Riding Herd Chapter Three

Tom O'FlaghertyRiding Herd: Chapter ThreeThe sounds of beeping and humming machines was the first thing Tom was aware of. He remembered being on deck 15, just outside the aft torpedo room, fighting with Chris. When he opened his eyes, the lights dazzled him, and then the headache hit and he groaned in pain. “Ah, yes. The after-effects of the stun setting. I was told to wait for that.” Tom looked to his left, groggily, and there was Adili Fuqua, the Deltan nurse, standing over him with a hypospray. She didn’t seem to be all that sympathetic. “Dr. Cooper said that for all the foolishness going on that you should both have to suffer some.” “Good, now just give me the painkillers, nurse.” Tom croaked. “Now, that wasn’t very polite, sir.” “Please, give me the painkillers, nurse.” Tom cringed hard at the volume of his own voice. “This could qualify as cruel and unusual punishment.” “How ironic that our other patient with the same issues said the exact same thing.” Before Tom could protest more, Nurse Fuqua pressed the hypospray to his shoulder and released a dose that instantly removed his pain. “Now, Dr. Cooper would like you to stay for another hour before reporting back to duty.” Before Tom could respond, Nurse Fuqua turned her back and walked away. “This is bullshit.” Chris said from his biobed. “Tell me about it.” Chris tried to roll over but grunted in pain from his wounds. “This is all your fault.” Chris let out a feeble cough, “you and your stupid old crusty COB. Where the hell did you find that old fossil anyway?” Tom sounded as if he was about to answer but Chris cut in. “Wait...I just remembered - I don’t care.” “What the hell is going on around this ship?” Tom asked rhetorically. His head was beginning to clear from the aftereffects of the phaser shot, but things still didn’t seem to be making any sense. “What has crawled up everyone’s ass around here?” “You’ve crawled up everyone ass.” Chris stated flatly. “You don’t show up for most staff meetings or admiralty calls and when you do make an appearance its to bitch about every little fucking detail. And it’s not just me Tom, you’ve been so far up Lebowski’s ass I’m willing to bet that only thing you have seen for the past month is a colon.” Tom was speechless. Part of him wanted to lash out in anger, vehemently denying what Chris was telling him, but on another level, the young captain knew it was true. Then, before he even realize he had done it, the words slipped out, “I have no idea what I’m doing.” “Well, the Lisbet thing is still affecting you.” Chris replied. “How could it not be?” Chris rolled himself over to his side and let out a grunt. “But the bottom line is, you're the captain. And I know, I know, the world may be coming to an end because ‘I’ am about to utter the following sentence but: you have to be able to draw the line between personal and duty.” Tom chuckled to himself before replying, and when he did, there was no color in his voice. “Lisbet left be...because I have PTSD. I have nightmares, and I didn’t want to get counseling.” Chris was silent for a long time. After the near death Tom had taken at the hands of the Xul it was all but inevitable. “Why don’t you want counseling? I’ve been to a counsellor before, he kinda sucked but it was captains orders.” “I don’t know,” Tom admitted. “I’ve made excuses, I’ve tried to just deal with it, but I should have done it. Once she was gone, I was pissed. I was so mad that not going was an act of spite. I was going to show her. But it’s not working, and I’m afraid to go to sleep because I know what’s waiting for me when I get there.” “Tom I am asking you as your friend, issuing you a direct order as an Executive Officer and threatening you with another ass kicking - please see a counselor.” Chris edged himself into a sitting position. “In all seriousness not getting some help with this will ruin your career, wreck your life and cause me a lot more pain than I’d really like.” He pointed to his black eye. “OK, but only after this mission is over.” Tom sat up and let his legs hang off the side of the bed facing Chris. “Deal?” Chris looked Tom over and raised an eyebrow. “Fine, its a deal. But only if you give the medical staff a good show while you find your clothes, sweetheart.” He nodded for Tom to look down. Tom pulled the covers back over his lap and then called the nurse back over. “Let’s get this treatment over. We can get back to duty, right?” Once she told them that it was nothing but a collection of superficial injuries, Tom was relieved. Dr. Cooper came over and regenerated all of the bruises and fractured bones before sending them off with a warning to not do anything so stupid again. Thankfully, neither one of them argued. Later, as Tom walked onto the bridge, everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at him. “What’s the matter? Never seen a couple of human males have a disagreement before?” There were a few chuckles, P’Rim looked confused, but otherwise, no one made any other comments. Tom climbed up to his chair and looked out over the bridge and uttered that powerful world, “Report.” “All systems functioning, however due to structural stress, we can not engage the quantum slipstream drive.” Johanna Mari, as was the custom, took the initiative. “All away teams have reported to their respective transporter rooms.” P’Rim was next. “Sir, the shuttle with Ensign Vimes and Cadet Na’Yot departed an hour ago. They should been in position above the northern pole of the planet, now. All systems were reported operational at last transmission. We also have the course plotted and laid in to go back to Kodana, however, our approach will make gravitational interference difficult, but not impossible to overcome.” “Good,” Tom replied. “Patch me through to the transporter rooms.” When Mari gave the nod of approval, Tom spoke. “Teams, this is the Captain. We are about to begin our run on the planet. You are each taking on a dangerous assignment, and I want you to know that I acknowledge and appreciate what you are doing. Because of the systems we will be using, your time in the transporter may be the longest transport of your life. I know that you can handle it, and I look forward to picking you all up when this is over. O’Flagherty, out.” “Lieutenant P’Rim, take us to warp.” Without another word, the ship broke into warp speed and hurtled toward the planet. The trip only took a few minutes, but Tom was anxious. He knew that this could all go wrong at a moments notice. When Mari signaled every transporter to begin their work, he tightened his grip on the chair, trying to maintain his calm. It wasn’t until she told him that all the personnel was away that he finally relaxed. “Alright. Mr. P’Rim, take us to the edge of the system. Now, all we have to do is wait.” A JP with the indomitable Chris Vaughn*01-31-2013, 10:50 PMKate Black '''USS Atlas Cargo Bay 2''' Roger was sitting on the floor working inside an opened panel trying to replace one of the conduit that was damaged during the last encounter of the Atlas; He closed the hatch, put the tools inside a small box and before he stand up, his badge beeped. =/\= Ensign Mitri, please report to armory =/\= “I dont remember something damaged at the armory”, Roger thought for a while, then put the small box nearby and exit the cargo bay heading toward the armory. Once there, the Ensign saw a security officer standing at the entrance of the room holding a pad. “Ensign, you are being assigned to a team of security heading toward the planet. inside this locker, you will find your gear and a weapon assigned to you. good luck”. Roger walked toward the locker, open it to see a uniform designed for desert environment and a rifle. He fast dressed him self, hold the rifle in his hand and went directly into the transporter room where the security officers were waiting for their commanding officer to arrive. Transporter Room Kate walked in the room, dressed in the desert uniform with the yellow band across the shoulders. She looked around to see where her team had assembled. For the current missions the normal security team’s weren’t being used, except the Delta team, so Kate was curious who was on her team. The team she was going to cross a desert with in search of one of the five power distribution facilities of the planet’s weapon system. She walked to the second transporter and saw the rest of the group was already present. “Ok guys, listen up!” Kate started. She had spent the last few hours to get as much info as she could possibly get on this mission. She wasn’t gonna let it happen twice to go in unprepared. “As you might have heard, we got dealt the desert power distribution.” She looked around the group to see if she got everyone’s attention. “Our objective is to knock out the power distribution facility and by that disabling the weapons shield so they can be destroyed by the Atlas. It’s not sure if the structure will have shield of their own or not. The shield of the weapons itself does not cover the power installation.” She turned to the tactical crewman that was on their team. “Crewman, if I’m correct you’ve got the explosive that will do the demolishing?” “That’s correct, I brought enough to blow up the structure based on the images from the Science department and some extra.” The crewman put his hand on one of the pockets in his vest. “Great, did everyone check their rifle and took enough spare ammunition and water with them. We’re not sure what we will encounter don’t there.” Kate said as she attached the water bottle to her gear. Roger was standing almost behind everyone listening to the team leader talking about the mission up ahead. “Finally i will be able to shoot something”, Roger said to himself. He used to train with his fathers friend who was in the Marine Corps but he never had the chance to join the Marines and end up being in Starfleet. Roger checked his gear and supply; he put extra water bottles just in case something wrong happen down there and all the weapons they have will help them if they are lost without water around. “Ok, any questions?” She looked around the group to see all of them shaking no. “Great, then we’re ready to go.” Roger has no question to ask. The mission was simple, get down there, destroy something, try not to get killed and get back safe to the ship; He shake his head and followed his team mate into the transporter room waiting to be transported. '''Planet of Kadona Southern Desert''' The feeling of the cool clean view of the transporter room was replaced by the hot sandy wind on the planet. Although the special gear used by Roger was meant to help him withstand the bad weather of the desert, the weather was bad enough to unconscionably force him to put his hand in front his face trying to cover it. Roger checked the rifle in his hand, looked toward the team leader waiting for her next order and the path the team will be taking. All Kate could see, as far as she looked was sand. Sand, sand and even more sand. She looked on her watch to see what direction they were suppose to go and motioned the team to walk in the by her directed direction. '''A post by 'http://www.startrekmegiddo.com/forum...ine=1358607895' and me as '''https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-u...anner+Kate.jpg '''U.S.S. Atlas Deck 7 Transport Room 4''' Delta Team stood on the on the transporter pad wearing modified EV suits, sans the helmets. Ana had already briefed them on the mission objectives and they were now engaged in a final equipment check before transport. "I know you've all had zero-g training in EV suits before, but this mission will be different. We'll be in water, not space, so although we won't have to worry about cosmic radiation or micro meteors, we'll have to contend with the water's pressure and its light refracting properties. So set your type-IIIs to pulse and watch your targets. Take my word for it, the difference is like night and day. Any questions?" She expected Jahzan to question her about her fitness for the mission, but it was Meru who spoke first.Wanting to quiz their leader on what she was sure was a very interesting story Petty Officer Meru instead kept her mind on the task at hand and asked."What kind of resistance can we expect?" "Well from what we've seen already, it's safe to assume they have Federation grade defenses and since we're going to be under water, think we can also expect there to be aquatic drones." "Aquatic drones?" Bomber asked. "Advanced defensive AIs." Saarvon explained. "Ascetically they bear a strong resemblance to Terran cephalopods and use electrical energy charges to incapacitate intruders." "Oh, fun." The demolitions expert responded sarcastically. "Don't worry, Bomber, I've got a few surprises for them." Ana said with an evil grin. Before anybody could say anything further, Captain O’Flagherty's voice came over the PA.''“Teams, this is the Captain. We are about to begin our run on the planet. You are each taking on a dangerous assignment, and I want you to know that I acknowledge and appreciate what you are doing. Because of the systems we will be using, your time in the transporter may be the longest transport of your life. I know that you can handle it, and I look forward to picking you all up when this is over. O’Flagherty, out.”'' "Okay, you heard the Captain, helmets on, weapons at the ready." Ana said. Then when had everyone given her the 'thumbs up', she put on her own helmet, stepped on to the pad, before telling the transporter tech to 'energize'. The techs hands moved of the controls and Delta Team were enveloped by transporter beams and vanished from the room on their way to their destination. '''Away team prep. A post featuring Cadet Anahera Chernova, CPO S'Tal Jahzan, PO Meru Luma and, Crewmen Dale 'Bomber' Brown and Saarvon of Vulcan. Collectively known as Delta Team.''' Draka nodded after the Captain's speech, before turning to address his away team. "Alright ladies and gents... we're assigned the mountain power distribution station. We have more then enough explosives to complete the mission and sufficient power packs for our rifles to take on an army. Let's just hope it doesn't come to that, eh folks?", he said, drawing chuckles from the five members of his team. Assigned to him were the security cadets Karen Harris and Jason Loans, both human, Jia Niri, a Bajoran female, Th'lar, a half Vulcan/half human male and Sla-esh, a Benzite male. Each was armed with a standard phaser rifle and sidearm issued from the Atlas' armory. Draka had the armored satchel bearing the explosives over his shoulder, riding behind his hip, out of the way. The team piled onto the transporter pad and Draka signaled the transporter tech of their readiness. Draka prepared himself as the transporter beam washed over himself and his team, soon finding himself on the side of a mountain. Immediately Draka and his team spread out a bit, moving to position behind rocks and outcroppings. Draka checked his rifle's systems and charge, nodding to Karen as he did so,"Scan the area and locate our target Cadet.", he said, to which Karen slipped her tricorder out to scan. Eye eyes scanned the screen as the device picked out the preprogrammed target,"Got it, Sir. Two and a half clicks west of us. The ground between here and there shouldn't be too hard. Only a few spots that might be trouble." Draka nodded and rose, waving them up,"Alright people... let's get moving. The Atlas and the captain are counting on us." With that the six-man Away team moved out, picking their way across and further up the mountain to where their target waited. Kodana Desert The Desert team had been walking through the rigid sand for a few minutes. Kate was walking behind the rest of the team, together with Ensign Mitri. She grabbed her water bottle and took a sip, before asking “How long have you been on the Atlas” Few minutes were passed since the team was deployed on the planet but walking in this desert was for Roger like walking for hours; Even though he was wearing the desert gear that should be providing cooling to his body, he kept drinking water all the time. Roger didn't notice that he was walking behind everyone else until he heard the voice of team leader addressing him. “Not long ma’am. I was transferred to the Atlas recently after serving on the Starbase for 4 months.” “You’re in Security?” “well, I wanted to be assigned into security after graduation especially after recommendation from my trainers but my father forced me to not go into that and I end up choosing operations instead.” “And, regret it already?” Kate asked with a smile. “Not at all ma’am. I do my job as needed and requested from but I always think that I will give more doing something I want and not something I was forced to do” Roger finished the last word while looking into the rifle in his hands. “I kinda know how it is to make the decision to join security for the wrong reason, but I haven’t regret it one day. I choose Security because my mother was Chief of Security before she died and what I remember of her she was happy with her job. I decided to follow in her footsteps.” She took a sip from her bottle. Kate didn't talk about her patent often. Roger had an idea in his head since he joined this away team and for some reason he thought it was the time to talk about it; He looked to Kate directly and ask the only question he was on his mind. “Do you think the Captain will approve me transferring into the security department?” "I think there are options for you to join us. There will change some things within the department after this mission. Me, for example, I'm transferring to another ship." She replied. She had thought about it for a long time, and decided it was time to move on. “Great, I will fill the transfer application when I get back to the ship ” Suddenly, the leading security officer stopped walking and started checking his scanner. Then he signaled for Kate to advance toward his position. Roger hold up his own scanner and started scanning. It seems the team was approaching a structure but he wasn't sure if the structure is their objective. Kate knelt down next to the crewman. "What do you have?" The security crewman pointed at the building about 100 meters in front of them. "According to the scanner the structure is abandoned, but running. It seems it doesn't have an active shield." Kate was happy about the result of the scans, but it sounded too easy. It doesn't make sense to not have such a crucial part of their weapon system unguarded. Kate took another look at the scanner as she decided what to do next. Part two with http://www.startrekmegiddo.com/forum...ine=1358607895 and https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-u...anner+Kate.jpg '''Kodana Western Temperate Zone Lake V'Kar''' It was dark, darker than Crewman Brown could ever have imagined. It was like a lightless, gaping pit and there was no way to tell up from down, or left from right. In the fear, that threatened to overtake him, he imagined he could feel walls closing in on him. And then there was a bright flash and immediate area became as bright as day. He could make out the other members of his team and some of his surroundings and this reduced his fear some. But he still nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard Chernova's voice asking him to 'report'. "Bomber here, I'm five-by-five." He reported using ancient military jargon for 'All's fine', that the Cadet had reintroduced when she'd taken command of Delta Team.Brown was reassured to hear "Doc, here, I'm five-by-five.", "Raptor, here, I am five-by-five.", "C.T, here, I'm five-by-five." and lastly "This is Angel, I'm five-by-five. Okay team, you know your jobs, let's move out." There was a chorus of 'Oscar Mikes' as they all moved to take up their positions.Ana and Luma took the lead as the Computer tech. would be needed to get them into the base. Then Jahzan and Brown, while Saarvon watched their backs. 10 minutes later They were closing in on their objective, the lack of aquatic life telling them they were close.So far they had met no resistance but Bomber knew this wouldn't last. That thought was just going through his mind when.... "This is Angel, we have incoming." Chernova's voice came over his Comm. Brown's muscles tensed and he had to will himself not to panic as his HUD confirmed that the several fast moving objects were rapidly approaching their position. Raising his rifle he took careful aim, but before he fire, his target exploded, the shockwave taking out two of its companions. The he heard Chernova yell 'Urrah!'. Briefly wondering why she was using the Marines' battle cry, he failed to notice an Aquatic drone that had broken off from herd and was now within striking distance.Turning he came face to face with a large robotic squid, it's tentacles sparking with energy mere millimetres from his face. "Bomber, move." He heard Saarvon say. Not waiting to be told twice, he tried to move out of the drone's path. It followed. There was a barely audible sound and then the drone stopped in mid attack as if it had been frozen in ice. When his breathing and heart rate returned to something approaching normal the demolitions expert thanked Saarvon as well as any gods that might be listening. "Bomber, what's your status?" Jahzan asked over the comm. "Better for Raptor's timely intervention, Doc. I'm unhurt." He replied. "Copy that, Bomber. Stay frosty." "Will do, Doc." Bomber knew what they were doing was important, but that didn't stop him from being afraid.Now that the drones had been neutralised, Dale 'Bomber' Brown thought back to when he was a kid. ''"Are you sure it's safe?" Billy asked. As the played in the ruins of the old deuterium plant. "Of course it's not safe," Billy Overton said. "It's an adventure." He made lavish gesture before making his way further into the abandoned structure. Dale just shrugged his shoulders and following his friend. It was so dark inside that he felt like he'd just stepped into the maw of some great sleeping beast. He couldn't see anything, not even Billy, who should be right in front of him. "Billy!" he called. No answer. "Billy, are you there?" Still no answer. "God damn you, Billy. Answer me!" This time he got an answer. A commotion, from what he believed was up ahead. Then a scream that was cut off prematurely. "Billy, was that you?" Dale asked as he got more and more frightened. No answer. "Billy please talk to me!" he called his eyes already welling with tears. Again no answer. Taking a deep breath, Dale decided there was nothing he could do for his friend and although he was loath to leave Billy all alone, he needed to get help. He ran back to his farm and told his father what had happened. Dale could see the man was angry, he'd told Dale not to play there many times, but he didn't yell, instead he got some gear and some of the farmhands together and they raced back to the ruins. Carrying powerful hand lamps, Mr. Brown had his son, lead him to where he'd last seen Billy.'' "Bomber, Bomber, do you read me?" Came the Chernova's voice, breaking Dale from his recollections. "Aye, sir." He replied. "Then why didn't you respond to any of our inquiries?" "Sorry, sir, this eerie darkness is bringing back memories." "Fond ones, I trust." Ana said. "Some and some not so." "Okay, are you ready to continue?" " Five-by-five, sir." He said. "Good let's get this done and go home." "Aye, sir I'm Oscar Mike." Bomber replied thinking about Salok of Vulcan rookie card in his pocket, the last gift Billy had ever given him. '''Darkness and recollections. A post featuring ''' Crewman Dale "Bomber' Brownhttp://i1003.photobucket.com/albums/...psf2545951.jpg with 'CPO S'Tal Jahzan, PO Meru Luma, Saarvon of Vulcan 'and The Vesta-class, with its narrow, spear-like saucer, and rearward swept pylons looked like it needed to be in motion. Her sleek design, so much like a shark, gave the ship an image of being perpetually at motion. For now, though, the ship was hanging just beyond the Kuiper Belt to the Kodana system. Waiting for the Sar’goth to make their appearance. On the bridge, the Atlas’ captain was equally ill at ease. Sat on the edge of his chair, his right foot tapping quickly and continuously, to the point of annoying Johanna Mari. She looked back at him from her position in front with a raised eyebrow. Tom immediately recognized the look and immediatly repositioned himself in the chair and stared at the viewscreen again. It was getting close to an hour since they had taken up their position on the edge of the system, awaiting the approaching fleet. Lt. Solari gave updates every quarter hour on the distance and speed of the Sar’goth. Apparently, he was using it as an opportunity to keep himself busy. Suddenly, Mari almost jumped out of her chair. “Sir, I’m getting a message from the Sar’goth commander. It’s holographic.” “Activate the Holographic Imager, Lieutenant.” Tom straightened himself in his command chair as the image sparked to life. Hovering approximately a meter away from him, suspended between the two Operations officers, the imposing figure of a Sar’goth General sparked to life, his armor gleaming even through the holographic recreation. “Captain O’Flagherty, I am General Kreek of the Sar’goth Seventh Fleet. We will be arriving in the system in three hours when we will expect you to leave. The Sar’goth Cartel is not wanting to damage our relations Federation by allowing you to be caught in the cross-fire.” Tom took a moment to gather himself after the unsubtle dismissal of the General. He straightened his uniform before he spoke. “General, I am afraid that I can not accommodate those demands.” “They are not demands, Captain. We are allies. They are merely the most prudent course of action in such a situation.” “Be that as it may, I am afraid I will not be able to...” “If you wish to join us,” Kreek interrupted, “then, most assuredly, this will do nothing but strengthen the bond between Starfleet and our forces. We look forward to our rendezvous on the edge of Kodana space. Creek out.” The holographic image fuzzed closed before Tom could respond. For a moment, everyone was silent on the bridge. The sounds of the ship started to permeate through the room. Everyone was silent, most not moving from their stations. After about 5 seconds, Edwin Solaris spoke up from his science position, "We'll, that's no way to treat a person." "No shit," Tom growled as he fidgeted in the chair. "What are your orders, sir?" Johanna Mari was looking up at him with concern etched on her face. "We can't leave our people on the surface while the Sar'goth attack." "You're right, Ms. Mari." The wheels were turning in his head at light speed as he tried to come up with a solution. Then, he locked eyes P'Rim, whose impassive expression showing none of the emotions Tom's was. "P'Rim, set an intercept course for the Sar'goth fleet, and engage at maximum warp." "Aye, sir," replied the Vulcan as he turned back to his station. "I should warn you sir, that with the ship still being repaired, Engineeringay not be able to sustain that speed for the duration." "Give me what you can, Lieutenant. We need to by our away teams some time, and we don't have much to spare." Tom settled back into his chair as the ship leapt away from the system at its maximum warp speed. As he played over the events that had led to this, there were too many unanswered questions for the young captain. There were holes that still needed to be filled. The Kodans were never supposed to have this much firepower, and he needed to figure out where it came from. Something just wasn't smelling right. "Mr. Solari, please come with me to the Ready Room. I've got something I need to ask you." ::Main Engineering:: Lieutenant Ayla Cressida looked over the Warp Core from the second floor balcony as it spun up to full power, listening to the heavy hum of mutual annihilation at it’s heart, watching the EPS taps on either side pulsing energy to the ship’s massive engines. It sounded right, it looked right, but a glance at her padd linked to the MSD confirmed they was already a small strain on both the core and the S-I Field, a strain that would slowly build up until either they were forced out of warp...or the ship tore itself apart. Or they fixed it of course. With a few pointed orders over the comm Cressida sent Enlisted and Officers alike scattering throughout the ship, tasks both minor and major to be completed. The ultimate aim of all of this was to keep the ship together long enough to do whatever the CO wanted it to do, which was easier said than done considering the Engineering department itself wasn't running at a hundred percent. Once again they found themselves without a Chief to lead them and the buck had passed into Cressida’s lap again. Of course, she was the Assistant Chief, it was her job to take over when the Chief wasn’t available, she just wished he wasn’t so...severely unavailable so often. Taking her eyes off the core for a moment, Cressida looked over her domain, engineers working to the best of their ability on their respective tasks. A flash of flame red hair caught her eye and the Lieutenant found herself looking down upon Rube and Adina in a deep conversation with a pair of Crewman, the young Ensign apparently trying to explain something using a pair of padds, the crewmen mutually shaking their heads in either disagreement or disbelieve. Her curiosity getting the better of her, Cressida neatly slid down the nearby ladder and strolled over to the small gathering, scraps of conversation drifting her way as she got closer. ''“-it won’t work sir, we’ll blow the relay and end up skidding the ship across at least three plains of subspace.” “-but if you re-route the EPS grid across the deflector dish-” “-ing mad to even consider this....sir.”'' “And what seems to be the problem here people?” Cressida offered simply as she stepped into the small gathering, making the Crewmen jump and Rube smile with amusement. “We’re having a...disagreement on how to strengthen the warp field without compromising any other systems that we’ll need later.” Adina smiled, offering one of the padds to the Lieutenant. “Rube and I came up with the idea of setting up the deflector systems usually reserved for Slipstream to broadcast pulses into the leading edge of the field, in a sense strengthening it whilst actually reducing the power needed at high warp, allowing us to redirect the power to areas that would otherwise have been weaker overall.” “And your objections to this Crewmen?” Cressida offered to the pair as she looked over the calculations and predictions displayed on Adina’s padd.” The taller of the two took a step forward, Cressida noting with a smile that the man seemed somewhat put out having to explain himself all over again. “Sir, what the Ensign is suggesting could possibly overload the deflector systems indicated and leave them useless to us until we have time to EVA and fix them again.” “Which is exactly what we have to do anyways if we want to use Slipstream anytime soon.” Rube put in, pulling up a holographic copy of the MSD in the air between the group with a flick of her wrist, indicating the downed systems still glowing red on the display. “Or had you forgotten that Crewman?” The man pointedly ignored both the EEH and the display, carrying on with his argument. “Like I’ve said, if we overload the systems suggested we could trigger some sort of semi-slipstream event and scatter the Atlas across half a sector of space.” “Unless you make the adjustments I’ve already suggested.” Adina put in, pointing to her own padd, “By setting up redundant bypasses and overload lines through the deflectors EPS grid you not only remove the risk of an ‘event’ but the most we’ll cause if it doesn’t work is a blown part we can’t use properly at the moment anyways and possibly a singed eyebrow or two.” Cressida took another hard look at the padd, sure enough Adina had already listed the possible outcomes the crewman had listed as well as few others. Alongside each problem however was a possible solution and the stats of parts, time and manpower it would take to implement. “Okay, I reckon Adina’s idea has promise.” The Crewmen looked at her, eyes wide, the shorter of the two scoffing and quickly storming out of Engineering. “I’m definitely going to refer this upstairs first mind you,” She nodded to Adina, “This kind of internal work has ‘CO approval’ stamped all over it, but it has my preliminary thumbs up.” Cressida passed the padd back to Adina before turning to her holographic companion. “Rube, set up a roster for the staff and materials you need and get them on standby. If the Captain approves this I want us working on it quicker than you say ‘transphasic warp inducer’. Rube nodded and with a chuckle, fizzed out of sight. Cressida turned her attention to the remaining Crewman, “You can go and bring your friend back here sharpish, if you aren't back in five minutes you’ll both end up on report, got it?” The Crewman’s eyes boggled before he stammered in the affirmative, saluted neatly and ran off to chase down his comrade. “Right, now that they’re gone I’d like a word with you Adina.” Cressida smiled and indicated they should step into the Chief’s nearby office. “What can I do for you sir?” Adina offered quietly as the Lieutenant rested against the padd stacked desk. “This is going to sound a lil odd, and by my standards down right unorthodox but I want you to consider being my assistant...” Adina blinked, looking up at Cressida, before shaking her head and blinking again “Sir?” The Lieutenant chuckled. “You’ve got brains kid, enough to put those two idiots to shame, pull together a plan I hadn’t even considered and to have effectively constructed our new EEH from the ground up.” Cressida smiled before continuing. “Not to mention you’ve helped the Chief out on more occasions than I can currently count offhand with matters both big and small. That’s a hell of a resume for a mere Ensign. Now, the Chief could well be down for a lot longer than before this time, if Command even let him keep his post at all. If that happens, I’m next in line for this office and I want someone to keep an eye on me, keep me straight, true, and to keep supplying ideas like that.” She nodded to the padds in Adina’s hand. “Sir, with respect,” Adina started, “ There are Officers higher then me in the chain of command, in Power Systems alone I can think of at least five.” Cressida chuckled, “I appreciate that Ensign, but frankly I want you. If it helps think of you and me as a separate department altogether.” “The boss department?” Adina offered with a smirk. “The boss department.” Cressida nodded, smiling. “I’m not looking for a yes/no straight away, I’ll give you time to think it over, plus I’ll have to pass it through the XO of course, but please... do think it over.” “Yes sir, I will.” Adina nodded. “Now,” Cressida offered as she stood up. “Scoot, I’ve got an XO and CO to call and chat to and I hate eavesdroppers...” With a smile and a salute Adina made a quick exit from the office, her mind whirring as she headed back to work.... Edward's team assembled in the transporter room. There was Edward, Master Chief Sunday and three other members of the security team. Edward stepped forward to get the show started. “Alright guys we need to get this going”, he said has he puffed on the big stogie in his hand. “Master Chief give us the details.” “Alright boys we got a power center 150 miles into the Arctic region. Intelligence reports that these centers should be lightly guarded but keep on your toes.” “Alright”, Edward stepped in, “We are transporting down 200 meters away and skiing in. Lets move!” The team stepped onto the transporters and beamed down to the planet. The team was suited up in white camouflaged snow uniforms to be less detectable on the ground. When the planet's atmosphere hit his body Edward immediately regretted volunteering for this section of the missions. Master Chief Sunday walked slid up to him on his skis. “Well what in the hell were you thinking volunteering us for this!” “I know Master Chief I read skis and thought it might be fun!” The Master Chief rolled his eyes and motioned for the rest to start down the hill. They skied down the mountain to foot and began to set the plan in motion. The enemy position was out in the open. It was if they weren’t even trying to hide it. Edward could see four guards standing out front. “Master Chief, we have to take them out, everybody set scopes to maximum zoom.” Edward took a breath, then gave the order. “Fire.” All four guards lay motionless in the snow, so the team entered the facility. They entered a long hallway. On the right was a power grid room, on the left there was a main command room. Both rooms were cleared and the team continued on. They came to the end of the hallway and found a single door. It was elaborately decorated. Edward wondered if that meant high brass or possible more. The team breached the door and on the other side was what seemed to be a prison cell. There was one bunk, one small simple desk. On the desk was a padd and what looked like schematics. Edward pocketed them and went back out the room. “Alright boys set the charges and lets get out of here.” The team set explosives in every nook and cranny. The team set the charge for ten minutes and began to run. When they went to step outside the door, PO1 Johnson was the first to step out. Edward saw him drop to the ground. Edward peered out the door and saw the building surrounded by no less than 20 men. The men pulled Johnson back in. Edward shouted at Crewman Bruno to go extend the time of the charges. Edward turned to the Master Chief, “Master Chief, buy me some time so I can figure out a way to get out of here!” Admiral Kyla Farraday paced her office for most likely the thousandth time. She had lost count long ago, and the stress of the Kodana situation made that more than understandable. It was in the middle of her next circuit across the room that Commander Hollingsworth found her. “Admiral, I have a new update on our situation in the Gamma Quadrant. It seems Captain O’Flagherty is going to try and contain the situation on his own. Our sources onboard the Atlas have sent word that there is talk about there being something unsettling to the young Captain and his command staff on the planet.” Farraday stared at her aide in open shock. “What do you mean when you say O’Flagherty is ‘unsettled?’” “That’s all we are able to get from our person inside. Gayth assures us that he did not tell O’Flagherty where the nadion cannons came from, but that his intervention before the Sar’goth arrived was imperative. I can only assume that if he came to any understanding to the systems true origin it was through the independent research of his crew, but that is if I take an overly safe estimate of the Captain’s deduction.” Hollingsworth, as usual, was unflappable. On more than one occasion, Farraday wondered if the young man had any Vulcan heritage to explain his demeanor. Farraday crossed her arms over her chest, resting her chin in her right hand. “I think it’s safe to say our young captain hasn’t got the whole thing figured out. We left too little information on the planet other than Tolain and Gayth for him to put all the pieces together. However, it sounds like this little up-start is a bit of a do-gooder. Get me the list we made of other ships that will be on our side and then we can start making contacts. I don’t want to give this kid the chance to find out what he shouldn’t know.” USS Atlas As soon as the ready room doors closed, Tom turned to look his Science chief in the eye. “I don’t like this situation, Mr. Solari. The Kodana should not have this level of weapons technology. Where could it have come from?” Solari furrowed his brow as he thought. His department had been working on the analysis for only a few hours since they had left Kodana the first time, and there was still a lot left to understand. “Sir, we don’t have a full report ready.” “Just give me a run-down of what you’ve got so far.” “How do you know I have anything?” Solari, who had always been a bit of a jester, let the words slip before he realized who he was talking too. After the interactions he had witnessed in the last few weeks, he was not thrilled with what would be the response. “You’re a scientist aren’t you?” What Solari saw next, caught him completely by surprise. Tom leaned back on the edge of his desk and smiled in a mischievous way that he had never seen before. “You guys are always thinking about something. You are sure to have some theory about where these weapons might have come from.” Solari was speechless. It took him a couple of mouth-gaping seconds to reset his brain before he could respond. “Who are you and what have you done with Captain O’Flagherty?” “Never mind that. Just tell me what you think.” “Well,” the scientist began. “It would seem from the initial analysis that there is a Federation signature to the weapons. However, we only came to that conclusion after eliminating every other possibility. Given the nature of how the Federation views sharing weapons technology with allies, let alone non-member worlds, I believe it would be safe to say that the weapons couldn’t have come from Starfleet. There would have to be some kind of record of it.” “Unless,” Tom countered. “Someone stole the tech, or a member of the Federation sold the tech illegally.” “Uh...I mean...” Solari didn’t have a response to such an allegation. “There is always that possibility, I guess.” “Don’t worry about it, Edwin.” Tom slapped his chief scientist on the shoulder. “That’s something I’m supposed to think about as a CO. Besides, what do the Kodana have that would allow them to purchase such technology? Weapons don’t come cheap.” “That’s where it would get interesting,” Solari began. He was beginning to get in on the deduction, and Tom noted, he seemed to be enjoying himself. “The Kodana have a history of purchasing tech. We can see that in their orbital defense ships which are Karemma and Dosi vessels that have been upgraded with other technologies. Nothing is all that new, or that rare. This weapons system is something completely different, however. It is a large system with integrated power distribution, shielding, targeting and engineering facilities. This has to be a sponsored apparatus. Someone gave them this because there is no way they could build or buy it on their own.” “I thought you were a scientist,” Tom jibed. “Well...I did have some tactical cross-training. I had to step into Tactical when I was an ensign during an attack by a Tzenkethi boarder-raider.” Solari seemed to be embarrassed. “Well, good. Now go find some evidence to support your claim.” Tom started to go back to his desk when Solari stopped him. “Sir, what do you mean, ‘go find some evidence?’” “I mean, you have a premise of what happened. Get tactical to work with your department and find the evidence to support your premise.” “Captain, that is rather unscientific.” Solari looked thoroughly disheartened. “We don’t usually insert so much presupposition into our work.” Tom smiled as he sat in his chair behind the desk. He could see the conflict on the man’s face and understand his concern. It could be difficult to step out of ones comfort zone. “Think of this less as a scientific experiment, and more as a criminal investigation. There is a murder weapon on the scene and our job is to figure out how it got there. That’s where you come in.” Kodana Desert Kate looked at the binoculars once again. There still wasn’t any movement at the Power Distribution Facility. Being in the desert, waiting for the next move reminded her to her first away mission. She was part of the team that was going to recover the Atlas warp core. 20 months earlier - Larkus II ''Katie was looking out of the window. Sand everywhere. How could people live here. That immerse hot. When she was home, she had wished a thousand times for some sunshine. Somehow it was always raining in her home town. But at this time she would do a lot for some rain. 'She and another security officer, Peter Branning, were waiting in the shuttle for almost an 'hour since the others left. After a while waiting they had turn down the power of the shuttle, to preserve some energy. You never know. The only down side of it was that the heat was coming in the shuttle. When she got back to the atlas first thing she would do was take a shower. Only the XO had come back. She still couldn’t figure out how he got his hands on all that money. Or he had friends everywhere or he was one hell of a good communicator. How else could someone get that kind of money together in so little time. It was more money she had ever seen in her life. “We got some visitor’s” her colleague said. Shit, why can’t they just leave us alone. “What kind of visitor’s? Are they friendly looking” “Define friendly, they look very curious to our shuttle” Katie walked up to her colleague to see who the visitors were. “What kind of species are they?. Have you ever seen them” she said to him. “Nope, I haven’t. What is that on their nose?” he said. She tried to take a better look. “Are you sure that’s their nose?” The visitors were walking around the shuttle. Apparently trying to get more info about the owners.“What should we do? Play hide and seek or go out and talk to them?” Peter asked her. “They’re not stupid, I hope. I think one of us should talk to them and try to get rid of them. You want to? “Why me, you're better in diplomatics.” Peter said with a grin on his face. Katie looked at Peter with a look that said more than words. “I wish I hadn't told you that. I knew you would take it against me.” She said while she was walking towards the door. “Please close the door after me, I'll keep an open com-link with you” When she walked out the shuttle more heat came over her as a warm blanket. There were only four other shuttles on the landing spot. None of them had she ever seen before. And she had seen her kind of shuttles and ships on the many travels she made with her grandfather. She walked to the two men that were standing to the front of the shuttle. “Good afternoon, my name is Cadet Banninga, I'm one of the pilot’s of this ship. Can I help 'you with something.” Katie decided that it wasn’t such a smart idea to say that she was a 'security officer. That would make a hostile conversation right away. The elder of the two turn towards her. “My name is Kral and this is Mleg, we’re the pilot’s of the shuttle over there.” And he pointed towards an blue egg like ship. “We we’re looking at your ship because we have never seen such an odd shape ship. It’s completely pointy and straight. There isn’t a curve in the ship. Isn’t that very uncomfortable?” Katie looked at the man and then there ship. Their ship was very small. Talking about uncomfortable. “No, it’s not uncomfortable at all. It is kinda crowded with seven people on board, but it’s not uncomfortable at all.” “You know” Mleg said “you should take a look on board our ship. Maybe then you’ll understand what real comfort is.” “Thank you for the offer, but I can’t leave our ship at the moment.” Katie replied. “I understand, if you want to see our ship, we’re here for the 25 hours. Were picking up some friends. Nice meeting you, cadet. May peace be with you” Mleg said while he started walking away, back to their ship. When the two men were half way Katie walked back to the shuttle. At least we made some friends here, I think.'' Present Time Roger was crouching behind working on the scanner in his hand. Nothing was shown on the screen and even for him such thing was strange. He start working with the scanner by increasing the power, concentrating the range of scan and scanning each area step by step. Minutes later, the scanner beep to show one of the area’s was blocked on the scanner. Roger checked the screen again to verify the output and later on he slowly advanced toward Kate in front. "LT, one of the area near the structure is blocking my scanner" Kate awoke from her daydreaming and looked at the Ensign’s scanner. “Great, that’s something to discover. Are the rest of the area’s secure for now?” "Yes Lt." One of the security officers replied. Roger was thinking of an idea but he waited if anyone of the team can suggest something but in the end it was him to say something. "With your permission ma'am, I would like to go investigate our new discovery" Roger waited to see what reaction he will get from the team leader for his suggestion. Kate looked at him. “You read my mind.” She stood up and signalled the rest of the team. “Let’s go team, we got an anomaly to investigate.” she looked if her weapon was set on stun. “Will you all please check if you’re weapons are set to stun? I don’t want a repetition of last time” The last was more a mumble than normal speech. “Ensign Mitri, will you take the lead?” Roger heard some talk about the last mission of the Lt. And even some peoples warned him of being in her team but until this moment she looked very reliable. After hearing her order to take the lead, he knew that such order won't go easy with other security officers but all of them were professional and will follow orders so Roger checked his rifle and walked towards the front leading the team to the area that are blocking the scanners. When they arrived to the secluded area Kate ordered the other three members of the team to check the surroundings of the area, while Ensign Mitri conducted more intensive scans. “Any idea why that part is blocked from our scanners?” Kate asked to the Ensign. Before he could answer the others returned from their survey. “Lieutenant, everything is clear. We didn’t see anything suspicious.” Kate nodded in confirmation. “Ensign, you found anything?” “It seems this area is covered by an old cloaking device” Roger thought before working on his padd. Minutes later, a small wall vanished to reveal a path going inside the floor. Scanning ahaid, the result show a long corridor leading to a bigger room where the weapon system exist. “Ma’am, this path will lead us to the power control room but I think there are motion sensors that will detect our presence the moment we start moving inside” Roger addressed the Team Leader. “Can you disable them?” Kate asked as she looked in the newly appeared opening. “It is not possible to disable all of them but I will be able to block them long enough for the team to go in, finish the job and go out” Roger finished his analysis and waited for Kate to take a decision. “Well then, go ahead.” Kate said. She took the lead and was followed by the the rest of the team. When Roger gave the signal the the motion sensor was offline, they entered the corridor. Once inside Kate activated the flashlight on her rifle to light up the corridor. After a few meters they had reached the power control room. “Ok, place the charges and get the hell out of here” Kate shouted to the team. As the charges were being placed Kate quickly looked around. The equipment looked so out of order with the rest of the stuff. It didn’t make sense. “Charges are place and armed.” The tactical crewman yelled, so they left the room before she could look around better. Once outside they regrouped with Ensign Mitri. =/\=Atlas for Banninga, we’re ready to beam up.=/\= =/\=Stand by=/\=When they were back on board the Atlas Kate gave the order to blow up the desert power facility. One done, four more to go. '''A farewell post of 'https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-u...anner+Kate.jpg' with the help of''' http://www.startrekmegiddo.com/forum...ine=1358607895 02-23-2013, 02:51 PMD'Rel 1 Attachment(s)Adina took in a sharp breath as she slid downwards through the narrow shaft that was the section of deflector she was working on, cursing as yet another open panel caught the Ensign in her side, grazing just under her ribs. “Y’know-” She stated to no-one in particular, “-if they’d designed the Atlas with just another, what? Two feet of length down here, this wouldn’t be nearly as hard to accomplish.” The engineer closed the panel and carefully pushed herself a little further downwards, turning to face the panel she was after, promptly smacking her head into another open hatch. “Ow!-Fuck! That’s it, first thing I do when I get out of here is find who was in here last and smack them into a few dozen panels, see how they like it when people leave things open for the next guy to fall into.” For a moment, Adina paused, instinctively expecting a remark from Rube, either in person or over the comm system. After a few seconds of silence the engineer realised this was one of the few segments of Atlas that was void of both holographic systems and passive comms pickup. Unless Rube was actively listening in on her commbadge, there’d be no answer from her, and since the time Adina had been forced to put in a few lines of code forbidding the hologram from doing just that it hadn’t been a concern. The thought of putting in the code pulled back the memories associated with their need for inclusion. Of the Academy, of the cute first year cadet who’d taken a shining to her, of Rube scaring the daylights out of him at exactly the wrong moment, acting as a disembodied spirit, and of Rial, laughing her face off as the whole thing was recounted to her the next day... Rial... The thought of her friend brought Adina’s hand up to the earring dangling from her ear and the threat of tears to her eyes. Whilst the counsellors onboard had cleared her for duty after her brief catatonia, the memories of her lost friend still stung hard whenever they appeared, and as usual Adina took a deep breath and buried herself into her best coping mechanism, getting back to work. Several rerouted conduits and components later, Adina started making her way back up the narrow access shaft, making sure that every panel along the way was secured shut. “I’m not going through that again.” She thought, absently rubbing her bruised side as she shuffled up the ladder before her head thudded into something. She cursed, expecting another loose panel covering, finding instead the regulation heel of a Starfleet boot. After a short pause Adina’s thoughts caught up with her eyes. She knew there were bound to be more engineers somewhere in the deflectors crawlspace, after all, she was in charge of the modifications and last she’d checked, Cressida and Rube had assigned at least six other people to be crawling around the dish somewhere with her. Trick was, none of them should’ve been in this exact spot, unless they were either incredibly slow, incredibly fast, or lost. The fact that the boot in question wasn’t moving somewhat suggested the last of the three. “Need directions?” Adina offered, barely suppressing a chuckle at the thought. “No I fucking don’t!” A feminine voice almost hissed back, “I need a bloody push!” Adina blinked, “A wait-what-now?” “A push!” The voice snarled back, “I’m only a foot or two short of the hatch and I’m fucking stuck!” “How in the world can you be-” Adina started before the voice growled again. “Just bloody...Push!” “Okay, pushing.” Adina smiled, bracing her feet and legs against the ladder and crawl space wall she placed her hands beneath the obstructing boots and pushed as best she good. After a few moments of straining, random swearing and what sounded like the scraping of metal the obstructing body vanished with a jolt. Repositioning herself, Adina climbed the last few feet of ladder and peeked her head over the lip of the hatchway, what she saw staring down at her simultaneously took her breath away and made her wish to drop back down the shaft to hide. Standing a good six foot tall in the corridor was, at first glance, the biggest female Caitian Adina had ever seen. That is,until you took into account a few details. Firstly was of course her height, second, her arms looked like she could most likely snap someone clean in two without much effort, lastly, and most impressively in Adina’s eyes, was the impressive combination of long, sharp, sabertooth like teeth and a quad of horns that looked like they could well gore a man if thrust in the right direction. “Um... hi.” Adina managed eventually, trying her best not to stare. The figure did a small double take as she spotted the single gold pip resting on Adina’s neckline. “Oh shit-I mean...sorry about that sir. Didn’t realise I was giving orders...and swearing loudly at a superior.” Adina chuckled as she pulled herself out of the hatchway, realising as she stood up that the not-Caitian was probably closer to seven foot tall, dwarfing her own five and a half foot frame. “Not a problem, I imagine I’d be the same if I’d gotten stuck in there. Speaking of which, how did you-” “Get stuck?” The woman finished. With an almost embarrassed smile she reached up and tapped her horns. “Damn things got caught in one of those open panels, I’d been trying to get loose for about twenty minutes before you came along.” “Why didn’t you...” Adina started but stopped herself as she realised that the woman wasn’t wearing her commbadge. Following the Ensign’s line of sight the woman shrugged and smiled. “Yeah, lost that trying to get myself free.” Adina couldn’t help but chuckle. With a smile she offered a hand to the woman. “I reckon we should start from the beginning. Ensign Adina Wolfe, nice to meet you.” The woman laughed loudly, a deep, almost howling noise of a laugh before taking the offered hand and shaking it firmly. “Cadet 1st Ze’alle Cortez Ravenor sir.” “Very nice.” Adina smirked, “If you don’t mind me asking, which way round does that go?” “My friends call me Ze’alle.” She shrugged, “Or Rav.” “Well then, Rav.” Adina smiled. “What say you and me head to the Mess Hall and grab some lunch? I assume you’d finished your part of our collective rewiring job before that lil ‘adventure’?” “Yes Ma’am.” Ze’alle nodded neatly. “Oh good lords girl, call me Adina. All that Sir and Ma’am stuff makes me feel old.” “Then yes...Adina.” Ze’alle chuckled. “And now that you mention it...I’m starving.” Adina chortled as the pair started down the corridor, patting the massive woman on the back, managing to reach part way to her intended target of a shoulder. “Then girl have I got a sandwich for you...”
 * 02-01-2013, 03:08 AMAnahera Chernova
 * 02-05-2013, 10:44 PMDraka
 * 02-09-2013, 01:50 AMKate Black
 * 02-11-2013, 01:29 AMAnahera Chernova
 * 02-12-2013, 05:21 PMTom O'Flagherty
 * 02-17-2013, 12:09 PMD'Rel
 * 02-20-2013, 10:00 AMEdward Pellew
 * 02-20-2013, 10:00 AMTom O'Flagherty
 * 02-22-2013, 02:05 PMKate Black

Introducing Cadet Za'elle-Cortez Ravenor

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ps2655042a.png Kodana They found the door and Luma worked her magic to get them though it and the airlock.Once inside the complex proper, Ana ordered here team to set their weapons to stun. Now that her mind was her own again, the security cadet felt remorse for the Kodanans who had died by her order. They fanned out in their pairs, having removed their helmets, with Saarvon watching their backs. Strange, I would've expected more resistance. Ana thought before diving on Luma and pushing her to the deck as a bolt of lethal energy impacted on wall behind them, passing though where the younger woman's head had been scant seconds before. The others returned fire while the Bajoran tried to get her breath back which she'd lost when she impacted with the deck. "Not that I'm not grateful for the save, but next time could you be a little more gentle?" Ana didn't hear her, her mind was elsewhere. 'Bajor During the Occupation Jol Tela's apartment' Ana and Tela were lying in each other's arms after a rather long and energetic session of lovemaking. Ana would be leaving to pick up a shipment from Olzark Station in a few hours and would be away for a couple of weeks, so they were making most of the time they had left. Ana found herself falling in love with the young Bajoran woman, something she hadn't let herself do since the loss of her family decades before. "I love you, Tela." she said. "You're just saying that, so you can sleep with me." Tela said. Then looked down her own naked body and in mock surprise. "Oops, too late." They both laughed. "I love you too, Sheya." Tela said rolling over and kissing her passionately on the lips." Bajor During the Occupation An alley 3 blocks from Jol Tela's apartment Two days later 'Ana looked down in to the lifeless eyes of her beloved Tela. The Bajoran school teacher had been raped and beaten multiple times and then left to die alone in a refuge strewn alley. 'The part El-Aurian's blood boiled and she was a mass of conflicting emotions. She'd left, but didn't get far before her freighter's warp engines had given up the ghost and she'd been forced to limp back to Terek Nor for repairs. She'd picked up some wine and chocolates from Quark and been hoping to surprise Tela after work when she was informed that she hadn't shown up for her classes after checking at her apartment and asking her sister, she set off in search of her, eventually finding her here. Ana had exacted vengeance on those responsible, but it would never bring her back and she knew she'd grieve for her always.'' The leader of Delta Team was brought back to the present by an elbow to the ribs. "Sorry, " She said climbing off the Bajoran computer tech and keeping her head down. "No disrespect, sir, but in that suit you weigh a ton." Before Ana could say anything in response her comm sounded. ''=/\="Angel, this is Doc, the hostiles have fallen back deeper into the base. Should we follow?" =/\='' "Where are they in relation to the systems we're here to disable?" ''=/\="They're guarding them, sir." =/\= =/\="Okay, use manoeuvre Angel-Gamma-2."=/\= =/\="Understood, sir." =/\='' The medic said. Ana and Luma put on their helmets and waited for the other to throw in the gas canisters. Gas filled the room and the guards began to lose consciousness. When they were out cold, Ana and Bomber placed the explosives, while Luma attempted to drop the shield and Doc tagged the Kodanans for beam out and Saarvon kept ground. "C.T. how's it coming?" Ana asked. when she and Bomber were done. "I couldn't break the code to disable the shield, so I activated the diagnostic program, the shield is down, but only for 5 minutes max, sir." "Then we best get out of here." She replied then activating her comm. =/\="Delta Team to Atlas, mission complete, but we've picked up a few guests."=/\= ''=/\="This is Atlas, message understood Delta Team, standby for transport." =/\= 'Things Past and Present. A post featuring Jol Tela'''http://i1003.photobucket.com/albums/...ps416dbf17.jpg with Crewman Dale "Bomber' Brown, CPO S'Tal Jahzan, PO Meru Luma, Saarvon of Vulcan and Draka pressed his back to a jutting piece of rock as energy bolts careened into the other side of it, or zipped by overhead. Sighing he glanced to Jia Niri and shook his head,"Things were going so well. One of the other facilities must've been hit already... hence the reinforcements. Alright.. once their power packs are drained split up, keep them guessing and take them down before they can reposition. We'll join the others at the building.". Jia nodded and they waited patiently. First one, then two, then three energy rifles made the whining sounds of drained power cells. As the Kodonians hurried to reload their weapons, Draka and the bajoran cdet with him moved, each heading out from their cover, winding past rocks and brush. Losing sight of Jia Draka had to trust her skill, tumbling past a rounded boulder as two volleys attempted to bracket him in.Draka doubled back to the edge of the boulder he just past, recalling how the team had approached the power facility, avoiding the cleared path to the fence surrounding the facility. They had noticed a flatbedded land vehicle was churning its way towards the facility carrying a dozen Kodonian soldiers. Draka quickly arrayed his team, assigning Karen, Jason, Sla-esh and Th'lar to force their way into the facility and neutralize the handful of guards there while he and Jia handled the reinforcements. The four moved off and Draka got into position with Jia, putting his back to a large jagged boulder he levered it down a short incline where it bounced and tumbles... slamming into the side of the truck, several of the soliders flung from it, knocked insensate by the impact with the ground. Draka caught his phaser rifle as Jia tossed it, the two swinging up and around to open fire on the remaining eight soldiers in the truck. Within moments all but two of those soldiers, and the driver who armed himself while shielded by the truck, were sprawled out on the truck or the road, victims of the Federation stun pulses.Scant minutes later left him and Jia in their current situations, doubled back, heading to the edge of the boulder he just tumbled past he gained a half second advantage over the two soldiers tracking him, having expected him to continue along out the other side. Before they could level their rifles on him he triggered a long burst of phaser pulses at the men where they made their stand behind a pile of rocks. While some of the stun pulses struck the rocks or zipped past them, enough struck true to knock both troops out. The driver, rifle in hand, flinched at the sound of Draka's volley, shifting to track towards the Delian. That, however, left him open to a single, precise blast from Jia, sending the unconscious man to the ground. Just then Draka's comm badge crackled to life.:This is Cadet Harris, building is secure, explosives planted and counting down. Evaccing the facility with the four Kodonian guards we stunned. A couple of singes on Th'lar and Cadet Loans, but nothing that would hamper them.", came the woman's voice. Draka tapped his comm badge,"Good work team.. leave the Kodonians at the truck, we'll bring ours, then we'll get out of here.", he said, nodding to Jia, slinging his rifle he hefted two of the Kodonians up, one on each shoulder, leaving Jia to fireman's carry the driver. After the short trip to the truck the set their burdens down, reunited with the other four members of the strike team and signaled for transport, just as a series of explosions blew the power station to smithereens. ::Deck Five:: ::Mess Hall:: Adina was sat across the table from Ze’alle, trying not to gawp as the sizable woman took hearty bites from a large, juicy piece of meat, her own sandwich seemed to pale in comparison. “So-” she offered, pushing aside her half finished meal, “- which side gave you the appetite?” Ze’alle laughed and swallowed the last of her lunch. “That’d be my mother, my father was a Grazerite.” “Oooh... that explains the horns.” Adina noted with a smile, pleased to have got an answer to the question that had been mildly bugging her since the pair had met up earlier. “If you don’t mind me asking though, how come they’re so...” “Lethal looking?” Ze’alle offered with another laugh. Adina nodded. “Yeah, I always thought Grazerites had big ol’ curvy things, they’re all herbivores right? No real need for sharp and spiky.” “The interesting side effect of mixing Caitian and Grazerite genetics apparently.” Ze’alle chuckled. “I think at least two doctors wrote papers on me after I was born. Far as I know I’m a unique little thing in the universe.” “Well, you say little.” Adina chuckled, waving her hand to indicate Ze’alle’s sizable seven foot frame. “In the grand scale of things I mean.” Ze’alle smiled. “So come on Adina, I told you my story, what’s yours?” The Ensign shrugged and thought about going back to her sandwich. “Not much to tell really, especially compared to you.” “I get that a lot.” Ze’alle smiled, “But don’t think that’s going to stop me asking.” “Okay fine.” Adina offered, stalling for a moment with another bite of lunch. “Mum and Dad are both human, both live on Earth, lil place in Winchester, the real one mind, not the American one.” “Real one?” Ze’alle offered with a chuckle. “As opposed to the ‘fake’ one?” Adina winced slightly. “Sorry, old English thing, I blame my dad. It’s funny in a way, we’ve been a united planet for what, three hundred years now and there’s still sayings and ‘jokes’ dating back to when everyone thought Atomic Bombs were a good idea...” “Oh no, I picked up a few myself, living down in Australia.” Ze’alle smiled, “Just that one’s a new one on me. Anyway, you were saying...” Adina took the subtle nudge with a smirk and continued. “Like I said, both the folks live and work in Winchester, have done all their lives to my knowledge. They had me, and I grew up there until I was old enough for the Academy. Like I said, a dull tale compared to yours.” “You must’ve been around a bit after that though?” Ze’alle offered, “Life of a Cadet and all that. I got bounced around more times than I can remember, always to the small ships though...” “Oh I had the odd ship during training,” Adina admitted, idly counting off names on her fingers. “I picked Rube up from my time on the Kentucky, after graduation I was shipped out to the Ark Royal-” “The Slipstream testbed?” Ze’alle asked, her eyes wide. “Yup.” Adina offered simply. “After that I got pulled back to McKinley to work on the slipstream cores being pushed out across the fleet, before being asked by the Chief to join Atlas, apparently he admired my work.” “Which is saying something.” Ze’alle laughed. “You play it down girl but you’ve been a few places and done things some people would kill for.” “Pff, I dunno about that.” Adina shrugged, finishing her sandwich. “Ah-huh.” The half-Caitian smirked, “And just how many Ensign’s get offered the second top spot in the Engineering department of a Vesta class starship, hmm?” Adina gulped. “You’ve heard about that? Already?” Ze’alle shook her head. “Girl, do you realise how fast gossip spreads round this ship? Half the department probably knew five minutes after you did.” “Great... I’ll probably have every Lieutenant’s eyes boring holes into my head now.” Adina whimpered slightly, dropping her head into her arms. “Hardly.” Ze’all chuckled. “You realise how many you’ve impressed since you came on board? I mean come on, you’ve come up with a number of plans when even the Chief’s had nothing, you saved his ass and reputation at least once...” “I just say what comes to mind.” Adina offered, her words muffled behind her arms. “Seeing as your mind made me, it can’t be all that bad.” Rube offered as she fizzed into being beside the table. Adina peeked up over her arms briefly. “What’re you after Rube?” The hologram smiled, “The work on the deflector is done, Cressida wants you up on the bridge to tell the Captain and supervise from up there.” Adina bolted upright in her seat, her eyes wide. “Wait what? Why does she want me up there for?” “Well,” Rube chuckled, “It was your idea for this whole thing plus, to quote Cressida-” The redheads voice changed into a pitch perfect copy of the Deputy Chief. -”The last time the head of Engineering went up there they had a god-damned heart attack.“ “Oh gods.” Adina groaned. “She also said to get up there quick.” Rube noted as she nudged the Engineer from her seat and towards the door, a smiling Ze’alle in tow. “So scoot!” It had been a strange few days, with tensions high between some of the crew and as Zara settled herself down in her office with an uncharacteristic cup of chamomile tea she rubbed her temples and sighed heavily. Things hadn’t gone quite as smoothly as she had expected after her transfer from the SFMC and she was still trying to find her feet onboard the Atlas. “CMO’s log resume.” She said; reaching for her cup and blowing the steaming beverage before attempting a sip. “I have spoken with the ship’s counsellor who assures me that Captain O’Flagherty will embark on a regime of psychotherapy sessions starting ASAP although he has a strong aversion to therapy. I have no doubt that this will be of enormous benefit to the Captain and, if today’s little shenanigans are anything to go by, it will save my staff and I from having to patch up both the Captain and the XO on a regular basis.” She leaned back in her chair, wrapped both her hands around the cup and crossed her ankles. “I don’t feel the Captain is in any way unfit for duty, but from looking at his medical records I am frankly, quite surprised he has managed to keep himself together for so long. PTSD is unfortunately one of those things that can creep up on all of use in this profession and having gone through the Xul war myself I can understand the horrors of his past.” Zara paused and a frown creased her brow. “Computer halt recording.” She’d been through her fair share of counselling sessions after the war and she hadn’t been thrilled at the idea of having to share her experiences with a desk dwelling pen pusher who hadn’t seen front line action and had no idea the horrors that were encountered during the war. In fact, had it not been for her commanding officer forcing her hand, Zara might well have been in a similar situation; either that, or she’d have drunk herself into oblivion and been ousted unceremoniously from the corps. Zara sipped her tea again and couldn’ t help but think about times past and friends who were long gone. It was easy when she was busy with the daily tasks and duties of everyday life, but in moments of solitude, when there were no distractions or when something brought to mind her old life in the corps it was difficult to keep those memories from creeping out from behind her carefully constructed mental walls and coming out to haunt her. She hated addressing her own past and she knew that other people who had suffered similarly would be just as reluctant to do so. Finishing off her tea, Zara placed her cup on the desktop and sighed again. “I don’t envy you Captain...not one little bit...” '''U.S.S Atlas Deck Chernova/Ward Quarters''' The mission was complete and she was due at the debrief shortly so Ana had had a shower and changed into a fresh uniform.Now she sat in a chair in the living area trying to decompress.The Security cadet may have taken it too far as her eyes began to close and she drifted off to happier times. 'Barisa Prime Walker Residence Playroom 30 years ago' "Two pair, Aces and fives." Ana said placing her hand face up and reaching for the pot. "Not so fast, Anahera." Anzhelina said showing her hand a low flush in spades. Ana smiled her granddaughter was becoming quite the card sharp. "Very good, can I get the winner a drink to celebrate?" "Yes, I'll have a bourbon, neat and make it a double." "Good choice." Ana said and went over to the bar and poured a glass of flat ginger ale, their bourbon analogue, since Anzhelina was only 7. She brought it over and the girl drank it in one gulp. "Smooth." She said acting like it was anything but. "Is no one going to inquire about my hand?" Dr. Cornelius asked. Ana had seen a lot in her long life, but she still couldn't get used to her granddaughter's talking pet Sehlat. "I'm sorry, Dr. Cornelius what did you have?" "Nothing." He said. "I just wanted to be included." They all laughed. "Fair enough." Ana said. "Okay who's deal is it?" "Mine." Dr. Cornelius said. "But I'll need a little help, shuffling and dealing are outside the capabilities of my paws, I'm afraid." "Then it's a lucky thing you're already a doctor ." Ana said collecting up the cards and beginning to shuffle them. "He's not a really doctor, Anahera, it just his name." Anzhelina said correcting her grandmother. "Oh, my mistake." Ana said. "You humanoids, are always so hilarious." The sehlat said sarcastically. "Don't be like that, Dr. Cornelius, we only tease you because we love you, isn't that right, Anahera?" "Yes, that's what we do, I tease Anzhelina about being so small and funny looking and she teases me about the way the father's and some of the older brothers of her friends look at me." "Hey, I'm not funny looking." Anzhelina protested. "Yes, you are my little Angel, but only in the cutest of ways." The young girl pouted and Dr. Cornelius laughed, followed by Ana and lastly Anzhelina herself.'' Ana awoke. "Oh, my little Angel, I miss you so much." She said to the empty room. Then as a afterthought. "I bet you aren't funny looking any more." The Good Old Days. A post featuring Anzhelina Walker http://i1003.photobucket.com/albums/...psc4e76fd8.jpg Dr. Cornelius http://i1003.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3fb0cc9b.gif and '''::USS Atlas:: ::Main Bridge:: ''' After a moment to collect her thoughts, take a deep breath, and get a holographic boot up the ass, Adina stepped from the turbolift onto the bridge. “Smaller than I remembered.” She muttered to herself. “That’s because last time you were up here you were just a Cadet.” Rube offered, stepping up beside her. “Maybe it keeps shrinking as you advance up the ranks.” The hologram chuckled. “Probably feels about the same size as your quarters to the Captain.” Adina glanced around, “Where is the Captain come to think of it...” Rube chuckled, “Busy, in his ready room, last the internal sensors told me. He’s not stuck in that center seat the whole time you know.” Adina smiled and punched the hologram in the arm playfully. “I know that. Still, you find it hard to shake the image all the holoprograms paint... The stalwart Captain, always on duty, friend to the crew, the brave explorer...” “Come on you,” Rube nudged, “Head back on the work.” “Right, sorry.” Adina smiled and made her way over to one of the multipurpose consoles at the back of the room, sharing a well mannered nod with the science officer standing at the console next to her. “Right, bringing up Deflector diagnostics now. Rube, can you start up the components we’ve tweaked, then we can make sure they’re all good to go.” “Done and...done.” Rube chuckled, nodding towards the new collection of diagnostics popping up on the screens before the pair. “Cheers. Okay, Deflector looks nice and stable, that’s good, means we don’t have to send anyone back into that dang crawlspace.” A quick tap of keys brought up another slew of information. “Quick test of the redundant bypasses and overload lines we set up... They look good, send a quick pulse through them from the EPS grid for us will you?” “Twenty Five ‘quads do ya?” Rube asked with a smile. Adina nodded. “That’d do plenty.” The information displayed quickly changed and settled upon a new collection of numbers and figures. “Very nice. Actually runs smoother than I predicted it would.” Adina chuckled with a hint of relief. “You can thank your new feline friend for that.” The hologram offered. “That was her part in all this.” Adina chuckled as she pulled up another series of figures. “Remind me to buy her a drink later.” “Oh aye?” Rube smiled, “What about that cute lil Crewman, Lianna?” The engineer paused in her work and winced. “Oh Prophets Rube, not what I meant... And I told you I still need time to think about that, okay?” Rube sighed and tutted disapprovingly. “Girl, you’ve left that poor thing hanging for an answer for the best part of two, nay, three cranial injuries now, if you don’t give her an answer soon, you’re going to find yourself scrubbing plasma conduits for a month.” “You can’t do tha-” Adina stopped herself before she said something she knew the newly minted EEH would take as a challenge. “Okay fine, once we’re done here and no longer at risk of being shot at from either side I’ll... give her an answer.” “Good girl.” Rube smiled before pointing back at the screen. “That compensators out by point five degrees.” “Ah, thanks.” Adina offered, hands already putting corrections into the computer. A few moments later she tapped her combadge. “Wolfe to Cressida, all signs point to ready up here Ma’am.” “Good, I’ll inform the CO, you stay up there and continue monitoring until we’ve finished the jump, got me?” “Yes Ma’am, staying put and keeping an eye on things.” “Good, Cressida out.” “I better scoot too.” Rube offered, “’ve got a few dozen things to sort out myself.”And with that she was gone, leaving Adina to a collection of figure filled displays and her own thoughts.... Tom was sitting at his desk reading the continually updating report from Lt. Solari. The man may not have been a homicide detective but he took to his new task with an incredible fervor. While Tom was reading the report on a padd, the damn thing updated twice with new information from the Scientist’s study of the weapons on Kodana. It seemed that they results were showing that they were Nadion based, and the targeting systems seemed to have a signature very similar to those found throught the Federation. The more he was reading, the more Tom was getting a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Things were not looking good. Suddenly, his commbadge chirped at the same time he noticed that the thrum of the engines, a sound usually unnoticed during life on a starship, was decreasing. =/\=Captain, this is P’Rim. We have come to rest directly in the Sar’goth’s path as you have requested. They will be arriving in thirty seconds.=/\= =/\=Thank you, Lieutenant. I’ll be on the bridge momentarily. O’Flagherty, out.=/\= Tom rose from his chair and picked his uniform jacket off of the headrest. Securing it as he exited the room, the sentries snapped to attention as he moved past them and onto the bridge. Things looked much as they always did. People were working on their various assignments, no one looking up from their work. Tom had thankfully squashed the tradition of announcing attention everytime the Captain walked onto the bridge. He climbed his usual route to his seat, perched over the rest of the bridge as the holographic communication system came online. The grinning face of General Kreek was as unsettling as the last time Tom had stared at it. “Captain, if you wish to fall into formation, we will make sure your ship has the opportunity to be effective in our assault on Kodana.” “General Kreek, I believe we need to discuss a couple of matters before we begin this ultimate destruction.” As Tom talked, the view screen behind the General’s holographic image showed a fleet of ships dropping out of warp, their sleek designs painting the picture of fierce predators. The General, for his part, didn’t seem to be phased by such a change in discussion topic. “Captain, I assure you we will be confining our assault to targets of military importance, only. We really should not waste our time though, there is vengeance to be handed out to those who have taken lives not theirs to have.” Great, how do you stall someone so focused on the war ahead of him? --- '''Kodana City of Holon First Minister’s Office''' As reports began to flood in of the destruction of the power grid, Tolain had done everything he could think of to retaliate. [I]How did O’Flagherty get people onto the surface without us seeing his ship? There’s no way.[/B] The few defense ships at his disposal had already been dispatched to locate any starship or transport that could have brought these commandos to the surface, but so far, their reports had been negative. Throughout, his generals had stayed close, establishing a war room next to his office to maintain some form or communication. The Golathan strength that was inherent to their superior birthright gave Tolain comfort, though the reports that came from the generals were beginning to shake even that. There had always been a plan to keep him from being harmed in all of this, and as the power went off in his office, he knew it was time to start that plan into motion. Turning to his closest adviser, he tall First Minister touched his shoulder to get his attention. “It is time you alerted our allies. We are leaving the capital.” Offices of the Opposition Gayth had not moved from his office since he left the Starfleet captain and his subordinate to their own fate. News had, of course, come to him that they had escaped the planet, and now he was being told more news. Tolain was losing is trump card. “As far as our sources can tell, the power grid all over the planet is being destroyed by small groups of heavily armed inruders. One report says he say Starfleet uniforms moving through the woods in the Northern Forests. It would seem the young Starfleet captain has decided to cut the legs out from under Tolain.” “Tolain can still run, without his proverbial legs,” Gayth responded. “Make sure our secondary power systems are intact here in the capital, and keep an eye on Tolain and his people. If they run, I need to be able to contact the Starfleet vessel quickly.” “That’s all well and fine, General, but Starfleet regulations stipulate that in order for one of our ships to give up the battlefield to an ally and then engage in an orbital bombardment, these points must be met.” Tom had been trying to stall the Sar’goth general for the last ten minutes, and though there had been some actual details he could bring up to draw out the proceedings, he was now having to make up fake regulations. Members of the crew were stifling snickers at his last proposal which would require a legal decision from three flag officers as well as an ensign on the closest land-based Federation outpost. It was at times like these that Tom counted himself lucky to know Chris Vaughn. However, Kreek was not having any more of it. What had been at one point a very polite exchange, was now fading into an argument. The Sar’goth fleet leader had totally dispensed with his facade of civility, one Tom would have bet money was merely a show to placate Federation assistance. “I can not believe the Federation has existed for as long as it has, or grown as powerful, with hurdles like this that must be overcome. Tom gave a sympathetic smile, “The red tape of bureaucracy moves for no individual, General. ““Then, as I am not a member of the Federation, I will just leave you out of our plans. Helm, resume course for Kodana.” Kreek was one playing this game and it was painfully evident there would be no more talking. “General, I can not allow that. The risk to innocent life is too great.” “I don’t care, Captain,” Kreek interrupted. “We will avenge those who died at the hands of the treacherous Kodana. Tolain will be brought to justice, though me may never stand trial.” The wolfish grin showed Tom that he was not joking in the least. “I can not allow this, General. If you attack that planet, there will be serious repercussions for all of us. My people on the surface could fall victim to your attack, and I won’t allow them to be collateral damage.” Tom put every ounce of steel he could muster into his voice as he tried to force his will onto General Kreek. It didn’t seem to be working though. “If they die, we will remember them as brave souls who perished int he line of duty to a great outcome.” “Fine,” Tom said, but not intending to surrender. “Tactical, target our phasers on the lead Sar’goth ship’s bridge. If they attempt to do anything, blow them straight to hell.” The room went silent and he could see the shocked face of Ensign Rademaker, the substitute Tactical officer, staring at him out of periphery, but still following his orders. Tom raised his hand and pointed at the holographic image of Kreek, hoping his words would help give resolve to his crew. “You better hope to don’t dump your waste at this moment, General. I have a very itchy trigger finger.” “What are you doing?” Kreek was absolutely incensed when he got the confirmation of the Atlas’ weapons lock. “Do you really think you can survive an engagement with an entire fleet?” “No,” Tom replied with a newly calmed voiced. “But then again, I don’t have to. You will most certainly die before you can raise your shields though.” He leaned forward in his seat to let the words sink in as he delivered Kreek his last option. “You don’t have to die today, Kreek. The choice is yours though. When this is over, I will prove that you started this little firing match.” -- '''Kodana City of Holon Offices of the Opposition''' “Sir!” Kalstain rushed through the doors to Gayth’s offices without even attempting to knock or otherwise alert its occupants to his impending arrival. “We have just witnessed Tolain and his generals fleeing the city. Also, we have reports that the entire planetary defense network has been destroyed. Power is out all over the planet from the Starfleet attacks. It would seem the Atlas has been able to achieve its mission.” “Good,” Gayth replied as he ushered his other aides away from him. “Get me a subspace channel with Captain O’Flagherty. As the new leader of Kodana, I need to get this over with.” - '''USS Atlas Bridge''' There had been tense silence as Tom and Kreek stared each other down. Neither of them flinched, or even blinked as one attempted to force the other to back down. Meanwhile, the crew of the Federation explorer attempted to continue their duties, but it was difficult knowing at any moment they might be lead into a shooting match with a fleet. Regardless, the tactical position held their fingers poised over the commands that would obliterate the Sar’goth bridge with phaser fire. Then, an alert on the armrest of Tom’s chair beeped, he had been hoping for it. “Mute the channel.” Kreek started to respond when the voice was suddenly cut out of the holographic image. “I mean it, Mr. Rademaker. If they so much as twitch, you destroy that ship. Now open put the other channel on screen.” The main viewer sparked to life with an image of Gayth. It had been several hours since Tom had looked at the Kodana minority leader, and the image of his species startled him for a moment. He hid his reactions as he continued. “Minister, I hope you have some news, I don’t have time for a social call.” “Neither do I, Captain,” Gayth responded. “The people of Kodana offer a formal surrender of hostilities to the Federation. Under Federation law, we as that you be the ones to settle our dispute, and it is to you that we submit in this matter.” A smile played across Tom’s face as he turned to Johanna Mari at Ops. “Make sure the Sar’goth can see this feed with Kodana as well, and then unmute General Kreek.” The brunette officer nodded her affirmation before telling him he was back on with the General. “Good news General Kreek. This issue is settled. There had been a change in political power on Kodana, and the new government has surrendered to the Federation. Your presence here is no longer required.” “That is absurd,” Kreek spat. “Those little bastards destroyed our ships! We must settle the debt of blood spilled by our comrades!!” “That was the former government, General.” Now it was Minister Gayth speaking. “As the new First Minister of Kodana, we issue an official, sincere apology to the actions of our former, unbalanced leader. We have sought asylum under the umbrella of the Federation, though.”“This is absurd,” Kreek repeated, though not as powerful as before. “We will exact our vengeance from you, First Minister. It doesn’t matter what government there is. When we are done there won’t be a planet left for you to govern.” Now it was Tom’s turn to interrupt. “As the temporary authority of this sector of Federation space, you will do no such thing.” He lowered his voice, adding a sinister edge. “You wouldn’t want the Cartel to loose their position as Federation ally all because you wanted to spill a little blood in the name of self-interest, would you General?” “I will have your head, O’Flagherty!” “Maybe some day, Kreek. But not today. Now, turn your ships around and go home. We will handle this situation and make sure the Sar’goth are remembered for their bloody sacrifice over these two days.” Tom waited for a response. Kreek, to his credit, could have been carved from stone as he attempted to form words. Meanwhile, the Atlas sat on a razor’s edge. “Very well, Captain.” The general spat out Tom’s rank like it was a soured piece of food. “We will give you the field today, but expect no favors from the Sar’goth in the future. “ To his crew, the holographic image added. “Tell all ships to set a course for home, and engage a cruising speed.” And then the image blinked out, and everyone took a breath. Tom collapsed back into his chair, feeling as if he had just gone ten rounds with a Klingon. “Well, First Minister Gayth, now that that is over with. Let’s attend to the new matters at hand, shall we?” ---'''Three days later Earth San Francisco Starfleet headquarters''' “O’Flagherty did what?” Admiral Kyla Farraday, the head of Starfleet Operations, was about to have a stroke, she was certain of it. Her aide, Commander Hollingsworth, was giving her the latest update from the mission to Kodana. It just so happened that it had taken the Captain’s final report three days to arrive as he had sent it via normal subspace instead of the specially encrypted channels he had been ordered to use. Now his immediate superior would know how much he had pissed off the Sar’goth, which meant relations with the most powerful ally the Federation had in the Gamma Quadrant just took a downward turn. “Get me that son of a bitch now. I want to talk to him no matter what. Make sure this is sent Priority Alpha-1.” Holingsworth tapped his commbadge and relayed the orders to the administrative assistant outside. In about one minute the link was established and they both stared at the Starfleet log as it finalized the communication. Then, Tom’s image blinked into view, and they both stopped for a second. “Captain, what has happened,” Tom looked like he hadn’t slept since filing the report, and neither had he shaved or taken the time to eat much. Most of those assumptions were correct. “Hello, Admiral,” Tom began. He eased back into his chair and fixed a pointed, intense stare at the people on his desktop monitor. “We have been dealing with an insurrection. How are you?” “Captain, bring us up to speed and we will get to the reason we called later.” Hollingsworth had his padd in hand to take as many notes as possible while he waited for the starship commander’s response. “Since removing him from power three days ago, former First Minister of Kodana, Tolain, has started an insurrection with the aid and support of his former generals, and many of the citizens that are part of his ethnic group here on the planet. It started after engineering teams began the process of restoring power to the planet. The initial Sar’goth bombardment destroyed over 80% of the infrastructure of the planet as well as many of its agricultural resources. The attacks have claimed the lives of 12 personnel from various departments. I am currently awaiting reinforcements and attempting to protect my people.” Tom sighed as he finished his report. Things had gotten bad quickly since staring down the Sar’goth, but he had refrained from asking them for help. He knew they would most likely just lay waste to everything they saw. It took the admiral several seconds to process the information, and when she did, she remembered that she had something to take care of as well. “You’ve done a good job, Captain. Four ships are in route with a member of the Federation Diplomatic Corps. Upon their arrival, you and your people are to transfer command of the situation to Captain Benton Lowell of the USS Ganymede. Then I want you to initiate General Order 27.” Farraday had hand-picked the four ships, each captain someone she could trust. Now, she needed O’Flagherty and his team out of there before they could cause anymore trouble. If he had followed the orders she had given him, probably a lot of anguish would have been avoided as well as her losing her blood pressure. Now, she would have to unplug him from a situation with extreme haste, leaving loose-ends. Hopefully, she had read his file correctly, and he would follow his orders, as she always had. “Admiral,” Tom began. “This assignment stinks.” He raised a hand to silence her before continuing. “And I don’t mean just the challenge. There is something about this that smells funny, and you are telling me to delete all of the records for this mission from our computer? What about the twelve people we have lost? Are they going to be remembered? And what about the people who have served with distinction? They should get something instead of just a token ‘Good job.’” “Captain, I don’t have time to go over the particulars of my decisions with you. And you might remember that I am an Admiral and you are a Captain, which means I don’t have to go over those particulars. You have to follow my orders, and then just deal with the consequences. You and your crew are to report to Caloris Station where you will be given a new assignment by Admiral Maddigan. Upon arrival, you will receive replacement crew and normal rotations, as well as any maintenance the ship requires. As per your current orders, none of our conversations have ever happened, and you have never been to Kodana, offically.” Farraday gave a long moment of pause as she tried to soften her features, something she didn’t do often. “I promise that the sacrifices you and your crew have made in the service of Starfleet will not be forgotten. You’ve done good work, Tom. Your service will not be forgotten, either.” She watched as the young Irishman’s features softened, and the tiredness returned to his face. “Yes, Admiral. I apologize for my outburst. It is probably just the weight of the last few days affecting me. “ “Nothing more needs to be said, Tom. You and your people have done good work. I won’t forget that.” Making the effort to smile again, Farraday began her salutation. “Get your ship to port, and get your crew some rest. You’ve taken a beating, Captain, and you deserve some loafing time.” “Thank you, Admiral.” And with that, the channel is closed. Hollingsworth, who had been taking detailed notes, moved to the Admiral’s side as she turned toward him. “I think that will take care of it. If not, his next assignment will definitely keep him out of the way while we clean this up.” “I’ll make sure to take the usual precautions. Our people on Caloris will go over his computer with a fine-tooth comb before letting the Atlas out of spacedock.” Hollingsworth’s usually reserved manner changed as a smile crept across his pallid features. “I will do everything to contain this situation, Admiral, but what about the Sar’goth?” “Let the Diplomatic Corps handle it. They can go rot for all I care.”  '''USS Atlas In orbit of Kodana''' Tom stared at the blank monitor on his desk. She called me, “Tom.” That old hag. Beneath the surface of an exhausted Starfleet captain who hadn’t slept in days, Tom O’Flagherty was boiling. His anger fixed directly on the person of Admiral Kyla Farraday. What had just happened brought another facet of lies to the situation he had stumbled into. He had made sure not to mention the findings of Eduardo Solari, who discovered that everything on the planet had been a prototype Starfleet planetary defense system. Though he couldn’t prove who had planted the weapons on Kodana, Tom had a pretty good idea who that was. Now, she wanted him to dispose of the evidence. Tapping his commbadge, Tom delved into his memory of personnel files to see the name of the Computer Systems Division, Lt. George Halloran. He had only met the twenty-year Starfleet vet once, but had liked the way he comported himself from the very moment. =/\=O’Flagherty to Lieutenant Halloran.=/\= =/\=Halloran here, what can I do for you, Captain? Did your desk monitor give you a BSD?=/\= Smiling slightly, he admired the wit. =/\=Not yet, Lieutenant. I need you to do something for me. Are you in public?=/\= =/\=No sir, I’m in my closet of an office. There’s no one else here.=/\= =/\=Okay. Lieutenant, I’ve bee given a General Order 27.=/\= =/\=Really? Do we transmit before we delete the memory core? Are everyone’s personal correspondence to be included in this purge?=/\= =/\=It’s supposed to be everything, Lieutenant, but before you do that, I need a favor.=/\= =/\=Sure=/\= =/\=Make an encrypted copy of all of the data, and put it in an external storage device. History may want this some day, and I don’t want Starfleet desk jockeys losing it.=/\= =/\=I thought that was a lot of data to just dump out the airlock. I’ll get right on it. Halloran, out.=/\= Tom gave himself a moment of self-satisfaction over his moves. Surely someone would look through the Atlas’ computer at some point, but this just wasn’t going to die. It would take time though, and right now he did have a couple of things to take care of. He tapped his commbadge again. =/\=O’Flagherty to Vaughn. Chris, get our people back up here, and secure all the stations. We are going back to Caloris.=/\=
 * 02-24-2013, 03:17 AMAnahera Chernova
 * 02-24-2013, 06:54 PMDraka
 * 02-27-2013, 03:56 PMD'Rel
 * 03-01-2013, 11:46 AMZara Cooper
 * 03-07-2013, 04:35 PMAnahera Chernova
 * 03-07-2013, 05:30 PMD'Rel
 * 03-08-2013, 01:14 AMTom O'Flagherty
 * 03-16-2013, 08:50 AMTom O'Flagherty