5.1 Salvage

[Deleted]

Tedak tried to protest, in his weakened and vulnerable state he didn't want to be left with Ambassador s'Khellian. Apparently, though, he didn't have much choice as he was unceremoniously dumped to the deck. Helplessly, he watched Govan walk away with long strides.

"Don't," he murmured, adding an incomprehensible string of words in his native Rihannsu. With fevered eyes, he looked up at Vebn. "Sabotage," he managed, coughing violently. Green froth appeared at the corner of his mouth and he shivered. He'd lost a fair amount of blood already and he felt his right shoulder going numb. He was in agony, but he had managed not to cry out when Govan had dropped him.

And now, he gritted his teeth as Vebn hauled him to his feet. "I was...on the Galaxy and then....my office." He coughed again. "Guard was killed, there was a collapse." Between coughs and winces, Tedak tried to explain to his superior what had happened, ending with the statement that if Govan hadn't come along and found him, he'd likely be dead now.

[main sickbay, civillian area]
"Thank you Tamir," T'Val replied earnestly, gently patting the woman's shoulder. "Now, please see to the newest patients that have just been brought in. You have done very well so far classing them into the triage, I am certain you can treat them accordingly."

She saw the Romulan pale slightly, but she offered a small smile of encouragement. "If you need anything you may ask myself, Stuart or Rayna. Please excuse me, I have my own patients to return to." She started to turn away, then turned back, holding something out to the nurse. "I want you to take this phaser. Stun mr Tyr if he tries to forcibly take you again. I do not take kindly on my staff being abducted against their will."

The Vulcan nodded once, then walked away. "Ah Mr Drolar, what a surprise to see you again. Have you come to look around sickbay for your articles?" Her expression darkened. "or have you come to sow fear. If the latter is the case, I kindly ask you to depart."

[Felix Savali]

After Magellan departed from OPS, Felix shook his head. The Trill has some guts; he's got to hand that to him... But that might not be enough to get him out of this mess. He removed the thoughts of Magellan from his mind as he concentrated on the job at hand. The evacuation Intel was indicating that 10% of the population has been evacuated so far. That was not a large number but then again... it was a matter of looking at the glass as half full or half empty and he was always for looking at it on the bright side. His loved ones were away safely before this incident with Mr. Drolar occurred. If it was up to him... The reporter would be thrown in the brig for inciting a riot.

While waiting for Magellan to arrive to the riot affected areas, Felix took a look at the missing persons report and noticed a name on it that shouldn't be there. Tedak. What in the name... He thought.

=/\=Savali to the USS Galaxy=/\=

=/\=Galaxy here go ahead=/\=

=/\=Ambassador Tedak of the Romulan empire was supposed to be transported over there for safety reasons and now i see his name on the missing persons list, what happened?=/\=

=/\=Well apparently he was beamed to his office in the Romulan embassy sir=/\=, the man responded

=/\=What!? You beamed the Ambassador into an unsecure area and when you realized you made a mistake you failed to inform us!?=/\=, he said in a slightly elevated tone of voice

=/\=Well I wouldn’t say...=/\=

=/\=I don't care... I’m not interested in your excuses... after this mess is dealt with a formal investigation will be carried out to determine who made a mistake and they will be sanctioned accordingly, Savali out=/\=

Of all the...Felix thought as he moved over to the console where F'rass was working.

"What’s the latest reading on the stability of the Ambassadorial section", he questioned

"It's holding... we have 3 engineering teams setting up the reinforcement beams down there... It is safe enough for our evacuation teams", F'rass replied

"How about transport status?", he questioned

"We can beam people in... but the interference of the structural enforcement fields is blocking any outgoing transporters.", he said

"How about if we used transport enhancers?", Felix questioned

"Yes... we should be able to get a lock if we used those", F'rass replied

"Fine... get me a set of enhancers... I’m going down there", Felix said

"Sir I don’t think...", F'rass began

"Someone here needs to start thinking about interstellar politics and definitely leaving the Romulan ambassador in an unsecure section of the station is not going to help our relations with the Romulans", he said

"As you wish", F'rass said as he signaled one of the technicians who were working on a power junction nearby to get the transport enhancers

10 minutes later Felix was standing in a clear section of the OPS section ready to beam to the Ambassadorial section with a phaser attached to his belt and in his hand a set of transport enhancers while in his other hand he held a tricoder.

=/\=Savali to the Galaxy, ready for transport=/\=

And a few moments later he dematerialized and rematerialized in the diplomatic section. He looked at his tricoder and saw that range was limited. If he was going to find Tedak... he would need to be 50 meters from the man to detect him. He slowly made way through the corridors passing by technicians and medical staff that were helping injured diplomats and civilians who were unlucky enough to get caught by the explosion which resulted from the crash of the Mary into the station.

He passed by the Romulan embassy which appeared to be empty... however he was able to pick up some Romulan blood which the tricoder was able to identify as belonging to Tedak. That was not a good sign. But lucky for him Tedak seemed to still be losing blood and this was something he could follow to find the Romulan Ambassador. Continuing out of the Romulan embassy he was able to follow the trail of blood drops to its source.... The Romulan Ambassador. The man was lying on the floor murmuring something while none other than Vebn was dragging him along by pulling on his arm.

"You two gentleman appear to be lost"; Felix said as he approached the two Romulans

<tag Tedak/Vebn>

[Deleted]

Tyr slunk out of Drolar's office, confident that he had stemmed any threat to the security of the station, and that he had given the good Mr Drolar a very good reason to be afraid of him. His relative contentment, bearing the present precarious situation in mind, was short lived. As he made his way through a crowd of people, he was suddenly struck in the stomach with a metal pipe. To the sound of a cheering crowd he was thrown against a bulkhead and hit in the stomach again, his phaser being knocked form his belt.

Tyr doubled over, coughing up a mixture of air and vomit as he was kicked hard in the side of the face and sent sprawling on his side. He looked up at his assailant, and saw him to be a Tellarite, one who he could have sworn owned a sundries store on the promenade.

"What is going on?" He wheezed as he made his way back to his feet.

"What is going on? WHAT IS GOING ON?" The Tellarite was enraged, and from the sound of the cheering crowd, so were they.
"What is going on, is that you scum are evacuating your own people first, and leaving the rest of us here to die!"

It took a moment for Tyr to register that in his bid to disguise himself and obtain better access, he was still dressed as a Starfleet lieutenant. The Tellarite made another swing with his pipe, this time aiming at Tyr's head, but by now the operative had had enough. Blocking the blow on his left forearm, he wrapped his arm around the Tellarites arm and turned sharply sideways. He heard a sickening crack as the arm broke, and with a scream the Tellarite dropped the pipe. Clutching his windpipe with his right hand, Tyr moved forward, the crowd retreating in the wake of him fighting back. He caight his pahser from off the floor, and then threw the Tellarite to the ground.

"If ANY other Starfleet officer is assaulted, we will respond in kind" He shouted "Now go and wait patiently at the evacuation sites. You will be gotten to" That said he ran away through a whole in the group.

~On the promenade~

Tyr emerged from an abandoned store, now once again in civilian clothing. He had changed clothes more times over the last few hours than he had changed cover stories in the last few years. His phaser was concealed within his jacket, and he discarded a hyposray, formerly loaded with demerol, that he had used to help shake off the unpleasant experience of three or four fractured ribs. As he wandered around the promenade, he saw people engaged in all manner of activities. It had been his experience that people reacted very differently to their impending demise. Some were sat quietly in some corner with their families, praying in the face of the inevitable. Others were aggressively trying to barter, extort or fight their way onto an evacuation shuttle. Some, for reasons known only unto themselves and God, had decided the best way to spend their final hours was to loot everything not nailed down. As he wandered, Tyr saw Admiral Lin wandering out of a turbolift. Both his own recent experience, and common sense, told him that the admiral shouldn't be here, and he ran forwards to tell him as much.

"Admiral, I'm not sure it's such a good idea for you to be here"

<TAG Admiral Lin>

"Would you mind if I tag along then, just for my own protection as much as yours" Beneath his jacket, he lightly grasped his phaser.

<TAG Admiral Lin>

[Magellan Lin]

"Admiral, I'm not sure it's such a good idea for you to be here"

"Then its a good job your not above me in the chain of command" Magellan replied dryly.

"Would you mind if I tag along then, just for my own protection as much as yours" Beneath his jacket, he lightly grasped his phaser.

Magellan smiled weakly. He knew Tyr's type and was more than aware that Tyr had no worry for his own safety. In his past lives he had been both diplomat and security officer and Tyr had qualities of both.

"Of course, Mr Tyr. I will do my best to protect you. I would suggest you return to Ops and take the next evacuation shuttle to Qualinost, but I suspect you would feel safer beside me."

Tyr smiled and nodded,
"Much safer"

Magellan nodded and accepting his unofficial bodyguard strode down the Arcade.
The shops had seen better days. Whilst not damaged by the impact of the Maru the looting that had taken place in the last hour had smashed the place up pretty good.

There was a large throng of people gathered around an Emergency Evacuation Transporter Station. A pair of Operations Officers could be seen barricaded inside whilst the angry mob outside pounded on the sealed doors.

Magellan tapped his comm badge opening up an open link.
"Alari, give me some good news" he whispered as he approached the crowd.
=^= Nothing yet. We have the reactor back online and stable but the stabilising thrusters are still not firing. We going to need to do it manually but its gonna be close.=^=

"Okay keep me posted."

"Ready" he asked Tyr stood at his side.
Tyr nodded

Magellan stepped forward nervously. He thrust his arms behind his back clasping his hands tightly.

"Can I have your attention" he called loudly, the faintest shake to his voice.

"Its him" a cry came from the crowd as they turned to see who was addressing them.
"He's leaving us to die."
Several other shouts came from the crowd as they moved en masse from the doorway and advanced on the Trill.

Insticntively Magellan thrust his hands out palm up as if he could usher them back.

"Please, Please Calm down. We...."

"Calm down. CALM DOWN?"
"Yeah your calm coz you got a way out."
"...gonna die..."

"No your wrong" Magellan tried again but was shouted down. Finally he realised he was getting nowhere.

"QUIET" he bellowed, "I CAN UNDERSTAND YOUR ANGER AND IF YOU WANT JUSTICE YOU CAN GET I WONT STOP YOU. BUT FIRST YOUR GOING TO LISTEN TO ME"

The crowd seem to quieten and simmered like a soup about to boil over.
"Well I aint gonna listen" one man shouted and ran forward to tackle Magellan, Tyr pulled his phaser. The man was unfit and not trained, Magellan feinted to his left and jabbed out a fist to catch the man under the ribs, he crumpled winded. He made to rise but was met with the barrel of Tyrs phaser.

"The article was right. We cannot evacuate everyone" there was a rise in the simmering noise as anger rose, "But you were mistaken if you felt we were priveleged. Commodore Savali will be making the evacuation lists public. You will notice Only pilots and medical starfleet staff have places. At the top of the lists are the injured and the old, children and families. But at the end of the day there will still be some of you left.

This very rioting has set back the evacuation already. Your actions mean that 3000 people less will be able to leave the station."

A number of people looked sheepish but there was still a feeling of annoyance.

"We now have main power back online and our engineers are about to fire our thrusters" Magellan prayed it worked "So evacuation may not be needed"

"Yeah right" someone muttered, "Why should we trust you?"

"A good question" Magellan replied, "But do you see Security down here locking you up. I came here on my own, unarmed. And if you want further proof I will allow Aiken Drolar the man who broke this story to meet with me and I will show him the evidence."

There was a slow expellation of air as the collective malice of the crowd seemed to dissipate.

Magellan turned to Tyr,
"Find Mr Drolar and get him to meet me in Ops. I just have to do this at 30 more locations and everything will be fine"

He wished it would be as easy as this.

[Deleted]

He passed by the Romulan embassy which appeared to be empty... however he was able to pick up some Romulan blood which the tricoder was able to identify as belonging to Tedak. That was not a good sign. But lucky for him Tedak seemed to still be losing blood and this was something he could follow to find the Romulan Ambassador. Continuing out of the Romulan embassy he was able to follow the trail of blood drops to its source.... The Romulan Ambassador. The man was lying on the floor murmuring something while none other than Vebn was dragging him along by pulling on his arm.

"You two gentleman appear to be lost"; Felix said as he approached the two Romulans

Vebns head snapped upwards,

"We are not lost" he stated

"I ve come to take you to safety"

"That won't be necessary" Vebn replied acidly, "I m heading for my shuttle."

Felix hefted the pattern enhancers he held.
"I have these so I can beam you directly to the Galaxy. Ambassadorial Staff have priority for evacuation. Your safety is paramount for interstellar diplomacy."

Vebn scoffed,
"I doubt many starfleeters would mourn the loss of a Romulan Diplomat or two. I would prefer we left on my shuttle."

"Tedak looks injured"

"He is but I have a med kit on my shuttle."

"Come now Ambassador I am asking you nicely."

Vebn scowled at the Human before him then a thought dawned on him. He had heard of the riots at each departure point, it was unlikely he could get himself even without Tedak to his shuttle inone piece. And yet he was loathed to leave it behind, like the Embassy it had too many secrets aboard it. Perhaps this starfleet officer could be of use.

"Okay, here let me help you set up the enhancers" perhaps he could alter the destination point and beam them directly to his shuttle.

TAG Tedak and Felix

[Deleted]

After his recent article, Aiken hadn't expected the reaction to be quite so severe. Yes, he had been intent on reporting what he had discovered, and just to make sure that it was published, he'd exaggerated how long it would be until the collision. But still, he certainly hadn't foreseen this kind of situation. He didn't believe however, that it was deserving of the stunning rant and a not light punch to his cheek. The blood was still welling up in his mouth a few minutes later when the red mist had faded and he had a reasonable revenge plan plotted.

Unfortunately, that plan involved somehow traversing the crowds that were baying for blood. He soon found that this wasn't an issue. The rioters were intent on seeking out the military officer's, and thus paid him no attention as he wove his way through them towards the infirmary. He choked back the memories of his visits to the medical bay when Kistine had been there after the time travelling incident, and instead focussed on how broad his smile would be when he'd given that starfleet lieutenant his just desserts.

“Ah Mr Drolar, what a surprise to see you again. Have you come to look around sickbay for your articles?” T'Val greeted him, before her face dropped slightly, “or have you come to sow fear. If the latter is the case, I kindly ask you to depart.”

“I gotta make a living.” He offered, flashing her a smile and a faint shrug of his shoulders. He detected that he wasn't going to get much out of the medic; even taking her species into account, she was being particularly cool toward him. “I was hoping that I could speak with the other Dr Mercy?” He received little more than a raised eyebrow in response, until after a good few seconds she swung a shoulder back and indicated the way to her husband. Aiken smiled at her again and strode over to the young man. Surprisingly young for his job actually, now that he considered it.

“Ah Doctor, I was hoping that you would be able to help me with a couple of things. As you can see, my cheek is already starting to bruise badly, and I could do with something for the pain. It would also be a great help to me if you could remove any alien skin traces and run the DNA. A positive match on that would be of great help to me in something I am following up.”

The starfleet officer frowned at him for a few seconds, looking around as if to show how busy he was. Finally though, his shoulders dropped slightly, and he pulled a hypospray from a drawer near his left hand. “This should help with the pain.” He then revealed a swab from somewhere upon his person and run it painfully against the cheek. “Sorry about that.” He commented as Aiken winced. “This will isolate the DNA strands from your own, and we'll have a unique code within the hour. But I'm afraid we're far too busy right now to run it against the computer's records.”

The reporter managed to fight against the newly reignited pain to turn his lips back into a smile. “Thank you very much Doctor. I'll owe you one.”

He left sickbay with a smile in his head. He would have had one on his face too, if not for the need to keep his jaw and cheek as relaxed as possible to prevent himself from either crying, or feeling a large desire to hit something. In spite of the fact that both methods would distract his brain, neither sounded particularly promising. He was just making his way to the Fishtank for a few brandy's to take the edge off it (in combination with the painkiller, it had to work right?) when his bleeper, well, bleeped.

Contemplating ignoring it and getting his drinks regardless, the reporter instead considered a whole range of bodily gestures to show his annoyance (although all of them involved far too much facial manipulation and thus were discarded) and read through the message quickly. It was, for want of a better phrase, a summons from Admiral Magellan.

And so it was, that just under 12 minutes later, he was sat in a small conference room just off ops waiting for the station chief.

[Deleted]

"What was that all about?" T'Val asked as she approached her husband, "what did he need the DNA sample for? He showed no sign of having been involved in a fight." A little further away, she spotted Tamir quietly talking to Rayna, the latter smiling encouragingly, giving her boss a quiet thumbs up.

The Vulcan doctor nodded and turned back to her mate. "The panic seems to be receding," she commented, "though the influx of wounded is still more than we can handle. Have you heard that Ambassador Tyr tried to get Nurse Tamir evacuated while she was on duty, and quite against her will?" She smiled softly this time. "I told him off," she added, somewhat proudly. "However I do not believe he appreciated that."

With the current emergency, their quest in getting her with child had been put on the back-burner, but it still wasn't entirely far from her mind. Seeing the expression on Stuart's face, she knew he had sensed her most immediate thoughts and she gave him an embarassed smile. She shouldn't be thinking of that in an emergency, and she knew it too. Quietly, she sent him an apology before going back to work.

"Do you like it here so far?" Rayna asked quietly, handing Tamir a brand new med-kit of her own. "Here, they forgot to give you this earlier, but T'Val wanted you to have one too. She got a lot on her mind you know." Rayna paused, checking the contents of her own kit. "She lost her son recently and she's still mourning. She's trying to get a new baby, but from what I heard, their research keeps coming back inconclusive. I feel so sorry for her and Stuart, I know how hard D'beren's death hit them and Ambassador Tedak"

The Romulan nurse saw the other woman's eyebrows rise in surprise. "Tedak was the child's adoptive father. He and T'Val were married before she married Stuart. They're still good friends though. Anyway, you didn't answer my question and I didn't exactly give you a chance to did I?"

~~~~~~

Tedak stiffled back a yelp as he was dumped on the deck, crading his senseless right arm with his left. The pain he was experiencing was excruciating and he was having trouble focussing. He could hear Vebn and Savali talking, but he couldn't quite make out the separate words. It was as though they were speaking gibberish.

"Sickbay," he breathed after taking a long time to concentrate and even form the word. He heard a chirping sound, images forming in his mind as his beloved Nut hovered before him. It seemed to him the two other men were ignoring him altogether, hence Nut took wing and chattered at the other Romulan drawing his attention to the injured younger diplomat.

Tedak, meanwhile, had passed out again. He had lost a fair amount of blood and he was still bleeding, though at a slower rate now. His skin had gone cold as his body sought to preserve as much energy as possible.

[Deleted]

“Enough!” Govan finally shouted, causing several people nearby to glance over. He’d had enough of this Federation diplomat, who in spite of every attempt the Major had made to convince her to leave with him was still insisting to stay and help the injured. Ezdreiana’s compassion was so incredibly annoying, and right now, he didn’t have time for it. If there were other diplomats here, it would be easy enough to blame not getting them to safety on the uncooperative Trill, and that was an excuse Echal was more than willing to use.

Ignoring the continuing protestations of the Ambassador, Govan easily swept the woman off her feet and over his shoulder before moving towards the door. For a few moments, there was blissful silence, most likely caused by the woman’s shock. The peace quickly vanished as Ezdreiana began to struggle against him, albeit in vain. She posed little threat to the imposing Romulan, and even carrying her, Major Echal felt fairly confident in his abilities to deal with anyone who tried to interfere. It’s not like he was kidnapping her or anything…

Down several severely damaged corridors, Govan was surprised to find Vebn, Tedak, and that same Commodore again. “What are you still doing here, Ambassador? You had plenty of time to have gotten farther than this by now, and Tedak clearly needs medical treatment. And you…” the Major hissed dropping Ezdreiana next to Tedak and turning to face the human officer. “I suggest you explain just what exactly you think you’re doing. They need to get off this station now, and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll either help or get out of my way.”

~

Tamir carefully cauterized a fairly deep gash on a human woman’s leg before administering an analgesic and light sedative and moving on to the next patient. The familiar work of triage though far from calm was actually soothing to the nurse, if only because it was what she knew. Even while administering hypos and using dermal regenerators, the Romulan was very aware of the heavy weight in her pocket caused by the small phaser T’Val had given to her. It troubled the young woman that the Vulcan healer thought that man so dangerous that she felt the need to provide a weapon. Through the controlled chaos of emergency medicine, the pressing sense of fear and worry for her own safety never left.

"Do you like it here so far?" Nurse Rayna asked as she handed a med kit to Tamir. "Here, they forgot to give you this earlier, but T'Val wanted you to have one too. She got a lot on her mind you know. She lost her son recently and she's still mourning. She's trying to get a new baby, but from what I heard, their research keeps coming back inconclusive. I feel so sorry for her and Stuart. I know how hard D'beren's death hit them and Ambassador Tedak"

Slightly confused as to what Tedak would have to do with the loss of T’Val’s son, Tamir raised her eyebrows causing Rayna to clarify. "Tedak was the child's adoptive father. He and T'Val were married before she married Stuart. They're still good friends though. Anyway, you didn't answer my question and I didn't exactly give you a chance to, did I?"

Quietly processing all of this information for a moment, Tamir finally replied, “I am glad to be out of that cell and to be practicing medicine once more. Other than that, I’m really not sure if liking it here has anything to do with it. I…I like T’Val. She’s been very nice to me, and I certainly like being able to help…”

Unsure if this is the answer the other Romulan was looking for Tamir glanced down at her new medkit and glanced around at the smoothly operating sickbay. The initial rush of injuries was winding down, but there were still a lot of patients that needed to be treated. Finally glancing back up at Rayna, who appeared to be observing her closely, Tamir added quietly, “Thank you for the medkit and for all your help getting settled in here. I appreciate your assistance.”

At that moment, a new group of casualties was beamed in, and Tamir and Rayna both moved forward to help, their discussion forgotten even before the last of the arrivals fully rematerialized.

[Deleted]

Tyr left the Admiral walking off into the distance of the promenade as he made his way to ops. He had not wished to draw his phaser considering the volatile situation, but he had had no choice as Lin's life had been in danger. The violence, whilst not having completely stopped had at least been tempered by the Trill's words, and people now appeared slightly more willing to obey the orders of the staff who were orchestrating the evacuation. He walked on, keeping a wary eye about, and always having his hand lightly touching his phaser.

He arrived in ops, and snuck down the side of the room, into an adjoining conference area. Once inside, he set up a terminal and sent a computer message, paging Aiken Drolar to the room he was currently in. The message sent, a sudden thought occured to him.

"Computer, what was the location of Aiken Drolar when he received the message that has just been sent?"

"Mr Drolar was in the primary sickbay, and my name is Lily" The computer replied in a rather brusk and hurt tone, both surprising and amusing Tyr.

Rather than exiting back into ops, he took the rear door into a disused corridor that terminated at a maintenance junction. Here he waited, pacing the area for just under a quarter of an hour. Having then decided that Drolar must be in the room by now, else, shock horror, he was being deliberately obstructive, Tyr walked back into the conference room. He registered the confusion on the face of the reporter as he saw the Starfleet officer who had previously assaulted him now in civilian clothing. He wlakedu p behind the man and placed his hands on his shoulders, not pressing down or trying to cause him any pain, but just leaning there. He began to talk very quietly.

"Alas, I was too late earlier it would appear" he smiled "You are far more efficient than I have given you credit for Mr Drolar, far more efficient..."
His voice trailed off slowly, adding to the sense of intrigue and confusion. It was a technique he had used before when cultivating assets, and he hoped it would work for him again. He released Aiken, and sat in a chair opposite from him.
"Tell me, Mr Drolar, what motivates you. Fame, money, power?"

<TAG Mr Drolar>

"And what then do you fear Mr Drolar. Oh, you don't have to tell me, but I assure you, I could find out easier than you can" Tyr looked at Drolar and smiled, leaning back slightly in his chair.
"We're not to dissimilar I have to admit Mr Drolar, and I also have to admit I admire your abilities, albeit not their employment"
He leaned forwards to look Drolar in the eyes.
"I work for...an organisation, that values men such as yourself Mr Drolar, so long as they are reliable, and sol ong as they are not troublesome. I hold two futures in my hands Mr Drolar" He extened to clenched fists "One of them involves me making all of your nightmares come true, whilst the other involves me opening up a whole new world for you. What shall we discuss Mr Drolar, dreams, or nightmares?"

<TAG Mr Drolar>

Tyr stood and made for the door the moment Lin appeared, smiling at the Admiral as he departed. Form ops he returned to sickbay, determined to make some amendments, and build some bridges. He crept quietly into the medical office, and accessed recent documentation. He found Drolar's name with ease, and the DNA test that had been conducted. Quick as a flash, he erased the sample from the records, and buried Aiken's name under several hundred other files. As he was leaving the office, he bumped into T'Val. Thinking on his feet, he began speaking immediately, his years of practice as a professional liar coming into play.

"Ah, Healer Mercy, I was just looking for you" he began, covering the true reasons for his presence in her office "I'm afraid I might have caused some offence over the nurse earlier. I'm sorry to have caused you such trouble at this time, but I was under a lot of stress, as we all are, and just trying to do Major Echal a favour. I'm sure you can understand my motivations, if not my actions. Truce?" He extended his hand, smiling.

<TAG T'Val>

[Deleted]

Very short one to get through the Tyr bit and get Magellan into the room. Feel free to talk for me Mark.

Leaning back in his seat, Aiken twisted within the chair as he heard footsteps enter the room. Expecting it to be Admiral Magellan, he made as if to stand up, but quickly changed his mind as he noticed it most certainly was not the Admiral. It took a few more seconds for him to recognise the man who had hit him earlier. Now in casual clothing, the starfleet lieutenant looked completely different.

He placed his hands lightly on the angosian's shoulders, the slightly wiry officer started to whisper in his ear.
“Alas, I was too late earlier it would appear,” he smiled “You are far more efficient than I have given you credit for Mr Drolar, far more efficient...”
His voice trailed off, as if he had completely forgotten what he wanted to say. Aiken waited patiently for the few seconds it took his brain to get back on track.
“Tell me, Mr Drolar, what motivates you? Fame, money, power?”

“Yeh, all of them are alright. Bit of sex and booze too and life is pretty good.”

“And what then do you fear Mr Drolar? Oh, you don't have to tell me, but I assure you, I could find out easier than you can. We're not too dissimilar I have to admit Mr Drolar, and I also have to admit I admire your abilities, albeit not their employment. I work for...an organisation, that values men such as yourself Mr Drolar, so long as they are reliable, and so long as they are not troublesome. I hold two futures in my hands Mr Drolar. One of them involves me making all of your nightmares come true, whilst the other involves me opening up a whole new world for you. What shall we discuss Mr Drolar, dreams, or nightmares?”

“Angels, or demons? Night, or day? Black, or white? Chalk, or cheese? Brawling love? Loving hate? Anything of nothing first created?” Aiken hit the poetic tone spot on to convey his disdain. “I'd far rather discuss some stuff with Admiral Magellan actually if you wouldn't mind.” He added as the trill CO stepped inside.

“Admiral, I must apologise for the reaction my article caused. I truly did not mean to create such widespread panic. I realise looking back it was somewhat naïve, but I didn't really foresee it.” He rose to his feet, and offered his hand in greeting. Noticing as he did so that the dark haired betazoid was making a hasty exit.

[Deleted]

ooc: and please note that Lily can't be used anywhere but in OPS. Magellan posted earlier that she's...well not-whole.

T'Val made a brushing movement as though dusting off her labcoat before looking up at Tyr, ignoring his outstretched hand altogether. "For someone who claims to be a diplomat, you certainly know precious little about alien customs," she said icily.

She looked past him into Stuart's office. "If you were looking for me, surely it would have been logical to search for me in my own office, rather than Doctor Mercy's?" She crossed her arms over her chest, casting him yet another cold look. "I have nothing to say to you ambassador, you went beyond your authorisations with trying to take a skilled nurse away from an emergency."

The Vulcan brushed past the Betazoid into the office and closed the door behind her, hopefully getting the point across that he wasn't welcome in sickbay unless he were a patient and in need of emergency care. As she watched the diplomat leave, she accessed Stuart's computer, surprisingly finding a certain labeled file erased. However, the back-ups were still in place and wouldn't easily be found.

"Computer, send message to Aiken Drolar. Attach DNA profile." She added a series of what appeared to be random letters and numbers. "Tell him an attempt to erase it was made." She knew by now that Lily was not functioning properly and she prayed the engineers would be able to repair her. As a doctor though, she wasn't sure if there was anything she could do for Lily, but she also knew that Lin would do everything in his power to save her. After all, it was his doing that she was intergrated into the computer in the first place.

After the message was sent, she re-encrypted the file and embedded it into several other files, adding flags to alert her or Stuart if attempts to erase it were made. The Vulcan started to understand why her ex-husband hated the Betazoid diplomat; she didn't trust him either.

[Felix Savali]

"I suggest you change your tone major... I am not some young ensign you can intimidate by staring at them and this time I'll disregard that treat i detect in the tone of your voice... but Major... you do not want me for you enemy so i suggest you quiet down and listen before Ambassador Tedak bleeds out to death.", he responded

"Now Ambassador Vebn.... either you liked it or not... everyone here is going to the Galaxy and then Ambassador Tedak and anyone else who has a desire to accompany him will be transported to sickbay which is I assure you a quite safe place on this base... and in case of an emergency... the patients there will be the top priority on the evacuation list", Felix said as he activated the last of the transport enhancers

He ignored any further protests from the two men as he pulled out his tricoder and activated the transport signal for there was no possibility for a comm. channel to be opened in this area due to the interference of the structural integrity fields whose emitters were not properly aligned and were flooding the area with electromagnetic radiation but whose wavelengths were in the spectrum which was not harmful for human beings. However they proved to be lethal for comm. channels.

Several moments later the group found themselves in the transporter room on the USS Galaxy.

"Now Ambassador S'hkelllian... Ambassador Tedak is going to sickbay and you are welcome to go to your ship as is Major Govan", he said signaling to the transporter chief to lock coordinates for sickbay

"Now gentlemen... what will it be?", he questioned

<Tag Vebn, Govan>

[Magellan Lin]

It was a somewhat dishevelled and bruised Magellan that returned to his office. He was surprised to find not only Aiken but Tyr present also. His eyes narrowed suspiciously, their conversation whilst polite and above board had a dangerous uner current swirling beneath it.

“Admiral, I must apologise for the reaction my article caused. I truly did not mean to create such widespread panic. I realise looking back it was somewhat naïve, but I didn't really foresee it.” He rose to his feet, and offered his hand in greeting. Noticing as he did so that the dark haired betazoid was making a hasty exit.

Magellan didnt reply immediatly, instead he paused a beat as Tyr left and then went to his desk and pulled a bottle from a draw. He produced two glasses and poured two liberal measures of something amber coloured.

"Making an enemy of Mr Retarious is not something I would suggest" he said passing one of the glasses over, "Its good stuff." He noted, "None of that Synthehol rubish"

Aiken took the glass and sniffed it tentatively, he didnt recognise it immediately and suspected it was Earth Whisky, not his tipple of choice but he wasnt about to refuse it.

"Thankyou as I was saying..."

"As you were saying... You apologise. Yes yes." Magellan replied in an offhand manner, "Mr Drolar, you are a bright and astute reporter. One I suspect is down on his luck." He paused reflectively, "To be honest I m surprised we kept it so calm for so long. This station is on a slow descent to the planet below and yet if your were step out there into Ops you would think they were preparing for a bake sale. You see in Starfleet we face these dangers regularly, and whilst they still terrify us we bypass that fear and do our jobs. That detachment means we can do just that, but it also means we lack the interface with the public. A public who is rightly terrified that more than half of them can't get off the station."

He took a long sip, more of a gulp from his drink and gasped as its potency rolled around his mouth and down his gullet,

"Its my fault. I didnt give you the proper respect or time. You see its in this chair that the buck stops. I gave you nothing to work with. If I had you would have reported our evac procedure and it would have calmed things instead. I m a believe in clearing up my own mess and have spent the last two hours convincing people of the truth." he raised a hand to the bruise appearing on his face, "Not all the groups of rioters took me at face value" he half smiled at his unintended pun, "And thats where you can help me make ammends. The people trust you, well as much as they trust anyone. Help me to calm them down, the more they struggle the fewer people we can evacuate."

TAG Aiken

[Deleted]

"I suggest you change your tone, Major... I am not some young ensign you can intimidate by staring at them, and this time I'll disregard that threat I detect in the tone of your voice...but Major...you do not want me for you enemy, so I suggest you quiet down and listen before Ambassador Tedak bleeds out to death.”

Staring daggers at the Commodore, Govan nonetheless remained silent. He may not have been accustomed to lectures, especially from a human, but although the Major had no respect for Starfleet officers of any rank and no fear as to what this man could actually do to him, the practical implications were clear: this man had power on this starbase and alienating him meant unnecessarily making things more difficult. As long as Vebn and Tedak were safe there was no need to antagonize Savali, so as much as it irked him to do so, Echal backed down.

"Now Ambassador Vebn.... whether you liked it or not... everyone here is going to the Galaxy and then Ambassador Tedak and anyone else who has a desire to accompany him will be transported to sickbay, which is I assure you a quite safe place on this base... and in case of an emergency... the patients there will be the top priority on the evacuation list."

As much as Govan would have preferred keeping Tedak away from anyone in Starfleet right now, as obviously someone wanted him dead, there was no way to argue against sickbay, especially since without medical attention the junior Ambassador would most likely not survive. ‘Perhaps Tamir…’ the Major pondered, but his thoughts were cut off by the transporter beam being initiated.

As the group, including a very silent Ezdreiana, materialized in a Federation transporter room, Commodore Savali addressed Vebn once more. "Now Ambassador S’khellian... Ambassador Tedak is going to sickbay and you are welcome to go to your ship as is Major Govan. Now gentlemen... what will it be?"

“I am going with Tedak.” Govan declared firmly, moving to the side of the injured man. There was no way he was going to take no for an answer on that. Turning his back on Felix, Major Echal addressed Vebn. “I would suggest remaining within communications range, Ambassador. Once Ambassador Tedak’s more serious injuries are treated I will request a beam out. Otherwise I will find another way to get the two of us off the station myself.”

<Tag Vebn>

~

Tamir glanced over her shoulder at T’Val, who did not look happy. The man who had tried to kidnap her had left moments before and seeing his face again caused a surge of uncertainty. Had he come back to try and take her away again? As the Vulcan healer returned from the offices, Tamir moved towards her and asked, “Ma’am…was that man here because of me again? If…if he’s causing you problems, perhaps you should just let me go. I don’t want to be any trouble…”

T’Val never got the chance to answer, as two men began to materialize in the middle of sickbay, drawing the attention of the medical staff including the Vulcan healer and Romulan nurse. Tamir instantly recognized Govan and felt a strange rush of immense relief as she moved towards him, barely registering the injured man draped over his shoulder. “Gov…Major Echal…I…”

“Tamir, what are you still doing here? I thought I made sure that you…oh never mind, I knew I shouldn’t have trusted that…” Govan glared in frustration that was not directed at her but caused her to cringe anyway. Noticing her reaction, the Major cut off the series of crude names he was about to level against Tyr before turning his attention back to the situation at hand. The nurse was here now, and that was actually a good thing. The Federation ambassador’s failure to follow through with his promise had actually backfired on him and helped them.

“Tedak’s been injured.” Govan informed the nurse rather unnecessarily as he moved towards and unoccupied biobed to place the unconscious man. “He is a Romulan ambassador who is under my direct care and has had several attempts on his life already. I don’t trust Starfleet, but he needs a doctor. You are to assist the doctors in getting him ready to be moved and watch everything they do to ensure that he’s not poisoned or harmed in any other way. Once he’s able to leave, you will come with us and see to his care. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Sir.” Tamir replied quietly keeping her head down, any thought of questioning or disobeying his orders never crossing her mind for a second. Barely reacting to the nurse’s immediate compliance, as that was to be expected, Govan turned his attention on T’Val who was approaching quickly. Her compliance, he realized would be far more difficult to obtain, but at least she would be easier to trust than just any Starfleet doctor, being his ex-wife. Then again, depending on how amicable their split had been, she could want him dead just as much if not more so than whoever had been making these attempts; however, the Vulcan didn’t strike him as that type of woman, nor did their current relationship seem particularly volatile.

“Healer Mercy,” Major Echal acknowledged with a nod. “Tedak was pinned beneath a collapsed beam in his office, the result of another attempt on his life. He needs to be made well enough to be moved to a safer location as quickly as possible. However, I am…pleased to know that it is you who will be caring for him.”

[Deleted]

Tyr was stood quietly at the back of ops, mulling the situation through in his mind as the Starfleet personnel around him ran in circles. He couldn't get the Vulcan to trust him, which was undoubtedly going to make his life difficult, and he hadn't been able to extract Tamir, a fact that the good Major Echal was undoubtedly aware of by now. This point was undoubtedly going to shorten his difficult life. He tapped out an indistinct rhythm on a console with one hand as he mused, amazed that in the midst of this disaster he had time to stand around and do nothing. He would undoubtedly have to get on an evacuation shuttle at some point, but he was fairly confident that after a while he would be forced to leave with the other ambassadorial staff. He was so engrossed in thought that he didn't even notice the young ensign stand next to him, trying to get his attention. Eventually he pulled himself back to reality.

"Yes ensign, what is it" he asked.

"There's a very insistent call for you ambassador from the Federation United Press office. It's one of the desk editors demanding a statement from the ranking Federation diplomatic officer"

"Did the person give their name?" Tyr asked, already ahving a worrying suspicion that he knew who the caller was.

"Mr Davis, sir. Do you want me to patch it through to a monitor?"

"Send it to one of the anterooms if you don't mind" Tyr asked quietly "I'll need a little privacy"

He walked off from the main section of ops, and entered the adjoining office set aside for personal communications. He sat down and activated the monitor, to see his old friend and handler looking sick, and as if he had aged several years.

"What's so important tht you contact me this overtly?" Tyr demanded, a combination of frustration and fear tainting his voice.

"We are in deep cacka" James said, leaning forwards as if someone might be listening in "And the line is encrypted so you don't have to worry"

"What's happened?" Tyr asked, now getting increasingly more worried by the second.

"A short while after the Mary hit Assailant, all hell broke loose internally" James began, rubbing his face with both hands "A suicide bomber blew up a trade delegation on Vulcan, killing a group of Humans, Vulcans, Romulans, Bolians and a half dozen other species. Then an explosive device went off in the engine room of an Akira class ship being built at Utopia Planitia"

"Oh my God" Tyr's face drained of colour as the news sank in. The story was continued.

"Luckily the primary charge didn't detonate, and all the blasting cap explosion did was injure an on duty crewman, but if the bomb had been built better, and with that proximity to the warp core..." His voice trailed off, the subjunctive tone left hovering in the air "And then to cap off our day, someone took a pop at Admiral Clarkson"

"Billy? What happened?" Tyr asked insistently, the name of the Deputy Chief of Starfleet Intelligence striking such a chord, as it had been Billy Clarkson who had recruited Tyr, almost nine years ago.

"Well luckily the sniper was a really bad shot" James smiled briefly, before his sour demeanour returned "But unluckily he may lose his left arm"

"He'll be mad as hell. Left handed tennis was one of the things he always loved to show off about" Tyr mused absentmindedly "Are all these events linked?"

"We think so, but we really don't have any idea. Our cleaning crew that got to Vulcan found crystalline elements at the blast site, which is interesting, considering that there were no Tholians in the building. Downside is that no-one here thinks that they would be stupid enough to escalate the Colonial War to this level, plus neither explosive matches any known Tholian technology"

"What about that new threat. The Kasan-Thar is it?" Tyr quoted a dossier he had read quite recently.

"That's eyes only alpha material" James retaliated quickly "And at best you're still only eyes only beta level. How did you get to see that?"

"I did what I was trained to do. So, I assume this conversation wasn't just to keep me informed?"

"No. We need you to inform Admiral Lin about, well, everything"

"So tell him I'm a spy, we are currently under attack from unknown forces, and it wouldn't hurt for you to drop a couple of pounds" Tyr answered sarcastically "I thought the whole point of being part of an undercover operation was to remain undercover"

"Don't be faecetious, just get it done" James told him, sitting up straight "I'll contact you as the situation develops. Wipe this recording from your memory banks. Out"

Tyr sat back in his chair in the darkened room. His world has just partially exploded, and he was unsure what to do. Out of instinct more than any conscious thought, he tapped his communicator.

=/\=Tyr to Admiral Lin. Would you mind joining me in conference room 3 when it is convenient=/\=

<TAG Admiral Lin>

[Deleted]

"Major Echal, while I appreciate your loyalty towards my ex-husband and your concern for his health, please do not presume to issue orders to my nurses. Tamir is needed here currently, and I need her assistance in tending to the ambassador." Her expression was neutral as she glanced up to the tall Romulan officer. "Please step out of the way so I can initiate a sterile field. You may observe if you wish, but keep out of our way."

She physically shoved the surprised Romulan aside and beckoned both Tamir and Rayna to assist. The Vulcan looked positively pale as she scanned Tedak and discovered the extend of his injuries. Aside from the evident exsanguination, he also suffered from several broken ribs, a broken right scapula and internal bleedings.

"Tamir, inject 10cc of fibrin solution directly into the injury on his shoulder. Rayna, hold him in position on his side, we need to roll him over once we stopped the bleeding." The Vulcan looked up at the three firelizards circling overhead. Due to the sterile field, they could not settle on the bed, and T'Val was sensing their frustration and fear. "Major, if there is anything useful you wish to do, try to calm down the brown and bronze firelizard up there. The green only answers to me."

She returned her attention to her patient, then waved a third nurse over. "I need three units of T negative packed cells," she ordered, "and two units of T positive plasma." The nurse returned shortly, handing the bags of blood and plasma to Tamir. "Find the vein in his left arm," the Vulcan ordered, "and give him the packed cells first. He needs them to convey oxygen through his organs."

After what seemed like a very long time, a very exhausted T'Val finally shut down the sterile field, after making sure the unconscious Romulan was resting comfortably. At the same time, she saw Govan open his mouth to say something but she silenced him. "He cannot be moved," she ordered, "you may remain here with him, but he will not leave my care. Tamir, make sure that the ambassador remains comfortable. Check on his dressings every hour and if he wakes, make sure he drinks something. He needs the fluid."

[Deleted]

"Major Echal, while I appreciate your loyalty towards my ex-husband and your concern for his health, please do not presume to issue orders to my nurses. Tamir is needed here currently, and I need her assistance in tending to the ambassador. Please step out of the way so I can initiate a sterile field. You may observe if you wish, but keep out of our way.” T’Val replied coldly, shocking Govan when she shoved him out of her way on the way to Tedak’s bedside.

Standing there, somewhere between shock and anger, the Major’s eyes met Tamir’s, and she seemed just as surprised by her new boss’ impertinence, but quickly looked away and moved to assist. Grumbling, nonetheless stepping back out of the way, the Romulan agent muttered to himself, “It’s little wonder she’s his ex-wife…I’m just surprised he managed to get out of that marriage alive.”

Unable to tell if the Vulcan woman actually heard him or not, Govan crossed her arms over his chest and brooded silently in the corner, watching over his charge closely, even though most of what was said and done was well out of his sphere of knowledge. Still, he felt much better with Tamir assisting, watching everything that was done as ordered. Whether T’Val over heard his comment or not, she looked up and added, "Major, if there is anything useful you wish to do, try to calm down the brown and bronze firelizard up there. The green only answers to me."

About to retort that he did not babysit lizards, the Vulcan healer did not give him a chance to reply, turning her back on him and issuing orders to another nurse. Letting out a frustrated sigh, Govan leaned back against the wall and eyed the two brown (he couldn’t tell which was supposedly brown and which was bronze) lizards, hovering over the bed. Almost as if they understood, the two creatures actually looked over at the Romulan Major like they were sizing him up. They didn’t appear any more impressed with him than he was with them, but it seemed they would have to tolerate each other in the meantime.

Tamir worked tirelessly to help T’Val with Tedak, but she felt torn between the two, imposing individuals in sickbay, the Vulcan standing over the injured Ambassador’s bedside and the Romulan leaning against the wall watching. While she very much liked, trusted and respected the healer, even knowing her as briefly as she had, there was no denying that the thought of defying and potentially angering the Major sent a stab of fear through her. T’Val represented the nurse’s loyalty to her chosen profession, but Echal represented her loyalty to her own people, which was still strong. At least for the time being their desires and orders were very much the same, but it was unclear how long that would last.

As T’Val shut down the field and moved towards him, Govan began to speak, but she ignored him and started before him. "He cannot be moved. You may remain here with him, but he will not leave my care.” The Major tried to object, but the Vulcan turned her back on him and spoke to the nurse instead. “Tamir, make sure that the ambassador remains comfortable. Check on his dressings every hour and if he wakes, make sure he drinks something. He needs the fluid."

With that, Healer Mercy moved across sickbay to attend to another patient, leaving Govan glaring at her retreating form. Tamir nervously glanced between the two, before moving to check on anther patient. In anger, Major Echal grabbed her arm and pulled her back. “Where do you think you’re going?” he hissed, but as soon as he saw the terror and pain on her face, instinctively let her arm go.

It was not the nurse he was frustrated with, and she clearly did not deserve that. “I…I...was going to check on another patient. I wasn’t going to leave. I promise. I just…” Tamir stammered, tears springing to her eyes unbidden. T’Val glanced up and seemed to be beginning to move towards them, causing Govan to immediately begin backpedaling and trying to save face as best he could.

“Of course…my apologies. I can look after Tedak to ensure that he remains safe. Just…do not go far.” Govan spoke softly, adding even more quietly for her ears only. “Given the current, volatile situation, we may need to act quickly to get him to safety. In that case, I will need your complete and immediate cooperation. Understood?” he ordered gently, trying not to scare her more than he already had.

Nodding in agreement, Tamir moved off once more to check on the patient, trying to pull herself together. Her arm was throbbing and would most likely be sporting a bruise where the Major had grabbed her. T’Val looked to be moving to speak with her, but the Romulan nurse shook her off trying to smile and convey that she was fine. Tamir felt anything but fine…as she tried to regain emotional calm.

Moving to stand beside Tedak, guarding him and watching to make sure no one other than Tamir or T’Val approached the Ambassador, Govan was actually feeling guilty, an extremely unfamiliar emotion. He had reacted out of anger and frustration and had hurt and terrified someone who he didn’t want to hurt or terrify. Causing fear and pain was a way of life for him, but this had felt different. Looking after Tamir, who was not looking at him and was actually holding her arm, Major Echal glanced sideways over at T’Val who sent him a pointed glare. Straightening his back, the Romulan glared right back at her, pushing aside any further feelings of guilt or regret. He had a job to do.

[Magellan Lin]

Aiken seemed to be purposefully pausing just to annoy him, or so Magellan thought.

"I think I can do that" the reporter replied

"Thank you" Magellan said with a relieved sigh

"Its the least I could do."

"Your right, the very least. Sometimes Mr Drolar I m not sure where you fit into the picture on this place."

Aiken rose and with wry smile said,

"If we keep plummeting planetward there wont be a place for me to fit into."

Magellan nodded sombrely.

As Aiken left Magellans comm. badge beeped,

=/\=Tyr to Admiral Lin. Would you mind joining me in conference room 3 when it is convenient=/\=

Magellan rolled his eys,

=^=Mr Tyr, when its convenient maybe sometime from now. I will be in touch=^=
He clipped off his comm and reentered Ops.

"Good News" Frass reported, "Alari has stabilsed the orbit, we are a little lower than we used to be but we are no longer crashing."

"Excellent"

"Problem is the reactor is still damaged and so is Lily, between the two of them we have irregular power systems. We can't operate the base properly."

Magellan stood and thought a moment,
"Very well. Tell Mr Drolar to put this in his newscast and inform everyone that the base will still be evacuated.
Mr Savali please go planetside. We will need emergency quarters for our residence and we will need to commandeer the old Hab Dome for Starfleet Operations. Please make the necessary arrangements."

[Deleted]

" This is insufferable" Vebn growled, "I am a senior diplomat and your ordering me around like a child. I want to be on my shuttle now. I will not spend another minute on this doomed station. I have little regard if you or Tedak are with me as long as me and my shuttle are away from here"

"If that is your wish"

"My WISH it is my DEMAND. The Federation Council will hear of this."

"I am sure they will. One moment."

Vebn disappeared in a transporter beam reaapearing on his shuttle.
He quickly powered up its engines.

=^=Romulan Shuttle please lower your shields and prepare to take on refugees to the planet=^= Operations ordered

"Bah" he muttered to himself and ignored the instruction. He lifted the Shuttle off the pad and away from the hard seal. He deftly span it about and headed for Qualinost. It was not until he was entering the atmosphere that he became aware of someone behind him. He span in his chair regretting that all his weapons were in the embassy.

From the rear of the compartment a pair of women emerged,

"Hello Father, I d like you to meet V'Shal" the leader smiled smoothly.

TAG

[Deleted]

The next few hours passed rather unremarkably in sickbay. Govan continued to watch over Tedak, pleased to see that no one came anywhere near him, with the exception of Tamir who checked his dressing as ordered every hour. The look of fear on the nurse’s face and the way she warily kept her eye on the Major as if a single movement from him would send her fleeing in terror caused the Romulan agent to feel guiltier by the minute. The harder he tried not to think about and the more excuses that Echal tried to come up with, the worse he felt. Even the two annoying lizards that were now sitting on the edge of the biobed seemed to be glaring at him in disapproval, as if to say they thought he was a jerk too.

T’Val appeared to be ignoring his presence altogether, rushing back and forth from patient to patient seeing that things ran smoothly. The Romulan had to admire the calm, cool efficiency with which she conducted her duties and maintained control of the occasionally chaotic atmosphere of the medical facility, even if she did tend to get in his way whenever their paths had crossed. Still, Govan personally couldn’t stand the woman, or really any other Vulcan he’d ever met. How Tedak had actually managed to stay married to one was beyond the Major’s understanding. It seemed like a nightmare in the making. ‘Man deserves a medal if you ask me…must have the patience of a saint to put up with…’

Hearing a commotion coming from the main doors to sickbay, Govan’s thoughts were cut off. No one else seemed to have noticed anything just yet, as they were all busy working on patients, but the security officer’s ears were definitely picking up some sort of disturbance outside, a combination of security training, Romulan hearing, and a lack of immediate distraction. Glancing around, it seemed that no one else had picked up on the faint noise coming from outside, though it was growing steadily louder. A few of the nurses closest to the entrance began to look up and just as Major Echal began to debate going to see what was going on, the door flew open and a large, angry crowd of civilians burst into sickbay.

Now they weren’t exactly well-armed by any means, but the Federations security officers were clearly having difficulties containing the mob that was now flooding into the room, knocking over equipment and speaking loudly. The nurses were frantically rushing to protect patients and the security guards were trying to pull people back and yelling. It was pandemonium. For a moment, Govan didn’t move, unsure of whether to get involved or just protect Tedak, but as equipment started flying and nurses and patients started screaming, the Major just reacted.

A group of three men were closest to Tedak’s bedside, so Govan threw himself at them, hitting one man in the nose with his elbow and striking another on the back of the neck with the edge of his hand. Both went down rather quickly. The third took a swing at the Romulan and ducked under the punch sent in return. Within about 30 seconds, the civilian was unconscious and the Major had a bloody nose. Wiping a streak of green onto his sleeve, Echal glanced around sickbay and decided that, as fun as it was, taking out everyone in hand-to-hand combat would take too long, so he decided to put an end to this a bit more quickly.

Pulling his disrupter from its holster, Govan took aim and fired, hitting the large light in the center of the ceiling, which was connected to the power supply. It exploded in a shower of sparks and caused all the lights and monitors in the room to go dark for a moment before flickering back on. There were several muffled cries of surprise and fear before the lights returned to full once more and all eyes fell on the Major, who had switched the setting on his weapon to wide beam stun. While diplomacy wasn’t exactly his strong suit, enforcing order was.

“Now that I have your attention,” Govan began in a voice that was far louder than was necessary in the now quiet room. “I suggest you all go back to wherever it is you came from, now. This disruptor is set on a wide-beam, so either all of you who don’t belong here leave immediately, or you’ll end up staying as patients or being moved to the morgue in a body bag. Either way, this sickbay is going to be far quieter and less crowded in a moment, but the choice is yours.”

[Deleted]

T'Val had just checked up on her ex-husband noting with a small but pleased smile that he was going to be just fine. He was taking the rest surprisingly meekly, considering he tended to be the sort to try and be up and about as soon as possible.

The Vulcan healer presumed that Govan's presence was quite possibly doing the trick, except that everytime she did come to check on her friend, the major was always standing in her way, obstructing her access to her patient. She made a few snide comments when no-one was looking, but she did appreciate his presence.

She now walked towards the chief medical officer's office when a large group of armed civillians barged into sickbay. She froze, rooted to the spot when she saw several of her nurses go down. "Tamir!" she roared, trying to be heard She saw three firelizards join the frenzy, trying to get at two rather tall humans bee-lining for the office. One of them ducked away, but the other pressed on, followed by a third.

Torn between the new nurse and her mate, she knew the nurse to be terrified where Stuart was a trained starfleet officer. So, she rushed up to Tamir and Rayna, helping them to defend their patients. The sound of phaser fire made her turn around. "Stuart!" she screamed, surprising both Romulan women with her emotional outburst. Even Rayna, who was used to them, hadn't seen her this scared before.

More phaser fire, or rather disruptor fire as Govan fired a single shot into the ceiling. The Vulcan cringed at the sound, but for once was gratified that the Romulan was there. The mob was stunned into silence, then fled as the Romulan took aim at them instead. With the mob now running, T'Val fled into the medical office, kneeling beside her mate.

Stuart Mercy had looked up from his work just as one of the Humans charged into his office. He had never stood a chance when the officer pulled out his phaser and fired a single shot at the young doctor. The chief medical officer went down with a look of shock and pain on his face, never knowing what motivated the security crewman.

"Stuart..." T'Val cradled him in her arms, waiting for him to regain consciousness. "Do not move," she warned as soon as he looked up at her, "you were shot and I have stopped the bleeding for now. You are safe in your office, Major Echal is dealing with the mob. How do you feel now?"

It took a few minutes before nurses came in and took him from her, but as soon as that happened she too rose to her feet, then walked up to the Romulan. "Thank you," she said simply, then continued her way to check up on Tedak. "Rest a few more hours and then you can go with Major Echal to the Galaxy," she compromised, looking back over her shoulder to see if Echal would comply with the compromise.

[Deleted]

Tyr was still sat in the dark in the anteroom off of ops, staring blankly at the darkened monitor. Someone had penetrated right to the heart of the Federation, and no-one seemed to know who, or why, or whether it would happen again. He tapped a tune out on the table, thinking. Something in that room had been crystalline. It wasn't Tholian, and it only might have been Kasan-Thar. Something wasn't adding up, and he had to work out the missing part of the equation. What else would possibly use a crystalline structure, and why those specific targets. There were too many unanswered questions, and too many variables, both of which Tyr had an almost abject hatred for. He sighed and closed his eyes, and then, as if it were a flash in the darkness, and answer came to him.

"Lily, can you access your primary research database?" he asked, his question being met only by a series of beeps and static bursts.
"Alright" he muttered, cracking his fingers "I'll do it the old fashioned way"

He began to type. He accessed the Starfleet Tactical database and began to hunt, looking slowly down the entire list of explosives in the known galaxy. Needless to say, it was a very long list.

"Computer, narrow search parameters to include explosives involving crystalline technology" he asked as his research began to slow.

"One hundred and seventy six thousand, three hundred and fifty seven entries recorded" the reply came. Tyr narrowed his thinking.

"Narrow search parameters to include all those devices using crystalline technology explicitly in the detonator mechanism"

"Eleven thousand one hundred and nine entries recorded"

"Exclude all those devices employed by the Tholian Assembly"

"Nine thousand and twelve entries recorded"

"List all those governments employing the listed technologies"

"The United Federation of Planets, The Cardassian Union, The Bolian government, The Tzenkethi government, The Selay government, The Karemma government, The Romulan Star Empire..."

"Stop" Tyr sat up suddenly at the mention of Romulan involvement "Of all those technologies listed, what proportion of them were invented by and are commonly used by the Romulans?"

"Approximately 78.3% of all listed technologies have been invented or commonly used in association with the Romulan government"

Tyr stood, deactivated the console and bolted through the door. He strode across ops, not even noticed by the Starfleet officers who still ran the floor, although now in a marginally happier mood. He entered the turbolift, closing the doors, although he did not set off immediately. He withdrew his phaser from within his jacket, ensuring that the setting was to stun before he replaced it under his clothing.

"Lily, can you please locate Major Echal"

"...Sickbay..." the word was barely distinuishable from the static in the response, but it was good enough.

Calling to the turbolift for his destination, Tyr leaned against the wall and hummed an old tune he remembered from his childhood. He eixted and headed for sickbay, passing a large crowd on the way which seemed to have been on the worse end of a disagreement. Shrugging it off as one of those things associated with a crisis, Tyr entered the civilian ward, finding Echal stood over Tedak. Tapping the large Romulan on the shoulder, Tyr stood back as he saw the large Romulan was unhappy to see him.

"Can we talk outside please" he asked politely, leading him to the door and out into the now empty corridor. As soon as he heard the doors hiss shut, he drew his phaser and turned to face Govan, who, lo and behold had his disruptor drawn as well.
"We have got to stop meeting like this" Tyr quipped sarcastically, remembering their first meeting on the Mary.
"What happened with Tamir is not my fault, she wouldn't leave even when I mentioned your name, and then the Vulcan stuck her oar in. You've been stuck with Tedak for several hours, if you haven't seen what she's like, then you need to see an eye specialist" He waved his hand as if batting away and inconsequential fly.
"That doesn't matter anyway. I need some information from you, one intelligence officer to another. Some bombs have gone off in Federation territory, bombs whose detonators are commonly employed by the Romulans. Now I need to know, on your honour, are you aware of any Tal Shiar operation that matches what I have just described?"

<TAG Govan>

[Magellan Lin]

With the station oncemore on a stable orbital axis Magellan felt at least that he could breath oncemore. The evacuation teams continued to ferry people from the station down to Qualinost and the emergency shelters in the old terraforming biodomes. Felix was already planetside co-ordinating the Federation and Debrune in providing for the refugees.

Magellan himself was sat in a work bee. Beside him Chief Alari sat at the controls. The tiny craft slipped down the crest of the main hull towards the impct site. Roving searchlights danced over the hull highlighting the deep gashes rends in the durasteel.

Looming, half in shadow the USS Galaxy acted as the bases continual sentinel. Her transporters still worked intensively and invisibly.

"There. Thats where she struck" Alari played a shaft of light upon the hull. A deep recess now existed where once shining hull plates had been. At least 5 decks were exposed to space and the hole extended 200 metres in to the interior. Around the work bee floated the debris of the station and or peoples lives. Magellan dared not look too closely for fear of spying the bodies of those that had surely perished in the collision.

"It doesnt look that bad" Magellan replied hopefully

The Tiburon threw Magellan an askew glance,
"Beyond the exterior damage internal plasma relays exploded through 16 decks. Emergency Forcefields still seal 32 corridors and 104 rooms have collapsed to the floor below. The embassy section is in ruins and a whole habitation section is burned out."

"Okay so it is bad." Magellan admitted, "When can we get back up and running"

Alari exhaled heavily,
"6 months tops. Thats using all my work teams 24 hours a day."

"What if we were to keep those levels evacuated"

"5 months" Alari reclaculated

Now it was Magellans turn to sigh. "Very well. I ll try and see if we can't get some Corps of Engineers to speed things up. Until then we'll man the station with a skeleton crew and move base operations planetside."

The work bee pulled back from the station and returned to its dock.

***

Back aboard the base Magellan went directly to Ops to direct the rest of the evacuations. He noted that many of the key personnel were in Sickbay and so went there himself.

He found Tyr talking with Govan whilst Tedak was being tended by medical staff.

"Your not ill are you" T Val asked as she noticed him enter.

"Err no" Magellan shook his head, "I wanted to check that everything was okay here. I need you and Dr Mercy to transfer medical facilitys to the Hab Dome on Qualinost. We are abandoning the station for awhile."

TAG T Val

"Mr Tyr you had something important to tell me. I suggest we meet the minute we get planetside"

TAG Tyr

"Good I will meet you there." Magellan turned to leave and then remembered a message he was supposed to deliver.

"Ambassador Tedak, Mr Echal Nelon asked me ask if Ambassador S'Khellian was still aboard."

Tedak looked at Govan,
"No. He left hours ago on his shuttle."

Magellan frowned, "His shuttle is still at its berth."

TAG ALL



OOC: This starts to round this mission up any loose ends will carry on in to the next mission which is based on an idea by Tyr.

[Deleted]

When the rowdy mob of (mostly) humans began to run away, Govan couldn’t stop the amused grin that spread across his face. The security officers began to usher people out of sickbay, sending a few glances his way on their way out as if they were trying to figure out if he had actually helped them or was more of a threat than the crowd. As much as the Major would have loved to have them think he was a threat, given the circumstances that would have been inadvisable, so the Romulan merely nodded to the final officer in acknowledgement of the situation being under control and re-holstered his disruptor as a sign of good intent. That seemed to work, as the human nodded in thanks before leaving sickbay.

With a sigh, Govan turned to check on the still unconscious Tedak and found Tamir watching him from across the room. She smiled slightly at him before turning back to work on calming a frightened patient. Feeling proud, Major Echal moved back to the ambassador’s bedside and was pleased to find that he was beginning to come around, though not quite coherent yet. There was something going on in the back offices of the medical facility, and although the Romulan agent wondered what had happened, he didn’t want to move from within sight of his charge. A few minutes later and a shell-shocked looking T’Val emerged from the office, her face pale and worry clear on her face. Govan had never seen a Vulcan look like that before, ever, and the sight actually…concerned him a bit. What could cause such a great level of distress in such a usually calm and composed woman like T’Val?

Healer Mercy was heading right for him as she emerged, and Echal waited semi-anxiously for her to say something. "Thank you," she said simply, before moving to check on Tedak. An expression of thanks in the midst of whatever trial she was currently facing had been completely unexpected, and in fact had shocked the Major somewhat. A few minutes later, and Tedak was more awake now, clearly doing much better. Addressing her ex-husband, T’Val ordered, "Rest a few more hours and then you can go with Major Echal to the Galaxy."

Her capitulation was another surprise to Govan, who returned her even gaze and nodded in acceptance of both her orders and her compromise. “Thank you, Healer. I will comply with your instructions. However, I…” the Romulan hesitated slightly, surprised at his desire to hold up the momentary truce between the two but needing to at least attempt to gain one more submission. “I would like to request that Tamir accompany us, both as a citizen of the Romulan government and to assist Ambassador Tedak in his recovery while on the Galaxy.”

Seeing the Vulcan about to speak, Govan continued, trying to clarify and perhaps bolster his position. “Of course, that would be entirely up to Tamir, as to whether she would prefer to remain here, and if her presence is indeed needed here then...” The Major stopped there, as he wasn’t entirely sure how he would respond if Tamir decided not to come...or especially if T’Val actually stood in the way of her coming.

After speaking with the Vulcan healer, Govan resumed his watch over Tedak. In a few hours a decision would need to be made, but until then, there was little he could do, except consider the possible responses to each possible outcome. Other than that, the Major would merely stand watch over the recovering Ambassador.

Well…and deal with squashing a bug it would seem, as his favorite person on the station waltzed into sickbay and actually dared to tap him on the shoulder. Govan sent the Ambassador a scathing look though his furry tempered slightly as Tyr stepped back. "Can we talk outside please?" the diplomat asked politely, friendly act on full display. The Major was seriously on the verge of snapping, but out of no where, Tamir moved to stand next to Tedak’s bedside, quietly letting him know she would stay with the ambassador, even as she eyed the Betazoid warily.

‘Alright Tyr, I’ll play your game. We might as well get this over with…’ Without saying a word, the Romulan strode past Ambassador toward the hallway, his hand beginning to slide down towards his disruptor. Before the door had closed, Govan whirled around to point the disruptor at the Tyr, who in a completely predictable twist had his phaser drawn and pointed at Major Echal as well.

“We have got to stop meeting like this." Tyr quipped sarcastically, causing Govan to roll his eyes though keeping a careful eye on his opponent. "What happened with Tamir is not my fault, she wouldn't leave even when I mentioned your name, and then the Vulcan stuck her oar in. You've been stuck with Tedak for several hours, if you haven't seen what she's like then you need to see an eye specialist.”

No argument there, however, since T’Val was currently on his good side (or maybe it was that he was on hers) it felt like Tyr was just trying to become his friend by picking out a common enemy. Might have worked if she was still bugging him...but he was a little late. "That doesn't matter anyway. I need some information from you, one intelligence officer to another. Some bombs have gone off in Federation territory, bombs whose detonators are commonly employed by the Romulans. Now I need to know, on your honor, are you aware of any Tal Shiar operation that matches what I have just described?" the diplomat asked.

Staring at him in disbelief for a moment, Govan finally just started laughing. “You’ve got to be kidding me. I don’t know what sort of intelligence officer you are, but if I came to you and asked you something like that, anything like that, what would you do? First of all, if I did know anything, I would never betray my people, my government to the likes of you, and second, if I didn’t know anything, who’s to say that means anything and that I would waste my time telling you? Now, if you’ll excuse me, my duty is to Ambassador Tedak and making sure that you and those you associate with don’t try to kill him. You’ve wasted enough of my day.”

Ignoring his phaser altogether, the Romulan turned his back on Tyr, as it would be foolish to assume he could kill Govan and get away with it when Tamir knew exactly where he was, and returned to sickbay. Mumbling under his breath about how stupid Federation agents were, Major Echal returned once more to Tedak’s side. In an hour, they would be free to leave and hopefully would be able to join Vebn. Until then, all that could be done was to wait.

When Admiral Lin entered sickbay, Govan watched the man in charge carefully for any sign that they needed to leave sooner than planned, but the Trill gave none. However, when he approached the trio of Romulans, the Major tensed slightly, wondering what was going on. "Ambassador Tedak, Mr. Echal, Nelon asked me ask if Ambassador S'Khellian was still aboard." the Admiral queried.

Tedak glanced at Govan before replying, "No. He left hours ago on his shuttle."

Frowning, Magellan seemed a bit confused at this. "His shuttle is still at its berth."

This announcement sent Govan careening into action. Calling Healer Mercy over, he tried to convey through his expression the severity of the situation. “Something has come up, a situation of the utmost importance. If it is at all possible for Tedak to be moved a little earlier than you had ordered, under Tamir’s observation and care of course, I would be immensely grateful. You can be assured that he will rest according to your further instructions, as I will see to his following any order you see fit to give him, personally. But it is vital that we get under way as soon as possible.”

[Deleted]

"Err no" Magellan shook his head, "I wanted to check that everything was okay here. I need you and Dr Mercy to transfer medical facilitys to the Hab Dome on Qualinost. We are abandoning the station for awhile."

T'Val frowned. "Have you not heard yet?" she queried, motioning towards Stuart's motionless body on one of the biobeds. "A mob tried to take over sickbay, and they shot Stuart in his office. Major Echal was crucial in subdueing them, or they might have killed him." She sighed. "However we shall prepare to move to Qualinost in an hour," she agreed, "and with all due respect admiral, you should take a rest. You may feel responsible but if yu do not rest..." She paused. "You make a lousy patient sir, and I would prefer you able to do your job. However you cannot if you do not rest, I will make it an order if you prefer. You are to take at least eight hours of rest once you beam down to Qualinost. I will make certain Ji'Zhan will look after you when you arrive, he is most hospitable and he can help you."

She watched Magellan walk away to talk to the Betazoid diplomat, then sighed again as Echal approached her. It had been a surprise at least to hear Tedak answer a few questions Magellan had directed at him, as she had assumed he wouldn't wake for a while, but her ex-husband looked groggy at best. "We will transfer him to Qualinost," she informed the Romulan officer, "however Tamir will be transferring with him as we are transferring all medical facilities to the Debrune planet."

The Vulcan saw that the Romulan didn't look too thrilled at that. "Qualinost is the safest place for him major," she tried to reassure him, "and he will be well guarded. With myself, Rayna and Tamir present no-one will be able to take a shot at him. He will be safe, trust me." She narrowed her eyes as she regarded the tall Romulan more closely. "Do you think I wish him harm major? Especially after the death of our son? You are sorely mistaken, Ambassador Tedak is one of the closest and dearest friends I have. We may be divorced but we are still quite close. I would not let anything happen to him, trust me. Equally though, he would not allow anything to happen to me, and with Stuart now injured, he may actually insist on getting up."

Again, she sighed. "He is a stubborn man, much like every other male on this station. But he is very good at what he does, despite what Vebn may think of him." She nodded towards Tyr, who was still talking to magellan. "Be wary of that Betazoid major, he is dangerous." Now that she had spoken her mind, she nodded to Tamir. "Prepare the ambassador for transfer to Qualinost," she ordered, then ordered Rayna to prepare Stuart. In an hour, they would all be moving, hopefully in as quiet and safe a manner as possible.