represented here. "Chief, I will rely on you and yours to get us out of this mess. The goal is obvious, we want back home in our proper time." He turned his head slightly to look at his Cultural Anthropologist, who was the closest thing to a First Contact Official they had onboard at this moment. "And I will rely on you as well once we get close to that planet." He looked at both of them in turn, "I want a general plan in one hour on how we are going to approach that planet, you have free use of all our long-distance arrays in order to ascertain their current level of detection technology. We already know this planet is destroyed sometime in the near future, the Prime Directive is more malleable here then otherwise." (reply: CSO, Maddison) "Is there anything else?" Ryko waited until all comments had been expressed. When everone was given orders to dismiss, Ryko stood and addressed Sevant. "Sir, may I speak with you in private?" Ryko asked as he approached him. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Conference Lounge - ACEO Enaj - 1328) When Saim heard what the situation was she was stunned. ~700 years back in time! How did that happen. And a multi singularity, now wonder it felt strange.~ Saim then tried to get a grip on herself. ~There is no point getting worked up. You just have to think how you can best help us get out of this mess. If we can get out of this mess. I thought I was trying to be positive.~ Saim focused again on Sevant's voice... Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Conference Lounge - CSO/2O Kyle Morie Rin - 1328) Sevant turned and looked at his Scientists for a few moments; they were the department the most represented here. "Chief, I will rely on you and yours to get us out of this mess. The goal is obvious, we want back home in our proper time." He turned his head slightly to look at his Cultural Anthropologist, who was the closest thing to a First Contact Official they had onboard at this moment. "And I will rely on you as well once we get close to that planet." He looked at both of them in turn, "I want a general plan in one hour on how we are going to approach that planet, you have free use of all our long-distance arrays in order to ascertain their current level of detection technology. We already know this planet is destroyed sometime in the near future, the Prime Directive is more malleable here then otherwise." Kyle finished punching some figures into his PADD and faced Sevant to respond. "Aye sir, we might have something within the hour if all goes well." Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Conference Lounge - Sevant - 1328) "And now, before we go anywhere. Lieutenant, status of the Engineering section?" The Chief turned in his chair, "Well, the good news first. We have impulse power and life support is working. Most of the Boudicca's major systems are still on-line. The bad news is, the warp drive is offline. And I can't even tell you how long it's going to take to fix sir. We don't even know why it's off-line." he sighed, "Also, main shield generators are out. We are on backups now, I think the quantum flux from the singularity knocked them for a loop or something. I am working on the problems sir. I will have an update for you in about an hour." Sevant nodded, then turned to Ops. "Status of the ship on the whole?" "If we don't have to fight in the next 24 hrs... We will be alright. I predict that within those times, we will manage to repair nearly all the ship systems.The shields are on backup, repair crews are all for engineering duty. We are right now on yellow status in energy preservation just in case of a fight would accure. I have listen to the planet below, so far they don't seem to have seen us, but I can't be 100% sure. Long rang sensors are offline, short rang are the only one working.." Sevant nodded, and the meeting proceeded. "Tactical status? And status of Security forces?" "Weapons systems are ready to go at a moments notice. With the quick thinking of Mr. West, the thermal problem in the torpedo launchers has been fixed, and all security teams have been placed on level 3 quarantine, just in case something gets on board," Ryko said. He glanced at Straton. "Having said that, those maneuvers I took this ship through managed to shake off our attackers, but they still managed to take a chunk out of our shields. They require some minor tweaks, on decks 12, 14 and 18." Sevant followed Ryko and turned to the Marines next, "I want the Marines on standby, there was no evidence that there were any space-borne races near us at the time, but we didn't have much research time. And..." he turned to look at Ryko again, "I'm putting you and yours under Security, just in case we are followed through the anomaly." "The marines stand ready to work *WITH* security, Sir," Sevant ignored her, he didn't have the patience to spar over his use of the English language. "Medical status," he said as he turned his head to their new Medical Chief, the same one who had said a few rather unprofessional things earlier. "How many serious injuries and such?" (reply: Medical) "I know it's too early," Sevant said, "But once our situation gets out we are going to have a number of counseling issues, fear and paranoia at not getting home." He looked at the counselor. "I want to know the second such issues start arising." (reply: Couns) Sevant turned to the Scientists for a few moments; they were the department the most represented here. "Chief, I will rely on you and yours to get us out of this mess. The goal is obvious, we want back home in our proper time." He turned his head slightly to look at his Cultural Anthropologist, who was the closest thing to a First Contact Official they had onboard at this moment. "And I will rely on you as well once we get close to that planet." He looked at both of them in turn, "I want a general plan in one hour on how we are going to approach that planet, you have free use of all our long-distance arrays in order to ascertain their current level of detection technology. We already know this planet is destroyed sometime in the near future, the Prime Directive is more malleable here then otherwise." Kyle finished punching some figures into his PADD and faced Sevant to respond. "Aye sir, we might have something within the hour if all goes well." "If you don't mind Captain, Dr," Maddie added, "I'd like the counselor to be in on this. I think that her input would be most valuable for a first contact." "Very well," Sevant said. "Counselor, see to it." (reply: Any) "Is there anything else?" he asked. "I do... for five singularities to develop the way they were, there must have been a great amount of energy to create them... what could have done this?" Sevant looked to his science department. Singularities were a scientific black hole, no one could explain them fully. IF there was something strange about this one, he was sure they would figure it out. Even so, he waited for them to give their opinion. (reply: Science) "Alright then," Sevant said. "Unless there is anything else, Dismissed." People started filing out, though after a few seconds it was obvious that his TAC/ASC wanted to speak. "Sir, may I speak with you in private?" Sevant nodded, still sitting. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca – Conference Lounge – OPS Lt. Schafio - 1329) The Captain decided to speak up, Yalta was a bit surprised but refocused her attention to him. "That will be enough." He said in short tones. "We can have a coffee and tea break when we are off red alert." Yalta said nothing, there was no point. So she waited for the rest which came as he summarize the situation. She listen to the reports of crewmates. "Status of the ship on the whole?" “If we don't have to fight in the next 24 hrs... We will be alright. I predict that within those times, we will manage to repair nearly all the ship systems. The shields are on backup, repair crews are all for engineering duty. We are right now on yellow status in energy preservation just in case of a fight would accure. I have listen to the planet below, so far they don't seem to have seen us, but I can't be 100% sure. Long rang sensors are offline, short rang are the only one working..” She finished her report with that. Truth be told, it wasn't a pretty situation they were in. (Reply from Sevant, IYW) Yalta listen to the other reports, and wonder what would be next, yet she had a question that kept poping in her head. "Is there anything else?" “I do... for five singularities to develop the way they were, there must have been a great amount of energy to create them... what could have done this?” Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Conference Lounge - Lt jg Trevan West - 1330) The Captain sat forward. "And now, before we go anywhere. Lieutenant, status of the Engineering section?" Trevan swiveled around in his chiar and tapped his PADD. "Well, the good news first. We have impulse power and life support is working. Most of the Boudicca's major systems are still on-line. The bad news is, the warp drive is offline. And I can't even tell you how long it's going to take to fix sir. We don't even know why it's off-line." he sighed, "Also, main shield generators are out. We are on backups now, I think the quantum flux from the singularity knocked them for a loop or something. I am working on the problems sir. I will have an update for you in about an hour." Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Conference Lounge- CMO Lt. Christopher Douglas McQuade - 1330) Chris sat there listening to the conversations that some of the crew were having and especially the one between Munroe and the good Counselor. From where he had sat, it was hard not to think that maybe there was something between them. That something it seemed to be more than just friends, but, he really did not care as it was their lives and as long as the job got done....... As the meeting commenced and Sevant spoke to the different departments, Chris just listened to what was said. Then Sevant looked at him and Chris could tell that the comment that he made when calling the bridge had not gone over very well. "Medical status," Sevant asked "How many serious injuries and such?" Chris swallowed hard before answering his question, "Sir, with the jolting around that was given the ship earlier without any warning we have had a few scrapes, bruises, broken bones, etc, but, nothing we can not handle as of yet. I would appreciate a little bit of warning the next time we are going to be thrown around so my department can put things away, if there is time." Chris was not sure that Sevant was taking what he said happily as Vulcans were hard to read. "I think that being this far back in time will be an exiting time to see what is going on and to be able to possibly do some real healing for a change." Stardate:2406.10.18 (Boudicca - Conference Room -Cultural Anthropologist- Lt Madison Munroe- 1335) Maddie listened intently to what everyone had to say. she was intrigued by the relationships that seemd to have been formed by this group. Watching the body language and the way they addressed each other their ocal intonations. It was all very interesting. She almost missed it when she realized the captain was talking to her. ."And I will rely on you as well once we get close to that planet." He looked at both her and Dr. Rin and went on. "I want a general plan in one hour on how we are going to approach that planet, you have free use of all our long-distance arrays in order to ascertain their current level of detection technology. We already know this planet is destroyed sometime in the near future, the Prime Directive is more malleable here then otherwise." Kyle finished punching some figures into his PADD and faced Sevant to respond. "Aye sir, we might have something within the hour if all goes well." "If you don't mind Captain, Dr," Maddie added, "I'd like the counselor to be in on this. I think that her input would be most valuable for a first contact." (reply Sevant, Rin, Domini) Then she turned to Schafio, "Sorry Lt, looks like we're going to have to put off our girls lunch time for another day." When the meeting was over she gathered with the CSO and counselor. She couldn't help but feel a little disappointed not to have some time alone with her new friend, but there's always time for that later. Right now it was business. With that thought her tummy gurggled quite loudly. They both looked at her, smiling. "Sorry," she appologized. "Can we do this over lunch. I haven't eaten all day, and I don't think well, with an empty stomach." Stardate:2406.10.18 (Boudicca - 10 forward -Cultural Anthropologist- Lt Madison Munroe- 1340) By the time they hit 10 forward Maddie was starving. People couldn't believe that she ate as she did, since she never seemed to gain weight. She always put it up to exercise and a fast metabolism. She worked out, but nearly as much as she probablyshould. After all, she was a scientist, not some martial ars master. She once had a friend that said her work out was lifting those books she was always reading. They were so big and heavy. They also blamed those same books for her never having a boy friend. Maddie made a bee line to the replicator and ordered up a lunch that would have made a teen age boy proud. Of course, she started with a salad, then moved on to a hamburger and fried, with a thick strawberry shake. She contemplated getting a desert, but didn't want to overdo it with her boss at the table. Besides, she could always go back for more. She sat down at a table and waited for Domini and and Dr. Rin to join her. Stardate:2406.10.18 (Boudicca - 10 Forward - CSO/2O Dr. Kyle Morie Rin - 1340) Maddie made a bee line to the replicator and ordered up a lunch that would have made a teen age boy proud. Of course, she started with a salad, then moved on to a hamburger and fried, with a thick strawberry shake. She contemplated getting a desert, but didn't want to overdo it with her boss at the table. Besides, she could always go back for more. Picking out a replicator and trying his hardest to think of something to order from it. Kyle watched as Madison began ordering what seemed like a feast fit for a king or queen for that matter. Across from where he stood the Lieutenant finished with ordering her meal and about the same time Kyle had thought of what he was dying to try. "Uh... Hamburger, fries, uh... stawberry-chocolete shake...and i'd like um....green tea?" The computer responded with the usual hum and the meal materalized in front of him. He picked up the food which sat in front of him and carried it over to where Madison was sitting. Kyle took a seat opposite from her and set down his food taking a quick glance over towards her, he noticed that he had ordered the same thing. "Um... hamburgers seem to be in style these days aboard starfleet ships I take it?" He closed his eyes and felt stupid. ~Good job... nice bit of small talk... IDIOT!!!~ he thought to himself as Maddie answered. (reply Madison) A quick red blush covered his face as he picked up his hamburger and tried to cover with a bite. "I mean um... i've seen lots of officers ordering them from the replicators." Finishing his bite he set down the burger and tried to think of something else to say like maybe the situation at hand. It was kinda late for that he noticed that Maddie had already taken a sort of stun from the previous question. (reply Madison) "What I ment by that was...." He paused trying to think of something quick to cover with. ~Oh, now this is a perfect scene i'm hitting on Lt. Munroe which I hold the utmost respect for and whose skill i'm gonna need a great deal of. Great job dumbass.~ "...It must remind alot of people about home, don't you think?" ~Bullseye, can you not become anymore of an ass towards yourself.~ (reply Madison if you want) By now Domini had sat down with quite the smirk on her face pointed towards Kyle. ~Oh man, I forgot am half betazed..and because I haven't gotten down my skill yet I've just broadcasted that whole conversation outward.~ Kyle picked up his burger and stared down at his fries hoping Domini wouldn't say anything in comment to Kyle's halfassed attempt at making smalltalk, if that was at all what you could call it. Stardate:2406.10.18 (Boudicca - 10 forward -Cultural Anthropologist- Lt Madison Munroe- 1342) Maddie watched as Dr. Rin sat down. She gigled as she noticed that he had almost the exact same meal that she did, including the strawberry milkshake. "Um... hamburgers seem to be in style these days aboard starfleet ships I take it?" he said, seeming a bit nervous. Maddie hadn't really worked with Dr. Rin, since their fields seldom crossed paths, but she had some dealings with him as her department chief. He had always seemed pretty nice, even sensitive, which was rare in a man, even in the 25th century. Then she remembered he was half betazoid, which probably explained a lot. He was also a lot younger than she was. At 22 he was already CSO, which also said a lot about him. Maddie called him Dr. Rin, not only out of repect, but so that she woldn't call him boyo, or some other cutsie nickname that she liked to come up for people. He was kinda cute too. To bad. "I didn't realize I was making a fashion statement with my food," Maddie replied. "Although I do like the pink color of strawberry shakes," she smiled and winked. "I mean um...," Rin began to stumble on his words and his face looked a little redder than before, "I've seen lots of officers ordering them from the replicators." "Really," Maddie said, biting a fry, "I hadn't noticed. Maybe I'm just a trend setter." "What I meant by that was....," Rin's discomfort was becoming even more apparent, "It must remind alot of people about home, don't you think?" Maddie was suddenly aware of Rin's discomfort. She was torn, wondering how much fun it would be to continue this torture, and how much the young CSO would appreciate her saving him from himself. "Food does have a calming quality to it," she began to analyze his statement. "Indeed, many cultures pride themselves on their culinary experiences. Perhaps your right. Does it remind you of home? I didn't realize you were born on Earth." Before Rin could say anything else Domini sat down at the table. She had a look on her face, like the proverbial cat who swallowed the canary. She was looking at Rin. Maddie looked from Domini, to Rin, back to Domini. She opened her hands and looked worried. "What?" she asked. Stardate:2406.10.18 (Boudicca - 10 forward -COUNS- Dr. Domini Alizara- 1344) While Domini gathered her food from the replicator, today a small plate of steaming combination lo mein, 3 egg rolls, a small bowl of egg drop soup with the crunchy noodle things and a pot of steaming, fragrant green tea, she looked around the lounge to see Maddie and Rin chatting at one of the tables. She tried very hard not to listen to Rin's thoughts as he projected them for everyone in the lounge to hear. Domini had been working with Rin on controlling his telempathic abilities, and she thought they had met some success. When she heard him project very clearly that he was an idiot she smothered a grin as she sat her tray down. ::You are projecting.:: She said, smiling at Rin, and trying very hard to keep her eyes off of Maddie. "What?" Maddie asked, a worried look on her face. "Nothing." Domini managed to stammer out. "Nothing at all." She looked at their identical plates. "I guess that I missed the memo." She said, indicating their lunch. She watched Rin bite into the big juicy hamburger and tried not to wince. She hated the texture of ground beef. "How can you eat that?" She asked, a 'mr. yuck' look on her face. "Isn't the texture revolting ?" she spun the lo mein noodles around on her fork and took a big bite of it, closing her eyes in blissful culinary pleasure. She ten picked up a napkin and cleaned off the corners of her mouth. "I love chinese." She said, sipping the green tea, then dipping the egg roll into the egg drop soup. "Yummmm" She purred, opening her eyes to catch the expression on Maddie's face. "You have something to say, Madison?" Domini teased. Stardate:2406.10.18 (Boudicca - 10 forward - CSO/2O - Dr. Kyle Morie Rin - 1345) Setting down the hamburger along with a disgusted look covering most of his face. Kyle swallowed what occupied his mouth and wiped his face with a napkin. "Well... it doesn't exactly match up to my mother's meals." He said with a sour look. "Madison, your welcome to the rest of my fries if you want..." With that said he stood up and walked back over to the replicator. "Could I have a betazed chinese egg roll danish?" Once again the replicator humed and the meal appear before him, Kyle picked it up and made his way back over to the table. Setting down what he ordered and returning to his seat he saw that Domini had an odd look on her face. "Oh, this? my mother use to make it. It's pretty much just an over-sized egg roll with a few added betazoid traditions mixed in. I programed it into the databank after I got settled in on the boudicca." Kyle picked up his fork and cut a section off and placed it into his mouth. He chewed it slowly to savor the taste then swallowed it of course this time he ended with a smile. "Before you get any bad ideas Maddie i've never actually had hamburger before. As for now I don't really seem to be in the mood for it." Kyle froze and realized what he had just addressed Lt. Munroe by. (reply Madison) ~I've never called her that before....Maddie? huh...actually if ya think about it it's kinda cute.~ Kyle cleared his throat trying to break any concentration Munroe had over what had just been said. ::Did I seriously just say that aloud Domini?:: He sent over to her with a red blush across his face. (reply Madison & Domini) "Um, Lieutenant..." He began trying his damnest to stray from making a fool of himself any further. "What course of action do you think we should take towards the problems which lie ahead?" Picking up his green tea he took a sip and sat back in his chair taking glances back and forth between Domini & Madison he smiled and waited for the lieutenant to answer. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca, Bridge, FO, Commander Grailik, 1348) Grailik had left the Conference room after Sevant had called the meeting to a close. He had taken command of the ship while Sevant met in private with Ensign Skylynx. He at in the command chair looking over the sensor data on the planet they had collected so far. A sense of wrongness growing within him. The more he looked at the planet the stronger the feeling got. ~Something is not right. What have we gotten our selves into?~ Grailik could find nothing to justify his growing sense of unease, but the feeling continued to mount as he read over the data. "Status of the cloak?" Sevant said, heralding his arrival on the bridge. Grailik moved to vacate the center seat for Sevant moving to his customary position on the Captains right hand. "You're with me," Sevant said, looking at Grailik. Grailik nodded and rose from his seat and followed the Captain to the turbo-lift. "Science Labs." Sevant barked, once the doors had closed. The lift started. "This is not turning into a simple shakedown mission." he finally said to Grailik. "No. No it isn't,"Grailik said, a little distracted. Then making his decision he turned to fully face Sevant. "I've got this growing feeling that something is wrong and I don't mean us being thrown back in time. Something with the planet, but I don't know what. It's like we have stumbled onto a path and now must see it through. No matter where it leads." (Reply Sevant) NRPG: Room for more. RPG: The lift doors opened and Grailik followed Sevant out into the science labs. He watched with Sevant for a brief time as the science personnel moved about working on figuring out their current predicament. "Get in touch with cultural anthropology and review as much of the sensor data on that planet as possible, it never hurts to be prepared," Sevant said, turning his head toward Grailik but keep his eyes on the room in general. "Right away," Grailik said, nodding his head. He moved off to find Lt's. Munroe and Alizara. Stardate:2406.10.18 (Boudicca - 10 forward -Cultural Anthropologist- Lt Madison Munroe- 1348) "What?" Maddie asked, a worried look on her face. "Nothing." Domini managed to stammer out. "Nothing at all." She looked at their identical plates. "I guess that I missed the memo." She said, indicating their lunch. Maddie shrugged at the coincidental meals, taking abig bite from her burger. Her closed as she enjoyed the mictures of flavor and texture. "How can you eat that?" Domini asked, looking quite disgusted. ""Isn't the texture revolting ?" She took a bite of her own food. "I love chinese. Yummmm." Maddie was surprised by her obvious pleasure with her food. But when the counselor purred, actually purred, she wondered what else could elicit that reaction from her. "You have something to say, Madison?" Domini teased. Maddie turned a little red, wondering if the Betazoid was sensing her reactions. "Actually, I quite like the texture," Maddie managed to say. Then she smiled, "You might be surprised at the things I like." "Well... it doesn't exactly match up to my mother's meals," Rin said, as if he suddenly realized he didn't like the food. "Madison, your welcome to the rest of my fries if you want." "Don't mind if I do," she replied, reaching across and picking one of the fries up and putting it between her lips. "Yummy." Rin got up and went back to the replicator. When he returned he had a meal more like Domini's. She wasn't sure waht had caused the sudden change in his appetite, but she looked at Domini with a little more curiosity. She was looking at Dr. Rin with puzzled look. "Oh, this?" Rin said, "my mother use to make it. It's pretty much just an over-sized egg roll with a few added betazoid traditions mixed in. I programed it into the databank after I got settled in on the Boudicca." "Before you get any bad ideas Maddie," he turned his atention to her, "I've never actually had hamburger before. As for now I don't really seem to be in the mood for it." ~Maddie is it now.~ She smiled at his sudden familiarity. "Ah well, moods change. More for me." A big smile drew across her lovely face as she enjoyed another of the stolen fries. She noticed something seemed to be going on between Rin and Domini. It was more of a feeling than actual evidence. Maddie had always believed that her strength in science was her ability to intuitively notice things rather than analyze the hard data. She was usually right. "Um, Lieutenant," Rin said, "What course of action do you think we should take towards the problems which lie ahead?" ~Ah back to business.~ But she did enjoy her bvusiness. She got excited at the prospect of this new civilization, which in their reality, was actually long extinct. "Well I did manage to get some preliminary data on the planet. thiat it is inahbited , in a pre-technology age, post-industrial age. They actually communicat evia these devices using a combination of radio and micro-waves." She was starting to get excited now as she began to relate what she knew. "Even better, they still watch a thing called "television." It's a form of media, entertainment, information distribution that was used on earth centuries ago. Fascinating stuff. I've always wanted to see one in use. We will, of course, need to go down there and see what this place is like, meet the people and their society. Perhaps it can lead us to understand what happened to their planet." Stardate:2406.10.18 (Boudicca - Science Labs - SO Munroe, COUNS Dr. Alizara, & CSO/2O Dr. Rin - 1350) Taking a faster stride ahead Kyle entered the science lab first while Munroe & Alizara followed behind. "Alright people!" Kyle spoke up with a stern voice. "We've got a singularity, and a prewarp culture the captain wants the best approach for getting us home. I need two teams, the first will study are current 'time travel' incident... The second needs to find us a way home, should Captain Sevant or Commander Grailik ask for our current status do everything in your power to assist them." (reply Munroe, Alizara, any if you want) Pausing for a second he watched as the science teams formed up and began working on the various problems ahead of them. Kyle turned around and focused his attention onto Madison & Domini. "Madison, i'm placing you in charge should anything come up inform me at once, Domini before you join Munroe could I see you for a second in my office?" (reply Munroe, Alizara, any) Giving the Lieutenant and Counselor a brief nod, Kyle turned his attention back towards the science teams with a quick look of satisfaction on his face he took his leave. (Boudicca - CSO's Office - Science Labs - CSO/2O Dr. Kyle Morie Rin & COUNS Dr. Domini Alizara - 1400) As Kyle took his seat and well after getting a cup of green tea Domini walked in and sat down across from him. "Your wondering why I asked you in here?" Setting down his tea he began to rub at his temples he was exhusted once again even after the training Domini had given him. "I wanted you to be the first to know tell the captain afterwards though." Closing his eyes he began to speak only telepathicly... ::During the meeting I felt something...:: He sent towards her, he continued slowly. ::It was horrible I faught it off only for it to return now. It's coming from the planet, and since my abilities aren't fully under control yet....:: He broke the link and stared deeply into her eyes he noticed that she had indeed recieved what he had tried so hard to send. "Call sickbay Counse...." The last words which exited his mouth as he fell to the ground the battle continuing inside his mind. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Marine Staging Center - Major 'Spider' Drizzt - 1355) Drizzt slapped the back of the man he was talking too before turning his attention away and looking down the line. There were Marines all around the room, all of them armored up and ready to move. It was a rather impressive sight; he was always moved by the Marines ready to do battle. It was a shame so many of those Marines never came back. He had come straight back to the Center after their impromptu Conference, right about now the TAC/SC and MCO would be having a small talk about how the Marines would be used. It wasn't much of a surprise, Security was in charge of ship-board security and defense. The Marines, in this case, would simply be used as highly motivated grunt labor. He put his hands behind his back, standing at loose attention, a position that he could instantly jump from should the need arise. Right at the moment there was little that could be done; he was waiting for orders from Straton. There were Marines around the ship in various strong-points, just waiting to be shifted at Security's call. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Deck 12, Security Center - Melody Haverstaad - 1400) ~I should become an engineer.~ Melody cradled her phaser on her elbow and cracked her back as the hustle and bustle of people going by her continued. She found herself longing for the quiet of the Tactical Holographic Systems room, she wasnt overly eager to get into a firefight after her two weeks recovering from the injuries on the last one. The psi-ders had been nasty enough, and though she lived for fighting, the recovery time nearly drove her mad. "Chief!" Haverstaad's head turned sharply, and she rapidly came to attention as one of the senior Ensign's came around. "Sir?" she said. "Relieve the team in engineering, immediately." "Sir." she said sharply, before turning on her heel. "You heard the man, mount up!" Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Corridor - Capt Sevant - 1400) Sevant stepped onto the bridge and looked around briefly. "Status of the cloak?" (reply: Engineering, Operations) NRPG: IF its on, Ill engage it. We hadn't touched this subject yet. RPG: Sevant looked around again, "Operations has the bridge, keep us in the shadow of that anomaly, it will mask us from anything that pre-warp civilization has to offer." He looked at the First Officer, "You're with me." (reply: Operations, FO) The Captain strode over to the turbolift and stepped inside. Once the door closed, he sighed and closed his eyes as he put his hands behind him. "Science Labs." he barked. "This is not turning into a simple shakedown mission." he finally said to Grailik. (reply: Grailik) The door opened, Sevant immediately stepped back out again. There were a number of people running around, Astrophysics was exceptionally busy with the anomaly so close and the question of their arrival so near at hand. Sevant stepped out of the way to watch, these were the people that would find the solution to getting them all home. He turned his head slightly to the First Officer, though he kept his eyes on the room. "Get in touch with cultural anthropology and review as much of the sensor data on that planet as possible, it never hurts to be prepared." Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Corridor - Capt Sevant - 1400) Sevant stepped onto the bridge and looked around briefly. "Status of the cloak?" (reply: Engineering, Operations) NRPG: IF its on, Ill engage it. We hadn't touched this subject yet. RPG: Sevant looked around again, "Operations has the bridge, keep us in the shadow of that anomaly, it will mask us from anything that pre-warp civilization has to offer." He looked at the First Officer, "You're with me." (reply: Operations, FO) The Captain strode over to the turbolift and stepped inside. Once the door closed, he sighed and closed his eyes as he put his hands behind him. "Science Labs." he barked. "This is not turning into a simple shakedown mission." he finally said to Grailik. (reply: Grailik) The door opened, Sevant immediately stepped back out again. There were a number of people running around, Astrophysics was exceptionally busy with the anomaly so close and the question of their arrival so near at hand. Sevant stepped out of the way to watch, these were the people that would find the solution to getting them all home. He turned his head slightly to the First Officer, though he kept his eyes on the room. "Get in touch with cultural anthropology and review as much of the sensor data on that planet as possible, it never hurts to be prepared." Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca – Bridge – OPS Lt. Schafio - 1400) The Captain and others stepped onto the bridge. Sevant asked. "Status of the cloak?" “They are working Sir.” Said Yalta seeing that he do list was getting slowly shorter. “They have just been back online, and test are being run. Five minutes, we will have confirmation to use them.” (Reply from Sevant, engineering) NRPG : there could be more RPG Yalta went to her post waiting for further details. There was mani things to be done, and knew that everyone was hard at work.. She was listening with one ear what was going on with the bridge crew and the captain, and that included expecting what they would need. "Operations has the bridge, keep us in the shadow of that anomaly, it will mask us from anything that pre-warp civilization has to offer." The Captain said and moments later he took aside the FO leaving the bridge. “Understood Captain!” Yalta got up and sat at the captain's place. She was a bit relief that for now they were safe. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Bridge - Capt Sevant - 1400) The Captain and others stepped onto the bridge. Sevant asked. "Status of the cloak?" "They are working Sir. They have just been back online, and test are being run. Five minutes, we will have confirmation to use them." Sevant nodded as his badge beeped, =^=West here sir, the Cloak is online and ready to use, however we have just finished the diagnostics and noticed that we are okay for now. However, the phase variance of the cloak is a little off for no apparent reason. I am not sure how long we can stay cloaked for..an hour or it could be a few days. I am not sure at this moment sir. We are working on the problem.=^= "Very well," Sevant said. "Work on it, let me know as soon as you're sure." Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Engineering - Lt jg Trevan West - 1401) Trevan was just about to sit down and begin his Engineering log when the comm system came alive with the sound of the Captain's voice, "Status of the cloak?" "West here sir, the Cloak is online and ready to use, however we have just finished the diagnostics and noticed that we are okay for now. However, the phase variance of the cloak is a little off for no apparent reason. I am not sure how long we can stay cloaked for..an hour or it could be a few days. I am not sure at this moment sir. We are working on the problem." Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Corridor - Capt Sevant & Commander Grailik - 1404) "This is not turning into a simple shakedown mission." he finally said to Grailik. "No. No it isn't, "Grailik said, "I've got this growing feeling that something is wrong and I don't mean us being thrown back in time. Something with the planet, but I don't know what. It's like we have stumbled onto a path and now must see it through. No matter where it leads." Sevant turned to face his First Officer, and frowned slightly. He had never served closely with an El Aurian, but he had heard of their legendary keen many times before. "Can you be any more specific?" "Wish that I could," Grailik replied, shaking his head slightly, "I've not felt like this often, but it's never been wrong before. No reason for me to think it is now. I can't explain it, can't rationalize it. I just feel like we have started down a dark path. Our course set. We now have no choice but to stay the course and see it through." "Stay the course" Sevant muttered. He looked up briefly, "If you figure out more, let me know immediately. We are navigating blind now." "I will," Grailik replied, "the feeling seems focused on the planet. Maybe there is some danger there that we have not yet detected. Maybe something grave is in store for it. I can not tell." Grailik looked up, his eyes locking on Sevant's. "Maybe that's it. Maybe we can prevent it's destruction." Sevant looked at him briefly, "We can't, and you know it, it's destroyed in our time-line." He paused, and sighed "We will look into it when we get close, we have limited sensor capabilities here and I won't risk a probe to be detected." Grailik only nodded his head. ~Prime Directive.~ His feeling of uneasy only grew. "We will just have to take the situation as it develops. Nothing more we can do." Sevant nodded as he thumbed the diary he had been given earlier, and the door opened. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Deck 16, Main Engineering - Melody Haverstaad - 1408) Melody suppressed a shudder when she passed the primary blast-doors of Engineering, she still remembered the heaps of technological arachnids piled high, and the image still gave her nightmares. She had come very close to buying a small piece of heaven here. That was, however, her job... there were few places more important then this section on the ship. "Stay out of the way, standard positions." she said in a conversational tone. She looked around, and saw less then the usual amount of dirty glances sent their way, perhaps some of these engineers also had nightmares. With a sigh she tapped her badge, "Haverstaad to Chief West, I'm in your playground, how do you want us?" Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Deck 16, Main Engineering - Melody Haverstaad - 1408) Melody suppressed a shudder when she passed the primary blast-doors of Engineering, she still remembered the heaps of technological arachnids piled high, and the image still gave her nightmares. She had come very close to buying a small piece of heaven here. That was, however, her job... there were few places more important then this section on the ship. "Stay out of the way, standard positions." she said in a conversational tone. She looked around, and saw less then the usual amount of dirty glances sent their way, perhaps some of these engineers also had nightmares. With a sigh she tapped her badge, "Haverstaad to Chief West, I'm in your playground, how do you want us?" Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Deck 16, Main Engineering - Lt jg Trevan West- 1409) "Haverstaad to Chief West, I'm in your playground, how do you want us?" Trevan smiled and poked his head around the corner, "You don't have to use that, I am right here." Trevan saw several officers behind her, looking around, hopefully they weren't planning on destroying the place again he thought. "I could use a few of you up on the second level of the core, and a few down on deck 17 near the anti-matter storage pods, and I could use you here around the core. My people won't give you any problems, and if they do, let me know. If there is anything else I can do for you let me know." Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Deck 16, Main Engineering - Chief Haverstaad- 1409) "Hi there. Lt. West is away at the moment. Perhaps I could help while he makes his way here?" She was about to open her mouth when she her a voice from behind her. "You don't have to use that, I am right here." She turned around with an eyebrow cocked, "I could use a few of you up on the second level of the core, and a few down on deck 17 near the anti-matter storage pods, and I could use you here around the core. My people won't give you any problems, and if they do, let me know. If there is anything else I can do for you let me know." "We already have people at the storage pods, Sir." She said. She looked at her people, pointed at several and up to 17, the rest she gave a hand single to disperse. She briefly turned back to the ACEO, "Thank you, Sir." (reply: Enaj) She turned back to the CEO for a moment, "We have had a few reports of phase discrepancies in some of our phasers, mostly the big stuff, that which requires the most fine-tuning. Are armorors are already fixing the problem, but they don't know what caused it. Having any problems with your systems down here?" Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Deck 16 Main Engineering - ACEO Enaj - 1409) The officer was about to answer when Tevan's voice sounded. ~Oh, so he is here.~ The woman then said, "Thank you, Sir." "No need to mention it," Saim said feeling a bit stupid. Saim turned to Trevan. "I'll be on the bridge if you need me Sir." (reply West iyw) Saim hastily made her exit feeling quite embarrassed. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Deck 16 Security office – AST/TAC-Ensign (jg) John Fredericks- 1409) After hearing about the phase problems with the ships phasers and that there might be a problem with the side arms as well, John headed down to the armory after his bridge shift ended and pulled the specs down to his PADD, picked up a tricorder and a couple of each type of weapon there. Spotting a cart in the corner he loaded everything and went to the firing range. The weapons seemed to be working ok but when checked against the specs he noticed that each weapon was indeed out of phase and only working at about an average of 85% efficency. John took out the tricorder and went to work on the first weapon’s phase harmonic inducer, readjusted the settings and retested the weapon. Perfect! He made notes on the repair in the PADD and went to work on the next weapon. After an hour and a half he had everything working back in normal parameters. After reloading the cart John took the side arms back to the armory. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Bouddicca, Engineering, Lt jg Trevan West, 1410) She turned back to the CEO for a moment, "We have had a few reports of phase discrepancies in some of our phasers, mostly the big stuff, that which requires the most fine-tuning. Our armories are already fixing the problem, but they don't know what caused it. Having any problems with your systems down here?" Trevan frowned, "Unfortunately yes. The Cloaking Device is having some phase discrepancies as well. We fixed most of the other problems with essential system. I believe it has something to do with the singularity we passed through, but I am not totally sure on the exact cause of it or how to fix it. We have tried numerous fixes and nothing seems to be working, it's very frustrating." Trevan walked over to his desk, slumped down into his chair and placed his head in his hands. "I don't know what it is. Why am I like this? Why do these things happen? I don't know, do you?" he asked curtly. (reply Melody) "Sorry, didn't mean to snap at you. Haven't slept well in the past couple of days, it's not your fault. Sorry." Trevan then took a sip of his drink, Altair Water, sighed and then smiled, "Is there anything else I can do for you?" Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Engineering - Senior Chief Melody Haverstaad - 1410) "I don't know what it is. Why am I like this? Why do these things happen? I don't know, do you?" the CEO asked, curtly. "No sir," she replied just as curtly. "If I did, I wouldn't have asked." "Sorry, didn't mean to snap at you. Haven't slept well in the past couple of days, it's not your fault. Sorry." Melody placed her hands behind her back and stood at loose attention as he took a drink of something. "Is there anything else I can do for you?" "No Sir, I think that will about do it." She said. "We will be rotating out every four hours, as per standard procedure. We are not at Red Alert, so a great many of the security procedures are on hold, subject to change as needed." She paused for a few long moments. "If it isn't classified," she began, "Do you know what's going on out there? We haven't heard anything." Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Lower Decks, the Shadow - 1410) The Agent smiled at a crewman as she walked back, then ducked into one of the access quarters. The mood and outward appearance of the woman he had passed was bleak; there were few that fully understood just what was going on to the Boudicca. That made this even easier for him. The only people who knew everything that was going on, or at least what had happened to them, were the Senior Staff and a good portion of the Science crew. It was hard to keep what was happening from coworkers and essential workers. And if one department knew, others knew. Soon it would be all over the ship, but not soon enough. The Shadow, the agent called himself. It suited, really. Shadows lurked, shadows lingered, shadows waited. Shadows struck when light and hope were at their weakest. The Shadow paused inside an access corridor and opened his mind, letting impressions filter in. Nothing and nobody was apparent, this was one place where he was alone. And with all the brouhaha going on about this time-jump, no one was paying attention to a small Shadow. Long ago the Shadow had been given a mission, but it was proving to be difficult. A good portion of the High-Command staff of the Boudicca were telepaths, and most of them fully trained in combative mind techniques and block. One was completely Esper blind, which was annoying as all hell, because he couldn't be touched. Now, however, the Shadow had an opportunity that had never before arisen. With a few surgically placed strikes, the ship could be taken permanently out of action. Or, with even more care, certain trouble-members of the Officers could be taken out and the ship could be flown back under the true Starfleet's command again, to join the fight against the Rebel. The Rebel had been smart so far, they had made things difficult. That would end soon enough. For the moment anyway, the Shadow just had to stall things long enough to get bearings and figure out what to do. And right now, there was one person whom could stall everything. With a smile, the Shadow's eyes closed. The only thing on the Agent's mind was a mental attack on one very necessary crewman. "Rin, Rin... you can't hide... come to my playground." the Shadow murmured. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Engineering - Lt jg Trevan West - 1411) "No Sir, I think that will about do it." She said. "We will be rotating out every four hours, as per standard procedure. We are not at Red Alert, so a great many of the security procedures are on hold, subject to change as needed." She paused for a few long moments. "If it isn't classified," she began, "Do you know what's going on out there? We haven't heard anything." Trevan Grimaced at the question, looked up into her eyes and spoke. "Well, basically we were sucked into the multi-singularity which as you know is a very powerful thing. When we managed to come out of the singularity it seemed everything was okay except that we weren't in the same time as when we left. As to how far in the past we are, I have no idea." Trevan sunk into his chair, the days events clearly playing across his face, the worry about getting back, the war, the ship, everything. "Geeze, you'd think that as a vetran officer I should be use to this." Trevan took her hand, "Sorry. I shouldn't dump all over you like that." (reply Haverstaad) "Thanks for the crew, they will be a tremendous help. I have some stuff to finish up around here, can I catch up with you later?" Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Deck 12 Security office – AST/TAC-Ensign (jg) John Fredericks- 1415) John sat back in his chair in his office and made notes on the repairs he had made to the weapons. Fortunately they were simple and easy to do. John touched his comm. badge. =/\= Fredericks to Hodges and Jones, stop by the security office at 14:30 please=/\=. =/\= Hodges here, understood=/\=. =/\=Jones here, on my way=/\=. 15 minutes later the door hissed open and Jones entered followed by Hodges. John explained the problem with the side arms and what needed to be done and left sent them to the armory to reset the remaining weapons. ~All done but the paper work~ he thought to himself and forwarded a copy of his findings to Skylynx along with the repair status and estimated time of finishing the repair work. After that he headed off to the armory himself to assist with the repair work. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca Science Labs, FO, Commander Grailik, 1420) Grailik had been moving through the science labs for a few minuets now. Looking in to see how the research on the time problems was going as well as the study of the pre-warp culture on the planet a little over 3 light years away. Grailik moved with remarkable stealth for a mere counselor, and many people didn't even take notice of his passing in the busy labs with many science personnel moving to and fro. Grailik noticed Lt's Rin and Alizara moving into the CSO's Office. Grailik casually moved in that direction deciding to check in with them personally now to see how things where going. "Call sickbay Counse...." Grailik heard Rin saying as he opened the door and walked in just in time to see Rin collapse in a heap. Quickly Grailik moved over to help Domini, lower the now unconscious CSO to the floor. "What happened?" Grailik asked, then tapping his comm-badge. "Grailik to Bridge. Emergency site to site transport! 3 to transport to sickbay!" (Reply Domini) Within second, Grailik felt the transporter beam grab hold and the CSO's office dissolved around him.... Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca Science Labs, COUNS, Dr. Domini Alizara, 1420) Domini and Rin had wandered into the science labs debating theories and chatting about lunch. She felt something strange and saw Rin turn towards her. "Come into my office?" Rin had asked, and Domini followed, a strange look on her face. Something felt very wrong to her. "Your wondering why I asked you in here?" Setting down his tea he began to rub at his temples he was exhusted once again even after the training Domini had given him. "I wanted you to be the first to know tell the captain afterwards though." She nearly jumped as Rin changed to telepathic speech. ::During the meeting I felt something...:: He sent towards her, he continued slowly. ::It was horrible I fought it off only for it to return now. It's coming from the planet, and since my abilities aren't fully under control yet....:: Domini froze in horror "Call sickbay Counse...." He said, as she moved to catch him, and saw Graillik there. "What happened?" Grailik asked, then tapping his comm-badge. "Grailik to Bridge. Emergency site to site transport! 3 to transport to sickbay!" before Domini could answer, the transporter took her over, and she saw herself in sickbay. "Grailik to Sevant. Captain, Lt Rin just collapsed for unknown reasons. Dr McQuade and the Counselor are looking him over now in Sickbay." Domini grabbed Grailik and pulled him off to the side and said simply, "Rin sent something to me before he collapsed. He said that he was fighting off some kind of telepathic emission and he was convinced that it was coming from the planet." "I felt something, for a split second, like a storm before it was going to hit. Then when you came in, it was gone. I couldn't trace it, and I couldn't tell you what it was. Actually, no, it was when you asked me what happened that the storm went away." She said, rambling along as she watched the biobed readings. Once the medical crew had him stabilized, Domini moved over to his bed. She looked up into Grailik's eyes. "If anything happens to me, call Eva." She said, simply, and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. She laid one hand on top of Rin's forehead, since tactile contact made the telepathic link easier. She was used to linking with Rin, the two had done it almost every day for the past week. It was almost like a hand fitting into a tailor-made glove, that the two joined with such ease. She looked around her, intimately familiar with the landscape of Rin's consciousness, and noticed the warriors that were repelling the assault on his mind. The wounded and dying ones on the battlefield gave her a look of horror and Domini turned around to find herself face to face with what must be a Ninja from Old Japan. She screamed in terror and opened her eyes, delibrately breaking the link between her and Rin. She shielded herself down very tightly. "He's being psychically attacked." She said quite calmly. "By what and where, I do not know." Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca, Sickbay, FO, Commander Grailik, 1422) ..to be replaced by Sickbay. Grailik helped Domini lift Rin onto the nearest bio-bed. Grailik saw the CMO and his staff moving their way quickly ready to tend to what ever was ailing Rin. Grailik stepped back letting Domini and McQuade look after Rin. He stepped back and tapped his comm-badge. "Grailik to Sevant. Captain, Lt Rin just collapsed for unknown reasons. Dr McQuade and the Counselor are looking him over now in Sickbay." Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca, Sickbay, FO, Commander Grailik, 1424) Domini grabbed Grailik and pulled him off to the side and said simply, "Rin sent something to me before he collapsed. He said that he was fighting off some kind of telepathic emission and he was convinced that it was coming from the planet." Grailik frowned. "The planet is over 3 light years away still. He couldn't be sensing something at that great a distance could he, and if so why haven't you or Major Straton felt it as well?" (Reply Domini) "I felt something, for a split second, like a storm before it was going to hit. Then when you came in, it was gone. I couldn't trace it, and I couldn't tell you what it was. Actually, no, it was when you asked me what happened that the storm went away." Domini said, rambling along as she watched the biobed readings. Once the medical crew had him stabilized, Domini moved over to his bed. She looked up into Grailik's eyes. "If anything happens to me, call Eva." She said, simply, and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. Grailik's frown deepened. ~ Something here isn't right.~ Grailik watched quietly as Domini apparently was looking into Rin's mind. After but a few short seconds, Domini opened her eyes and stepped back as if she'd been burned. "He's being psychically attacked." She said quite calmly. "By what and where, I do not know." Grailik slapped his com-badge. "Security team to Sickbay. Captain Sevant to Sickbay," Grailik closed the connection and looked from Domini to Rin. "We need to know where that attack originated from Counselor. Is there anything you can do to determine if that attack came from outside or inside the ship?" Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca, Sickbay, CMO, Lt. McQuade, 1425) Chris had been finishing up with a few minor injuries getting bored with nothing really to do when he heard that tell tell sound of someone being beamed into his sickbay. He turned around to see the FO, Counselor and the one they called Rin. The FO and Counselor had just placed Rin on one of the biobeds. He grabbed one of the nurses and quickly headed for the new patient. Deliberately stepping in front of the FO to assess what was wrong with Rin. He ran a quick medical scanner over him and could not find anything so he started the biobed scanner. He found nothing even with a powerfull unit except that he had a higher nuero activity counter which should not have been being that he was completely unconscious. Looking up at Domini, "What in the world happened here? What were you the group of you doing when this happened?" he asked looking at her and at Grailik. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca, Sickbay, FO, Commander Grailik, 1425) "Yes." Domini said slowly. "We can try to trace it. " She shuddered with cold. "The ... whatever... that is doing this is very secretive that neither Major Straton nor I sensed it. It would be better if there was another telepath here. Is Major Straton available ?" Domini asked, sadly. Grailik was considering what Domini had said when the CMO spoke up. "What in the world happened here? What were you the group of you doing when this happened?" he asked looking at her and at Grailik. Just then Sevant walked in along with a security team and Ensign Skylynx. Grailik turned from the CMO letting Domini answer his questions while he talked with Sevant and the security team. "Something I can do for you, sir?" Ryko said, presenting himself to the first officer. "Report," Sevant said in his typical no-nonsense voice. "Rin and the Counselor where in the CSO office when Rin suddenly collapsed. I walked in just as he collapsed. The Counselor has just informed me that Rin has been the victim of a telepathic attack of some type. She has just requested Major Straton's aid in attempting to trace the source of the attack back to it's source," Grailik said, bringing Sevant up to speed as quickly as possible. Letting him decide if he wanted to bring the MCO in on this or not. He then looked at Skylynx. "Security will need to be ready to apprehend this attacker, if they can successfully trace it back." ~And if Eva doesn't kill them out right.~ Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Sickbay - Capt Sevant - 1425) "Rin and the Counselor where in the CSO office when Rin suddenly collapsed. I walked in just as he collapsed. The Counselor has just informed me that Rin has been the victim of a telepathic attack of some type. She has just requested Major Straton's aid in attempting to trace the source of the attack back to it's source," Sevant's eyes narrowed as the First Officer turned to his Security Chief. "Security will need to be ready to apprehend this attacker, if they can successfully trace it back." "Security is already spreading out after the Red Alert, pass the world along quietly to keep on the look-out for anything suspicious, but release no other details as yet." Sevant said, looking at the Tactical Chief. "Now, Chief." (Reply: Skylynx) He tapped his badge, "Major Straton and Major Drizzt to the Sickbay." His buzzed back a moment later with the Andorian's voice. =^=En-route.=^= (Reply: Straton) Sevant crossed his arms, "No one will question me calling the head of my offensive forces in pairs, not in a situation like this." He said, "With luck that will give some cover to our good Marine Commander and buy us a few more minutes." Sevant quirked his head to the Counselor, "And what is Rin's status now, has he been seriously injured by the attack?" Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Sickbay - TAC/SC - 1425) "Security will need to be ready to apprehend this attacker, if they can successfully trace it back." Ryko nodded and listened to Sevant. "Security is already spreading out after the Red Alert, pass the world along quietly to keep on the look-out for anything suspicious, but release no other details as yet." Sevant said, looking at the Tactical Chief. "Now, Chief." "Yes Sir," Ryko said, and went to work. He turned to the Sickbay team. "Walton, Remirez, you're on guard duty here until I say otherwise. Any trouble, you contact me on a moment's notice. You have authorisation to stun anyone or anything that attacks anyone in this room. Do not leave until you are relieved." The two nodded, and Ryko left sickbay. He headed for the turbolift. "Skylynx to all off-duty personnel, meeting in Holodeck one, 5 minutes. Ensign Frederickson, remain on the bridge. I'm afraid I'll need you to cover for a while longer. Quarantine teams 4, 5 and 6 are required to be present. Do not, I repeat, NOT let anyone know where you are going. I will give you further details on the holodeck." (Reply Frederickson, If desired) Ryko closed the comm channel and stepped into the lift. "Deck 10," Ryko said, and the doors closed. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Bridge - Capt Sevant - 1426) =^=Security team to Sickbay. Captain Sevant to Sickbay,=^= Sevant's eyes narrowed and he was out of his seat a half moment later. "On my way XO." He rounded the chair and headed for the turbolift, "Operations has the bridge." he barked. (reply: Ops, if desired) Sevant wondered briefly what could be so important; it probably had to be about Rin. He stepped into the turbolift and spun around. "Deck 7, Sickbay." The turbolift hummed, Sevant let his expression fade into nothingness again and clasped his hands behind his back. He took a couple deep breaths and waited until the door had opened. Without further ado the Captain stepped forward and walked around the doors to get into the medical room, and noticed off to the side the First Officer and Couns. He walked over at a quick pace, "Report." Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca, Sickbay, MCO, Major Straton, 14:30) Eva walked into sickbay followed by Drizzt. She was curious why the Captain would want to meet in sickbay, she was no physician. She approached Sevant, Grailik, Domini and the others a curious look on her face. "Captain -" She began, then stopped suddenly, her gaze shifting to Rin laying unconscious on a nearby bio-bed. Her eyes narrowed and her jaw clenched. She suddenly knew why she had been summoned. She could sense the psychic battle going on just a few steps away. Eva didn't waste any time, she moved over to the bio-bed shoving a nurse aside roughly. She grabbed Rin's hand and with fire in her eyes, plunged into his besieged mind. (Rin's Mind scape, Eva Straton, ????) Eva appeared fully armored and ready for battle, in her hand she held a sword, the representation of her skill and training as a Allurekazata, her sword and armor glowed brightly with the power of her will. She scanned the area around her. Her senses feeling the battle still being waged. She knew Rin was losing, badly. She had to find him and quickly. "...I'll do anything make it stop...." Eva found Rin at the mercy of what appeared to be a mere shadow. It was getting ready to deliver the killing blow. It's weapon raised high. With blinding speed, Eva moved between Rin and the Shadow. Her blade deflecting the blow that would of ripped Rin's mind apart, killing him. The Shadow was surprised at her sudden appearance, and Eva capitalized on that surprise. Driving an armored elbow into the Shadow's body, driving it back away from Rin. It recovered quickly however and attacked Eva directly trying to get past her to deliver the killing blow to what was left of Rin behind her. Eva blocked the attacks with her sword, working on staying between Rin and the Shadow. She could not allow it to get past her or Rin was doomed, so she held back. Concentrating on keeping the Shadow off guard and away from Rin. As the Shadow attacked again, Eva blocked it's attacks and launched a counter attack of her own. Searing white light shot from her eyes striking the Shadow full in the 'face'. It screamed in pain and anger. Staggered by the blow, the Shadow was suddenly gone. Fleeing the battle and Rin's mind, but not defeated. Eva was tempted to give chase, but Rin was too weak, if the Shadow returned he would be dead before Eva could come to his aid again. Sword still in hand she knelt by Rin's beaten form, supporting him, lending him some of her strength. She reached out for a familiar mind. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca, Sickbay, FO, Commander Grailik, 14:30) Grailik watched as Major Straton, in her typical fashion, went to work, not tolerating any obstacles between her and her objective. "If she is successful," Sevant whispered quietly in Grailik ear, "Whoever is doing this will probably be hurt, have operations quietly watch for medical emergencies in the crew or failing life signs, and instruct the department heads to be on the quiet lookout for dazed crewmen as well. Word of Mouth, only." Grailik nodded, turning toward the door. "When she is successful, Captain," Grailik said, with a knowing smile, "The good Major takes this sort of thing very seriously. I almost feel sorry for the poor soul when she finds them" (Reply Sevant iyw) Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Sickbay - Capt Sevant - 14:31) Sevant's eyes narrowed as his concentration focused. He was not a powerful telepath, he couldn't sense anything between these two, but the Major's rigid form and the sweat beading on Rin's face were enough to convince him that a battle was being fought. He leaned over to the First Officer, putting a hand on his shoulder and putting his mouth bare centimeters from his ear. "If she is successful, whoever is doing this will probably be hurt, have operations quietly watch for medical emergencies in the crew or failing life signs, and instruct the department heads to be on the quiet lookout for dazed crewmen as well. Word of Mouth, only." (reply: Grailik) "I arrived just in time to save him," The MCO Said after another minute, when she came out of her trance. "Who ever was attacking him was very skilled, but not skilled enough. I drove it from his mind. I was unable to pursue, Rin is too weak. He needs the services of a Mind Healer. I will protect him till he is stronger. Then I will hunt down who ever did this." The Marine paused, looked at the Counsellor, then back again. "We have a psychic assassin on board, Captain." Sevant looked at the MCO with his hands behind his back for many moments, his face unreadable, his mind carefully closed off. He, too, took a glance at the counselor, then back again. "Find him." He said coldly, "Alive is preferable, dead is acceptable... but whatever you do, neutralize him." Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca, Sickbay, COUNS, Dr. Domini Alizara, 1432) Grailik slapped his com-badge. "Security team to Sickbay. Captain Sevant to Sickbay," Grailik closed the connection and looked from Domini to Rin. "We need to know where that attack originated from Counselor. Is there anything you can do to determine if that attack came from outside or inside the ship?" Domini thought for a moment. "Yes." She said slowly. "We can try to trace it. " She shuddered with cold. "The ... whatever... that is doing this is very scared that neighter Major Straton nor I sensed it. It would be better if there was another telepath here. Is Major Straton available ?" Domini asked, sadly. Eva was better suited to tracking killers than Domini was. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Bridge - TAC/SC -1432) =/\=Security team to Sickbay. Captain Sevant to Sickbay," =/\= "Skylynx here, Security team is on the way." Ryko said, pressing a few buttons on the console. "Skylynx to Frederickson, I need you to cover the bridge for a while." (Reply Frederickson IFW) "Skylynx to Security team Delta one, to sickbay, Immediately." Ryko said, before heading off the bridge. He entered the turbolift. "Sickbay," he said, and the turbolift moved. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca, Sickbay, MCO, Major Straton, 14:32) "Find him." Sevant said coldly, "Alive is preferable, dead is acceptable... but whatever you do, neutralize him." Eva nodded, then she looked from Sevant to Ensign Skylynx, who was still standing nearby, then back at Sevant. "It would be safe to assume that since this individual has been trained in psychic assassination methods, that they have also been trained in more conventional methods as well," Eva said, her eyes shifting between Skylynx and Sevant as she spoke, making it clear that she was addressing both of them. "I would therefore recommend that both your self and Commander Grailik have a body guard assigned to watch your back till this assassin is found. Either someone from Security, trained in counter-terror and assassination techniques, or if you prefer, I will have Major Drizzt assign a CE to the job." As she finished speaking her gaze fell on Drizzt who was standing quietly in the background. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca-Armory-TAC/AST-Ensign John Fredericks-14:33) =/\="Skylynx to Frederickson, I need you to cover the bridge for a while."=/\= Came the voice over his John’s comm badge. =/\= Fredericks here, on the way, I’m in the armory so give me a few to get there=/\= “Sorry guys, duty calls” he said as he put the last few touches to the type III Phaser rifle he was adjusting. Everything’s pretty simple, if you run into any problems I’ll be on the bridge. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca, Sickbay, Major Straton, 14:33) ::Allurenate. Domini. Rin is in grave need of your services. The Shadow is gone, for now.:: She sent to Domini, opening her eyes, but keeping hold of Rin's hand, her minds eye still watching over him. "I arrived just in time to save him," She said, looking at Sevant. "Who ever was attacking him was very skilled, but not skilled enough. I drove it from his mind. I was unable to pursue, Rin is too weak. He needs the services of a Mind Healer. I will protect him till he is stronger. Then I will hunt down who ever did this." She paused looking over at Domini who was on the other side of Rin, then turned back toward Sevant. "We have a psychic assassin on board, Captain." Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Lower Decks - The Shadow - 14:33) The Shadow hissed as contact was broken. "Major, you d*mned WENCH!" came the barely whispered words as the being held its head in its hands. The Shadow shook for several moments and took mental stock of its health. It could have been worse; the Major hadn't gotten a really good bite. The target was still alive, but that would change. The shadow couldn't do anything about it for the moment however, its own resources were spent and the headache developing from its brief battle with the other telepath had weakened it. The Shadow would wait for just a bit, eventually people would calm down a bit. Now that the shadows presence was known on the ship, since there could be no doubt of what was intended on the CSO, they would start to concentrate on finding the offending telepath. And so, the Shadow used its training and put special shields up, as the Agent had done for so many months, shields that were very hard to spot unless one knew what to look for. There would be another time. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca, Bridge, FO, Commander Sevant, 14:34) Grailik stepped out of the turbo-lift and moved over next to Lt. Shafio. "Quietly," He said to her in a low voice so that only she could hear, "I want you keep an eye on any medical emergencies that happen to be reported in the next few hours. Also, I want you to monitor internal sensors and watch for anything out of the ordinary. Fluctuations of any the crews bio-signs. If you find anything, notify myself or Captain Sevant immediately. Understood?" (Reply Shafio) "Quietly, Lt. Quietly. Don't tell anyone why or what you are looking for." (Reply Shafio iwy) Grailik then walked over to the tactical station and Ensign Fredricks. Grailik looked at the young Ensign for a second as if sizing him up, finally he nodded. "Ensign, your with me," Grailik said, motioning for the Ensign to follow, as Grailik moved back toward the turbo-lift. (Reply Fredricks) Grailik entered the turbo-lift and waited for the Ensign to join him. Once the doors had closed, Grailik gave their destination. "Main Engineering," He said, then waited for the lift to begin it's decent, turning a knowing eye on the Ensign. "I have a little mission for you Ensign. Something that requires discretion and subtlety. Think you can handle that?" (Reply Fredricks) "Good. Now it looks like we have a little bit of a situation on board. An assassin, that is trained to kill with their mind," Grailik said deciding it best to let him know just what was going on. "Unfortunately for this assassin, we have Major Straton on board, and she absolutely detests these types, not that she is an otherwise friendly person. I would assume that by now she has probably sent this assassin running for cover. Now the Captain wants us to warn the department heads to be on the look out for any dizzy or dazed crew members. Anything that might tip us off as to just who this assassin is, but he wants it done quietly, by word of mouth. I want you to give a little surprise inspection for the Security personnel and be on the look out for anyone looked dazed, confused, or anything else that might indicate that they have just been in telepathic combat. If you find anything, you report to either myself or Captain Sevant, do not let them know that you are on to them, yet. Understood?" (Reply Fredricks) Just then the lift stopped and the doors opened leading toward Main Engineering. Grailik stepped out and looked back at Fredricks. "I'll expect to hear from you soon," Grailik said as the lift doors shut. He turned in walked into Main Engineering. "Lt West!" He yelled, to be heard over the usual commotion in Engineering. (Reply West) "A moment of you time, Lt," Grailik said, seeing West coming over toward him. He motioned toward the CEO's Office. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca-outside Sickbay- TAC/SC- 1435) Ryko entered sickbay with the rest of his team to discover the counselor, Dr. Rin and Commander Grailik already in conversation. He listened in for a few moments, and from what he could tell, it seemed as though they had a wild telepathic presence on the loose. ~Wonder if this has anything to do with those headaches I've been having,~ he thought, remembering that he had managed to upset a table in his quarters without touching it. ~Woops, better make myself known.~ (NRPG: Ryko's mind is a little fragile at the moment, and since he is half-betazoid, this could mean he could inadvertently transmit. Sorry to do this now, but I've wanted to use Ryko's betazoid side for a while and an opportunity never presented itself til now. For the record, he's been repressing his abilities for years, since he was a child. They're only just beginning to assert themselves. :)Hope this puts an interesting plot twist into the story.) RPG: "Something I can do for you, sir?" Ryko said, presenting himself to the first officer. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca-Deck 10-Holodeck 1- TAC/SC-1435) Ryko stepped through the holodeck doors to his assembled security personnel. His mere presence shut them up. He was pleased to see they accepted him as the chief now, instead of dwelling on the former leader. "Alright, people, listen up," Ryko said. "We're going on a quarantine. Everyone is getting stationed to a different part of the ship, most of you will know what I'm about to say." There was mass nodding and a little chattering. "Basically, considering Security is already stretched throughout the ship, you'll all be going straight back to your checkpoints. With one exception. Computer, run log entry Delta 3." A holographic-reconstruction of what happened in sickbay played in front of the assembled officers. "This is what we're looking for. You see anything like this happening, you contact myself, Commander Grailik or Captain Sevant. DO NOT engage the subject. Ensure that the location is secure, one of us will be down to assist. If you see anything attacking them physically, then you have authorisation to stun. KEEP YOUR PHASERS ON SETTINGS BELOW 3." He paused. "Everyone clear? Any questions?" Ryko asked. One member piped up. "What exactly do you mean, "Attacks physically"?" Ryko frowned. "We're expecting a Psychic attack. There is already action being taken to locate the source of the attack on Dr. Rin, don't worry about that. Worry about your duty." Ryko finished. Once everyone was clear he nodded. "Okay, people, back to your checkpoints. Dismissed." Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca, Sickbay, MCO, Major Straton, 14:35) "The better idea would be one of each in a team," Ryko said. "One trained in Psychic and the other in Conventional countermeasures," Ryko offered, looking at Sevant. He went to look at Straton too, but the second he did a pain seared through his forehead. "Ach!" Ryko snapped, slamming a hand to his head. Eva's eyebrow rose, looking at the TAC\SC, her eyes moved quickly to Drizzt still standing quietly in the corner, having essentially disappeared, as only a well trained CE could. Her eyes went back to Skylynx then to Sevant, and back to Skylynx. Her facial expression unchanged. "Problems?" She asked. "It's these damn headaches I've been having. I think there's something wrong with the mental blocks," Skylynx replied still holding his head. "They are," Eva said simply, "You are beginning to project." "Limited, yes," Ryko said, leaning against a bio bed. "But I had it blocked before I finished my academy training. I wasn't interested in my empathic abilities at the time." Eva's brow rose. "Foolish of you," she replied simply, looking at Sevant, then toward the CMO who had been drawn by Skylynx's outburst. "Doctor, I think that Ensign Skylynx could use a suppressor to suppress his empathic abilities, till he can either get the blocks put back in or learns to control his abilities." (Reply Anyone present) "I'm not sure, I haven't tried to use them in ages, I just repressed them. But for the last 3 days I've been getting these headaches." Another surge of pain. Ryko's reflexes fired and he hit the bio bed without even thinking it. Eva looked at Skylynx again, her brows creasing. "He is picking up on stray thoughts, without knowing it. He has no control over his abilities," She said, looking to Sevant and Dr. McQuade. (Reply Anyone present) "I think I can continue," Ryko said, "But I need to make sure the blocks are intact. Otherwise I could lose myself," Ryko said. "In the worst case scenario." "In your current condition you are a threat to everyone around you," Eva said looking toward the CMO for his opinion. (reply Anyone present) Just then, Eva felt Domini coming out of her trance. She quickly moved over and grabbed her as she passed out from exhaustion. Eva lifted Domini effortlessly onto the bio-bed next to Rin, as a couple orderlies and a nurse hurried over. Eva stepped back letting them confirm what she already knew. "She is exhausted," Eva said, "The healing process is very draining. She will recover." Then Eva turned back to Sevant, Skylynx, and Dr. McQuade. "You might want to have a good look at the Ensign's brain chemistry," Eva told the CMO, nodding toward Skylynx, "We wouldn't want him to have an aneurism caused by his uncontrolled talents." She then looked toward Skylynx. "I am preventing you from harming anyone around you right now Ensign. I recommend you learn how to control your abilities, regardless of how limited they might be. Never know when they might prove useful. If you do not think that you can do this, or do not wish to, then Domini can replace the mental blocks once she has recovered from healing Rin." Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca, Bridge, FO, Ensign John Fredericks TAC/AST, 14:35) John was at his station as the FO came back to the bridge, he watched as he moved towards LT Shafio. John tuned himself into that area. Not trying to listen in but just to catch any strong emotions. ~after all~ he thought,~ there is some strange stuff going on and since I am in security I am expected to be on top of it~. The only emotion he felt was surprise and that was cut off quickly Grailik then walked over to him and stared down at him for a while. John felt as if he was being measured, weighed and assessed all with the one lingering look. Finally the FO nodded at him. "Ensign, your with me," Grailik said, motioning for the Ensign to follow. As he stood to follow John called Ensign Hodges to the bridge to assume the duty station. Grailik entered the turbo-lift and waited for the Ensign to join him. Once the doors had closed, Grailik gave their destination. "Main Engineering," He said, then waited for the lift to begin it's decent, turning a knowing eye on the Ensign. "I have a little mission for you Ensign. Something that requires discretion and subtlety. Think you can handle that?" “Aye , sir what do you need me to do”? replied John. "Good. Now it looks like we have a little bit of a situation on board. An assassin, that is trained to kill with their mind," Grailik said deciding it best to let him know just what was going on. "Unfortunately for this assassin, we have Major Straton on board, and she absolutely detests these types, not that she is an otherwise friendly person. I would assume that by now she has probably sent this assassin running for cover. Now the Captain wants us to warn the department heads to be on the look out for any dizzy or dazed crew members. Anything that might tip us off as to just who this assassin is, but he wants it done quietly, by word of mouth. I want you to give a little surprise inspection for the Security personnel and be on the look out for anyone looked dazed, confused, or anything else that might indicate that they have just been in telepathic combat. If you find anything, you report to either myself or Captain Sevant, do not let them know that you are on to them, yet. Understood?" “Aye, sir”. “ Basic recon, scout and return. Report only to you or the Captain” Just then the lift stopped and the doors opened leading toward Main Engineering. Grailik stepped out and looked back at Fredricks. "I'll expect to hear from you soon," Grailik said as the lift doors >shut. ~Great~ thought John. ~A telepathic assassin~. ~I was right about one thing, this is NOT going to be a boring ship~ =/\= Security, deck 12=/\= John gave the command to the lift and it started back down on it’s way. As he walked towards the security offices John once again lowered his mental shielding and sampled the area around him. ~Seems like I am spending more time with the durn things down than up these days~, ~I am starting to feel like a peeping tom~. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca-Bridge-TAC/AST Fredericks-14:37) John walked quickly to the turbo lift and stated the destination “Bridge”. ~wonder what came up to pull Skylynx off the bridge in the middle of shift~? He thought to himself. As John exited the lift he noticed there was still a calm air on around the bridge but upon taking a slight mental look around he detected traces of curiosity and a small amount of anxiety. After taking his seat at his station he began looking through the last few minutes of the bridge log to see what had happened. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca, Sickbay, COUNS, Dr. Domini Alizara, 14:37) ::Allurenate. Domini. Rin is in grave need of your services. The Shadow is gone, for now.:: That was the signal Domini was waiting for. She knew she was no match for this shadow of Rin's. ~ I feel like a coward~ Domini thouht, taking Rin's other hand as Eva spoke wiht the Captain. Eva was a warrior, Domini was not. ::Rin?:: She sent, appearing again on the battlefield. She stepped over the dying soldiers to where Rin was kneeling in a posture of submission. ::Kyle?:: Domini asked, kneeling in front of him and gently prying his hands away from his face. She saw his face screwed shut in pain. Domini reached out and brushed his cheek. ::Kyle look at me.:: She commanded, looking at the rips in his mental framework. He shuddered away from her, shaking his head. "I can't help you if you don't look at me, love." She said aloud in his mind. He looked up at her and she tried not to cry at the damage his psychic self had taken. "Rest and Heal." Domini said, walking around and reviving the dying fighters on the battlefield, telling them to Guard him and fix things. With this, she laid the foundation for a Healing that would take care of itself in a few hours if he rested. Well, most of it. The deepest scars would take months to sort out. She opened her eyes, looked right at Eva and passed out from exhaustion. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Sickbay - CSO/2O Kyle Morie Rin - 14:38) The battle was over his armor destroyed, but he was still breathing still alive someone had come to his rescue. ~Eva?~ The thought floated around his mind uncontrollable, he felt no physical presence arms, legs, none of which moved upon his request. He was safe for now... that much embraced his body like a warm blanket. But who had saved him? he questioned himself until the very thought returned once again. ~Eva...~ The bright light was that of the armor she wore during the battle, a battle he would have backed her up in had he not fallen. ~Sickbay...~ He was not inside his mind anymore back among the living yes... moving was out of the question he had already tried. Aside from Eva he felt another presence that of the counselor ~Domini...~ something began to fill his mind as he thought about her. "I can't help you if you don't look at me, love." She had also helped bring him back... ~Love...~ ...Love? what did she mean by that was it only non-directional or did she give some meaning of feelings toward him. ~I've never felt loved or love before... there was something special about her voice.~ Reaching out with what strength he had left inside Kyle opened his eyes it took a couple seconds to adjust to the light. Looking down he saw Eva's hand embracing his own ~What had happened? does she have some special feeling for me?~ these thoughts raced around as he noticed her eyes set onto his own. "Thank you for tending to my needs, i'm sorry if i've been a burden Major.. maybe I can make it up to you." He squeezed her hand gently and continued. "Give Domini my gratitude as well if it wasn't for the two of you I probably wouldn't be here." With that Kyle closed his eyes what little strength he had used was gone and with rest it would only return. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Sickbay - Capt Sevant - 14:39) "The better idea would be one of each in a team," Ryko said. "One trained in Psychic and the other in Conventional countermeasures," Ryko offered, looking at Sevant. He went to look at Straton too, but the second he did a pain seared through his forehead. "Ach!" Ryko snapped, slamming a hand to his head. Sevant started, looking at the Security Chief. "Problems?" the MCO asked. "It's these damn headaches I've been having. I think there's something wrong with the mental blocks," Sevant turned inward briefly and checked his own mental shields, as Eva announced she was leaking. Sevant was sealed tight, he turned his attention back to him. "Limited, yes," Ryko said, leaning against a bio bed. "But I had it blocked before I finished my academy training. I wasn't interested in my empathic abilities at the time." "Foolish of you," Sevant looked at her briefly, then quirked his head. This wasn't his area of expertise, unless he was dealing with bonded family, his own telepathic powers were weak comparatively. He was mostly a touch telepath. "Doctor, I think that Ensign Skylynx could use a suppressor to suppress his empathic abilities, till he can either get the blocks put back in or learns to control his abilities." (Reply Anyone present) "I'm not sure, I haven't tried to use them in ages, I just repressed them. But for the last 3 days I've been getting these headaches." Sevant frowned, and Eva said "He is picking up on stray thoughts, without knowing it. He has no control over his abilities," "Chief, lock it down, or Ill have to remove you from duty." Sevant said. This was the last thing they needed; they were already in an emergency situation with a psychic assassin running about. Having a Security Chief open to every mental whim was NOT a desirable situation. (reply: CMO, if desired) "I think I can continue," Ryko said, "But I need to make sure the blocks are intact. Otherwise I could lose myself," Ryko said. "In the worst case scenario." "In your current condition you are a threat to everyone around you," Eva said looking toward the CMO for his opinion. (reply Anyone present) Sevant crossed his arms as the Counselor came out of her shock, though his attention was still on the Chief. "She is exhausted," Eva said, "The healing process is very draining. She will recover." "You might want to have a good look at the Ensign's brain chemistry," Eva told the CMO, nodding toward Skylynx, "We wouldn't want him to have an aneurism caused by his uncontrolled talents." She then looked toward Skylynx. "I am preventing you from harming anyone around you right now Ensign. I recommend you learn how to control your abilities, regardless of how limited they might be. Never know when they might prove useful. If you do not think that you can do this, or do not wish to, then Domini can replace the mental blocks once she has recovered from healing Rin." "Figure it out," was all Sevant said, "Ill be on the bridge." (reply: any) Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca,Engineering, Lt jg Trevan West, 14:40) Trevan had just finished up his usual afternoon stroll around engineering when he spotted Commander Grailik at the end of Engineering, so Trevan decided to greet him so he didn't seem rude. However, the Commander spotted him first. "A moment of you time, Lt," Grailik said, and motioned towards Trevan's Office. The two of them sat down at the desk, "Can I get you something sir?" as Trevan got himself a drink of coffee. "What can I do for you sir? You know I am up for anything." TRevan replied and smiled. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Sickbay - Lt. McQuade - 14:40) Chris was taking in everything that had been going on in his domain. He had asked questions and had so far been ignored which had been getting him a bit on edge. He had looked at his assistant and noticed that she also was shaking her head about the way the others had been treating Chris in his own department. He had continued to monitor the readings on the CSO and what they had been talking about. He then started also to monitor Rin's cerebeal cortex to make sure that whatever they were doing would not do any damage. He would see a few readings change but had ever been within the normal perimeters, so, he had just kept quiet as no one seemed to think that the Chief of Medicine was anyone to add into their conversation. The thought of having more crewmen coming to sickbay like the CSO had not appealed to Chris and he was hoping that they would be able to find a way to stop that from happening. He had not been blessed with the Psychic abilities that some of the personnel present had. He had caught the counselor when she had toppled over and had placed her on a bio bed. He figured that she had over extended herself in her mental contact with the CSO. He continued to listen to what was transpiring. "Doctor, I think that Ensign Skylynx could use a suppressor to suppress his empathic abilities, till he can either get the blocks put back in or learns to control his abilities." "Oh? Now you want something from me and deem to tell me what it is that is necessary. I think that I have an idea what is needed or I dont think I would have made it to chief medical. Also, I think that while in my department, any discussion on what a patient needs or dont need will include me." He replied as he applied the needed suppressant that he had already prepared. (reply anyone) "Chief, lock it down, or Ill have to remove you from duty." Sevant said. Chris looked a Sevant and wondered what this man had been through in his career. He seemed to be a very capable Captain but something seemed to be underlining his emotion. Chris could feel that there was something that had happened in his life that he suppressed and it seemed to come through in his calculated responses. "What I have given him, will help him accomplish his tasks. I dont think removing him would do any better. I would think, sir, that you would understand that without the suppressant, being on or off duty would not matter. With all due respect sir." Chris answered the Captain but deemed to put in the respect statement in whether he meant it or not. Something crossed his mind suddenly about green blood but he decided to leave the comment to later. "In your current condition you are a threat to everyone around you," Eva said looking toward the CMO for his opinion. "No, as I have said with the suppressant he is not a threat to anyone. What is it with that statement that does not come across or is everyone ignoring me yet once again?" Chris inputted with a bit of sarcasm. Chris noticed that the Counselor started to come out of her shock when Eva started to explain the obvious to everyone. He had already knew what was going to happen to her. "She is exhausted," Eva said, "The healing process is very draining. She will recover." ~doh~ Chris decided not to say outloud this time. "You might want to have a good look at the Ensign's brain chemistry," Eva told the CMO, nodding toward Skylynx, "We wouldn't want him to have an aneurism caused by his uncontrolled talents." She then looked toward Skylynx. "I am preventing you from harming anyone around you right now Ensign. I recommend you learn how to control your abilities, regardless of how limited they might be. Never know when they might prove useful. If you do not think that you can do this, or do not wish to, then Domini can replace the mental blocks once she has recovered from healing Rin." "Hmm, doctor Straton now I see. Anything else you want to impart to me that I have not already been doing Major?" Chris was a bit frustrated that a marine major was telling him what his job was and now was thinking of calling her Major Pain but decided that it would have been a bit too much. Stardate:2406.10.18 (Boudicca Deck 12 TAC/AST John Fredericks 14:40) As the lift stopped at the deck 12 and the doors opened, John stepped out into the corridor. With his mental shielding down he was assaulted, not by the random background noise all telepaths hear since he couldnt read thoughts as such but he was buried under emotions. ~Whoa~, He thought as he started to develop a mild headache. ~Lets not drink from the fire hose~. He reinstated part of his shielding and lowered the emotional assault to a dull roar. He nodded to passing personnel as he walked to the security office. Nobody paid to much attention as he always seemed to be at the office checking paperwork and going over reports. He entered the Security office and said hello to Rodriguez who was at the front desk. Afternoon John, what brings you in so early he said in a slight Spanish accent. Same old thing John replied in a joking manor Baby sitting you guys. Whos got duty today? Never mind Ill look it up myself. John wandered over to the Security Chiefs desk and downloaded the roster for today to his PADD, then noted the time remaining for shift change. He them looked back at Rodriguez and told him if anyone needed him he would be making his rounds. John checked the people on watch as he normally would and everyone seemed to be as normal. Even when trying to read emotions all John picked up was readings from boardroom to one case of lust with a pair of guards on deck three ~Ill have to juggle the shifts some~ thought John. ~she needs to keep her mind on business when on duty~. After checking the on duty personnel John pulled out his PADD and located the names of the off duty ones then headed to his quarters. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Sickbay - TAC/SC - 14:40) "Doctor, I think that Ensign Skylynx could use a suppressor to suppress his empathic abilities, till he can either get the blocks put back in or learns to control his abilities," Straton said. Ryko looked at the major. Just because she had more experience did not mean she had any right to judge him. "Next time, major, I would thank you to keep your comments to yourself, I don't care if you do have the upper hand in experience," Ryko said. He was sure she had a response, bt McQuade drowned her out. "Oh? Now you want something from me and deem to tell me what it is that is necessary. I think that I have an idea what is needed or I dont think I would have made it to chief medical. Also, I think that while in my department, any discussion on what a patient needs or dont need will include me." "I'll be fine, doctor," Ryko interrupted. "I just need the blocks replacing." "Chief, lock it down, or Ill have to remove you from duty." Sevant said. "What I have given him, will help him accomplish his tasks. But, I do think letting him remain in sickbay for further tests would be prudent. I would think, sir, that you would understand that without the suppressant, being on or off duty would not matter. With all due respect sir." Ryko was NOT keen on remaining in sickbay. "I'll be fine, Ryko said. Of course Straton was the first to naysay. "In your current condition you are a threat to everyone around you," Eva said looking toward the CMO for his opinion. "As I have said with the suppressant he is not a threat to anyone, but, I do think that he should stay in sickbay until I can run further tests to insure that nothing else is happening with him. What is it that does not come across or is everyone ignoring me yet once again?" "You might want to have a good look at the Ensign's brain chemistry," Eva told the CMO, nodding toward Skylynx, "We wouldn't want him to have an aneurism caused by his uncontrolled talents." Ryko frowned as she looked at him. "I am preventing you from harming anyone around you right now Ensign. I recommend you learn how to control your abilities, regardless of how limited they might be. Never know when they might prove useful. If you do not think that you can do this, or do not wish to, then Domini can replace the mental blocks once she has recovered from healing Rin." Ryko decided it was time to let go of his distaste for his heritage. "I will block them for now, there'll be time to master my abilities after this mission has ended. Right now, the most important thing is that I need to have my wits about me." (Reply Straton) "I had it blocked when I was 12 years old, my father was betazoid. Given training," Ryko said, "I should harness my abilities," Ryko said. ~There's no fighting this,~ he thought. ~I guess I should "sieze my potential".~ (Reply Straton) "I can take care of myself," Ryko said. "I will...reluctantly...stay here until the good counselor has recovered, but I request that I be allowed to continue my duties from here, captain." Ryko said, looking at Sevant, hoping not to be denied. He hated sickbays. (reply Sevant) Ryko sighed a breath of relief and headed toward a biobed. He sat uneasily there and looked at the counselor. She was still out. ~This is gonna be a d*mn long night,~ he thought. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca, Sickbay, MCO, Major Straton, 14:41) "Next time, major, I would thank you to keep your comments to yourself, I don't care if you do have the upper hand in experience," Ryko said. Eva started to laugh out loud when the CMO spoke up. "Oh? Now you want something from me and deem to tell me what it is that is necessary. I think that I have an idea what is needed or I don't think I would have made it to chief medical. Also, I think that while in my department, any discussion on what a patient needs or don't need will include me." At this Eva did laugh, and loudly. ~How easily men's ego bruise.~ "I'm sorry Doctor," She said to McQuade, sarcasm think in her voice, "I wasn't aware that you were an expert in telepathic combat techniques, assassination, or counter-terror tactics. The conversation has only just recently turned to the medical needs of anyone, and your opinion WAS sought, but if you feel you have something to add to the conversation, then by all means speak up." She then turned to Skylynx. "Your likes or dislikes mean nothing to me. The safety of this ship and it's crew do. You become a threat to this ship or her crew, and I will say or do what ever I have to to neutralize that threat." (Reply Skylynx, McQuade IYW) NRPG: I know Frank isn't on the list any more, but have to tie this up. I'll send it to him just for giggles. : P Eva only half-listened to the rest of the conversation. There was nothing more to be gained and as such of no concern to her. She moved over to Rin and looked down at him, taking his hand. There was still some unfinished business here. She was mildly surprised when Rin opened his eyes. "Thank you for tending to my needs, I'm sorry if I've been a burden Major.. maybe I can make it up to you." He squeezed her hand gently and continued. "Give Domini my gratitude as well if it wasn't for the two of you I probably wouldn't be here." Rin then closed his eyes and fell asleep once more. One corner of Eva's mouth turned upward in a half-smile. ~I think I just got asked out. Men, so annoying at times, yet so charming at others.~ Eva shook her head, then plunged once more into Rin's psyche. (Rin's mind scape, Eva Straton, ??:??) Eva appeared on the landscape of Rin's mind, still armored and sword in hand. She looked around at Domini's work. The rebuilding was going well. Rin's mental fortifications were in the process of being rebuilt. Eva moved amongst them carefully, not wanting to do any more damage. Soon she came to a distant corner of Rin's mind, away from the main fortifications. She pulled a small disk from her belt it glowed and pulsed softly in her palm. Using sword, Eva dug a hole in the ground and placed the disk in the hole. Slowly the hole closed in over the disk, completely burring it. Eva looked back at the fortifications and then moved back out of Rin's mind. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca, Sickbay, MCO, Major Straton, 14:42) Eva looked down at Rin, her work for the time being done. If the assassin dared return to Rin's mind, Eva would know immediately, and be able to respond, no matter where Rin might be on the ship in relation to herself. A small part of herself was now hidden deep in Rin's mind. Rin himself wouldn't even know it was there. Eva turned and headed out of sickbay, she nodded to Spider to follow. Once out in the corridor she spoke. "Send your two best counter-terror CE's to Skylynx for bodyguard duty with Sevant and Grailik," She said. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca, CEO's Office, FO, Commander Grailik, 14:45) "Can I get you something sir?" Trevan asked, getting himself a drink of coffee. "I'll take a mug of coffee myself, please," Grailik said, taking a seat across from the CEO's desk. "What can I do for you sir? You know I am up for anything." Trevan replied and smiled, handing Grailik a mug before sitting down behind his desk. "Well Lt," Grailik said, taking a sip of his coffee, "We have a bit of a situation on board and the Captain wants it kept on the QT. Getting right to the point, someone on board has telepathically assaulted and tried to kill the CSO, Lt, Rin. This attack was thwarted, and the Captain wants all department heads to be on the look out for crewman exhibiting symptoms that might indicate that they have recently been engaged in a telepathic battle. Dizziness, headache, disorientation and the like. If you witness anyone exhibiting these symptoms, you are to quietly notify Security while keeping a discreet tab on the person in question. Any questions so far?" Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Outside Sickbay - Lt Major Drizzt 1445) "Send your two best counter-terror CE's to Skylynx for bodyguard duty with Sevant and Grailik," "Very well," he said quietly. "I don't get the impression the Captain will be happy with that, however. Most security types aren't, something about their ego..." He shrugged, "Security will have a rotation of CE's within ten minutes." (reply: Straton, with room for conversation) NRPG: I've posted once that Sevant had two security guards, didn't make any mention of what type they were. So the mix is pretty much up to you Adam. RPG: Spider cracked his neck and tapped his badge once the Major had wandered away. "Drizzt to Marines Danforth, Pigatoli, Ha'coo and Larenze. Hustle to Sickbay with all the appropriate toys for counter-assassination work." He stepped back inside sickbay to talk to the Security Chief. This was the fun part, liaising with security. Especially when the Chief and his Boss had just had a minor run-in. He stepped up beside him, remaining quiet, there was too much psychic hocus pocus going on, he wasn't going to step into that until he needed too. NRPG: For whenever the TAC/SC is free... Spider came to parade attention, "Sir, I've got four Counter Terror experts standing by, to augment your security detail for the Senior Officers." Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca-Outside sickbay- TAC/SC & MXO - 1445) Ryko turned to leave the sickbay with Alizara, and spotted Drizzt waiting outside. "A moment, please, counselor," he said, and went to talk to the MXO. "Something I can do for you, Major?" Ryko asked as the marine presented himself. "Sir, I've got four Counter Terror experts standing by, to augment your security detail for the Senior Officers." Ryko smiled. At last, some good news from a marine. "Excellent, Major," he said. "Have them report to the security office at..." Ryko checked the time "...1900," he said. I will assign them to their teams then, a brief summary of their particular skills would be helpful," Ryko finished. Spider briefly considered the backgrounds of each man and woman he had summoned. "All four are expert counter-terrorists, two are trained assassins themselves. I can provide you with a full skill and experiance background." He paused, "If ordered, they will kill anything that comes within ten feet of thier charge, or willingly get shot in the head if it means thier safety. All four will be in the typical modified CE BDU, with all the standard trimmings and a few extras." He crossed his arms behind his back, "With respect, Sir, they have more training then the average security guard. But thier arnt enough of us to cover the Command Staff full time and still carry out our battle-stations and emergency duties. It would, perhaps, be best to use them on the most important, or the least able to protect themselves. The Captain and Commander both are trained in combat and wouldnt need our constant vigillance." His antenna twitched slightly. He knew this wasnt his place, shipboard security wasnt his department, but he didnt like letting go of responsibility to anyone. "If you would trust me, we could use them to set up perimeters of defence for your security to fill, using methods that might surprise even you. And if events get... particularly dangerous... we can always stand 24 hour guard and defend to the last." Ryko raised an intrigued eyebrow. Drizzt certainly knew what he was talking about. "Well, hopefully things won't go that far," he said, noting all of the MXO's information down on the PADD he had used earlier. "It's been said before, but of course we won't just be dealing with conventional assassins, this...thing...eats people's minds, so I think it is still for the best that we monitor the captain and commander closely, just in case they have any...incidents," Ryko said, pocketing the PADD. "Your assistance is appreciated Major, if you wish you can join us at 1900, your recommendations would be appreciated. Now, if you will excuse me, the counselor and I have other business." "It should be noted," The Andorian put in quickly. "The Captain is combat trained, Sir, and the First Officer is esper blind. The First Officer can't be touched at all, and the Captain is a weak telepath but well able to fend off attacks... at least long enough to warn of a problem." Ryko nodded. "Noted," he said, and bade the MXO good day, before heading along. He tapped his badge. "Skylynx to Security officers Munro, Tilson, Marlow and Jacobs, report to the main security office at 1900, you've just become babysitters. Details will be explained then. Skylynx out." Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Security Center - Senior Chief Petty Officer Melody Haverstaad - 14:55) Melody cracked her neck as she walked into the security center. With half her squad in Engineering, and the other half here waiting to spell them after their short shift, she was getting a logistical headache. How she had ended up as defacto engineering liaison, she didn't know. It wasn't enough that she almost broke herself during her last little stint in engineering, no no no, now she had to be back there in another possibly dangerous situation. She could think of places she would rather be, namely, anywhere that plasma wasn't running through every bulkhead and console. ~Melody, old girl, you shoulda been a model.~ She paused briefly when she noticed the Assistant Chief in the center. He was... supposed to be on the bridge. She pursed her lips slightly, then shrugged. He certainly didn't have to answer to her, that was why he had the pips, even if she had the years of experience. She walked up to him and came loosely to attention, and in a conversational voice she said, "Engineering is secured, Sir, do you have any further orders?" Stardate:2406.10.18 (Boudicca Deck 12 TAC/AST John Fredericks 15:00) The turbo lift doors hissed open once again bringing him back to deck 12. John stepped out and started toward the security offices, he still had a few things to check before reporting back to the FO. ~Funny~ John thought ~ there isn’t any more people in the passage way than normal but when you know there is someone you can’t trust somewhere on the ship it really starts to get crowded~. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Engineering - ACEO Enaj - 15:00) Saim felt really out of the loop at the moment. It had been good for one thing. After months of frantically rushing around she had time to get some sleep and eat at more civilised time. The ship was ticking along nicely now without needing her attention every second. Of course there was always work to do. Some how though, even though there was a crisis situation, what with being catapulted back in time, things seemed more relaxed. However Saim was now coming out of this reverie and getting a bit panicky. She had no idea what was going on and wanted to find out. Seeing that there was nothing urgent Saim plugged into the computers and did a few sensory sweeps. From engineering she did not have anything long range but the diagnostic sensors gave her something. The planet was still there, or at least a large mass which she presumed to be the planet. Saim wondered what Science had come up with. She battled with herself for a few minutes, wanting to go find out and yet not wanting to intrude. In the end she decided she would go and just perch out of the way. Maybe see if they needed any engineering done down there. Stardate:2406.10.18 (Boudicca Deck 12 TAC/AST John Fredericks 15:05) John arrived at the Security office and the door obligingly hissed open for him. John walked in and saw Rodriguez still at the first desk apparently in a conversation with someone on the comm... He waved his way through and went back to the SC’s office where he customarily did his paperwork and inventories. He pulled the logs to the Armories and had them added to his PADD and them left again to make the “hands on” inspection that he had started doing lately. The regs called for these to be checked bi weekly under normal conditions, so far John had yet to see normal conditions on the ship and checked things far more often than required. As usual the Marines gave him a hard time about checking their armory but as always he talked his way through the rough spots without any thing more than good natured name calling. They were a rough bunch but John liked them and was glad to have them around. It wasn’t hard to understand his like for them since he almost chose that path himself. There were a couple of phases that had been taken out with out authorization, not something that should have happened but also not unusual with Marines. John reported to their duty officer and asked that he be alerted when the weapons were returned knowing that the DO would handle it without it being made in a report on the Marines and if it turned out that they were missing the DO would report to John immediately. John returned to the Security Office again to check out the ships main weapon storage and noticed a pain starting just behind his eyes. ~Probably just the over use of my Empathic abilities~ he thought. John began his hands on check of the weapons but found nothing out of the ordinary. ~Man this headache is really getting bad~ John mumbled to himself ~feels like my heads about to explode~. ~Explode? ~ He thought again, ~what would I do to a ship if I was trying to take it out of action? =/\= Computer run a complete scan of this ship. List all known explosive elements and or devices and their locations. Also list any changes to power consumption or build up that are new as of the time we entered the time change=/\= =/\= Initiating scan, estimated time for completion is 15 minutes=/\= (Boudicca- Security office – Security Chief’s office –John Fredericks TAC/AST -15:20) =/\= SCAN COMPLEAT=/\= Came the voice of the ship’s computer. John pulled up the list and scanned through the list of known explosive elements and devices the computer could locate but found nothing that couldn’t be explained. The other list went by just as fast until the end when he caught something that didn’t make sense. In the engineering room there was a new point of power building up but he couldn’t figure out what it was for. =/\= Computer, compare the last item on the list to the scans for the last three days for power consumption in engineering.=/\= =/\= POWER CONSUMPTION HAS INCREASED BY 2% ABOVE NORMAL USE CONSECATIVLY FOR THE PAST THREE DAYS=/\= =/\= Can you determine the reason for the increase of power? =/\= =/\= NEGATIVE. =/\= ~Damn, maybe nothing but I’ll have to report it, need to check on those phasers also~ John was thinking when his comm. badge beeped. It was the Marine Duty Officer. “Hey, Fredericks. I’ve run all the logs and checked with the rest of my people. No one shows to have removed those two Phasers.” “Alright, John sighed, I’ll have to report it then. John signed off and made the report of the two missing hand weapons from the Marine armory. Then tapped his comm. badge. =/\= computer, what is the location of First Officer Grailik? =/\= =/\= THE FIRST OFFICER IS IN ENGINEERING=/\= John headed back out of the Security Office waving at the others on duty “If any one needs me I am heading to Engineering for a few minutes, you’ve got it again Rodriguez” As the doors closed John speeded his pace to the turbo lift and also opened his empathic receptive range a little further, noticing his headache increased as he did so. =/\= Main Engineering=/\= John called out to the lifts pick up and leaned back as the door closed, after a few moments the doors opened and he stepped out. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca, Sickbay, COUNS, Dr. Domini Alizara, 15:15) Domini woke up as a restorative was pumped into her system. She looked around the sickbay, her eyes not focusing from the pain in her head. It had been a long time since she had been required to mind-heal someone as badly hurt as Rin was. As was usually the case, she hadn't had any time to prepare and the lack of that preparation was taking it's toll on her head at this very instant. She laid her head back against the bio-bed and closed her eyes again taking stock of what had happened. She opened her eyes again, and signaled the Doctor over. "I need something to deaden the pain and reduce the slight inflammation in my telepathic cortex." She said, giving him a look that should have stopped him in his tracks. (reply CMO) Domini looked over and saw Skylynx sitting on one of the biobeds. "Ensign, why are you still here? Did something happen?" Domini asked quickly, not seeing Eva or Sevant any longer. Grailik was gone too. "And would you happen to know how long I was out?" Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca, Sickbay, TAC/SC Ensign Skylynx, 15:15) Ryko lay on the biobed, head propped up on a pillow, looking at the latest security report. The tests McQuade had mentioned were well underway, and Ryko was definitely looking forward to leaving sickbay. The counselor stirred and caught his attention. "Ensign, why are you still here? Did something happen?" Domini asked quickly. Ryko looked to his left and was admittedly a little surprised by Alizara waking up. "You've been out for more than an hour, that's all I know, I only got here myself recently," Ryko said, "the mental blocks in my mind have broken down, I need them replacing," Ryko explained. (Reply Alizara) "If you feel up to it, I know you were completely drained by healing Dr. Rin," Ryko said, nodding at Rin. (Reply Alizara) "Only temporary ones, I want them blocked for now, then once this mission is over, I will concentrate on mastering my empathy," Ryko said. "The good doc is making sure I don't destroy everything in sight," he finished, deliberately exaggerating. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca,  Sickbay, COUNS Dr. Domini Alizara, 15:17) "You've been out for more than an hour, that's all I know, I only got here myself recently," Ryko said, "the mental blocks in my mind have broken down, I need them replacing," Ryko explained.   "Mental blocks?" Domini asked, not really comprehending.   "If you feel up to it, I know you were completely drained by healing Dr. Rin," Ryko said, nodding at Rin.   Domini shook her head, feeling very confused.   "Only temporary ones, I want them blocked for now, then once this mission is over, I will concentrate on mastering my empathy," Ryko said. "The good doc is making sure I don't destroy everything in sight," he finished, deliberately exaggerating. Domini frowned at the Doctor, feeling hyper-sensitive to the world around her. She decided to throw all the laws and such away and just read what the problem was, making no secret of it that she was doing so. ::Can you hear me?:: Domini sent to him, very carefully. She looked over at the Doctor and back to the Ensign. ::If you can hear me, nod your head.:: When there was no response, Domini got off the biobed, and walked over to the surgical table, picking up the hypo that had been last used. She looked at the medicine inside it, noting a fairly benign telepathic suppressant. She nodded, going over to the pharmacy stores, carefully avoiding McQuack and picked out a good counter. "Come with me." Domini said, leading him out of sickbay and back to her office, which was still set up from her time with Rin. She turned to Skylynx and frowned. "I don't even know your first name." She said, pressing the hypo to his arm, administering the counter. "Well, introductions first. My name is Domini, I can tell that you are distrustful of me, and I can tell you don't like me very much. All of that aside, I am not the Vulcan at the Academy that put those half-formed blocks in. They failed because you didn't trust her enough to let her deep enough to do it properly. " Domini lit the incense and took a seat on the cushion. She looked up at her new patient. "Have a seat, Ryko." Domini said softly, but firmly. "How do you feel?" She asked, knowing that the counter to the suppressant sometimes made people feel dizzy. ::Ryko, can you hear me?:: Domini sent, sitting in a relaxed posture, Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca, Sickbay, TAC/SC Ensign Skylynx, 15:17) Ryko looked in the same direction as Domini did, towards McQuade. He felt a buzzing in his head and thought he heard something, but it wasn't there long enough for him to be totally sure. Domini got off her biobed, and walked over to the surgical table, then to the pharmacy. Curious, Ryko watched as she came back. "Come with me." Domini said. Ryko got up and left the PADD on the biobed, folloing the counselor to her office. She frowned. "I don't even know your first name." She said. pressing a hypospray to his arm. Ryko already knew it was an anti-supressant. "Ryko," he said. "My name's Ryko," he offered, letting his arm fall to its normal position. "My name is Domini, I can tell that you are distrustful of me, and I can tell you don't like me very much. All of that aside, I am not the Vulcan at the Academy that put those half-formed blocks in. They failed because you didn't trust her enough to let her deep enough to do it properly. " Ryko understood. He realised that she would have that image, probably subconsciously picking up on his little "exchange" with Straton earlier. "I apologise if I've given you a bad impression," he said. "I guess I still don't know everyone on this ship as well as I would like to." "Have a seat, Ryko." Domini said softly, but firmly. "How do you feel?" Ryko took a deep breath. "Feels like my head is clearing," he said, "other than that, normal..." he stoped as he heard her in his mind. ::Ryko, can you hear me?:: Ryko looked at Alizara. He couldn't empathically send to her yet, so he settled for lamen speech. "Yes." (reply Alizara) Ryko concentrated and closed his eyes. He started to think. ::I can hear you,:: he said weakly. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca,  COUNS Office, COUNS Dr. Domini Alizara, 15:27) ::Ryko, can you hear me?:: Ryko looked at Alizara. He couldn't empathically send to her yet, so he settled for lamen speech. "Yes."   Domini nodded, watching him very closely with her telepathic abilities, mostly.   Ryko concentrated and closed his eyes. He started to think. ::I can hear you,:: he said weakly. Domini's smile widened at the very weak attempt at telepathic communication. ::Good, very good!:: She sent to him. ::Ryko, do you trust yourself?:: Domini asked, feeling very sensitive to him. (Reply) ::I don't mean like that, I mean.... What about the Betazoid empathic abilities do you distrust? What event in your life made you want to shun your heritage?:: Domini asked, probing for the cause of the reason for blocking them. (reply) ::You are different than the others I have taught in that you have a fear of your abilities. Fear leads to anger and distrust and that in turn leads to more fear. Until you face what is causing the root of the problem, you will not be able to master your abilities.:: Domini grinned for a moment, remembering something. ::I have a homework assignment for you, when you have some spare time, go look up a series called Star Wars - it's part of the library collection, old Earth cinema. I think you will find some similarities between yourself and some of the characters in the movies.:: Domini took a deep breath. ::Relax, Ryko, take a deep breath and relax.:: Domini's voice began to say softly, almost meditatively, ::Slow, deep breaths, in and out, in and out...:: She felt him beginning to let go. There was something about the security mindset that seemed to make people uptight, and eternally vigilant. Domini vaguely seemed to understand it, well, she understood how it could exist, but it was so at odds to most of the Betazoid's that she was used to working with. Eva, of course, being the major exception. ::Look at me, Ryko. What do you see?:: Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca, COUNS Office, TAC/SC Ensign Ryko Skylynx, 15:27) Ryko concentrated and closed his eyes. He started to think. ::I can hear you,:: he said weakly. Domini's smile widened at the very weak attempt at telepathic communication. ::Good, very good!:: She sent to him. ::Ryko, do you trust yourself?:: Domini asked, feeling very sensitive to him. It was easier now that the connection was established. ::Of course, If I can't trust myself, how could I trust anything or anyone else?:: he sent, wondering why Domini had asked him such a thing. ::I don't mean like that, I mean.... What about the Betazoid empathic abilities do you distrust? What event in your life made you want to shun your heritage?:: Domini asked, probing for the cause of the reason for blocking them. ::I prefer to trust my instincts,::Ryko said. ::I feel that when you probe someone for information instead of asking them or just going with your feelings, you violate their privacy, and betray their trust,:: he said uneasily, hoping this explained it. ::I guess you could say, I'm scared of my abilities.:: ::You are different than the others I have taught in that you have a fear of your abilities. Fear leads to anger and distrust and that in turn leads to more fear. Until you face what is causing the root of the problem, you will not be able to master your abilities.:: Ryko tilted his head a little as the counselor grinned. ::I have a homework assignment for you, when you have some spare time, go look up a series called Star Wars - it's part of the library collection, old Earth cinema. I think you will find some similarities between yourself and some of the characters in the movies.:: Ryko quirked an eyebrow. "Star wars?" he said out loud, before remembering. ::How will looking at old earth movies help me master my potential?:: he sent, almost instantly wishing he hadn't. Domini took a deep breath. ::Relax, Ryko, take a deep breath and relax.:: Domini's voice began to say softly, almost meditatively, ::Slow, deep breaths, in and out, in and out...:: Ryko looked at the floor for a moment, and simply breathed, trying to clear his head. She could doubtless see the apology in his face. ::Look at me, Ryko. What do you see?:: This was an intriguing, yet wierd question, Ryko thought. He tried to answer. ::I see...a friend,::he settled, :::a guide, someone who can help me nurture the abilities I have, to help me master my own potential,:: he finished. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca,  COUNS Office, COUNS Dr. Domini Alizara, 15:32) ::Look at me, Ryko. What do you see?:: :I see...a friend,::he settled, :::a guide, someone who can help me nurture the abilities I have, to help me master my own potential,:: he finished. Domini kept her thoughts serene even if part of her wanted to scream. All of what he said was certainly true, but not enough. He wasn't relaxing. She reached out, and took a firm grip on his mind. ::You WILL relax if I have to force you too.:: She said, showing him in that moment how dangerous this assassin could be. ::Now watch what I do, and then I'll let you try on your own.:: She showed him how the body was really interconnected with the mind and that by visualizing the body you could affect it. She showed him how to relax the correct way, how to breathe properly so that the breaths went down to your diaphragm. She opened her eyes and watched as the tension literally drained out of him. ::That's better. Now, you try it.:: She sent, letting the grip up and him try it. (reply) After a couple more attempts, he was closer, probably as close as he was going to get this time. Considering that he was basically unshielded she began to project one of the more intense emotions that she could think of - pure lust. ::What do you feel.:: She said, her face still serene. When he didn't respond, not even his body, she switched to pure fear. Again no response. ::This is going to feel..strange and might hurt.:: Domini said, then began to examine the blocks in his mind. She poked at them and prodded them a bit, eliciting tension and winces of pain. "Interesting." She said, letting the link drop. She stretched her body out, and thought for a moment. "I'm going to block your abilities completely. For now." She held up her hand. "I can't remove the blocks all at once, and when I do you are going to have a horrible headache. I don't think it's wise to incapacitate the head of security right now. And trust me that you will be incapacitated. I also don't want to leave you vulnerable to whatever is hunting right now. So..." And Domini took a deep breath. "Any objections?" Stardate:2406.10.18 (Boudicca Main Engineering TAC/AST John Fredericks 15:40) John looked around him amazed at first since this was the first time he had been on the Engineering deck of something this big but then quickly remembered why he was there and located the FO. John wondered for a moment how he would attract the FO’s attention since he wasn’t supposed to alert anyone to what ever he had found but Grailik or the Captain but soon noticed The First Officer looking his way. John tapped his PADD and Grailik nodded his head in an affirmative motion and after a few minutes walked over to him. Sir, John started. I have not found anyone in the stunned type state you had mentioned nor have I located any one with any violent emotions. I have how ever noticed two missing hand weapons from the Marines armory. The Duty officer checked and there is no log of them being checked out or assigned to any one and no one admits to have taken them. Also there is a power build up in engineering that I cannot account for that has grown by 2% consecutively for the last three days. I am not an engineer so it may be nothing unusual but under the circumstances I thought I should mention it. (Reply Grailik) Aye sir, If that’s all I need to stop by sickbay and then return to my duties Stardate:2406.10.18 (Boudicca -John Fredericks quarters- TAC/AST John Fredericks- 16:00 Once at his quarters John headed over to his terminal =/\= Computer locate all off duty security personnel and download to this PADD. Also run a Vitals scan of same personnel flagging the ones whose readings are either too high or too low for a normal reading in each case =/\= =/\= ALL SECURITY PERSONELL ARE WITHIN NORMAL PARAMETERS ACCORDING TO THEIR RACIAL NORMS EXCEPT ENSIGN STEVENS. E AND ENSIGN RODGERS.M=/\= =/\= Please give me the location and variances on both Ensigns=/\= =/\= ENSIGN STEVENS AND RODGERS ARE LOCATED IN THE QUARTERS OF ENSIGN STEVENS. VARIENCES INCLUED ELEVATED ADRENALIN FLOW, INCREASED BODY CORE TEMPERATURE=/\= =/\= Cancell !=/\= John interrupted the computer. He had just remembered who the two Security team members were. Ensigns Emily Stevens and Mark Rodgers, the two had been a pair for a while now. John decided to let them be for now and check them when they came on duty, he didnt think his orders called for him to invade off duty personnel while in the pursuit of non ship business and the reading from the computer didnt show what he would have expected had he found someone like the FO had described. John left his quarters and headed back to the Security Office. Stardate:2406.10.18 (Boudicca - Science Lab -Cultural Anthropologist- Lt Madison Munroe- 1648) Maddie had just put the finishing touches on her report to the captain. She was shocked when Dr. Rin had put her in charge of the scieence team. She had never been put in charge of anything before. She had wondered if Rin just didn't like her. But after lunch it appeared quite the opposite. Too bad. She had rallied the team getting astrometrics on the job first, with long range, and intennsive scans of the planet. Then she brought in communications to monitor all of the varied communications that were being used. The use of micro waves to carry "television" pictures was amazing. This seemed to be the primary source of information dispersment for the planet. But what interested her even more was the use of radio waves in order to transmit information and entertainment in the form of music. The diversity of music was fascinating. How one planet could have so many different forms of music was always amazing to her from a cultural point of view. Music also tended to be an indicator of the type of culture that they were looking at. She had found herself drawn to a particular style of music and had been listening to it as she worked. It never ceased to interest Maddie, how music could be so motivating. Almost as motivating as food. Well, almost. What she had learned was that this society was diverse. There appeared to be four main governmental factions. There were, of course, several minor ones, but they didn't seem to have the global influence that the other four did. Thgey also seem to be coming out of the tail end of a cold war. Distrust and paranoia, although no longer rampant in their society, were still quite obviously still prevalant. Maddie had thanked all of her team members as they turned in their reports to her. They all did great work, and it had been her job to boil all of that information down to something useful to the captain. She hoped that what she had done was as useful as it seemed to herself. What she hoped even more so though, was to be part of the away team that she was going to recommend. She typed in the last words of her report and then looked at it appreciatively. Not bad if she didn't say so herself. Pleased with the work she had done she uploaded the report to her PADD. "Computer, what is the location Captain Sevant?" she asked. [Captain Sevant is in his ready room.] Maddie stood up and took a deep breath. She went to the mirror by the office door to make sure that her hair was presentable. She ran her hands across the top to smooth out the fly aways, stuck her tongue out at herself, and headed for the ready room. Stardate:2406.10.18 (Boudicca - Captain's Ready Room -Cultural Anthropologist- Lt Madison Munroe- 1655) As Maddie approached the door she began to play with her opening phrase that she would use on the captain. "Here's the report you requested." She shook her head. ~Lame.~ "Captain, I hope this didn't take to long but..." ~Oh lord, why don't I just say send me back to the academy.~ "Is this a convenient time?" ~You have got to be kidding.~ She shook her head realizing that she was best to just wait and see what came out of her mouth at the time. She smoothed out her uniform, pulling it at the bottom of the tunic and then rang the door chime. Stardate:2406.10.18 (Boudicca - Captain's Ready Room - Capt Sevant - 1655) Sevant leaned back in the chair as the chime went off. "Come." Stardate:2406.10.18 (Boudicca - Captain's Ready Room - Capt Sevant and Lt Munroe - 1655) Maddie heard the "Come," and the door slid open. She stepped into the Captain's ready room for the very first time in her life. She hadn't even been on the bridge level before. She worked hard to fight back the excitement, simply by remembering the reason for her visit. "Captain Sevant," she began, "Dr. Madison Munroe. I'm not sure if you remember, I mean, I know you're busy and I hate to intrude, but..." Damn, this wasn't going well. "Well, I've completed my repot and I wanted to make sure that you got it. So ... here it is." Sevant quirked an eyebrow, ever so slightly, and held out a hand for it. "Have a seat, Doctor; I have a few questions for you." Maddie tread lightly over to the desk and gently placed the PADD on it, tapping it slightly as if it were a pet that she were trying to keep calm. Then she sat in the chair across from him. "Questions Captain?" Maddie asked, "I'll be happy to answer any questions you have." At least then she would know what to say, unless he asked about somehting she didn't know about. Then she'd be sunk. She took a deep breath and prayed it was a "good" question. Caladryll folded his hands together and sat back: "First issue, what is our approximate Richter Scale reading here? Everything I've seen points to a nuclear society, possibly Cold War standoff variety. What have you been bale to confirm?" It was so nice to be able to talk science with someone. Usually, when conversations turned to science people tended to get bored with Maddie quickly. She found that she tended to talk over the heads of others. She just got excited about her field of study and for some strange reason most others found sociology boring. "I would say post nuclear, pre technocracy era, Captain," Maddie said. "They seem to have the idea that there is life in the universe, and have even shown signs of rudimentary space flight. Their current state of technology is probably equivalent to Earth in the early 21st century. They also seem to have discovered microchip technology in the past 40 to 50 years. " She looked to find the captain still listening so she continued. "All the evidence I've gathered have shown that they are a post cold war society. This is a recent development, so there is still an air of distrust and paranoia between the nation states. As you've noticed they have developed nuclear power, but haven't quite seemed to find how to harness it without severely damaging their environment or each other. Fortunately, they have not had a nuclear war, yet. Although it looked like they were heading that way until the last year." Sevant frowned slightly and tapped his fingers against the desk as he turned his head to look out of the port-hole there. Post cold-war, but still in a state of paranoia, they would have to loose that paranoia to move into a planetary or technocracy state of development. "Do you think you can work with engineering and a few select members of the crew and prepare them for an away mission?" he looked back. "We are still investigating all measures, but I would prefer to have a team as ready as possible should we need to beam down." Maddie's heart just about jumped out of her throat. She fought back the excitment to give a very controled answer. "Oh yes sir." A little too much? "I would be happy to help out with that." Maddie chewed on her bottom lip as she begant o make instant considerations for such a mission. It had been what she had wanted, and was even a recomendation on her report. She could feel the mounting excitment well up inside her again. "What would be your ideal team, size, members, etc." "I think we should get a thorough idea of what it's like on the planet, without being conspicuous. Perhaps a team of five or six. I, of course, would love to volunteer to be part of the team. I think that Counselor Alizara should be involved. Of course, you'll want a security contingent, so that's three. I'm not sure who else you'd want, but I'm sure you'd want an engineer along and a command member." Sevant nodded, "Ill let you know other prospective team members as needs come to light. Work out what you need to work out to insert a modest sized team into the field, report to Engineering about converting our needed materials into something local." He folded his hands together again, "Anything else?" Maddie was shocked. She was actually putting together an away team, and being put in charge of something. It was almost too much to handle. "Ummm....ummm...," she stumbled over her thoughts. "No sir, I think that should just about do it." "Dismissed" "Yes sir," Maddie replied. But she didn't move. Her feet seemed stuck to the flooring of the captain's office. Her mouth was a little dry, and she thought that she might be hyperventilating. Munroe shook herself and forced her feet to move. She managed to make it to the door before turning around. She wasn't sure what she wanted to say. She wanted to say thank you for such a great opportunity to show her stuff. But she also wanted to scream, "Are you crazy, I dopn't have the right experience for this." Instead she just went with the silence and headed for engineering. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Crew Quarters - OPS Lt. Schafio & TAC/SC Ensign Skylynx - 1800) Yalta's day finally ended. She had in her mind the day before, the metal of the broken sword was of really good quality and pure metal, what it needed was to reforged it and she did. The design, was a work of art that she put in. When she came back yesterday with it, Riko was speechless. She made her way quickly to there quarters and was surprised again. Ryko waited in their quarters, trying to fasten his combat gear. It had been just over 4 years since he had last worn this stuff, and although it was too small for him now, he wore it anyway. He picked up his blade. Silvernus' reforged blade glinted around the room. Ryko smiled. Yalta was an amazing forge worker. His sword felt light and flexible, and moved like an extension of his arm. He unsheathed it in its black scabbard and waited for Yalta to arrive. “Wow!” After a moment, she started to laugh and try not to. “I think that your combat gear is too small for you. But you look really good.” she calmed herself. Ryko couldn't resist a laugh. "You're right, I'll change," Ryko said, and backed into the bedroom. "You all ready for our little.. .engagement?" he asked over changing into something loose. Yalta followed him inside and started to change her clothes. “Give me 2 minutes and I will be.” She turn her head to him. “Anything plan?” "I was thinking the shanghai program, cut our way through abotu 5 levels to warm up, working together, then if you want we can fight each other with holographic blades," Ryko offered as he finished changing. “That's a good program.” Yalta had finished putting on her training clothes. “I'm ready now!” "Alright, let's go!" Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Holodeck 3 - 1815) When they arrived at the holodeck, they activated the program. Yalta took a moment to look around. “It's very beautiful, and a good place to warm up.” Ryko sighed. "Gimme a sec to remember my technique," he said, and unsheathed his blade. Yalta followed and started slowly to make it swirl to warm up her wrists She always love the sound a blade did as it cut the air. “Take your time!” Ryko smiled and brought the blade up in a smooth arc so it was parallel with his body. then he began to spin it until it became a blur. He slowly wound down to a stop and breathed. "Ok, I'm ready." Ryko said, cracking his neck a little “Good... we will take it slow and build up the speed.” Ryko relaxed. "Computer, begin level one," Ryko said, and instantly a wave of sword-wielding warriors charged at them. "First to twenty wins," Ryko said, smiling and readying himself for the charge. “You are on!” Yalta gave him a corner smile, making herself ready. Ryko smiled as the first wave set upon them. "HAUL ASS!" he shouted, and let his blade go to work. It had been a while since he had used a blade so he was admittedly a little rusty, but not so much as to make him cautious. He fluidly slipped from one opponent to the other. "10...11...12..." Ryko said, still smiling as he remembered the contests he had taken part in back on earth. "How you doing?" he said, cutting down a rather silly opponent. “I am up to 14 right now. Make that 16.” Ryko put his katana through another one. "I got two left, better hurry up!" he said, looking for someone still moving. He slid his sword through the final two and looked around triumphantly, only to see Yalta standing quite happily against a wall, blade sheathed, with a big smile on her face. Ryko looked to his right. A big pile of defeated opponents lay huddled a small distance nearby. "That was fast," Ryko said, breathing a little faster than normal. "Okay, I guess you win that round," he said, and bowed a little. "Computer, begin round two," he said, and looked up. This time there was the same amount of enemies but they were being covered by archers up on the battlements. "Up to twenty again?" Ryko offered. “Yes... Be careful now.” "Sure," he said, and readied himself once more. "Computer, begin Level 2," Ryko said, and braced himself as another horde of holographic opponents descended on him. "YE-HAA!" Ryko cried as he charged into the fray, and began barging through every one. "9...10...11..." Ryko said, smiling as he moved like some sort of drunk ballerina. “I'm at 12 right now! Be careful... your right is showing.” Ryko smiled, remained still, and shoved his katana to his right, intercepting a charging victim. He looked over, arm still outstretched. "Boo," Ryko said, and let the opponent drop. "That's 13," Ryko said confidently. "I'm going for the archers!" Yalta took another sword from her opponent. “I'm getting there... number 14 just done.” "15, 16, 17..." Ryko said, and reached the archers. "Hi," he said simply, and Skewered 3 of them on his blade. "Done!" he said, removing his sword and unsheathing it, then leaning against the battlement walls. “I'm done too!” Yalta smiled. “So what is next... do we get inside the structure?” "Nope," Ryko said, jumping casually down over the battlements onto the path below. He wandered down and sidled up to her. "Now, we showdown," Ryko said, and looked at her. “You mean... fight each other.” she had a corner smile on her face. Ryko's hand brushed his katana hilt as it made its way to her shoulder. "Yup," he said, tickling her neck. “Alright!” she chuckled. Ryko backed off, hand on his blade, smiling. "First, a change of scene...." Ryko said, thinking. "Computer, load program, Elas Shirani Tournament." Ryko offered. The holoemitters buzzed as the holodeck changed form, and suddenly they were in a huge arena, surrounded on all sides by crowds. The two stood in a small square mat area. "This..." Ryko began, unsheathing his sword, "Is where I won Silvernus," he finished. “Nice!” Yalta look around keeping her hand on her blade. “I have been here a few times.” "Then it seems that we're familiar with the territory," Ryko said. He held Silvernus in a parry and faced her. "En Garde!" He called, and the battle began. “More then you think... I did battle here you know.” Yalta smoothly unsheathe her katana, and wink at him. "Let see how you do, I'm a little rusty, so I'll probably be a little slow at first.” “It doesn't show Sweetheart, at least not too much.” "Good," Ryko said. "Let's go! I'm itching to get started." he said, almost jumping up and down on the spot.” “Alright! I will try to be gentle.” Yalta started with some classical moves and kata. Sky was handling himself rather well. Ryko easily defended himself against Yalta's movements. He retaliated with some moves of his own, and began to speed up the duel. “Good.... Let's get a bit more exotic now.” "Took the words right out of my mouth," Ryko said, and began to go into more detailed and complex maneuvers. Yalta handled herself in only defense, taking her time to enjoy the fight but also to study her opponent. “I like that.” "I know what you're up to," Ryko said tunefully. "You're trying to figure out my technique, aren't you?" he said, smiling and continuing to heat up the complexity of his advances. “I might... but I'm rather enjoying the way you look when you fight. The posture you take. Really very nice.” Ryko couldn't help a playful laugh. "Here I am trying to beat you in a sword fight, and you're lookin' at my butt?" he joked, stopping for a moment, then quickly guarding. “Hey... you do have a nice one. Let me show you what I mean!” Now it was Yalta's turn to show him what she could do. “Tell me what you think!” She said laughing. Ryko was shook by the aggressiveness Yalta suddenly adopted, but quickly rallied and fought back. "Not bad," Ryko said, "But not good enough," he finished, and started to duel with her. “My dear.... it was just to reel you in.” Ryko smiled as Yalta began to reveal her true ability. "Yeah, girl, that's it, give me all you got!" Ryko said, matching blow after blow and fighting back. "I'll take this over a tourney any day!" he announced over the clash of their blades. “Not all of it... a girl's need mystery. You're going to need to work to make me reveal everything.” Suddenly, she had him pin down on the ground and her on top. “That is more like it.” Her eyes were bright and she bit her bottom lip. Ryko knew what Yalta was thinking. "You gonna have to work for that, sweetheart," he said, and flipped round so he was on top, knees resting lightly against her arms. She was pinned. "One to nothin'," he said, and stood up to ready himself for the second of 3 rounds. “Alright!” Yalta got up, taking a deep breath. "Round 2," Ryko said, and a chime went off. Both moved like the wind, little more than blurs against the background. Ryko was constantly smiling. He was back in his Heyday, the day he had won the Elas tournament for real, but it did strike him as odd that he hadn't encountered Yalta in any of them. Yalta didn't let any blow pass, it felt like a long time that she was in that fighting ring but it was just a few years ago. Has a rule, they wore a mask as much to protect them and, that way no one would know who they are fighting against, she could have thought her own brother and not even know it. Something felt familiar and she didn't know why yet. Yalta decided to show Sky what she was made of, using a few moves that she only used a few times only. The surprise had some effect has she disarm Sky. “I think I have won this round.” Ryko sat up and shook his head. "Wow," he said, standing up. "That was unexpected," he said, before unleashing a few surprises of his own. Yalta didn't let herself be surprise or lower her guard, that was a no that she had learn quickly, actually, it was the first lesson that she had learn from her master a long time ago. “There's more where it comes from.” "I'm counting on it," Ryko said, smiling. He actually felt relaxed, something unheard of in a fight where competitors were so evenly matched. "Come on Yalta, no more holding back. Show me what you got," Ryko said after they broke up another duel. “Now, now, a girl need to pick her time for maximum effect!” She had a corner smile on her face. "Not just the girls," Ryko said. "You think I've been fighting at full strength?" Ryko said. Yalta knew that Sky wanted to test her and also himself. “You better be careful with what you wish Honey... I'm not fighting at full strength either. There's a few moves that I didn't do since competition time you haven't seen yet.” ~Two can play that game Sweetheart.~Yalta thought. "Bring it on, honey, I'm waiting," Ryko said, a little more cocky than he usually was. "Now, what d'you say we drop the trash talkin' and start fighting?" Ryko said, and advanced. “Okay Love!” As the fight increased a knotch, Yalta could see the opportunity to do some accrobatics, one move was to do three steps on a wall, followed by a side flip and a full attack. That was how she had manage to get up the ranks in a few tournaments. She decided to wait for that opportunity and it presented itself rather quickly, but instead of a 3 steps, she made only 2. Ryko realised that Yalta hadn't made the attack properly, he had seen that move before. ~She's gonna hurt herself,~ Ryko thought, and instantly lowered his blade as his suspicion was confirmed. Yalta knew that she made a mistake, but she corrected it by rolling backward forcing her opponent to move toward her, but instead Sky had lowered his blade. “What's going on?” "How did you do that?" Ryko said. "You should have a broken ankle after a mess up like that," he said, raising his blade again. “I know... I controlled the flip, it's not easy... I didn't have enough momentum when I was thinking that I had. I did that move only in competition.” "I can see why you won," Ryko said. "I only ever tried that once, almost got disqualified..." he said. “I thought that guy once, don't know who he was but the fight lasted about an hour... funny part was the judges, they decided that we were equal and stop the fight.” Yalta chuckled as she remembered. “I never knew who I thought against because of those masks.” "Wait a minute..." Ryko said. "You fought someone who tried that manoeuver?" Ryko said “He tried many manoeuvers... one was against a colum like this one. He ran toward it, 2 steps up and turn toward back, plunging against the opponent... but I was running toward him, so by the time he flipped, I was pass him and ready.” “But to answer your question... yes he did.” "Did you punch him in the gut?" “Not totally, off center right, didn't touch nothing but the rib sideways.” Yalta showed the angle with her arm. “But that was the second match, when we thought again.” Ryko couldn't believe it. He walked up to Yalta and took her hand. "It was right here," Ryko said, placing it just over his ribs. “Yes... that's about it.” Yalta took a moment to realise what he was going toward but she wasn't sure. "That guy in the mask you fought...the idiot who took all the risks...that was me." Ryko said, smiling in a surprised way. Yalta look at him with surprised. “You... ” Ryko nodded. "It was me." "I was the one who did that stupid manoeuvre, I was the one who...." Ryko couldn't finish the sentence. She knew he was going to say "defeated you", but he felt disgraced by the deed. “Your mask... do you still have it?” Part of her was not believing this... that was a such a weird coincidence that they were face to face now. Ryko reached into a small pouch in his belt, and pulled out the protective garment, unfolding it he let it sit on his palms. "I kept it every day since, but as you can see, it's a little worn," he said, there was a big tear down the cheek “We defeated each other that day!” She took it and remembered. Ryko smiled. "We were one all then, I don't think we should change that, hell I don't think we could," Ryko said. He had known since that day that whoever his opponent had been, they had been his equal. " I knew we couldn't beat each other outright," Ryko said. "I just never knew I'd end up falling in love with my opponent," he laughed, moving alongside her. He put an arm on her shoulder as they shared the memory. “I'm sorry for your face, but you still leave your right side sometimes right open. I really thought that the judges would stop us.” She said in a whisper, part of her couldn't believe that the univers was this small after all. "It's okay," Ryko said. "It's a really small scar, plus I guess I was focused more on my fighter training at the time. That being where I got this." “Sky, let's leave the past where it is and focus on that here, on this ship wasn't the first time that we have met. I don't feel like fighting right now.” Ryko replaced his sword in its scabbard and went to comfort Yalta. He held her tightly and stroked her hair. "It's in the past," he said soothingly. "I never was one to dwell on the past," he said, kissing her head. “Let's go back to our quarters. I'm a bit hungry!” She look up at him and smiled. Ryko smiled. "Ok," he said, "but this time, I'm cooking." He threw an arm around her shoulder as they walked towards the holodeck door. "Computer, End program." “Alright tonight you cook!” She pass her arm around Sky waist and smiled. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Bridge - Capt Sevant - 21:12) The Captain folded his hands together and looked at the screen for several long moments, the world that was just inside transporter range looked incredibly peaceful. They were under cloak and had arrived at a slow speed, the last several thousand kilometers they had traveled at slow impulse, so that even space-dust wouldn’t be disturbed by their passing. With the cloak in operation, even with it leaking energy, there was no way that a radio or standard telescope could see them. They were staying well to the North of the average land-masses as well, so that the odds of most telescopes even being able to focus on them was negligible. He looked over the data scrolling on his screen about the planet, now that they were truly close enough to get a good look at it. At first glance, apparently, there were several apparent Nations. One in a single large temperate climate, another spread out over a series of large islands, and two others seeming to share a second large continent. If there were other, smaller groupings, they hadn’t discovered it yet. They had only just started to fully listen into broadcasts and the like. The one thing they had discovered in a hurry, however, was generally how far along this civilization was before. Short-range sensors had discovered a lot of things at three light-years, being closer told them even more. There were satellites in orbit, the Boudicca was being very careful about staying out of their orbits. And one other thing, nuclear signatures, in each of the apparent major Nation-States. Sevant found himself looking at Cold War societies. That would make things difficult, at least according to history and the Richter Scale. Nuclear/Cold War type societies tended to have absolutely paranoid security setups, detection networks of various sorts, and very itchy trigger-fingers. Nothing highly dangerous to the Boudicca herself, but more then enough to make getting on and off the planet a real hardship for him and his crew. They would learn fairly quickly the political climate of the world, and how close to war they might be, both by civilian channels and military communiqués. There was no official timeline for Sevant to follow, they had as much time to get back as they really needed and they still had to discover what they needed from this planet to make the transition back into their home space. Sevant was using that time wisely and scanning the planet passively for anything that could be of use. "Ok, standard orbit, but keep an eye on satellite orbits." He told Conn. "Report any significant course changes required, otherwise carry on." (reply: conn) He folded his hands together, "Operations, make sure Science and Anthropology get all the sensor time they require, at least for the next few hours." (reply: Ops) "Sevant to Science, I want a preliminary list of our material requirements from this planet on my desk in an hour." He didn’t say that they would need to work out the best ways to retrieve whatever was needed, they wouldn’t be here otherwise, but first they needed to know exactly *what* they needed. (reply: Science) "Cultural Anthropology, how long do you think it will take to come up with a preliminary reading of this culture, and its Richter Scale mark?" (reply: Cultural Anth.) "Very well." He paused for a moment, "Sevant to West, Meet me in my ready room." Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Engineering - Lt jg Trevan West - 21:13) The Comm system came to life as Trevan was reading over status reports, "Sevant to West, Meet me in my ready room." "Aye sir. On my way." Trevan dropped his reports, smoothed out his uniform and headed for the turbolift in the aft section. Within minutes he was whisked away towards the bridge, all the while wondering what the Captain wanted. Hopefully it's something good. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Bridge – OPS Lt. Schafio -2118) Yalta had finished her shift for a while now... this was a long day. She got up, once the relief crew came in for the night shift She was about to give the low down about what was going on and needed to be done when orders were given. He folded his hands together, "Operations, make sure Science and Anthropology get all the sensor time they require, at least for the next few hours." “Yes Sir.” Yalta look at the officer now at OPS. “You heard. Write up a report, I will read it in the morning. “Understood Sir!” Yalta gave a last look on the bridge. Sky had left for there quarters a while now, and finding the familiar surrounding of their place would be good and relaxing, just as much has to be with each other. She took the turbolift, leaving the intense day behind. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Bridge - Lt jg Trevan West- 21:18) The Bridge was a flurry of activity, on the viewscreen a planet rotated slowly and several science members were using the aft science stations while OPS was busy doing OPS things. Trevan made his was towards the Ready Room and rang the chime. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Bridge - Capt Sevant- 21:19) "Come," Sevant said quietly. He turned from his monitor to the open door, and nodded to the Chief Engineer. "Have a seat, Lieutenant." he said as he sat back in his chair. (reply: West) Sevant tapped his fingers on the table for a few moments, then gestured to his security guard to exit. If anyone managed to get into his own ready room, while he was armed, then it was doubtful another man would make any difference. The guard left, the Captain didn't say a word until he was gone. "Lieutenant, you are well aware of our situation. We currently have two major problems, and one of them will require your skills." He tapped his monitor a couple times and uploaded the data already collected onto a PADD, then pushed it over. "I am taking nothing for granted; I want you to look at what we have here and get a few ideas in mind for replicating our technology into the guise of something... innocent, of this culture. We already know this planet is destroyed in our near future, but if we have to go down, I don't want to cause a panic." He paused, "The most useful things, phaser and tricorder. Perhaps work with medical to figure out how to hide a field kit." Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Personal Quarters - Senior Chief Melody Haverstaad 2150) =^=Trevan to Haverstaad, report to Engineering please.=^= Melody opened her eyes and looked at the dark ceiling of her quarters. She had only just got off duty, and only had six hours to herself before she had to be back -on- duty. That was the problem with being on alert status; security forces got so little rest. "Be right there," she growled as she sat up. "But this had better be good," she said once the channel had closed. "Because if it isn't, I'm going to have your balls for a necklace." She rubbed her eyes as she swung her legs out and looked around. "Why didn't I sign up for the Merchant Marine?" she asked herself vaguely as she went looking for a uniform. Stardate:2406.10.18 (Boudicca - Engineering - Senior Chief Melody Haverstaad - 2202) "Right, I'm here, Sir. Reporting as ordered." She said as respectfully as she could... which came out to a dull growl. Stardate:2406.10.18 (Boudicca - Engineering - Lt jg Trevan West- 2203) "Right, I'm here, Sir. Reporting as ordered." She said as respectfully as she could... which came out to a dull growl. 'Argh, I pissed her off, good job Trev.' he thought to himself. "Okay here's the deal, I am currently doing some research on our new friends down on the planet to see what of our technology I can disguise as theirs. I have several ideas but I don't want to spend hours doing this and I had a great idea." he paused looking at her, she didn't seem interested all that much until he spoke again. "I want to try and use the Holographic unit we installed a while ago and input these devices into it to see if things match and and work as well as I hope. I need another person who is experienced enough to help input simulated data into the computer while I test out my theory. You up for the task?" Trevan smiled, knowing she probably would be. He gave her that "can you come out and play" look, and waited for her to respond. (reply Haverstadd) "Look, I know it's late and we could all use a little sleep but I can't sleep until this is done. I'll buy you dinner later to make up for it." replied Trevan. Stardate:2406.10.18 (Boudicca - Engineering - Senior Chief Melody Haverstaad - 2203) "Right, I'm here, Sir. Reporting as ordered." "Okay here's the deal, I am currently doing some research on our new friends down on the planet to see what of our technology I can disguise as theirs. I have several ideas but I don't want to spend hours doing this and I had a great idea." She quirked an eyebrow as he paused, then continued with; "I want to try and use the Holographic unit we installed a while ago and input these devices into it to see if things match and work as well as I hope. I need another person who is experienced enough to help input simulated data into the computer while I test out my theory. You up for the task?" "Of course, Sir." She said. "Send the specs to the Security holographic control center, Ill begin imputing numbers and scans." ~So much for sleep,~ she thought wearily. "Look, I know it's late and we could all use a little sleep but I can't sleep until this is done. I'll buy you dinner later to make up for it." "Ill hold you to that," she said as she turned. (Boudicca - Security Center, Interactive Holographic Control Center - Senior Chief Melody Haverstaad - 2215) Michelle whistled tonelessly as she spun in her chair and tapped a panel. "Computer, load up the test ring in holodeck 2, lock off that holodeck until Im done using it." =^=Loaded.=^= "Good." She said as she turned back. The holodeck was where they tested on the holographic system; she was only here to load specs and schematics. She could do fine-tuning down there, later. "Whenever you're ready, Chief." She whispered, waiting for data to flow her way. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Security Center, Interactive Holographic Control Center - Lt jg Trevan West- 2216) Michelle whistled tonelessly as she spun in her chair and tapped a panel. "Computer, load up the test ring in holodeck 2, lock off that holodeck until Im done using it." =^=Loaded.=^= "Good." She said as she turned back. The holodeck was where they tested on the holographic system; she was only here to load specs and schematics. She could do fine-tuning down there, later. "Whenever you're ready, Chief." She whispered, waiting for data to flow her way. The holo display appeared in front of him, "Great, ok now load in all of our equipment that we will be using, phasers Type One and Two, Tricorder and Medkits." (reply Melody) "Excellent, now bring up the data that was retrieved from the search and overlay them on top of our equipment." Within seconds, several unfamiliar devices appeared and Trevan began selecting several pieces that didn't belong. "There, what's that one called," he said as he pointed to something the looked like a PADD. "I think we can adapt that one to a tricorder, about the same dimensions. May have to do some tailoring to it, won't be perfect. If we get stopped and searched the gig will be up, however upon first glance it will be legit." He turned and spun around his head, "Melody, what can we use in the way of armaments?" Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Security Center, Interactive Holographic Control Center - Senior Chief Melody Haverstaad - 2216) "Great, ok now load in all of our equipment that we will be using, phasers Type One and Two, Tricorder and Medkits." It wasn't what the matrix was designed for, but she did so. She included a type-3 phaser rifle for kicks, and all three major kinds of tricorders. "Excellent, now bring up the data that was retrieved from the search and overlay them on top of our equipment." She looked sideways at another monitor as she began tapping the control panel. "Computer, form holographic recreations of major communications and handheld devices of approximate sizes and or shapes to current Away team gear, from all scans of the planet and all communications channels. And get me a list of what each device appears to be, its uses and any social stigmas that each appears to have, if any." Lots of pieces formed, and the CEO started going through them. "There, what's that one called," Melody looked at her list, which had been compiled on her monitor. "Personal Data Access Device, wireless intranet capabilities." She looked up, "There seems to be a hard-wire information network running through the planet, with various methods of logging on." "I think we can adapt that one to a tricorder, about the same dimensions. May have to do some tailoring to it, won't be perfect. If we get stopped and searched the gig will be up, however upon first glance it will be legit." She nodded briefly, and then blinked when he suddenly changed focus. "Melody, what can we use in the way of armaments?" "Unless you've been given restrictions..." she temporized as she thought, "standard gear in a non-hostile environment is the type 1 and 2 phaser." (reply: Trevan, with room for conversation) NRPG: Remember, she knows next to nothing about this, and at *this* point in time, no one is sure there is going to be an away team at all, it's all theoretical. *chuckles evilly* RPG: She pointed at another piece of... something. Then consulted a list, "This is... a personal containment device, uh... the computer identifies it as a purse." She looked back up, "Typically only carried by women. We wouldn't even need to alter it, just throw some medical gear in it and close it up. It wouldn't have the strength of the actual medical case, but it would be well concealed providing a woman carried it." Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Security Center, Interactive Holographic Control Center -Lt jg Trevan West- 2217) She nodded briefly, and then blinked when he suddenly changed focus. "Melody, what can we use in the way of armaments?" "Unless you've been given restrictions..." she temporized as she thought, "standard gear in a non-hostile environment is the type 1 and 2 phaser." Trevan looked at her, he felt worry and hoped it didn't show on his face, "Umm, well lets check out both shall we, always good to be thorough." Trevan watched as more and more data began to pour in front of him, several personal communication devices and what appeared to be some sort of remote were adaptable, in case form only, to fit a type one phaser. "That one looks good, but let's eliminate it, I think it would be suspicious if we were carrying around something like that. People may think we have explosives or something." He grinned at Melody, assuming she thought the same thing about the irony of that statement. "Okay, things are looking good here, and before you ask me, No. I don't know if there is an away mission and I only know slightly more then you do. I am not authorized to tell you anything beyond what you already know. Yes, there is a planet, and yes, we are back in time. Besides that, I am just guessing on what is going on. I will know, hopefully soon, what the hell is going on." That was an obvious lie, and she knew it, according to the look on her face. But what can he do, he can't say anything. She pointed at another piece of... something. Then consulted a list, "This is... a personal containment device, uh... the computer identifies it as a purse." She looked back up, "Typically only carried by women. We wouldn't even need to alter it, just throw some medical gear in it and close it up. It wouldn't have the strength of the actual medical case, but it would be well concealed providing a woman carried it." Trevan looked at it and nodded in agreement, "Yeah but what if there aren't any women on the away, er," he paused and chose his words carefully, "Well, how about that there?" he pointed at the backpack, or what they called a backpack anyway, "That could conceal just as well at the 'purse' but carry much more weight and be less conspicuous when carried by a man." Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Security Center, Interactive Holographic Control Center - Senior Chief Petty Officer Melody Haverstaad - 2219) "Umm, well lets check out both shall we, always good to be thorough." Melody nodded in reply and began looking through items that could conceivably fit a small Type-1 personal phaser, or the more durable and larger Type 2. There wasn't much, unlike most other items; a phaser's shape could not be significantly altered. The type 2 was nearly impossible to match; there were a few small things that fit the type one. She paused as the CEO pointed one out, "That one looks good, but let's eliminate it, I think it would be suspicious if we were carrying around something like that. People may think we have explosives or something." She quirked an eyebrow at his grin. Then pointed out something, "This is a.... cell phone. It has several generational models, the earliest of them would fit the general dimensions of a type-1 (reply, if desired) "Okay, things are looking good here, and before you ask me, No. I don't know if there is an away mission and I only know slightly more then you do. I am not authorized to tell you anything beyond what you already know. Yes, there is a planet, and yes, we are back in time. Besides that, I am just guessing on what is going on. I will know, hopefully soon, what the hell is going on." She nodded, whether or not it was true, she accepted that there were details she couldn't know. Senior Chief or not, high on the non-com rank list or not, she wasn't an officer and could only be told that which she was cleared for. She pointed at another piece of... something. Then consulted a list, "This is... a personal containment device, uh... the computer identifies it as a purse." She looked back up, "Typically only carried by women. We wouldn't even need to alter it, just throw some medical gear in it and close it up. It wouldn't have the strength of the actual medical case, but it would be well concealed providing a woman carried it." Trevan looked at it and nodded in agreement, "Yeah but what if there aren't any women on the away, er," he paused and chose his words carefully, "Well, how about that there?" he pointed at the backpack, or what they called a backpack anyway, "That could conceal just as well at the 'purse' but carry much more weight and be less conspicuous when carried by a man." She looked at it, "Depends on where this theoretical away team was going," she said. Melody paused as she consulted the cultural information she had up, and tapped a few options. "Students and camping enthusiasts are the only ones who use backpacks, as far as we can tell. Someone who looked young enough to be a student could conceivably carry it off." Stardate:2406.10.18 (Boudicca - Science - Ensign(jg) Roe McLauren - 2310) "Oh God," he said as he sat back. He rubbed his eyes for long moments, then picked the PADD back up he had been reading. He now knew the general amounts of metal and mineral they needed, and in what amounts. That hadn't taken a lot of calculation; he had let the CSO and Captain know immediately What was a problem now were WHAT kind of metal they needed, and what kind of minerals. The results in his hand were so far from promising, he almost wanted to cry. He shook his head, "Ensign McLauren to Captain Sevant, Chief Science Officer Rin and Chief Engineer West, please come to the Astrophysics lab as soon as you are available." Stardate:2406.10.18 (Boudicca - Sickbay - CSO/2O Kyle Morie Rin - 2310) =^= Ensign McLauren to Captain Sevant, Chief Science Officer Rin and Chief Engineer West, please come to the Astrophysics lab as soon as you are available. =^= ~Guess i'd better get on my feet and back to work.~ Kyle sat up on the biobed and turned to his side planting his feet onto the floor and tapping his com badge at the same time. =^= Understood McLauren, i'm on my way Rin out. =^= Before he could take to his feet a nurse rushed over and barked commands that he take it easy and not overwork himself. Kyle nodded in agreement considering his head was pounding like he had the worst migraine in the universe. After taking and administering the hypo-spray the nurse provided for the pain, he took to his feet and made his way out of sickbay into the corridor. Eva was only footsteps away from him giving orders to a few marines which guarded sickbay, had the 'Shadow' tried to physicaly attack him. Her attention at the moment was turned towards the men who stood guard that is until he sent her a telepathic message. ::You must really like my mind... considering you entered twice.:: Eva spun around and caught the half smile on Kyle's face along with the sarcasm which he had sent. ::I guess I owe you big... meet me later on the holodeck when your shift is over.:: (reply Eva) Kyle's face lit up and a smile broke out ear to ear as he stood at attention and gave her a kiss along with a half-ass salute. He watched as she held back a laugh he then turned and headed towards the nearest turbolift. Stardate:2406.10.18 (Boudicca - Science Labs - Ensign Roe McLauren - 2322) "Sirs," the Scientist finally said when everyone had assembled. "I know what kind of mixture we need, and I know where to get it." He handed everyone a PADD. "We require a mixture of forty percent of this mineral compound, I've named it Exhibit A for simplicity, it's chemical structure is at least twenty syllables..." He paused, and then said "The rest is this metal. Calling it Exhibit B, its just about as incomprehensible. Both are materials not previously known to us, rather interesting stuff actually. I ran a search on the planet and found both. The mineral itself seems to have little practical value for these civilizations and some careful transporter work could get all four tons needed in an hour. The metal, on the other hand, has multiple uses." The scientist paused and his brown scrunched up. "It has conductive qualities, among other things. There was no source of easily obtainable natural ore to be found, but there is a bright side. Because of its properties, it's heavily used in their electronics. Granted, it would take a lot of transport of Conducti... errr... electrical items to get the necessary ten tons worth of metal. However, there is one other good source, it's also used heavily in their coinage, and most of the continents use it for such, there are many currency dumps where large quantities are kept, a few tons each, we can get it that way." NRPG: Like copper for us. It's used in electronics, and American/Canadian coins. RPG: The Captain quirked an eyebrow, "Alright then, give us the coordinates and we can beam i..." The Scientist was shaking his head, not even waiting for the Captain to finish. Sevant stopped in mid-sentence, "There is an issue with this, beyond the moral implications of robbing them of tons of currency?" "Yes, sir." He said slowly. "There is one other major issue. It has some of the same trans-dimensional properties as Latinum. Specifically, it's nearly impossible to get a lock on and beam, and it is fully impossible to replicate. On top of that, it generates a subspace field around itself which prevents clean transportation." The Captain's eyes narrowed. "Continue." "Well, Sir..." the Scientist licked his lips. "With some clever work from engineering, we could get the necessary supplies by getting ourselves into a few vaults and putting up some pattern enhancers, subspace tagging the piles perhaps. But that would take a minimum of four of the vaults I have mapped, and if even one team failed to gather the materials, we would be in trouble." The scientist took a deep breath, "We can beam directly into those vaults and set up the enhancers, they seem to be in large international-type banking establishments." He tapped his fingers nervously, "There is one other option, there is what appears to be a government run facility within the Apparently Federated island Civilization. It is, however, deep underground and it is so heavily strung with this metal, in the form of electrical security and warning devices, that we couldn't even beam in, much less beam out." Before anyone else could interrupt, he said "However, I scanned the rest of the establishment. If we could get some people in with an anti-grav generator and give them 20 minutes, we could move the necessary tons out of the vault and into an area where Transporter Enhancers would work, and we could get it all in one go." He spread his hands, as if to say that the decision wasn't his. Sevant looked at the other officers, then tapped his badge, "First Officer to the Science Labs." Stardate:2406.10.18 (Boudicca - Science Labs - CSO/2O Kyle Morie Rin - 2322) Sevant looked at the other officers, then tapped his badge, "First Officer to the Science Labs." =^= On my way.. =^= Grailik's voice echoed over the comm. He turned to the other officers, "Comments?" "This just doesn't sound good..." Kyle gave out a sigh and considered a few things and continued. "If we can't beam this 'metal' using normal transporters how will transporter enhancers do the trick. From the way things sound it seems only small amounts will be able to be beamed out and onboard the ship. I think the major problem here is going to be beaming the correct amount without overloading the enhacers. Should too large an amount be beamed out it will cause an overload in the buffer, and then we might not be able to beam any further until repairs are made. Too small an amount and we will just be wasting transporter energy as well as time." Kyle continued pondering the two facts which he presented and waited for an answer from the other officers. Stardate:2406.10.18 (Boudicca, Bridge, FO, Commander Grailik, 2328) Grailik sat in the command chair looking over the social data that had been gathered on the natives of the planet. As a sociologist, and a xenopsychologist himself, Grailik was always interested in new races and how they interacted. Things were relatively calm at the moment. Security was still looking for the would-be assassin and no more surprises had popped up. Grailik sipped his coffee as he read. =/\=First Officer to the Science Labs.=/\= Sevant's voice came over the comm. Grailik took another sip of his coffee before rising from the command chair. ~Knew it couldn't last.~ He thought slapping his com-badge. "On my way," He said, looking around the bridge. There were no other senior officers on the bridge as they were all off duty at this time. Grailik pointed to the senior officer on deck. "You have the con." Grailik stepped over and entered the turbo-lift wondering what was up now. Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Science Labs - Capt Sevant - 2328) "Comments?" "This just doesn't sound good..." The CSO paused with a sign, then continued with; "If we can't beam this 'metal' using normal transporters how will transporter enhancers do the trick. From the way things sound it seems only small amounts will be able to be beamed out and onboard the ship. I think the major problem here is going to be beaming the correct amount without overloading the enhancers. Should too large an amount be beamed out it will cause an overload in the buffer, and then we might not be able to beam any further until repairs are made. Too small an amount and we will just be wasting transporter energy as well as time." "Work on it, Lieutenant, find out how much we can grab at once. We can get you minute quantities of the substance to test, if necessary." He didn't show the frown that wanted to break the surface. If they couldn't beam large enough quantities, they would have to break down and use a shuttle-craft to ferry the stuff up. That would make their job dangerous; chances of being seen were nearly 100% in that case. (reply: CSO, any) "Reporting as ordered, Sir," Grailik said, looking at Sevant then the others in the room, "So what's the bad news?" The CEO said, "Which one wants to go first?" Sevant decided it was going to be himself, a quick explanation for the First Officer. "The metal we need is like latinum, we can't beam it onboard without serious effort, and it's highly valued in electronics and metal currency by the indigenous peoples." He looked over at the scientist, "Does that about sum it up?" Roe nodded, "In essence." Sevant looked back over, "The only places we can get a significant tonnage is in financial institutions." His expression was eloquent, "In short, a bank robbery." He looked over at the CEO, "What's your status on the conversion project?" West looked, almost happy. "Well sir, I have compiled at list of items that may be concealed into local products and still give us full functionality. I have been working with Melo... er Chief Haverstaad," Sevant quirked an eyebrow and took a pro-offered PADD. "And with your orders sir, we can have the replicator produce the items and then it would take me and a team of three approximately two hours to complete modifications." "Very well," Sevant said. "On another note sir, we are having problems with the Cloak. We are now running ships power around 4% above normal just to keep the bloody thing operational, unfortunately." The Captain did frown at that; they did NOT need a cloak failure at this point, not hovering over the northern magnetic pole of the planet. "In about 3 hours the Cloak will fail. Nothing I can do about it. We will appear briefly for the last hour before it fails. I have made adjustments to the warp drive to keep our profile low, but if someone wants to look for it, they will find us. I am working on alternatives." "Do you have anything on this culture's history of technology that isn't listed on the database? It would be helpful in case of an emergency." (reply: CSO) Sevant looked at the PADD, "How long, after the cloak fails, to make repairs?" (reply: CEO) Sevant tapped the PADD for a moment, and then looked up. "We have to get onto this planet, one way or another, that much is obvious." He tapped his badge, "Sevant to Ensign Monroe, report to the Science Labs within 10 minutes with your best recommendations for an undercover away team. Sevant to Lieutenant Alizara, report to the science labs." (reply: Maddie, Couns) He looked over at the CEO, "Get someone on the replication, talk to the Cultural Specialist coming in, she's been working on an away team and persona for us... also under theoretical circumstances. This is no longer theoretical." The Captain folded his arms behind him, "But You, Mr. West, get that cloak stable again. I don't care what it takes." (reply: CEO, any) The Captain looked at everyone, "You have two hours too work up a first draft plan for an excursion, what we require for it, and how much of these materials we need to transport. Plan to protect the Prime directive as much as possible, but Ill read anything you come up with. Ill be expecting your recommendations. Are there any questions?" (reply: Any) "Alright then, you have your orders." He turned to the First Officer. "You're with me." Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca, Science Labs, FO, Commander Grailik, 2331) Grailik stepped into the lab where he saw the CSO and CEO as well as Sevant and another member of the science department. Grailik could tell they had some bad news. "Reporting as ordered, Sir," Grailik said, looking at Sevant then the others in the room, "So what's the bad news?" Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca - Science Labs - Capt Sevant - 2331) "Reporting as ordered, Sir," He paused to look around. "So what's the bad news?" Sevant still had his arms folded, "The metal we need is like latinum, we can't beam it onboard without serious effort, and its highly valued in electronics and metal currency by the indigenous peoples." He looked over at the scientist, "Does that about sum it up?" Roe nodded, "In essence." Sevant looked back over, "The only places we can get a significant tonnage is in financial institutions." His expression was eloquent, "In short, a bank robbery." Stardate:2406.10.18 (USS Boudicca, Science Labs, Lt jg Trevan West, 2332) Trevan was just organizing some thoughts and technical information on his padd when Grailik stepped into the lab where the CSO as well as Sevant and another member of the science department. It looked like Grailik could sense the tension in the room. Trevan was hoping it was just a figment of his own worries. "Reporting as ordered, Sir," Grailik said, looking at Sevant then the others in the room, "So what's the bad news?" Trevan looked at the Captain, then at the CSO and back to Grailik, "Which one wants to go first?" (reply any and insert my following comments into place where you see fit) "Well sir, I have compiled at list of items that may be concealed into local products and still give us full functionality. I have been working with Melo... er Chief Haverstadd," he blushed at the error and handed him the PADD, "and with your orders sir, we can have the replicator produce the items and then it would take me and a team of three approximately two hours to complete modifications." "On another note sir, we are having problems with the Cloak. We are now running ships power around 4% above normal just to keep the bloody thing operational, unfortunately." "In about 3 hours the Cloak will fail. Nothing I can do about it. We will appear briefly for the last hour before it fails. I have made adjustments to the warp drive to keep our profile low, but if someone wants to look for it, they will find us. I am working on alternatives." Trevan turned to the CSO, "Do you have anything on this culture's history of technology that isn't listed on the database? It would be helpful in case of an emergency." Stardate:2406.10.19 (Boudicca - Ready Room - Capt Sevant - 0002) Sevant sat down heavily in the chair and cracked his neck. It had been a long day; it was going to be a far longer night. There was nothing that would make it shorter, nothing short of death, and that wasn't on his list of things to do at this moment in time. "Captains Log, Stardate..." he looked at the monitor, "Stardate 2406 mark ten mark nineteen. I don't even know where to begin..." He stopped at sat back in the chair, concentrating on a couple mental games to order his mind. "Earlier today we were forced into a multi-singularity due to an attack by multiple Starfleet ships. That I have previously recorded, what is new is some of the things we've learned in the last ten hours." Sevant folded his hands together, still leaning back in the chair, and looking out the window to the planet. "The planet that is destroyed in our present, their future, is a pre-warp civilization. Atomic Age, according to the Richter scale. Post Cold War, by all indications. Security is at its most paranoid, which is going to make our job that much harder." He grimaced as he thought about what the Scientist had told him. "The mix of materials we need is well known, the exact mixture according to our records of what was being sucked in by the gravity of the anomaly. That's the easy part. The hard part is the metal we require to seed, it's used heavily in their electronics and their coinage. The problem, of course there is always a problem... the problem is that it has a lot of the same trans-dimensional properties as Latinum. It can't be replicated, and it can only be beamed from place-to-place with major sensor and transporter enhancement." The Captain broke off for a second, and then continued slower. "Meaning, we are probably going to require a staged away team and... bank robbery... to get the multiple tons of the metal we require, the only place it's stored in sufficient quantities is in large scale international banking establishments. How we are going to do this, I don't know yet. We are working on the problem." He looked over at the guard stationed on the far side of his Ready Room, the security shadow he had with him at all times. "And that doesn't even mention the Sniper we have on board." Sevant continued, "A telepathic assassin tried to take out our CSO, Major Straton and Counselor Alizara managed to stop the attack, the hunt for the Assassin continues even now." The Captain shook his head, "This is a mess, one fine d*mn mess. Computer, stop recording..."