Pt 1 • Disaster ... and Beyond ...

[Andae Blakus]

Blakus stirred in his quarters on the base, moving slowly about under the sheets until certain thoughts took hold of his consciousness. He bolted upright, threw the covers back and - having slept in his clothes - leapt into his shoes that were by his bedside. It was only during shaving that he remembered that the crew - as well as that of the Enzio - had the day off, before they started on their shared recon.

Sighing, he threw down the manual shaver and stood straight, rubbing at his jaw, the foam falling away as he studied himself in the mirror. A day off was perhaps what he'd been attempting - although at the time it hadn't been permitted - when he'd retired to his Starbase quarters after a 67 hour shift in the Raven's engineering. After a brief slumber of half an hour he'd been awoken by an alert from base authorities, a stone-faced NCO informing him that he had an official 24 hour period of respite. How ironic; he'd collapsed back into bed.

Whose eyes were those that glared back at his own? Pupils surrounded by grey irises darting side-to-side as they tried to avoid the enemy's stare; unavoidable, the self discovered, the other discovered.

Other matters drew his attention now. He looked towards the quarters door and contemplated the ship that lay beyond it, its taxed warp core that'd been kept active and had - on albeit very few occasions - supplied small quantities of additional power to the Starbase's modified shield, to ensure the base's relatively unscathed passage through the nebula.

Stepping towards it, he emerged into the corridor, and found it was wider than expected. Ah, the Starbase of course; memories of the last several hours were jumbled, distorted and stretched across years... Remembrances and recognitions of dreams and vital, cherished memories returned to him now, as they had in a random way one-by-one during the last few waking hours and phases of sleep, scenes that were holo-images flying through his unconscious, playing cards scattered from the fingers of his archetypal trickster.

He wished to collapse on that pale shore at the end of his infinite passage through the reflecting hall, in the epoch of eternity before time began, before it began its dread process of necessity which had brought him to this moment, stranded far enough from the Federation that, to his friends and family at home on Earth, in Italy, the rest of Europe, the North American continent, he was considered as good as dead.

This endless night was pierced by his assistant Chief Engineer and another junior officer of his engineering staff. He found them in the engineer officers' lounge, adjacent to the main lounge on the Starbase. He smiled to himself, it'd been well-advised to have a separate suite of rooms for the sort of people who spoke all day of advancements in materials used for M/A-M injectors and the finer points of Cochrane's modification of Alcubierre's warp theory (which Blakus continued to argue couldn't be considered analogous to Maxwell's addition to Ampere's Law).

"Andae, good to see you... You slept well?" Milyanov asked, having the engineer sit with him and Christina Taylor (an old crewmate of Andae's from the Victory-C). Excepting Lieutenants Holland and Mattheson (both those officers now XOs on ships assigned to other Sectors of Federation space), he was only missing William Bligh from the core of that old team (and of course the ill-destined Zielinski, if he included the third of the triad completed by himself and Bligh).

Conversation progressed. It couldn't have been missed that Andae had neglected to answer Milyanov's initial question. Eventually he wondered if engineers from other vessels might be present; he'd imagined at first that most of those here would be base engineers and various technicians, who'd also, at last, been given some respite from their and the base's constant travails.

[Sato Tetsutaro]

DAY ONE HUNDRED : Velocity STATIONARY ::

Sato Tetsutaro, while Director of Intelligence for Starfleet, was also Head of Security for Starbase Forty Seven ... He knew that now the 'base was stationary and in her new home for the foreseeable future, their safety was paramount. Admiral Reynolds had begun closing down possibly hundreds of Levels that are surplus to requirements now, such as Diplomatic Offices, Embassies, Colonial Affairs, Corporate Offices, and other non-essential Services.


Command Center:


"I believe Gentlemen, that a thorough survey of the outer hull throughout the length of the Starbase is prudent." Sato was saying during the daily briefing, "We are now stationary and have re-established our optimal rotation rate and while we are aware that damage was incurred to the outer shell, we have yet to take a look at the full extent of that damage. Our phaser array's for example, purely defensive and normally hidden from view for aesthetic reasons, should be checked and calibrated in preparation for their possible deployment sometime on the future. We should also check the communications array's with a view to employing them to send a message home when viable."

"Two shuttles could cover the task inside a few hours." Carl commented, "If Admiral Tetsutaro will take one with an Engineer, the other can be manned by Admiral Reynolds and another Engineer, Commander Blakus can accompany Admiral Tetsutaro, he's got the Raven pretty much space-worthy in record time, he's even sent crew out to clean up the hull, Maybe the Enzio or El Salvador can provide an Engineer to accompany Admiral Reynolds ?"


< Tag : Admiral Gheskori / Admiral Reynolds / Commodore Savot >


"Then I believe there is no time like the present. If you could have the Engineers report I shall await them in the Dome." Sato said, bowing slightly before leaving the meeting .....

The two shuttles, each holding five people in each, pilots, the Admirals, the two Ships' Engineers, and two 'base engineers in each, climbed through the gaping maw that was once the massive Space Doors. At the time of their first departure into new space, the opening was on the opposite side to the Cloud, so they were in silent awe at the sight that presented itself as they circumnavigated the Starbase en-route to the highest point. The myriad of rainbow colours, unimaginable hues, sharp edges accompanying almost silk-like subtle changes as the gasses seemingly meandered among themselves, it was a ballet only the Universe could choreograph ... But they had little time to admire the view ...

As they reached the uppermost point of the Starbase, the five hundred meter antenna array, they were shocked at the sight. All but one of the antenna had been bent over at almost ninety degrees close to the base, from above, they almost mimicked spokes of an enormous wheel, one only remained, the Primary Sub-Space Antenna, but it hadn't escaped damage, far from it. The whole length was charred, as if suffering prolonged burning, countless smaller antenna, once situated around the two hundred and fifty meter pylon were now nothing more than carbuncle like blisters dotted around their parent.

"There is more damage than first thought." Sato said, shaking his head in sadness, "We will need to ensure at least one array is in working order before we send our vessels out there. Let's us movie on Gentlemen."

His Pilot began a slow spiral dropping down the length of the Starbase at an angle of negative five degrees, this would allow them to view each Level with enough time for the shuttle's to make visual recording, and the Engineers to make notes on what needed attention first, and what could wait.

Sato was both saddened and yet shocked at the damage the massive structure had suffered. The once pristine testament to mankind's engineering prowess, was now a shambles of her former self. Thousands upon thousands of hull plates had been sheered away during their traverse of the Dark Matter Cloud. A six hundred and sixty meter rent between Levels forty six and fifty nine showed where the explosive decompression occurred, the outer rooms now open to space ... A long hour had passed and yet they were only a fraction of the way into their task. As they reached Level One hundred Sato asked the Pilot to halt, the second shuttle came alongside only meter apart, both sets of occupants able to see the other, and both almost overwhelmed at the tasks ahead of them if they were to return their home to it's former magnificence. Sato opened a Comm to Shuttle Two:

=^= There is much to do my friend =^= he said, looking across the void to Admiral Reynolds.

=^= Indeed =^=

=^= The Antenna should take priority .. I will have Commander blakus relay our data to the Starbase now .. Engineers should be dispatched with all due haste to ensure our ships have operational communications .. .. We should continue down .. I believe it is going to be a long day .. .. .. =^= Tetsutaro closed the comm and raised a hand to the other shuttle, matt returned the gesture.

"Pilot, if you will ...." Sato said, falling silent as the shuttle continued towards the enormous four kilometer wide Dome, her circumference of over twelve kilometers needing much attention ..........




< Tag : All on the Shuttles as they traverse the Starbase >

< Tag : All >

[Allan Hood]

"Lieutenant," Ghes took Hood aside for a moment, "How are you settling in?" He nodded in response, "And your family?"

“Besides dealing with dark matter meteorites, plasmids and other phenomena, everything seems to be going well,” Hood responded. [OOC: All of that was deleted]. “Sam-Jo started teaching, giving the girls some more interaction with others their age.”

“When things return to normal,” Hood began, “I’d like to resume training the crew, to better understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses. I want to make sure everyone’s prepared in case there’s ever a serious attacker. I have plans for rotating crewmembers for training sessions, starting with introducing and brushing up on Krav Maga. After I’m sure we have a solid foundation with hand-to-hand, we’ll spend some time in RaLk’jo bat’telh.”

“My kids are loving the holodeck and the arboretum,” Hood continued, “we’ve kept Sabbath there, planting a variety of palms and oaks from the seedbank. For Shavuot, we decorated our quarters with plants and flowers from the arboretum. Don’t worry, we made sure we got permission from the horticulture department first.”

<Tag Ghes, Clark>

[Andae Blakus]

Shuttle 1

Blakus took note of the other high-gain antennae that were also inoperative, crushed against the flattened section of that tip of the Starbase as they'd been subjected to tidal forces within the nebula and, doubtless, during the initial shockwave from the Betreka Nebula explosion. He transmitted the data on the non-functional antennae - and other faulty systems in that area - to Ops and then turned his attention to the rest of the survey, the lead shuttle now making its way down, helter-skelter, the length of the Starbase.

He was particularly interested in the state of the base's sublight engines and thruster systems. Not ordinarily put into use except to correct attitude relative to the planet SB47 had orbited, they'd been put under immense strain since the base had been forced to correct its trajectory in the depths of space, as it'd hurtled across the galaxy, and where such course corrections - to avoid phenomena such as stars and highly-irradiating nebulae - put great stresses on the superstructure.

The thrusters had also performed at less than peak efficiency during transit of the nebula, as they'd been forced to change course sometimes by as much as 5 degrees to avoid plasmids and other dark matter material, as well as regions where the phase effect was the strongest.

"Coming up on secondary main phaser array complex," the pilot indicated to them, Tetsutaro nodding at Blakus and the two base engineers to begin their scans. Ahead of them, the goliath, metallic grey base swung back into view and its hitherto hidden phasers became visible.

"Minimal damage to the phaser complex's power transfer unit, the transformer seems ok," Blakus reported, the two base techs confirming the reading one after the other. Despite that the phaser array systems would usually be concealed and that therefore to expose them quite some damage to the hull had been done, the extent of damage done to the phasers themselves seemed minimal.

The base's repair would of course have to be conducted over a lengthy period of time, and Andae hoped there would be no hindrances to their work from anything they might find in this region. They would have to push back their frontiers very quickly - he turned his thoughts to the Raven and the recon to come...

Shuttle 2

With shuttle 1 slowing ahead of them to evaluate damage to the Starbase's defensive/offensive capability, shuttle 2 took the opportunity to glide ahead and continue its own corkscrew down the length and breadth of the station. Lieutenant Commander William Bligh, former shipmate of Commander Blakus when they'd been on the Victory-C (Bligh then just an Ensign under Lieutenant Blakus who was fresh from the academy), was on the shuttle as one of the two engineers appointed by the base.

Their pilot, under the direction of Admiral Reynolds, sped the craft onto the far end of the Starbase, surveying some of those decks the Admiral had sealed off; it was clear Reynolds wanted to see for himself those decks he'd quarantined and shut down, study them for external damage and the like. Bligh coordinated with the other base engineer, as well as the engineering officer appointed from one of the active ships, to evaluate - should there be any significant damage to those sealed-off areas - how quickly they could be made ready to resume their original function.

"From this, Admiral," he said, "It looks as if it could be weeks, perhaps months, before the various embassies in this section can be reopened."

[Gheskori]

“My kids are loving the holodeck and the arboretum,” Hood continued, “we’ve kept Sabbath there, planting a variety of palms and oaks from the seedbank. For Shavuot, we decorated our quarters with plants and flowers from the arboretum. Don’t worry, we made sure we got permission from the horticulture department first.”

Ghes laughed and patted his CTSO on the shoulder, in the moment forgetting his own species' general aversion to physical contact; Hood seemed taken off guard by the action but nodded appreciatively. "Not to worry, Lieutenant, my best wishes to you and your family and I hope you make yourselves a good home here on our vessel... If home..." he cast a glance at the viewscreen and its view of the mysterious nebula and shifted constellations, the Starbase at this moment in its rotation facing the nebula, "If home this can be called," he said quietly, nodding to himself.

He stepped back into the ready room to find the go-ahead had been given for the beginning of the Starbase's damage survey, this facilitated by the base now being in its stationary position millions of kilometres from the nebula. It'd been positioned close enough to the cloud to afford protection from anything or anybody who may decide to approach them (either through the nebula on their guarded side, or openly upon the side of endless space), yet perhaps also close enough that the Starbase 'could' be susceptible to damage from the nebula. Considering its physical constituents and the strange phenomena detected during the Starbase's transit, Ghes had the feeling that, if the nebula wasn't a potential object for scientific discovery and learning, its oddities and curious phasing properties in particular may eventually pose a threat to them.

The dust could now settle upon their tortuous journey, and yet another quest was commencing, that of discovering what lay about them in this new region - an enigma, the key to which nocturnal mystery was suggested tantalisingly by the distant starlight they saw about them, and which encapsulated and saturated their view of worlds yet to be discovered.

While the shuttles' survey was in progress, two starships were being made ready in the dock. The Enzio and Raven: while possessing similarly compact saucer sections for the first 200m length, the Enzio was dwarfed by the Raven as the latter cried out and splayed its dark wings the nacelles.

Organised chaos, the preparations being made in earnest now as technicians and other base personnel, in a continuous stream, funnelled on and off the ships via the vestibules carrying equipment, while a great deal more of the necessary supplies, hardware, amenities were transported into the respetive vessels' cargo holds, engine rooms, and so forth.

Just as the first manned craft to leave Denobula's (and indeed Earth's) atmosphere had slowly begun to define their peoples' interplanetary surrounds, pushing back the boundaries of what they knew of creation and their place in it, so the People of Starbase 47 and its attendant ships were beginning their own voyage of self-discovery, of learning their place in this part of the cosmos, until now populated in their imagination only by dragons, wild beasts in strange unknown lands. Let not the imagination be outstripped by the real, Ghes thought.

[Carl Torek]

USS Raven-C ::

Carl had watched the progress of the two survey shuttles for the last two hours. He found himself mulling over thoughts in his head:

Despite their shields, the Starbase had suffered and would take many many months to restore her former glory, if it was even possible to do so. Certainly not with their limited resources, that was certain ... They were in a new and uncharted home now and would need to hunt down whatever they needed to survive. Along the way they would undoubtedly approach or be approached by other races, some friendly, but some decidedly the opposite, and they needed to be ready.

The Raven, like the USS Enzio, was being prepared for Star-fleet's first ventures into this new region of space, far beyond any distance a Starship had travelled before. They wouldn't be going far, like puppies venturing into the garden of their new home for the first time, timid, tentative, but excited to discover the new. It was a very loose analogy and he knew it, but it did fit, they were new here, and while no-one had come knocking thus far, it was very likely that someone would, and they must be ready, either with an open hand, or with the means to fend off the unwanted advances.

For that, they needed a means of replenishment, for food, for fuel, for technology, the list was practically endless but one thing was set in stone: They no longer had the 'luxury' of being able to call into a Starbase or Space-Dock, everything they now needed and would need in the future would need to be constructed 'in-house' so to speak. It had even been suggested, seriously or in jest, that their first priority should be to find a Planet rich in resources for their needs, somewhere a land-based facility could be constructed to provide the Starbase and her somewhat diminished Fleet, In an 'ideal' Universe this Planet would no doubt present itself, but they didn't live in an ideal world, if they did then the catastrophe that befell them might never have occurred.

Even if they were to undertake such an enormous undertaking, who's to say it would help them traverse the almost 'Sixteen Thousand Light Years' home, certainly by conventional means, even their fastest Starship, the Raven herself, with her Transwarp capability, would take a staggering Twenty YEARS to reach the Sol System !

He was pulled out of his reverie by Tor Svensson, the Chief Science Officer:

"Lieutenant ?" Carl said, realising the man was waiting but unwilling to interrupt his thoughts.

"Admiral. We have the final figures for the Cloud now, there is still something like a five percent variance but ..."

"Show me Lieutenant." Carl said, watching as a tactical view came on the view-screen. It showed the local region, a red diamond indicating the Starbase and the cloud to her right, Two massive Constellations: Centaurus and Circinus dominated, the cloud looking small in comparison, but still between them and home.

"We estimate the Cloud to be some 16 LY by 0.8 LY by 9.5 LY ... Her total area is 121.6³ LY Admiral."

"Hmm, much larger than first thought then." Torek said.

"And some." Svensson replied.

"Thank you Lieutenant." Carl said by way of a dismissal, then had a thought, "Lieutenant, the repairs, how is Sciences fairing ?"

"We're getting there Sir. Should have everything on-line by zero five hundred hours. I'd like more time but we don't have it. You'll have full Sciences when we go out."

"OK, if you have people at a loose end, so to speak, have a word with the other Department Heads, they might appreciate a few extra hands." Carl said, a wry grin forming.

"Will do Sir." Tor said, returning to the Primary Science Station. He was drifting back into his previous thought track when he realised someone else was needing his attention. he looked up to see the young woman who had Piloted his shuttle on the inspection. She was stood to one side obviously waiting for him to complete his dialog with the Science Officer.

"Ensign Anna Fields reporting Admiral. I know you instructed me to report to your Executive Officer, but he is currently off-ship, so I ....."

"You thought you'd come up to the Bridge anyway, right ?" Carl said smiling, "Relax Ensign, Commander Blakus will be back in due course, in the mean time you might as well acquaint yourself with the Sovereign Class Helm. You can run simulations while you are waiting, providing Helm has any power of course, you might want to check that with Lieutenant Milyanov in Engineering. Okeys ... Carry on, Ensign, and welcome aboard, unofficially of course."

Carl sat back, realising the ache at the bottom of his back had returned, again. he'd have to get something done about it soon he decided ..........

[Carl Torek]

~~~ STARDATE : 2403.00.0811 ~~~

~~~ STARBASE FORTY SEVEN ~~~

Carl was sat in the Command Center looking at the Dark Matter Cloud only half a billion kilometers away as the Starbase slowly rotated it into view ... He wondered momentarily if they would ever see their homes once more, so far distant, so far out of reach, it would take up most of their remaining lifetimes to travel back by even the fastest of their Starships. Every vessel had ventured forth into the void now, albeit only a few thousand kilometers to check their immediate surroundings and to continue the previous assessment on repairing what was to be their home for the foreseeable future ...

The Enzio and the Raven were preparing to go out the following day, this time further than before, much further. They were approximately two hundred light years from Centaurus and almost sixty from Circinus, massive Constellations and home to billions of stars, but there were closer opportunities to explore, and this is what the four Starships would be doing over the coming months. A massive Star System in close proximity to Alpha Circinus was going to be their first exploratory venture. Both ships would approach the Cluster from different headings, each making their own inroads.

They had been stationary, relatively speaking of course, for several weeks now and while almost twenty percent of the Starbase had been closed off, all power and resources diverted to areas where it was more needed, it was hopped that once they were confident that they could sustain the full Starbase they would begin to re-open some of the Levels. Obviously some, like Diplomatic and Ambassadorial Levels could remain off limits. 'Who knows, one day they may be required once again' he thought to himself.

He glanced up at one of the secondary screens to see the 'Vessel Status' board had been put up. This information, once relayed throughout every Level of the four kilometer seventeen hundred Level Starbase, held the information on hundreds of arriving and departing Vessels from countless Worlds within the Federation, but now it held only four names:

VESSEL :	COMMANDING OFFICER :	ARRIVE / DEPARTURE :	---	STATUS :
---------------------------	--------------------------------	-----------------------------	---	----------
USS El SALVADOR-C	Commodore Savot	n/a	---	ACTIVE
USS ENZIO	Section Admiral Gheskori	n/a	---	ACTIVE
USS RAVEN-C	Fleet Admiral Carl Torek	n/a	---	ACTIVE
USS MARACANDA	Commander Grant Manley	n/a	---	ACTIVE

The board wasn't strictly correct, while all the ships were effectively 'Active' in status, several of those named still needed minor attention, but all were essentially space-worthy and were more than capable of carrying out the tasks ahead, providing they didn't get into trouble, or venture too far into the unknown, though how they were to avoid that very thing was beyond him given every proverbial footstep was into the unknown here. He recalled the conversation he'd had with Chloe when Bethan and Vanessa had gone to bed, asking her how she felt about moving into temporary quarters aboard the Starbase, she had point-blank refused, as he knew she would, but he thought he had to give her the opportunity to say so herself rather than him making the decision for them. Rubbing his eyes he realised he'd been sat there for a couple of hours and it already late evening, Saying 'Goodnight' to the Duty Officer he made his way to the turbo-lifts and down to the Dome, from there he walked across the refreshingly bright concourse to the walkway to the Raven ..........

[Sean O'Toole]

Level One five Five One
Alpha Promenade ...


It had been almost a month now .....

Sean was stood in the doorway of his establishment, O'Tooles Bar & Grill, since the disaster the bar had been used as a triage area, then makeshift hospital ... The Bar had seen it's fair share of injured and most definitely more than it's fare share of dead. But now it was back to what he had purchased the property for. The Starbase was undoubtedly not what it was, the final fatality reports showed they had lost over two hundred thousand of the three hundred thirty thousand men, women, and children from numerous races that were aboard the Starbase when it was struck, now there were the only ones left ...

Most of the business owners had returned to their property, or at least most of those who had survived. They had opened, but business was anything but thriving, which was understandable given their circumstances. But Sean could see the resilience in the faces of the survivors, their willingness to fight. There had been malcontents, groups intent on returning to Federation space regardless of the complete futility of their dreams at present, but they had been subdued, or persuaded that their goals were 'incompatible' with the current 'Status Quo'...... It was unfortunate that some of these were having to be held, both for their own protection, and that of the Starbase, and currently nine Levels had been converted into secure holding Levels, where the detainees would live out their time until appropriate sentencing could be given, but with the lack of a fully working Judiciary they would be held indefinitely. This had not gone down well, but the survivors quickly realised that there was no other option but to cede to Federation Regulations.

Command, in turn, he had been told, had gathered together the remaining Officers formally working for the Judge Advocate General Office, and were working hard to make determinations on those held. Reassuringly, many were being released into what was now being widely known as 'The Community' on a daily basis, but he knew that the Command Staff needed to establish a working Law on the Starbase sooner than later, for everyone's sake. This was still a Federation Facility, despite it's location and obvious separation from the Federation itself, and it was being made clear that those breaking the Law, be that person Civilian or Enlisted, would be punished !

"Any cold beer yet Sean ?" someone said, pulling the Irishman out of his thoughts.

"Getting there." he replied, "Thankfully I do my own brewing as you know Juffos, call in, I'll make sure there's one on the bar." the trader nodded, entering a small outlet opposite.

"Well I thought I'd seen it all, but ....." Sean turned at the voice, grinning when he saw Calli Valente walking towards him. he held out his arms for the anticipated hug, "Touting like a common trader no less." she said as she wrapped her arms around the man. They held tight for long seconds before she finally pushed him back.

"What you doing here darlin' thought you were off with the Raven ?"

"First thing in the morning." Calli said, allowing Sean to wrap an arm around her waist and lead her into the Bar, "Thought I'd pop in to see how things were going."

"You were here two days ago." Sean said, whispering conspiratorially, "You finally admitting that you want me ?" for that he got a slap around the head and his arm forcibly removed. She walked to the bar but was intercepted by Kira, Sean's Manager, again she allowed the hug, it was clear that physical contact between friends and associates was paramount now, if only to reassure those doing the hugging.

Finally managing to sit on a stool at the bar, she waited while Kira got her a drink. They chatted for a good while, mainly about how both of them were coping in their own ways, but they agreed that they had been among the lucky ones and should make the most of their good fortune, despite what perils may face them in the future. Calli had to agree ...

"Listen, Command is looking for Personnel ...." she was interrupted by Sean, Kira, and waitress Hazel laughing uncontrollably, "Not you lot you idiots ...." she said, grinning.

"Hey, we could all be Captain's no issues. Can't we Kira ?" Hazel said laughing.

"What I mean is: If you happen to get anyone in here who might have some experience, Piloting, Navigation, Engineering, Science, you know what I mean, try to coax them into getting in touch." Calli said.

"Things are that desperate ?" Sean asked, suddenly serious. Calli shrugged.

"Our ships are crewed, barely, Command has sufficient Personnel to keep going, but we've lost a lot, you know that, so, you know ...."

"I'm not turning my bar into a recruitment center Calli mi'girl ... I'll keep my ears open but other than that." he finished, pouring himself a drink and topping up hers.

"What about you Kira, you graduated in law before you came here. Fancy helping out ?" Calli asked.

"I'll think about it, but don't be holdin' your breath hun, I'm a bar Manager because it's what I like to do." the woman replied.

"You know about the looting I assume ?" Sean said quietly, not wanting his patrons to overhear and misconstrue the comment, "Beta Promenade has been hit and they have been going through the lower levels." he said to Calli.

"Admiral Reynolds has implemented a plan to close off unnecessary Levels for the time being, if need be they will be opened to space. Turbo-lifts are already prohibited those Levels and we are aware that people are getting into places they shouldn't. We're getting on top of things, we just need to convince everyone that we can survive and hopefully find a way home."

"Fair enough." Sean replied.

"OK, I need to go. good to see you all, stay safe OK." Calli said, finishing her drink and getting off the stool, she took hold of Sean's hand as they made their way to the doors, "Listen, I've made sure you have full access to command, nothing confidential obviously, but a comm link that can't be blocked. If you hear anything, or get some potentials, let them know, Admiral Tetsutaro authorised the link."

"So you want make an Intelligence spy of me now girl !" Sean said, feigning insult. She kissed him on the cheek and left ... Sean in turn watched her go, eyes wandering around the Promenade ..........

[Sato Tetsutaro]

Command Center
Stardate: 2403.01.0813 - 06:42 hrs ...

Sato was again in the Command Center ... For a man of his age everyone continually marvelled at the man.

"Communication from the Raven Admiral. They have sent their logs."

"Indeed ?" Tetsutaro said, waiting for the young woman to continue.

"They are investigating anomalous readings from a System in Section six. The System is barren but they have picked up signs of metallic composites."

"Could these, composites be naturally forming do you think Commander ?" Sato asked.

"Impossible to say at this stage Sir." she replied, suddenly feeling like she was being interrogated, "Should I have communications contact the Raven Admiral ?"

"No, thank you, I am sure they will call if they need us, continue to monitor the region they are entering. I assume the Enzio has been updated with this information ?" he asked.

"Yes Admiral."

"I believe the Enzio is likewise investigating." Tetsutaro said, "Maybe we shall find we are not as alone as first thought .... Hmmm ? ...." he said, falling into silence for a long moment.

"Admiral, about that ...." a Lieutenant said hesitantly. Sato nodded for them to continue, "We're hardly at our best Sir, what if whoever is out there decides to pay us a visit ?"

"Then we shall greet them with our customary warmth, and cautiousness. We need to make friends out here Lieutenant, that alas is a fact. It is also likely that we will indeed encounter those that may have their own interests, or designs on what we may have that can further their own sense of importance or well-being, but we will do what we do best, we shall prevail. You must understand that even so far from home, we are still representatives of the 'United Federation of Planets' ... As sole representatives in this region of space we should follow our charter when encountering new races. We will not be welcomed by all, but there will be those that greet us with open arms. We have much to offer ...."

"..... and much to have taken from us." someone in the Command Center voiced.

"That too." Sato said, shaking his head as he climbed the stairs to the upper level. he looked at those present for a moment before entering his office, the door closing behind him. He sat at his ornate desk thoughts on the Enzio and the Raven ... It had crossed his mind too that there could be someone or something out there that could do them harm, there had been many before, the Klingon's, the Romulans, the Crystalline Entity, to name but three. They were twenty 'YEARS' from home, alone, fending for themselves, he closed his eye, wondering, not for the first time, if he would ever stand on the shore of his home again ..........

[Simon Clark]

Engineering Officers Lounge, Deck 136, Starbase 47, Day 93.

As the Admiral had left the ship for Command, he had insisted that Simon's next off-shift period should be a restful one to the full. As frustrating as it was to be taken away from everything that the Enzio needed, he knew that he'd been pushing it for the last few months, with barely a stoppage for thought. They all had, given the situation. For a while it had been work or death, and no one wanted option two. The Engineering Officers Lounge was not bustling. Two ensigns were conversing with drinks at one of the tables, and a few other officers sat alone, poring over PADDs.

'Lieutenant Clark?'

Simon turned, and met the sombre face of Lieutenant Almir Marin. He smiled and extended his hand, 'Lieutenant Marin, it's good to see you again. I don't think we were ever formally introduced,'

'If we were, I don't have any memory of it. Please Chief - and that sounds weird, me calling you Chief instead of the other way around - call me Almir, neither of us are on duty here,'

'Simon, likewise. How are you?'

'Medically speaking, I am apparently fine. I have been poked and prodded by councillors for weeks after what happened, and I am quite done with them. They wield questions like Kempton wields a hyper spanner. I had my final session this morning, just to confirm my head was screwed on where it should be, and that I wasn't going AWOL as an alien puppet to try and blow up Starfleet headquarters.'

'Not much chance of that, now.'

'So I hear. I've been out cold for months, so I missed all of the recent events. My access to ship systems had been restricted, so I've only picked up the conversations of those coming through the medical centre. I gather we are somewhere else in the galaxy? How's my engine room?'

Simon considered how to break the news to his predecessor that the Enzio was short an entire nacelle. 'This is going to be a long conversation. Would you like a drink?'

It was a long conversation. Simon recounted the events that had taken place over the last few months, from their escape from Malakai’s world on the galactic barrier, to the destruction of the warp highway, and the explosion of the Betreka nebula, and the chaos and loss of life that had followed for Starbase 47 and the Enzio. Almir listened, nodding in all the right places, and asking intelligent questions.

'I didn't think of using the holo-lab as a manufacturing facility, we stopped chasing Logistics for the replacement torpedo tube almost as soon as the shock-wave hit, and even so, Allison and I had had no luck getting a response from them up to that point. They couldn't even offer us a queue time. I've not had time to look into it.'

Almir smiled, 'You've got to know who to talk to. I've an academy buddy working in one of the replication facilities. Or I did... one moment... Lieutenant Almir Marin to Ensign Vish Fox.'

=/\= Almir? Good Gods, man, I thought you were dead! What happened? =/\=

'Long story, I'll tell it later,'

=/\= Always 'later' with you, Al. The day you turn up on time for something will be the day I get promoted to Admiral. What's up? =/\=

'I need a torpedo tube,'

=/\= Of course you do. You're not trying to skip the schedule are you? =/\=

'They've given you a schedule?'

=/\= Well, no, you’re right. Rush jobs, mostly. But there's a lot on now that we’ve got power down here. Maybe I can fit you in, but we're making a whole suite of spares out for the Raven, and I don't have enough staff to run all the machines. The mat-tanks aren't being refilled on auto with all the damage, so we're doing manual transfers, and two of the rep-bays are out of action after the shock-wave. Give me a hand? =/\=

'Sure, Vish. When's good?'

=/\= Give us an hour or two to get these parts out, and take lunch, maybe then? Or, oh, join us for lunch, we'll catch up. 13:00, Mat-Rep. Canteen on deck 1655? =/\=

'Thanks Vish, we'll be there.'

=/\= Yeah, right. Hang on; we? =/\=

'I've got Chief Clark with me,'

=/\= Who? Oh, never mind. More the merrier. See you in a bit. Some of the main turbo shafts are still out, you’ll need to change a few times, and you’ll pass through some of the powered down areas. Take in the sights, there’s a bit of a walk. Fox out. =/\=

[Sato Tetsutaro]

SD 2403.01.0831 - 23:15 hrs ...

Sat in his quarters, lights dimmed, Sato looked out of his expansive window as the Dark Matter cloud once again rotated into view ...

It was almost the end of August now, five months had passed since the disaster that threw the Starbase almost sixteen thousand light years from home. The populace of the Starbase had been substantially diminished, which in one ironic sense helped those that remained, but didn't distract from the deaths, far from it in fact, and he had heard that plans were already being spoken about for having some form of annual remembrance services. They were beginning the exploration of their new home now and it was unsure as to what they would find. In an ideal Universe, they would come across a race with technology to get them back, if not instantly, at least within the populations lifetime. That scenario had it's opposite unfortunately, and there was as much likelihood that they would encounter those races that wanted only to profit from their conquest of the interlopers in their midst ...

He glanced up at the time, surprised that it was so late, but that wasn't so unusual, he often spent many hours of his off duty time in the Command Center, and even though more Senior Officers had been appointed and assigned to the everyday tasks of running a Starbase of this magnitude, he still needed to be involved. He was, while the Starbase was in her former home, Head of Security for Section Forty Seven, but also director of Intelligence, a role that sometimes conflicted, but never tarnished his ability to act appropriately for the good of the Federation.

He watched the ballet of exotic gasses within the Cloud as they curled and caressed their counterparts, the vastness of the spectacle unsurpassed ...... Allowing his eyes to close, he thought back to the first moments of their journey, even earlier, to the first indication that something was drastically wrong. They could do nothing more than they had, and he never once thought otherwise. They needed to look forward now .......

"Don't go too far, I am not as young as I once was." he said as the two ran around the garden overlooking Lake Geneva.

Dropping onto one of the wooden, white coated beds beside the pool, he smiled as he watched his adopted Children enjoy themselves. He had high hopes for them, but for today it was about enjoyment and nothing more. He looked across the lake but being so far along the shore from Geneva itself he could not see the Jet de'Eau, the fountain, pumping almost ten cubic meters of water per second over two kilometers into the air, but he knew it was there. They were having guests later for a late meal and he decided it was time the children got themselves ready. He called them from the beach front on the lake, their disappointment obvious but they did as they were told without argument.

"Go shower and change Children, our guests will be here shortly and we should not be seen to be bad hosts."

"Who are they again ?" the girl asked.

"Friends my child, people who I work with and will hopefully see the same potential in you both that I myself do." Sato said, smiling warmly, "Now, shower, dress, and no nibbling at the table before our guests arrive."

They ran off, each to their own room, undressing quickly and jumping into the shower. They dressed and returned to the garden where almost magically their Father too had changed and was now wearing formal Japanese garb rather than his Starfleet uniform, a samurai sword, the katana and smaller wakizashi tucked into his waistband. The guests were shown into the living area, the low table and pillows ready. After introductions and drinks, the four guests, two Admirals and their partners, along with their hosts took their places, sitting on the pillows at the table allowing Tetsutaro's staff to begin serving.

"That's Section Admiral Nova." the boy said, not quite in awe of the man but impressed that their Father had such distinguished guests at their home.

He was snapped away from his reminiscing by a sudden pain in his chest. it had come upon him so suddenly, so intense that he clutched at his chest with one hand while steadying himself to prevent his falling with the other. He knew the pain from old, and knew that it could mean he would breath his last breaths. Dropping off the chair he crawled towards the table but his vision was already failing, a veil of blackness beginning to descent on him as the pain increased over and over, threatening his very consciousness as his mind attempted to protect him from the onslaught.

He didn't see the door to his room open, nor did he hear his Adjutant and faithful old retainer kneel beside him as he succumbed to the darkness ..........

[Simon Clark]

Industrial Replication Canteen, Deck 1655, Starbase 47, Day 93, 13:20hrs

'So what do you remember Al?' Vish asked, taking a sip from the coffee cup from the white table. They had explained the details of their last mission.

'Not much, really,' Almir told him, 'I remember some of the briefing before we went down to the planet-'

'That was before I arrived on the ship.' Simon said, 'After my shuttle docked I was transported straight to the surface.'

Almir cleared his throat, '-the planet... And I remember there were lots of people in sick bay with headaches, and Ensign Heath collapsed in engineering... or was that someone else - I'm not sure... I woke up in the medical centre three weeks ago in a secure medical cell on the starbase, and here I am.'

'So you were the Chief, and he replaced you, and you didn't find out about it for five months?' Vish asked.

'Acting. I was the acting Chief Engineer. I knew Simon was coming to relieve me. It wasn't a job I wanted, and I wasn't any good at it.'

Simon was surprised to hear such self depreciation from Almir, 'Rory disagrees with you, Almir. He always said the engine room never ran quite a smoothly without you in it.'

'Ha. Rory disagrees with most of what I think. On the other hand, so does Kempton. We're quite the trio. I'll say I'm a good engineer, just not a very good manager.'

'Maybe you should turn up on time?' Vish chided.

'You be quiet, you... manager.' Almir responded. He made manager sound like an insult.

'Admiral Gheskori saw it in you. He said the only reason you weren't made CEO was because you refused the position.' Simon said.

Almir didn't respond to that, he kept his lips tight, and then turned back to Vish, 'So, about this torpedo tube?' he asked.

The sudden change of subject was very apparent. Vish noticed it too, and he shifted in his seat. Lieutenant Marin was uncomfortable with some element of his refusal to take the offered CEO role. He made a mental note to discuss it with the man later in his development meeting. On that point, he should start having regular meetings with all of his engineering team, apart from Rory and Max, he didn't really know many of the others. The last three months had been all hands to the pumps, and he'd not had so much as departmental briefing. Maybe he was working too hard. On the other hand, Simon himself had yet to sit down with Commander V'Maz, Commander Yarwood or Admiral Gheskori. They were all under pressure.

'Come down and see Rep Bay Two, I'll show you what I need.' He stood, and gestured for Almir and Simon to follow, starting to explain while he headed for the canteen door, 'We've six Rep bays around the circumference of the starbase body, four machines in each bay. We've got Bay Five running. Five was spared much damage, and our team is in there making comms relays to replace the damaged ones throughout the Starbase. Bay Two was hit enough that there's still a lot of work to do, and I don't have anyone to look at it. The three other there machines in Two are out, don't know why, no-one's checked. Bays One, Three, Four and Six are completely out, with Six open to vacuum.'

The corridor they were walking through was dingy. Debris lay on the floor, half repaired panels, wiring, and isochips. Some of the lights were out, and one flickered here and there. Simon's mother would have described it as dishevelled. As they walked, windows appeared on the right, looking over a brightly lit space.

'Industrial Replicator Bay Five,' Vish said, 'Our pride and joy. You ever seen a Rep Bay before, Simon?'

'I have not.' he replied, peering down into the long, wide, tall workshop. Engineers and technicians in yellow uniforms and overalls were moving from one massive machine to another, lined up down the length of the cavernous space.

'Four Material Replicators in each Bay, Bay Five is configured now for small and medium sized component supply, but we can reconfigure the space to make larger components if we need to, or whole shar ship systems at a push, with components using exotic materials being fitted into the structure afterwards - Replicators can't do everything, but you'll know that. The Bay doors in Five were damaged by the shock-wave, and we couldn't get anything out if we wanted to. Reps are fed from matter storage tanks on the level above, we have metallic and non metallic storage. As this is the only Bay running, we've a team of people shunting matter from the tanks over the adjacent Bays Four and Six. We're pushing the machines hard, though, and they're not getting the cool down time they need between batches, with issues for the computers, particularly on Rep 5A, it keeps hitting the thermal trip point, and cutting out mid process.'

'What does it look like when you're making larger parts?' Simon asked.

'The top on each Rep lifts to the roof, and there are replicator emitters on arms in the walls. They fold out into the Bay to focus the replication to the required point in the build. For ship systems, we use all four machines on a single piece. The room has inertial reinforcement, so we can work without disruption from the vibration on the starbase, up to a couple of G's down to half a Hertz, tailing off at higher frequencies, and we can disable the artificial gravity so that we don't need to support larger work pieces.'

'Impressive,' Simon said, 'I've seen a single unit a bit like this in the Academy, but nothing on this scale,'

'We're a bit less modern than what they've got. These machines are as old as the starbase, they've got the knocks to prove it. But they do the job.' Vish said.

'Could you replicate a whole nacelle?' Simon asked. The space looked big enough.

'Sure. If we've got a program for it in the data-bank.'

'That'd be something to watch,' Simon said. A whole nacelle in one go.

Vish shrugged, 'It's a little less exciting than you'd think, and somewhat slower. Industrial replication doesn't work all in one go, if you're replicating something that large, the power requirement would be enormous. We build the piece in stages, sometimes replicating pieces directly together, sometimes building separately and transporting the subsections into position, and occasionally fitting by hand. I wouldn't want to do a piece that big at the moment, there's too much to do as it is.'

'What do you need from us?' Almir asked.

'I'll show you, we'll walk across to Bay Two on the other side of the core. Bit of a walk, turbos aren't working crosswise yet.'

The walk to Bay Two showed Simon how much damage the starbase had sustained from the shock-wave. Several corridor sections were sealed off, and two long lengths of corridor had no power. It was eerie, walking down a black corridor between two squares of light at either end. It reminded him how close they were to the edge of vacuum, and how small even this massive starbase was in comparison to the space around it. They were very far from home.

'Bay Two.' Vish told them when they reached a dark window after about ten minutes, 'Computer, activate lights in Industrial Replicator Bay Two.'

The lights came up, several of them flickering. Below them, a long room identical to Bay Five came into view. Two of the replicator machines nearest the outer doors had been crushed by the replicator arms that had fallen from the walls above them.

'A bit less smart, this one, Vish. That's not like you,' Almir said.

'You wouldn't like the others. 2A and 2B were crushed by the arms when they fell, and 2D won't respond to anything we do with it. Not that we've tried much. It's got power, there's no fault codes, it says it's running but won't do anything. Machine C works. Sort of, but it's on the friz. Program it for comms relays and you're lucky if you don't get a smoking lump of charcoal. We've twice set off the fire suppression system in there. I'm not sure what's wrong with it, probably something in the computer, I don't know what. There's a log of what we've tried on the panel display nearest. If you can help us fix it, We'll make you anything you like.'

'Anything?' Simon asked, the nacelle sitting square in the front of his mind.

'Within our capability,' Vish amended, 'and not too expensive, our matter reserves aren't unlimited.'

'Hey Vish, aren't there processes you need to follow to make that sort of offer?' Almir asked.

'Sure. But we're a long way from Command here, and if you're here talking to me, then you know how well organised our seniors in logistics are, right now. I get told what to make and how fast, I don't get told when anything will get fixed, or get given anyone to fix it. You help me, and I'll help you. If you can get me the matter to make a torpedo tube with, I don't even need to log the matter consumption, and no-one above me will ever ask any questions. And I'll have a working replicator Bay.'

'But you'll only have one machine running in it,' Almir said.

'Al, it's an Industrial Replicator.' Vish said, shaking his head with a wide smile, and patronising hand on his shoulder, 'If we get one machine working in here, we will dematerialise the other three, and replicate three new ones. No-one ever buys more than one of these babies. Except Starfleet. They paid for all twenty-four, but that's what you get when a non-technical architect doesn't have a full understanding of the technology they have been told to order. These are originals, built at Mars. Heritage. They've had a good run, and I'm not sentimental about them - Except that the new ones will be E, F and G, and we'll put a little plaque on the wall in memory of these.'

'Really?'

'No of course not, Al. Just fix it for me. Please? I'll send you a couple of my tech's to show you what's what.'

'But we're off duty.' Almir said.

'Then you'll have lots of time to play with it. It's a relaxing piece of kit once it's running. You've never seen one, you'll enjoy the show. Trust me on that.'

Almir look sideways at Simon. Simon did not feel he knew the man well enough to discern the correct meaning from the expression.

'The Admiral will have a field day if he learns I didn't take a rest this afternoon,' Simon said.

'Tell him you did something fun, and then have someone in Bridge Ops accept delivery of a new torpedo tube,' Almir replied.

'Allison would do that. Fine. Let's have a look.'

[Sato Tetsutaro]

SD 2403.01.0909 - 18:30 hrs
Command Level Medical Center ::

"You have been sat here for Days Captain, how about going elsewhere and letting my staff do their jobs ?" the Doctor said. Captain Nia Lemond, Admiral Tetsutaro's long-time Adjutant and close friend, looked past the man into the private room beyond. She knew he was in good hands and was getting the best medical care that could be provided, but she still couldn't come to terms with what had happened ten days earlier:

She had been sat in the outer office when she heard the commotion had begun, she heard something fall and began to approach Sato's office door, opening it she couldn't at first see him, then realised that he was on the floor behind his desk. She knew before approaching him that something was dreadfully wrong, she slapped her comm badge as she knelt beside him:


=^= MEDICAL EMERGENCY .. ADMIRAL TETSUTARO' OFFICE .. NOW ! =^=


..... That had been over a week ago ..... The diagnosis had been a brain tumour, a metastasis in the right cerebral hemisphere, normally something that could be repaired easily in this day and age, but with his unique medical issues the treatment was arduous and extremely dangerous. He had been treated with numerous drugs, including Dexamethasone and Furosemide, but eventually underwent a surgical procedure known as a craniotomy to remove the tumour. his recovery following the procedure would be lengthy but there were no signs as yet that there would be any loss of function or memory, nor would be loose any motor function, but she had been warned that the Admiral was not a young man, and as a result would need extensive recuperation if he was to even consider returning to duty as some stage.

"He spoke yesterday." she said, finally turning her attention to the man standing before her, "Nothing that made sense, but he did string a few words together, that's a good sign, right ?" she asked.

"It is. He's talking on and off, but he has a long road ahead." the Doctor said reassuringly. Nia nodded, standing. she needed a shower, a change of clothes, something to eat, and she needed to get to Sato's office and begin replying to the countless communique's that would be waiting.

Moving to the large window she looked in, the man looked frail, something he had never done before, despite his age he was a fit man who trained in martial arts, including extensive training with edged weapons like the katana, as often as time allowed. So to see him bedridden was for her extremely upsetting. She was about to turn away when his hand raised and despite the Doctors' reluctance she entered his room:

"Wha .... Happe .... ?"

"You need to rest Admiral." Nia said, taking his raised hand to comfort him, "You've been very ill and need to recover."

"They said it wa ... Was a ... Tumour."

"Yes, it was Sir."

"So for ... mal all of a sudden my child, you ma .... Me wonder if my time is finally approaching."

"Don't be silly, you're as fit as the nex ....." she stopped as he grinned, catching her lie so easily is was almost embarrassing.

"Where is my uniform ?" he asked, trying to sit up but failing.

"Lay back down Admiral, or I will have you restrained ... Again !" the Doctor said from the back of the room. Nia spun about to rebuke the man but could see instantly that the Doctor had had issues with her boss and his extreme stubbornness on more than one occasion, and was clearly fed-up with his demands. His gaze moved to look at Nia for a second then back to his patient, "You are not going anywhere for the foreseeable future Admiral, so you might as well finally accept your fate, don't worry we won't keep you here any longer than necessary, I assure you." Nia moved closer to the Doctor, and hopefully out of earshot of Sato:

"If I may suggest, you need to modify your attitude, Doctor. This man is ...."

"This man is a patient, 'Captain' nothing more, nothing less, and if you think for a second that he is being treated any differently, then feel free to file a complain with the General Medical Council and the Surgeon General ...Oh, you can't can you. I think you need to leave now, you can return in the morning for a brief visit." without waiting for her reply if any, he spun on his heel and left the room, she could see him speaking with two nurses, who tried not to look in her direction but failed miserably. She turned back to Sato and sat in the chair beside the bed.

"He is a good Doctor Nia, one I might not be here if it was not for his 'unique' abilities, so do not upset him unnecessarily."

"I'm sorry Admiral, but ..."

"He can do no more than he has thus far my child. I am indebted to him for my life. There are many many others in need of his attention so do not be too hard on him if he seems somewhat agitated with me at times, I am, I believe, what was once known as a 'difficult patient' ... Me, difficult, hard to believe I know." he said, chuckling evilly, making Nia smile despite the situation. She nodded, "Go to your quarters, rest, and visit me tomorrow if you wish." he squeezed her hand before releasing it. Nia stood and moved to the door.

"Nia, have Carl and Calista been informed ?"

"No Sir, I took it upon myself to insist on your behalf that they not be told until their return to the Starbase. They are still out on the initial recon, It was thought that contac ....."

"Do not inform them. That is an order. They will return soon and can be told then. I will be able to greet my foster children better with a little more recovery time."

"Understood Admiral. Is there anything you need ?"

"A small flask from my 'private' cabinet ?" Sato said, the mischievous grin returning.

"Get some rest Admiral." Nia said, leaving the room ..........

[Savot]

[Event Day 95: El Salvador]


Upon returning to the ship from the command debriefing Savot had filled Irae and the department heads on the agreed-upon plan: keep the El Salvador on-station and docked with the Starbase until deceleration was complete in case their power reserves could be directed towards the Starbase's thrusters or cooling/venting systems to aid in halting the station with as little system strain and damage as possible. The Raven and Enzio would begin the ever-expanding investigation and exploration of this new region of space; priority 1 being the procurement of resources that would be needed to keep ships and station functioning and personnel fed and breathing, so that they'd survive long enough to discover or create a way to return to the Alpha Quadrant and Federation space. The vulcan Commodore had placed the El Sal's power reserves at Admiral Sato's disposal during the deceleration wherever needed and the starbase was finally brought to a stop at its new resting place for the foreseeable future.


[Event Day 100: Velocity Stationary]


As preparations for sending ships out on exploratory recon were being made, Admiral Sato had wisely called for a visual survey of the starbase's exterior.  When asked for Engineering candidates to accompany the 2 survey shuttles, Chief Engineer Delbridge had immediately put forth Cadet Zhegras' name for consideration and Savot hadn't hesitated to agree.  The young Tellarite female had display exceptional focus and reliability through these tumultuous months, and while normally sending a young Tellarite out unsupervised amongst the likes of Head Security Admirals would've been just asking for an off-hand inflammatory comment leading to a write-up... the seriousness of everything that had happened and being smack in the center of it herself had changed Zhegras a bit.  Tellarites mainly flourished their widely known antagonistic flair for fun; if someone had the gall to come back at them with an equal or superior jibe that would have offended the skin or scales off anyone else...  Tellarites had been known to burst into a hearty guffaw in appreciation of their conversational opponent's worthiness.  Zhegras recognized that people didn't really need to deal with that right now; and certainly not Flag officers from a Cadet.  So she had accompanied one of the shuttle teams to perform her duty efficiently and without comment unless inquired by a superior.  

Upon returning to the El Salvador that evening; however, some on the cadets' living quarters on Deck 9 had reported hearing Zhegras and her roommate Karysta having a good yell back and forth so the Tellarite could let of some steam after being so agreeable all day...


[El Salvador: Day of Raven & Enzio launch]


Savot had been on the bridge to bid his fellow Commanding Officers safe journeys as their ships set out to investigate the nearby unknown, and then had requested clearance for the El Salvador to disembark from within the Starbase so that it could take up position circling the station as a defensive measure in case anything hostile should approach.  Valuable time could be lost getting outside if the Excalibur class vessel remained docked, though Savot had dispatched a portion of the El Salvador's Engineering technicians and Security personnel to be used at Admirals Sato and Reynolds' discretion aboard Starbase 47 to assist with both repairs and controlling any potential flare ups from the tense populace aboard.  


[El Salvador: Stardate 2403.01.0910]


Things had been quiet around Starbase 47 in the several days following Admiral Sato's medical emergency, which was fortunate in that it allowed the station's medical teams to focus their efforts on the Head of Intelligence.  Savot had contacted Admiral Reynolds aboard the station immediately upon hearing word of the Admiral's condition, offering the services of any of his medical staff if needed including First Officer Deis Irae who had once been the El Salvador's CMO.  He explained that the offer in no way suggested a lack of confidence in the station's current CMO, but was making the offer to be on the safe side as Savot had yet to review the most up-to-date roster of active personnel aboard SB47 following the large number of deaths following the incident.  The vulcan had also told Admiral Reynolds not to hesitate to contact him immediately if additional Command presence was required for any emergencies aboard station during Admiral Sato's recovery and before the return of the Section Admiral or Admiral Torek.  He didn't expect Reynolds to need any help but wanted the man to know the resources at his disposal in case.  


As anticipated, the Starbase medical team handled Admiral Sato's care expertly without external aid, and Savot had been pleased to hear of the seasoned officer's expected recuperation.  While keeping his proverbial ear to the ground regarding Sato's condition, Savot went about the business of captaining his vessel, working with the Maracanda to calibrate and position semi-permanent probes near the border of the dark matter nebula in order to maintain constant telemetry data regarding the phenomenon.  By this time all of the malformed sections of bulkhead, railing, etc. had been cleaned away from their damaged areas and recycled into the ship's bulk matter stores in order to replicate any seriously needed replacements.  Scoring and discoloration from some of the explosions and overloads remained along bulkheads, decks, and ceilings in places but even that was starting to be attended to as more critical tasks were completed and left room for non-essentials.  


Sitting in the captain's chair on the El Salvador's bridge, Savot arched an eyebrow as a thought re-occurred to him while they were placing another probe near the nebula's edge.  Speaking forward towards the helm, the vulcan addressed his First Officer, Commander Deis Irae manning the station as she often did lately, "Commander Irae.  I want you to put together a team consisting of helm, navigation, and science personnel with focuses in spacial physics.  We know that a great deal of debris was sheared off of the Starbase during our journey here, as well as some portions of our own outer hull.  While we clearly outpaced them in the moment, now that we have managed to halt ourselves it is conceivable albeit unlikely that they could catch up to our present location.  Given what we had to traverse to get here it's highly probably any debris has impacted on other spaceborne objects or gradually fallen subject to the gravity wells of larger stellar bodies.  Likewise, all our starships and Starbase 47 itself suffered significant sensor damage during the explosion so our readings of where and when debris was lost from our structures will be intermittent at best.  But it is possible we could piece together likely courses of travel for some pieces and determine if there is any possibility their trajectory could carry them here and present any navigational threat to ourselves or endanger the station."

[Sato Tetsutaro]

SD: 2403.01.0914 - 19:45 hrs
Level Eighteen - Admiral Tetsutaro's Quarters ::

He had been home, or what now substituted as his home for the foreseeable future, for almost a week. Frustration was beginning to ware on his disciplined mind more and more every day ... He didn't consider himself an invalid, nor did he appreciate the continued fussing of Medical Personnel around him every hour of the day. He had suffered a brain tumour, a metastasis, something that four hundred years earlier would have killed him, but today was as easily treated as cut finger, alas, due to some unique medical issues, he had to go the long route, as the Starbase Medical Officer had quipped.

He glanced over at the table, the glass of water and the two small boxes, containing the Dexamethasone and Furosemide he needed to ensure there was no sudden appearance of the tumour. He was allowed to work, albeit for two hours per day, and only then in the presence of his Adjutant Captain Lemond. Nia came at eleven hundred and left at thirteen hundred on the dot, regardless of his protestations. Several times he had ventured from his quarters only to be met by two no-nonsense Security Officers and escorted back. If they were worried about man-handling the aged Admiral they showed no outward signs, in fact Sato firmly believed that they enjoyed their new-found freedom over a much senior Officer.

"Computer .. View of my home please." he ordered. The back wall of his living area changed to show the shoreline of Lake Geneva from his garden, the light breeze moving the wispy clouds. He closed his eyes, memories flooding forth. He was still sat in quiet meditation when the door chime brought him from his reverie, "Enter." he said, leaving the 'wall' active as Nia entered.

"I always loved coming to your home." she said, placing a large tray on the table before sitting in the chair nearby.

"You are contravening orders Captain." Sato said, frowning dramatically.

"I don't believe so, you are allowed to work for two hours in my presence, and unless I'm mistaken we are not working but enjoying a Geneva sunset, are we not." she replied with a grin.

"What do you have there ?" Sato asked, knowing he wasn't going to win the argument. She removed the towel to show a tray of finely prepared sushi. Ehōmaki, Futomaki, and two ornate bowls of Chirashizushi ... She took a small white serving vase and poured two glasses of sake. Then she placed a wooden tray on Sato's knees, placing the bowl and two smaller plates on it, then the glass of sake.

"I am on medication that prohibits the imbibing of alcohol ..." Tetsutaro said, eyeing the tray with appreciation at the detailed preparation, "Are you attempting to hasten my demise Captain ?"

"Oh I'm sure one small glass isn't going to make your fragile head explode." she grinned, picking up a piece of inarizushi, "Eat up Admiral, it'll get cold." she said, grinning inwardly. The error hadn't escaped Sato as he took picked up a piece of raw fish and placed it in his mouth ... They continued to eat in silence, both watching the Sun set over Lake Geneva.

"Thank you Nia." he said quietly, placing a hand on her arm.

"You are welcome." she replied, smiling ..........

[Gheskori]

OOC: Copied from Gheskori's post of 4 September on the Enzio mission, relevant to events on the Starbase:


He swung round his desk, settled in his chair and activated the personal console in one motion, observing the Federation seal that then dissolved to show the face of Admiral Basirov situated at Starbase. Ghes beamed, "Ah, 'tis a shame, I was expecting a courtesy call from San Francisco," he half-joked. It was difficult on the Enzio to get used to not being contacted from Earth, the vessel having spent an amount of time there before this disaster had occurred.

"That's enough, Gheskori, there's been an incident... A crew of Bajorans whose civilian ship was destroyed by the shockwave have commandeered a few warp tugs and have left the station... That's our best guess, at least; the crew and the tugs are missing as of 3.5 hours ago."

"Then they don't have much of a head-start," Ghes said.

"Unfortunately we're a little short of starships, Gheskori," Basirov heaved, "Both our active capital ships are undergoing repairs and readiness checks, the maintenance craft we have are all occupied in either assisting the aforementioned or seeing to the Starbase, and our tugs won't be able to exceed the Bajorans' velocity." He went on to say how it was impossible for them to judge which way the tugs had gone, owing to the weakness of their warp trails, thus it was also a mystery - as were their motives - whether they'd travelled different ways or stayed altogether. Their leader was named Kret Nomal.

Ghes tapped the desk with an index finger, "Keep me appraised." They sat staring at each other, the silence dragged on ridiculously. Ghes threw up his hands, of course he could've closed the channel himself but, "Why are you still here?"

Basirov shifted uncomfortably, his voice gruff, "And... And I was told to pass a message to you from your wives, that they send their regards and wish you to look after Ensign Booker's cat."

Ghes nearly smiled, "I see. Can't the Ensign do it himself?"

"He never boarded your ship apparently, Gheskori."

[Sato Tetsutaro]

SD: 2403.01.0928 - 22:30 hrs
Command Center ::

It was late when Sato walked into the Command Center, he had been cleared, finally, to return to active duty the following day, but his impatience had once again got the better of him ... He walked around the room, climbing to the upper level. He could see the Section Admiral's door ajar and could hear voices within. not one to miss a good conversation, or a glass of Gheskori's malt, he approached the door:

"..... Why are you still here ?"

Basirov shifted uncomfortably, his voice gruff, "And ... And I was told to pass a message to you from your wives, that they send their regards and wish you to look after Ensign Booker's cat."

Ghes nearly smiled, "I see. Can't the Ensign do it himself?"

"He never boarded your ship apparently, Gheskori."

Sato knocked lightly on the door frame, making both men turn their heads:

"My my, Admiral, you are somewhat discurtious. I don't think referring to the Section Admiral by name only is appropriate, do you ?" Tetsutaro said, entering regardless of the glare of Basirov.

"I don't recall soliciting your opinion Tetsutaro." Basirov said, making it clear that there was no love lost between the two men, I thought you were on sick leave."

"It would appear not." Sato said, lowering himself into a seat opposite the Section Admiral pointedly ignoring the third man in the room. Basirov looked from one to the other before muttering a retreating comment on his way out of the room. Gheskori got up and went to the cabinet where he kept a small supply of drinks. He poured a malt for Sato but not one for himself (OOC: not sure if Ghes' drinks) before placing it on his desk in front of Sato then walked over and closed his door before returning to his seat.

"He's right you know."

"I know my friend, but it amuses me to annoy him, he rises to the bait too easily to let the opportunity pass. let us call it a perk of my age shall we." Sato said, sipping at the amber liquid, "Besides, it gives me something to do ..... So, we have a group of absconders."

"Yes, a group of Bajoran's took a couple of the long-range tugs ... Hardly 'meteoric' in the scheme of things, but we'll have to get them back."

"The Maracanda is more than capable." Tetsutaro said, eyebrows raised.

"I know, but I would prefer to keep her close along with the El Salvador, at least for the time being. What is the status of the El Alamein ?"

"Another month at least. She was heavily damaged due to being un-manned at the time of the disaster. It was thrown around like a pea in a bucket,fortunately no casualties. I thought you were pushing repairs through on one of the lesser damaged Starships, I assume it is not space-worthy ?"

"No ...." Gheskori replied as he picked up a PADD, "Some information has come to light. I don't know how much credence to put on it as we have no idea where it came from." he handed the PADD to Sato and waited while he read the contents. Finally the aged Admiral put the PADD on the desk close to him and looked at his long-time friend:

"My tumour was not a natural occurrence ?"

"We don't know Sato." Gheskori replied, "All we have is one sentence, supposedly overheard. We have no leads and no suspects.

"In light of the recent, desertions, it is possible that this could be someone trying to divert resources from other area's possibly as a prelude more departures." Tetsutaro said, a frown forming, "As far as I am aware the Chief Medical Officer gave no indication that my 'illness' was anything but naturally derived. This appears to say that it was intentionally induced, but how, and more importantly ... Why ... What could anyone get out of killing me. There are people that can take over my duties without too much upheaval surely, so I doubt very much it is to gain control of security and Intelligence, unless ...." he fell silent until Gheskori had to ask him what he was thinking.

"If someone did indeed manage to induce the tumour, then they were intending on killing me, but as I have stated, why me, why not Carl, or Savot, or indeed, yourself ?"

The comment sent a chill down Gheskori's spine ..........

[David Tan]

* Backpost *

The USS El Alamein had returned to the Starbase less than a week before disaster had struck, the Intelligence assignment having not been entirely unsuccessful. David, Elena and Iorte had reported back to Admiral Tetsutaro and had been told that once the Defiant Class El Alamein had undergone much needed repairs and refit, they would be sent out once again in pursuit of the Hururl and their associates ... Alas, that was never to happen as the disaster struck the enormous Starbase ... for the last six months all Intelligence Personnel who had been unfortunate to have been on the Starbase had been put to work policing, but also in assisting Medical Staff, Maintenance Personnel, anywhere their skills could be utilised.

They had seen some things that would never leave their memories now, not only those from Intelligence, but every single survivor of the disaster. It was clear that mourning the tens of thousands who lost their lives would be a constant grieving process for all concerned, and some, maybe all, it was clear, would never be the same again. With over one third of the Starbase isolated and uninhabitable at present, Command were able to open over sixty levels dedicated to Medical, surgical,but also Psychological. Many many people would need the help of the Councillors that were in such short supply.

David had hardly seen either Iorte or Elena for months, each being assigned to area's that best suited their own skill-sets. David was formally a Command Officer, so had been assigned to assisting in repairs and reconstruction of the Dome along with securing and reinforcing Secure Area's and Levels, Elena had been sent to the lower Levels to evacuate and Police while Clancy too had been given assignments that needed his skills most urgently.

Now, with the Starbase at it's final location, the Intelligence Division would need to start returning to it's full operational status, albeit aboard the Starbase until the crippled El Alamein was given priority. At that point she would be refitted and made ready for space. The three Starships, El Salvador, Enzio, and Raven, were shortly to begin their first reconnoitre missions .....

* Now *


SD: 2403.01.1005 - 18:00 hrs
USS El Alamein ::


With their duty rosters finally manageable for the first time in half a year, David had asked Iorte Clancy and Elena de Luca to join him in looking over their stricken ship ... Captain Komin and the Senior Staff would be there too:

"It's worse than I thought." Tan said, climbing along the walkway onto the ship itself, Starbase mechanics had taken two days to disentangle the ship from the remains of the two support vessels it had slammed into being one of numerous ships that had not been secured when the disaster struck. Three hundred thirty metric tonnes did a lot of damage when it collided with anything, let alone two other ships. The Corps of engineers had requested the El Alamein be stripped down for parts, but Admiral Tetsutaro had put his foot down with Command and persuaded them to keep the ship and begin refit when time and supplies permitted. At this point no-one would give them a start date, let alone one for when it could begin doing the task it was assigned to !

"Welcome aboard." Fran Komin said an hour earlier as they stepped, climbed onto the ship itself.

"I don't see how they are going to get us back out there Captain." Elena said, surprisingly upset at the state of the El Alamein.

"Well, we're not on the top of any lists for parts, but we are getting the odd piece of equipment." Komin said, trying to seem upbeat and failing miserably, "The El Salvador, Enzio, and the Raven had obviously taken priority, there's the Maracanda too. The Section Admiral has ordered work begin on one of the least damaged Starships, which that will be is anyone's guess given the condition of them but they are cannibalising what's left to keep things going as you know."

"Command did say we should be able to begin trials before the end of the year." Milo Van said.

"Which year is that again ?" Elena said, getting a chorus of laughs from those gathered as they entered Komin's Ready Room. She dug around in the rubble until she found what she was searching for. She managed to find glasses and poured amber liquid into each before handing them out:

"As you all know, I'm not one for speeches so relax." Fran said, lowering her head for a long moment before continuing, "Starbase Forty Seven." she said, raising her glass, the others following suit.

".... and Home." Elena added. everyone looked at her then re-raised their glasses. There was a chorus of:



"Starbase Forty Seven and Home." ..........

[Jon Park]

Syrith 1 Operation 23867

Commodore Park Personal log

"I have finished the final part of the operation 23867, Under Star fleet order 467 i am making this final log entry under security lockout Omega 1. I have read a report that the Nevada was decommissioned and my crew reassigned, I knew undertaking this mission ment i would loss my command. I have only to finish this last sequence and i can return home to Section 47. End log"


Shuttle Ryon

Park tapped the controls to bring the shuttle out of warp and saw the space station just coming into range on the short range sensors and all was reading normal, Jon tapped controls to move to the lower docking ports when alarms started going crazy and he saw the sensors just go offline, consoles sparking and other went offline as the main power went offline, the red emergency lights flashing Park saw nothing but a flash and then he was somewhere else.

Unknown Space
Shuttle Ryon

Park looked around "Computer report." No reply came as he ordered time and time again, Jon found a emergency docking port near lvl 17 was close and using the maneuvering jets he docked. Making his way to his office on deck 6 he was facing blocked corridors, frightened civilians and injured officers and commissioned personal. Park was just making it to deck 8 when a piece of the wall fell and knocked Jon out seeing the world fade as he hit the floor.

ONE MONTH LATER

Jon looked at the arm brace and put it on, today he was getting the cast removed. The doctors couldn't help but leaving it in a cast for a month, he also knew he was getting his reassignment orders after that. Moving to sickbay he saw the star base was once again back in normal operations, The doctor took a saw and activated it cutting the cast open and Jon felt the pressure leave after a month. Doctor Yelo scanned the arm and declared him fit for duty.

Jon exited the Medical wind and turned to see a blast from the past.

<tag open>

[Carl Torek]

SD: 2403.01.1020 - 21:10 hrs
Starbase Forty Seven ::

At five hundred thousand kilometers the Towing Tug, USS Cavot had dropped from warp and released her tractor beams allowing the enormous Sovereign Class Starship to continue forward under her own momentum. The Cavot moved to Port of the Raven but remained in a position that would allow her to quickly reestablish her hold if needed ... In the ten days it had taken to return at warp three, the Raven had completed as much of the repairs needed, but there was much to do, most significantly, repairs to the massive maw in the underside of the Drive Section where the warp core in mid self-destruction, had exited the ship and fallen behind them. They would need a replacement core, and given their circumstances, there was no snapping one off the proverbial shelf here, it would need to be constructed almost from scratch using whatever was available on the damaged vessels, or she Starbase itself.

The Comms Officer informed Torek that the Cavot was requesting a status update.

"Tell them we are bringing Impulse on-line to slow us down then it will be disengaged, we'll enter the Dome using our inertia and thrusters." Carl instructed, he looked down at the Navigation Officer, Ensign Anna Fields, who following the almost complete destruction of their Android Helm Officer, had found herself thrown in at the deep end. Even from here he could see her shoulders stiffen for a second as he had replied to the Comms Officer. He stood and moved down to stand next to the Helm, "Ensign .... It's not as daunting as you think. We'll allow the computer to align our approach with the rotation of the access doors. Once we have slowed below one quarter impulse all you will need to do is 'nudge' us when required."

"Yes, Admiral." the young woman replied, locking her gaze on her console. Smiling he took the center seat and nodded to his Executive Officer. Blakus contacted Engineering to bring the impulse engines on-line. It was going to be close as their reserve power was at a minimum and any problems slowing would need the Tug Cavot to intervene ... The reduction in velocity was gradual, slowing the massive vessel until she was travelling at only one hundred meters per second, this would allow them plenty time to make any adjustments required as they approached the Dome doors.

"Helm, slow us to twenty meters per second please." Carl said calmly watching the approaching Starbase, the massive doors still unseen as the rotation brought them hopefully in-line as the Raven reached zero distance, "If it will help Ensign feel free to put a tactical plot on the viewscreen."

Without replying Fields did as suggested, quickly enough to make both Carl and Andae thing she had already set it up and was waiting for the word to use it without having to ask. Blakus could see that the green square, signifying ideal track, was dropping very slightly below the red box which indicated the slowly approaching space door.

"Helm, adjust angle of approach by one degree positive." Fields activated the thrusters and the green indicator moved up until it was locked inside the red, "Thank you Ensign. Prepare to slow further."

The Command Staff of the Raven watched in silence as the two squares continued to move, not too much, but enough to risk the Raven colliding with one or more sides of the opening if not corrected. Fields didn't need further encouragement as she continually allowed for the gravitational pull of the four kilometer high Starbase upon the ship and ten minutes later she removed the tactical plot, choosing to concentrate on her readings and visuals. They eventually passed through the space doors thirty centimeters high and twenty one to the right of the center lines ... 'Not bad going for a novice Pilot' Carl thought.

Rather than being directed to one of the main docking areas, once through the doors the ship was instructed to drop below the main level and dock closer to the Heavy Engineering Area, usually reserved for such things as nacelle replacement of fitting, fair enough they were moved out of the main area given the work they needed, no point in taking up one of the primary docking berths. They dropped below the USS El Salvador, ready to depart and hopefully continue their initial investigative recon, and to their Port the USS El Alamein, still undergoing significant repairs. Carl was pleased with how his Navigation Officer had handled the docking and the two-way communications from the Dock-Master throughout ... Finally, the external umbilicus were connected and the ship tasted newly acquired power for the first time in almost three weeks. Lighting rose to standard, airflow throughout the ship began circulating newly processed oxygen atmosphere, gradually removing the staleness in the air. The dock-Master contacted the ship:

=^= USS Raven .. Welcome back .. You are on external power all umbilicus secure =^=

=^= Thank you Dock-Master .. Good to be back .. Where's our new core ? .. .. =^= Blakus replied with a wry grin ..........

[Gheskori]

"If someone did indeed manage to induce the tumour, then they were intending on killing me, but as I have stated, why me, why not Carl, or Savot, or indeed, yourself ?"

The comment sent a chill down Gheskori's spine. "It's mysterious... That is if it isn't just a groundless rumour. He stood and walked round the office, "Entirely possible given our new situation. With everyone necessarily lumped together on the station - unless they're on mission - and stranded in deep space, all talk becomes more significant, people are more dependent upon one another and more is read into everything that is said and done."

Basirov re-entered and handed Tetsutaro a PADD, the two officers present finding themselves involuntarily tracking his movements across the room. Was it truly this easy for suspicion to take root? Ghes thought, and dismissed the sudden paranoia. Indeed, they'd just been talking about and alluding to possible sedition, therefore the first officer or civilian they next came into contact with would be a natural object of that suspicion.

"Something I can help you with?" Basirov asked impudently, noticing the brief curious look his fellow Admirals were giving him, "After I've already been unceremoniously dismissed once?"

"Thank you, Admiral," Ghes warned gently.

"That's twice," Basirov huffed and turned on his heel to depart. Laughing quietly, the Denobulan retook his seat, he took a sip of his drink before regaining composure, "In all seriousness, if the tumour was artificially induced, then the assassination attempt - if it was intentional - has failed. It raises the question - "

"Will they try it again," Tetsutaro finished, nodded and took a drink.

Ghes made arrangements for the entire station to be scanned for recent radiation leaks (there would of course be dozens, if not hundreds, but those which could conceivably have been directed at places where Tetsutaro had walked through or been in would - hopefully - narrow the search considerably; the leak to be found may have occurred in Tetsutaro's vicinity, or it may have been emitted and then a fraction of it transported to Sato's location, perhaps even beamed inside his skull where it could set about causing its damage. Of course, they'd also search for 'leaks' that were in no way accidental). He also asked of Tetsutaro - or his on-duty deputy considering Sato's recent condition - that a 'light' round of investigations by whatever Intelligence staff and Security personnel were currently free begin, an inquery here, and inquery there.

<Tag Tetsutaro>

With this done, he deactivated his hologram and exited the subspace channel, now back in the flesh in his ready room on the Enzio.

[Andae Blakus]

Blakus stepped onto the docking ring from the vestibule, thinking that he hadn't expected to be back so soon. In fact, the recon mission had - in some limited way - been a success, and as their objective had been to scan in-depth the region to a range of 2 parsecs from the station in their appointed direction, their time away from the station had been roughly commensurate with that.

However, being used to deep space assignments of appreciable duration - with time split between SB47 and Earth Spacedock, what's more - to so soon be surrounded by this wounded metallic behemoth once more was a strange experience.

Milyanov was sent to the Personnel Office where Blakus joined him shortly after to conduct the ceremony (Admiral Torek made directly for Ops before he allowed himself to settle in - there was no rest for any of them, not yet) - Blakus attached the additional rank pip to Milyanov's collar, the Russian managing to wince throughout. Andae suspected his official assistant chief considered this promotion a consolation for not being made the Chief Engineer. In a way it was, which could hurt, but they had to face the complexities of the promotion system (in ranks and departments), which had seen to it that Milyanov wasn't yet permitted to graduate to higher responsibility but in terms of his actual rank a promotion had been well overdue.

He would manage. They would all have to manage. Much pain and torment was before them before they could begin to enjoy themselves again, much more graft to give them a stable foundation out here in the direction of the Circinus constellation.

For people with a lesser sense of loyalty, of belonging to a structure and institution that was much larger than them, elements and fragments in a epic and noble endeavour, it would be much easier to start anew out here: the Starbase as their city and home, the starships as their vehicles to the stars. But these Federation citizens and Starfleet personnel had necessarily been divorced from the chain of command by force of circumstances. Hovering over them was the spectre of the rest of the Federation, whose ghostly presence reminded them of its real absence. All they had was the Section and its remaining vessels, and while they might've been able to take pride in the thought they were the Federation's representatives out in these cold reaches, they couldn't help but feel that something of their ability to project that aura and ethic had been lost and their status as ambassadors necessarily limited by their very loss of contact.

Promoted officially, Milyanov withdrew to his quarters to meditate on his new rank and the unusual circumstances in which it'd taken place, while Blakus headed - as was perennially his wont when he reached Starbase - to the holodeck. Dialogues with the hologram of his missing friend Ben Zielinski - who'd been snatched by a representation of the Goddess of Strife, a malicious alien lifeform the Raven had encountered over three years ago - were soothing to him in times like these.

When Zielinski had first vanished on that shuttle, Blakus had agonised at the unexpectedness of his friend's deception, how he'd willingly disappeared and had - willingly or not - misled Blakus and Bligh (who was now assistant chief engineer on a temporary basis on the newly operational USS Maracanda) into believing he'd been kidnapped or had been disintegrated by some failure in the shuttle's systems. Now Blakus considered it strange that he himself, Bligh, Milyanov were much farther away from the Federation than Zielinski had been. If the man still lived, he may ask himself the question where his friends from the USS Raven and USS Victory had gone.

The Zielinski simulation meditated on these very things. Would he be surprised? What would the Federation be doing and how would Command have the diplomatic corps handle the situation (in dealing with and explaining the situation to other Quadrant powers)? Zielinski was a former Federation diplomat, and before he became the consort of the devious Eris in the Alice in Wonderland simulation and had succumbed to evil himself, he'd been much celebrated throughout Federation space, or at least he liked to think so. Would he advocate a policy within the corps and within the wider civilian administration of directing resources to making contact with, or rescuing Starbase 47, or of only remembering them and writing them off as a tragic loss?

Starfleet would not be willing to commit so many resources, Zielinski thought, the risk would be too great to both the rescuers and to the Federation they would be leaving behind to conduct the rescue. Perhaps it was upon the remnant of the Section alone, Blakus mused, to find their own way home.

[Savot]

[El Salvador: Ready Room]


Commodore Savot sat at his desk reviewing the latest reports via secure console linked to the starbase. They had completed deployment of the sensor buoy grid near the border of the dark matter nebula and all telemetry was being successfully received by SB47 sensors without any data degradation due to the nebula's proximity. Unfortunately, what the nebula had interfered with for a time were the El Salvador's sensors which had missed the unauthorized departure of warp tugs apparently highjacked by a group of Bajorans under the direction of one Kret Nomal. Their departure had gone unnoticed until either the properties of local space, skillful manipulation on the part of the absconders, or both had contributed to the rapid degradation of the tugs' warp trails making tracking them down not impossible but certainly challenging.


Savot pondered this event with curiosity. Yes he understood that the Bajorans' own vessel had been destroyed, so from that perspective he could at least slightly understand their intent to claim another vessel for themselves as reparations... though he thought even that reasoning was extremely thin. Still, he could see where that came from at least. But departing the proximity of Starbase 47 entirely, while in a region of space wholly unknown to them thus far, with no idea how far habitable planets or other potential ports of call might be located, to say nothing of whether said planets or ports would be hostile... that screamed of a desperation so absent of logical reasoning that the vulcan captain couldn't wrap his head metaphorically around it whatsoever. He made a point to run the details by Commander Irae his First Officer not only to keep her in the loop to be on the lookout for the missing tugs whenever the El Salvador was deployed further from the starbase, but also to see if her human intuition could shed any potential light on the thieves' state of mind.


[El Salvador: Bridge]

As though his mental consideration of her had summoned her voice, Irae called him back out to the bridge over comms to inform him the U.S.S. Raven was returning to base under tow. Now-official Cadet Karysta sat at Ops in her legally procured cadet's uniform running a standard scan of the Raven to determine damage, the Mirror-Universe Romulan-Vulcan hybrid furrowed her brow, having less emotional suppression than Savot, this universe's counterpart to her father, "Captain, their warp core is gone. Cause unknown at this time."


Savot himself arched a single brow in curiosity, wondering what had happened but simultaneously glad the damage had not been worse. The El Salvador-C had been launched within the past year, and despite significant odds had inherited her predecessor's Prometheus-class primary warp core which was part of what gave the C incarnation her significant power surplus. But it could also mean that components originally slated to comprise the new warp core that was never built might still remain in ship's stores. Certainly not enough to construct an entire core but every component they could offer the Raven would be one less they'd need to get their wings going again. He tapped a control on the arm of the captain's chair while standing next to it beside Irae, =^=Mr. Delbridge, please prepare an inventory list of all spare warp components currently aboard the El Salvador, for delivery at your earliest convenience with my compliments to Admiral Torek.=^=


After signing off he turned to Deis, "Commander Irae, we're receiving Commander Jon Park as our replacement Chief Tactical/Security officer.  Please have quarters readied for him on Deck 3 with the rest of the senior staff.  As we're presently docked with the Starbase I expect he'll come aboard via umbilical as part of Starbase 47's power conservation initiatives.  If you'd arrange to meet him at our hatch and accept his transfer orders I would appreciate it.  I'm going to confer with Admiral Torek as to the details of the Raven's recent mission and ascertain where the upper command tier feels it best to deploy our efforts.  You have the bridge." 

<Tag Irae, leading into Park tag>

He nodded firmly to the sharply uniformed woman and made for the bridge's rear conference room to open a comms channel to Admiral Torek, =^=Commodore Savot to Admiral Torek.  Aware of your engineering situation if not the details of its coming into being.  Whenever it is convenient for you I am available to discuss mission details, ensure you are aware of the latest developments here at base, and determine what assignment would make the best utilization of the El Salvador and her crew at the present time.  I am content to meet whatever preferences you have for our debriefing regarding schedule, means, and location if a face-to-face dialogue is desired.  Welcome back, El Salvador standing by.=^=


<Tag: Torek, any>

[Carl Torek]

SD: 2403.01.1020 - 23:40 hrs
Command Center ::

Carl had made his report, albeit brief given none of the Command Staff were in attendance. Not that his personal report mattered at this point in time, it was clear from his transmissions and the ships reports that they were in bad shape, in fact at this point it was doubtful a working warp core could be supplied within a month, so his report could wait he'd decided ... He had arranged for Chloe, Vanessa, and Bethan to leave the ship and go to the suite of rooms he has on the Starbase, it would be good to keep them away from the hustle and bustle as much as possible, besides, Chloe had been asked to help in reinstating schooling on the Starbase given her former position as Head of Education in her former role on Earth. He wasn't too sure she liked the idea of suddenly fining herself the leading authority on education, but she would handle it as she did everything else in his opinion.

She was already getting visitors, mainly School Teachers, wanting to pick her brains on how to proceed. He had realised that he would need to ensure his Children had things to keep them occupied, but again they had surprised him, offering to help their Mother in her meetings. He wasn't too sure how that would go, but common sense told him best to leave them to it .....

He checked a few reports, mainly on the Enzio and her progress, then looked at the Maracanda and the El Alamein, the former was practically fully space-worthy, while the latter was in dire need of resuscitation. He was done with looking through the reports and decided to take a meandering route back to his quarters. He walked down to the lower level of the Operations Center and passed through the corridor into the Administration Offices set out on the perimeter of the circular Starbase. He was about to enter one of the turbo-lifts when he espied Milyanov exiting Personnel:

"Admiral." Milyanov said, holding a small box in his hand as if it were the most fragile item in known existence.

"Commander ...." Carl said smiling, before looking from the man to the box and back, "I must apologise, I should have been there for your promotion. It's my job after all."

"No worries, Admiral." Milyanov said, glancing at the box.

"Do you have a moment, I'd like a chat ?" Carl said, Milyanov nodded, "I know this is likely to be a front-runner in the 'understatement of the year' vote, but things have been somewhat hectic of late, personnel moving around, new people arriving, regular crew having to adapt. Making Commander Blakus Executive Officer for example. Had we still been home it possibly wouldn't have happened, but we're not at home and we have to make some decisions, making Ensign Fields Helm Officer is one example. Obviously if we ever get Marionette functional then that situation may well change."

"Understood Admiral." Milyanov replied.

"I have no doubt that in due course you will be appointed Chief Engineer Jan, Believe me, if I thought I could convince Andae to let go or the proverbial reigns I would do, but he is, and likely will remain, primarily Chief Engineer. he practically redesigned the Department, when we took possession, and I have the feeling he'd keep at it until he had his beloved Galaxy Class Engineering Section back, but he, like everyone else has to adapt, and making him Exec' was one of those adaptations ... Understand ?"

"I do Admiral, and I fu ....."

"I think that, given time, he'll let go, hand his 'baby' over to the next generation, so to speak." Carl said, warming to the man more and more by the second, "He has a lot more responsibility now as Executive Officer. I'm not going to prod him either way, I would like him to make a decision, Exec or Engineering. He will have to at some point especially once we begin continuous exploration of this region." he reached forward and took the small box out of Jan's hand and opened it ... He took the gold-rimmed black pip from the box and placed it on the Engineers collar.

"As far as things go, Commander, you are de-facto Chief. Commander Blakus will be there if needed, and may pull rank now and then, but stick with it OK, I would like no-one better in his office once he get's the hell out of it." Carl said.

"Thank you Admiral. I appreciate our conversation more than you know."

"There's nothing vitally important on the Raven at the moment, go have a drink, celebrate your promotion, in fact, go to O'Tooles, Chloe was nagging me to go for a drink, I'll see you there in say, an hour ?"

"Sir, it's past midnight ....."

"Want me to take that pip back, Ensign ?" Carl said, turning away, "One hour, Commander." he said as he stepped into the turbo-lift, as the doors closed he grinned then tapped his comm badge, dragging Chloe out in the middle of the night was going to take some persuasion ..........

[Andae Blakus]

It was his second meeting with Zielinski, the diplomatic corps' former official steepling his fingers before him and looking pensively into the distance. When it seemed he'd drifted off and otherwise ceased to listen, Blakus leant across the desk and hit him on the arm, unfortunately however his hand passed right through the hologram.

"Yes," Zielinski said eventually, "It would seem that people, ships, the military-exploratory arm of the Federation, when they have been confronted with this scenario, individually or collectively, have often found themselves under compulsion to endeavour to find a way home themselves. While the rest of the Federation may be wanting to look for them, they are either too far away or otherwise lacking the requisite technology to contact their missing ship or ships."

"A surprisingly large number of wormholes have been discovered by stranded vessels," Blakus remarked, "The Intrepid class that was lost in the Delta Quadrant in the last century: traversing wormholes allowed them to shave several years of their journey, which they indeed made on their own initiative."

"They had no other choice... They weren't very well going to stay in the same place and wait for rescue."

Blakus sighed briefly, his old friend (when he'd been a friend) was difficult even in his holographic form, "Well quite, but the wormholes... If we could find such a phenomenon we could use it to transport all of us. Depending upon its exit coordinates of course -"

"That also relies on our ability to get the Starbase moving again," Bligh said beside him. The Maracanda's assistant chief (and old Victory-C crewmate) had accompanied Blakus this time; both he and Blakus had been present when Zielinski had first disappeared on that shuttle.

The Raven XO nodded: getting a Starbase stopped was far from easy, but it was much easier than setting one moving; they'd had velocity to play with before, this time they would be starting from effective zero. Also, in manoeuvring the Starbase towards a wormhole, the metallic behemoth could not be moving too quickly: an object of that size entering a wormhole with too great momentum - presuming the event horizon was large enough to permit its passage - could destabilise the entire phenomenon. "We should begin the search."

"It's something the brass may think about doing in addition to exploring the region. Perhaps it should even be your priority," Zielinski said and sipped his holographic coffee. "Assign a ship or ships to search for a wormhole or related phenomenon and have that be its only duty."

"In the best traditions of Starfleet, Ben, despite the wish and need to return home, I think our duty should be to explore new space and push back the boundaries of our understanding," Blakus said. Bligh nodded, out of deference to his former CEO on the Victory (Blakus thought) rather than any shared conviction. The group broke up, as they departed holo-Zielinski looked askance at them before he dissolved in a haze of photons.

---

Milyanov arrived at O'Toole's, he had dark bags under his eyes and was aware he was decidedly pale. Sleep would soon come, but an order to meet at a bar was rarely refused. Looking up at the sign and through the smoky dark windows, he smiled as the sight provoked his memory - of the times he'd spent here when the Starbase had been in more familiar territory, just within visual range (with much magnification) of the Betreka nebula, its former companion in the Betreka sector and its ultimate destroyer. He entered and made for the bar; looking round, he was unable to locate any of the party and reflected he may be slightly early.

"Sean," he nodded, moving along the bar to where the proprietor stood, shirt rolled up to his elbows, cleaning surfaces and taps with a filthy cloth. "Has Admiral Torek been in?" The way he said it made it sound - to his ears - as if he were casually asking about a local card shark.

"Not yet, son," O'Toole replied. Milyanov nodded and ordered a drink, took a bar stool and spoke to O'Toole, before opening a PADD to peruse and make notes. New warp core specs: would they salvage the only one they could use (despite its need for modifications) or build a new one from replicated materials? "Are you going to sit there and study at this late hour?" O'Toole asked and shook his head, pouring a spirit for the engineer, "Here," it was placed on the bar before Milyanov, "It's on the house." Milyanov took it while continuing to write with his stylus.