Machinations, Vicious Plots, The Time is Now

Posted on May 26, 2014 @ 8:14pm by Lieutenant Commander Aerdan Jos & Thomas Varn & Phia
Edited on on Jun 05, 2014 @ 8:45am

Mission: http://thefrpg.com/sim/missions/id/7
Location: Various
Tags: ARMSTRONG, Phia, Aerdan, Thomas

“Machinations” (Continued from “Game On.”")
________________________________________________________________________
Location: U.S.S. ARMSTRONG
Scene: Engineering
Stardate: 21.40503.2100
________________________________________________________________________

“What in the world, get out of there you ugly little,” a Scottish voice came echoing down the Jefferies tube before a small mouse like creature went flying out the tube as quickly as it could to flee, “Jameson, where is that power fluctuation that you said you were detecting an hour ago, because I can’t see it now.”

Sighing the assistant chief engineer tried to smile, as her chief was now singing down the Jefferies tube about a missing power fluctuation to her, “sir it is there I promise, in the power conduits on section alpha three.”

Stopping and looking around before pursing out his lips like a pouting toddler Angus O’Malley turned around before sighing and singing again, “oh, here we go to the right control, the right control, the right control. Oh where, oh where has the fluctuation gone…”
Looking over to the other officers working around the main compartment of engineering Allison Jameson shook her head before sighing, “next he’ll break into show tunes.”

“SHOWTUNES, BRILLIANT,” O’Malley shouted before starting in, “Oooooooooooooooooooklahmoa….

~*~*~

Scene: Main Bridge
Time index: Concurrent

Captain Rose Harcourt fretted in her seat.

She decided that was the entire point of a ready room: a room where the captain could fret in peace and quiet. The original Constitution class refit had no such thing, but when the basic hulls were upgraded to the small, sleek Exeter class starships, they added one in.
And yet Captain Harcourt usually eschewed hers. It just didn’t seem right to hide away from her crew. The ready room itself was cramped and the walls had an odd angular shape, as if it wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place.

Well, technically it wasn’t.

Rose Harcourt was an old fashioned captain, she believed in duty, loyalty and old fashioned exploration. Some thought her overly serious, but she could put back some pints and laugh it up with her crew after a particularly tough mission was accomplished. She had a bond with her crew, even the lowest ranks among them were like her extended family.

It was an attitude she found severely lacking in Starfleet as of late.

Her last meeting with Fleet Captain Callie Nichols was as frustrating as it was vague. Harcourt found herself subjected to nearly an hour of beratement for being ‘too familiar with her crew’ and ‘questioning Starfleet’s directives’ too often.

It left her with a distinctly sour taste in her mouth.

It did not, however, quell her questioning mind. It only made her keep her inquiries on the down low. As the months passed she gained a creeping suspicion that something rotten was forming at the heart of Starfleet, something which was causing administrative waves rippling throughout the quadrant. New captains were taking over ships on the basis of their sycophantic adherence to their superior’s directives rather than any talent at command or skill with a starship. Entire fleets were starting to turn over, leaving the lower and mid level officers on said ships wondering if their new captains really had their best interests at heart.

Harcourt would not submit to such bullshit.

The ARMSTRONG was by no means the fastest, strongest or most prestigious ship in the fleet. Oh, her husband - steadfast companion and chief engineer had done a bang up job of making a myriad of improvements to the ARMSTRONG’s systems across the board. She could hold her own in a fight with a ship twice her size if need be… but it wasn’t a scenario Harcourt wanted to envision. The ship’s primary goal was exploration and re-visiting areas the Federation wanted to check up on but simply hadn’t had the time. Ferrying runs and diplomatic missions were not uncommon.

And then there was this mission to NIMBUS III. To search for any evidence of what happened to the PENDRAGON. Now there was a prestigious ship. The name that made people’s heads perk up, even more infamous for it’s disappearance as it was for it’s cutting edge technology.

Harcourt would have felt far more comfortable with this mission had Fleet Captain Nichols not gutted her old crew, saying their experience would be better served on the front lines of the territory where the Second Dominion war was fought. No amount of protestation could keep Nichols from gleefully reassigning over three quarters of the ARMSTRONG to bigger, newer vessels. It was considered a ‘promotion’ no matter how much many of them did not want to leave.

And she was left with a ship full of inexperienced children. Some were merely young. Some were behind a desk most of their career. She had not idea how this would pan out should they meet with resistance in the NIMBUS sector.

She sighed, thinking maybe once she was off duty she would sit down with Angus, let him pour her a drink and just talk the whole thing out. He always had the best advice for things such as this…

~*~*~
Scene: Engineering -> Corridor -> Turbolift -> Transporter Room

~*~

“IF I WERE A WEALTHY MAAAAAAAAN,” Angus exclaimed exiting the Jefferies tube arms in the air before looking around as if he was expecting applause from his entire staff; but, only meeting blank stares and gazes from the new shift that reported, “precisely.”

“Sir,” a young ensign started walking up to the Chief Engineer a bit perplexed handing him the padd to sign off on the duty assignment for the reaming shift.

“Precisely why there is hardly any good music in the galaxy. All the true classics have died,” Angus stated walking as he skimmed the padd.

“But sir, the classics are there. Mozart, Bach…” the young ensign started before stopping as Angus held his hand up.

Turning to face the young officer Angus narrowed his eyes before shaking his head, “Yes, these are wonderful in all; but, the true telling of a wonderful story through song remains on the imagination and when you have someone before you standing there singing with all they have and feeling it then it means something.”

The ensign obviously didn’t understand anything that Angus was telling him causing Angus to just hand him the padd before chuckling to himself and walking off. Leaving main engineering Angus looked around at the total refit/new design of the ship. It resembled the Constitution class quite a lot; but, modern and ready for almost anything yet Starfleet had the ARMSTRONG playing ferry to officer and diplomats until recently. Angus had seen so many different faces, the new crew included, that he had begun to feel like the stranger on the very ship that he had come to call home.

“Good evening, Sir,” a young voice called out as Angus rounded the corner towards a turbolift.

Looking back trying to find the particular individual that shouted Angus made no connection, “Who in the world was that?”

A tall lithe blonde man came walking in to a beat that only he could hear, his hazel eyes twinkling in the lights of the corridor. “There you are!” the Command officer cheerfully called out.

There was only one other Command officer aside from the CO...Angus withheld the sigh. He *had* been in a good mood. Nodding efficiently he wondered how quickly he could make this conversation go and how much work would the Executive Officer foist off on him before it all be done. “Lt. Cmdr. Bomba.”

“Ah, Angus, why so serious? We’re friends. You know you can call me Storm,” the XO grinned. Swinging an arm around the CEO and dragging him around a different direction he said, “Come, we’ve got a CNS to meet.”

Angus’ mind went to couplings that needed to be repaired, biopacks that needed replacing-- blast it even nacelles that could be scrubbed with toothbrushes. Literally a hundred different things that he could be doing than going off with the XO to meet a CNS. His footsteps were heavy on the soft gray carpeting as he went along with the XO who babbling about something. At this point, Angus knew enough to listen for key words from Storm. They usually went something like this:

Bleeding Edge
Lots of Moving Parts
Let’s make this scalable
Best practice
Boil the ocean
“Now, Angus you’re going to take it to the next level.”

And there was that last one that Bomba just said. Cause the first set of jargon (and really it was just a bunch of Operations jargon that just meant nothing in Angus’ mind -- it was just a way for Bomba to use up oxygen and until that day it was they were dying with limited oxygen, Angus didn’t worry about it) but the last one was worrisome because it was a key phrase. It was one of the phrases that indicated that that Bomba was about to pass off some work.

Sadly that happened all the time.

The XO was always crafty to parse it as -- how did he parse it, Angus wondered. Oh yes, he called it “empowerment” but the rest of the crew saw through it -- the XO did as little as work as possible and somehow still managed to show up on promotion day.

It would have been admirable if not so aggravating.

Maybe Nurse Oluchi had more than once suggested they play “Bomba Bingo” when he started speaking like this; that mocking him (even behind his back) would take the sting out. Maybe she was right.

“Did you hear me, man? This is your chance,” the XO continued on as they went into a turbolift.

The engineer sighed in earnest this time. “My chance for what? The couplings that I missed on Deck 8?”

Bomba laughed at that. “Deck 3,” he called out. “No, no. Now you’re a fine engineer. But now you can give 110%--”

**There’s another phrase I forgot,** Angus thought to himself.

“And really show our new CNS around the ARMSTRONG. Show her the ropes, the impact of her role,” Storm explained as the lift effortless took them to their destination.

Angus listened to the lift, noted that it glided on its way. He was attuned to the ship and could tell any little hiccup. He liked to pretend that he was linked to the ship and that was what helped him.

Blast it, the turbolift was doing an excellent job. That meant there was no reason for Angus to *not* go with Bomba.

The lift stopped gently, the doors swished opened and the men walked out towards the Transporter bay. Taking pity on the Chief, Angus dismissed her and took the spot behind the controls. For his spot, the XO was admiring his own reflection in the shiny metal accented panels on the walls while he continued to babble on about “impact” and “leverage”.

Finally Bomba stopped fixing the hair that wasn’t really out of place and stopped making absurd winking motions to turn to Angus. “Look, it is what it is, man.”

**I so could have had “Bomba Bingo” by now,** Angus thought to himself. “She’s here,” he said instead.

Straightening his suit jacket, the XO turned to the platform and nodded. “Energize.”

The molecules danced and shimmied before coalescing into a form; a 5’9” blue woman with long black hair that hung neatly down her back and distinctive Vulcan ears. The woman’s cat-like eyes darted around the room before settling on the XO. Inhaling she stepped down. “Lt. Phia,” she announced cooly. Passing over a PADD she said, “Here are my credentials,sir.”

Bomba took the PADD and smiled his best Risan toothpaste commercial smile. “Come now, we’re a family here on the ARMSTRONG. Please call me Storm.”

Angus waited. The woman just stared at the XO for a beat...then another beat...then an uncomfortable third beat...until finally…

“No.”

Just like that Angus stopped being a little bored and started paying attention. And the CEO noticed that the XO was slightly taken aback as if he couldn’t comprehend someone who didn’t want to be his BFF.

“Now, Phia -- can I call you Phia?”

“No.”

Well even Angus saw that one coming.

Storm wasn’t deterred. “We’ve got a robust crew here that could use your expertise and it helps when we come together to ah-help me out here Angus.”

The CEO was shaken out of his amused reverie. “I’m still thinking of couplings,” he fibbed. Cause the alternative was too embarrassing to admit, **I was enjoying watching you off your game. Blast it - now I sound like Bomba! It’s contagious!**

Finally, Phia turned to the CEO. “You were not thinking of couplings. I just met you and I knew that,” she said coolly. “If you’re going to lie, pick something closer to the truth; preferably a half truth. It makes it harder to figure out.” Turning back to the XO she said, “Your ears stick out 2 centimeters too much. That will make it easier to uncork your head from your ass. I don’t want to call you by your first name, your rank and last name is fine. I do not want your attempts at trying to break down a simple situation into unnecessarily complex one. I could say more but quite frankly I’m wasting some precious breath on you, and you’re not worth it.

“Now if one of you will give me my room assignment I will be on my way.”

The XO was flush with mortification and anger. “You were just assigned here, Lt. Phia. You should speak to a Senior Officer with more respect.”

The CNS raised an eyebrow at that. “My room assignment, Sir.” Lifting a chin she said, “Or report me to the CO, the Division of Operations, and the Secretary of StarFleet as well as who knows who else. That’s a lot of PADDs on your desk for what could be just forgotten if you simply...give...me...my...room...assignment and let me go.”

Bomba frowned and passed over the original information he had been carrying with him. The Bolian/Vulcan woman looked at it, picked up the single bag she had been carrying, and walked out the door.

There was an uncomfortable silence in the Transporter Room before Bomba asked, “My ears don’t stick out, do they?”

Looking quickly at Bomba darting his eyes from side to side Angus opened his mouth to speak taking a short breath before closing his mouth and quickly leaving the transporter room darting for a turbolift.

~*~
Scene: Turbolift -> Bridge
~*~

Angus O’Malley’s mood had considerably improved since the moment Lt. Commander Bomba set foot in his path. Not showtunes good quite yet, but improving.

He knew he had a window of opportunity to head on up to the bridge and give Rosie a heads up before Bomba arrived. Rose. Captain Harcourt. He always had to separate her job from the fact she was his wife in his head at times like these. Nonetheless, Bomba wouldn’t head straight to the bridge. He would take the time to compose himself so he could whine without sounding contentious. It was a skill Bomba cultivated - how to be a reprehensible ass and yet sound charmingly naive the entire time.

Angus sighed. Rose had seen through Bomba immediately. Angus himself had taken quite a bit longer to realize what they were in for. Those first few days he championed the Risian, saying things like ‘Well just give the kid a chance!’

He was done giving the kid a chance.

At least the new counselor seemed to read him correctly right away. While her attitude was brusque, Angus appreciated her honesty. Not many people stood up to Bomba, partially due to the rank he had accumulated simply filing papers and excelling academically. Sure, Rosie did, but as she had said on many occasions: she was simply too busy to go change Bomba’s diapers over and over again. She just waited until things were kicked back up to her, ruled in favor of the put upon crewmembers and tried to educate them to stick up for themselves. It had worked to some degree. Some of their newbies were skilled - they had every ability to grow into brilliant officers. And yet others would never amount to anything.

That was pretty normal. It wouldn’t bother Angus one bit had they been assigned to the normal training routes new crew usually ran on. But this NIMBUS III thing seemed a little far out into dangerous territory to be shipping a boatload of kids.

Couple that with the rumors that their newest counselor doubled as an intel agent made angus O’Malley very suspicious indeed.

“Engineer on the Bridge, Captain.” O’Malley announced as the turbolift doors swished open.

“Commander O’Malley, has Lieutenant Phia arrived safely?” Captain harcourt queried, swiveling around to face her husband.

O’Malley nodded slowly. “Yes, she is currently settling into her office and quarters. General orders to report to the bridge when completed were in her transfer information.” Standard, nothing unusual.

Rose gave a slow nod. “Should I even ask why you’re bringing me this report and not Commander Bomba?”

A slow grin formed on Angus’ face. “Well, Commander Bomba was momentarily… detained. He had some personal business to attend to. He should be by shortly.”

Rose Harcourt raised a brow at this. She was all too good at reading her husband’s insinuations. While his words were perfectly diplomatic, the insinuation was that Bomba got his ass kicked somehow. “In relation to our newest arrival?”

Angus winked. “Why, I don’t know what’s got the lad so bothered. But he should be back up and running shortly.”

“I see.” Harcourt replied, reading between the lines. Knowing Bomba was rattled so, it made her all the more curious to meet this new counselor.

Location: EARTH
Scene: Paris, France - Situation Room
Stardate: 21.40503.2100
________________________________________________________________________

=/\=

“This has gone on long enough,” the Vice President argued. “Secretary Bonviva, I’m ordering you to send in the ARMSTRONG.”
The blackened room, illuminated only by the holographic images that were displaying the positions of the fleets and positions of various enemy units. Each wall focused on a particular quadrant and could be zoomed in to show real-time (or near real-time) position and if a ship was within comm-range they could tap the ship to call it.

Xana walked over to the South wall and pointed to the ARMSTRONG and resisted pointing out the smug overbearing asshole that he couldn’t order her unless there was a Constitutional crisis and that day was not today. Instead she went for logic. “That ship is not ready for this mission.” Pointing to another ship that was slightly behind she said, “We call out the ROBIN HOOD and that will provide enough defensive resources.”

And provide enough senior tactical support, she added silently.

The doors swished opened, Marines stood at the ready, and in walked the Denobulan President of the Federation, Moray. Surveying his Cabinet he said, “Very good I see we’re ready to discuss the situation with the PENDRAGON. Options?”

“We’re going to send in the ARMSTRONG,” the Vice President smiled oily.

“Secretary Bonviva? Is the ARMSTRONG in position?” President Moray asked.

Xana tapped her foot. “Technically, yes. But, sir, I’m cautioning you...there are far better options available. The ARMSTRONG needs backup, let me send in the ROBIN HOOD, it’s only a day behind and--”

“No,” Moray said softly. “Now I know you want to protect your men and women, but we have other interests in the area, as you were telling me.”

Xana sighed. “That was the Vice President who said that,” she muttered. The President was a lovely man, but couldn’t keep anyone straight; and clearly StarFleet wasn’t a priority for him. It was a constant struggle between her and the Vice President for the President’s attention. Straightening up she said, “Sir, we need to commit to this or we’re going to have 2 ships down instead of 1 ship rescued.”

There was silence in the room for the span of 3 minutes before Moray nodded. “Send in the ARMSTRONG.”

As the President and Vice President left Xana stood alone the in the Ready Room. Turning around to the screen she tapped the image of the

ARMSTRONG and called out, “Secretary Bonviva to Admiral Ranta - secret secure line.”

[[Security codes.]]

“Bonviva - alpha - five - zeta - two - epsilon - three.”

There was a long pause before a distinguished Risan/Edoan/Betazoid with salt and pepper hair (more salt than pepper now) appeared as a holographic image in the middle of the room. His hazel eyes took in the room and instead of his typical merry greeting he simply inclined his head and said, {{Madame Secretary.}}

Xana looked at Harper Ranta; they had met many years under very different circumstances. They had even kept up a fairly friendly working relationship since then. But one did not call from the Sit Room to reminisce, so she simply cut to the chase. Folding her arms across her chest she ordered, “Admiral Ranta, we are a go for Operation Sekou. Use the ARMSTRONG.”

Ranta gave the Secretary a look. {{It is my professional opinion that is not enough resources to do the job successfully without risking the lives of those on the ARMSTRONG and the PENDRAGON.}}

Tell me something I don’t know, Xana thought to herself. Instead she commanded, “You have your orders, Admiral.”

Harper furrowed his brow and clearly was about to say something. {{I’m going to have to file an official complaint.}}

Please do, Xana thought. Instead she replied, “Please have the ARMSTRONG ready. I’ll be monitoring from the Sit Room.”

Then she cut the connection so she could stop this insanity that this conversation was becoming. Damn it all to 99 hells, she almost begged Harper to write her up; the only thing that saved her was that Harper was too damn nice. Then again if anything did happen he probably would write her up and there would be the beginning of the end of her career.

Sitting at the table she watched the ARMSTRONG’s progress. They were sending in a ship, granted with an experienced CO, but with a bunch of newbies into an impossible situation. Additionally as Xana perused the supporting documentation from SFI, she didn’t feel that great about the reports about where the PENDRAGON was to begin with. It was going to be a long day and night at this rate.

“Ma’am? Your Chief of Staff wanted me to tell you that you have a message from a Captain Kane...”

“He can wait,” Xana told the Marine who was stuck bringing in messages into the secured room. Watching the ARMSTRONG going up on screen she sighed, “This won’t.”

~*~
Location: NIMBUS VII
Scene: TEMPLE
~*~
Shaking his head Thomas couldn’t help but wonder what was powering the device let alone causing it to pick random members of the away team either by touch or just moving near and sending them away. As much as he wanted to study and scan the device he new that it would be a fool hearted mission due to what happened with the last few people that went near it as well as the field blocking scans and communications.

“Is there any way to scan or get near that thing without being “sent” away,” Thomas asked finally tired of looking at his tricorder and doing nothing.

Before anyone could answer a child came running down the temple stairs and right into the legs of the remaining away team members. Trying to catch his breath the young Cardassian boy looked around, “there’s, there’s someone out there.”

Looking up Thomas’ eyes met Izzy before nodding and motioning for her and Daris to follow him up. While it was his immediate purpose to try and cut through the interference he realized at the moment he was one of the remaining senior officers/staff on the away team. Stepping out of the temple doorway Thomas followed by Izzy and Daris had their phasers drawn prepared for a fight; but, what they found was something totally unexpected.

“It can’t be,” Izzy stated rushing over to the group of people now hovering over the body of an adult.

“Please allow us through,” Thomas stated pressing his way through making it to Izzy’s side, “how is this possible.”

Daris stood there watching not quite sure of what was happening or who the adult male exactly was; but, one thing was sure Izzy and Thomas knew exactly who it was and were extremely concerned.

Kneeling down Thomas looked over the body before looking up to Izzy, “this isn’t good, I’m not a doctor and he’s in bad shape. We need to get him some place safer where we can keep an eye on him.”

Izzy knelt down before nodding, “Captain Williams can you hear me?”

~*~
Location: USS PENDRAGON
Scene: Sickbay

“Sit still.” Arjan’s voice was no-nonsense.

“I am sitting still.” His brother’s voice was vaguely petulant.

“In what universe do you define this as sitting still?” Arjan placed a hand on his younger brother’s shoulder and held him in position. “I define this as fidgeting.”

“I am not…” Aerdan started to protest and then trailed off. He was. He couldn’t even deny it. “Ok, fine I am. I have an injured away team down there, a mass of injured and dying civilians, a missing Captain and not enough time to help them all.”

“And two cracked ribs, so sit still or so help me God I will not only sedate you, while you’re out I’ll tell Cade all about that time you wanted to win the Ch’Ryian Ice Princess contest when you were four.”

Much to his satisfaction his baby brother ghosted a decidedly unhealthy shade of white. “You wouldn’t…”

“I would.”
~*~
Scene: Bridge
Time Index: one brotherly spat later…

“Captain…” Aerdan’s voice was imperative despite his soft tone. “Has security reported in yet?”

“No…” Peter furrowed his brow in concern and confusion. “What are they reporting in on?”

Commander Jos sucked a breath in through his teeth. Oh how he hated being the bearer of bad news. “I was having them search the ship for…” He trailed off, took a deep breath and finished, “Captain Williams.”

“Captain Williams?!” Peter’s jaw nearly hit the floor. “Why in this galaxy would they be searching for Aaron Williams?”

Aerdan clenched his teeth together before speaking. “Because Cade noticed he was missing from the emergency medical containment area.” There was a note of apology in his voice, despite not having a part in this. “I called security just in case.”

“You said he was in a coma, he wouldn’t wake up… we were putting him in cryostasis…” Peter’s voice was heavily laced with concern. “How could this happen?”

“I’m not sure.” Commander Jos admitted evenly. “It is possible that the artifact is causing anomalies…” he started before Peter cut him off.

“If Williams is alive, we have to find him!”

“That’s why security is doing a search…” Aerdan started patiently before being cut off, yet again - though this time by the shrill whine of the communication system.

[[Security to Captain Aspinall and Commander Jos…]] a wavering young voice came over the line.

“Captain Apinall here, what is it?” Peter stiffened unconsciously.

[[Sir, we have thoroughly scanned the ship and checked all decks. We are unable to locate Captain Williams anywhere, however…]] the young ensign’s voice wavered again. [[Transporter room six reads a recent beam down to the planet - same co-ordinates as the away team. The bioscan from the buffer… it’s Captain William’s.]]

Captain Aspinall sucked a long, slow breath through his teeth. “You’re telling me Aaron Williams beamed to the surface?”

Quietly, with more than a hint of trepidation. [[Yes, sir.]]

Peter gritted his teeth. “Understood.” As the comm line closed, he slowly turned towards his first officer. “You said you wanted to go back…”

“I know the way to where the rest of the away team is, and I have the best information on the artifact.” Aerdan admitted, shaping his argument in a roundabout manner.

“You have a team ready?”

Again, a solid nod from the blue man. “Yes, medical and engineering, with transporter stabilizers and communications boosters to cut through the interference.”

Peter looked steadily into Aerdan’s eyes. “Bring Williams back.”

“I will.” he promised.

If words could ensure co-operation from the universe at large, Aerdan Jos would have been a lucky man...

_____________________________________________________________________

Location: USS ARMSTRONG
Stardate: 21.40503.2110
Scene: Bridge -> CO Ready Room
_____________________________________________________________________

The remaining part of the shift Rose had spent in her ready room preparing to see the new CNS officer that had been assigned to her ship of, kindergarteners, as her husband affectionately called them. It was at this moment that the padds that had piled upon her desk seemed to be just too much and now she wanted something new. Moving her hand to her commbadge Rose jerked as the comm system activated but she had not caused it.

[[Bridge to Captain Harcourt,]] the voice of the young officer echoed through her empty ready room.

Stopping and instinctively looking up Rose sighed, “Go ahead.”

[[Ma’am, you’re receiving a priority message from Starfleet,]] the officer stated his voice sounding a tad bit shaken.

“Patch it through,” Rose stated activating her desk screen as the intel report began to scroll, “You’ve got to be joking.”

Standing quickly and moving to the bridge Rose looked to the helm officer and motioned, “Helm set a course for Nimbus III warp five. Ensign Gomez, begin long range scan as soon as we reach Nimbus I want to know what happens when it does. Harcourt to all senior staff please report to the conference room in two hours, Lieutenant Bomba report to my ready room. Harcourt to Lieutenant Phia please report to my ready room in one hour, our formal introduction will have to wait until then.”

Turning and nodding back to the Ensign who had the conn Rose returned to her ready room to await the arrival of Bomba and begin the process of trying to prepare the ARMSTRONG, and her, new crew as best as she could. It only took a few moments for Bomba to appear, mostly due to the innate fear he had of Rose, but at least he was reliable and dependable when ordered.

Bomba after being allowed into the ready room sat down and took the padd from Rose’s hand beginning to read, “So they want us to go there, why?”

Shifting in her chair Rose looked at a few of the padds with the reports of the PENDRAGON, “One because we are close, two mostly because we are the ones assigned to find any information relating to their disappearance, and three because something is happening that technically should and could not be happening.”

Suddenly Rose received a message on her console:

FROM: Lt. Phia, CNS
TO: Cpt. Rose Harcourt, CO
Subject: Counseling

Proceed to your Ready Room immediately for your counseling session. I will be there shortly.
Rose most certainly did not need an evaluation now. Suddenly she was about to reply as such to the overeager CNS when she noted the bottom of the message:

~~SECRET SECURE TRANSMISSION - THIS MESSAGE WILL BE REMOVED FROM ALL LOGS WITHIN FIVE MINUTES OF RECEIPT.~~
Standard counseling messages were not deemed “secret secure” and were never removed from the logs. Sighing she said, “Bomba, you have the Bridge. I need to review something in my Ready Room.”

Within five minutes of the message being sent to Rose, an azure woman with Vulcan ears looked around with barely veiled disinterest. So far nothing she had seen had measured up to her bar that she kept. Then again the universe was big, stupidity was infinite, and almost nothing measured up to the bar that Phia set. She still hadn’t decided what to do about her assignment -- she didn’t have to reveal herself so soon to the CO. She had that luxury to decide when.

Then again they were going into a lopsided situation, and Phia did like being prepared. Sadly that meant other people (if they were smart) did too. That meant she may have to share early. It was a damn shame, but there it was.

“Normally I would use this time to get to know you,” Cpt. Hartcourt explained.

Phia rolled her eyes.

“But we have too much to do.”

She was so grateful for a missing ship that the Bolian/Vulcan almost said “thank you”. Almost.

“I will, however, ask this,” Rose continued on, “are you--”

“Don’t ask,” Phia replied. The woman walked around the room and stopped in front of the CO. Slapping her hands down on the desk, the Bolian/Vulcan leaned in and said, “There are some things once you know you can’t ever unknow and that’s one of them.” Then she paused, “And there’s no sense of confidentiality on this ship so I wouldn’t tell you anyway.”

The CO frowned. “That makes this mission impossible.”

The azure woman shrugged at that. “My job isn’t to make your job easier. The job I was given was to do my job to the best of my ability.”
Phia spun on her toe and walked to the door; she paused just a half second before the door would open automatically. Without turning around she said, “If I were who you I think I was then I would advise you that we are...the colloquial expression is “screwed”.”

Rose sighed. Fantastic; they had an Intel Agent who wouldn’t admit to being an Intel Agent and who just admitted that they were walking into a hornet’s nest. “Thoughts?”

“You have an idiot for an XO.”

The CO sighed.

“Your crew is too inexperienced.”

All true, so Rose kept quiet.

Phia turned her head. “I could come up with plans. All of SFHQ could come up with plans. But I’d plan for casualties now.”

Rose blinked her eyes; nothing she wanted to hear but nothing too surprising. “You have ten minutes to come up with another plan.”

Phia nodded. “For you only. It most certainly is not for the bumbling idiot,” she announced before leaving.

=/\=
Scene: Bridge -> CO Ready Room
TI: Ten minutes later

“You’re going back in there?”

Well Phia had to give him credit; Bomba was persistent. “Yes,” she replied as she sidestepped him to get to the CO’s Ready Room.

Lt. Cmdr. Storm Bomba had not made it to the XO chair on the basis of his talent; nor had it made it because of his connections. No he had made it on his ability to pass off work and to be in the right place at the right time. “Maybe I should go--”

“While I concede you are probably in need of a psychiatric evaluation, plus some intensive counseling sessions to deal with the unresolved Oedipal issues that still plague you, this is not the time,” the CNS admitted as she stepped to the other side. “Please make an appointment in Counseling.” Considering her words she said, “With someone other than me. I hear Dr. Crumby is free.”

Bomba considered that as he watched the CNS leave. “The Excalbian?”

“He’s an excellent Counselor,” Phia replied without stopping her stride as she made her way across the Bridge. “Pebble displacement therapy is the next wave of counseling.”

The doors of CO Ready Room opened up and the CO looked up to see the CNS walk in. “That’s why I have a cover,” Phia admitted grimly.

Standing before the CO she dropped a PADD on the desk. “There you go.”

The CO read over the report. “In and out? That’s it?” When Phia said nothing she pressed the other woman, “We’re supposed to investigate.”

“We’re going to lose people. Everyone else, including the pretty boy playing in your CO seat, but you should know better. This is not an exploratory mission. This has all the hallmarks of a rescue mission with minimal success. We are being sacrificed for another ship,” Phia admitted. “At this point we need to minimize damage to us and them. In and out. I’ve laid out the coordinates to where we need to go, our likely targets and our window. But if we miss that window it is my estimation that our casualties will go up.”

Rose stared at the CNS/Intel; it wasn’t just that she was new or repressed emotion. No she colder than an DELTA VEGA winter. “How many casualties?”

“We’re not talking numbers, we’re talking exponentially. Prepare to lose a good number of your crew the longer we stay,” Phia advised. Pausing she said, “And yes, everyone knew that when they sent us in.”

“Everyone?”

“SFI, SFHQ and on up. Everyone,” Phia admitted.

____________________________________________________________________

Location: NIMBUS VII
Scene: Temple
_____________________________________________________________________

“What is happening out there,” Thomas shouted as the small subterranean building shook with what he thought sounded like heavy weapons fire.

By now Izzy, Daris, and several others had gone to the surface leaving Thomas and a select few down below with Aaron trying to assess and stabilize his condition. Thomas knew that he was neither a medical doctor or anything near it; but, he could possibly be one of the few people here that could keep him alive.

“Time is coming close,” the keeper stated looking to the device and then to Thomas and Aaron, “one last piece and it begins.”

Thomas looked up intending to question the Ferengi when a body of an away team officer came tumbling down the stairs before rolling to the side and ducking behind a piece of furniture ready to fire. It was clear the team was being pushed back into the temple but by who, and why. As the tiny stair well illuminated with phaser fire slowly the rest of the away team appeared taking up positions with Izzy the last coming through the door.

“Thomas get him to cover, go behind that blasted artifact if need be but get to cover,” Izzy shouted before taking up her own position.

It didn’t take long before the culprit slowly descended the stair well an electrifying sound dragging down the metal walls of the stairwell itself. Standing at the foot of the stairs the young and devilishly commander of the Terran Empire forces smiled before cracking her whips in the air, “and you thought we were finished talking.”

With that a body of a bloody and tattered Klingon fell to the ground barely conscious and moving. Thomas watched from behind the device as all the away team knelt there in cover, the only person standing was the ferengi. Raising his hand the small and elderly ferengi stepped forward before saying slowly, “you are only here because you are meant to be, do not sully this moment with your poison.”

Narrowing her eyes and taking a deep breath the commander shook her head, “Poison you say, poison. I’d never touch the stuff, it takes to long and not enough of a visual effect. I prefer power.”

Laughing softly before coughing a little the Ferengi smiled, “what do you know of power.”

With a smirk that would curdle milk the Terran Empire commander winked, “I KNOW THIS!”

With that the whips that she had hanging at her side shot out towards the small ferengi man. It didn’t take but what seemed a fraction of a second before the room began to move like it was a puzzle. With the crack of the whips the Ferengi dodged out of the way, Izzy and the rest of the away team moved quickly to lay down fire, and Thomas began to stand realizing the electrified whips were about to hit the artifact that no one knew anything about.
“Nooo,” Thomas shouted before everything went red in a flash of light, and pain began to run through his entire body.

~*~
Location: NIMBUS VII
Scene: Streets -> Refugee camp

“Are you lost?” Cade Foster grumbled as the team of engineers and doctors wove their way through dilapidated streets and burnt out buildings. Being the dead of the night did absolutely nothing for the aesthetics or decor of the place.

“This is the way we came before. I’m not saying it’s the most direct route, but it will get us there.” Aerdan murmured back petulantly.

“You couldn’t just scan?” Cade queried, dogging the executive officer’s heels. “Don’t they give you strapping command types fun toys that tell you such marvelous things.”

“Yes, Cade, I do, in fact, have a tricorder. It is scrambled by the artifact’s emissions.” Commander Jos replied with an overly patient tone.

“A likely story.”

_____________________________________________________________________

Location: NIMBUS III
Scene: Desert Plateau
_____________________________________________________________________

A cloud of red and black matter began to appear pulsating moving outward as if a feeding frenzy was happening in mid air and passing through subspace and time itself. If anyone or anything had been in the area the reports of screams of horror or of a dying horrific animal would have been heard. This anomaly however was noticed by planetary sensors and a passing vessel who reported it to Starfleet. The anomaly has been growing and getting denser for hours on end before finally in a great flash of light and almost of an explosion, it finally dissipated, slightly.

As the cloud of dirt began to settle a curious tableau appeared with bodies scattered around the plato. In a rather significant size crater on one side Thomas and Aaron lay not moving and on the other an injured klingon, and three unconscious Terran Empire officers, one of which being the commander still gripping her whips.

In their subconscious it felt and seemed like it had been days; but, in reality in had been a matter of moments, thirty to be exact, before Thomas and his new found friends began to stir. Shaking his head before rubbing his eyes Thomas slowly sat up before looking around and sighing slightly noticing the party that was brought with him. Quickly feeling for his phaser Thomas pointed the device firing it to surprise attack to no avail. Looking down in slight shock and surprise Thomas stood slowly before tossing the device to the ground.

As the commander and her two lackeys stood to their fee drawing their weapons and adjusting the grip on her whips Thomas chuckled slightly, “I think you’ll find that those aren’t working properly.

Aiming at Thomas and firing a test shot to verify his claims, the terran empire officers found his statement to be honest. It was at this reality that the commander began to laugh, “it doesn’t really matter now does it. You are wearing the color of science which means, you’re a sniveling scientist and are no real threat without that weapon. Gentlemen, show Mr. Scientist here what a life of hard knocks and action gets you.”

For the first time in a while Thomas began to laugh, not a slight chuckle; but, a laugh that began in the very pit of his stomach and began to grow louder and louder. Holding his side slightly Thomas smiled looking up his eyes swirling with colors, “you have no idea what I have experienced.”

“Oh, yes the scary life of studying lifeforms and learning,” the commander chuckled watching as her two goons removed their shirts preparing to injure Thomas to the point that he would beg for death.

Laughing again Thomas slowly shook his head, “such arrogance.”

Stretching his shoulder blades from side to side Thomas reached into his jacket loosening and untying the restraints that were hidden. Looking up he smirked before sliding off his jacket and unzipping the tunic underneath. Stretching his neck from side to side Thomas flared out his wings looking them over, noticing they had healed very well.

Looking from wing to wing the commander’s face showed slight confusion, “what, who, you’re not human?”

Thomas laughed loudly, “I was human once, and as I said. you have no idea what I have been through.”

Regaining her composure quickly the commander winked at Thomas, “I’ll keep you. Boys, make him beg for me.”

With that sentence and a quick motion from her the two officers that had been standing by were now in a full sprint towards Thomas, who had slightly bent his knees preparing a stance for reaction. With the first blow thrown by a terran officer Thomas dodged grabbing his fist and arm twisting it behind his back and kicking him to the ground. Watching him slide across the ground Thomas turned his attention to the other officer; but, only in time to feel his fist strike his face staggering him back.

Turning back looking the man in the eyes he felt the corner of his lips with his tongue before wiping the blood away with his hand. As the officer charged Thomas grabbed his head striking it with his before a surprise attack from the second officer wrapping his arms around Thomas; but, not pinning down his wings. Turning his head back Thomas smiled.

“Lets see how you gents do with gravity pulling at your bodies,” Thomas stated throwing his head back, head butting the officer holding him enough to daze him but not so much that he would let go. It was in this moment that Thomas took to the air taking the officer with him.

Watching as the action unfolds the Terran commander slowly circles the ground looking at Aaron, and the klingon body there. Still holding a firm grip on the whips, she listened carefully as they dragged the ground behind her only stopping as the screams of one of her officers began to get louder and louder and then stopped as he met the plato just in front of her feet. Looking over to the officer that was left she smiled, “you’re up.”

Stopping in his tracks the officer looked to his commander and then back to Thomas, who by this time was in mid dive and scooped him up landing consecutive blows as they ascended. This guy wasn’t as easy as the first one he continued began to land blows on Thomas back trying to use his legs to land blows.

“If you don’t stop,” Thomas stated as if he was warning the officer only to watch as he began to fall.

Chuckling the commander watched as her last officer fell; but, missed the plato only to continue to fall to the ground below, “well he was up.”

Landing slowly Thomas took a breath stretching his wings and neck locking his eyes on the commander. Slowly walking forward Thomas’ stare remained fix on this woman, who had already showed a tremendous amount of cunning. Only to feel his feet being taken out from under him before he hit the ground.

Walking slowly dragging a whip across Thomas’ body the commander stopped above his head, “see the thing about these whips, they don’t need power to still hurt.”

With cat like reactions Thomas only knew that he had been hit by a whip when the searing pain began to radiate from his chest and he felt the blood trickling out of the wound. Scrambling to his feet Thomas tried to move quickly only to feel a whip wrap around his wrist pulling him back into the crack of another against his back.

=/\=
Location: USS ARMSTRONG
Scene: Bridge

“Report!” Rose yelled as she ran towards the center seat.

The young science officer looked up, her expression was tense, but her voice was steady. “Sensors are reading a massive energy build up from the planet’s surface.”

“What sort of energy build up?” Harcourt queried, striding over to look. Meanwhile Bomba skittered backwards, suddenly feeling out of his league.

“Nothing I have ever seen before, Sir.” The young scientist admitted. “It looks like some tear in subspace… wait… I’m reading life forms in the area.”

“Life forms?” Rose didn’t like surprises. Especially surprises that happened in the middle of incredibly dangerous missions. “What sort of life forms?”

The science Ensign took in a breath. “I’m reading… humans, Sir.”

Rose took a moment and gazed over at Phia. The Bolian/Vulcan was cooly unreadable as ever, but she spared Captain Harcourt a momentary glance. One that subtly said ‘this was not in the plan.’

“I want to know who is down there.” Harcourt started, despite the glare she got from the new counselor. Lingering here was suicide… but this could be the very information they were sent here to seek.

“I’ll do what I can, Sir.” The science officer replied, her voice starting to waver slightly.

~*~

Location: NESTIS VII
Scene: Refugee camp

Whatever it had been when Aerdan Jos left… it was worse. Much worse.

“What the hell happened?” Cade Foster asked, staring as an Andorian toddler clung to his dying mother. Bodies were scattered everywhere, and those that weren’t dead or dying were hiding.

“Where’s the away team?” Sylvia Warren asked, gingerly picking her way around piles of debris.

“S…some of them went to fight the Terran supremacists, others went down to the temple…” one of the civilians called in a frightened tone of voice.

“Temple?” Cade queried, moving towards the child. His own soft spot for children overriding his usually jaded sense of self preservation.

“There’s a temple beneath this area, containing the artifact.” Aerdan explained simply, already on his way there.

“Hey, where are you going? Isn’t that dangerous…” Cade started “What about that red collar you now wear makes it that you don’t listen to anyone. Did you ever listen to anyone?” he harrumped as Aerdan disappeared and turned back to the wounded. Too many wounded, the only question was where to start…

~*~

The Keeper looked up, blood smearing across his face. Not a mortal wound by any means, but it gave the wizened old man a distinctly creepy look.

“Are you all right?” concern gushed from Commander Jos’ voice. “What happened?”

The keeper looked over at him with bright beady eyes. “One called Williams has found his way home. The Terran Empire followed, and a door was opened. Energy builds, for one last time before the artifact sleeps for many years. Are you ready?”

“Ready for what?” Aerdan felt both his brows and his antennae furrow.

“It is time.” The Ferengi replied enigmatically

“I don’t…” He never got the chance to finish those words before a blinding flash of light engulfed him…

~*~

A JP by:

Sarah Albertini-Bond
Lt. Phia
Counselor
USS ARMSTRONG

and

Justin Owens
Lt. Commander Thomas Varn
Chief Science Officer
USS PENDRAGON

and

Jamie LeBlanc
Lt. Commander Aerdan Jos
Executive Officer
USS PENDRAGON


"Why do we fly? Because we have dreamt of it for so long that we must"


~Julian Beck