Mission 94.1201: Hlmnae Hlun: Try Again

[Deleted]

He was caught off guard when he got a signal from the doctor, although he was mad at him for the postion he put him in he listend.

"Terrh I need your assitance. I need you to scan the alien life form and then project an image of it around my shuttlecraft. Can you do that."


" Okay Doctor what can I do for you after all you left me in a very dangerous postion with our Commander. It that was not enought I suppose you want to make sure the Commander has a reason to rip me limb from limb" He listend to the doctors request.

"Do whatever it takes. I ll mimic the creatures bio electric field manually from the shuttle. Oh and Terrh make the image twice the size of the creature. I m going to play a game of dominant or submissive. Hopefully I can convince the creature that this portion of space is my territory now and leave. Oh and be quick about it. If I get much closer without the illusion it may well just eat me. Sural out"


He was half tempted to let the doctor suffer a little longer for that little stunt with the shuttle but thought better of it. If there was a chance that his plan might work then he had to try. A few quick programs and he had what he needed. With a push of a button the hologram was engaged with all the neccesary requirements including the enegery readings to make it more real.

" Okay Sural you now appear as a rock no quick course changes and do not move any faster or you will out run the hologram. You are causing a large power comsuption over hear I had to take weaposn off line. Please be quick Sural I dont know how much longer I can maintain the power requirement to you and the ship time is of the essence right now'' <Tag Sural>

Looking at the rest of team they knew the risk they were operating at 110% now if anything went wrong they would blow the power grid and all would be lost.

He opened the com channel to the bridge " Commander in order to assit the Sural I have taken weapons off line we are at max power out put now. If the Sural plan doesn't work or the power grid blows well we wont have alot of time to play the blame game. If his plan does work then it would prove that this creature had some intelligence even if only on a basic level" <Tag Echal>

[Deleted]

=/\=Sub Commander, I would recommend we leave, immediately. Engineer Terrh is already, to my knowledge, working on the warp drive; the interference from the spores is preventing that option at the moment as you know,=/\= the Legate replied smoothly...far too smoothly in Govan’s opinion, and his voice sounded too cheerful.

“Agreed, Echal out,” Govan replied, though he was far from certain if he did agree. Something more was going on here, and though he couldn’t put his finger on what, the Sub Commander was almost positive that Ch’varak was indeed up to something.

~

=/\=I’m doing my job or at least trying to if it weren't for all these interruptions.=/\=

The casual attitude the doctor was displaying, especially in these circumstances, infuriated Govan, who snapped, "Be more specific, Doctor, before I have you blown out of space,” and the Sub Commander’s was the furthest thing from just kidding.

=/\=What, and loose a perfectly good shuttle? Come now, Commander, at least let the creature destroy me. Now if you don't mind, I need this comm link free to complete this mission. Discipline me later,=/\= Sural added offhandedly, closing the channel.

Now ready to completely strangle the doctor with his bare hands, Govan didn’t get an opportunity to react because of a comm call from Virh. =/\=Commander Echal, sorry we didn't inform you sooner, but time was of the essence. The doctor has a theory and needed to prove it. His plan is a little beyond my understanding, so it was thought best to run with it and have him explain after,=/\= the engineer stated.

“You mean you knew he was planning on doing something stupid without getting my clearance, and you let him? And didn’t report to me?! I don’t know whether there needs to be some sort of memo, but I am the Commander of this ship, and nothing should be done or decided without my knowledge or agreement! You’re just as bad as he is, and when this is all over, I’ll have both your heads!” Govan ranted as he slammed his fist down on his console. Whether or not that actually did close the channel or it was closed for him by his operations officer, he neither knew nor cared.

Pacing the bridge and running his hands through his hair, Govan tried desperately to reign in his temper. No one was respecting him, no one listened to him, and no one told him what was going on or even bothered to check in with him first before running with some crazy idea. This was no way to properly run a Romulan warbird.

=/\=Commander Echal, somebody just tried to open a secure channel to the home world. I can’t pinpoint who it was or what section it came from, but as soon as the shuttle launched the channel was cut,=/\= the annoying Chief Engineer reported.

Not even bothering to reply, the Sub Commander was nonetheless intrigued by this latest development. He couldn’t be sure, but he felt convinced it was Tevio. It was all beginning to make sense now... This was some sort of Tal Diann trick, test or deception that he had stumbled into, and if he could somehow figure it out, still get the S’Harien out in one piece, and report back to the High Command, that would go a long way in reestablishing his reputation. Or better yet, he could report to the Tal Shiar, and improve his status with them, potentially being reinstated as an agent.

His personal musings were cut short by another report from Terrh, the sound of whose voice Govan was beginning to loathe. =/\=Commander, in order to assist the doctor, I’ve taken weapons offline. We’re at maximum power output now. If Sural’s plan doesn't work or the power grid blows, well we won’t have a lot of time to play the blame game. If his plan does work, then it would prove that this creature had some intelligence…even if only on a basic level,=/\= the Chief Engineer reported.

Govan had long since had enough. He had a Legate who was hiding things, a doctor who had stolen a shuttle and gone a reckless mission, and a Chief Engineer who was sending report after report after report but doing whatever he wanted. When this mission was over, Sub Commander Echal was going to put an end to all of this.

“Fine, you and the doctor do whatever you want, but you are both going to pay for this, make no mistake. This is not over, Virh, and you’re not going to like how it ends,” Echal threatened before sending a glare to the ops officer who closed the channel.

<Tag Terrh/Sural>

Continuing to pace the bridge, Govan decided he was done playing games and was ready to know the truth. “Echal to Ch’varak, report to the bridge immediately, and that’s an order, or I will have you beamed up here within the next five minutes.”

<Tag Tevio>

Finally returning to his seat, the Sub Commander gripped the armrests of his chair and glared menacingly at the viewscreen. All this trouble and drama just for a bunch of rocks...this was not the job he had signed up for or even been assigned...

[Deleted]

With the last comment from the Commander he actually felt a little fear. He knew no matter how the mission turned out even if by some chance it made there Commander look good he would be in alot of trouble. He could have kept quite but the doctor gave him little choice and he couldn't afford the commander ordering or tractor beaming the shuttle back.

quitely he said a prayer and hoped he had done the right thing and the Sural pulled off what ever he had planned. His only hope was that in the end the commander wouldn't excute them or if he did it was quick.

Still his thoughts went to the comm channel and who it was too. He started to access logs about other mission in the area and started digging. His only hope would be that he found something good enough to give to the commander that would allow him and the doctor to live another day.

After what seemed like for ever he started to notice a pattern of things. It appeared all the intelligence officer on the other ships that were in this area seemed to be sending secert reports back to the home world. It might not have been strange if there was something to report. But considering this was a test range there shouldn't have been anything to send secert reports about.

He calmly gathered all the date and the reports which he couldn't read because they were encoded. He sent them to the commander to go through when he desired. He then went back to work getting the engines back on line. He hoped the doctor would save both there lives but he also wondered how short lived that might be when the commander got his hands on them.

[Deleted]

As Surals shuttle approached the life form he could only hope that Terrh had managed to successfully managed to shroud him in a convincing facsimile of the creature. On the console beside the flight controls he had the computer monitoring the bio electric impulses of the creature and repeating them at an amplified level.

The creature had turned its attention from the S'Harien and now seemed to be squaring up to the shuttle.

"Here goes nothing" Sural muttered to himself as he increased the frequencys of the pulse. It was quite a task to escalate each of the creatures response but it seemed to Sural to be working.

They were like two bull elephants facing each other down. As fast as the creature tried to assert its dominance Sural mimiced and increased it. Suddenly the creature seemed lurch forward and he realised that the creature was turning from posturing to aggression. Quickly he powered up the disruptors and sent a blast into the creature. It came to a dead stop. It was unlikely it had ever known one of its kind react like that. It backed up warily and so Sural pushed the matter and sent in another pulse of disruptor fire. It was enough to tip the balance.

The crystalline entity turned on its axis and began to speed away from the S'Harien.

Sural breathed a sigh of relief, it was gone for the moment. Now he just had to face the commander. Turning the shuttle about he returned somewhat reluctantly to the ship.

[Deleted]

Tevio was stooped over the control panel, fists clenched and as white as his grey skin would allow. The intelligence chief was seething, experiencing the purest kind of anger possible, a feeling he got from time to time but admittedly not often.

There was no stopping it now. Sural was on his way in the shuttle, the blip representing his craft drawing closer and closer to the spaceborne crystalline object. He watched as the blip postured offensively, trying to assert dominance over the threat to the S'Harien. Tevio switched off the display, unable to watch any longer. He shook his head, and got the strangest sensation of wanting the deck under his feet to open and swallow him up, take him away from this torturous moment, into a world soothing darkness free from pain.

Just as he felt ready to curl up on the ground, pretend that none of this was happening, the Legate was called by his intelligence department. He listened to the message in knowing understanding, this time nodding his head in acknowledgement of the facts presented. Just as he'd expected, Sural Taranek was now returning to the ship, after successfully forcing the pseudo-rock structure to retreat in the ignominy of its own impotence. Whether it would return or not, it didn't matter any more for Tevio Ch'varak. The crew now had some semblance of evidence that these things were intelligent. Now that that was out, there would not be many further tests in this region. And it all ended with the S'Harien's brand new Chief of Intel. His career chances were probably going to take a dent now...

"Echal to Ch'varak, report to the bridge immediately, and that's an order, or I will have you beamed up here within the next five minutes."

The sound of that one Romulan was enough to make Tevio feel sick to the very depths of his psyche, the former Tal Shiar Commander's words - as well as his aggravatingly formal use of the Legate's rarely used second name - drove a cold, dark wedge into Tevio's soul, the tip of that mental spike causing a critical error in his mind.

"On my way," was all Tevio said. He had better comply with the Subcommander this time, and with no political posturing that so far had been the hallmark of his relations with Govan Echal.

He arrived on the bridge and, immediately, a great many eyes turned his way. Tevio could read them all but he had no time or patience to think those steely looks through. "You called, Subcommander?" he said loudly with just a hint of impatience leaking into his voice.

Govan wasted no time. He turned from his incessant pacing and demanded that it was about time the Legate explained all this. Tevio paused; so, Govan had figured out the nature of his involvement. "Your ready room?" he requested of Govan, pointing towards the darkly lit door to the side of the bridge.

They entered. Tevio listened for the door sliding shut behind him, just so he knew that he wouldn't start speaking too soon. He watched as Govan went to his desk. Tevio didn't wait for him to sit, "This training ground his home to an intelligent species of sporaceous beings; there are two 'types' of this entity.. but you know all of this, now at least."

Tevio breathed in sharply, preparing for what he was about to say. He may as well say it, he reasoned, this mission had already gone so wrong for him and he would pay the price; it was a comparitively small step further to confess to Govan. "You may be wondering why I have been trying to hide this from you recently when before it was of no consequence," he said. "My covertly assigned mission was to capture some of these sporaceous lifeforms without the knowledge of the rest of the ship; an objective only for the intel department. The Tal Diann have taken an interest in this species of late, with a view to experimentation and R&D within the organisation.

"As this was only designed to be a training mission for the S'Harien and nothing so immediately strenuous for the vessel, in the form of a mission, the information was kept secret. Besides, the ship was still largely unproven at the time. Know that I did not expect the S'Harien to be attacked en-masse as it was, Subcommander. And I did not expect them to be here so soon, I was caught off-guard, utterly unprepared."

He stared at the Subcommander, debating with himself whether or not he'd understand. He'd never been this honest with the Romulan CO, but even now he wasn't divulging all the information. There was silence for a while; presumbably, Tevio thought, so that Govan could process all of this. During that time, Tevio's wrist device beeped. He checked it. "It appears that Doctor Sural has docked his shuttle, Subcommander." The Legate got the impression that, before long, a select few of the S'Harien's senior staff were going to be in a great deal of trouble.

<Tag Govan, ALL>

[Deleted]

As the shuttle on the monitor approached the creature, it was suddenly obscured with some sort of holographic representation of a much larger version of the large spore it was approaching. ‘Interesting...’ Govan thought to himself as the bridge crew held its breath and observed the interaction. The group of beings seemed to turn its attention to the shuttle rather than the S’Harien, which was good, but it was far from over. If whatever the doctor was attempting failed, they would surely be next.

As the ‘asteroids’ and shuttle faced off, the ops station began to signal incoming sensor data, and the officer reported, “I’m picking up some kind of signal emanating from the...things and the shuttle. It could be some sort of attempt at communication.”

As much as he currently hated the doctor, Echal didn’t want the spores having all the fun and attacking the shuttle. Tensing and wanting to be ready to step in should it take a bad turn, Govan turned to the Centurion. “Tap into the power grid and be prepared to transfer power from that holographic projection to the weapons. I don’t want to be completely helpless should the doctor insult those creature’s mothers.”

Smirking at the attempted joke, Dor’vel replied, “Our weapons are on standby and ready to be powered up quickly in case of an unavoidable diplomatic breakdown.”

When the shuttle suddenly fired at the creatures, the Sub Commander tensed further and dug his fingers into the armrest of the chair. He was very tempted to transfer the power and step in, but he restrained his instincts. A few minutes and another short phaser burst later, and the creatures all took off together, retreating to their asteroid field. An audible sigh of relief could be heard across the bridge as officers began to relax. “The shuttle is now returning to the bay,” Dor’vel announced evenly.

“Very good,” the Sub Commander replied, not ready to give the doctor a medal, but somewhat less inclined to decapitate him. “Once he’s aboard, transfer power back to normal and head out of the field at maximum impulse. Once we’re clear of the disruption to the drive, set course for the nearest starbase, warp seven,” he ordered.

As the order was acknowledged and the atmosphere and lighting on the bridge returned to normal, Govan settled back in his chair for a moment. In spite of the successful outcome, the ‘mission’ had raised plenty of questions. And now, it was time to get some of those questions answered, starting with the Chief of Intelligence.

~

"You called, Sub Commander?" the voice of the Legate announced, far more loudly than was necessary in Govan’s personal opinion, as he stepped from the turbolift.

Trying to resist crossing the bridge and punching the arrogant officer in the nose, Echal instead turned and fixed a furious glare on him. “Yes, I did. I think it’s about time we stop playing this little game, and you tell me what is really going on here. No more lies or sidestepping the issue because I’ve had just about enough of that.”

"Your ready room?" Tevio suggested, not appearing at all surprised by the demand.

Nodding in agreement, Govan stormed to his office expecting the Intelligence chief to follow him, which he did. The Sub Commander hadn’t even made it to his chair when the Legate began to speak. "This training ground is home to an intelligent species of sporaceous beings; there are two 'types' of this entity, but you know all of this, now at least. You may be wondering why I’ve been trying to hide this from you recently when before it was of no consequence. My covertly assigned mission was to capture some of these sporaceous lifeforms without the knowledge of the rest of the ship, an objective only for the Intel department. The Tal Diann has taken an interest in this species of late, with a view to experimentation and R&D within the organization. As this was only designed to be a training mission for the S'Harien and nothing so immediately strenuous for the vessel, in the form of a mission, the information was kept secret. Besides, the ship was still largely unproven at the time. Know that I did not expect the S'Harien to be attacked en-masse as it was, and I didn’t expect them to be here so soon, I was caught off-guard, utterly unprepared."

Only now slowly lowering himself into his chair, Govan simply stared Tevio down, sizing up not only the man but what he’d said. He was being honest, brutally and dangerously so. Although there was most assuredly plenty of other information that he wasn’t being so forthright with, it appeared he was sharing anything that was of importance to their current situation, and that was what mattered most. He may not have liked the Intelligence officer, and he was still far from happy about the whole situation, but he understood the difficult place in which the Legate had been placed.

Before he could actually reply, the Tal Diann agent’s wrist device signaled a new message, and the man retrieved it, seeming grateful for the interruption, and calmly reporting, "It appears that Doctor Sural has docked his shuttle, Sub Commander."

Nodding once in acknowledgement of the report, Echal paused again, allowing the suspense to drag out just a little bit longer, before he replied. “In spite of what you may think of me, I do understand the difficulty of the position you hold. You often have responsibility similar to an agent of the Tal Shiar without the same level of power. When a Tal Shiar agent is onboard a vessel with secondary protocols, it is widely known they hold information that the Captain and crew does not, and they have the ability to take command should that information become a threat, while you don’t. Unlike an outsider, you are a member of this crew, and our fate is yours. I will not demand that you tell me everything because I know that will never happen, but I do expect you to share anything that has the potential of putting this ship and crew in danger. As soon as their attack began, that was the time to share this information with me, not now. You’ll do well to remember that your survival is tied in with ours.”

Rising from his chair now, Govan cracked a smirk before continuing. “You will no doubt continue to hide things from me, while I will continue to try and discover them. That’s the way it is, and I don’t expect that to change. However, the safety of this ship and crew is my priority, and I do expect you to have the same priority. If you ever conceal anything from me that ends up endangering the S’Harien and crew again, I assure you that you will regret it and pay for it, Lieutenant. Is that clear?”

<Tag Tevio>

Now smirking outright, Echal added, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a doctor and an engineer to terrify. I will also be calling a senior staff meeting within the next few days, and I expect your attendance. Dismissed,” Govan finished retaking his seat.

<Tag Tevio>

Still smirking, Govan decided to move on to the next issue. “Echal to Lieutenant Virh and Ensign Taranek, report to my ready room, now,” he ordered, his voice stern.

<Tag Sural and Terrh>

[Deleted]

When he heard Commander Echal he was just finishing repairs to the engine and was ready to run a test. He notice that Sural had finished his experiment and lived, he also saw the shuttle had redocked. It was now time t face the musice something he was not looking forwarded to. His only hope was that what ever the Commander Had planned would be quick and painless. After all they did save the ship even if they did disobey orders. The out come had at least earned them a right to a quick death after all.

He arrived a head of the Doctor and entered the Commander's Briefing room and stood at attention. He was not stupid this was not a social call or a planning meeting he knew what he and the Doctor had done over the last few hours was way out of line.

" Commander Echal before you have me killed I wish to say one thing. I did not do what I did for you or myself. I help put this ship together since it was a picture on a design board I know every weld every seem and every circute on this ship. I have alot of my self invested in this ship and could not stand by and see it destroyed. While I should have checked with you first and didn't I had only the interst of the ship in mind. I could let it be destoryed like that not that way I couldn't."

" So I did what ever it took to make sure the ship was safe and remembered a old saying I once heard. That some times its better to ask forgiveness then permission my life is yours Commander I only ask that the out come of this mission entitle me to a quick death. I will always do what ever I have to ensure the saftey of the ship and its crew and its Commander"

he waited to see what the commander would do next but prepared himself for the next world. He kept wondering when the doctor might show up maybe the commander wanted to kill them both at the same time.

[Deleted]

The shuttle settled gently back on to its pad and Sural powered down its systems as a number of engineers came over to get the shuttle back in order.

"The Commander wants to see you" one of the engineers said dryly with a smirk on his face.

"I bet he does" Sural replied non-chalantly.

Rather than go up to the bridge directly he instead went to Sickbay.

"Tamir. Tamir. Where are you?" He called as he entered.

The nurse was on the other side of the room with one of the spore injured engineers.

"yes Doctor" she looked up surprised, expecting him to be on the bridge.

"Report? How are our patients?"

Tag Tamir

"Very good. Keep an eye on them whilst I m gone. I should nt be long, should the Commander decide to let me live." He said this without any hint of humour.

TAG Tamir

The bridge was strangely quiet when he entered all eyes fixed upon him.

Sural did his best to ignore them.

"I take it the commander is in his office"

Dorvel nodded,
"Terrh is in there now."

"Then perhaps he will require my medical skills" Sural noted,

"Id save that for yourself." Dorvel replied

Sural shrugged and entered the Commanders room.

"You wanted to see me?" He said offhandedly to Govan.

[Deleted]

"Tamir, Tamir, where are you?" the unexpected sound of her superior’s voice startled the nurse out of her work. She’d been checking the vitals of the engineer who had taken an unexpected trip in space. He was beginning to stabilize, but it was taking awhile to extract the spores from his body, as with the others who encountered them.

"Yes, Doctor?" she replied, moving to join him and surprised to see him in sickbay. From the rumors that had been floating among the medical staff, Sural had stolen a shuttle, defied Sub Commander Echal, and was practically a walking dead man.

"Report? How are our patients?" Sural asked, glancing at all the nearby monitors.

“Recovering, Sir,” Tamir replied. “They are being kept sedated while we eradicate remaining traces of the spores, but it appears they should all make a full recovery.”

"Very good. Keep an eye on them whilst I’m gone. I should not be long, should the Commander decide to let me live," he commented dryly on his current predicament.

“Aye, sir,” the nurse added as he headed for the door. She certainly didn’t envy him...

~

"Commander Echal, before you have me killed, I wish to say one thing. I did not do what I did for you or myself. I helped put this ship together, since it was a picture on a design board. I know every weld, every seam, and every circuit on this ship. I have a lot of myself invested in this ship, and I could not just stand by and see it destroyed. While I should have checked with you first and I didn’t, I had only the interest of the ship in mind. I couldn’t let it be destroyed like that. So I did whatever it took to make sure the ship was safe. I remembered an old saying I once heard. That sometimes it’s better to ask forgiveness than permission, so my life is yours, Commander. I only ask that the outcome of the mission entitle me to a quick death. I’ll always do whatever I have to ensure the safety of the ship, its crew, and you.”

It took every ounce of control Govan had left not to leap across the desk and beat the engineer to a bloody pulp. However, what he had to say was for both the doctor and engineer together. For some reason, there was very little that irritated Echal as much as Terrh talking. “Must you always talk…don’t you ever shut up…” the Sub Commander mumbled to himself, hoping that Sural would hurry up and get there.

As if hearing his thoughts, Sural waltzed through the door with feigned indifference that actually did manage to irritate Govan just as much as if not more than Virh’s incessant talking. "You wanted to see me?" the doctor commented casually, further grating on Echal’s nerves, even though he could tell the man was actually nervous.

Leaning back in his chair and glancing between the two of them for a moment, the Sub Commander intentionally allowed the silence to stretch uncomfortably until it was almost unbearable before speaking. “Needless to say, had your little stunt not worked, the two of you wouldn’t be capable of speech at the moment,” he began.

It was strange…the Sub Commander was absolutely furious, yet somehow it had been channeled into being very serious and very quiet, which was very unlike him.

After another long pause, he continued. “Your behavior this past mission has been unacceptable. While it is true that both of you have performed your duties well and contributed to the successful outcome of this mission, how you went about it was out of line. This ship has an established chain of command with set protocols and procedures for a reason, and both of you ignored that, Terrh time and time again, and Sural just the once but on a much larger and far more serious scale that time.”

Still deadly calm, Govan surveyed the two of them again. “I’m well aware that you don’t know me, probably don’t like me, and very well may not trust me, and I’m sure those feelings of yours are shared with the entire crew. But those feelings do not justify doing whatever you want. I don’t know, like, or necessarily trust any of you either, but I still can’t run around the ship doing everyone else’s job, just like both of you can’t go off and do your own thing without checking with me first. That’s the way it works and the way a ship is supposed to be run. You do your jobs, gather your information, and then report to me and provide suggestions, and I take all the reports and suggestions and make a decision based on everything at hand. This ship would fall apart if every department did whatever it felt was best based on only its data and abilities, and you’re both extremely lucky that didn’t happen this time.”

“Now...” Echal continued still feeling strangely composed, “...you are both working through this upcoming shoreleave. Terrh, you will get this ship in top condition as well as spend four hours every day cleaning the exhaust manifolds using a hand-held resonance modulator. Doctor, you will spend this shoreleave working shifts in sickbay banned from your lab except in case of a viral outbreak of some kind, and you will also spend four hours a day assisting Terrh with the manifolds. Dismissed.”

<Tag Terrh and Sural>

[Deleted]

He was shocked that he had been allowed to live, either the Commander Echal was planning something or he actually valued there services. Nothing seemed to make any sense when it came to there Commander. Maybe that was his plan all along keep the crew guessing to keep them off guard.

He didn't mind the punishment so much, he loved the ship and would do anything to keep it running although cleaning the exhaust manifolds using a hand-held resonance modulator was by no means fun. There Commander knew how slow and long that was going to take or did he.

Walking out of the briefing room with the doctor behind him and making sure nobody else was listening he stoped and broke a smile. '' Sural why dont you follow me down to the engine room I have something I want to show you"

After arriving in his word of parts and circuts he walked over to the exhaust manifolds and opened the cover. He smiled a little it was polished to the point where you could see your self in it.

Sural seemed to be wondering what he wanted so he walked over to his office and invited Sural in to take a seat " Doctor if you are like me in a small way which I think is the case, then you take your job to heart and with great care. The exhaust manifolds are always cleaned everyday if possible when the ship is not moving. I check and recheck every system on this ship, I know when its going to break down before it does. My point is this why we can't leave the ship and must do our extra duties I will take care of the exhaust manifolds using a hand-held resonance modulator it will only take a fraction of the time the commander thinks. You may use my office during that 4 hr period to do your research. You saved my ship Sural and that means something to me, I'm not saying we need to be friends or anything I'm just returning a favor for saving something I care about thats all." <Tag Sural>

After Sural had left he looked over the repairs needed and some improvements. The cloak was going to need a over haul and that was going to eat up alot of time. This time thoe he would improve on the cloak omitters to handle programs the doctor had used. He would also install holo omitters along the hull to change the ship appearance it was a idea he had be working on for a while. If the Commander wanted the ship tip top he would get it with a few improvements, as for the exhaust manifolds if the commander didn't realize what type of engineer he was oh well. He took great pride in his ship although Commander Echal commanded it and for purpose could have that the ship was still his. He would of course keep busy and out of sight during shore leave he didn't need the commander adding more punishment duties.

[Deleted]

Govan Echal's behaviour surprised the Legate. Tevio listened to his Commander and all responses were stifled by the Romulan's new lenient style. He did react a little at Govan's quasi-threat, it irked him a little that he was unable to voice his frustrations and yet Govan was still lecturing him on not supplying information when it was vitally needed. The fact was that Tevio had been unable to give Govan what he needed, he was constrained by the demands of the Tal Diann and yet, he had in any case ultimately failed.

The Tal Diann had used the asteroid field for the past several years as a means of conducting their covert investigations into the sporaceous creatures. Hence why the region had been designated a training ground to the knowledge of most of the Navy, the Tal Diann had manipulated things as a means to perform their secret study. It was all for the ultimate good of the Romulan Navy, a means to end and the means was in no way harmful. But not anymore. The S'Harien's Intel officer had made sure of that, the Tal Diann's study in secret had been ended now. From this point, they would either have to assign ships their with new overt intentions or just give up on the project altogether.

Ch'varak nodded at Govan, telling him he would abide by his laws as best as he was allowed to by his other superiors. He even indirectly thanked the Commander for not being enraged, which is what Tevio had very much expected of him.

Engineer Terrh arrived as Tevio left. The Intel officer ignored him, only turning to look back at the Engineer once he'd gone past. The doors slid shut behind Terrh as he stepped through into the office of the CO. Apathetically, Ch'varak thought whether or not that final glimpse of Terrh's back would be the last time he'd see him. It did not disturb the Legate at all that there was a real possibility Terrh, along with Sural, would be executed. It certainly didn't cause him any alarm. If Tevio were in Govan's position, he would for sure have no qualms with permanently removing a member of the crew, especially in cases such as the Chief Engineer and the Ship's Doctor; what they had done would warrant execution on any ship led by a hardline imperialist.

Tevio headed across the bridge to the rather hidden away Intelligence console, down on the starboard side. It contained some of the higher command functions, accessed only by officers and requiring security codes to access. Most of the bridge by some unspoken agreement did not look at the station very often, either ignoring it or just forcing themselves not to look, unless it was necessary. Uhlan Mavak was manning it. "Uhlan," Tevio said quietly once he was alongside Mavak. "Have my orders distributed to the staff. We're returning to base. Then I want a small meeting.. there may be an issue at hand and I might be off the ship for a while."

"Yes, sir." Mavak answered, having a good idea of what Tevio was referring to. Ch'varak didn't imagine that he would yet again be thrown out of the Navy, this being only his first assignment. However, there was sure to be some comeuppance for his unavoidable slip in the last mission.

Before long the S'Harien had escaped the interference of the spores and was at warp, making its way homewards. Not wishing to remain, Tevio made his way off the bridge, escaping the prying eyes that were constantly a thorn in his side. Oh how he longed for a space station, or dry land again. His own office, his own rules; there he was the master, there he was god.