Mission: Tzenketh Revisited

[KezTrek]

KezTrek went straight to her ready room the morning after Luke's party. Paul Drew was due to arrive later that day, and she had some things to do before he did. In a few more days she'd have whatever information it was that her 'friend' at Starfleet Intelligence had managed to gather but in the mean time she wanted to take a closer look at the information she already had.

It took her a few minutes to remove the data chip from her ankle, but once it was out and cleaned, she was able to slip it straight into the key that would unlock it, and load it onto her personal system, taking great care to ensure it didn't leek into the main computer core.

She started with the crew's reports, reading through them again, all basic observations, factual reports on what happened, it didn't tell her anything new. She moved onto sensor records, but again, it was all things she knew. The information they'd downloaded from the computers that Alaska and her team had in their base was the most fruitful of all the information she had. The star charts Luke had discovered, were a vast mix.

They showed dozens of systems, both in federation space and outside it, some of them were even from the Gamma Quadrant, and more surprisingly, from the delta quadrant... along with several regions, neither she, nor the computer seemed to recognise.

Where were they? What exactly was in all these regions of space?

She looked further into the files collected, there were reams of information about the Tzenkethi, most of it was about there physiology... what was so fascinating about Tzenkethi physiology? KezTrek wondered, digging deeper to try and find answers. A lot of it went over her head, frankly, she was no doctor, and while she knew something about almost everything, most of the information contained in the files was beyond her.

Maybe her contact would be able to shed some light on things; she didn't want to involve her crew... not yet anyway.

*beep, beep*

KezTrek hit the cancel button on her computer console before taking out the key and slipping it into her pocket along with the chip. "Enter." She called.

The door opened to reveal a face KezTrek was very pleased to see.

"Permission to come aboard Admiral KezTrek?" her visitor asked.

"Granted Admiral Drew. Welcome to the Tigershark." KezTrek said getting up to greet her old friend with a hug.

"It's good to see you Paul. Did you have a pleasant trip?" KezTrek asked.

"Oh yes... I brought my latest toy." Drew said his eyes lighting up.

"Dare I ask?" KezTrek asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Ask nicely enough and I might let you play with it too." Drew said with a wink.

KezTrek laughed, as she ordered drinks for them from the replicator.

"So how have you been?" KezTrek asked Drew as they sat down on the sofa that sat under her windows.

"Same old, what about you, I hear you had some excitement around here recently." Drew said.

"You could say that. I have a new first officer, who less than a week ago was a wanted criminal." KezTrek said.

"Oh God not another of your 'projects'." Drew said.

"No. Sam wasn't entirely responsible for his own actions."

"Sam... K'Vada, the Tigershark's old CO... why am I not surprised... only you would take him on as your XO after he tried to kill a top ambassador. Responsible for his actions or not."

"And of course none of your crew ever tried to kill anyone or do anything less than legal." KezTrek smirked.

Drew glared, but conceded with a nod.

"Come on, drink you, Daniel is on duty this morning, but I'm sure Paul Andrew would be delighted to see you, it'll be a nice surprise for him."

As Drew and KezTrek both finished up there drinks and left the ready room, KezTrek stopped on the bridge to let them know where she would be, and check that everything was all in working order before heading with Drew back to her quarters.

"Every the Captain." Drew said.

"I learnt that from you." KezTrek told him.

"And here I thought you never listened to a word I said." Drew joked.

"Who said I did listen... I learnt through observation, not through listening, you're as bad as me for saying one thing and doing another. 'Do as I say and not as I do'." KezTrek mimicked laughing, as the turbolift opened on her deck.

Rear Admiral KezTrek
Commanding Officer

OFF: OKay boys and girls the new mission is starting, we aren't leaving space dock IMMIDIATELY however so you don't all have to rush to your stations, but we will be leaving dock soon so I want you all prep'd and ready.

[lohnen]

Danny woke up with a headache. Not a hangover, a real headache. He remembered reading a lecture by Doctor Beverly Crusher who kept insisting that headaches didn't exist in the 24th century anymore. Yeah right! Still, if it persisted he would have to find Doctor Buster for a painkiller. After two weeks of it, he had run out of his own private pain killer stash. He had assembled his private stash on Earth because most starship doctors were quite reluctant to hand them out without complete bio-physical neuro exams.

After a quick shower, his headache had subsided and Danny went to the mess hall to get his breakfast. It would be a long day, checking supplies, refilling stocks and reading Marine "report in" padds. It was necessary. Everything had to be lickety split before they left Spacedock, but it was exactly this preparation Danny hated most.

In the mess hall he bumped into Rye. "Morning. Having breakfast?" Rye shouted cheerfully from the other side of the mess hall. Danny nodded. "Mind if I join you?" Rye said, still standing on the other side of the fairly large 10-forward mess hall. "Not at all," Danny yelled back, "I could use the company!" After having ordered a double coffee, a plate-full of hamm and eggs, two donuts and a bagel, Danny said down. Rye joined him shortly after. "So, how have you been? Enjoying yourself on shoreleave?" Danny asked.

<TAG: Rye>

After breakfast Danny went on his daily walk through the ship. He liked to kid himself that it was a Security check, but frankly, he just liked to walk around the ship and pretend it was his. He reached the Bridge. "Morning Admiral," he said. Admiral kezTrek returned a quick hello before she left the Bridge. Danny joined Thirteen behind the Tactical console for a while, but then he had to face the inevitable: He had to check the Marine supplies. Danny walked grumpily to the turbolift. The doors closed behind him. "Deck 5."

After an excruciatingly slow morning, all Marine supplies had been checked, the armory had been refilled and Danny had overseen the arrival of a new company of Marines on the Tigershark. Some of them still looked wet behind the ears, but he would drill that out of them soon enough. As far as the Marine Corps was concerned, the Tigershark was good to go.

[Deleted]

On the shuttle Hornblower…

Taking a slip from his cup of tea, Paul Drew keyed in the final commands into the flight computer. According to the latest display readings it would be another thirty minutes before his shuttle met with the Tiger Shark.

En route he had been reading the latest reports coming out of the Tiger Shark, her recent missions had sparked a lot of interest in the region. Of course Drew had another reason for keeping track of the Tiger Shark’s missions, his old First Officer and friend KezTrek was now in command of the ship.

It had been a lengthy trip from Starbase Assailant, but the Hornblower was one of Starfleet latest shuttle designs. It had almost everything that an officer could wish for, plus a few personal touches that Drew had made himself, including a built in micro holodeck.

“Approaching USS Tiger Shark,” the calm voice of the computer reported.

“Open hailing frequencies,” Drew ordered, “This is the shuttle Hornblower requesting permission to dock.”

“Welcome Hornblower,” a male voice said, “Permission is granted, you are clear to dock in shuttlebay two.”

“Thank you Tiger Shark,” Drew said, bringing the shuttle into dock, “approaching now.”

It took a few moments for docking process to be complete, during that time Drew took a good look at the size of the shuttlebay. The Akira class, to which Tiger Shark belonged, were famous for their large spacious bays, capable of holding Federation fighters.

Finally the shuttle was docked, with a few clicks at the keyboard, the power began to shut down, as Drew walked out onto the ship.

Per Starfleet tradition there was a small group of officers awaiting him in greeting, one of whom piped him aboard the ship.

“At ease,” Drew said smiling, as the officers stood smartly at attention.

Out of the shuttlebay, Drew asked the computer to instruct him as to where KezTrek was, learning she was in her ready room, Drew headed for the nearest turbolift. Stepping out onto the deck, all the officers again stood to attention as someone called out “Admiral on the deck!”

Drew again smiled, and told them to be at ease, as he approached KezTrek’s ready room, and waited for her to admit him.

(Conversation from Kez’s post)

Alone in KezTrek’s quarters, Drew pulled out the padd that was the other reason he had come to see Kez.

“This is the latest info I could dig up before leaving SBA,” he said handing her the padd, “what’s the latest your end?”

[KezTrek]

“This is the latest info I could dig up before leaving SBA,” Drew said handing KezTrek a padd, “what’s the latest your end?”

"I'm meeting an old... friend... on the Starbase day after tomorrow." KezTrek told him. "He has information he didn't want to share over communication channels."

"That's never a good thing." Drew commented.

"Nothing about this is good Paul, I felt it before and I still feel it." KezTrek said. The tone of her voice was even, but Drew knew her, he could hear the unspoken words she was sure, the words she hadn't spoken even to herself, the ones that told her, whatever was going on here maybe bigger than she was able to handle.

~~~~~

*Two days later*

KezTrek had tried to keep her mind off this meeting the last two days. Having Paul around helped, she had missed him, even though it hadn't really been that long since she'd seen him, it felt like longer. And the chance to spend more time with her family had been nice.

Still it was a little after midnight, the stations promenade was still lively, but most of the habitat sections were quiet, parents had put there children to bed and few people were seen walking the hallways.

The quarters she entered were leased to a Klingon who was staying on the station, another 'old friend' who didn't ask too many questions when she'd asked him to come to Bellicose.

She hadn't seen him at all while he was here, but she knew where he was and he owed her enough that he was willing to play her games... and a game it was, because that’s all it every was. It was a game KezTrek thought she was through with when she took command of the Tigershark, but maybe it was a game you were never really done playing.

KezTrek heard the whine of a transporter and saw the shadowed form looking around the dark room, she waited until she was certain he was alone before revealing herself.

"I see you haven't lost your ability to hide in plain sight."

"And you haven't lost your ability to procrastinate. Tell me what you know."

"Always so sharp... so direct... I always liked that about you."

"As I recall you weren't so found of the sharp end of me... nor my bat'leth, don't tempt me to reintroduce you to it." KezTrek said, growing impatient.

Her companion smiled.

"These are all the details I could gather and I think it is safe to say they do not even scratch the surface. There are several scientists and engineers missing across the boards, all with very... interesting... fields of study. The one you might most be interested in is Sianna Ako, a Trill. The Ako symbiots current host is a councellor, but this is what I'm sure you'll find interesting... the previous hosts include an engineer and a bio-geneticist."

"And why exactly is she the person I'd be most interested in?"

"Six weeks before she disappeared, she was in a mental institute on Earth, she was in for mild depression, by the end of it they were treating her for hallucinations... sound familiar?"

"Sickeningly. What else can you tell me?" KezTrek asked.

"Everything I could find out is on that disk... but I did learn that *someone* isn't pleased that you removed the team from Tzenketh... but of course no one can touch you without drawing attention to themselves... I couldn't get a name... but it's someone high up I know that... and what's more Tzenketh wasn't the only planet they were carrying out experiments on."

"Did anyone catch you while you were... borrowing... this information?"

"Admiral you wound me..."

"Not yet." KezTrek murmured seeing the flash of a phaser as the man before her crumpled to the floor.

"Keep him until I give orders to the contrary. Orders that must come in person. If I don't return, do what has to be done." KezTrek said into the darkened room. She could see the shadow on the far side, barely, in the dim light, but she knew it was there and she felt rather than saw the nod of agreement.

KezTrek left the quarters by the quickest root possible and returned to the more populated areas of the Starbase where Drew was waiting for her.

Drew didn't say anything as he slid a cup of Raktjino towards her over the table he was seated at, but the looks exchanged said everything.

'Did you get it'

'Yes'

The drank in almost silence, taking the time to be seen before heading back to the Tigershark.

KezTrek led them straight to her ready room and locked the door.

All night they poured over the files she'd been given, bits and pieces of information that made little sense but all seemed to point to some bigger picture that they just weren't getting.

It was almost 0600 when they stopped.

"What now?" Drew asked.

"Tzenketh... I want to go back there." KezTrek told him.

"Do you think you'll find anything new?"

"No. Maybe. I don't know, but there are a billion little puzzle pieces laid out before me and I can't seem to connect any of them. Tzenketh is where this mystery started..."

"How do you plan on explaining to Starfleet that you want to go back?" Drew asked.

"I wasn't exactly planning on explaining it. If you want to go back to Assailant I won't blame you." KezTrek said.

"And miss out on the chance to break regs, take a ship into a potentially hostile situation and save the universe... not a chance." Drew said with a reassuring smile.

This was one of the things she loved about Drew... he was a cantankerous ol' Admiral occasionally, but his crew had long followed him into hell and back because they knew he'd do the same for them.

KezTrek nodded. "I'll recall the crew."

KezTrek left orders on the bridge to recall all crewmembers, before both of them returned to there quarters for a few hours to sleep, but before 0900 they were both awake again and on the bridge... in a way it reminded KezTrek of the days on the Fang when sleep was sometimes as great a commodity to them as Latinum was to a Ferengi.

"Rear Admiral KezTrek to all senior staff, please report to the briefing room." She ordered.


Rear Admiral KezTrek
Commanding Officer

[blaster89]

BEEP – BEEP. “The time is 0700. The time is 0700 hours.”

Rye sat bolt upright, scanning his surroundings immediately. He was unsure where he was, and all he saw was a standard Starfleet room. And these were definitely not his.

”Computer, Where am I?”

”You are on the Starbase Bellicose.”

Ah, Rye thought to himself. He now recalled the party for Luke the night before, and going into his temporary quarters. He took a sonic shower, and went out of his quarters feeling fresh after the previous night. Rye went through the umbilical port into the Tiger Shark, and made his way to engineering. Lt. Moir greeted him a good morning, and Rye asked how everything was. He reported that all things were functioning normally. Rye went into his office adjacent to the engine room, and checked a few work reports, and communiqués from Starfleet regarding some maintenance required on all Type-13 warp cores.

(=/\=) ”Fitzpatrick to Lenneth. Please go to junction A-348, and replace the preaminating flow module with the one found in the replicators under file “0045 TSB Alpha 71”

”Understood commander. Lenneth out.” (=/\=)

Rye made sure all things were in order, and once he was done, he went up to the bridge to see how preparations to depart were coming along. He arrived to see Admiral Keztrek, and another Admiral conversing on the bridge.

”Good Morning Mamn, Sir.”

”Good Morning Rye. Paul, this is our chief engineer, Commander Rye Fitzpatrick. Rye this is an old friend of mine, Admiral Paul Drew.”

”Good morning Commander.”

”Good morning Admiral Drew. Welcome onboard the Tiger Shark.”

”Thanks, Rye.

Rye went to his post to await their departure on to their next mission, which was as of yet unknown.

[mathijsbuster]

Buster woke up and looked around his temporary quarters aboard the Bellicose. He was lying in his bed, alone of course. He slowly stood up and walked over to the replicator.

"Tea, sugar" he told the replicator, which immediately acknowledged his command with a short beep and replicated a nice cup of warm tea, which Buster took. He then walked back to his bed.

Buster yawned a bit, then sat down, slowly drinking his tea. A shoreleave aboard the Bellicose. He had said goodbye to Luke yesterday evening, like everyone. He wasn't really the most active person on the party, but it had been fun. It was over now though, sadly Luke was gone, and he wondered what he'd do next.

As was quite the standard for any starfleet officer, he decided to take a shower first. He didn't really like showering in the morning, but he didn't get around to it last evening, so he just took a quick shower then got clothed. As soon as he got out, he got a message from the computer however, that informed him that he was being recalled to the Tigershark.

Being only slightly annoyed this time (and a lot less surprised - you get used to it after a while - ), Buster got back to the Tigershark to report himself for duty. He met Rye on the way there, and he couldn't help but notice that Rye had maybe partied a tiny bit too much last evening.

"Heya Buster, looking good" Rye said, and grinned.

"Ehm, thanks" Buster said. "Had fun last night?"

"Certainly" Rye responded. "And now we're being summoned back to the Tigershark, back to work I guess."

Buster nodded. "As usual".

He sighed and entered sickbay. It was empty of course. Everyone that required attention had been brought over to the sickbay of the Bellicose.
Besides, they didn't really have many patients at the moment. As soon as a shoreleave was reported, everyone seemed much better already. Very odd.

"Rear Admiral KezTrek to all senior staff, please report to the briefing room.", Buster heard over the comm, and so he did.

[thirteen]

At 0400 hours Thirteen’s regeneration cycle ended, and the ex-Bord opened his eyes. He gave them a few seconds to come into focus before exiting his alcove. The Tiger Shark would soon be leaving the starbase again, so Thirteen thought it best to start making preparations for their leave.

The blackened corridors of the starbase were deserted around this hour as Thirteen walked them towards the docking bay where he’d find the Tiger Shark. It was a good five minute walk before Thirteen reached the docking bay and looked up at the Akira.

He got aboard the ship and was surprised to find more people already there working on the ship. Thirteen found his way to the security station, where he checked the reports of the security personnel. He’d be receiving a few new security officers for this mission, but all seemed to have some experience on the job.

He began making rosters for the security patrols. Thirteen had always been very efficient at this task, and fifteen minutes later he’d finished the rosters for the security officers for the upcoming month.

The time was now 0424, and Thirteen decided to get working on the security systems. He ran full scans of the phasers and the torpedoes, and discovered a minor glitch in the forward phaser bank and the aft torpedo tube. Recalibrating the phaser bank took one minute, but when Thirteen tried to reconfigure the aft torpedo tube he got an error.

That required a trip down there, and Thirteen got up and went to the closest turbolift to take him down to the appropriate deck. It took him as far as it went, and there Thirteen got out and had to resume his way through a few jeffries tubes, before he finally arrived at the aft torpedo bay.

Apparently the starbase engineers had thought the Tiger Shark to be more sophisticated than she was, as they had calibrated the torpedo bay for the wrong type of torpedoes. Thirteen would have sighed at this point, had he known what sighing was.

It took him almost two hours to finally get the glitch out. This could have blown up the ship, Thirteen thought. He then decided to get to the bridge to check the rest of the systems. The sensor on his control panel indicated an incoming craft, but that was taken care of.

=/\= Rear admiral KezTrek to all senior staff, please report to the briefing room. =/\=

Thirteen got up and got into the briefing room alongside the other seniors, he found his seat and sat down, awaiting the admiral’s briefing.

[lohnen]

Danny woke up, took a shower and waas just about to begin the day with a double cup of coffee when he heard the call to report to the Briefing Room. "Crap!" Danny thought, "why can't they just announce it the night before?" Danny grabbed his coffee and left his quarters. Walking through the hallway, Danny sipped his coffee, slowly waking up. His mood was improving.

Danny had never been one to spend weeks at shoreleave. He belonged on a starship, in space.

I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.

Danny remembered the lines from Masefield's poem, he liked them. Someday, someday, he would command his own starship and it would really be his tall ship and his star to steer her by. Danny's mood improved by the second. Yes, he would be a good Captain someday. his crew would respect him and follow him to the seventh layer of hell and back if they had to. It would be.......

Danny's dream was suddanly interrupted when he nearly bumped into Rye, who was just about to enter the Briefing Room. "Hmm, oh, ehm, good morning," Danny mumbled, still half clinging to the thought about his own ship. "Well, you seem awefully far away," Rye commented with an enormous smirk on his face. The dream evaporated and Danny was fully present again. "Yeah, well, just daydreaming that's all. They stepped into the Briefing Room and took their seats. Danny was curious what the new mission would bring.

[KezTrek]

KezTrek stood with Drew by the windows as the senior staff started to filter into the briefing room. A few of them cast strange glances towards Drew, obviously curious about why he was here.

Sam K'Vada sat near the head of the table, beside where KezTrek would normally sit if she was seated and the others took their places, she noticed that K'Vada looked a little uncomfortable; she supposed it was to be expected, this was his first briefing since he'd been officially reassigned to the Tigershark and KezTrek in all honesty hadn't made an effort to talk to the senior staff about the changes.

It was probably not what most CO's would do, but K'Vada really needed to earn the crews trust and respect back on his own, not because she ordered them to 'forgive and forget' and that wouldn't happen if KezTrek interfered. If it became a serious issue she would step in but for the moment she wanted to give them the chance to adapt themselves.

"Computer seal briefing room and deactivate security systems. Authorization KezTrek Pie 0100" KezTrek ordered.

"Before we go any further, I want to make one thing clear. In a few hours I am going to take the Tigershark out of dock on an unauthorized mission. I have discovered information regarding the experiments being carried out on the Tzenketh; someone high up in the chain of command is probably involved. Anyone who doesn't wish to take part in this mission won't be forced to do so. If you have a problem, say so now, once we leave dock there is no turning back." KezTrek told them.

Everyone seemed to hold their breaths, waiting to see if anyone would speak up, but no one did.

"Good. Now what we know is limited..." KezTrek paused passing out data padds.

"Everything we do know is on these padds, I want everyone to read them, but for now I'll give you the highlights. Several important scientists have gone missing over the year. At least one of them can be linked the experiments on Tzenketh, a Dr. Sianna Ako, one of the previous hosts was a bio-geneticist. What's more, Tzenketh isn't the only planet where experiments are being carried out, several other known systems and species are being experimented on, as well as several unknown systems an species."

KezTrek let the information sink in... she knew what they were feeling... the idea that someone high up in Starfleet, in the Federation could be involved in something like this was... it always felt personal. She remembered a training mission she had once run on the Hanson where she had pitted cadets against each other and the crew in the 'death' of Admiral McCormick... she remembered the look of betrayal in their eyes... she'd seen it on her own face more than once.

"Nothing about this is discussed outside this room. Not among yourselves not with your departments, read the files, and we will have another briefing later today. When we leave this room I will order a course set for Tzenketh, this is the last chance for anyone to leave... no one will think any less of you, you can take leave and stay on Bellicose." KezTrek said, giving them one last chance to back out...

Rear Admiral KezTrek
Commanding Officer

[lohnen]

Danny was stunned. Tzenketh. He hadn't expected to return there so soon. The lanet was a paradise and he had loved it. Until they found the hidden laboratory that is. From then on there hadn't been time to study the local population or the culture. It had been a violent circus.

But there was another reason why he was stunned. Apart from the information they had just been given about Starfleet conducting experiments on innocent, free beings, Admiral KezTrek had actually supposed anyone would bail out now.

Danny raised his hand. He saw the Admiral looking slightly disappointed, like he was the first to give up. "Yes Captain löhnen," she said somewhat defensively. "Ma'am, no offense, but how can you even ask us if we want to bail out now? We were the ones who discovered the lab, we were the ones to capture the first of these criminals. Do you really expect us to walk away now? I'm in!" All over the room they could here murmered voices of consent. " Admiral KezTrek smiled. "I'll call you for the next briefing in a few hours. Dismissed!"

It was hard not to discuss anything with his friends, but Danny had to follow the Admiral's orders. He was mad, confused, angry at Starfleet for condoning expreiments like this. Danny wondered how many Starfleet officers were in on it. How many of Starfleet Command supported these experiments. Danny couldn't let the matter rest. He decided to prepare himself as best as possible before the next briefing.

A few hours later, he had memorized all available data on Tzenketh, the Tzenkethi and the terrorists they had held in the brig aboard the Tigershark. He had checked and double-checked all Marine weapons and ammo. His Marines were ready, as ready as they were ever going to be. Danny was determined to have some heads on a platter, Starfleet Command or not. Not even Section 39 would get away with it as far as he was concerned. Now all he could do was wait until Admiral KezTrek decided to call the next meeting.

[laika]

J'Leera really wasn't expecting anything major at the staff meeting, but she was quite taken back by her CO's briefing. What Admiral Keztrek was suggesting sounded like treason and she hated betrayal. It wasn't something that she had experienced personally, but the mere thought of it made her angry. She had not expected this.

Afterwards she reminded herself just how often she had not expected something and how often the exact opposite happened instead. When was she ever going to learn? Her grandfather had often told her to expect the unexpected. It seemed easy at the time when she had just been a child sitting on his knee listening to his tales, but now that she was an adult and living on her own, things just didn't seem quite so simple anymore. Things truly were not so clear cut, so black and white. It was much more difficult sometimes to define what was right and what was wrong.

She didn't know what exactly was going on with the Tzenketh system, but she was determined to find out. Their first visit proved that something odd was going on there, but they were unable to find out since they had been recalled. Now they had been given another opportunity and she wondered why. Why them? Why not another ship filled with specialists? She may have been chief science officer, but her specialty lay in astrophysics and not botany. If they wanted to know what had happened to the scientists, they would have to know what these experiments were.

Jada was on board now. J'Leera was rather skeptical about his presence, especially after what he had just done. Admiral Keztrek, however, ordered that they forgive and forget, but it just didn't seem that easy to her. If he was going to gain trust from her again, then it was going to take quite a while and in the meantime, she was going to be keeping an eye on him. If there's one thing she's learned while being in Starfleet is that somethings things are not always as they appear and sometimes one must be suspicious to protect themselves and their ship.

And that reminded her of something else. Earlier she had found a self-defense training program on the holodeck and she was eager to try it out. She wasn't sure what they were going to find this time, but she wanted to be ready.

[thirteen]

The word 'unauthorized' struck a snare in Thirteen, but his view on how to act on regulations was still very strict, but loyalty to your captain was more important than Starfleet regulations, so he didn't speak a word. I also cannot deny that unauthorized missions are very interesting, he processed.

Plus, someone high up in command was involved in this, uncovering who this person was and the true intentions behind what's going one would be worth an unauthorized trip. Thirteen looked at the rear admiral as she said that people could back out now. He didn't understand that, and looked around, but found no reaction, besides Danny's remark.

Thirteen carefully studied the padd KezTrek had handed to the senior crew. Thirteen could stil recall the things he'd seen on Tzenketh. The highly enhanced senses of the natives, and the laboratory of the cultists.

Then he cast a look at their new first officer. He'd served under commander K'Vada on the Tiger Shark already, but it was somewhat strange to find his former captain now in the seat of first officer. It also surprised him somewhat that the rear admiral still wanted him as her first officer, considering what K'Vada had almost managed during the Tiger Shark's last mission.

KezTrek ended the briefing, and Thirteen left with the other seniors, heading for the security station where he called up all available information on Tzenketh from their last mission. It didn't take him long to finish studying this too, so he decided to run a few standard security system checks.

***

"Hey Jonesy." "'Sup Mark." "Not much, gettin' tired from these corridors, nothin' happening an' all." "Ya, I know what you mean," Jonesy sighed. "What about some holodeck-action?" Mark asked. "We're on duty." "Yeah yeah, I know, but when we're done o' course." "Sounds good." "Cool, p'rhaps we can simulate us some action then? I think I've b'come pretty lazy considering combat," Mark said.

Jonesy nodded. "Me too mate." "'Kay, well, say 1900 at holodeck 2 then?" "Tha's a deal," Jonsesy said. The two officers continued on their round, discussing on what they'd be going to shoot this evening.

***

The security checks didn't give anything out of the ordinary. Just as they were finished an ensign came walking in. "Sir?" "Yes ensign?" "These are the security reports from the last mission." "Did I not already have those?" Thirteen asked. "That wouldn't be possible sir, I've finished them today."

Thirteen ran a quick check, and came to the conclusion that the ensign was right. "You are correct, thank you," Thirteen took the padd from the ensign, who nodded and exited the security station again.

Thirteen quickly skimmed the just acquired data padd, and decided that he was satisfied with it. He got up and left the station, going to the bridge to see how things were going there. He relieved the ensign at the security console and took place himself. Now he'd have to wait for the rear admiral to give the call to get out into space.

[KezTrek]

After the briefing, KezTrek went into her ready room, followed by Drew. She barely cast a glance at him however as she opened a communications channel to Starfleet Command, and outright lied to the Admiral she spoke to, telling him that she was taking the Tigershark to Risa for leave, to give the crew time to adapt to recent changes and then she was planning to run some tactical simulations, to get them use to working with K'Vada again.

When the communication channel cut Drew was sitting before her, tea in one hand as he set a Raktjino in front of her.

"I just lied to Starfleet Command. Outright lied. Not just a little omission of the truth, but an out and out lie." KezTrek said, more to herself than Drew, which he seemed to understand because he didn't reply.

KezTrek took a sip of her drink, a thoughtful expression on her face. To anyone else it might look like she was just enjoying a quiet moment, with her favourite beverage, but she was sure Drew could see the cogs in her mind turning.

There was so much going on that she didn't know about, it was unsettling, not knowing what danger she maybe taking her crew into, she needed more information and she had no way of getting it... the data she had was limited.

Some notes on the personnel she'd retrieved from Tzenketh. Some information on the types of experiments being carried out, most of which made no sense to her, except that they appeared to be trying to isolate specific gene sequences, for what purpose she could only guess. Star charts that were unrecognisable. The only thing that really made sense was the plans she'd been given for an engine system that could take a ship to traswarp speeds. She wasn't even an engineer, but she did know engines... but even that was... strange... it didn't fit the style of any single alien race, it appeared to have Borg, Klingon and Vulcan components, and those were only the ones she personally recognised.

It gave her a headache. KezTrek spent a few minutes just drinking the coffee and thinking, trying to order her thoughts. By the time she had set the drink down she was convinced she was doing the right thing.

She got up with purpose and went to the bridge; some of her senior staff were at their bridge stations and she saw them cast glances at her and each other as they waited to see what she would say, if she would really go through with what she'd said in the briefing room.

"Helm prepare to leave space dock." KezTrek commanded. "Starbase Bellicose this is the Tigershark, please disengage docking clamps."

"Tigershark this is Bellicose, docking clamps disengaged. Good journey Tigershark."

"Thank you Bellicose." KezTrek closed the channel. "Helm take us out ¼ Impulse."

KezTrek felt the ship move under her, the engine vibrations that moved quietly and softly through the whole ship. The view screen showed a field of stars as they cleared Bellicose.

"Lay course 234 mark 7, Warp 6... Engage." KezTrek ordered, feeling the ship make the change from impulse to warp speed as they sped away from Bellicose.

Drew who stood beside her whispered only loud enough for her to hear. "Well this is your last chance to change your mind."

KezTrek looked at him and a smile crossed her face. "And miss out on the chance to break regs, take a ship into a potentially hostile situation and save the universe... not a chance."

Rear Admiral KezTrek
Commanding Officer

[Deleted]

Drew shot KezTrek a smile as she repeated his earlier words to him. They both knew this was the right course of action, and it wasn’t like it was the first time they had broken regs, Drew could only hope they would both survive this mission to break those regs again.

It was an odd experience being on a bridge, but not actually being part of the action, it was something Drew had never gotten used to, to him it always seemed much more natural to be in the centre seat of any bridge he was on. But on this ship, he had no role to play, at least until they arrived at Tzenketh, other than offering KezTrek the support she needed.

The Tiger Shark jumped into high warp as soon as it had cleared Bellicose, and Drew watched the young helm officer expertly working the ship’s flight controls. He shook off a memory of watching Kez performing such duties when she had been a helm officer, and he the Fang’s First Officer. It was so long ago, just the memory made him feel old.

According to the plan that already been agreed, the Tiger Shark would first travel part of the way to Risa, this way Bellicose would not realise the ship was actually heading for an entirely different location. Considering the dangers involved, it was better for everyone if no one knew where the Tiger Shark was going. Least of all Starfleet.

[lohnen]

The gloomy sky arched above, the colour of lead. The cold, hard wind blew mercilessly and made it difficult to walk. Ominous mountains limited the view on all sides. The company could feel the rocky slopes beneath their feet. "The enemy is close," Rendar said. "How close," the leader of the company asked from under the hood of his cloak. Rendar sat down on his knees again and put his ear to the rocky ground. "Very close sir. It is difficult to count them, but I reckon there are at least fifty to a hundred of them, probably on the plains below." The leader nodded. "Let's go."

Hidden behind a ridge of razor sharp rocks, the company looked down onto the plains. There they were, the enemy. The vanguard of the army. All broadly built, tall, strong men. This would not be easy. The company silently descended the slopes until they came in clear view of the enemy camp. They could hear the shouts as the enemy commanders called their men to arms. The company drew their large, broad swords and advanced. The enemy had taken up arms too and closed their ranks, an enormous line of terryfying warriors, ready for battle.

The company walked on, silently, menacing. They were ready for battle as well and would not now shrink back from the bloody sword play. Their strong weapons, battle hardened in the gore of many enemies, thrembeled in their strong fists. Soon, weapons would sing their exulting songs of war and bite into the enemies bodies, razor sharp like fangs. The company had waited long for this day, alone, deserted in the merciless grey hills. Finally, they had caught up with the vanguard and now it was time to show them what they were worth. To capture honour, victory and above all glory or to perish forever.

The eager battle horns sounded the attack and both lines of warriors stormed at each other, swords unsheated, teeth bared, screaming and boasting. With a thunderous clash, the two armies crashed into each other, shield upon shield, sword upon mail coat, body against body. Soon the joyful roar of the advancing warriors was joined by shouts of agony and screams of anger as men perished beneath the terrible swords. The leader conducted himself well. Still hooded, a silent figure, his boad battle sword flashed white hot with anger. Each time it flashed, a man was separated from his life, his blood colouring the ground, a grim, dark red carpet. The leader advanced upon the enemy commander, determined to go for the kill. A ferocious fight was fought there on that plain. The ground shook, the hills resounded with the thunder of pure fury. Men thrembeled with fear that day as the two men, proud heroes, fought each other galantly. The leader struck his enemy, raised his sword to sever the head from the strong body. The terrible sword came down....

=^=Admiral KezTrek to senior staff, please report to the Briefing Room for the second briefing=^=

"BLAST!" Danny shouted as he threw his hood back. "Blast it, I was so close this time!" The enemy, who was still on the gound, began to move again. Annoyed, Danny addressed the computer. "Computer, end program!" The enemy commander disappeared as the yellow hologrid of Holodeck 2 re-appeared. The cloak Danny had been wearing as "the leader" changed back into his usual Marine uniform. Admiral KezTrek came over the comm again.

=^=Admiral KezTrek to senior staff, please report to the Briefing Room for the second briefing=^=

Danny tapped his commbadge.

=^=On my way Admiral=^=

He left the holodeck. After having checked all the supplies and reading all the old mission logs, Danny had needed to blow of some steam. He tried reading Shakespeare but he had soon found out he was too restless to keep his mind on it. So, he had gone to the holodeck to try out his new Anglo-Saxon warrior program. It had worked perfectly, but it seemed Danny had completely los track of time.

Arriving at the Briefing Room, he saw Thirteen had already arrived. At the head of the table, Admiral kezrek had taken her Captain's chair. beside her was the new first officer and former Captain of the Tigershark, Commander K'Vada. Danny still did not have a clear idea of whether he trusted K'Vada, but he decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. At the Admiral's left side, Admiral Drew had taken a seat. Soon after Danny's arrival, the other members of the senior staff were pouring in, all equally curious as to what would happen next.

[thirteen]

Always working on something Thirteen wasn't bored easily. He looked up from the console at the security station he was seated as rear admiral KezTrek gave the words that set the Tiger Shark free. The magnificent Akira slowly drifted it's way out of Bellicose's spacedock.

Thirteen saw how the stars made patterns on the viewscreen on the bridge, and had a strange feeling, pride, though of course he didn't know what 'pride' was. Their course was set for Risa, and would be abandoned halfway.

***

"My liege," a brown robed man with a bald head said as he kneeled and bowed his head. "Rise," a cold voice came from a battered chair, that once ruled the bridge of a long forgotten starship, "what?" "We might have a problem." "Being?" the cold voice sounded less than disinterested.

"There has been a leak," the robed man said. "A leak? Be more specific!" The man stepped closer to the throne and whispered something only the figure on the chair could understand. It resulted in the robed man being clutched by his throat.

The muscular man rose from the chair and lifted the helpless man from the floor. The bulky iron arm that replaced his limb barely shimmered in the artificial light due to it's rust coverage, but it was squeezing the life out of the robed man, who's eyes looked like they were going to pop out of their sockets.

"The Master would never be so careless!" the man with the iron arm yelled as he threw the robed man ten feet through the room, "this is no way of speaking of Him." The robed man clutched his throat as he gasped for air. "I swear- it's not- a lie," he managed to say.

"Get out of my sight!" the eyes of the man with the iron arm stood menacing. The man with the robe picked himself off the floor and scuttled out of the room. His heart pounding with anger, the man with the iron arm grabbed a rock from the floor and had his mechanical body part crush it to dust.

"Are you okay Brother?" A woman with bright blue eyes asked the robed man. She'd been waiting for him outside the Overseers office. "Barely," Devion answered, "that monster almost killed me." "You shouldn't speak of the Overseer like that, you know what happens if he finds out," the woman said, concern sounding in her voice. "I know Alexis, I just, well, you know how I think about him." "Yes I do, and may God prevent anyone else from getting to know it," Alexis said, still concerned, "come, lets get back to the habitat sphere." Devion nodded, and followed his Sister through the dark subterranean corridors.

***

=/\= Admiral KezTrek to senior staff, please report to the briefing room for the second briefing. =/\=

Thirteen made eye contact with the rear admiral, and gave her a nod as he got up from his station, heading directly for the briefing room. KezTrek and rear admiral Drew led the way, and as Thirteen took his seat Sam K'Vada entered, and not very much later Danny. The rest of the seniors trickled in, and not much later the rear admiral sealed the room again, sounding the beginning of the second briefing.

[laika]

The corridors were relatively quiet as she made her way to the holodeck. Since she wasn't due to come back on duty for several hours, she wanted to make the most of this time. On her way there she met several people from her department. They were all eager to hear whether or not they had a new mission yet and what it would be. She merely smiled to them and promised that she'd tell them as soon as she found out herself. As soon as they left, she let out a sigh knowing that she had had little choice but to lie to them. Admiral Keztrek was quite clear on how security was important on this mission, so she could not tell them anything.

When she reached the holodeck, she quickly activated it and stepped inside. She found herself in a large wooded area similar to those found on Tzenketh. There were other scenarios to chose from on the program, but she wanted to start on this one.

She began going through some simple warmup exercises and before long, she was ready to go.

"Weapon of choice?" the computer inquired.

"Standard phaser rifle," she answered thinking that something familiar would be a good start. One materialized by her feet and she picked it up. Seconds later she heard rustling up ahead in the brush and she dove for cover. A large hairy, pig-like animal with long tusks charged her and she opened fire on the creature, stunning it.

"Well, that was easy," she mumbled as the animal disappeared. She held the rifle back up and awaited the next target. An hour later she was feeling very confident and began raising the difficulty level.

"I need this to be real though," she thought to herself. "I might find myself in a situation like this later. I need to be ready!" A thought came to her. "Computer, disengage the safety protocols, authorization Laika delta-gamma 167." Later she would regret this decision.

"Safety protocols disengaged," the computer replied and she stood up, ready the face her next opponent. She waited for several minutes, but still nothing happened. Adjusting the weapon, she ventured out closer to the clearing, but still saw nothing. Suddenly she felt hot breath on the back of her neck and she froze. Slowly easing her head around, her eyes widened in horror when she saw that a Tiberian Liger had crept up behind her. She eyed the creature, wondering what it was. To her it looked like a cross between a Lion and a Tiger, which was where the name originated, but she did not know this.

Suddenly the creature struck out and slashed her arm. She gasped and pulled the trigger on her phaser rifle, but it was a wild shot and completely missed the creature. The next thing she knew, she was on her back and the creature was about to pounce on her. She rolled over, narrowly missing its long claws and she took off into the trees.

Spinning around, she managed to aim the weapon and took the creature out with one lucky shot. The creature was dead and she was safe, but it suddenly dawned on her what could have happened. No one knew that she was in here and no one certainly knew what she had done. She felt so foolish that she just wanted to kick herself.

"What's wrong with me?" she kicked the ground angrily and threw the weapon aside. "Computer! End program!"

She took a look at her injured arm and grimaced, realizing that she needed to go to sickbay. "Well, I had better get going..."

Tag: Buster

[mathijsbuster]

As most of the other crew-members, Buster was amazed, and maybe even a bit shocked about what KezTrek was doing. On the other hand, he did want to find out what was actually really going on, and that indeed required them to do something unauthorized, he guessed.

After the first briefing, Buster walked back to sickbay. He had been on shore-leave for a while, and he was getting sickbay in normal working condition again. It was still empty of patients, but it mostly wasn't too long before the beds filled again and his attention was needed.

Not that he minded helping out, it was his work. He kind of enjoyed the company too, an empty sickbay feels wrong somehow, even though it being empty is mostly a good sign.

Buster had just activated his personal computer and was checking on medical advancements of starfleet, when J'Leera came in. It didn't take a doctor to notice something was wrong with her. She had covered one arm up with the other, hiding it from sight a little. You could see she was in a bit of pain too.

Buster hurried over. "What's the matter?" he asked, looking at her arm. It was scratched and bleeding a bit. Buster had seen enough accidents to know that this was caused by some kind of animal, and not some kind of accident that was usual aboard a federation starship. Unless you kept domesticated cats on board. Big cats.

"Okay, lie down for a while" Buster said, and put J'Leera down on a bed. "I'll get something for you. In the meanwhile, would you mind telling me what happened?"

TAG: J'Leera

[Deleted]

Wood hadn't really been mentally present since Luke's party, and it wasn't all the synthehol he had drunk. He was sure it would pass.

It didn't, throughout the pre-flight prep and the first briefing it was like some sort of fog clouded Wood's senses, some sort of mentally induced restraints kept him from moving... Some sort of pride kept him from visiting Buster.

Interesting enough, John was clear enough to notice two interesting additions to the senior staff. One of which, the admiral, seemed to be a mission specialist (a profession with which the ops officer had rather negative past experiences). The other being an old aquaintance...

The briefing passed, and Wood cleared up a bit, but it wasn't until he reached his quarters that the gravity of the situation really hit him. A conspiracy, far reaching consequences, strange experiments being conducted on innocent people... The amazement grew with each letter that appeared on the PADD. Was Section 31 behind all this? Was there a different agenda within Starfleet?

Then the cloud in front of his eyes thickened, and Wood fell in a deep sleep, only to be woken by the comm signal, followed by KezTrek's message.

[laika]

She held out her arm and let him look at the deep claw marks across her arm. A piece of cloth had temporarily served as a bandage and was now soaked with blood. She removed it carefully so that the doctor could treat her arm.

"I was in the holodeck doing a training simulation and I disengaged the safety protocols," she said after a few moments. "It's my fault. I should not have been so careless. It was a really stupid thing to do."

Tag: Buster

"Well, I suppose that I'm still a little upset about Luke leaving," she admitted. "He's was a really good friend and I already miss him. Did you know that we went to the Academy together?"

Tag: Buster

"Anyway, after what had happened on our past mission," she continued. "I wanted to do some combat training. I certainly could have used it on our last mission and I want to be prepared next time, but I should have asked for some help..."

Tag: Buster

[mathijsbuster]

Buster inspected J'Leera's wound while she was explaining what had happened. Buster gasped at the risk J'Leera had taken by turning off the safety.

"You could have been killed or worse!" Buster exclaimed. "You do know that turning the safety off is against regulations? You could get trouble with this".

Buster sighed. He knew he had to report this to KezTrek, but he didn't really want to. "Whatever made you do this?" Buster asked.

"Well, I suppose that I'm still a little upset about Luke leaving," she admitted. "He was a really good friend and I already miss him." J'Leera explained. "Did you know that we went to the Academy together?"

"Yes, I've heard" Buster answered. "I miss Luke too, but yourself injured won't help get him back I'm afraid"
Buster had stopped the bleeding in the meanwhile, and it didn't look too bad. Though you could notice the scratches right away.

"Anyway" J'Leera continued. "After what had happened on our past mission, I wanted to do some combat training. I certainly could have used it on our last mission and I want to be prepared next time, but I should have asked for some help..."

Buster nodded. "Or you could have just trained with safety on". He knew what drove J'Leera now though, and he had to admit he wasn't the best in combat either.

"You know what?" Buster asked, and smiled. "What about we both go train if we have some free time? I could use some combat training as well. After your arm has healed, of course" Buster added.

TAG: J'Leera

[laika]

"Thanks, I'd appreciate the help and the company," she smiled, but suddenly it disappeared. "I suppose that you have to report this and I understand why you have to. I should have thought about the consequences of my actions before I turned the safety protocols off."

Tag: Buster

"Well, don't worry about," J'Leera said. "You have to do it and I think I deserve it anyway for being so careless. Hopefully this will teach me a lesson and remind me to think first before I do something."

She glanced down at her arm. Buster had been using a skin regenerative and before long, the long claw marks were gone. "It looks fine to me," she said while slowly stretching her arm. "Was there any other damage?"

Tag: Buster

"Sounds good to me," J'Leera replied. "When do you want to go down to the holodeck?"

Tag: Buster

[mathijsbuster]

"Well, I do have to report this I'm afraid" Buster told J'Leera, and rolled his eyes helplessly. He was thinking of possible excuses."We.. ehm.. could keep it secret I guess, though we both might be in even more trouble if it leaks"

"Well, don't worry about it," J'Leera said. "You have to do it and I think I deserve it anyway for being so careless. Hopefully this will teach me a lesson and remind me to think first before I do something."

J'Leera looked at her arm a bit, then looked back at Buster. "It looks fine to me," she said while slowly stretching her arm. "Was there any other damage?"

"Nah, I guess you were lucky", Buster replied. "You are ready for duty again". He smiled, casting another quick look at her arm. "Don't do it again though".

"Sounds good to me," J'Leera replied. "When do you want to go down to the holodeck?"

Buster shrugged. "Well, I guess I have some time after the second briefing, if we don't end up in the action right away. Unless you have a better idea?"

TAG: J'Leera

"Well, okay. See you then" Buster said happily.

TAG: J'Leera

[thirteen]

As agreed the two security officers met at 1900 hours, holodeck 2. "Evenin' Mark," Jonesy said. He hadn't been waiting long. "Hey, glad ya cou'd find it," Mark said. "Wha's that s'posed to mean?" "Never mind." Jonesy looked at Mark. "Right." "Okay, anyway, what were we gonna do again?" Mark asked his colleague.

"You wanted to go dino shooting," Jonesy said. "Ah right, tha's true, you up for it?" "Sure, nothin' better than shooting big reptiles right after dinner," Jonesy said. Mark smiled, and walked over to the holodeck's control panel. "We goin' for old-fashioned guns?" he asked Jonesy, "or d'ya want the modern stuff."

"The academy taught me enough 'bout the modern stuff, le's get us some machine and shotguns guns, p'rhaps a missile launcher wou'd b' nice," Jonesy said. "'T is your call mate," Mark said, feeding commands to the holodeck. "Right, this shou'd've done it, le's go Jonesy, shoot us some reptiles."

The two friends entered the holodeck. "Computer, engage program," Mark said. Around them thick jungle growth appeared, magnificent slim trees with a huge roof of leave towered above their heads. Colored flowers greeted them wherever they looked, and thick bushes prevented them from movement.

A big machine gun hung around Mark's broad shoulders, and Jonesy carried a missile launcher with straps on his back, he had a gauge shotgun in his hands. They were dressed in camouflage clothing, and even discovered warpaint on each others faces as they looked at each other.

They nodded, and Mark drew a machete from the backpack that covered his back. He began slashing at the growth in front of them. The two heard a shriek above them, and looked up to find a huge shadow hovering over their heads. What it exactly was they couldn't see due to the roof of leaves, but it was clearly something gargantuan.

"Err, Mark, what kinda dinos did ya program?" Jonesy asked. "Nothin' in pa'ticularm jus' some random creatures from the database." "Nice, real nice." "Ah don't whine, nothin' can happen, the safety protocol's on." "Yeah true, 'kay, le's move on."

After some good hacking and slashing from Mark the growth began to become less thick, and Jonesy and Mark were able to maneuver through the jungle without help from the machete. All of a sudden Mark stopped dead in front of Jonesy, raising his hand motioning to stop.

"Wha'?" Jonesy whispered. Mark pointed at a few bushes in front of them. At first Jonesy saw nothing, but as he looked closer he saw a tail rising from the growth. "Rocket?" he whispered at Mark, who nodded in reply. As silent as he could Jonesy took the missile launcher from his shoulders, and placed it carefully on the ground for he support.

He crawled behind it and targeted the bushes with whatever creature it was in it. He pulled the trigger, and as the missile seared through the air heading straight for the doomed velociraptor. Just before impact the creature stuck its head above the bushes, and let out a nasty shriek. The next moment there was nothing left of it.

"Nice one Jonesy!" Mark said, giving a smiling Jonesy two thumbs up. Jonesy got up to store the missile launcher on his back again, but then stopped dead. His eyes grew wide. "Have you seen a ghost or somethin'?" Mark asked his friend raising his eyebrows. Jonesy formed the word "hush" with his mouth, but Mark didn't appear to get it. "What?" he asked.

Jonesy swallowed hard, he knew this was only a simulation, but still his heart was thumping in his throat. As slow as he could he picked up the shotgun from the ground. "Don't move," his lips formed. Then Mark got it, and his eyes grew wide too. He felt the breath of the creature in the back of his neck.

The velociraptor that stood directly behind Mark tilted its head, and made a bobbing movement with it. With trembling hands Jonesy rose the shotgun to point at the monster's head. But at the moment Jonesy pulled the trigger it was too late. Mark yelled as the creature clawed itself into his back, causing them to topple over. Jonesy pumped the shotgun, and shot again, this time severing the creature's head from the rest of its body.

"Pfew, that was exiting," Jonesy said, wiping the sweat from his forehead. Mark didn't move. "Mark, ya can get up now, it's gon'," Jonesy said. He set his shotgun against a tree and walked over to his friend. The nasty bloody cuts in the back of his colleague looked very real. He kneeled down and lifted his friend, only to drop him again. The body felt limp.

Jonesy's eyes widened again. "C-computer, i-is the s-safety pro-protocol engaged?" he asked. *Negative.* =/\= Jonesy to sickbay, medical emergency in holodeck 2, get here now! =/\= "C-computer end program." The jungle disappeared, and made way for the dull, gray walls of the holodeck. Someone had turned off the safety protocols before they came to shoot dinos, and had forgotten to engage them again.

[laika]

"Sounds like a good plan," she nodded. "Do you want to meet me down at the holodeck when you get off duty so that we can pick a program to start with?"

"Sure, that works for me," he agreed.

"Good, then I'll see you in a little bit," she said and left sickbay.

"Well, okay. See you then" Buster said happily.

"I wonder which program we should use?" she wondered as she walked along the corridor. She felt much better than she had earlier, although she was a little aprehenisve about Admiral Keztrek's reaction to what she had done. She gulped. She didn't know her very well, so she was certain how she'd react.

"Well, there's no point in worrying about it yet..." she began when suddenly she remembered something. She let out a small cry and took off speeding toward the holodeck. "Oh, please let no one be there! Let no one be there!"

She ran up and pounded the controls. "Computer! Re-activate safety protocols authorization ."

"Safety protocols reactivated."

She let out a sigh of relief, but froze when the doors opened. She saw Thirteen inside leaning over another man. She couldn't see him very well, but realized that he was badly injured.

"It's all my fault," she sobbed. "It's all my fault..." She grabbed ahold on the bulkhead as the room began spinning. The last thing she saw was Thirteen looking over at her in shock before everything went black.