USS Spectre Compile - October 1st-31st 2012 by Alan Reading ========================================================================= Mission: Inimicus Invisa Day: 1 Stardate 2414.10.01 (USS Spectre - Observation Lounge - CSO Lieutenant JG Kurt Palmer - 12:14) (USS Spectre – Main Engineering - CEO, Ensign Remae Ktell – 12:35) (USS Spectre – Main Engineering - ACSO, Ensign Ilana Grey – 12:36) (USS Spectre – Main Engineering - CEO, Ensign Remae Ktell – 12:40) (USS Spectre – Main Engineering - ACSO, Ensign Ilana Grey – 12:45) (USS Spectre – Holo Deck 1 - ACSO, Ensign Ilana Grey – 17:40) ========================================================================= Mission: Inimicus Invisa Day: 4 Stardate 2414.10.04 (USS Spectre – Bridge – CSO, Lt jg Kurt Palmer – 15:38) (USS Spectre – Bridge – CO, Captain T'Vhor – 15:42) (USS Spectre – Bridge, CONN – Pilot Officer, 2nd Lieutenant Smith – 15:46) (USS Spectre – Bridge – OPS Officer – Ensign Robert Smith – 15:49) (USS Spectre – Bridge – FO, Commander Hoshimi Tsukawa – 15:50) (USS Spectre – Marine Holodeck - 1st Lieutenant Kenneth ‘SatNav’ Smith – 15:50) (USS Spectre – Marine Holodeck - Marine, Lewis O'Hara – 15:51) (USS Spectre – Security Intelligence Department - Security Officer, Lieutenant Jo Smith – 15:53) (USS Spectre – Main Engineering - CEO, Ensign Remae Ktell – 15:55) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – ACMO, Ensign(jg) Zia Kirrin – 16:00) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – ACSciO, Ensign(jg) Ilana Grey – 16:01) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – ACMO, Ensign(jg) Zia Kirrin – 16:03) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – ACSciO, Ensign(jg) Ilana Grey – 16:05) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – ACMO, Ensign(jg), Zia Kirrin – 16:07) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – CMO, Noah – 16:10) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – ACMO, Ensign(jg), Zia Kirrin – 16:11) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – CMO Noah – 16:14) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – ACMO, Ensign(jg) Zia Kirrin – 16:15) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – CMO Noah – 16:20) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – ACMO, Ensign(jg) Zia Kirrin – 16:25) (USS Spectre – Sickbay TAC/ASC - Ensign Hank Stevens - 16:30) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – ACMO, Ensign(jg) Zia Kirrin – 16:31) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - ACMO, Ensign (jg) Keswick Vren - 16:33) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - ACMO, Ensign (jg) Zia Kirrin - 16:34) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - ACMO, Ensign (jg) Keswick Vren - 16:36) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - ACMO, Ensign(jg) Zia Kirrin - 16:37) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - ACMO, Ensign(jg) Keswick Vren - 16:40) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – ACSciO, Ensign(jg), Ilana Grey – 16:47) (USS Spectre – Ten Forwards – Marines, Lewis O'Hara and Paul Richards – 19:42) (USS Spectre – Ten Forward – Bartender Mei Ling Hikaru and Tommy Tucker – 19:43) (USS Spectre - Ten Forwards - Marines, Lewis O'Hara and Paul Richards - 19:45) (USS Spectre - Ten Forwards – Bartender, Mei Ling Hikaru - 19:46) (USS Spectre - Ten Forwards – Marines, Lewis O'Hara and Paul Richards - 19:48) (USS Spectre – Corridor, Forward Launchers – TAC/SC, Kerge and Security Officer, Ernest Powell – 20:28) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – Chief Nurse, CPO Douswy – 20:33) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – ACSO, Ensign (Jg) Ilana Grey – 20:34) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – ACSciO Ensign(jg), Ilana Grey – 20:35) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – ACMO, Ensign(jg) Zia Kirrin – 20:37) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – ACSciO, Ensign(jg) Ilana Grey – 20:40) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – ACMO, Ensign(jg) Zia Kirrin – 20:42) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – CMO, Noah – 20:45) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – ACMO, Ensign(jg) Zia Kirrin – 20:46) (USS Spectre – Captain's Quarters – CO, Captain T'Vhor – 22:42) ========================================================================= Mission: Inimicus Invisa Day: 5 Stardate 2414.10.05 (USS Spectre – Captain's Quarters – CO, Captain T'Vhor – 05:15) ========================================================================= Mission: Inimicus Invisa Day: 1 Stardate 2414.10.01 (USS Spectre - Observation Lounge - CSO Lieutenant JG Kurt Palmer - 12:14) The Captain nodded before standing to replace Kurt's rank pips "The honour is mine Lieutenant", he began "you come highly recommended from the Mithrandir, I am sure that you will continue to excel aboard the Spectre also" "Thank you sir" Kurt replied as he seated himself again. The discussions continued for a short while, and Kurt diligently took notes. Eventually they were all dismissed but not before strict instructions to keep the briefing information a secret for now. (Reply, any) ((Post by cody)) (USS Spectre – Main Engineering - CEO, Ensign Remae Ktell – 12:35) “I've got a whole range of information on the nebula what did you need to know exactly?", said Ensign Grey and Remae smiled on how quickly she had raced down to see him. “Thanks Ensign, lets have a seat over here.”, he said and pointed towards one of the diagnostic stations, which happened to have 2 seats nearby. “I was looking at the nebula and thinking about the mission, we're going to get close under cloak and then hang around and eventually, leave... but I needed to know about the nebula, the composition and what would happen to the Spectre if we had to go inside, mainly from my point of view, the ships systems, power disruptions, that kind of thing.”, he said and then he turned on the station with an array of Nebulae on the screen. “Perhaps you can show me on here?”, he said indicating the station with his hand. (Reply from Grey) (Posted by Anthony Keen) (USS Spectre – Main Engineering - ACSO, Ensign Ilana Grey – 12:36) Ilana took a seat next to the young engineer and listened as he went over the expected mission eventualities. “I was looking at the nebula and thinking about the mission, we're going to get close under cloak and then hang around and eventually, leave... but I needed to know about the nebula, the composition and what would happen to the Spectre if we had to go inside, mainly from my point of view, the ships systems, power disruptions, that kind of thing.”, he said and then he turned on the station with an array of Nebulae on the screen. “Perhaps you can show me on here?”, he said indicating the station with his hand. The young part Deltan part Human listened to the CEO as he asked about the effects of the nebula on the systems. She pursed her lips and though for a moment tapping her fingers on the diagnostic console. Then finally replied. “The composition of the nebula is supposed to be mostly inert matter, although the only real scans that have been done of it were done during the war, where the scientist were more concerned about finding enemy ships rather than the actual composition. We consider the strength of the electroweak phase transition in the inert doublet dark matter model, using a quantitatively accurate form for the one-loop finite temperature effective potential, taking into account relevant particle physics and dark matter constraints, focusing on a standard model Higgs mass near one-hundred-twenty six GeV, and doing a full scan of the space of otherwise unconstrained couplings. We find that there is a significant space of parameters for achieving an electroweak phase transition sufficiently strong for baryogenesis while satisfying the Xenon one-hundred constraints from direct detection and not exceeding the correct thermal relic density. I predict that the dark matter mass should be in the range sixty to sixty seven GeV…” She rattled on she looked over at the engineer realising she was prattling on in science talk. Which quite possibly could make She blushed, “Sorry, what I mean is there is the possibility for low density dark matter within the nebula, being phased would counter the danger to the ship but we would slowly but surely pick up a charge of positive and negatively charged electrons, across the ships phase barrier, meaning while we couldn’t be seen physically or attacked we would appear as a dense charge of fluctuating electrons through the nebula. The alternative I suggested in the briefing would be to drop our phased cloak and utilize the same effect to our advantage, the nebula is mostly comprised of Xenon particles with a range of charges but not that highly fluctuating between negative two and positive two relatively weak in the grand scheme of things, we would actually have to be actively scanning for that sort of fluctuation to notice it. So we polarize our hull plating to match the frequency, much like the original ships from earth did to protect against energy weapon fire. The only disadvantage to this is that we will be exposed to the physical damage if there happens to be dark matter in the nebula, we couldn’t use our shields because that would give away our position, similarly we couldn’t use active scanning or even communication systems. Internal comm. traffic could probably be dampened out through the polarized hull, but even communicating with a shuttle using anything other than direct laser link communication would be dangerous.” (Reply Ktell) “In terms of systems issues, it greatly depends we could raise shields or activate the phase cloak both would give away our position but it would protect the ship, but the use of phaser’s wouldn’t be advisable, it would be just as likely to cause a feedback into our system and blow all connected systems, we could still use launchers though as they have no active energy transfer at departure although each tube would need to be thoroughly cleaned before a second launch else we will get a Xenon flood into the torpedo storage bays, communication while in the nebula would also give away our position and wouldn’t be extremely clear but it should be usable.” Ilana paused and through to herself for a moment “Oh and lastly our sensor range will be less than one AU, for passive sensors we could use active sensors but that would give away our position.” (Reply Ktell) “I once heard my father describe a situation like this as being very very similar to the old submarines when they would be hunting each other on earth. You can do something to give you an advantage but immediately you give an advantage to your enemy.” She smiled “If push came to shove I would recommend if we make contact in the nebula we engage the cloak and run like hell” (Reply Ktell) (Posted by Joanna) (USS Spectre – Main Engineering - CEO, Ensign Remae Ktell – 12:40) Remae was listening to to the briefing about the Nebula and again, was impressed with the knowledge shown regarding it and Ensign Grey's general ship operational knowledge in general. “... but even communicating with a shuttle using anything other than direct laser link communication would be dangerous.”, she said pausing for a moment. “I see.”, was all he said making notes on what was being said but he didn't want to interrupt the flow. The CEO was ticking off the boxed rapidly, the general state of the ship would be poor. No cloak, shields, scans or directed energy of any kind. Torpedoes, possibly but limited firing rate. “If push came to shove I would recommend if we make contact in the nebular we engage the cloak and run like hell.”, she said and Remae gave out a laugh. “I agree! However, I have to run a lot of simulations on what you've told me, maintaining the warp field in that environment would be hard. The phase cloak would allow the ship to be unaffected but at the same time, the Spectre wouldn't be able to interact with anything while we were cloaked.”, he said thinking to himself for a moment. “I've taken a lot of your time so thanks, I think I'll leave you to get back to work... unless you would like to help me construct a computer model of the nebula and then see how it would react with say, the warp field, the phase and normal cloaking devices, silent running and tests of different frequency phaser fire. I think the answers would prove quite interesting.”, he said looking at the ACSO, “Unless you have other duties?”, he asked and waited for a reply. (Reply from Grey) (Posted by Anthony Keen) (USS Spectre – Main Engineering - ACSO, Ensign Ilana Grey – 12:45) “I've taken a lot of your time so thanks, I think I'll leave you to get back to work... unless you would like to help me construct a computer model of the nebula and then see how it would react with say, the warp field, the phase and normal cloaking devices, silent running and tests of different frequency phaser fire. I think the answers would prove quite interesting.”, he said looking at the ACSO, “Unless you have other duties?”, he asked and waited for a reply. Ilana smiled across at Ensign K’tell, “I’ve got nothing planned till day after tomorrow, where I’m going to get my whole body changed into a Cardassian,” She shuddered in anticipation, “It would be a pleasure to work with you, although I must confess I’m not much of an engineer, except when it comes to the bio neural gel-packs at the academy I did a small paper on them regarding how quickly they transfer information as opposed to the old isolinier systems we used to use.” She looked at the ensign, “If I start tinkering with simulations we will probably end up reversing the polarity of a neutron flow, even though neutrons have no charge!” She said making a small joke about how often scientists often said things to less science inclined persons to make themselves seem smarter by comparison. “Would we do this in engineering or a holo-deck?” Ilana asked (Reply K’tell) Ilana arrived at the simulation and looked around, she walked over to the variable parameters consol and tapped in the specs she had gathered from the nebular. The lights on the ship dimmed as they went into phase cloak. “Starting a passive scan of our ship to see what the effects of the cloak in the nebular are.” Ilana reported (Reply K’tell) Ilana watched the consol with keen interest, her theory about a build-up of charged protons began to take effect, slowly but surely an variance of charge particles began to build up along the cloaking field. She looked at the consol with frustration. “Remae, you had better shut the cloak off!” She called to him as the charged particles began to effect the nebular around them. “The fluctuation along the cloaking fields has reached a level where we could be detected up to three AU away.” (Reply K’tell) (Reply K’tell) (Posted by Jo) (USS Spectre – Holo Deck 1 - ACSO, Ensign Ilana Grey – 17:40) Five hours later Ilana, bleary eyed, leaned over the console as they ran yet another simulation, This could have been the thirtieth or fortieth simulation she couldn’t be sure anymore. She looked over at K’tell who looked almost as exhausted as she felt, “Any better results?” She asked with a faint trace of hope in her voice. (Reply K’tell) “I think we should call it quits,” Ilana said after a while “I can set the computer to run a variable of all systems over night and see if there are any better results in the morning.” She sighed as she closed down her console and walked over to K’tell, “The problem is physics, while the cloaking field puts us out of phase there are electrons within the nebular that are already partially phased, naturally, any attempt to phase or de-phase them causes a disruption that any ship in the sector can detect, and if we try to ignore them they cling to the cloaking field like limpets.” She remembered the rather disastrous second test run where the whole cloak system had been burned out by the massive feedback loop when they had tried to phase the charges as they passed through. They had had more success when they hadn’t used the cloak, however all attempts to use anything stronger than navigational deflectors had resulted in an energy emanation that again would give away their position. She joined K’tell as they left the simulator, “The best result we’ve had leaves us with almost no protection,” She said walking down the all along-side him, “We either loose all tactical advantage by having no defensive systems and almost no offensive, or we remain cloaked and hope to hell that every ship, monitoring station and planetary detection grid had decided to take the week off.” She sighed unconsciously making her way to the recreation lounge as they walked. (Reply K’tell) “I think your right, but tomorrow you probably going to have to attempt it without me, I’ve probably got a tetra-byte of messages waiting for me.” She smiled, “Fancy catching a drink?” She asked with a shy smile. (Reply K’tell) (Posted by Jo) ========================================================================= Mission: Inimicus Invisa Day: 4 Stardate 2414.10.04 (USS Spectre – Bridge – CSO, Lt jg Kurt Palmer – 15:38) Kurt had finally reached a mental calm. He was filled with a sense of purpose in his extremely erratic career. He was excited the dust was settling and pieces were finally falling into place. Even more thrilling at this moment was the fact that the ships sensors were finally behaving, and the technical hiccups had been sorted. Now the Spectre pushed forward towards what undoubtably would be Kurt's most exciting adventure thus far. Kurt had been hyper focused on the task at hand; diligently tapping away at his console. He tugged at his collar as he waited for the computer to register the last series of commands. Finally, concentration broke. An alert came from the front of the bridge. The Captian responded in his usual monotone. The fore viewscreen keyed on portraying a Cardassian male. =/\=Federation vessel,=/\= came his reptillian hiss over audio =/\= please identify yourselves and the reason for your location=/\= The Captain responded tactfully identifying the Mann as 'Glinn' =/\=Glinn Du'Mot=/\= came the completed title, before the ridged fair skinned man responded in the usual impatient and irritated tone of a Cardassian. Kurt wondered if this perception was some how exclusive only to him as this was how they always seemed to sound. ~theres bound to be a handful of pleasant Cardassians out there~ he pondered for a moment what that would be like. The conversation continued for a few moments before finally coming to an end. The viewscreen switched off and the Captain diverted his attention to the pilot. “Helm, Maintain our current course until we move out of range of the sensor array. Tactical, ready the ship for silent running on my mark” The female pilot acknowledged as Kurt tuned back into his console. ~silent running~ Kurt grinned slightly. His attitude towards the mission had changed from anxious to enthusiastic in the last 24 hours. ~this is where it gets interesting~ (reply, any) ((post by Cody)) (USS Spectre – Bridge – CO, Captain T'Vhor – 15:42) The Captain leaned forwards in his chair as the ship continued on it's tangential course to the Cardassian border, en route as it now was towards the sensor bouy. This, of course, was a critical part of the ruse. The last known position of the Spectre must show it heading for Federation territory in order to allay suspicion that it might be heading anywhere else. The ship was currently at Warp five, Tactical had already reported that the sensor bouy had 'pinged' them. It would either be logged and then disregarded as one of the many transits from the nearby Tendaris Cluster, or or it would be acted upon and passed onto manual assessment via the nearest Cardassian manned array point. Either way, they had achieved the first priority of getting noticed. Almost everyone's eyes were on the viewscreen now, the one exception being those of the Tactical Officer who studied his console with an almost obsessive attentiveness. Obviously a 'non manual' intervention would be preferential right now, but the Captain was ready for both. It all really depended now upon the level of alert status of the entire Cardassian sensor grid, the personal attentiveness of the Cardassian tasked with monitoring that part of space, and the importance placed upon a lone vessel clearly headed for it's home system as it closed upon the point of manned interception. So far, so good. Five minutes in and no communications. That though was about to change... The announcement from beyond from the Tactical Officer drew slight sigh's from those assembled. An incoming communication, source – Cardassian sentry point five, Glinn Du'Mot! (Reply Tactical, IYW) ~What is a Glinn doing at a lowly sensor post?~ “On screen”, said the Captain, and the face of the requisite Cardassian duly appeared upon it. =/\=Federation vessel, please identify yourselves and the reason for your location=/\= The Captain remained his usual calm, collected self. “This is the USS Spectre returning to Sol from a routine mission at the Tendaris Cluster, Captain T'Vhor at your service. How may I help you.... Glinn?”, said the Captain, pausing then at the word 'Glinn', as though querying the officers own identity for the record. “Glinn Du'Mot”, answered the Cardassian, “but my identity is not important. You are close to our borders Vulcan, our sensors show your course to be as stated but, one can never be certain without a proper introduction... I'm sure you would agree”, said the Glinn. The Captain nodded accordingly. “Of course, I understand”, he said, “nevertheless, we have nothing to hide” The Cardassian paused just briefly, another Cardassian arriving to whisper in his ear and then disappearing. Du'Mot then returned his attention to the Captain once again. “Captain”, he began, “it would seem that something requires my attention and I must leave you. I wish you a safe, and uninterrupted journey back home. It has been.... a pleasure”, added the Cardassian with a bow of his head. “The pleasure was mine Glinn Du'Mot. I trust that whatever it is that requires your attention, is nothing too demanding”, said the Captain, hoping now that the inquisitive Glinn had been satisfied. It would seem anyway that he had. The viewscreen then returned to it's normal starfield vista as the Spectre sped on. “Helm”, said the Captain, turning his attention now to Smith and the Tactical Officer behind him accordingly. “Maintain our current course until we move out of range of the sensor array. Tactical, ready the ship for silent running on my mark” (Reply Helm, Tactical, Any) (Posted by Alan) (USS Spectre – Bridge, CONN – Pilot Officer, 2nd Lieutenant Smith – 15:46) Jennifer was looking at the heading that the ship was pursuing. On her console she could see the boarder that split the Federation and Cardassian territory. They were heading away from a sensor bouy that would tell the Cardassians that they were a ship transiting the Tendaris Cluster. She paid half an ear on the conversation to the snotty Cardassian that the Captain had talked to. As the conn channel closed the Captain gave her a command. “Helm” “Maintain our course until we move out of range of the sensor array. Tactical, ready the ship for silent running on my mark.” “Aye Captain, maintain our course until we move out of range of the sensory array.” A small grin spread across her face as things were going to get interesting. (Reply any) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre – Bridge – OPS Officer – Ensign Robert Smith – 15:49) Robert watched as the conversation between the Cardassian and the Captain ended. ~Won’t he get a shock if he ever knew what we planning to do~ A smile ghosted across his face. ~If he found out we would probably be going to war. As this was a very deep incursion into another sovereignty’s territory~ He pushed that thought to the back of his mind as he concentrated on his console. His figures moved across the console in front of him. He waited for the command for the cloaking device to be activated. He would have to make sure that all the power systems would have to run on reduced power so that the extra energy would not bleed through for the Cardassian’s sensors to pick up. ~There. I’m ready for the command. Will need to keep an eye on everything while we are cloaked~ (Reply any) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre – Bridge – FO, Commander Hoshimi Tsukawa – 15:50) The Captain’s interchange with Glinn Du’Mot left Hoshimi pensive. On the plus side the Glinn had apparently accepted T’Vhor’s explanation; on the minus side it had left question marks in Hoshimi’s mind. She wondered what it was that had so suddenly diverted the Glinn’s attention from them and whether his excuse about something else requiring his attention had been just that, an excuse. One good thing, she reflected, was that the Cardassians didn’t have cloaking technology and so were unable to send a cloaked ship to spy on them. The Captain ordered the helm to maintain their current course until they were out of range of the sensor array that had picked them up, and then ordered tactical to ready the ship for silent running. At his words Hoshimi felt a spike of excitement; their mission was now well and truly underway. It would not be long now before they reached their destination. She wondered what awaited them there. She wasn’t too happy about being left on the ship whilst the Captain led the away team but T’Vhor had made it plain that there was no other option since Lau would respond only to him. This left Hoshimi feeling uneasy but the best thing she could do would be to have the ship and the crew ready to retrieve the away team as soon as their mission was completed. (Reply any) (Posted by Liz) (USS Spectre – Marine Holodeck - 1st Lieutenant Kenneth ‘SatNav’ Smith – 15:50) =^= First squad move forward way point gamma is 100 metres ahead. Enemy danger close=^= “Understood.” Kenneth looked at the squad that were around him and nodded to the marines close by. He then looked around the corner and saw the access hatch in front of them. The corridor was a rough tunnel carved out of the dark grey rock. “Okay let’s move.” He and his squad moved forward as they moved carefully down the corridor. As they reached the door he looked over at the squads. “O’Hara open the hatch.” (Reply O’Hara) As he watched O’Hara moved forward he looked at the other members of the squad and spoke from memory about what was lying ahead. “Okay through the door there is a wide, deep fissure, 200 meters wide and half a mile deep. There is a small ledge running along the side with a small bridge spanning the gap.” He paused for a moment before carrying on. “Okay once we are through Houseman go on over watch. The rest will swing left and cross the bridge.” He looked over at O’Hara. “How are you doing O’Hara?” (Reply O’Hara) Kenneth nodded. “Okay stack up on the door.” He moved towards the door. “Okay O’Hara open the door.” As the door opened Kenneth moved quickly through the door and turned left weapon up and ready on to a narrow ledge with little cover. He felt the string wind gabbing at his uniform making him move to counter balance so he would not go over the edge. He saw Cardassian’s moving at the other side of the fissure by the bridge. He opened his mouth to yell a warning to the squad but the sizzle of the air as a phaser fire snapped passed him. “Contact. Open fire, push towards the bridge” He knelt behind cover and open fire as the rest of the squad moved past. (Reply O’Hara, Houseman, any marines) (Reply O’Hara, Houseman, any marines, any) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre – Marine Holodeck - Marine, Lewis O'Hara – 15:51) So here they were... AGAIN. Another drill ordered by the XO, another yomp through previously 'charted' territory to find the object of their obsession. Cardassians and a shield generator! As a marine squad attached to a Special Ops vessel this was to be expected of course, but this was the fourth time that they'd ran this particular program. There was something about the way Kowalski had spoken earlier though, this was different to the usual run of the mill recon and extract type of mission. But the brass was remaining tight lipped. Lewis's concentration was broken then though by Smith's call. “O’Hara open the hatch.” Lewis rolled his eyes and then sighed out loud. ~Again~ And then he proceeded towards the doorway, a semi-circular, heavy metal affair with an ever changing rolling code that was fun to play with, but tedious after four attempts. "I'm on it", said Lewis as he knelt down in the dust beside the lock and then opened up a kit bag to withdraw, and operate his newest toy. Lewis raised an eyebrow briefly as he watched the screen come to life, then he attached a remote sensor to the door and began scrutinizing the readout as Smith updated the squad on what was beyond... AGAIN! Three minutes in and the code was not yet visible. ~Strange~ It had taken less than two minutes the last time, perhaps the program variables had been upped? “How are you doing O’Hara?” "Almost there", said Lewis as the final readout came to life and the lock clicked to signal that it had unlocked. “Okay stack up on the door.”, said Smith as he himself moved into position before giving the order to unlease the maelstrom, or in laymans terms, open the door! Smith then moved forwards through it, observing dilligently before giving the expected command... “Contact. Open fire, push towards the bridge” Lewis moved onwards with the bulk of the group and then took up position behind a nearby group of rocks. Phasor shots quickly began ringing out all around them, a few pounding into the rock in front of him and shattering chunks of it to spray dust all over his BDU. Lewis wanted to shout 'DUST!', but thought better of it and began returning fire, his own shots taken out two Cardassians perched high on a nearby ridge that seemed to be thinking they were invincible or something. Their bodies hit the ground with a heavy thud, their armour shattering on contact, and those that were left retreated backwards to more suitable cover. Clearly they did not think that THEY were invincible. The fight continued on, some of their team taking minor hits as they proceeded onwards. O'Hara's task now as demolitions man, was to proceed to the left of the ridge, work around the bridge itself and then plant charges at the shield generator, a small building guarded by two foot soldiers, or perhaps three now considering that the program variables had been tweaked again. It was a good quarter mile yomp though and with the rest of the team still battling the Cardassian's at the ridge sight, O'Hara set off with one other marine to provide him cover. Six, maybe seven minutes on the outside, then.... BOOMTIME! ~Wonder if it'll make a bigger bang than it did the last time~ (Reply Smith, Any marines IYW) (Posted by Alan) (USS Spectre – Security Intelligence Department - Security Officer, Lieutenant Jo Smith – 15:53) Jo looked at the large wall mounted screen in front of her and frowned in concentration. It showed the territories of the Cardassian Union as well as the star bases, outposts fleet positions and monitoring posts manned and unmanned from the up to date information that the Spectre had received in her mission specific upload. She zoomed in on where the Spectre was at this moment and then pulled out until she could see the border and the closest outposts. She watched as the red, yellow, blue, green, lines criss, crossed the area. Red indicating heavily patrolled routes such as the border, yellow indicated routes that were frequently patrolled, blue indicating routes that were infrequently patrolled and green which was shipping lanes. She then moved across so that she could see the Spectre’s position and her destination. She then plotted a direct line between the two. As she watched the course as it crossed one red, two yellow, a green and a blue line very close to their destination. “Well this should be interesting.” She entered a few more commands and watched as the dots indicating groups of star ships appeared on each line. ~Okay let’s have a look at all this~ She first brought up the data. [Red Route One: Task Force Gamma 587(one Galor class and two Keldon class star ships. Task Force Charlie 245( two Galor and one Keldon class starship)] “Okay we might be able to slip past both of those as they are far enough apart.” She then looked at the next route and compared it to the Spectres predicted transit time. [Yellow Route One: Task Force Foxtrot 814 (one Galor and one squadron of four] “We should be well in front of their predicted path.” She then looked at the next route and compared it to the Spectres predicted transit time. [Yellow Route Two: Task Force Indigo 901 (two squadrons of four] “We should be well behind their predicted path She then looked at the next route and compared it to the Spectres predicted transit time. [Green Route One: Convoy Papa Charlie 65 (three Cardassian freighters, one Ferengi freighter, one Federation freighter and an independent Merchantman] “Their sensors are not up to military spec. We will be able to scoot around them no problem.” She then looked at the next route and compared it to the Spectres predicted transit time. [Blue Route One: Task Force Zulu 346 ( One Galor class star ship)] “It might be tight but if nothing slows us down getting there and we don’t hang around while we are at our destination Zulu 346 should not even know that we were there.” She then pulled the image out and checked the distance to the nearest outposts and fleet dispersal areas. Which she noted was a fare distance away. ~We really are going to the back end of beyond. Which is good~ She then back tracked their path back out of Cardassian space but it looked like it would be a straight run as most of the task forces and convoys that would be a problem were too far away to cause them any difficulty. She gave a quick smile as she double checked that she had not missed anything. She then tapped in a couple of commands and checked the course again this time with the Spectre with her cloaking device activated. Once she was happy that both transit routes were safe she saved them onto the secure mainframe as per protocol. Some of her collages may thing that it was silly plotting a course without the use of the cloaking device but her grandfather a wily old marine had told her that things brake so have a backup plan. She tapped her comm badge. “Lieutenant Smith to bridge tactical .” (Reply Bridge Tactual) “I have just finished the updates entry and egress shipping data that was requested. Do you want me to send it to you or come and brief you in person?” (Reply Bridge Tactual ) (Reply Bridge Tactual ,any) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre – Main Engineering - CEO, Ensign Remae Ktell – 15:55) Remae was monitoring the Bridge as he waited for orders. He had a flash communication from the Bridge that the CO was about to order Silent Running, which meant he had to engage the phase cloaking device. He had already made the preparations. On his system board, at his control station, he was ready to shift the required amount of power from all stations except for the essentials, warp drive, basic environmental support and so on to the cloaking device. The Hick-up effect was about the hit the ship, this it what Engineering had termed the transition from normal space to phased space. Mostly, not noticed by anyone but for those with a trained ear and in the right position on the ship, passing the threshold to phased could be, a little nauseating for someone unlucky enough to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time. (Reply from Any) (Posted by Anthony Keen) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – ACMO, Ensign(jg) Zia Kirrin – 16:00) Zia was outwardly calm but inside she was bubbling with excitement. The first away mission on her new ship and she was going to be part of it! The only thing she didn’t like was having to look like a Cardassian but one couldn’t have everything and it could have been worse. They might have been going in disguise as Klingons! She hummed to herself as she checked once again that she had everything ready for the procedure that would turn herself and the rest of the away team into Cardassians. Satisfied, she sat down at her terminal and began practicing the Cardassian phrases she had been learning since she had heard she was to be part of the away team, in the meeting four days ago. “Kiba'avzayn” she said. It meant ‘Good tidings’ and was, according to the linguistic program she was using, ‘a generic greeting suitable for most situations’. The computer corrected her pronunciation and she tried again, this time getting a more positive response. “Sosot mekot-ra edikouv-ra çadav edek” (‘I welcome you to my table’ – used as a formal welcome to a person of higher rank.) She sighed to herself. Compared to the Rihannsu language she found Cardassian to be ugly. “Tho seghanare!” (Don’t shoot! – spoken to equals). ~I really hope we won’t be needing that one!~ It seemed to Zia that in most cases Cardassians seemed to take a perverse delight in using seven words where one would do. “Ka nirayut taskinat'U; hi ka kinkith'I” which in Terran would be rendered as ‘don’t bite the hand that feeds you’ became the (to Zia) far more clumsy ‘You ni-the-hand will-not-bite; it you causes-to-eat.’ She wondered what ‘ni’ was. The computer had been unhelpful, quoting a 20th century Terran reference of ‘The Knights who say Ni!’, accompanied by a vid which left Zia completely confused after she had watched it. Sighing, she continued with her practice. (Reply any – Zia would love to be interrupted!) (Posted by Liz) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – ACSciO, Ensign(jg) Ilana Grey – 16:01) As Ilana entered sick bay she heard some words bubbling from one of the attached offices. “Kiba'avzayn” “Sosot mekot-ra edikouv-ra çadav edek” “Tho seghanare!” “Ka nirayut taskinat'U; hi ka kinkith'I” Poked her head into the office, and saw Zia sitting at the computer repeating things her comm. badge and hence her universal translator abandoned on the desk. Illana looked at Zia, “Am I interrupting?” she asked looking at Xenobiologist, she had read briefly about some of the crew profiles and Zia and herself had a lot in common, the only real difference was that Zia approached Xenobiology from the physical point of view where as Ilana had approached it from the psychological and psychophysical also she was more inclined towards plants and psionic species than general alien races. Ulians, Betazoids, Vulcans, all with amazing metal abilities, and had somehow learned how to control them. (Reply Zia) “I was just popping in to get turned into a spoon-hea….” Ilana stopped herself “I mean a Cardassian,” Her father and her brothers derogatory term for the Cardassian’s was probably not appropriate on a starship. (Reply Zia) “I figured we would be using the universal translator rather than having to learn Cardassian, the language is so complicated, and the fact that every Cardassian has an eidetic memory means that even their natural language is so much more complicated than it needs to be because remembering it is easy for them. Also unlike Terran or Betazoid or most other federation languages, there is no slang, each word is pronounced exactly which is why I would prefer leaving it up to the universal translator.” (Reply Zia) “I studied a bit of linguistics as part of my Starfleet academy accreditation, I needed to make up a lot of points because I kinda flunked the physical.” She shrugged failing combat training and Zero G hadn’t really upset her she knew at five foot nothing with a very slight build she was never going to make the grade, although, she admitted to herself she had always done very well at ballet but that didn’t lend itself to the Starfleet combat training. (Reply Zia) (Posted by Jo) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – ACMO, Ensign(jg) Zia Kirrin – 16:03) “Am I interrupting?” a voice asked. Zia looked up to see the Assistant Science Chief looking at her. “Not at all,” she said truthfully, with a smile. “I am glad to be interrupted to tell you the truth. How can I help you?” she added, reasoning that Ilana probably hadn’t dropped round just to pass the time of day. “I was just popping in to get turned into a spoon-hea…. I mean a Cardassian.” Zia’s eyes twinkled. “Officially, and to their faces, we call them ‘Card'hassin-a’, which of course means ‘Cardassians’. Unofficially, and behind their backs, we call them ‘Ullho Jhimn-a’, which means, literally, ‘Hidden Serpents’. We do not trust them any more than we would trust a snake not to hide in the dark and bite us if it got the chance. It seems to me that ‘spoonheads’ is equally descriptive, the only difference being that you describe their looks and we describe how they act.” NRPG: OK I made that up. But I think there’s a nice irony to it J (reply Ilana iyw) Ilana said that she had thought they would be using the UT rather than learning Cardassian as the language was very complicated and required exact pronunciation. Zia nodded. “Yes, certainly that will be the easiest solution. But there are times that the UT is a little slow to translate, and technology does exist to detect it. So I thought it might help to have a few words and phrases to use if necessary. Having brought up in the household of a Rihannsu Ambassador, I of course speak several languages and have an understanding of a few more, but I never learned to speak Card’hassin.” She rolled her eyes. “And I hope I never have to become fluent in it! It is a very ugly language!” “I studied a bit of linguistics as part of my Starfleet academy accreditation, I needed to make up a lot of points because I kinda flunked the physical.” Ilana shrugged. “Well, Starfleet needs a wide range of skills in its personnel, and everyone can not be skilled at everything. But if you ever want to practice unarmed combat, I would be happy to help you. Now, you wish to be made to look like an Ullho Jhimn, yes? Come this way. I have all that I need laid out ready! It will take about 4 hours in total, allowing for RNA and DNA sequencing as well.” Zia led the way to a biobed, next to which she had her equipment. “It will not hurt because I will give you an anaesthetic, but you may find that your skin will be a little uncomfortable for a short while after the anaesthetic wears off. The discomfort will not last longer than half an hour, and after that you will forget that you had the surgery. Unfortunately the reverse process will take as long, but that will be a small price to pay to look like yourself again, no?” (reply Ilana) Zia looked at Ilana’s face and head from several angles, then took some scans with a specially configured tricorder. She uploaded the results onto a PADD, entered some commands and then showed Ilana an image of a Cardassian female. “This is what you will look like. I do not mean any offense but I think you will make a very attractive Card'hassin when I am finished!” (Reply Ilana, any) (Posted by Liz) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – ACSciO, Ensign(jg) Ilana Grey – 16:05) Zia’s eyes twinkled. “Officially, and to their faces, we call them ‘Card'hassin-a’, which of course means ‘Cardassians’. Unofficially, and behind their backs, we call them ‘Ullho Jhimn-a’, which means, literally, ‘Hidden Serpents’. We do not trust them any more than we would trust a snake not to hide in the dark and bite us if it got the chance. It seems to me that ‘spoonheads’ is equally descriptive, the only difference being that you describe their looks and we describe how they act.” Ilana piped up, “I’ve studied snakes and except for the puff adder they mostly will retreat from humans or any species larger than themselves they are an excellent species in terms of survival lasted a lot longer than humans. There are accounts of snake like species on all planets but I get your meaning.” She replied, she thought to herself how many creatures had lived and died out in the space that humans had lived. Ilana said that she had thought they would be using the UT rather than learning Cardassian as the language was very complicated and required exact pronunciation. Zia nodded. “Yes, certainly that will be the easiest solution. But there are times that the UT is a little slow to translate, and technology does exist to detect it. So I thought it might help to have a few words and phrases to use if necessary. Having brought up in the household of a Rihannsu Ambassador, I of course speak several languages and have an understanding of a few more, but I never learned to speak Card’hassin.” She rolled her eyes. “And I hope I never have to become fluent in it! It is a very ugly language!” “I studied a bit of linguistics as part of my Starfleet academy accreditation, I needed to make up a lot of points because I kinda flunked the physical.” Ilana shrugged. “Well, Starfleet needs a wide range of skills in its personnel, and everyone can not be skilled at everything. But if you ever want to practice unarmed combat, I would be happy to help you. Now, you wish to be made to look like an Ullho Jhimn, yes? Come this way. I have all that I need laid out ready! It will take about 4 hours in total, allowing for RNA and DNA sequencing as well.” Zia led the way to a biobed, next to which she had her equipment. “It will not hurt because I will give you an anesthetic, but you may find that your skin will be a little uncomfortable for a short while after the anaesthetic wears off. The discomfort will not last longer than half an hour, and after that you will forget that you had the surgery. Unfortunately the reverse process will take as long, but that will be a small price to pay to look like yourself again, no?” Ilana lay on the biobed feeling the uncomfortable cold fabric press against her back as she lay down, she shuddered remember the studies and examinations she had had as a child, oh god so many. Her deltan ancestry had been the study of so many scientists to test whether or not her deltan ancestry would make her have the vow of celibacy before entering starfleet. It was odd she thought to herself how none of her brothers had been effected. Her own pheromone level was to such a low degree that it wasn’t supposed to effect anyone around her, unless she was nervous or agitated. She looked up at Zia as she approached Zia looked at Ilana’s face and head from several angles, then took some scans with a specially configured tricorder. She uploaded the results onto a PADD, entered some commands and then showed Ilana an image of a Cardassian female. “This is what you will look like. I do not mean any offense but I think you will make a very attractive Card'hassin when I am finished!” Ilana looked at the picture, sure enough it was a female Cardassian, some people said their women were quite attractive unlike the men they tended not to have the over built upper body and maintained a fairly human build. She looked across at Zia, “I just hope you’ll be able to change me back when you’re done.” Ilana smiled, “If I end up stuck looking like this I’m going to be very annoyed!” Ilana laughed, “I don’t want to become the only Cardy in Starfleet” (Reply Zia) Gritting her teeth Ilana forced herself to relax as she felt the Anesthetic take effect, she knew after she had the hypo-spray it wouldn’t be just her face that felt uncomfortable her stomach would churn for about two hours, it was a mild allergic reaction to the medication, she found it amazing that despite exploring the universe, contacting thousands upon thousands of species Starfleet had yet to make a universal medication that didn’t negatively affect about two percent of the population. She was just glad it wasn’t a bad one. As the drug took effect she began to notice the lack of feeling in her face. She closed her eyes and waited. (Reply Zia, any) (Posted by Jo) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – ACMO, Ensign(jg), Zia Kirrin – 16:07) Zia had shown Ilana Grey an image of how she would look after the surgery to change her appearance to that of a Cardassian female. The ACSO had looked at the picture, then across to Zia and had remarked with a smile that she hoped Zia would be able to change her back afterwards, adding that she didn’t want to be the only Cardassian in Starfleet. Zia smiled reassuringly. “It will be as simple to change you back as it is to make the change now. It may even take slightly less time to reverse the process. You will be back to normal, do not worry!” Ilana seemed to force herself to relax as Zia administered the anaesthetic, but soon fell asleep. Zia monitored her status for a moment before uploading the details from the PADD to the terminal next to the biobed for reference as she worked. (Reply Any, IYW) (Posted by Liz) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – CMO, Noah – 16:10) Noah stepped out of his office into sickbay. He had nearly done all the away team and there were only a few left including him self. He saw Grey lying on the bio-bed with Kirrin working on her. ~Looks like Kirrin grabbed Grey before she did a runner~ As he walked over to Kirrin. “How are you doing?” He nodded his head to the sleeping form of Grey. (Reply Kirrin) “Would you like a hand?” He said stepping around the bio-bed so that he was facing her with the unconsiuse form of Grey between them. (Reply Kirrin) (Reply Kirrin, any) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – ACMO, Ensign(jg), Zia Kirrin – 16:11) “How are you doing?” Dr Noah asked Zia as he approached. “I have just started,” Zia replied. “I took the scans and generated an image, the details are on the screen there. We need to reshape here and here –“ she indicated for Noah on the terminal. “And add the facial and neck ridges. The skin tone will of course need to be greyer. She will also need a cosmetic change to her hair, it is too fine for Cardassian hair and the colour is wrong.” “Would you like a hand?” Noah asked, stepping around the bio-bed. Zia smiled at her department head. “Yes, please, I would be grateful. Although we have changed so many of the away team already, each time there are new challenges. And then once we have finished all the others, we should enlist some assistance to make the changes to you and to me. We do not want to be rushing at the last moment! ” (reply Noah, any) (Posted by Liz) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – CMO Noah – 16:14) “Yes, please, I would be grateful. Although we have changed so many of the away team already, each time there are new challenges. And then once we have finished all the others, we should enlist some assistance to make the changes to you and to me. We do not want to be rushing at the last moment!” Noah grinned. “That is true. To be honest I am not looking forward to becoming a Cardassian.” He gave a brief smile. “We could ask Dr Kirien or the EMH to do it. We also have Nurse Douwsy who has enough expertise to assist in the surgery.” (Reply Kirien) Noah picked up one of the instruments and began to work on Grey’s shoulders. “It’s not that I do not like Cardassian. It’s just that I am a Doctor not a spy. Although in saying that I am looking forward to getting out and about.” (Reply Kirrin) (Posted by Kirien, any) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – ACMO, Ensign(jg) Zia Kirrin – 16:15) Doctor Noah said he wasn’t looking forward to becoming a Cardassian, then suggested that he and Zia could ask Dr Kirien or the EMH to make the changes on the two of them, and added that Nurse Douwsy could assist. Zia nodded. “That would seem like an excellent idea,” she agreed. “We can see who is available once we have finished working on Ensign Grey, and she has woken up.” Noah picked up one of the instruments and began to work on Grey’s shoulders. “It’s not that I do not like Cardassian. It’s just that I am a Doctor not a spy. Although in saying that I am looking forward to getting out and about.” Zia smiled to herself as she carefully constructed the spoon-shaped ridge on Ilana’s forehead. “To be entirely honest with you, Doctor, I do not like Cardassians. But I think it will be interesting to have to be one if only for a few hours. As a famous Rihannsu once said Jihmn docgae, jihmn ihir which is to say to know your enemy, be your enemy.” She didn’t think it necessary to add that the Rihannsu who had said that had been high up in the Tal Shiar. “And I too am looking forward to my first away mission. It will be very interesting. But tell me, is it usual in Starfleet for the Captain to lead an away mission and for the First Officer to remain on the ship? It is not usual in the ships of the RSE.” (Reply Noah, any) (Posted by Liz) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – CMO Noah – 16:20) “And I too am looking forward to my first away mission. It will be very interesting. But tell me, is it usual in Starfleet for the Captain to lead an away mission and for the First Officer to remain on the ship? It is not usual in the ships of the RSE.” Noah thought for a moment. “Well speaking from my experience of the merchant fleet it’s not usual and from what I have read of Starfleet regulations are that it’s the first officer that should go on away missions.” He shrugged. “I guess it’s the captain’s prerogative as he is the one in charge of the ship. As we are quoting people the wise words of master Oogway says that ‘yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift which is why it is called present.’ So I guess he can’t get on away mission a lot and must take the chances when he can.” He gave a small smile and shrugged again. “Hay what do I know I’m just a merchantman.” (reply Kirrin) (reply Kirrin, any) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – ACMO, Ensign(jg) Zia Kirrin – 16:25) Zia had asked Noah whether it was usual in Starfleet for a Captain to lead an away mission whilst the First Officer remained on board. It had puzzled her as this was not the norm in the ships of the RSE. Noah had replied that it wasn’t usual in the merchant fleet and that what he’d read of Starfleet regulations it wasn’t usual in Starfleet either. He added that he supposed it was the Captain’s prerogative as he was in charge of the ship. This Zia understood, and she nodded. “You are right,” she said. “It is not my place to question the commanding officer. I only wondered if it was common.” She paused in her task and smiled at Noah. “There are so many differences between the Federation and the Rihannsu Star Empire, I am learning more every day.” (Reply Any) (Posted by Liz) (USS Spectre – Sickbay TAC/ASC - Ensign Hank Stevens - 16:30) Hank entered Sick Bay a bit apprehensive. He'd never experienced an alteration procedure before. Hank stood quietly for a few moments before he called out "Hello?". (Reply: any present) I'm Hank Stevens here for my make over" Hank said with a smile. (Reply : Medical) (Posted by: Bill West) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – ACMO, Ensign(jg) Zia Kirrin – 16:31) A few minutes later, a nurse came in and announced that Ensign Stevens had arrived for his alteration to Cardassian for the away mission. Zia looked up at Noah. “Perhaps Doctor Keswick is available?” she suggested. (Reply Noah, Keswick? Any) (Posted by Liz) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - ACMO, Ensign (jg) Keswick Vren - 16:33) Vren had walked back into Sickbay just after her break in time to hear her name being mentioned. Realising that the CMO and the other ACMO had been discussing her, Vren, rather than slink away, walked boldly up to them and stopping in front of them, smiled at both of them. "Sirs. I could not help but hear my name mentioned. Were you perhaps looking for me? Is there anything I can help you both with?" (Reply Kirrin, Noah) (Posted by Marilyn) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - ACMO, Ensign (jg) Zia Kirrin - 16:34) "Sirs. I could not help but hear my name mentioned. Were you perhaps looking for me? Is there anything I can help you both with?" Doctor Keswick asked. Zia smiled at her colleague. Keswick Vren had only been aboard since just before they had departed the starbase but Zia liked what she had seen of the other woman so far. “Indeed there is, Doctor. As you can see we have begun altering Ensign Grey for the away mission. Of course this is a lengthy procedure as you’re aware; it will take up to four hours allowing for RNA and DNA resequencing to match Cardassian physiology, in addition to the more cosmetic changes, since it will need to stand up to close scrutiny for some time. The nurse has just told us that Ensign Stevens has just arrived here asking for his change to Cardassian – would you be able to undertake that with the help of some of the other medical staff?” (Reply Keswick, Noah iyw, any) (Posted by Liz) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - ACMO, Ensign (jg) Keswick Vren - 16:36) “Indeed there is, Doctor. As you can see we have begun altering Ensign Grey for the away mission. Of course this is a lengthy procedure as you’re aware; it will take up to four hours allowing for RNA and DNA resequencing to match Cardassian physiology, in addition to the more cosmetic changes, since it will need to stand up to close scrutiny for some time. The nurse has just told us that Ensign Stevens has just arrived here asking for his change to Cardassian – would you be able to undertake that with the help of some of the other medical staff?” Vren rocked back on her heels at the request, This was something that she had never thought to be asked and certainly not as her first stint as ACMO. Rocking back on her heels she took a huge breath and took a step back whilst she calmed herself down. ~You can do this Vren.~ she told herself. ~But all the while her mind screamed Cardassian. He is the enemy.~ Finally taking a deep breath she turned back to Kirrin. "Whilst I will follow any order that you give me. I would suggest that this last order is something that I as as Bajoran am not comfortable with. I will do my best to follow your orders but I have to say that I am not comfortable with it." (reply Kirrin) (posted by Marilyn) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - ACMO, Ensign(jg) Zia Kirrin - 16:37) There was a longish pause after Zia asked Doctor Keswick to perform Ensign Stevens’ alteration to his appearance. Finally the other ACMO took a deep breath and turned to Zia and stated that whilst she would follow any order Zia gave her, she was not comfortable as a Bajoran with this particular one, although she would follow it. Zia tilted her head to one side and regarded the other woman for a moment, then nodded. “Even if I could, I would not order you to do something you felt uncomfortable with,” she said. “It was a request, but I should have realised that you would not feel comfortable turning your crewmates into pseudo-Cardassians. You are right to tell me that this is incompatible with your mnhei'sahe and I apologise sincerely for suggesting such a thing to you. Perhaps Doctor Noah could deal with Ensign Stevens?” she added, looking at Noah. (Reply Keswick, Noah, any) (Posted by Liz) (USS Spectre - Sickbay - ACMO, Ensign(jg) Keswick Vren - 16:40) If ACMO Kirrin's first request had rocked Vren back on her heels, her next comment was almost the sucker punch. Vren had expected to be told to be quiet and get on with her orders forthwith. She had expected to be told that such a junior doctor as she was most certainly didn't even get to dream of telling her superior officers what she would, or would not do. She most certainly expected a dressing down at the least with possibly it being passed up the chain of Command and even a note of censure being added to her permanent record for refusing to obey an order from a superior officer. What she did not expect was the reaction she got. That left Vren standing in the middle of Sickbay with her mouth opening and shutting with no sound coming out. For some strange reason a picture of an Earth goldfish popped into her head at that moment and it took all of Vren's force of spirit to stop herself from simply giggling at the image. Vren blinked a couple of times and finally got control of herself. "Thank you Dr Kirrin. I do appreciate your understanding in this matter. I understand that this procedure must be important to our mission and I am willing to participate in it, however being the lead doctor with regard to this is something that I am not comfortable with. Perhaps I could assist without being the lead and help in an auxiliary role. Perhaps I could help during the operation without being responsible for the actual physical changes or perhaps I could deal with the aftercare..." Vren tailed off realizing that she was probably just digging a deeper hole for herself. (Reply Kirrin) (Posted by Marilyn) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – ACSciO, Ensign(jg), Ilana Grey – 16:47) Her mind swam as the anesthetic took over Ilana began to feel as if she was floating in water her body numb her mind disconnected. Often subjects under sedatives would claim they could see themselves on the operating table. Ilana seemed, on the other hand to be drifting away floating in a blue green sky. It took Ilana several moments to realise she was floating through the nebula they were heading towards, she glanced around and saw serpents floating in and out of the blue green mass swirling around her she floated forward barely in control of her motion caught in the tides of the nebula. As she drifted the serpents seemed to get close and closer. While in the numbness of the dream she still felt a shiver of fear whenever one of the grey skinned drakes grew close. As she looked around she could see she was surrounded by a ghostly shell. She through she could see others within the ghostly shell as it drifted into the nebula. There must have been hundreds of others within the ghostly shell. She glanced around her vision blurring each time she moved her head then sharply focusing. A serpent drifted in front of the specters shell, several of the others noticed it but didn’t seem as frightened of the large grey scaled beasts. Slowly the greenish blue haze and mists parted to show a darkened orb of a planet, the surface of the planet writhed covered in serpents the snakes around her began to close in, then she was no longer floating gently but hurtling with great speed towards the orb of writhing snakes. She felt rather than heard herself screaming as she approached the orb the serpents parted and she landed heavily on a rock surface looking up frightened she could see the ghostly shell she had been floating in disappear along with hundreds of the others. The serpents closed over blackening out the sky. Alone in the dark she looked around her, but she was not alone, now seven other serpents looked at her but not aggressively they seemed to be as concerned as she was, she looked down at herself and was horrified to discover that she herself was a serpent wriggling and writhing just the same as the others her skin was a grey armored scaly mesh, her tongue was forked and even as she couldn’t speak in the dream she felt it was speaking strangely. She tried to run but found as serpent she couldn’t move. ~Don’t panic~ Said one of the other serpents who seemed to have the aura of an eagle, a hawk or perhaps an owl she couldn’t be sure. Just as the voice her head spoke one of the large serpents above them opened its’ maw and descended, still floating in the dreamlike state Ilana was unable to move as the beast descended on the smaller serpents and herself. She could feel the warmth of its’ acrid breath, the dripping of venomous words pouring over her and they were consumed. Ilana woke out of the anesthetic hearing a woman screaming, it took her several seconds to realise the screaming was coming from herself, she clamped a hand over her mouth to stop the shrill cry of terror trying desperately to clam her frantically beating heart. Her eyes wide with fear she looked around desperately for anyone! Then she leant over the side of the bio-bed and vomited. Gasping as the last of the technicolor yawn splattered across the sickbay floor. She braced against the side of the bed feeling her stomach spinning. She swore loudly. Through teary eyes looked around to see if anyone had noticed. (Reply, Any in Medical) (Posted by Jo) (USS Spectre – Ten Forwards – Marines Lewis O'Hara and Paul Richards – 19:42) “So anyway, there I was sipping Antarian brandy on Risa, when this apparently 'feline' woman entered naked, and with fourteen....” His comrade slapped his shoulder suddenly, and hard, halting him mid sentence as the steely gaze of a newly arrived barkeep fixed upon them now as they entered for refreshments. “Dumbass”, said Richards speaking in a low voice as he turned to O'Hara, “don't you ever learn. One set of rules in the mess, another in the Fleeter sections of the ship”, he added. “Especially when there are women present”, he added, motioning then to the curious barkeep. O'Hara stopped mid-stride as his gaze fell upon the new barkeep. An Oriental Human that looked like she could charm a Targ into submission. ~Man, what a babe~ For a moment he was simply stunned, stopped in his tracks by the vision of loveliness before him, all thoughts of the many breasted feline woman having now left his thoughts in an instant, the insistent tug of his colleague breaking him then from his reverie and then leading him forwards once again towards the bar... and the waiting barkeep. “A Romulan Ale for me, and an Antarian Brandy for my obnoxious friend here”, said Richards with a smile. (Reply Hikaru) Richards smiled at his joke about the Ale. “I know that”, he said, “I mean, if I knew that you actually 'kept' Romulan Ale on board, a beverage banned by the Federation no less, then I would have to shoot you and report you to the Captain”, said Richards, wondering then if the barkeep actually believed he was being honest... which he actually was. (Reply Hikaru) (Reply Hikaru, Any) (Posted by Alan) (USS Spectre – Ten Forward – Bartender Mei Ling Hikaru and Tommy Tucker – 19:43) Two marines entered, one apparently engaged in regaling his comrade with what Mei Ling’s uncle would undoubtedly have characterised as a rather warm tale. To Mei Ling’s amusement, he stopped talking abruptly as his fellow marine thumped his shoulder and muttered something to him. They both stared at her, which Mei Ling put down to curiosity about a new face. She smiled a welcome as they resumed their walk to the bar. “What can I get you, gentlemen?” she asked. “A Romulan Ale for me, and an Antarian Brandy for my obnoxious friend here,” the second marine said with a smile. Mei Ling suppressed a grin. There was always someone who thought they could catch out the new barkeep by asking for Romulan Ale. She put on a serious expression. “Antarian Brandy I can provide, but Romulan Ale I can’t serve you with,” she said. “It would contravene several regulations and besides which I’m pretty certain that Major Kowalski would have both your hide and mine to decorate his quarters if I were to serve you with a forbidden beverage.” Richards smiled. “I know that”, he said, “I mean, if I knew that you actually 'kept' Romulan Ale on board, a beverage banned by the Federation no less, then I would have to shoot you and report you to the Captain.” Mei Ling’s eyes twinkled. “In which order?” she asked. “Although it would probably save a lot of trouble if I just didn’t tell you if I had Romulan Ale on board, don’t you think?” She grinned, to show she was joking too, and then asked, “But Romulan Ale being off the menu so to speak, what can I get you? Antarian Brandy like your friend?” She flashed a smile at the other marine, then turned back to the jester. “Or I can recommend this, if you want to try something new.” She placed a tall, slender bottle on the bar, which was filled with a black liquid. “It’s called V’L’Xian. I was given a few bottles by an old friend on Geneva a few months ago. He said if it goes well he can provide me with more, so I’m trying it out. It comes from the P’Raxian system.” She poured some into a glass and tilted it slightly, swirling the contents gently. The liquid moved easily, like a good wine, then as Mei Ling straightened the glass it seemed to fill with sparkles, as if someone had tipped in a handful of glitter. “Unusual, isn’t it?” she said. “What do you say? Want to be a guinea pig for me?” she asked with a charming smile. (Reply Richards and O’Hara) Tommy had been sitting on a chair at a small table, eating peanuts from a bowl that Mei Ling had allowed him to have and watching the newcomers. He shovelled the last handful of peanuts into his mouth, and then had second thoughts. Mei Ling had told him very strictly that he was to behave nicely and be polite to the patrons, so he removed the peanuts from his mouth and returned them to the bowl. After a moment’s thought he picked out the three biggest ones and stuffed them back in his mouth, then slid off his chair and ambled over to the bar. He put the bowl carefully on a stool and climbed up onto the next stool, then retrieved his bowl and held it out to the marines. “Peanut?” he offered. (Reply O’Hara and Richards, Any) (Posted by Liz) (USS Spectre - Ten Forwards - Marines, Lewis O'Hara and Paul Richards - 19:45) "In which order?", asked the bartender in response to Richards' curious rebuke. "Although it would probably save a lot of trouble if I just didn’t tell you if I had Romulan Ale on board, don’t you think?", she added with a smile. Richards quirked his head as she followed on with a remark about Romulan Ale being 'off the menu', and then suggested an Altarian brandy whilst he himself answered her previous request. "Well, when I say 'shoot' you, I mean incapacitate you of course. I'd want you to be alive to answer to the Captain for your alcoholically biased misdemeanors" (Reply Hikaru, IYW) Lewis shook his head at his friends somewhat idiotic behaviour and then watched, mesmerized as the bartender suggested a second alternative and then upended a newly retrived bottle to pour a jet black liquid into a glass, the liquid seemingly moving and then sparkling as it settled. His eyes widening, he allowed himself a half smile and then looked up into the woman's face bewildered as she in turn, eyed their reactions. "Unusual, isn’t it? What do you say? Want to be a guinea pig for me?", she asked. O'Hara was no wimp of course, but... Guinea pig? That didn't sound too promising, not even to a battle hardened grunt like him. "You mean you've never drunk this stuff?", he asked incredulously, "what if it does something strange? You said some guy had 'given' it to you, have you even had it examined?" (Reply Hikaru) Richards laughed out loud and nudged O'Hara in the ribs. "Come on man, live a little. What's the worst it can do?", he said. Lewis raised his eyebrows, lowered his head and then raised his hands in a kind of 'Duh' way. "Dude!", he exclaimed, "it could, like... kill me!", he added, emphasising the last two words as though the notion was a tad more than just a little obvious. "Are you serious?", exclaimed Richards, "you really think our friend here is going to give you anything that might hurt you?" O'Hara simply exhaled heavily, his mind mulling that possibility. By now though, the bartender had turned her gaze to another patron that had initially not caught either of the Marines attention. Well, if you could call this, whatever it was, a patron that is! Both Marines just sat there dumbstruck as the 'Imp', for that is what it appeared to be, ambled over to the bar like some weird Monkey and then climbed up agily onto one of the seats next to them! "What the...", uttered Richards, and O'Hara nudged him in the side accordingly in order to cut him off mid sentence. "Now now", said Lewis with a wink, "one rule for the mess, another for the fleeter sections of the ship", he added wryly. None of them though quite expected what would happen next, for the Imp picked up the bowl it had brought with it, and then it handed it to Richards. "Peanut?", it asked witha slight curl of it's lip. Both Richards and O'Hara were aghast. Neither of them had expected this thing to talk, and yet here it was, politely offering them peanuts! "Man!", said O'Hara, "is this thing for real? Are you working him?", he added directing his query now to the barkeep as she eyed the Imp somewhat curiously. "Where's the remote control, how are you doing that?", added Lewis, leaning over the bar now to check both her hands for hidden transmitters. (Reply Hikaru, Tommy IYW) (Posted by Alan) (USS Spectre - Ten Forwards – Bartender, Mei Ling Hikaru - 19:46) The marine appeared to consider Mei Ling’s question, and answered that when he said ‘shoot’ he meant incapacitate, so that the bartender could answer to the Captain. Mei Ling grinned. “I see. .. yes that would make more sense. Although a person who was foolish enough to bring it on board and then offer it to a marine in front of everyone else would perhaps deserve everything they had coming to them. It’s probably a good thing I’m not so foolish then,” she laughed. She went on to offer a taste of a new drink she had obtained from a trader on Geneva, an old friend of hers from years back, asking if her two customers wanted to be guinea pigs. O’Hara seemed to be taken aback by the suggestion, wondering if Mei Ling had actually tried it herself or had it examined. For a moment Mei Ling wondered whether to reassure O’Hara that she certainly had sampled the drink before accepting it, and merely wanted to find out if it was something that would be popular enough to justify ordering in bulk, but then decided to have a little fun. “Oh, I don’t drink unknown substances,” she said with a dead-pan expression. “But I suppose I could ask Ensign Linskens to run some tests on it, to put your mind at rest?” This made Richards but O’Hara still seemed to be concerned enough for Mei Ling to reassure him. As she was about to do so, however, a movement on the other side of the bar caught her eye and she watched Tommy Tucker climb onto a stool next to the marines. He picked up his bowl of peanuts and offered it to Richards and O’Hara. Both marines seemed taken aback, a common reaction to Tommy addressing someone directly for the first time, and O’Hara seemed convinced that Tommy was some kind of robot that Mei Ling was operating! Tommy gave them both a hard stare, his eyes extending on their stalks, and Mei Ling chuckled. “Gentlemen, meet Tommy Tucker. Tommy is a psammead who comes from a planet in the Gamma Quadrant somewhere, ” she added in explanation. “He was rescued by an uncle of mine who worked on a trader vessel, and when my uncle died, he left Tommy in my care. Tommy, these are two marines stationed on the Spectre. Like Colonel Straton,” she added in explanation, alluding to the former MCO of the Boudicca. Tommy cringed slightly, regarding the marines with caution. Eva had been scary! He bared his teeth in an ingratiating smile and took a peanut himself. “Nice!” he said, popping it into his mouth and sliding the bowl closer to the marines. “I’m Tommy,” he said, speaking as he ate and sprinkling fragments of peanut as he did so. “You nice too?” Mei Ling, familiar with Tommy’s habits, pulled the bowl to her side of the bar and brought up a fresh one. “He knows they’re nice because he’s sampled them,” she said in explanation. “But he is trying to be friendly, aren’t you Tommy?” Tommy nodded and took a handful out of the new bowl and stuffed them in his mouth. He was about to speak, but caught Mei Ling’s eye and the shake of her head, and kept his mouth shut. He swallowed, then said, “Very friendly.” He smiled again, and eyed the glass of black, sparkling liquid. “Pretty!” Mei Ling poured three more glasses of the V’L’Xian, sliding one towards Tommy and the other two towards the marines. The last one she picked up herself. “What do you say, gentlemen? It’s not alchoholic, it won’t hurt you, I have the word of Darm on that. I only want to know if you like it or not.” (Reply Richards, O’Hara, any others present, any) (Posted by Liz) (USS Spectre - Ten Forwards – Marines, Lewis O'Hara and Paul Richards - 19:48) ~So he's a psammead... called Tommy?~, thought O'Hara, still none the wiser as to what he was really interacting with now. The barkeep did her best of course with the explanation as to how he had come to be in her company, but the Marine had hazzarded a guess that there was probably more to this little chap than met the eye. The Psammead's reaction to the announcement that he was now offering peanuts to two marines though, seemed to suggest that he didn't get on too well with their kind. That reaction though was short lived and 'Tommy', quickly resumed eating his nuts, apparently deciding that these particular Marines were OK. “Nice!....I’m Tommy,” he said, spitting bits of peanut all over the bar as he chewed on the snack. “You nice too?”, he asked. "When people are nice to us, yes", said Richards, just as the bartender cautiously removed the bowl of nuts from his grasp and then replaced it with a fresh one. "He knows they’re nice because he’s sampled them,” she said. “But he is trying to be friendly, aren’t you Tommy?”, she added, as though prompting him now to make sure that he certainly was making an effort! The Psammead nodded accordingly and then filled his mouth with another handful of nuts from the bowl and then making as though to speak, much to the barkeeps consternation. Tommy stopped mid-chew, and then swallowed before actually answering. “Very friendly.” he said, gazing now at the sparkling drink on the bar. “Pretty!” Surprisingly, the Oriental woman then poured the Psammead a drink for himself, and then one for her so as to complete the party. “What do you say, gentlemen? It’s not alchoholic, it won’t hurt you, I have the word of Darm on that. I only want to know if you like it or not.” O'Hara picked up his glass and then studied the mesmerizing fluid within. "What did you say this was called?", he asked. (Reply Hikaru) "It looks like a starfield", said Richards as he too, scrutinized the drink and then took a cautionary sniff of it. Tommy though needed no encouragement and grasped the glass firmly in his furry little hands and then downed the drink in one before placing it back onto the bar. Empty. Then he belched.... loudly! "I take it that's a yes from Tommy then?", said O'Hara with a chuckle, as he too tentatively began to sample the sparkling fluid. The taste was slightly tangy with a fruity overtone that resembled Peach, not at all what he had expected from something that looked a little like Carborundum, that was for sure! "Hmm, not bad at all", he said, just as the taste suddenly changed to something a little more salty. Instinctively, O'Hara shot a glance to the Psammead, wondering then if he'd perhaps lobbed a peanut or two into it beforehand. Tommy just stared back at him with a vacant look upon his face, then he grabbed another handful of peanuts and started eating them one by one. "He sure does like peanuts doesn't he?", asked Richards, noticing that the small bundle of fluff had tucked in once again. (Reply Hikaru, Tommy, Any) (Posted by Alan) (USS Spectre – Corridor, Forward Launchers – TAC/SC, Kerge and Security Officer, Ernest Powell – 20:28) “Sir, nothing to report on the forwards gantries. Everything is coming back green”, said the security officer, a pleasant smile etched now upon his fresh-faced features as Kerge scowled back in apparent disgust. Powell had been a newly assigned recruit to the ship just before they had left spacedock, his parents having seen him off with pride at their son's assignment to what he had assured them was, 'The Finest Ship of the Fleet'. Indeed, his mother had cried as she had hugged him, a small package having been handed to him immediately afterwards that contained his favourite blueberry muffins. Powell had sighed heavily and cast a glance to his father nearby, a knowing smile upon his rugged 'lived in' face as he urged his son to just nod, dutifully. “Thank you mother”, he had said upon finally breaking their embrace, “I shall enjoy them as we leave spacedock and think of you” Mrs Powell had simply retreated then, her husband wrapping a strong arm around her shoulders as she smiled proudly. “Take care son”, Mr Powell had said. And his mother had then added. “Write soon”, immediately afterwards. And then they had parted... Right now though, Powell was not staring into the loving countenance of his mother, far from it in fact, for he was now staring into the battle hardened eyes and brow ridges of Kerge, his new 'Mother and Father' rolled into one formidable frame! “What was that?”, Kerge asked. The Security officer had simply frozen, his thoughts anywhere now but on the matter of the seemingly 'all important' anomalous readings. “Sir, I said, everything is green. Nothing to report”, repeated Powell, recounting his earlier report. “Not good enough”, said Kerge, “do it again, and this time, find the damned Rabbit” Powell shifted uneasily and then drew a deep breath in. “Sir, the Rabbit is not here. The signals are still present but....”, he began as the Klingon cut him off in an instance. “Rabbit pie Ensign”, he snapped, “I want it on my desk before twenty two hundred hours or you'll be answering to the Captain. Find the Rabbit, bring it to me!”, he stormed, and then he turned about marching off down the corridor, the fire in his Klingon blood raging like an uncontrolled storm. “I will not be beaten by a damned hairball!”, he hollered upon his stomping retreat. “bring it to me and bring it to me soon” Powell then exhaled heavily, feeling now as though he had held the previous inhalation forever as he tugged at his tunic, the sudden urge to change departments now at the forefront of his mind. ~I didn't come aboard this ship or enter Starfleet to hunt Rabbits..... SIR!~ And then he turned about, ducked and re-entered the forwards launcher compartments with a heavy heart. (Reply Any) (Posted by Alan) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – Chief Nurse, CPO Douswy – 20:33) Douwsy’s head spun round as the scream shattered the tranquility of sickbay. ~Ow no~ Even before the echoes had died away she was out of her chair at the nurses’ station and dashed towards the recovery area where the blood curdling scream had come from recovery. She entered recovery and saw that one of the patients was leaning over the bio-bed. ~Ow no there is a bowl in the trolly by the bed~ The sound of retching followed by a wet splash on the floor. “Too late.” She muttered. She saw doctor Kirrin come in behind her. “Can you get someone to clean up the mess, please?” She gave smile and nodded. “Not a problem. Let me just grab a few things and I’ll be right back.” She watched as Kirrin pulled out a tricordor and began to scan the patient. ~Don’t worry about her she’s still breathing but look at the state of my floor. Ow well no rest for the ever weary~ She smothered a chuckle as she diverted to the sluice to get some cleaning and a new gown. As she entered the sluice she saw the late shift orderly. “Robbie, Ilana’s just vomited all over the floor I need a hand clearing it up.” She watched as a Robbie a pained expression came across his face and he shook his head. “Marvelous, is she okay? Sure Sister not a problem but you know this is really not in my job description.” She smiled back. “ Ow do not worry about that give me five minutes and a quick word with Dr Noah and I am sure can change that.” They grabbed what they needed and headed back out as she heard him mutter. “Angels of mercy my back side.” She grinned. “Could be worse?” “Don’t get me started.” He muttered under his breath as they arrived. “I will see that you get clean clothes, Ilana. I am sorry, sometimes anaesthesia takes people like this although it is not a common reaction. I will take a blood sample and we will ensure that when you have the surgery to restore your good looks, after the away mission is completed, we use a more suitable anaesthetic for you. I will also ensure you have something to prevent the reaction happening again. It must be very unpleasant for you.” Douwsy helped Kirrin cleaning up Ilana while Robbie got on his hands and knees and scrubbed the floor. ~Aw so it was your fault well next time please make sure that it’s not so…. Explosive~ (reply Ilana) “I will make a note in your file,” Douwsy finished and bundled all the dirty linin and gown into a laundry basket to be taken to the recycler. She looked at Ilana. “There you go. That should make you feel better now.” She then turned to Kirrin. “Call us if you need us.” She then ushered Robbie out and into the main part of sickbay to give Kirrin and Grey some privacy (Reply Grey, Kirrin any) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – ACSO, Ensign (Jg) Ilana Grey – 20:34) “I will see that you get clean clothes, Ilana. I am sorry, sometimes anaesthesia takes people like this although it is not a common reaction. I will take a blood sample and we will ensure that when you have the surgery to restore your good looks, after the away mission is completed, we use a more suitable anaesthetic for you. I will also ensure you have something to prevent the reaction happening again. It must be very unpleasant for you.” Douwsy helped Kirrin cleaning up Ilana while Robbie got on his hands and knees and scrubbed the floor. “Thankyou Nurse” Ilana smiled weakly as everyone began to clean up around her she felt a touch of shame as they scurried around to clean up around her, She looked over at the doctor at the mention of other Anesthetics, “A doctor at home once tried an natural hypnotic called Dormicom that worked however the addictive side effects are not worth the hassle, It should pass in an hour or so I’ll grin and bear it.” She looked at the mess on the floor, “I’ve never reacted this strongly beforehand though.” She said “I’m so sorry Nurse Douwsy” She apologised again “I will make a note in your file,” Douwsy finished and bundled all the dirty linin and gown into a laundry basket to be taken to the recycler. She looked at Ilana. “There you go. That should make you feel better now.” She then turned to Kirrin. “Call us if you need us.” She then ushered Robbie out and into the main part of sickbay to give Kirrin and Grey some privacy “Thankyou,” Ilana called after the nurse as she rapidly retreated away (Reply, Kirrin, Any) (Posted by Jo) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – ACSciO Ensign(jg), Ilana Grey – 20:35) By now there was an orderly cleaning the floor and the nurse had brought a bowl and some cloths. Gently Zia washed Ilana’s face. “I will see that you get clean clothes, Ilana. I am sorry, sometimes anaesthesia takes people like this although it is not a common reaction. I will take a blood sample and we will ensure that when you have the surgery to restore your good looks, after the away mission is completed, we use a more suitable anaesthetic for you. I will also ensure you have something to prevent the reaction happening again. It must be very unpleasant for you.” Ilana managed a weak smile looking up at Zia, as she dabbed her face clean she reached up and took the cloth from Zia’s hand and began to wash her own face, “I’ve always had a reaction to Anesthetic, admittedly this was a lot stronger than usual.” She said through the taste of bile burning in the back of her throat. “It’ll pass in a couple of hours it usually does, it’s something to do with the pheromones of my Deltan ancestry apparently estrogen, delthagen and anesthetic don’t sit well, don’t worry it’s nothing fatal just makes me feel like crap” Ilana pushed herself up noticing her grey hands she reached up and began to feel her face. Keeping herself calm she explored the new contours of her face repressing a shudder of horror. Not a particularly vain person it wasn’t the alteration of her looks that upset her but rather the face that she now felt that she was one of the serpents and could almost feel the change not only affect her outward appearance but fear that her inner self might change. She whispered almost under her breath ‘beware those who stair into the abyss less the abyss stares back at you’ she muttered to herself. Zia nodded sympathetically. “I will make a note in your file,” she promised. Once the nurse and the orderly had finished the clean-up and left them alone, Zia perched on the side of the biobed. “Now tell me,” she said in a friendly tone, “What made you scream when you woke up? There does not seem to be any sign of anything that would cause you to feel pain, but please tell me if that was the case as we would need to do further investigations.” Ilana coughed up a sarcastic laugh, “It wasn’t the pain don’t worry, I didn’t feel a thing while I was under.” That was the truth, at least she felt nothing physical, “It’s hard to explain.” Ilana looked up at Zia, “The best way to explain it would be that I had a dream, that was less than pleasant, it was like I was living through the upcoming mission.” Ilana sighed, “It’s probably just nervous that made me have such a strong reaction.” She pushed herself to her feet feeling the surgery gown fall around her. She turned to look at one of the medical bays mirrors. Looking herself up and down, gone was her vibrant red wild hair, replaced with black straight locks, her eyes no longer green but the dark brown of Cardassians, however the most dramatic change was her face and neck. No longer did she have her slender pale skinned neck, now it was ridged with a grey side spine and a purplish hue. Her eyes were more sunken in hidden by two ridges traveling the side of her face framing her eyes. Her for head seemed more pronounced with the spoon like ridge rising from her nose. She looked at the stranger in the mirror and couldn’t help but show a brief expression of disgust. She managed to hide it from Zia and turned back to the doctor. “Excellent work doctor,” She gave a weak smile, “I look good enough to fool most Cardy I think.” She looked back at the mirror and had a brief image of herself as a serpent surrounded by the larger stronger serpents. Ilana blinked rapidly to shake the image. (reply Zia) Ilana sat back down on the bio bed with a touch of relief, while she had expelled most of the nausea and most of what she had eaten in the last day she still felt rough, she knew it would take a few hours before she would be up on her feet, as Zia approached with the anti-nausia medication Ilana waved it way. “Thanks but no thanks, dunno how it might react already got a cocktail of chems in my system would rather get through this o’natural.” She smiled at the woman, “Now I take it we aren’t going to be wearing our Starfleet uniforms on the planet what oh’ so fashionable garments have Starfleet intelligence knocked up for this trip?” (Reply Zia) (Posted by Jo) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – ACMO, Ensign(jg) Zia Kirrin – 20:37) Ilana explained that she hadn’t been in pain, but she’d had a dream, and that possibly her nervousness about the upcoming mission had made her have such a strong reaction. She stood up and regarded herself in one of the mirrors. Zia watched with interest, curious to see Ilana’s reaction to her new reflection. Unfortunately for Zia, the angle at which Ilana was standing prevented her from seeing the ACSO’s expression as she saw her new self for the first time. Ilana turned back to Zia and complimented her on the job done, saying she looked good enough to fool most Cardassians. Despite the smile on Ilana’s face, Zia sensed some discomfort. “It is not permanent, Ilana,” she said gently. “And it is bound to take you a little while to get used to how you look. I would recommend that you do not avoid your reflection even if it makes you feel uncomfortable at first. Once we are off the ship and involved in our mission, it is vital that we do not feel as if we are not really who we appear to be. Any doubts – even a momentary double-take as you catch sight of your reflection in a console - may be picked up through body language and lead to discovery. So take the time to feel comfortable in your new ‘skin’.” She smiled wryly. “I can assure you that I am not looking forward to becoming a Cardassian either. But it is necessary for our mission. It will be interesting, I think, to see things from another point of view, do you not agree?” (Reply Ilana, any) (Posted by Liz) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – ACSciO, Ensign(jg) Ilana Grey – 20:40) She smiled wryly. “I can assure you that I am not looking forward to becoming a Cardassian either. But it is necessary for our mission. It will be interesting, I think, to see things from another point of view, do you not agree?” “Become a serpent to enter the den of serpents.” Ilana mumbled, she turned and looked at Zia, “I’m sure it will,” She managed a fake smile, “Any idea on our eta?” She asked, Ilana had to admit to herself her apprehension regarding the upcoming mission, her dream had just reinforced that apprehension, what if she was taken prisoner, Cardassian’s were renowned for their ability to break prisoners the Obsidian order were harsher than the Tal’shia she doubted that she would be able to stand up to any form of interrogation, at Zia’s suggestion she looked at the mirror again seeing herself but not quite herself she winced. (reply Zia) “I’ll adapt to it.” She said mostly to herself, “Thank you again doctor.” She gave a nod and walked towards the exit, remembering the captains orders regarding the secrecy of this mission she turned back and started to rub the bridge of her nose finding the spoon-like ridge there she recoiled her hand. “This sucks!” She cursed to herself, “I can’t go to my quarters, I can’t rip these changes off, and I can’t do anything until we get on the mission!” She stomped to the bio bed and dumped herself on it. Snatching up a medical padd she began to furiously leaf through the information. After thumbing through the data decidedly board she tapped her comm. badge, “Ilana to transporter room.” =/\= Transporter room here =/\= “I need a site to site transport to a vacant holodeck, and book me in for an hour of tactical training.” She snapped =/\= Please hold. =/\= Came the reply “See you soon doctor.” Ilana smiled Ilana felt the energy coursing through her body as her molecules were scattered and re-assembled in the holo-deck. The Familiar black and yellow lined room appeared around her. She looked around gritting her teeth with frustration. “Computer, please make a type B phaser rifle with adjustable stock fully charged calibrated for pulse charge.” The large old bulky two pronged phaser rifle materialized in-front of her. “Computer I need a target rich tactical training program, load one of security officer Kerge’s programs.” Around her the holodeck warped and became a barren red landscape, in her mind she viewed the soil around her noting that it appeared like muram, most commonly found in east Africa on earth. She looked up just as two skull headed beasts appeared she brought the phaser to bare, unleashing a volley of phased particals into the two oncoming targets. They were both equipped for close combat, the heavy phaser rifle recoiled into her arms sending her staggering backwards. She gritted her teeth as two more appeared. “Compute change targets physical appearance to look Cardasssian.” She said as she dispatched the second two. She began to yell as wave after wave of Cardassians began to run towards her, she could feel the phaser rifle in her arms getting warm as she unleashed volley after volley of phased energy. “Computer, allow opponents to use ranged weaponry.” She yelled, almost immediately a beam of disrupter fire passed over her head. She fired back growling as she took down another wave of attackers. “Computer increase difficulty.” Three cardassians appeared all firing, she managed to avoid most of the volley but was struck by a blast, with the safety protocols activated she was merely knocked harshly against a rock. She lay there panting as the computer paused the program. She curled into a ball and began to weep, her anger passed now all that was left was shame and it burned deep. She knew logically she should request that she was left off this mission, it was beyond her abilities however even as she looked at the greenish grey pigment of her hands she knew it was too late. She would have to suck it up and deal with it. Slowly she pushed herself to her feet. “Computer end simulation.” She sighed. Standing in the room still dressed in the surgical robe she clenched her fists to stop them shaking. Taking a deep breath in she calmed herself down. As the grief passed over her hiccups began to wrack her body. “Transporter room, Ilana Grey requesting a site to site transport to my quarters.” She said As the holodeck faded and her quarters appeared around her she moved to her bunk and slumped down exhausted. (Reply, any) (Posted by jo) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – ACMO, Ensign(jg) Zia Kirrin – 20:42) “Any idea on our eta?” Ilana asked Zia, a little apprehensively. Zia shook her head. “I am afraid I know no more than you, Ilana. But I do not think it can be too much longer, although we have a few more ‘transitions’ to do, including the Captain as well as myself and Dr Noah.” She regarded Ilana for a moment, seeing the wince as the other woman looked at her reflection again. “Give it time,” she said. “Try to think of it like a new hairstyle. The first few times you catch sight of your reflection it is like seeing a stranger but after a while, that stranger becomes familiar, yes? This is more strange still but the more you look at it, the sooner you will feel less uncomfortable with it.” Ilana replied that she would adapt to her new looks and thanked Zia again, giving her a nod and heading for the exit before muttering what sounded like a curse and stalking off to her biobed. Grabbing a medical PADD the ACSO leafed through the information, then seemed to come to a decision. She requested a site to site to a holodeck from the transporter room, then smiled at Zia. “See you soon, doctor,” she said, just before the beam took her and she vanished. Zia smiled wryly to herself, then made her way over to one of the other patients to check on their progress, making a mental note to check with the other doctors when it would be convenient for her appearance to be changed for the away mission. (Reply any) (Posted by Liz) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – CMO, Noah – 20:45) Noah walked into main sickbay. He saw the newly changed mutter something to her self before activating the comm. Channel. =/\= Please hold. =/\= Came the reply “See you soon doctor.” Grey smiled as she vanished in a whine of transporter beam. Noah looked over at Kirrin. “I know that the Captain wanted security before we went on our away mission but I need to speak to Mrs Grey about miss use of sickbay assists.” (Reply Kirrin IYW) He shook his head before he continued. “Well Dr Kirrin. Who is next?” (Reply Kirrin) (Reply Kirrin, any) (Posted by Robbie) (USS Spectre – Sickbay – ACMO, Ensign(jg) Zia Kirrin – 20:46) As Grey vanished, Doctor Noah commented to Zia that whilst he was aware the Captain wanted security before the away mission, he thought he should speak to Grey about misuse of Sickbay assists. “I think Ilana wanted to avoid going out in the corridors, and perhaps she was a bit mix mad as you humans say?” Noah shook his head, as if to dismiss the subject for the time being, and then asked who was next. NRPG: I’m guessing that someone will have worked on Stevens by this time, if not then by all means say so J RPG: Zia glanced down at the PADD she had just picked up. “Lieutenant Palmer is next on the list, then Ensign Pendragon. After he is done there will be just you, me and the Captain.” (reply Noah, Palmer iyw, Pendragon iyw) (Reply Keswick, Noah, Palmer iyw, Pendragon iyw, Any) (Posted by Liz) (USS Spectre – Captain's Quarters – CO, Captain T'Vhor – 22:42) The Captain was in his quarters, a small table lamp illuminating the work area before him as he sat at his desk perusing the day's operational reports. By now of course, they were deep into Cardassian territory, the ship having shifted now into it's primary role of stealth as it sped on unseen through the firmament. Kerge's report earlier about the anomalous readings coming from the area of the flux cannon, was at the forefront of his mind now. Spurious, although infinitesimally small data spikes having been detected during a routine check-in of the forwards launchers. Normally, this would have been simply logged, and then looked into when the ship arrived in a dock again, but considering the nature of their deployment and the sensitivity thereof, it was not something that the Captain was going to wait upon. He had therefore ordered the Sec chief to look into it as a matter of urgency. He had sensed that the big Klingon would rather have gone hunting Jem Hadar, but nonetheless, he had proceeded with his usual gusto and had promised a solution 'within' the hour. The hour had come and gone, the report had come back inconclusive, and the Captain had ordered the investigation to ramp up a notch. That had only annoyed the Klingon even further and he had stomped off passing his angst onto the nearest unfortunate security officer that he could find, the resultant, somewhat colourful language being heard a full three beams through the corridor after he had left! The Captain had simply arched an eyebrow, as ever he did. And then he had returned to the matter currently in hand, which just happened to be... a missing Rabbit! There were times that T'Vhor could have cursed Kreung for bringing the damned ball of fluff aboard, indeed it seemed at times to be worst than a Tribble, the definitive scourge of the known quadrants if ever there was. Mark was indeed a law unto himself, and in his time aboard the Spectre he had managed to get lost a total of eighty four times over the space of two years, eating a vast number of ODN cabling and associated circuitry in the process as he held up security detail after security detail in their attempts to locate him following each of his 'Great Escapes'... If there actually was a Vulcan borne insult for directing ones angst at another being, then the Captain had come close to using it on Mark, and yet Mark was still... missing. His newly designed and inescapable cage still sitting upon the floor where it always had done, the latch thrown and the lettuce and carrot offerings seemingly untouched. Kerge himself had already resorted to blaming the Lagomorph for the anomalous readings from the area of the Photon Flux Cannon, and as such he had insisted that the task of pinning it to anything worse than Rabbit interference, was going to be fruitless. The Captain, nonetheless, had made his own insistences. “Find the cause of the anomaly, and rectify it forthwith” And again, he had sensed a certain disquiet in the Klingon as the order somewhat reluctantly sank in. Right now though, the matter of the Rabbit, and whatever else might have been causing anomalous readings would rest in the capable hands of the Sec Chief, T'Vhor needed to rest for the day ahead, and with that he lowered the lighting and prepared himself for his rest period... (Reply None, Any) (Posted by Alan) ========================================================================= Mission: Inimicus Invisa Day: 5 Stardate 2414.10.05 (USS Spectre – Captain's Quarters – CO, Captain T'Vhor – 05:15) The Captain had been sleeping when the communication had arrived from the Security Chief, beginning as a shrill screech from an overhead flying reptillian within a dream, and then slowly re-integrating as the familiar repetative tone of an internal message annunciator. Awakening from his slumber, the Captain exhaled and then accepted the call, knowing as he did so that there was no way at all that anyone would be calling him if it was not something important. "Go ahead", he said, the unmistakeable resonance of sleep still evident in his tone. =/\=Kerge here sir. You said to let you know when I had more information on the anomolous readings of earlier=/\= The Captain sat himself upright now, glancing to the chronometer beside his bunk as he did so. It read 05:16, that in itself implied that whatever Kerge had discovered could not wait. "And what have you discovered Mr Kerge", inquired the Captain. =/\=I have discovered sir, that it is not the Rabbit that is causing the anomoly=/\= said Kerge, pausing then as though to gather his thoughts. =/\=It would appear that we may have a saboteur aboard, a device has been discovered sir, configured as a slave and designed specifically to transmit data as covertly as possible whilst integrating with it's master control device=/\= The Captain threw the covers off of himself at that and then swung his legs off the bed, planting his feet firmly upono the floor. "Have you discovered the primary device?", he asked, a hint of urgency now in his voice. =/\=No sir. We only have the secondary device and we are not yet certain that this is the only secondary to have been planted=/\= said Kerge. The Captain paused then, pondering the ramifications, then he continued on. "Have the device examined by Ensign Grey in the science department, I want to know everything about it, where it originated from, the frequencies it operates on, and the last person to have worked in the area it was found in", said the Captain pulling on his tunic and then standing to move towards his desk. =/\=Yes sir=/\= said the Sec chief. =/\=I have taken the liberty to extend the search of the ship and am working with engineering to devize something that might be able to locate any further devices, given it's operating parameters=/\= he added. "Very good", said the Captain, "be sure to keep me informed... and be sure to keep this information on a need to know basis for now Mr Kerge. I do not want panic on the ship" =/\=Yes sir. Kerge out=/\= The Captain then sat in his chair and swung the monitor towards him before inputting codes into the console. The familiar Starfleet logo then changed to show that a comms was being established. T'Vhor hoped that the first face to appear upon it would be Alexanders, and not one of his aides.... (Reply None) (Posted by Alan) ========================================================================