Lost And Found (JM with USS Sentinel/Peacekeeper)

[Thundera]

ON:<<USS Malinche>>
<Science Office, Day 3, 1620>

Cheetara sat behind her desk fixing the damaged algorithms. It was a boring process that she would rather not be going through, nor should she have to had they not been sabotaged. There was nothing anyone could say that could prove otherwise. Especially as she dug deeper into the core of the equations.

"Computer", Cheetara began, "isolate section Omega 5, lines 3 through 7 and invert them with section Kappa 4 lines 8 through 12."

"Transfer complete", the computers voice acknowledged

Cheetara began tapping more buttons on her console to fix the equations back to their proper sequences. There was too much out of order for it to be caused by the anomalies around the malinche. Finally she had fixed them and saved the information for the Captain to look over. She knew she had to go to the bridge.

<Bridge, 1650>

Cheetara walked onto the bridge and over to the science station. Ensign Mira quietly walked to another console as Cheetara come over. Cheetara tapped a few buttons on the console to gain access into the ships systems where the algorithms were to be placed.

"Computer, transfer file Cheetara Delta 3 to the Main Bridge Science station."

"Transfer complete."

Cheetara began placing the algorithms in the proper sequence into the ships systems. She should have been the one to do it herself anyway.

"Computer restart program Science Opertatiosn 4 Delta using the new algorithms." Cheetara ordered

The console flashed and went blank momentarily. After a few seconds, it rebooted using the new specs Cheetara had installed.

"Restart complete." the computer answered.

Cheetara tapped her badge. "Cheetara to Kersare. Algorithms are fixed and installed properly."

{tag Kersare}

"Yes Ma'am. I'll get right on that." Cheetara answered.

OFF:

[Hawkins]

<USS Malinche, Outside of Shuttlebay, MD03, 1638>

Samas and Rhys had made fairly good progress since they entered the Malinche, they had stowed there EVA suits and started to make their way to the shuttle bay, so far it had been like a ghost ship, the majority of the crew were working to repair critical systems rather than milling about in the corridors.

The finally made through various sealed doors and Jefferies tubes and arrived at the main entrance to the shuttle bay just in time to see a member of the Malinche's crew blast a malfunctioning door control with their phaser.

"Well that's an interesting technique..."

"Well, there are times when you have to make your own key," Quaid replied before introducing himself. "Lt. Jake Quaid, Acting Chief of Security."

"It seems we keep running into each other Quaid," Rhys said with a smirk, shaking the other man's hand. "Though it appears you weren't happy simply being a pilot." Seeing Hawkins, Rhys added "Lt. Rhys Monroe, CFCO."

"Lt. Samas Marot, the Sentinels Chief of Operations."

"I'm Jack Hawkins, Acting Intelligence Officer, what are two guys from the Sentinel doing over here?" Jack struggled to get his eyes to focus in the dim light in the corridor, luckily the shuttle bay still seemed to be lit and was now casting a bit more light through the open door.

"You?re Intel, you don?t know already?? Rhys said with a wink. ?We were actually wondering what the hell you all are doing. We lost communications when you stopped having split personalities, and when conventional methods failed, Marot and I came to investigate and help re-establish communications."

"We lost contact with Beta section not so long ago. When Alpha and Gamma sections investigated only to find beta adrift and rife with technical problems, it was decided that we should disengage the MVAM to assist in repairs and investigate what happened," Quaid explained. "We soon discovered that Beta section was caught in a string of Dark Matter which is what made all three sections like this."

"Our orders are to establish communications with the Sentinel via the communications systems in the shuttlecraft and use the shuttle's sensors to get more information on how we can get out of here."

?Well it?s true what they say, great minds must think alike, that?s what we?re doing here too, we weren?t sure if anyone here would have time to make it to the shuttles, or even if anyone was up and about...? Samas said.

?Well,? Jack replied, ?we do like a nice siesta every now and then; we feel it breaks up the day a little...? He half smiled but it was about all he could manage right now.

?Oh, we totally understand. We?re so bored over there on the Sentinel, we go play with the Borg just to create a little excitement,? Rhys shrugged. ?But we also felt it was our duty to come help you guys fix your broken boat.?

?And Rhys here is a Starship spotter, he really couldn?t pass up the chance to see a Prometheus up close.?

"Who would?" Quaid grinned as he looked over at the lone shuttle that sat idle on the bays launch pad.

?As much as I like a good chat,? Jack said, ?maybe we should get to work on the shuttle? See if we can?t get this thing working before Lt Monroe can add a Borg cube to his ?seen? list??

"Good idea, we should tackle this on two fronts, two of us can work on the hardware, while the other two can work on the software," Quaid suggested.

?Ok so, we drawing straws or...?? Marot asked

?Well, since Samas is so good at hacking into things, he and I can take the software, and you two boys take the hardwiring?? Rhys offered.

?Well, since Samas is so good at hacking into things, he and I can take the software, and you two boys take the hardwiring?? Rhys offered.

<Shuttlebay, 10 minutes later>

?Oy, Team B, how?s it coming?? Rhys called from the console he and Samas were working at.

?I?ve nearly got the navigational deflector tied into the communications array!? Jack was propped up against an access hatch using a micro plasma welder to secure a power connection, it was a fiddly task and he had to admit his weld was far from straight, he blinked several times and shook his head slightly then finished the next connection. ?Just give me a few more seconds!? He called back.

?I?ve tied in an emergency power generator into power distribution to compensate for the drop in power we might get as the signal is sent across the tail end of the Dark Matter string. I don?t know how long this?ll last or if it?ll even help but it?s the best I can do right now,? Quaid explained, silently wishing that Peters was with them.

Jack finally finished and, using the hull to steady him, hauled himself to his feet, ?Ok, I?m done here!?

?Stick a fork in him!? Rhys said, giving a go sign to show he and Samas were ready.

?Let?s give it a shot shall we?? Jake said as he prepared to activate the emergency power cell. ?Bring the systems online in 5-4-3-2-1??

The Shuttle seemed to hum to life as the men completed their tasks. Jake entered the shuttle via the access ramp to find the communications terminal fully operational. ?What?s the status of the modifications?? he asked.

Samas keyed in various commands on the shuttles operations console, ?The backup power is stable, and the communications array is successfully routed through the navigational deflector. Communications power is 160% of normal, we?re good to go.?

Quaid opened his Tricorder/Communicator and sent a brief written message to Captain Kersare to inform her of their progress.

?Let?s see if she can roar like she purrs,? Rhys said as he tapped the console. ?Away team to Sentinel.?

Devereaux?s cheerful voice came over the comm. ?About damn time, Mister Monroe. What the hell took so long??

?Lovely to hear you too, Commander,? Rhys replied dryly. ?We took the scenic route getting down here? Mr. Marot wanted to get some pictures for his scrapbook. We?re attempt to tie in the communications of the shuttle to the tricorder system they?ve developed over here, to see if we can get in touch with the bridge. We?ll keep you updated, away team out.?

Rhys gave a telling look to the Malinche officers. ?See what we have to deal with? Alright, how can we connect the two toys so they play nicely together??
"What about setting my tricorder to a continuous information upload / download loop and set the computer as the loop's second point?" Quaid suggested with a grin. "We might not be able to get visual comms, but we can use the shuttle's computer as a relay between our bridge and yours."
?It might drain power faster than normal,? Samas said consulting a screen, ?but I?ll adjust the output for the generator, but you?re right, it should at least allow a limited data transfer between the ships? He worked at the operations console once again, the computer beeping intermittent acknowledgments.

Quaid's fingers danced over his tricorder's tactile interface for a moment before placing it on the controls of the shuttle by the comm panel.

Rhys watched as everything connected and seemed to be working. He suddenly had a longing for cheese.

?Samas, my friend,? he said, turning to Marot. ?I would say this is mission accomplished, and calls for a cheesy celebration, in both senses of the word.?

?Woohoo I say, woohoo.? He stuck his hands in the air to wave them like he just didn?t care when all the remaining lights in the shuttlebay and in the corridor suddenly shut down and the only illumination came from the shuttles consoles.

There was a pause before he spoke again in the semi-darkness, ?We didn?t do that did we?...?

OFF :

A JP by *deep breath*

Lieutenant Jacob "Jake" Quaid
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38897-B

Lieutenant Samas Marot
Chief Operations Officer
USS Sentinel

Lt. Rhys Monroe
Chief of Flight Control
USS Sentinel

And

[Li]

To say that her first few days aboard this ship had been eventful was an understatement, it had been downright busy. The young Lieutenant was sitting behind the table of her quarters, as she looked out the window. She wondered what she?d had gotten herself into. The ship was falling apart, rumors of sabotage had been floating under, if it was true this would be her first case she had heard of.

She walked over to the replicator and ordered a tea; a brand of green tea, and bowl of fruit. Walking back over to the table she prioritized her schedule for the day, and she hoped that she wouldn?t get called away with any of the odd events taking place on the ship, she sat down kicking her feet up on the chair beside her.

Slowly she ate the fruit piece by piece, as she continued to stare out the window, she?d been on this ship for only a few days, hadn?t really met too many people. Her sister on the other hand had already met her closest friends, and been invited out to some quarters. She had even mentioned a run in with a Commander, a handsome fellow; Kara knew that she would be seeing more of him. Once her sister found a man she wanted, she always landed him.

Kara smiled, sitting up, perhaps she make her way to the bridge, meet with the Captain; she really hadn?t had much of a change to talk with her or get settled in yet. It might be a good idea. She smiled sanding up in fact that was a good idea. She straightened out her uniform and fixed her hair heading off to the bridge to see the Captain

<tag Captain Kersare>

Lieutenant Kara Li
Chief Medical Officer

OOC: Short I know, but I am very lost as to what is going on, so S.O.S.

[Hunt]

Since the turbo lifts were not fully reliable, Mason walked over to Kesare.

"Captain, no doubt there are injuried amongst the crew who are unable to get to sickbay via the lifts or jefferies tubes. We should send security and medical teams threw the power access tunnels. Granted they are a bit cramped but at least they could get to those who are injuried." said Hunt.

<Tag Kersare>

Hunt sat down to his chair and started to punch in commands. It was a relief to have systems back online not knowing anything and being in the dark did scare him although he tried very hard not to show it.

"Hmmm, I can't seem to get at the internal sensors. They are online but i'm not getting clear readings. They may have to be recalibrated." he said punching in more commands to his console.

<Tag Engineer On Bridge>

"While we are at it Captain, we should check the hull integrity. Without main power for as long as we went without it there is a chance that the hull may have lost some cohesion."

<Tag Kersare>

[Akios]

Restarting the computer might have solved most of their problems, but Akios could see that there was going to be a lot of cleanup work to do.

However, the away mission was apparently still going ahead, so the first thing Akios did was to track down Cadet Altin. Together they set out to gather up the modified tricorders (now ten in all) and the base station.

The turbolift ride was interesting. Fortunately the manual overrides were working.

Akios finally got to see Malinche's bridge, and to meet the captain.

<tag Kersare, if you'd like to play this out>

While he was there, he overheard Cmdr. Hunt saying he had a problem with his console. After getting the captain's leave, he opened up an unmodified tricorder and scanned the XO's station.

"Excuse me, sir. I see the problem," he said. "At some point, someone physically reconfigured the manual override circuit. It will only take a moment..."

Akios crouched down beside the commander's station, opened the console's side panel, and tapped in a numeric sequence to disengage the override. Once it had disengaged, he pulled two isolinear modules, reinserting them in different junctions. He then entered another sequence, restoring normal operation and closed the panel.

"Give it a try now, sir," he said, standing up.

[Roberts]

Of all the things she could be doing right now, she had to be crawling around the tubes without a clue what's going on. That blackout earlier, could just as well be the Borg taking over this ship as well as a complete restart of ship's systems...

''Oh, gimme a break!'' she growled at her own mind and imagination that dwelled within it and headed for the nearest hatch. She kicked it open and stucked her head out. It looke like she ended up in a corridor... Yeah, a real surprise, but... ''Deck one?''

Only to make her spirits go nuts, the turbolift door opened and a couple of officers walked out. Her jaw dropped. Had she knew that earlier, she'd have saved herself a lot of trouble climbing up the shaft.

''Who was it?'' Regian thought to herself and stopped by the lavatories. ''Oh, bloody Murphy.''

Glad that the water supply was working, she stepped back to the corridors, her uniform was still stained with the dust she picked up on Sirion, but at least her face was fresh.

[Peters]

ON: <USS Malinche, Main Engineering, 1615 hours, Day 3>

Peters walked briskly through Main Engineering with C'eltor (NPC) just a half-step behind him, a PADD in her hand. She kept up with him easily enough and tapped notes into the PADD as Peters rattled off a long string of orders, priorities, and repair lists. Finally, Peters stopped at the MSD display that dominated one wall of Engineering.

"If you run into any trouble, let me know. I'm sure you're capable of handling things, though," Peters paused as he looked at one flashing indicator on the MSD. "And get Mister Antilles to look at the Alluvial Dampers. They're hardly critical, but it looks like they're a bit out of alignment."

C'eltor nodded and moved off, still working with the PADD. Peters watched her go before turning towards his office. He noted with a bit or amusement, that his office actually looked cleaner than it had since he'd first occupied it. He must be getting better at organizing his stuff.

Shaking his head, Peters picked up the equipment case sitting next to his desk and walked back out the door. He had a date with a derelict ship full of Borg. It wouldn't do to be later than he already was.

<Transporter Room, Moments later>

Peters entered the transporter room and saw no one else other than the technician at the controls. "Has Mister Akios already beamed over?"

The technician shook his head as a negative response. Peters shrugged. "Go ahead and send me over. When Akios gets her, beam him to whatever my position is."

OFF:

[Akios]

OOC: This post takes place after the JP with Capt. Kersare and Cmdr. Hunt.

ON:
<<USS Malinche Bridge, 1655>>

The preliminary diagnostics Akios ran didn't turn up anything worth mentioning. He set up a program to have the internal sensors do focussed scans in conjunction with a level one diagnostic of the hull integrity sensor system. If there was anything happening that didn't show up on the hull integrity sweeps, the focussed scans should reveal it.

The diagnostic was going to take twenty minutes. Akios tried to contact Peters to find out when he was planning to go over to the Sirion.

"Akios to Peters."

+"Lt. Peters is not on Malinche,"+ the voice of the computer announced.

"Wait, what? Akios to Engineering!"

"Engineering, Ensign," came the reply.

"Where's Lt. Peters?"

"He beamed over to the Sirion about half an hour ago, Ensign. Didn't you know?"

"WHAT? Akios out!" He looked around the bridge, his crest standing upright. "Altin? Altin!" He waved the cadet over. "Keep an eye on this diagnostic for me. Let them know right away if anything unusual shows up." He took the carrying case from Altin, which contained the modified tricorders they'd gathered, and the base station.

"I, uh, the away mission..." he said to Kersare and Hunt. "Lt. Peters, he, uh... may I be dismissed, sirs?"

Once he got the okay, Akios ran to the turbolift, skidding to a stop while the door opened and jumping inside. "DECK TWO!"

A minute later, he rushed into Transporter Room I and ran up to the operator's console. "Do you have a lock on Lt. Peters!?"

The woman at the console nodded wordlessly.

"Beam me over!" he said, and ran to the transport pad.

Moments later, on Sirion, Lt. Peters heard the familiar sound of a transport in progress.

<Tag Peters.>

[Thundera]

ON: <<USS Malinche>>
<Turbo lift, Day 3, 1700>

Cheetara entered the turbo lift from the bridge after implementing the corrected algorithms and getting her new orders from the captain. She was a little unsure of how well the lift was going to work, but she thought to give it a try.

"Deck 8", Cheetara ordered immediately after entering. The lift started to make it's usual whirling sound and Cheetara then decided to make a quick personal log entry. The lift began to sputter and shake erratically which made Cheetara feel uneasy and a little sick. She finished her log as the lift stopped and the doors opened. Cheetara steeped off and started heading down the corridor to the science labs.

"Computer, tell me who the new Assistant Science Officer is." She asked just before reaching the lab.

The computer chimed before answering. "Ensign Regina Roberts is the new Chief Science Officer and Anthropologist."

Cheetara hated that the computer always felt the need to give long drawn out information to a simplistic question. She often wondered who programmed them that way, and if the person themself was as long winded. "What is Ensign Roberts present location?"

"Ensign Regina Roberts is located on Deck One", the computer replied.

Cheetara headed into the lab and tapped her badge. "Thundera to Ensign Roberts, this is your Chief Science Officer. Please report to the science labs on Deck 8 immediately."

<tag Roberts>

Again she tapped her badge and spoke after the chirp. "Cheetara to Lieutenant Sovak(npc), please report to the science labs on Deck 8 quickly."

"I'm already on my way Lieutenant. Be there momentarily." she answered back.

Cheetara began looking through the files to see what was going on with the dark matter out in space. With the modifications now working properly it shouldn't be too difficult for them to come up with some solutions. Moments later Sovak walked in.

"Greetings Lieutenant. Am I correct in assuming that you called me here to work on the dark matter theory?" Sovak asked.

"Your assumption is correct. We are just waiting for Ensign Roberts to get rendezvous with us in here", she replied.

"She's the new Assistant Chief Science Office isn't she?" she asked.

"You are correct again", she replied as she read more on the console.

Moments later she heard the science lab doors open. She looked up at the woman walking in. "You must be Ensign Roberts. I'm Lieutenant Cheetara Thundera, the Chief Science Officer here on the Malinche."

<tag Roberts>

Cheetara looked her once over. "Pleasure to meet you. Now we must get down to business."

OFF:

[Hawkins]

<USS Malinche, Deck 7, 1730, MD03>

Needless to say, Jacks confidence in the turbolifts wasn?t at an all time high hence why he had found his way to sickbay via the Jefferies tubes. He was loathe to make yet another trip to see a doctor, it had after all barely been a week since Jaran had dislocated his shoulder, but as much as he didn?t want to, the pain in his head and the dizziness necessitated it.

He took a breath and opened the door that lead to the next vertical shaft, with any luck it would take him near to sickbay, he clambered back to his feet and immediately a wave of dizziness hit him requiring him to steady himself on the side of the shaft, he took a series of deep breaths and waited for the room to stop spinning.

He knew Quiad would probably have objected to him heading into the bowels of the ship alone, which was precisely why he made a discreet exit when Jake had left with the crew from the Sentinel, Jack knew his inability to rely on others was a failing, but not one he was in too much of a hurry to address.

He placed his hands on the ladder rungs and then his feet, taking slow and deliberate steps he climbed up, the last thing he needed right now was to slip and do himself yet another injury.

After closing the floor hatch he crawled along a slow length of horizontal tube before arriving at a hatch that would lead him to the deck proper. He stepped into the corridor, the odd light was still flickering but the ship was looking better than an hour previous, he looked down the corridor and could see the entrance to sickbay.

After stumbling down the corridor, using the walls to steady himself, he reached the door, it opened and he walked through the doorway.

No more the one step inside he was hit with large wave of dizziness, the room span and the lights went dim, he was unconscious before he hit the floor...

-------------------------

OFF:

Yoohoo, patient for ya Jakers? JP?

[Kersare]

<<USS Malinche, Bridge, 1650, Day 3>>

"Cheetara to Kersare. Algorithms and fixed and installed properly."

Isabel nodded and replied, "Thank you Lieutenant. Head down to the labs and see how Ms. Sovak (NPC) is doing."

"Yes Ma'am. I'll get right on that." Cheetara answered.

"Captain, no doubt there are injuried amongst the crew who are unable to get to sickbay via the lifts or jefferies tubes. We should send security
and medical teams through the power access tunnels. Granted they are a bit cramped but at least they could get to those who are injured." said Hunt.

After considering what Mason said for a few moments, she turned to him and said, "Agreed Commander. When you've finished up what you're working on, go ahead and organize a search. I'm not sure how long it'll take Lieutenant Quaid to accomplish what he's working on now, and I feel time is of the essence..."

"Aye Captain, I believe that same errie feeling has spread throughout the entire ship. Captain I can organize search teams from here. Also how soon would you estimate an away team can be dispatched?" he said punching in commands to his terminal.

She replied, "Lieutenant Peters should be getting a team ready as soon as repair teams have been assigned. Please do get started on that search as soon as possible."

?Yes captain, I have also ordered all personnel aboard with level 3 medical training to report to the doctor. That should increase our searching efforts. Also we would have to assume that some of the wounded are engineering personnel we may wish to have those with engineering training report to the CEO.? Said Mason.

<Tag Kersare>

Isabel watched the turbolift doors open. At least they were working again...to some extent. She searched her memory of all the recent transfer orders she'd looked over, trying to put a name to the face she now saw...Akios. "Welcome to the Bridge, Ensign."

"Thank you, Captain. Glad I could be here. Sorry about the bumpy ride. I'm here to collect the modified tricorder Petty Officer Dirland brought up to you. I've been told that the away mission is going ahead."

"Yes, it is, Ensign," Isabel replied. She picked up the tricorder and handed it to him. "I'm hoping that with the two Engineering teams we'll be able to get things sorted out on the Sirion more quickly...hopefully before any other Borg ships show up."

"It would be for the best if we did, sir. Did you know that aurelians are supposed to be one of the species that the Borg consider "unworthy" for
assimilation?"

Isabel slightly raised an eyebrow, "No, I didn't know that." Before she could say more, Mason broke in.

"Hmmm, I can't seem to get at the internal sensors. They are online but I'm not getting clear readings. They may have to be recalibrated." Mason said punching in more commands to his console.

"Excuse me, sir. I see the problem," Akios said, after a quick tricorder scan. "At some point, someone physically reconfigured the manual override circuit. It will only take a moment..." Akios crouched down beside the commander's station, opened the console's side panel, and tapped in a numeric sequence to disengage the override. Once it had disengaged, he pulled two isolinear modules, reinserting them in different junctions. He then entered another sequence, restoring normal operation and closed the panel.

"Give it a try now, sir," he said, standing up.

"Grand, well done according to these read outs life support systems on every deck are on manual as well as the interia dampeners. While we are at it Captain, we should check the hull integrity. Without main power for as long as we went without it there is a chance that the
hull may have lost some cohesion," Mason suggested.

Nodding, Isabel turned to Turuas'ta, "Ensign, if you would?" Technically she could have done it herself - she was perfectly capable of
comprehending the readings she would receive from the Engineering console given her experience as an Engineer, but it was also a good excuse to give Turuas'ta a chance to check out the bridge's engineering console.

"Aye, sir, I'll get right on it," Akios said, making his way to the Engineering station. He wasn't exactly sure what the commander was
getting at--duranium wasn't perishable, and even inside this nebula, an hour-long power outage wouldn't have any significant effect on it--but he
pulled up the hull readouts and began looking for anything out of the ordinary. He'd been on ships inside corrosive nebulas, and while this
nebula wasn't like that, he supposed there was still a possiblity of some kind of interaction. If they'd been at impulse speeds he would've been
worried about hull abrasion while the shields and deflector were offline, but the ship had been relatively stationary during the docking operation.
He'd already been wrong once today about what was happening to the ship, though, so he wasn't ready to call it a waste of time, yet.

Isabel watched as Turuas'ta started to work, then moved away to give him some space. She didn't want to crowd him and was sure he was more than capable. Her mind slipped back to the Sirion. The Borg had had a good head start at assimilating the ship and its crew. To fully repair the ship would likely be the job for a team of Starbase Engineers, but between the Sentinel's Engineers and the Malinche's, it should be ready to go within a day or two. Of course, she hadn't seen how extensive the damage was on the inside of the ship and things would get complicated if the Borg did show up...

OFF: JP brought to you by:

Commander Mason Hunt
Executive Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38897-B

and

Ensign Turuas'ta Akios
Engineering Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38897-B

and

[Roberts]

ON: <<USS Malinche>>
<Deck one, Day 3, 1701>

Regina was just thinking on how to introduce herself. It was actuaslly a matter that was troubling her since she climbed out of those tubes. Silly thing, really, but she hated introductions and the first moment that were so important of how people will look on you. What do they say, first 20 minutes does it all? Probably. and Then you have to work for years to undo the little mistakes you make in that short time...

She almost jumped when her comm badge chirped and she heard a voice come through: "Thundera to Ensign Roberts, this is your Chief Science Officer. Please report to the science labs on Deck 8 immediately."

What, who? ''Umm, I'm on my way,'' she replied and turned around. Wasn't she just down there?

She walked up to the turbo lift and got in. ''Deck 8,'' she said and leaned at the wall. If she had to go down by tubes again... She rather didn't think.

Moments later the door opened and she walked out and headed towarsd the lab she's 'met' before. When the door opened, she walked in and tried to do make the best impression. The introductions...

"You must be Ensign Roberts. I'm Lieutenant Cheetara Thundera, the Chief Science Officer here on the Malinche."

Regina smiled in response and nodded in responce. ''I am. Nice to meet you.''

She also nodded to the Vulcan female who was standing beside Thundera.

"Pleasure to meet you. Now we must get down to business."

Regina nodded again. She got the feeling that the Chief wasn't the most chatty woman she ever met, and she didn't plan to encourage any bad feeling after half a minute.

''Oh, dark matter,'' she said after one gaze at the screen. What a first day!

OFF:

[Hunt]

<<USS Malinche, Bridge, 1655, Day 3>>

At his post, Mason was working with the computer to get the life support readouts on each working again. Having been placed on manual for such a period of time had was becoming difficult for the crew.

He had been working several hours straight, although he wanted to take a break he decided to venture over to the rashion pack under his command chair.

The water within was luke warm but he didn't care it did quench his thirst. After assisting with the ongoing repairs, Hunt walked over to Akios and knelt down.

"Do you need any further help? The life support indicators are back online." he said.

OFF

Tag Akios

[Masterson]

ON: <USS Sirion, Various Locations, Day 3, 1620>

Will had been waiting by the terminal for almost an hour with no response from anyone. To keep himself occupied, he checked the settings and remaining power of the dampening field. Once or twice, he caught himself staring out the window, trying to figure out if the ship out there was real or not. "I wonder if they'll ever find me," he muttered to himself, taking a seat at the desk again.

<USS Sirion Bridge>

A repetition of the officers location and a motion towards the door was all Blake needed to know. He called out for the security officer nearest him and headed for the door. Daggerd was happy to get out of the bridge at least when he was moving through the ship he felt like he was accomplishing something. Were on the bridge he merely maintained a perimeter as the engineers actually did the work.

Hefting his phaser and a tricorder, Lange followed Daggerd off the bridge. As they entered the corridor, Lange pulled up even with Daggered and motion to his left. "The quickest way to where that signal came from is this way. I'm sure I don't need to remind you to watch out for Borg."

<tag>

<Schulz's Quarters>
Will checked the power setting on the dampening field again. It was running low and he wondered if it wouldn't be better to just use the power for his phaser and go down fighting, rather than hiding. There still hadn't been a reply from the bridge, though he wasn't even sure that they could reply to his message. He looked out the window again and saw the same vessel holding position in the same spot, distorted by the nebula gasses like it had been for the past hour or so.

Will deactivated the dampening field, placed the power cell back in his phaser, and checked the setting. Glancing around the room for anything he might want to take with him, he collected a few items in a small pouch and zipped it shut. Then he stood before the doors, took a deep breath and opened them. The corridor immediately outside his quarters remained unassimilated, but he could see the green glow of the Borg down towards the aft part of the ship. Hefting his phaser, he decided to head for the bridge...it was his only chance. With that, he took off to find the nearest Jefferies tube access where he could make his way up.

<Corridor, Deck 2>

Lange pulled open the Jeffries Tube hatch and stepped back, just in case anything was lurking on the other side. Empty. That was good. They'd made their way down from Deck One via the stairways aft of the bridge, but they were blocked below this deck. That meant they needed to use the Jeffries Tubes, since the turbolifts couldn't be relied upon.

The Sirion had a very eerie feeling, with the air too warm and no sounds other than those made by the boarding parties from the Sentinel. Lange was actively hoping that the Malinche parties arrived soon. It would at least make the ship feel a little bit more inhabited.

<Jeffries Tube between Deck 2 and Deck 3>

Will closed the hatch he had just passed and sealed it behind him. If the Borg did start crawling after him, he didn?t want to make it any easier for them by leaving the way clear. He had been crawling horizontally for about ten minutes, looking for a way to go up. Now he was halfway between deck 2 and deck 3.

He paused a moment to take a breather. Crawling through these tubes was hard work, especially when you were afraid of detection by the Borg. Above him, he could see another hatch that would lead him safely onto deck 2. Just as he reached up to continue climbing, he heard a scraping sound on the hatch above him and the doors began to slowly slide apart.

"Let me see..." Lange said as he squeezed past Daggerd in the tube. Looking down he saw what looked like a humanoid form. "Mister Shultz, is that you?"

?Yeah,? Will replied, looking up into a wristlamp. He could barely make out the two men standing above him.

"I'm Captain James Lange of the USS Sentinel. We were on our way to find you. Come on up here and we'll get you updated on the situation."

Will climbed up next to the two men and turned to Captain Lange. ?Lieutenant Will Schulz, Chief Operations Officer, USS Sirion?that is to say, former Chief Operations Officer,? Will said, ?You got my message then? How many ships are there? Did anyone else survive?? Will was eager to find out what happened to his crewmates and to learn more about who his rescuers were.

"Slow down, Lieutenant," Lange said, holding his hand up. "We got your message. There are two ships, and yes, several of your crewmates survived. The Away Team members are at Starbase 259 awaiting re-assignment. Several other members of the crew are aboard my ship. I think your talents might be of use aboard the Malinche, however. At least until the end of this operation."

OFF:

JP brought to you by:

Captain James Lange
Commanding Officer
USS Peacekeeper NCC-75000
Task Force 22, Horizon Fleet

and

Lieutenant Blake Daggerd
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Peacekeeper NCC-75000
Task Force 22, Horizon Fleet

and

[Starbase 386 Crew]

ON: <USS Sentinel. Main Engineering, 1600-ish, Day 3>

Crewman Kevin Sico (NPC) tugged at the collar of his uniform. He was sweating like a proverbial pig, and he certainly hadn't been doing enough manual labor to cause it. "Hey L'Rek," he called, "is it getting hotter in here, or am I just a dumb petaQ?"

L'Rek (NPC) looked over at the man attempting to talk to her and sneered, "The former does not exclude the latter....However it does seem to be warmer than usual."

"Right... I'm going to let the Commander know, then." Sico reached over and started a diagnostic on the environmental control systems as he tapped his commbadge. "Engineering to Bridge. The Environmental control systems seem to be malfunctioning. It's steaming hot down here."

<Sentinel Bridge>

Davenport sighed to himself and tapped his own commbadge. "I don't really see how that's my concern, Crewman. You are, after all, in Engineering."

"And you are, after all, in charge of the ship," L'Rek replied. For now he was, anyway. It would bring her great pleasure to slit the scrawny annoyance's throat.

"Just fix it!" Davenport exclaimed, sounding more than a little peevish. "Let me know when you're done. I don't want to hear about it until then."

WO2 Gregory Mills (PNPC) diverted his attention from the helm console to look over his shoulder at the Ops station where Ensign Tina Marris (NPC) sat. He rolled his eyes and mouthed "What a moron."

Tina started to giggle out loud, but caught herself as she got a look from The Moron. Suppressing a laugh she met Greg's eyes and shook her head, mouthing, "Why do WE get stuck with him?"

Mills shrugged in response as he heard Davenport stand up behind him. He quickly returned his attention to his panel as the XO came up behind him.

"How are we doing, Mister Mills," Davenport asked.

"Well, sir," Mills said, adding an almost imperceptible taunt to the title, "aside from Environmental Systems issues, WE are doing fine. We don't exactly have a whole lot to do right now, though."

Davenport snorted and continued to stand behind Mills, looking at the main viewscreen.

Sneaking a glance over at Greg and Nigel, Tina stifled a laugh. How they got stuck with Mr. Prim and Proper she'd never guess...

<Engineering>

"Right," Sico muttered. "Just fix it the man says. We don't even know what's wrong with it yet."

"You didn't actually expect a more helpful response from him, did you? L'Rek looked over at him, shaking her head. "What are the current readings?"

"Ah, check... let's see... Atmospheric pressure is two kilo-pascals above normal, humidity is at ninety-two percent, and the temperature... dear god, no wonder I'm sweating. Temperature is thirty-nine-point-one degrees Celsius. A couple of towels and we could have a Sauna."

L'Rek looked over Kevin's shoulder. She'd just checked the calibration of the Environmental systems the other day. What could have happened? "Is there some kind of manual override in effect somehow? The system was set to auto-adjust when I went off shift last night."

Sico tapped a series of commands into his panel. "No override... The default settings for this deck and Deck 12 seem to have been altered... Dammit!" Sico pushed away from his console and went to another one. "It's not letting me reset the default status."

"No override, but you can't reset it?" She moved over to the console and tapped quickly, trying to find out what was going on. "We're locked out somehow...We'll have to fix the settings manually," L'Rek practically growled - the idea did not appeal to her.

"Oh, goody... a trip through the Jeffries Tubes..." Sico sighed. "So, do we draw straws, play rock, paper scissors, or have a bat'leth duel to see who crawls in first?"

L'Rek glared at him. She was in no mood for games.

"Right... I'll go. Could you hand me that tool kit?" Sico pointed towards the kit he wanted as he unzipped his duty jacket. He'd be cooler without it and have an easier time getting through the tubes.

Reaching over, her fingers grasped the tool kit and she handed it to him. "Don't get lost. And tell me if figuring out the environmental systems is too challenging for you."

OFF:

This has been a JP by:

Commander Nigel Davenport III (PNCP)
Executive Officer
USS Sentinel NCC-74673
As Played By Captain Lange

&

WO2 Gregory Mills (PNPC)
Astronavigation Specialist
USS Sentinel NCC-74673
As Played By Captain Lange

&

Crewman Kevin Sico
Power Systems Specialist
USS Sentinel NCC-74673
As Played By Captain Lange

&

Ensign Tina Marris
Operations Officer
USS Sentinel NCC-74673
As Played By CPO Nira

&

Crewman Apprentice L'Rek
Environmental Systems Specialist
USS Sentinel NCC-74673
As Played By CPO Nira