Mission 6: Never judge a book by its cover

[Deleted]

It was strange. They'd been back at Bellicose for less than a day and already she'd settled back into the Starbase. Maybe it was just the reassuring familiarity after time spent adjusting to new surroundings, but the place seemed more like home to her than it ever had done in the past.

Despite this, L'Ola had been trying to spend as much time on the Black Tulip as was reasonable during Shore Leave. She was determined to know the ship well by the time they left next mission. And with their Captain and First Officer still otherwise occupied in sickbay she was still responsible for its contents and crew.

Walking back off the ship and onto the base she headed for the bakery where her 'daughter' had introduced jam doughnuts to her. L'Ola had had a taste for them ever since and was looking forward to another try. Happily she settled down at a free table and bit into her first doughnut for quite a while. It was just as good as she'd remembered.

Of course, there are side effects to eating jam doughnuts. Such as the sugar sticking to your fingers, or the possibilities for biting right into the jam and having it splurt out at you just as someone decides to talk to you. Having the latter happen would be very unlucky though...

"Commander Kanz!" an excited voice appeared seemingly out of nowhere. "Ooh sorry did I catch you at a bad time?"

L'Ola looked up to see a smiling Bajoran woman looking at her, "Carrie! Or should that be Lieutenant Johnstone if we're being formal?" she smiled back and attempted to wipe some of the jam off her face.

Carrie sat down in the empty seat opposite, "Not exactly trying to be formal, just always seems a bit strange..." She trailed off. It seemed a bit mean to only talk to someone in an attempt to gain information about someone else, and yet she didn't have many options. "I don't suppose you've heard from..."

"Lucy? I was just about to write to her now actually. But I spoke to her a few days ago and she still seems fine. Think she's pretty much running the company she's working for."

"That's good to hear. I've been meaning to contact her and catch up, but things have just been so busy lately." Carrie checked the time and rolled her eyes, "Speaking of which, I'm supposed to be on duty in about 30 seconds."

"You work too hard, you know that right?" L'Ola said in a mildly concerned parental way. Once again the thought occurred to her that Carrie was closer to her age than to Lucy's.

Carrie laughed, "I live on the adrenaline, it's fine. Hope to talk to you again soon." She disappeared off out of sight, cheerfully waving at each familiar person she passed.

L'Ola finished eating her doughnut with no further jam explosions and tried to decide what to do next. Not for the first time she noticed that there weren't that many familiar faces around and she hadn't exactly made any friends amongst the ship she'd joined.

After a relatively short thought process she decided to hit the holosuites and see if there were any good new programs. Thankfully there was a new combat training program that she liked the look of, and 20 minutes later she was running around feeling very alive and energised. She was even starting to wonder why she didn't do it more often.

Naturally though it all ended with her comm badge beeping. =/\= Commander Kanz please report to Starbase Ops =/\= She rolled her eyes, "On my way."

It was a conscious decision to get changed before reporting in. If it wasn't urgent then it didn't really matter, and if it was urgent she was unlikely to get a chance to change later. Spending the rest of the day in workout clothes didn't seem so appealling.

As she arrived in Ops Carrie greated her, "Sorry Commander, looks like we're going to have to talk sooner than planned."

"It's always the way with these things. What's up?"

Two other officers that she didn't recognise joined them as well. "We've received a distress call from the Veaghagh system. The main planet seems to have been hit with some kind of virus that their medical teams haven't been able to deal with."

One of the others continued, "We haven't been able to get much more information, the call is on loop and no one seems to be there to respond to our messages. So we're sending in medical teams to assess and hopefully contain the virus."

"Okay..." A light dawned as L'Ola started to realise why they were telling her this.

"The extra medical personnel will be ready to leave in half an hour" Carrie said, "Sickbay on the Black Tulip is empty at the moment, correct?"

L'Ola nodded, "Yes, we transferred patients over here when we arrived."

"Good. We'll keep you informed if we hear anything further Commander. Remember, assess the situation first and only send our people if it won't spread the virus further. Good luck."

With that the two extra officers went back to wherever they had come from, Carrie smiled sympathetically, and L'Ola realised it was time to leave the room. As soon as she stepped outside she made a comm call, "Commander Kanz to all Black Tulip crewmembers. Please report on board within the next 30 minutes. All senior staff, meeting in the briefing room in an hour."

[Deleted]

John was sitting in his temporary quarters on the starbase thinking over his little chat with James, what was he thinking ? what was he doing ?

Things were all muddled in his head and he couldn't think straight, he shook his head and ignored the voice inside telling him that he should find James and tell him what he thought.

He closed his eyes and focused on the blackness in front of his eyes, and pictured a Waterfall and a Rainbow, he saw himself sitting this Rainbow with his Spirit Guide beside him, he laid his head on her lap and spoke to her as if she was real.

"Mary how are you?"
'I am fine thank you XilverXill and yourself?'
"I am in a muddle, but you already know this"
'Indeed i do my charge, you need to think about what it means and if it's what you want'
"But this feeling is strange, i've had both male and female partners, but look how the last one turned out?"
'If your career is important to you, you need to find someone that understand this, and will accept your work as a LightWorker'
"of course, but how can i be aware this is what HE wants"
'Look back on his actions, does that suggest some decpetion? or does it suggest the opposite'
"i see, anything else"
'Be yourself, i'll always be at your side and waiting whenever you wish to talk to me'
"Thank you, now let's enjoy this scenery my sister"

John kept his head on Mary's lap and watched the water fall peacefully over the cliff creating his sacred space.

John was brought around suddenly by Commander Kanz's voice sounding over his comm badge
=/\="Commander Kanz to all Black Tulip crewmembers. Please report on board within the next 30 minutes. All senior staff, meeting in the briefing room in an hour." =/\=

John's head spun a little as he opened his eyes and was suddenly brought back to the now.

"Woah, i hate it when that happens!" he tapped his com badge in response and said =/\="Doctor Storey to Commander Kanz, Affirmative Commander"=/\=

John signed off and proceeded to leave his quarters the whole surroundings appearing sharper and clearer, and proceeded to the transporter that would take him back home.

He stepped onto the pad and nodded to the Chief, there was a brief tingle in his body as he was demolecularised and rematerialsed on his ship. He shook his head trying to get his brain cells back in order.

He left the transporter room and proceeded to the corridor which would take him to the turbolift and thus to the briefing room. John was still in a world of his own thinking about James as he stepped into the 'lift and proceeded to the briefing room where he would listen to his next mission 'I really want to be busy this time around, like really busy!' he thought as he travelled to his destination.

On Deck one the 'lift stopped and John stepped out nodding to crewmembers around the bridge going about their duties as a beehive or ant hill does in times of need. He stepped into the briefing room as the first crewman there and took his seat waiting the arrival of the senior staff.

[Deleted]

Antoinette Flanigan tugged at her father's sleeve, pouting as he listened to the comm call coming from the Black Tulip. "Dad!" she whined, trying to pull her father along to the shop closeby. She'd seen a dress she'd wanted to buy since before their previous mission and she feared she might not get another chance. "Come on dad," she carried on, "you promised!"

James sighed, ignoring the stares he was getting from people on the promenade of the station. "Yes Toni, I know I promised but you know that duty comes first and Captain kanz just called an emergency meeting. We have twenty minutes left at best, because it'll take us at least ten minutes to get back to the ship."

The counselor allowed himself to be pulled over to the shop, trying his best to keep his fourteen year old daughter happy. She was starting to become a handful; one moment she was a little girl cuddling up to her father and the next she was screaming at him because he had walked into her room unannounced. Now, he watched as she pulled the desired dress from the rack and darted into a dressing room. A few minutes later, she came out, twirling before him, asking him how she looked. In truth, the dress was making her look older but she did need new clothing and he had promised her she could buy the dress. "You look lovely, princess," he answered, after she asked him for the second time.

Toni smiled, changed back to her grey jumpsuit and darted over to the counter to pay for the dress. "We can go now," she announced, but they were barely outside when she indicated she wanted to have a drink.

"We don't have time for that," James countered, tugging her along. "And don't give me any trouble now or you're grounded for the upcoming week. And that means not seeing that friend of yours after dinner time, understood?" That got her attention and ten minutes later, they boarded the Black Tulip.

After dropping his daughter off at their quarters, James first went by his office to gather the latest patient schedules. By the time he'd gone through them, it was time to report for the meeting. Apparently, he was just the second person to report in as to his surprise he found John waiting in the room by himself. He noted the doctor looked tired. "You all right doc?" he asked quietly, taking his seat.

[Deleted]

John was that away with the faeries that he didn't hear the door open until he heard a voice ask him "You all right doc?" he came around quickly and looked at James "Yes i am fine thanks Commander just having a think about why we were called here early"

John avoided looking at James directly as his brain went over everything their previous encounter with him went "Did you go shopping with Antoinette?" he asked changing the subject quickly.

[Deleted]

James rolled his eyes in exhasperation. "Did I?" he countered, "I tell you doctor, if you ever have a daughter, leave the shopping to the girl's mother. Men just don't belong in clothing stores, especially not with their daughters. I got dragged all over the base and into pretty much every store."

He ran both hands through his hair, then tugged at the hem of his tunic. "Lately I don't know what to do with her." James leaned forward, steepling his fingers before him on the table and started to explain his experiences with his teenage daughter. "She's getting a bit rebellious, testing my patience. I'm afraid that one day I'll no longer be able to tolerate it and just snap."

At that moment, his superior in the counseling department walked in, probably overhearing his last sentence. "Ah colonel did you enjoy your shoreleave?" He glanced back at John. "I suppose I'll manage one way or the other," he finished, "girls will be girls?"

[Deleted]

Q2 had taken longer than most to get his stuff sorted out on the Black Tulip. As his 'call to duty' had come midway through their current cruise, his stuff was still scattered between a number of locations on the ship. Truth be told, most of it was actually still back on Starbase Conqueror, but he had somehow managed to amount a plethora of different uniforms due to his sudden switch. Which was a problem he was working to remedy at the moment. He looked around his new quarters, and wondered if perhaps the best solution would be simply rolling a grenade into it. The medium sized room couldn't get any messier after all.

Actually he reflected, that wasn't true. The room was a well organised range of stuff mountains. Over there, yonder, was all his uniforms, to the right of it casual gear, just in front of that various personal belongings, and so on. Still, he reflected even as organised mess, it wasn't ideal long term. It would, however, stay like this until he returned from their leave. He hadn't had much of a chance to play racquetball during his time on the Tulip, as their holodeck had been limited to on duty purposes only for the cruise. He was worried that it might take him a while to get his arm in, and so had booked a court on Bellicose for two days solid. He was sure that Dr Storey would moan about this later on, but he shrugged at the thought.

As he stepped out of his quarters, his comm badge chirped merrily. He tapped it, the swing of his shoulders causing the racquetball kit to knock lightly around against his chest.
=/\=Commander Kanz to all Black Tulip crew members. Please report on board within the next 30 minutes. All senior staff, meeting in the briefing room in an hour. =/\= He changed his mind. It hadn't chirped merrily, it had chirped mercilessly. He sighed lightly, spun around and entered his quarters once more. It was definitely just a mess really; especially once he threw his kit bag down, scattering the piles melodramatically. He'd regret that later. Hell, he regretted it already.

Realising that he wasn't going to get the workout he wanted, he decided that he'd just have to make do with jogging to the briefing. So logically, he showered and freshened up in the hour he had beforehand.

A short jog later, and he was facing just the kind of question that was bound to raise his spirits. Not.

"Ah colonel did you enjoy your shore leave?"
"I had a what now?" He replied, pretty safe on the assumption that he'd said it far too fast for anyone to work out what he'd said or meant. And besides, as he was the last one to arrive (in spite of jogging), Commander Kanz was clearing her throat to start the briefing.

[Deleted]

James blinked but refrained from asking what the other man had said when he heard Kanz clear her throat. He averted his gaze from the marine, only to cross gazes with John again. At that moment, the rest of the senior staff filed in and anything he had wanted to say just cleared from his mind in an instant.

"Where are we going captain?" the counselor asked, well before kanz had even opened her mouth to start speaking. She just cast him a avery annoyed glance and his mouth snapped shut again. "Sorry," he murmured, opting to gaze at his hands instead of her. "Please, continue."

The counselor leaned back in his seat, impatiently swiveling this way and that when none were looking his way. Briefings, in general, were boring and he didn't like the fact that their much-needed shoreleave had been cancelled within hours. He pretended to be all ears, occasionally glancing up while he jotted down notes in steno on his PADD.

[Deleted]

After calling the rest of the crew, L'Ola headed to the ship making one quick stop on the way. She was dreading the reactions that she would get once onboard. Everyone had been looking forward to shore leave, and to have it cancelled with no notice was not exactly going to be a crowd pleaser.

As she hadn't moved any of her belongings over to the Starbase there was no need to visit her quarters. This meant she could get straight to work checking all preparations were made in the short time available. And once they'd got underway she could sit in the ready room for a few minutes trying to get any extra information.

With the hour almost up she made her way to the briefing room. She was pleasantly surprised to see the rest of the senior staff had already gathered as requested. Once more she was reminded of the need to get to know the others more, although she was reassured that she recognised everyone at least.

L'Ola sat down and put the paper bag she was holding on the table in front of her. She coughed to get everyone's attention. All of a sudden she'd got a bit nervous, and the idea of calling a group of people to order seemed scary however small the group size.

She psyched herself up and was just about to start when Commander Flanigan interrupted her, but she managed to recompose herself relatively well and get things underway. "First I'd like to apologise to you all for the cancellation of shoreleave. Obviously this wasn't my decision and it wasn't one that was taken lightly.

"Now, onto the briefing. Oh wait. I stopped off at the bakery on my way back to the ship, so feel free to help yourselves to jam doughnuts or chelsea buns." She ripped the bag open and moved it nearer to the middle of the table.

"As you may be aware, we're currently headed for the Veaghagh system. The Starbase has picked up a distress call and we've been sent to help. In case any of you are wondering, we were the only available crew with access to a ship. One of the planets in the system is experiencing a medical emergency and are requesting assistance.

"First priority is to assess the situation, we're not sending in medical teams if they're just going to get infected with whatever's spreading round. Doctor Storey, you've got control over the extra personnel Bellicose gave us. Use them as you see fit."

She turned to the counselors, "Crew morale is going to be pretty low this mission with the loss of shoreleave, and it would be great if you could make sure everyone keeps going okay. And we're headed for a planet full of ill people. Even for those uninfected it's going to be hard. So it looks like you've got your work cut out."

L'Ola ticked things off on the mental list she'd made, realising she couldn't remember what she was going to say or even what she'd just said. "Any other questions?"


<Sorry it's nothing exciting, please chime in at any point during that (brain not awake enough to write interruptiions)>

[Deleted]

John listened to Commander Kanz, and listened intently.

His ears perked up at the sound of a medical emergency.
"Any other questions?"

John raised his hand "Firstly, what is known about the current situation of the planet ? and secondly which is not a question more of an order, as the Chief Medical Officer, anyone that visits the planet will report to me as soon as they get back on board for an immediate check up, i do not, i repeat, DO NOT want a medical emergency on this ship, whatever it may be, we will treat all ill persons on the planet and when they are stable and only when myself or Holi gives the go ahead are they to be brought on board. I am enacting a Code Red Medical Lockdown as of now, which means that containment fields are around each bioneural gel pack as well as the Bridge and other critical areas, if you feel ill or sick you are to report to me immediately, there will be a medial personnel with a security personnel at every critical point and only the medical personnel will be given the authority to lower the containment fields. The Counsellors will also be given access to the containment fields, this is of great importance, if you don't understand me, ask me anything i will be on call 24/7 until w get back to Bellicose, any questions?"

[Deleted]

"I don't see why anyone feeling a little icky should report to sickbay immediately," James retorted, an annoyed frown flickering across his face. "And aren't you a little premature with calling all these precautions? We don't know how ill those people are, for all we know it's not contageous. And Kanz didn't say the planet was quarantined."

He reached for one of the chelsea buns and dunked it in his coffee, a little harder than intended becaue his coffee splattered everywhere around his cup. Including the hem of his tunic. He scowled at his own clumsiness then looked up at John again. "And what do I need with access to gel-packs? I'm a counselor, hardly a trained engineer."

This time, he looked up at Kanz and motioned towards the treats. "They're lovely captain, very thoughtful of you. Have you ever considered a career in counseling yourself? Treats like these sure do raise morale."

Now, he smiled brightly at Q2. "What do you think colonel, should we perhaps arrange a little sports marathon on the holodeck while we're en route to our new orders? A sort of Black Tulip sports competition? I heard other ships in the sector have done them as well, and the USS Sarek currently leads in the race."

[Deleted]

"I don't see why anyone feeling a little icky should report to sickbay immediately," James retorted, an annoyed frown flickering across his face. "And aren't you a little premature with calling all these precautions? We don't know how ill those people are, for all we know it's not contageous. And Kanz didn't say the planet was quarantined."

John frowned at James "It is best to be safe than sorry, but by all means the precautions can be lifted, but if this contagion, whatever it is, comes on board you'll be first person to moan at me as soon as someone gets ill won't you Commander ? And in fact in any case of travelling to a place where a medical emergency is taking place i am allowed to place precautions to ensure the safety of this crew, and if you're not happy with that, contact Starfleet Medical"

John fumed inside and wanted to get up and shout and scream, but thought better of it, it seemed to him that there was no respect for his professional decision on the safety of the crew, after all, why should there be he is just a doctor ?

[Deleted]

"I think it's just making people more scared than is necessary," James shot back, annoyed that he was pulled away from his conversation with Q2 about having a BT-lympics. "With all these precautions, even those who need not worry about medical emergencies will get worried. And I don't think we're quite ready for another panic aboard this ship, are you?"

James nearly squashed his bun in anger as he glared across the table at the chief medical officer. "And I wouldn't be the first one to complain. Staff who aren't authorised to beam down in the first place have nothing to be concerned about, and we have a perfectly functional biofilter in the transporter, and even then we have quarantaine procedures which will make your suggestions quite unnecessary!"

The counselor hadn't realised at first that he was positively yelling at the doctor now, leaning over the table to get his point across. "Certainly, I'm concerned for my daughter's safety, but as she has no authorisation whatsoever to be anywhere near the transporter room, or even to beam down, I think she'll be safe. Just as all the other families aboard this vessel."

He took a few deep breaths. "I'm certain Captain Kanz will do everything in her power to keep anyone ill from coming aboard without proper procedures having been run through first."

[Deleted]

Brief encounters from the previous mission had made her realise that certain crewmembers were, shall we say, not afraid to express their opinions. But they hadn't prepared her for this level of powerplaying. She sat listening to the exchange with slightly raised eyebrows and waited for a pause.

"...I'm certain Captain Kanz will do everything in her power to keep anyone ill from coming aboard without proper procedures having been run through first."

L'Ola stood up, "You guys finished?" she asked accusingly. While her voice was at a perfectly normal level her expression clearly displayed that carrying on an argument was not really a safe option. "Good. Now, Dr Storey, I will be glad to receive your recommendations on precautions to be taken and procedures to be followed. However I think it would be a little presumptious to make the recommendations until we have gained slightly more information. And don't forget the extra medical teams that are now on board to help you."

She turned to face James, "Commander Flanigan, feel free to proceed with any morale boosting plans you have. But please remember that people are not going to feel better if their counselor is shouting."

There was a pause for just a second before she continued, "If anyone has any further suggestions or questions I'll be on the Bridge. You'll be kept up to date with any information received. Thank you for your time." With that she walked out the room, stopping a few metres out to shake her head in her hands before carrying on.

[annannabelle]

Annabelle was late. There was nothing new there but she felt annoyed by it all the same. She had to get to where the Black Tulip was docked and get aboard before it left on its latest mission. She’d been rushing to join the Black Tulip ever since the graduation ceremony had ended and had been given her new posting.

She’d enjoyed being a graduate for a second then read where she had to be, and more importantly, when. The ship, the Black Tulip, was leaving as soon as all crew were on board. It would be cutting it fine getting there as it was, but she would be more annoyed at herself if she missed it.

So now she was sprinting through the star base wishing she hadn’t packed so much stuff, though she’d thought she’d needed the 10 ton of old fashioned books that she always carried with her for research. Now her kitbag was too heavy and cumbersome, slowing her down because of both the weight of it, and trying to avoid hitting people with it as it swung about as she ran.

She made it just in time, only stopping to rest when she was safely on board, where she stood, doubled up and gasping for breath for a good 5 minutes after. It was only after she’d recovered a little that she had time to check where her quarters were. Moving to the nearest computer link, she searched and quickly found the cabin she’d been assigned.

Making it to her quarters, despite the weight of the bag, Annabelle tried to locate the senior staff. She finally found what she was looking for and groaned. All senior officers were in a meeting, a meeting that had already started. Damn, she swore silently to herself. With luck like this she couldn’t imagine why she was always late and rushing to get to places.

She turned and sprinted back out the door. She hoped she would be able to find some one to report to.

[Deleted]

As the Tulip’s command crew filtered out of the conference lounge, a small banana sprung into life in a replicator on Deck 17. This was however, completely unlinked to either the filtering, or the fact that Q2 cursed to himself quietly for not thinking to speak to Commander Kanz about transferring to Operations. Although it would be yet another transfer, to yet another department, he had decided that he didn’t feel all too comfortable as a counsellor. None of this mattered much to the banana, which had already lost its skin and was suspecting that more might be to follow. The el aurian stepped neatly around a wraith-like Ensign hurrying in the opposite direction into the now vacated lounge, and then slid his feet to a halt alongside the centre seat.

“You think she was looking for us?” He pondered to Kanz, before continuing on; “I meant to speak to you inside, but I’ve put in for a transfer to operations. I realise that I only recently made this one, but I feel I would be better suited to that role. If I were being honest, I’d feel more suited to any other role; but that one most specifically. Officially nothing has come back yet, but seeing as we are missing a chief ops officer at the moment, and have two counsellors, which is two too many in my opinion, I wondered if it would be okay for me to move temporarily, pending the rubber stamp from command?” The banana, incidentally, was by this point already only half a banana.

He noticed as he closed his question that he was absent mindedly flipping a small isolinear chip that he’d picked up somewhere. He deliberated for a while whether it might have been important or in use, but concluded that as the ship was still moving and they were all still breathing it can’t have been that bad. He caught it in the palm of his hand and slid it carefully into a pocket, noting to speak to an engineer later about where it may have come from. One of the less volatile ones he reckoned. The others would just bite his head off, and he’d grown rather attached to his head over the years. The real tragedy however, was that the banana was now dead, and was unlikely to be receiving a funeral in the near future.

[Deleted]

q2 said:

“Officially nothing has come back yet, but seeing as we are missing a chief ops officer at the moment, and have two counsellors, which is two too many in my opinion, I wondered if it would be okay for me to move temporarily, pending the rubber stamp from command?”

A smile crept across L'Ola's face before she had chance to stop it. Someone volunteering to change jobs from a hated position to something useful? And she'd thought things were going badly since they'd got back on board.

"That would be great, Commander. I think we're gonna need all hands on deck for this one." She started moving again towards the middle of the Bridge. "Wonder if they're still arguing it out in there..."

The apparently hurried Ensign appeared again, this time skidding to a halt in front of them. L'Ola somehow managed not to laugh, purposely not looking at Q2 in case he set her off. "Can I help you, Ensign...?"

"Ensign Annabelle Bennet. I need to report in as Chief Tactical and Security Officer."

"In that case I can help you. I'm Commander Kanz, currently in command of the ship, and this is Commander Q2 our Ops officer. Did you find us okay?"

Silently she cursed herself. Not laughing had been difficult enough already.

[annannabelle]

Annabelle dashed through the corridors trying to remember her way around the unfamiliar surroundings, her breath coming in short gasps despite her regular exercise and gymnastics. People looked at her in surprise as she sprinted past them, dodging in and out of them. She skidded to a halt outside the meeting room and stood for a second trying to compose herself, then knocked on the door.

She waited impatiently, but was surprised to receive no reply. Cautiously, she opened the door, not wanting to interrupt but to her surprise, the room was empty. She swore silently to herself. The meeting must have finished already, the officers scattered to they’re duties. She turned and headed back towards the bridge.

On this return journey, Annabelle jogged, rapidly loosing patience and energy. Up ahead she could see the uniforms of a couple of senior officers. She skidded to a halt in front of them, noting their startled expressions.

"Can I help you, Ensign...?"

"Ensign Annabelle Bennet. I need to report in as Chief Tactical and Security Officer."

"In that case I can help you. I'm Commander Kanz, currently in command of the ship, and this is Commander Q2 our Ops officer. Did you find us okay?"

Annabelle thought about a sarcastic reply to that question but thought better of it. She didn’t want to get on the wrong side of the Commander this soon after coming on board. It didn’t help that she could see the Commander shaking with the effort of not laughing.

“Yes Commander. A bit of a rushed exit from the star base but ready for duty.” Annabelle panted trying desperately to regain control of her breathing. The commander dismissed her, sending her to get acquainted with the lay out of the ship and the crew, especially in security and engineering.

[Deleted]

James regarded the newcomer with a touch of bemusement, noting her general out-of-shape appearance. "They didn't drill you very hard on that training vessel, did they?" he asked.

The counselor glanced past Bennet at the chief medical officer. "What do you say doctor, is she ready for any sort of BT-lympics?" Seeing the questioning look on her face, the counselor's smile widened into a very mischievous one. "I'm going to organise an intra-ship competition which I've christened the BT-lympics. And we'll see if we perform better than any other ship in the fleet. As Second Fleet flagship, we'll just have to make sure we're top-scorer."

He beckoned the young woman to come closer. "And we've just had a very tough mission where our commanding officer was severely injured. So morale's a little low in general, and I think, and that is indeed my expert opinion, that a little team-building might actually boost morale on this ship."

His expression sombered a little, but only briefly as he was in a very cheerful mood, despite his heated arguments with the doctor earlier. He counted Bennet to be lucky to have missed that. "People can compete in actual teams, solitary or in company of a holographic team. I haven't yet sorted out the variety of sports but we'll definitely have a tennis competition" -here he beamed at Kanz- "and a surfing competition. Any other suggestions are quite welcome."

[annannabelle]

James regarded the newcomer with a touch of bemusement, noting her general out-of-shape appearance. "They didn't drill you very hard on that training vessel, did they?" he asked.

Annabelle didn’t take offence at Flannigan’s words. In fact, she smiled inwardly in amusement. She knew she was at the peak of fitness, with regular gymnastics training, on top of the training required of a security officer.

She looked at Flannigan, wondering whether he would have been able to run across a star base then round the ship on a wild goose chase without being out of breath. She doubted it. He may be in condition but Annabelle was much smaller and her youthful, almost child like (to a human) body gave her more energy.

She listened as Flannigan talked to the doctor. She wasn’t that enthused by the suggestion of competitive sports, preferring to keep her head down and get to work. She wondered if Flannigan had read her file. Her last mission hadn’t been the easiest either.

“With respect,” she replied, “I’m not that keen on competitive sport. But if you’re including gymnastics then I’m in. Now if you will excuse me, I have to familiarise myself with ship plans and crew.”

She walked away towards a console. She had remembered K’ratak’s advice and started programming the computers to not pick up her cloaking. She felt it was a bit underhand, but her ‘skill’ was in the file and if the ship fell into enemy hands, she didn’t want to be detected.

It didn’t take long to formulate and lock the program, and she was just familiarising herself with her security staff when her comm. badge bleeped.
“Ensign Bennet report to sickbay for a medical.” She sighed and moved to leave the bridge.

<Tag Doctor Storey>

[Deleted]

John walked passed Commander Kanz heading to sickbay and was shocked to see someone new standing there.

'Excellent.' he thought 'new meat' John smiled to himself as James came up and started talking to them. "What do you say doctor, is she ready for any sort of BT-lympics?" Seeing the questioning look on her face, the counselor's smile widened into a very mischievous one. "I'm going to organise an intra-ship competition which I've christened the BT-lympics. And we'll see if we perform better than any other ship in the fleet. As Second Fleet flagship, we'll just have to make sure we're top-scorer."

John smiled "Good idea, but i'll stick to running around Sickbay like a headless chicken, i am not a sporty person" he heard the ensign say something about Gymnastics as he walked off to his home, his office where he began to think about the new mission.

He reached his office with due care and time and sat in his chair, he ordered a cup of tea and sat with his feet on his desk writing on a PADD his to-do list.

-Ensign Bennets Medical
-Dinner
-Complete research of the system we've been sent to
-Sleep

He spoke to himself "Not an exhaustive list mind you is it?" Holi must have overheard him as she came in and asked "Pardon Doctor?"

"sorry Holi talking to myself" He smiled at her, and the smile was returned "Very Well". John tapped his combadge to begin his list.

=/\=“Ensign Bennet report to sickbay for a medical.”=/\=

He smiled as he made his way out into sickbay and to gather his things.

He heard the door open with a swoosh and he spoke "Miss Bennet, please lie on biobed number 2 over there and i shall be with you shortly" He heard the resulting noise of someone getting onto a biobed, and he walked over to her and smiled "this will be quick and painless, so do tell me have you suffered from any injuries?"

<Ensign?>

[Deleted]

If possible, James' smile widened even further as he walked out of the conference room with Annabelle. "I aim to have an aspect of sports on our BT-lympics for every crewmember. Of course I can't please everyone but the majority will probably favour a gymnastics contest. If you provide me with the subjects of your gymnastic preferences, then I can start organising our competition."

He nodded towards the retreating Kanz. "We all need the relief, and I suppose as counselor it's my job to provide that relief and make sure crew morale stays high. Last mission was really demoralising and with the admiral unconscious in sickbay and the first officer also extremely ill, that doesn't really raise spirits, does it?"

As he watched the younger woman walk to her own station, James retired to the aft science station. He had a few tests to run and he needed to access the science station for it. It was mostly gauging crew responses to departmental issues, and schedule sessions with patients or reschedule them were required or requested.

"Q2," he called, not remembering now whether the El-aurian wanted to be addressed with his Starfleet rank or his Marine rank. "Was there anything you wished to be added to my plans? Any particular sport you'd like to see or participate in? And could you assist me in arranging the holodeck programming for this event?"

[Deleted]

Glancing over at the counsellor, the marine shrugged his shoulders idly. “Anything that involves lots of energy sounds good to me Commander. Gets cramped on these ships, and last time I tried to play paintball in the corridors, I got an official sanction. Although with both of our command team currently absent, who knows, maybe I’ll give it a try.” He gave Commander Kanz a quick measuring look, finishing it with what he hoped was a cheeky grin.

“We have a holodeck you know.” He twisted his head around, not really aware of who had spoken. He frowned slightly; he was still getting to know the ship and crew, and didn’t know half of the officers on the bridge at the moment.
“But it’s a holodeck, the brain knows it’s not real. It’s still good for a bit of fun, but the thrills aren’t there. Besides, half the excitement of the paintball was that we knew we weren’t meant to do it.” He cocked his eyebrows slightly. “Of course, it wasn’t quite so much fun when we had to clean all the paint off the corridors. Anyway, I’m going to head down to stores, apparently we have some significant discrepancies due to running away from starbase so quickly. And thusly we need to take a full inventory of all the medical supplies we have. It’s a fun life.” He commented with faux cheer.

As soon as he stepped into the first cargo bay, he realised that this task was going to be slightly more than he had originally thought, even the faux cheer faded away. The room was packed from top to toe with medical supplies, the bay seemingly a small maze of corridors between the skyscrapers. Normally, as each box came in, it was ran slowly through the bay doors, where the box was scanned, magnet tags checked and the contents automatically logged. However, with the rushed departure, the boxes had been speedily placed in, without taking the time for this procedure.

This meant that now the boxes would have to be scanned individually and by hand, not a tough task when there were 6 boxes admittedly, but when they were over 60, with each scan taking over 5 minutes, and some of the skyscraping box-towers over 10 metres high, it became substantially less simple, and considerably more boring.

Just as he was entering the small office at the back of the bay, the ship shuddered around him, causing a number of the towers to wobble dangerously.

=/\= Q2 to bridge. What was that? =/\= He asked, trying not to sound quite so scared of the skyscrapers as he felt.

OOC: If anyone makes it an attack of any kind, I will kill them with my bare hands.

[Deleted]

Becci swung her almost person-sized rucksack off her back and into the open doorway of the carriage in front of her. A kind looking man pulled it further inside as she climbed in. "Thanks" she said in an almost out of breathe voice as the door closed behind her. "Wasn't sure I was going to catch it"

The shuttle train pulled out of the station and headed north to it's next destination. "You were cutting the timing a bit fine weren't you?" the man who had helped her commented.

"Well I wasn't planning on getting this train. I should have been going home from college for the weekend but my family lives further South."

"Ahh and you heard about the virus I assume?"

Becci nodded, "I'm really worried about my family but it would be stupid to go down there now. And with the rate it's spreading further north I thought I should get away. I'm Becci by the way."

"Tag" the man replied "and I can see your point. That virus sounds nasty."

By the time the train arrived at its destination Becci had taken off the two hodded sweatshirts she'd been wearing and was still feeling slightly warm. An hour after that she checked herself into the local hospital.



Having listened to the suggestions floating round about the sports competition, L'Ola couldn't help but feel that the task would be considerably bigger than James had first imagined. But she couldn't help looking forward to the event a little. Even if all the events turned out to be things she was rubbish at it was a chance to get to know people more.

Sitting down cross-legged in the command chair she started checking up on progress that had been made so far. "How long til we reach the Veaghagh system?"

"2 hours" the Ensign currently at the CONN replied.

"Thanks." L'Ola started to run down a mental checklist of things to do in those two hours. The thought suddenly hit her that the only mission she'd actually commanded by herself before hadn't exactly been as important as this, and there definitely hadn't been lives at stake. "Kanz to Doctor Storey. Please can I have your full plan of action in the next hour? We're going to need time to get things ready."

<Storey>

She made a mental note to speak to Annabelle once the young Ensign had returned from sickbay. All the thinking meant that she kind of zoned out, and only really noticed what was happening when everything shook. "Report" she half-stated half-requested.

"Just hit some turbulence, Commander"

=/\= Q2 to bridge. What was that? =/\=

L'Ola grinned, "That was the world falling down around you at the thought of walls being covered in paint. Of course if you decide to use an easy-to-remove variety it may have just been turbulence. Didn't scare you too much did it?"

<Q2>

[Deleted]

=/\=Kanz to Doctor Storey. Please can I have your full plan of action in the next hour? We're going to need time to get things ready."=/\=

"But of course, i'll finish up this physical, i need to know a few things though before i finialise things, can you come to my office for a moment please?"

<Kanz>

'Great' John thought to himself 'Looks like sleep is out of the question as well as food'

Suddenly a thought hit him, the replicator, how could he forget that ! He walked towards it and said "Lasagne, hot, with salad" and it appeard in front of him, he picked it up grateful of modern technology and proceeded to his desk where he began to eat.

<Kanz>

[Deleted]

=/\= But of course, i'll finish up this physical, i need to know a few things though before i finalise things, can you come to my office for a moment please? =/\=

It was a good thing the comm link was only audio, otherwise the Doctor would have seen L'Ola's eyes roll. She couldn't help it. "You mean can I leave the Bridge to answer questions for you in the comfort of your office? Instead of you either asking me questions now or reporting up here to ask? Something seems wrong with that to me, Doctor."

Okay, so she knew sarcasm was probably not the best way to go, and she really had wanted to avoid showing when she got annoyed over little things. But given she was acting as First Officer and Captain (mental note: appoint acting First Officer for rest of mission) the thought of trekking across the ship to be asked things she might not know didn't exactly seem appealing.

Storey didn't reply immediately, so L'Ola took the opportunity to finish the conversation, "I'll send you your own personal copy of all information we have and see you later with that report. Kanz out."


Ensign Bennet reappeared on the Bridge just as her cover at Tactical called out, "We're picking up a distress message"

L'Ola looked up from the PADD she'd been reading (Communicating with Colleagues for Dummies), "Is it from the same source as the one the Starbase received?"

"No" Annabelle responded, "It's also weaker which is why we only just received it."

"Put it through."

=/\= This is the Southern Institute of Medical Research on Veaghagh Prime. We've been hit by a virus that's spreading rapidly across the whole planet. Symptoms are severe and we are now experiencing fatalities. Our attempts to combat it have been unsuccessful. Please help us. This is the... =/\=

Annabelle stopped the feed just as it started to repeat. "That's all of the message, but the signal also includes data they've gathered on the virus."

L'Ola walked over to the Tactical console, "Could you send that down to Doctor Storey please?" While the message was being relayed she carried on talking. "Are you finding your way around okay? Managed to meet your team yet?"

<Annabelle>


Once the minor excitement of new information had died down, L'Ola returned to the command chair and curled herself up in it facing Flanigan. "Have you had any more thoughts on a sports competition? I was thinking as well as boosting crew morale you might be able to use it to boost the people on the planet we're going to."

<James>