U.S.S. Tiger Shark-B Mission: Haunted

[thirteen]

Lieutenant commander Thirteen,

Admiral KezTrek will not be able to fulfill her duties as the commanding officer of the U.S.S. Tiger Shark-B due to personal reasons. As a ship cannot set sail without a commanding officer, there has been decided that command of the Tiger Shark is assigned to you until further notice.

...

Thirteen leaned back in the chair behind his desk, having read the document multiple times. Not only did it contain the message that he had been instated as the acting commanding officer, it had also given a detailed description of the Tiger Shark's upcoming mission.

Fellow crew mates,

Today is the last day of our shore leave. Report to the briefing room tomorrow at 0800 hours sharp. Our next mission begins as of then.

Signed,
Lieutenant commander Thirteen

Thirteen read what he'd composed, and sent the message to all crew members of the Tiger Shark. He turned to the message he'd received from admiral Magellan to read the exact contents of their mission once more, and prepared the briefing for tomorrow.

[T'Brel Peers]

When T'Brel heard Thirteen's announcement he almost lept for joy, the Tigershark had been in dock for to long. It was time that the ship and her crew got there feet wet again. ~Not to wet this time~ T'Brel thought as he looked at the night bridge crew. He had long ago gotten tired of wandering Assailant and so he usually just stayed on the Tigershark. In that time he got to know the ship better which as helmsman was essential.

It had become routine to see him working two and half shifts a day. Admiral Keztrek might have told him to stop working himself to death, but oddly enough he had not seen her in a few weeks. He wasn't worried about her, she knew how to take care of herself, but he couldn't help but wonder. T'Brel would take a half hour lunch and dinner break and then get back to work.

He was sure that there was no one in the fleet that knew the Tigershark better than he, well except for Admiral, Luke, J'leera, and Thirteen. Even though he had hated the waiting game it gave T'Brel valuable time to get to know some of the crew. His identity crisis had resolved itself, he could only be himself. With that in mind T'Brel made a conscience effort to socialize. At first it was just a hello to everyone he walked by, but it went to ~How are you?~ to ~Did you enjoy that holoprogram?~At first much of the crew were suspicious of him, but soon they to came to except the new T'Brel.

"Goodnight Commander," Ensign Barkley said as T'Brel stood from his console and walked towards the turbolift. He noticed that the ensign hadn't even looked at him, but knew that T'Brel left exactly at 2132 hours everyday.

"You to, Ensign Barkley," T'Brel replied smiling and then entered the turbolift. "Computer Deck 5, officer quarters."

~We are starting a new mission, I wonder what it will be?~ Auel asked.

~Can't you wait?~ Nara asked annoyed.

~I hope it involves some fancy flying~ Narte said gleefully.

"Don't you always," T'Brel smirked as he exited the lift and made his way towards his quarters where he would rest and prepare for a new mission.

[thirteen]

Exactly 8.5 seconds before 0800 Thirteen entered the Tiger Shark's briefing room. He noticed everyone was present, and took his place in front of the large wall console. At exactly 0800, as it had taken him exactly 8.5 seconds to acquire his position, just as he'd calculated, he began the mission briefing.

"Greetings everyone. Due to personal reasons admiral KezTrek will not accompany the Tiger Shark this mission. This fact is also the reason that you find me addressing you, instead of the admiral. Before I commence with the briefing I need to address two individuals in this room."

"Lieutenant Eddons. You have been officially instated as the U.S.S. Tiger Shark-B its chief engineering officer, I think a congratulations is in place. I am sure that you are all aware of the fact that commander Flanigan is no longer among us. Commander Kirk, you are appointed the position of acting first officer of the U.S.S. Tiger Shark-B until further notice."

"Those formalities set aside, let me begin with the mission briefing." Behind Thirteen the wall console displayed a small, rocky planet. "This is Federation colony Theonas-beta. The main activities executed by Starfleet on this planet are mining operations. One particular operation has let to the unintended collision of several mine venting shafts. Surprisingly enough the collision has revealed what has been interpreted as the entrance to an ancient temple." The screen behind Thirteen showed distorted and dark pictures of the collided vents, and the presumed temple entrance.

Thirteen let his eyes slide over the officers that sat in front of him. "Starfleet immediately halted all mining operations in the area, and set up force fields to preserve this phenomenon, as they like to describe it. No records exist about any cultures having ever existed on Theonas-beta, so this discovery came as a surprise. Whether this is truly a temple of a long forgotten culture, or whether this is something else is so far unknown. Our mission is to head to Theonas-beta and find out what has been uncovered in these mines."

"If questions have arisen among you, please feel free to ask me now, or later, whichever you prefer. If there are no comments I would like everyone to head to their stations, and commander Peers to commence the undocking procedure, and set a course for Theonas-beta."

[Deleted]

Leaving his quarters on the Starbase Kirk made his way to the Tiger Shark. He had been spending a lot of time on the Tiger Shark making sure the ship had been receiving all it's necessary supples and to over see any modifications that needed be be done.

He found it relaxing to be working close with the Engineering staff as apposed to working with the much faster pace bridge crew.

Things had been looking up for Kirk, the last couple of weeks had given himself a chance to vent all his frustrations and worries he had going on in his personal life. He was looking forward to a new mission, and new challenges.

Entering the meeting room Kirk took the time to greet the newer members of the crew as well as get the chance to talk with T'Brell before Commander Thirteen entered the room.

"I am sure that you are all aware of the fact that commander Flanigan is no longer among us. Commander Kirk, you are appointed the position of acting first officer of the U.S.S. Tiger Shark-B until further notice."

The news of the appointment as the Tiger Shark's acting first officer came to a shock to Kirk. He had expected for a new First Officer to be placed on the ship as it had been the last time they left the Starbase.

Looks like there is going to be a red tunic waiting for me in my quarters, Kirk thought as the meeting continued.

Kirk was happy this mission seemed as if the Tiger Shark was going to be able to make some discoveries about a possible ancient culture. It was going to be a nice change from surprise attacks and stealing starships.

"If questions have arisen among you, please feel free to ask me now, or later, whichever you prefer. If there are no comments I would like everyone to head to their stations, and commander Peers to commence the undocking procedure, and set a course for Theonas-beta."

Kirk waited as did everybody else to see if there were any questions.

[T'Brel Peers]

OOC: Ladies meaning, Kahlena and Amhil, sorry that I didn't respond to your post in the shore leave tread. That being said I'm going to write it in as if it happened. Also I'm going to add that something happened while we were running the simulation.

IC:

The briefing room was filled with the senior staff, well everyone but the CO, XO, and CTSO. Normally he would ponder this more, but his mind was elsewhere. He still couldn't look at Amhil and Kahlena in the face, not after what happened during there session. How was he suppose to know that they would fire at the same location at the same time at the precise moment that he was there?

He wasn't hurt of course, but his pride was in serious need of attention. He had like all Vulcan's boasted of his superior skills to other species and his companions of course didn't take to nicely to that and challenged him. He foolishly accepted and he was defeated quickly.

Since then he had been avoiding them, even though he knew it was illogical.

"Commander Kirk, you are appointed the position of acting first officer of the U.S.S. Tiger Shark-B until further notice."

Those words brought T'Brel back to the present and he found himself smiling at the news. John was more than qualified for the position and better yet he was his best friend. Hopefully he would be open to the idea of allowing T'Brel to do some extra curricular activities while he was on duty.

"If questions have arisen among you, please feel free to ask me now, or later, whichever you prefer. If there are no comments I would like everyone to head to their stations, and Commander Peers to commence the undocking procedure, and set a course for Theonas-beta."

"Yes, Commander there is one question," T'Brel said knowing that it might be a bit personal, but he wanted to know about there commanding officer," is Admiral Keztrek okay?"

<Tag Thirteen and everyone else>

[thirteen]

Thirteen looked at commander Peers. "I am unaware of the exact nature of admiral KezTrek her absence. However, knowing the admiral, I doubt it is anything we should worry about." Thirteen looked at the other officers that were present in the room. "If that was all, I would like everyone to take their stations."

Thirteen monitored how everyone sat down at their positions on the bridge. He looked at the captain's chair for a minute, before he sank down into it. It was a very comfortable chair, Thirteen had to agree. "Mister Peers, take the Tiger Shark out of Assailant, and set a course for Theonas-beta." A strange feeling came over Thirteen. The very first mission under his command was about to unfold.

[amhil]

Arriving at the Briefing room, Amhil noticed she was one of the first. She liked to arrive a little early, as she didn't mind waiting. Soon enough the turbolift opened with a swish and a moment later T'Brel entered the briefing room. Amhil nodded toward him, but she noticed her greeting was being ignored when he looked at anything but her. Amhil couldn't help but smirk a little as she concluded the commander was actually trying to avoid looking her in the face. Looking back at the simulation they had run, she could guess why.
The little workout had been fun, especially for Kahlena and Amhil, but the truth was that shooting T'Brel had been nothing but sheer luck. Well, for Amhil's part anyway, she wasn't too sure about Kahlena's shooting. However, right now, Amhil could only wonder about T'Brel's view of things. If she didn't know better, she would have described T'Brel's behavior as embarrassment. But that was just plain silly...right?

T'Brel was closely followed by Commander Kirk, who greeted everybody with enthusiasm. Amhil eyed the chronometer and noticed it was almost 08:00, and briefly wondered where Commander Thirteen was, before the ex-Borg himself walked in. He walked toward the console and at exactly eight o'clock (The chronometer jumped from 07:59 to 0:800) he began the mission briefing.

'Wow', Amhil thought. 'If he says 08:00 sharp, he means 08:00 sharp.' She proceeded to listen to him as he began the briefing. When she heard she had been promoted to Chief engineer, it didn't surprise her that much. In fact, she had been performing that job for the better part of the last mission, but she nodded thankfully when Thirteen congratulated her....something about officially being recognized as Chief engineer was different.

The mission, for once, didn't sound dangerous at all, and Amhil found she was relieved at the prospect that they could probably keep the ship in one piece for once. Although, thinking about it, their last assignment had been supposed to be a routine mission without any difficulties, too.

T'Brel asked the question that had been on all of their minds, and although they still didn't know much more about the admiral's situation after Thirteen answered it, Amhil wasn't too worried about her. For the short time Amhil had served aboard her ship, she had come to know the admiral as very....resourceful.

After the briefing, everyone took their stations and for some reason Amhil watched as Thirteen walked over to the captain chair. He regarded it with as much as emotion as someone would look at a replicator. However, when he proceeded to sit down in it gently and ordered T'Brel to set course to their new destination, Amhil noticed a slight flicker of...something in the ex-Borg's eyes. Proud?
Whatever it was, Amhil noticed she couldn't help but smile as she turned her attention toward the main screen. This would probably turn out to be an interesting mission, indeed.

[Deleted]

Kirk watched as everybody filed out of the briefing room, leaving for the moment only himself and Commander Thirteen. Kirk, giving the acting Captain a simple nod walked through the briefing doors and back onto the bridge.

I wonder how Starfleet Intelligence is liking the idea of having an ex-Borg Captain and an ex-Borg First Officer on the same ship, Kirk thought as he took his normal seat at the OPS station.

Kirk knew that prejudice had been long been erased from humanity, but fear was still there, and fear had always shown to be the stepping-stone to prejudice in the past. Taking his attention off of his thoughts, Kirk went right back into work going over all the various pre-launch systems.

After a few minutes Kirk turned around from his station, “Sir, all departments report in, we are ready to get underway.”

[T'Brel Peers]

T'Brel had noticed that Amhil had tried to catch his eyes all through the meeting, but he just couldn't get himself to look at her. He was just to embarrassed, but hopefully it would pass. Vulcan's like to look at beauty and Amhil defiantly was aesthetically pleasing as his father would say. Now that a mission was about to begin, he realized that his embarrassment would have to cease immediately. As helmsman he needed to be able to work with engineering and it's chief.

“Sir, all departments report in, we are ready to get underway.” Jon said from his console. This told T'Brel to prepare for the pre-launch sequence, but he had already done that. After a few more moments of last checkup's Thirteen ordered T'Brel to take the ship out.

"Aye," was his short and curt response. He had waited to do this for a very long time and he would enjoy it. The ship at first rocked a little and jittered a bit, but that was normal after a long stay without moving. After a few moments the Tigershark was finally free from Assailant and after a safe distance from the base he put the ship into warp.

"I do have a question by the way," T'Brel said turning to everyone," Thirteen do you want us to call you Captain?"

<Tag Everyone>

[thirteen]

The Tiger Shark rocked slightly as Assailant's docking clamps eased their grasp, and set the Akira free. Slowly but surely the Tiger Shark slid away from the starbase. Thirteen looked at the stars in the distance, and knew that his word would take them there. T'Brel engaged warp, and the Tiger Shark sped off in the direction of Theonas-beta.

Thirteen eyed T'Brel as he processed the question for a moment. "If that is how you wish to address me, feel free to do so. If you address me as you have always done, that is no problem either." Thirteen got up from the command chair. "I will be in the ready room if I am needed. I want a status report from all departments by the end of your shifts. Commander Kirk, you have the bridge."

The file on Theonas-beta appeared on the desktop screen as Thirteen sat down and entered some commands. The mining facility where they had to go did have a landing platform. Unfortunately an Akira class cannot land on the ground. Thirteen read through the list of facilities on Theonas-beta. There were five mining stations, one science center which was also the command center and an orbital facility. The orbital facility was mainly for defense, but it had also three docking bays to hold larger starships.

Thirteen composed a message to the command center of Theonas-beta, and requested one of the docking bays to be available for the Tiger Shark. He'd have to await the answer. He got up, and returned to the bridge where he relieved commander Kirk and took his place in the command chair again. "Commander Peers, what is our estimate time of arrival?"

[kahlena]

Kahlena had fun in the workout, but found now was a time when she thought things were going to go wrong for her. She wasn't sure what it was, but she had bad feelings all around.

Kahlena decided to go aboard the starbase one last time. She wasn't sure what she was looking for, but she knew it was something.

A little bit later, after a long goose chase, Kahlena headed back toward the ship. Suddenly when she went to board the Tiger Shark, she found it was gone!

“No, this can’t be happening to me,” she said and went over to a nearby console to see exactly when the ship left. Kahlena groaned.

“This is a disaster. I must see the admiral now,” Kahlena said and headed to find him.


Once she tracked him down, as he was located in his office, and she chimed. Kahlena was admitted quicker than she thought she would be, and walked over standing at attention before his desk.

“Sir, I have a very serious problem, and was hoping we could discuss it.”

[Magellan Lin]

OOC: JP between me and Kahlena

IC:

Magellan looked up from his desk as the Skorr entered, he checked the time, he had an hour before the new Romulan Ambassadors welcome reception. "Yes Commander what can I do for you... seat?"

"Missed it! I wasn't aware the TigerShark had left yet." His eyes took on a distant gaze and then focused oncemore, "Oh yes they have gone havent they." He shook his head. He could feel Gethin and Brysons consciousnesses begin to surface and Lorans, her strength pushing through. He needed another isoboramine shot, each one seemed to last shorter and shorter, "Errrrmmm Sorry, where was I... Left oh... perhaps we could get you a shuttle?"

"Sir, they are a good six or seven days out by shuttle now, and getting father away by the minute."

"Really A week already, are you sure... yes well I guess you would be" concentrating was getting harder, Loran was nearly there he could feel her negativity pervading him, "Well what do you think you were doing, Its YOUR responsibility to ensure your on deck at the right time"

Kahlena noticed a small change in him, and wondered what was going on. He crossed his legs, and that got her thinking. "Yes, I guess your right on that. I should have been more aware of when they were leaving. As for why I wasn't on the ship, well that's very personal," Kahlena said and continued to watch the admiral very curious as to what is going on.

Magellan eyed the replicator, he needed that isoboramine shot. "Yes well we all make mistakes" he added reiging his disparate hosts, "Well for now I guess we can add you to the duty roster here"

"That sounds good, sir, perhaps my services could be of use to someone here. I had a feeling I was needed, but not how. Are you alright, sir?"

"I m fine" he snapped, then smiled, "Sorry.. long day and I have one of those interminable functions with diplomats and then a mayoral election to oversee. You can check in with my Chief of Staff... Dr Stuart Mercy, he'll probably be in the Civilian Hospital... Oh and see Commander F'rras on the way out he can assign you quarters if you need them... now if you dont mind I really need to freshen up" he glanced again at the repicator.

"Thank you sir, I appreciate this," Kahlena said and left figuring she was dismissed.

Magellan stood and showed Kahlena out as soon as the door shut he was at the replicator.

[thirteen]

Thirteen eyed the view screen. The stars drew lines of light as the Tiger Shark sped by at multiple times the speed of light. The day was nearing its end, and the so was the daytime work shift. The night shift crew entered the bridge, and Thirteen headed to the ready room where he expected to find the requested reports from all department heads. Kahlena's lacked.

=/\= This is commander Thirteen to commander Kahlena, please report. =/\= No response came. =/\= Commander Kahlena respond. =/\= Static. "Computer locate commander first class Kahlena." *Commander first class Kahlena is not on board.* Thirteen was perplexed for a moment, as he couldn't entirely process what was going on. "Computer compose a list of all officers on board the Tiger Shark at the moment of departure." A list of names rolled over the computer screen on the desk.

Commander Kahlena is not on the list. How can I not have noticed her absence during this mission briefing? Thirteen questioned. He called up the data records from the internal sensors of the briefing room, and searched for the date and time of the briefing. There was no sign of Kahlena. Thirteen leaned back in his chair. My first time as commanding officer, and I forget one of my crew members. He simply could not believe it.

He composed a message to admiral Magellan, and decided to tell the crew tomorrow. They were too far from Assailant to head back and pick Kahlena up. They'd arrive at Theonas-beta in the night of the day after tomorrow. Thirteen felt how commanding a ship took more energy than he normally needed, and acknowledged that he needed to regenerate. He left the ready room, greeted the night shift crew, got into the turbolift, and headed for his alcove.

[Deleted]

His shift had been over for sometime now but Kirk had just finished going through the extra stacks of PADDs that found their way to the OPS console. Kirk noticed Thirteen still sitting vigilantly going over all matters that concern the captain of a star ship.

Once he had finished putting his signature on the PADDs, Kirk uploaded all the information onto a single PADD, places his security code over it and proceeded to hand it off to Thirteen before leaving the bridge.

Walking to lengths of the corridors in the ship Kirk was happy to know that the ship was running in prime condition, all the systems checked out, and with the exception of one missing crew member everything seemed to running like clock work.

Kirk finally walked the distance to his quarters and as he stepped in the first thing his eyes met with was a brand new red tunic lying across his front room chair. He could not help but smile at the look of the red tunic.

Command, Kirk thought to himself, it is what I have always wanted. Looking at the chronometer Kirk decided he would head to the crew lounge. Kirk remembered that T'Brel had mentioned he was going to be there after his shift was over.

Kirk turned on his heels and started to walk out of his quarters when suddenly he stopped. His face cracked into a small smile and he turned once again to face the new red tunic. After a quick change Kirk made his way out of his quarters and found his way to the crew lounge. He was surprised to find it as busy as it was for the time, but remembered that there was a bit of down time as the Tiger Shark was not expected to arrive for some time.

<Tag anyone who wants to chat>

[amhil]

The Tiger Shark was on it's way to their new destination and hopefully something that promised to be an interesting mission. The night shift had taken over and most of the day crew were off duty, either educating themselves on the Theonas-Beta colony, resting, or hanging around in the crew's lounge. Amhil was doing the latter, though she was obsorbed in her work, which for once didn't involve the ship's engineering department at all.

Sitting in one of the corners and keeping a table all for herself, she was tinkering with a device which was about the size of her fist. A pad with some drawings and schematics was laying besides her on the table, but she didn't pay much attention to it. She had, after all, made several of these already. The schematics showed the inside of an old camera model, though the original document had been modified. Little notes had been added here and there by the chief engineer herself, as well as some schematic modifications. Improvising with modern technology, Amhil had modified the photo camera into something that could be called it's own kind of model, though it still leaned heavily on it's 21th century predecessor.

Re-attaching one of the lenses back to the body, Amhil quickly added something to the pad before taking the camera and adjusting the lens as she looked through it. It looked quite promising and Amhil was eager to try it out.

Armed with the camera, Amhil scanned the lounge as she tried to locate a target. She spotted T'Brel sitting by himself at one of the tables. Just when she was about to take the shot, she noticed T'Brel looking the other way and greeting someone who had just came in. Looking over her camera, Amhil noticed that Kirk was walking towards T'Brel's table, wearing his new red uniform. T'Brel, gesturing towards the uniform, said something that made Kirk laugh. Amhil spotted the small hint of pride on Kirk's face as he looked down at his uniform, and couldn't help but smile to herself.

FLASH

Blinking their eyes, while turning to look at Amhil sheepishly, both Kirk and T'Brel looked quite surprised by the sudden bright flash of light followed by the high pitched whir of Amhil's camera. Grinning, she shrugged and lowered her camera.

“That one is going straight into my photo album.” She said, while checking the display of her camera. She noticed the contrast was way too high, and the picture really wasn't the best she had ever taken, but there just was something about taking pictures with a camera you built yourself that was special. And of course the moment she had caught was really nice, so she mentally made a note to give a copy of the photo to Kirk later.

[T'Brel Peers]

T'Brel was not accustomed to be leaving the bridge so early, but he didn't have a valid reason for staying. The night shift helm officer was more than capable of flying a starship, so there was no worry there. Maybe it was the fact that he had become used to the idea of working until late at night. What ever the case may be it was to early for him to go to his quarters, so he decided to go to the lounge which by now would be brimming with officers, crewman, and civilians.

Just as he had predicted, T'Brel found the lounge filled with people eating, talking, and a certain engineer tinkering with some sort of device. T'Brel for some reason unbeknown to him stared at Amhil. The only reason he stopped was his fear of being caught.

~Someone likes a certain engineer~ Selin said laughing.

"Shut up, Selin," T'Brel said which caused the crewman next to him to look at him with confusion. T'Brel just shrugged it off and sat down. He would order some food shortly, but he for now felt comfortable looking into the crowd and guessing what people were thinking. After a short while, he saw himself staring at Amhil again. Luckily for him she was busy building something and didn't notice him.

After a few minutes of this unnoticed staring, T'Brel finally looked away and was met with a surprising sight.
"Couldn't help yourself could you?" T'Brel said with a sly smile," I don't know, I like yellow on you better."

<Tag Kirk>

As he was responding, a bright flash of light went off near by which temporarily made him blind which was followed by a smell of something burning. After T'Brel's eyes recovered he looked in the direction of the light. To his surprise it was Amhil holding a rather old looking camera.

“That one is going straight into my photo album.” She said.

"So how did it turn out?" T'Brel asked realizing that it was the first time he talked to her since the little incident on the holodeck.

<Tag Amhil, Kirk>

[Deleted]

Looking around the lounge Kirk finally found T'Brel sitting by himself. He found it odd that T'Brel was sitting by himself since T'Brel was normally the life of any event. Kirk slowly strolled up to his friend trying to be as casual about wearing the new uniform as he possible could.

"Couldn't help yourself could you?" T'Brel said with a sly smile," I don't know, I like yellow on you better."

Kirk could not help himself but laugh, it was true, he could not help himself.

"You know-" Kirk started to speak when a bright flash caused him to stop mid sentence. Kirk turned his head and to his surprise Lt. Eddons, the ships new Chief Engineer was holding an old fashioned camera.

The sight of the camera brought a big child like smile to Kirk's face. Even as a young child he had always had a fascination with old Earth devices, cameras in particular had always grabbed his attention.

“That one is going straight into my photo album.” Eddons said.

"So how did it turn out?" T'Brel asked.

Kirk quickly jumped in, "Did you get my good side?"

<Tag Eddons>

[thirteen]

Thirteen opened his eyes and got out of his alcove. The last day of their journey toward Theonas-beta had begun. He replicated a new and clean uniform, and put it on before he headed for the bridge. It was 0400 as Thirteen entered and relieved the night shift officer, and sat down in the command chair.

The day passed without any mentionable facts, and the night fell soon. "What is our ETA commander Peers?" "We'll arrive at Theonas-beta in exactly one hour, fifty eight minutes and sixteen seconds sir," T'Brel replied. "Excellent, commander Kirk inform the orbital station on our status and have them prepare for our arrival." Kirk nodded, and went to the ops console.

"Commander, we're nearing our destination," T'Brel said from the helm. "On screen." The gray, rocky planet appeared on the main view screen, and the orbital station could be seen revolving the colony. "Open a channel to the orbital station," Thirteen said.

=/\= Greetings! I am commander Thirteen, acting commanding officer of the starship U.S.S. Tiger Shark-B, we would like to dock at your station. =/\= =/\= Roger that Tiger Shark, we've been expecting you, roll her in. =/\= "Commander," Thirteen said nodding at T'Brel. T'Brel gently took the Tiger Shark closer to the station, and communicated it into the docking bay that had been prepared for them.

=/\= All senior officers report to the observation lounge for briefing =/\= Thirteen notified as he got up from his chair and headed for the lounge. When everyone had taken their seats, Thirteen got up from his and fired away. "I know it is late, and I will let you off to bed in mere minutes. As I have only little to say, I prefer to do so now. This away mission will be different from those we are used to. Being able to dock in this orbital station has provided us the rare opportunity to go on an away mission with the entire senior crew. For team building but also for social purposes, I find that we should all go together. As it is late and you need your energy tomorrow we will not leave early, I want everyone in the docking bay at 1000 hours tomorrow morning. I wish you all a good night. And if there are no questions; dismissed."

[T'Brel Peers]

The process lasted only a few minutes, which was a bit faster than T'Brel liked. It didn't feel right to dock the Tigershark to the station, which to him was illogical. Why would he care if the ship was once again attached to a motionless station?
Almost as soon as the ship was docked Thirteen called for an impromptu briefing. T'Brel secretly hoped that it would take a long time, but that wasn't the case. After being informed that this would sort of an outing for the senior crew, Timbrel's mind came up with some fun possibilities.

~A good prank never hurt anyone~ Selin said feeling mischievous. It seemed that everyone was feeling this way because no one objected. As everyone filed out of the briefing,

T'Brel noticed that most of them had their heads held low. It seemed that something was sapping everyone's energy. Could it be that in the past few weeks they became accustomed to shopping, eating, and having fun?

"What's wrong guys?" T'Brel asked Amhil and Jon.

<Tag Amhil, Jon>

"You guys are acting like we're eighty years old," T'Brel said as he grabbed both of them and led them to the turbolift. "Do you guys want to do anything fun tonight?"

<Tag anyone>

[amhil]

"I didn't realise you had a bad side." Amhil answered Kirk's question jokingly, while getting up.

"I think it turned out quite nice for a snapshot, though I see I still have to tweak the design a little." She said as she looked at the display critically. T'Brel and Kirk eyed the camera eagerly, waiting for Amhil to show them the finished photo. Noticing their interest, Amhil grinned a little and shrugged.

"Not now, however, because I've got ... things to do, we'll be arriving in a few hours and I just want to check in engineering, to see if everything is running properly. " She said, and deliberately did not offer to show her fellow crew mates the photo, because she liked teasing them. It was true she wanted to check with engineering, though. It seemed like a weird thing to do, seeing as they would dock with the orbital station and wouldn't rely on the ship too heavily on this mission. She said goodbye and left her fellow crew mates, who seemed a little disappointed but immediately continued their conversation.

Everything was running smoothly in engineering, and Amhil hadn't expected any different. Still she kept hovering inside her domain for a while before retreating to her quarters. She had nothing to do for now and it was getting late. However, she had no intention to go to bed yet, because she didn't want to be called into a debriefing half asleep. While absent-mindedly doodling in her sketchbook, Amhil regretted the fact she had the left the crew lounge so early, even though she was sure both T'Brel and Kirk were probably on the bridge right now, both not wanting to miss their arrival either.

Soon enough the Tiger Shark arrived at the station and the call came in from Thirteen for the senior crew to report at the observation lounge. Yawning a little, Amhil made her way to the lounge and before long she found herself in the middle of a very short but to-the-point debriefing. The engineer was eager to get down to the ruins and get to work, but did feel a little sleepy right now. Yawning again, she noticed T'brel staring at Kirk and her with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“What's wrong you guys?” He asked, and Amhil shrugged, looking at Kirk and noticing he, too, was half covering a yawn.

“Just tired, I guess. A few weeks of shore leave can get that strict Starfleet routine out of your system.” She answered T'Brel's question and started to stretch as everybody stood up.

“You guys are acting like we're eighty years old,” T'brel said as he grabbed the both of them before Amhil could protest and began pushing them gently but firmly to the turbolift. “Do you guys want to do anything fun tonight?”

“Define 'fun'.” She answered, eyeing T'B'rel with a certain suspicion, as she allowed herself to be led to the turbolift.

[Deleted]

The docking process went as smoothly, there was not any doubt in Kirk's mind that it would go any other way. T'Brel was an excellent pilot and Kirk trusted his good friend completely. Once the docking sequence was complete everybody on the bridge watched as Thirteen called for a quick meeting.

The meeting ended soon enough but as everybody began to file out of the room Kirk noticed a grin growing on T'Brel's face. Kirk could feel that T'Brel had other things on his mind then sleeping.

"What's wrong guys?" T'Brel asked Amhil and Jon.

"It is getting close to my regeneration time." Kirk replied.

"You guys are acting like we're eighty years old," T'Brel said as he grabbed both of them and led them to the turbolift. "Do you guys want to do anything fun tonight?"

“Define 'fun'.” Amhil replied.

Kirk got amusement out of the Chief Engineers quick wit, because he was thinking the same thing.

"What do you have in mind T'Brel?" Kirk finally asked.

[T'Brel Peers]

T'Brel's definition of fun was very different than his two companions. Even though T'Brel loved to do fun active things, he would rather enjoy a good book or meditate for hours. He was sure that both of them would object and go straight to there quarters. Yet there was one thing that he was sure would capture there attention.

"Well guys I have been reading up on the planet and I discovered that the planet only experiences five hours of night," T'Brel explained.

"Yeah and?" Jon asked. T'Brel didn't respond to his friend as he exited the lift and headed towards the transporter room. Waiting for them were three old fashion cameras. "Since both of you like photography I was wondering if you two were up for a bit of site seeing."

<Tag Amhil and Jon>

OOC: By the way we could always get in trouble for something, lol and sorry that it's so short and took me so long to respond.

[thirteen]

There was no need for Thirteen to regenerate, as he'd done so the night before. He decided to spend the hours left until their departure on completing the preparations and finishing reading the last data on Theonas-beta and its history. Scrolling through the colony's logs Thirteen found out that several items, all on specific fates, were no longer available. He popped up some logs from the days before, and found an interesting article.

...
Several earthquakes have occurred around mining sector 5B. The cause of the tremors is unknown.
...

Thirteen searched on, and found several similar messages, all from dates which preceded a day where data was missing. That is strange, Thirteen thought, they know something they do not want to share. He searched the entire database, but was unable to retrieve any of the missing documents. Mining sector 5B is where the apparent temple is. It was possible that several sections of the temple had collapsed, causing the ground to shift. They'd have to be extremely careful.

The next day rose, and Thirteen was already present in the orbital station's docking bay at 0930, where he aligned the gear for the senior crew, and made the final adjustments to their tricorders. At 0954 everyone was present. "Good morning, I hope you have slept well," Thirteen began, "as you see I have your gear here. Everyone will be equipped with a tricorder, a thermo suit, an oxygen helmet, and a phaser, except for commander Kirk and myself, who will carry phaser rifles."

"Thermo suits? Oxygen helmets?" T'Brel asked. "We are going deep under ground, approximately a kilometer and a half. That means that it is very cold down there, and that there is not enough oxygen. Very well, gear up everyone." Once everyone had managed to force themselves into the suits and helmets, the party went on their way to the orbital station's transporter room.

They were delivered on site, where a couple of employees from the mining station awaited them. "Greetings gentlemen," Thirteen said as he approached the men. "G'day sir! So, you's going down ay?" "That is correct." "Righ', well as you can imagine, we can't beam you fr'm here t' down there, so you's gonna have to take the elevator. It'll take you five minutes to reach the bottom."

The Tiger Shark's senior officers hoisted themselves onto the elevator. It started its descend. They could feel that it went pretty fast for an elevator. The light above them got less and less, and after three minutes there was nothing but darkness and the wind. Eventually the elevator slowed down, and it came to a halt in the middle of the darkness. "I presume that we have reached the bottom of the shaft," Thirteen concluded as he switched on the light mounted in his helmet.

Everyone followed the ex-Borg's example, and soon the shaft was filled with light. "Look!" Amhil said, and everyone turned to look where she pointed. A magnificent gate of engraved stone stood in front of them. "What would it mean?" Kirk asked. Thirteen got his tricorder out, and scanned the gate. "The database it not able to translate the inscriptions," Thirteen said eying the device in his hand, "perhaps we will find answers inside. Let us venture forth."

[Deleted]

Kirk stepped onto the bridge feeling different this morning. Last night he had done something he had not done in a long while, photography. The sights were nothing that he had ever seen in his travels before and he could not wait to get the images downloaded to his personal computer in his quarters.

Walking over to the OPS station Kirk greeted the junior officer that was now filling his station. Old habits die hard, Kirk thought as he took a stack of duty roster PADDs from the OPS officer.

Kirk had found the transition from OPS to Command a smooth transfer since most of the duties of the First Officer mirrored that of the OPS officer, with a few more added responsibilities here and there.

Checking the time Kirk made his way from the bridge of the Tiger Shark to the docking bay to report in for the quick briefing before they advanced into the mining shafts.

"Good morning, I hope you have slept well," Thirteen began, "as you see I have your gear here. Everyone will be equipped with a tricorder, a thermo suit, an oxygen helmet, and a phaser, except for commander Kirk and myself, who will carry phaser rifles."

The entire senior staff suited up quickly, then proceeded to double check the oxygen settings, controls and back up systems on each other suits. Going into a situation such as the one they were about to embark on was not something they all did often. Safety was the first priority. After Kirk was done suiting up he checked the power and settings on the phaser rifles, then handed one to Thirteen while he kept one as Thirteen had ordered.

The elevator ride down to the bottom of the shaft felt longer than five minutes. Kirk wasn't a claustrophobic man but there was always something to be said about being dropped into a dark shaft with little or no light available. Finally the elevator came to an abrupt stop.

"I presume that we have reached the bottom of the shaft," Thirteen concluded as he switched on the light mounted in his helmet.

Kirk clicked on the twin lights mounted on his helmet as well as the single light mounted on the phaser rifle. The mining tunnel was dark, and one could easily snag their suits on the razor sharp edges of the rocks.

The away team walked deeper into the tunnel until Amhil noticed some writing on a stone slab directly in front of them. Kirk eyed the strange writing and thinking out loud he said, "What would it mean?"

Kirk watched as Thirteen bent down close to the slab and used his tricorder to quickly analyze the writings, "The database it not able to translate the inscriptions," Thirteen said eying the device in his hand, "perhaps we will find answers inside. Let us venture forth."

"Agreed." Kirk replied taking the point position.

off: it's late, i will add more tomorrow.

[T'Brel Peers]

The suits were rather uncomfortable, but it meant nothing if they discovered something. Last night had been a rather special moment. He had never thought that nature might stir in him such a powerful emotion. He fully came to realize why his two friends valued the power of a photograph.

That of course was last night, at the present time they were walking through a narrow passage way that held writing that presumably was thousands of years old. He was positive that the tricorders would not be able to decipher the language. As far as he could tell the language most closely looked like Breen or Cardassian. The only problem with that was the fact that neither species had anything in common which probably meant that his conclusion was false.

He would make it a priority to find out what the language said, but right now he wanted to find out more. As the senior staff investigated more, he realized that there surroundings were getting smaller and smaller as they went deeper into the cave. Pretty soon they were walking in single file line until they came up to an opening filled with artifacts and a flashing red button.

"What is that?" T'Brel asked.

<Tag Everyone>