ILLUMINARRPG: (9-1430)- FO Commander Sienna Williams-Verin / CO Captain Sekal / Vice Admiral Saleke, CTAC Lieutenant T'Mur

[Charles Gatling]

Mission: Death in the Shadows
Day: 9
Stardate: 2446.02.09

(USS Illuminar -- Bridge -- Ready Room -- FO Commander Sienna
Williams-Verin / CO Captain Sekal / Vice Admiral Saleke, CTAC Lieutenant
T'Mur-- 1430)

Sienna stood in the ready room, sipping a glass of ice cold water. Her nose
had been repaired but there was still faint bruising around her face that
would remain there for the next few days. Sienna had a lot of time to think
about what had occurred and she was worried about using Luma’s abilities to
microjump during the battle.  She had ordered it, and paid a price for
Luma’s acquiescence. She had been forced wide open and she had no
shielding. It was why she had escaped to the ready room. The Captain and
T’Mur were back from the planet, the Admiral had beamed over and they all
needed to have a talk.

Sienna had taken a moment to look over the casualty list.  Several wounded,
some serious. She felt the collective angst and pain of the ship and closed
her eyes, trying to find the mental discipline to get her shields back up.
Luckily the Captain and his father the Admiral were not going to be
emotional in her presence. Sienna turned as the door opened.

“Is T’Mur back on board safely?” She knew the answer, but needed to hear
the words.

 The Admiral entered first and turned aside to look over the sideboard as
Sekal stepped into the room. He passed Saleke as he went to the replicator
and took out 3 glasses of water, he handed one to his father then took his
seat behind the desk. "The beginning of this encounter did not go as
planned." He stated flatly as he placed the third glass of water on the
desk and drank from his own. "Being taken from the ship by the Controller
was unanticipated. Lieutenant T'Mur will be here shortly."

“Let us wait for Lt. T’Mur to arrive.” Sienna took a deep breath,
continuing to sip her glass of water. “Before we talk about the battle.
Thank you Sir for having your force here. This would have ended badly
without the extra firepower, even with Luma.” Sienna was under no illusions
about that.

Saleke turned from studying the dark matter phaser which he first replaced
on its stand. "When we noted the gravimetric distortion caused by a cloaked
entry into the system the decision was clear. Having such a force enter
into the battle tipped the odds to 235 to 1 against your success. It was
fortuitous that it was spotted. The Hades was better equipped to deal with
the threat and balance the odds."

Sekal spoke up from the chair. "Our battles seem to be taking place when I
am not available. I will make a more concerted effort in the future to be
on hand for them."

“I would appreciate it! You are the one who has studied under one of the
greatest tacticians of our time - and I would certainly appreciate lessons!
While I am pleased no one on the Illuminar died, this time, several people
were still injured, and we do not have a large crew complement.  Structural
damage… not as much as it could have been.  What worries me though is that
one of the torpedo tubes misfired in the battle, and it was sabotage
according to the report Ensign Bohb got to me earlier.  He left engineering
personally to go deal with it.”  Sienna looked worried.

"The lessons were simple." The Admiral shrugged. "Know your strengths and
your enemy's weakness and exploit both to your advantage." He looked at
Sienna. "Sabotage is illogical in this instance as the destruction of the
ship would have logically brought about the death of all aboard. Was there
the possibility of error in the setting of the torpedo tube?"

“No Sir, it was sabotage. A key isolinear chip in the firing system was
flipped.  It would have shown up on diagnostics if it had been changed
before the start of the battle.”  Sienna longed for T’Mur to arrive, to
just be with her bondmate. “I believe they were not interested in the
destruction of the ship at first, but instead in our capture.  When the
battle started going badly for our adversaries was when they turned towards
a mutually assured destruction. It was closer than I would have liked, and
I probably did not need to micro jump a whole ten seconds, but I erred on
the side of caution.”  The look on Sienna’s face telegraphed clearly that
she expected to be reprimanded for showing one of Luma’s lesser known
abilities.

It was Sekal's turn to shrug. "You brought my ship through a trying
encounter." He turned to Saleke. "What of the ships that were inbound to
the system and how did the Tolliver fare?"

The Admiral moved to the couch and sat down. "Their arrival was
interrupted. It appears they had not been expecting multiple starships and
when challenged they fled. The Tolliver escaped with only superficial
structural damage. Two ships were destroyed and the others escaped. The
Tolliver is now standing by at the edge of the solar system to discourage
any further arrivals."

Sienna looked between the two and for a brief moment wished that she had
the education that Sekal had. She envied him. “I have questions about Luma
that will need answering, when we have time. And I had a question. What
will happen to the klingon ship that was captured? Specifically it’s cloak?
Could it be adapted to the Illuminar?”

Saleke looked to his son to answer that question.

"It would be a relatively simple refit. Klingon cloaking systems have been
used on Federation starships before. They are essentially of Romulan design
and the Enterprise adapted one for use rather quickly. I would like to have
some time to study it first however. If I add anything to the mechanisms
aboard this ship I would plan on it being a permanent addition and some
alterations might be necessary."

Saleke raised the glass of water to his lips for a sip then lowered it.
"Bringing it back to base with the cloak included would be unnecessary.
StarFleet is well aware of the technology and there is no ship currently
being planned that requires one. Perhaps once we begin focusing on ships
with stealth technology but that will be long term. In the interim it could
be adapted here and its specifications transmitted to command for later
inclusion."

“Thank you Sir! That is excellent news.” Sienna’s voice trailed off and she
turned towards the door, sensing T’Mur close.  She had not chosen a seat,
preferring to stand so she moved closer to the door after setting her glass
of water down on the table. She would not be overly emotional, and she
would not embarrass T’Mur in front of the Admiral.

The door opened and T’Mur stepped into the room. She had stopped at the
tactical station to download the information from the battle on her own
PADD for later analysis. She looked around the room and nodded to Sekal.
She then greeted the admiral.

“Admiral Saleke,” she said with a nod, “I am certain that we have already
shown our gratitude for your assistance but I will add my own. You have my
thanks.”

Saleke quirked an eyebrow at her. "Your thanks are unnecessary. My ship was
available and the Klingon ship a danger."

“Then we are fortuitous of your availability,” she acknowledged the
correction.

Then she looked at Sienna. The sight of the bruising of her face around her
nose create a momentary desire to hold her mate and kiss the injured nose.
It was not a logical action or response, so she held herself in check.

“Commander,” she said flatly, “you seem relatively unharmed for the most
part. How is your nose?”

Sienna crossed the few steps to stand in front of her mate and gently
brushed her fingertips against T’Mur’s for a moment, “The bruising will
fade, Dr. Solice repaired the damage when I literally fell on my face right
in front of the view screen. I was not expecting Luma needing to bond to me
in order to fulfill the order, but I understand why it happened. In order
for her to move around time, she needs some reference, and that has to be
her bondmate.”  There were many things that they all needed to discuss.

“Yes, well, we can discuss that later,” T’Mur replied.

Sienna visibly winced, worried about that discussion. ::You are angry with
me?:: She asked, worry permeating her tone. It was obvious that she had no
telepathic shielding currently.

T’Mur could feel all of Sienna’s emotions and read all of her surface
thoughts. It was … distracting. She found herself reinforcing her own
telepathic shielding to maintain her focus. It was as almost as though they
were mating, but there was none of the love or intention, only the
intensity.

::Not angry. Concerned. You are hurt from a maneuver I did not even know
existed. And I do not understand what occurred.  I want to help you.::

She began to weave her mind through Sienna’s to provide some control and
shield her from the telepathic influences of the other telepaths on the
ship, including the two in front of them.   She was able to cut off the
continuous input of random thoughts and feelings running through her mind.

The pure relief that sprang from T’Mur helping her was enough to bring
tears to Sienna’s eyes. Too much had happened and her brain felt sore.
::Thank you. We need to all talk about what Luma did as well. Though they
do not see why that choice was the absolute last choice.::

::I see the choice. I just do not understand what occurred. And I do need
to know what Luma did and its ramifications. But we will have to one
later.::

"As the ship is relatively undamaged it would seem the preparations made
against the missiles were effective." Sekal noted. "They appear to be
leaning heavily on that weapon system despite its flaws."

“Indeed,” T’Mur said, “I briefly looked at the tactical reports and it
appears that the over dependence on their weapons technology, which
eventually failed them, was the main cause of their failure.  They were
unable to adapt their weapons to our defenses.”

"Which is its greatest weakness." Sekal noted. "The weapon system is only
effective with surprise. Once alerted an enemy is easily able to defeat it.
I do not foresee a use of it by StarFleet in the future."

"Agreed." The Admiral replied. "It is what is generally known as a terror
weapon that once revealed loses its potency. Phasers and torpedoes are more
effective in reducing an enemy's defenses. The Fleet has already been
apprised of it and in any future encounters the pirates will find
themselves fatally exposed by the flaw. But that does not lessen the
necessity of shutting down the smuggling operation."

T’Mur nodded, “Just because we have found a solution to these weapons does
not render them useless. They are still destructive, and even we required
assistance. Not every world or fleet has a Hades to back them up, or an
Admiral Saleke.  Logic would dictate the removal of the threat. And it
appears that this Controller is willing to support our campaign.”

“I am glad to hear that.” Sienna spoke a few moments later once she had
found her composure. “We could not figure out why she took our full vulcans
and not the mixed breed vulcans as well. Lt. Gregory believed that it had
something to do with the Enterprise mission where Admiral Kirk and Captain
Spock negotiated the original encounter with the planet. I am pleased that
you three were returned unharmed.”  Sienna kept her fingers touching T’Mur,
needing that validation that her mate was here and the past was just that,
the past.

“I believe we have our new friends Doctors Penn and Teller to thank for
that,” T’Mur replied.

“I met them earlier.  I did not understand  anything that they said, and
emotionally I was too raw to separate what I was sensing out.” Sienna
looked at the two men, “You were both bond-mates to Luma.  I need advice on
separating this bonding with Luma from the recent bonding to T’Mur. They
are touching and nothing is very private. I also did not believe that I was
a good choice for a bondmate since I am only half Betazoid. When Lt.
Jordaan returns, will this bond swing back to her?  Also, why was a bonding
needed for the microjump? If Luma’s bondmate is killed, would it prevent
her from using that trick to protect us?”  Sienna’s mind was rather
brilliant, but she was a xeno-biologist.

Saleke looked over at her from his seat on the couch. "All that is needed
is to have Luma withdraw as this was due to simple expediency. It is the
same issue I would assume with any being that has no anchor in linear time,
in their consciousness the past, present and future are nearly inseparable.
In order to make such a fine jump she requires to be 'in the moment' so to
speak. The bond between Luma and a bondmate is voluntary, if forced it will
most likely fade quickly on its own. She can not expect you to maintain it."

T’Mur was relieved to hear those words.  She was not certain how it would
be to have a three way bonding with the Lenai and Sienna, and if she were
to be truly honest, she was not ready to share Sienna just yet.  She let
that thought slip through their connection.

“Sir,” she said, “if I may.  What exactly happened?  Is Luma capable of
moving through time?  I had no idea she had that capacity.  How is it
possible and what are the limits?”

An eyebrow lifted at the question. "The limit is set by the mind bondmate
though I would assume she may not jump farther than the boundary of her own
existence."

Now it was T’Mur’s turn to raise an eyebrow, “Indeed, that is a substantial
time frame for Luma.”

Sienna’s breath caught and she was glad that she had not been sipping her
water when that pronouncement was made. She would have been choking if she
had been. “So without a bondmate, Luma is not anchored to the here and now?
And we let Lt. Jordaan off the ship?” Sienna tried to make that sense work
in her head.

"We cannot enslave someone to the ship at all times." Sekal spoke from
behind the desk. "Commander Peters and herself had personal business
matters to attend to. While she is gone I can fill the role needed."

“That leads to the other question Commander Verin asked,” T’Mur said.
“What do we do for Luma if something unforeseen happens to Ms. Jordaan?”

Sienna waved her hand to emphasize this point, “Which has not worked very
well in the last two weeks. Luma had a panic attack when you were injured
and this time… This time if I had known that it was needed, I would have
voluntarily initiated it, not have it forced due to necessity. This is not
something that I ever want to experience again. It does nothing for my
command presence to black out on the bridge. Most of the crew will not know
why.”  Sienna realized she was grumpy about that.

"It would be best to find an alternate." Saleke nodded in agreement. "For
when I am unavailable and who might step up to take over the bond. Luma can
be brought through the traumatic experience if necessary when losing a
bondmate and it has happened numerous times in the past. The difference is
there was always another available to step in when she was with the
Illuminari."

“Then we should recruit someone.” Sienna replied. “Quickly, especially if
we are going to be going into battle situations.” A pause. “What else can
she do? And what do we tell the crew? Everyone felt when she jumped.”

"That is the extent of her abilities to my knowledge." The Admiral nodded
agreement once again. "You have seen her use psychic attacks but that is
not something I wish to make use of unless it is absolutely necessary."

“No. I do not want her using psychic attacks. She does not deal well with
death. Do we know if the pirates got a message out about that? We do not
want the ship to become hunted due to some ‘new technology’.” Sienna found
her fingers tightening around T’Mur’s, and tried to loosen her grip so she
was not clinging.

T’Mur hung onto Sienna’s fingers almost instinctively.  She sent a wave of
contentment through their bond, although she was a little concerned about
the admiral and captain.  Still, they were both bonded and she decided that
they would understand.

“From what I can tell,” she said, indicating to the reports on her PADD,
“there was no time to inform others what was seen from the Kang.   I cannot
be certain what was seen by this pirate, Roberts and his ship.  But as they
do not have a frame of reference I seriously doubt that they would make any
connection between the Illuminar and a “secret weapon”.  I conclude that it
is unlikely that we will become such a target.”

“Admiral, what will the Hades crew think of the anomaly?” Sienna asked
curiously.  Luma was listening through her bond with Sienna.

Saleke shrugged. "Some were querulous about the event but knowledge of it
is unnecessary. Luma will eventually become known in the fleet, it is
illogical to expect otherwise but it is not the time." He looked toward
Sekal. "Will the Controller be giving you assistance with the facility?"

"Unknown." The Captain said. "We are planning on invading it ourselves. If
the Controller decides to render assistance it will be welcomed but
monitored."

"Logical." The Admiral stated.

"I will be mediating for trade and supplies for the inhabitants if there is
no interference."

"Understood." Saleke stood to his feet. "Is there anything else?"

“Not from me. I need to go and rest, however.  The forced bonding with Luma
has left me raw.  I would also like permission to speak with one of the
counselors about this. If the Captain does not mind, I would prefer
Counselor Reea?”

Sekal lifted an eyebrow. "I do not believe you will have any issue in
dealing with Counselor Reea, she appears to be most interested in
interacting with the command crew. We have already had a discussion."

“Then with your blessing I will make an appointment to speak with her.”

"You do not need my permission, Commander but you have it." He looked to
T'Mur. "Is there anything else you would like to discuss, Lieutenant?"

T’Mur thought for a moment.  “What of the remaining … pirate ships?  As I
understand it, this … Dread Pirate Roberts is still unaccounted for.”

"If found he will be taken into custody. The destruction of one of the
ships by the Hades put the others to flight and there is no evidence that a
transport took place from the Klingon ship. He might be hiding aboard so I
would suggest the Admiral have it searched thoroughly before taking it
under tow." Sekal looked at Saleke who gave a crisp nod of his head.

"That search is already underway. If he escaped in a life pod he will
either have run to the planet in order to regroup with those there or will
be discovered by the Tolliver attempting to leave the system. He is netted
and will be unable to escape."

“Sir,” T’Mur added, “What will be the disposition of the Kang?”

"The Tolliver will be remaining behind to guard your flank. I will be
leaving with the Kang under tow once the search and inventory is completed.
What will be done with it has not been decided yet." Admiral Saleke set the
glass down and turned to leave.

“Do you require any assistance with creating an inventory log?” T’Mur asked.

The Admiral stopped and turned to regard her. "If your commanding officer
can spare you I would not decline such an offer."

T’Mur turned to Sekal, “Captain, with your permission I would request some
time to tend to Commander Verin, then I would ask permission to aid the
admiral with the Kang.”

Sekal gave her a momentary look. "Permission granted on both counts."

Saleke nodded. "Report to my second officer on the Kang when available." He
then strode from the Ready Room.

“Aye, sir,” T’Mur replied.  “Come Commander, let me tend to your injuries
better.”

“Good.” Sienna spoke, setting her glass back in the replicator, “If I am
needed, I will be in my quarters.” She knew that she was in no state to
serve her duty shift this day.

They left the captain’s ready room together, Sienna gripping onto T’Mur’s
hand, in an attempt to be clandestine about it.

(Reply: Any)

(Posted by Charles and Melinda G and Al Muir)



Charles Gatling
Commanding Officer
USS Illuminar
NCC 61240


"The light shines brightest amidst the deepest darkness."
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