Mission 5.2 - Convergence

[Magellan Lin]

The Kasan-thar," Lucy repeated. "We know so little about them. I understand they're reptilian. If so, there should be simularities with the Gorn."

"Its true there is a similarity. They seem thinner more lizard like than crocodile. If I can make such a comparision" he shudder involuntarily as he recalled the encounter again.

Lucy pointed to a chair motioning for the admiral to sit. There was a second or two when they both hestitated to sit first. The admiral or the woman? Smiling, Lucy laughed lightly. It was quickly agreed with a nod that they would sit down at the same time.

"But if they are like the Gorn the information I research will be valuable. If not, we simply adjust our thoughts." Lucy crossed her legs and twined her fingers around the right knee, continuing, "I don't know if I mentioned it, but I have a friend that's a linguist. He taught me to listen for different inflections in alien speech patterns. That ability will come in handy. Unless we have a linguist on the Nevada." Lucy's eyebrows raised in question.

"To be frank I couldn't tell you for certain. I deal with Command placements but much of the other staff are assigned by Fleet Operations. I of course went through your files on coming aboard and hope Mr Stephens will be of some use"

"Really? Lt. Stephens has been very helpful so far." Lucy's eyes rose to the painting on the wall as she thought of the awkward movements of the lieutenant when they literally ran into nurse Rayna. "I haven't had the chance to go through the crew roster," she added apogetically.

"Thats okay, there will be plenty of time for that once you are all back on regular duties. we may even have rustled up a commanding officer for you by then." he smiled, "Well I m glad your settling in" he said as he stood "I must get on. I ll run another briefing once we reach the co-ordinates but for now I still have Tactical and Engineering to look in on."

TAG Lucille.

Magellan left the counsellors office and went up to the bridge.
Commander Reo was at the Tactical station as he had expected.
"Don't mind me" he said to Ramsey who sat in the command chair "I m here to speak to Mr Reo"

Josh looked up,
"What can I do for you Sir"
"Just a quick report on the ships tactical readiness really and to answer any questions."

TAG Reo

[Deleted]

Dan checked ship status on his consoles for the nth time. There was no reason to be up here, and he was quite frankly bored. He stood. "Captain, request permission to return to Engineering."

Ramsey looked over and nodded. Dan logged himself out of the consoles, and headed for the turbolift. He stepped up to it, and it opened to reveal Admiral Lin. "Admiral," Dan said, stepping back and bowing every so slightly. Lin returned the greeting, and exited, and Dan replaced him. "Main Engineering," he said, and the lift closed.

Dan thought ahead to the future of this mission. The last first contact mission he was on was, fortunately, relatively uneventful as first contacts go. The race was a peaceful one, and contact was made under amicable circumstances. This contact, however, might prove to be the polar opposite.

The lift opened, and he stepped out and entered Engineering.

He entered to find Florkem, Yvez and an NCO Dan didn't know yet standing around a table, on top of which was a rather odd looking EPS relay. It look glazed over. "Report," he said, walking up to them.

Florkem turned around. "Sir. Chief Ramirez," she indicated the NCO, "was checking on the burned out EPS relays, when he found that the majority of them were also coated in this," she said, running her finger along the surface of the relay, then holding it up. "According to scans it's just dust. But we're not sure how the two would be connected."

Dan pulled out a tricorder and scanned the relay. "Well, the burn out seems to be caused by a simple overload. The dust is probably a coincidence. The question is, how did a dust build-up happen, particularly on a new ship?"

"Probably a slip-up at the shipyards," Ramirez said, his voice having a hint of impatience and annoyance. Dan did a quick mental check. Ramirez was agitated by something. The feeling lessened slightly when he looked away from Dan.

"Possibly. Has this happened with any functioning relays?"

"I don't know, as I would have no reason to check a functioning relay," Ramirez said. The negative feelings in him spiked again.

"All the relays on the ship will have to be checked. Hmm..." he said, and looked around. Baker was nearby. "Baker," he called over.

Baker started slightly and accidently pressed a key. An alarm went off. Baker silenced it, and came over hesitantly. "Uh, yes....C-c-commander, uh, what can I d-d-do for you, sir?"

"Baker, we've found a number of burned-out EPS relays have a layer of dust on them. We need to know if this has happened with any functioning ones. I want you to take a maintenance team Beta, and visually check all the relays on the ship, and report back to me with your findings."

"Well I, uh...I mean, yes, Commander," he said, then headed off.

Ramirez watched Baker disappear from sight, then jerked his head around to look at Dan. "You're assigning that lousy excuse for an Engineer to such a task?"

"Yes, Chief, I am. It's a low-risk problem, so if he doesn't carry out well..." Dan shrugged, "we haven't lost much. I just want to see for myself how he does."

"Okay..." Ramirez said, returning to his other duties. Ramirez was radiating negative feelings like a plasma stream

Once Ramirez was a short distance away, Dan leaned over to Florkem and Yvez. "He doesn't seem to like me much," he said quietly.

"Well, your way of doing things can be a little overbearing to some, Commander," Florkem confided, hesistantly. "Not to me, however."

"Nor me," Yvez was quick to throw in.

"Good. How are we coming on the sensor upgrades?"

"Between tweaking the shields and streamlining command pathways, we've improved sensor performance by 4%. It's not much, but we'll see a tiny bit more that might make the difference. And Yaj is creating scan settings that will give us a tighter, more detailed view of whatever we need it to. It'll be a bit slower, but with the command pathways will compensate for that."

"Excellent."

[connorstephens]

As Stephens entered the turbolift from the bridge, he breathed a sigh of relief. Not at T'Pren's unexpected return, or the fact he was allowed to go to sickbay to see her, but the fact that he hadn't fallen and hurt himself getting to the turbolift in the first place. It seemed to happen to him a lot, though he couldn't figure out why.

In the lift, he called for the deck number, and when the doors slid open, he exited the lift in a normal fashion, which is to say that he stumbled on a bit of carpet and went sprawling into the corridor. A pair of ensigns happened to be walking past, not expecting to see a Lieutenant lying about on the floor, and the surprise overwhelmed them: they broke into giggles and hurried past, unable to take their eyes from the scene before them. For his part, Stephens was eyeing the offending piece of carpet with a suspicious eye, as if waiting for it to reveal itself as a shapeshifting trickster. The carpet, however, stubbornly and arrogantly refused, remaining on the floor where it had been.

A battle of wills might have ensued had Stephens not had the presence of mind to remember that he was on his way to see T'Pren, who had suddenly and wonderfully reappeared after her trip to Vulcan to unarrange her bonding to a Vulcan fellow named Skonn. He hadn't expected her back so soon, and in fact had wondered if she would return at all. That she was here was a good sign that the relationship they had tentatively begun might continue, and that perhaps another dinner together might even be in the offing.

Picking himself up off the floor, he glanced about only to realize that he had exited on the wrong deck, and that another trip in the lift was called for. Stepping in once more, he stated to the pesky lift that he really wished to be let out at sickbay, if it wasn't too much trouble, and in a moment he was whisked to the correct deck and exited once more, this time in a high-stepping fashion that could have reminded one of a semi-march step had it not been so comical that it could never have been mistaken for one.

Stephens came to the main sickbay door and entering, found T'Pren (just as he'd seen her last, beautiful and prim) talking with that Romulan what's-her-name he had met before on Star Base Assailant. There was between them a table of empty hypospray containers, and it appeared that the Romulan (What WAS her name anyway?) was in the process of fitting ampules into them. Stephens, the more enthusiastic owing to his nearer proximity with T'Pren than before, rushed to her, smile beaming on his face, and in the process bumped the table with the empty hypos, sending them clattering and bounding to the floor. Rayna (THAT was her name!) let out an expletive and clapped her hand to her mouth. Stephens, in his zeal to make amends, dove to the floor to try to catch the miscreant and truant hypos before they got completely away. T'Pren rolled her eyes (in a most un-Vulcanlike way) and stifled a giggle, joy and pleasure apparent in her sparkling eyes.

Having rounded up the majority of the misbehaving hypos (perhaps they should schedule an appointment with Lt Grey, the counselor, on the issue of their recent conduct), Stephens attempted to rise, not realizing that he was under another table, the result being that he slammed his head into the underside of it, making little bright spots appear before him and sending the hypos he was holding off onto another wild expedition in the sickbay. He would have looked suspiciously at the little offenders, to let them know he was onto them, but he couldn't see anything except the bright spots, and a pain was developing on the top of his head.

In the next moment he was being hauled bodily from under the table, to find himself face-to-beautiful-face with the ship's CMO. Unable to resist, he leaned forward to kiss her, and the kiss was returned softly, if not passionately. Rayna cleared her throat, reminding Stephens that he and T'Pren were not alone, prompting Stephens to color profusely, like a Risan sunset. Stepping back a bit, he looked at t'Pren, disbelief in his eyes, and uttered a heartfelt sentiment to her.

"Hello," he said.

[Deleted]

Lucy watched Admiral Lin's back as he left her office. With a sigh, she turned to the computer in front of her. The Gorn were familiar to her as a pleasant memory. She'd gotten to know ... what was his name? Well, no matter, she had fond thoughts of him. The Gorn was able to heal quickly; an enzyme in their genes.

Lt. Grey's eyes fell on the recent crew manifest. Lt. T'Pren, the CMO, had returned. There were rumors among the nursing and counseling staff that Lt. Connor Stephens and she -a Vulcan, no less- had a "thing" going on. What could he possibly see in her?

Hoping to set up a schedule of the senior staff's psychological exams, Lucy called up an abbreviated ships roster. She listed those that had reported in for her first day's agenda:

Reo, Josh - Commander/Tactical/security
Trek, Dan - 1st Commander/Engineering
Stephens, Connor - Lt./Science
T'Pren - Lt(jg)/CMO
Neville, James - Ensign/Operations (NPC)

Then she started to revise the list. Then she left it alone. Then she added the two highest ranking officers on the ship:

Melain, Lorre - Captain/CO
Ramsey, David - Commander/AFO

Acting First Officer? Maybe I should be starting with the FO and CO....

Lucy set the keyboard aside and pushed her chair back. Walking to the replicator, she ordered a tall glass of iced tea, lightly sweetened.

At the mention of those words, her memory brought up the face of Cmdr. D'Ghor of the Klingon Diplomatic Corps. So tall and handsome; his hair pulled back into a knot at the base of his thick neck. Her pulse quickened.

The image of Dr. Westgate pushed itself to the forefront, shoving D'Ghor to the background. Lifting her tea to her lips, Lucy breathed in at the moment she took a drink. Spraying the tea over the small table and onto the carpet, she managed to hold the glass upright. Setting the glass down, Lucy bent over, coughing, wishing she could slap herself on her own back and knowing that sort of thing was impossible.

"Computer," Lucy said firmly into the air, "send a message to each person on the list currently on my computer screen. Schedule each for a psychological exam during a 50 minute hour with 15 minutes between each. Then send a message to Dr. Westgate of the Academy vessel USS Hanson."

"Message to say, 'Doctor, I've been assigned to the USS Nevada. I like it here and I've met several members of the staff already. It's wonderful. I want to thank you for all your help during my final exam. I don't think I could have gotten through it without you.'

"Computer, sign it 'Love, Lucy' and send when properly formated.

[Deleted]

Dan wandered back to his station, where he found a message from Counselor Grey. Psychological exam, huh? he thought as he read the message. She was taking the initiative on her suggestion to him, it seemed. He set the appointment for half an hour from then.

He went over to Florkem. "I'll be out for a while. I've going to check on our Fighter Wing then I've got an appointment with our ship's counselor."

She nodded, and he departed.

=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\==/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=

Selgur looked over the latest diagnostics reports on the Fighters of which he had been charge for maintaining. Slight fluctuation in the graviton field for the artificial gravity for one of the fighters. That would have to be fixed. The fighter's crew didn't need their weight fluctuating during maneuvers. That would kill concentration. Another's computer was a little sluggish.

"How're things going?" said a voice. James turned to see a Lieutenant Commander in a pilot's uniform.

"I take it you're the Wing Commander?" he asked, straightening up from his leaning against the fighter.

"Guilty as charged. Bryce Amerk. You're the Engineer in charge of maintaining my fighters?" he asked, gesturing to the one James had just been leaning against.

"Indeed. James Selgur, at your service. They've got a few bugs to work out, but nothing serious."

"You have much experience maintaining fighters?" Amerk asked.

"My specialty is actually holographics technology," James admitted. At Amerk's puzzled look, he explained. "Our Chief Engineer has a holographic prosthetic arm, which is rather experimental. I'm following him around as its technician, and he assigned me this to keep me busy."

"Holographic prosthetics? I'd never even heard of such an idea before."

"Neither had I, till they proposed it to me," Dan called over. Selgur and Amerk both turned to see Dan coming into the Hangar. "But didn't want to pass this up, after I lost part of my arm." He turned to James. "How are they?" he asked, nodding to the fighters.

"Gravity plating problem in one, computer speed problems in another, but nothing major," James said, handing over the PADD.

Dan skimmed it and handed it back. He walked over and ran his hand down the hull of the nearest fighter. "Sleek, aren't they? What does your Wing do when you're not needed for these?" he asked Amerk. "Holodeck simulations?"

Amerk nodded. "Have to keep sharp. You never know."

"Indeed," he said, then glanced at a wall console. "I must be going. Appointment with the Counselor." He turned and left.

Amerk turned to Selgur as the Hangar door closed behind him. "What species is he?"

"I can't pronounce. No human can. The language doesn't even contain vowels."

Amerk's eyes widened.

=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\==/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=

Dan stepped up to the door to the Counselor's Office. He pressed the key. He heard "Come in", and the door opened. He stepped in.

"Hello again," he said, taking a few steps closer. "Decided to go ahead and come see you." He looked around. "So do I lie down on a couch as was a Terran psychiatrist's custom or what?"

[Deleted]

Setting her tea on the desk at her left elbow, Dr. Grey turned and brought up Cmdr. Trek's psyche profile. He was the first to respond to her call to visit with the ship's counselor. Having made the appointment, she was expecting him in ten minutes, time enough for her to read through his chart and develop at least three questions or statements that he could respond to. It would give them both an opening for a relaxing dialogue.

At first Lucy thought she'd opened the wrong file. After reading the first few lines of introduction, she discovered that it was she that had a misunderstanding of who the Engineering Officer was.

The door chime sounded and Lucy quickly set the monitor to the side, folded her hands over each other and called out, "Come in!"

"Hello again," Dantrek said, moving closer to the desk. "Decided to go ahead and come see you." He looked around. "So do I lie down on a couch as was a Terran psychiatrist's custom or what?"

Lucy grinned. "That's a bit Freudian. Earth's reknown psychiatrist was Sigmund Freud. He believed that the patient is more relaxed and therefore will speak more freely if he's laying down. We've grown beyond that over the centuries. Please, sit down wherever you would feel the most comfortable."

Lucy refrained from mentioning the other beliefs Freud had. That would have been too much, she thought.

<Dantrek>

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but your name is really Hzkl... Sorry, I know I didn't pronounce that right. And it isn't Dan Trek, as in two words, but one."

<Dantrek>

"You're very gracious, commander," Lucy commented as she picked up her tea. Looking at it, she asked, "Would you like something to drink? I've been blessed with a replicator. So, anything you would like is your's for the asking."

<Dantrek>

Lucy swiveled her chair around and ordered from the replicator then handed the commander his drink.

"Can I call you Dan?"

<Dantrek>

"Thank you. Just to give me an idea of who you are, why don't you tell me a little about yourself. As much or as little as you'd like. We'll get to know one another before we go on to the heavy duty psychoanalyzing."

<Dantrek>

[Deleted]

Lucy grinned. "That's a bit Freudian. Earth's reknown psychiatrist was Sigmund Freud. He believed that the patient is more relaxed and therefore will speak more freely if he's laying down. We've grown beyond that over the centuries. Please, sit down wherever you would feel the most comfortable."

Dan glanced around a bit. He chose to sit down at one end of a couch in the room. "Yes, I am familiar with Doctor Freud. I've lived and served among humans for 38 years. I've had time to familiarize myself with your history."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but your name is really Hzkl... Sorry, I know I didn't pronounce that right. And it isn't Dan Trek, as in two words, but one."

"Yes. I use a pseudonym in Starfleet. Most find it difficult to pronounce a name from a language that doesn't have any vowels. So when I joined Starfleet, I adopted a new name. It's selection would be somewhat difficult to explain properly. And as for the division of the name, yes, it is indeed officially one name. In recent years, a fellow officer, later my Commanding Officer, would seperate it into two names. I like it, so I kept it going. In human terms it is best described as a nickname. Having a human first name to go by also made people feel a little more comfortable around a huge man with orange skin," he said, smiling.

"You're very gracious, commander," Lucy commented as she picked up her tea. Looking at it, she asked, "Would you like something to drink? I've been blessed with a replicator. So, anything you would like is your's for the asking."

"Why thank you, Counselor. Ask the replicator for selection Trek 452. You couldn't pronounce it's proper name."

Lucy swiveled her chair around and ordered from the replicator then handed Dan his drink. He took the somewhat bubbling orange liquid and sipped.

"Can I call you Dan?"

"Please do," he said after swallowing.

"Thank you. Just to give me an idea of who you are, why don't you tell me a little about yourself. As much or as little as you'd like. We'll get to know one another before we go on to the heavy duty psychoanalyzing."

After a moment he shook his head. "Where to begin after 148 years..." He took another sip. "As my file tells you, I'm an engineer. No matter what happens, what positions I'm offered, what positions I serve in, it always returns to that. I am a man alone. My wife passed away 58 years ago, and due to some mistakes on my part, and my government's exploitation of them, I am a disgrace and an exile. The majority of my children, I have 30, won't even speak to me because of it. At least in Starfleet, I am respected, even honored for what I have done. But, I am not sorrowful, nor bitter. I prefer to look toward the good."

[Magellan Lin]

The Nevada exited warp three days after departure. The crew were becoming accostomed to their new ship and had spent the journey in quiet reflection, well some of the crew. Dantrek took the three days to extensivly test and improve every system on the ship.

Magellan kept himself out of the ways pending a lot of time on sub-space corresponding with Assailant.

"Admiral Sir. We have reached our co-ordinates"

Magellan looked up from his PADD suddenly alert and more than a little apprehensive.

"I ll be right up" Magellan replied, "Page all senior staff and get them up there too"

***

Ramsey was sat in the command chair by the time Magellan arrived. The viewscreen was on and showed nothing but a non-descript solar system with two planets and a handful of moons.

"Theres nothing here" Ramsey stated

"I m not surprised" Magellan answered "The Tholians only gave me the co-ordinates of the last Kasan-thar ship sighting. Begin a radial search pattern. Boost sensors and keep us at full readiness."

"Yes sir" Ramsey replied, "Should we try general spectrum hails."

Magellan shook his head, "Now I want this to look like an accidental first contact."

As the ship began its search for the Kasan-thar Magellan approached Connor, I need you and Dantrek to work on some way to detect where the ships might be, residual warp trails and the such like.
Mr Reo" he called over to tactical "I want you at full tactical readiness and have the fighter wing on standby. T'pren and Grey are with me, we need some way of assessing the Kasan-thar mentally and physically."

TAG All

***

The 'Herald of Victory' sat motionless on minimal power in the shadow of the third moon. They had been about to depart from their mission when an unknown ship had dropped out of warp close to them.

"Assessment" Highest Valk asked coolly through gritted teeth, the word both a statement and a question.

Mid Tanek at the Assault Console looked up and rearranged a number of crystalline interfaces.

"Small. Inferior shielding and weaponry. Higher energy output though."

"Tholian?"

Tanek shook his head,
"Their technology and materials appear non-tholis is origin and the life forms on board are..." he drew back as if repelled "...are carbon based"

"Impressive for such life forms to even crawl from the primeveal swamp let alone reach space. These intrigue me. Contact Highest Fleet Leader that I will remain to observe them and that our raid on the Tholian world was unsuccessful. Warn him that they have taken their hatchery from it."

"Yes Highest"

[connorstephens]

As the ship began its search for the Kasan-thar Magellan approached Connor, I need you and Dantrek to work on some way to detect where the ships might be, residual warp trails and the such like.

Mr Reo" he called over to tactical "I want you at full tactical readiness and have the fighter wing on standby. T'pren and Grey are with me, we need some way of assessing the Kasan-thar mentally and physically."

"Aye, sir," Stephens replied.

Stephens attended to his console screen. Across it flowed all sensor data, but there was nothing unusual. They appeared to be in a relatively empty region of space.

There didn't appear to be any residual warp trails present. Searching for tachyon signatures was just as fruitless.

"There doesn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary, Sir," he said, addressing both Ramsey and Lin. "There are only two planets and an ordinary sun. The only possibility if anyone is here is that they are carefully hidden in the magnetic wash of the planets or any one of the moons. Commander Trek, any ideas?"

<Tag Trek>

[Deleted]

"There doesn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary, Sir," Stephens said, addressing both Ramsey and Lin. "There are only two planets and an ordinary sun. The only possibility if anyone is here is that they are carefully hidden in the magnetic wash of the planets or any one of the moons. Commander Trek, any ideas?"

"A few," he said, standing up from his station and crossing the Bridge. "One in particular might be promising." He stepped up to Science II, explaining as he worked.. "An extensive gravimetric scan, enhanced by the efforts of my staff, will reveal the gravitons belonging to any body in the area, whether it's visible or not."

"You mean it might show signs of even a cloaked ship?" Lin queried.

"Even a cloak can't wipe out gravitons. Disregarding any of the usual objects, like planets, moons, asteroids, et cetera, we should be able to anything out of the ordinary. This is exactly the type of thing we've been preparing for over the past three days. Initiating gravimetric sweep."

He turned to Stephens. "This will take more than one set of eyes, and hands. This is going to take a lot of data analysis, or to use an old human term, number-crunching."

<Tag Stephens>

"Oh, and Admiral," Dan said as an afterthought, "Let me know if you need help on that assessment. I am, after all, in some respects a telepath."


=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=

Sandoval looked closer at the readings on his console. He turned his head and called out, "Commander, I'm reading a fluctuation in the deflector grid."

Florkem walked over. "Cause?"

"Unknown. It's not from anything inside the ship," he said, looking over other readings.

"Probably from something in the area. Does it pose any problems?"

"Not this I can see," he said, shaking his head.

"Keep an eye on it then, and keep me posted of any changes."

"Aye, sir."

[Deleted]

>>Counselor's Office
Dantrek was finishing his thought, "I am a disgrace and an exile. The majority of my children, I have 30, won't even speak to me because of it. At least in Starfleet, I am respected, even honored for what I have done. But, I am not sorrowful, nor bitter. I prefer to look toward the good."

Lucy looked carefully at him wondering if the statement was fact or simply what he wanted to believe. She decided to hold her judgment on the matter until she got to know him better.

The session went well and when the allotted 50-minute-hour ended, the counselor knew that Dan's oldest brother and he were still on speaking terms, at least. Thirty children were a bit much, Lucy thought. There were bound to be some that wouldn't get along with their parent.

After typing her report into the commander's psyche chart, Lucy's attention was grabbed by the ship's communications that all senior staff was needed on the bridge. Smiling, Dr. Grey stood up, stretched and left her office. It was good to be a part of the senior staff after all those years in the academy.

>>Bridge
Magellan shook his head, "Now I want this to look like an accidental first contact," the admiral was saying as Lucy stepped off the turbo lift.

Lucy went directly to her seat to the left of center and sat down, holding her eyes on the viewscreen in front of her. There was nothing there. Maybe she was missing it. Maybe she just wasn't looking in the right place. Glancing at Cmdr. Ramsey in the center, Lucy tried to follow his eyes to the screen. She still didn't see anything.

As the ship began its search for the Kasan-thar Magellan approached Connor, "I need you and Dantrek to work on some way to detect where the ships might be, residual warp trails and the such like.

"Mr Reo" he called over to tactical "I want you at full tactical readiness and have the fighter wing on standby. T'pren and Grey are with me, we need some way of assessing the Kasan-thar mentally and physically."

Listening to the conversation between Stephens and Trek, Lucy started feeling better. They didn't see anything either. Sighing, the counselor sat back in her chair. Being assigned to an away team was one thing, but until they were able to see who they were going to visit, it looked like they would hurry up and wait.

[joshreo]

"Mr Reo" he called over to tactical "I want you at full tactical readiness and have the fighter wing on standby. T'pren and Grey are with me, we need some way of assessing the Kasan-thar mentally and physically."


"Aye Sir," Josh said as he pushed a few buttons on his console. Minutes later the fighter wing reported that all pilots were ready for a moments launch. "Sir, the Fighter wingreports that they are ready. And the ship is ats full readiness."

[Deleted]

A growing sensation in Lucy's mind started small, barely understandable. Then she heard a voice that seemed to be chomping on a celery stick while he talked.

Refraining from standing or outwardly showing that she was hearing anything for fear she really *wasn't*, Lucy calmly gripped the edge of her seat. She kept her eyes on the viewscreen in front of her, seeing and watching the crew of the Nevada with her peripheral vision. They didn't seem to be hearing or seeing anything... yet.

A flash of sun on metal gave the ship away. Lucy's eyes raced to the pin-point of a fading star. A ship? A star gone in the wake of another star's shadow?

The voice came at her again, this time clearer, stronger.

"Who are you?"

Standing, Lucy said, quietly toward the empty screen in front of her, "We are explorers seeking out new life and new civilizations. I am Lt. Lucy Grey. Could you expand your communications system to allow all of us to hear?"

Turning, Lucy looked at Admiral Lin then around the bridge first at Lt. Connor then Cmdr. Trek. She avoided Cmdr. Ramsey's eyes at first. It was silly of her to keep her attention away from the ship's CO. Chiding herself, she looked directly at the captain before her mind was torn back to the voice in her head. T'Pren's eyes glinted with interest. Lucy felt just a trifle uneasy at the Vulcan's gaze.

The voice in her head stayed there.

"It is not my choice to commune"

"You are not the captain of your ship?"

"I did not say that"

<anyone on the bridge>

"Are you Kasan-Thar?"

"I...I... am less than a Kasan-thar and more somehow"

"We have been told that the Kasan-Thar have telepathic ability which will explain how you're able to speak with me. We would like to talk with your ship's captain."

"That would be difficult. The highest is wary of all newcomers. Perhaps there is a way you and I alone can meet. The moon, there is a cave in the tallest peak. Meet there next sunrise"

(OOC: Modded Kasan-thar by Magellan)

[Deleted]

>> Main Engineering

Florkem sighed, leaning the elbows of her left arm on the console, with her chin resting on her palm, looking at more systems information. With her right hand she tapped a few keys, then reached around and scratched between her shoulder blades. She looked over to catch Max staring. "What?" she asked.

"I have yet to get used to you being able to do stuff like that," Max commented.

"Stuff like what?" she asked, then, in perfect illustration of Max's point, reached up to scratch at itch on her upper arm, using the same hand to do it.

"That! The range of motion to be able to reach places most people can't," he said, watching her arm as it was bent into a triangle.

"I don't know how you setgi get by sometimes," she said, shaking her head.

"Setgi?" Max asked in puzzlement.

"It doesn't translate very well, but it in essence it's a term for races that have only two-segmented arms, like humans. It originally wasn't a very polite term, but it's gotten common use over the years."

"You know," Max replied, "less capability, at least among some human cultures, fosters interdependence and more closeness."

"What do you mean?"

"Having someone scratch your back for you can be a bonding experience at times."

"I see," she said, then glanced at the chronometer. "Oh, we're off-duty. I'm gonna get something to eat," she said, straightening up. "Want to join me?"

"Sure," Max said, logging out of his station. "Let's go."


A few minutes later found them sitting at a table in the lounge. Max took a sip of his drink.

"Now there's something I envy setgi's for," Florkem said,

"What?" Max asked, looking at her over his glass.

"Getting your glass to your mouth is easier. Watch," she said, and demonstrated the somewhat awkward-looking position she had to use to get her glass to her mouth, then took a sip.

"I see what you mean," Max said.

She was about to take another sip when she felt something odd, like in the back of her mind. She stopped and looked around a bit.

"What is it?" Max asked.

"I don't know. It's like I felt a presence."

"These Kasan-thar we're after perhaps?"

"Maybe."

"Perhaps you should report it."

[connorstephens]

He turned to Stephens. "This will take more than one set of eyes, and hands. This is going to take a lot of data analysis, or to use an old human term, number-crunching."

Graviton data. Stephens was a trifle embarrassed he hadn't thought about it before, but he was, after all, primarily a linguist and less a scientist in the 'hard' disciplines. However, he did have some competencies, and not using them before asking was the source of his embarrassment.

Commander Trek was right. It did involve number crunching, to a tedious degree. Measuring gravitons was very like, to Stephens' mind, sifting through grains of sand to find to find a miniscule thing hidden there whose mass added more to the total than the total should have been. And now Stephens began the process of measuring the masses of all known and visible natural objects in this system, comparing those masses with that which, spectroscopically, they should be, and subtracting out the differences, which theoretically would mean that the differences belonged to an object or objects not natural to the system, i.e., perhaps a ship of some kind. Even if it was cloaked, as had been stated, it would not be able to escape this kind of detection.

For long moments, the computer ran through its routines, measuring very precisely the densities of all bodies, identifying composite materials for each and the proportions of each, size, scale and proximities. Everything has a molecular weight and therefore a gravitational constant. It was just a matter of eliminating the obvious.

And the obvious, once eliminated, did indeed reveal a gravimatric anomaly, something that didn't belong, something that didn't add up. 330,000 metric tons of something that didn't belong. A ship.

Near a moon.

Stephens switched the display to the main viewscreen. "Here," he said simply. "Cloaked and invisible to us is a middle-sized ship of unknown origin. I recommend we launch a probe to learn more, Sir."

<tag anyone>

[Magellan Lin]

Magellan moved to the front of the bridge.

"A ship. It looks like our intell was correct" he paused unsure how to proceed, "A probe?...hmm that seems a little direct"

"I could make it look nonchalant" Connor replied

"Nonchalant?" Magellan queried with a raised eyebrow,

"Yes. We launch it at the sun. As if we are scanning it except I add a lateral array to collect data as it passes the ship."

Magellan nodded in approval, "Do it. Mr Reo keep your finger on the shields." It was then he noticed Lucille. She stood stock still staring into the middle distance.
"Are you alright Miss Grey?"

TAG All

[davidramsey]

David listened to Stephens' idea with interest from his chair. He was still rather surprised that the command chair was his, what he was rather annoyed about was how little he'd personally done with it. This idea with the probe was an excellent one, but staring at the ship that now occupied most of the main viewer.

"No, the going into the sun the probe may not give us all the details we need and I'm fairly certain they'll get suspicious if we send three or four probes into a sun that our own sensor can very adequetly analyze," he said standing up and turning toward the Admiral, "it would be more efficient to discover a way to get a probe near that ship without them realizing it."

He wasn't entirely sure what he was suggesting, but his mind was working for the first time in what felt like weeks.

"There must be a way to disguise a probe adequetly enough to get us not only all the information we want but any that we may need later," he continued, "I remember reading about different shield modulations that could bounce a scan to one side or the other without registering at all. If their scans are similar to our's, then perhaps it could work."

The admiral gave him a strange look as he attempted to comfort a seemingly ill Lieutenant Grey.

"Well, any thoughts?"

[Deleted]

Dan quickly ran through the range of possibilities in his head. "A Class 5 probe would be the most suitable. It's a reconnaissance probe, already design to have low observability. The hull could be further coated with additional sensor-baffling material. A probe doesn't typically come with a shield, but we can add that. Particularly if we design the shield to block certain EM emissions, like visible light. It would make the probe visually invisible, to some extent. That wouldn't let the probe visually see much, but we're dealing with a cloaked ship anyway, so there's not much to see. Such a sensor-baffling shield grid won't do much to actually protect the probe, but it'll do its job. Augment the probe's computer system with some tactical protocols to analyze any weapons fire, so in case they take a shot at it, it'll tell us something about their weapons in the brief moment before it explodes. And of course, include a sensor countermeasure package to maybe fool their sensors a bit." He said all of this while up at the ceiling with his hand on his chin. He refocused and turned his eyes back to the Captain. "Granted, this is all guess work. Their sensors might be advanced enough that this will all be for nothing," he shrugged. "But can't hurt to try."

He turned to the console behind him. "We might be able to use it strategically to make up for what it lacks technologically. If this moon that they're hiding behind....yes, it has a magnetic field," he turned to face them again. "We might be able to use the moon's magnetic field to mask it's approach, particularly if we park near a magnetic pole."

"How long would the probe modifications take, Commander?" Lin asked.

"Oh, 2 to 3 hours or so, with the aid of some of my Engineering staff."

[Deleted]

"I...I... am less than a Kasan-thar and more somehow"

"We have been told that the Kasan-Thar have telepathic ability which will explain how you're able to speak with me. We would like to talk with your ship's captain."

"That would be difficult. The Highest is wary of all newcomers. Perhaps there is a way you and I alone can meet. The moon, there is a cave in the tallest peak. Meet there next sunrise"

"Meet you there?" Lucy said aloud.

"Are you alright Miss Grey?" She looked around at the admiral.

Then the captain was treating her as if she were ill.

"Did you hear that?" Lucy's eyes took on a haunted look. Her mouth hung open, her eyes searching everyone on the bridge, hoping one of them had heard what she had.

<Ramsey>

"One of the Kasan-thar was speaking. He said I should meet him on the moon. The tallest peak has a cave. At sunrise, he said. I... I don't know how to make first contact... I'm just new out of the academy..."

Now in a panic, Lucy looked around the bridge, her gaze stopping at Admiral Lin.

"What do I do?" she asked softly.

[Magellan Lin]

Magellan thought a moment and then turned slowly.

"You'll go. But not alone. You may have to make the contact yourself but you will have an away team to support you. I will go as will Reo, T'Pren and Stephens. Ramsey and Dantrek will remain here and be ready to get us out of there"

TAG all

OOC: OK just a short post to keep things rolling, try and keep posting as much as you can, I am probably unable to be as active as normal for a short while.

[Deleted]

"Well, seeing as how this won't be until tomorrow morning, shall I begin working on that probe, Captain?" Dan asked.

Ramsey looked up. "Yes, Commander. Please do."

"I'll be in Engineering, then," he said, and headed for the turbolift. He tapped his comm badge as he went. "Trek to Commander Belrug," and as an aside to the turbolift, "Deck 14."

"Go ahead," Florkem responded as the door closed.

"I know you're off-duty, but what are you doing right now?"

"Max and I were grabbing something to eat," she replied.

"Good, that saves me a comm call. I need both of you to report to Engineering right away," he said, trying to sound forgiving.

After some indistinct voices on the other end of the line, she replied, "We'll be there right away."

After he reached Engineering and pulled together the appropriate people, he looked around and said "Alright, everyone to the lower tier."

They all descended the under-level of Main Engineering on Deck 15 and varying degrees of puzzlement began to appear on people's faces. Dan looked around and said, "Yes, this'll give us adequate space."

Florkem looked around another second, then asked, "Commander, what's going on?"

Before answering her, Dan went over to a console and programmed in some commands. Jax, who was closest, looked over his shoulder. "You're site-to-site transporting a probe??" he asked. One by one, following Max's lead, everyone moved against the wall, and a moment later a Class 5 probe materialized.

"Meet our new project. We've to reconfigure and augment this probe to do recon on a cloaked ship nearby. We need to make it less visible, with both hull coatings and a modified shield, and enhance it's tactical subroutines to analyze any weapons fire it takes."

"You mean before it explodes almost instantly?" Ridden asked.

Dan chuckled, "Yes. Let's get to work."

They slowly broke up into smaller teams, some drifting to consoles, and set to work.

[Magellan Lin]

Salan sat quietly in his meagre quarters, rooms that he shared with three other Kasars. He was not used to space travel and prefered the sweltering heats of thier homeworlds than the artificailty that ships had.

He mused quitely about the contact he had made with that Carbon-based mind. So different so... alien. He fought hard not to be repulsed by that thought. He was as yet unsure how he would meet his obligations but felt certain that it was important to meet this being called Grey.

"My turn for the Vivarius" Sink commented bitterly allowing Salan to slide his near naked scaled body from beneath the lamps.

"I had SSataks more, but as I have jobs to do you are welcome to the Vivarius"

Feeling the cold of the ship about him he quikcly dressed in his robe and exited the cabin. His was somewhat diminutive in size compared to the majority of the crew and he longed to be back in his room with his fellow Kasar.

"What is it Salan" Valk asked venomously as the Kasar stepped into the Attcak Center,

"A word please Highest"

Valk barely acknowldged, his lidless eye boring a whole into him. Valk stood. He was a good 2 feet taller than Salan and was strong and intimidating. "Here" he grunted, takein Salan to one side.

"I need a support craft"

Valk laughed
"And I need a Tholian Omlette but that isnt going to happen today"

"You can't refuse me" Salan pressed,

Valk grunted,
"This is my vessel and I can. I am Kasan-Thar"

"Yes you are Kasan-thar and I appreciate your need to protect our spiritual and physical beings. But I am Kasar and I cannot administer without the use of a support craft."

Valk looked at the small Kasar a moment.

"You wish to contact the Carbon-baseds"

Salan nodded,

"Highest Fleet Leader has ordered me not to."

"But he hasn't ordered me" Salan interjected, "I am not in the Kasan-thars chain of command."

Valk scowled, "What would you achieve in talking with such...beings. They are made of carbon!"

"We must make every effort to discover new things. It may help in our search for the divine one."

"Bah the divine one would devour them for breakfast." he paused, "Though they may have more knowledge of this area than we. They may even know where there is another Tholain hatchery and then I can get my Omlette. Very well Salan you have your shuttle. Tread carefully, it is my duty to the divine one to protect all Kasar from harm and will not hesitate to destroy the filthy carbon-based should they require proper religous instruction"

"Thankyou Valk. I will keep you informed"

Breathing a sigh of relief Salan left the command centre and headed for the cargo bay, he had a meeting to make.

[Deleted]

Lieutenant Mikaila Uric spun around in her chair at the Helm, to face the rest of the Bridge. She had listened silently, but now was a good time, she thought, to throw in her two cents. There wasn't much to do at the Helm at the moment anyway.

"Counselor, may I offer some advice?" she asked Lucy.

<Lucy>

"Well, I don't know much about first contacts, having not been involved in one before either. But I do know something about meeting strangers, and I think the two do have some similarities. Just keep an open mind. And don't be too quick to make judgments, though do make some. You'll have to make certain assessments as to whether you're in any danger, for example, but that's probably about as much as you want to make. Just get to know them and their species, and be friendly. That is probably the best we can hope for, and perhaps the most that is expected of you," she said, and smiled a bit to lighten the mood.

"And remember, if things don't go so well, you'll have backup down there," she said, indicating the men that would be there as well.

<Tag Lucy>

[joshreo]

"Aye, Sir," Josh said. As he began to prepare instructions for the other shifts' Tactical officers. As soon as his shift ended, he left the bridge and went to his quarters. He kneeled on the floor and began to meditate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~A couple Hours later~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Josh slowly began to be aware of his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was the candle sitting on his table. Things around the room came into focus and it was only now that Josh became aware that he was hungry. He got up and ordered Chicken Fetichini Alfredo and some Sinth-a-hol. He ate quickly and then retired to his bed chamber.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~Two Hours before dawn~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Josh woke and got dressed. He left his quarters and headed to the primary armory. When he got there, he entered his access codes and withdrew survival packs for five, then he got four sets of hand phasers and phaser rifles. He then took it all to the transporter room (or shuttle bay...depending on how you guys want this to unfold...) and waited for the rest of the away team.

<Any/all>

[Deleted]

"Counselor, may I offer some advice?" she asked Lucy.

"I would like that, Lieutenant Uric," Lucy replied [too fast?].

"Well, I don't know much about first contacts, having not been involved in one before either. But I do know something about meeting strangers, and I think the two do have some similarities. Just keep an open mind. And don't be too quick to make judgments, though do make some. You'll have to make certain assessments as to whether you're in any danger, for example, but that's probably about as much as you want to make. Just get to know them and their species, and be friendly. That is probably the best we can hope for, and perhaps the most that is expected of you," she said, and smiled a bit to lighten the mood.

"And remember, if things don't go so well, you'll have backup down there," she said, indicating the men that would be there as well.

Lt. Grey listened carefully, taking in every word. She didn't look around at the security officer or the First Officer. But she was curious about a helm officer giving her this advice rather than one of them.

With a flash of insight, Lucy understood that this sort of thing would be best coming from another woman. Since Lucy was so new to the ship and the great open wonders of space. The counselor smiled with appreciation. These men were making her feel at home in her mobile vessel.

Her Ship. Breathing deeply, Lucy nodded with assurance. Just like a first date, she would hold herself objective, watch and listen to the Kasan. Kasan-thar? And what was the difference, if there was one, she asked herself.

Turning to Cmdr. Ramsey, Lt. Grey asked with a confidence she was starting to feel, "Do we know if there is a split between the Kasan and the thar? If you understand that question, sir. I'm not sure I understand it. But I seem to have caught an after-image/thought that there is the Kasan. And there's a Kasan-thar. Like two species connected into one."

<Ramsey>