Episode 8.2 - Observation and Obfuscation

[Deleted]

The Victory was-finally and gloriously-fully repaired. Nika walked through the decks, reassuring herself of that very fact, on her way to the bridge and her ready room. She had actually finished the paperwork involved roughly three days ago, and although there had been some followup to the evidence suggesting the Victory's "guest" had been a Kzinti, she was able to relax for the most part.

Nika wasn't sure until she got the mission orders why Starfleet command wanted the ship fully prepared, but then it made sense. If the Victory was fully up to spec, the chance that someone who wasn't looking would be able to detect her was dramatically reduced.

Nika read over the mission briefing one more time, then she opened the record of the survey that had taken place when Starfleet had first found the planet and then the various follow-up reports. Official first contact was always an interesting job, at least in Nika's opinion, maybe since her own planet hadn't really progressed that much since theirs. It was also one she hadn't done lately, and there were so many rules that had to be observed that she'd wanted to brush up on them before she introduced the mission to the crew.

She sent all the information to Colonel Wong so that if he had a chance he could glance over it before the meeting.

Nika hesitated before opening the comm channel. She wasn't comfortable with her new rank, and had to consider it a little before speaking. =/\=Commodore Cir'Kem to all senior staff, there will be a meeting in the briefing room in 2 hours.=/\=

(Tag All)

[Deleted]

Tiberian was sat in Ten Forward, his head slumped on the table he was sat at. He had an untouched glass of whisky before him, and both his tunic and undershirt were undone, beads of sweat still visible on his forehead, and with an audible groan coming form him every few minutes. Most of the other crewmembers present were giving him a wide berth, fearful of arousing his anger if they bothered him, or possibly just put off by the terrible smell of his rank sweat. Either way, he had cleared an area of roughly two tables all around him. He was in such a foul temper and smell, having spent every waking hour since their return to spacedock overseeing the repair of the ship, and mostly referreing the arguments between departments for supplies, one of which had actually come to blows. He had neglected to eat, shower, sleep, or spend any time alone with Katie, and now he didn't even have the energy to engage in drinking, one of his most relieving pastimes. At this precise moment, as he contemplated actually picking up the drink, he receive a short, sharp kick to the shins, instantly pulling him into a bolt upright position. It was Martinez, standing above him with a padd.

"The Captain said I should deliver it to you personally" he said simply "Katie was sleeping, and I think that she knows I'm one of the few people on this ship who aren't really afraid of you"

"Are you trying to make it so that I have to make you scared of me" Tiberian growled menacingly, giving himself an unceremonious sniff under the armpits before rising "So, what is it?"

"Mission orders, there's a meeting in two hours" He retrieved a padd that it appeared Tiberian had been sat on "And weren't you supposed to give this repair report to the Captain?"

Tiberian growled and snatched both padds from the marine, skim reading the mission overview. It was a pretty basic first contact, with a previously observed pre-warp species, about to start a warp flight programme. A pretty routine mission, but an interesting on at least. And this time there was absolutley no danger of the ship being destroyed. He smirked, reminding himself that the last time he had said that, he had actually become clinically dead. He turned to Jose.

"I'm going to go and see the Captain" He muttered "Go and make yourself useful somewhere. Actually go to engineering and tell Mattheson that I want a level one manual diagnostic of all engine and sensor systems, we'll probably be needing them. Oh, and by the way, I've officially made you adjutant to the XO, which means your still a marine, but with more duties"

"Oh joy of joys!" Jose muttered, saluting and stomping away, having knowingly raised Tiberian's spirits a little. He headed straight for the bridge, not bothering to shower, or even button his tunic. He knew it was bad etiquette to go before the Captain like this, but he had been working flat out for almost a week, and was exhausted beyond belief. He emerged from a turbolift onto the bridge, and waved a hand to stop anyone announcing his arrival, instead chiming and then entering the Captain's ready room. He came to attention and then saluted, offsetting his haggard appearance, before putting one of his padds in front of the Captain.

"The final, final, final repair report, I promise" he reassured her, reminding himself of how many tiems he had actuall said that to her over the last few days "Everything, including schedules, timetables, and any personnel issues. Sign that and we're all good"

<TAG Commodore Cir'Kem>

He withdrew the padd, and it felt as if a great burden had lifted from him. He was now free, and had he now been in front of his commanding officer, he may well have done a cartwheel.

"I've read the mission profile ma'am, and I've ordered full diagnostics of the sensors and engines on the off chance. Besides that we're ready to go. Is there anything that you consider needs attention?"

<TAG Commodore Cir'Kem>

Tiberian saluted again, turned and left, emerging onto the bridge where he saw Commander Matthew at ops.

"The bridge is yours Commander" He said, adding then in a whisper to his ear "The `package` we discussed is in cargo locker 17 Beta, don't drink it all at once" He returned to his normal volume.
"And please send a message to all department heads asking for brief departmental reports by the meeting, and full ones within 24 hours"

<TAG Commander Matthew>

He left the bridge for his quarters, where he stripped off his uniform and entered the sonic shower.

"Computer, for God's sake disable all the comm links to this room"

[jamesmatthew]

Scene: Main Bridge

“Col. Wong The bridge is yours Commander" He said, adding then in a whisper to his ear "The `package` we discussed is in cargo locker 17 Beta,

“Thank you Col Wong I look Forward to Sampling it later “

“Cmdr Matthew walk over to the Captain chair sat and the billowy depths of the cushions seemed to surround him, gently supporting every curve. Yep, the Captain's
chair definitely was the best place to sit on the ship.

"Commander, Matthew" said to Ensign. Vincent at flight control. "The Service shuttle and the new Detachment of Marines Replacements are on board and the marine transport are ready to Depart."

“Cmdr Matthew nodded at the back of the Ensign's head. "Signal them
that they're cleared to depart. And wish them luck."

The bridge crew watched as the Service shuttle, Headed toward the Star Base . It was closely followed by The marine transport shuttle,


“A console beeped. "Incoming transmission..." said Ensign Walsh,
frowning. "It's from Starfleet Intelligence? Audio only..."

“Cmdr Matthew made a face. "Authenticate, Lt. Tevere." He
turned toward the Intelligence Officer's usual station, only to
find the officer absent. "Daniel?" he directed at Batas.

"It's an unclassified code," the security officer responded.
"But it conforms to standard Starfleet transmission protocols
and encryption routines. It's genuine, no doubt about it."

“Cmdr Matthew shrugged. "Okay...Download it

“Bridge to Commodore Cir’kem ’

Commodore Cir’kem Here ‘Commodore Cmdr Matthew here we just received a Coded Message from Starfleet intelligence sending it to your Computer Now Bridge out “

“Cmdr Matthew Any time we have any Dealing with Those Guy’s we always end up on the short end Cmdr Matthew Sat back in the center chair ”

“ Computer Start Duty Log“

"2nd Officer 's Log Supplemental: Commander James T Matthew Reporting The VICTORY Has Been cleared for Operational Service once again and keeping with Starfleet History when it Come to the VICTORY They Never give us A easy Assignment we have a senior staff meeting in two hours “

“Where am sure we will be given our new mission while we where in space Dock we where Assigned a new Chief medical officer a Dr. Salek A vulcan with a senior Commander rank I see he served on a star base as well as four or five ships in the fleet with a service record like that you Can ask for a position on Board any flag ship in the fleet “and a new CNO a Lt. Jg Gheskori A Denobulan I see he has also served as a science officer as well its always good to have officers on board that have served in other departments you never know when that skill may be needed . Computer stop log

“Computer Voice log Stop .

[Tiana Galwyn Cet]

Power was out, the air was filling with a choking but non toxic smoke and Tiana was busy working with a pile of chemicals and scavenged components. One more connection made and the door wheezed open. This was one of her ideas of a good time. It was a puzzle solving program that she and her friends had developed back when she'd been at university. They challenged each other to create and then solve puzzles with the bit and pieces available. Improvisation was the key. Puzzling out reactions and electronic improvisations helped take Tiana's mind off the current situation and gave her some distance to reflect on things. She hadn't reacted well and it was now time to start dealing with things as they should be dealt with. Not that she was going to move on exactly.

=/\=Commodore Cir'Kem to all senior staff, there will be a meeting in the briefing room in 2 hours.=/\=

The Commodore's orders seemingly came over the lab's non-functional comm system. Tiana sighed and acknowledged the order and saved the program and closed it. She was unsurprised when this order was followed quickly by a request for departmental reports. Tiana acknowledged that one as well.

She returned to her quarters firstly to wash the grease and oil off her hands and the smoke out of her hair. She hadn't picked up any burns this time. Tiana had a shower and changed into a clean uniform. It was then that she noticed that she had a message waiting for her. She didn't check the point of origin she simply selected 'play'.

"Hello Tiana, I am sorry I did not come to see you before I went, but when i received the message that my mother had collapsed and she was in very bad shape i had to go without really thinking about you. I am very sorry. My mum is recovering now but she is going to need someone to care for her for a while at least, I have requested to be put on extended leave while I try to get her back up to her normal self. I am missing you terribly, and i hope i will be able to see you soon. I love you”

Tiana smiled. She would certainly reply to Russell, she was relieved that he was all right and that his mother was recovering. She wished there were more she could do, but she would keep in touch. Sadly right now she had to finish a departmental report. Much as she'd rather talk to Russ, she had promised herself that she would get on and it wasn't fair to her staff if she neglected them.

Tiana finished her report, she wrote the section about off loading Lt Anderson and her rather lively plant with a good deal of glee. Tonja had recovered although it would no doubt take the science staff a while to get over the death of one of their own. She had recommended to her staff that they speak to Commander Rylka if needed.

She gathered up her PADD and headed to the briefing room, she arrived a few minutes before the appointed time and found that she was the first there. She settled into a chair and reviewed her notes waiting for the rest of the staff to arrive.

[Deleted]

Nika raised an eyebrow at her first officer's appearance, but didn't comment on it. She didn't say anything until she'd read the report Wong handed her and signed it. "Thank you," she said, handing it back to him.

"I've read the mission profile ma'am, and I've ordered full diagnostics of the sensors and engines on the off chance. Besides that we're ready to go. Is there anything that you consider needs attention?"

She considered his question carefully. Nika had expected Wong to be a little rough as XO, but not quite this rough. "No, we're good," she responded. "Feel free to take the next few hours off, until the meeting."

Having dismissed Wong, Nika was ready to let out a breath of air herself when she heard from Commander Matthew that she had a coded message from Starfleet Intelligence.

She took it in her office, relieved when she found the message had little to nothing do with the mission the Victory was setting out on. It was kind of fundamentally disturbing, but she could wait until after her senior staff meeting was over to reply.

Which was a good thing, because before she knew it the senior meeting was upon them, and Nika was heading to the briefing room. The only person there when she arrived was Commander Galwyn, whom Nika greeted cheerily enough. "How have you been?" she asked, rather than letting the two of them lapse into silence.

[Gheskori]

The turbolift doors to the bridge parted, and the Denobulan stepped through. The USS Victory's command centre lay before him. From his position, the walls swept around in a wide oval (not as large as some he had seen but big enough to give the place a sense of grandeur). The place was grey, like the Nova class ship he had been slated to be a crewmember of, but it also had the touch of beige and cream, here and there. Gheskori thought it gave the bridge a sense of warmth, a homely feel. It was something that had been missing on his previous ship.

Ghes made his way across the bridge and down to the command centre, it was the beginning of his first shift as helmsman of the Victory. He stepped up to the console. "You're relieved Ensign," he smiled at the Bolian who was currently manning the Victory's helm. He calmly slotted himself into the seat straight after the Bolian had got up, and began checking the status of the engines and thrusters.

Of course, the ship had not yet left spacedock. All repairs were complete, but there was still the 'paperwork' to be done. As Ghes understood, the Victory had taken quite a beating on its previous mission, including some extensive internal damage. Things could not be rushed, even if the Nebula class vessel was fully repaired.

After fifteen minutes Ghes checked the clock, he knew that being late for a staff meeting would be utterly criminal, especially being a new crewmember. He nonchalantly looked around at Commander Matthew, who was sitting in the Captain's chair, and saw that he too was checking his chronometer. So Gheskori left his console, quickly replaced by a junior crewman, and headed for the briefing room.

The doors to the briefing room parted, and Ghes entered. Immediately he saw that the Commodore was already present, but there was only one other. Ghes realised that it was the science officer, whom he had met earlier in the mess hall. He moved over to the table and sat down, smiling broadly at the two officers already present.

[Tiana Galwyn Cet]

Tiana was slightly surprised when the next person to enter the briefing room was the Commodore.

"How have you been?" Nika asked cheerily.

Tiana swallowed and paused half a second before answering. She didn't know if the CO was aware of the relationship between herself and Russ and in any case now was not the time to mention it. She had promised herself that she would get on with things. She smiled.

"I could just say 'busy' but that wouldn't be a surprise. The Science department is back together now, some of my staff were hit quite hard by Ensign Velin's death." Tiana was relieved that Nika was an ex-science officer, it made talking with her so much easier. "We've been doing some work on flow in quasi-crystalline structures. It's very interesting and it giving us some time to work as a complete team"

(Commodore Cir'Kem)

It was then that the next officer arrived. The cheery Denobulan navigator. His expression made Tiana's smile become a more relaxed and genuine expression. "Good to see you again Lieutenant Gheskori," Tiana said formally hoping that she was pronouncing the other officer's name correctly, she had been on the wrong end of several pina coladas when she had last heard it after all.

(Gheskori)

[jamesmatthew]

Scene: Main Bridge Turbo lift, USS VICTORY

“Cmdr Matthew pressed the turbo lift button and waited impatiently for the lift to arrive. When it did he quickly stepped in and stated “Deck C” While he rechecked the PADD with The New Personal Roster updates he need the Xo to Sign off on after the senior Staff Meeting “

“Cmdr Matthew stepped off the turbo lift And headed to the Conference room and noticed some of the senior Officers where already there in the corner of his eye he spotted some Pastry on a table yes A bear claw the last one most of the time Cmdr Galwyn
Would have Grab it she has b bit of a sweet tooth she must have a lot on her mind “


“Matthew Sit Down Next to Lieutenant Gheskori and Pat him on his shoulder So Gheskori Your first senior Staff meeting “

“Gheskori “Yes sir ‘

“Cmdr Matthew “ Yeah we Loose a less One CNO on each Mission just remember the James T ‘Kirk rule when Beaming Down on any away Mission always send down the most junior member of you Team first just in Case A fire fight Break out “a Phaser shot to your Heads will just ruin your Day Matthew Smiling At Gheskori”

“Gheskori “Has a confused look on his face as Matthew take another Bit of his Bear Claw


“Good morning Cmdr Galwyn?


< Tag Cmdr Galwyn >

[Deleted]

Tiberian strolled onto the bridge a changed man from that he had been two hours previously. A good sonic shower, a change of uniform and a hearty meal had done him the world of good. That was added to the handful of cordavine stimulants he had wolfed down to keep him pepped up and going. He knew the risks all too well, and was physically restraining his deep seated urges to relieve the helm officer and pilot the Victory out of dock himself. He had seen the look on Dr Kapoor's face when he had asked for the dosage, but now one to quibble with a new broom, the ACMO had dutifully obliged, loading him with enough drugs to move mountains, only then to keel over in exhaustion. So long as he got through the meeting, he thought to himself, and then stayed on the bridge long enough to see the ship get under way, he could sneak off back to his quarters and sleep until they arrived. He marched smartly round the bridge, looking over the shoulder of virtually everyone present, and examining the work they were doing. He took the now vacant Captain's seat, and began to announce directives to the bridge crew.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, let's get this underway. Ops, signal Conqueror and let her know we are about to jettison the power umbilicals" The crewman at ops worked the panel, sending the message, a moment later he responded.

"Starbase Ops has cleared us to go to internal power"

"Excellent, engineering, prepare for fusion generator startup, and to bring all driver systems online. Execute at will"

"Fusion generator coming online sir" came the response after a while "Driver coils initiated and powering up. Full potential in one minute seven seconds"

"Ops, signal base to jettison umbilicals"

Outside the series of tubes that connected the power supply of the station to the Victory went slack and detatched, floating freely in space until the mechanical servos in the internal base hull began winding them back inside. There was a momentary dimming of lights as the power transfer completed.

"Alright then" Tiberian said rising "I want a complete crew check, get any stragglers on board, and then seal all hatches, loose all connections and clear all moorings. I want us free and ready to go once the word is given" He strode off the bridge, leaving the crew there to cope with his stimulant driven flurry of orders. Entering the briefing room he smiled and took his place at the Captain's side.
"Sorry I'm..." he began before seeing that the chronometer indicated that the briefing did not in fact begin for another minute or so
"Early, I guess" He finally concluded, then turning to the Captain.
"Commodore, we're under our own power, moorings are being cleared and we're ready to go at your convenience"

<TAG Commodore Cir'Kem>

[Deleted]

"We've been doing some work on flow in quasi-crystalline structures. It's very interesting and it giving us some time to work as a complete team," Commander Galwyn said.

Nika nodded, glad that there were signs of recovery. If she noticed that Galwyn's answer was not really answering the original question, she didn't say anything, instead following up on what the Chief Science Officer had actually said with a question about the specifics of the research.

Commander Galwyn answered the question, and then Lieutenant Gheskori entered the briefing room. "Welcome," Nika said, smiling at him, hoping the smile at least slightly made up for the rather disturbing advice he was getting from Commander Matthew.

"No need to apologize for being early," Nika told Colonel Wong, slightly distracted by the mental roster she was going through to see who they were still waiting for. Just Commander Rylka, it seemed, which made her number of senior staff a little smaller than it had been for a while.

She was relieved to see that Colonel Wong looked so chipper. She'd been more than a little worried about him. "Commodore, we're under our own power, moorings are being cleared and we're ready to go at your convenience"

"Excellent. Thank you," she replied. She'd order the Victory out as soon as this meeting was over, because she rather wanted to be on the bridge when it happened.

She glanced at the chromometer, and saw that there was still a tiny bit of time to go. When that half a minute passed without Commander Rylka arriving, Nika decided to start the meeting on time anyway. All the information she was giving was available, and she knew everybody had work they had to get back to.

"As soon as we leave the starbase we'll be heading for Jolmar," Nika started. "It's a barely pre-warp planet that plans to become even less pre-warp within the next month." Nika wasn't sure how much more explanation of their general goal was expected, since she was fairly certain her crew had been on missions very similar to this one before.

"I've made available the initial report from Starfleet twenty years ago, detailing the political structures and economic conditions, as well as the automatic observation from the last twenty years.

"Commander Galwyn, when we arrive I'm going to want you to be monitoring the Paderau's technological progress outside of their ship and engine.

"Commander Matthew, I'd like you to work some with Commander Galwyn to determine what the Paderau's progress indicates their priorities have been.

"Lieutenant Gheskori, you should monitor status of the spaceship and insure we aren't detected.

"Colonel Wong, since we don't have a CTSO or replacement SMO, I'd like you to do a tactical assessment of the Paderau. Take a look at how much conflict there's been within their own species."

Nika glanced around the table. "Anyone have any questions?" she asked.

[Gheskori]

Gheskori felt a compulsion to crack his fingers. There was little chance of the Paderau's vessel detecting the Victory, and especially so with Ghes at the helm. He would keep the vessel outside of the range of the warp-ship, it was unlikely that the Paderau had any decent sensor technology anyway.

Instead of cracking his fingers, Ghes settled on leaning back slightly and stretching. If anyone in the room gave him a curious look, the Denobulan didn't notice.

This mission would be fun, and a chance for Ghes to discover a new culture. He looked over at Commander Galwyn and found himself envious. Out of all of them, she would be making the most detailed study of the Paderau. Ghes made a mental note to visit the science lab later, perhaps he could convince the CScO to share some of the details of this civilisation's technology and their comprehension of science.

"Anyone have any questions?" Captain Cir'Kem was looking around the table at them all.

Ghes immediately asked one. "Has the automatic observation given any indication of potential hostility?" he said. He decided that they would need all the help they could get, especially in a potential first contact situation.

<Tag Cir'Kem>

[Tiana Galwyn Cet]

“Good morning Commander Galwyn?" Commander Matthew said as he ended the briefing room. Tiana wasn't sure whether this was a question or a statement, she didn't have all the nuances of human speech down yet. She gave a half smile and replied "Pretty much."

Colonel Wong arrived about then, it would perhaps be more accurate to say be bounced in to the room. Certainly he seemed more lively than someone who had be celebrating as hard as he had should be. She felt she owed the XO for being a voice of reason, she doubted he had heard that one too often.

"Commander Galwyn, when we arrive I'm going to want you to be monitoring the Paderau's technological progress outside of their ship and engine." Tiana nodded a simple survey with historical overtones was just what her fractured staff and mind needed to get back together once more.

She had no questions knowing that her first job would would be to read all the twenty year old reports and study the data. She had never been involved in study of a prewarp civilisation and she was intrigued.

*************************************************

A whiled later,

After the staff meeting Tiana left the Briefing room, her intent was to go down to the lab and start on her research, she had something to do first though.

She headed over to the first officer. "Colonel Wong, I wanted to thank-you for being supportive, you said some things that needed to be said." She passed him a PADD "It's the completed schematics for that phaser rifle redesign, it got rather forgotten last mission and" Tiana's voice dropped in volume "I hope you won't think me rude but in memory of the headache I had earlier I added my hangover remedy formula as well. It's the right combination of salts and sugars to stave of the worst effects." Tiana smiled, my friends and I put lots of extra-curricular hours into 'researching' it."

Tag: Tiberian

[Deleted]

Tiberian nodded briefly as the Captain addressed him.

"I'm not overly concerned about the tactical threat to us, but I'll review the automated scan data and put a brief together of internal issues. Considering that they're a warp capable species, I doubt that their society can be that fractious. Nor can we expect them to start firing at the first thing they see in space, which I hope alleviates some of your fears, Lieutenant" He directed the final part of his statement towards Gheskori, wondering whether it was the crewman's nerves of inquisitiveness that had made him ask. The remainder of the meeting passed without incident, and Tiberian stood to leave, only to be interrupted by Commander Galwyn.

"Colonel Wong, I wanted to thank-you for being supportive, you said some things that needed to be said." She passed him a PADD "It's the completed schematics for that phaser rifle redesign, it got rather forgotten last mission and" Tiana's voice dropped in volume "I hope you won't think me rude but in memory of the headache I had earlier I added my hangover remedy formula as well. It's the right combination of salts and sugars to stave of the worst effects." Tiana smiled, my friends and I put lots of extra-curricular hours into 'researching' it."

Tiberian laughed, a little too loudly as it drew some looks from the other surrounding them, leaving the conference room. He smiled back at Tiana.

"Thanks for the rifle modifications, I really should have picked them up from you months ago. As far as the hangover cure goes, I find that a shot of cordavine really perks the system up, but thanks anyway" He turned to leave, but at the last moment turned back.
"Actually, would you like to have lunch with me in a few hours in Ten Forward? It'd give us a chance to make an comparisons about what we've learned so far"

<TAG Tiana>

Tiberian strode back out onto the bridge and took his newfound position in the XO's seat next to the Captain, stretching his shoulders out as he sat down.

"Are all crew and supplies listed now aboard?" he asked one of the junior operations officers.

"Aye sir, all personnel and gear stowed and accounted for. Hatches sealed, and we're floating under our own power"

"Excellent" Tiberian smiled, moving forwards to lean next to Gheskori "Try not to scratch the paint on this one, we just had it done" He said with a reassuring wink and pat, then retaking his seat.
"Thrusters to station keeping, ahead and outwards Mr Gheskori"

The Victory slowly crept out of spacedock and into the open vastness of space, her shiny new hull work gleaming in the sunlight. Tiberian waited until the Commodore gave the order to go to warp before asking to be excused, leaving the bridge to begin reviewing the Paderau's scans.

~About two hours later~

Tiberian sat at a table in Ten Forward amidst at least one and a half dozen padds of varying sizes and orientations, some containing reports detailed by Starfleet anthropologists and cartographers, whilst others simply showed high resolution scans of the planetary surface. He flipped from one to the other in near rhythmic pattern, fishing some out from under the others, and all of this whilst trying to juggle a cup of coffee and toast. Isha Yontz, the night XO, came and sat beside him, looking at the immense mess one person had made at a table built to seat four.

"Don't do anything small do you?" he asked sarcastically, examining a starchart "Jolmar?"

"Mmhm" Tiberian answered, his mouth crammed with coffee and toasted bread. he swallowed "I keep running up against interesting things in the reports that I can't make any sense of. For starters they've had a half dozen low tech space station in orbit for nearly fifteen years, but haven't attempted any further sort of long range spaceflight. Also, none of the stations communicates with each other, at least not in the way that our probes can detect anyway"

"Are they still in a pre-unification state?" the Bajoran asked "Because then the stations could belong to different nations, and the warp flight might not be a global occurence. That'd shoot first contact right out of the water"

"I can't be certain" Tiberian answered shaking his head "From atmospheric spectroscopic analysis, I can tell that a war's been fought. There are radiogenic particles in certain areas of the atmosphere, and high res scans showed what looked like fighter movement and planetary fires a little over a decade go, but it might have just been an insurgency. When the last close scans were made, it was decided that the planet was governed by some sort of global senate, but it is plausible they could have devolved by now" He tapped his commbadge.

=/\=Wong to Commander Galwyn and Lieutenant Gheskori, could you meet me in Ten Forward as soon as possible please=/\=

<TAG Tiana and Gheskori>

"What are you thinking?" Isha asked him.

"I'm going to ask them to do a close run with a shuttlecraft once we arrive. Nothing fancy, just a few hours to give us bit more preliminary data. If this warp flight is being made without global unity, it might skew how we approach first contact"

The two other senior staff members arrived, and after an exchange of pleasantries, Tiberian invited them to sit.

"From how I've examined the old data, I keep hitting contrasting ideas, some of which make the mission a little confusing if they're not resolved. So, when we reach Jolmar, I want you two to take a shuttlecraft into high planetary orbit and conduct close area surveillance. Particularly, we need recordings of their news broadcasts, their intraplanetary communications, and any proximity ground scans so we can see what technology they have developed. We'll rig the shuttle with an EM scrambler and a bio dampening field so that surface scans won't pick you up, and you can sneak past the orbital stations in grey mode. So Lieutenant, just how good are your piloting skills?"

<TAG Tiana and Gheskori>

[Tiana Galwyn Cet]

"Thanks for the rifle modifications, I really should have picked them up from you months ago. As far as the hangover cure goes, I find that a shot of cordavine really perks the system up, but thanks anyway" Tiana suppressed a smile at that, the one and only time she had tried cordavine the morning-after the night-before, she had very nearly had to be scraped off the ceiling. Turned out that she was mildly sensitive to the drug, nothing that would prohibit medical usage but it was more than enough to convince her not to try that 'cure' again.

"Actually, would you like to have lunch with me in a few hours in Ten Forward? It'd give us a chance to make an comparisons about what we've learned so far"

Tiana nodded, "That should give me time to review the information we have so far." With that she left the bridge and headed down to the science labs. She gathered her team filling them in on their new mission. She assigned duties and left them to it while heading to her office to read.

The time seemed to fly past. =/\=Wong to Commander Galwyn and Lieutenant Gheskori, could you meet me in Ten Forward as soon as possible please=/\=

=/\=On my way Colonel=/\= Tiana replied as she picked up her PADDs and left her office.

She found the Colonel and the nightshift XO in tenforward and settled at the table with them.

"From how I've examined the old data, I keep hitting contrasting ideas, some of which make the mission a little confusing if they're not resolved. So, when we reach Jolmar, I want you two to take a shuttlecraft into high planetary orbit and conduct close area surveillance. Particularly, we need recordings of their news broadcasts, their intraplanetary communications, and any proximity ground scans so we can see what technology they have developed. We'll rig the shuttle with an EM scrambler and a bio dampening field so that surface scans won't pick you up, and you can sneak past the orbital stations in grey mode. So Lieutenant, just how good are your piloting skills?"


Tiana's eyebrows raised, it was certainly important that they have as much information as possible but taking a shuttle in close would be risky. She waited while Gheskori considered it, there was no point Tiana protesting if it couldn't be done. Then again in starfleet couldn't seemed to have a reasonable amount of flex in it.

[Gheskori]

"Commander Galwyn, nice to see you yet again," Ghes greeted the CScO inside the mess hall. Usually Ghes would have been quick to arrive but this time however, he had been delayed. After waiting patiently, Colonel Wong greeted him and Galwyn and they both sat at the table. The XO then explained what he planned to do. Ghes listened, but at the same time kept looking at the other officer sitting at the table, the nightshift XO apparently. For some reason, Ghes expected the Bajoran man to introduce himself while Wong was busy telling them his idea. When he didn't, Ghes decided that he would take the initiative.

"Hello Commander," he said brightly. "Lieutenant Gheskori, new helm officer." The Denobulan smiled and bowed his head slightly. The Bajoran looked bemused and tried to say something while he had a mouthful of food. Colonel Wong had stopped, and took a look at Gheskori. Ghes couldn't tell whether the Colonel was annoyed or, like the night XO, confused. After the pause in which Ghes continued to smile and grin (especially at passers-by) Wong continued.

"... So Lieutenant, just how good are your piloting skills?" he finished, looking at Ghes with a peculiar hardness in his voice and expression, Ghes thought.

"I think I can meet your needs Colonel." The Denobulan replied. "It should not be difficult to bypass the orbital stations, although I would err on the side of caution.. We should run preliminary scans of the stations themselves while out of range and before we enter grey mode, just to make sure that they definitely won't detect us.

"In addition," Ghes continued before the others could speak, "I would like a few intensive scans of the surface to be run, just in case they have any planetary defences that stand a chance of damaging our shuttle."

<Tag Wong>

The more Ghes thought about it, the more it seemed a bit too daring, and perhaps a little foolhardy. They could not afford to underestimate the resourcefulness of cultures, just because they were pre-warp. Ghes had researched many pre-warp civilisation observation programs that had taken place over the last few decades. He had decided that, occasionally, the Federation could become a bit too complacent when it came to watching "primitive" cultures.

Ghes would make sure that this little venture was not taken for granted, besides with him at the helm of the shuttle, they were sure to be completely fine.

It was going to be quite a while before the Victory reached Jolmar, so Ghes thought that he deserved some time to relax before his next shift. The shuttle prep could afford to wait for a while.
Ghes stood up swiftly right after Colonel Wong concluded the meeting. It was not that the CNO was trying to leave as soon as possible, it was because it had just occurred to him what he could do. The other three were still sitting at the table, having broke into general conversation. "Would any of you like to join me in the holodeck?" Ghes asked the three of them. Wong, Galwyn and Yontz looked up at the suddenly excited Denobulan. "I have this enthralling new program that I have yet to try out, believe me when I say that you'll find it most stimulating," he said enthusiastically.

<Tag Wong, Galwyn>

[Deleted]

"By all means, run all the intensive surface scans you like" Tiberian answered nodding "The more information that you provide the better"

"I agree" Yontz interjected "I'd hate to go in blind, and I don't want to risk two senior officers if you are right and they're dangerous"

"I'll run it past the Captain in that case, and get some long range scans arranged. Hopefully we'll have some information sorted by the time of arrival. I'd much rather be sat around waiting for them to begin their warp flight rather than scrambling at the last minute"

"Would any of you like to join me in the holodeck?" Ghes asked the three of them. Wong, Galwyn and Yontz looked up at the suddenly excited Denobulan. "I have this enthralling new program that I have yet to try out, believe me when I say that you'll find it most stimulating,"

Wong and Isha exchanged looks, and then answered almost simultaneously.

"We're ok" They both stood, ready to leave, when Tiberian looked down at the two officers.
"Mr Gheskori, if you would be so good as to prepare the shuttle with the necessary modifications when you are ready, and Commander, if you can calibrate the sensors and communications array. Set the comms to the upper EM bandwidths, hopefully their technology hasn't progressed far enough to monitor those frequencies. I'll run this past the Captain, and then we can have a shorter and more detailed briefing close to the time. Carry on"

<TAG Tiana and Gheskori>

Tiberian and the Bajoran left Ten Forward and headed for a turbolift. They entered, Yontz calling for engineering, and Tiberian calling for sickbay.

"Not going straight to the bridge?" Isha asked him.

"Thought I'd pop in and see Katie first" Tiberian replied, leaning against the bulkhead "I haven't seen enough of her lately"

"No one has" the night XO chided "Merella keeps asking when you two are going to stop by for dinner" Tiberian smiled at the mention of his wife, and held up his hands.

"I've been busy. I promise, soon"

"It'd better be, she keeps thinking that now you're higher up, you might be able to get us a higher class of quarters"

Tiberian burst out laughing as he exited the turbolift, leaving the bemused Bajoran still shaking his head inside. Tiberian slowly navigated the corridors, enjoying what was undoubtedly only the illusion of free time, but nonethless, something which he had not experienced in a long while. He entered a fairly deserted sickbay, the prior missions critically wounded having been offloaded at the starbase, and most of the minor casualties having since been discharged. He moved over to where Katie was staring down a microscope, and kissed her tenderly on the neck. She blushed and smiled.

"Hey you" she kissed him back "Aren't you busy?"

"Technically" he shrugged, then looking into the microscope "What's this?"

"Slides of epidermolysis bullosa simplex. I'm doing a study on treating them with actin supplementation" She smiled and he scowled, knowing when he was having fun poked at him for being scientifically inept.

"It would be more polite not to draw attention to it" Tiberian said, turning away from the scope "Oh, I just remembered, Yontz and Merella are insisting we go to dinner sometime"

"I know, we talk almost every day" Katie reminded him of how close she and Merella had been since she had come onboard "It's always you who doesn't have time"

"Well I'll make the time, but right now I have to see the Captain and organise some long range scans" He pecked her on the cheek "We'll talk tonight"

"You'll be too tired" she called after him as he left sickbay "You always are"

~Later on the bridge~

Tiberian chimed on the door of the Captain's ready room and was admitted. He walked in, the door closing behind him, came to attention and saluted the Commodore.

"Ma'am, when we arrive at Jolmar, I've asked Commander Galwyn and Lieutenant Gheskori to take a covertly altered shuttle closer to the planet to make some routine proximity scans. I've been getting conflicting data from the old reports, and I feel I need more recent and more detailed information in order to make a sound political and tactical assessment. Is that alright?"

<TAG Commodore Cir'Kem>

[Deleted]

The mission briefing over, with only one question being answered easily enough by Colonel Wong, Nika returned to the bridge to watch the Victory be taken out and set on warp. Somewhere around seventy percent of all problems likely to occur with the warp core-discounting problems caused by the ship being attacked and hit-were likely to occur the first time warp was engaged after major repairs or refitting went on.

After the ship had safely left dock and was on her way, Nika went into her her ready room. She composed a reply to Ambassador Jikli, saved a copy of it, then started a new reply. In the end, she decided to just record her answer, under the theory that it would be more natural that way.

"Begin recording. Greetings," Nika started, to the computer, and, eventually, to the ambassador who had treated Nika like a daughter. "I'm sorry to hear that things aren't going well-for you and for Firont." Jikli had been careful to assure her that all was fine, but Nika knew the political implications behind the changes on Firont he'd described. She wondered briefly if she still knew them better than the Federation ambassador did.

"If you are moving off of Firont, what do you think are the odds of you ending up on an assignment somewhat closer to the Victory?" Nika asked, the lack of instant reply making her simple question a little more awkward.

"Speaking of the Victory, she's doing well. I've been promoted, to Commodore, for reasons no one seems willing to explain to me." Nika smiled, trying to show the joke behind the words. She didn't fully understand why she had been thought worthy of promotion, but she hadn't been terribly likely to say no.

"Anyway, I wish you luck in your future endeavors, and-"

Nika was interrupted by a chime at her door. "Pause recording," she ordered, then, "Come in.

"Colonel Wong, what can I do for you?"

"Ma'am, when we arrive at Jolmar, I've asked Commander Galwyn and Lieutenant Gheskori to take a covertly altered shuttle closer to the planet to make some routine proximity scans. I've been getting conflicting data from the old reports, and I feel I need more recent and more detailed information in order to make a sound political and tactical assessment. Is that alright?"

Nika considered the proposal. "As part of standard first contact protocol, a small team will be visiting the surface, with some surface modifications to allow them to pass for Paderau. I think that if it were done very carefully a shuttle fly-by could get more information, but I'd need certain guarantees that all reasonable precautions against the shuttle being noticed are taken."

<Tag Wong>

[Tiana Galwyn Cet]

To Tiana's surprise the Denobulan helm officer seemed to be terribly enthusiastic (to be fair he seemed enthusiastic about everything). It seemed the shuttle mission was on. She had politely raised her objections but had then talked herself round them by thinking up counters to them.

"Would any of you like to join me in the holodeck?" Ghes asked the three of them. "I have this enthralling new program that I have yet to try out, believe me when I say that you'll find it most stimulating,"

Tiana wasn't quite sure what had come over her but she heard herself say "Okay, sounds interesting."

Tag: Gheskori

[Gheskori]

"I'll run this past the Captain, and then we can have a shorter and more detailed briefing close to the time. Carry on"

"Yes sir," Ghes nodded, smiled and stepped out of the way so that Colonel Wong and Commander Yontz could leave. The two of them hurried out of the room. Ghes watched them, oblivious to their mood. Once they were out of sight, he turned to Commander Galwyn and beamed excitedly. "Are you ready Commander?" She nodded. "Good."

Ghes felt tempted to talk about the program while they were en route to the holodeck, but felt compelled to talk rather about the shuttle modifications. Commander Galwyn would just have to wait to see what his program was about. "So Commander Tiana, when do you want to begin on the shuttle preparations? I have what I think are some strong ideas involving modifications to increase the sensitivity of the sensors, so to speak. Does this shuttle trip seem a little unnecessary to you? I know that it does to me," Ghes shrugged. "But if it gives me some practice piloting smaller craft then so be it." He smiled at Galwyn as they walked.

<Tag>

"Ah, here we are." The two officers arrived at the entrance to holodeck two. "Computer, run program Gheskori Gamma."

A few beeps and, ~ Program Ready ~

They stepped in. Immediately Ghes was compelled to look up, it happened every time he ran the program, he had still to get use to it. What was drawing his eyes upwards were the giant silicon-based growths that sprouted from the ground. They were coloured with a mixture of bleach white and pale, sick green, and varied greatly in height. Sub-growths branched away from the main body. "They are akin to trees," Ghes explained as they walked forward. He urged the hesitant CScO to follow him. The two of them walked up a slope, for the ground was far from level. It rose and fell for as far as the eye could see. There was the sound of something crunching under their feet, the silicon based material had fallen away from the large growths and added to the sparse vegetation that covered the floor. It was effectively a forest, a very hilly, very odd forest.

Ghes led Tiana up one of the steeper, higher rises in the forest and they looked around once they had reached the top. The siliconate 'trees' did not cover the top of this rise, and thus allowed the two of them a relatively unobstructed view of the sky. Gheskori laughed. He still couldn't get over how good this simulation was, it was near perfect in its representation of the real-life place. "This, is the 'Great Forest' on the third moon of Denobula." He announced to Galwyn, "And an exceptional representation it is too. I've always found it innately calming as it is, I'm sure you will agree, exotic."

The sky was nearly white, and tinged with a colour that was very difficult to determine. As Ghes explained, they were not clouds but the natural colour of the sky itself, and the reason for the tinge of colour being so hard to determine was, Ghes told Tiana, that the colour depended on who was looking at it and at what time. It constantly shifted in its hint of colour, an affect which almost made the sky look as if it was shimmering with light. That was nothing though when compared with the great licks of purple... "clouds", Ghes supposed you could call them. These great ocean-wave shaped curls of violet were the product of the trees' version of photosynthesis. They partially covered every part of the air that was over the forests of the world.

"Do you know, Commander Tiana.. I'm pleased that it was you who decided to accompany me. I thought that a Science officer would appreciate more the wonders of this place, than others." Ghes turned to look at her. "Being a former Science officer myself, while still being a scientist or so I like to think" he laughed, "I thought we could work together occasionally. While I enjoy the job of helm officer greatly, my mind yearns for knowledge!" There was a gleam in Ghes's eyes, they reflected the pale white sky as he looked at Galwyn almost pleadingly, but not quite.

They viewed the scene of the purple 'waves' a while longer, watching how wisps of the gas released by the silicon-based growths blew gracefully off the top of the clouds.

<Tag Galwyn>

[jamesmatthew]

Scene: Main Bridge, USS VICTORY

“Commander Matthew was doing what he normally did during his bridge watch:
read reports from the various departments. As a Chief Operations officer , James
remembered a little something he once had called "Free Time." Alas, as
soon as he started moving up in the ranks, that quickly faded. If it wasn't one thing, it was another.

"Commander Matthew ?" a voice said, interrupting his thoughts. Speak of the
devil....

“James looked up to see Dr. Kapoor standing before him. "Yes, Doctor, what
can I do for you?"

“Dr. Kapoor fidgeted a little bit. "Is there someplace we can talk?" said
quietly. More than one ear perked up on the bridge, but everyone was good
enough to know not to move to show their interest.

"Well, let walk over here by the ship Dedication plaque " James stood up , placing the
PADD he had been reading on his usual seat next to the Captain's, Chair.

"What's up?" Doc he asked casually.

"Well..." Dr. Kapoor said, then paused. Then began again, "one of my Junior officer a Dr. Cartwright wanted me to ask your permission for converting one of the Ship Storage Bay into a Temporary medical research labs all of my Labs are being used "

“ James smiled. "well Doc I don’t have a problem with it but all storage Bays fall under my control as the ship Operations officer I still need the ok of the ship Xo to re-designate a storage Bay into a medical Lab but I don’t see him having a problem with not signing off on your request Doctor “


“ Dr. Kapoor ‘smiled Great "

"Thank you, Commander . I'll let Jas... Dr. Cartwright know right away," Dr. Kapoor said, obviously nervous about something.

When she didn't continue, James looked at her quizzically. "Was there anything else, Doctor?"

Dr. Kapoor No Commander once again Thanks I need to get back to my office as you know we are three Doctor short this deployment I just hope we don’t have any trouble on this mission ‘
“Cmdr Matthew from your Mouth to Starfleet Command Doc “
Cmdr Matthew headed back over to the Center Chair Mister Kelly transfer the Latest information on Jolmar and the Paderau civilization we have .to the Center Chair Console .


"Lt Kelly 'Sir we dont have much after all this mission is a First contact sir '

" Yeah i know just let me have what ever you Have .

[Deleted]

"As part of standard first contact protocol, a small team will be visiting the surface, with some surface modifications to allow them to pass for Paderau. I think that if it were done very carefully a shuttle fly-by could get more information, but I'd need certain guarantees that all reasonable precautions against the shuttle being noticed are taken."

"I can give you those Captain" Tiberian assured her "I'm having a bio dampener fitted to the shuttle to mask any lifesigns, and an EM scrambler to nullify any of their sensors which are powerful enough to scan outside the atmosphere. The shuttle will also be put in grey mode in order for it to pass the orbital stations around the planet. All things considered, I think that that makes for a pretty comprehensive security arrangement. Unless there are any amendments that you would like to add?"

<TAG Commodore Cir'Kem>

"Also Commodore, if you do want to send in a landing party, Commander Galwyn or Lieutenant Gheskori could do it if they were given the prosthetic surgery prior to the shuttle launch. That way whilst one is on the surface, the other can perform the scans and be there in case of the need for an emergency beam out"

<TAG Commodore Cir'Kem>

Tiberian saluted and left the office, returning to take his seat on the bridge, he turned to the Vulcan lieutenant at the science station, struggling to remember her name.

"Err...Lieutenant" he eventually gave up "I need long range scans of the entire Jolmar system, and more detailed ones of the main planet in particular. Whatever information you can glean would be useful"

"Right away Colonel"

"Also, when you're done, transfer the files on Paderau anatomical profiles to sickbay. Tell whoever is on call there to prepare a plan for cosmetic alteration"

"Yes sir" As Tiberian turned back towards the rushing stars on the viewscreen, Commander Matthew approached him from one side, asking him about the conversion of one of the cargobays. Tiberian looked over the proposal, and at length, nodded.

"I can't see the problem with this, so long as it's only on a temporary basis. But tell him not to get his feet too far under the table, we may need to move him out of there at a moments notice should the need arise" He passed back the padd, and then turned to face the old Operations officer.
"Commander, once you've relayed this to Doctor Cartwright could you oversee some shuttle modifications to one of the craft. I need a high power bio dampener and EM scrambler attached, and some modifications made to allow the comms to function on the upper EM band. It's simple stuff I know, but I don't want to be sending people over the planet if they're not prepared, so I'd feel better with you on the job"

<TAG Commander Matthew>

Tiberian left the bridge to do a departmental walkround, something he'd got in the habit of doing as XO of the Olympia. He would walk around each of the key areas of the departments every so often, and just ensure that all was well throughout the ship. It allowed him to nip any problems in the bud, and gave him the added bonus of looking good with the rank and file of the ship. Sickbay, the science labs, and the varying armouries and weapon lockers were all in good order and working well, and so was engineering when he finally arrived there after a good 45 minutes of walking and talking. He moved over to Mattheson, and spied over his shoulder.

"All quiet on the engine front Lieutenant" The ACEO nodded, not even seeming to be remotely fazed by the sudden appearance of the XO.

"I've just lent some of my staff to Commander Matthew for those shuttle upgrades that you asked for. Personally, I'm glad of the caution your using, considering what's happened to the last few shuttles" Tiberian smiled and scratched his chin. The last three shuttlecraft the Victory had been assigned had been destroyed, two by the Kzinti explosion, and one when Tiberian had flown it into a sun.
"What I don't get is this sensor telemetry" He muttered, causing Tiberian to lean in "I though there was only one inhabited planet in this system?"

"That's right" Tiberian responded "Jolmar Prime. It's the only class M. There are two class D planetoids, a class Y, a gas giant, and an ice planet like Pluto on the system outskirts"

"That's right, but that Class Y's has what looks like an artificial habdome on the surface. At least that's what the long range sensors say. Look" He pointed at a heat and EM spike on the sensor readings.

"What the hell" Tiberian said out loud, the revelation flying in the face of the last twenty years of carefully gathered data.
=/\=Wong to Commander Galwyn, please report to engineering immediately=/\=

<TAG Tiana>

[Gheskori]

=/\=Wong to Commander Galwyn, please report to engineering immediately=/\=

The relative silence was broken by the sound of Galwyn's commbadge chirping. "Oh, a shame." Ghes said. With the perfect behaviour for a Denobulan, he shook it off and laughed, "Well Commander Tiana, I hope you enjoyed this program. I shall release the code to you so you may use it whenever you feel like, you should be aware though that sometimes-"

There was a rustling sound in a siliconate-based 'bush' behind them. Tiana peered over Gheskori's shoulder and then gave him an inquistive look. "Ah!" Ghes cried, he was both amused and delighted at this occurrence. He turned around to face the 'bush' and indicated for Galwyn to stand next to him. "This is what I was attempting to warn you about.. There is a carnivorous mammal in this silicon-growth shrubbery," he whispered in the CScO's ear. "If this simulation were in fact real, there would be a possibility of serious injury. The natives of this moon, a subgroup of our ancestors, called them Hazdoac. Two and a half metres tall, we do not want to aggravate one.. unless we can help it, and in this case we cannot." Ghes grinned.

Without explaining what he was doing, Gheskori went over to one of the thicker patches of siliconate growths that encircled the top of this hill. He hunched down by the edge of the patch and began looking for something. "It would be very dull," he called out to Tiana from the undergrowth, "If we were to simply end the program, I will show you the procedure as if this were a real situation! Do not worry yourself Commander, you will reach engineering soon."

Coming out from the undergrowth, Ghes was dragging a large, silicon branch. It was not completely plain however, for it was adorned with many small and strange markings, as well as some sort of wreath wrapped around its main spine. "This.. 'staff' was ritualistic symbol for some of our ancestors as well as a defensive tool." He held it up to Tiana, who looked very skeptical. "We must force the beast out of this shrubbery with this. It may seem ridiculous but we need to let the Hazdoac pursue us, they are intelligent and they enjoy their sport. If we do not use this admittedly primitive and superstition-rooted device, then the beast will simply pounce on us in a rage and tear us asunder."

Ghes wielded the staff and tentatively stepped towards the bush. He poked the staff into it and immediately felt that he had struck something soft, he felt the soft-something move slowly and then the whole bush shook with a rattle of silicon. The beast leapt forward!

"That has done the trick...!" Ghes trailed off in his exclaimation because straight-afterwards he was running full speed down the slope. Tiana quickly followed; Ghes grinned as he ran, the science officer must be terrified he decided. He was sure she would thank him for this eventually though, even if she probably was wondering why Ghes did not just call for the arch; it was all part of the fun.

They neared the still-active arch from when they had first entered, and as the silicon cracked and shifted under their feet Ghes began to feel a real sense of danger. Hah, it is nothing he said to himself. The Denobulan was fairly sure that the safety protocol was active, if it was not then...

The two barrelled out of the holodeck, striking the wall on the other side. Such was the momentum of the Hazdoac that it could not stop. When it reached the arch it just kept going! The CNO and CScO instinctively cringed in terror but of course, the beast did not leave the holodeck. It passed the boundary of the entrance and simply disappeared, blown out in a puff of logic.

<Tag Galwyn, if you so wish>

****

Still dusting himself down from the encounter on the holodeck, Gheskori entered the shuttlebay. Galwyn had departed fairly rapidly and headed to engineering as per request. Ghes had decided that he needed to prep the shuttle.

He saw Commander Matthew when he went around the back of one of the shuttlecraft. The Ops officer was studying the shuttle that Ghes was to pilot when they headed down to Jolmar. "Commander, how is it coming? Do you need a hand, I know a few things about modifying shuttles myself, or so I like to think."

<Tag Cmdr Matthew>

[jamesmatthew]

Scene: Deck 4 - USS VICTORY -Main Shuttle Bay


“Cmdr Matthew And about a half dozen Engineers and Communications Techs stood around the Specter modifying the Shuttle Systems while Fight Engineer Wallace did his Standard pre-flight check”


“Cmdr Matthew Holding a Computer PADD in his hand Heard the Shuttle bay Doors open behind Him Turn around to see Lt .Gheskori Good your finally made it Lieutenant “

“Cmdr Matthew Placing him Hand on Gheskori Shoulder Let me introduce you to Old “Beatrice “ or her official Designation Ncc-00234 Specter a Type-9 shuttle Craft she was Originally On Board The USS Victory - B “

“When I came on Board the “C “ as Her Chief of Operations I call In some Personal favors and Had her Re-Assigned to The “C “ so Don’t loose My Shuttle Mister Gheskori “

“Cmdr Matthew The Engineers have just finish Scrutinizing the hull, and weapon emplacements (The Specter Now Has a extra 5 degrees on the cone of attack), engine nacelles (capable of 650 km/sec-2 of acceleration), deflectors ( with further extended curvature to give a double layer of shielding on the top and underside of the craft), torpedo launcher, and ejection module.


Cmdr Matthew “and they upgraded the high power bio dampener ’ Oh yeah the they install That EM scrambler Thigie Cmdr Galwyn wonted “

“Cmdr Matthew Hell the boys even gave her a nice polishing… Cmdr Matthew Standing back Admiring “Beatrice “And Lieutenant speaking of Over Polishing you may wont to put a little Dirt on those new Lt pips The glair is a little Blinding they would make a great target in the Dark .

<Tag Gheskori >

[Tiana Galwyn Cet]

"This, is the 'Great Forest' on the third moon of Denobula." He announced to Galwyn, "And an exceptional representation it is too. I've always found it innately calming as it is, I'm sure you will agree, exotic."
The sky was nearly white, and tinged with a colour that was very difficult to determine. As Ghes explained, they were not clouds but the natural colour of the sky itself, and the reason for the tinge of colour being so hard to determine was, Ghes told Tiana, that the colour depended on who was looking at it and at what time. It constantly shifted in its hint of colour, an affect which almost made the sky look as if it was shimmering with light. That was nothing though when compared with the great licks of purple... "clouds", Ghes supposed you could call them. These great ocean-wave shaped curls of violet were the product of the trees' version of photosynthesis. They partially covered every part of the air that was over the forests of the world.

"Do you know, Commander Tiana.. I'm pleased that it was you who decided to accompany me. I thought that a Science officer would appreciate more the wonders of this place, than others." Ghes turned to look at her. "Being a former Science officer myself, while still being a scientist or so I like to think" he laughed, "I thought we could work together occasionally. While I enjoy the job of helm officer greatly, my mind yearns for knowledge!" There was a gleam in Ghes's eyes, they reflected the pale white sky as he looked at Galwyn almost pleadingly, but not quite.

Tiana wasn't sure what she had thought the contents of Gheskori's programme would be but it wasn't this. She had never been to Denobula or any of it's moons but if this was anything to go by she would certainly have to it was beautiful and intriguing.

"I would say once a scientist always a scientist." She smiled,. "I don't think there's a way to remove interest and wonder from the spirit."

The two of them stood in silence for some time, then Tiana's comm badge chirped.

=/\=Wong to Commander Galwyn, please report to engineering immediately=/\=

=/\=On my way Colonel=/\= Tiana said, she was fighting to keep the sigh out of her voice.

Oh, a shame." Ghes said. With the perfect behaviour for a Denobulan, he shook it off and laughed, "Well Commander Tiana, I hope you enjoyed this program. I shall release the code to you so you may use it whenever you feel like, you should be aware though that sometimes-"

There was a rustling sound in a siliconate-based 'bush' behind them. Tiana peered over Gheskori's shoulder and then gave him an inquistive look. "Ah!" Ghes cried, he was both amused and delighted at this occurrence. He turned around to face the 'bush' and indicated for Galwyn to stand next to him. "This is what I was attempting to warn you about.. There is a carnivorous mammal in this silicon-growth shrubbery," he whispered in the CScO's ear. "If this simulation were in fact real, there would be a possibility of serious injury. The natives of this moon, a subgroup of our ancestors, called them Hazdoac. Two and a half metres tall, we do not want to aggravate one.. unless we can help it, and in this case we cannot." Ghes grinned.

Without explaining what he was doing, Gheskori went over to one of the thicker patches of siliconate growths that encircled the top of this hill. He hunched down by the edge of the patch and began looking for something. "It would be very dull," he called out to Tiana from the undergrowth, "If we were to simply end the program, I will show you the procedure as if this were a real situation! Do not worry yourself Commander, you will reach engineering soon."

Coming out from the undergrowth, Ghes was dragging a large, silicon branch. It was not completely plain however, for it was adorned with many small and strange markings, as well as some sort of wreath wrapped around its main spine. "This.. 'staff' was ritualistic symbol for some of our ancestors as well as a defensive tool." He held it up to Tiana, who looked very skeptical. "We must force the beast out of this shrubbery with this. It may seem ridiculous but we need to let the Hazdoac pursue us, they are intelligent and they enjoy their sport. If we do not use this admittedly primitive and superstition-rooted device, then the beast will simply pounce on us in a rage and tear us asunder."

Ghes wielded the staff and tentatively stepped towards the bush. He poked the staff into it and immediately felt that he had struck something soft, he felt the soft-something move slowly and then the whole bush shook with a rattle of silicon. The beast leapt forward!

"That has done the trick...!" Ghes trailed off in his exclaimation because straight-afterwards he was running full speed down the slope.

Tiana barrelled after the navigator down the slope and out of the arch. She bounced off the wall opposite and then tried to catch her breath. She looked up in time to see the beast still charging towards them. She thought that this hadn't be a god idea after all. She screwed up her eyes in an involuntary flinch as the beast leap through the arch vanishing as it did so.

"That programme was most interesting Lieutenant. You must show it to me again when I am better prepared." Tiana smiled once more and headed off to engineering.

She stepped through the doors and noted the barely controlled chaos surrounding the first officer. She walked over.

"Have we got any new information?" Tiana asked, Tiberian simply pointed at the display of the class Y planet and the apparent habdome on it. Tiana stared in silence for a second.

"Do we know if it's Jolmaran or is it someone else?" she asked

Tag: Tiberian.

[Deleted]

Nika considered Wong's assurances. There were still risks associated, but she could see that most of the possibilities for trouble had been covered. "I think anyone on the shuttle, even if they don't plan to land on the surface, should still drop by sickbay so that in case anything happens we'll have a little more time to deal with it than if they didn't have the prosthetic surgery.

"I was also thinking that it might be good to have Commander Rylka on the surface. I feel that she would be best able to get a good reading of society and interactions on the surface-the very information that none of the preliminary reports were able to get at.

Nika left the bridge to walk some of the hallways of the ship. She ended up in sickbay, talking to Dr. Kapoor, the assistant and acting Chief Medical Officer.

"Captain," he said. "What can I do for you?"

"We're approaching a first contract situation," Nika started, and Dr. Kapoor nodded. "And as part of the situation, I'd like to have an observation on the surface."

"Of course," Dr. Kapoor replied. "You have the biological information on the species...the Paderau?"

Nika nodded.

"Then I'll work on emulating the physical appearance as well as possible," Kapoor promised. "Do you know who will be going to the surface for observation?"

"Commander Rylka," Nika answered immediately, then added "Commander Galwyn and Lieutenant Gheskori."

Dr. Kapoor nodded. "I can do that," he said. "Is that all, sir?"

"It is. Thank you." Leaving sickbay, Nika took a PADD with the information on the Paderau government on it with her as she went to lunch, so she would be prepared if first contact would be made.