4.2 - Recovery

[gracemitchell]

After Harrias made his announcement and almost laughed at the multitude of emotions going across Grace's face in a matter of seconds.

First there was surprise, then a smile with a mumbled "No wonder." Then the one he dreaded seeing, the one of sadness. A look he had rarely seen in all the time he had known her.

Steve had been watching Grace as well, his own face one of smiles. Happy for her and happpy for Zhuk.

Hannah's face reflected a big smile, happy for Grace, but her face, too turned to one of sadness, because she had come to like Grace and would miss her.

Grace still hadn't acknowledged Harrias' announcement. Realizing this she sopke up "I am honored by your words Commodore. I am shocked as I had put in for a change but I wasn't aware it would come so soon or that it would be on the Jefferson."

She paused for just a moment and became herself once again "Well, until the Jefferson arrives we seem to have a mystery to solve. So business as usual, I suggest we heed our captain's words and get on with our work."

Suddenly Grace's face went blank and she began to say disjointed words "TV. Melain. Frek. Danger. TV. Melain. Frek. Danger." Grace was having a vision.

[gracemitchell]

Grace came out of her vision, Jira asks "REPORT" rather aggressively, but Grace knew this was because he was concerned about Frek and Melain.

"There isn't much to report. I saw a television newscast stating that Frek and Melain were wanted and were armed and dangerous. I still don't know where they are, though. I'm sorry, there isn't anymore then that." Grace replied.

Harrias thought for a moment then asked "Do you think they are in danger, Grace."

"Yes, I do. The telecast showed their pictures, which mean's everyone who heard that report could be looking for them. I wish I knew more." Grace turned her eyes slightly to Steve, not a lot but enough that Jira noticed.

[jasonfarsir]

Farsir headed toward the bridge. Once on the bridge he walked over to the engineering station. He tapped a button on it. "Computer transfer all engineering controls to this consul." There was a beep then a few seconds later the station turned on having all information from engineering on. He turned to Jira. "Sir, we should be able to scan past the interferences in just a few minutes."

"Just do what you can, and ensign the quicker you get the senors cutting through the interference the quicker we'll be able to get our crew members back."

"Agreed, sir" Jason turned starting to put in different commands to the computer. He was able to get past the problem of the toxin but the electrical discharges were confusing him. every time he thought he got it fixed the sensors would go crazy again. "crap," he shouted hitting the consul.

"Is there a problem?" someone asked but Jason was to mad to noticed who.

"Every time I think I got the sensors scanning through they mess up again. To be honest I'm starting to think that it's not a natural phenomenon at work here, but I can't entirely put that out of the equation because there are some places in space our sensors just can't work through like the badland for example,"

"so your saying it's impossible scan through it," Commander Stevenson said sounding unhappy, or worried about something which one Jason didn't know.

"I wouldn't go that far yet I just need a few more minutes to think sir." He turned back to his consul. checking and double checking everything. finally he had a theory. but he need to simulate it first. He ran it fifteen times before he decided to say anything. "sir I have a theory. We could put all none essential power to the senors and use that to jump the sensor capability to about two hundred and eight times better then they are now. I make a few miner adjustments to them and it work. There's just one major problem,"

"and that is?"

"If we don't find them in forty-five minutes we won't be able to scan anything cause the power it takes to keep the sensors that powerful will fry them at that time give or take a few minutes, now I can do it but it's your call"

<Tag bridge crew>

[hannah]

Hannah thought about Jason’s suggestion but it didn’t take her long to come to a decision.

“I’ll keep it as a last resort, I’m not ready to blow out the sensors yet we may need them,” Hannah informed him, “Keep working on the problem.”

“Understood,” Jason said turning back to his station.

They were in orbit of a planet full of criminals and if they blew out there sensors they would be in a very valuable position until they were fixed and being a former engineering that could take several hours depend on how badly they blew them out.

Hannah turned back her attention back to the pad in her hand and looked though it again. It was the list of people the emissary had sent to her and she was trying to slim it down further to find her crewmembers, but wasn’t having much luck.

Her mind wandered back to Jira’s announcement about Grace first officer’s position, she felt sad about losing a friend, but was glad that she had got promoted. She made a mental reminder to congratulate Grace when they got a free moment.

[gracemitchell]

ooc: I think it should be pointed out that we as yet do not know that it is Frek and Melain we are here to pick up. All we know is that we have assests to pick up, who we are waiting to get a signal from. I am only getting visions of Frek and Melain but, I don't know where they are.

Grace knew she would not get an answer from Steve. As annoying as it was, she knew he was good at his job and pressing him wouldn't be fair. She would just have to wait and hope she had an answer before she left the ship.

With that last vision on her mind, Grace excused herself from the bridge and went to her office to tidy it up and collect her personal belongings. Then she went to her quarters to pack some things there. She looked at her antique range and refridgerator, and started to remember some happy times she has had cooking on the Nevada for her friends. The last meal she had prepared for Lani, Cyle and her.

Grace decided to go say some personal good-byes, so she went in search of Cyle first. She was going to save Lani for almost last. Grace knew she would probably not be able to say good-bye to Melain or Frek. She would make both of them a video message saying goodbye and hoping they would see each other on the SBA. "After Cyle, I'll go say goodbye to Nick, then oh the list was getting too long, Grace thought to herself. "Pretty much everyone I meet, I need to say goodbye to. Hazard of the job I suppose. Time to get to it."

"But first on my list is Cyle" She said outloud, then left her quarters to find him.

[Zhukarak Hrisvalar]

.:Bridge, USS Jefferson:.

"Captain! I have the Nevada on long-range sensors now." Matt Reynolds had reported as he was asked when they were in range. Zhukarak was still not used to being called 'Captain', as it was customary for the Commanding Officer of a vessel, regardless of rank. A quick smile ran across his face before he replied back.

"Acknowledged, Commander Reynolds. Send them a message that Commander K'Vada and myself will beam over when we are in range. Commander Johnson, bring us to within 1000 meters, matching their orbit."

Zhukarak noticed the questioning look on Sam, his new counselor, wondering why he was offered to board the Nevada along with him. "Counselor, I thought that you might want to meet a fellow counselor right away, and possibly some old friends of yours. I understand that you have quite a history in S47."

Sam appreciated the gesture, and together they waited until the Jefferson was in a parallel orbit with the Nevada. While the humanoids had to wait, Theel'zhiin was not limited to this inconvenience. As soon as he heard that the Nevada was within long-range sensors, he quickly let Zhuk know of his intentions and disappeared from sight. Zhuk simply smiled as his friend left to get a head start.

During the few thousandths of a second it took for Theel'zhiin to go 'between', the firelizard sought out the particular brain waves that were unique to Grace. It helped that she was a telepath, making it easier to seek her out. Once he had done so, he was able to notify Grace that he was on his way. Of course it wasn't as simple as that. The notification to Grace was received as a tickle in her mind, but due to her friendship and past relationship with Theel'zhiin, she knew immediately what it meant and would not be startled at his arrival.

Theel'zhiin reappeared from 'between' to land onto Grace's shoulder. Grace reached on up to lift Theel'zhiin off in order to give him a welcoming hug. Theel'zhiin cooed at her caresses and settled calmly into her arms. "Yes, it's great to see you as well." Grace continued with her objective, but now with a bit more urgency as she knew that there wasn't much time left.

[gracemitchell]

Grace had said some personal goodbye, made video messages to Melain, Frek and Massally, and had just finished downloading her holoprogram's to a PADD.

She copied her Basketball and Hockey programs to her PADD. She wanted to leave those two intact in the computer for the crew to hopefully enjoy.

Grace was in her quarters finishing up her packing when Theel'zhiin appeared from 'between', but Grace had know he was coming from his tickling her mind. Grace reached on up to lift Theel'zhiin off in order to give him a welcoming hug. Theel'zhiin cooed at her caresses and settled calmly into her arms. "Yes, it's great to see you as well. Are you going to stay here with me while I finsh?"

Theel'zhiin responded in his usual manner with a resounding yes. He perched himself on Grace's shoulder again, while she continued the last of her packing. Finally everything was ready to go, it was time to go to the bridge.

Grace had said a very tearful goodbye to Lani, they both hoped to connect at SBA at a future time, same with Cyle and a number of other crew with promises of keeping intouch via letters. There was just the bridge personnel left for Grace to say goodbye to. Grace started to feel really sad about leaving. Theel'zhiin was picking up her sadness and begun to have sad feelings too, but Grace assured him it is okay for her to be sad to leave but happy to start a new adventure.

Grace stepped on the bridge, Harrias and Steve both saw Theel'zhiin on her shoulder. Harrias said with a smile "I see we have a visitor. That must mean that the Jefferson isn't very far away."

"Yes, the Jefferson is very close. I think I have everything ready. You never realize how much stuff you have until you have to pack it." Grace said with a sigh. "Commodore, if I could have a few words with you alone before the Jefferson gets here."

"Alright, Grace. Let's go to my ready room." Harrias suggested.

In her mind Grace asked Theel'zhiin to remain on the bridge and she would be back shortly. He did as she requested. Grace and Harrias

As they entered the ready room, Harrias asked "I know you didn't ask for a private moment to say goodbye, Grace. What's on your mind?"

"I am sensing a large amount of worry from Steve. I think, this picking up some assests from the planet is on a more personal level with him then he can or will admit. I think they are friends of his. I have tried to get him alone to talk about it without divulging who it is but he won't have it. Which leaves me to feel there is more here then meets the eye."

"Do you want me to talk to him about it, I'm not much of a counselor, Grace." Harrias asked.

"I don't think he would, he was in intellegence too long to give up information voluntarily. Perhaps if we, I mean the crew double their efforts, the assest can be located that much sooner. Which means the Nevada can get closer to finding out where Frek and Melain are. My visions about them concern me quite a bit. I would like to see them again, alive."

Harrias thought for a moment "Very well, Grace I will heed your words. Perhaps, Steve will give more information, but probably not until you are gone. If you have any more visions about Frek and Melain, will you let me know?"

"Only if there is something worth reporting, like where they are or if they contact me themselves. I won't use my telepathy as I have promised I wouldn't."

"Before we go back on the bridge, Grace, I just want to say goodbye." Harrias walked over to Grace and gave her a big hug. Whichmade her cry, it was the first time he had initiated a hug with her. She hugged him back. Then they released and went back to the bridge.

On the bridge, Hannah reported that the Jefferson was hailing them.

[Zhukarak Hrisvalar]

Hannah continued to relay the message that had been sent. "Colonel Hrisvalar and Commander K'Vada are beaming over, sir."

When Zhukarak opened his eyes, it had appeared as if they had never left their transporter room. The only clue was the transporter chief, he was a Nevada crewmember eluding to the fact they they were indeed on the Nevada, their sister ship in the fleet.

Zhuk and Sam stepped down from the pad and proceeded to navigate their way to the bridge. There were a few familiar faces along the way, who in turn would stop and welcome their former First Officer back on-board the Nevada.

Once they had reached the bridge, they had met up with Harrias and Grace, and the rest of the bridge crew that was present. Zhuk and Harrias shook each others hands like old friends, while Grace looked on with joy.

"Commodore."

"Captain. I bet you haven't gotten used to the sound of that yet, have you?"

"It's true. Still getting used to it. This is Commander Sam K'Vada. He's the Jefferson's Counselor. This is Captain Jira and Commander Mitchell, Counselor of the Nevada."

Harrias interjected quickly. "Correction, she is your First Officer now, which I still can't believe I'm letting you take her."

"As you have told me before I left, 'We all have to move on'."

[gracemitchell]

Grace turned to Zhuk and said "Hi Zhuk, I mean Hello Captain! I"m going to have to get a little more formal then I am used to. This could be very difficult for me.

Grace then turned to Sam and said "Hello Commander. It's a pleasure to meet you, at last. I have heard of your exploits through the years. Some of what I have read is fascinating. We'll have to compare notes."

Sam replied "My wife and I are planning a little dinner party. We just joined the ship and we have 2 other new officers. My wife and I thought it could be a good way to get to know each other."

"If you are inviting me, I would be delighted." Grace responded.

[gracemitchell]

While Grace was speaking with Sam, Theel'zhiin glided over to Zhuk's shoulder.

Harrias started to chuckle "If your not careful, Zhuk, you may loose Theel'zhiin. He seems to be quite attached to Grace."

Zhuk laughed outloud "I think he is going to find competition on the Jefferson. There are a number of fire dragons there."

At this point Steve spoke up "Colonal, good to see you again!"

"Sorry, Commander, I didn't see you at first. Glad to see you up and around. You seem fit enough to me now. Oh, allow me to introduce you to Commander1sTC Sam K'Vada. Sam, this is Commander Steve, worked in intellegence and a former FO on the Nevada."

The way Sam and Steve greeted each other led Grace to think they already knew each other.

off: doing my part o get to another page!

[Deleted]

News of an old friend reached Cyle's ear. "Zhuk is on board?!" Cyle said as he jumped up from his desk, after wroking on different teams to take to the planets surface, depending on the situation.

He left the PADDs and practically ran to the bridge, bumping into a few people aolong the way. He slowed just before he reached the door and watched as it opened. Cyle stepped on the bridge and smiled as Zhuk looked over at him. "well, you've sure changed" Zhuk noted. "Well, throwing rocks at zombies changes a guy"

<tag Zhuk>

[Zhukarak Hrisvalar]

It was good to see old some of the familiar faces. There were a couple that were missing however.

"Commodore, where are Frek and Lorre?"

"They are on special assignment for S47. I don't know any more than that. You'll have to catch up with them whenever we are all back at SBA."

It was unfortunate that he couldn't say hello to them. Such was life in Starfleet.

"That will be awhile for us. It looks like we'll be underway for at least another month. Speaking of which, we'd love to stay a bit longer but we must really get going."

Just then, the turbolift doors opened and a young marine came stumbling in, it was Cyle Johnson. Cyle stepped on the bridge and smiled as Zhuk looked over at him. "well, you've sure changed" Zhuk noted. "Well, throwing rocks at zombies changes a guy" They shook hands, and Zhuk was proud to see that this young marine had gained some experience and matured quite a bit. Zhukarak initiated a salute which Cyle returned in kind. Final goodbyes were said all around. Grace couldn't help but become all teary eyed. It was a happy sadness for all.

They left the bridge and made their way to the transporter room for their return to the Jefferson with one new crewmember...Grace.

[gracemitchell]

Grace couldn't help the tears falling down her face as she took a last look a the briidge of the Nevada. She saw the current occupants plus a few past friends. As she entered the turbolift she said one word, "Goodbye!" then the doors closed.

Grace was off to a new adventure and a new chapter in her book of life.

[jasonfarsir]

Right as Grace said "goodbye" Jason turned toward the turbolift to say bye to her but the doors closed faster then he expected. He returned to work.

After trying everything else he was about give up until he realized he was trying to fix the problem by adapting the system to was going crazy. He tried another idea. weapons, a phaser blast with the same amount of negative electrons should neutralize it. he turned toward everyone else. "Sir, I think I have an idea, if we can set up a quick burst of phaser power we can neutralize the storm, or at the very least give us a gap in it we can scan threw, all we have to do is modify the ships phasers a little bit"

"it's better then frying the sensors," commander Stevenson commented. There was a short pause then the order came "modify the phasers and fire immediately,"

Jason walked up to the tactical officer "I sure hope this works like I hope,"

<tag everyone else>

[fthelev]

"We'd better go, now everyone is going to be looking for us. What I would do right now for an orange skin," Melain sighed, feeling as if she stood out like a peacock in a hen house.

Frek looked at Melain trying to picture her with an orange skin.
“Hehe,” he giggled, “You would look like a tangerine in a Starfleet uniform.”
A firm punch landed upon his upper arm.
“Ow! Hey!” Frek hissed and rubbed his arm. That could make a nasty bruise. “I think you already look great now, no need to change colour.”
Melain smiled invisibly in the shadows. “At least it would make us stand out a little less.”
She checked her PADD again. “Now come on, let’s go. We are almost there.”

Increasing their step they left the newsstand behind. The discolouration of the sky in the east was becoming more and more visible, but it still would be a good half hour before dawn would really set in. And with a little luck, and they could use some luck at this moment, they would be safe onboard the east bound train. Or west bound. To be honest he couldn’t care less in what direction, as long it was far away from here.
He glanced over his shoulder. The screen at the newsstand was displaying their picture again. He did look good on screen. If he got out of this one in one piece, perhaps he could get into the entertainment industry. And if he didn’t got out of this whole thing in once piece, well, if they accepted one armed, one legged or one antenna-ed Andorians, no harm done. That is not considering the loss of the limb of course.

The scenery had changed. From beautiful parks with lush vegetation to cellars with lush vermin and streets with lushy locals to, through dirty tunnels, their now rickety apartment. By now they had left a street behind lined with buildings in a desperate state of disrepair, among them the newsstand. They found themselves surrounded by structures that clearly once upon a time ago fulfilled the universally accepted useful role as storage facility. There was no way of telling if they were still in use. Store something in there and there was a good chance you would have to dig up your belongings from underneath a pile of rubble. Collapse was not something that was far around the corner. In fact, around the corner something indeed had collapsed. It was another chance of scenery.

The, what some might call historical, others dilapidated, buildings had been torn down. Or perhaps they had come down by themselves. Whatever it was it was not important. What was important was that they had reached they destination. The old warehouses had made place for something more modern.
From underground tunnels trolleys were feeding the transhipment area with cargo. It was a huge state of the art area, buzzing with movement. Literarily. Despite all the busyness there was no immediate sign of life. Like most industrial and transhipment areas from the past few hundred of years it was mostly fully automated. All machines happily humming and buzzing away. In coming cargo was sorted and send off to their next destination or simply put in storage, waiting for their turn to continue the journey.

“Doesn’t look too hard to get on one of those trains,” Frek commented. Quite easily Melain and Frek had managed to get to the periphery of the transhipment area. Both crouched down in the middle high grass they observed the terrain.
“But there are only a few closed carriages,” Melain observed, “We can hardly climb on a container and hope for the best.” She was right. Most of the carriages were nothing more than flat anti-gravitation panels on which the containers could be secured. Only a few of them, probably meant for general cargo, smaller boxes and such, were closed. And they needed to get into one of those.
“There,” Melain pointed.
Frek followed her arm. It guides his eyes to a train. They just started to load it, but by the looks of it, it would last long before it would be ready to depart. The first few carriages behind the one providing the thrust were all closed.
He nodded, understanding what she meant. “We might make it in time.” He studied the area and then stretched his arm. “If we go through there and there,” he pointed, “I think we can make it unseen and in time…”
He paused and grinned. “…That is, if we don’t stop to buy a ticket.”
“We won’t need one,” Melain replied, a glister in her eyes. “Shall we?”

They made it, and in time. Barely had they crawled into the wagon when the side panels closed leaving them in the dark. It only lasted for a few seconds, almost immediately after the door closed a small orange-red light flickered on spreading a dim glow throughout the interior.
Frek examined the contents of the carriage. Mostly rectangular boxes, the same size you would find on starships to store small cargo, about one and a half metre wide and high and two long. The space was only half filled.
“Wonder what’s in it,” Frek said. Perhaps food, he was getting hungry.
“Can you open one?” Melain asked.
Frek shook his after a brief inspection. “They are locked. Unless you have the authorisation codes to open them of course.”
He tried to lift one, but there was no way he could move it. Perhaps the contents were really heavy, but it was more likely they were somehow secured. Could be magnetically.
Inhaling deeply he rubbed his face and let himself slide to the floor, his back to one of the crates.

“How fast you think this thing will go?” Melain asked.
Frek shrugged he was hardly what you could call a train expert. “Dunno,” he said if it goes through a vacuum tunnel it can…”
“Oh my god!” he wailed. He shot back up suddenly realising what he had just said.
Melain stared at him with raised eyebrows, an expression that said ‘what?’
Propel a train through a vacuum tube and you take away the air resistance, thus reducing the draft to zero. Very energy efficient and very fast and very…
They should have checked it. “If this thing goes into a vacuum tube,” Frek said, “If we go into a vacuum…well, that would be the end of dear us.”
Melain remembered. Sudden decompression was something she had heard before. “They taught us about sudden vacuum exposure at med school,” she said, “Because of the pressure difference between the inside and the outside of our bodies our blood might boil, we swell up and our eyes…”
“Melain?” Frek said politely.
“Yes?” She stopped her recital.
“I get the mental picture!”

A shock and a shiver went through the train. It had set itself in motion.
In the dim orange-red light of the carriage Melain and Frek looked at each other. Neither of them particularly overjoyed and in happy-happy mode. Strangely enough, the only thing going through his mind at that moment was that Melain indeed had the colour of an overripe tangerine in the light spread by the only source of illumination.
“What now?” Melain’s softly spoken question immediately brought him back to reality.
Slowly he shook his head. The wagon was sealed, no way of getting off now.
He crawled over next to her and grabbed her hand.
“Hope for the best?” he suggested. Perhaps it was a bit lame, but it was the only thing he could think of at the moment. He could feel his mouth dry and his heart doing some overtime.

Effortless the train glided away from the loading area. Inside Melain and Frek could feel the train’s movement. Still slow, and every now and again a curve. Another little shock and they could feel the train stop. An airlock?
Frek held his breath. His heart decided to go into turbo-mode. Being blown up like a balloon and then explode was not exactly his favourite way to go.

Then, suddenly, they were shoved over the floor of the compartment. In what could be considered an unsubtle manner he could feel himself getting smacked into the crates on the other side of the carriage. The acceleration was enormous. Perhaps no vacuum tunnel, but still. It was one of the other things they neglected to put on a fully computer controlled train. Inertial dampeners. It lasted for what seemed an eternity, although it could not have been more than two minutes as at most. When the train finally stopped its acceleration, reaching its cruise speed, Frek finally managed to move again.
“You okay?” It came from Melain, crumpled into some boxes a metre or so away. It was more a groan than a question.
“Yeah, I’m alright.” They were not dead, that compensated the nice collection of bruises.
The air escaped his lungs with a deep sigh, and his heart had decided that overtime was too tedious to continue and was trying to force itself to calm down.
“That was one ride,” Melain giggled.
“You won’t find it in any amusement park,” Frek agreed.

Frek positioned himself a bit more comfortably and closed his eyes for a moment. He could hear Melain rumble around a bit.
“You want something?” She asked unpacking some of the food.
“Hmm?” It was not really an answer, but it was the best he could do. Sleep was something he was rather short of. He didn’t got any last night and the night before, when they stole back the data, wasn’t exactly a sleeping marathon either.
Melain said something, perhaps she repeated her question, but to him it was all a fading sound. How hungry he was, sleep had won. Soon he was oblivious of all things around him, as he sank into a deep sleep.

(10628/90980)

[Deleted]

As the door closed to the rail car Melain let out a sigh of relief. Finaly it felt like they where going to get out of this in one piece. There was a large amount of space still available, so for a moment Melain feared that the car was not yet full and that crates might still be arriving. But then the door shut, and she knew it was as full as it was going to be. Melain sat down on one crate, relishing a chance to catch her breth. They could catch up on some sleep here, after all there was nothing else to do. Frek was puttering about, muttering something about food. “Can you open one?” Melain asked, she was curiose about what might be inside, maybe there would be something they could use.

“They are locked. Unless you have the authorisation codes to open them of course.” Frek replied as he tried to lift one. It was either too heavy, or magneticly sealed to the floor. Hopefully the latter since then they would not need to worry about dodging the moving crates once the train started.

“How fast do you think this thing will go?” Melain asked, she knew very little about this type of transport.

“Dunno, if it goes through a vacuum tunnel it can…” Frek stopped, his eye’s widdened. “oh my god!”

Melain suspected her comrad had no ‘gods’ however she immediatly understood what he was getting at. ‘What?” she asked, the air seemed to fill with tension.
“If this thing goes into a vacuum tube,” Frek said, “If we go into a vacuum…well, that would be the end of dear us.”

“They taught us about sudden vacuum exposure at med school,” she said, “Because of the pressure difference between the inside and the outside of our bodies our blood might boil, we swell up and our eyes…”
“Melain?” Frek said politely.
“Yes?” She stopped her recital.
“I get the mental picture!”

Melain began to shake uncontrollably. She’d faced death before, in fact she had yet to meet a StarFleet Officer who had not, but those had rarely, if ever been something she had known about in advance. The compartment began to feel less like shelter, and more like a cage. She slid off the box and on to the floor, massaging her face as if to wake herself from a bad dream. She was not ready for this, there was a great deal more for her to do, too much for the Prophets to call her away already. The Train began to move. Melain, expecting sudden pain, clenched her teeth and eyes. She felt acceleration and slid across the floor, but nothing else. It was like someone as teasing them, enjoying seeing them wait for something that might never come. he ws now being pressed by an invisible force against the back of the compartment, a few meters away Frek was in the same situation. Then gradually the train settled into cruise speed. “You okay?” Melain mumbled automatically.

‘yeah I’m alright.” Frek replied. Melain felt a wave of relief as she realised there was no danger. She began to laugh, feeling somewhat foolish for getting so concerned in the first place.

Remembering Frek’s quest for food earlier she searched for her bag and looked for the food she had grabbed from the Kitchen. She found some sort of jerky which looked promising, “Here, eat this.” But Frek had fallen asleep.

Deciding he must not be that hungry, Melain chewed on the jerky herself, wondering if letting herself doze off would be a good or bad idea. Deciding it would probably be a bad idea, she instead took out a PaDD she had packed, one she had purchased a week prior and read the novel it contained. She was on the second chapter through when she felt an invisable force pull her toward the front of the compartment, they where slowing down, but had only been half an hour at most, surely they where not at their destination yet? She grabbed one of the boxes to stop herself. From where he was laying Frek let out an annoyed groan as he slid across the floor. He managed to avoid most of the boxes, but one met him head on. The train stopped. “That sounded painful.” Melain commented, she grabbed her med kit and headed over, probably a goosebump, nothing more. ‘I wonder why we stopped?”

Any answer Frek planned to give was overcome by a load creaking noise as the door opened and the compartment flooded with light. Melain raised her hand to shade her eyes and saw the sillouete of two Tammarons, one held a PaDD and seemed to be checking it over. “Five replicators, three power cells, six type one phasers... what in the??!!”

“You’ve got some stowaways BIenet, how much for them?” The other man asked. Melain realised he held a phaser, which he pointed her way. Melain looked over to where Frek’s and her phasers had slid, out of reach.

“By the forefathers, I don’t need this today... The paper work alone!” Blenet raved. “Take them off my hands, don’t mention it to anyone where you got them and I will let you have them for free. I’ll even call some of my men to help you get them back to your compound.”

Apparently neither men watched the news, or was in any way aware of who they had cornerd. Melain preferd it this way. “Umm, where are we?”

The man with the phaser laughed. “A long way from where you out to be ridge nose. I don't want any trouble from you, or your blue freak of a friend and since I know your people are not exactly known for cooperation..."

Melain saw him set his phaser to stun, and had a pretty good idea about what was coming next. So when it happened, she was not surprised but rather wished he had enough consideration to insure her landing was a soft one.


<Tag Frek>

(5090/69990)

[loki]

A long black cloak hung off the shoulders of a woman that covered the ground with a low swagger as she traveled the corridors of the USS Nevada. From beneath the hood, which was several sizes to big for her fine featured head, wispy locks of deep red hair bristled around her neck. Behind her back, in a bag holstered over her shoulder, the officer carried her small selection of personal items, hidden deeply beneath her attire. She had not rushed her journey, and arrived in her quarters after a ten minute stroll. To her relief, the rest (and much larger majority) of her belongings had already been delivered, and were heaped neatly in one corner of the small living room.

She relieved herself firstly of her hood, dropping it onto her shoulders, secondly of her cloak, laying it on the bed, and thirdly of her bad, tipping it off her shoulder and onto a small desk. Leaving it for the moment, the redhead proceeded to the first box, and began to unload the books from its contents. Three or four boxes later, and the officers mobile library had been entirely unpacked, and piled into a catalogue along one wall of the room. Satisfied that her most prized possessions had all arrived safely, she moved onto her lesser belongings – clothes.

In the lull between the departure of his old counselor and the crew’s eventual discovery of a way to rescue their comrades from the planet below, Captain Jira decided it couldn’t hurt for him to visit the ships most recent addition. He politely excused himself from the bridge, asking the computer for directions to her quarters while the turbolift was in motion. When he eventually emerged, there was only a matter of meters to walk before he reached the appropriate door.

“Come in.” Came a muffled voice from inside just after he had pressed the bell. The door swung open to reveal what was almost a fully furnished room, with every possible surface covered by some contraption or device. The Captain was immediately intrigued as he cast his eye over the instruments which had culminated inside the room.

“Wont be a sec…” Said the same female voice, which Jira finally located amongst a pile of empty and upturned boxes in the corner. The woman emerged and a stoop, then drew up to her full height, which was still several inches short of the Trills. She watched him with interested as his eyes wondered onto the sideboard, every inch of which was covered with various chunks of rock and bone. Looking closer, his keen eyes were able to pick out the fossilized imprints of creatures past.

The woman cleared her throat.

“Oh, sorry,” Harrias said, shaking himself back to the present. “Harrias Jira, Captain of this fine vessel.” He introduced himself, reaching out a welcoming hand to her.

“Alexis Loki, your new Chief Science Officer, although I expect you already knew that.” She said with a smile.

“They wouldn't let me have a ship as big as this if I didn't keep track of such things. I hope Zhuk kept you well on the Jefferson?"

“Yes, well enough.” She mused, “Considering our short time together.”

The Captain nodded his approval. “That’s good to hear.” He said, tilting his head round to look for somewhere left to sit. The sofa was currently occupied by an ornate throw adorned with a sarong of golden tassels that looked far too nice for sitting on, so instead he settled for the arm of the chair.

“Have you been briefed on our mission?” he continued after seating himself.

“That would be, erm, no.” She answered tentatively. Harrias gave a small chuckle.

“Well. I would give you the long version, but you’d get bored. And anyway there isn’t time. Basically we have to rescue two people from this planet without disrupting the government too much. We have no way to contact them, they have nothing specific we can trace them with. Add to that some ion storms to disrupt our scans, and as you can see things aren’t looking too easy.”

“So the real reason you came to welcome me in was..?” she ventured.

“My motives are clean, I wanted to come and give you a warm welcome. And…maybe…to see how soon you can get to work?” he replied gingerly.

“Well, I’ve finished unpacking…” She said: Harrias raised an unconvinced eyebrow. “I said I’d finished unpacking, not tidying.” She clarified observing his reaction.

Twenty minutes later Ensign Loki could be found huddled in a science lab that was a world away from her exotic and uncontemporary quarters. She had exchanged her black cloak for a brilliant white lab coat, although it was not really necessary due to the lack of toxic substances involved in attempting to scan the planet.

“How’s the recalibration going?” she asked her second in command, who was trying to adjust the scanners to avoid the interference of the ion storm.

“Not bad.” He replied, apparently pleased with himself. “But even if we are able to scan the planet, how are we going to know what to look for?” He asked.

“Well, I’m hoping we’ll pick up a hell of a lot of locals and two recognizable signatures.” She said unconvincingly, knowing full well it was a large shot in the dark. There could be thousands of different species down there for all they knew, and according to Jira they had not leads on their missing stranded comrades.

“And if we don’t?” Her second asked quietly.

”We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

OOC: Hey guys, I transferred from somewhere, and someone told me to jump in a post, so I did...

[Harrias Jira]

After his brief sojourn down to their new science officer’s quarters, Harrias found himself back on the bridge facing the same problems still. Some part of him had clung on to the immature hope that if he left and came back again they would have gone. No such luck had developed though, and he simply found himself staring at the planet’s atmosphere once more. His eyebrows furrowed as he looked over the viewscreen, his eyes enthralled and frustrated by the swirling of the clouds. He took a deep breath and wondered if it was too soon to contact the science department and ask if they were making progress. He had only left her twenty two minutes ago after all. He decided to give her a bit longer, her room had looked rather in need of attention.

He turned to Steve, who had stayed in Grace’s counsellor seat. The intelligence agent seemed slightly uneasy in the seat, perhaps feeling that he was the wrong side of the trill. That however was not a situation that was going to be remedied.

- “Commander, Steve… You know that even if we manage to punch through this disruption we are unlikely to be able to locate them on account of not having any information about them right?”

The young human looked at him uncomfortably, obviously aware of the problem, but also aware of his orders.
- “I have come to this conclusion, yes sir.”
- “And have you found anyway to remedy it?”
- “I have my orders sir. Unless the situation obviously becomes out of control, I am not to disclose it. Out of control requires them to be missing for somewhat longer. I’m sorry.” He added almost as an afterthought.

The trill ran his hand over his face in frustration, before combing through his hair with it, almost pulling a clump out as he vented his annoyance. He took a deep breath and let the hand fall back down, tracing a line along the spots framing the left side of his face as it did so.
- “Never-mind. Hannah, have you come up with anything on those embassy records?”
- “I’m generating a list, but it’s not that short and as we all know, this isn’t the most above-board planet, who knows whether anyone has come or gone without declaring it. I’ll let you know when I find more.”
- “Farsir, how about you?”
- “Sir, I think I have an idea, if we can set up a quick burst of phaser power, we can neutralize the storm, or at the very least give us a gap in it we can scan through; all we have to do is modify the ships phasers a little bit.”
- “Its better then frying the sensors,” Commander Stevenson commented. There was a short pause then the order came. “Modify the phasers and fire immediately.”
- “Belay that. Firing on the atmosphere might be interpreted as an attack. The government are delicately poised as it is, I don’t want to start a war. Keep the plan in reserve. Our new science officer joined a short while ago, hopefully she will be able to magic something up. If that fails, we’ll go down to the surface ourselves, there has to be some kind of a trail. Hannah, make sure that Cyle raises the alert level of his men, and that we have a list of leads to follow up if we have to go down there.”

He waited until everyone had nodded or replied affirmatively before he sat back down in the middle of the command centre. A massive starship, with over five hundred people serving on it, enough fire power to level a city in seconds, and yet he couldn’t even find two people. It was like searching for a, what was it the humans said, needle in a stack. He looked down at the time. Loki had had enough time to sort her stuff out and start working now.

=/\= Jira to Loki, please tell me you’ve come up with something to help us look through this? =/\=

OOC: Please all join me in welcoming our newest addition, Acting Ensign Loki, previously of Starbase Assailant. She is, I assure you, a most brilliant simmer, and if she isn't I'll just start tickling her until she is.

[loki]

A cup of steaming coffee stood on the worksurface next to an increasingly large pile of discarded PADD’s on which Ensign Loki had disproved most of the theories of her second in command. In truth, it was actually the second cup of coffee that stood beside her, the first one having been tipped down her now not-so-immaculate white coat when she thought she had found the answer to their prayers. And that was why the officer could now be found without her labcoat, which lay discarded over the back of an unoccupied swivel chair, huddled over masses of calculations and equations with which they had made very little progress.

=/\= Jira to Loki, please tell me you’ve come up with something to help us look through this? =/\= Came the hopeful yet reserved voice of the Captain over the Comm. Loki cringed, glad of the fact that she could mask her current expression from his, and put on her most reassuring voice.

=/\=We’re about to try once more to get our scanners through the storm. Its not one hundred percent undetectable, but its not very likely they will pick us up planetside.=/\= she informed him.

=/\=Ok, if that’s the only way.=/\= Harrias stated, having decided it was worth the risk =/\=Just keep me posted alright.=/\=

=/\=Will do Sir.=/\= She replied with another grimace. After the Captain had closed the comm. link she turned her attention to the task at hand, and accompanied Ensign Vincent over to the main console. She watched the young man key in her recalibrated instructions and start up the scanner. Now all they had to do was wait and see what it would come up with.

As the computer did its duty, Alexis stood back and allowed her eyes to wander across the walls. The laboratory was quite the opposite of her usual type of haunt. Her quarters, as the Captain had already observed, were alighted with the same deep red shade as her hair, and the present home of her leatherbound library. Her treasured trove of archaeological discoveries accompanied them in their timeless abandonment, and her vast array of exotic devices reminded her vividly of her worldly travels. To her the science lab seemed so clean, so technological, and so bright. As soon as she had settled in something would have to be done about this. Also, room would have to be set aside for her personal archaeological work, a hobby to which she devoted a vast amount of time.

“Ma’am, I think its working.” Vincent broke through her thoughts, noticing that she had not been paying much attention to the output on the screen. Averting her eyes back to the present task and sure enough, to her immense surprise, figures were starting to assemble themselves on the screen.

”Ok, that’s good. Can you see if you can quantify the search, get it to separate the Tammerons…Tammeronians… the indigenous peoples from any others.”

Ensign Vincent did as instructed, and allowed the computer a few moments to separate the bio signatures of the Tammerons from any that did not match their regular profile. Although the scanner seemed to do a good job of detecting non-indigenous species, it unfortunately threw up rather more off-worlders than they were expecting.

“I don’t think your plan worked,” The young man commented, as the computer totaled five hundred and thirty three non-matching species down on the planet.

“Thank you.” Alexis countered sarcastically. “Keep trying to narrow it down. I need to speak to the Captain.”

With her last orders given for the moment, Alexis headed for the turbolift, preferring to explain her thoughts to Jira in person rather than over an open channel. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but when speaking through the comms system things didn’t always seem to come out quite the way she had intended. Maybe it was because she could not judge the other persons emotion or reactions properly, or maybe if was because she was just being paranoid. Either way, she found herself in the Captains ready room several minutes later beginning to explain their findings.

“Well, as I suggested earlier once we found a way through the ion storm we scanned for bio signatures, hoping to find our men sticking out amongst a large amount of locals.” She began.

Harrias sensed what was coming and interrupted. “However?” he prompted.

“However…we found a rather large number of non-indigenous species down there.” She announced quietly.

“Ah.” He said, capturing the mood. “So what now? Any luck narrowing it down?”

“We’re trying that Sir, but I don’t know how much longer we can scan for without being detected. There is one thing on our side, and that is that all the ‘aliens’ seem to be contained within a relatively small area, almost as though they are kept within a single settlement area.” She said.

”Is that going to help at all?” Harrias queried.

“It might, but I’m not holding out much hope Sir, not unless we can get more information about our friends down there.” She said honestly. The reaction that spread across Harrias’s face was one that denoted this was an impossibility.

“Starfleet’s not letting on. I’m afraid we’re on our own.”

“In that case Sir, I have one other suggestion…” she trailed off, waiting for him to object, but he merely waved his hand, indicating that she should continue. “We open false trade negotiations with the Tammeron peoples to disguise the descent of an undercover away team…”

[jasonfarsir]

Jason didn't think about the consiquenses of them fire on the planets atmophere like possible starting a war because of a miss understanding. He understood why the captain said not to do it. He decided that if the science officer had a better idea then his he would be more than happy to help out with it, but first he was hungry. He went to his quarters for a quick bit to eat.

After his meal he started to head toward engineering. Heading to the nearest tubolift he tapped his comm badge. "Farsir to Loki,"

=^=Loki here,=^=

"I'm sorry I haven't had the chance to properly introduce myself since you came aboard but we've been very busy with this mission. uh anyway I was wondering if you need any help from me since I'm headed to engineering now I thought you could use some help from some of us down there to assist you with what you're doing to the sensors." then he mummbled to him self "I sure it's better then my ideas so far"

=^=what was that last part I didn't hear what it was you said=^=

"Nothing just thinking out loud there for a second, but as I was saying is there anything you need me to do to help your progress?"

<tag Loki>

"understood Farsir, out" Jason tapped the comm badge again as he reached the turbolift. The open and he stepped in. "Engineering," he told the computer and the door closed.

OOC: I didn't know if you liked tags or not so I'm sorry if you don't and welcome aboard Loki

[Harrias Jira]

The middle aged trill tapped his fingers on his desk for a few seconds before looking back up at his science officer. Her news had not been what he wanted to hear, although it had made his decision making process a lot simpler, and certainly got to the point at which he had always been prepared for, sooner. He nodded slowly.
- “It seems to be our only option. I’ll get Hannah to coordinate a team down on the planet, with yourself, Cyle and his marines, and Farsir. Me and Steve will stay on the ship, and ‘open negotiations’ with a business or two that are based here, I’m not sure what we’ll be in the market for yet, but I’m sure I can find something exciting we want to buy.”

Twenty minutes later, and the team had been prepped with their orders; to search the capital city for any hint of the assets, and to follow up any leads they might gain once there. They were to blend in with the local population, and to this end they were all in civilian outfits rather than the standard (and rather obvious) Starfleet uniforms. Harrias and Steve meanwhile had contacted two large communications companies with the possibility of them investing in the federation’s already vast network. Of course, it was all a farce, but Jira had managed to get his father to pull some strings to make it seem more realistic.

So it was that when the away team beamed down to the planet’s surface, in a gap large enough to beam a team down, but not large enough for a scan, neither Jira nor Steve were present. The pair were instead in the observation lounge with a small team of marketing staff from TamCom. The speed with which they had managed to prepare a strategy for the investment was astounding, and Harrias almost wished they had a valid product to sell.

After almost an hour or hearing all about the benefits they would reap if TamCom were to get this investment, Harrias stepped out for a five minute break, during which time he contacted Hannah on the surface.
=/\= I take it you got down without any trouble? =/\=
=/\= Aye sir, your presence has been explained away easily, and indeed the prospect of this communications deal is all over the news, the stock markets here are going mad. =/\=
=/\= Oh dear, that’s fraud. Something tells me that starfleet’s lawyers are going to be pretty busy after this mission. Nevermind, how are things coming? =/\=
=/\= To be honest sir, we haven’t developed anything yet. The news channels have been talking about a pair of off-worlders who are to be considered dangerous, but on a world like this, that could be anyone, not particularly the pair we are looking for. Steve hasn’t revealed anything more? =/\=
=/\= Nope, he’s like a damned clam. Well, keep me informed, I have more sales pitches to listen to. =/\= He chuckled slightly as he closed the comm. link.

[hannah]

Hannah watched as a large back alley replaced the transporter room. Old grey buildings towered skyward all around them with ladders and baloneys going from the top of the buildings down into the alleyway. The alley was dusty, filled with litters and had bins dotted around.

Hannah noticed a face peering out from the back of one of the bins. He was an old man with a long grey beard that looked like it had never been washed; his clothes were dirty, torn and old. He moved back into his hiding place as one of the marines aimed his weapon in his direction.

The marines had moved out into a standard circle for scouting out the area as soon as they beamed down. The marines were dressed in civilian clothes and were carrying a range of weapons from standard Starfleet weapon to Bajoran, Klingon weapons to make them seem like standard mercenaries.

Hannah gestured to the marine to lower his weapon and then she stared to walk forward out of the alleyway. The other officers followed behind.

They exited the alleyway onto a long street. Both sides of the street were lined with the old grey buildings, which all seemed to be in equally bad shape. Hannah looked down both sides of the street looking for any signs of shops, cafes or bars. She noticed a sign at the far end of the street. She couldn’t read what it said but she hoped it was a sign of commercial area.

“This way,” she said pointing up the street. They walked along the street it took them about 15 minutes to get there.

They were on the outskirts of the city centre and Hannah decided would be easier if they split into two groups, one headed by herself and the other by Cycle and try to find any information on the missing officers.

Hannah’s group had been asking around about information for about 2 hours now, but to little success. People on this planet seemed to be very uncooperative and seemed to hate giving up information.

They were in a small smoky bar, when a broadcast caught Hannah attention.

“This report just in that the two criminal offworlders were seen early this morning in the callards area of the city, police are trying to trace there move movements after that, if you have any more information please call the hotline on screen,” the voice said.

Hannah looked around the bar to see where the broadcast was coming from and found a large screen in a small empty function room at the back of the pub. But by the time she had found it the broadcaster had moved onto the next piece of news.

[Deleted]

Cyle looked around at himself and the other, all dressed in civlian clothes, with various weapons from the races. Cyle had a klingon knife on his leg, and a federation rifle, the others carried bajoran and klingon phasers. When the team beamed down to the planets surface, the marines instinctivly spread out into a circular position. 'at least there training has paid off' Cyle thought to himself, looking up into the sky.

The away team split into two, and went off in different directions, trying to "gather information", which Cyle thought was a complete waste of time. "SSG Carerra, take two with you and try to find a local information booth, or something that can give us some kind of direction on this planet" As Carerra left, Cyle turned his attention to the road ahead of him.

With a sigh he and the other person with him set off and walked the streets, coming upon a broadcast after a couple hours of walking, they stopped. “This report just in that the two criminal offworlders were seen early this morning in the callards area of the city, police are trying to trace there move movements after that, if you have any more information please call the hotline on screen,” the voice said. "Doesnt surprise me, could be anyone" Cyle said aloud,

[loki]

Given half a chance, Lex could have pitched a one-man tent on Tammeron and remained there for several months while she studied the buildings and architecture of the capital city. Granted, the slums into which they beamed down had seen better days, but once they emerged from the alleyway the cityscape was one she would have died for. At first glance, there seemed to be a mismatch of grandiose buildings which had stood the trials of time and modern developments skyscrapering over them. However upon closer inspection it was revealed that there was a simple and quite logical pattern to the scenery: the further away from the city centre one looked, the more advanced and high-tech the industrialization became.

Commander Stevenson lead the way into the capital centre as Johnsons marines spread out in a survey pattern around them. They seemed highly efficient, and to Lex’s surprise blended in quite well considering there were so many of them. The group entered into the hubb of the main marketplace, which was home to all manner of creatures. The stalls ranged from tattered old lean-to’s to all-inclusive-didn’t-know-you-could-fit-that-much-stuff-in-a-circus-tent shows. The marine team seemed to have mastered the knack of blending in, and took no time at all to disappear among the crowd. That left Stevenson, Farsir and herself looking like a far less conspicuous trio.

It was then that they took the opportunity to begin questioning people about their missing comrades – a feat that was easier said than done. Without names or faces to put to them asking if anyone had seen a couple of people that might possible be Starfleet spies didn’t seem the best approach, and so it was without luck that they had uncovered nothing two hours later. The team seemed to be losing resolve as they entered a bar and approached a group of locals. Before they could speak, a news transmission caught their attention.

“This report just in that the two criminal offworlders were seen early this morning in the callards area of the city, police are trying to trace their movements after that, if you have any more information please call the hotline on screen…” The reader didn’t seem to think it was worth making anything more out of the story and moved on to more pressing events.

Lex leaned over and whispered in the first officers ear. “Do you think it might be them?”

“Not sure.” Hannah replied with a frown. “From the looks of the place it could be just about anybody…”

”It might be worth a shot though, lets face it, its not like we have anything else to go on is it?” Lex insisted, praying that these “criminals” might have something to do with the people they were looking for.

“You’re right. I’ll contact the Captain.” Stevenson replied. Having found a quite corner, with Loki and Farsir on the lookout for eavesdroppers, Hannah relayed their unfortunate story back to Harrias on the ship. Apparently things were going better on his end, and the ‘trade negotiations’ had the Tammerons attention firmly held. However, Lex did leave to wonder how long Jira and the rest of the crew would be able to keep up the farce before they would be forced to bail out.

As they left the pub, having asked direction to the Callards, Lex silently cursed herself for thinking up this idea in the first place. As Hannah had rightly said, the news report could have been referring to any number of the dodgy characters lurking about in the market, and even if it was the people they were looking for, how were the two teams of officers going to recognize one another? In hindsight, she decided it would probably have been quicker to have beamed up the off-worlders two by two and ticked them off the list.

Hannah had recalled the marines back to the main group and ordered them to meet them at the Callards area so they could start their search together again. Whatever Callards meant, it seemed to the team to look like more of the business side of town. There was much less hustle and bustle than on the other side of town, but still a large enough volume of bodies for them not to appear too out of place. Here, people walked with a more upright tone, carrying bags and items similar to briefcases, looking all the more smarter than some of the tramps in the market.

Looking up at the tall buildings rising high into the clouds Lex tried to take a guess as to which of them were currently on a communications line with the USS Nevada, bargaining for some state of the art technology Harrias had dreamed up.

“Right.” Hannah began once the team was reunited. “The report said that the police had already been asking questions, so it’s possible that folks round here will already be on their guard. We just want to know where they think the criminals might have gone, and perhaps find out a little more about them. At the moment, any information is better than none. Just try to enter it into the conversation casually – we don’t want anybody getting the wrong idea about us.”

[steve]

Not only was he bored but he was feeling bad... Not guilty, Steve had stopped himself from feeling that emotion along time ago but he felt bad. He hated not telling his friend the truth about what's going on the planet. Yes he had orders but how far does he take them, every minute he waits he could be putting their lives at risk.

"Excuse me" Steve spoke out "If you don't mind I have a few things to attend to" Steve stood up and the worker from TamCom nodded. "Thank you" Steve finished and walked out.

Thank god he was out of there he thought to himself and headed to the bridge

"Report" Steve called out
"Sir, we are picking up a strange signal coming from the planet"
"What kind of signal?"
"Well I am not 100% sure but I think they are monitoring us"
"Why haven't we picked this up before?" Steve demanded.
"Well the scans spiked the moment we beamed the away team down and it has taken this long to confirm our reading."
Steve shook his head "Does someone on the surface know we have an away team down there?"
"Sir, I would say there's a good possibility"

Steve tapped his com badge
=^= Steve to Commander Stevenson =^=
=^= Go ahead =^=
=^= Commander is everything ok down their? =^=
=^= Yes why do you ask Commander? =^=
=^= We have reason to believe that someone on the planet monitored your transport down, we are not sure who but watch your back. =^=
=^= Thank you for the heads up Stevenson out =^=

Steve sat down in the command chair and waited for Jira's meeting to finish

Off: Welcome Lex, great first few posts