USS Spectre Compile - September 1st-30th 2009 by Alan Reading ========================================================================= Mission: The Gates of Prometheus Day: Unknown Stardate: Unknown (USS Boudicca - Bridge - Captain Caladryll Sevant – Time has no meaning) ========================================================================= Mission: The Gates of Prometheus Day: 121 Stardate: 2408.06.08 (Borg Vessel - Primary Control - Borg Drone, One of Four - 18:53) (Borg Vessel - Primary Control - Lt. (jg) Carl Deston - 18:54) (Borg Vessel - Unimatrix Twelve – Marine, Lt Major Stevens - 18:57) (Borg Vessel - Unimatrix Twelve – Corporal Houseman - 19:00) (Borg Vessel - Primary Control - Lt. (jg) Carl Deston - 19:01) (Borg Vessel - Unimatrix Twelve – Sgt Roger Hammerstein - 19:02) (Borg Vessel - Unimatrix Twelve – Marine, Lt Major Stevens - 19:05) (Borg Vessel - Primary Control - Lt. (jg) Carl Deston - 19:06) (Borg Vessel - Primary Control Corridor – Corporal Houseman - 19:08) (Borg Vessel - Primary Control - Lt. (jg) Carl Deston - 19:10) (Borg Vessel - Primary Control – Corporal Houseman – 19:13) (Borg Vessel - Primary Control Corridor – Lt Major Stevens – 19:15) (Borg Vessel - Primary Control - Lt. (jg) Carl Deston - 19:17) (Borg Vessel - Primary Control Corridor – Corporal Houseman – 19:19) (Borg Vessel - Primary Control - Lt. (jg) Carl Deston - 19:20) (USS Spectre - Mission Briefing & Debriefing - Lt. j.g. Carlyle Deston – 19:23) (USS Spectre - Mission Briefing & Debriefing - Corporal Houseman – 19:23) (USS Spectre - Deck Nine, Section Forty Nine Alpha - Ensign Durgil - 19:23) (USS Spectre - Marine Hanger Deck, Trojan Assault Ship - Cprl, Lewis O'Hara - 19:37) (USS Spectre - Deck Nine, Section Forty Nine Alpha - Ensign Durgil - 20:00) (USS Spectre - Deck Nine, Section Forty Nine Alpha - ACEO, Ensign Slok - 20:01) (USS Spectre - Deck Nine, Section Forty Nine Alpha - Ensign Durgil - 20:01) (USS Spectre - Turbolift Four - ACEO, Ensign Slok - 20:02) (USS Spectre - Turbolift Four - Ensign Durgil - 20:02) (USS Spectre - Main Engineering - ACEO Ensign Slok - 20:06) (USS Spectre - Main Engineering - Ensign Durgil - 20:06) (USS Spectre - Ten Forward - ACEO, Ensign Slok - 20:15) (USS Spectre - Ten Forward - Ensign Durgil - 20:15) (USS Spectre - Ten forward - ACEO, Ensign Slok - 20:16) (USS Spectre - Ten forward - Ensign Durgil - 20:16) (USS Spectre - Ten forward - Ensign Slok - 20:18) (USS Spectre - Ten forward - Ensign Durgil - 20:18) (USS Spectre - Ten forward - ACEO, Ensign slok - 20:20) (USS Spectre - Ten Forward - Ensign Durgil - 20:20) (USS Spectre - Ten Forward - ACEO, Ensign Slok - 20:22) (USS Spectre - Ten Forward - Ensign Durgil - 20:22) (USS Spectre - Ten Forward - ACEO, Ensign Slok - 20:23) (USS Spectre - Ten Forward - Ensign Durgil - 20:23) (USS Spectre - Ten Forward - ACEO, Ensign Slok - 20:24) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – FO, Williams – 21:10) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – TAC/ASC Lt Cmdr Calvin Capps – 21:12) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – FO, Williams – 21:20) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – TAC/ASC Lt Cmdr Calvin Capps – 21:22) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – TAC/ASC Lt Cmdr Calvin Capps – 21:26) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – FO, Williams – 21:28) (USS Spectre – Mess Hall – FO, Williams – 22:13) (USS Spectre – Captain’s Ready Room – CO, Captain T'Vhor – 22:24) (USS Spectre – Captain’s Ready Room – FO, Williams – 22:25) (USS Spectre – Ready Room – Security, CPO Jaret Rock – 22:26) (USS Spectre – Ready Room – CO, Captain T'Vhor – 22:28) (USS Spectre – Ready Room – Security, CPO Jaret Rock – 22:30) (USS Spectre – Ready Room – FO, Williams – 22:31) (USS Spectre – Captain's Ready Room – CO, Captain T'Vhor – 22:33) ========================================================================= Mission: The Gates of Prometheus Day: 122 Stardate: 2408.06.09 (USS Spectre – Sickbay – TAC/ASC Lt Cmdr Calvin Capps – 09:30) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – FO, Williams – 09:34) (USS Spectre – Ready Room – TAC/ASC Lt Cmdr Calvin Capps – 13:00) (USS Spectre – Captain's Ready Room – CO, Captain T'Vhor – 13:02) (USS Spectre – Captain's Ready Room – TAC/ASC Lt Cmdr Calvin Capps – 13:04) (USS Spectre - Bridge - CO, Captain T'Vhor - 16:05) (USS Spectre - Bridge – FO, Williams - 16:06) (USS Spectre - Captain's Ready Room - CO, Captain T'Vhor - 16:08) (USS Uriel - Guest Quarters - Lieutenant (jg) Dinnica Roil - 22:30) (USS Uriel - Temporary Quarters - Admiral Caladryll Sevant & Victoria Sevant - 22:31) (USS Uriel - Transporter Room One - Lieutenant (jg) Dinnica Roil - 22:40) (USS Spectre - Transporter Room 2 - Lieutenant (jg) Dinnica Roil - 22:42) (USS Spectre - Transporter Room 1 - Admiral Sevant & Captain T'Vhor - 22:45) (USS Spectre - Transporter Room 1 – FO, Williams - 22:46) (USS Spectre - Officer's Quarters - Lieutenant (jg) Dinnica Roil - 22:46) (USS Uriel – Transporter Room – Lt Walker Isengard – 22:47) (USS Spectre – Transporter Room – Lt Walker Isengard & Vicki Sevant – 22:48) (USS Spectre – Transporter Room – FO, Williams – 22:49) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - Lieutenant (jg) Dinnica Roil - 22:51) (USS Spectre - Sickbay – Nurse Douwsy - 22:53) (USS Spectre – Transporter Room – Vicki Sevant – 22:53) (USS Spectre – Outside the Transporter Room – Lt Walker Isengard – 22:55) (USS Spectre - Sickbay – Medical Officer, Dinnica Roil - 22:55) (USS Spectre - Sickbay – Nurse, Douwsy - 22:57) (USS Spectre - Deck Two, VIP Quarters - Rear Admiral, Caladryll Sevant and CO, T'Vhor - 22:58) (USS Spectre – Deck Two – FO, Williams – 23:05) (USS Spectre - Deck Two Corridor - CO, Captain T'Vhor - 23:07) (USS Spectre - Transporter Room One - Ensign (JG) Harry McKnight - 23:10) (USS Spectre – Personal Quarters – Lt Isengard – 23:20) (USS Spectre - Bridge - CO, Captain T'Vhor - 23:21) (USS Spectre – Personal Quarters – Lt Walker Isengard - 23:22) (USS Spectre - Bridge - FO, Williams - 23:23) (USS Spectre - Bridge - CO, Captain T'Vhor - 23:24) (USS Spectre - Bridge – FO, Williams - 23:26) (USS Spectre – Bridge – Lt Walker Isengard - 23:33) (USS Spectre - Bridge and Ready Room - Ensign (JG) Harry McKnight - 23:35) (USS Spectre - Captain's Ready Room - CO, Captain T'Vhor - 23:37) (USS Spectre - Captain's Ready Room - Ensign JG Harry Mcknight - 23:38) (USS Spectre - Captain's Ready Room - CO, Captain T'Vhor - 23:39) (USS Spectre - Captain's Ready Room - Ensign JG Harry Mcknight - 23:39) (USS Spectre - Captain's Ready Room - CO, Captain T'Vhor - 23:41) (USS Spectre - Captain's Ready Room - Ensign jg Harry McKnight - 23:42) (USS Spectre - Captain's Ready Room - CO, Captain T'Vhor - 23:44) (USS Spectre - Captain's Ready Room - Ensign jg Harry McKnight - 23:45) (USS Spectre - Captain's Ready Room - CO, Captain T'Vhor - 23:47) (USS Spectre - Captain's Ready Room - Ensign jg Harry McKnight - 23:50) (USS Spectre - Bridge, Outside the Captain's Ready Room - Lt Walker Isengard - 23:51) (USS Spectre - Captain's Ready Room - CO, Captain T'Vhor - 23:52) (USS Spectre - Captain's Ready Room - Lt Walker Isengard - 23:53) (USS Spectre - Captain's Ready Room - CO, Captain T'Vhor - 23:55) ========================================================================= Mission: The Gates of Prometheus Day: 123 Stardate: 2408.06.10 (USS Spectre - Security Office - Ensign jg Harry McKnight - 00:07) (USS Spectre – Security Chief’s Office – TAC/SC Lt Cmdr Calvin Capps – 00:08) (USS Spectre - Security Office - Ensign jg Harry McKnight - 00:09) (USS Spectre – Chief’s Security Office – TAC/SC Lt Cmdr Calvin Capps – 00:10) (USS Spectre - Security Office - Ensign jg Harry McKnight - 00:12) (USS Spectre – Chief’s Security Office – TAC/SC Lt Cmdr Calvin Capps – 00:13) (USS Spectre – Strategic Operations Center – Admiral Sevant – 00:15) (USS Spectre - Security Office - Ensign jg Harry McKnight - 00:16) (USS Spectre - Deck Four Research Station - Doctor Samantha Gunnell - 00:20) (USS Spectre – Ten Forward – Admiral Sevant – 00:28) ========================================================================= Mission: The Gates of Prometheus Day: Unknown Stardate: Unknown (USS Boudicca - Bridge - Captain Caladryll Sevant – Time has no meaning) Sevant came to loose attention in the middle of the bridge, his hands behind him. "On the 1MC." he said, waiting for the nod from Operations. He took a breath to steady his nerves, and then started: "Attention all hands. Most of you are unaware of what exactly has been going on in the Federation over the last year; I've kept it that way on purpose. But now is the time, it should be obvious that we're heading back into Federation territory under arms." "Admiral Doenitz has declared himself President Doenitz and he has instituted invasions and forced takeovers of several core worlds. He has declared war against our own. We can no longer stand by on the fringes, the fight is over our homeworlds, the people dying are our own friends and family, those we swore to protect. We can not allow this to happen any longer. Our duty prevents it. Our conscience prevents it. "LoDona has ordered us, our Task Force, and all available personnel to engage Doenitz's forces with all due prejudice. Not to avenge those already lost, but to save those destined to die if this regime is left unchecked. Doenitz will find it difficult, if not impossible, to maintain occupation forces for the core worlds with the Rebel fleets and the Klingons invading after more then a year of defensive actions on the fringe. And make no mistake; there is more then one fleet. The 52nd is no longer alone in this endeavor; other Fleet Admirals have rebelled and are going to war to free their homeworlds and people. The Klingon people have also declared war and have joined our side. We are not alone, and thus neither are our friends and family in the Federation." He looked at the chronometer, "As of 0723 hours today, USS Boudicca is going to war. One way or another, We. Are. Going. Home." "But, did we go home?" a quiet voice asked. Sevant, flushed with a near religious furor after his speech, stopped short and turned. His little girl, T'Loren, was standing in the middle of the bridge. Her face was an unhealthy shade of blue, and a small teddy bear hung from her hand. "Not all of us made it, Father." "Some of us were forgotten." another man said. Sevant turned to see Falthgood and Casely leaning against the ready-room door. Falthgood had a hole in his head, Casely in his chest. Falthgood had an iron smirk on his face, his eyes were covered with sunglasses. Casely simply looked pained, his expression was exactly as it'd been when he'd been killed by Drizzt on the Boudicca. "What about us, does our blood not call for vengeance?" Casely asked sternly. "We destroyed the Enemy," Sevant said hoarsely. "What more could we do?" "Will the dolphins play with us anymore?" T'Loren interjected with a sniffle. "Or did we scare them away with all this blood?" she gestured to the floor, where blood of all colors was starting to seep through the carpet of the bridge. "But you didn't destroy them, Admiral." Falthgood said. "The enemy is still out there, still among you." He pushed forward from the wall and into Sevant's face, crossing the distance in just one step - in a way that can only happen in dreams, or by magic. "You all gave up to soon, the battle was won- not the war." A hand reached out, rudely grabbed his face, and then jerked his head over to the side. The grip was strong enough to split his cheek open against his teeth, thus washing the inside of his mouth with the coppery taste of blood. He found himself nose-to-nose with the furious face of his eldest daughter Jayne- dead by poison long ago with T'Loren. "REMEMBER!" she hissed... (Reply None) (Posted by Jeremy Trout) ====================================================================== Mission: The Gates of Prometheus Day: 121 Stardate: 2408.06.08 (Borg Vessel - Primary Control - Borg Drone, One of Four - 18:53) The human had finished his food, the pot in which it had arrived being placed upon the side immediately it had been emptied. He then addressed the Borg drone with a somewhat renewed vigour. "All right, Captain Helpful, let's get this show on the road", he had said. The Drone of course had no concept of 'show', or even 'on the road', none of it made any difference at all, there was only a logical goal to be obtained and it's purpose was simply to ensure that it was achieved. "You will extract the final routine and quantify", it stated, conscious, if one could use that word, of the Starfleet officers now satiated sustenance imbalance. "Yeah, fine, whatever", said Deston, his sense of wit obviously still in abundance, despite his present, somewhat dangerous predicament. He then simply returned to the equipment and began operating the various controls required, whilst mumbling under his breath about variables and such as the data churned out on an overhead monitor accordingly. "The primary obstacle here is that the polyfluidic morscarpium has been rotated into a null-phase state through a rather clumsy use of graviton inversion....", said the Starfleet officer, going on to pick more fault with the rather primitive manner in which the Borg had obtained their results. "First, we're going to need to re-rotate it back into a tertiary manifold vacuole. I assume the containment field here is up to the job of isolating the vacuole, without allowing a rupture into an interfold layer?", he asked, turning towards the drone he had re-christened 'Captain helpful' "There will be no rupture, the technology is adapted far beyond that of it's original design", stated the drone. "Great. Beginning dimensional rotation... 'now'", said Deston as he began the relevant operations, his mind fixed now upon the job in hand, if only to ensure his long term survival. "Now, from here we have three choices. We're going to start with the easiest one, because if it doesn't work, we'll still have the sample to work with. The other two choices have a strong probability of destroying the viability of the sample if they don't work out", said the Science officer. The drone turned towards one of the control racks nearby, light flickering upon it's surface to relay information that it, and only those of it's kind understood. "The Borg have other samples, this is not a problem", it stated, it's head turning suddenly now towards the door as a Vinculum update arrived within it's adapted and sensor ridden cranium. It then moved off towards said door, it's gaze fixed to the end of the corridor therein. (Reply Deston, IYW) (Posted by Alan) (Borg Vessel - Primary Control - Lt. (jg) Carl Deston - 18:54) As Deston talked, he noticed Captain Helpful wasn't paying obvious attention to him - he seemed to be looking elsewhere. Though his prompt reply to Deston's comment belied the seeming inattention. "The Borg have other samples, this is not a problem." As it spoke, it turned towards the door, and it began moving towards the door. ~the hell?~ Deston gazed for a few moments at the receding back of Captain Helpful, then shrugged, and returned his attention to the work at hand. ~He- /it's/ Borg; this whole ship is part of the collective. Captain Helpful doesn't actually need to be here to monitor what's going on. So don't start thinking we can pull this off with a flamboyant gesture. We still need to keep things under wraps until the final moment.~ Deston began working, quickly but carefully. First, he enclosed the now-invisible, dimensionally-rotated sample in a separate containment field inside the primary containment, this one just large enough to encapsulate the sample itself. Then, via a series of wave-nullification expansions, he created a volume of Type II Vacuum in the region between the primary containment field and the secondary one. The low-entropy volume created a significant tension in the (thanks to the containment field) highly-localized Dirac sea, which would be sensitive to perturbations of the sort generated by the intrusion of subspace manifold layers into Hilbert space. Next, Deston carefully created a discus of volume at the 'top' of the primary containment field, which he gradually saturated with a boson-rich static field. This was the part that would probably raise any alarms, and Deston had prepared his explanation of the need for this portion of the operation: the bosons would be needed to control the cascade of virtual particles likely to be generated by the release of the sample. This actually wasn't far from the truth. It simply wasn't the /whole/ truth. As Deston worked, he made a few adjustments to the containment field. Glancing repeatedly at the primary display, he continued his programming, establishing the nanosecond timing that would be necessary for his plan to be accomplished. It simply wasn't something that could be left to the crude mechanistics of organic biochemical reactions. If things went according to plan, particles that had a lifespan measured in nanoseconds would interact with other particles with lifespans just as short; the resultant decay products and interaction products would have second- and third-generation lifespans only slightly longer. Several types of containment fields would have to be turned on and off in that time in fairly particular configurations. It couldn't be done by hand. The work took scant minutes, despite the fairly deep physics involved. The Borg technology was, indeed, "adapted far beyond it's original design". It was actually pretty fascinating to work with; he found himself wishing he had one to work with back on the /Boudicca/ - it really was an incredibly useful investigative tool. (Reply None) (Posted by John O'Neil) (Borg Vessel - Unimatrix Twelve – Marine, Lt Major Stevens - 18:57) The first disruptor shot streaked down the corridor towards the assembled marines as they took up position in any alcove they deemed would give them cover, those that could find no alcove simply hit the deck to present a minimum profile to the attacking Borg. The shot missed of course, disintegrating a bulkhead beyond in a display that said that they meant business now. Normally, the Borg simply progressed and took shots until they adapted, then they progressed again and assimilated. This time though, they were following an entirely different tactic, organized no doubt by the fact that the Marine modifications to their rifles had caused problems for them earlier.... that and the fact that their numbers were reduced now, considering the importance of their objective of course. "Fire at Will", ordered Stevens, as he himself began trading shots with the Borg that had appeared now within his sights. It fell to the ground, only to be replaced with another as the rest of his team did likewise. (Reply Any) (Posted by Alan) (Borg Vessel - Unimatrix Twelve – Corporal Houseman - 19:00) Houseman ducked to one side as the Borg fire began. Luckily for him their shots were not accurate. ~But that will change~ He leaned him self against the wall to get a steadier shot. "Fire at Will", Houseman reacted instantly to Stevens’s order. He saw the head of a Borg drone come into view. He quickly aimed his shot ignoring the other returning fire around him and gently squeezed the trigger. The pistol moved in his hands and the drones head snapped back. It crashed to the ground with a neat hole drilled into its forehead. He saw a peace of cover a few meters in front of him. “Moving.” He leaped up and sprinted towards the cover firing his pistol as he went. He dropped into a slide and slammed hard into the over as the shots flashed past him. He gripped a grenade from his harness and pressed the ignition stud. ~One, two, three~ He hurled it high into the air. “Flash, Bang.” He ducked down as the grenade went off. There was a blinding flash and a defining boom reverberated down the corridor. He knew that the drones would not be deafened by the sound, the sudden flash momentarily over loaded there optical sensors. He had wanted to send a plasma grenade into them but he did not know what kind of damage it would have caused to whatever they were protecting. A split second after the grenade went off he lifted himself from behind the cover he was hiding behind and began picking off as many stunned drones as he could see. (Reply any) (Posted by Robbie) (Borg Vessel - Primary Control - Lt. (jg) Carl Deston - 19:01) Finally, he was finished. Deston, still alone, thought, ~No time like the present,~ muttered aloud, "OK, let's give this the old college try," and touched the control surface he'd designated as the activation control. A great many things happened, very very quickly; the only evidence that they 'did' happen was confined - at first - to the data displays. The initial reactions occurred on a level far beyond the thresholds for biological detection, and were over in less than a tenth of a second. Deston kept his eyes on a counter decrementing to zero; six seconds after he touched the activation control, the boards lit up. The boson-saturated static field was released into the primary containment field, and the sample was rotated back into normal space. This reaction, too, was in and of itself insensible to organic beings - the containment field, which had looked to be empty ever since Deston had originally rotated the sample, continued to appear empty. But the powerful, complex subspace pulse thus generated, with it's associated tetryon wave, created a serious problem for the systems used by the Borg, and those results were apparent to the naked eye: lights and displays throughout the Borg craft winked out. Every Borg drone in the ship froze up, behaving as if stunned. A flash of Cherenkov radiation marked the demise of the subspace sample, then the containment field flickered for a few moments, and vanished as the Borg hybrid device powered down. NRPG: The Borg are, for the moment, helpless. It is 'not' a permanent state. RPG: The subspace wave followed an intermittent inverse-power law as it cycled between normal space and subspace; it was not always detectable in either space. It also contained modulation - random code inserted by Deston, to mark it as being of artificial origin. The code held no information; Deston had not had time to do so, nor had he felt safe to do so, given the probable oversight of his captors. The pulse, he figured, would dampen out in less than a lightyear or two; he hoped that a Federation vessel was somewhere near. If he wasn't extracted in fairly short order, he expected some very angry Borg would be descending on him with nothing but bad intent. Carl wasn't given much to prayer, but he held the fervent thought, ~By Klono's tungsten teeth and carballoy claws, 'please'....!~ (Reply any) (Posted by John O'Neill) (Borg Vessel - Unimatrix Twelve – Sgt Roger Hammerstein - 19:02) "Fire at Will", Like his away team members, Roger readied himself and began firing at the oncoming borg. He was a soldier, a professional and he knew what he had to do, and even if he had been scolded, he just wanted to lighten the mood, that with the oncoming borg had become more stressful. “Moving.” he heard house man say. Roger then began looking in that direction, to provide cover fire if Houseman needed it. “Flash, Bang.” he heard Houseman exclaim. Roger reacted and averted his gaze briefly As the grenade went off, there was a blinding flash and a defining boom reverberated down the corridor. He new that the drones would not be deafened by the sound, the sudden flash momentarily over loaded there optical sensors. Lt. Major, do we procede while they are blinded and try and get past them quickly.?" (reply Stevens) (reply Stevens, Houseman, any) (posted by Will Banowsky) (Borg Vessel - Unimatrix Twelve – Marine, Lt Major Stevens - 19:05) The flash had occurred within a split second of Houseman throwing the stun grenade, the Borg were indeed in disarray, their optical sensors very probably overloaded just as Hammerstein had said but.... there was something else. Hammerstein had moved and had looked to the Lt Major for approval on action, smoke had filled the air all around and as it began clearing, the drones up ahead seemed to be a little more than just dazed... they weren't moving at all. "Lt. Major, do we proceed while they are blinded and try and get past them quickly?", said Hammerstein. Stevens thought quickly, and then raised his rifle to his shoulder and fired at the first drone, it fell quickly to the floor, no adaptation, no attempt to defend itself, nothing. "Take them", he ordered, "be aware though that this is more than just scrambled sensors, something else has occurred that is affecting them... I've never seen anything like this before", he added. (Reply Hammerstein, Houseman, Any) The Marines then forged ahead, quickly subduing the drones and then entering into a corridor leading upwards towards Primary control itself. Their advance went unchallenged as before, why though was a question indeed. "I'm reading life signs up ahead sir, one Borg, one..... Human", said one of the Marines as he read off the information on his TACOM. (Reply Any) The normal response would have been to throw another stun grenade into the room and then go mop up, the Human lifesign however had changed the ballgame considerably, who the hell was up there? It certainly wasn't one of their own team and none of the Spectre crew were even on the ship. It was a puzzle with an answer like any other, in this case though there were only two avenues available to them. Kill everything in the room just to be certain, or..... save the unidentified Human. The choice was an easy one. "Houseman, go see. Take down the drone if need be, give the other guy the benefit of the doubt before you spread his atoms...... and be careful", said Stevens. (Reply Hammerstein, Houseman, Any) (Posted by Alan) (Borg Vessel - Primary Control - Lt. (jg) Carl Deston - 19:06) Senses strained to their limits, Deston had initially stood as if paralyzed after the Borg ship had been stricken by the subspace pulse he'd generated. The ship, and it's cybernetic crew, seemed to have been overcome - temporarily, anyways. Once he'd satisfied himself that no Borg drone would come lurching out of a dark corridor, seeking vengeance, he let out an exultant cry. "FOOLS!! They laughed at me!! But I've shown them - I've shown them ALL!!" He concluded the monologue with his best mad scientist cackle. ~That felt... 'good'. Klono's gadolinium guts, I hope that wasn't recorded anywhere...!~ Deston thought as he jogged over to the door 'Captain Helpful' had vanished down minutes before. ~Nowhere near enough electrical arcs, though.~ Deston peered down the darkened corridor, feebly lit in weak, sporadic pools and flickerings of emergency systems. There was an ungainly lump some ways down the corridor, maybe thirty or so feet down, that was almost certainly his liaison with the Collective. Deston ran down the corridor to the crumpled form of 'Captain Helpful'. He stood over the creature for a few moments, then moved with decisiveness. Kneeling beside the fallen drone, Deston grasped the best-positioned external cord protruding from it's body, and pulled, 'hard', until it gave with a pop. He continued searching for things to disconnect, clasps to release - anything he could take apart to further discommode the drone, before it regained consciousness. He was well along, unconscious of time passed, when he heard the faint, but growing, sound of approaching footsteps. He released the drone's arm, letting the partially-disassembled sensor cluster that had been mounted on it fall to the decking with a loud clank! Cursing, he picked it up again, struggling clumsily with haste to complete the removal - the cluster was mounted on a half-meter long bar of metal which, Deston hoped, would act as both a tool and a weapon... if he could get it free. Panic lent his hands the deftness of stone; suddenly, his heart was thudding in his throat, and his clothing was clammy with nervous sweat. ~Come on come on come ON!!~ He cried out as a nail was painfully torn off; he scrabbled at the recalcitrant bar of metal, finally getting a grip. He hunched over the arm, bracing his feet against it as he pulled on the bar with all his rapidly-waning might. For a tense second... two seconds... he strained in vain. Then, with a squealing wrench, it came loose. Deston lurched backwards, saved from a fall only by his heavy impact with the corridor wall behind him. The footsteps were very close now; Deston saw movement from a corridor mouth not very far away. He raised the metal bar in a two-handed grip, as ready as he could be to take on the Borg hordes. (Reply any) (Posted by John O'Neill) (Borg Vessel - Primary Control Corridor – Corporal Houseman - 19:08) "I'm reading life signs up ahead sir, one Borg, one..... Human Houseman nodded. ”I got them too.” "Houseman, go see. Take down the drone if need be, give the other guy the benefit of the doubt before you spread his atoms...... and be careful", said Stevens. Houseman nodded, aimed his pistol ahead of him and moved carefully forward. He quickly moved down the corridor making sure that nothing would jump out at him. As he got to the end of the corridor he saw that the human signal was moving towards him. ~Okay this might be easier than I thought~ He brought his pistol round, stepped out into the corridor and aimed it at the humans head. “Star Fleet Marine Core. On your knees with your hands behind your head. Move and I will kill you where you are” (Reply Deston) He was not sure whether this human was still a target and he was not taking any chances until he knew. =^=Sir the human secured=^= (Reply Hammerstein, Stevens, Deston Any) (Posted by Robbie) (Borg Vessel - Primary Control - Lt. (jg) Carl Deston - 19:10) Heart thudding like a trip-hammer in his throat, Deston stood at bay, back against the corridor wall, his weapon - a bar of metal perhaps a third of a meter or so long - extended in readiness to attack, or defend. From the corridor junction, a roughly humanoid shape, bulky and shadowy in the inconsistent lighting, stepped forth with a fluidity very un-Borg-like. The upper limbs were distorted through foreshortening as well as the shadows; Deston knew instantly that something, almost certainly a weapon, was pointing straight at his head. “Starfleet Marine Corps! On your knees with your hands behind your head! Move and I will kill you where you are!” The voice was loud and contained not one iota of humor. It was as attention-getting as the Borg's was, but in every way that the Borg's was not. Deston was paralyzed for a moment with surprise. The tiny bit of his brain that was constantly observing with scientific detachment noted that, given the Marine's phrasing, Deston was about to be shot for either moving or not moving; the rest of Deston's brain wisely disengaged that part from his mouth; it would be idiotic to be shot for a third reason - mouthing off to the person with the gun. The better part of Deston's mind responded instantly with the sureness of long training. "I'm dropping my weapon!" he stated clearly, and did so; he then fell to his knees, placing his hands behind his head. "Lieutenant jay gee Deston, Carlyle, Science Officer, 'USS Boudicca'!" he identified himself. He heard the Marine mutter something, probably a comm to his fellow Marines or an officer. He opened his mouth to tell the Marine that he'd been a prisoner of the Borg... ...realization and a flood of relief swept through him, and his eyes widened as a connection was made, and instead of words, shaky laughter burbled forth from his lips. He was powerless to stop it, it was just so funny... This was the second time he'd been rescued from captivity by the Marines. The second time in a year. (Reply any) (Posted by John O'Neill) (Borg Vessel - Primary Control – Corporal Houseman – 19:13) ~Lieutenant Deston, Science Officer from the Boudicca what on earth are you doing here?~ He watched as Deston began to laugh Houseman flicked his eyes from Deston to along the corridor in case any of any movement but found none. ~Great he gone crackers. Marvellous~ “Lieutenant get up and lets get moving.” He hauled Deston to his feet. “Move Lieutenant. I do not fancy turning into a drone at the moment. This way.” (reply Deston) He ushered Deston down the corridor towards the other marines. As they reached the end of the corridor he saw Hammerstein and Lt Major Stevens. He stopped as he came up to Stevens. "Sir this is Lieutenant Deston he says that he is from the Boudicca Sir." (Reply Stevens) (Reply Deston, Stevens, Hammerstein, any) (Posted by Robbie) (Borg Vessel - Primary Control Corridor – Lt Major Stevens – 19:15) Stevens, and the rest of his team of course, had waited patiently for the return of the House, hopefully with an explanation regarding the Human lifeform reading they had observed earlier upon their TACOM. They did not have to wait long, obviously, Houseman had made contact, his cries of 'Starfleet marine corp!' resonating down the corridor towards them being a testament to that very fact. There had thankfully been no phasor fire immediately afterwards though, so clearly the House had kept his cool or the assailant had responded to order. The Marine coms came to life a second or two later, a slight crackle preceeding Housemans report that 'the human was secured'... After that, the lights illuminating the corridor up ahead began to dim as figures duly approached, one large and sure footed, the other almost stumbling to the accompaniment of.....laughter! Then they both appeared. "Sir this is Lieutenant Deston, he says that he is from the Boudicca Sir", said Houseman, as though he didn't quite believe the mans somewhat flimsy story. Stevens screwed up his face and then shook his head as though trying to dislodge something that might have crawled into his ear, then he addressed Housemans prisoner. "The Boudicca!", exclaimed Stevens, "the Boudicca is nowhere near this sector", he added whilst moving then to stand immediately before the still smiling fleeter. "Do you wanna explain that in a little more detail crewman?", he asked, "why the hell would someone from the Boudicca be here on a Borg vessel?" (Reply Deston) The Lieutenant Major was obviously in no mood for games, he simply raised his weapon muzzle upwards, tucking the butt into his waist as he did so, then he gave the order to secure the ship before turning to Houseman once again. "Escort our 'friend' here back to the Spectre Corporal, I'm sure Krige will have fun pulling either him, or his story apart until we get some kind of rational sense out of him", said Stevens. (Reply Houseman, Deston, Any) (Posted by Alan) (Borg Vessel - Primary Control - Lt. (jg) Carl Deston - 19:17) Deston was almost completely enervated by the sudden and complete release of the tensions that had propelled him until this moment; the weak but persistent laughter that was running it's course through him was just about the only means he had left of expressing himself. He could not bring himself to talk, and he very nearly collapsed the rest of the way to the deck, so weak was he. The Marine moved up next to him. “Lieutenant, get up and let's get moving.” He seized Deston's arm and pulled, hauling Deston to his feet. The necessary discomfort sparked something; his laughter trailed off, and he managed to give a slight assist at the end, as the first trickles of energy began to flow back into his mind and muscles. The Marine tugged at him with some urgency. “Move, Lieutenant. I do not fancy turning into a drone at the moment. This way.” They began moving down the corridor to the nearby branch corridor the Marine had first appeared from. Deston caught his breath, realization of the tenuousness of their position helping to bring him back to something approximating normality, at least temporarily. "Sorry, ah -" He scanned the Marine's uniform, worked to remember rank insignia that he did not normally encounter in regular Starfleet operations. "Sorry, Corporal. Thought I was a dead man, thanks-" Carl swallowed, his throat dry, as they turned the corner. The Marine kept them moving steadily, constantly vigilant for Borg activity. "Second time in a year I've been rescued by the Marines. Not sure how long the Borg will be out, the pulse hit them pretty hard but they adapt so fast..." Deston became aware that he was babbling, and he endeavored to remain silent during the rest of their journey through the corridors of the Borg vessel. After a short while, they reached a group of two other marines, a sergeant and a lieutenant-major. The corporal approached the senior officer and said, "Sir, this is Lieutenant Deston, he says that he is from the 'Boudicca', Sir." "The 'Boudicca'!" exclaimed the lieutenant-major. "The 'Boudicca' is nowhere near this sector. Do you wanna explain that in a little more detail crewman?" he asked. "Why the hell would someone from the 'Boudicca' be here on a Borg vessel?" Deston faced the ranking Marine and saluted, now almost completely composed. Reality was settling firmly back into place. "Sir, I'm Lieutenant j.g. Carlyle Deston, Science Officer of the USS 'Boudicca' under Captain Rivers. The Borg snatched me a few hours ago from my shuttlecraft as I was en route to a rendezvous with the 'Hutchison' for some leave on Proxima. I was about a day out from Laatstekans station when they did it. The Borg wanted me to do some work on- well- they claimed to be trying to assimilate the subspace river, and grabbed me because they thought I was some sort of expert on subspace 'which I am not'. They said they needed me unassimilated, but would do so if I wouldn't cooperate. I managed to make a kind of subspace bomb, which seems to have put them out of commission for now, but I don't know for how much longer." The lieutenant major looked at Carl like he was a Zabriskian fontema. After a few long and uncomfortable moments, he relaxed his weapon, then gave the order to secure the ship. He turned to the corporal and said, "Escort our 'friend' here back to the 'Spectre' Corporal, I'm sure Krige will have fun pulling either him, or his story apart until we get some kind of rational sense out of him." Deston, though now more or less mentally composed, failed to hear or understand the implications of the lieutenant-major's words. He mostly understood that he was to be taken aboard a line vessel - the 'Spectre'! - and away from the threat of the Borg. The look of relief on his face was almost pathetic. (Reply any) (Posted by John O'Neill) (Borg Vessel - Primary Control Corridor – Corporal Houseman – 19:19) "Escort our 'friend' here back to the Spectre Corporal, I'm sure Krige will have fun pulling either him, or his story apart until we get some kind of rational sense out of him", Houseman nodded. “Yes Sir.” He stepped over to Deston “Lieutenant would you come with me.” (reply Deston IYW) “Spectre transporter room two. Two to beam directly to Mission Briefing andDebriefing and please inform Colonel Krige that his presence is requested.” He felt the grip of the transport as the view of the borg ship faded. (Reply Deston, IYW) (Posted by Robbie) (Borg Vessel - Primary Control - Lt. (jg) Carl Deston - 19:20) The lieutenant-major spoke to the corporal. "Escort our 'friend' here back to the 'Spectre', Corporal, I'm sure Krige will have fun pulling either him, or his story apart until we get to some kind of rational sense out of him." The corporal affirmed, then stepped over to Deston. “Lieutenant, would you come with me.” It was not a request despite the phrasing, though the implied threat was well-veiled. Carl still wasn't getting the undercurrent of what was being said; he was mostly happy to be getting off the Borg ship and back onto Starfleet hullmetal. "Absolutely, corporal!" he said with understandable enthusiasm. The corporal spoke into his comm. “'Spectre' transporter room two. Two to beam directly to Mission Briefing & Debriefing and please inform Colonel Krige that his presence is requested.” It was only moments until the familiar and oh-so-welcome dissolve effect of the transporter enveloped him, but it seemed much longer. (Reply None) (Posted by John O'Neill) (USS Spectre - Mission Briefing & Debriefing - Lt. j.g. Carlyle Deston – 19:23) They materialized in a rather plain, sparsely-furnished room, obviously designed solely for function. The corporal gestured at a chair. “Grab a seat Sir, Colonel Krige will be here in a moment.” "Thanks, corporal." Deston's left index finger, where he'd torn the nail while "working over" the body of 'Captain Helpful', was starting to throb. "Uh, any chance I can get this looked at quickly?" he asked, holding up the bloodied digit. Now that he was paying attention to it, it was starting to hurt. (reply Houseman, if there's time before Krige enters) The room's door opened and in stepped a rather tall humanoid bearing Marine insgnia. The corporal snapped to attention and saluted. "Sir, this is Lieutenant Deston; he says that he is from the 'Boudicca' but was snatched by the Borg. Major Stevens wanted me to report him directly to you, sir.” (Reply Krige, Houseman) (Posted by John O'Neill) (USS Spectre - Mission Briefing & Debriefing - Corporal Houseman – 19:23) Houseman felt the grip lessen as the briefing room materialized. He pointed to a chair. “Grab a seat Sir, Colonel Krige will be here in a moment.” (reply Deston) The door opened and he saw Krige enter. Houseman snapped to attention and saluted as Krige stepped into the room. “Sir this is Lieutenant Deston he says that he was from the Boudicca but was snatched by the Borg. Major Stevens wanted me to report him directly to you sir.” (Reply Krige) (Reply Deston, Krige, any) (posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Deck Nine, Section Forty Nine Alpha - Ensign Durgil - 19:23) "Seems ok to me." Aldlar watched as Slok moved to the lower end of the corridor. With a sigh, he moved to the opposite end and began work. (Reply None) (Posted by John) (USS Spectre - Marine Hanger Deck, Trojan Assault Ship - Cprl, Lewis O'Hara - 19:37) "Here here", said Sykes, impersonating one of the historical figures from English aristocracy as he took the offered glass from Lewis. "You know, I think I need to make sure some is left in this bottle when we are done. You never know when a cute fleeter is gonna come on board, who might need a little romancing", he added as he took a sip of the aromatic wine. "Romance!... on this bird!", exclaimed O'Hara, "you gotta be kidding me, I had a target in my sights a while back, recon said it was a go, my coordinates were set, checked and double checked, I advanced one by one, stealth was in my favour all the way... zero hour came, the flag went up and, and.... well, let's just say that I didn't storm the Bastille", he added, somewhat dejectedly. "But no worries, I still got the councellors wine" (Reply Sykes) O'Hara quirked his head and then took another sip from his glass, well, it was actually more than a sip for the glass was now pretty much in need of a refill. "In all seriousness Lewis, I'll be happy when we get as far away from this place as possible. Nothing but trouble", said Sykes, changing the subject now to more pressing matters as O'Hara filled his glass and then offered to fill Roberts again also. "And I swear if that fleeter messes up the investigation into one of our own, he will have problems", said Sykes, clearly thinking back now to the episode with Rock and Rameriz. O'Hara huffed and then drank a little more wine. "Yup. Problems indeed", answered Lewis, "I say we space him out of an airlock.... whad'ya say?", he added with a laugh. (Reply Sykes) "You think Krige would object?", said O'Hara, "I mean, if we threw a rock outta the airlock" (Reply Sykes) O'Hara sighed heavily, then he drank some more wine... (Reply Sykes) (Posted by Alan) (USS Spectre - Deck Nine, Section Forty Nine Alpha - Ensign Durgil - 20:00) Aldlar finally reached the already waiting Slok. He hadn't beent he first in his class for mechanical repair, but he had passed. And besides, he lacked the experience that sharpened the skill. Aldlar looked at Slok, wondering what hid in that stiff emotionless face. "So, now that we've finished the repairs, what do we do? Submit a report?" (Reply Slok) Aldlar nodded. He had just about no clue how things worked on this ship with priorities, but he if he hoped to learn, he had to go with the flow. "Alright, I'll follow your lead." (Reply Slok, Any) (Posted by: John) (USS Spectre - Deck Nine, Section Forty Nine Alpha - ACEO, Ensign Slok - 20:01) "So, now that we've finished the repairs, what do we do? Submit a report?", asked the new Engineer. Slok looked down from his lofty position on the makeshift gantry, then he closed the final hatch he'd been working with.. "Yes we do", said the Vulcan, pausing briefly now to wonder why the Ensign would be asking such a question. "I am curious, did you not have to make reports upon finalizing procedure's in training?", he asked. Ensign Durgil simply nodded in response, obviously, he was a little unsure of the protocol of starship operations right now, he'd get the hang of it sooner or later though... they all did. "Alright, I'll follow your lead", said Durgil. Slok then stepped down from the footholds set into the bulkhead and collected his tools. "I will make the report if it is easier", said Slok, "I will check with Lieutenant H'Chir to see if we are required elsewhere also.... if we are not, then I intend to take a break in Ten forward", he added, moving off towards the turbolift annex at the end of the corridor. "You are very welcome to join me if you so wish", said Slok as he stood next to the turbolift doors to await the lifts arrival. (Reply Durgil, Any) (Posted by Alan) (USS Spectre - Deck Nine, Section Forty Nine Alpha - Ensign Durgil - 20:01) Aldlar remained silent. It was normal procedure at the academy, but he knew that ships acquired their own flows. Sometimes, reports weren't necessary to some. Either way, Aldlar knew he had to learn this soon. He nodded in response. 'I will make the report if it is easier. I will check with Lieutenant H'Chir to see if we are required elsewhere also.... if we are not, then I intend to take a break in Ten forward.' Aldlar turned to watch as the Vulcan approached the turbolift. As he looked over himself, he was glad that he didn't have to make the report. Now, it would've been a good idea for him to do it, but he just didn't feel up to it yet. 'You are very welcome to join me if you so wish.' Aldlar looked up at Slok. For a moment, he was locked in indecision. Aldlar decided to accept, knowing that he had a lot to learn from a more knowledgeable crew member. "Thanks for the invitation. I'll accept. By the way, I hope I haven't said anything that would imply incompetence on my end. I was taught real early by my father that each ship forms it's own way of working, that you can't apply a single mold to all crews and expect it to work right." Aldlar knew the Vulcan would understand what he had meant by that, even if it might have been worded a little weird. He began to tag along, staying out of the way, but close enough to be avilable for any conversation on the way. (Reply, Slok, Any) (Posted by: John) (USS Spectre - Turbolift Four - ACEO, Ensign Slok - 20:02) The work recently completed in section forty nine alpha had been both awkward and time consuming, Slok had worked diligently and, dare it be said, logically, whilst Durgil, regardless of his uncertaintly in regard ship borne protocol right now, had exemplified perfection to the nth degree. Why Slok had even detected an almost Vulcan approach to the man, and that was not a quality he applied to many non Vulcans on this ship! Immediately they had entered the turbolift, the Vulcan queried the computer terminal set into one of it's walls in regards the CEO. "Computer, please locate Lietenant H'Chir", he requested. [Lieutenant H'Chir is currently located in main engineering] Slok simply pursed his lips, an uncharacteristic expression for one of Vulcan decent maybe but one that he had picked up, somewhere along the way. He then he instructed the turbolift accordingly. "Deck Thirteen please", the doors closed and the lift was on it's way. (Reply None) (Posted by Alan) (USS Spectre - Turbolift Four - Ensign Durgil - 20:02) Aldlar knew the original idea was to meet back up at the mess hall. But, as he was new here and all, Aldlar didn't really want to wonder around alone, even for a couple minutes. He followed Slok into the turbolift, remiaing quiet as he knew the Vulcan would probably be deep in thought. If he had known what Slok was thinking, he would be objecting, saying he just enjoyed his work. As it stood, Aldlar only wanted to reach a point where he could fit in, and doing his job was the main goal. Aldlar was currently just observing and riding along. Conversation would be over the food later. He accepted that. For now, he would wait until they were there. (Reply None) (Posted by John) (USS Spectre - Main Engineering - ACEO Ensign Slok - 20:06) Slok approached the unmistakable figure of the Andorian CEO and then announced his presence with a slight 'ahem', PADD in hand. H'Chir turned around from the object currently holding his attention, a clearly identifiable phase inverter coil, burned and blackened now beyond reasonable repair which lay upon the bench before him. "Ensign... ensign's", said H'Chir correcting himself on seeing the new Engineer Durgil standing nearby. His own expression urged a response now in regards their progress, Slok then spoke. "Sir, the repairs to the bulkhead panels in section forty nine alpha are now completed", he began, dutifully handing the PADD to the blue CEO before continuing on, "however, two of the J-126 diagnostic panels are unserviceable until we reach spacedock... they will not impede structural integrity at warp speeds", he stated. H'Chir huffed and then furrowed his brow in response, was it the J-126's, or something else? Probably the inverter from the phased cloak since the CEO had always considered it his 'special' baby and he was indeed being particularly overzealous of late... "Never mind", he said, "what could be done was done, I have no qualms with anything other than the damned cloak at this particular juncture in time", he added turning his attention once again towards the burnt piece of equipment behind him. (Reply Durgil IYW) "Perhaps later, you have both earned, and are due a break.... go get some dinner", said H'Chir. Slok turned to Durgil and quirked his head a little to one side, then he looked again to the chief, who was by then moving back almost single mindedly to the errant phase inverter coil. "You do not require our assistance with the cloak?", inquired Slok. "Not right now, I'm on it", said H'Chir, without actually looking back at them. "I could use you both on the transfer conduits feeding the local bus later.... but for now, eat", he added. "Very well sir", said Slok, "we shall return when we are.... satiated" H'Chir simply poked at the blackened device and then opened up a panel upon it's side, somewhat lost within it's intricacies right now. Then all of a sudden stood upright again and turned to them both once more. "Satiated? Now that put's me in a certain frame of mind Mr Slok.... I don't suppose that you could bring me back a plate of Redbat stew could ya", he said abruptly, "my stomach is.... unsatiated" "We will see what we can do sir", answered Slok, H'Chir smiled a rare smile and then returned to the task before him. Slok and Durgil then headed out for Ten forward. (Reply Durgil) (Posted by Alan) (USS Spectre - Main Engineering - Ensign Durgil - 20:06) Aldlar remained a few feet behind Slok, giving him his space. He couldn't help allowing his eyes to wander, darting quickly from piece of technology to technology. Earlier, when he had been in engineering, Durgil had been a bit nervous, and hadn't been able to fully appreciate it all. Now that he'd calmed down somewhat, he was able to see himself fitting in here with all the familiar stuff. 'Ensign... ensign's.' Though not truly meant as such, H'chir's voice served as an anchor, pullign Aldlar back to the present. Aldlar listened to Slok. 'Sir, the repairs to the bulkhead panels in section forty nine alpha are now completed, however, two of the J-126 diagnostic panels are unserviceable until we reach spacedock... they will not impede structural integrity at warp speeds.' Aldlar remained in his observer role. He could tell that the CEO was currently separated in his attentions, but knew it a normal state with most of the things he had been taught. 'Never mind, what could be done was done. I have no qualms with anything other than the damned cloak at this particular juncture in time.' Aldlar wanted to say something to help, but he knew nothing about that oiece of equipment. He remained fixed, watching as the conversation finished. '...We will see what we can do sir" Aldlar then followed Slok, hoping he had been rude in his silence to H'chir. (Reply None) (Posted by John) (USS Spectre - Ten Forward - ACEO, Ensign Slok - 20:15) Ten forward seemed unusually quiet tonight, only four of the fifteen or so tables being currently occupied at this time. Near the window, three crewmen were playing cards, two Human male's and one Trill female, it seemed that the Trill had the upper hand judging by the pile of latinum strips upon the desk beside her, Slok gave them a cursory glance, then he headed towards the bar and took a seat. (Reply Durgil, Any) (Posted by Alan) (USS Spectre - Ten Forward - Ensign durgil - 20:15) Aldlar looked around, noting how it was a calm night compared to the the academy cafeteria, and when he had been here earlier. He watched the card game, unsure which game they were playing, but noticing the accumulation of wealth with the Trill. Though his gaze was elsewhere for the moment, he followed Slok to the bar and sat down beside him. He remained silent for half a minute. Then: "So, we've finished our job, and are taking a break. And then?" It probably came out wrong. Aldlar had never been one to have the best conversations at first. What he really meant, and it could be decerned by body language and such, was that he was still "new", and needed some help fitting in. Maybe not the most logical issue at the time, but this was time off, where such issues mattered more. He ordered a root beer: Aldlar had never been quite one for alcohol. (Reply, Slok) Aldlar took a sip of the effervescent beverage. It was soothing, "I know it'll take time, but... this is my first post outside of the academy, and I feel... out of place." (Reply, Slok,Any) (Posted by: John) (USS Spectre - Ten forward - ACEO, Ensign Slok - 20:16) The Vulcan Engineer was certainly not used to taking the role of 'babysitter' to a new officer, not that Durgil was in anyway incompetent or not fitting to the job in hand of course, but merely because Slok was used to working in a logical, progressive manner without having a need to chaperone someone at the same time. "So, we've finished our job, and are taking a break. And then?", asked Ensign Durgil. Slok raised an eyebrow in a typical display of Vulcan curiosity. "We go where we are next required", answered Slok whilst settling more comfortably into his barstool, "logic dictates that that will more than likely be somewhere on deck fourteen", he added. (Reply Durgil) "The location of the phased cloak engineering section, Lieutenant H'Chir seems to be most pre-occupied on that particular problem right now.... logically, that is where we will be", said the Vulcan as the barkeep arrived to take his order. Durgil had ordered something called a root beer, it looked decidedly unsavoury to say the least, but ever the one to face a new experience, Slok ordered the same. "I know it'll take time", said Durgil sipping at his drink, "but... this is my first post outside of the academy, and I feel... out of place", he added. Slok thanked the barkeep as his own drink arrived, he took a sip and then responded to Durgil's comment. "You will be.... OK", he said, thinking back to how Humans seemed to respond to the two lettered comment better than almost any other when faced with their own uncertainty about things. (Reply Durgil) "As your first posting on a ship in space..... and indeed so far out, it is understandable that you feel out of place as you say but.... it will pass, you will be OK", said Slok resorting to the two lettered response once again. To be truthful, he actually understood more than he was letting on for even he had taken a short while to come to terms with his 'spacelegs' so to speak, it had always been assumed that Vulcan just 'did' without any emotional ties to the action. That was not entirely true. (Reply Durgil) Slok drank a little more of his own drink and then licked at his lips, he was not quite used to his drinks 'fizzing' back at him or sending bubbles of gas into his nose, it was an interesting experience but one not entirely preferable to his usual, more sedate choice of, fruit choice. Slok contemplated the situation of Durgil once again, and then concluded that maybe being a 'babysitter' wasn't going to be such a bad thing after all, and it would certainly be interesting! (Reply Durgil, Any) (Posted by Alan) (USS Spectre - Ten forward - Ensign Durgil - 20:16) 'We go where we are next required. Logic dictates that that will more than likely be somewhere on deck fourteen.' Aldlar nodded. He didn't understand why, but it didn't really matter to him. He just had to do the work, and things would be fine. 'The location of the phased cloak engineering section, Lieutenant H'Chir seems to be most pre-occupied on that particular problem right now.... logically, that is where we will be.' Aldlar watched as the Vulcan ordered a root beer, which was a strange thing, seeing as how the Vulcan students at the academy never had them. "I know it'll take time, but... this is my first post outside of the academy, and I feel... out of place." 'You will be.... OK.' Aldlar thought for a moment. Until now, all the Vulcans he had ever known were insolent people who threw their dumb logic in the face of humans. But this one... He stooped to human terms to make this one ensign feel in a more secure place. Aldlar nodded his head in a manner that told Slok to continue while he took another sip. 'As your first posting on a ship in space..... and indeed so far out, it is understandable that you feel out of place as you say but.... it will pass, you will be OK.' "I don't doubt that it will. But... until that time has passed it kinda makes no difference." (Reply, Slok) Aldlar didn't want to sound gloomy but... Emotions were heard things to describe, especially to a Vulcan. Aldlar took another sip of the root beer, feeling the familiar fizzle. With a sigh, he but his mug/glass down and resumed talk of their work. "They didn't teach us much about cloaking technology at the Academy. Just enoguh to run a normal cloak. As such, I really don't know anything about a phased cloak. Anything I should know? (Reply, Slok, any) (Posted by: John) (USS Spectre - Ten forward - Ensign Slok - 20:18) Slok did his best to reassure the new Ensign that things would be 'OK', Durgil though was seemingly unconvinced. "I don't doubt that it will. But... until that time has passed it kinda makes no difference.", he had answered, a response that both intrigued and confused the Vulcan Engineer. "Why would you feel that a certain outcome would make no difference?", he asked, raising an eyebrow quizzically and gazing into the contents of his glass as he did so, "by definition, the passing of time in regards a string of events leading up to that outcome would be everything but 'no difference'", he added, paraphrasing Durgil's own statement. "... that is most illogical", said Slok. Durgil remained silent, clearly not wishing to get into the discussion of 'emotions' with someone who clearly had little understanding of them! He simply changed the subject to that of the Spectre's phase cloak. "They didn't teach us much about cloaking technology at the Academy. Just enough to run a normal cloak. As such, I really don't know anything about a phased cloak. Anything I should know?", he asked. "It has.... got us out of trouble on more than one occasion", answered Slok, feeling that perhaps the new Ensign was not really looking for a detailed breakdown of the cloaks interior workings right now. (Reply Durgil, IYW) "If need be, I can furnish you with all the schematics needed in order to allow you need to become fully conversant with the cloaks operation", said Slok. (Reply Durgil) (Posted by Alan) (USS Spectre - Ten forward - Ensign Durgil - 20:18) 'Why would you feel that a certain outcome would make no difference? By definition, the passing of time in regards a string of events leading up to that outcome would be everything but "no difference" ... that is most illogical' Aldlar almost wanted to point out that pessimistic in itself was illogical, but he held his tongue. It did sound pretty stupid, even without Vulcan logic. But, that was how he felt. "They didn't teach us much about cloaking technology at the Academy. Just enough to run a normal cloak. As such, I really don't know anything about a phased cloak. Anything I should know?" Changing the topic probably wasn't logical either, but it was more comfortable. When a conversation about oneself goes a direction unintended by the person being talked about, It can be quite uncomfortable. 'It has.... got us out of trouble on more than one occasion.' "I don't doubt that it has. The very concept of being able to move through things, including enemy ships and fire... It's astonishing. I just wish i knew how it was done." 'If need be, I can furnish you with all the schematics needed in order to allow you to become fully conversant with the cloaks operation.' Aldlar rolled the proposition over in his mind. It was... Well, other than one day becoming the chief engineer, one of the things he'd been hoping for since he came on board. To become more familiar with the PSD. "I'd like that very much. Thanks." (Reply, Slok, IYW) Aldlar finished his root beer. He was thinking of getting something to eat, but realized he really wasn't hungry. Right now he was still a little uneasy about the new posting, but trying to forget anything about being uneasy. Not exactly a logical thing to do, but a very human one. "So, how long until we have to be getting back?" It wasn't so much of a query of duty, but a hook for conversation. He wasn't sure what he wanted to talk about, and was attempting to open the floor for Slok. (Repl, Slok, any) (Posted by: John) (USS Spectre - Ten forward - ACEO, Ensign slok - 20:20) "I'd like that very much. Thanks.", said Durgil, in response to the offer of detailed schematics. "It is no trouble at all Ensign Durgil, the least I could do", replied Slok as he took another sip of the root bear, whilst Adlar finished his own off. "So, how long until we have to be getting back?", asked Durgil, placing his glass onto the bar again. "We have been here a little under ten minutes, we may break for an hour.... consequently, there is no immediate rush to return to duty", said Slok, pausing briefly now to wonder why the Ensign seemed so keen to return to work. In his own experience, this was most unusual for a human, in a way it was admirable, almost Vulcan in quality! "Perhaps you would like to eat", said Slok, breaking the silence, "I can recommend the Plomik soup, the chef here has become rather adept at achieving optimal quality", said Slok, wondering now if Durgil would be as adventurous as himself in regards his partaking of the root beer. (Reply Durgil, Any) (Posted by Alan) (USS Spectre - Ten Forward - Ensign Durgil - 20:20) 'We have been here a little under ten minutes, we may break for an hour.... consequently, there is no immediate rush to return to duty.' Aldlar didn't answer. An entire hour? It made him feel uncomfortable that he'd be in this unfamiliar environment for that long. When he was at work, all the components felt familiar. It made him seem at home. When he wasn't working... He had to find other things. And he didn't really have many other things. 'Perhaps you would like to eat. I can recommend the Plomik soup, the chef here has become rather adept at achieving optimal quality.' "Plomik soup? Never heard of it. I'll give it a shot." Aldlar had noticed how Slok had taken root beer. He thought it only fair to try a suggestion from the Vulcan. He looked out a window into the darkness with the shining light spots. Others came on these ships for those, to travel and explore. He really didn't care for that. For him, it was a matter of him and the ship. Space was The testing grounds. He enjoyed piloting a ship, finding it's problems, and fixing them for a better ride. Some wanted the maximum inertial dampening. Aldlar sought the balance that let the pilot feel the ship, and yet not be overpowered by it. Aldlar looked at the Vulcan again, his mind returning to the here-now. "So, what kind of ship is this. I know it's the Spectre, and all that stuff, but I want to know more of what happens. Every ship has it's own personality. What's this ones?" (Reply, Slok) Aldlar Looked at the bowl that was set in front of him. It was steaming. He braced himself for a taste. (Reply, Slok, Any) (Posted By: John) (USS Spectre - Ten Forward - ACEO, Ensign Slok - 20:22) "So, what kind of ship is this. I know it's the Spectre, and all that stuff, but I want to know more of what happens. Every ship has it's own personality. What's this ones?", asked Durgil. "A personality?", said Slok, confused now. "I am not entirely sure that a non organic object can have a 'personality' as such", said Slok, "can you clarify what you mean by this?" (Reply Durgil) It was at that moment that Ensign Durgils choice of Plomik soup arrived before him. Slok simply watched as he poked at the soup with the spoon, he seemed reluctant to try it and had probably only ordered it because the Vulcan had tried the root beer. In the end though, he took the plunge so to speak and took a mouthful. (Reply Durgil, IYW) "What do you think of the soup?", asked Slok, wondering now whether the Human Ensign would be truly honest with him now or not. (Reply Durgil, Any) (Posted by Alan) (USS Spectre - Ten Forward - Ensign Durgil - 20:22) 'A personality? I am not entirely sure that a non organic object can have a "personality" as such. Can you clarify what you mean by this?' "Well... It's a little hard to explain. Certain pieces of technology have their own little bugs. Sometimes, the impulse engines have the tendency to veer to port. Sometimes, the matter-anti matter reaction needs a little tweaked because of how that particular ship uses it. No two ships are the same, not even if they are the same class. And I'm not referring to crew here. Do you get what I mean?" (Reply: Slok) The soup arrived. It bubbled... It steamed... It had the generally look of something that didn't want eaten. Aldlar poked at it with his spoon. It looked... Bad. But, to not eat it would be rude. And even if Vulcan's don't have feelings, they do have impressions. And impressions like this would need a careful start. Bolstering himself up inside, Aldlar took the spoon to his mouth, his hand quivering as he did. He took a sip... 'What do you think of the soup?' Vegtables! Aldlar was the only one who had liked brussel sprouts at the academy. Everytime there were vegtables (Except tomato) around, he would dig in. And potatos wer ehis favorite. Though not exact, the soup reminded him of patatos and other vegtables which he couldn't remember at the time. He took another sip... And another. The soup was great. "This... Stuff... Is... GREAT!" Aldlar couldn't help but enjoy himself. The professional air he had been trying to maintain had fallen, giving the air of an honest boy. If people wanted to laugh at call him nuts because he liked the soup, so be it. It meant more for him! (Reply: Slok, any) (Posted by: John) (USS Spectre - Ten Forward - ACEO, Ensign Slok - 20:23) ".....do you get what I mean?", Durgil has asked, in regards his description of the ship having a certain 'personality'. To be honest, Slok did not 'get' it at all, the idea of an inanimate object having personality per se, seemed completely alien to him, and it was illogical of course. The Vulcan remained straight faced and generally at a loss to Human outlooks, in an attempt to understand further though, he thought back to the times when he had used certain tools to carry out a task, some tools 'felt' better to use than others, they flowed, perhaps this is what Ensign Durgil was referring to. "I have noticed that the Spectre exhibits a resonance within Jefferies tube nineteen that is unlike the resonance patterns seen elsewhere, it is a.... 'nuance' of the vessel itself that I have not experienced on other Spectre class ships", said Slok, "would this be what you are referring to?" (Reply Durgil) Durgil then took a tentative sip of the soup, his expressions changing as he savoured it, apparently allowing the flavour to wash over his tastebuds as he did so. The screwed up expression gave way to one of contemplation, then it changed to surprise. It seemed that he approved. "This... Stuff... Is... GREAT!", he exclaimed, Slok simply raised an eyebrow at the remark, and then took another sip of the root beer whilst Ensign Durgil tucked in with relish now. "I am glad that you like it", said the Vulcan, "it is a very good approximation of my own mothers Plomik soup, not as good of course but..... Good enough", he added. (Reply Durgil, IYW) (Posted by Alan) (USS Spectre - Ten Forward - Ensign Durgil - 20:23) 'Would this be what you are referring to?' A certain nuance in a certain jefferies tube... It was on the edge, but it was what he had been asking about. "Yes, that's what i wanted to know. All the little things that make the ship unique." Durgil had by now finished half of the soup. Hearing Slok talk about his mothers soup with a certain kind of "fondness", though he knew that the Vulcan would never word it that way, seemed a little strange, though in a good way. He remembered the days that he would compliment his own mothers cooking. It was a long time ago... "Well then, I'll have to try it sometime." (Reply, Slok) Aldlar looked down at the empty bowl. He had made short work of it, leaving barely a drop of soup in the bowl. There was a certain longing as he stared at it, but also an oxymoronic sense of contentment. He rose his gaze from the bowl and waited for Slok to set a lead. (Reply, Slok, Any) (Posted By: John) (USS Spectre - Ten Forward - ACEO, Ensign Slok - 20:24) Ensign Durgil had seemed surprised when Slok had mentioned a preference for his mothers Plomik soup over the Spectre's chef's version, why was that? It seemed to the Vulcan that Humans had that overwhelming idea that his race was completely devoid of preference due to being almost completely unemotional, that just wasn't so at all. Having a preference for certain things had nothing to do with lack of emotion at all and yet, it was something he had often come up against. Durgil seemed to let it lie anyway, then he expressed a need to try out the Vulcan's preference at a later date. "Well then, I'll have to try it sometime", he said. The Vulcan simply nodded his assent whilst Ensign Durgil cleaned the bowl of the Chef's Plomik soup entirely before settling back in his chair, apparently satiated. "Plomik soup is but one Vulcan delicacy", said Slok, re-entering the conversation now. "If you are partial to soups, you may wish to try Shur t'bertakk, it is particularly tasteful with Kreila.... which is akin to your bread", said Slok. (Reply Durgil) (Posted by Alan) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – FO, Williams – 21:10) “Confused and in pain. Is that normal?” Calvin asked still drugged. Andrew nodded. “Yes that is normal. It will take a little bit for the anaesthetic drugs to clear your system so don’t worry.” “Hey doc….can we turn the lights down?” asked Calvin. Andrew smiled and touched the button on the wall until the light dimmed. “You said you were in pain. On a pain scale of one to ten where one is no pain and ten is the worst pain you have ever felt. Where would it be?” (Reply Capps) Andrew nodded. “Do you also feel sick?” (Reply Capps) Andrew picked up a hypospray and inserted the cartages of medication. “This should make you feel a bit better.” (Reply Capps) He injected the contents into Capps’s neck. He paused a for a few minutes to ket the medication work. “How do you feel now?” (Reply Capps) (Reply Capps) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – TAC/ASC Lt Cmdr Calvin Capps – 21:12) “You said you were in pain. On a pain scale of one to ten where one is no pain and ten is the worst pain you have ever felt. Where would it be?” asked the FO. “About a four,” Calvin said slowly. “A high discomfort is all. Mostly on my head dock. It feels like it is throbbing.” “Do you also feel sick?” asked Dr. Williams. “A little nauseous.” Calvin shook his ahead in the positive. “This should make you feel a bit better.” Calvin felt a hypospray against his neck. It wasn’t the first time he felt one and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. “Thanks.” “How do you feel now?” Lt Cmdr Capps was amazed how fast the medicine began to work on his body. “Better already Doctor.” He rested his head against the pillow and closed his eyes. “When will I be able to get out of here doc? (reply Williams) (posted by Calvin) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – FO, Williams – 21:20) “When will I be able to get out of here doc? Andrew looked down at Capps and gave him an incredulous look. “What leave already? That’s gratitude for you. I save your life, using all my expert knowledge at my disposal. Taken care of you in this nice and wonderful sickbay surrounded by the best team that any patient could wish for.” He shook his head and smiled. “Well I never.” He paused for a moment making sure he was happy with Capps’s condition. “You can go now if you want but remember if you have any pain or come over funny come back to sickbay. We are open 24/7 you know.” (Reply Capps) (Reply Capps) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – TAC/ASC Lt Cmdr Calvin Capps – 21:22) “What leave already? That’s gratitude for you. I save your life, using all my expert knowledge at my disposal. Taken care of you in this nice and wonderful sickbay surrounded by the best team that any patient could wish for.” He shook his head and smiled. “Well I never.” Calvin opened his eyes and looked up at the doctor. He laughed. “Thanks for everything doc, I’m just not the type to lay around. Besides I have seen more sickbays in the past 6 months than I’ve seen of starships.” “You can go now if you want but remember if you have any pain or come over funny come back to sickbay. We are open 24/7 you know.” Lt Cmdr Capps’ eyelids blinked a few times before he continued. “I think I will stay one night with you and your reliable team. You can’t beat the service here,” Calvin said smiling. (reply Williams) (posted by Calvin) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – TAC/ASC Lt Cmdr Calvin Capps – 21:26) "A patient who wants to stay in sickbay better hold off on the usual doses of mind altering drugs and call the counsellor." Calvin knew the doctor was joking and so he smiled. "Ow by the way unfortunately like most sickbays I would get takeout rather then trying the food." Smiling still, “thanks commander. I will get someone to bring something up for me. Maybe a nice big chicken fried steak with cream gravy!” He watched FO Williams give him a grin. "Is there anything I can do for you at the moment,” asked Williams. “You have done enough, thanks for everything.” Calvin closed his eyes and thought back to the last few hours of his life. This was the closest Calvin had ever gotten to actually being killed on duty, and the first time to be half assimilated to the Borg. The frightening thoughts flooded his mind as he began to fall asleep knowing he was now safe inside of sickbay on the Spectre filled with the greatest crew in the fleet. (reply Williams, iyw) (posted by Calvin) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – FO, Williams – 21:28) “You have done enough, thanks for everything.” Andrew nodded as he saw Capps close his eyes. He saw happy that Capps had decided to stay the night. The surgery had been major and a few more hours observation could not be a bad thing. As he walked away he felt his stomach rumble softy, he glanced up at the chronometer on the wall and realized that it had been a long time since he had had food today. On his way out of sickbay he passed one of the duty staff. “I’ll be in the mess hall if you need me.” With that he went off to feed his hunger. (reply Capps, any) (posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre – Mess Hall – FO, Williams – 22:13) Andrew listened to what Rock had to say. He was still shocked that the Captain had been accused of Ramirez’s murder. He finally realised that this was only going to be settled one way. “Okay Chief lets get this sorted right now. You and me will go and talk to the Captain right now.” (Reply Rock) ~I think he is still in his ready room. It’s a good place to start~ With that he headed out of the Mess Hall and towards a turbolift. (Reply Rock) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre – Captain’s Ready Room – CO, Captain T'Vhor – 22:24) The Captain had been enjoying a little 'downtime' in his ready room after the events of the day, it seemed appropriate after all. The Borg incursion had been halted and the ship had been repaired the best it was able to be without the facilities of a starbase with dedicated repair docks, indeed, all said and done the music he was currently listening to failed to soothe his senses, despite it being one of his favourites. The Captain stood and then walked towards the window that looked out upon the vastness of space, the glowing river now evident and spanning from left to right immediately centre stage within the tableu created there. It's luminosity was a puzzle for sure, nothing here added up and the fact that the river itself was acting 'strange' only compounded that fact. Needless to say, it was all about to get a little more complicated, the chime sounding to the ready room heralding the start of that increase in complication level. "Enter", said the Captain as he moved towards his desk and chair and then took a seat, only to be confronted with a somewhat worried looking First Officer and CPO Rock. “Sorry to disturb you Captain but something important has come up and we needed to see you”, said Williams. The Captain gestured with his hand towards the seats opposite him and the two men availed themselves of then. "Please, continue", said the Captain, the First officer then continued on. “Chief Rock has been investigating the death of marine officer Rameriz and he has found some disturbing evidence”, said Williams. "Please explain.. disturbing Commander", said T'Vhor, his fingers coming together in front of him now as he spoke. “The autopsy results started that Rameriz was killed by a poison liquid which liquefied his vital organs. Chief Rock who is leading the investigation believes that one of she suspects could be the marine hologram of Rameriz.”, said Williams, pausing now regardless of the fact that there was clearly more to come. “The problem is sir is that just after Rameriz’s murder, the hologram of Rameriz was deactivated”, said the FO, pausing again, seemingly without good reason before going on to deliver his final, incriminating sentence. “......using your command codes Captain”, he added. The Captain raised an eyebrow quizzically, then he looked to CPO Rock, who seemed to be eyeing him curiously himself right now. "I see", said the Captain thoughtfully. None of this was possible of course for the Captain had not used his personal command codes at all that day, and yet.... if the chief had done his job correctly, and there was no reason to think that he had not done so, then he would have to have evidence to back that up and would not be here now making an allegation if he did not have said information. "May I see the evidence?", asked the Captain. (Reply Rock, Williams) The Captain took the offered PADD, read it through and then placed it onto the table with a nod. "These are indeed my personal command codes", said the Captain, "however, I did not enter them on this occasion", he added flatly. (Reply Rock) "Then logically, someone else has access to my command codes", said the Captain.. (Reply Rock, Williams) (Posted by Alan) (USS Spectre – Captain’s Ready Room – FO, Williams – 22:25) Andrew pressed the chime and waited for the doors to open. He stepped into the ready room and saw that T’Vhor was there. “Sorry to disturb you Captain but something important has come up and we needed to see you.” (Reply T’Vhor) “Chief Rock has been investigating the death of marine officer Ramirez and he has found some disturbing evidence.” He paused for a moment making sure he had the order of events right. “The autopsy results started that Ramirez was killed by a poison liquid which liquefied his vital organs. Chief Rock who is leading the investigation believes that one of she suspects could be the marine hologram of Ramirez.” Andrew looked over to the Chief before carrying on. “The problem is sir is that just after the Ramires’s murder the hologram of Ramirez was deactivated.” He gave a slight pause before carrying on. “Using your command codes Captain.” (Reply T’Vhor) (Reply T’Vhor, Rock, any) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre – Ready Room – Security, CPO Jaret Rock – 22:26) Rock walked inside of the Ready Room behind the First Officer. Jaret walked in with some uncomfortable feelings. He was the sole person that was about to accuse theCaptain of Murder. This would be the highest priority case he had ever worked before. "May I see the evidence?" asked the Captain. “Of course sir,” Calvin handed the PADD over to Captain T’Vhor. "These are indeed my personal command codes", said the Captain, "however, I did not enter them on this occasion", he added flatly. Jaret expected the response and wanted to believe it. However he needed and had to keep an objective view of the situation. The Captain, if guilty, would attempt to cover his actions. “Sir, if you did not use your command codes….” Rock began. "Then logically, someone else has access to my command codes", said the Captain. “I would suggest you change to your emergency codes sir.” Rock had a limited knowledge of the Captains command code, but if he remembered correctly the FO would be needed. (reply T’Vhor, Williams) “I also need to know of your location and if you were with anyone at and around the time 17:53” Rock had already done his research, but needed a confirmation from the Captain. (reply T’Vhor) “I believe it is important for us to move on to my next suspect, which is the hologram Rameriz. He was deactivated by your emergency command codes sir. If you could deactivate those routines, I would like to activate the hologram Rameriz inside of a secure area with a security team.” (reply T’Vhor, Williams) (posted by Calvin) (USS Spectre – Ready Room – CO, Captain T'Vhor – 22:28) Clearly, the CPO was having a problem now believing the Captain's explanation of having not used his command codes at the time of Corporal Rameriz's death. It was to be expected of course and as a Vulcan, albeit a hybrid, the Captain's heart rate never elevated once above normal the entire time reading the evidence that incriminated him. This of course made things a tad 'difficult' for the likes of Rock to assess guilt via emotional response, thus depriving the man of a valuable tool when crime solving duties reared their heads. "I would suggest you change to your emergency codes sir", Rock had suggested, this was probably a shrewd decision and one that had already been at the forefront of the Captains mind from the first read of the PADD. He had simply nodded his assent. "I will see to this the moment our business is complete here", said the Captain. (Reply Williams, Rock IYW) "I also need to know of your location and if you were with anyone at and around the time 17:53", said CPO Rock, pausing now to let the Captain answer. His response was succinct and direct of course. "I was on the bridge overseeing the Marine away mission to the Borg vessel, if I am not mistaken, I was surrounded by an entire bridge crew", said the Captain with a curious rise of an eyebrow, "a contamination alert had sounded in medical research, Lieutenant H'Chir was dispatched to deal with this", added the Captain. (Reply Rock) CPO Rock then moved on to the subject of the Holographic version of Rameriz, which at best was somewhat dubious, and at worst, laughable. Could a hologram even be considered sentient? Could it possess anything that resembled 'intent', which after all was one of the prime requirements in any murder case. Rock made his case though and then ended with a suggestion... ".....if you could deactivate those routines, I would like to activate the hologram Rameriz inside of a secure area with a security team", he said. "I...do not see that this will achieve a desired goal", said the Captain, "the hologram will merely, relay sensory input recorded into it's file matrix, data which will, by default be considered 'electronic evidence'... thus open to tampering", he added.. "I will however allow this to take place, if only to ascertain any pointers that might lead us towards a perpetrator, if indeed one exists", said the Captain. (Reply Rock, Williams IYW) "I will however allow this to take place, if only to ascertain any pointers that might lead us towards a perpetrator, if indeed one exists", said the Captain. (Reply Rock, Williams IYW) (Posted by Alan) (USS Spectre – Ready Room – Security, CPO Jaret Rock – 22:30) "I was on the bridge overseeing the Marine away mission to the Borg vessel, if I am not mistaken, I was surrounded by an entire bridge crew", said the Captain with a curious rise of an eyebrow, "a contamination alert had sounded in medical research, Lieutenant H'Chir was dispatched to deal with this", added the Captain. “Thank you Captain. I have already confirmed your alibi sir, and it pleases me to know that you are no longer a suspect.” CPO Rock relaxed in the chair he was sitting in. ".....if you could deactivate those routines, I would like to activate the hologram Rameriz inside of a secure area with a security team", Jaret requested. "I...do not see that this will achieve a desired goal", said the Captain, "the hologram will merely, relay sensory input recorded into it's file matrix, data which will, by default be considered 'electronic evidence'... thus open to tampering", he added.. "I will however allow this to take place, if only to ascertain any pointers that might lead us towards a perpetrator, if indeed one exists", said the Captain. “The ‘electronic evidence,’” Jaret used the Captain’s lingo for the holograph Rameriz, “will need to be examined for tampering. We have an approved team in Security who will be able to suffice. Also I understand your doubt of a hologram committing such an act, but in my investigation I have found that the hologram Rameriz is known for questionable acts before this incident.” "Indeed, as I said, you may question the hologram", said the Captain. “Thank your sir”, said Rock, thankful for the trust and respect the Captain was giving him. Jaret leaned forward and took the PADD he originally gave to T’Vhor. He tapped a few controls on it and handed it back to the Captain. “Sir, this is a list of your command codes that were used in the past 24 hours. If you could go through the list and confirm if you had inputted these codes. We are looking for other discrepancies to show no further tampering. I understand it may take some time for you to do that, but the faster it is completed the better sir.” (reply T’Vhor) “I will immediately begin the investigation on hologram Rameriz checking for tampering first. I will keep you and Commander Williams up to date.” (reply T’Vhor) (posted by Calvin) (USS Spectre – Ready Room – FO, Williams – 22:31) Andrew was relieved in the way that this conversation was going as the idea of the Captain being anyway involved in the murder had rocked him to his core. "I was on the bridge overseeing the Marine away mission to the Borg vessel, if I am not mistaken, I was surrounded by an entire bridge crew", said the Captain with a curious rise of an eyebrow, "a contamination alert had sounded in medical research, Lieutenant H'Chir was dispatched to deal with this", added the Captain. “Thank you Captain. I have already confirmed your alibi sir, and it pleases me to know that you are no longer a suspect.” ".....if you could deactivate those routines, I would like to activate the hologram Rameriz inside of a secure area with a security team", he said. "I...do not see that this will achieve a desired goal", said the Captain, "the hologram will merely, relay sensory input recorded into it's file matrix, data which will, by default be considered 'electronic evidence'... thus open to tampering", he added.. "I will however allow this to take place, if only to ascertain any pointers that might lead us towards a perpetrator, if indeed one exists", said the Captain. “The ‘electronic evidence, will need to be examined for tampering. We have an approved team in Security who will be able to suffice. Also I understand your doubt of a hologram committing such an act, but in my investigation I have found that the hologram Rameriz is known for questionable acts before this incident.” "I will however allow this to take place, if only to ascertain any pointers that might lead us towards a perpetrator, if indeed one exists", said the Captain. “Thank your sir,” “Sir, this is a list of your command codes that were used in the past 24 hours. If you could go through the list and confirm if you had inputted these codes. We are looking for other discrepancies to show no further tampering. I understand it may take some time for you to do that, but the faster it is completed the better sir.” “I will attend to it the moment I have the free time to do so, in the interim, I suggest that you continue with your investigation, however implausible, into the possible involvement of Corporal Rameriz's holographic twin in this unfortunate death", “I will immediately began the investigation on hologram Rameriz checking for tampering first. I will keep you and Commander Williams up to date.” Andrew watched the captain dismiss Rock, waited until Rock had left and looked back at T’Vhor. He offered him the seat in front of him and he moved to it. He was about to say something but T’Vhor asked him a question. "I was wondering how Lieutenant Commander Capps was doing Andrew", said T'Vhor, Andrew nodded at the Captain’s use of his first name. “Well Captain. We have managed to remove all the nanobots from his system. He appears to be having a foul recovery but I might suggest to him to see the counselor just to make sure that I have not missed anything.” “He’s staying over night for observation but he is a very lucky man. It really was touch and go as to whether we had Lieutenant Commander Capps or a Borg drone.” (reply T’Vhor) (Reply Rock, T’Vhor) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre – Captain's Ready Room – CO, Captain T'Vhor – 22:33) Had the Captain been anything but a Vulcan hybrid right now, he would have perhaps felt a tinge of relief at Rock removing his name from the wanted list so to speak, as it was though he had barely elevated in heart rate. The question remained though as to how Rameriz had died, post mortem had revealed toxicological findings that looked suspicious but the only real evidence they had was pointing towards a being of light. It was completely illogical. CPO Rock offered the Captain the PADD once again, bringing his attention to his own command codes and their logged usage, he then asked him to verify them for the purpose of highlighting any discrepancies or evidence of tampering that may have ocurred. "..... I understand it may take some time for you to do that, but the faster it is completed the better sir.”, said Rock, finalizing his suggestions. "I will attend to it the moment I have the free time to do so, in the interim, I suggest that you continue with your investigation, however implausible, into the possible involvement of Corporal Rameriz's holographic twin in this unfortunate death", said the Captain. “I will immediately began the investigation on hologram Rameriz checking for tampering first. I will keep you and Commander Williams up to date”, said Rock. The Captain nodded and then suggested to them both that the report would make 'interesting reading', he then dismissed CPO Rock before motioning the FO to take a seat opposite him. (Reply Williams) "I was wondering how Lieutenant Commander Capps was doing Andrew", said T'Vhor, resorting to his FO by first name now, as he often did when speaking informally. (Reply Williams) (Posted by Alan) ========================================================================= Mission: The Gates of Prometheus Day: 122 Stardate: 2408.06.09 (USS Spectre – Sickbay – TAC/ASC Lt Cmdr Calvin Capps – 09:30) Calvin slowly woke up after a deep sleep in sickbay. He opened his eyes and began to rub them with his hands. As his vision became clear, and he could see the room around him his memory returned to him abruptly. The Borg ship, the Borg nano-probes being injected into his body, the Borg transformation, the ache of fighting his own crew members, and the pain he had to go through to eradicate the nanites from his body. “Computer, time?” [O’nine thirty] the computer responded to Calvin’s query. It was the latest into the day Calvin had slept in a long while. He was used to getting up early in the day to make it into the office at 0730 and began his daily briefing to the Admiral who he was an assistant to during his last injury recovery. Calvin twisted his hips and placed his feet onto the floor. Even with his current injuries he didn’t miss the office at all. He curled his toes into the carpet on the floor and stretched his arms and back. With a yawn he realized he had a serious case of morning breath. He looked around and was happy to see that he did have a private room. He was still in a sickbay gown and wanted to change into anything else. Lt Cmdr Capps contemplated if he should contact a nurse, but then he remembered his conversation with Commander Williams. Calvin had already been cleared to leave sickbay when ever he was ready. He looked around the room once again and saw some civilian clothes in the chair. They were an ugly maroon color, but he would have to wear something to his quarters. Unlike others he much preferred his uniform. He picked the clothes up and found a PADD underneath them. He picked it up as well and read the contents. It was his discharge orders and his release back to ‘light’ duty. He changed into the clothes he found and walked over to the small counter complete with a sink and hygiene materials including a toothbrush. After he finished dressing he left the small sickbay room. He walked into main sickbay and walked over to a nurse who apparently knew everything already. “Good morning Lt Cmdr Capps. I see you have found everything. Remember your orders are for light duty. We expect to see you after lunch and dinner for check ups. Please return the garments to sickbay when you come back for your first check up. See you in a couple of hours,” the nurse said all in one breathe of air. “Thanks,” replied Calvin. He inhaled deeply and walked out of sickbay ready to get back to work. (reply none, any) (posted by Calvin) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – FO, Williams – 09:34) Andrew sat at his desk. He was as usual going through medical reports. That was all he seemed to do as Chief Medical Officer at the moment. He gave a slight shrug tried to get his brain in gear. “Well we can’t have fun all the time.” “Good morning Lt Cmdr Capps. I see you have found everything. Remember your orders are for light duty. We expect to see you after lunch and dinner for check ups. Please return the garments to sickbay when you come back for your first check up. See you in a couple of hours” He looked around his desk and into main sickbay. He saw Capps talking to the duty nurse. “Thanks” Capps turned and headed out of sickbay and Andrew grinned to himself. It was always good to see people discharged from sickbay because it meant that he had helped make them well again. He leaned back and looked at his PADD. ~Right now get back to it or you will just find an excuse not to do it~ He hoped that something would happen to take him away from the monotony of his ‘paper work’ (Reply any) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre – Ready Room – TAC/ASC Lt Cmdr Calvin Capps – 13:00) It was no surprise to Calvin that Captain T’Vhor wanted him to report to the Ready Room. The Captain was first a good friend and probably wanted to know more about his recovery, and second the Captain was the Commanding Officer and probably wanted a full debriefing over the event that unfolded yesterday as he experienced them. Calvin pushed the chime and waited for the doors to depart from each other. Once they did Calvin walked inside of the Ready Room, “Reporting as ordered sir,” he said in his normal officer tone. (reply T’Vhor) (posted by Calvin) (USS Spectre – Captain's Ready Room – CO, Captain T'Vhor – 13:02) The Captain had been reading through the report on Lieutenant Commander Capps' partial assimilation when the chime to his ready room sounded, immediately he bade the person enter and in walked the man himself, looking predictably worn out from his ordeal with the Borg. “Reporting as ordered sir,” , said Capps as he approached the desk. "Calvin, please... take a seat", said the Captain as he stood and then moved towards the replicator. "Can I get you anything to drink?", he asked. (Reply Capps) NRPG: Assuming a yes here but can change if need be. RPG: The Captain then returned to his desk to retake his seat. "How are you feeling Calvin?", asked the Captain, genuinely concerned now for his friends health. (Reply Capps) (Posted by Alan) (USS Spectre – Captain's Ready Room – TAC/ASC Lt Cmdr Calvin Capps – 13:04) "Calvin, please... take a seat", said the Captain as he stood and then moved towards the replicator. "Can I get you anything to drink?", he asked. Calvin took the much needed seat. His body still ached from the medical procedures and the invasion of the Borg nanites. “Yes please, a Kolar Tea.” Captain T’Vhor walked back to his desk and handed the tea over to Calvin. Lt Cmdr Capps took the small white cup and sipped the tea. Kolar Tea was always served hot. "How are you feeling Calvin?", asked the Captain, genuinely concerned now for his friends health. “I am able to focus on my work, but physically I am still drained. My body is still in a synch of pain and ache. I have been released on ‘light duty’ only.” (reply T’Vhor) (posted by Calvin) (USS Spectre - Bridge - CO, Captain T'Vhor - 16:05) The river had evolved once again, the luminescence had increased almost tenfold now and Doctor Gunnell had managed to convince, via experimentation with stable samples that it was indeed, alive! This was an amazing discovery which like many great advances in science, had prompted only further questions. Why had it remained inert for so long? Why was the baseline DNA information of an age that predated all known species the Federation had ever encountered? Clearly there was much work to be done in deciphering the information contained within it but first, it had to be contained, and judging by it's present state of extreme animation, it was far from that. All of this though was suddenly irrellavant now for the communications officer had made a pertinent announcement. "Sir, I have an incoming communication on a secure channel..... the USS Uriel sir, she's on an intercept vector, currently four hours distant at her current speed", said the officer. The Captain turned towards the comms officer and then called for clarification of source. He knew this vessel of course, it was a courier vessel normally tasked with diplomatic liason and diplomacy missions. Why was it out here? "Is the vessel transmitting the correct codes?", he asked, uncertain now as to what such a vessel was doing so far out on a limb. "Aye sir, codes are current and established", came the reply. The Captain paused just briefly, then he stood and turned to the First Officer beside him, addressing him first and then the comms officer respectively. "You have the bridge number One.... pass the message to my ready room please Lieutenant", he said as he walked briskly towards the door. (Reply Williams, IYW) (Posted by Alan) (USS Spectre - Bridge – FO, Williams - 16:06) Andrew was running through a few things in his head. He needed to see Capps some time this afternoon to see how he was getting on after his time in sickbay. Also he had been going over Doctor Gunnell's latest report about the subspace river and he was amazed with her findings. He also realised that he needed to get the release of Rameriz body and put it into secure storage for the trip home. It was not the job he wanted to have to perform but he took his responsibilities seriously. Andrew turned his head as the communications officer spoke up. "Sir, I have an incoming communication on a secure channel..... the USS Uriel sir, she's on an intercept vector, currently four hours distant at her current speed", said the officer. ~Here! what’s it doing so far out~ "Is the vessel transmitting the correct codes?", asked the Captain, uncertain now as to what such a vessel was doing so far out on a limb. "Aye sir, codes are current and established", came the reply. ~Who on earth would want to come out here and talk to us when the comm system works just fine~ "You have the bridge number One.... pass the message to my ready room please Lieutenant", he said as he walked briskly towards the door. ”I have the bridge Sir.” Andrew watched T’Vhor go to his ready room and take the call. He was intrigued about what the call and what the USS Uriel was doing this far out. ~Well if I need to know I’m sure the Captain will tell me~ With that he turned back to the bridge. (Reply any) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Captain's Ready Room - CO, Captain T'Vhor - 16:08) Immediately, the Captain approached his desk and activated his console without sitting down, the face of the Uriel's CO appearing upon it as he did so to the accompaniment of a brief nod. =/\=Captain T'Vhor.... Captain Drew Merryvale of the USS Uriel=/\= The Captain nodded accordingly, still wondering what the Uriel wanted with them right now. Merryvale was quite clearly expecting him and yet, T'Vhor was completely in the dark. "How may I help you Captain?", he inquired. "=/\=I'll keep this brief Captain, I have a transfer for you..... well, more of a placement actually=/\= said Merryvale. "A placement?", said T'Vhor quizzically. =/\=Yes Captain, it's.... Admiral Sevant. He is, err.... transferring his flag to the Spectre=/\= "Under what dictate?", asked T'Vhor, a little surprised now at what he had just been told. =/\=Seemingly under his own, he has requested placement aboard the Spectre and it has been duly granted by fleet command.... whether you like it or not Captain, the Spectre is hereby designated the bearer of the Admiral's flag=/\= said Merryvale. T'Vhor then took his seat and settled back into it, his hand rising to his face, his index finger spanning his right cheek as he did so. This was most unusual, Sevant had been the overall commander of the Civil war campaign and as such, he was not exactly an unknown dignitory. Why the hell had he requested the Spectre? "This is most unusual", said T'Vhor, "the Admiral is no doubt aware of our current situation here?", he queried directing his question at the monitor. =/\=He's aware, he knows you have a.... situation=/\= said Merryvale, pausing mid sentence as he answered. "It should be noted that we are not entirely equipped to receive an Admiral Captain, the ship has sustained damage and the subspace river here is..... unpredictable", said T'Vhor.. Merryvale nodded and then took a sip from a cup he had just picked up from his table. =/\=Admiral Sevant is well aware of this Captain, needless to say though, his request for the Spectre has been received and duly granted.... as I said, he's coming aboard=/\= Captain T'Vhor then stood and moved towards the window in his ready room, the reflections from the increasingly luminant river dancing upon the skin of his face as he did so. "We currently show you as approximately four hours distant at your current speed, we can expect to receive the Admiral sometime around twenty two hundred hours then?", he asked, without actually looking away from the window now. =/\=That's affirmative Captain, I should advise you also that the Admiral has an entourage, a small collection of officers.... plus his wife in tow=/\= Captain T'Vhor returned his gaze to the monitor at that. ~His wife?~ He then returned to the desk and retook his seat. "Is there anything else I need to know?", asked the Captain. Merryvale paused briefly and then responded, the pause indeed indicating something else. =/\=Yes there is.... the Admiral has requested no dress uniforms upon his arrival, no pomp and ceremony etc etc. It seems he dislikes such, how did he put it now?....... 'Bumph'=/\= The Vulcan hybrid CO raised an eyebrow at that and then quirked his head slightly to one side as though to ease a little cramp within his neck. "Bumph?", he inquired. =/\=Bumph=/\= repeated Merryvale. =/\=Just don't do the usual, let the man feel like he's not sticking out like a sore thumb... he respects that=/\= added Merryvale. "I will.. see what I can do", said the Captain, "is there anything else?" Merryvale shook his head in the negative. =/\=No Captain, we'll see you in four. Until then, I suggest that you brief your officers on the Admirals requirements as per the file I will send shortly=/\= said Merryvale. "His requirements in regards?", asked the Captain. =/\=The Admiral has requested full use of the Spectre's strategic Operations centre, it's all detailed here=/\= said Merryvale, holding up a PADD with the necessary file, ready for transmission over subspace link as it was. "Indeed", said the Captain, "we will see you in four hours then" =/\=That you will Captain... Uriel out=/\= came the reply as the console display returned to it's familiar starfleet crest. The Captain then stood and returned to the bridge. (Reply None, Any) (Posted by Alan) (USS Uriel - Guest Quarters - Lieutenant (jg) Dinnica Roil - 22:30) "How many punches does it take to get demoted to non-command rank?" Dinnica asked the mirror, "Threee, three punches to the fat, son of a bitch's face.. one, oooone punch to his gut and a spitting on his boots." She'd thought she'd get ousted from Star Fleet, but really, she hadn't hit him *that* hard and a certain Admiral had remembered her from the civil war and her putting his crew back together under fire. Why she was being shipped to the Spectre she really didn't know - it wasn't a ship she'd ever expected to see again, but at least she knew the chief of sickbay was a decent man and a good doctor. Of course, he was human so he'd probably have all sorts of rules about scanning patient's minds for a decent amount of information. Humans were such worry warts about privacy. They broadcast their thoughts and feelings at the top of their minds every moment of the day! It was all a telepath could do to block them out without gaining a screaming migraine. She fiddled with her pips like they were worry beads before putting them on her collar where they belonged and gave herself the once over in the mirror. Black hair in a braid, green eyes with dark circles under them, yup, she looked like she'd been having a barrel full of laughs since she'd got stuck in the command chair. Well, never again. She didn't care who she had to punch, kick, spit or chew. They were never, ever, sticking her in that job again. Running a sickbay was fun, running a ship was masochism of the highest degree. =/\= Lieutenant Roil, please report to Transporter Room 1 =/\= Oh goody, her favorite method of transport behind shuttles, walking, jogging, running, biking, equine riding, and pretty much anything that wasn't the shattering of one's molecules into energy and praying they got back together in the right order at the other end. "On my way," she told Ops. (Reply None) (Posted by Lorna) (USS Uriel - Temporary Quarters - Admiral Caladryll Sevant & Victoria Sevant - 22:31) Sevant's eyes snapped open from his deep meditations as his combadge buzzed. =^=Five minutes, Admiral.=^= "Thank you Captain." Sevant said. He closed his book and laid it gently on top of the small open suitcase sitting on the bed next to his chair, after taking a moment to catch his breath. He'd been having nightmares for months now, and they all seemed to follow the same theme. It was puzzling to him, and a bit worrying, he wasn’t known for his overactive imagination. And in terms of the war, his conscience was clear. He washed away the last of the phantom taste of blood in his mouth with a sip of water as he caught up on his surroundings. His wife was being a busy body in another room, making sure she'd picked everything up after their extended stay on this courier ship. The rest of their few belongings were packed and sitting on the bed, waiting to be beamed over to his new posting. Everything was exactly as it should be.. Sevant stood gracefully, took the outer uniform jacket from the back of a second chair, and slipped it on over his shoulders. Victoria, better known as Vicki, stepped into the room halfway through his buttoning operation and smoothly took over by gently batting his fingers away. "You know," she said in her crisp British accent, "It's not terribly dignified to step onto a new ship wearing a standard duty uniform." "I've already wired ahead with instructions to keep the 'honors' to a minimum." Sevant said as she started the button under his chin. He'd never understood why she liked to dress him so much, but there were times he didn't mind. It gave him time to look at her without her feeling self conscious. There had been a time, not so long ago, that he'd done so with the express purpose of trying to find differences in her and his 'first wife'. He'd long since gotten past that, their minds fit together perfectly. The only differences he'd ever been able to find were historical. She stuck her lounge out between her teeth unconsciously in concentration as she did up the last button, and then smoothed the fabric out on his chest with both her hands. "There, now you look fairly presentable.." "It's a shame, in a way, that you resigned your commission," he said as he checked to make sure his pips were straight. "I always did like how your uniform fit." She snorted, gave him a peck on the cheek, and then lightly backhanded his chest. "Get moving soldier, I'll be along with the rest of the crew rotation." He watched her go back into the second room as he continued to make sure his uniform was in order. "And stop fiddling with your uniform!" she called out from the other room. He dropped his hands and shook his head in consternation. After a quick look in the mirror, he grabbed two padds from the kitchen table and slipped them into inside pockets in his tunic, and then stepped out the door. There was one officer waiting for him, an assistant chief of security. This was a courier vessel and the crew had been used to rendering full honors to superior officers, they'd tried to give him a full honor guard. He'd squashed that idea in the first five minutes, instead relying on a single escort whenever he had to go somewhere. Most Captains, he found, didn’t like the idea of an Admiral walking around their ship unescorted. He remembered the feeling; he'd thought the same once. "Admiral," the Lieutenant said quietly. Sevant nodded and they both turned to head for the transporter room. It was a short trip; transporter room 2 was on the same deck as the VIP quarters. "We're in range of the Spectre, they are prepared to receive you Admiral." the Transporter chief said once they'd stepped inside. "Very well," he said as he stepped onto the pad. "Maybe they got the memo, no dress uniforms." he muttered to himself. "What, and ruin all the fun?" the Chief asked, straight faced. She had a sense of built-in irony that could best an andorian, he'd found. She also, apparently, had good hearing. "Energize." was all he replied.. (Reply None) (Posted by Jeremy Trout) (USS Uriel - Transporter Room One - Lieutenant (jg) Dinnica Roil - 22:40) She was a bit surprised to see the Transporter Room empty of anyone else who didn't belong to the ship. "Where is everyone?" she asked the young technician behind the console. "Admiral's transporting in five, his crew after the flag. You're neither escort nor in his crew so you either go now or way after. Figured you'd rather go sooner." Dinnica gave the boy her best smile, "Thank you," it was sincere for all that it was simple. She guessed she'd been making enough of a nuiscience of herself on the ship that wanted her off first. Even if she had helped save Ensign Duramar's life after the gravity accident in the rec area. He shrugged a shoulder and nodded to the transporter pads. Dinnica shrugged her carry-all onto her shoulder more comfortable and assumed the position. She could only hope everything would be where it was supposed to at the other side. (Reply any) (posted by Lorna) (USS Spectre - Transporter Room 2 - Lieutenant (jg) Dinnica Roil - 22:42) She wasn't surprised to find herself coming in at the secondary transporter room on the Spectre. There was probably a pipe band preparing for the Admiral up in the main transporter room. "Ma'am!" the petty officer declared, snapping to attention. His aura showed his heritage blatantly. ::Oh shove it.:: Dinnica grumbled. ::You make me feel like Toro's grandmother:: The young Betazoid grinned wickedly at her, more than able to read all the undertones with the words. ::You could only wish to be so young.:: he said back, as he held out a PADD, "Your duty assignment and quarters, ma'am." Dinnica grunted. "Thanks so much." She replied to both the spoken and the telepathic. Muttering grumbles both mentally and verbally she left the transporter room before the young whelp could win round two. (Reply None) (Posted by Lorna) (USS Spectre - Transporter Room 1 - Admiral Sevant & Captain T'Vhor - 22:45) Sevant stepped forward from the pad and looked around the small transporter room. He had no sooner gotten a breath and a glance when the annoying shrill of a bosun’s whistle broke through the room. "Admirals on Deck!" called the Chief of the Deck. That whistle was the one thing he was happy, even delighted, to do away with when he'd commanded the 19th. His ears showed his Vulcan heritage, they were quite sharp. There was no such thing as a bosun’s whistle 'in tune'. "That will be quite enough of that," he said shortly. He stepped forward to Captain T'Vhor as the whistle died, "Permission to come aboard." he asked, formally. The Captain duly saluted the Admiral, 'formally' and then gave his assent according to official starfleet protocol. "Permission granted sir... the ship and it's officers stand ready for receipt of the flag" Sevant put one hand behind his back and looked at the crew that had been assembled. "Very well then, I hereby transfer my flag to the Spectre. Captain T'Vhor, please note this in the ships log." "The flag is hereby transferred and noted sir.... time Twenty Two hundred hours, forty seven minutes... welcome aboard the USS Spectre Admiral", said the Captain. Sevant nodded once and crossed both his arms behind him. "I have some replacement crew for you on the Uriel, along with the rest of my small staff." He paused as he looked at the crew that had been assembled. This would be the first time in his career that he stepped aboard a ship as an admiral out of wartime; there was no driving need for him to pull the Captain into a conference. There were no tactical war plans to deliver, no traitors to be arrested. ~I should have brought my wife on board with me now, instead of with the crew.~ he thought, in perfect hindsight. He wasn’t taking command of a battlegroup or fleet, but he was still an Admiral coming aboard his flagship. He’d have to speak with the Captain later about propriety and what the crew expected, he was going to be in a hole working most of the day, there wasn’t going to be a lot of time for the finery that is typically expected of an onboard Admiral. "I'm sure we will be getting to know each other at a later time," he said to the crew after a few moments to study their faces. "For now, please excuse us. Captain, let us discover my quarters together." The Captain duly gave the order to dismiss and the assembled officers filtered out of the room. To be honest, he did not want to continue the procedure of welcoming the Admiral aboard for any longer than was necessary, the prior communique from the Admiral himself of course had something to do with that and in direct consequence to that communique, the last thing he wanted to do now was to antagonize Sevant with yet more pomp and ceremony carried out on his behalf. The two then exited the transporter room and began their walk towards the turbolift, both silent for the moment and obviously musing in their own private thoughts.. Briefly, the Captain looked to Sevant, his face bore the anguish of personal turmoil, the war having obviously taken it's toll upon him. For the moment though he seemed strangely at one with himself and for a man of his years, was remarkably in shape, despite the longevity advantage of a half Vulcan heritage. "I have arranged VIP quarters for you and your wife on deck Two sir, I trust that this meets with your requirements", said the Captain, breaking the silence. "I'm sure they will be more then adequate," Sevant said after a moment of reflection. "You've also received orders for two rooms to be set aside as a work space for my staff?" he asked, looking over. The rooms in question would have to be greatly modified to deal with his needs - even in a fleet that was no longer at war. Admiral Lee had taken over half a Keltoi class starship and stuffed it with personnel during the war, Sevant would only have four personnel at his disposal - including himself. "Of course sir, this has not been overlooked, merely on hold until such time as I was able to discuss the specific requirements for these rooms with yourself", said the Captain respectfully. "Excellent." "There are suitable rooms adjacent to your own quarters on deck two if that is your preference, and also near to Strategic operations on deck fourteen..... once your preference has been made, I will see to it that the rooms are suitably equipped to your specific requirements" Sevant nodded in thought and crossed his arms behind him as they made their way to the turbolift. He let the Captain lead the way as he considered the new ship and situation - and the Captain who would command his flagship. T'Vhor could have been a cousin, another bastard-vulcan security officer who made his way through the ranks. He had yet to make his way through the personnel records of the Senior Officers, they were only peripheral to his mission and not his personal responsibility - but he HAD taken the time to read Captain T'vhor's. His time on the Spectre was going to be... interesting. (Reply None) (Posted by Alan and Jeremy) (USS Spectre - Transporter Room 1 – FO, Williams - 22:46) Sevant stepped forward from the pad and looked around the small transporter room. He had no sooner gotten a breath and a glance when the annoying shrill of a bosun’s whistle broke through the room. The bosun’s whistle shrill notes cut throught the transporter room. "Admirals on Deck!" called the Chief of the Deck. "That will be quite enough of that," Andrew watched as T’Vhor and Sevant stepped towards each other. "Permission to come aboard." he asked, formally. "Permission granted sir... the ship and it's officers stand ready for receipt of the flag" Sevant put one hand behind his back and looked at the crew that had been assembled. "Very well then, I hereby transfer my flag to the Spectre. Captain T'Vhor, please note this in the ships log." "The flag is hereby transferred and noted sir.... time Twenty Two hundred hours, forty seven minutes... welcome aboard the USS Spectre Admiral", said the Captain. Sevant nodded once and crossed both his arms behind him. "I have some replacement crew for you on the Uriel, along with the rest of my small staff." "I'm sure we will be getting to know each other at a later time," He watched the Admiral scrutiny the assembled officers as he talked to the Captain. "For now, please excuse us. Captain, let us discover my quarters together." The Captain gave the order and dismissed the assembled officers. Andrew suppressed a grin. ~Blimy when the Admiral said he did not was any pomp and ceremony he really meant it~ He gave the Captain and the Admiral a few minutes to get down the corridor before he walked over to the transport chief. “Okay Chief lets get the others over.” The Chief nodded as Andrew moved back in front of the transport pad. He heard the transporter whine and a small group of people appear. He had been glad that he had had a chance to see pictures of every one coming across as getting it wrong would have been very embarrassing. He stepped forward towards Victoria Sevant. “Welcome aboard the Spectre Ma'am. I am Commander Williams.” (reply Mrs Sevant) (Reply Mrs Sevant, any) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Officer's Quarters - Lieutenant (jg) Dinnica Roil - 22:46) It wasn't a large ship. It didn't take her long to find her quarters and drop her carry-all on the bunk. She had to wonder if she was in junior quarters or senior, either way they weren't much to write home about. They'd fit in her house in Betazoid's capital's bathroom. With room to spare. That thought gave her pause until she spotted the small bathroom. A shower stall, a toilet, a sink. Well, it wasn't Tossia Palace, but it'd do. Muttering to herself about a race of people who would call the top of their body *and* the place to you pee in 'the head' she decided she'd go investigate her new home away from home; sickbay. (Reply None) (Posted by Lorna) (USS Uriel – Transporter Room – Lt Walker Isengard – 22:47) Walker, standing at ease behind the Chief, watched the Admiral beam away with aplomb. He’d seen enough flag officers in his time that seeing one more wasn’t particularly interesting. He’d spent the last few on Earth, watching more admirals than usual, in fact – Training at Starfleet Academy tended to desensitize people to rank. At least, people like him, who was never particularly impressed to begin with. The door opened and several people walked in, speaking with each other. He recognized them well enough, they were all Stratops crew members, part of Sevant’s staff. They generally kept together, at least they had through the entire trip. The impressions Walker got told him they knew each-other well, and were comfortable in each other’s company – not that they were too arrogant to hang out with all the little folk. That, and the fact that walker preferred to be alone anyway, were the only reasons he didn’t glower at them as they stepped aside from the door, still quietly speaking with one another. The door opened a minute later to admit a lady with an Ensign as escort. Now, Victoria he knew, they’d spent a brief time speaking in the lounge earlier in the trip. She was friendly enough, a good conversationalist. He nodded to her briefly as the Transporter Chief said, “We’re receiving a summons from the Spectre. Would you all please step onto the platform.” Walker took a small bag from the Ensign before Mrs. Sevant could take it, “Please, allow me.” He said quietly. She flashed him a smile, one he didn’t return, and stepped onto the PADD. Walker followed behind her, with the rest of the crew already on the PADD. A few other people began filtering into the room, other crew replacements by the look of them, as their world became a curtain of shimmery light… (Reply None) (Posted by Jeremy) (USS Uriel – Transporter Room – Lt Walker Isengard & Vicki Sevant – 22:48) “Welcome aboard the Spectre Ma'am. I am Commander Williams.” ~Ooh, Red Carpet by the First Officer.~ Walker thought as the beaming process was complete. Vicki lifted her chin and looked at the officer, again flashing a bright smile. Walker, his mind tightly shut against the pressures of so many minds around him, couldn’t help but feel a small bit of satisfaction leak from the woman. He wondered about that, she didn’t strike him as a woman who lorded over people. “Thank you Commander,” she said in her British vogue. “It’s a pleasure to be aboard.” She turned to Walker, “I can take that Lieutenant, thank you for carrying it.” When Mrs Admiral asked for something, it was usually best not to argue, manners or not. He offered the bag, “My pleasure.” She looked back at the commander after taking her bag, “Can I trouble someone to lead me to our quarters?” (Reply: Williams, any) Walker watched the scene for a moment before stepping down to the Chief of the Deck. “Lieutenant Isengard, requesting permission to come on board.” (reply: any) (posted by Trout) (USS Spectre – Transporter Room – FO, Williams – 22:49) “Thank you Commander,” she said in her British vogue. “It’s a pleasure to be aboard.” “I can take that Lieutenant, thank you for carrying it.” Andrew looked from Sevant to the lieutenant that she was talking to. ~Walker! Your back with us again. That’s good but its felt like ages since you were here last~ He gave a mental smile, while keeping his face proper. He watched as Isengard give Sevant her bag back. “My pleasure.” “Can I trouble someone to lead me to our quarters?” Andrew nodded. “Yes Ma’am. If you would like to follow me please.” He ushered her out the door into the corridor. “Your quarters are on deck two Ma’am.” (Reply Mrs Sevant) They entered the turbolift and Andrew requested their destination. “How was your trip out to us? It is a bit of a long way?” Andrew was not wonderful at making small talk but he tried his best. (Reply Mrs Servant. Add more IYW) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - Lieutenant (jg) Dinnica Roil - 22:51) "Follow the nose, it always knows." Dinnica half-sung to herself as the short woman entered Sickbay. She spotted a young woman in blue, "Good evening, I'm Lieutenant Dinnica Roil; doctor." The woman looked her over, "You're the Admiral's physician?" "Oh brass pottery, no!" Dinnica said with horrified surprised, "Admirals are notoriously bad patients. Have to do everything their own way and want diplomats who'll pat them on their hands and find ways to get them out of simple things like exercise and healthy eating." The woman didn't seem to know what to say to that rather career-defeating opinion. "Anyway. Just thought I'd come introduce myself and have a look around. Guess I'll introduce myself to the CMO at some point, too." "Right." The woman gave her a sketchy welcome and left her at the desk to enter her access codes and peruse the status of patients in sickbay and see what "fun" the medical staff had been having recently on the Spectre. (Reply any in Sickbay) (Posted by Lorna) (USS Spectre - Sickbay – Nurse Douwsy - 22:53) Douwsy noticed a new person arrive in sickbay. The woman went to talk to Dr Barrette she was far enough away to miss most of the conversation but from what she got it appeared that they had a new transfer. She saw that Barrette had lest the Lieutenant was going through the medical notes. ~Its nice to be nice ~ Douwsy walked across sickbay. “Hallo. My name is Douwsy have you transferred from the Uriel?” (reply Roil) Douwsy nodded. “Well welcome aboard. if you need anything just say.” (reply Roil) (Reply Roil any) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre – Transporter Room – Vicki Sevant – 22:53) “Can I trouble someone to lead me to our quarters?” Andrew nodded. “Yes Ma’am. If you would like to follow me please.” Vicki nodded and allowed herself to be ushered out of the door. She was going to have to get used to this - it still wasn’t clear to her how she was supposed to act. Callie wasn’t a Lord over a Starbase, but neither was he a mole. Her past experience wouldn’t exactly help - Admirals Wives rarely tended to be ex Lieutenants, and she supposed that deferring to a 'senior' officer as she had wasn’t quite was protocol dictated. “Your quarters are on deck two Ma’am.” "Thank you, has Cal... er, Admiral Sevant already made his way there?" (reply: Williams) He answered as they stepped into the turbolift, and then asked, “How was your trip out to us? It is a bit of a long way?” "I've had worse," she said with amusement. "I'm used to much smaller quarters - even as a civilian on the Boudicca, the Captains quarters were half the size of the suite we were given. Much less when I still served, Ensign and Lieutenants’ quarters on a battleship are something less then grand." She looked at him and smiled, "I'm not used to being served, and the crew on the courier ship was used to deferring - it's in their job description, I suppose. I'm not sure if they were relieved, or put out, by the fact that Caladryll is half vulcan and... doesn’t like public honors much." ~To put it mildly~ She wondered briefly if calling her husband 'Caladryll' was a breach of protocol - but decided she was a civilian after all, she couldn’t very well go around calling him 'The Admiral' when she slept in the same bed as him and knew his quirks. She'd told him that once, in an effort to make sure his head wasn’t swelling - he'd been highly amused. She'd known Vulcans who adored the trappings of power. Sevant, on the other hand, tended to be coldly practical... it must have had something to do with his profession, Security Officers tended to be efficient and hate pomp, pomp tended to mean extra security precautions. (reply: if desired) The turbolift stopped, depositing them on Deck 2. the pace the commander set was slow, almost stately. She wondered if he was moving slow because she was a civilian, or for other reasons. “If there is anything that you need while you are on board please do not hesitate to ask.” He said after a bit. "Thank You, I'm sure that I will." Her musings were answered, at least, was answered when they got near their quarters and Captain T'Vhor stepped out. ~Ah, of course, Callie would want to have a word with the Captain. Little Miss Admiral's Wife wouldnt have to be privy to that.~ "Captain," she said, as she nodded in passing. (reply: if desired) "Thank you, Commander Williams. I'm sure we'll see more of each other." (reply: if desired) She stepped into the quarters and took a deep breath of the air once the doors had slid shut. Sevant was standing off near one wall, looking at a piece of art that appeared to be betazoid in origin. Victoria slid up behind him, wrapped her arms around him, and laid her cheek against his back. His arms covered hers after a moment, though he didn’t stop looking at the artwork. "You know," he said after a moment, "This piece isn’t bad. It's worth keeping." She smiled slightly at the vibration of his voice through his body. "I'll consider it," she said after a few moments. She untangled herself from him and stepped next to him, so she could see it. "It doesn’t match the carpet though." "Ha." he said, as small bubbles of amusement filtered down their bond. After years of marriage, he was well aware that she found his aesthetic tastes to be one step up from non-existent, and he always found amusement in that. She returned the amusement down the bond, almost by second nature. Vulcans formed tight mental bonds with their mates, it was part of the vulcan marriage ceremony. Vicki had betazoid blood in her past, the link had formed very tightly indeed. She was, at best, a minor empath - but she could hear and speak clearly to Callie, even at a distance. she'd been able to do the same with her children, when they lived. "I'll have to find something to do on this ship, or I'll drive myself insane." she said after a moment. "The Uriel was about as much of a vacation as I could stand." "Mm," he said. "I don't suppose there will be any of the normal social gatherings that you'd normally partake of, as a Flag Officers wife on a station." he said thoughtfully. "And I doubt you'll want to put a uniform back on." "Unlikely," she agreed. "I was thinking of taking up barkeeping again." Sevant's eyebrows quirked, and she smiled coquettishly as she felt how his thoughts were running. He'd first seen her as an adult while tending bar on Boudicca, unknowing that she was only helping out Mei Ling and that her duty station was Operations. "What, you can't see an Admirals wife tending bar?" "I think-" he said after several moments, "That the two of us are going to scandalize the Spectre's crew. Me, behaving like a hermit, and you like a servant." She thumped his shoulder, "We'll see. So, anyway, what's on the agenda for the rest of the day?" He shrugged slightly and turned away from the art, "I have to look over my workspace - the day begins in earnest tomorrow." "Good," she said as she pulled him away in the direction of the bedroom. "Then you have a few free minutes, let’s look around our new home..." (reply: williams, T'Vhor, any) (Posted by Trout) (USS Spectre – Outside the Transporter Room – Lt Walker Isengard – 22:55) Walker hefted his small bag of possessions over his shoulder as the rest of the crew left the room. He’d been gone for a while, since the war – in fact. He walked over to the officer of the deck, “Lt Walker Isengard, request permission to come aboard.” The deck officer checked his name on a roster and nodded, “Welcome aboard, Lieutenant.” Isengard inclined his head in acceptance and walked out, slowly. It’d been a quiet couple of weeks in transit, he’d had plenty of time to rest and rebuild his mental reserves after his tour-of-training on Earth, but that didn’t mean he liked crowds. After the war, and how he’d been using his gift, his shields were still ‘tuned’ to wartime attacks. The constant chatter of a happy(er) crew was tiring. He’d had some small practice with the Admiral and his wife, both of whom were telepathic to some degree. The biggest problem he had was less the shielding, and more his automatic reactions. He’d been on a hair-trigger for months, and he’d spear-headed the anti-telepathic units during the invasion of the MDP – at least he was no longer tempted to lash out the first time his mind was touched, he’d almost had a few… regrettable… incidents in the first couple of weeks after the battle. Walker considered the situation as he headed for the Quartermaster’s office. The Captain and command crew would, almost certainly, be tied up with the Admiral for a bit. Admiral’s were like that, they loved attention, even someone as unassuming as Sevant. Which meant he could legitimately take some time to get settled before reporting in for duty – just enough, anyway. (Reply None) (Posted by Jeremy Trout) (USS Spectre - Sickbay – Medical Officer, Dinnica Roil - 22:55) “Hallo. My name is Douwsy have you transferred from the Uriel?” Dinnica looked up, startled to see a green woman in blue. Her tags said nurse. Probably head nurse from her very competent aura. "Came in on the Uriel, was on the Cathay before that." She replied. Douwsy nodded. “Well welcome aboard. if you need anything just say.” "I'd say patients, but it seems you have no shortage of those." Dinnica replied wryly, "Some sort of viral contagion?" she asked. (Reply Douwsy) (Posted by Lorna) (USS Spectre - Sickbay – Nurse, Douwsy - 22:57) "I'd say patients, but it seems you have no shortage of those." "Some sort of viral contagion?" Douwsy nodded. “No Sir patients are some thing we do not have a shortage of.” She paused for a moment. “We have a breach of one of the medical labs. Although it got into the ventilation system and affected most of the crew, the symptoms were mostly a bad cold and flu like symptoms. A cure was quickly discovered and given to the crew.” She gave a quick smile. “But if you get a case of the sniffles sir, better tell us quick.” (reply Roil) (Reply Roil) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Deck Two, VIP Quarters - Rear Admiral, Caladryll Sevant and CO, T'Vhor - 22:58) Once they were on Deck 2, Sevant followed the captain to his quarters, and stepped inside. They were mostly bare, there were the usual furnishings and decorations, the generic stuff that wouldn't offend a travelers sense of decorum. Sevant had no doubt that his wife would turn it into something more... liveable. Not that it would have mattered in the least bit to the Admiral himself, he'd served on a battleship for most of his career, he could deal with 'Spartan' living spaces. "I think, Captain, that I will be taking over your Strategic Operations center - and will expand it at need." Sevant said after a few moments. He pulled out one of the dining room chairs and sat, but not before gesturing to another for T'Vhor. "Thank you sir", said the Captain as he availed himself of the offered chair and then settled back into it to await the Admirals continuation of his requirements. "Most of the communications gear I will require is already installed there, whether or not it has to be upgraded." He rubbed his hands together, and then threw one leg over the other and folded them neatly on his knee. After a few moments, he decided he'd lay the ground rules for T'Vhor. The man was part vulcan, just as Sevant was, knowing that there was an Admiral aboard was probably not going to make him the happiest man in the world - whether or not he followed vulcan precepts. "I will be a small presence on your ship for the most part, Captain. I have few obligations to meet outside of sending reports and reorganizing strategic assets." Sevant finally said. "Very good sir", said the Captain acknowledging the Admirals regard for his position as commanding officer of the Spectre, regardless of his own superior rank. Sevant continued on. "The rules of my presence are simple. I will have constant access to your communications array - but I am well aware of how to bounce my messages around so as not to allow triangulation of our position. If we're in a situation where radio silence is necessary, and we're not in a war, I will cease all communications immediately. If we suddenly do go to war, then whatever mission you're on becomes secondary and we go into hiding. And, lastly - if we're about to go into a situation that is potentially dangerous, I'd like to know about it. I won't stop you, I won't countermand your orders, I simply like to be kept informed. All the information I get generally goes to at least one other place, so if I disappear from the grid for a few hours - or days - the fleet won't immediately come looking for us." "Understood Admiral", said the Captain, "however, I will be honest with you, I am somewhat curious as to why Starfleet has sanctioned the placement of such a high ranking officer upon a moving platform during peacetime, logically there are more suitable positions where diplomacy would be better served..... a static position planetside for example", said the Captain, "would that not be the more 'logical' choice?", he added, emphasizing the word logical as he spoke. Sevant paused and considered that, "If I were in a mood to hand-shake every passing dignitary, I would probably be on Starbase Geneva. This fleet has a history of keeping strategic officers on the move, the Nights Watch was the Strategic Command Center long before there was a war." The Admiral broke off, and then snorted to himself, almost ruefully. "Of course, I don't stand on tradition if it makes no sense. The truth is, I don't want to be made available to every VIP that decides to make the trip out this far, there is the political aspect to consider. My release into active duty wasn't without its naysayers. It has been suggested, by several, that Starfleet is giving me just enough rope to hang myself with. There are those who think I have a lack of self control, and that the attack on the Defense perimeter during the war was a symptom of that. Whatever the truth may be, my actions and decisions - and by extension yours as well - will be looked at very closely for some time to come. The fact I chose the Spectre as a Flagship, one of the ships that raided the MDP with me, is not looked upon very favorably." He stopped for a moment, to choose his words."If there is further political fallout, I will do what I can to shield you, but my word is worth almost nothing outside this fleet. Be aware of that if, in the future, you start to have problems." "Understood sir", said the Captain, "it should be noted though that the attack upon the Mars defense perimeter was a logical choice borne out of necessity.... it is a well known fact that Starfleet command, 'needed' a scapegoat in order to ratify that very attack and that you, as the overall commander were their logical choice..... however, the decision to single you out was regardless, most illogical" "Perhaps -" Sevant said as he considered. "The needs of the many.... I suppose. It makes no difference why they did so, the result is what matters. We'll be watched, and watched closely. "One last thing," Sevant said as he stood. "I was given to understand that you have a Stratops officer on your ship. I should like that officer's duty station transferred to my command. It only makes sense, after all, to get orders directly from the horse’s mouth. I could use the help, and I can find more than communications make-work for them to do." The Captain nodded once again, although with one or two reservations. "Sir, I would respectfully ask that Lieutenant Commander Banowsky not be exclusively assigned to your own command", said the Captain, "as his present commanding officer, I feel that such a course of action may unduly prejudice his own position as third officer of the Spectre", he added. "Of course," Sevant replied. "When you need him, he's yours." "Thank you sir", said Captain T'Vhor, pausing briefly before continuing with, "likewise... when 'you' need him sir" The Admiral nodded. The Captain nodded respectfully and then brought up the matter of their current mission and the situation they had encountered with the Borg, along with the curious situation in regards the subspace rivers, apparently evolutionary progress. "I have taken the liberty of compiling an up to date report on our current situation sir, I am sure you will find it.... interesting", said the Captain handing the Admiral a PADD containing said information for his perusal. “No doubt.” He said as he took the PADD.. “I will catch up on it once I’ve taken a look around my new office space.” "Very good sir, if there is nothing else that you would like to discuss, I must respectfully take my leave of you, there is a matter of pressing urgency that I must attend to regarding the Borg vessel", said the Captain. Sevant stood and nodded. “If you will have someone bring my wife and gear to our quarters, once its beamed over, I would appreciate. In the mean time, dismissed.” The Captain then stood and moved towards the door, pausing briefly as he did so to turn and then address the Admiral one final time. "There will be an update briefing with Doctor Gunnell and the senior officers at 09:00 hrs tomorrow morning sir, you are of course welcome to attend", said the Captain. “Mmm. I’ll be there.” Sevant said after a moment of consideration. It wasn’t his command staff, but it would be the only time he’d get to see them all together without ordering some sort of social.. And that suited him just fine. "Until then then", said the Captain, he then turned and headed out of the room to leave the Admiral to the report. (Reply None) (Posted by Alan and Jeremy) (USS Spectre – Deck Two – FO, Williams – 23:05) “If there is anything that you need while you are on board please do not hesitate to ask.” This last statement had not ulterior motive but was a statement of fact. The last thing Andrew was thinking was to suck up to the Admirals wife. "Thank You, I'm sure that I will.” As they arrived at the VIP Quarters the door opened and T’Vhor stepped out. Andrew nodded to T’Vhor and waited until Mrs Servant had entered her quarters "Captain," she said, as she nodded in passing. "Maam, may I take the opportunity to welcome you aboard the USS Spectre" "Thank you, Commander Williams. I'm sure we'll see more of each other." He gave her a pleasant smile. “Yes’Ma’am.” He then walked with the Captain until they reached the turbolift. When he knew that they would not be over heard Andrew spoke to T’Vhor. “Captain why I the Admiral with us. Not that it is not an honnor to have the Admiral’s flag but we are along way from any where in case any thing should go wrong?” "I have no idea at all", replied the Captain, "Indeed, I voiced the same concerns to Captain Merryvale. It would seem though that the Admiral expressly requested this station", he added bluntly. “Yes Sir but it is strange for him to come all the way out to us.” The turbolift stopped and the door opened and they stepped inside. "I suspect that there is more to this than meets the eye.” "the Admiral has requested the exclusive use of the Stategic Operations centre... one can only hypothesize why that might be but I suspect that time will reveal the answer", Andrew nodded agreeing with what T’Vhor had said. The door opened and they walked into the bridge. The Captain took his seat and Andrew took the seat beside him. "Report", said the Captain. "Sir, the river has escalated again, it is now showing a level of activity twenty five percent above normal parameters and is emanating a field of indeterminate particles", said the reporting officer. "Are they any danger to the ship?", asked the Captain. "Apparently not at this point in time sir, I have taken the liberty of ordering Science to come up with a working theory on the emanations.... Doctor Gunnell has taken it upon herself to oversee that", said the officer. Andrew waited the river which appeared on the view screen. The color variations were quite beautiful, despite the unknown danger it clearly represented. The Borg meddling had clearly catalyzed something but for now, all they could do was wait "Helm, take us another ten thousand kilometres away", said the Captain, turning to the FO as he spoke. "I do not want to be too close to the river if the emanations prove to be in anyway harmful", he added. Andrew nodded. “Yes Sir. Especially compared to how much damage it did before. ” (Reply T’Vhor, Any) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Deck Two Corridor - CO, Captain T'Vhor - 23:07) With their discussions completed, for now anyway, the Captain had stepped out of the Admirals quarters and into the corridor to be confronted with the First Officer and the Admirals wife. Williams nodded accordingly and the Captain returned the gesture, Victoria Sevant however had acknowledged with 'Captain', to which T'Vhor responded with... "Maam, may I take the opportunity to welcome you aboard the USS Spectre" NRPG: Assuming a simple response here rather than a discussion as previous post shows her simply entering into her quarters. RPG: The Admirals wife simply smiled, obviously quite eager now to settle into her quarters with her husband, she entered through the still opened doors whilst both the Captain and the First Officer walked towards the turbolift... in silence. Something was clearly on the FO's mind right now, one did not have to be a telepath to be able to see that, the Captain however chose to wait until Williams was ready to speak. It did not take long... “Captain why is the Admiral with us? Not that it is not an honour to have the Admiral’s flag but we are a long way from anywhere... in case anything should go wrong?”, he asked curiously. "I have no idea at all", replied the Captain, "Indeed, I voiced the same concerns to Captain Merryvale. It would seem though that the Admiral expressly requested this station", he added bluntly. (Reply Williams) The two officers then stepped into the turbolift, the CO requesting the bridge as they did so. "I suspect that there is more to this than meets the eye", said the Captain continuing on now, "the Admiral has requested the exclusive use of the Stategic Operations centre... one can only hypothesize why that might be but I suspect that time will reveal the answer", he added just as the doors opened again onto the Spectre's bridge and both officers stepped out to the cry of 'Captain on the bridge', from the bridge watch officer. T'Vhor nodded his assent accordingly and then retook the centre chair, whilst the FO occupied his own to the side. "Report", said the Captain. "Sir, the river has escalated again, it is now showing a level of activity twenty five percent above normal parameters and is emanating a field of indeterminate particles", said the reporting officer. "Are they any danger to the ship?", asked the Captain. "Apparently not at this point in time sir, I have taken the liberty of ordering Science to come up with a working theory on the emanations.... Doctor Gunnell has taken it upon herself to oversee that", said the officer. The Captain nodded and then returned his attention to the viewscreen. The river had indeed 'escalated' to use the bridge officer's own word, the colour variations were quite beautiful, despite the unknown danger it clearly represented. The Borg meddling had clearly catalyzed something but for now, all they could do was wait "Helm, take us another ten thousand kilometres away", said the Captain, turning to the FO as he spoke. "I do not want to be too close to the river if the emanations prove to be in anyway harmful", he added. (Reply Williams, Any) (Posted by Alan) (USS Spectre - Transporter Room One - Ensign (JG) Harry McKnight - 23:10) Harry's body rematerialized in the main transporter room of the USS Spectre. He took a deep breath in to get a good whiff of his first assignment. It smelled . . . like a starship. Harry chuckled to himself and nodded to the transporter operator on duty. "Thanks," he said to the chief as he walked out of the transporter room. According to the deck plans he had memorized, Transporter Room One was on Deck Three. His quarters, which were among the junior officer's quarters, were located on Deck Ten. Harry walked to the turbolift, smiling and nodding to several officers and crewmembers that he passed. The lift ride took only several seconds. The lift opened up to reveal the tenth deck of the USS Spectre. It was quite a good place for Harry to live. On this deck were the mess hall and the security office, probably the two most important places on the ship for Harry, being a tactical and security officer. He walked down the hall to his quarters and opened the door. On the other side of the door he found a small room. It was fully furnished however and to Harry's liking. He looked around after setting his belongings down. He smiled and put his belongings away. (Reply None) (Posted by Brandon Deller) (USS Spectre – Personal Quarters – Lt Isengard – 23:20) The Lieutenant finished pulling his possessions out of his satchel and put them quietly on the bed. They were few – a ring that had been through a fire, a small holo-image projector, a violin – and a few other odds and ends. He ran his fingers lightly over the case to his violin, before letting them stop on the ring. With a hollow ache, one he’d felt for most of his life, he slipped it onto his finger. His fingers came back down after a moments consideration to rest on the violin again, unmoving. Finally, after several long moments, he brought his hand up and tapped his badge. “Lieutenant Isengard to the Captain – when would be a good time to report for Duty, sir?” (reply: Captain, any) (posted by Trout) (USS Spectre - Bridge - CO, Captain T'Vhor - 23:21) The Captain had now finalized the read through of the reports filed during his absence from the bridge, they were all low priority of course, anything other than that would have come down the line to be piped directly to him, as it was, the most important change had been with the river itself and it's increasing level of activity. This raised the question of 'just how far would it go', before something gave... That very thought hung in the Captain's mind as he surveyed the glowing river fixed upon the viewscreen as it was, nobody knew for sure what was happening other than what they could discern from the data already recovered, Gunnell was convinced that it was alive, the Borg data had seemed to correlate that but..... =/\=Lieutenant Isengard to the Captain – when would be a good time to report for Duty, sir?=/\= The sudden communication had broken the Captain from his reverie in an instance, his mind instantly drifting back to the time that he himself had arrived on the Spectre as her First Officer. ~'Isengard', ah yes, Isengard....~ Lieutenant Walker Isengard had been a Spectre security officer at the time that had been ordered to Earth for reasons that were never fully explained. Some had said that he had been recalled for some secret, intelligence related mission directly related to empathic 'mind games' during the civil war, it had all been very hush hush, a number of other Betazoids being recalled from active duty to be included in whatever was transpiring. In regards the mans reassignment to the Spectre though, fleet had actually seen fit to inform the Captain of his return to the fold so to speak, it was just a pity they hadn't informed him of all the others as well! Either way, Isengard was back... "You may report for duty whenever you feel ready to do so Lieutenant", said the Captain. (Reply Isengard) "I will be in my ready room shortly, however I do have a number of crew transfers to deal with so you should not be surprised if you find me otherwise engaged", said the Captain. (Reply Isengard, Any) "Very well, I look forwards to meeting you again Lieutenant... Captain out", said the Captain as he closed the comm and turned to the FO. "You remember Lieutenant Isengard Commander?", the Captain asked. (Reply Williams) The Captain nodded thoughtfully. "By all accounts, a fine officer, and one I am glad to welcome back", said the Captain pondering on the subject of Isengard's somewhat shrouded recall to Earth now. ~I only hope that his mind is not compromised in any way~ (Reply Isengard, Williams, Any) (Posted by Alan) (USS Spectre – Personal Quarters – Lt Walker Isengard - 23:22) =^=You may report for duty whenever you feel ready to do so Lieutenant=^= ~Great, next Tuesday then.~ Walker thought, immediately. His lips thinned as he considered his response for just a moment. A Vulcan, giving him a blank check for reporting? How very… interesting. “I am available whenever it is convenient Sir.” He replied. =^=I will be in my ready room shortly, however I do have a number of crew transfers to deal with so you should not be surprised if you find me otherwise engaged.=^= “Very well, Captain.” He said in reply. “I will be available for you shortly.” =^=Very well, I look forwards to meeting you again Lieutenant... Captain out.=^= The circuit closed, leaving Walker again in silence. “Huh,” he said after a few moments. He barely remembered T’Vhor, he’d been shipped off on Detached Duty not long after he’d come aboard. Even so, he thought he remembered the Vulcan being more… precise, more Vulcan-like. As he mused on it, he straightened his uniform. It was, after all, entirely possible that he was mistaken – he’d met a lot of Vulcans over the years, they tended to blend in together. He absently rubbed the ring on his finger with his thumb, letting his mind wander for a few minutes as he contemplated his latest puzzle. The impression he had gotten was that the Captain was going to be tied up, on and off, for a bit with the Crew rotation – something completely expected. That might account for the apparent laxness; Walker rather doubted that anyone wanted the bridge filled with new, and anxious, crew – each awaiting their turn before the mighty Captain. After a minute or so, he looked back down at the few possessions he’d put on the bed. He picked up the holo after a few moments and, gently, flipped it on. A six inch figure of a woman, the very image of brunette beauty, appeared. The woman turned her head, smiled, and waved to someone off to her side, before looking back ‘forward’. It was a small piece of a holo-recording he’d made on Betazed, not long before he’d joined the Self Defense force – and ultimately Starfleet. The woman hadn’t smiled in nearly three decades, at least not to him. He had no doubts that she was absolutely abeam in the Heavens. NRPG: Walker joined Starfleet after a Dominion terrorist attack on Betazed – I can forward the post to anyone who likes. The woman was his fiancée, Cassandra, and she was killed in the bombing. That’s the reason for his dark disposition, in fact. RPG: He closed his eyes in long-remembered pain and shut the holo off, before placing it gently on the bed-stand. Even after all these years… Isengard shook his head once, to shake off the worst of his mood, and took one last look at his uniform before turning on his heel and leaving the quarters. (Reply None) (Posted by Trout) (USS Spectre - Bridge - FO, Williams - 23:23) "You remember Lieutenant Isengard Commander?", the Captain asked. Andrew nodded. “Yes Sir, he was here when joined but I had not a lot to do with his due to him working in tactical and me in sickbay.” The Captain nodded thoughtfully. "By all accounts, a fine officer, and one I am glad to welcome back", said the Captain pondering on the subject of Isengard's somewhat shrouded recall to Earth now. “Yes sir from what I have heard he is very capable at what he dose.” Andrew paused for a moment. “Is there anything I can do for you Captain? Other wise I can leave you to it if you want?” (Reply T’Vhor) (Reply T’Vhor, Any) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre - Bridge - CO, Captain T'Vhor - 23:24) With the subject of Lieutenant Isengard and his mysterious departure still fresh in his mind, the Captain returned his attention to the viewscreen and the increasing luminescence of the river upon it. “Is there anything I can do for you Captain? Otherwise I can leave you to it if you want?”, said the First Officer. The remark puzzled the Captain somewhat, leave him to what exactly? Actually it was he that would be leaving the First Officer to 'it', if he were entirely honest, and this was to transpire almost immediately as the Captain stood and then straightened out his tunic. "You have the bridge number One, I have things to attend to in my ready room... crew transfers I believe", he said as he made towards the ready room door. (Reply Williams, IYW) The doors slid aside upon his approach, just as they always had done, he entered into the room and then approached the replicator to procure a fresh orange juice, then he took a seat and then activated the monitor to begin viewing the Starfleet resords of those coming aboard. (Reply Williams, IYW, Any) (Posted by Alan) (USS Spectre - Bridge – FO, Williams - 23:26) "You have the bridge number One, I have things to attend to in my ready room... crew transfers I believe", “Yes Captain I have the bridge.” He watched as T’Vhor left the bridge and entered his ready room. He glanced at the chronometer. He would take the graveyard shift and then he could have a few hours sleep before doing the rounds in sickbay. He was having trouble sleeping at the moment any way but this was not be a major problem as he slept so badly anyway and he knew that he would catch it up some time. He had received a communication which had come from Jay. Jay was probably his closest friend outside the Spectre. They had gone through the academy together and had been close ever since. ~Looks like this might be a good time to read it~ He brought the letter up on his chair screen. [TO: Commander Andrew Williams: USS Spectre FROM: Commander Jay: USS Road Runner Hi Andrew how are things. Feels like I have not seen you for ages. I hear from the grapevine that you have been made up to ‘Number One’ on the Spectre, good for you. Things are looking up for me as well. I have been given my own little ship the USS Road Runner. She is not Nova or Defiant Class but she is all mine and I love her to bits. I have a good crew. My Chief Medical Officer is so young she squeaks as she walks down the corridor. My chief engineer is quite the opposite he could have been working in Kirks era but knows the ship like he built it which from his file, he did. I also have Marines on board. They have a stern looking sergeant in charge who keeps those poor marines out of trouble. The ‘Number One’ seams solid and reliable. Hope you are the same. If I hear bad things I will come round and give you such a slapping that you will not forget it. Anyway, the ship’s got very long legs we can cover 50.5 light years within six days. Tell me when you get some leave we can head home to Bajor and you can get some of mums home cooking. Don’t leave it so long this time okay. Love Jay] Andrew looked up from the screen and smiled. ~So she got the ship before me. Not jealous, well maybe a teeny weenie bit, but I am not wanting to be going at the moment. I like it here~ He saved the file, closed it and muttered quietly to himself. “Here is to you Jay and for goodness sake don't crash.” He then brought up the departments status reports and began reading through those. ~This will get me to sleep if nothing else~ (Reply any) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre – Bridge – Lt Walker Isengard - 23:33) Lieutenant Isengard stepped onto the bridge and paused there, letting the sight soak into him. It’d been far too long since he’d been here. It wasn’t the largest, but it was comfortable enough. And, although the crew had changed, the time he’d spent here before had been pleasant enough. “Excuse me Commander,” he said, as he walked up to the Command Chair. “Is the Captain available?” (reply: Williams, with room for more.) With his conversation over, he stepped next to the Ready Room door and crossed his arms behind him, content to wait. (reply: Williams, T’Vhor, any) (posted by Trout) (USS Spectre - Bridge and Ready Room - Ensign (JG) Harry McKnight - 23:35) Harry once again was in the turbolift, this time on his way to the bridge. Here he would report for the first time to his commanding officer, Captain T'Vhor. He wasn't typically prone to it, but Harry was feeling a little anxiety, most likely because he was eager to get to work. This lift ride seemed to take forever and he was almost getting fidgety. Finally he felt the lift slow and stop. The lift opened revealing the bridge. As he walked out, he looked immediately to his right, noting the position of the tactical station. He also looked in the direction of the Captain's chair, but did not find the man he thought he would. ~He must be in his ready room.~ Harry thought to himself. He walked down to the door of the Ready Room and tapped on the button to signal his presence. (reply Captain T'Vhor) (posted by Brandon Deller) (USS Spectre - Captain's Ready Room - CO, Captain T'Vhor - 23:37) The Captain took a quick sip of the fruit juice in his hand, the cool glass refreshing in it's tactility as his fingers encircled it. There certainly had been a lot of transfers coming from both the Humboldt and the Uriel of late and he had been studying those crew transfers on the monitor before him, then of course there was the Admiral and his small entourage to add to that little list of arrivals, it seemed that fleet must have felt that the Spectre was under-crewed or somthing! The puzzle of the Admiral's arrival still bothered him slightly though, it had been said that Sevant had expressly requested the Spectre, why, nobody really knew, all that was known was that the request had been authorized and now... he was here. The chime sounding at the Captain's door broke him from his reverie and he duly bade the person enter, the door then slid aside and in stepped one of the aforementioned crew transfers. The Captain stood briefly and motioned with his hand for the crewman to enter, then he retook his seat. The man approached to stand on the opposite side of the desk, predictably at attention. "At ease Ensign", said the Captain, "please, take a seat" (Reply McKnight) (Posted by Alan) (USS Spectre - Captain's Ready Room - Ensign JG Harry Mcknight - 23:38) As Harry waited outside, he couldn't help but look at the bridge. It was such an honor to serve aboard a starship, and this ship was a beauty. He couldn't believe he was finally here, but the time for joyousness was now over. It was time to get to work. Harry was allowed into the Captain's ready room by Captain T'Vhor, who was standing as Harry entered through the door. The Captain motioned for Harry to come forward and Harry did so, standing at the respectful attention as per protocol. "At ease Ensign," Captain T'Vhor said. "Please, take a seat." Harry relaxed a bit and let out a quiet sigh. ~Well so far so good.~ He handed the Captain the data padd of his assignment as a tactical officer. "I am Harry McKnight, sir. I'm your new tactical officer." Harry smiled confidently as he spoke. (reply Captain T'Vhor) (posted by Brandon) (USS Spectre - Captain's Ready Room - CO, Captain T'Vhor - 23:39) The Captain accepted the PADD from Ensign McKnight and glanced it over, the information therein correlating perfectly with what he had already read upon the monitor not three minutes beforehand. He glanced to the Ensign, noting the broad smile he wore as he did so, then he placed the PADD to one side and brought his hands together upon the desk. "I am Harry McKnight, sir. I'm your new tactical officer", said the newly arrived Ensign, his voice confident and assured. The Captain answered in typical clipped Vulcan as one would expect. "I am aware of that Ensign", said the Captain, "I make it my business to know who is coming aboard the ship and when they might arrive", he added, "however, I must confess to a certain deviation from the norm in regards the latest transfers from both the Humboldt and the Uriel", he added. (Reply McKnight IYW) "Most have been.... thrust upon us seemingly without proper notification, notification which should have been forthcoming regardless of our remote, and dare I say delicate location", said the Captain thinking back now to the sudden orders he had received over the past few hours or so, especially where Admiral Sevant had been concerned. (Reply McKnight) The Captain wasted no more time in hypothetical meanderings as to the hows, why's and wherefore's of the recent transfers, and returned to the Ensign's Starfleet record, still displayed as it was upon the monitor in front of him. "I note that you have an advanced knowledge of many different starship classes Ensign, how are you on the Spectre class?", asked the Captain. (Reply McKnight) "She is... not your usual vessel", said the Captain, "I am sure that you will find your tour of duty with us both rewarding, and interesting" (Reply McKnight) The Captain then returned his attention to the monitor once again. "You seem to excel in the sciences, tell me.... why did you choose Tactical Security Ensign McKnight?", asked the Captain, curious now as to what actually drove the man sitting opposite him. (Reply McKnight) (Posted by Alan) (USS Spectre - Captain's Ready Room - Ensign JG Harry Mcknight - 23:39) "I am aware of that Ensign", said the Captain, "I make it my business to know who is coming aboard the ship and when they might arrive, however, I must confess to a certain deviation from the norm in regards the latest transfers from both the Humboldt and the Uriel", he added. ~A little uptight, maybe due to the last mission~ Harry was a bit unsettled with the Captain's response, though the Captain of course knew who Harry was. The Captain continued, "Most have been.... thrust upon us seemingly without proper notification, notification which should have been forthcoming regardless of our remote, and dare I say delicate location." Harry had to agree. This was a unusual transfer for Starfleet. He had learned all the proper procedures and protocols and this did deviate a bit, though it was still within normal parameters. "I wouldn't dare to presume as to the status of the Spectre's crew, but perhaps Command thought that sending a few new crewmen might help in some way. I must say I am eager to commence my duties." (reply Captain T'Vhor, IYW) The Captain seemed to change the subject now. "I note that you have an advanced knowledge of many different starship classes Ensign, how are you on the Spectre class?", asked the Captain. "Its one of the more recent designs, though I must say the class already has a seasoned history to it. Seventeen decks worth of titanium composite beauty, five Mark X phaser banks, two each of photon and quantum torpedo launchers, standard complement, one hundred and eighty crewmen," Harry recited almost as if he were a walking encyclopedia. "If my studies were correct, the Spectre class also hosts quite a complement of shuttles." (reply Captain T'Vhor, IYW) "She is... not your usual vessel", said the Captain, "I am sure that you will find your tour of duty with us both rewarding, and interesting" Harry spoke as genuinely as he could, "I certainly hope so Captain." "You seem to excel in the sciences, tell me.... why did you choose Tactical Security Ensign McKnight?", asked the Captain. ~Here we go again.~ Harry thought to himself. "I have always been interested in the sciences Captain, and would be more than willing to take on some science department responsibilities. However, as I stand here today, it has been with great cost. When I was boy still living on the farm, I always wanted to enter the academy as a science officer, but early on my farm was attacked by another family and my parents were killed. Our security measures, which are unfortunately still needed, were not adequate, and when I was old enough to truly make my own decisions, I vowed to never make that same mistake. So as my report should tell, I entered as a Tactical and security cadet and simply took science courses on an elective basis." (reply Captain T'Vhor) (Posted by Brandon) (USS Spectre - Captain's Ready Room - CO, Captain T'Vhor - 23:41) Was that a hint of annoyance there? The Captain's latent Betazoid empathic senses had kicked in of course, albeit somewhat unwittingly as they often did. Empathic abilities could be both a godsend and a hinderance and as an ethical Vulcan driven by moral rules and adhering to the moral laws of telepathy, he had learned to put them aside on the whole, preferring instead to let a person make themselves understood verbally rather than via their own, oft times sporadic and uncontrolled emotions. Needless to say though, the Ensign 'had' emanated the emotion rather strongly when the CO had quizzed him on his career choice. It had been a logical query nonetheless, the choice of career, given the apparent field of expertise invited discussion, it was as simple as that. "I have always been interested in the sciences Captain, and would be more than willing to take on some science department responsibilities....", the Ensign began, before going on to explain a little of his own history on the farm he grew up on and the distinct lack of security therein that had resulted in the unfortunate death of his parents. ".....I vowed to never make that same mistake. So as my report should tell, I entered as a Tactical and security cadet and simply took science courses on an elective basis", said Ensign McKnight. The Captain nodded accordingly, the Ensign's reasoning was unflawed of course and spoke volumes about his need to protect his own.... a valuable assett in any Starfleet officer no less and one certainly fitting to service on the USS Spectre. The Captain pondered the Ensign's responses further, then he spoke again, raising the subject of their own little scientific puzzle as he did so. "We are currently monitoring some rather strange emanations coming from the subspace river", he began, pausing now as though in thought, "Doctor Gunnell, our mission specialist is currently working on gaining a better understanding of this, perhaps.... you could offer your expertise?", he asked. (Reply McKnight) "I believe the Human colloquialism would be.... 'The more the merrier', would that not be an apt response?", said the Captain, quirking his head slightly as he spoke. (Reply McKnight) (Posted by Alan) (USS Spectre - Captain's Ready Room - Ensign jg Harry McKnight - 23:42) The Captain seemed to be understanding of his choice, from Harry's point of view. "We are currently monitoring some rather strange emanations coming from the subspace river. Doctor Gunnell, our mission specialist is currently working on gaining a better understanding of this, perhaps.... you could offer your expertise?" the Captain asked. Harry couldn't see why he couldn't, and he would of course do so. "Absolutely Captain. I'll take a look at the scan results and any other information we have right away." "I believe the Human colloquialism would be.... 'The more the merrier', would that not be an apt response?" Harry was rather surprised at the Captain's comment. His serious face turned into a small smile as he said, "The more the merrier is the perfect response. As humans always say, two heads are better than one." In his experience, Harry had never seen a Vulcan who had such a . . . sense of humor. Harry quite enjoyed that about Captain T'Vhor. (reply Captain T'Vhor) (posted by Brandon) (USS Spectre - Captain's Ready Room - CO, Captain T'Vhor - 23:44) "The more the merrier is the perfect response", said Ensign McKnight, "as humans always say, two heads are better than one", he added, a response which only furthered the Captain's confusion over Humans and their rather strange and unpredictable ways. That second addition had not been one that he had heard before, and the Captain, by his own admission was a veritable collector of Human idiosyncrasies. He felt it gave him a better understanding of why they were the way they were. An explanation was indeed, needed. "I fail to see why two heads would be better than one", said the Captain curiously, "unless of course you were talking from a tactical viewpoint, in which case the ability to look in both directions at once might be an admirable trait", he added. (Reply McKnight) "Nevertheless, in this instance having an extra mind on the problem in hand might be to our advantage.... Doctor Gunnell may be found on deck four if you wish to discuss this with her later", said the Captain as he made a mental note of this latest colloquialism. (Reply McKnight) The Captain then changed tact somewhat, handing the 'colloquial' ball to Ensign McKnight so to speak. "Are there any questions that you may have in regards the Spectre, or indeed anything else that may be on your mind?", he asked. (Reply McKnight) (Posted by Alan) (USS Spectre - Captain's Ready Room - Ensign jg Harry McKnight - 23:45) "I fail to see why two heads would be better than one", said the Captain, "unless of course you were talking from a tactical viewpoint, in which case the ability to look in both directions at once might be an admirable trait", he added. Harry started to explain, "Well, you see sir, if you have to people . . . " Harry trailed off. "Never mind sir." "Nevertheless, in this instance having an extra mind on the problem in hand might be to our advantage.... Doctor Gunnell may be found on deck four if you wish to discuss this with her later", said the Captain. ~But . . . that . . . is exactly~ Harry was almost dumbfounded by decided to try to not show it. "Of course sir. I would be happy to drop by." "Are there any questions that you may have in regards the Spectre, or indeed anything else that may be on your mind?", he asked. Captain T'Vhor put the ball in Harry's court now. "Actually sir, I was wondering if I could ask you for some permanent Sciences duties along with my main duties?" (reply T'Vhor) (posted by Brandon) (USS Spectre - Captain's Ready Room - CO, Captain T'Vhor - 23:47) "Are there any questions that you may have in regards the Spectre, or indeed anything else that may be on your mind?", the Captain had asked. "Actually sir, I was wondering if I could ask you for some permanent Sciences duties along with my main duties?", said Ensign McKnight. The response was unexpected to say the least, in his capacity as Tactical Security he was going to be somewhat busy, but if the man felt the need to fuel his science bent, then who was the CO to stop him from doing that? "I do not see that that would be a problem Ensign", said the Captain, "indeed, your enthusiasm is admirable... I will see that the Science department is made aware of your wishes but, you should remember that your Security duties must come first", he added. (Reply McKnight) "Very well, your immediate superior is Lieutenant Commander Capps, please report to him at your leisure, be aware though that the Lieutenant Commander has only just returned to duty after a rather unfortunate accident with the Borg", said the Captain. (Reply McKnight) "I am sure he will tell you all about it", said the Captain, "if there are no further questions you wish to ask, then you are hereby dismissed", said the Captain, standing now to reach across the table to shake the new Ensigns hand. "Welcome aboard the Spectre Ensign McKnight", he said. (Reply McKnight) The Ensign then turned about and made his way towards the door. (Reply McKnight) (Posted by Alan) (USS Spectre - Captain's Ready Room - Ensign jg Harry McKnight - 23:50) "I do not see that that would be a problem Ensign", said the Captain, "indeed, your enthusiasm is admirable... I will see that the Science department is made aware of your wishes but, you should remember that your Security duties must come first", he added. "Yes sir. I will fulfill all of my duties to the best of my ability." Harry was truly genuine as he made his statement. "Very well, your immediate superior is Lieutenant Commander Capps, please report to him at your leisure, be aware though that the Lieutenant Commander has only just returned to duty after a rather unfortunate accident with the Borg." Harry was almost shocked again, but he kept his cool. The Borg were a nasty bunch, bent only on the drive for perfection. It was an admirable goal, but assimilation, their main tactic, was despicable. "I understand sir." "I am sure he will tell you all about it", said the Captain, "if there are no further questions you wish to ask, then you are hereby dismissed." Harry accepted the hand that was offered to him and he respectfully took his leave with a "Thank you sir." Harry turned and walked out of the Captain's ready room. (Reply None) (Posted by Brandon) (USS Spectre - Bridge, Outside the Captain's Ready Room - Lt Walker Isengard - 23:51) Walker, who hadn’t twitched from his spot since he'd arrived, turned his head slightly to see an ensign depart the ready-room doors. He waited for a few moments, after briefly nodding at the man, and then stepped through the doors himself. The Captain was just settling back into his chair, so Walker took that moment to step up to the desk. He took the PADD with his transfer orders and placed it on the desk, before coming to loose attention. "Lieutenant Walker Isengard, reporting for duty Sir." (reply: if desired.) (reply: CO, any) (posted by Trout) (USS Spectre - Captain's Ready Room - CO, Captain T'Vhor - 23:52) The Captain watched as the Ensign left the ready room, normally the doors would have closed immediately afterwards, this time however, they had not done so. The reason soon presented itself as another officer, this time one whom he had recognised, appeared within the doorframe and then approached the Captain's desk. Isengard placed a PADD upon the desk and then went to attention. "Lieutenant Walker Isengard, reporting for duty Sir", said the Officer. The Captain regarded him briefly, then he gestured with his hand for the Security officer to be seated opposite. "My apologies for not being able to give you a definate time to report in Lieutenant", said T'Vhor, "I have been a little... busy", he added. (Reply Isengard, IYW) The Captain then picked up the PADD and began perusing it, noting the orders contained therein as he did so whilst mentally correlating it to the file he had read earlier. It went without saying of course that there were questions that perhaps needed to be asked right now, the most important being 'what exactly had the Lieutenant been undergoing, before his return to the fold' so to speak. Needless to say though, this was probably not the time. Both men of course had Betazoid blood coursing through their veins, it would take little for either of them to probe the others feelings but then... That was just 'unethical'.... Right now, the Captain was of the opinion that if Isengard wished to relay the sorded details of what Starfleet had been tasking him with, then he would do so under his own volition, and he was willing to wait. "I trust that your journey to us was, uneventful Lieutenant", said the Captain, settling now upon a neutral address as opposed to a straight forwards query. (Reply Isengard) (Posted by Alan) (USS Spectre - Captain's Ready Room - Lt Walker Isengard - 23:53) Walker took the offered seat and folded his hands over his knee with a nod. "My apologies for not being able to give you a definate time to report in Lieutenant, I have been a little... busy" "No apologies necessary, Captain." Walker replied quietly. After a few moments of reading the PADD, Walker had to tighten his shields a bit. The Captain was remarkably tight, but he was also concentrating, so vague impressions made their way through his shields. The betazoid almost smirked, his arrival seemed to be something of a mystery to the man- which usually sat badly on a security officer, much less one that had climbed the ranks. "I trust that your journey to us was, uneventful Lieutenant" the Captain eventually asked. The Lieutenant took a moment to consider his answer, as he gazed benignly at T'Vhor. "It was long, and boring, Captain." he finally said. "The Uriel was made to deliver messages and VIPs with all due speed- not so much lowly Ensigns and Lieutenants." He paused for a moment, considering how to continue, before finally deciding to plod on. "Perhaps, Captain, you'd rather I answer the other questions that have undoubtedly occurred to you from my prolonged absence?" (reply: T'Vhor, with room for conversation." Walker folded his fingers together, "After being placed on temporary duty during the war, I was placed in a small squad of telepaths, meant to disrupt any mental attacks on the forward squadrons of attacking vessels during the incursion at earth. Mr. Doenitz had found what was later dubbed 'The telepath factory', some sort of technology from the Iconians, eccobarians or the inchon... or some such. The Boudicca's task-force destroyed the labs before the invasion, but not before several of their earliest subjects made their way back to Sol." Walker stopped again, "Coincidentally, an alternate-universe variant of me - Walker Isengard - died during that attack." He had to stop himself from smiling grimly, that bit of news had tickled the darker sides of his nature. "I was reassigned to Earth after the fall of the Doenitz regime- originally because Starfleet wanted to make sure that we hadn’t broken any of the telepathic laws." This time he did smile, darkly. "Of course, we had- but only in response to enemy telepathic attack. Our defense was one of the reasons the vanguard made it far enough to be ground into pieces by much more mundane weapons.” Walker was well aware that the Spectre had been in the van on the assault of the MDP – Walker had been there as well. He’d seen the carnage reaped by the 1st Fleet and the MDP, only God knew what would have happened had the enemy telepaths also had their way. He took a breath and continued, “After that, at the start of the reconciliation, Starfleet command tried to decide if we should be dragooned from the Fleet for crimes against humanity. Ultimately, they did not, the reinstalled President declared that the telepathic rats we had to break were an unnatural threat to the Security of the Federation during wartime, and the only way to successfully neutralize them was in the manner we chose." He had completely slammed his shields shut for this little conversation, and T'Vhor was enough of a Vulcan that his expression gave away little of his underlying thoughts. Walker wondered just how the Captain was taking this news... but he continued on anyway. "After we were exonerated, it was decided that I would undergo advanced training at Starfleet Tactical with some of the new weapons systems and tactics that had been generated from the war. Train I did - but I saw more than my fair share of Counselors and Starfleet Medical Officers. To be blunt, I believe I was being observed to see if I was a threat to the fleet- or if I really had just been doing my duty. Apparently they decided I'm benign, for here I am, Sir." Walker tabbed his thumbs together, "Nothing I did was classified above top secret, although Starfleet Command seems to prefer that I don't regale my tale at every bar across the galaxy. And, truthfully, I agree with their concern. I get enough questioning looks as it is without dealing with the fallout and dread of people believing that I was supposedly part of some telepathic hit squad; or that I reprogrammed enemy captains to turn on their masters; or convinced good upstanding citizens that they were really dogs in heat, looking for the nearest bitch- or whatever other rumors could and have be generated based on what I really did during the latter half of the war." He quirked an eyebrow slightly, "Do you have any questions or concerns about what I have said, Captain?" (reply: T’vhor) (posted by Trout) (USS Spectre - Captain's Ready Room - CO, Captain T'Vhor - 23:55) Despite his apparent calm on the opposite side of the Captain's desk, Lieutenant Isengard looked troubled, if one could use such a word. Empath's probably would not have done so, prefering instead to perhaps say that a person emotions were in chaos, this empath however was not your common or garden variety of empath, his file certainly revealed that. It was probably because of that very fact that his next comment was precisely what it was, it was obvious that he sensed the Captain's queries, regardless of the fact that they remained unspoken. "Perhaps, Captain, you'd rather I answer the other questions that have undoubtedly occurred to you from my prolonged absence?", he had asked. The Captain paused briefly and then answered. "That is entirely up to you Mr Isengard, it is no secret that your departure from the ship, and the circumstances surrounding that raised a number of questions from crew members, myself included", said the Captain. "However, it is your prerogative to keep personal facts to yourself if need be, I only need to know what happened if they directly affect the safety or security of this ship and crew", he added. (Reply Isengard, IYW) It seemed that regardless, Isengard wished to tell. Maybe this was just his way of beginning with a level playing field so to speak, a means to cast out any demons he harboured. Whatever the case, the Lieutenant then began with a surprisingly detailed explanation as to just what had occured between the time he had left, and his return. He explained how he had been drafted into a special unit designed to go up against enemy telepaths from the infamous 'telepath factory', and how he had personally intervened at the Mars defence perimeter battles of the civil war. He then went on to explain how a mirror universe version of himself had actually died during those battles! The Captain sensed that he had seemed pleased at that in some way, perhaps he felt that the part that had died would atone for any sins he had commited in life... only he knew for sure of course. Isengard continued on though with a description of the concerns Starfleet held over the facts that they had possibly broken the moral laws governing telepathy, he then admitted that they had! The Captain was unphased at the news, his neutral Vulcan expression gave nothing away of course and if Isengard had been attempting to read him right now, which he probably was, he was giving no impression that he knew that. Rules were broken in wartime, it was a given fact, indeed the Captain himself had bent a few rules during his time as a resistance foot soldier during the Bajoran/Cardassian conflicts. Isengards confession of bending the moral laws was no real surprise. The Lieutenant then went on to explain how Starfleet had questioned whether he himself was a threat to them in any way, it was preposterous of course, but in times of war, who really knew? "Apparently they decided I'm benign, for here I am, Sir", said Isengard, closing the argument with a stated fact as he relaxed into his chair. "Nothing I did was classified above top secret, although Starfleet Command seems to prefer that I don't regale my tale at every bar across the galaxy...", he added, before going on to basically agree with that ethos. "Do you have any questions or concerns about what I have said, Captain?", asked the Lieutenant. The Captain paused again briefly whilst bringing his fingertips together in front of him. "Concerns? I think not. Indeed, I am glad that you have chosen to inform me of all of this, it answers a great many questions", said the Captain. "If starfleet command feels that you are fit for duty, then who am I but a lowly Captain to defy their decisions", he added. (Reply Isengard, IYW) "I do however have one question for you", said the Captain. (Reply Isengard) "Do 'you' feel that you are fit for duty?" (Reply Isengard) (Posted by Alan) ==================================================================== Mission: The Gates of Prometheus Day: 123 Stardate: 2408.06.10 (USS Spectre - Security Office - Ensign jg Harry McKnight - 00:07) Harry took a short break before making his way to the security office. Here, he hoped to find Lieutenant Commander Capps. He would then report in and get his duty assignment. Afterwards he would head to Deck Four to assist Dr. Gunnell as the Captain requested. Harry found the security office right where it should be on Deck Ten. He entered and found Commander Capps. "Ensign Harry McKnight, reporting for duty sir." (reply Lt. Cmdr Capps) (Posted by Brandon) (USS Spectre – Security Chief’s Office – TAC/SC Lt Cmdr Calvin Capps – 00:08) Calvin had gone to his quarters and attempted to sleep, but since he had gotten his strength back and pure drowsiness didn’t make him fall asleep he wasn’t able to lye on his bed and not think about the horribleness of the almost assimilation into a Borg drone. The assimilation was horrifying enough, but worst Calvin had actually attacked a good friend of his, Lt Cmdr Banowsky. He was told earlier during one of his two check ins to sickbay that Will had sustained multiple bone breaking injuries and other type of injuries. Calvin felt more terrible about that then anything else. What if he had killed him, what if he had done worst and was able to take out the entire away team. Calvin was able to keep it together to stay on duty and was able to talk through the check ins, but he was now required to see a counselor which made sense. As he always does, he would follow the orders from the good doctor. On a good note Calvin had received a positional promotion earlier that day. It was unexpected but was a need for the Spectre. He had been working on paper work all day in his new office. He really understood the meaning of ‘light duty’ now. He began to look over another file that was just sent to him from Captain T’Vhor. Another officer had been transferred under the department of Tactical/Security. The chime sounded as he read the last line. “Enter,” he immediately said. A young man walked into the room, "Ensign Harry McKnight, reporting for duty sir." Calvin found it funny how he was only informed of incoming new personnel only seconds before the person walked into his office. He knew from past experience that this was not normal. Calvin stood up slowly from his chair. His body still ached. “At ease,” he reached his arm across the desk with an open hand. “Lt Cmdr Capps, Chief Security. I just read over your file.” After shaking the Ensign’s hand he sat back down. (reply McKnight, IYW) “Have a seat,” Calvin watched the Ensign for a second before he continued. “I know you are a well qualified officer…other wise you wouldn’t be here. I have also read your file, and I must say it is very impressive.” (reply McKnight, IYW) “I know every reason why Starfleet needs you, what I need to know is why you need Starfleet?” (reply McKnight) (posted by Calvin) (USS Spectre - Security Office - Ensign jg Harry McKnight - 00:09) Harry took the Chief's hand and after being offered to, he took the seat across from the Chief. Lieutenant Commander Capps spoke. “I know you are a well qualified officer…other wise you wouldn’t be here. I have also read your file, and I must say it is very impressive.” Harry was rather surprised that he was getting complimented so soon. "I do the very best I can sir. Doing my best at whatever I do is my only goal." Harry was truthful, but he couldn't help but remember his history and family. It was a terrible memory. “I know every reason why Starfleet needs you, what I need to know is why you need Starfleet?” the Chief asked. Harry hesitated a moment before responding, deciding whether or not to tell of his family again or to offer the second reason he was in Starfleet. He chose the latter. "Sir, ever since I was a boy, I had dreamed of being in Starfleet. Where I come from, people do not amount to much more than farmers. I wanted a different future. I initially wanted to be a science officer, but my history has led me otherwise." Harry then added, "I see Starfleet as an opportunity: an opportunity to learn, to achieve, and to serve." (reply Capps) (poster by Brandon) (USS Spectre – Chief’s Security Office – TAC/SC Lt Cmdr Calvin Capps – 00:10) "Sir, ever since I was a boy, I had dreamed of being in Starfleet. Where I come from, people do not amount to much more than farmers. I wanted a different future. I initially wanted to be a science officer, but my history has led me otherwise." Harry then added, "I see Starfleet as an opportunity: an opportunity to learn, to achieve, and to serve." Calvin thought about his new officer’s response. ~never amount to much more than farmers~ Lt Cmdr Capps knew that Earth’s resource needs for food was not high due to the invention of replicators, but certain people on Earth still believed in eating real grown food. Farmers to them are considered highly of. ~To each their own,~ Calvin thought about how everyone viewed things differently. ~To learn, to achieve~ These were ideals Calvin believed in as well. The ability to learn was available in any job in any industry, but to achieve brought on a special meaning. Nearly everyone has a goal in life. For Calvin that was to be the best Starfleet officer and a highly respected one. Lt Cmdr Capps smirked as he remembered a saying he had heard from someone before, ‘strive for the best but settle for mediocre.’ ~To serve,~ A word with multiple meanings specifically to the person that serves. Calvin served because he truly believed that Starfleet is for a higher cause then himself. Calvin will serve to his death for Starfleet. Lt Cmdr Capps didn’t know exactly why Harry served, but he had a feeling he served for the same reason he had switched to security. “I see that you are very educated in the sciences, and I have orders here from Captain T’Vhor requesting some science duties for you. If I may, why did you switch from science to security?” (reply McKnight) Calvin listened intently to McKnight’s tragedy. “I can understand your decision for changing departments.” Lt Cmdr Capps decided to change the subject. “Ensign McKnight I would like to welcome you to the security department. I know you have an appointment with Dr. Gunnell, but before you leave is there anything you would like to know?” (reply McKnight) (posted by Calvin) (USS Spectre - Security Office - Ensign jg Harry McKnight - 00:12) “I see that you are very educated in the sciences, and I have orders here from Captain T’Vhor requesting some science duties for you. If I may, why did you switch from science to security?” ~And here we go again . . . ~ Harry thought. "It was a personal choice sir. The experiences of my life have led me to choose to be a security officer. I would rather be in charge of someone else's security and well being over someone being in control of mine. Its a trust issue and I trust myself to get the job done more than I trust anyone else to get the job done." Harry paused for a moment before continuing. "Several years ago, my family was killed on our farm by a group of bandits. One of the bandits was a hired hand that my father trusted with his life and his family's lives. That man betrayed my father and my family. Objectively, our security was compromised." “I can understand your decision for changing departments.” “Ensign McKnight I would like to welcome you to the security department. I know you have an appointment with Dr. Gunnell, but before you leave is there anything you would like to know?” "All I need is a list of my duties and my shifts. I'd like to get to work as soon as possible, sir." Harry was ready to get going. (reply Capps) (posted by Brandon) (USS Spectre – Chief’s Security Office – TAC/SC Lt Cmdr Calvin Capps – 00:13) "All I need is a list of my duties and my shifts. I'd like to get to work as soon as possible, sir." Harry was ready to get going. ~Eager~ “Great, your duty schedule will be sent to you in due time. As of right now you need to report to Dr. Gunnell.” Calvin stood up and extended his hand once again. “It is nice to meet you and welcome to the Spectre.” Lt Cmdr Capps then watched as the new Ensign left his office. (reply McKnight) (posted by Calvin) (USS Spectre – Strategic Operations Center – Admiral Sevant – 00:15) Sevant, his arms crossed behind him, slowly walked the area that was going to become his new office. It wasn’t large, nothing was large on a ship the size of the Spectre, but he wasn’t running the strategic assets of a war either- not yet anyway. For four people, plus one that would come and go occasionally, this would do. It was one room with two ante-chambers, an office and a conference room. The main room had three duty stations, each with multiple screens, situated in a semi-circle and facing a large status screen took up an entire wall, almost like a bridge’s view-screen. The Center Console was on a platform, a good foot above the rest and in the ‘back’ of the room, so the occupant could survey the entire center without issue. It was smaller than the standard Stratops Center on a Starbase, or full sized Starship – but it would suit his needs. Starfleet Command had made sure his job was a stripped-down version anyway, so this would do quite nicely. The doors opened and three crewmembers walked in, two women and a man – each in Command Red. Two Lieutenants and a Lieutenant Commander, the three he’d chosen from the pool of available Strategic Operations personnel. As it happened, all three had come from the Fleet Strategic Command center on mars, they were very good in their respective fields. He’d chosen them, after a round of interviews, because they’d had plenty of experience working Strategic Operations on the frontier, experience that would be very useful out here on the fringe. Only one of them had been in LoDona’s cadre during the war. Once they were operational, each would stand solo on a shift, with Sevant himself spelling them occasionally so they would get days off. The Admiral’s request for further personnel was ‘under consideration’, he was hoping for at least two more, so they could settle into something like a ‘normal’ duty schedule. ~At least,~ he thought, ~They show up on time.~ He’d informed them an hour ago that he wanted them here – a quick look at the chronometer showed they could tell time. “Welcome to the Fringe, try not to get lost in here.” He said, dryly. They’d had plenty of time to get used to his manner on the Uriel, so none took it amiss that he’d used a bit of ironic humor. Sevant was an Admiral, that gave him license to show a quirk or two. Starting tomorrow at 0800 hours, we’re in business, all relevant data will begin flowing here.” He laid a hand on one of the consoles. “All relevant communications and security protocols must be in place by then. I’ve already looked over the hardware, very little will have to be upgraded – and none of it will detract from our ability to perform our job, I’ll go through channels and have Engineering take this place up to the necessary standards within forty-eight hours. In the mean time, as of now, this room is double-secure. Only Senior Officers will be allowed without prior authorization, and nobody not in our department is left alone if they DO happen to visit. Understood?” “Yes Admiral.” “I’ve gotten the Captain to agree to have the on-board Stratops officer report to me, at least part of the time. Commander Richelieu, you’ll take him under your wing once he’s reported. What he doesn’t know, he will by the end of two weeks.” “Yes sir.” Sevant stepped aside, “Then by all means, Gentlemen and Ladies, let’s get caught up. “ The three of them took a station, with the Lieutenant Commander taking the ‘highest’ that overlooked the rest, and began digging into the protocols that governed the various aspects of their trade. For now, the only information fed to them was the standard information a ship-board Strategic Operations Officer would access, so the Master Situation Panel was looking very light – that would change in a few hours, when all information and intelligence would be routed their way. The Admiral stood to the side for a bit, watching them. He calculated, after a few moments, that they’d have everything operational and upgraded within the hour. Nothing here was really out-of-date, it was just a matter of expanding the security, since this was now Fleet Stratops. He turned and exited the room, after touching his hand to a palm-plate, to let them finish their jobs in peace. There was very little for him to do right now, he wasn’t officially on-station until tomorrow morning, so there wasn’t anything for him to look over or approve. He’d spent most of the last hour with his wife, he’d sent a brief subspace message to Admiral Jopek advising him that he’d arrived – all he had left was to fully read the reports that T’vhor had given him before the meeting tomorrow morning. Assuming his wife didn’t pull him off to bed again, anyway. He’d only been gone for twenty minutes, but knowing Vicki, she had wasted no time in turning their quarters into a home as he was no longer under-foot. She’d probably get annoyed if he stayed out all night, but she’d get just as annoyed if he came back this early. ~Marriage,~ Sevant mused, ~Is complicated.~ With that in mind, he headed for a turbolift and called for Ten Forward. At the very least, he supposed, he could have a drink and give his wife a few more minutes to herself… (Reply None, Any) (Posted by Trout) (USS Spectre - Security Office - Ensign jg Harry McKnight - 00:16) “Great, your duty schedule will be sent to you in due time. As of right now you need to report to Dr. Gunnell. It is nice to meet you and welcome to the Spectre." Harry nodded and said, 'Thank you sir. I hope to serve to the best of my abilities." Harry then walked out of the security office after being dismissed. He walked along the corridor for a moment, taking in the feeling of the Spectre. It felt strong and energetic. Harry smiled as he proceeded to the turbolift. (USS Spectre - Deck Four Research Station - Ensign jg Harry McKnight - Day 123 - 0018) Harry stepped off the turbolift in search of Dr. Gunnell. He tapped his comm badge and asked the computer where the Doctor was. =/\=Dr. Gunnell is in the Deck Four Research Station.=/\= "Thank you," he said to the computer, though he knew it was not really listening. He walked down the corridor a short way, coming to his destination . As he walked in, he found a lone woman in the room. He announced his presence. "Doctor Gunnell? I have been assigned to assist you by the Captain. I am Ensign McKnight." (reply Dr. Gunnell) (posted by Brandon) (USS Spectre - Deck Four Research Station - Doctor Samantha Gunnell - 00:20) Doctor Gunnell had been studying the samples almost constantly now for over six hours, her eyes hurt and she needed rest. The drive to get to the bottom of all of this though was paramount now, indeed the entire safety of the ship and crew relied upon her getting to the bottom of it. As it was, the baseline references were skewed, probably a result of the Borg meddling with the DNA contained within it. DNA... The building blocks for life. What the hell was it doing within an apparently inorganic strand of energy fixed in space? It simply belied belief and pointed to something much bigger than what it was, what that something was though was a puzzle indeed. Gunnell was about to call it a day, irrespective of the fact that it was now the morning, when a voice came from behind her. "Doctor Gunnell? I have been assigned to assist you by the Captain. I am Ensign McKnight", said the owner of that voice. Gunnell swung around to face an Ensign in Security colours. ~Why would T'Vhor send a Security officer to help with a science based project~ "Excuse me Ensign", said Gunnell quirking her head now, "the sample is not dangerous right now, I really don't need any protection from it", she added. (Reply McKnight) (Posted by Alan) (USS Spectre – Ten Forward – Admiral Sevant – 00:28) Sevant stepped through the doors of Ten Forward, and paused. It was smaller than the Boudicca’s, which was only to be expected, and lightly populated considering the hour. That suited him just fine – he liked the privacy. He sat at the bar after navigating his way through the tables and nodded to the bartender. “Vulcan tea, if you please.” (reply: any, none) (posted by Trout)