Episode 8.1 - False Color

[Deleted]

It took a long time, but eventually the ship was squared away. The Victory had most of her problems repaired, and the rest would be done if the parts were at Assailant next time she docked. Hopefully everyone had taken their time on Assailant to relax a little, and tensions wouldn't be running quite as high as they had been before the ship docked.

Nika herself had found the time more relaxing than she had anticipated it being, and was throughly enjoying—and about half-way through—one of the books she'd picked up. She made a mental note that she should thank the bookseller next time she was on Assailant.

Nika had also received a message from her older sister. It'd been terse, and said little more than that Mirah had accepted a professorial position at one of Firont's top universities. Nika had sent off an equally terse, meaningless, note congratulating her sister, but it was still bothering her. She wished she had more to say.

Nika looked around the bridge. “Commander Pride, take us out of here when we get clearance,” she ordered. “Then head out, bearing 034.11.”

Nika regarded her orders for a moment, then came to a decision. There was absolutely no need to haul everyone into a mission briefing for a mission of this level of simplicity. =/\=This is Captain Cir'Kem, to all senior staff.=/\= ¾ of them were on the bridge with her, which made this a little awkward to be contacting them through the commbadge, but nor did she want to exclude those who weren't on the bridge. =/\=Our current orders are to proceed to Harvest—a Federation colony not far from Capella—to deliver scientific equipment to them, so they can continue with their research. Any questions?=/\= she asked, to make sure she was still giving that opportunity.

[jamesmatthew]

Scene: Star Base Assailant

(Command offices of the 1st fleet Strategic Operations )

‘my dinner date with Lt Cmdr Sharon barns and with the help of two bottles of wine well late say my shore leave started off great I wonted to check in with my old co from star base 249 I heard he was now a commodore the Head of 1st fleet supply & Operations Department “

“James look thru the clear Glass doors before he walked into the crazy fast past room full of people talking and moving back and forth Operations James walk over to a junior officer to ask where the Commodore was the junior officer without stop talking in to his comm. Mic pointed toward a large Door James enter and found the Commodore not present.

“He immediately looked to the ready room off to the side and made his way to the Door and buzzed the Commodore.

“Commodore Paul Walter Battles the current head of the 1st supply & Operations Department was sitting at his desk reviewing request file Lieutenant Koizumi had compiled, when the chime rang. "Enter!" he called.

“James walked in and stood at attention. "Cmdr James Thomas Matthew , reporting as ordered , Sir," James sounded off as he had done a thousand times before. when he was a junior officer on board S-B 249 He then presented his orders to Commodore Battles .

“Battles took the orders never Looking up and glanced them over. "Commander this is a C110054 request form for a Ham & Cheeses Sandwich Commander What kind of joke is this What the hell “ MAC." You old war Horse “the Commodore reach out his hand ‘Mac’ its been along Time I see they Made you a senior Commander “

‘”James Yeah they where running short on Commanders in the fleet “

“Commodore Battles have a seat what Star Base are you Assigned to ‘

“James none I been Assigned to star ship Duty for about six years now I got Tired of sitting in in one place all the time I like star ship duty we are never in the same place for more then a couple of weeks before moving on my ship now is the USS VICTORY “

"90 minutes later "

"Matthew Comm. Badge start to chirped Commander Matthew said this for me sir hit his comm. badge. Matthew here

"Computer, A General recall for all senior staff & personal on board the Victory has been Issued “



“ well sir its been great to see you I hope to see you the next time we return Matthew make his way o the star base transport room to return to the victory “


"Transporter Room 2"


[Transporter Room 2 here] came a reply from Matthew comm. badge.

"Lock onto my signal Benton and transport me on board the victory “



"Transporter Room 2" seconds later

“welcome back on Board the victory sir said. Benton to Cmdr Matthew

thanks reply Matthew notify the bridge am on my way “

“Transport specialist Benton Yes “sir.

[Andae Blakus]

Andae was on the Victory when the Captain got the mission underway, and he had been for some time. Not wishing to delay his return to the ship to 'supervise' the repair-work, he had made for it as soon as he could.

Likely as dull a mission as it sounded, he thought as the Captain described the mission to the senior staff not present on the bridge over a comm channel. Andae stood at the back of the bridge next to the engineering station, arms folded, standing forward looking at the main viewscreen. The view of the starship 'hangar' still hung there like a framed piece of art. The grey mass of duranium that was the hangar wall, curving as if sculpted by the wind, an incredible feat of engineering that only an engineer could appreciate. Not wishing to generalise, Blakus took that last thought back, but then maybe what he thought had been true.

Engineering itself had finally been sorted out, all the trunks containing the masses of circuitry had been closed. Brazhensky had got himself and his work-crew off the ship, much to the relief of Blakus and the vast majority of all the officers actually assigned to the Victory. The only thing that was making Blakus anxious were the still untested warp coils. Although in the modern age of 'super-technology' and the vast amounts of testing of the components done, it was still impossible to predict exactly how brand-new warp coils would behave when the time came to go to warp, which was quite worrying really. If the ship happened to tumble out of high-speed warp, uncontrolled, because the warp coils decided to stop bending space-time and dissolve the warp bubble then... well Blakus didn't really want to think about it.

He tapped his own commbadge, =/\=Engineering, CEO. Do not forget the last diagnostics on the PTCs I asked you to run...=/\= Blakus was in a state of worry, something he sometimes slipped into. It annoyed him greatly, but he just couldn't help it, especially where the condition of the ship was involved. Most knew that the Power Transfer Conduits were running nowhere near standard efficiency. The damn things were still overworked from the previous mission, with the rapidly shifting power usage demands that the ship had needed, the PTCs had all but packed it in, so to speak.

The Captain had looked back at Blakus when she saw how uptight he was about the state of the ship. "Just a bit concerned, Captain.." He smiled somewhat sheepishly and tried to stay formal.

<Tag Cir'Kem>

[Deleted]

Nika was somewhat worried about the ship and the major repairs they'd just undergone, but apparently not as concerned as the Victory's Chief Engineer. Which made sense, in Nika's mind, because the mechanics of the ship were top in an engineer's mind, whereas Nika was more concerned with how everything fit together, and if she let herself worry about all the subdepartmental issues, she wouldn't be able to get any actual work done.

Nika watched Commander for a moment longer. It was clear that he was quite worried over the ship, which Nika actually found comforting. It might mean that he had disobeyed with her orders during the last mission because of their specific content, rather than as a matter of general principle. Nika thought that a good thing.

Blakus noticed her observing him, and managed a sheepish smile. “Just a bit concerned, Captain,” he reassured her.

“The ship will be fine,” Nika reassured him in return, mostly because if there really was a problem with the warpcore, there wasn't anything anyone could do that wouldn't be too late. “An advantage of not really having anywhere to go in a hurry. Just let me know, so I don't try to push her too hard?”

<Tag Blakus>

[desertpride]

Hearing her orders, he started plotting a course and double checking the status of ship engines. The controls were responding and systems were reading green across the board.
Transmitting he his request to the dock master for clearance to leave.

" All docking clamps released mooring lines clear, switching to internal power. We are cleared to jump to warp once we clear the system. Engaging 1/4 impulse now" He closed his eyes for a moment and reached out in to the space with his sense to make sure there was nothing in the way.

The slowly started to move everything was going to plan. He listened to there mission as the captain was talking. They were just out of space dock and he didn't want to push the engines to hard yet. He was in no mood to get yelled at by there chief engineer just yet.

" Engaging warp drive speed warp 3"<tag anybody>

[jamesmatthew]

Scene: USS VICTORY Deck 3

Location: Cargo Bay 3


“After Captain Cir’kem impromptu senior staff mission briefing on the bridge I made my way down to Cargo bay #3 to check on our cargo as I walked into the Cargo Bay and I was greeted instantaneously by two of my staff,

“I could see the Large shipment of Scientific Equipment that was transferred over from S-B Assailant as well there was a Large. shipment of food and farming equipment .to be delivered

“Cmdr Matthew pulled out his tricorder and made a few sweeps of the Container bar code after confirming the barcode with the ship manifest ok Chief secure the cargo I have a staff meeting to get to‘

( 2 minutes later )

----------------------------

Operations Staff Meeting underway

‘Cmdr Matthew entered the meeting and walk over to the food Replicator
James filled his cup with the rich smelling coffee and sighed happily as he ship it. Then sat down at the table where 2nd Watch division Supervisor Lt, Janis Hill " spoke up So Boss, what is on this morning schedule?"

"Cmdr Matthew Well I thought I would bring you all up to date on our current mission I have uploaded the mission briefing to your PADD’S as you all can see this will be a Cargo run I hope I need for you all to be ready to transfer the cargo down to the planet once we arrived on station the last thing I need is for the ship XO to ask what taking so long to make the transfer." James went right into authoritative mode. " picking up a PADD and reading over his notes on it. "I wrote this up yesterday afternoon."
he then handed the PADD to Lt, Cmdr York and as he read it he continued. "Basically it is a Duty roster we will follow for the next four weeks. I based it on who has had holidays the most recent and can therefore be on duty and so on."

York studied the PADD and then gave James a look.

"I KNOW technically you and the Ship's Counselor is meant to work
on this sort of thing and then hand it to me to for my thumb print." James commented. "But I just thought, as you did not know the rosters that well yet, I'd do it this one last
time."


Lt ,Cmdr York mumbled, "I'm not sure I should thank you for taking
the load or be chagrinned at the slight to my competence."

“Lt, Taylor looked up at that, but grinned at the mischievous look
in Michael's eye.

"Anyway," LCDR York continued, "It seems alright to me, but much
as LTJG Oberlin has earned it, I think we need to postpone his vacation
another two weeks. I just don't feel comfortable relaxing our
security until then, sir"

“Lt, Taylor looked at the PADD and made the change. "I see they
taught you paranoia in OSFI."

“Lt, Cmdr York made a slight frown. "

"That was fun, we must do it more often. people " Matthew commented
sarcastically, standing from his chair and stretching stiff joints.
"Do you have anything planned for your time off York? I added you to
the list to help you mingle off duty with the staff to get to know them better I have to show my face on the bridge that where you can find me if need ."

[russelldavis]

Russell was in his office when the call for all officers to return to the ship was issued, Russell signed off on the last piece of paperwork. Russell was about to leave to head up to the bridge when he heard the buzz of his door, surprised that anyone was needing to see him before leaving he returned to his seat before saying “Come in”. Russell looked at the door to see a young lady standing at the door, looking at her Russell noted three things, one she was wearing a blue uniform, two her rank pips made her out as a Lieutenant and third she had an amazing smile. “Take a seat Lieutenant”.

Russell watched as she took the seat opposite him, “well what can I do for you” Russell hoped he would remember her name before she asked something that needed that sort of information. “Well sir, I need to report in to you, at least that is what my orders say. My name is Lilly Anderson, I am a medical research officer, I have been temporarily assigned to your ship’s science staff so I can get back to my lab and continue doing bits of my research on the way” Russell looked at the lieutenant surprised by the account that she was a research officer, Russell also thought ‘Lilly, that name sounds familiar’ as if sensing his thoughts she smiled “Yes, I am that Lilly ... James did send that message didn’t he? Because if he did not I will kick him back to earth” Russell smiled at the thought “Yes my brother did send me a message but he did not say you would be joining me on this mission” Russell watched as Lilly shock her head. “Well if you do not mind I must report in to your Chief Science officer before we leave and check the equipment as well” Russell nodded not able to say anything.

After Lilly left Russell finally got himself up and moving, deciding he should really be on the bridge before they leave he made his way to the turbo lift. While entering the lift he heard the captain’s voice over the comms, =/\=Our current orders are to proceed to Harvest—a Federation colony not far from Capella—to deliver scientific equipment to them, so they can continue with their research. Any questions?=/\= Russell could think of nothing to add so he remained silent on the trip to the bridge. Arriving just as the ship exited the base Russell took his seat next to the captain, taking a quick glance to the science station to see if Tiana was there, he saw only Liam looking fresh and rested. Russell seated looked at the view screen as they entered warp, ‘well here we go, I just hope we do not break down mid way, all if need is my brother’s fiancé causing me grief’.

OOC: for info on where i am coming from see the R&R thread message i got

[Andae Blakus]

“The ship will be fine,” the Captain reassured him, “An advantage of not really having anywhere to go in a hurry. Just let me know, so I don't try to push her too hard?”

Drawing himself up, trying to get a bit of swagger back into his body language, Blakus nodded, "I'll let you know Captain," he told her, turning back to the engineering console in the back wall of the bridge.

The Nebula class had a similar layout to that of the Galaxy class with its large spacious bridge. But just as the Nebula was a smaller version of the Galaxy, the bridge was a slightly smaller, closer room.

Commander Pride worked the helm, and the Victory, propelled by its incredible power drive and effectively shrunk under the influence of the space-bending warp coils, was shot into the realms of warped space at factor three. A slightly higher pitch rose from the depths of the ship's thrumming power core, which resounded and permeated throughout the ship. They were at warp, and all was well. Blakus checked the status of the nacelles, hearing the XO mumble something about his brother's fiancee at the same time. The coils were working perfectly, just as the numerous simulations they had run had predicted.

"All warp speed systems are go." Blakus announced to the rest of the bridge crew. He wasn't sure exactly who he was addressing, the Captain or XO he supposed, it had been an expression of relief on top of anything else. "I'll be in engineering." The Captain acknowledged his leaving the bridge with a wave of the hand and he stepped into the turbolift.

Entering engineering, Blakus went straight to his office, acknowledging his staff as he went. He'd been back amongst them for sometime now anyway, the only senior engineering officer he hadn't yet seen since the end of the last mission, Lieutenant Holland. Sure enough, Blakus saw the assistant CEO as he entered his office. Not quite sitting at his desk, but standing or leaning on it. "Holland, you made it, I was worried we'd left you behind." It was a half joke.

Holland looked up, he had been scanning over a PADD, his arm tucked into his side and his legs crossed. He was leaning on his desk. "Yes, sir." Holland stood to attention.

Blakus wasn't entirely sure with himself concerning his current thoughts towards his assistant. The CEO knew that Holland had had problems with what Blakus believed had been a moral stand. He felt a bit cold towards him, a slight estrangement. Even though he had apologised to the Captain, been reinstated to active duty and had 'officially' reversed on his decision to follow Wong (although it had proven to be the right move, just), he knew in his mind that he did what he did for a deep-rooted reason. If he had to do something like it again, he would.

As a consequence, Holland had to suffer at the hands of Blakus's unpredictable psyche and his perhaps over radical ideology. It didn't seem radical to Blakus, although he liked to revel in the idea that to others it certainly was.

He dismissed Holland from his office with a wistful smile, and was left in his office to ponder the finer points of psychological philosophy.

[Deleted]

Tiberian was sitting on the bridge as the Captain gave the order to go to warp, the destination being a scientific research planet. Since his confinement, he had taken up a semi permanent residence on the bridge, using the third seat usually reserved for whichever member of the senior staff needed it. Given the absence of a permanent medical officer or counsellor, he hadn't had any real contenders for the chair of late. He was tapping away on a padd as he heard the order, trying to juggle the marine security schedule in light of one of his men, or it would be more appropriate to say women, was having constant bouts of premature false labour, and kept ducking off duty. Having decided to relieve her of duty until she either gave birth, or was willing to drop it whilst on duty, he now had the arduous task of re-allocating all the other personnel to cover her shifts, allowing for the required number of on duty personnel. He stood and moved forward to the helm station, leaning his foot against the side as he leaned forwards to talk to Commander Pride.

"Well Commander, looks like me and you are going to have a lot of spare time on this particular voyage, with a scientific mission not really needing marines or pilots. I don't suppose you play poker at all?"

<TAG Commander Pride>

"Well most of the night staff sometimes hold a game at varying times every so often. We use some of the disused VIP quarters. If you ever want to come down, just have a drink, maybe play a couple of hands, give me a shout"

He turned around and went back to his seat. He had barely sat down when a communique came through for him.

"Corporal T'lar to Colonel Wong" the voice sounded over the intercom. Tiberian hit his commbadge to respond.

"Wong here, report Corporal"

"Sorry to bother you sir, but I appear to be trapped in the firing range"

"How?" Tiberian already had a good guess as to what the answer would be before he said anything.

"I believe that the auxiliary power units have shorted out from overuse again. I am unable to use the door, and given the absence of light, I cannot find the manual override"

"I'll be right down to let you out corporal" Tiberian replied, closing the channel. He walked around to the turbolift, tapping an engineering crewman as he walked past.

"Do me a favour, when you see your chief, tell him that he really needs to get this sorted. This is the third one of my men who've got themselves locked in somewhere in the last week"

<TAG Commander Blakus>

[Tiana Galwyn Cet]

Tiana had down loaded the standard phaser rifle plans and the modified ones Tiberian had been sent from the Olympia. She wondered vaguely if anyone who notice this and pondered for a moment on what they would think. She smiled to herself and continued comparing the schematics. The diagnostic on the holodeck had come back negative or at least negative on anything that would cause a holographic rifle to malfunction. She was sure engineering would have their work cut out repairing some of the less crucial systems.

There had been a lot of modifications made to the rifle and the person who had made those modifications had been working towards a well defined goal. She knew it would take a while to check them all out.

Somewhere in the midst of this she received a message saying that a Lieutenant Lilly Anderson, medical research officer was being assigned to her staff for the duration of the mission, she muttered something to herself about having strangers thrust in her direction with no warning, but the swallowed and promised herself that she'd make an effort. She hoped the new officer was a team player.

Tiana carefully reread the next bit of the modification plan. From a strictly mechanical stand point there was nothing wrong with the description, however the resulting modification didn't work. It seemed that the message had become at little scrambled in transmission, not to mention the Victory's comms array being destroyed. It seemed that there had been an error in how the schematic had been received. It was now simply a matter of working out what the alteration should have been. She could message the science officer on the Olympia and ask her but working out herself was more fun.

It did not take her too long, she tapped her comm badge. =/\= Commander Galwyn to Colonel Wong, I think I've solved your problem. Do you have time to join me in the holodeck to test it?=/\=

Tag: Colonel Wong

Tiana was just tidying up a few things when a female lieutenant in a teal uniform arrived at the door.

"Commander Galwyn?" she asked a little hesitantly Tiana nodded and was unsurprised when Lilly Anderson reported in.

Tag: Lilly (Russ)

After she had gone Tiana heard the Captain's voice come over the comm system.
=/\=This is Captain Cir'Kem, to all senior staff.=/\= Tiana was well aware that a mission was imminent but it would be nice to know a little more about it. As if in answer to Tiana's thought the Captain continued =/\=Our current orders are to proceed to Harvest—a Federation colony not far from Capella—to deliver scientific equipment to them, so they can continue with their research. Any questions?=/\= Tiana had no questions at the moment although she downloaded all available information on Harvest and it's research to a PADD along with Lilly Anderson's personnel file. She had a lot of reading to do, then she would probably have some questions.

[desertpride]

Looking up at colonel Wong and thinking about what he had said, he was right there wouldn't be alot to do and playing poker might not be so bad. " Uh no colonel I dont never really learned to gamble but more then willing to learn. Lets just hope your right and this is a simple mission with nothing to worry about" <Tag Wong>

Looking back down at his console seeing the systems are still green " Captain we have green on all warp speeds. Suggest we in crease through all warp speeds for short burst to see if there are any bugs hiding in the system" <Tag Co or XO>

[jamesmatthew]

Location : Cmdr Matthew Quarters



“Cmdr Matthew -Computer start Log

“Star Date 940429.52


Second Officer's Log: Supplemental

Cmdr James T Matthew reporting “

“We are currently in root to Harvest colony a Federation scientific research colony with a large shipment of scientific equipment as well as standard shipment of food and medical supplies for the colony normally this should have been done by a transport ship Not a starship “

“ leading me to think there more to this mission than we have been told the Captain and first officer have been a little shore of over all details of the mission they say its just a water run but you don’t cancel all shore leave and recall all senior personal back to the ship for a water run ‘

‘The shipment of scientific Equipment are safely stored away in cargo bay # 3 ‘I have my division heads caring out there daily ship operations duties I hope this will keep there minds off the fact there shore leaves where cut short I here there have been some discipline problem in the ranks but there where handle Quickly ‘by the Master chief Morris ‘

“Computer end Log “

“Matthew yawned and rubbed his eyes. They had been going over ship Departmental request invoices and the operation Department crew evaluations for hours. Matthew noticed this, and before commenting, took another drink of coffee. It must have been his 7th or 8th cup.”

“Matthew finished his yawn, and stretched a bit in the chair .yeah I need to get some sleep I see there are several recommendations .from my staff about which junior officer are ready for promotion. but this will just have to wait until tomorrow “



"James Lay Down his PADD on the desk walk over to his bed sat down turn back the covers then climbed in to bed ‘.

Computer lights off computer wake up call at 0630 hours "

[Andae Blakus]

"Run it again then!" Andae answered back. He muttered something under his breath about junior crewmen and lightly kicked the console. The Engineering staff were dealing with a glitchy warp core. Misalignments in the Magnetic Constrictors were causing inefficiencies in the Reaction Chamber, again.

The junior crewman who's name had slipped his mind moved off shakily to try the correction algorithm one more time. Not only had he failed to work it properly the first time, he had also made the unfortunate mistake of suggesting that the CEO 'calm down'. It was true though, he really needed to. It wasn't doing his mind any good at all, constantly on edge with everything. It only made things worse when something did go wrong.

Just then, another engineering crewman happened to enter Engineering and talk to Blakus. The young man approached his CEO, who was standing by the warp core. "Sir." He got Blakus's attention.

Blakus looked around at him, almost snapping at the man. "Yes, crewman?" he said.

"Sir, Colonel Wong has 'asked' about the status of auxiliary power. He's complained that his men keep getting locked in rooms that they would rather not be locked in."

Blakus sighed and thanked the crewman. He hadn't lost his cool and that he was pleased with. Auxiliary power... He turned back to the console. It was another thing to think about in this glitchy ship. It was not nearly as glitchy as Blakus thought it was, it was merely his state of mind that made him notice only the glitches and completely ignore the fact that everything else was working fine.

Auxiliary power for example was easily noticeable. With all the demanding power requirements that the Victory had needed on the last mission, power had been taken from Auxiliary, a safety net that had not been climbed out of for this mission. The power conduits' distributions were still in a mess, with the rerouting of energy to try and keep up with the shifting power demands, Auxiliary had suffered for it.

Blakus didn't bother comming the SMO because he decided he would get on it straight away. And also because, Blakus would probably admit, he didn't want to show to the SMO that he was bowing to his will.

[Deleted]

Commander Pride suggested that the warp speed be bumped up gradually, and Nika checked with Blakus before doing anything. The Chief Engineer suggested that the situation might not be as good as it looked from the bridge, but he tentatively approved the increase. “Take it carefully.”

He was doing so, without having encountered any problems yet, when Lieutenant Commander Jameson answered a beeping on his comm system. “Captain?” he asked.

“Go ahead Commander.”

“I'm reading a distress signal, coming from 3 light-years away and about fifteen degrees off our port side,” Jameson said.

“Head for the signal,” Nika ordered Pride. “Commander Jameson, can you give me any additional information about the ship?”

“It's a Federation issue shuttle, although...I don't think I've seen one of those in service since the Dominion War. It's crippled, though, looks like the shuttle's running on auxiliary power, and has been for a few days.”

It's a good thing we were coming this way then, Nika thought. “How many lifesigns?”

“One.”

“Hail the ship. If there isn't a response, be prepared to do a transport to sickbay as soon as we get close enough.”

“Yes sir.”

[Deleted]

Civillian scientist Daniel M'Qess of Cait struggled to keep the erratic flight path of his damaged shuttle somewhat straight. He failed. "Computerrr," he managed, coughing violently, "status."

"Warp engines off-line, impulse off-line, thrusters minimal, life-support off-line, thirty minutes of oxygen remaining," the computer responded, friendly as ever.

Sighing, the Caitian struggled back into his seat, wringing his tail as he did so. His fur was singed in several places, his ears lying flat on his head, hackles risen in fright. "This is Daniel M'Qess to any vessel in range. I've been attacked, immediate assistance needed." There was a purring sound audible in his voice, the r's and s's a little stretched at the end of each word.

M'Qess coughed again, then repeated his distress signal. "Is there anyone out there!" he called. "Computer, status on communications. Was my call sent?"

"Communications are now off-line. Distress was sent."

The feline slumped forward on his console, then slid to the deck once his muscles relaxed. The cabin of the shuttlecraft was filled with smoke, too much for the small craft's own systems to compensate for. With lifesupport offline, it wasn't sucked away and replaced with fresh air.

[robertsharp]

Sharp is at tactical when a distress call comes through. "This is Daniel M'Qess to any vessel in range. I've been attacked, immediate assistance needed." "Captain we just have received a distress call from a shuttle under attack and we seem not to be able to communicate with the shuttle. I do have the quadrants and i am sending them to the helm."


<tag Cir'Kem >

[desertpride]

Hearing the captains order he adjusted course to there new heading. He was studying the damage the shuttle had taken it was good. He was worried though something had to have done the damage and where was it.

"Course changed increasing speed, I will come in from a wide angle to give tactical a chance to do a quick scan"

[Andae Blakus]

Blakus heard the ship groan ever so slightly as it swung in from a side angle to the stricken shuttle. Of course, Blakus had no idea what was going on up above him, so he was slightly concerned when the Victory seemed to cry out in pain.

It was almost like being in an old ocean-going vessel, creaking at the rafters as the vessel executed a turn amongst the waves. He felt a shudder in the console he was leaning on, the movement propagating up through his palms into his arms and making his head whirl for a second. The CEO was even more concerned when the lights above him momentarily flickered. He raised his eyes to Ensign Bligh who was standing opposite him over the pool-table console. The Ensign had a worried, pained expression on his face, much the same as Blakus imagined his own face to be.

Both officers turned slowly to look at a bulkhead. Blakus half expected it to burst open in an explosion of fluid induced pressure, as if they actually were at sea and were about to suffer a hull breach of gigantic proportions. He turned back to Bligh and tried to reassure him with a smile. It was hardly a smile though, it was more like an even more contorted pained look. The lights flickered again, This is ridiculous! he thought. Blakus briefly got the idea that maybe if he had been more considerate towards the Engineer working on the ship - what was his name again? - then maybe it would be in a better state. Working together rather than opposing at every turn often payed dividends. But then again maybe not. It was clear that the station's personnel had not done the job properly, in fixing one system they had caused many other problems to spring up in different locations.

The Victory was struggling with power demands, that was the root of the problem. Not enough of the power generated by the matter/anti-matter core was getting to where it was needed. There were surges in one system, shortages in another and so on. Eventually things got back to normal. Blakus and Bligh, not to mention pretty much everybody else in Engineering, let out a sigh of relief that nothing else had happened. With a glance at Bligh Blakus pushed off the console and stepped back clapping his hands together, trying to get everyone's attention.

"Everybody, listen up!" He said. Slowly Blakus's staff realised what was happening and stopped what they were doing. "Everyone, we need to get these power problems sorted, it is quite frankly getting stupid." Blakus said, touches of annoyance clealy audible in his voice, he stepped forward, "Now, I'm going to put together some teams to work on this and only this. You know what to do. In the meantime we need to look for short-term solutions, whether that means flushing power through dodgy conduits to get them in some working order, or something else. Thankyou, get back to work.." Blakus half tailed off. He was feeling very annoyed, to put it simply, and was massively regretting staying on Assailant for the second half of shore-leave.

Ensign Taylor caught Blakus's attention as the latter walked across the deck to the lift. "Are you OK sir?" she asked.

"Perfect." Blakus barely looked at her as he stepped onto the lift, hitting the panel which would take him to the upper level. Taylor jumped on just in time, as the lift began moving.

"You're clearly not happy."

Blakus looked at her and gave her a dirty look, "Not that it's any of your business Ensign," he said, regretting it instantly. This wasn't fair on the Ensign, but she didn't seem fazed by his attitude.

"Holding a CEO position can't be easy sir, they don't give them away for free. Were you expecting an easy ride?" The lift stopped on the upper level, Blakus stepped off quickly and Taylor had to rush to keep up.

"No." Blakus responded shortly, he was letting pride get in the way of this conversation and he knew it.

"Then what is bothering you, sir?"

"Blakus turned towards Taylor sharply just before reaching one of the consoles situated around the core. "I don't know!" Taylor took one step back at this momentary outburst. "Look, come and see me later about this," he said quietly, "I do want to have this conversation just... just not here, I need to concentrate now." Taylor nodded and walked away. Blakus watched her, hoping with every part of him that he had not offended her.

He went to the console that he had been heading for. Before doing anything however, he hit a button that would patch him through to the bridge. =/\= Blakus to Bridge, if you've been experiencing any power problems up there we apologise, I've got people working on it, we should have full power soon.=/\=

<Tag: Cir'Kem/Davis if you want to>

[Deleted]

The Victory dropped out of warp next to the shuttle. The inhabitant was transported off the shuttle to the sickbay, and the shuttle was slowly towed in to nestle alongside the Victory. It was as Nika was waiting to hear from sickbay on the state of the passenger, that she heard from her Chief Engineer.

=/\= Blakus to Bridge, if you've been experiencing any power problems up there we apologize, I've got people working on it, we should have full power soon.=/\=

=/\=Understood=/\=Nika said. =/\=Would you advise holding here, rather than re-entering warp?=/\=

<Blakus>

=/\=I see.=/\= Nika closed the channel to engineering and opened one to sickbay. =/\=What's the status on our passenger?=/\=

=/\=Unconscious=/\= the ACMO in sickbay responded. =/\=But he should regain consciousness shortly, since it was just the environmental factors.=/\=

=/\=Any serious injuries?=/\=

=/\=None that have been noticed yet, but I'm just initiating a low-level scan.=/\=

=/\=Thank you=/\=Nika said. =/\=I'll be down to visit as soon as you let me know I won't just get in the way=/\= She understood that sickbay staff didn't like too much pressure being put on them to get their patients up and moving, and she was trying to avoid putting that pressure on. Even if she really wanted to find out who their errant passenger was.

She knew Blakus wouldn't want to give up any of his staff, and she didn't want him to either. The Victory's systems had top priority. But she wanted someone to look at the damage done to the shuttle. “Commander Sharp, would you mind heading down to the shuttlebay and looking at how badly the shuttle was damaged. As well as determining its exact model?”

<Sharp>

[Deleted]

"Almost got it" Tiberian grunted as he put his shoulder in the wedged gap in the door, attempting to push his way into the practice range. The door had indeed been shorted out by an auxilliary power overload, and to cap it all off, the manual override had decided not to work. Tiberian had then been forced to draw his knife and use it to lever the door open, just enough, so that he could get his hand in and start pushing. He had been at it for almost ten minutes, and the sweat dripped in beads from his forehead.

"It would appear that the new doors deadlock seals are indeed superior for security value" Corporal T'Lar observed, pushing from the other side of the door.

"Corporal..." Tiberian grunted as he shoved a foot in the crack in the door "Shut up, that's an order"

=/\= Commander Galwyn to Colonel Wong, I think I've solved your problem. Do you have time to join me in the holodeck to test it?=/\=

=/\=I'll be down shortly Commander, I'm just in a little bit of a tight spot at the moment=/\= He smild at the udnerstatment as he closed the comm channel, now half of his body forced into the hole he had formed. He waved at a pair of passing crewmen.

"You there, take over here" he ordered, the two men running over to grab a hold of the door "Just keep trying to pull it open, and then call engineering" He extricated himself from the debaucle of men and metal, and, wiping his brow and straightening his tunic, he set off for holodeck one. He had barely gone five paces when his comm badge rang out again, indicating what was liable to be the start of a very busy day.

=/\=Lieutenant Abernathy to Colonel Wong=/\=

=/\=What's the matter Katie?=/\= Tiberian asked, curious about what his girlfriend could need from him in the middle of a duty shift.

=/\=We just picked up a passenger from a battle damaged shuttle. He's just regained conscious and he's quite agitated. I think we may need a marine here just in case he kicks off=/\=

=/\=I'll be right down=/\= Tiberain sighed, deciding that he could make a little bit of a detour before he met up with Commander Galwyn. He proceeded to a turbolift and descended to the sickbay level, entering the facility. He smiled and winked at Katie as he walked past, moving over to the newly arrived passenger.

"If the Captain hasn't been called down can we please do so" Tiberian ordered, hopping onto the biobed next to the new arrival. He was Caitian, and wearing a Federation scientists uniform, so Tiberian chose the tack of a friend in order to earn the man's trust and calm him down.
"Hey, I'm Colonel Wong with the UFOPMC. You're aboard the USS Victory. You're safe here, don't worry, nothing's going to happen to you. Can you tell me your name?"

<TAG Mr M'Qess and Captain Cir'Kem>

[Deleted]

M'Qess was bordering on unconsciousness when he had the strangest sensation of being transported. By the time he materialised in sickbay, he had slipped back into unconsciousness. When he woke next, he was started to full awareness, yet frightened by these unfamiliar surroundings. What looked to be a Human female stood bowed over him, mumbling something he couldn't understand.

The Caitian uttered a series of pitiful hisses and mews and he could be seen unsheathing his claws. He was in pain, but he couldn't make them understand and he couldn't fathom why. His fogged brain wouldn't pass on the correct commands to the rest of his body.

"Hey, I'm Colonel Wong with the UFOPMC. You're aboard the USS Victory. You're safe here, don't worry, nothing's going to happen to you. Can you tell me your name?"

A hiss of a hypospray and several seconds later and Daniel M'Qess finally woke up enough to start understanding these people. He coughed a few times, his lungs were still filled with the poisonous smoke from the cabin in his shuttle.

But at the same time his mind cleared, it dawned on him that indeed he was no longer on his shuttle. He bolted upright in a panic. "My research!" he cried, instantly falling back into his role of Caitian civilian scientist as he was trained to do. Only when the green-clad human repeated his question did he settle his gaze on him. "Daniel M'Qess," he replied. His tail was hanging limply from the side of the bed, twitching occasionally, his ears lying flat on his skull, his deep brown fur standing on end. It was obvious he was afraid, he didn't even need to act that part.

"A starship?" he asked, "how long...where's my shuttle...my research? They didn't get it did they?"

[desertpride]

Hearing the captain talking to Commander Sharp " Captain may I go with commander sharp, I may bring some insight to the missions as a pilot. Not to mention I could check to see if there is anything worth salvaging. Thats if its okay with you if not I will remain at my station" <Tag Cir'kem>

Looking back down at his scans and studying the damage on the shuttle, It had taken a pounding and by all rights should be dust by now. The fact it wasn't was worrying him a great deal, He had already reach out into space with his senses to see if there was anything out there hiding cloaked. Even though he could detect cloaked ships to a point his range was limited it would take much to escape his sense if it was out of range.

[Tiana Galwyn Cet]

Tiana tidied things in the lab up, partially force of habit and partially because she had a scientist on unknown quantity running round somewhere. Lilly had been assigned one of the secondary biological labs for her research. Tiana's current staff didn't have many full time biologists so the space had been relatively easy to find. Tiana walked to the turbolift and as it swept her between floors she started reading a little of what Lieutenant Anderson had been researching. She did not get very far before the turbolift doors opened and she arrived at the holodeck.

Tiberian wasn't there yet so Tiana walked into the empty yellow-gridded room on her own. "Computer, Could I have a phaser range please." The range appeared, Tiana knew she could have gone to the actual range but given that she might need to make on the spot modifications this was easier. "Produce a phaser rifle to the schematics in file Galwyn beta 7." The phase rifle appeared. It felt heavy and rather awkward in her hands. She set it for stun and then aimed carefully at one of the targets at the far end of the range. Tiana pressed the trigger and was pleased when the rifle fired, she was even more pleased to note that she had hit the target. She carried on testing the rifle.

[jamesmatthew]

Location :Officer Mass Hall

I had just finish my Breakfast which concussing of a Bagel with cream chesses an a cup of coffee when the captain voice came over the ship Comm. That we what about to make a Course changed to intercept a federation shuttle had sent out a Distress signal three light years away “

“Cmdr Matthew thinking to him self three light years away yeah I just new this mission was not going to be a easy one I better down to the shuttle bay and take a close look at this shuttle for my self’

Location :Shuttle bay 1

“90 seconds later “

“Cmdr Matthew walk in to Shuttle bay #1 .where the shuttle was being look over Cmdr sharp and his people where all over the shuttle The acrid smell of smoke and fire had started to dissipate after the air ventilation systems in the Bay was engage “

“Cmdr Sharp What do you think happen to this shuttle it look like it been thru a bad fire fight looking at those phaser mark patterns



<Tag Cmdr Sharp >

[Andae Blakus]

=/\=Understood. Would you advise holding here, rather than re-entering warp?=/\=

Blakus's first instinct was to say that the Victory should stay. Not only would it give him a chance to look at the Warp engines, but it would also allow him to take a breather. Well, sort of... It would at least stop them getting any closer to their destination. Despite this, Blakus said the opposite:

=/\=I advise to jump back to warp, the power problems won't afflict the ship too badly as long as we don't push the warp factor up too high. I believe it to be the best option if we plan on completing this supply run.=/\=

=/\=I see.=/\= The Captain closed the channel. Blakus hope she wasn't put off too badly by all these problems they were facing, but he guessed that she did have more on her mind than just Engineering. Would explain her short reply, he thought.

Blakus stood from leaning over the console, he had a tendency to do that when using the communicators built into stations, treating them as if there was a visible mic he had to speak through. Jumping to warp was the best idea, definitely. It would let the engineers monitor the power consumption at it's full, and see what needed fixing from a fresh perspective. He had to remind himself of what he was doing as he looked down over the gap between the top floor of engineering and the warp core. His staff were milling about doing... oh yes. He remembered. Taking the lift back down to the ground floor, Blakus went to find Ensign Bligh, which didn't take long. He hadn't moved from his post at the 'pool-table'. "Bligh," Blakus got the Ensign's attention as he walked up to the table.

Bligh looked up and turned, "Sir."

"You don't have to call me sir, Bligh. Call me Andae, or Blakus, whichever. My name's Latin, so either could be used in general conversation." Bligh nodded slowly, looking like he was not entirely sure why his Chief was telling him this. "Anyway Bligh, I want you to head the team fixing the over-strained conduits. Take whoever you need."

Blakus turned away after Bligh had acknowledged him and moved off to execute his Chief's orders. Blakus headed back to the warp core, but was drawn by the leer of Ensign Taylor. She was standing in the entrance to his office, leaning on the door frame. She was looking right at Blakus, a beckoning look on her face. He went over, he knew what this was about. He had promised her this conversation, just not so soon. And he wasn't sure 'why' he felt like he was more comfortable talking to Taylor than other engineers, take for example... Lieutenant Holland. Hmph, ok, bad example.

He walked in, not looking at Taylor, and sat in his chair after a dramatic sweep around the desk. Taylor turned from her standing point by the door. "There's no use in getting away from it, sir." She trotted from the entrance to Blakus's desk. "What's bothering you?" Blakus decided to play games. He picked up one of his padds, pretending to be interested in what it said, pretending to work. It wasn't a bad technique, good way to detract from the obvious problems at hand.

"Sir?"

"I don't know what you're doing in here Ensign," Blakus replied to her, not looking up from his 'work', "But I've got work to do..."

"Sir..." Taylor's voice was becoming rather pointed and testy.

"Just a question Ensign," Blakus looked up at her, "Since when were you Ship's Counselor?"

"SIR!!"

Blakus jumped slightly, fumbled the padd, and dropped it. Ensign Taylor had shouted at him with the intent of bringing Blakus's attention to the here and now, and it had worked. "Yes?" he said, now ultra-subdued.

"I think I know what's wrong with you." She said. He indicated that she keep talking. Part of him was interested to see what she had to say; mainly because he wanted this side of him exposed, but also because of his general interest in the subject. The other part didn't want to go anywhere near these thoughts, preferring to shut everyone and everything out. "I think it's partly stress, but it's also something else. Do you want to talk about it?"

Blakus thought for a moment, a long moment. "Oh, have a seat," Blakus suggested to Taylor. She sat there and waited patiently while her CEO deliberated in thought. She is very patient, this strand of mental energy emerged among the jumble of other emotions and thoughts he was having. "Umm, listen," he said, running a finger along the edge of the table rather pensively, "We both get off duty in three hours.. how about we go to the mess hall and talk this over?" Blakus immediately studied her for her reaction: she seemed to shift slightly in the seat, but she didn't seem uncomfortable. Infact, she seemed to quite like the idea, which was then affirmed to Blakus.

"Yes," she said, "Yes, ok. We will talk about this there though." Blakus smiled at the playful warning and nearly laughed, the Ensign returned the smile as she got up out of the seat, leaving the office. I like her smile... Blakus thought, as he watched her leave. He shook himself, Right. Work.