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Post by Deleted on Nov 29, 2005 2:39:44 GMT
"Commander Zoarial asking permission to enter warp speed." Zoarial said.
"You don't need to ask permission on that one, Zoarial," Dan responded, surprised at the request. "I did give you orders to do that already."
"Well sir, I recieved a message from mr McLean stating that when we would enter warpspeed, it would be the first test for the new navigational computer, which would mean that we would have to go into yellow alert." Zoarial explained.
"I see. Very well. Tactical, take us to Yellow alert," Dan ordered. A moment later, the lights dimmed slightly and the yellow status lights start flashing around the Bridge.
"If we are able to maintain this speed, we will reach our destination in four days captain," Zoarial noted.
"Excellent," Dan responded. "Maintaining this speed shouldn't be a problem, as our warp engines are capable of spending a few weeks at this Warp factor."
"However, Captain," Arro noted, "we would most likely run out of antimatter before that time."
"Thank you, Mr. Arro, I'm well aware of that," Dan responded.
"Just wanted to make sure you hadn't forgotten that, sir," Ensign Williams said, turning around and smiling. "In case your head had gotten too crowded to remember those pesky little Engineering details."
Dan chuckled at that. He then remembered the Acting Ensign. "Computer, identify the Acting Ensign that just transfered aboard."
"Acting Ensign John Wilson, Acting CTSO," the Computer responded.
Dan looked over at Freedman, who looked a bit surprised at the assignment. "We knew your assignment was only temporary anyway," Dan said, then hit the comm-circuit. "Captain Trek to Ensign Wilson. Please report to the Bridge."
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Scott McLean
Commander
If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
Registered: Sept 15, 2005 2:52:57 GMT
Posts: 330
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Post by Scott McLean on Dec 1, 2005 7:52:29 GMT
After a brief break McLean moved on from the navigational computer to electromagnetic modifications that would be needed for the shields. Looking over the shield specs McLean began to make mental calculations on how strong the shields needed to be to withstand the unknown force of the electromagnetic disturbance she ship will encounter, it was starting to look like a crap shoot with out the known frequency of the disturbance. The shields had fudge room but not enough to control the entire range they might encounter.
“Can I help you with anything?” Paria asked standing on the opposite side of the open console.
“Well yeah actually,” McLean said looking at her from across the console, “I want to send a couple of probes out to take readings of the disturbance when we reach it.”
“So we have a better idea of the range in the electromagnetic flux, good plan,” Paria said, “Did you hear Commander Joktel has left?”
“I uh,” McLean was cut off by Commander Trek on the COM system.
Lt. Paria please report to my ready room.
“On my way Captain,” Paria replied, “We can talk about this later.” She said walking away from McLean.
McLean exhaled loudly; he had known that Commander Trek was going to be the one to break the news to Paria but he had not expected her to approach him so soon. Turning his attention back to the problem at hand he noticed the advantages and the losses from the various levels of intensity he had to protect against. He could pour all available power into the shields protecting against the strongest electromagnetic pulses, but this left little spare power for the weapons, transporters, tractor beam and even life support. The strongest of the pulses are rare in the galaxy so McLean focused his attention on the power needs for the normally reported range of electromagnetic storms, this power change would draw most of its needed energy from all auxiliary power and a good portion from the tractor beam.
“I am going to have to run this by the Captain before I set these new power distribution changes into effect.” McLean said to himself as he downloaded the information onto a single PADD.
Placing the PADD in one of the cargo pockets in his pants McLean headed off to torpedo room. During McLean’s break he took the time to head back to his quarters and change into a new uniform McLean had replicated from the ships computer. The uniform was called the Chief Engineer’s deluxe uniform with two cargo pockets on the upper thighs of the pants and a host of large and small pockets for the engineers to place miscellaneous tools and scanners.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2005 3:14:52 GMT
Dan now had an Asst CEO to let down easily over not getting promoted. This would be interesting. "Lt. Paria please report to my ready room," he said over the comm.
"On my way, Captain."
"I'll be in my Ready Room," he said, and stood and left the Bridge.
A few minutes later, he admitted Paria into the room. "You wanted to see me, Captain?" she asked.
"Yes, Paria. Please sit down," he said, motioning to the chair in front of his desk. "As you know, Commander Joktel went with Captain Dixon to work on the Brain."
"Are you asking me to be Chief Engineer, sir?" she asked. From a mental check, Dan could see that she was not only hopeful, but also expectant. She wanted to be Chief Engineer. that would be difficult.
"No," he decided to say it simply. "I have promoted Lieutenant McLean to Chief Engineer."
As soon as McLean's name was mentioned, anger exploded inside her. "He's only been here one mission! He's just barely out of the Academy! I've been here for over a year, working diligently in Engineering to the best of my abilities. And now you promote him over me? WHY?!"
"For one, this outburst. You have trouble controlling your emotions, and keeping a level head. Scott showed some excellent intiative on the last mission, despite his rank, and was quite efficient," Dan explained.
She sat back in a huff, her arms folded, looking anywhere but at him.
"Also, because he's new, he needs support from someone experienced like you. He's a young man with alot of potential, that just needs guidance from an experienced engineer. And you're a skilled Computer specialist. The speed and skill with which you created that Coma program was impressive. And if you were a Chief Engineer, your time and ability to focus on such matters would be forced to other matters. There's a reason why Engineers aren't usually promoted to Command. It wastes some valuable talent."
"Well, I guess I can see what you mean," she said, still not entirely cooperative. "I guess I can help him."
"Excellent. And keep this in mind: helping him may boost your chances for Chief Engineer in the future."
"Good point," she said. She stood, "well I guess I should get back down there to help support him," she said.
"Good idea. Dismissed," he said, and she left.
As she left the room, the cheery, positive attitude stayed behind. How could he pass her up like this? She muttered to herself under her breath on the way back to the turbolift.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2005 10:51:17 GMT
Zoarial was a bit anxious about going in to warp and his feeling was fueled by the yellow alert status that was now active on the bridge. When nothing had happened after a couple of minutes though, Zoarial relaxed a bit, but he was still a bit tense, which resulted in jumping up from his seat when he got a message grom Scott.
“Engineering to the bridge, the new Nav. Computer is running perfectly, but I want you to run a diagnostic on your end to see if you can find any bugs.” Scott said, after which Zoarial sat down and turned back to his console.
He knew that a new navigational computer could have altered some of the values in the routines. There was some safety built in to make sure that a ship would not exceed it's limits, meaning that when the indicator showed a speed of warp 8, it occasionally meant that the vessel went 7,5 instead.
Zoarial didn't like to be tricked this way, he wanted the Raven to go exactly the speed he ordered, to make sure that he could be as efficient as possible in time of need. Because of this, Zoarial spent a couple of hours to track and reset all these safetyroutines, and using the available sensors he made sure that they all had the proper values.
After a second list of routines, to make sure that every input would result in the wanted output, Zoarial made up a checklist and sent it to engineering, just for the records.
"Commander Zoarial to lieutenant McLean, if I'm correct you just recieved a short list of all my checkups and alterations. If there is anything not in order, I would please hear from you, otherwise, enjoy your "leisure" while you can, I think that we will arrive in about a day."
<<Scott>>
"Ok thank you very much, Zoarial out"
"Navigation to captain Trek, I estimate that we will arrive at our destination in 24 hours." Zoarial informed Dan, "I suggest to get some rest before all the trouble starts." he added, in a somewhat less official tone.
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Scott McLean
Commander
If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
Registered: Sept 15, 2005 2:52:57 GMT
Posts: 330
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Post by Scott McLean on Dec 2, 2005 23:27:13 GMT
"Commander Zoarial to lieutenant McLean, if I'm correct you just received a short list of all my checkups and alterations. If there is anything not in order, I would please hear from you, otherwise, enjoy your "leisure" while you can, I think that we will arrive in about a day."
McLean tapped his COM Badge, “Understood Commander, I will take a look at the alterations ASAP. McLean out.”
McLean arrived in Torpedo Room One and began his search for a suitable probe to use for his electromagnetic test. Looking through the various casings McLean stumbled upon a Quantum Torpedo, McLean raised an eyebrow at the thought of using the torpedo as a probe instead of the standard probes. McLean opened the torpedoes access port to look at the electronics inside the case, he then pulled out a small electromagnetic scanner and began to scan the torpedo casing while at the same time watching the electronics inside the torpedo for signs of shorts. McLean was a bit nervous doing this test, if the case was not strong enough to with stand the scanning the magnetic seals separating the matter from the anti-matter would fail causing two matters to mix and annihilate, killing him and putting a good size hole in the ship.
“Lieutenant!” Paria shouted from behind McLean breaking the silence and causing McLean to jump pulling the scanner abruptly away from the casing.
“Holy $h*t Paria, you scared the crap out of me.” McLean said pressing the scanner against his chest as if he had a heart attack.
Paria looked at the scanner and then at the open torpedo case sitting on the ground, “What do you think your doing?”
“I was just scanning the torpedo case to use it as a probe.” McLean sounded like a child being scolded.
Paria grabbed the scanner out of McLean’s hands and looked at the settings frowning at what she saw, “This could have caused the torpedo to annihilate itself. Do you know what would have happened if it had?” Paria said almost shouting now.
McLean finally got his wits about him and realized what was going on, “Excuse me Lieutenant but I wont have my assistant yelling at me when I know full well what I am doing.” McLean said grabbing the scanner out of Paria’s hands with some force, “I recommend that you report back to Engineering and start work on the shields before I bring this little outburst up with Captain Trek. Do I make myself clear?”
Paria stood silently for a moment, McLean could see the fire in her eyes and the desire to speak out against McLean but she held her tongue. With out saying another word Paria turned on her heels and walked out of the Torpedo Room. McLean let out a sign of relief that the confrontation was over, putting his tools away McLean decided to head up to talk to Captain Trek.
The turbo lift doors opened up letting McLean step off the lift onto the Bridge. It seemed the Bridge was not as busy as McLean thought it would have been for this time of day. McLean sat down in the First Officer’s chair and leaned in next to Captain Trek, “Can I have a word with you in private Captain?”
Captain Trek nodded and stood up, “Commander you have the bridge.” Trek said leading McLean into his ready room. Once inside Trek sat down at his desk, “What can I do for you?”
“I have two things to discuss with you,” McLean said, “Well, one actually.”
Captain Trek looked a bit confused by the words of his new Chief Engineer, “Go on.”
“Sir, I want to modify a Quantum Torpedo to be used as a probe. The casings on the Quantum Torpedoes are much stronger than the conventional Photon Torpedo casings and are more resilient to electromagnetic interference. With your permission I would like somebody from the Armory department to remove the matter/anti-matter containment fields from the torpedo so I may use it as a probe.”
<Tag Captain Trek>
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Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2005 0:03:30 GMT
Joint post by myself and Lt. Jackson
Steven was sitting in the First Officer's chair on the bridge. The USS Raven had just gone into warp, and the captain had just called a new officer to report to him on the bridge. Steve took this as an opportunity to sort out the remainder of his belongings in his new quarters.
He stood up, and excused himself from the bridge. If he was needed, he was only a com-call away. He walked towards the back of the bridge, and into the nearest turbolift.
"Deck 2" He said, as the doors slid shut. Upon reaching Deck 2, Steve proceeded to his quarters, looking at the floor as he was walking.
‘Why are there never enough hours in the day?’ Rio thought irritably as she walked at breakneck speed through the corridors towards the mess hall. She meandered her way deftly between passersby, all of whom seemed very adept at getting out of her way.
If she didn’t get a move on there wouldn’t be time to grab something for lunch before –
“Oh for God’s sake doesn’t anyone on this ship look where they are going?” She practically yelled at the man whose chest she rebounded off.
Steven was shaken out of his mid-walk daze with the sudden impact with his chest. He took a step backwards before he leant too far back that he fell. After a moment, he blinked, and tried not to react to the sharp pain he was feeling in his chest. Admist everything, he half-stared at the person who walked into him, or perhaps vice-versa.
"My apologies." He said, unsure of what else he COULD say. "I should really stop staring at the floor as I walk." He added, as an after-thought.
A hoarse whisper escaped the marines lips as she physically caught the words she was about to divulge in her throat. The colour of the mans tunic, as well as his multiple pips, was enough to remind her to hold her tongue – but only just. Swallowing her harsh words she forcefully rearranged her features into a less reprimanding expression.
“It was probably my fault.” She mumbled, “It’s the second time thats happened today..."
Steven smiled. "Ok, well it was both our faults then!" He replied. He straightened his tunic and brushed himself down, mainly out of habit than anything else, then cocked his head slightly. "Are you ok? You obviously seemed to be in a hurry." He asked, holding out a hand.
“Urrr…” Rio said unsurely: she hadn’t been expecting such an amiable reply. She reached out her hand to take his, thinking it must have been the hundredth one she had shaken that day. In answer to his question she said; “Well, I need to eat, change and program a holodeck simulation in under half an hour…” adding a shrug as she trailed off.
Steve took his hand back, and he noticed the officer's small surprise at his last reply. Surely he couldn't be the only mellow officer in Starfleet. Accidents DO happen. He nodded at each of the tasks, but the final one piqued his interest.
"Program a holodeck simulation?" He half-asked and half stated. Before he said anything else, a thought suddenly struck him. "Where are my manners? I am Commander Steven Smith."
“Third lieutenant Rio Jackson Sir. I’m used to Jackson, it’s a marine thing…” She said, and accompanied it with another shrug. “And I train my men using simulations, unfortunately me and the holodeck tend to disagree…” she explained, thinking back to the incident earlier that day and trying to look innocent.
"Nice to meet you.....Jackson." Steve replied. "Or would you prefer me to call you Rio?" Something about the last thing Rio just said and her attempted look of innocence caused Steve to smile even more.
'Tend to disagree, eh?' He thought to himself. 'And what do people usually do in that situation?' Supressing a giggle, he just nodded.
"What type of simulations do you run?" He asked, with genuine curiosity. The last holodeck simulation he had been on was back on the USS El Salvador with his then fiancee, Remeti Lucas, when they agreed to get married. He tried hard to shake that thought from his mind and focus.
“Do you mind if we walk Sir, I’m in a bit of a rush…” She asked, already having taken two steps in the direction of the mess. Smith nodded at the empty space where the woman had previously stood before catching up.
“Basically I run scenarios that will test an officers ability to asses the risks and function under fire as a single unit. Up until now I have been using the programs devised by Colonel Samuels and his team, but I’ve done all of them at least twice…” she said as she dodged her way through oncoming traffic at high speeds.
Steven was having trouble initially keeping up, but he just about managed to do so. "That sounds very interesting." He answered. "Do you add your own parameters to the existing programs, or have you created entirely new scenarios?" He asked. Creating, and reprogramming a holodeck simulation wasn't something that he had ever tried, but somewhere down the line, Steve thought that it could be good to try.
Still walking at speed, Steve showed no signs of his pain, or being out of breath. "How many of you train in the simulations?" He asked, after a small silence.
Rio started to frown – there were too many questions. “I plan to split my men into two groups, of about five each. And I don’t exactly know what all those things you just said mean, but I think the answer would be both.” As she spoke the last word they arrived at the commissary and Rio joined the back of the queue, coming to such an abrupt halt that Smith nearly walked into her again.
Steve stopped sharply as Rio did the same in front of him. He bit his lip so as to stop him from saying something that he may later regret.
“Two teams of five, eh?” Steve asked. “Sounds like a good plan to use.” He then made a little smile that no-one could actually see. “As for the stuff that you didn’t understand….that doesn’t matter right now!”
Steve slowly began to move forward in the line. “Are the scenarios difficult?” He asked, finally, after a brief period of silence.
“Sometimes…They are designed to test our abilities in a number of different ways during a single run through. I like to help things along by periodically removing the safety feature. It keeps my officers on their toes Sir.” Ending her sentence in the formal way which had been drummed into her since she had first enlisted. She briefly wondered if the first officer minded being constantly addressed in this way, but figured it was a habit she was not going to break easily. She pushed the thought to the back of her mind and molded her fingers around a glass of chocolate milk with enthusiasm.
“While we arent on duty, please call me Steve.” Steve said with a genuine smile grin. “At least you don’t have the safety feature turned off all the time, that could get a bit dangerous, no matter how careful you are.” Steve just looked straight at Rio, trying to ascertain what she was thinking. All thoughts of why he was here suddenly went out of his mind.
Collecting a glass of water, Steve took a sip and took a deep breath. “When are you planning on taking another trip to the holodeck?” He asked.
“The next training session is scheduled for 1400 hours.” She told him, knowing that hell would freeze over before she referred to him as ‘Steve’. “So before then I need to eat and put the finishing touches to my newest program.” She continued, as they selected chairs at a table in the corner. Rio immediately started digging into her lunch, considering her short answer to be an ample one.
‘Never use ten words where one will do’ – that was what her brother had always said.
All Steve had picked for food was a roll. He wasnt really hungry, and he only picked it up so that he wasnt sitting with nothing to eat! He knew that Rio wasnt happy with calling him by his first name, yet he decided not to press further.
"What changes are you making?" He asked, hoping he wasnt asking too many questions, before biting into his roll.
“Jusht shum fine tuning…” she replied through a mouthful of food, which was disappearing at an alarming rate.
Amazed at the speed at which her food was disappearing, Steve just slowly ate into his roll. It was quite plain and boring, but he was happy with it.
"Maybe one day, I wouldn't mind watching your training." He said, after taking yet another mouthful of his water.
Rio suddenly stopped chewing, and altered her stare from her waffle to the first officer. Recovering from her initial shock, she swallowed her mouthful and shrugged. “You’re welcome anytime, on the condition that you join in.” she said plainly.
Steve nearly choked on his roll. "Join in? I wasnt expecting that." He replied. He took a final gulp of his drink, and appeared to think about the offer. It was going to be a bit different, granted, but he felt sure that he would be in safe hands.
"Sure, why not?" He answered, after a short, but silent debate.
“Great. Training is at 1400 then.” She said, replacing her empty glass on the table and standing to leave. “Oh, and nice to meet you Sir.” She added formally.
Steve inwardly winced at Rio's use of 'sir'. He stood up as well, finishing off the last of his roll.
"1400 hours? I'll be there." He said, and nodded.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2005 2:45:33 GMT
"Navigation to captain Trek, I estimate that we will arrive at our destination in 24 hours." Zoarial informed Dan, "I suggest to get some rest before all the trouble starts." he added, in a somewhat less official tone.
"Thank you, Commander, but I'll be fine," he said, stepping out of his Ready Room and back onto the Bridge.
He sat down at his chair, just in time to see Smith leave. "I once went about a week without sleep with no side-effects."
"Why was that?" Arro asked from his station at Ops.
"War. The Tulusian War of 2325. My people were not yet part of the Federation. I was a Commodore at that point, and was responsible for the engagements for an area equivalent to a few sectors. The fighting was fierce. We lost two ships under my command during that war."
"Tulusians?" Arro asked. "I've never heard of that species."
"That would be because they no longer exists. My race entirely wiped out their's." There was a collective gasp from the officers on the Bridge. "I objected to the war, and to the choice to destroy them, but I had no choice."
Fortunately, the story was cut off by Lieutenant McLean stepping onto the Bridge and sitting down next to him. “Can I have a word with you in private Captain?”
He nodded, and they both went into his Ready Room. He listened to the report. "Sounds good," he said, after McLean had finished. "I'll assign Lieutenant Freedman to that one. Now, is there something else on your mind? You said two things. No use hiding it, I can read your mental state. You're troubled about something."
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Scott McLean
Commander
If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
Registered: Sept 15, 2005 2:52:57 GMT
Posts: 330
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Post by Scott McLean on Dec 3, 2005 4:31:52 GMT
“Now, is there something else on your mind? You said two things. No use hiding it, I can read your mental state. You're troubled about something."
McLean hesitated telling the Captain even after using it only as a threat to Paria to get back in line, “Sir, its Paria.”
“I thought that’s what it might have been about.” Captain Trek said.
“Well sir she had a slight outburst with me in Torpedo Room One.” McLean said not wanting to go into any more details, “I just thought I should let you know. She is a good engineer and I would hate to see something like this cause problems in engineering and possibly affecting her judgment. We are going into a dangerous situation and the last thing I want is an engineer who is not thinking clearly.”
<Tag Captain Trek>
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Post by Deleted on Dec 4, 2005 3:00:31 GMT
"I completely understand," Dan said, after listening to Scott's explanation. "After all, I filling your shoes just a few months ago." He sighed. "Oh well. Now I am here. We'll keep an eye on Paria, and I'll speak to her if there's a problem."
"Thank you, sir," Scott said, standing. "I should get back to my work."
"Yes indeed," Dan said, standing as well. "I'll send Freedman down to Torpedo Bay one right away."
"Again, thank you," Scott said.
"Any time, Lieutenant. Dismissed." The Chief Engineer left the Ready Room. A few moments later, Dan left himself. He sat back down in his chair, and tapped the comm. "Captain Trek to Lieutenant Freedman, please report to Torpedo Bay one. Lieutenant McLean needs assistance modifying a torpedo."
"Yes sir, on my way," came Freedman's prompt response.
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Scott McLean
Commander
If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
Registered: Sept 15, 2005 2:52:57 GMT
Posts: 330
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Post by Scott McLean on Dec 4, 2005 7:27:46 GMT
McLean had to admit he felt better after talking with the Captain; he feared that the disturbance would have looked too trivial to have brought to his attention. Being so new to the ship McLean generally tried to walk softly around the veteran residence of the Raven, but now as a Senior staff member and the head of Engineering it would be required that he get to know all the other staff members, including the Captain more personally.
Finding his way back down to Torpedo Room One McLean spotted a single officer standing looking over the Quantum Torpedo McLean had left on the floor. Walking up to the officer McLean introduced himself.
“Lieutenant Freedman?” McLean asked getting the officer’s attention.
“Yes, you must be Lieutenant McLean, I am almost done with the torpedo. I hurried down here as fast as I could once Captain Trek called me.”
“Would it be too much trouble to ask you to help me modify a second one?” McLean asked.
“No, not at all. I really do not have much else to do today.”
“Good.” McLean said getting a lift around to pull down a second torpedo casing.
Once the second casing was sitting on a hover cart Freedman came over to give McLean a hard with the second torpedo. McLean opened up the casing and stared at the internal workings of the torpedo. For all this knowledge on computer systems, warp fields and advanced ship design McLean could never get his head wrapped around the unique workings of the Quantum Torpedoes.
“Have you ever had to pull out the warhead of a Quantum Torpedo before?” Freedman asked.
“No, never. Just Photon Torpedoes back during the Academy, but that was a few years ago.”
“Yeah, tell me about it,” Freedman said laughing, “The Quantum Torpedo is close to the Photon, except that when you remove the matter/anti-matter head you must also remove the units power relay that is attached to the quantum matrix. Since this system is redundant we do not have to remove the matrix itself just the relay. Unlike with the Photon were we do not have to remove the power relay because the relay only powers the containment field and it’s back up battery. The Quantum does not have a back up batter because of space issues. Got it?”
McLean looked in awe of his fellow officer, never had he seem a torpedo taken apart and described with such simplicity yet with so much detail before. He had gotten the how and the why for the actions Freedman was doing.
“Your going to be using these are probes right?” Freedman asked.
“Yes, that’s right.” McLean replied.
“I will tell you what,” Freedman said picking up the two warheads, “Head back to engineering and keep working on those shield modifications. I will go ahead and finish up with these two ‘probes’, I still have to tear out all the guts from these two and replace them with the internals from the probes. Sound good?”
McLean shrugged his shoulders, “Sounds fine to me,” McLean said, “You need to sit down and teach me all you know about torpedoes. One day might come where I need to know this stuff and
“I will tell you what,” Freedman said picking up the two warheads, “Head back to engineering and keep working on those shield modifications. I still have to finish tearing out all the rest of the internals from these two and replace them with parts from a standard probe. Sound good?”
McLean shrugged his shoulders, “Sounds fine to me,” McLean said, “You need to sit down and teach me all you know about torpedoes. One day might come where I need to know this stuff and you might not be around.”
“It’s a deal.” Freedman said turning around to return the warheads to storage.
McLean left and headed back to engineering to check up on the progress Paria was having with the shields. He hoped she would be in a better mood, maybe he could talk to her and working things out with her.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2005 22:56:09 GMT
That little shrimp, Paria thought to herself as she worked. How did he make Chief Engineer over me?? He nearly blow a hole in the side of the ship!
She looked over at the door opened, and saw him walk in. Oh, joy, wonderboy's back. Probably complained to the Captain.
He walked over. "How're things going down here?" he asked.
"Just fine, sir," she said, without looking up.
"We need to continue working on the shield modifications," he said.
"Yeah, there's something else I'd like to modify around here," she said in a low voice.
"What was that, Lieutenant?" McLean responded.
"Nothing, sir," she said louder.
------------------------------Bridge-----------------------------
"ETA to Hactil, Mr. Zoarial?" Dan asked.
"23 hours, 30 minutes, sir," Zoarial said, and turned in his chair. "I just mentioned the time half an hour ago."
"Did you? Guess I forgot," Dan said, shaking it off.
"I don't like deserts," Ensign Williams replied, sitting at the Engineering station. "We won't be going down onto the planet's surface, will we sir?"
Dan chuckled. "No, Ensign. Given the reports on the EM field around the planet, I'd be very wary of sending an Away Team down there." He looked over at the young Engineer. "And don't worry. If I send an Engineering detail, you're not exactly high on the preference list."
Williams let out a sigh, to which Dan stifled another chuckle.
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elianabetor
Guest
Registered: Mar 29, 2024 8:08:33 GMT
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Post by elianabetor on Dec 7, 2005 0:30:23 GMT
OOC: Sorry! Had an Othello essay to do! (incidentally, if anyone has anything on the subject of ‘reputation’ in said play, let me know!!) Hope this makes up for it…
IC:
Nurse Packer finished up with an Ensign from Engineering, noting that if he had been paying attention to what he was supposed to have been doing, he wouldn’t have those burns on his face.
She grinned to herself as he left Sickbay, rubbing his cheek as though it were still burnt, and she walked into the office to grab a PADD to make a list of supplies they needed from the cargo bay.
“Hello, Doctor” She said. “Still at work, I see…”
E’Liana shook her head briefly to regain her attention and smiled at the nurse. “I’m researching Klingon culture.”
Joy opened her mouth as though to comment on the sight of a half-Klingon woman researching her own supposed culture but thought better of it and left the room with a slight nod.
E’Liana was far too busy to notice the odd look that Joy gave her, and so went back to her work. She thought she knew all about her culture, but realised that there was much about the warrior aspect that left her clueless - perhaps that was why she was a doctor, and perhaps there was something she was missing which was why she completely failed to understand Zoarial’s problems.
Having sat in front of a screen for at least an hour, the Doctor decided that the most effective research would be the holodeck.
~*~
E’Liana made her way to the holodeck and looked through the list of possible programmes she could select and chose one of a Klingon warrior.
E'Liana stepped into the holodeck, not too sure of what to expect. She looked around in the darkness.
A Klingon stepped forward, Bat'leth at the ready. 'Who are you and what do you want?' Realising that this was a stereotypical Klingon, she answered in the formal way. "I am E'Liana, daughter of Martok...who are you?" She said, letting her indignation rise to the surface.
'I am Da'rogH, son of Mo'RagH' he replied 'are you here to challenge me or are you here for a different purpose?'
"um...to challenge you?" She hadn’t really thought too hard ahead.
'you do not sound so sure' |Curious Cat | says: She looked him in the eye. (Eye contact is important with Klingons) "I wish to find out about our culture, i need to help a man I know"
'Which culture? You are half Klingon, what is your other half?' despite the situation, her comment had intrigued him.
She flushed with anger, hating how this was always an issue with anyone. "Why does it matter to YOU?" She moved closer
'You want to know about culture. Our cultures aren't necessarily the same' he responded, matching anger with anger 'Why do you want to help him anyway?'
"My culture is the same as yours, do not dishonour me for something which I cannot help." She was getting angry now, but chose to embrace it - this was a Klingon, after all. "He is a warrior in trouble, he needs assistance."
'It is not up to you to help' he mocked 'they are the sins of your father that haunt you. If you are truly Klingon you should understand that and that a warrior in trouble must help himself. What are you, a doctor with more skill with plasters than a blade?'
She glared at him. "How much glory is there for a warrior how dies in a pool of his own blood? I have the talent to help those warriors to make better conquests"
He stood tall, throwing the Bat’leth out in a dramatic pose. 'Dying in battle is the greatest honour. Do you deny them that?'
"In battle, no...because of it? that's hardly the same thing."
'And what of your own honour. Do you not seek to claim honour to relieve what you can of the dishonour of your father?'
E'Liana was shocked. "My honour is saving the lives of noble people, in helping those who seek my help, like this warrior. how can he be the best he can without my help?"
'Is he too weak to make his own way?'
"It has nothing to do with weakness!" She began to get angrier now, he was not listening! How could she make him listen? "I want to help him! why is that wrong?"
'Because he is a warrior! It is dishonourable to need someone else's help. To be so weak that he needs a Starfleet doctor. If he is Starfleet too then is he really a Klingon warrior? I think not!'
She growled dangerously at him, but he did not flinch. "A person can be more than one thing! WHY is everything so black and white with you?"
He could see the rage growing in her and was pleased. So she had spirit despite her profession. 'Because you either are a warrior or you are not. Starfleet says to talk, the warrior's way is to fight. Is he Starfleet or a warrior?'
She faltered. Wasn't that Zoarial's problem? That he wasn't sure... "I...I don't know."
Da'rogH was pleased. She had faltered and shown weakness in combat. Combat of words, but this was to be a victory of a kind. 'If you don't know, then what good are you as a doctor? How are you supposed to help him? Where is the honour in faltering?'
Anger boiled within her and she hit him, hard.
He laughed loudly. 'So you are Klingon!' he announced proudly 'Beneath your uniform there is a warrior's glow! But can you fight?' He hefted his Bat'leth and bellowed a war cry, baring his teeth at her.
She looked alarmed for a moment but looked around for a Bat'leth - there wasn't one.
He saw her look for a weapon. She had not come prepared; that was a mistake that would cost her in battle. He stepped forward, inverted his weapon and hit her with the handle side, knocking her off balance. He threw the weapon at the ground where it stuck on one point and stepped backwards to pick another weapon out of the shadows behind him. After all, there was no honour in an unfair fight.
She glared at him as she got up, fighting the desire to rub her chin. She grabbed the weapon and, when he was ready, she struck him. What he did not know what that she had quite a high level in warrior training.
He was unbalanced slightly, but not really that significant. He began taunting her, knowing that to provoke her would cause her to become stronger.
….
She picked up the Bat’leth that was lying on the ground next to Da'rogH and spat at him.
~So~ She mused. ~Did that help me at all with Zoarial?~ She limped casually out of the holodeck and made her way slowly back to sickbay, but she forgot to turn the program off…
<TAG Zoarial>
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Deleted
Registered: Mar 29, 2024 8:08:33 GMT
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2005 17:38:45 GMT
OFF: Scroll down for the translations to the Klingon sentences
ON: Zoarial was in a hurry, he had to lie down in his quarters to cool down. He had been only an inch from doing something to a crewmember, though he was the only who knew it. While he had to wait for the turbo lift he thought back about what just happened.
He was sitting in the mess hall, after a very hectic moment on the bridge. One member of his staff at the helm contradicted him, on a subject that Zoarial was quite convinced of that he was right himself. A very heated discussion began, and after fifteen minutes of shouting Zoarial found out that he did not have a list with correct facts and figures. He had to admit that he was wrong, something that he did not have a big problem with at all, but the very person who had presented him the incorrect list, proved to be very keen on rubbing this in.
This last thing woke the flame that was silently burning inside Zoarials mind, but he was able to refrain himself from harming this weak link.
In his haste Zoarial missed his deck and, without knowing it, stepped out one deck lower. The hallways looked exactly the same, and the unsuspecting Klingon went through a door to enter a corridor that was adjecent to his quarters.
But instead of that he stood eye in eye with a Klingon warrior, looking quite enraged, holding a Bat'leth at the ready.
*What is this Klingon warrior doing here?* Zoarial thought, and wanted to ask the reason of his presence, but was prevented from doing so, by the point of the Bat'Leth, coming dangerously close to his chin.
"bljeghbe'chug vaj blHegh" The warrior, advancing the Bat'Leth, yelled.
"jeghbe` thlInganpu`" Zoarial shouted in a reflex.
Zoarial took a step back and pressed his commbadge, =^=Zoarial to Bridge, there's an enraged Klingon warrior in front of my quarters, I request some backup.=^=
There came no reply.
Zoarial saw an abandoned Bat'Leth lying next to him on the ground, but he would be sliced in two before he would be able to grab it.
"pujwI' HIvlu'chugh quvbe'lu' " He said, and saw the Klingon looking to the spare Bat'Leth for a split second.
Zoarial got the hint, and retrieved the weapon from the ground, slowly standing back up while balancing it in his hand. He waited for the first blow to come from the opponent, sothat he could not be accused of provoking the fight.
Zoarial's Foe suddenly slashed his Bat'Leth across Zoarial's chest, mainly ripping his uniform, but also leaving a big cut in his chest.
"jIqta' ", Zoarial said, just stating the obvious. But he saw that his remark served it's purpose. His enemy thought that he was fighting a weakling, and let down his guard.
Zoarial efficiently used this oppertunity to disarm his opponent with a swift attack. He pinned the helpless fighters on the ground and pressed his own Bat'Leth with it's flat side on the chest of the struggling warrior. He had expected a better fight of this fierce looking Klingon, and like he said just a couple of minutes ago, there was no honour in attacking the weak.
" jIH DoQ batlh ", Zoarial said, because he did want recognition of his victory, but the Klingon warrior suddenly vanished.
Zoarial, assuming that the defeated combatant was beamed away, looked down at his chest to take a look at his battlewound. It looked more serious than he at first thought, though it did not hurt at all.
He took the turbolift to sickbay and saw that nurse Packer looking his way briefly, before turning back to her patient.
"What's the matter commander?" She asked, without looking up from scanning the person lying on the biobed. Suprising Zoarial with her cool tone.
"I thought that you might be able to fix this," He said, trying to sound as casual as possible.
"You don't need a doctor to sew your clothes commander" Packer said, making Zoarial frown.
*It's also something else that needs to be sown, nurse* Zoarial thought, but found no injury when he looked for the cut in his chest.
At that very moment E'Liana walked out of her office.
<E'liana>
"There was a Klingon intruder in front of my quarters just a moment ago, and while fighting him I recieved a big slash across my chest, but it seems to have vanished suddenly." Zoarial said, "Maybe it's not a physical, but a mental checkup that I need" He said to the E'liana.
<Tag E'Liana>
"bljeghbe'chug vaj blHegh" - "Surrender or die!" "jeghbe` thlInganpu`" - "Klingons do not surrender" "pujwI' HIvlu'chugh quvbe'lu' " - "There is no honour in attacking the weak" "jIqta' " - "You have wounded me"
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Scott McLean
Commander
If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
Registered: Sept 15, 2005 2:52:57 GMT
Posts: 330
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Post by Scott McLean on Dec 8, 2005 10:34:25 GMT
McLean could feel the tension in the air as he finished talking with Paria, it reminded him too much of the way the air felt after a fight with his wife. McLean tried to be as diplomatic about the situation as he could, but he knew that if she kept up with her outbursts and attitude he would eventually have to file an official report.
Hours flew by as McLean kept working on the calculations for the shields; the modifications were not going as smoothly as he had hoped they would. Attempting to protect a ship from an unknown intensity of electrometric energy was nothing new for a starship, but in every case they always know how strong and to what frequency to adapt the shields too, McLean had neither of those details to work from. He hoped the two probes would provide the information he was currently lacking.
“Freedman to McLean.”
“McLean here.”
“I finished with both of the probes, they are to be fired at a moments notice.” Freedman said with a hint of pride in his voice.
McLean smiled at the good news, “Thanks a bunch, I owe you one.”
“It’s no problem. Freedman out.”
At least a few things are going my way today, McLean thought as he continued to look at the characteristic curve of the main deflector shields. It seemed almost impossible to cover the gamut that might be encountered and randomly selecting a particular range seemed unwise. McLean called up the encounter reports he had found in the ships main computer about other ships modifying their shields to pass through a similar disturbance, each case with the exception of one called for a shield frequency and power change with in the same moderately calculations he had made.
“I need a break.” McLean said to himself looking at the time. He had not noticed but his shift was over several hours ago but the thoughts of costing the lives of everybody on this ship over a mistake kept him working.
Paria had long since retired for the night leaving Engineering with a much more calm feeling. Looking around the engine room McLean noticed the night shift engineers were beginning to start their duty shifts. They seemed used to seeing the Chief Engineer working late as nobody took particular notice of him as he closed out his station to head up to the lounge for a bit of a break.
McLean had downloaded the information he was working on in Engineering onto a PADD. As he sat in the lounge he noticed some of the other senior staff members were still up socializing inside the lounge. McLean ordered himself a Raktajino from the replicator and sat down at the first available seat. McLean wanted to socialize as well to help clear his mind but still felt the part of the new officer on the ship so he simply picked up the PADD and began to look over the information as he sipped on the Klingon beverage.
<Tag to anyone who wishes to socialize>
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elianabetor
Guest
Registered: Mar 29, 2024 8:08:33 GMT
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Post by elianabetor on Dec 8, 2005 23:57:19 GMT
E’Liana had made her way back to her office and had decided that the best…treatment…for Zoarial was for him to make full use of the holodeck. It had certainly made her feel better - after the initial anger. After writing reports in her office for a while, she decided to go and see how Joy was doing with her patient, but was greeted with a rather irate-looking Klingon. ~Uh oh~
“Greetings, Commander…to what do we owe this pleasure?” She asked, attempting to put him at ease.
"There was a Klingon intruder in front of my quarters just a moment ago, and while fighting him I received a big slash across my chest, but it seems to have vanished suddenly." Zoarial said, "Maybe it's not a physical, but a mental check-up that I need" He said.
E’Liana looked confused for a moment. “A Klingon? Outside your quarters? Perhaps we had better go inside my office…” She led the way, casually picking up a tricorder as she did so.
<TAG Zoarial>
She carefully watched him sit down, trying to assess his mental condition without being attacked. “So where did he go after you fought him?” She asked, having heard the tale.
“He…disappeared.” Said Zoarial.
She smothered the urge to openly scan his brain activity by realising that he was getting more and more annoyed at his lack of understanding over the situation.
“Ok…what did he look like?”
<TAG Zoarial>
E’Liana sat there wide eyed. “That wasn’t your quarters…that was the holodeck…did I leave the program running?” She said, half to herself.
<TAG Zoarial>
“I was…um..testing a theory. You seemed so upset - annoyed! - that you couldn’t control your temper that, as your Doctor, I thought I should help.” She smiled weakly at him, seeing that his temper was rising again…
<TAG Zoarial>
OOC: Feel free to go nuts - literally ;-) - I can take it!
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Deleted
Registered: Mar 29, 2024 8:08:33 GMT
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2005 2:49:09 GMT
Time progressed, and day turned into night. The day shift Bridge crew left their stations, replaced by their night-time counterparts. Seeing as Commanders Smith and Zoarial were currently absent from the Bridge, Dan stayed on duty.
Lieutenant Arro, however, was quite willing to give up his station to his replacement. He headed off the Bridge, and down to the Mess Hall, seeking to silence his grumbling stomach.
He walked up to the Galley. "Good evening, Berraine," he said to the Bajoran cook. "What's on the menu tonight?"
"Well, I had quite a few human crewmembers request Pot Roast, so I've got a 15-kilo roast that's about half gone on the stove. Want some?" she asked, cheerfully.
"Pot Roast sounds excellent," Arro said, thinking back to his mother's cooking.
"Coming right up," she said, and went back into the Kitchen for a moment. She came back out with a nice big helping. "Here you go," she said, smiling. "Enjoy!"
Arro looked around, and saw McLean sitting by himself, sipping from his cup and reading a PADD. He walked over. "May I join you, Lieutenant?"
<McLean>
He sat down. "What's on the PADD?" he said, pointing at it with his fork as he began eating.
<McLean>
"I see," he said simply. "There's alot of uncertainty in this mission. There are so many unknowns. This could get interested," he said, letting out a smirk. "So how're you liking being in command down in Engineering?"
<Tag McLean>
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Scott McLean
Commander
If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
Registered: Sept 15, 2005 2:52:57 GMT
Posts: 330
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Post by Scott McLean on Dec 9, 2005 7:58:40 GMT
Arro looked around, and saw McLean sitting by himself, sipping from his cup and reading a PADD. He walked over. "May I join you, Lieutenant?"
McLean looked up from the PADD happy to see a living breathing being instead of the data that lay before him, “Please.” McLean said putting the PADD down on the table and motioning toward the empty seat.
He sat down. "What's on the PADD?" he said, pointing at it with his fork as he began eating.
Where to begin, McLean thought as he eyed the PADD, “It’s the calculations for the shield modifications I need to have done before we attempt to break through the electromagnetic field.”
"I see," he said simply. "There's alot of uncertainty in this mission. There are so many unknowns. This could get interested," he said, letting out a smirk. "So how're you liking being in command down in Engineering?"
”It certainly is a change,” McLean said bobbing his head before staring off in the distance. The day had been a long one and it began to wear on him.
“You looked tired,” Arro said as he continued to eat.
McLean locked his eyes back on Arro, “Yeah you can say that,” McLean said picking up the PADD from the table, “Hey would you mind looking at this for a second?”
“I’m no engineer.” Arro replied.
“No, I mean the power distributions the shields would need to with stand the force of most electromagnetic disturbances.” McLean said holding out the PADD to Arro.
Arro put down his fork, taking the PADD out of McLean hands. He looked over the PADD slowly double checking everything as to not miss any important details. He frowned a few times but seemed to shrug whatever thoughts he had in him mind off with a slight bob of his head.
“What your purposing would drain a lot of power from several vital systems, but it can be done. I would have to run it by the Captain before we could proceed with such a drastic change in the ships power distribution.” Arro said picking his fork up, “I do have to say this though, if this electromagnetic field drastically changes in frequency we might be in for some trouble.”
McLean sat back in his chair looking at the PADD in his hands. The Operations Officer’s words sent shivers running down his back. Although the thoughts about the change in frequencies had crossed his mind the single fact that another officer had pointed it out almost solidified it as a unnecessary risk. McLean’s more rational mind kept trying to tell him the radical change in frequency was not a normal phenomenon and the chances of it happening were slim.
“The thought had occurred to me.” McLean said sounding distant.
Arro leaned into McLean’s field of vision looking interested at the dazed engineer.
“Look, your tired. I think it would be best if you get some sleep and take a look at this information tomorrow. Since we need to get permission from the Captain to change the power set up on the ship I will inform him when I report in,” Arro said picking up the PADD and placing it next to him, “Go ahead and get some sleep and don’t worry about anything, by the looks of what you have already done everything should be ready to go when we get to the planet. Now go.” Arro said shooing McLean away.
McLean stood up slowing not saying anything at first, as he passed Arro he patted the man on the shoulder simply saying, “Thanks.”
McLean drug himself into his quarters, turning on the main console in his room to display the information he had left with Lieutenant Arro. Flopping down on the couch McLean looked up at the information trying to let new fresh ideas flow from his tired mind. His eyes fought to stay open as his vision began to blur. Kicking off his boots McLean laid down on the couch trying to keep his attention on the problem at hand, before he knew it he had fallen asleep.
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Deleted
Registered: Mar 29, 2024 8:08:33 GMT
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2005 11:15:25 GMT
“A Klingon? Outside your quarters? Perhaps we had better go inside my office…” E'Liana preceded Zoarial, and he saw her picking up a tricoder. He didn't really like the idea of having to be scanned, and sat down rather nervously.
“So where did he go after you fought him?” She asked, having heard the tale.
“He…disappeared. I think that he must have been beamed back to his ship” Zoarial said, thinking back about the incident.
“Ok…what did he look like?”
"Well, he looked kind of like the normal Klingon, the one you see on pictures in the academy books." Zoarial replied, after he realized that he had been more into taking care of the situation then making a mental picture of his attacker, the only then he DID know was that there had been no strange thing about this fighters appearance.
E’Liana looked like she knew what was going on “That wasn’t your quarters…that was the holodeck…did I leave the program running?”
Zoarial could have smacked himself, it was so obvious now. It all made sense. Why there was a spare Bat'leth lying around, why was there no physical injury and why, now that he thought back about it, the room that he was in, didn't even remotely match the hallway outside his quarters.
"Why did you leave it on?" Zoarial asked, "Or perhaps something more interesting, why did you start it up in the first place?"
“I was…um..testing a theory. You seemed so upset - annoyed! - that you couldn’t control your temper that, as your Doctor, I thought I should help.” a faint smile appeared on E'Liana's face, and Zoarial felt tricked for the second time within one hour now. He was up on his feet in one second and felt blood running to his head.
"Why on Qo'noS do you think that I can't control my temper, I am perfectly able to do so!" Zoarial wanted to say, but realized that he was yelling instead. He said down again and continued with a slightly less loud voice. "Or rather... was... up till now." He said, shaking his head slightly.
"I was... an inch... a mere inch... from sending... a crewmember to sickbay, and I mean physically, not verbally." Zoarial said, carefully picking his words. He felt that is was difficult not to feel exactly what he felt before, and dealing with E'Liana the way he wanted to deal with someone else earlier on the bridge. "How can I expect people to work with me if they think that I can have an outburst as soon as they disagree with me?"
<E'Liana>
Zoarial continued, almost like he did not hear what E'Liana just said "My staff will be afraid to counterspeak me, even though they are right, but exactly at the point that they are right and I am wrong, I need their feedback. I don't want this ship to crash into a planet because I was the only one that didn't see the pattern on a readout."
While Zoarial said what he wanted to say, he was thinking ahead about what this meant, but he didn't really like every conclusion. On of them hit him hardest, and while he hesitated slightly, he opened his mouth again to say this worrying thing.
"But I think that perhaps the major problem is.... that..." Zoarial felt that he was close to finding something to help him, but his commbadge chirped.
=^=What is it?=^= Zoarial said, and E'Liana saw that he wasn't really fond of this person right now.
=^=It's Lieutenant David Vegas sir, am I interrupting?=^=
Zoarial eased up again, he just wasn't able to project his anger on the unsuspecting assistant CNO.
=^=I'm sorry David, I am rather busy yes, but I didn't mean to shout at you, next time you want to speak to me, please say who you are immideately, that way you won't get a shouting superior=^= Zoarial said, now smiling faintly himself.
=^=What news do you bring mr Vegas?=^=
=^=We're almost at our destination sir, I thought that you might want to do the final approach=^=
=^=You're correct in assuming that mr Vegas, I'll be there in a couple of minutes=^= Zoarial replied, knowing that at the moment only his job would give him enough distraction.
"I'm sorry that our conversation just came to such an abrupt end, but there's work that needs to be done. Is there a last thing that you want to share with me? Zoarial said, hoping that E'Liana was already able to tell what was going on.
<E'Liana>
"Ok, thank you, I will think about that! Zoarial said, knowing in advance that he wouldn't do so untill the next time he saw E'Liana.
<E'Liana>
Zoarial bowed politely and headed for the bridge. The Raven had been a bit faster than expected, making them arrive in the middle of the night instead of early in the morning.
He saw that Dan was present on the bridge and sat down behind the helm.
"Our planet will pop up on the screen any time now sir. How far do you want me to stay from the electromagnetic disturbance?"
<tag Dan>
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jackson
Guest
Registered: Mar 29, 2024 8:08:33 GMT
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Post by jackson on Dec 10, 2005 2:28:17 GMT
The holodeck was an unusually tense place for the Chief Marine officer as she entered with baited breath. Unbeknown to her colleagues, she had casually ensured that the safety protocols were switched on, knowing that at best her scenario programming was significantly dodgy. Standing in the valley alongside her were four members or her marine team, including her first second in command Sergeant Black. The man, who was by far the tallest of the group, appeared confident and nonchalant. Rio however, was not so convinced that this was going to go at all according to plan.
The small group looked around the sparse valley, which was nothing more than a chasm cut into a planet comprising entirely of ashy clay rock. As far as they could see, the surface showed very little sign of inhabitance, however the atmosphere was breathable. Rio wondered if this was perhaps a slightly unrealistic representation brought about by her own hand, since theoretically the air filled with volcanic ash should have choked them within seconds. Nonetheless they were here now, and she reasoned that being able to breathe was never actually a bad thing.
The team began to traverse their way down the side of the valley, tumbling several layers of rock and dust into the drop below them. They slid down on the heels of their boots, using their overslung rifles to aid their balance. On arrival at the bottom, Sergeant Green pulled out a tricorder to make his analysis while the rest of the team waited and watched the never-ending scene of dusky rocks.
“Apparently the base is underground…” he said when he finally looked up.
“Ya think?” Black asked, pushing past the smaller man and nearly knocking the tricorder out of his hands. Rio noticed, but did not react, instead making a mental note to see if the action was repeated in the future. She was prepared for taking on a handful with this guy, but didn’t want to bring it all to blows on their first training mission.
The team continued on through the chasm, and still there was no sign of civilization. Their boots traipsed over the rough ground as they stumbled along, not really knowing what they were looking for. Slowly they reached the other side, and although there was a communal feeling of downheartedness at the steep climb that stood ahead, none of the concerns were aired. Black lead the way, prodding the ground with his rifle to check its stability. Green followed in his footsteps, seeming very untrusting of his senior’s methods. It seemed his concerns were justified however, when he hopped onto the rock on which Black was standing and the pair of them dropped twelve feet into the ground.
Almost at once a great black cloud rose from within the gaping hole and encompassed the group. ‘Now this is more like it’ Rio thought, as she like the others fumbled for their breathing apparatus and slipped it on.
“Found it.” Black called up to the others, the sound being muffled by his mask he had managed to secure. Secretly Rio was feeling quite proud, she hadn’t expected the base to be found in such an interesting way.
The whole group then ventured down underground as Sergeants Black and Green pulled themselves to their feet. The more inexperienced of the two was looking decidedly dejected now, while the marine first officer seemed to have taken the discovery in his ample stride. The group looked into the gulch which ran in a deep cleft in front of them, the path steadily progressing downward. Eventually it became a more shallow ramp which curved away to the teams right and brought them face to face with a doorway interspaced with small vents. With his face covered almost completely by the large breathing mask, one of her men walked headlong into it, and rebounded holding carefully onto his nose.
In his wake, the doors slid open, to reveal a passageway inside which the weather was much more agreeable. They stepped inside and it closed behind them. Rio took the tricorder off of sergeant Green and raised it to scan the air. She paused, hit the tricorder against the rock and scanned again, then with a resigned shrug she unhooked her breathing apparatus.
“Oh its right. Ha, faithful old Federation tricorder.” Rio motioned to the others to remove their masks.
“Air vents.” Black said in a tone that seemed to resemble amusement. “Do we take it these require oxygen, or are they just being hospitable beings?” He asked with a sardonically raised eyebrow.
“I think that’s a question for the science officer…” Rio said, and with this strode off into the bowels of the planet. The team moved forwards Black leading and Rio on his right hand side. The walls were made of the same rock as outside, and contained the similar air vents to those they had discovered on the door. Gradually the red sandy floor gave way to a more permanent structure, hard and matt coloured like metal, but completely silent to walk upon. They spread out and walked three deep down the corridor, all of them trying to work out how the light sources were arranged. It seemed totally random, some lights in the walkway, some on the wall, others dotted along the length of the ceiling.
“Am I missing something, or is there no pattern at all to these light sources?” Sergeant Sirius asked, “it seems almost as if –”
“As if they wanted to create shadows?” Black answered for him, seeming almost keen on the idea. Sergeant Green shuddered, while Sirius went over to the wall to investigate further. The odd light was attached to the wall by a stalk of some description, it seemed that the light was almost alive, yet the stalk was dead cold metal – the tricorder confirmed this. He was about to take another step forwards when Black raised an arm to block his way.
“What’s the matter?” The young man asked with offence.
“Look here, on the floor, a different coloured panel, almost totally undetectable due to the uneven lighting.” He explained, pointing it out in the dreary light. He was good, Rio would give him that. “Look above us, you see those holes, they probably contain poisoned darts or some such nastiness. When I undertook some, ah … confidential work for the Federation Government abroad, it wasn’t unknown for similar traps to be installed above our beds in the hotels. Easily disguised as an air conditioning unit or heater.”
“Well, thank you for that visit to your murky past Mr. Black, shall we be getting on?” Rio asked. She deftly bypassed the crazy paving and gave the marked slab a suspicious glance as she went. After a few minutes of nerve-wracking corridor exploration they fell upon a hexagonal open space, with several corridor limbs leading off of it. In the centre stood a decorative stone pillar holding their bounty, and on top of the leather-bound book sat a small spider-like creature making a short lunch out of a fly.
At once, Black paced up to the pedestal and grabbed the book with both hands, lifting it clear of the surface. The entire group paused, waiting, and then it started. A door began to lower, cutting off the passageway through which they had just come, and descended so quickly they did not have time to retreat. Considering it futile to try and replace the book, Black hugged it into his side as the corridors around the room closed off in turn. Simultaneously the team calculated their pattern, and all turned to the door which seemed to be last in turn. They darted through it as the rock shuddered down from the ceiling and blocked any means of return in mere seconds.
This corridor was silent and dark, and the team-members struggled to find their torches in the blackness. Two of them did however, and shone them around to reveal very little. Without much conversation they began to move along the corridor at quite a pace, which would not usually have been advisable given the conditions. More than a couple of times Rio stumbled into the back of Sirius, who was trying very hard not to think about any dodgy paving slabs he may be about to stand on. As they jogged as fast as they dared, a slow rumbling started up around them. Dust and fragments flaked off the ceiling and spattered over the ground. As the sound increased in tempo the groups paced slackened, and Green raised a shaking torch beam up the wall. As it slid to the apex, he held it still, and gradually the circle of light transferred in its majority onto the ceiling, which was slowly closing in on them.
"Uhm, is now a good time to mention I'm claustrophobic?" Green offered to a shaky reception.
With their priorities now somewhat altered, the group set off at a run, subconsciously ducking down even though the ceiling was not yet low enough to near even Black’s extensive height. They kept moving, but the tunnel showed no sign of ending, and had already decreased in height substantially. When it was halfway, the group were practically at a crouch, and moving at snails pace through the dark cavern. Down to their hands and knees it was only seconds before the rock cracked into the skull of the groups tallest member, and the walls disappeared to leave the group crouching on the floor of the holodeck covered head to foot in red clay dust.
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Deleted
Registered: Mar 29, 2024 8:08:33 GMT
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2005 2:29:56 GMT
"Our planet will pop up on the screen any time now sir. How far do you want me to stay from the electromagnetic disturbance?" Zoarial asked.
"Keep us one hundred thousand kilometers from the planet, Commander," Dan replied. "For now at least."
They stopped a few minutes later. Dan looked around. "Computer, what time is it?" he asked.
"0245 hours," was the mechanical voice.
2 A.M. Dan thought to himself. This was probably the most challenging assignment he'd ever had. He needed sleep. "Hold us here for now. We'll launch the probe in the morning. I need sleep."
Dan stood up from his chair, and left the Bridge. His practical said that it seemed lot a waste to ride a turbolift to go down a single deck, but Dan didn't really feel like crawling through the Jeffries tubes at this time of night on the way to his quarters. Plus, it would look really strange if the Captain opened a hatch and climbed in, with a perfectly turbolift right there.
He leaned against the turbolift, and closed his eyes for the brief time that it took to get to Deck 2. He stepped out, and went to his quarters. In his absent-mindedness, he accidentally walked into Smith's quarters. He wondered for a moment who the heck redecorated his quarters, before realizing what he'd done.
He went to his own quarters, and collapsed on the bed without even taking his shoes off.
The next morning, he walked onto the Bridge. The day shift was once again there, and there was the planet, looking very small on the viewscreen.
"Bridge to Engineering. You ready to do some analyzing down there, Lieutenant?" he asked.
"Ready and waiting, sir," was McLean's response.
"Excellent. Mr. Arro, launch the probes," he said, waving two outstretched fingers at the viewscreen. A moment later, two retreating dots appeared on the screen.
"Have fun, Lieutenant," he said to the Chief Science Officer, knowing her specialty was Planetary Science.
"Oh, you know I will, sir," she responded.
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Harrias Jira
Commodore
Registered: Apr 27, 2003 20:24:58 GMT
Posts: 2,347
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Post by Harrias Jira on Dec 10, 2005 12:57:51 GMT
OOC: One billion kilometres!! That would leave you over 2 hours away at warp 1... and equivalent to more than the distance between the Sun and Saturn... Thanks, Harrias. It's corrected. -Dan
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Deleted
Registered: Mar 29, 2024 8:08:33 GMT
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2005 19:32:12 GMT
Steve had woken from a long sleep. So far, he hadnt really had much to do on the Raven....but he was sure that was all about to change.
He sorted himself out, and made his way out of his quarters. He made a turning and headed to the nearest turbolift.
"Deck 1." He stated, and waited for the lift to arrive at its destination.
Steve stepped out of the turbolift and onto the Bridge. He took a quick look around and walked to his chair.
Looking to the captain, he asked "Whats been happening, sir?"
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jackson
Guest
Registered: Mar 29, 2024 8:08:33 GMT
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Post by jackson on Dec 11, 2005 3:13:02 GMT
“Ah hell.” The shooting had started almost as soon as the second marine team had entered the holodeck, and they were now crouched behind various crates in what Rio imagined to be some kind of cargo bay. Little yellow bolts of light shot perpetually overhead and exploded into a miniature firework as they hit the wall behind. The noise was immense, rebounding and echoing throughout the metal-bound room. The marines counter attack was less than coordinated, with sparsed shots being fired from any vantage point they could find.
Rio found herself stretched out on the floor curling around the side of a crate, firing the weapon directly in front of her face. The lights and sound were disorienting, and she had no idea if she was hitting anything. From the firefight it was possible to discern that the enemy definitely outnumbered them. Their numbers ranged wide, right across the main wall of the bay, and from the sounds of things they were closing in around them. Rio retreated back behind the crate, leaning back against it and panting. So far about three minutes had passed since the commencement of the games, and she was already stuck for ideas. She relinquished her weapon and fumbled in her pockets, stumbling across a grenade.
She pulled the pin and skimmed it across the floor towards the enemy, not throwing it for fear that it might rebound on her own troops. There was no time to warn her men as to what was about to happen, but she concluded it would not have made much difference because of the din that was overwhelming the entire room. Twenty seconds later it was all over. The grenade blew and the explosion carried across the bay knocking piles of crates and boxes flying. Rio curled up with her arms over her head as various solid objects cascaded down on her.
And then there was silence. The last box toppled into place; the last shot was fired; the last of their enemy fell – for now.
“Ok…what the hell?” Asked Conway, stepping out with his weapon still poised. His face, like the rest of the teams, was tarnished with black smoke from the explosion, and his uniform bore several rips and tears. He cautiously worked his way up beside one of the fallen bodies and booted it with his toe. There was no response.
“I think you got them all.” He reported cheerfully. “I just don’t know what they are.” He added, as he rolled one over onto its back and removed a solid black mask. It resisted slightly, and eventually came free with a squelching noise revealing an undercoat of thick black alien goo. Underneath, a representation of a humanoid face was visible, but the features were hardly predominant. Shallow slitted eyes, a broad flattened nose and a pair of thin scaly lips were contoured through a substantial layer of the sticky black substance.
“Yummy.” Rio complemented as Conway held up his glove as the goop formed into a small glob. “Come on.”
She lead the way through the cargo bay doors and the group spanned out into the hallway. With their weapons at the ready, Rio lead the way, hugging the wall of the darkened corridor. Rio was glad that Sergeant Falconer had taken up the rear, she trusted him and it meant that she wouldn’t have to watch their backs aswell as their fronts.
The corridor they were presently in began to round a corner, and soon they caught sight of the T-junction at its apex. Rio vaguely remembered programming the computer to utilize the interior of a sovereign class vessel for this assignment, and if it was correct she recognized that they were only three decks below the bridge. Moving along stealthily, the group suddenly heard rapid footsteps heading towards them. They halted, but concealment was impossible. Rio dropped to her knees and cocked her rifle over her thigh.
The footsteps would be on them within seconds, but they were not growing in pitch as they ought to have done. Rio waited with baited breath, and counted the shadows that passed across the mouth of the corridor. They jogged in a drill formation, side by side in rows moving as a single unit. They formations certainly did not belong to Starfleet officers.
“Do you suppose the whole ship has been overrun?” A young officer whispered. Rio looked at her smooth face, but could not recall her name: she would have to learn it later.
“Well I don’t see any men in uniform, do you?” Conway deduced sarcastically.
“Yes well that’s helpful.” Rio chided, although it was not entirely on a serious note. “Anyway, plan of action people.” She requested.
Conway shrugged. “Try to ascertain if the ship has been overrun.”
“And if it has?”
“If it has, set the self-destruct and get the hell off before she blows?” He asked, thinking he had phrased it in a particularly Jackson type manner. His commander looked as though she was thinking very carefully about this proposal; however she knew straight away that she would probably have come up with a very similar plan.
“Alright, so we split up. Falconer, take her and secure the transporter room, and find somewhere to send us in the event that we have to make a hasty retreat.” She ordered. “The rest of you are with me.”
The two groups branched off, and went their separate ways, Rio’s group heading for the Jefferies tubes to try and get up to the bridge, while the others headed downwards. She thought it was very likely that the bridge would have been sealed off, although these creatures may not have the necessary Starfleet know-how to have managed it. She decided that they probably hadn’t, because the program had been designed by her own hand and was nowhere near that intricate.
The whole team found it difficult to climb through the narrow tubes carrying their large array of phaser weapons and so their going was pretty slow. At the head of the team, Conway deduced that they had reached the correct level, and halted the team. One of the other team members handed him the tricorder he mimed asking for, and he flicked the on switch. The miniature screen showed six life-signs bustling around the ships bridge, and none of them belonged to a human.
“Sticky aliens?” Rio asked. Conway nodded: there was no way they were going to get to the autodestruct from the bridge – it would have to be the more traditional approach.
“Shipley, you’re a technical genius right?” Rio whispered, grabbing the young man by his collar. The man looked back with puzzlement.
“I wouldn’t go that far Sir…” he muttered
“Can you get the self-destruct on from engineering?” She asked him. After a few seconds pause, the marine nodded, indicating that he thought he could. Without another word the marine leader reversed their course, and began a descent to main engineering. She dropped out of the ceiling and landed at a crouch, fully prepared to be fired upon immediately. But to her surprise the block was empty, and they swiftly set up a guard so that Shipley could get to work.
Rio tapped her fingers restlessly on her gun, pointing it this way and that expecting the emergence of their enemy any time now. The technician was working away behind her, but she wished that he would go faster. Even if they did not have control of the ships main computer the aliens were sure to notice that someone was setting the self-destruct mechanism.
“Got it!!” He declared suddenly, and withdrew from the console triumphant.
“Thank God for that, do we need to do anything else?” Rio asked.
“Nope, I overrode the entire system, its easy really all you have to do is input the code that makes the computer think –”
“Uh uh uh.” Rio waved her arms in protest, “Another time perhaps.”
The group seemed to be in agreement, and they charged towards the door knowing that time was of the essence. They careered into one another as they piled through, and raced along the corridor towards the transporter room. Then from out of nowhere the weapons fire started up again, and she looked round to see an army of black soldiers swarming the corridor behind them. There were so great in number that they blocked out their backward view entirely. She fired a couple of shots behind her, and urged her group onto a faster pace.
Together they sprinted the length of the hallway under fire and darted around the corner. Rio slammed into the wall and continued to fire in quick succession as the rest of the team launched into the transporter room and ran straight onto the pads. Narrowly avoiding the last shot Rio spun around through the doorway and reached the pads just in time. The simulated ship dissolved into shimmering blue and was replaced with a bland interior of the Raven’s holodeck.
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Scott McLean
Commander
If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
Registered: Sept 15, 2005 2:52:57 GMT
Posts: 330
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Post by Scott McLean on Dec 11, 2005 4:40:32 GMT
McLean woke up to the sounds of his alarm going off in the bedroom; looking at the time he noticed it was 0830. He was already a few hours late for his shift down in engineering. Sitting up he stretched trying to loosen the kink he felt in the back of his neck from sleeping on the couch. As he looked off in the distance his attention was drawn to the console he had turned on last night.
“That’s right.” McLean mumbled to himself as he stood up, his mind already back on the track it was the night before.
After a brief shower and a change of clothes McLean found his way down to engineering just in time for Captain Trek’s call down to engineering.
"Bridge to Engineering. You ready to do some analyzing down there, Lieutenant?" Trek asked.
"Ready and waiting, sir," McLean's replied.
Looking at the sensor information McLean watched as the probe was launched, it immediately began to transmit data back to the ship. Watching the EM band McLean began to cross reference the data he was receiving with the calculations he had made for the shields. As the probes closed the distance between themselves and the electromagnetic anomaly surrounding the planet McLean had a better idea what he would be up against. Looking at the ships power he noticed Lieutenant Arro must have talked with Captain Trek about the change in the power regulation that would be needed to reinforce the shields.
“How does it look Lieutenant?” Trek asked over the COM system.
“Everything looks good sir, the shields should be up and running in a few minutes.” McLean replied.
Turning his attention back to the sensor information McLean watched as the probes suddenly stopped transmitting data, it seemed they had just crossed through the EM field and were now disabled.
“Lets just hope you don’t mess this up.” Paria said in passing.
McLean looked up from the sensors to sneer in her direction keeping his comments to himself in the presence of the other engineers. Returning once again to the information McLean placed the last highest recorded frequency into the deflector control system, then as a secondary precaution he had the environmental interior shields set to the same frequency. It took only a few moments to set everything up, McLean turned to look down at his team of engineers, he received a thumbs up from all of the separate engineers looking at various sections of the shields to make sure they had conformed to the new shield settings.
“McLean to the bridge, we are all set down here.” McLean said.
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Deleted
Registered: Mar 29, 2024 8:08:33 GMT
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2005 2:56:46 GMT
“McLean to the bridge, we are all set down here.” McLean said.
"Acknowledged, Lieutenant," Dan responded. "Helm, prepare to take us into a standard orbit. All stations, status," he called out, as one final measure.
"Helm ready," Zorial responded.
"Ops ready."
"Science ready."
Freedman, however, did not respond the same. "Freedman to Lieutenant Halrax, report to the Bridge."
<Halrax>
Dan turned to Freedman, unsure of who he just called. "Halrax?"
"A Marine Second Lieutenant I brought with me as part of my security detail," Freedman explained.
"I see," Dan responded simply. He wondered if Jackson knew about him.
A few minutes later, a Klingon walked onto the Bridge. Yet another Klingon, Dan thought to himself. "Yes, sir?" Halrax said to Freedman.
"Lieutenant, I want you to keep an eye on the weapons systems when we enter orbit, to make sure there are no overloads. I'll be watching the shield matrix," he said, turning to the rear console of the station.
<Tag Halrax>
(OOC: I'd like to introduce to you all our new CTSO, Lieutenant Halrax. He has a Marine rank, but will be in Security, the equivalent of Ensign)
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