Mission 04: A Rock and a Hard Place

[David Tan]

"Hel ... Hello ... Who's there ?"

"James." Crystal said, moving into the dimly lit room.

"Sir." David said, nodding to James, "Councillor ... We need to get out of here before we have company."

"Agreed. How far to the beam-out point ?" Steven said, checking the tunnel constantly.

David checked the tricorder readings while Crystal updated her friend.

< tag : Crystal >

He could see that the small cavern where they had set up the pattern enhancers ready for beam-out, was less than two hundred meters back the way they had come. He could also see that there was at least a dozen, maye more, of the rebels within a hundred meters. Fortunately for the Star fleet personnel, they were in the opposite direction to what they needed to move in, unfortunately, they were heading this way.

Ideally, David would have liked to be able to contact the Olympia, have the whole group beamed off the surface. But that wasn't an option, thus the pattern enhancers, but they had to reach them first.

He was about to say they should get moving when he noticed a small pad to one side of the door. It was making no sound, but there was a red light visible. Frowning, he moved to get a closer look.

"Erm ... Commander." the Councillor said, "I am sure that light was intermittantly flashing before you entered."

"HELL !" Tan said, annoyed that he hadn't thought the old rusted door would be monitored, "They know we are here."

"Let's go NOW !" the Commodore said, making it an order.

Tan checked the tricorder readings ... The rebels were coming after them, and quickly. At a run, the group headed back down the tunnel. Reaching the armory room Tan motioned for the rest to keep going while he ducked into the room. Less than twenty seconds later he emerged at a dead run, counting down under his breath from fifteen ...

"six ... Five ... Four ..." he spotted the group ahead and yelled for them to take cover, and without waiting to see if they had complied, he threw himself to the ground close to the tunnel wall ...

"ONE ...."

The explosion was bigger, a hell of a lot bigger than he imagined it was going to be. The shock-wave from the blast threw him almost twenty meters further down the tunnel. Everywhere was in complete blackness as the choking dust and rubble traveled away from ground zero .. A good portion of the tunnel must have collapsed, but they were still not safe. Rebels could still get to them from the way they were trying to go, and it now became a cat and mouse game of who was going to reach the transport point first ... Them ... Or the rebels ..........



< tag : ALL ..... Come on everyone >

[Deleted]

Ensign Remar stepped off of the turbolift and onto the bridge of the Olympia. It was smaller than he had imagined, barely larger than that of the Oberth class science vessel that had been his last posting. Everyone on the bridge was looking at him, so he purposefully walked over to the human in the command chair. "Ensign Remar reporting for duty sir."

The lieutenant gave him a fast look up and down. "At ease Ensign. I'm Lt. Graham Williams. The senior officers are all on the planet right now."

Remar raised his right eyebrow, which from a Vulcan was an expression of intense surprise. "I know, I know" Williams said wearily. "That's just the way things played out. Can you assume your post now? We're a little short staffed with so many on the surface."

A number of protests entered Remar's mind. He had just been through a long voyage, with a near battle at the end. He had no idea what the present status of the mission was, and had never flown a dedicated combat ship, except in simulation at Starfleet Academy.

However, the entire bridge crew was still staring at him. "What is our present status?" Remar asked.

Williams glanced down at his status board and spent several minutes filling the new Ensign in on the present sitution.

Remar wasn't sure how to proceed. Logic would indicate that it was best to allow the present navigator to continue in the position as he was more familiar with the situation.

However, he had also read the comments his last captain had put in in record, about not taking opportunities when they were offered. Not logical, but accurate. When dealing with humans, logic wasn't always the best course to follow.

Remar turned and walked to the navigators console. "I relieve you" he said formally.

The man nodded, stood and left the bridge to return to his normal station.

Remar took his station. The configuration of the controls were unfamiliar to him, so he took a moment and uploaded a custom configuration from his personal files. It wasn't necessarily better than what had been there, but it was familiar, which was more important.

He ran a fast diagnostic on navigation primary and secondary systems. Everything appeared to be functioning normally.

"Helm manned and ready sir" Remar said. Williams nodded and returned his attention to the status boards.

[Deleted]

Remar was examining the precise location of the Olympia using the navigational array. Galfar's gravity had pulled them towards the surface a bit, so he alerted the Ops officer, and the two of them moved the ship back to its' correct location. Remar sat back, his first action as CNO.

There was a beeping from the tactical station and Ensign Connark said "Sensors are picking up a seismic disturbance on the surface very close to the pattern enhancer location Lieutenant. Probably caused by a subsurface explosion."

Lt. Williams stood up and looked around at the security officer. "Are the pattern enhancers still functioning?

Remar had been monitoring the pattern enhancers as they were part of his system for tracking the location of the Olympia, so he said "Yes sir. All pattern enhancers are still transmitting their ready signals. No indication that they are damaged or that anyone is there to beam up."

Williams sat back down in the command chair, frowning. "How far away from the enhancers did the explosion occur?"

Ensign Connark stared at the readouts, trying to make an educated guess. "It's hard to tell from this range sir. More than 50 metres, less than 300."

Lt. Williams shook his head. "The away teams must be trying to get back to the pattern enhancers. Either they set off the explosion somehow as a tactic, it was caused by damage to equipment during the fighting, or the locals set it off to trap or kill the away teams." He looked back up at the tactical station in frustration. "We need to communicate with the teams, or even better beam them up."

"Why don't we just go and get them?" Remar asked.

Williams looked over. "That option has already been examined. It would bring us into range of their surface defences. That's why we're in this high orbit in the first place."

Remar hunkered back down in his chair. If he had been human, he would be embarassed. The navigation officer then accessed the tactial information on Galfar and put the the surface weaponry sites on his display. There they were, three energy weapon emplacements less than 100 kilometers from the transport site. The closest one was 34 kilometers away. Remar started doing some calculations then said "Lt. Williams, I think that there is another option available!"

The lieutenant rolled his eyes slightly and asked "What now ensign?"

"I see from the previous assessment that it was recommended that the Olympia maintain an altitude of 280 kilometers from the surface, which would allow us to be engaged by surface batteries" Remar said. "But if we bring the Olympia to within 150 meters of the surface, the curvature of the planet will protect us from surface fire. Those energy weapons can't shoot through the surface."

Ensign connark got involved in the conversation. "We can still get shot at as we go through the atmosphere."

Remar nodded. "I know, but I can plot a course that will minimize the number to surface emplacements that can fire on us."

Lt. Williams thought about it. "Alright, plot your course Ensign. Tactical, inform the ship that we will be entering the atmosphere of Galfar II. If we don't hear something from the away teams in two minutes, we're going to find them."

[David Tan]

David managed to stand, his legs almost giving way from under him. Shaking his head to clear it, he looked round for his tricorder. Spotting it close by, he hoped it was still functioning. The screen had managed to remain intact, that was good, and he scanned the surrounding area quickly ..

Hearing several groans of pain, he moved forward a few meters. The Commodore, the Exec, and the two rescued personnel were getting to their feet. The remaining Security Officer had already managed to check along the tunnel in the direction they were hearing and reported back.

"Commodore, it seems clear ahead, but I've no idea how long thats going to apply." the Lieutenant said.

Steven was steadying himself against the wall as he shook off the effects of the massive explosion. He nodded, not trusting his voice at the moment. It was then that David noticed Crystal .. She was slumped against the tunnel wall, blood flowing freely from a wound on the side of her head above the hair-line, he went to her.

"Commander, you're hurt, can you still walk ?" he said, dabbing at the blood to see if he could spot the lesion. Crystal ripped the ragged sleeve off her tunic and pressed it painfully against the wound, before pulling it away and inspecting the amount of blood. Cringing, she replaced the makeshift pad and unsteadily pushed herself off the wall.

"We're less than thirty meters from the beam-out point." the Lieutenant continued, ensuring everyone knew what he was saying, "We need to get there and quick !" he finished.

"We're about to have company, and a LOT of it." Tan said, scanning three hundred and sixty degrees.

With each of them using the nearest person for support, they moved down the rubble filled tunnel. The journey took longer then expected, but they finally reached the recess that contained the pattern enhancers.

Their situation came home to them instantly ...

One of the three enhancers required to surround anyone or anything needing help beaming, was now under almost a quarter ton of fallen rock from the roof ! ..... The Security Officer instantly took the phaser from Crystal and positioned himself in the opening where he could see in both directions. Tan checked his tricorder once again.

"They're less than one hundred meters away, but seem to be taking their time now. Maybe they don't know how many of us are still alive. I doubt any of them want to step onto a phaser shot when they can get close enough to throw in a grenade to do the job for them." David said, then came to one conclusion, "I think we don't have any choice now. We need to contact the Olympia and have them come for us."

"Your ship can enter the ATMOSPHERE !" the Councillor said, incredulous, then continued before any reply was forthcoming, "WHY have you forced us to endure this treatment when you could have simply come down here to get us ! ... Be sure my gover ......"

"There were 'obvious' reasons Councillor." David interrupted the man, "First being we had no idea who you were, or where in this complex you were being held !"

"OK David." Crystal said, calming the Second Officer.

"Commodore .. 'I INSIST' you bring your ship here to rescue us. I must not be allowed to perish here." the Councillor said, glaring at Steven. No-one spoke as they waited for his decision ..........




< tag : Steven / Crystal / Remar >

(Come on everyone, we're almost there now !)

[Deleted]

Lt. Williams sat down in the Command Chair and activated its' seldom used personal restraint system. "Engage."

Remar glanced over at the Operations officer, who gave a small nod to indicate that he was ready.

Ensign Connark activated the shipwide intercom and said "All sections, brace for heavy turblulence."

Remar had prepared an evasive course that would avoid the heaviest concentrations of planetary defence emplacements. There was no way to avoid them all, and he had put in a direct fly over of one. However, at the speed the Olympia would be travelling at, the chances of getting hit at such close range were extremely small.

The Olympia shuddered as she entered the atmosphere of Galfar II. Remar glanced up occasionally at the main view screen, where the area in front of the shields started to turn orange and red from the heat of the Olympia's entry. Behind the glow, he could see the surface of Galfar II getting closer.

The shaking of the ship became more violent as the Olympia went further into the atmosphere. Ensign Remar was holding on to his console with one hand and entering commands with the other.

"Exterior hull temperature exceeding 1200 degrees! Altitude above surface 40 kilometers. Ship accellerating" Ops reported.

"Sir, sensors indicate surface batteries preparing to fire! Ensign Connark yelled.

"Engines to full!" Lt. Williams screamed over the racket of the ship.

The Olympia leaped forward as energy beams tore through the atmosphere towards her. However every shot missed as the computers controlling Galfar II planentary defences seemed incapable of dealing with the extremely high speed of the ship.

"Remar, pull us out of this dive before we hit the planet!' Williams exclaimed, but the Vulcan had already activated the series of commands.

Unfortunately, the extra speed that Williams had ordered had messed up his calculations. They were going to hit the surface. Perhaps this hadn't been such a good idea.

Desperately, Lt. Williams yelled "Set the tractor beams to repel and point them at the planet surface!" to the Ops officer.

The man entered the commands and the Olympia reacted as if she had hit a brick wall. "Structural integrity fields past maximum!" Connark said as several panels blew out on the bridge, filling the deck with smoke as alarms screamed at the bridge crew.

However, the Olympia skimmed the surface of the planet as gracefully as a dancer, coming to within 50 meters before climbing to a safer altitude.

"Closing on emplacement 1" Connark said. This was the defence battery that the Olympia would have to fly directly over. Remar started introducing random velocity changes to the Olympia, which would hopefully deny the emplacement the ability to figure out exactly when to fire. Just before the ship passed over the emplacement, Remar turned the Olympia hard to starboard. The energy weapon fired and hit a glancing blow to the port shields and Remar fought to keep the ship level, but they passed the base successfully.

As the Olympia flew on, another blast caught them directly on the back shields and nearly drove them into the surface of the planet, but the ship continued on.

"Damage report!" Williams yelled.

"Port shields down to 95%. Aft shields 64%. Getting sporadic casualty reports" Ensign Connark replied.

Remar waved smoke out from in front of his face and looked down at his flashing console. "Primary navigation systems offline, switching to backups!"

"Engineering reporting. We have a fractured plasma conduit on Deck 9, and structural damage on on Deck 4, 5 and 6. Tractor beams 1 and 4 out." the intercom announced.

"Closing on away team location. I'm getting locks on Starfleet comm badges!" Ensign Connark said loudly.

"Finally" growled Lt. Williams. "Helm, slow us down. Start beaming all personel up. Also beam up any living being that is within 10 meters of our people, but keep the lot of them in the transporter pattern buffer in case we have any alien combatants. We'll sort them all out once we're back in orbit."

The bridge acknowledged Williams' order. Then he looked at Remar. "Once they're all aboard, get us the hell out of here!!"

[David Tan]

"Commodore .. 'I INSIST' you bring your ship here to rescue us. I must not be allowed to perish here." the Councillor said, glaring at Steven. No-one spoke as they waited for his decision ...

"I can hear them." the Security Officer said, "They are making one hell of a lot of noise too."

"Sir ?" Crystal said, standing close to James.

Steven was about to reply when David felt the tell-tale caress of a transporter beam. He could see that the others were being surrounded by the matter transporters field.

But something was wrong, the cave didn't seem to want to vanish at first, then when it did it was only for a fraction of a second, before the group re-materialized exactly where they had been.

"You three get close together." David said to the Exec', before taking his phaser and nearing the entrance with the Commodore, "They must be having trouble getting a lock without the enhancers."

Suddenly, they needed to take cover, as several beams of pure energy passed over their heads. David, Steven, and the Lieutenant returned fire, firing blindly into the dust that still filled the tunnels. Tan checked his tricorder needlessly, it was more than obvious they were surrounded, only a matter of time before the rebels knew they had lost and decided to cut their losses. Thats when the grenades would come rolling in ..

Tan was suddenly thrown against the rock wall, his shoulder burning with pain. On inspection he found he'd been lucky, very lucky, the phaser shot had just grazed his skin. He transfered the phaser to his other hand and continued to fire.

It seemed hours, but in truth was only three minutes, before he again felt the transporter beam taking him in it's grasp .. The cave vanished, and this time was replaced by the clean, bright, environment of a star ships' transporter room. Hands resting on his knees, he looked to his left and right, everyone was there ..

"We've got them Lieutenant." the transporter Chief said, relieved.

"Get us out of here NOW !" David heard the man say, then he felt the deck-plates begin to vibrate under the strain of moving through the thick atmosphere. But that didn't matter now, they were back on the ship and the Olympia was heading back into her own environment ... Space ...

No-one had time to speak as medical teams rushed through the doors ..........




< tag : Commodore >

[David Tan]

Within fifteen minutes of arriving back on the Olympia, everyone was in Sick-bay being examined. A nurse was tending to the Exec's head wound. After making sure the Commodore wasn't about to leave before he was checked out, Doctor Danar began using a dermal regenerator to repair the damage done to David's shoulder.

Lieutenant Williams entered and headed for the Commodore.

"Sir ... Are you OK ?"

"Been better Lieutenant." Steven said wryly, "What's our status ?"

"We're heading out of the system at warp four. There are three ships on our long-range sensors, but they don't seem in any hurry to come after us."

"Captain .. We 'MUST' to retu ......" the Councillor began. But Steven just raised a hand to silence the man .. He looked at each of his injured Officers in turn, before speaking.

"Doctor, when can we leave ?"

"I'll need thirty minutes to get my examinations done, then if all's well, I don't see why you can't all be returned to duty."

"OK ......" Steven said, then coming to a decision, he looked at Williams, "Lieutenant, you have the Con until the Doctor releases us. Set a heading for Star base forty seven, increase speed to warp seven. Keep an eye on those ships behind us, but i can't see them coming after us somehow .. Let's go home."

"Aye Captain." Williams said, turning and leaving Sick-bay.

"I must 'PROTEST' this cour ......" the Councillor began, but suddenly went quiet, slumping backward the the bed in a deep sleep. Everyone looked at the nurse holding a hypo-spray next to him ..

"Sorry." she said, shrugging innocently, "I thought he was beginning to have a seizure ..."

"Certainly looked that way to me." David said, managing not to laugh for almost three seconds ..........




OOC: We're going home

[Deleted]

The bridge crew sat in silence as the transporters struggled to pick up all the members of the Olympia who were still under the surface of the planet. It was a tense time. They couldn't be fired upon by the surface batteries, but there were a number of ships in orbit whose intentions were not known. Finally, the intercom beeped. "All away team members aboard!"

"Get us out of here NOW !" Lt. Williams growled.

Remar glanced at the Ops officer, who looked back with nervousness. Getting the Olympia out of this mess was going to be a lot harder than getting her into it. She would be going from a standing start and could be fired at from any direction. Remar had already plotted a course away from the planet, but it first involved some precision flying at the start. The ship would maintain it's altitude of 100 metres building up speed, then climb back into orbit using a corkscrew manuver that he hoped would avoid as much incoming fire as possible and leave them as far as possible from other orbiting ships. Once they were in orbit, the Olympia would immediately go to warp.

It sure sounded good. He didn't know what the Galfarians thought of it. He would find out soon enough.

With a lurch, the Olympia started to move. Remar kept an eye on the terrain following navigational system, knowing that it didn't get used very often and could be faulty. It seemed to be working fine though.

Once the ship got up to speed, Remar initiated the corkscrew manuver and they quickly ascended. Ground fire came their way, and several shots glanced off the shields as the Olympia continued to accelerate. Then she was in orbit.

"Warp 4" Lt. Williams said.

"Aye" Remar replied, and watched as the main screen dissolved to the rainbow colours of warp.

Ensign Connark examined the tactical displays. "The ships in orbit don't seem interested in pursuing" she said.

Williams sat back in his chair and sighed with relief. "That's good. Maintain course and speed for now. I'm going down to Sickbay to brief the Captain. Ensign Connark, you have the bridge."

The young ensigns eyes widened slightly with surprise as Williams stood and walked towards the turbolift, but she quickly recovered and took her new station. A new Security officer came forward and took over Tactical.

"Put the ship on yellow alert until we're out of the system. Damage control parties, start sending status reports to the bridge. I'd like a full report on all ship damage" Connark said into the intercom.

Remar nodded to himself and returned his attention to his console. He needed to figure out what had happened to the primary navigation systems anyway.

[Deleted]

"Alright. Now reconnect the phase inducer to the primary navigational array" Remar said into the communicator.

"Affirmative" the engineer at the other end replied. All of the red lights on the navigational console changed to green or turned off altogether. "I have a bunch of green lights down here" the engineer said with some happiness in his voice.

"I have the same up here. Please run a level 2 diagnostic on the navigation subsystems. I'll do the same on the primaries to see if there are any more problems" Remar ordered.

"Yes sir" the engineer replied and closed the comm channel. Remar sat back in his chair and typed in the commands for the computer to run a diagnostic on his systems. Computer resources were a little short right now as dozens of diagnostics were being run simultaneously, but it would get done soon enough.

As the diagnostic was running, the door to the turbolift opened and Lt. Williams stepped onto the bridge and walked towards the command chair. Immediately, Ensign Connark stood up and walked back to Tactical. To Remar, the human appeared...disappointed.

As he retook his chair, Williams looked around the bridge. He seemed to be examining the personel, but Remar didn't know why. Then the Lieutenant said "I think that this shift has had enough fun for today." Lt. Williams activated the ship wide intercom. "This is the the bridge. Bring the Olympia to normal alert level. Delta shift, report to your duty stations".

"You have all performed very well," Williams said to the bridge crew "but I think that you have asked to do enough today. When your replacement from Delta shift arrives, get off of the bridge and relax for a while. In the meantime, set course for Starbase 47. Warp 7."

Remar entered the new course into the system, but didn't feel like he needed a rest, but an order was an order. He continued to run the diagnostic. After a few minutes, another young officer who introduced himself as Ensign Munro walked up to the navigation console to relieve him. Remar briefed the human on what was going on and then left the bridge and stepped onto the turbolift so that he could go to his quarters.

Once on however, he realized that he didn't know where he his quarters were, if he had been assigned quarters or even if his belongings had made it there yet. He tapped the computer access panel and said "Computer, this is Ensign Remar. Where are my quarters?"

"Your quarters are on Deck 5, Section 12."

"Take me there" Remar responded.

The Vulcan stepped off of the lift and onto Deck 5. He quickly followed the signs until he found the correct door and walked in. His belongings were on the floor in the middle of the room, slightly scattered from the shaking the ship had gone through on their wild ride. Remar started to sift through his stuff.

[David Tan]

The USS Olympia had held a steady warp seven for almost three days. She was nearing her home now.

David had slipped back into his routine as Operations Officer. There had been a lot to catch up on, since their departure from the Algeran Sector. The mission hadn't gone well, a failure in many senses, but had Star fleet headquarters known the full extent of the situation, they may well have sent several ships, rather than just the one.

There were already people on Star base forty seven waiting to speak to both Crystal's friend and the Councilor. They had a lot of explaining to do David guessed. Gamma shift currently had the Con, so it was the ships' night-time, their last night before docking.

David had been sat in his quarters for some time, he had been going over his final reports before submitting them to the XO and Captain. putting the PADD down, he stretched, raising his arms above his head trying to get some feeling back. On an impulse, he decided to go down to the mess hall for a drink.

Entering, he noticed there was only two other people there. checking the chronometer on the far wall he noticed it was only almost twenty two hundred hours, much earlier than he'd thought, and the shift change was due. He went to the replicator and ordered a drink, then finding a quiet seat at the far side of the room he took a seat and took a sip ..........





OOC: Almost back home now everyone ... ;D

[Crystal Rose]

Crystal found herself on point as Steven eased open the door to what had been her cell, it looked rather different from this side. Inside the room was dark which was definitely a change from earlier.

"Hello .. Who's there ?" Crystal smiled, she recognised the voice. "James, are you all right." She went further into the room. Her own safety and earlier injuries taking a back seat as she ascertained the safety of her friend and the councillor. Both it seemed were no more hurt than when she had last seen them.

The councillor was quite stress and did a lot of shouting which didn't help the situation at all. Crystal knew it would be hard for the Olympia to get them, what little she had gathered about the depth they were at meant that transport was going to be somewhat dicey.

She had never been so grateful to feel deckplates under her feet as when she arrived back on the Olympia. She was about to wave away the medics and head straight to the bridge but her aches and pains chose that moment to remind her of their existance. Crystal allowed herself to be taken to sickbay and treated, apparently she had a stable hairline skull fracture. As far as she was concerned she had a nasty headache.

A while later, Crystal had been released from sickbay and had made a detour to her quarters for a clean uniform and a daily report, she made her way to the mess hall as she realised that she was really hungry. She decided on roast chicken and then settled at the seat opposite Commander Tan.

"So a somewhat crazy day then?" She said as she attacked her dinner with the gusto of someone who hasn't eaten since breakfast and has had a very rough day since then.

Tag: David

[David Tan]

David had been sitting alone for a while ... He was re-running the away mission in his head. He couldn't loose the image of two of the Olympia's crew, their bodies devastated by the hidden mine explosion. He pitied the Commodore, it was his job to inform the relatives.

He was on his second drink, not that it mattered really, because synthahol was essentially non-alcoholic, allowing the drinker to experience the taste and smell of their chosen drink. He was wondering if he should go back to his quarters where he had a bottle of 'the real stuff' as he called it, when someone sat down ..

"So ... A somewhat crazy day then ?" the Exec' said, before tucking into her meal as if it were the first since arriving back two days ago.

"I'm not too sure I'd like to go through another one like that to be honest." Tan replied, idly wondering where Jedda was. He'd seen nothing of her since their return.

"You should eat something with that." Crystal said, pointing her fork at the drink in Tan's hand.

She was right, he did need to get something solid inside him. It occurred to him that he had not actually eaten since his breakfast. But he would eat when he got back to his quarters he decided.

"So how's James, is he recovering from the ordeal on Galfar II ?"

"He's getting there."

"Never thought I'd be glad to get back to base. I need a break." David said, changing the subject, "Have you and Jedda anything planned for when we dock ?"

< tag : Crystal >

He was hoping he would get to see something of Jedda while they were at Star base forty seven. In fact he still wasn't sure if the younger sibling was going to remain aboard the Olympia, It was possible she had been assigned to another ship in the fleet by now.

Tan finished his drink, placing the glass on the table.

"I'm going to take your advice and go get something to eat." he said, getting up, Goodnight Commander, say hello to Jedda for me please."

"Night David ... And i will." crystal replied ...

~~~~~~~~~~

David's duty shift was set to start soon. He had wanted to get into the gym at some point, mainly to exercise the shoulder injury he'd managed to pick up while on the surface, but also to resume his fitness regime, which he had sadly been avoiding of late.

The Olympia was less than six hours from Star base forty seven now, and the Senior Staff would be expected on the Bridge for their arrival, so Tan made his way there.

The duty Operations Officer, Mike Thilwind, noticed David enter the Bridge.

"How we doing ?" David asked his deputy.

"Peachy." Mike said, and seeing as he used 'peachy' for almost everything, Tan chose to take the reply as all was well as the man continued, "We're six point four hours from home. They have already contacted us with an approach vector. Mister Remar has it on his panel." Lieutenant Thilwind reported.

"Departmental problems ?

"Nothing worth worrying about. Science seems to be having a problem with long range EM scanners, but they can wait until we're docked to have someone look at them. Oh, One of Murdoch's Marines ..." David grinned at the use of new name for the Marine contingent on the Olympia, "... Has managed to knock three of his front teeth out during one of their 'training' exercises."

Both men laughed at this news, neither worrying that they were upsetting the relaxed manner the Bridge had under normal working conditions.

"I trust you gentlemen are not finding amusement from our esteemed Marines ?" Lieutenant Commander T'For, the duty shift Commander said from the Center seat.

"Would we do such a thing ?" Mike said, allowing David to take his seat, "We still on for that drink when we get in ?" he said to David.

"You bet we are ... See you later."

David entered his security access to inform the ship the Chief Operations Officer was on the Bridge, then started to run through the reports from the previous nights' shift ..........

[Deleted]

Ever since being cleared for duty by the Olympia's medical team, Steve had spent the entire journey back to Starbase 47 in his quarters. He had spent an inordinate amount of time either sleeping, or resting. During that time he he tended to Renora and looked after her....which was something he didn't usually get much time to do while on duty.

Not a day went by when he didn't think about and miss Arya. Renora would forever be a constant reminder of her, which was never a bad thing. Steve didn't really talk to many people about Arya, not even to David....that was something he planned to rectify.

Looking at the time, Steve saw that the Olympia would be arriving at the Starbase in about 30 minutes. He went and had a quick wash and found a fresh uniform for him to wear. While checking himself over in the mirror, Steve noticed that this particular uniform only had four gold pips, and not five. He went and found a spare pip and fastened it to the collar. 'Now THAT would have been embarrassing!' He thought to himself, and laughed for the first time in a long long time. He approached the door to leave, and took a look at Renora who was sound asleep. 'Oh, what the hell.' He thought, as he turned back into the room and picked her up.

With Renora now in his arms, Steve left his quarters for the short journey to the bridge. The walk didn't take too long, and Steve was quite glad that Renora was still asleep, as he would not have appreciated screaming in his ear. Soon enough, Steve reached the Bridge and the doors whooshed open to allow him to pass through.

As it turned out, the Oly was only 5 minutes away from base. Steve stood in the doorway for a while and then slowly approached his centre chair, but didnt sit down. All eyes were on him, considering it was highly unusual to have the CO on the bridge carrying his daughter. He shot a few glances that just said 'What?' and the crew hurriedly carried on as if nothing was the matter.

Steve stared out at the viewscreen, glad to be almost home for some R&R. The navigation console beeped to signify that final docking procedures were now to be implemented, the which the CNO (whom Steve hadn't actually met yet) duly complied. Shortly after, an audio comm came through


=/\= Starbase 47 to USS Olympia. Docking procedures complete. We have you. Welcome back. SB47 out. =/\=

Steve then pressed the button to open a shipwide comm =/\= Ladies and gentlemen. We're home. As of now, you are all hereby granted shoreleave. Enjoy. Smith out. =/\=

And that's a wrap. This mission is now officially over. Thank you for your time and patience. See you on Starbase 47