Stardate:2406.10.02
(USS Nimitz - Captain's Ready Room- CO & Counsellor- Captain Sash and Ensign
Harrison- 1500)

Sash was sitting in his office feeling more than a little frustrated. He
couldn't get over the attitudes of the crew. They seemed to have little
faith in their ship or their captain. It was a frame of mind that he just
couldn't grasp.

Suddenly his thoughts were disturbed, thankfully, by the door chime. "Come,"
he called out.

The doors slid open, and Counsellor Harrison walked in, before standing in
front of the Captain's desk. The Captain obviously seemed to be deep in
thought.

"Counsellor Harrison reporting," he said, "Sir, may I have a word about the
morale of the crew?"

He'd been sitting in his office since the staff meeting and thinking about
the mission. More to the point, he'd been thinking about the reactions after
the briefing. Most of his fellow crew members had echoed his own thoughts
about this mission, and his own thoughts were troubled.

Sash nodded and motioned to the chair across from him.

"Certainly, counsellor,"  Sash replied.  "What's on your mind?"

"Sir, there is a lot of doubt among the crew about this mission. From what I
can tell, it's not doubt in you, or in each other's abilities. The doubt
seems to be coming from the severity of this mission. The majority of this
crew are new to Starfleet, and are new to the situation it is in. They may
be young and eager, but they don't understand fully what is going on. I'm
not going to lie to you, sir - I don't understand it either. And that's
scary."

He paused, thinking about how he might put this.

"There is a deep, low-lying fear among the crew, sir. Not the sort of fear
that can interfere with their duties, of course, but the fear of not
understanding can be quite unnerving to anyone, especially in a place as
dangerous as space. This fear isn't really anything to worry about. It's
probably because most of the crew is quite young, and therefore feels
unprepared for such a mission. I mean, most of our senior staff, are
ensigns. A situation like this only makes you feel younger, and therefore
more helpless."

He corrected himself.

"Obviously, this is psychologically speaking. The crew don't feel that they
are helpless or scared. They're just uneasy."

Sash listened closely to what Harrison had to say.  He should have seen that
himself, but that's why he has a counsellor.  He rubbed his chin for minute,
thinking.  "Thank you counsellor," he said, "I appreciate you having the
courage to come to me.  I really hadn't thought of it. The last time I was
in a war situation was nearly 40 years ago, and then I was with others of my
kind.  We were all born and raised for war.  I forget, sometimes, how young
you all are, and how much of my past experiences shades what I think."

"I understand, sir," he replied, genuinely, "May I speak freely and make a
suggestion?"

"Of course," Sash opened his arms in a welcoming gesture.

"The crew needs to be encouraged. This is something that you alone can do.
Perhaps a speech or well-chosen words at an informal event in the Ten
Forward, or something. A few words to make them believe in their own
strengths and the strengths of each other. Emphasise that the Nimitz is not
run by engines, but by its crew. Above all, sir, you need to look like you
have absolute faith in every single member of this crew. I realise there is
the possibility of another traitor aboard, but these may be deterred by a
positive attitude, and you probably won't want to let them know you're on to
them. Act like you would place your life in the crew's hands, sir. This will
make them feel better about themselves, and about you. They'll feel a part
of this crew."

~I've been here two days, and I'm preaching to the captain?~ Harrison
thought ~I really need to work on my people skills!~

Sash looked thoughtfully at the counselor.  He was good for someone so new
at his job.  He steepled his fingers and looked through them at Harrison.
Suddenly he stood up and walked around the desk.

"Thank you counselor.  You've given me a lot think about. Commander Troi is
having a briefing tomorrow with her team.  Perhaps I'll make an unscheduled
stop, and give them a few words."

Harrison nodded in approval and turned to go. As the doors slid shut, he
felt a swell of pride within his chest. Maybe he was better at his job than
he thought. Maybe he wasn't so out of place here. The Captain had listened
to his idea. Hopefully, he would be this useful throughout his time here.

He smiled with content, but not conceit, and made his way to the turbolift.

(reply none)
(posted by Al Muir and James Batchelor)

Stardate:2406.10.02
(USS Nimitz - Ready Room- CO- Captain Devan Sash & TAC\ASC Ensign JG Tom
Slytherwald- 1511)

"So lets look at this plan of yours a little more carefully," Sash said to
his junior ASC.  "I like the idea of using shuttles to make the Alamo think
there's more to us than we are, but not as Cardassians.  I'm not sure it
would be enough to draw them off."

Tom thought for a second "Hm.... well we could use the runabouts to trick
them that they think that there are more that one vessel against them. We
could mask the runabout's warp trail to appear just like Nimitz - another
Sovereign class. That would make them fear even more. It's not easy to have
Sovereign class against yourself - down next to suicide, and to have two of
them..... I know I would run as fast as my warp coils could handle.

Hm, we could pilot it remotely from a long distance and we could make it
approach them from totaly other side of our attack, to distract them, and
hopefuly catch them on wrong leg." then Tom looked at Captain as he waited
that Sash make the idea even better with his suggestions.

Sash nodded his approval.  "Now that's a suggestion we can use.  I want you
to hook up with engineering and put it together.  It needs to be ready in
three days."

"It will be done in one!" explained Tom

"Excelent," Sash said.  "Now, we just need to work out some details about
that trawler and we'll be set."

He picked up one of the miriad of PADDS on his desk, looed at it briefly and
then tossed it over to Slytherwald.  "This is where I was thinking we'd lay
down our trap.  I want to get there before the trawler and spring on them,
quickly and carefully."

On the PADD was a diagram of a star chart.  There was an asteroid field in
one corner.  At the bottom of the display was a small description of the
trawler's specs.

"Let's see what you can come up with that," Sash said.

"Well, remotely piloted Runabout could get from this side ...." said Tom
while pointing  to definite other side of the real Nimitz approach ".... and
it'll make them think that we are attacking from that side, while real
Nimitz, shadowed from their sensors with Subspace River, would approach from
other side. Then we only need to beam the boarding parties onboard the
trawler and get what we want. After the parties beam onboard the trawler,
they'll jettison the anti-matter storage pods, we will grab them by our
ventral tractor beam and slowly put it into our storage areas, considering
the fact that beaming them is out of question since the anti-matter is
highly unstable, and we don't want to be fried." Tom said with a smile, then
he stopped for a second to grab some fresh air.

Sash smiled at the analogy.  "The only problem with that is that we don't
have the storage facilities for such a payload.  No, what we need to do is
take the anti-matter in the trawler.  It is a package deal.  This will give
us a bit of an extra challenge I know.  Fully laiden with anti-matter, this
trawler will only be able to travel at warp 6.  And with the Alamo out
there, I know Captain LeBeau will do everything in his power to stop us. But
we'll deal with that when we need to."

He could see that Slytherwald wanted to solve all of the mission's problems
right now, but Sash knew that taking a task one piece at a time often lead
to solutions that one could not see right away.

"As I see you have more than enough to do in the next few days.  First you
need to wirk on that shuttle.  Then I want you to get together with O'Niell
or Zzt in engineering and work out how we can get through those shields
without destroying the trawler."

"I see. I will do as you said, sir!" explained Tom

"Very well then son, I'm counting on you. Dismissed"

Tom nodded to Captain and slowly exited room

(Reply from none)
(Posted by Al Muir and Edward Marzich)

Stardate:2406.10.03
Mission: Homecoming, Day -4
Stardate: 24XX.XX.XX
 
Sergei Radchenko looked surprised as the officer on the shuttle who had just read his PADD gave him some startling news. 
 
"Sorry, Ensign Radchenko, but my orders are that you are to board the USS Steele Talons - not the Cochrane. Look." The other Ensign showed him his orders - not usual practise, but he seemed to want to prove the point. 
 
"I know they told you at San Francisco you would be alighting the USS Cochrane, but your orders seemed to have changed. That happens sometimes, Ensign Radchenko."
 
Radchenko shrugged his shoulders in a "well-who am-I-to-argue" fashion. ~I suppose these things must happen.....~
 
"And that goes also for...." the ensign of the transport shuttle squinted as he read the new orders on his PADD, "Someone called "Ensign Keswick" too". 
 
At that point Radchenko noticed the striking-looking young Ensign stood right by him, presumably also on his way from San Francisco to, he thought, the USS Cochrane. 
 
"Unlucky, friend" Radchenko stated in his thick Russian accent, holding out his hand to shake his, "you look like you've been re-routed like me Komrad."
 
(Reply Ensign Keswick)
 
"Well I guess there's no thing for it - we can't disobey orders - there we must go on board the USS Talons and hope there's no mistake in our new orders, komrad.". 
 
They were both beamed onto the Talons, and Radchenko was truly impressed by it's size, and turned to say so to the young Ensign he'd beamed down with. 
 
"By Baba Yaga, Ensign Keswick, this craft is huge...." as he eyed the plans from a terminal in the transporter room. 
 
(Reply Ensign Keswick). 
 
"Yes, of course Travis - and call me Sergei, not Radchenko" he said grinning. 
 
There appeared to be no mistake about their new and unexpected transfer orders - both Ensigns were met immediately and shown to their quarters for the day it would take to get to Spacedock Phoenix. Radchenko decided to have a wander around, and bumped into Kewsick again as he walked out of his quarters after throwing his kit-bag into his room. 
 
"I'm off to have a look at the sick-bay here, Travis. I'll see you when we transfer to the Mystique, komrad.". 
 
(Reply Keswick, if you want). 
 
Radchenko had a look around the huge sick-bay of one of Starfleets largest vessels. The Medical staff didn't seem to mind, as long as he didn't get in their way. It wasn't long though before Sergei had a visitor. 
 
(Reply Ensign Keswick, any)
Posted by Christian Morson
Stardate:2406.10.03
"Unlucky, friend" Radchenko stated in his thick Russian accent, holding out his hand to shake his, "you look like you've been re-routed like me Komrad." 

Sir yes I have.  Keswick sead as he took Radchenenkos hand. 


"Well I guess there's no thing for it - we can't disobey orders - there we must go on board the USS Talons and hope there's no mistake in our new orders, komrad.". 

They were both beamed onto the Talons, and Radchenko was truly impressed by it's size, and turned to say so to the young Ensign he'd beamed down with. 

"By Baba Yaga, Ensign Keswick, this craft is huge...." as he eyed the plans from a terminal in the transporter room. 

"Yes I'm off to report in with Ensign Jason Dema I hope to see you on the Mystique go day sir" 


"Yes, of course Travis - and call me Sergei, not Radchenko" he said grinning. 

There appeared to be no mistake about their new and unexpected transfer orders - both Ensigns were met immediately and shown to their quarters for the day it would take to get to Spacedock Phoenix. Radchenko decided to have a wander around, and bumped into Kewsick again as he walked out of his quarters after throwing his kit-bag into his room. 

"I'm off to have a look at the sick-bay here, Travis. I'll see you when we transfer to the Mystique, komrad.". 

Keswick shook sergels hand and headed for the terbolift . 

(Reply none) 
(Posted by Travis Keswick) 
Stardate:2406.10.03
(USS Nimitz - Observation Lounge - FO Commander Kestra Troi - 0820)

Kestra had watched, as most everyone did, as Ensign O'neill arrived. She
hadn't really been upset with him as Lt. Zzt should have attended the
meeting, but, if he couldn't he should have alerted his second. The Lt. must
have been on some important task for not doing so and she would have to find
out later what it was.

"Hello everyone." the Ensign had said as he took a seat.

Kestra then looked around the room and saw that she had at least most of
what she had asked for. She could not delay the meeting any longer, so, she
decided to get on with it and contact the others afterward.

"Ok" Kestra said as she stood up, "enough waiting. Admiral LoDona, by way of
the Captain, has tasked us with a mission of getting fuel for the fleet.
Whether we agree with it is not on debate in this meeting." She looked
around at the ones that voiced or would probably voice the greatest
objection.

"We are here to brain storm on a way to get the job done only. We have a
very short time to accomplish this. I want something to present to the
captain." She looked around at the disbelieving faces and was hoping that
they would get on the band wagon, but, she was not sure they would.

"Now, I know that all of us will have duties to perform during the battle,
but, when I give the call we all drop what is being done and head to the
transporters. There is to be no delay in this as we have to get there and
take it over fast. We do not want to ruin the chance that the Nimitz will
give us on taking our time. We are to focus on the Trawler only, nothing
else." She tapped some keys on the table in front of her and on the view
screen a schematic of the trawler came to view.

"As you can see here, the Cabot Class Trawler is 75 meters long and it has
six decks, but, the bottom three are for storage and are sealed off with
heavy bulkheads and heavy concentrations of type 10 force fields. Now each
storage bay has independent ejection systems. If the ship is in trouble the
storage decks can be jettisoned individually, starting with the bottom most
deck first, or as a entire unit. The antimatter is stored in the same pods
as on a starship, and they are swapped for empty pods by the serviced
starship for the return trip. Each ship can hold upwards of 200 separate
pods. The Cabot Class Trawler is capable at traveling at 9.2, but, with it
being fully laden with anti-matter, it can only travel safely at warp 6."
She paused to let what she had said sink in for a moment.

"Now, the armament that the Trawler has is no concern to us, so, we will not
focus on that part of her. The Nimitz will do what she can to get us on the
ship and then we can neutralize their weaponry as we take over. There is an
estimated thirty crew capacity that we will have to contend with. I want
three teams beamed over at one time. Beta team will be beaming into the main
transporter room located here," She said as she pointed on the screen where
it should be located and she did so to each of the other areas. She also
looked at Saleke as the transporter was his idea. "At the same time Alpha
will be transporting in on the bridge to secure it and Charle will be
beaming in to engineering. I want security to accompany Lt. Saleke, Doctor
Kincaid and me on the alpha team with personnel that can help run the
bridge, Lt. Kateb. Major Dorkin, Your marines will accompany teams Beta and
Charlie to secure those areas as I think your marines would be best used
there. Ensign O'Neill, once engineering has been secured, you will make sure
to get every bit of power we can get and maintain that. Ok with that laid
out, now I want to hear your ideas to accomplish this. All I have showed you
is on the PADDs in front of you." Kestra finished and was about to sit down
to hear them out, when the door opened with Sash walking in. Kestra stood
back up to greet him.

"Officers attention, Captain in the room" She said expecting each to stand
up at attention.

"Captain, it is an honor to have you come to our meeting. Would you like to
have a seat and listen to what we come up with to accomplish our task?"
Kestra said offering the head chair to him.

(reply Saleke, Onyx, Kincaid, Dorkin, Sash, any and all)
(Pb Frank Rogers)

Stardate:2406.10.03
(USS Nimitz - Observation Lounge - CMO- Lt. BigWill Kinkaid - 0822)

The plan that Commander Kestra brief the room on and shown by the detailed
schematic of the Cabot class vessel was a promising one. Granted, Kinkaid
had a limited mind set on tactics in combat, but he knew this plan was going
to work.  Timing was the key here. Kinkaid grabbed the PADD that Kestra
provided to everyone from the table and started to glance at it.  As Kinkaid
read over the stats, he knew that each of the away teams were limited to a
certain number of personnel, but he needed to know if one or two of the
security team personnel could be dubbed as a medic for each team as way to
keep the number of injured to a minimum until the return back to the Nimitz.
Before he could suggest it, the observation lounge doors slid opened.

From the shadows of the bulkhead structure of the observation lounge
entryway, Captain Sash appeared in the room. Kestra realized who it was and
called out as she stood to attention.  "Officers attention.  Captain in the
room."  With that command, Kinkaid was the first to stand up from his seat
to attention.

(Reply anyone in the room)

The captain did not appear to be on an observation visit when he entered,
but was showing a pleasing approval facial expression as he scanned the room
of the attendees.

(Posted by Nathan M. Williams)

Stardate:2406.10.03
USS Nimitz - Observation lounge - Lt. Saleke - 0823)

Saleke watched and listened closely as Kestra went through the briefing. The
importance of their mission could not be understated and the timing for
their transport over to the trawler would have to be worked out carefully
lest the whole boarding mission dissolve into chaos. The setup of the
trawler's holds was very clever and the Vulcan was satisfied to see that an
assault on the transporters was also planned, although resistance at the
transporters would initially be light they could be used by the defenders to
move personnel into the bridge and engineering to reinforce resistance in
those areas which would make taking them more difficult. At the same time
the transporters could also be used by the attackers to move personnel
within the ship to flank any remaining defenders thus making their job much
easier and possibly reducing casualties.

~ The timing will be the most crucial part, the taking of the trawler itself
should be done with relative ease. ~

As the briefing came to a close the door to the lounge opened and the
Captain stepped inside.

"Officers attention, Captain in the room" Kestra said.

The Doctor was the first to spring to his feet followed by an impressed
Saleke who stood to attention as Commander Troi greeted Captain Sash.

"Captain, it is an honor to have you come to our meeting. Would you like to
have a seat and listen to what we come up with to accomplish our task?"
Kestra said offering the head chair to him.

The Vulcan remained at attention waiting for the Captain to speak.

(Reply: Any)
(Posted by Charles)

Stardate:2406.10.03
(USS Nimitz - Observation Lounge - ACEO Ensign (jg) Miles O'Neill - 0824)

Miles listened intently to the meeting. He knew that his job was going to be
hard, but he was confident that he could do it. As he was going over the
mission in his mind, he heard the door to the lounge open, and he saw the
Captain enter the room.

Kestra realized who it was and called out as she stood to attention.
"Officers attention. Captain in the room."

First he saw Kinkaid stand, then Saleke. Miles stood up from his chair then
to stand at attention.

(Reply any)
(Posted by Matt Kirk)

Stardate:2406.10.03
(USS Nimitz - Observation Lounge - CO- Captain Devan Sash- 0825)

After his conversation with the counselor last night Sash thought that he
should make a show at the away team meeting this morning.  He knew that
there were still doubts amongst the crew, and he understood them a little
better.  Why hadn't he seen it before?  The captain shook his head.  This
was no time for self-reproach.

The door to the lounge slid open and Sash stepped inside.  Kestra smiled at
him and stood up.  "Officers attention, Captain in the room."

Slowly all eyes turned and looked over at Sash.  They all stood up, one by
one.  He looked at them all very carefully.  His gaze fell on each officer
as if he were scanning them with his eyes.  He could still see it.  The
look.  The doubt.  The fear.

Lt. Saleke, with such great potential was the only one who's look did not
match the others.  His was more of a "logical" curiosity.  After Kestra he
was the senior officer on this mission, and yet he had never been in combat
like this before.  Sash had no doubt that his Vulcan nerves were up it.

Then his attention fell on Doctor Kinkaid.  For some reason he had
volunteered for this mission.  Sash wasn't sure why, but most likely they
would need medical attention, and he was in better shape than Michaella
Kirian.  Again, Sash divined the fear, but he was putting on a brave front.

Then there was Ensign O'Neill, who looked like he wished Zzt were there. But
Sash had need for Zzt here on the Nimitz.  As it was he had the Gerratlian
working on a "special" project for this mission.  O'Neill had barely had any
kind of experience, forget war.  He was so young.  Sash found himself hoping
that the boy lived through the experience.

Then he looked at Onyx Kateb.  Sash had been surprised most of all by her
reaction.  Perhaps she just reflected the attitudes of the others.  Perhaps
her fears were of them, like Slytherwald.  Funny how security people can be
so different, and yet so similar.

His eyes then turned to Wilson.  The recently demoted head of SFI.  He was
actually surprised to see Wilson at this meeting, since he had not planned
on the Lt Commander going along.  He was going to need that man on the
bridge.

Finally he looked over at Major Dorkin, the Tellerite MCO.  Dorkin looked at
Sash with mild amusement that bordered on insubordination.  Sash had always
loved the Tellerite spirit, and constant desire for a good fight.  Well,
most likely he was going to get what he wanted on this mission.

Suddenly Kestra's voice cut through his thoughts.  "Captain, it is an honor
to have you come to our meeting. Would you like to have a seat and listen to
what we come up with to accomplish our task?"

She offered him a chair, which he walked towards but did not sit in. Instead
he stood behind it, running his hands along it as he was thinking.

"I wanted to stop by this morning, not only to see where you are with your
plans, but also to try and alleviate some anxieties.  After yesterday, I was
a little disheartened by the attitudes of the crew."

He saw some people start to talk and held up his hand to stop them.  "No,
no, you were probably right to feel apprehensive.  I blame myself.  I was
not thinking about how most of you have never seen combat before.  That most
of you were so young and so new to Starfleet.  Some of you might not even
know what we're fighting about."

There.  He could see the spark of light.  He knew that he had struck a
nerve.  Sash began to walk around the table as he spoke.  "This war, for
that's what it is, is more than Doentiz vs. LoDona.  It is war of
ideologies.  Admiral Doenitz has a vision of the direction of Starfleet that
seems contrary to the principles that it was founded on.  And he will do
whatever is necessary, no matter how many are hurt, to make those changes.
It is a frightening vision that Doenitz has created, and one that I'm sure,
we don't want to perpetuate."

Sash stopped and looked at the team.  "I don't want to hand you all a line
of crap.  This mission is going to be dangerous.  People are most likely
going to be injured or worse.  But we are working for the greater good, the
survival of something we all thought important enough to dedicate our lives
to.  Bare that in mind when you're wondering what's goiong on here."

Then Ssh turned to Kestra.  "I'm sorry commander, I hadn't planned on making
a speach.  I just wanted everyone to know how important this mission is.
Remember, your goal is to secure the anti-matter, in tact.  To that end I
will show you this."

He turned to the holo-display and hit a button.  The display changed to show
a star chart.  There was a line that represented the planned path of the
trawler.  To the side of the display was an asteroid field.

"This is the flight path of the trawler.  My plan is to get into that
asteroid field and lay in waiting.  The trawler has excellent sheilding
capabilities, and so our big problem will be bringing down the shields,
without destroying the cargo.  I'm sure I don't have to tell you that if
just one of those anti-matter pods has a problem, we'll see an explossion of
the magnitude that this universe hasn't seen in a very long time.  I take
that back, we won't see it."

He could see the worry in the crews eyes.  "But that's my teams problem. You
folks need to take control of the ship once you're inside.  Commander, I
believe this is your briefing, so I'll leave you to it."

Instead of leaving he just sat in the back of the room, watching and
listening.

(reply Troi)
(posted by Al Muir)


Stardate:2406.10.03
(USS Nimitz - Observation Lounge - CMO- Lt. BigWill Kinkaid - 0830)

Captain Sash came into the meeting, as Commander Troi was about to receive
suggestions from the staff on how best to accomplish the mission at hand in
a reliably safe and fast manner without rising suspicion from the "enemy".

(Reply anyone at the meeting)

Once Sash requested that the room take their seats and carry on with the
meeting, Kinkaid, after reviewing the mission brief PADD, made the first
suggestion.  "Commander, I noticed from the brief that the number of
personnel for this mission on each team is limited. I would like it, if
possible, to have a member of the security team and/or a Marine be dubbed as
a medic for each team as a way to keep the number of injured to a minimum."
Kinkaid paused for a moment as he took noticed the expression on Kestra's
face while Sash looked on knowing his FO was in charge of the meeting.

(Reply FO, Kestra)

Kinkaid took a deep breath and continued. "Also, if any type of radiation or
foreign agent the crew comes into contact with, they must be inoculated
immediately to prevent setbacks causing us to lost ground over there."
Kinkaid knew that the suggestion was a stretch, but took the risk in asking
it.  ~ Risk is part of the game. ~ Kinkaid thought while awaiting the
verdict from Kestra.

(Reply FO, Kestra or anyone in the room)
(Posted by Nathan M. Williams)

Stardate:2406.10.03
(USS Nimitz - Observation Lounge - MCO Major Dorkin - 0832)

"Ok" Kestra said as she stood up, "enough waiting. Admiral LoDona, by way of
the Captain, has tasked us with a mission of getting fuel for the fleet.
Whether we agree with it is not on debate in this meeting."

Dorkin reached out and tapped the table, waiting for debate, and was
surprised when none came.

"We are here to brain storm on a way to get the job done only. We have a
very short time to accomplish this. I want something to present to the
captain."

~Excellent, someone will finally see my innate intelligence. Leave this to
the Marines sweeatie,~ he thought, ~The Marines can do it.~

"Now, I know that all of us will have duties to perform during the battle,
but, when I give the call we all drop what is being done and head to the
transporters. There is to be no delay in this as we have to get there and
take it over fast. We do not want to ruin the chance that the Nimitz will
give us on taking our time. We are to focus on the Trawler only, nothing
else"

He turned his attention to the schematics of the trawler.

"As you can see here, the Cabot Class Trawler is 75 meters long and it has
six decks, but, the bottom three are for storage and are sealed off with
heavy bulkheads and heavy concentrations of type 10 force fields. Now each
storage bay has independent ejection systems. If the ship is in trouble the
storage decks can be jettisoned individually, starting with the bottom most
deck first, or as a entire unit. The antimatter is stored in the same pods
as on a starship, and they are swapped for empty pods by the serviced
starship for the return trip. Each ship can hold upwards of 200 separate
pods. The Cabot Class Trawler is capable at traveling at 9.2, but, with it
being fully laden with anti-matter, it can only travel safely at warp 6."

~She is slow as a pig, but that's to be expected from a anti-matter
trawler.~

"Now, the armament that the Trawler has is no concern to us, so, we will not
focus on that part of her. The Nimitz will do what she can to get us on the
ship and then we can neutralize their weaponry as we take over. There is an
estimated thirty crew capacity that we will have to contend with. I want
three teams beamed over at one time. Beta team will be beaming into the main
transporter room located here, At the same time Alpha will be transporting
in on the bridge to secure it and Charle will be beaming in to engineering.
I want security to accompany Lt. Saleke, Doctor Kincaid and me on the alpha
team with personnel that can help run the bridge, Lt. Kateb. Major Dorkin,
Your marines will accompany teams Beta and Charlie to secure those areas as
I think your marines would be best used there. Ensign O'Neill, once
engineering has been secured, you will make sure to get every bit of power
we can get and maintain that. Ok with that laid out, now I want to hear your
ideas to accomplish this. All I have showed you is on the PADDs in front of
you

She paused and Dorkin was about to speak when she said, "Officers attention,
Captain in the room"

Dorkin pushed back from the chair and came to rigid attention, he was
starting to like the Captain, giving him some respect was not beneath his
dignity.

"Captain, it is an honor to have you come to our meeting. Would you like to
have a seat and listen to what we come up with to accomplish our task?"

Sash looked at everyone, Dorkin gave him a small grin when he looked his
way. This was a thinker/fighter, it would be interesting to see him yo-yo
between opinions.

"I wanted to stop by this morning, not only to see where you are with your
plans, but also to try and alleviate some anxieties.  After yesterday, I was
a little disheartened by the attitudes of the crew."

He held up his hands,  "No, no, you were probably right to feel
apprehensive.  I blame myself.  I was not thinking about how most of you
have never seen combat before.  That most of you were so young and so new to
Starfleet.  Some of you might not even know what we're fighting about."

Dorkin grunted, he had seen plenty of combat, and he made sure his greenies
were trained and threw them into combat whenever he could. Being part of the
action was the only way to get used to it.

"This war, for that's what it is, is more than Doentiz vs. LoDona.  It is
war of ideologies.  Admiral Doenitz has a vision of the direction of
Starfleet that seems contrary to the principles that it was founded on.  And
he will do whatever is necessary, no matter how many are hurt, to make those
changes. It is a frightening vision that Doenitz has created, and one that
I'm sure, we don't want to perpetuate."

The Tellarite mused over that.  "I don't want to hand you all a line of
crap.  This mission is going to be dangerous.  People are most likely going
to be injured or worse.  But we are working for the greater good, the
survival of something we all thought important enough to dedicate our lives
to.  Bare that in mind when you're wondering what's going on here."

Then Ssh turned to Kestra.  "I'm sorry commander, I hadn't planned on making
a speech.  I just wanted everyone to know how important this mission is.
Remember, your goal is to secure the anti-matter, in tact.  To that end I
will show you this."

He punched the holo-display.

"This is the flight path of the trawler.  My plan is to get into that
asteroid field and lay in waiting.  The trawler has excellent shielding
capabilities, and so our big problem will be bringing down the shields,
without destroying the cargo.  I'm sure I don't have to tell you that if
just one of those anti-matter pods has a problem, we'll see an explosion of
the magnitude that this universe hasn't seen in a very long time.  I take
that back, we won't see it."

Dorkin, still standing for a better vantage point, crossed his arms and
looked at the display.   "But that's my teams problem. You folks need to
take control of the ship once you're inside.  Commander, I believe this is
your briefing, so I'll leave you to it."

Dorkin looked at that image. "The only problem we have is we can't put armed
men on the holding decks, and they WILL have men there. One of the best
tactics they could use to prevent our takeover would be to take down all but
the most essential force-fields and make it hard for a takeover with phasers
for fear of destructing the anti-matter. We will have to be quick, smart,
and devious. We will have to put people on those decks, at least, who can
fight without energy weapons."

Without a pause he pulled his combat knife from it's inverted sheath, and
with the utter strength-assists of the BDU tossed it blade down into the
metal of the table. It stood quivering for a few moments, its point a good
half-inch into the solid metal.

"Issue taken care of." Dorkin growled in his usual tone. "Otherwise, it just
becomes a matter of what acceptable casualties we can have, though I
understand they are our own and we want a zero body count if we can."

(reply: Any)
(posted by Trout)

Stardate:2406.10.03
(USS Nimitz - Observation Lounge - FO Commander Kestra Troi - 0835)

Kestra watched as everyone of the members that was in the room stood up one
by one. Kestra could see that Sash was looking at each one of them trying to
see something, the doubt? the fear? She really did not know but only guess
and she was not going to read him to find out. It seemed that he was sizing
up who she had at the meeting.

After Kestra had offered Sash the chair, he walked towards it. He did not
sit in it, but, just stopped behind it, running his hands along it as he was
thinking then he had gathered his thoughts and started speaking.

"I wanted to stop by this morning, not only to see where you are with your
plans, but also to try and alleviate some anxieties. After yesterday, I was
a little disheartened by the attitudes of the crew."

She was not happy when some of the people started to object to what he had
said and was going to stop them when Sash held up his hand to stop them.
"No, no, you were probably right to feel apprehensive. I blame myself. I was
not thinking about how most of you have never seen combat before. That most
of you were so young and so new to Starfleet. Some of you might not even
know what we're fighting about."

Kestra was a bit surprised that he had said that to them even if he was
right. It seemed to settle most of them down and some even smiled a bit.

As he began to walk around the table he continued, "This war, for that's
what it is, is more than Doentiz vs. LoDona. It is war of ideologies.
Admiral Doenitz has a vision of the direction of Starfleet that seems
contrary to the principles that it was founded on. And he will do whatever
is necessary, no matter how many are hurt, to make those changes. It is a
frightening vision that Doenitz has created, and one that I'm sure, we don't
want to perpetuate."

Sash stopped and looked at the team. "I don't want to hand you all a line of
crap. This mission is going to be dangerous. People are most likely going to
be injured or worse. But we are working for the greater good, the survival
of something we all thought important enough to dedicate our lives to. Bare
that in mind when you're wondering what's going on here."

Then Sash turned to Kestra. "I'm sorry commander, I hadn't planned on making
a speech. I just wanted everyone to know how important this mission is.
Remember, your goal is to secure the anti-matter, in tact. To that end I
will show you this."

As Sash turned to the holo-display he hit a button and it changed to show a
star chart. There was a line that represented the planned path of the
trawler. To the side of the display was an asteroid field.

"This is the flight path of the trawler. My plan is to get into that
asteroid field and lay in waiting. The trawler has excellent shielding
capabilities, and so our big problem will be bringing down the shields,
without destroying the cargo. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that if just
one of those anti-matter pods has a problem, we'll see an explosion of the
magnitude that this universe hasn't seen in a very long time. I take that
back, we won't see it."

Kestra could feel worry in the crew that was listening to him except for
Dorkin. He did not seem to worry about much of anything. Sash seemed to feel
or see it as he changed his speech somewhat, "But that's my teams problem.
You folks need to take control of the ship once you're inside. Commander, I
believe this is your briefing, so I'll leave you to it."

Kestra watched as Sash finished then he went to the back of the room to sit
down, watching and listening.

"Commander, I noticed from the brief that the number of personnel for this
mission on each team is limited. I would like it, if possible, to have a
member of the security team and/or a Marine be dubbed as a medic for each
team as a way to keep the number of injured to a minimum." Kinkaid said but
paused for a moment.

"I will have you on my team and I believe that Major Dorkin has ones in his
team that are trained as Combat Medics that will be accompanying him.
Anything else?" Kestra replied after listening to him.

Kestra saw the Doctor take a deep breath and knew he had more suggestions,
which was good. "Also, if any type of radiation or foreign agent the crew
comes into contact with, they must be inoculated immediately to prevent
setbacks causing us to lose ground over there."

"Actually Doctor that is a good suggestion. If I am right, you really can't
take any inoculations before we go over as they have to be administered
after infection. Can you gather and give to each team member a kit that has
the inoculations that they could give to themselves if they had to?" Kestra
replied with her question.

(Reply KinKaid)

Next it was Major Dorkin who decided to chime in at this time. "The only
problem we have is we can't put armed men on the holding decks, and they
WILL have men there. One of the best tactics they could use to prevent our
takeover would be to take down all but the most essential force-fields and
make it hard for a takeover with phasers for fear of destructing the
anti-matter. We will have to be quick, smart, and devious. We will have to
put people on those decks, at least, who can fight without energy weapons."

Without a pause, Dorkin pulled his combat knife from it's inverted sheath,
and with the utter strength-assists of the BDU tossed it blade down into the
metal of the table. It stood quivering for a few moments, its point a good
half-inch into the solid metal.

If Kestra had not caught the movement before everyone else had, she might
have jumped when he knife hit the table, instead she just frowned at the
hole now in the table.

"Issue taken care of." Dorkin growled in his usual tone. "Otherwise, it just
becomes a matter of what acceptable casualties we can have, though I
understand they are our own and we want a zero body count if we can."

"Major, that was a very good point you made. I trust that you have
sufficient personnel on your teams that can utilize the weapons that you
speak of. I will of course have my team armed as we will not be near the
antimatter pods." She said as she looked around the room. "Anyone else?"

(Reply Dorkin, Kinkaid, Saleke, O'Neill, any)
(Pb Frank Rogers)

Stardate:2406.10.03
(USS Nimitz - Observation Lounge - CSO/3O Saleke - 08:36 )

Sash looked them all over thoroughly before moving to the offered seat.
Since he had not been told to sit Saleke continued to stand as the Captain
made his way to the head chair and stood behind it with his hands grasping
the seat back. The Vulcan could tell Sash was obviously deeply troubled
about something from his manner. When he had settled in for an instant
however he straightened and his eyes grew hard, he seemed to gather an
internal "second wind" before speaking.

"I wanted to stop by this morning, not only to see where you are with your
plans, but also to try and alleviate some anxieties. After yesterday, I was
a little disheartened by the attitudes of the crew." Some started to talk
and Sash held up his hand, silencing them. "No, no, you were probably right
to feel apprehensive. I blame myself. I was not thinking about how most of
you have never seen combat before. That most of you were so young and so new
to Starfleet. Some of you might not even know what we're fighting about."

That stopped the talking and gained their undivided attention, the Captain
then began walking around the table. "This war, for that's what it is, is
more than Doentiz vs. LoDona. It is war of ideologies. Admiral Doenitz has a
vision of the direction of Starfleet that seems contrary to the principles
that it was founded on. And he will do whatever is necessary, no matter how
many are hurt, to make those changes. It is a frightening vision that
Doenitz has created, and one that I'm sure, we don't want to perpetuate."

Saleke nodded his head slightly at this one, the Captain was echoing his own
thoughts.

 "I don't want to hand you all a line of crap. This mission is going to be
dangerous. People are most likely going to be injured or worse. But we are
working for the greater good, the survival of something we all thought
important enough to dedicate our lives to. Bare that in mind when you're
wondering what's goiong on here."

Turning back to Kestra Sash said. "I'm sorry commander, I hadn't planned on
making a speach. I just wanted everyone to know how important this mission
is. Remember, your goal is to secure the anti-matter, in tact. To that end I
will show you this."

He turned to the holo-display and hit a button. The display changed to show
a star chart. There was a line that represented the planned path of the
trawler. To the side of the display was an asteroid field.

Saleke nodded when he saw it, this debris field was what he had intended on
bringing up at the meeting but his voice would not be needed now.

"This is the flight path of the trawler. My plan is to get into that
asteroid field and lay in waiting. The trawler has excellent sheilding
capabilities, and so our big problem will be bringing down the shields,
without destroying the cargo. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that if just
one of those anti-matter pods has a problem, we'll see an explossion of the
magnitude that this universe hasn't seen in a very long time. I take that
back, we won't see it."

He looked sternly at some before continuing. "But that's my teams problem.
You folks need to take control of the ship once you're inside. Commander, I
believe this is your briefing, so I'll leave you to it."

"Commander, I noticed from the brief that the number of personnel for this
mission on each team is limited. I would like it, if possible, to have a
member of the security team and/or a Marine be dubbed as a medic for each
team as a way to keep the number of injured to a minimum." The doctor spoke
up then paused.

"I will have you on my team and I believe that Major Dorkin has ones in his
team that are trained as Combat Medics that will be accompanying him.
Anything else?" Kestra replied after listening to him.

Kincaid took a deep breath then continued. "Also, if any type of radiation
or foreign agent the crew comes into contact with, they must be inoculated
immediately to prevent setbacks causing us to lose ground over there."

"Actually Doctor that is a good suggestion. If I am right, you really can't
take any inoculations before we go over as they have to be administered
after infection. Can you gather and give to each team member a kit that has
the inoculations that they could give to themselves if they had to?" Kestra
replied.

(Reply KinKaid)

Major Dorkin was the second to speak up. "The only problem we have is we
can't put armed men on the holding decks, and they WILL have men there. One
of the best tactics they could use to prevent our takeover would be to take
down all but the most essential force-fields and make it hard for a takeover
with phasers for fear of destructing the anti-matter. We will have to be
quick, smart, and devious. We will have to put people on those decks, at
least, who can fight without energy weapons."

Without a pause he pulled his combat knife from it's inverted sheath, and
tossed it blade down into the metal of the table. "Issue taken care of."
Dorkin growled. "Otherwise, it just becomes a matter of what acceptable
casualties we can have, though I understand they are our own and we want a
zero body count if we can."

Saleke saw the major's point, with the antimatter on board they would have
to be cautious about the use of energy weapons, it would be catastrophic if
even a portion of the shielding inside the trawler went down.

"Major, that was a very good point you made. I trust that you have
sufficient personnel on your teams that can utilize the weapons that you
speak of. I will of course have my team armed as we will not be near the
antimatter pods." Kestra said as she looked around the room. "Anyone else?"

Saleke nodded. "Yes Commander the asteroid field the Captain mentioned is
the remains of a supernova and gives off a heavy electromagnetic signal. It
would be possible for the Nimitz to remain there until the trawler has
closed to within 225,000 kilometers. Coupled with the work done on the
sensors by the sensor maintenance engineer and myself we will be able to
register their approach at a 20% greater range than normal during the
operable window of the newly aligned components. The compnents are not rated
for the new alignment and I estimate 12.6 hours before they begin to fail.
As for the boarding of the trawler, we can use the transporters after they
are siezed to move men to flank the enemy; that will lessen the casualties
we will suffer.

(Reply: Kestra Troi, any)
(Posted by Charles)

Stardate:2406.10.03
(USS Nimitz - Observation Lounge - CMO- Lt. BigWill Kinkaid - 0838)

Kinkaid knew that his suggestions would in the most part be effective for
the overall survival of the away teams on this mission.  Kestra agreed and
approved the second proposal made by Kinkaid.  It was hard to believe that
all of his proposals were now part of the mission. Kinkaid responded to
Kestra request to make sure that every team member had a med kit with the
necessary medical supplies for the mission.

"All of the med kits will be available in the Armory prior to our transport
to the Trawler, Commander."  Kinkaid said.

Major Dorkin spoke next.  A harden Marine who has seen the battles of combat
many times over.  Kinkaid realizing that he was in the presence of a war
hero that demands the respect and attention from everyone.  Dorkin pointed
out a little known fact that any armed member of the team that uses their
phasers in the holding area with the force fields down would risk destroying
the anti-matter fuel and the trawler along everything in the section. Dorkin
made a subtle suggestion that caused Kinkaid's mind to wonder if the Marine
was crazy or insane or both.

All of the sudden, Dorkin unsheathe his knife from its pouch and with a
quick hand-wrist action flung the knife into the metal conference table. The
knife, now embedded into metal table, was moving side to side to indicate
the seriousness of having to go into hand-to-hand combat, if it came to it.

(Reply anyone at the meeting)

After the crazed Marine scared most of the department heads with his
tasteful way of persuasion, Kinkaid adjusted his collar to let some air in
and refocus his attention back to the meeting.

(Posted by Nathan M. Williams)

Stardate:2406.10.03
(USS Nimitz -  Observation Lounge   - TAC/SC Ensign Kateb - 0840)

Onyx listen to what the others had to say and she was calm, maybe too calm
inside, she expected that move from the MCO.  She look at him and then look
at the First officer.

"I have something also.  The plan the Captain exposed is the one I gave you
in the padd with a few extras.  Everyone seem to be talking of the trawler
when there's also another preoccupation that should go before that.  The USS
Alamo, a Defiant class starship, made to fight the Borg and we have to go
against it.  I have devised a few things, a few special Klingon tactics.
One, ghost ships,  which might give them a nice distraction to give us the
opportunity to have a nice shot and disable them if not destroy them.  Also,
knowing that Trawler is so heavily shielded, manage to get a few hours of
tactical practice and found the proper way to kick those exterior shields
offline." Has she exposed the plan she worked on to disable the Alamo and
the trawler she look at everyone.  ~I'm not going to say that the first 10
times I manage to blow the trawler up!~

"Commander, I'm afraid that the best person to conduct the fight with the
Defiant and disable the trawler at the helm of the Nimitz is me.  The best
person to go with your team will be Ensign Slytherwald.  He will do an
excellent job."

(Reply from Troi,  and anyone)
(Posted by Laurence)

Stardate:2406.10.03
(USS Nimitz -  Observation Lounge   - FO Commander Kestra Troi - 0845)

Kestra sat there listening to the observations and ideas that her team had.
She could not understand why they were stuck on what the Nimitz was going to
or should do.  It had been said several times that this meeting was to focus
on what they were to do after they got aboard the Trawler.  Even Saleke, the
one that she had picked to be her second on the Trawler had not gotten what
they were to focus on.

"I don't get it people"  She said as she stood up, "What were you told that
we were suppose to focus on?  what is our mission?  Is it our mission to
decided what the Nimitz should do or how the Nimitz is to do it?  NO!  Our
mission is after we get aboard the trawler and you have been told that twice
during this meeting alone.  If you have ideas or suggestions that the
Captain could use then give it to him after we are done here and not
before."  She shook her head and returned to her seat.

"You are right Ensign Kateb, it would be better for you to stay on board the
Nimitz and Ensign Slytherwald you will take her place.  You are excused
Ensign Kateb, you may return to your duties." She turned to Major Dorkin not
worrying to see if Onyx had left or not she had other priorities.

(reply Onyx iyw)

"Major Dorkin, am I to be assured that you have enough marines that are
capable with hand to hand weapons?  Also, do you have at least two combat
medics, one for each of your teams?"

(reply Dorkin)

"Ensign O'Neill if you need, which you probably will, bring an assistant or
two to help you in case we need an engineer in other places."  She told him
after thinking that one would just not be enough.

(reply O'Neill)

"Lt. Saleke, I want to talk to you in my office in one hour."  She told him
as she looked at him.

(reply Saleke)

"Ok, now if there is nothing else I want you to go and get ready for your
mission."  Kestra said and awaited for either some more discussion or for
them to leave.

After they left, she looked at the captain as he was the last, besides Lt.
commander Wilson to leave, "Captain could we talk in your ready room?"

(reply from all mentioned, any)
(Pb Frank Rogers)

Stardate:2406.10.03
(USS Nimitz - Observation Lounge - CSO/3O Lt Saleke - 0846)

Saleke listened as the meeting continued and noticed that Kestra appeared to
be increasingly irritated with the proceedings, after listening for a time
she stood to speak.

"I don't get it people" She said as she stood up, "What were you told that
we were suppose to focus on? what is our mission? Is it our mission to
decided what the Nimitz should do or how the Nimitz is to do it? NO! Our
mission is after we get aboard the trawler and you have been told that twice
during this meeting alone. If you have ideas or suggestions that the Captain
could use then give it to him after we are done here and not before." She
shook her head and returned to her seat.

"You are right Ensign Kateb, it would be better for you to stay on board the
Nimitz and Ensign Slytherwald you will take her place. You are excused
Ensign Kateb, you may return to your duties." She then turned to Major
Dorkin.

(reply Onyx iyw)

"Major Dorkin, am I to be assured that you have enough marines that are
capable with hand to hand weapons? Also, do you have at least two combat
medics, one for each of your teams?"

(reply Dorkin)

"Ensign O'Neill if you need, which you probably will, bring an assistant or
two to help you in case we need an engineer in other places." She said after
a moment.

(reply O'Neill)

"Lt. Saleke, I want to talk to you in my office in one hour." She told him
as she looked at him.

The look she gave Saleke while speaking did not look good at all and he
wondered what he had done to offend her. Because he had not had a chance to
speak to the Captain about the new sensor alignment and its limitations he
had made use of the opportunity to pass along the information however
technically it was true it was off the subject; Saleke made a mental note to
apologize to Kestra about that. It was also true that he had mentioned using
the transporters to cut down on casualties, it appeared though that his
original gaffe had outweighed that observation. The meeting had certainly
taken a turn for the worse and the Vulcan decided the other ideas he had
formulated had best be set aside for now so he nodded crisply at the FO and
said.

"Yes commander." After leaving the room he decided that though he had
obviously not been pleasing to the new FO this had been a necessary lesson
and the mistake would not be repeated and with this Vulcan mistakes were
"not" repeated.


Stardate:2406.10.03
(USS Nimitz - Observation Lounge - ACEO Ensign (jg) Miles O'Neill - 0847)

"Ensign O'Neill if you need, which you probably will, bring an assistant or
two to help you in case we need an engineer in other places." Kestra told
him after thinking that one would just not be enough.

"I'll bring along my best engineers, sir." Miles said. ~I've got just the
people in mind,~ Miles thought as he listened to the meeting.

Stardate:2406.10.03
(Steele Talons - quarters - Ensign Jason Dema - 0850)

Jason was still settling in a bit with Cassandra, when suddenly the door chimed

"Come in." Jason said.

Jason saw the new ensign walking in.


"Ensign Travis Keswick Reporting for as ordered Sir".

The ensign handed over the Padd with his details and duties on, but instead of reading them, Jason placed it on the table and stood up.

"Cassandra, could I have a minute with Mr. Kaswick?"

"Sure, your minute is starting now."

Jason smiled with the reply Cassie gave.

"It may took longer then that..." Jason looked at the new ensign to see how nervous he was, and to turn it up a notch... "A lot longer, I'll call you when we're done."

"Okay, I'll go look for Jennah in the meantime."

As Cassandra ran out Jason turned back to the new Ensign.

"Sorry for that, now, tell me about yourself."

(Reply Travis) 
(Posted by Anthony Struelens)

Stardate:2406.10.03
Keswick steeped out of the terbolift and waked down the hall. 
When he go to Ensign Deme's office he stops. 
~Here we go Keswick nothing to it but to do it~ he thought to him self as he composed him self. 

He Taped on the door and Ensign Jason Dema sead enter 

Keswick walked throw the door and Snapped to attention 

"Ensign Travis Keswick Reporting for as ordered Sir". Keswick handed Dena his Transfer orders 

(Reply Anthony Struelens) 
(Posted by Travis Keswick) 
Stardate:2406.10.03
(Steele Talons - Ensign Jason Dema's quarters - Ensign Travis Keswick - 0852) 

When travis entered the room he sow Ensign Jason and a little girl playing when the little girl sow him walk into the room she ran to him and asked jason if she could talk to him. Jason sead when he was done with me so she ran off to find her friend. 

As Cassandra ran out Jason turned back to the new Ensign. 

Travis smiled at the little girl as she ran out the door. then looked right back to Jason. 

"Sorry for that, now, tell me about yourself." Jason sead as Cassandra ran out the door 

"No problem". Travis said with a smile "May I say Sir you have a lovely daughter". 

(Reply Jason) 

"Well there is not much to tell". Travis said uneasily. "I just graduated from the Academy and this is my first post". he sead hesitantly 

"And I look forward to serving with you and on this ship to the very best of my ability". he said felling a little more relaxed Travis then asked "so tell me a little about your self". 

(reply Jason) 
(posted by Travis Keswick) 
Stardate:2406.10.03
(USS Nimitz - Observation Lounge - SFI/20 - Lt.Cmdr Wilson - 09:00)

John stood in the room alone, it had pretty much vacated straight after the
meeting had ended. He had no spoke for the entire meeting, it had been a
forgone conclusion that since no one asked for his voice or choose to invite
him he was pretty much a third wheel.  John looked at the holographic
interface that had been used for the briefing; the plans that had been drawn
up were splendid however a little too bloody for his likings. As the regular
template for the marines the new MCO wanted to use knifes, to kill crush
destroy. The epitaph of a forgone society, was a conclusion that john had
always drawn. The marines represented a final strike into the future from
the past more violent society.

John ran his hand through the holographic simulation, pausing for a moment
he looked at the trawler and the defiant class ship running escort. For some
reason everything did not add up, if the antimatter was so valuable and we
needed it so badly and the Admiral was aware of this. Why would they only
have one patrol vessel for it?

Once more it was a question that made a cold slab land on his heart, it
would be the perfect opportunity to ambush and attack a vessel making the
52nd look even more criminal than before. The perfect ploy to turn those at
home against the 52nd and turn them into pirates. The USS Nimitz a
previously decorated vessel fighting against the Romulans etc etc etc
reduced to piracy under the Tutelage of LoDona. A worthy blow to the cause,
which would reduce support and vent anger away from internal forces.

John pondered the situation and then noticed the doors swinging open,
turning his head to the side he noticed Onyx coming in. Her familiar
fragrance proved a much more poignant reminder of her presence before she
even spoke.

"Does it sit right with you?" John questioned not turning around, politeness
and formality was not his two favourite words.

(Reply Kateb)

" Something doesn't seem right, it just seems too easy, why if a resource
was so valued would it be paraded with only one escort. With the knowledge
we desire the resource so much. It just doesn't seem right, however with my
standing with the crew and the lack of attention any one pays to
intelligence I shall remain silent as always," John stated resting on the
edge of the table, letting out a deep sigh John looked at the ceiling.

(Reply Kateb)

"I don't know, maybe im getting to old for this," John stated pulling a
strand of grey hair from his head, holding it to the light he looked for a
moment and then let it fall to the ground. "I joined the surface after
graduating university, that is 12 years ago now, out of my class 4 are
captains, 6 first officers and the rest retired or dead. Look at me im a
33-year-old Intelligence officer on a rouge starship fighting a people I
swore an oath to protect. Ahh maybe its time to take a step back, when I was
a younger man I would have protested my demotion and fought every inch of
that meeting to make myself heard. Now I find the echo does not outlast the
voice for long in my life," John smiled, "Ahh the rants of a aging man, its
shocking for me that Sash stated a lot of these people have never seen
combat!"

(Reply Kateb)

"We are trying to convince a new breed of officer that even though you don't
understand the ideologies, the break, the reason we are rogue. We still want
you to go out there and die, best of luck ill sit on my ship in the middle
of safety," John stated grinning. "It just doesn't have the flare it once
did, maybe ive seen too much blood in my life. This intelligence posting
hasn't done much to help, old age is supposed to be relaxing. Im more wound
up then when I was FO of a entire starbase," John stated jesting.

(Reply Kateb)

"Your proberly right, any way on to larger issues. If the crew is relatively
new and inexperienced why don't you suggest running simulations for the away
teams to practise taking the trawler?"

(Reply Kateb)

"The future Mrs Wilson," John took a long pause, the change in topic was
obvious but still uncomfortable. "I thought it was something that I wanted
however after time apart on the Nimitz ive come to realise. I love the girls
they are innocent and kind and caring, im just not sure I love the mother,"
John stated it was cruel words but it was the truth, it was the best of
times that were the worst of times. John was still waiting for the best
times.

(Reply Kateb, Any)
(Posted By Richard)

Stardate:2406.10.03
(USS Nimitz -  Ready Room- CO- Captain Devan Sash- 0905)

Sash swept into his Ready Room with Kestra on his heels.  He sat behind his
desk and looked over at his FO, and friend.  He could tell she looked a
little vexed.  An understatement?  Perhaps.

"Okay, Kestra," he steeled himself for her, "what's on your mind?"

(reply Troi)
(posted by Al Muir)

Stardate:2406.10.03
(USS Nimitz - FO's office - CSO Saleke - 0945)

After pressing the chime and receiving permission to enter Saleke entered
the office and walked to the FO's desk where he stopped and stood at
attention, before she could speak he said.

"Commander I apologize for my earlier breach of conduct at the meeting, I
assure you it will not happen again."

(Reply: Commander Troi)
(Posted by Charles)

Stardate:2406.10.03
(USS Nimitz - FO's office - FO Commander Kestra Troi - 0948)

Kestra had been going over what was said in the meetng and a lot of it was
really useful.  She hoped that the appropriate parties when to the captain
to plead their plans.  She had not heard whether or not they had at this
time.

She reviewed what Saleke had said and she agreed with his assessment, yet,
he had to know when to give it.  At the meeting he was suppose to listen and
do what she had said, but, he had ventured.

The chime brought her out of her thinking.  "Enter"  She said knowing that
it had to be Saleke coming to his appointment with her.  She sat back and
watched as he walked in and stopped in front of her desk to stand at
attention.  She just looked at him with a stern face and started to speak
but he spoke first.

"Commander I apologize for my earlier breach of conduct at the meeting, I
assure you it will not happen again."

Kestra sat there and listened to what he said then considered it.  After a
few moments her demeaner softened as she stood up.

"At ease Lt."  She said as she moved over to the couch and sat down.  "Have
a seat here."  she told him as she patted the couch.

(reply Saleke, any)
(pb Frank)

Stardate:2406.10.03
(USS Nimitz - on way to personal quarters - TAC/ASC Ensign Tom Slytherwald -
1119)

Tom was just going to his personal quarters, when he remembered that he must
work on shuttle.

"Computer, what time is it?"

[It is 11 hours, 20 minutes and 5 seconds]

~ No more time to waste ~ thought Tom

Tom pressed his comunicator badge =/\= Ensign Tom to Zzt =/\=

(Reply from Zzt)

"Captain ordered me to work with you on shuttle."

(Reply from Zzt)

"Well, we need to install remotely piloting module on her. Could we meet in
shuttle bay 1?"

(Reply from Zzt)

"Great. I'm on my way. See you there. Tom out."  then Tom pressed his
comunicator again

(Reply from Zzt)
(Posted by Edward)

Stardate:2406.10.03
(USS Nimitz - Sickbay - CMO- Lt. BigWill Kinkaid - 1325)

Kinkaid had everything under control in Sickbay from the request reports
from the medical staff to the medical logs that kept infiltrating in a coup
de ta manner up onto his desk.  He had thought of everything to make sure
that his Sickbay was ready for the enviable. Then something came to mind
like flipping the switch on a new light bulb; Kinkaid completely forgot that
he was assigned an assistant.  It was not like him to forget something that
"important".

Kinkaid immediately activated his comm badge with a tap.

=^= Kinkaid to Dr. Kirien.  I request your presences in Sickbay. =^=

(Reply ACMO, Dr. Michaella Kirien)

Kinkaid knew that Kirien had a month or two to go before delivery a new
offspring into the world and that she had two children (Elizabeth and
Gabriella) already, but that was all he knew other than what was in her
service report.  Kinkaid felt obligated to get to know his assistant and to
show her the ropes of Sickbay personally.

Kinkaid slaved over his desk that was filled with PADD's that could cause
the warp core to meltdown. Nevertheless, Kinkaid was finishing up his work
as he waited for Dr. Kirien's arrival.

(Reply ACMO, Dr. Michaella Kirien)
(Posted by Nathan M. Williams)

Stardate:2406.10.03
(USS Nimitz - Sickbay - ACMO-Dr. Michaella Kirien - 1345)

Michaella had been resting in her Quarters, when the  good Doctor called.
She had been given the day off to help settle in, and after the night
before's fight with Wilson, she needed it.  Her girls were in   school,
having spent the night out...somewhere.  They said they had taken a walk
with the Captain, but Michaella didn't believe it. Why would the Captain
take two strange girls on a tour of the ship ?

But, Michaella reflected, he was a kind man.  And he obviously had kids of
his own, she had seen that flash of memory when their hands touched.

~I wonder how he lost them.~  She thought to herself, well within her
shields as she appeared at the CMO's Office.

"Lt. Kinkaid ?"  Michaella asked.  "You wished to see me ?"  She refused to
acknowledge him as Sir. One he was male, two he was a lower rank than her,
and three....well, he was human.

(reply Kinkaid, any)
(pb melinda :-)

Stardate:2406.10.03
(USS Nimitz - Sickbay - CMO - Lt. BigWill Kinkaid - 1347)

Kinkaid finally finished his report logging and request approvals when the
sickbay doors slid opened.  Dr. Michaela Kirien seem to be preoccupy with
matters unknown to Kinkaid as she walked in heading for his office. Kinkaid
did his best to make the introduction go as smoothly as possible with a
Texas flair.

"Lt. Kinkaid?" Michaella said with some concern. "You wished to see me?"

Kinkaid stood up and held out his hand in a good will gesture as he
approached his assistant.  "Ah, yes, Dr. Kirien it is so good to see you.
It feels  like it has been an enternity since our first encounter at the
last staff meeting with the captain."  Kinkaid said in hospitalible
attitude.

(Reply ACMO, Dr. Michaella Kirien)

"How are you adjusting to your new surroundings aboard the Nimitz?" Kinkaid
said.

(Reply ACMO, Dr. Michaella Kirien)

Kinkaid realized that his warm felt welcoming was slowly wearing off and he
could see it in Michaella's eyes.  It was as if she was uncomfortable with
either him or something else that was plaguing her mind.  Kinkaid saw
Michaella massaging her belly when he asked.  "Is everything alright with
you and your unborn child?  Is there something I could do for you to make it
a more comfortable?"

(Reply ACMO, Dr. Michaella Kirien)
(Posted by Nathan M. Williams)

Stardate:2406.10.03
(USS Nimitz - Sickbay - CO- Captain Devan Sash- 1350)

Sash had meant to get down to sickbay earlier, but the running of the ship
had managed to keep him busy.  His reason for the visit was two fold.  First
and foremost was to check in with Michaella Kirian, and make sure she was
doing alright.  After spending a good portion of the evening with her
children last night, he had felt a kinship to her.  It reminded him how
lonely he was, and how much he missed his own.

The second reason was more to the point.  he wanted to make sure that
Kinkaid was prepared, both with equipment and mentally, for what lay ahead.
He knew that this mission was not why the doctor had signed on with
Starfleet, but he also knew the need of good medical attention on a boarding
mission.  He knew that Kinkaid would see injuries that no training can
prepare him for, especially with Dorkin's penchant for the dramatic.

Sash couldn't help but smile when he thought of that knife sticking out of
the metal table.  he wondered what it was about his crew that made them want
to damage the furniture.  The Tellerite certainly had a flair about him.

He noticed the two doctors together and headed towards him.  It wasn't until
he had gotten closer and began to speak before he ralized the position  they
were in.  Kinkaid was staning in front of an obviously prone Kirian, who was
laying on a biobed with her knees bent.  Suddenly Kinkaids hand came out
wearing a glove.

"Ah doctors, I'm so glad I caught you togeth..."  he stopped at the
realization of what was going on.

Suddenly he turned his back and said apologetically.  "Oh, I'm so sorry.  I
had no idea you were..., ummm, I'll come back at a better time."

(reply Kinkaid, Kirian)
(posted by Al Muir)