Episode 6: Retribution, Part II

RMrulz Mar 18 2004, 02:10 PM	Admiral Tom Garrison - The Deck A few hours after his conversation with Hardgrove, and meeting Kyst Blacksun, Tom was sitting in a bar on the deck. He had planned on relaxing in The Double~Helix for awhile, but it was pretty crowded when he walked by. He wasn't in the mood for socializing, so he went instead to The Triple Shot, a smaller, quieter bar on the Deck. Hardgrove, Major, Larkin, and the Bajoran Major that was now assigned to 001 had left about an hour ago. Tom was trying not to think about the fact that he was again forced to sit behind the lines doing nothing. It wasn't the same as a battle, he knew that. But he still hated staying behind. He glanced down at the PADD in front of him, but was quickly bored with the cargo manifest displayed on it. Hurry back from your personal leave, Sam, he thought to himself. I hate having to run the station! Tom picked up his glass and finished his drink. The waiter, a young Vulcan man, came over to him. "Another, Admiral?" Tom shook his head. "No, I think that'll be all. Thanks." The Vulcan nodded, and Tom got up and walked out of the bar. He started aimlessly strolling the Deck, he still didn't feel like going back to his quarters. He spotted the new Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Lauren, standing off to one side talking with a man Tom didn't recognize. Their eyes met, and Tom nodded politely.
Ullii Mar 18 2004, 05:41 PM	Doctor Ullii Lauren - The Triple Shot bar Since Garrison wasn't in the mood for another drink, he decided to go back to his office and finish some more of the dreaded paperwork that was haunting him. He passed Doctor Lauren and her friend as he walked by. "Good afternoon, Admiral." She said politely. "Doctor." He stopped to speak with her. "If you don't mind, I'd like to push up the schedule a little bit. D'you mind starting a day earlier?" "Not at all, not at all. Off to do more paperwork?" Ullii inquired, remembering the large pile of PADDs on his desk. "Yes. Seems I've got my work cut out for me for a while." "Too boring for you, Admiral?" "Well, far be it from me to ignore my duties, lieutenant, but in all honesty, I do wish I'd get a little bit of the excitement." "Well, I'm sure thing's'll heat up soon enough." She smiled at Garrison. He smiled back and nodded, and did the same to her friend. "Well if you'll excuse me, I've got work to do. Good day." He left and went to his office. As he sat down, he heard a strange noise coming from under the chair on the opposite side of his desk. He went to look, and seeing what it was, he immediately jumped face down into a corner of the room, just as a massive explosion occurred! The Deck James had just recently left, and Ullii was about to return to her quarters, when a station-wide alarm went off! *Red Alert! Red Alert! Security to Admiral Garrison's Office! All non-security and non-essential personal are to report to quarters! Repeat: Red Alert! All non-security and non-essential personal are to report to quarters! What on earth is going on??? She ran to her quarters, just as everyone else was doing. She stepped inside, and the door were immediately sealed, and a force field activated. She sat on her sofa, wondering what was happening outside her doors. After about fifteen or twenty minutes, her doors opened, and ten security officers walked in, with K'rak among them. "You are under arrest under the charge of attempted assassination of Admiral Tom Garrison."
Kelly Mar 19 2004, 07:10 AM	Commander Samantha Halliwell ~ England, Earth Halliwell stood at the door of the old house, her father's house. She had arrived an hour ago but had hesitated for some reason. She hadn't been back here for at least a year. Something had always came up, whether it be on the station or off the station and she had got a message from Major on the transport to Earth. Admiral Garrison had been left to run the station. She felt quite bad for leaving so soon, but it would only be for two days. That's all she could allow herself, two days. The number, though it seemed so small, would seem a lot to the busy first officer. She finally lifted her hand and pressed the old-fashioned doorbell, she could remember growing up in this house with her father and brother, some good memories. The door opened, she had to look down to who had opened the door. "Mummy," Halliwell knelt down and opened her arms to the little boy. "Matthew," she said cradling him in her arms. It had been worth the wait, to see the smile on his face. He obviously hadn't known she was coming, or he was expecting to be disappointed again. She pulled back and looked at him for a moment. Is that what he always felt when she had to cancel her leave? Disappointed that his own mother couldn't come home to see him? That her work was more important than him? He may have only been six years old but she was sure that he felt that way sometimes, it upset it as she looked at him. "We have a visitor I see." Halliwell stood up and recognized the voice straight away, she stood up and smiled as she looked at Phillip Halliwell. "Dad," she said giving him a hug. "You're looking well." "Are you going to stand out there all day, Sam?" She picked up her bags and held Matthew's hand in her own, "No," she said stepping in.
Hawku Mar 21 2004, 01:12 AM	Lieutenant Rune Sith - Tholian Web Attacker Tsengate, Bridge The ship was extremely silent except for the tiny vibration of the Engines at Warp. Sith sat cross-legged, lay back against the computer frame, also bored until Zeta popped by and started scurrying around him and Julia. "Oh what's that?" She asked hopefully. "That's Zeta," Sith leaned forward. He had an idea and took out a tritanuim chip. He then threw it into the air, to which Zeta jumped up and ate it. Julia laughed, "Hehe! Let me try." She received a chip from Sith and threw it. Zeta caught it and ate the chip. "He has a micro-system that reconfigures the tritanuim to feed his regenerative processes." "Amazing..." Julia replied, truly fascinated by the spider-android. Zeta felt comfortable around her and crawled up her arm. He never felt comfortable around anyone else before, but Julia was just so friendly that he had a sixth sense about her. There had been a strange beeping at the Helm as they were playing around. Sith stood up curiously and walked over. He tapped at the hovering Federation-style interface and found something very wrong. This lead him to bring the ship to a complete stop. "Oh my God. I can't believe I didn't notice this before..." Julia got up and walked over, "What?" "This ship sends out a homing beacon every 12-hours to the nearest Tholian Signal Station," he began explaining as he turned to her, "You know, a kind of signal to let them know you're okay. But it looks like we haven't sent ours." "Does that mean we're going to be detected?" Sith shook his head, "I don't know. Maybe..." He went back to the panel, "I was recalibrating the sensors because they weren't working too well earlier." As soon as he clicked the view-screen on, they found that they were surrounded by Tholian Web Attacker cruisers; 7 to be precise. They all stood side-by-side, in a line that circled around thier vessel, expectantly. "Ah!!" Sith's heart jumped in surprise. He and Julia peered at the view-screen in horror as the Tholian vessels just sat there, watching them in the dead of space. Hanging there, doing nothing... The panel beeped again, and Sith checked it. "Dammit! They've beamed Away Teams onto the lower decks, along with atmosphere enhancers." Julia turned and grabbed Sith's shirt, "Please. You can't let us die. We have to do something!" Sith knew she was right and immediately started to think of a way out. Every second he wasted the Tholians on the lower decks were getting closer. "Promise me!" Julia cried in desperation. "Okay I promise!" He tried to calm her. He went back to the panel and started to block out Deck after Deck with gravimetric force fields. But it didn't stop the Tholian Away Teams, as they immediately got to work on breaking through them. Sith then found the Tholian Ship's were hacking into the main computer. "Zeta! Lock them out!" Zeta leaped onto the hovering panel and locked out most of the computer, but it was too late. The Tholians had already begun to corrupt systems. They put effort into decompiling programs so that Sith could never be able to retake control of the ship. One of the Tholian Attacker vessel's moved in closer and opened fire. A quantum torpedo hit the ship, causing minimal damage. Julia looked at Sith's helm, hoping all their answers lay in there. Sith blasted a sling of web material at the near Tholian Attacker, netting it all around. The other Tholian Attackers became alerted at this and begun locking anchor web material onto the Tsengate. As all the ship's had the Tsengate hooked with anchored web material, Sith quickly brought the Helm online and impulsed the ship into a rotation. The rotation of the ship began to stress the web-anchors and started to pull the other Tholian Attackers around. Sith then got a handle of the web-weapon systems simultaneously with the helm controls. He sped downward, dragging four Tholian Attackers, while two had snapped off in the background. He stopped and allowed for anymore Attackers to snap off in momentum, as the last two that had remained connected swung around, full circle, from opposite sides and smashed into each other. Those last anchors snapped off while the Tsengate spun around, dodging a sling of web shot out in vein from the lead wrapped-Tholian Attacker. Sith flew overhead two other Tholian Attacker's and shot his own anchor web between them. The Tsengate pulled upward tearing the sides of the two Tholian Attacker's off... ...Hull and deck fragments trickled into space... He turned the Tsengate into the next two nearest Attackers and shot web material into thier quantum torpedo tubes as they were firing. Both Attacker's experienced near-explosions from the torpedoes, blowing parts of thier hull and knocking the Tsengate violently back a few meters. "Augh!!" Sith and Julia hit the floor in pain as the ship rocked. Sith got to his feet, quickly back to his panel. He found the explosion had wrecked thier hull and disabled all of the atmosphere enhancers on the lower decks, killing the Away Teams. Julia got up beside Sith, as he pushed the Tsengate out of there, leaving the other vessels crippled or inoperational. In the background, the other vessels were surrounded by their own debris. There was an eerie silence. "You did it," Julia said, happy for him. "You actually did it!" "Hahaha!" Sith laughed. He sped the Tsengate out of there. He took a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves. He couldn't believe it himself. "We only beat them because they didn't expect a fight," he reassured. That wasn't the last they saw of them. "But I did pick up some kind of alien commercial Station in the next System. We may be able to go there and repair the ship." Julia smiled and then placed her hand against Sith's earlobe. "Thank you," she said, reading him, and making certain of eye contact. Sith smiled back. There was something about her eyes... they were so beautiful. He quickly turned away and back to his panel, embarrassed. "Err-- no problem. I mean, it was just fast thinking." Julia looked back onscreen. Everything was okay again, like she knew it would be; thanks to her new friend. The Tsengate sped down through space, towards the Station. Hopefully, they'd let them in.
Captain Archer Mar 21 2004, 03:59 PM	Ambassador Michael Larkin - U.S.S. Appalachia "I understand your upset, but I'm not allowed to discuss this matter; especially over an unsecured subspace channel," Michael said staring down at the monitor.   "You could have a least said goodbye!" Michael sighed. "Jen, you were with the Gambit running combat maneuvers on the far side of the solar system."   She looked down at her desk, "Well... do you know when you'll be back from this little 'trip,' or am I supposed to guess?" Michael couldn't help but smile, "Well, now isn't this ironic? It wasn't too long ago that I was the one asking that question."   "I'm sure the answer is the same too," she smiled. "Just don't get yourself into any trouble out there."   *Warning: Vessel approaching outer range of communications capabilities* "Well, if we do, I know we have good back up." The picture on the monitor began to flicker. "I'll talk to you soon Jen. I love you." He could make out her lips returning his affection as the monitor cut off. He laid back in his chair and let out a deep breath. Then turned to the wall monitor. "Computer, display fleet movements of all Alliance ships within the last....48 hours." The computer chirped and a display of quite a large segment of the Alpha Quadrant came up. He knew he would have to be at his best in order to safeguard the lives of those who came with him.
RMrulz Mar 22 2004, 09:55 PM	Admiral Tom Garrison - Office Tom walked to his desk. As he sat down, he heard a strange noise coming from under the chair on the opposite side of his desk. He went to look, and seeing what it was, he immediately jumped face down into a corner of the room, just as a massive explosion occurred! The explosion triggered an automatic alarm, sending the entire station to red alert. A voice rang out summoning security and medical to Admiral Garrison's office. Tom sat up, feeling dizzy. He had managed to get just enough cover to save himself from massive injury, or worse, but the blast had still been powerful. There was a horrible ringing in his ears, and he could feel blood trickling down his cheek from a small cut just under his eye. What the hell? Who would try to kill me? Just as he was about to try and stand up, K'Rak rushed in with several security officers in tow. A nurse, probably the only one on duty when the call came in, also came running in with a medkit. The nurse ran over to Tom, who was trying to stand up. She pushed him back down. "Take it easy, Admiral. Let me look at you first." He was going to protest, but the look on her face told him it would be useless. He sighed and leaned back against the wall. K'Rak was barking orders to his men, who immediately began moving about the room scanning with their tricorders and gathering up evidence. K'Rak walked over to where Tom was still sitting with the nurse hovering over him. "Admiral, are you ok?" "I feel like I just got run over by a shuttlecraft, but I think I'll live." Before K'Rak could respond, a call came in over the comm. "Security office to K'Rak." "Go ahead," K'Rak responded. "Sir, we've found something. The doors to the admiral's office were accessed approximately a half hour ago by Dr. Ullii Lauren, using her CMO override authorization." "Acknowledged, K'Rak out." Tom was listening to the conversation, and was puzzled by what he heard. He started to stand up and was again rebuffed by the nurse. This time he just brushed her aside, struggling to his feet. As soon as he stood he regretted it, his head throbbed and he felt nauseous. He slumped back down against the wall. The nurse just gave him a look that said "I told you so" and pulled a hypospray out of her medkit. She administered it, and immediately Tom felt better. He looked up at K'Rak. "Dr. Lauren? I just saw her on The Deck about 10 minutes ago, actually." "Where were you before that, sir?" "I was in the Triple Shot for at least an hour, and before that I saw off Captains Hardgrove and Major, and Ambassador Larkin." "Can you think of any reason why Dr. Lauren would have been in your office?" Tom thought about this. He was horrified at the thought that she would try to kill him, he had just met her not too long ago and immediately liked her. He shook his head no, wincing at the pain that shot through his head as he did it. "No." "With your permission, I'd like to place her under immediate arrest." "Go ahead," Tom said. He still couldn't believe she would try to kill him. K'Rak motioned to a few of his officers, who then left the office with him. The rest continued scanning and gathering evidence. Tom leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes. I don't feel like dealing with this. Any of this. Can't there just be one normal, boring day anymore?
Mozg Mar 23 2004, 01:38 AM	Lattrel Ottel - Quarters “Well, Mr. Dearborne, as you can see, you have your work cut out for you,” Ottel said, handing William a steaming cup of coffee. “Black, no sugar, right?” he asked. “Yes, thank you,” William brought the cup up to his nose. “I love this smell,” he said, inhaling the steam emanating from the coffee, “It always helps me get things done.” “To each his own, William. You wouldn’t mind if I called you William, would you?” Ottel acknowledged Dearborne’s nod, “I personally prefer herbal teas.” Ottel paused for a while. “Right, now let’s get back to business. The PADDs in front of you contain all the little bits and pieces you need to know. I don’t know the work ethics you have, but from now on we’ll have to do business just like the Federation, and that means rules, rules and more rules.” “That won’t really be much of a problem. I realize I have to make certain adjustments, but I’ve gotten used to Hayrig’s tight grip on things.” “That’s good. Now, what do you say I show you your quarters?” Ottel stood up. He waited until William picked up all the PADDs and joined him. The two walked out of the room into the wide corridors of the station. “This is one heck of a station, though,” William said. “I’ve seen lot’s of stations and trade centers but none of them compare to this.” “You’ll get used to it,” Ottel laughed, “or not. I know I haven’t. I don’t want you to feel overwhelmed, and at the same time, I don’t expect you to be a superhuman. The situation we’re in right now is not a normal one. A lot of the things you’re going to do are going to be a first for a smuggler. Don’t try too hard.” They passed over the first turn and reached the turbolift. “You’ll be two decks below. Don’t hesitate to visit and ask for advice.” They stepped in, and the lift went down. In less than a minute they were standing in an empty room. “I like this place,” William said. He walked towards a window and looked out. “The view is nice, for today.” “This is a good place. You can see every major ship docking and leaving the station. That’s not a bad thing,” Ottel reaffirmed him. “So, where’s your stuff?” “It’s in the ship. I wanted to talk to you as soon as possible.” “Then let’s see this ship of yours,” Ottel said, “I’ve heard it’s the best the Smugglers got.” “It is, actually. Even though I may be a little biased.” As the two were heading for the door, a loud thud was heard, then the station shook slightly. Before Ottel could say anything the alarm went off: "Red Alert! Red Alert! Security to Admiral Garrison’s Office! All non-security and non-essential personnel are to report to quarters! Repeat: All non-security and non-essential personnel are to report to quarters!" Ottel ran towards the comm and accessed it. “Computer, contact Fleet Captain Hardgrove.”   “This is Hardgrove, what is it?” Ottel heard his voice over the comm. “Captain, what in hell is going on?”   “I don’t know, Ottel, but I’ll find out soon enough, and when I do, I’ll notify you.”
Kelly Mar 23 2004, 08:08 AM	Samantha Halliwell ~ England, Earth Sam looked out the window and watched Matthew playing outside with one of his friends. She didn't know him by name. Did she really need to? She took a sip of tea and placed the cup firmly back on the table, "How's school?" She looked back up to her father. Phillip placed his own cup down, content at watching Matthew. He looked back to his daughter, "He's a smart kid," he said in response. "They're proud of his progress considering how much he acted up when you first left for the starbase." Make me feel more guilty than I already do, Sam nodded, "That's good to hear." "I have some progress reports." "I'll take them back to the base with me," she said with a small smile. Phillip also smiled, he looked to her face. "That cut looks deep." "A reminder of the battle," she said absently without looking back to him, not wanting to think about that right now. How something had happened to Major, something she still didn't understand. How she nearly lost Hardgrove, she mentally shook away these thoughts. "Were you scared?" Sam was this close to slamming her hand on the table, however she kept her tone calm and at a quiet level, "I came here to spend some time with my son," she said, "Not to talk about work." Sam knew that he wasn't really interested in what she did. "I still don't understand why he couldn't come to the starbase. He would've enjoyed it." She watched him for a moment, "Ever thought that maybe I wanted to get away for a while?" Remain calm, you know that whenever you argue, he always comes out on top. "I don't just sit there drinking coffee all day you know." She sighed and looked back out the window... always using sarcasm in bad situations. Always shielding what she really thought. Sam watched Matthew. He fell down and then got straight back up, laughing and brushing grass off his hands. Without looking bad to Phillip, she asked the question that she always had on her mind. "Am I a bad mother?" "Sam?" "You heard me," she said turning to glare at him, a glimpse of a tear in her eye. "Am I a bad mother?" "Of course not!" "Tell me the truth," she said, almost pleading with him. "I can't be a good mother, I'm never here..." He remained silent which, surprised her. "He hasn't been brought up with a father figure," she had a whole list that she could go through. "It wasn't your choice to become a single mother." Here we go, placing the blame - "We've been over this a hundred times before," she said, remembering conversations along the lines of this topic. "He left you." "He has a name dad; use it." "Even though he left you, you still defend Drayson," he had an angrier tone now. "He didn't leave me: it was my choice. We agreed it was for the best," she said with a reasoning tone. She didn't want this to turn into a full-scale argument but it looked as though it was turning out this way. "Was that before or after he found out you were pregnant!" "We've been through this... I didn't find out until after we split." Sam was scared when she found out she was pregnant, because of the future of her child. She had a tough decision to make back then. Sam narrowed her eyes, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I kept him away from his father," she said slowly as if only realizing this for the first time. "It was for the best..." "Was it?" she interrupted, voice shaking. More tears. "Don't go soft on me, Sam." She was angry enough as it was, she didn't need one more reason. "If Drayson had been around, perhaps Matthew would have had a more normal life. What's normal about having a mother who works on a starbase orbiting the Earth?" "He understands." Phillip reached across for his daughter's hand and took it, "I understand." "Do you know how hard it was for me on the first day of school?" she asked, paying attention to Matthew who wasn't tiring of the game he and his friend was playing. "When I brought him home, you know the first words out of his mouth were?" Phillip shook his head. "What happened to my father? Why isn't he around?" Sam snatched her hand out of her father's. "I didn't know what to tell him. It's been almost a year since he asked and I still don't know what to tell him. He has to know the answer; they both do." "They?" Phillip asked, "I knew something had brought this on. What is it?" "I've been talking to Drayson, he's become somewhat of a regular visitor to the starbase," she said. Stop there for the moment, one thing at a time. "What rock did he crawl from under?" "Dad," she shouted, she lowered her tone as she carried on. "Perhaps it's time I told him about Matthew." "What good will that do?" Phillip stood up, almost knocking over his chair in the process. "He's not a bad guy..." It was his turn to glare. He hated Hardgrove for hurting his daughter like that. Sam kept on telling him that it was a choice; he didn't believe so. Even though, she told the truth. He would never except it. "I should have told him sooner." "What if he doesn't want anything to do with your son," a great deal of emphasis on the your. "He will," she said more positively, she couldn't bring herself to admit to him that she still had feelings. She stood up. "I'll believe it when I see it." "I hate it when you do this," she said angry. "Always putting people down, just because you don't like them." "How dare you speak to me like that. I've raised your son." "You interfered," she shouted back. "I've done a better job than that man you called a husband would have ever done." That was it, "I don't care what you say about Drayson. You're wrong. You're all wrong!" she attempted to control her breathing. "He's a dirty, good-for-nothing..." "I still love him," she said. He took a step back, as if physically wounded. He looked at her and pulled his arm back, slapping her across the face. She looked back to him speechless. She pushed her chair back and walked over to the doorway. "Where are you going?" "To pack and while I'm at it... Matthew's stuff." She didn't want her son to spend any more time around this bitter, old man who used to be her father. He had changed. "Where are you taking him?" "To the starbase, with his mother," then finally added with a firm tone, "Where he belongs."
Ullii Mar 25 2004, 04:14 PM	Doctor Ullii Lauren - Interrogation room "I've already told you!" she shouted, very annoyed, "I had nothing to do with it!" Ullii had spent the night in the brig, and had been woken up and brought here for interrogation. "Please, Lieutenant; don't lie to me! Your access codes were used to enter the Admiral's office!" The security officer shouted back. "I didn't do it! Check the internal sensors!! I was on the deck during the explosion!" "You really think that's going to work?? Bombs can easily be set to detonate on proximity! Or even a timer! There are hundreds of possibilities!" "But I never went into Garrison's office! The only time I was in there was yesterday! When I talked to him about my duty shifts!" "We have more evidence than you think, Lieutenant. We've checked the sensor logs!" "What do you mean?! If you've checked the sensor logs, than you know that I'm innocent!" "Yesterday!" He shouted at her with an air of confidence, "At thirteen hundred hours! Your security codes were used to enter the Admirals office while he was away! The sensors show that you stayed there for five minutes before you walked out! You tried to erase your tracks, Lieutenant," he said, placing a lot of emphasis on the 'lieutenant', "but you did a very poor job of it! We know you're guilty! You might as well just admit it! You'd get a much more lenient sentence if you plead guilty!" The officer was in interrogator's drab, and no rank pips were visible on his collar. "NEVER!" She screamed at the top of her lungs! "I DIDN'T DO IT! I'VE BEEN FRAMED!--" "Keep shouting, and we'll send you back to the brig, Doctor." "I WOULD NEVER BETRAY THE FEDERATION!--" At these words, the security officer suddenly became furious! "THEN YOU ADMIT YOUR GUILT!" "WHAT???" Ullii asked completely confused. "You're a spy sent from Federation Headquarters to stop the rebellion!" This caught Ullii by surprise. She wasn't sure which side to take in her mind, but she knew where her loyalties stood, and that was with whoever fought the alliance!" "I am no SPY! I AM--" "Take her back to the brig." he said as he pushed a small holo-button on his desk.--" "A DOCTOR!!! WHY WOULD I---" She paused as Admiral Garrison stepped into the room. "Admiral," The security officer stood at attention. "At ease, lieutenant." Ullii looked at the security officer in defiance for calling her a lieutenant with authority, when he was the same rank. He looked down to avoid her stare. "Well, I'm sure things'll heat up soon enough." The admiral said, looking sternly at Ullii. "What???" "That's what you told me on the Deck yesterday before the explosion. 'Things'll heat up soon enough'." Ullii was dumbfounded! How could he think that she had done this?! "Sir!-- I---" "Stop... The evidence against you is overwhelming, Doctor Lauren." He paused, and she looked at him with a face of dumbfounded disbelievement. "There will be a court hearing tomorrow at oh-seven-hundred-hours." he looked at the security officer, "Lieutenant Quinn, see to it that she arrives on time." "Yes sir." "And lieutenant... confine her to her quarters for the night.--" "But sir! She--" "You will confine her to her quarters, enable security force fields, and post a 24 hour guard at her door." "Yes sir." Garrison looked back at Ullii, then turned and left. Lieutenant Quinn then grabbed Ullii by the arm, but Ullii shook him off. "I know the way to my own quarters, Lieutenant! Placing the same emphasis on the 'lieutenant' as he had done earlier. She walked to her quarters followed by Quinn and five other guards with phasers in hand. When she reached her quarters, she stopped in front of the doors, which did not open. "What's wrong?" demanded Quinn. "Security procedure." she replied, "You can't get into my room without entering my clearance code. Just as she said this, she remembered something from the night she and James were at the party. She hadn't recalled this before. She was far too drunk to enter her clearance codes by herself. James must've done it! But did he already know them, or did I tell him?! Quinn walked up to the door himself, seeing as how Ullii wasn't moving, and entered his security clearance. The doors slid open and he pushed her inside. She turned back, and the two of them were locked in unblinking gaze as the forcefield was erected, and the doors closed. Ullii sank onto her sofa, and the sudden realization of what was happening hit her. I'm going to be locked away forever! I only wanted to serve the Federation! My god, what have I done?
Mozg Mar 26 2004, 03:02 AM	Lattrel Ottel - Quarters Ottel sat up on his bed and looked at the clock. It was already 1300 hours! “I can’t believe I slept that long,” he said out loud, rubbing his eyes. It had been a relatively relaxed day, physically, but the recent lack of sleep had made him fall asleep the second his head hit the pillow. He got off the bed and walked into the living room. The station was facing away from Earth, into the depths of space. That’s Mars, barely visible though, he thought, walking towards the replicator. “Orange mint tea, no sugar,” he said and waited. There was a scare last evening, something that would definitely be a bad first impression on young Dearborne. Poor guy, he thought. Well, at least the Admiral... Tom, he corrected himself, is okay. It had been a pleasant evening though. The minutes alone with Dearborne had allowed him to get to know his new go-to guy better. Ottel picked up his tea, walked towards the window and sat on the comfy couch. He slowly closed his eyes, thinking about the discussion he had, confined to the empty quarters.   “Not many people share this idea, William, and that’s the problem,” Ottel sat on the floor, next to William. He had been sitting there since the alarm went off, staring out the windows of the room that would be his home from now on. Ottel understood the thoughts going through the young man’s head. No matter how much discipline Hayrig might have required, it still could not compare to the formulaic world of the Federation. Even this room is built according to specific formulas, not that different from mine. Ottel leaned back and rested his weary back on the soft wall. At times like this he often wandered off to those worry-free days of his youth. There was so little to worry about: he and Glott would run all throughout the base-station, picking fights and playing tricks on everyone. This though made him smile. “These people, then, are either stupid or have their own agendas,” William finally answered. Ottel still wasn’t sure whether Dearborne really understood things. He simply nodded, waiting for more. He wasn’t disappointed. “Things cannot and will not stay the way they are. This universe is ever-changing. Everything moves, and the key is to choose the direction of that movement.” “And for us that direction is forward,” Ottel continued the thought. He understands. “We cannot expect our frail little Coalition too survive if we intend to forever remain a loose band of ragtag smugglers and traders. There is a structure, set in place by our fathers and grandfathers, and it is up to us to build on this structure. The Coalition must work openly and freely, not in the shadows...” “...not anymore,” the two were now complementing each other. “Not anymore!” Ottel smiled. “We must become a legitimate trading power throughout the quadrant, a commercial force to be respected and dealt with seriously.” “We surely have the potential,” William said. I personally know lots of people whose trading and economic skills would put the Ferengi Grand Nagus to shame.” Ottel laughed, “Hear-hear! But the thing not to forget is that we need the Federation’s help to achieve our goals. It is in the nature of all beings to acquire, and all the major civilizations have done this in one of the two means: military and economic. The Federation has chosen to acquire through economic means, and if nothing else, this should be reason enough for our Coalition to ally with them,” Ottel realized he was philosophizing now. “I don’t need to tell you that I also hate the Alliance and would not hesitate to blow them to kingdom come, so it works both ways for me.” The joke made William laugh out-loud. I’m getting hungry, Ottel thought. I think I’ll head down to the little café Hrag always mentions. As he was heading out, he thought it would be a good idea to invite William to join him.
Hawku Mar 26 2004, 10:53 PM	Lieutenant Rune Sith - Derkelenoc Station The Tsengate entered through one of the Station's enormous doors, into a huge Starship Bay where the Tsengate would park itself. As Sith and Julia walked out the Tsengate's opening hatch, Sith noticed the place was just as huge and busy as the Bay's on 001. One of the many Engineer's in this place walked over with a padd. He was the busy type, and had been assigned to addressing this Starship. "Hey, how's it going?" The Pentaran man said to Sith and Julia without looking up from his data-padd. "Where are we?" Sith asked. "Derkelenoc Station," he replied still busy tapping at his padd. "There's a command change-over in progress, so you'll have to excuse the craziness. Hey, aren't Tholian Ship's usually piloted by Tholians?" He looked up at it, past Sith and Julia. Julia just glanced over at Sith, silently laughing at this man's nature. "Well..." Sith was reluctant to explain his situation. "Whoa-- I don't want to know." The guy interrupted, changing his mind. "Is there anyway you can get the Engine system's back online?" Sith asked. The man took a quick scan with his data-padd. "Hmm... Well, it looks like most of your ship is unrecoverable. We can take a look at it further, but I'm not making any promises." He noticed Sith. "Wait a second, are you from the... what's it called, the Federation?" Before Sith could respond, the man knew it was obvious. "You better change that uniform. The new people we have coming in don't appreciate your organization at all." He then walked away to get back to work as he was falling behind schedules. Sith looked over at Julia, "I wonder who the Command is changing over to." Julia took off her robe and gave it to Sith, "Here. Wear this." He put it on, covering the uniform, while Zeta jumped onto Julia and clipped onto her waist-belt. "Come on, let's take a look around," Sith said. Level 8, Prominade Alpha Strolling around, they found the place active with aliens moving large crates and devices all over the Station. Computers were being installed, and some were being dismantled. After having a bite to eat, they headed back towards the Bay. But on their way they came to be blocked by a welcoming party at an Airlock corridor. Airlock Section 21 - Norka "Welcome to the Station gentlemen," the Akritiri ending-station Commander said. The receiving aliens nodded in acceptance, exiting the Airlock. From a distance, Sith recognized their status. "I know who they are. They represent the Smuggler's Coalition." He and Julia were behind the crowd far enough that they wouldn't be heard. Sith turned to the side, "The Smuggler's Coalition is taking over this Station? That doesn't make any sense." As the crowd dispersed, Sith and Julia were forced to the side to let people by. Sith kept his hood over his head but that didn't cover his visual range as he thought he saw someone he recognized. The Nausicaan walked by, staring at Sith, thinking the exact same thing. "You!" The Nausicaan was sure of it now. He was Mkrdij. Sith turned to him, "I know you! I've seen you on Starbase 001, and then again during the battle at Betazed. Your people were helping the Federation." Mkrdij pulled Sith and Julia down the next corridor where no one would hear them. He dropped his bag, "You were Commander of that Syndicate lead Ship. The one who recognized Ottel!" Sith shrugged, "...Was Commander. I'd probably be back to Lieutenant now." "We were uncertain as to what happened to you. We thought you were dead." "Okay, this is weird. What are you doing here?" Mkrdij looked around paranoid and then pulled Sith and Julia down another Corridor. Level 6 They went down a huge Corridor. The architecture was graceful all around as it was Cardassian influenced. "The Coalition has decided to side with the Federation now, realizing it's in both our best interests. When we joined into battle with you, along with the Syndicate and the Bajorans, we were successful in pushing the Alliance into retreat." This made Sith smile beyond happiness, "Yes!!" He clenched his fist. "After the Transwarp Conduit Route to Bajor was destroyed, I then realized a few of our own Coalition Tub Vessel's disguised as Romulan Devoras. Sufficed to say, rumors that Coalition members who were pro-Alliance were true." Sith stopped in his tracks turning to Mkrdij, prompting Julia to stop as-well. "I tracked a transmission between one of these pro-Coalition members and joined one of their ships undercover for Ottel. It turned out our vessel was the lead ship to start the take over of Derkelenoc Station." "You're siding with the Federation with spies in your coalition!?" Sith was appalled by this. Mkrdij looked Sith over, "At least we don't have High Command issues like some Federation's we know!" Sith rolled his eyes and put up his hands, "Alright, alright. So how long are you staying undercover?" "I don't know. I must gage the extent of how many people are actually moving to this area of space and their threat level." Sith nodded, "I understand." They took a Lift down a few Level's and entered the Starship Bay where the Tsengate was sitting. Starship Bay 3 "Well, there's my ship." As Sith gestured at the wreck, the Tsengate lost stress in one of its landing gear and crashed one side into the floor. The left engine nacelle broke off and smashed into a computer frame nearby, almost hitting two Engineer's. "Well, there was my ship." Mkrdij turned to Sith as the Engineers in the background scrambled in panic. He smiled for a second, "How did you expect to get back to Federation space in that?" Sith glanced at him and they both shared a laugh. He then shrugged, "Honestly, I'm not going back to Federation Space. I'm hitting the Kintoka Outpost." Julia watched carefully at these two men's relations. She crossed her arms in observation. "Are you crazy? That's a suicide mission," Mkrdij pointed out. "I know. But I'm in the best possible position for it." In the background, one of the Engineer's were crying as his arm was caught under a plate of hull. His friend ran over to help him out. "You should be trying to get home. You're throwing your life away!" Mkrdij said. "What I'm doing will cripple one more Fleet of Ship's the Alliance would send against the Federation anyway." "No, you're not thinking straight. If the Federation wanted a mission like this, they would have done it long ago! You can't sacrifice yourself." He was getting on Sith's nerves. "Mkrdij, think about it. What's my life compared to all those in the Federation? I'm the least of their worries!" Suddenly, another plate of hull broke off, in the background, and fell on top of the Engineer's friend and they were both stuck. Another guy was forced to come over with a tractor beam Crane to pull the pieces off them. Mkrdij stared at Sith. He understood him now. "You fool. You're doing nothing more than satisfy your ego and sense of self-righteousness! You're not doing this for the Federation. You're doing this for yourself!!" The tractor beam Crane in the background suddenly lost its pull and fell over. The Crane and person driving it toppled onto the two men trapped under the debris. They were all crying with pain. Sith turned his face to the side in deep emotion. He then looked back at Mkrdij, "It's my fault my friend's are dead. I saw them die!! My life was ruined because of the Alliance! I could never expect you to understand that. All you people ever care about is precious cargo!" Sith walked away, tapped into his own feelings of pain and anger. How could his mission be wrong? He never gave it a second thought before. As the stuck Engineers were finally getting free in the background, Julia ran over to catch up to Sith. "Are you alright?" She asked, but didn't have a chance to receive an answer as they both bumped into a tall and large Takaran. Sith and Julia looked up recognizing him from at Mkrdij's side earlier during the Welcoming. "What is this?" The Takaran grabbed the wrinkled opening of Sith's coat and opened it. There he saw Sith's Federation Uniform. Coalition Member's behind him each took out Disrupters. The Takaran began to grind his teeth in anger. "Well, well. If it isn't the Federation..."
Captain Archer Mar 27 2004, 10:21 AM	Ambassador Michael Larkin - Appalachia Bridge Michael walked swiftly onto the Bridge and walked down behind the Captain's chair. "You wanted to see me Captain?" Michael looked down at the surprisingly young man. "Yes Ambassador. We're approaching the co-ordinates of the rendezvous, but their doesn't seem to be any vessel here." Michael kept his composure. He knew if they saw him panic, they would most likely follow suit. "Perhaps they were delayed. We should wait at the co-ordinates. I'll need to access your comm system." Michael walked over to the Communications station and tapped a few controls. "I've sent out a hail on all subspace bands, announcing our arrival. I'm sure....." He was cut off by the Chief of Security, "Captain, I'm picking up multiple subspace disruptions.....vessels decloaking.....Romulan N'Vala Class Battlecruiser, and two Cardassian Halgar Class Command Ships. The Romulans have their weapons powered and shielding up." The Captain jumped out of his seat, "Red Alert, power to weapons and shields. Ambassador, you'd better talk to them." The communications officer turned in his chair, "Their hailing us." Michael stepped in front of the Captain to face the viewscreen. "On screen."   The image of the ships was replaced by the face of a Cardassian. "I am Legate Ranur, I've been assigned to escort you to the conference." Michael took a deep breath in through his nose. "Legate, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm concerned however - why is your Romulan friend out there prepared for battle."   Ranur smiled "Why are you?" Michael smiled "When three vessel de-cloak without warning and one of them have their weapons charged and their shields up, I'm sure you would do the same thing that we did."   Ranur shook his head "You are correct Ambassador....I would have." He turned to an officer off screen and nodded his head. "Sir. The Romulans are dropping shields and powering down their weapons." Ranur turned back to Larkin.   "Your turn." Michael turned to the Captain who rose from his chair. "Drop shields, stand down Red Alert." The bridge became illuminated again. "Well now that the pleasantries are over, may I suggest we proceed to the conference."   "As you wish Ambassador. Instruct your helmsman to follow us, but I must ask that your ship be placed under a communications blackout; nothing in or out." Michael thought a moment. "Agreed, Lieutenant." He looked over at the comm officer who nodded hesitantly. "We're ready to go Legate."   "Very well." He cut off the transmission and the three ships went into warp. "Helm, lay in a parallel course with those vessels. Match speed." Michael walked over to the communications station "Lieutenant, is the signal we're sending back to the station still active?" "Yes, they shouldn't be reading it since it's encrypted and shunted into a Transwarp conduit." "Good. Captain, I'll be in my cabin if you need me." Quarters The door chimed again. "Come in." Captain Hardgrove stepped through the door. "Ambassador, I'm not disturbing you am I?" "Not at all Captain, please have a seat, can I get you a drink?" Hardgrove put his hand up, "No nothing for me thanks. I wanted to talk to you about what happened on the bridge this afternoon." Michael was curious. "Did I do something wrong Captain?" Hardgrove took a seat "I hear you handled yourself very well, but Captain Hawkins did protest to me about you taking over his bridge from him." Michael chuckled, "What was I suppose to do? He's in no position to deal with an Alliance leader on a diplomatic level." Hardgrove nodded, "and I told him as much." Michael tried to change the subject. "So how's our Bajoran.....Major Lietra?" "She's fine. Eager to get to the conference." Michael stood and looked out at the window, he had a good view of one of the Halgar Class vessels, he stared at it. "Well, we'll arrive soon enough I imagine."
Nightranger Mar 28 2004, 12:39 PM	Fleet Captain Hardgrove - U.S.S. Appalachia, Guest Quarters Hardgrove entered the cramped guest quarters that were assigned him and sat behind the tiny desk. Opening the console on his desk, he began to reread his notes. The message that Ottel had sent, although cryptic, had disturbed him; and being unable to investigate, disturbed him even more. He was unable to contact Hurst to have her shed any light on the situation back at 001 and with the current communication black out he couldn't contact Garrison ether. At this point he felt very out of place. The truth was he had volunteered for this mission. No, stole this mission out from under Garrison by using logic. What had he been thinking? He was no diplomat. In his career he had been called many things... brash, foolhardy, egotistic, and more that didn't currently come to mind. But never diplomatic. It seemed fitting Larkin was leading this mission. Larkin.... Ah yes Larkin. When he approached Larkin for an informant, he had made the right choice. He saw great potential for him in the future and this mission may or many not seal both their fates in the Federation hierarchy. As for Major Lietra, he had lied to Larkin when he told him that she was fine. In fact she seemed quite board and was beginning to get on his nerves. Yet she was the representative Bajor, and if their now alliance was to remain intact she was his sole link. Rubbing his temples he closed the console and leaned back in the chair. For the past few days since the battle he still had a crippling headache, but passed it off as stress. He had promised Sam to see the doctor but kept putting it off. They had subsided earlier, but now they were getting worse. Maybe it was this mission. Something about it didn't feel right. His gut kept telling him to be careful. One single thought summed up the whole situation: "I've got a bad feeling about this."
Kelly Mar 29 2004, 07:19 AM	Commander Samantha Halliwell ~ Approaching Starbase 001 Halliwell looked at Matthew who was looking at the huge Starbase with fascination. She turned back to her PADD and carried on reading. Halliwell lifted her right hand and felt the right side of her face; no matter how much make up she put on, it still didn't cover the bruise that had formed there.   The doors opened. Halliwell grabbed both her bag and her son's. He quickly made his way out to the deck. It was the first time he had ever being here. "Matthew," she said as he ran ahead of her. He bumped into an ensign from engineering. He looked up to Halliwell, "You should really try and keep your kid under control..." he said with a firm tone... then he stopped. "Commander Halliwell? I apologize." "No need ensign," she said taking a hold of Matthew's hand, "I'll keep my kid under control." "First of all, kiddo," she said to Matthew, "I'll get you settled in, then I have to arrange a carer." "Sam? Sam Halliwell?" She turned round at the sound of a female voice, she turned round, "Leah?"
RMrulz Mar 29 2004, 12:31 PM	Admiral Tom Garrison - OCC Tom stood in the Operations Command Center watching everybody go about their duties. Ensign S'Natra, the new science officer that had replaced T'Kila, was working at her station a few feet away from him. Commander K'Rak was across the room at the security station, talking with the young ensign that was on duty at the station. Probably talking about the bomb investigation, he thought. Lt. Karelia was at the ops station, busy tapping away at his holo-controls. The dozen or so other stations scattered about the huge control center for the starbase were also occupied by officers, most of whom Tom didn't even know the name of. There was a quiet hum of activity in the large room, everything was working together like a well-oiled machine. I forgot how boring the job of a Commanding Officer can be. Everybody below you has their duties and jobs, and all you have to do is oversee them all, make sure nothing goes wrong, and make decisions when necessary. But crises are so rare, probably 95% of the time spent on duty is spent doing almost nothing. I'm always tucked away in my office, struggling to catch up on paperwork and other fleet duties I'll probably never catch up on, I forgot that the job of a CO like Captain Major can be one of the most boring jobs in the fleet. That's certainly something we don't think about when we're four years old and looking up at the stars, dreaming of being a Captain someday! Tom strolled about the room, glancing over the shoulders of various officers as he passed their stations. After he had passed a few stations he realized that each time he did, the officer manning the station gave him a nervous glance. I'm making them nervous, they're not used to an admiral checking up on their work. This is stupid, I'm causing more harm being here than good. He was going to walk back to his office, but changed his mind and headed for the turbolift instead. The Deck Tom stepped off the turbolift. He felt guilty for coming down here while he was supposed to be on duty, but just ignored it. He knew that the OCC would contact him immediately if something went wrong, or if they lost contact with the signal from the Appalachia. He walked into the Double~Helix and was about to walk over to his usual table in the corner when he saw a flash of red catch his eye. He turned and saw the young woman Hardgrove had introduced to him, the one that would sit on the War Council once it was established. She was sitting at a table by herself, facing away from him. It was her red hair that had caught his eye. What's her name... Kyst. That's right, Kyst Blacksun. He walked over to her table. "Mind if I join you?" he asked. She looked up from her drink, startled. "Uhh... Admiral. Sure." He sat down. "Call me Tom," he said with a smile. She just nodded and looked back down at the table. A few seconds of silence passed between them. "Am I interrupting you?" Tom asked. Not having said anything, he started to wonder if she wanted to be alone. "You seem lost in thought. I can go..." He started to stand up. "No!" she said a bit louder than she meant to. She cleared her throat. "No, it's ok Admir -- Tom. Don't go." He sat back down, staring at her curiously for a moment. He couldn't get a good reading on this woman. "So how did you come to know Captain Hardgrove?" he asked. Something flashed on her face for just a fraction of a second, but Tom noticed it. "Oh, we've just run into each other a few times." She said dismissively. Tom knew there was more, but didn't push. He wanted to get to know her better, not alienate her. He tried to think of something else to say. "Drayson introduced you as Kyst Blacksun. That's an intriguing name, I've never actually known anybody named Kyst before. Is it short for something?" He was really struggling to find something to talk about. This is ridiculous, he thought to himself. It's like I'm 15 again, trying to talk to girls but mostly ending up with long awkward silences. Kyst smiled. "Yes, it's short for Kystianna. But I hate that name, that's why I go by Kyst. If you ever call me Kystianna, I'll kill you." She said it with a smile and a playful tone in her voice, but something about her made Tom file away a mental note to never call her Kystianna. Before either of them could say anything else, Tom's commbadge sounded. "K'Rak to Garrison." "Go ahead," Tom said. "Sir, when you have a few minutes I'd like to talk to you about the investigation in my office." "Acknowledged, I'll be there shortly." He turned back to Kyst, who was watching him intently. "If you'll excuse me," he stood up. "Duty calls." She just nodded. Tom turned and left the bar. What a curious woman, he thought to himself.
Will Karelia Mar 29 2004, 11:24 PM	Will Karelia - Corridor, Starbase 001 Lieutenant Karelia was walking down the corridor, thinking about what he had seen, and more importantly, what he had heard. He knew someone had tried to assassinate Admiral Garrison, and he could hardly believe that. But what was even more outrageous, he thought, is that most of the crew thought it was Lieutenant Lauren. This was downright crazy. He was walking down the corridor when he noticed two guards standing beside a door. Those must be Ullii's quarters, he thought. He walked over to the door, but one of the guards tried to stop him. "I'm sorry sir, but you can't go in there." the young officer said. "You would be very surprised what I can do, Ensign. Now step aside." Karelia shot back. The young Ensign decided not to fight this one, and moved aside. Karelia punched in his access codes, disabled the forcefield, and walked inside the room. He noticed Ullii sitting in the chair, reading a book, and she turned to look at him with a surprised look on her face. "How did you get past the guards?" she said. "Simple... I pulled rank." Karelia replied with a smile. "Did they send you to ask me more questions?" "No, I came here of my own free will. I'll get straight to the point: You're screwed. you've got 90% of the station hating your guts, the Admiral included, and no one wants to back you up... until now." "What's that supposed to mean?" "Look, you need help. There's no way you are going to convince that court that you didn't try to blow Garrison to smithereens. And after you are court-martialed, case closed. But if I can dig up enough evidence that you didn't do it, maybe we can present that in court tomorrow. But we have to hurry, and since we only have one day, I will need to cut a few corners, meaning my investigation will be 'under the covers', not to mention somewhat illegal." "You will be risking your career, you know that?" "I know, but I'm not about to let an innocent officer lose her career for no reason. At least I have a reason..." "You would really do that?" Ullii asked. "No, I just love making up schemes..." Karelia said. Ullii could almost see the sarcasm in that sentence. "Oh, and you will need this..." Karelia pulled a commbadge from his pocket. "It's a blank badge, so they can't track your location with it. Use it to contact me if you need to, but try to keep communication to a minimum." "Ok, I will. Thanks, Lieutenant." "Please, call me Will." Karelia got up and left Ullii's quarters as if nothing had happened.
Ullii Mar 30 2004, 02:03 AM	Lieutenant Ullii Lauren - Quarters Who was that guy??? was the first thing that came across Ullii's mind after the stranger had left. She walked over to the replicator. "Computer. I'd like a wrap... a red one... with mayonase, mustard........ and cheese." The computer chimed, and a strange looking wrap materialized before her. She grabbed it and started eating. She always ate strange things when she was angry. "Why did this have to happen to me?!" she screamed out loud after swallowing her first bite, breaking into tears, "I was only following orders! Doing as I was told!... I didn't know.... I didn't..." Her crying turned into a silent sob. She thought about the man who had just spoken to her. Who is he?? Why does he think I'm innocent?! He doesn't even know me! She sank onto her bed and fell into a dreamless sleep. The next thing she knew, she woke up to the chime of her doorbell. "Come." Two men entered, one of them K'rak, with four more waiting outside her door. "You will come with us!" Ullii became suddenly wide awake, "So you think I'm a spy is it? Mr... Mr... CRACK!--" "I have orders to--" "I don't care! I'm innocent! You have to believe me!! I would never do anything to harm the Federat--" K'rak grabbed Ullii's arm and dragged her out of her quarters as she screamed and kicked all the while. Court Room Not long after they had left Lauren's quarters, they stopped in front of a large door, and the Klingon motioned for her to enter. She stepped forward, and entered the room. Every eye was upon here. All of the higest ranking officers aboard Starbase 001 were in the room, including Admiral Garrison, who was eyeing her suspiciously. K'rak entered and took a seat with Admiral Garrison at the Plaintuf's table, and she saw an empty seat beside the man who had spoken to her in her quarter the day before, at the defence's table. She walked in slowly and took a seat.
Hawku Mar 30 2004, 05:14 PM	Lieutenant Rune Sith - Derkelenoc Station, Containment Center Sith and Julia were thrown into a Cell by the Takaran. But before they were put in, Zeta was taken away and given to the other Guards. Sith just sat on the floor against the wall thinking to himself... Was Mkrdij right about me? Am I just doing this for myself? Julia came over and sat beside him. "Do you believe in the Prophets?" Sith lost his train of thought and looked at her, "I know they exist. To some they're just Non-Coporeal Aliens living outside the Space-Time Continuum." She turned to him and placed her hand gently against his cheek, "Trust in them. We will get out of this... Because they are watching over us." Just then, Mkrdij entered the Center and interrupted the Guards at their Cell. "Recahl wants to see them." The Guards turned and deactivated the forcefields. Level 8 Mkrdij ordered the Guards to follow behind as he, Sith and Julia walked far enough ahead that they wouldn't be heard. Sith and Julia had gravametric field bubbles around thier hands. "The Coalition/Romulan Ship I came in on will be heading to the Zora Corridors in about half an hour. If you can get to the ship in time, you'll be able to stowaway and stay in my Quarters without being detected." Sith shook his head, "You're helping us?" Mkrdij glanced at him making a quick excuse, "Err, the girl doesn't deserve to die." Sith paused for a moment in guilt, "Listen, Mkrdij..." "I know I know. You're sorry." "Well you could at least let me say it," Sith smiled. "There's no time for that. Besides, it would be regrettable if you died here." The Guards walking behind them struggled to hear what they were saying, but couldn't. "How are we supposed to escape with these bubbles around our hands?" Sith asked. "When I bring you to the Coalition Leader, Recahl, your gravimetric field cuffs will be disabled. Most likely he'll induldge in conversation with you. When he lets his guard down, that is when you'll escape. Don't try to escape any earlier or he'll destroy you with his mind. Remember: emotion is your key." Prominade Alpha, Electric Bar The Guards escorted Sith and Julia to a dark and grungy Bar where Recahl was sitting with a bunch of his companions. There they had been eating, drinking and smoking lucrovexitrin, a popular but addictive substance. Recahl was a big Lethean man, obsessed with power and control. He turned. Sith and Julia's field bubbles were disabled and Sith was forced by the Guards into a seat next to Recahl. Sith coughed because of the smoke in the air. Recahl looked him over. Sith was small compared to him. No threat at all. It was laughable. "You're the undercover Federation Officer?" He started laughing. "Heh, heh... Hahahahaha... Hhahahahahahahaha!!!! --You? Hahahahahaha!!" Sith eyed him, annoyed as hell now. "How did someone like you get all the way here? Hahahahaha!!" He slammed his fist against the table in uncontrollable laughter. When he stopped, he waited for a response. "You betrayed the Coalition. You're a traitor," Sith stated. Recahl and his buddies continued laughing. "Hahahahaha!!!" When Recahl finally had enough he held up his hand for the others to stop. He then looked at Sith seriously. "We chose the winning side. I'm sorry to tell you this, but your loyalty is a joke." He began applying a butter-like spread on a slice of bread. "The Federation is no more." "Neither is your honor." Recahl dropped his bread. "I did what so many were thinking. I decided that something was wrong. We were on the losing side. Anyone could see that. I was just smart enough to lead everyone to the rightful place!" His anger was starting. "What about your friends in the Coalition? Did they support you?" Sith was pushing now, "Did the Trusted Circle support you?" "I chose the right path!! Our people need this. If only the others could see the truth. We're the smart ones here!!" He threw his food off the Bar and then paused in deep thought... "There were a few I thought would come over but they didn't. I thought we'd stay companions forever... But they just didn't see the truth..." He stared into nothingness. Was this it? ...The moment Mkrdij was talking about? Sith looked to the side and back again. His mind was racing and his adrenaline started heightening. He could die right here if it wasn't done right. In a quick move, Sith hopped off his Bar stool and then threw it up at Recahl. As Recahl was glancing over the stool whacked off his forehead and knocked him unconscious. When Recahl's body hit the floor, all the Guards pulled out their Disrupters and aimed it at Sith who quickly grabbed the alien Cigar off the table. He dove before fire was opened at him and threw the Cigar into the air with precision. One of the many incoming disrupter pulses hit the Cigar, and a smoke multiplying explosion occurred. The entire room began filling with blinding smoke that just continued to multiply due to the physics inside the quantum pulse that had hit it. Level 6, Technology Lab Sith and Julia ran out into the large Corridors escaping with thier lives. They came across the Tech Lab where a few Pentarans were looking at a box that was Zeta. "Zeta!" Sith called out, and Zeta suddenly shot out his legs and ran over. He clipped onto Sith before they continued running. Airlock Section 21-Norka The Corridor was empty and Julia opened the Airlock. Before they could enter, a bunch of Coalition Guards approached from behind. "Don't move..." The lead one said as the group slowly walked over. When he got close enough, Sith grabbed the man's extended arm and pulled his body in for cover. The others fired at Sith and hit their leader. Sith dropped the man and jumped at the group of Coalition Guards. He stepped off one of them elevating himself to kick two more Guard's to the side. When he landed, he triple punched at the second last Guard and back-handed the last one. Julia picked up a disrupter and blasted one of Guard's as they were trying to get up. The Ketrine They ran into the Hallways of the undocking Coalition-disgused-as-a-Romulan Ship, finding them empty. The crew was busy at thier posts and the Ship was just departing. Deck 14 Sith and Julia came to Mkrdij's left Quarters and Sith punched in a code. The doors swooshed opened and they entered the room. Looking around, they found the place to be comfortable. A few of Mkrdij's Bag's were still on the floor. "Looks like he forgot some luggage," Sith said. He opened one up and took out two device's that were detection inhibiters. This way they wouldn't be picked up on internal sensors. "Now we wait." He and Julia glanced at each other. "We'd better get some rest. Oh... Um. You can have the bed. I don't mind the sofa," Sith said. But Julia just looked at him. "What?" She approached him. "I told you the Prophets would see us through." "The only thing that saw us through was Mkrdij," he reassured. She just smiled and left for the Bathroom as the Ketrine jumped to Warp. Sith glanced at Zeta who was on his shoulder. Zeta clicked and Sith knew what the Spider Android was thinking. "What? I don't like her that way." Zeta just clicked and chirped in happy response. The Spider knew Sith better than Sith knew himself. "Okay, I'm going to sleep and when I wake up you'd better change that attitude." He went to the sofa and stretched out on it.
RMrulz Mar 31 2004, 12:10 AM	Admiral Tom Garrison – Tribunal Room Tom sat at the plaintiff’s table, and took a moment to look around the room. In all his time on Starbase 001 he had never been in this room, there had just never been a need for it. He glanced up at the magistrate’s desk, located in the center of the front of the room. Captain Maxwell Sumit sat there, facing the room. Normally that spot would be occupied by a magistrate from the Federation council, but with the entire council having been disbanded and sent home Tom had asked Captain Sumit to sit in. Tom would have done it himself if he wasn’t so personally connected to this case. On the other side of the room, also facing the magistrate’s chair was Lieutenant Will Karelia. For some reason he had volunteered to represent Dr. Lauren. Behind Tom and Will were several rows of empty spectator chairs. This was a closed hearing. The door opened and Dr. Lauren walked in, wearing hand restraints. She strode into the room and sat down next to Karelia, refusing to make eye contact with Tom as she did so. Two security guards entered and flanked the door on either side, and then K’Rak also entered. He walked past the spectator chairs and sat down at the table with Tom. “Everybody is here, so let’s begin,” Sumit said. “We are here to determine if charges are to be filed against the defendant in the matter of the Federation versus Dr. Ullii Lauren. Lt. Commander K’Rak, prosecuting; Lt. Will Karelia, defending; Captain Maxwell Sumit, presiding.” He spoke all this for the benefit of the voice recorder that was recording the entire procedure. What a waste of time, Tom thought to himself. There’s already enough evidence. It’s obvious she planted that bomb, of course charges should be filed. Over the next several minutes, K’Rak detailed all of the technical evidence the security teams had compiled. There were several pieces of circumstantial evidence, including Dr. Lauren’s DNA being found on the remains of the bomb, but the key pieces of evidence he presented were that her security code was used to enter his office, and that the internal sensors had recorded her as being in his office at approximately the same time the bomb had to have been planted. Throughout K’Rak’s presentation, Ullii focused on Tom. She kept hoping to make eye contact with him, to look into his eyes and let her eyes plead with him that she didn’t try and kill him. But he never looked at her, the entire time he looked forward with a cold, icy stare on his face. Once K’Rak finished, Sumit asked Tom if he had anything to add. Tom stood up. “I don’t have much to add, no. I’ve only known Dr. Lauren for a very short time. The only thing relevant to this investigation is that just minutes before the explosion I was returning to my office from The Deck. As I was walking towards the turbolift I ran into Dr. Lauren, and the two of us talked briefly. It was just small talk, with me complaining about the boredom of paperwork. Her response, the last thing she said to me, was, ‘Well, I’m sure things’ll heat up soon enough.’” Tom finally turned to look at Ullii, and finished while looking her in the eyes. “And moments later, my office explodes. Sounds like we’ve already found the guilty party, this formality of a hearing to determine whether or not charges are necessary is stupid. Of course they’re necessary, she is guilty!” He let his eyes linger on Ullii for another few seconds. He saw a combination of sadness and desperation in her eyes, but he didn’t really care. All he could feel was his own hatred that she would try and kill him. He turned back to Sumit. “I don’t have anything else to add.” He sat down.
Will Karelia Mar 31 2004, 10:57 AM	Lieutenant Will Karelia - Trial: Federation vs. Dr. Ullii Lauren Lieutenant Karelia entered the courtroom, seeing no one but Captain Sumit there. He took his place at the defence table, knowing full well this could be devastating to his career should they lose. Admiral Garrison and Commander K'Rak enter the room moments later and take their seats. Will looks at Garrison, and recieves a disappointed look back. The large, cargobay style doors thunk open behind them, and Will turns around to see Dr. Lauren enter the room and sit next to him. Will finally heard the first voice, and it came from Sumit. “Everybody is here, so let’s begin,” Sumit said. “We are here to determine if charges are to be filed against the defendant in the matter of the Federation versus Dr. Ullii Lauren. Lt. Commander K’Rak, prosecuting; Lt. Will Karelia, defending; Captain Maxwell Sumit, presiding.” Will listened to K'Rak present the prosecution's evidence. The DNA, the sensor logs, the security codes, he didn't believe a word of it. "Lieutenant Lauren is a doctor, doctor's are almost incapable of these sorts of things!" he thought to himself. "Thank you, Commander. Admiral Garrison, do you have anything to add to the prosecution?" he heard Sumit ask. Garrison stood up to face Sumit. “I don’t have much to add, no. I’ve only known Dr. Lauren for a very short time. The only thing relevant to this investigation is that just minutes before the explosion I was returning to my office from The Deck. As I was walking towards the turbolift I ran into Dr. Lauren, and the two of us talked briefly. It was just small talk, with me complaining about the boredom of paperwork. Her response, the last thing she said to me, was, ‘Well, I’m sure things’ll heat up soon enough.’” Tom finally turned to look at Ullii, and finished while looking her in the eyes. “And moments later, my office explodes. Sounds like we’ve already found the guilty party, this formality of a hearing to determine whether or not charges are necessary is stupid. Of course they’re necessary, she is guilty!” He let his eyes linger on Ullii for another few seconds. He saw a combination of sadness and desperation in her eyes, but he didn’t really care. All he could feel was his own hatred that she would try and kill him. He turned back to Sumit. “I don’t have anything else to add.” He sat down. "The prosecution's claims are duly noted. Defence?" Sumit said, glancing at Karelia. Will stood up. "As you all know, I am the Chief of Operations onboard SB 001. And as such, I have the responsibility to manage the day-to-day functions and operations onboard the station. I literally have half of the station's systems under my control, including internal sensors. I also happened to be preparing a diagnostic of the internal sensors during the time of the explosion, and I can tell you that Lieutenant Lauren was nowhere near the Admiral's office at the time of the explosion," Karelia said, then turning to look at Garrison with a piercing gaze. "Had the trial been called a day or two later, the defense would have had more time to gather evidence." Will then took his seat.
Nightranger Apr 2 2004, 05:02 PM	Rayla Sylverwolf - Shuttle Pod Cerberus The shuttle pod shook under the impact of the phaser fire it had been taking. Rayla bit her lip as she executed maneuvers, trying to outrun her attackers. She was surrounded. No matter what vector she tried, they were always there. Consoles smoked... bulkheads sparked... and a claxon screamed warp core breach. --Rayla sat upright in bed to the sound of the alarm being emitted from the console. Shedding the bed clothes, she hurriedly ran from her quarters to the tiny bridge's helm. Deactivating the destination warning, she consulted the readout of her current location. Looking about, she was pleased with the fact that she was the sole entity aboard the shuttle pod; allowing her to wander the ship uninhibited. Although she wasn't wearing any clothes she wasn't nude by Fenrir standards. Her fur clothed her enough as far as she was concerned but the others insisted she'd have to wear something. Wagging her tail, she returned to the tiny captain's quarters that she was occupying. Walking to a closet-shelf, she removed a black cotton tank top and a matching pair of leather pants. She slid the pants on, carefully passing her tail through the small opening, then pulled the tank over her head. Rayla picked up her specially made boots and slipped them on, zipping the sides. She took out a holster belt and fastened it around her waist. Within an hour she had reached her final destination, Starbase 001. Docking the shuttle, she double checked the padd. Will had left her with the leather jacket she wore. Docking the Cerberus and going through base security, she headed for the Double~Helix bar.
Ullii Apr 4 2004, 11:35 PM	Lieutenant Ullii Lauren - Tribunal Room Ullii looked up at Karelia. Why was he defending her? They had never even met! I guess I can't argue though, she thought to herself as Karelia described his sensor diagnostic. It won't be enough though. What about my authorization being used to enter the Admirals office? What about the DNA found on the remains of the bomb? There was no doubt about it. She was going to loose this trial. "So as you can see, it would be easy for anyone with basic knowledge of station systems to modify the sensors while the diagnostic was taking place." Karelia explained. "That is inconclusive evidence!" roared K'rak. "The Doctor used her CMO Authorization code to enter his office! Her DNA was found on the remains of the bomb! I cannot see the point of even having a hearing for her! The evidence is overwhelming! She is a spy sent from the Federation High Council! She is guilty!" The whole room went silent for long few seconds after K'rak's speech. Ullii looked up at Sumit, and he returned the glance; both of them silently analyzing the other, trying to guess what the other was thinking. "There will be a short recess," Sumit said, "while I think over the evidence against Lieutenant Lauren. We will reconvene in twenty minutes." Everyone stood up and left the room apart from Ullii and Karelia, who were allowed to stay behind and discuss matters in private. Karelia looked worried. "Why are you doing this?" Ullii finally asked the question she had been wanting to ask since she first met him in her quarters. There was a slight pause. "I don't think we're going to win." he finally said. "There's too much evidence against you... Do you mind if I ask you something Ms. Lauren? I won't tell a soul... and you don't have to answer if you don't want to--" "What is it?" "Well... did you do it?" Ullii took a long time to answer. "What if I did? What if I'm a spy sent from the High Council?" "Well... I suppose then you'll deserve your punishment..." he replied, unsure of what to say, or if he said the right thing. "You ignored my first question." "What? Which question?" "Why are you helping me?! We've never even met!" Just then K'rak walked in. "Garrison wishes to talk to you," he said to Ullii. "Sure." K'rak walked over to the doors and nodded in the direction that Garrison must have been. He walked in and K'rak left. "I want to know why you did it, Miss Lauren." "I DIDN'T!" She screamed, far more loudly than she meant to. "I... I agree with the Federation OK?! There! I've said it! I agree with them! I think that we should go back in time and stop this whole thing! But I did NOT try to kill you! I would NEVER murder ANYONE! And even though I didn't agree with you, Admiral, I still accepted the position! Because I serve the Federation! I mean... you know, whoever's in control of the Federation, I guess, but that means that I am loyal you. You!" Garrison stared at Ullii for a long time, completely taken aback by her statement. It now looked like he almost believed her. "The authorization codes then? The DNA? No one could have framed you Ullii. No one has the skill, nor technology, to pull that off." She just looked at him. He turned around was about to leave when the rest of the people attending walked back in. Garrison took his seat back in his chair along with everyone else. Ullii looked down at her feet as Sumit sat back down at his desk. "After careful consideration..." A tear fell down Ullii's face, and landed on her lap. "I have concluded that the defending party, Lieutenant Ullii Iiara Lauren, is guilty of the attempted assassination of Fleet Admiral Tom Garrison." Ullii's face sank into her hands. "You will be sentenced to life in the prison of Yorwitch, on the planet Pluto, with no chance of parole. A prison escort will arrive tomorrow to take you there. In the mean time, you will be held in the brig. Court adjourned." The security team that was present on either side of Sumit grabbed Ullii, who was crying uncontrollably, placed hand restraints on her, and led her to the brig.
Mozg Apr 5 2004, 02:12 AM	Lattrel Ottel - Higley’s Café, the Deck Ottel walked into the cozy coffee shop he had passed by many times before on his way to the Double~Helix. It was a relatively small establishment in the corner of the Deck’s central plaza. Most of the tables were actually outside, situated around the café itself. Very Parisienne, Ottel thought, remembering his nighttime visit to Paris a while ago. He maneuvered through the closely placed tables and reached the edge of the plaza. Peering over the rail, he could see the whole Deck, top to bottom. “I’ll take this table,” he said it to himself. I can see why Hrag likes this place: the view is magnificent. Let’s see about the food. One of the waiters saw Ottel and walked up to him. “Good afternoon, sir,” he said, handing him a menu, “would you like anything to drink while deciding what to get?” “Umm... I wouldn’t mind having an ice tea, thank you...” Ottel tried to read the waiter’s nametag, “...Sam.” Ottel took a look at the menu as Sam went to get his order. There was a variety of meals that didn’t make much sense to him, so he kept reading. Monte Cristo, that sounds interesting, he thought. I should find out what’s in it. “Here’s your ice tea, sir,” Sam handed him his drink. “Have you made up your mind?” “I have a question, actually. Could you tell me what’s in the ‘Monte Cristo’?” “Well, we use turkey breast and thin layers of ham, with melted cheddar cheese, add some lettuce and tomatoes and serve with egg dipped bread,” Sam explained things patiently. He could easily see that the description was quite appealing to Ottel, who immediately said, “I’ll have that, thank you.” Before Sam could walk away, Ottel said, “One more question. Sorry. I assume your supplies are fresh, not replicated.” “Of course, fresh from Earth,” Sam answered and headed inside. I like this place, Ottel thought. I think I’ll be visiting more often.
Kelly Apr 5 2004, 04:26 AM	Commander Samantha Halliwell ~ Quarters, Starbase 001 Leah Burke was an old friend of hers. She looked around Halliwell's quarters, "They're pretty big." Halliwell smiled to her friend, as Matthew ran over and looked out the large window. "Privilege of being a senior officer," she said putting the bags down by her bed. Leah still hadn't told her why she was here but she figured she would in time. "How long are you planning on staying on the base?" "Don't know yet, why?" Halliwell watched Matthew for a moment, then turned back to her. "I was thinking, that Matthew needs someone to watch him while I'm on duty or away," she shook her head and smiled, "Or both. He needs someone he knows and trusts." "Someone like me?" "I'll give you some time to think about it, Leah." Halliwell said. "If so, I can arrange you quarters and anything you need. In the mean time, could you look after him for a few hours?" she asked heading over to get changed into her uniform. "I need to see what's been happening while I've been away." It didn't take her very long. It had become second nature to her in the past few months. "Replicators there. If you fancy something else, you know where the deck is. Any problems, someone'll know how to contact me." "Can I come?" Halliwell smiled and kissed her son on the cheek. "Sorry," she said. "See you in a bit. --Thanks Leah." Halliwell headed down the corridor to the nearest turbolift, she stepped in and felt her face again. She needed some painkillers or something for it. That's it, she thought as the lift opened. She headed down to Sickbay. Sickbay "Commander," one of the nurses said, "What happened to your face?" "Accident," she said quickly. She looked around the sickbay, funny. She couldn't spot Ullii, "I just need something for the pain." "I'm sorry. I haven't the authority to dispense that kind of medication." "Well find someone who can. Where's Doctor Ullii?" The look she got off the nurses made her feel very uneasy. What is this? The million dollar question? "She's been arrested." "For what?" The nurse shrugged. Garrison. He'll know. She'd have to live with the pain for a while as she made her way to his office. OCC "Sorry. He's not in at the moment." Halliwell looked down to a PADD in her hand. It had everything that had happened in the past few days she had been away. She looked back to the woman behind the desk. "I can wait."