USS OLYMPIA - Rings of Gold?

[Soto]

We have left starbase assaillant and are currently on route to DS9.
Here we will rendez-vous with the science-vessel Argaut and set course for the northern border of the Cardassian Union. Together we will research the rumours of a new stable wormhole in this uncharted territory. The Argaut will try to locate the wormhole (which is rumoured to consist of golden rings) while the Olympia is to provide safety for this mission. To avoid Cardassian interference we are to travel through the badlands first, before setting sail for the Cardassian border.

'Captain, we have arrived at DS9', ensign Drax said.

'Thank you ensign', Soto replied while he couldn't help thinking his eyes were working perfectly.

Q2 must have noticed Soto's look and quickly yelled: 'the Argaut is now entering the system' just in time before she appeared in the viewscreen.

'They're hailing us'
'Channel open'
'This is Captain Louvraine of the USS Argaut, we are ready when you are Olympia'
'Captain Soto here. Well since we were ready before you were it makes sense to assume we are ready and therefore it is logical that we leave for the badlands immediately', Soto replied to the clearly dull and formal Vulcan captain, while repressing a smile.

---

Well that puts us underway. Who continues?

[Deleted]

Q2, from his position behind Soto on the bridge hid his own smile. The new captain was certainly going to be a lot more fun than Duke Nova. Over the viewscreen, the vulcan captain raised one eyebrow at the weird logic of Captain Soto.

"That hypothesis would indeed be logical. We will follow your lead Captain. Captain Louvraine out."

Soto turned, viewing his whole bridge crew in one turn. "Well, you heard him. Helm, set a course for the Badlands. Tactical, keep a look out on sensors, I don't want any Cardassians surprising us."

Q2 and Drax both nodded in agreement, and Q2 reached down to his console, and contacted Deep Space Nine.

"Olympia to Deep Space Nine, requesting permission to undock, and procede to the Badlands."

Commander Vaughn's voice came clearly over the commlink, "Permission granted Olympia. Good hunting."

Q2 sent a confirmation notice to Drax's console, and there was only the slightest of lurches as the ship undocked, and made for the region of space known as the Badlands. On his tactical display, he watched as the small Bajoran logo representing DS9 grew further away, and another federation logo followed the Prometheus class vessel. His gaze swept across all his read-outs, finishing on the shields.

=/\= Q2 to Jabez, you sorted out the shield enhancements Starfleet gave us yet? I don't imagine the Badlands is gonna be all that much fun... =/\=

[jabez]

=/\="Are you kidding me? The Badlands is brilliant fun! If you want 'not much fun' try that Vulcan following us. The shield enhancements are almost done, another half hour."=/\=

Jabez pulled away from his panel, leaving his team to finish up the modifications. He needed a little conference with his top staff. Gathering together the sub-department heads for a pre-mission briefing had become almost as traditional as the main senior staff meeting.

"Here's the deal, we head out through the Badlands, to the northern border of Cardassian space. The Argaut, probably with assistance from our science teams, check out this apparent stable wormhole. Meantime, the ship's main function will be defence in case the Cardies turn up. Looks like a quiet one for us."

"What happens if we find a stable wormhole?"

"To be honest I'm sceptical, but it could happen, and that's what's gonna keep us busy while we're getting there. I've got a shuttle picked out down in the main bay and we're gonna overhaul it. Metaphasic shielding, enhanced inertial dampeners, everything to make a wormhole ride seem like a day out on the lake."

"Sounds cushy."

"That's what I'm hoping for. Now, if there's no more questions we'll get these shield enhancements finished up ready for the Badlands and then we're heading down to the shuttlebay."

[Deleted]

"Left one!"

"Sorry?"

"The friggin' left one." With a quick thrust, the left one darkened, and Lt Vianto spun to watch the rest, tapping and thrusting, until lights stopped lighting up. The Lieutenant turned to view Q2.

"You're improving Isabella. Perhaps stand back a bit further. What level was that?"

"Level Nineteen. You've completed this version?"

"Yeah. It gets really tough around level 32, but I think you've been that far before?"

"Yep. Level 35 was my limit though." She wiped the sweat off her forehead, and turned back to the board in front of her, tapped the centre light, and the first light lit up.

[Soto]

Soto had left the bridge in the capable hands of commander Burke and was looking over reports in his ready room.

Suddenly he couldn't help thinking about the first time he was in the badlands.
Back then he was still a freighter pilot and no-one onboard found it necessary to warn him about the region ahead. They all thought he had been there before. He entered the area at warp 3 and before he knew it the ship violently dropped out of warp, only to find themselves in the worst plasma storm Soto had ever navigated. The ship sustained damage that would take twenty days to repair. How he had to run from the angry captain.....

=/\= Jabez to Soto; shield enhancements are done. We are now going to modify the shuttle. =/\=

[Deleted]

Q2 watched Lt Vianto complete the next few levels, and beat her record and then he wandered away back to the bridge.

He stepped onto the bridge just as the ship entered the badlands, and saw the energy fountains on the main viewscreen. One of them appeared to be right in front of the vessel.

"Lt Lla [NPC]...get this ship away from that fountain!" Captain Soto shouted to his CNO. Q2 watched the Trill's hands fly over the controls, and the ship leaned hard to starboard as Peter attempted to move it away. Q2 now looked over at Tactical, where his Assistant, Lt Cmdr Vatok was stood.

"Commander Vatok, what are the status of our shields?" Q2 yelled as he stepped out of the turbolift.

"Deflector screens are online. Shields are currently not up, as the repairs being undertaken by Commander Jab..."

"Vatok. Raise the bleedin' shields."

"Aye sir" Just as he acknowledged the order, the ship entered the fountain, having being too close to steer away. Q2 was thrown back into the turbolift, which promptly closed it doors. Groaning heavily, the El-Aurian pulled himself up on the rail, and moved back to the door, which swooshed back open. He stepped through into the bridge, and saw that a few other crewmembers had been thrown about, though Vatok remained standing at the tactical console. Damn Vulcans and their refusal to be swayed or thrown over by anything.

Q2 took over the position from the Vulcan, who immediately moved to another on the back wall, as Q2 started reading out reports.

"Main shields were raised in time to prevent serious damage, and it seems the modifications have worked. They are currently operating at 78% and rising, after the initial surge. Deflector screens are down to 14%. A hull breach has been sealed on Deck 9, with Decks 8 through 11 being evacuated after a loss of life support. No casualties, and 8 crew members have serious injury, with most of the crew suffering from bumps and bruises."

Soto nodded in reply, and then turned his attention to the Trill at helm. "Nice try Lieutenant. Steer us clear, and then plot a safe course through the rest of it. Unfortunately we can't plan for spontaneous fountains like that, but we can try to avoid hotspots. Coordinate your efforts with the CScO."

[Soto]

Soto pulled his uniform straight and kept monitoring the helmsman's efforts closely. He was still a bit frustrated, that he himself wasn't flying the ship through the storms. On the contrary, he had to trust a guy he had just known for a couple of weeks, and who's performance wasn't all that in Soto's eyes.

'Sir, incoming message form the Argaut. Putting it through on the mainscreen'

The face of the Vulcan captain appeared (a bit too close for Soto's taste) on the main screen.

'Captain, we've amplified our sensors to detect any movement, but nothing appears on...wait a minute...USS Olympia stand by...'

A violent plasma-outburst made the Olympia's bridge shake once more. Soto turned to Q2 who instantly said: 'shields are holding at 88%'

The Vulcan's face appeared on the viewscreen again:
'We've detected three Cargo vessels at bearing 115. We should be able to slip by them unnoticed though', the Vulcan captain picked up his monolog.

Soto turned to Tactical and asked wether they could see the ships with the intel the Argaut provided.
'We see them now captain. The last ship is no cargovessel though. It appears to be a hedeki-class patrolship'.

[spiro]

Spiro Came out of the turbolift onto the bridge, with a phaser Attached to his side. He turned towards the Captain and said “Sir my Security teams are standing by in case of our shields failing. We are also ready to take over one of the Freighters to see what they are carrying in there".

"Thank you Lieutenant, you never know what might happen out here". Soto Replied and Spiro sat to the left of the Captain waiting to see if he would ever need his security teams, take a ship over, or even defend our own ship.

[jabez]

With damage control crews dispatched, and the shields getting themselves back up to health, Jabez returned to the shuttle. The metaphasic shielding was in place, and they were now working on the inertial dampener upgrades. With all the systems going in, several things had to be removed, including warp.

The main operator console to one side of the bay started beeping, making Jabez sit up with a start and bang his head on the underside of a panel. Rubbing his forhead, he made his way across to see what the warning tone was all about.

A report was coming in from the bridge, a small Cardassian freight run nearby.

"What kind of threat are we talking about?" His deputy asked, reading with him.

"Minimal. We're not in their space, not doing anything wrong. And the escort is only a Hideki, it's a Nova class equivalent, and no match for a Prometheus."

"So what are the security teams readying for?"

"Just a precaution, lt. Expect a short and unfriendly conversation, then we'll both carry on our way. Boarding them would be unwise, likely to spark major conflict unless neccessary. We'd have to be almost certain they were carrying items of significant threat to the Federation to warrant any action really, but on the other hand they would have to be equally certain we posed a threat to them, and even then they'd be stupid to pick a fight with a Prometheus class cruiser."

"Ok, just as long as we're safe anyway. Let's get this shuttle finished up in time for arrival."

The two engineers wandered back over to the shuttle, now that the lt's mind was at ease. There was still a lot of work to be done on the shuttle, and he didn't want to have that Vulcan on the Argaut waiting around for him.

[Deleted]

Q2 looked down at his new uniform. He had got the news through only a few minutes ago, and been in the supply room, delving through the blue uniforms, looking for ones in his size. Either they didn't expect many Science and Medical Officers with a 6' stature, or they had too many, and there were none left. Either way, he had managed to find two duty uniforms, one dress uniform and a jumpsuit.

Looking down it now, he noticed that the blue went with his hair very nicely, contrasting the bright electric blue shade of his hair with the dark blue shade of the science department. He stepped off the turbolift that he had been travelling on, and into the bridge, where he automatically moved towards the tactical console, though after a moments thought, he changed his direction, and instead went to the Science console. At conn, Soto turned to him, and then to the bridge.

"I'm sure you all know our new Chief Science Officer, Commander 1st Class Q2."

Q2 nodded in appreciation, and then started running a sensor sweep on the area around them.

"Captain, the Hideki-class has changed course. It appears to be heading towards us." Q2 looked at Spiro, who had started to speak at the same time as him.

"Their weapons systems are not powered up Captain, recommend Yellow Alert." Spiro offered.

"We're been scanned. Shields are deflecting the majority of the scan."

"Captain, we're being hailed." The officer at ops reported.

"Yellow Alert, open comm channels."

"Federation starship, what is the purpose of your presence here?"

[Soto]

Soto was still questioning Q2's new look (was it a fashion statement or just a coincidence?), when the Cardassian face appeared.

"Well Cardassian, what's yours?", Soto replied to the arrogant request.

"That's none of your business, Federation."

"Well, it seems there you have your answer Cardassian. Now continue with your own affairs before we will make them ours"

"This insolence will not go unpunished Federation. I will remember your face."

'Well i sure would like to forget your ugly one', Soto thought to himself while smiling to the Cardassian.

As the screen turned into spaceview again, Soto turned to Spiro. 'I want you to keep an eye on them, Lieutenant'. Spiro nodded to the captain.

"Let's hope they haven't spotted our modified shuttle", Soto said to the bridge.


A few hours later the Olympia and the Argaut exited the Badlands. Just like the Olympia, the Argaut had sustained only minor damage.

[jabez]

Things were going well, all things considered. They were through the Badlands, having sustained only minor damage, and were now out of danger as far as plasma storms go.

On the other hand, the Cardassians knew they were around. Hopefully the measures they had taken to prevent damage from plasma storms had also prevented too intrusive scanning from the Cardassian patrols.

Jabez' train of thought was interrupted by a damage control team reporting back in. Checking a nearby display, the chief engineer verified that all repairs were being taken care of before dismissing them.

They were now two hours from the Cardassian border, and would make it up to a couple of light years from the Demilitarized zone before turning to begin their circumnavigation of the Cardassian Union.

[Deleted]

Q2 felt his legs staring to go numb, and wondered how the science officers had managed before at this post. It was the only place on the bridge that had no seat, other than the First Officer, and it was rare these days to see the First Officer and Captain on the bridge at the same time. Q2 therefore felt that he needed a seat.

=/\=Q2 to Jabez. If your engineers are done with repairs, I could do with the installation of a seat up here. They made a bleedin' station without a seat. I mean, how stupid is that! =/\=

After a positive reply came back through the comm system, Q2 settled down crosslegged on the floor, and waited. From the centre of the room, Q2 heard his name.

"Commander? You seem to have got shorter."

"I decided that the floor was more comfortable sitting down than standing up."

"Very well then...as long as you are alert and ready." Soto sounded very edgy.

"Course I am, these displays gone right down to the floor, and I reprogrammed the buttons down here to reflect what would usually be up there, Q2 gestured wildly higher up the console, so I am just as ready as if I were standing up. And...if I'm sitting down and we get attacked, I would be thrown around less."

[jabez]

With no repairs left needing his attention, Jabez made his way to the bridge, muttering about whiney officers. Dragging a chair on a small hover-sled, he thought back and couldn't remember the last time he sat down for more than ten minutes whilst on duty. Still, he had nothing better to do, and supposed he might as well install this seat for the new CScO.

Reaching the bridge, he pushed Q2 out of the way and set to work with the seat, while the El-Aurian climbed to his feet, rolled his eyes and wandered to another panel.

Within ten minutes the chief engineer had finished the installation and introduced Q2 to his new chair. He had taken a standard chair, tempted as he was to give Q2 a nice, solid, hard wooden one, because he figured he'd only get complaints and have to replace it, which just meant more work.

"You think it was bad without a chair? The Prometheus is the only class of Federation starship without a head on the bridge."

"A head?" Q2 replied, looking puzzled.

"Fancy Federation talk for toilet." With little better to do Jabez engaged in some small talk, another earlier consideration of installing a toilet for the science officer to sit on providing the topic.

[Deleted]

"That's very true. I've never thought about that before to tell you the truth." Q2 replied with a slight laugh. "Head? where the heck did that terminology come from?"

"Some earth nautical term I think. Haven't done much research into it to tell the truth... It sounds like an accurate description of the terran head..." At that particular moment, Tomlin made his presence known with a sharp 'hgh-hmmm'. Q2 and Jabez both turned and saw the human, and then glanced at each other. Shrugging, Jabez questioned his deputy,

"And you would be here because?"

"Your presence is requested in Engineering."

"Ooookay...and you didn't comm me because..."

"I did. You don't seem to have your commbadge on you..." Tomlin looked pointedly at the floor, where Jabez' commbadge lay, having being apparanly squashed.

"Ah, well, very good then." Jabez said somewhat distractedly, and led Tomlin back to engineering. Meanwhile, Q2 sat down in his seat, and relaxed for a couple of minutes. The sensors were showing very little. No ships, no neutrino emissions...not much really.

A couple of short hours later, from the tactical console beside Q2, Spiro announced; "We are now within sensor range of the Cardassian Union, suggest that we do not approach any further unless necessary Captain."

[jabez]

Back in engineering, Jabez led Tomlin into his officer and sat on the edge of his desk, fitting a new commbadge while the deputy explained the situation to him.

"We're not sure how they got on board, but they're definately Cardassian in design, and have been found at several key locations around the ship, including out there," he gestured through the glass into main engineering, "and on the bridge."

"Well, I suppose we know what those freighters were carrying anyway. The plasma storms must've been interfering with sensors enough to let them beam in undedected." They were referring to small surveillance devices, which the sensors had picked up shortly after they had left the Badlands. At the time, Q2 had been somewhat distracted by Jabez shoving him out of the way, but he still wondered why Q2 hadn't picked them up before then.

"Let's get them deactivated then," Jabez said simply.

"It's not as easy as that sir, readings show that they have small explosive packs attatched which will go off if we go within a couple of inches of them. We'd need a way of deactivating them without getting too close."

"Ah I see the problem now." Jabez swung his legs up and over his desk, standing up on the other side. He took a couple of paces towards a cluttered shelf and pushed a few PADDs aside to find a small pyramid shaped device. Handing it to his deputy, Jabez asked him to replicate several and have them placed wherever the Cardassians had a surveillance device.

"What is it?" Tomin questioned.

"An inhibitor, effective against almost all known bugs. My brother cooked them up on a particularly sensitive mission to Wolf 359, about a year ago." Luke was about to question the presence of a Federation starship at an out-of-bounds ship's graveyard, but seeing the look on Jabez' face, thought better of it. That had been the mission on which the chief engineer's brother had been killed, an event which persuaded the Xenexian to join Starfleet and follow his brother's legacy.

Instead, the Lt merely turned and left to carry out his orders, leaving Jabez alone. After several minutes of silent contemplation, Jabez took to main engineering, and checked around a few displays.

At about the fifth panel an odd reading caught his eye. The LCARS system was inoperable to a handful of panels around the ship, residual damage from the Badlands. Unfortunately one of these panels was the main science panel, meaning Q2 had been staring at the same internal data for about two hours. With the external data still updating, it would have been almost impossible to spot of course, but it explained why the newly appointed science officer hadn't found the Cardassian bugs.

Taking corrective measures, Jabez had soon repaired the damage, a fact confirmed by an almost immediate communication from the bridge. Jabez explained that the bugs should all be offline by now, and why the science station hadn't picked them up. The question now became how much had the Cardassians learned of the Starfleet mission.

[Deleted]

Q2 was sat on his newly installed seat on the bridge, watching his console. The external data was fairly interesting now, there were a few interesting phenomena, nothing worth stopping and investigating, but just some vaguely interesting stars. Watching this, his eyes were more or less ignoring the internal data, which had remained virtually the same for the last couple of hours. Then, as he was watching a particularly interesting, but tiny nebula on the long range sensors, he caught a flicker on the internal data, and immediately his gaze flew over to it.

All his data had changed, and he was picking up some very interesting information.

"Captain, all my internal data has just changed. It appears that we have some 'bugs' onboard. I would guess that they have been on board since our meeting with the cardassian vessels."

"Bugs! I should have known those Cardassians." Soto sighed heavily, and then tapped his commbadge and contacted engineering.

=/\= Mr Jabez, we have just received some very interesting information on the science station up here, do you know any more about this? =/\=

Jabez proceeded to explain the information to the commanding officer, with Q2 offereing nods when his own newly acquired data tallied with the report. Soto frowned.

"Okay people, I need to know how much of our mission they know. Science, go over the recording of the bridge since our meeting with those Cardassian vessels."

"I don't have any of that data captain, while I wasn't reading it, it appears that it was never even sent to this ship. However, it may be possible that the recording has been kept on the bugs. If I could liase with engineering..."

"Get on to it. Tactical, make sure that all our tactical data is secure, and rotate our shield frequency."

"Aye sir" Sprio snapped in reply.

[jabez]

Q2 arrived in Jabez' office and explained the captain's orders. Getting information from the bugs presented a problem mainly because of the explosive packs attached to prevent interference. They couldn't get close to a bug without it self destructing.

"Wouldn't the gel from one of our bio-neural gel packs contain the explosion, they're designed to act as blocks for fires or explosions running through a conduit," Q2 suggested after several minutes of thought.

"Yes." Jabez looked up. It was a good idea, scans showed a small gap between the pack and the bug, except, "we'd need a way of getting the gel close enough without setting off the explosive."

Several minutes later a small group was gathered in a semi-circle around the bug in main engineering.

"It was your idea."

"You're the chief engineer."

"Alright alright, public vote," Jabez announced, confident that his engineering crew would back him. As it happened they, like Q2, would rather see Jabez suspended in the odd harness they now had rigged up to the ceiling. And so it was that the chief engineer found himself dangling precariously several feet off the ground, being handed a gel pack and a small knife. Puncturing the pack, gel began to ooze forth slowly and he took aim over the surveillance bug, releasing several drops of gel toward the tiny gap seperating it from the explosive pack.

Gravity was co-operative, guiding the gel to the connecting wires, which initiated a small explosion. When the smoke cleared, the bug was visible in one piece, to the delight of the officers.

Q2 turned and began to lead the engineers away, without letting Jabez down, until he got a high pressured jet of bio-neural gel on the back of his head, and was forced to allow the Xenexian down from the somewhat bizarre construct.

The two reconvened in Jabez' office, with the bug now in several pieces on the desk. Both were wearing a pair of magnifying spectacles, and Jabez was shifting the parts about with a small hooked tool. They quickly identified the recording and transmitting sections, and wired them to the main computer, from where they were able to access the memory banks of all the bugs directly.

It wsan't long before they discovered the Cardassians would know enough about the mission to warrant the sending of the Olympia as protection.

Q2 turned to head back to the bridge when Spiro's voice came through the comm.

=/\="Bridge to all senior officers, we will be arriving at the designated coordinates in just over an hour."=/\=

[Soto]

Upon hearing the progress Engineering had made, Soto decided to go look for himself.
Halfway there he bumped into Q2, who was on his way back to the bridge. Quickly he explained the situation to the captain and he concluded with the remark that they weren't monitored anymore.
Soto asked Q2 to contact the Argaut and DS9 and inform them of our compromised situation.

As Soto reached engineering, he could see the mess the deactivation of all the bugs made.

"I hope you get this cleaned up before we reach the wormhole, commander" , he said to Jabez who turned around in mild shock as he didn't notice the captain coming in.
"Of course sir, but we just didn't have enough time to do it any other way", Jabez quickly regained himself only to realise afterwards that the captain's remark was only intended to make him scare.

"Fair enough, everything is ready for the wormhole i assume"
Jabez nodded as he brought up the specs for the modified shuttle on the wallconsole.
"Very well, good work commander", Soto said as he left engineering. 'Time enough to get a quick lunch', Soto thought to himself as he left for his quarters.

[Soto]

While taking the last bite out of his sandwich, Soto heard the message from the bridge:

=/\= Commodore, we're approaching the designated coordinates=/\=

Soto rushed himself to the bridge just in time to see the ship drop out of warp. As he walked towards his chair, he ordered a standard sensor sweep of the area.

"We're being hailed by the Argaut, sir"
"On screen", the standard, almost automated, response sounded.

"Captain Louvraine..."
"Is the area secured?"
Soto quickly turned to Spiro, who nodded a 'yes' instantly.
"Very well, our sensors haven't picked up anything so far, but a minutious spacescan of the area will take up to a few minutes"

As the screen faded, Soto saw Cmdr. Q2 looking around somewhat bored. He knew that even the Olympia's sophisticated sensors couldn't do as thorough a job as the science vessel's could.

Somewhat quicker than expected the sound of Captain Louvraine's voice came through. Apparently the Argaut had diverted most of its power to the sensors, so that an audio-only message was all she could manage;
"We've located some unusual readings near the moon of the second system."

Shortly afterwards the two ships moved to the area.

Q2 apparently became more interested in the readings now coming on his screen with virtualy every second...

"The readings would indicate that a wormhole in fact is present. It appears to be opening and closing at irregular moments though, since the data provide no regularity. However inducing from the current readings, I would guess that a new opening should arrive very soon."

"Very well, commander. I want you and Cmdr. Jabez to take the shuttle and try to get as close as you can to the wormhole, once it has opened. Coordinate all your findings with the Argaut. If the wormhole is really stable enough, we'll attempt to go through it when it reopens again."

Q2 was somewhat alarmed by the quick action Soto wanted to take, and would find it more comfortable if they could do extensive testing of the wormhole first.

However, Soto was taking into consideration that the Cardassians would appear soon. Since they knew exactly which ships were here, they surely weren't going to send a few small patrol ships.

As soon as Q2 had left the bridge, Soto turned to Spiro.

"Lieutenant, be sure that we can provide the Argaut with enough protection should the Cardassians show up any sooner than we want them to."

[spiro]

Spiro Quickly replied "Eye eye Sir", as the Captain went into the turbo lift.

"Mr Ivor Johnson" Spiro shouted as the Lt. (Jg) walked towards the tactical panel.
Spiro sat down on the Captains chair and said to everyone on the bridge "I want to know of any anomalies that are coming into our sensor range no matter how small" the Ensign at the science station nodded with a yes.

*Five minuets pass*

"Sir im picking up a faint readi............ SIR a shuttle has just emerged out of that reading the configuration is Cardassian. It’s heading toward the wormhole".
The ensign at the science station said to Spiro.

=^= Captain Sotoreport to bridge immediately =^=
Spiro said over the comm.
=^= On my way Lieutenant =^=
Replied the Captain.

"Sir a Cardassian Keldon seems to be decloaking or somthing of the sort port side of us". Said Ivor Johnson.
"There raising shields" Mr Ivor Johnson added.

"What a Cardassian Ship decloaking?"
Spiro said in supprise.

At that time the turbo lift doors opened with a hiss as the Captain walked out and said
"Report Lieutenant!"

[Soto]

----
OFF: This post is to be read before/and after Spiro's
----

Q2 and Jabez reported in a few minutes later. They had taken off with the shuttle and were almost in position. The Argaut had come about 84 degrees for optimal alignment of her sensors with the shuttle's.

On the Olympia's bridge Soto took the time to relax in his chair; something he realized, he hadn't done for a while. Commander Burke was sitting on his side, staring at a padd.
"Well Commander, any progress with the duty-roster", Soto asked semi-interested.

"Not really, we will have to accept that sickbay will only run on 86% efficiency within the next weeks. And in navigation Drax is going to make extra shifts with Mr Lla's sudden illness."

"Has our good doctor figured out what's wrong with him yet?"

"The last time I spoke with the doc, he didn't have a clue. I will visit the sickbay to see if he has made progress since then". With these words Commander Burke stood up and left the bridge...

Because of Q2's absence, Soto turned to the opps officer, Lt. Salek for information.

"The wormhole has just opened, Captain. The first data should be comming in soon."

"Very well lieutenant. I suggest you keep monitoring the situation. I will be in my ready room, to do some paperwork."

"Mr. Spiro, you have the bridge...."


.......................................................................................

On hearing Spiro's words, Soto rushed to the bridge.
Once arrived, he quickly assessed the situation.

'A Keldon Class with a cloaking device?' Soto thought to himself. He remembered reading about the enhanced Keldons the Obsidian Order had hidden in the Orias sector, but as far as Starfleet knew, they only had enhanced warp-engines.

"Hail them", Soto ordered.
"Channel open sir"
"Cardassian vessel, this is Commodore So.."

"They are firing disruptors, sir", Spiro interrupted the Commodore.
"Shields"....

The ship shook violently.

"A direct hit to our sickbay, sir", Spiro regained the informationflow. "We have three casualties: Commander Burke, Doc Daya and Lieutenant Lla. The damage in sickbay is massive".

Soto's look hardened upon hearing the Lieutenant's report: "Return fire. All weapons available."

"Aye, Aye sir", Spiro answered.
His response was quickly followed by Saleks report that the Olympia's shuttle and the Argaut had engaged the Cardassian shuttle....

[Deleted]

Jabez piloted the little shuttle craft back towards the cardassian shuttle. As they came within weapons range, Q2 fired a couple of weak shots to distract the shuttle slightly, so the crew at least had to think about the battle, and not concentrate purely on the Argaut. The opposing ship lashed out with a couple of equally weak bursts, which did very little other than make Jabez get fancy with the flight path.

The federation shuttle flew towards the cardassian vessel, fast and marginally above the x-plane of it. As they passed over the opposing vessel, Q2 fired all three Type IV phaser arrays, and both micro-torpedo tubes dropped torpedoes down on the ship below. The damage ran along the top of the ship, with the phaser bursts taking out the shields, and the second torpedo penetrating the cockpit, and killing the crew within. As a result of this, the ship flew out of control straight into the Argaut, and exploded. The shuttles proximity to the explosion resulted in them getting thrown backwards.

"Attempting to compensate. Engaging full reverse."

"Shockwave approaching, 10 seconds, 9, 8, 7...3,2..."

The shuttle kept reversing at full impulse, and then suddendly directly behind them the wormhole opened.

"Ah! Hell! I'm sure it wasn't there earlier..." Q2 yelled out. "Oh...and 1,0."

The shockwave hit just as they entered the wormhole, sending them spinning through it. They were thrown around the cockpit due to the high speed and the force of the shockwave. As they were thrown out on the other side, they flew backwards straight into an asteroid.

[Felix Savali]

As Salek was scaning the wormhole which has just opened and the battle betwen the Cardasian shuttle , the Arganaut and the Olympia's shuttle. When he detected the explosion of the cardasian shuttle and the Olympia's shuttle disappearing thru the wormhole.

"Captain , our shuttle has just disappeared thru the wormhole , a shockwave created by the explosion of the Cardasian Shuttle sent them thru."

"And sir i have done a scan of the cardasians and their cloaking device , ut has the same signature as the Romulans one so it would be logical to presume that they managed to steal a cloaking device from the Romulans which the fact that Romulans would never share their cloaking technology confirms."

Off:Sorry for the delay.

[spiro]

As Salek gave his quick report to the Captain, Spiro said.

"Sir there shields are down to 48% and the Olympia's shields are down to 66% and falling"

Soto started to give his next order to Spiro.
"Lt. Vassiliou divert power from............"

Spiro Interrupted the Captain by saying.

"SIR another Cardassian Keldon has just warped into the system, it seems to have been followed by 2 Romulan Warbirds. There attacking the 2 Keldons, and the Keldons are concentrating fire on the Romulans now.
"Sir one more thing, we also have word from Sick bay, our Chief Medical Officer has died from his wounds".

Soto and Spiro looked at each other with a sigh. when Salek said.

"Sir we are being hailed by the Argaut".

"On Audio Mr Salek" said the Captain in a faint voice.

"Eye eye Sir" Salek said as he put them through.

Olympia we are to understand that your Chief Medical Officer has unfortunatelly died is this correct?

"That’s right Argaut" Soto said over audio.

We Currently have the former Chief Medical Officer of the USS Victory aboard, Lieutnant Commander Max Sulla, im sure it would be ok with Starfleet if he was assigned to your ship, after all Starfleet has been looking for an available ship for him. What do you say Captain?

"Very well beam him over, now the Cardasians are busy with the Romulans" Thanks Argaut". Soto said.

No problem Olympia.