You Can't Judge A Planet By Its Dilithium

[Darkhelm]

<<USS Malinche>>
<Sickbay, Day 1, 0945>

After ensuring that Langely could stand on her feet again, Amanda had sent her back to her quarters while she looked at the rest of the test results. Something were popping up in her mind, although nothing was making sense at the moment.

"I finished looking through those deep tissue scans you ordered," Adam (NPC) said, handing Amanda a PADD.

"And?"

"Something very interesting, I found traces of in-organic alloy throughout her skeleton system, so being the curious man that I am I ran a analysis of it you won't believe what came back."

"What?"

"That alloy is found in Borg implants."

Amanda should have been surprised but given what she was looking at the moment she knew that her orginal hunch had been correct.

"That explains these then."

Amanda turned her display so that Adam could see it.

"I thought they might have been some sort of mutated RBC, turns out they are very, very, cleverly hidden nanoprobes....Borg nanoprobes."

"And they would pass as RBC's under any normal circumstance?"

"Right," Amanda nodded. "But when I ran her blood through a subspace analyzer these things stood out like a sore thumb. I think its time we had a talk with Ms. Langely."

OFF: Tag Langely!

[Barrett]

<<USS Malinche>>
<Bridge, 0958, Day 1>

"Besides, what happened to everyone's spirit of adventure?"

Jason did his best not to speak his mind when Captain Kersare asked that question. Personally, he didn't like what they were walking into and lightening up would only cause they to make mistakes that could be fatal. But he had made his feelings clear during the mission breifing so there was no use in bringing them up again now.

"Docking clamps released, we are now free to navigate," Joshau (NPC) responded.

"Good, we can get this fiasco over with," Jason mumbled, so low that only Joshua sitting next to him could hear it.

"Mr. Barrett, clear our departure with ops."

"Departure cleared, we've cleared the outer marker, its not safe to engage warp engines."

Jason did his best to appear relaxed on the bridge, but part of him couldn't shake that they were walking into a trap....holodeck adventure or not.

OFF:

[Langley]

<location Langleys quarters, 1000 hours>

Sam lay on her bed, she had been drifting in and out of sleep since she had gotten out of sick bay. The faces of the crew were starting to haunt her, not to mention really piss her off.

Now she thought back to how she had politely pointed out to Brice that she was a Warrant Officer, and she outranked him, and that that had also ment that he shouldnt be concerned with her as his COB status meant he was to look out for the enlisted not her. Of course she had told him that she was fine.

She got up still feeling drained. Walking over to the replicator she ordered a coffee, black, 2 sugars.

=/\= Warrant Officer Langley, Please report to sickbay immediatly. =/\=

Sam sighed, drank the coffee, and made her way back to sickbay.

[Kersare]

OFF: To keep things moving, I'm posting our arrival at Direidi - note the Day #.

ON:
<<Ready Room, 1104, Day 3>>

Her bridge shift just ended, Isabel entered her Ready Room, "Computer, lights."

As the lights came on, she sat down at her desk. Swiveling her chair, Isabel looked out the viewports to the space beyond. They'd been traveling for several days now, the crew still as uneasy as ever. She wondered if Kirk ever had this much trouble with his crew on a mission such as this.

Kirk's <i>Enterprise</i> crew had gone to Sigma Iotia II and encountered a race that modelled itself after various influences - in Kirk's time, their society was similiar to that of Chicago mobs in Earth's past. Direidi had been another destination of Kirk's. Was there any record of the crew complaining or being so mistrustful? Not that Isabel was aware.

Rubbing her temples, Isabel sighed. It was so frustrating. StarFleet's orders were StarFleet's orders - she couldn't change them. Why couldn't the crew make the best of the situation? They hadn't minded facing an outbreak on Maran or rescuing hostages on Celtron V, or looking through unexplored caves on Celtron V, but now they minded going to the planet of a Federation member where the people liked to amuse their guests with some theater type interactions.

Apparently there was no way to win with them. She did her best at convincing them, to no avail. The only thing left was to simply lead by example, but judging by their response thus far, she seriously doubted that working at all. At least it wasn't her entire staff that was against this. Todd at least could appreciate it, and some of the others she'd heard in the corridors seemed excited by the opportunity.

Isabel's thoughts were interrupted by a comm beep, "Captain please report to the bridge; we're approaching Direidi."

"On my way."

Her hands smoothed her uniform once she stood, then she headed for the door, hearing the familiar swoosh as the doors opened. A few of those on the bridge looked up and smiled or nodded to her as she walked across to the center of the bridge.

"Report."

"We'll arrive at Direidi in five minutes, Captain," Joshua reported from flight control.

She nodded, "Once we arrive, enter a standard orbit, Mr. Sychorski."

"Aye Captain."

"Ms. Holtman, notify the Direidi of our arrival," Isabel looked at the young woman at the communications console.

Caitlyn's green eyes turned from Isabel as she relayed the message. A few minutes later she replied, "Captain, they've sent coordinates for us to beam to at 1200 hours, and said to come hungry."

"And so it shall begin," Isabel said quietly to herself. She tapped her comm badge, "Kersare to crew. Initial landing party shall report to Transporter Room 2 at 1145 hours to beam down to the surface. Everyone else, keep in mind the revised duty schedules due to the departure of the away team. Kersare out."

Isabel took her seat in the center chair, letting her eyes wander over those on the bridge. It would be an interesting mission indeed.

OFF: Tag crew

[Thomas]

<<USS Malince>>
<Main Engineering, 1115, Day 3>

Brice hated the way that things were turning out; made even worse by the fact that he didnt' exactly trust those intelligence types onboard...including both Grayson and Langely. Those two were always so dark an secretive and if the Malinche was on a peaceful mission; then why did they need intelligence types.

And then there was this business with the Direidi, he didn't trust them nor did he find thier theater like situations amusing; he found them more annoying then anything. And he didn't like being annoyed, he could understand why Jason and Amanda felt the way they did.

Sighing heavily, he unlogged himself from his terminal and headed out or engineering.

OFF:

[Darkhelm]

<<USS Malinche>>
<Sickbay, 1005, Day 3>

Amanda wasn't sure what made her more mad, the fact that niether Mark nor Sam mentioned to her that Sam had Borg implants or the fact that her medical file omitted it completely. Thanks to her and Adam's (NPC) hard work they had managed to figure it out...that still did nothing to ease her tempor however.

This knowlegde would have been vital to saving Langely's life; knowledge that Amanda wouldn't have had. She didn't like loosing patients because of missing pieces and this was one VERY large missing piece.

The doors to her office opened, admitting Samantha Langely.

"We have some things to discuss Warrant Officer."

"Such as?"

Amanda sat on the edge of her desk and tossed Langely the PADD containing all the information they had found, including her implants.

"It would appear that we need to have a long overdo conversation."

OFF: Tag Langely.

[Grayson]

ON:
<< Intel Office , 1104, Day 3>>

OLD:

"And so it shall begin," Isabel said quietly to herself. She tapped her comm badge, "Kersare to crew. Initial landing party shall report to Transporter Room 2 at 1145 hours to beam down to the surface. Everyone else, keep in mind the revised duty schedules due to the departure of the away team. Kersare out."

Isabel took her seat in the center chair, letting her eyes wander over those on the bridge. It would be an interesting mission indeed.

NEW:

Mark Grayson sighed. The whole idea of trusting the Direidi was a bad. But, apparently, no else agreed with him, so he kept his thoughts to himself. Mark considered sending a covert team down without Kersare knowing, but, he thought better. That would be a bad move, if someone was caught. Not that he thought anyone of his team would be captured, they were very good, but, he didn't want to put his captain in a diplomatic crisis.

Still, Why not to send Rayne and Langley down to... "Sightseeing"? Of course that wouldn't fool anyone, the Direidi included. Unless of course, Mark could convince any Direide official that both officers were not from Intel. Like any other CIO, he had created to each of one of his team a secondary (fake) position. Rayne was behavior analyst and Langley, a structural engineer. That what was in the crew manifest at the moment. No good intel officer would call himself that.

So, his first move was to make someone at Direidi to accept his "analysts" to come down. After that, both of them would have a small windown of oportunity to find the most information about the whereabouts of the disappeared crew. The trick was, of course, do that without Kersare knowing. That was the challenge and the risk. Kersare was a good officer, a fine captain, but she didn't understand the game Intel officers played. It wasn't a fair game; a black and white disposition of pieces; it was a dark game, a game full of deception and deceit, where everything was gray.

Before he left, he decided to talk with Langley and Rayne. He pressed his badge. "Grayson to Intelligence Officers. Briefing in Intel Office in 5 minutes. No excuses. Grayson out."

Mark leaned back on his chair. "And let the games begin", muttered him, planning his next action. He already knew too much about the situation, but, he wanted more information... "Information is life", used to say his instructor and Mark wanted a lot of life before the Malinche crew entered the Direidi lethal game.

OFF: tag Langley and Rayne.

[Barrett]

<<USS Malinche>>
<Corridor, 1140, Day 3>

"Maybe you just need to relax," Adam (NPC) offered. "After all they are members of the Federation."

"Sorry," Jason responded. "But I don't relax around people that make you jump through hoops for thier own amusement."

"They just have a different approach, thats all."

"I don't want to hear it," Jason snapped. He didn't mean for it to come out that way but he was stressed and for some reason he tended to take that out on those closest to him. Adam being one of them.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you like that."

"It's ok...though I reall do wish that you would try and relax."

"Not going to happen," Jason smiled, giving Adam a quick peck on the cheek. "I'll be back later, going to go play detective now."

"My Sherlock," Adam sighed.

Jason gave him a mock salute and then disappeared around the corner.

OFF:

[Hunt]

OOC: Sorry for the latesness in posting and moving us ahead a bit.

<<USS Malinche>>
<<Main Bridge, 1145, Day 3>>

The Malinche had now entered orbit of the planet. Tensions and nervous for those of the crew especially the XO seemed to be heightened. Mason got up and approached the helm position.

?Standard orbit Mr. Sychorski(NPC). Put us in a position over the beam down site.?

=/\= This is XO Hunt, all landing party members to the transporter room=/\=

?Ensign Stone(NPC) lets get a scan going on the surface. I want every inch scanned and kept under our sensors while the away team is down there. Also have the transporter room standing by and to keep a constant lock on our comm badges.?

?Aye sir.?

Mason turned to Kersare who had not said a word since the ship had entered orbit. She seemed rather distracted by the level of uncertainty for this mission in which some of the crew had maintained since being briefed.

?Captain, we have established standard orbit. Transporter room standing by now awaiting your orders.?

<Tag Kersare>

OFF: Tag Kersare and Senior Staff

[Rayne]

<<Uss Malinche-B>>
<Enroute to Intel Office,1104, Day 3>

It took Rayne a total of One hour and twenty minutes to remove the Ants from the Malinche and two minutes to contain them for later reprogramming, it was hard work having to enter some pretty tight places and odd spaces but she managed to come out ontop like she had always done back durring the war. Rayne was just about to head back to her quarters to rest when to her annoyance Mr. Grayon's Voice came over the comm.

Grayon: "Grayson to Intelligence Officers. Briefing in Intel Office in 5 minutes. No excuses. Grayson out."

She understood the position she was in on her mission aboard the Malinche, she knew she had to follow his orders for the time being but there was just something about him that annoyied Rayne. Try as she did Rayne couldn't put her finger on it, perhaps it was just her she shrugged before sprinting off towards the nearest Turbolift not wanting to give Mr. Grayson any excuses as to why she was late which if her "luck" as some of her past colleages had called it held out she would be fine, besides she is the fastest runner SF9's SpecOps division has and they know it all to well with the last training exercise before she was sent off to the Malinche. Within minutes she reached a Turbolift having avoided running into several crewmembers in the process, and proceeded on her dash to get to the intel office in time.

<Intel Office, 1108, Day 3>>
One minute left and Rayne walked inside the Intel Office, as if she had just walked all the way there though knowing that it might not be fooling anyone but atleast she made it in time. Rayne stood there waiting to be given the go ahead to sit down, and looked around the office a little making a quick mental picture of the room.

OFF: Tag Grayson.

[Peters]

OFF: sorry for the delay...

ON: <Main Engineering, 1030, Day 3>

"Just keep an eye on the valves for me, will you? I'll worry about the intermix formula." Peters sighed as the young crewman walked off. The man was brand new, right out of specialty training, and thought he knew everything. He hadn't been on a ship long enough to learn that what the regulations listed as a serious condition was actually fairly routine in practice.

Still, he was a bright kid, he'd learn... as long as Peters didn't smack him over the head with a spanner first. He sighed again and looked around the engineering chamber. Most of his staff on duty were busy with various tasks, ironing out minor wrinkles on the operations of the ship's propulsion and power systems, passing off other things to their counterparts in Operations, and receiving notices from other departments of maintenance issues in various minor systems. It was almost like a highly-choreographed dance.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Peters looked at the chronometer, or as it was called on old Earth, the watch, on his wrist. Less than 45 minutes to ETA Direidi. Looking around once more, Peters started for the door. He needed to change into a regular uniform from his utility jumpsuit, and pack for a possible stay on the planet at least overnight. He wanted to be prepared for whatever came up.

"Johnson, keep an eye on things while I'm gone, will you? And try not to blow anything up. I expect to come back to an intact ship." Peters smiled at the Alpha Shift Lead. The man smiled back and gave him a thumbs up.

"You got it, boss. No explosions, small or large, and definitely no clandestine poker games."

Chuckling to himself, Peters strode out the door and towards his quarters.

<1115, Corridor outside Transporter Room 2>

Peters hefted the small duffel back into place on his shoulder. He'd been almost completely ready when the Captain's announcement had come through, and so had just had to throw the last items in his bag, zip it up, and walk out the door. As he entered the transporter room, he saw a small group of other officers. He wasn't the first here, but he was far from the last.

"Good Morning," he said simply.

OFF: Tag to anyone that wants to pick up on that

[Grayson]

OLD

<Intel Office, 1108, Day 3>>

One minute left and Rayne walked inside the Intel Office, as if she had just walked all the way there though knowing that it might not be fooling anyone but atleast she made it in time. Rayne stood there waiting to be given the go ahead to sit down, and looked around the office a little making a quick mental picture of the room.

NEW:

Mark's right eyebrow went up as he looked at Rayne's reaction. She was analyzing the room and probably seeing anything that could be used later. "Sit down, Ensign", said him, finally. As she sat, Mark got up and started pacing.

"The reason you're here it's obvious to me, ensign. Although, I didn't figure out some of it yet, I'm quite aware of your secondary objective aboard the Malinche." That was a huge bluff and Mark was throwing that because he wanted to make sure she could be loyal. What he was about to ask wasn't authorized and could lead to a court martial.

He raise his hand to dismiss any refutal answer. "Don't bother, ensign. You're here because your presence adds quality to my department. As long your objectives don't cross with mine, we're game", said him. He sat again on his chair. "Now to the business at hand. As you know, I'll be beaming down along several of the senior officer in an attempt to find more about the missing crew. It's na?ve to think we'll obtain anything like that, so, I'll be proceding with an unauthorized infiltration on the planet."

Mark grabbed a Padd and gave it to Rayne. "As you can read, I already establish your cover aboard the ship. To the Direidi, you're a behavior analyst", he looked at his own Padd. "I still have to find a way to make the Direidi accept your presence on the surface, but, I don't predict any trouble convincing some official to authorize. Questions, so far?", Mark asked, looking at Rayne's reaction.

OFF: tag Rayne.

[Rayne]

ON:
<<Uss Malinche-B>>
<Intel Office, 1110,Day 3>

Sara sat down after being given the go ahead, having already made a complete detailed image of the room in her mind, she then waited to listen to what it was that she had been called to the briefing for which Mr. Grayson soon got to of course after poking his finger in the candy jar again so to speak when he tried to bluff her with a old trick. "Sure he might think he knows why I am here, but does he really? I'd like to know that answer." Sara thought silently to herself while listening as Grayson went on completly ignoring his raised hand, she wasn't going to argue with him but if he started poking into things too deep she would have to do something she really didn't think he would enjoy too much. Sara kept digging into Mr. Grayson's background trying to figure out if she could risk letting him in on her real reason for being here or if he might just be the one she was after, which she of course doubted. Grayson to her seemed too loyal to the Federation to be a so called "mole" which for him was good otherwise he'd be in a brig cell waiting for a trial.

Rayne: "So as what I have read here is stating I am suppost to be a Behavioral Analyst?...Seems like "fun" and as for the legality of this, if I might speak freely Sir. I feel it can be launched out a torpedo tube. Nothing "legal" in this business is ever "fun"."

With that said Sara shutup and simply smiled at nothing in paticular probly confusing Grayson in the process.

OFF: Tags Grayson.

[Kersare]

<<Bridge, 1148, Day 3>>

?Captain, we have established standard orbit. Transporter room standing by now awaiting your orders," Mason said.

"Is the entire away team down there?" Somehow Isabel doubted it, especially since she and Mason were still on the bridge.

He nodded, "All of them but us."

"That's impressive." She looked over at the communications officer, "Send a message to the Direidi letting them know that we'll be beaming down shortly."

"Aye captain."

Isabel looked over at her Executive Officer, "Well, off to the transporter room." With a final look around her bridge, she walked over to the turbolift with Mason and headed down to Transporter Room 2.

<<Transporter Room 2, 1157>>

Upon stepping into the transporter room with Mason, Isabel looked at the group of assembled officers - Brice, Mark, Samantha, Sara, Jason, Soren, Cheetara, Roderic, Todd, and Amanda. They were all there. Whether they *actually* wanted to be there was the better question, but at this point it didn't matter. They were going.

"Good afternoon everyone, I hope you're all hungry as it appears the Direidi are serving lunch for us. I see that you each have a bag as well, those will be sent directly to the hotel coordinates that we were given once the twelve of us are beamed down. We'll go in three groups of four - Myself, Ms. Thundera, Mr. Peters, and Ms. Darkhelm will be the first group, Mr. Hunt, Mr. Grayson, Mr. Barrett, and Mr. Treharne will be next, and Mr. Thomas, Ms. Langley, Ms. Rayne, and Mr. Soren will be in the last group." Isabel looked around to see that they had caught her instructions, and saw them moving to the assigned beaming down groups.

She then continued, "I know some of you are more than leery about going to see the Direidi, but try to remember that they are Federation members and would not intentionally harm us - they're not known to be hostile or dangerous. Also keep in mind that our mission involves the USS Sirion and the safety of their crew. I expect that all of you shown full diplomatic courtesy to the Direidi for the duration of our stay." Her eyes met with each of her officers' to make sure her point was clear.

"To the surface then," Isabel said, then stepped onto the transporter pad. "Energize."

<<Direidi, Planet Surface, 1204>>

Isabel, Cheetara, Todd, and Amanda materialized on some sort of raised platform. The platform was in the middle of a grassy field, with an identical platform to the right of it. In the distance were a series of rocky hills, and in front of those was a town full of small buildings and one rather impressive structure.

The large structure looked rather similar to a Gothic castle in many respects, with a touch of Victorian mansion and part of a greenhouse thrown in for good measure.

As she was starting to get used to the scenery, the other two parts of her away team beamed down next to them. Isabel was just getting used to the planet when a huge crowd of people in bright clothing started pouring out of the greenhouse-like portion of the huge building....and they were followed by a brass band. The entourage stopped about twenty feet from the platform as the band began to play. Shortly thereafter, the crowd began to sing:

"We thought that you might like
A warm welcome to our home,
So though we'd really rather
That no one came around,
We thought that we'd oblige you
And bid you welcome to our town.

So welcome to Direidi,
Please stay long as you will,
Since we've nothing to be hiding,
You can stay at our hotel,
And don't worry 'bout the bill.

If you want for anything
While you're visiting here
Please don't hesitate to tell us,
For we are the best of hosts
Despite the way the sell us.

And welcome to Direidi
We must say once more,
It isn't easy to say all this
And keep an even score.

You may stay long as you wish,
We won't show you the door,
We might even be able to help you
If you tell us what you're looking for.

For now let's go and eat
We'll show you our hospitality,
'Cause there's nowhere in this system
Quite like our Direidi."

During the 'Welcome song', as Isabel decided to call it, she watched with interest and amusement. If nothing else, the Direidi certainly were entertaining, though that probably wouldn't make any of her officers feel any better.

She looked over at Mason, "Well, I suppose I'll answer that one best I can.."

Taking a breath, she began:

"We thank you for your welcome
We've heard a lot about you,
I'm sure Direidi we'll enjoy it
Much as we like the view.

We're all ready to eat
So just show us the way,
We're looking forward to what you're serving
And what you have to say."

As she finished, Isabel smiled and gave a slight bow as two of the Direidi stepped forward, a man and a woman.

"Thank you for the kind reply. I am Emily(NPC), and this is my husband, Kyler(NPC)," the woman smiled.

Isabel returned the smile, "Thank you for the warm welcome Emily. I am Captain Isabel Kersare of the USS <i>Malinche</i>. Pleased to meet you. I believe you received word of our mission."

"Ah ah ah," Kyler said. "No business talks while stomachs are rumbling. The food's all ready - eat, then talk." He then gave her a curious look, "Why are you pleased?"

"As you wish," Isabel said. "I'm pleased because I enjoy meeting new people."

"Then you should be very pleased indeed," Emily replied. "There are almost sixteen thousand of us here on Direidi."

Isabel blinked, "Yes, I suppose I will be rather pleased then...Let me introduce my crewmembers first though, if you would." Seeing Kyler nod, she went through and introduced the eleven others. She looked back at them and nodded, "I believe we're ready - lead the way Kyler and Emily."

Smiles appeared on their faces as they turned and headed back through the crowd, which politely parted to allow Kyler, Emily, and the <i>Malinche</i> crew through.

<<Direidi, Dining Hall, 1215>>

Kyler and Emily led them into the glass portion of the intricate building, where several tables were arranged with seats. Nice stonework was along the walls, which were also adorned with tapestries.

"Come in, come in," Emily urged. "Find a seat, any seat you like!" She then turned towards what Isabel could only guess would be the kitchen, "Lunchtime!"

As she did, the doors burst open and waiters and waitresses poured out, carrying trays with a wide assortment of foods on them and placed them on the table. As soon as they had, they set to work pouring drinks for the entire luncheon crowd, then retreated back to the kitchen with a nod to Emily and Kyler on the way.

"Enjoy everyone!" Kyler announced, raising a glass.

"Why were there two platforms?" Isabel asked Kyler once he'd sat down.

His eyes slid over to hers, "One was for you, the second is for the other group."

"Other group?"

He nodded, "A group of Klingons will be here before dinner, something about some testing regarding their mining operations here awhile back."

"Interesting..." Isabel picked up her placecard....it was in Klingon. She looked over at Mason, tilting the placecard so he could see it, "Well, we certainly won't be bored, will we?" Shaking her head slightly and grinning, she started filling her plate.

OFF: Tag crew! Feel free to backpost if you'd like or do some reactionary posts to this one... I'll move the luncheon along in a few days or next week at the latest.

[Barrett]

<<Direidi, 1204>>

Jason watched as the Direidi let forth there song. He wasn't sure what to make of it, although he knew that Captian Kersare wanted them to be on thier best behavior.

"If I see a yellow brick road or a wicked witch, I'm getting out of here," he whispered to Darkhelm.

Darkhelm responded by quirking an eyebrow and letting a small smile escape her lips.

<Dining Hall, 1215>

Jason looked around as they entered the dining hall. He made sure to avoid eating on the Malinche before they beamed down, mainly so that he would have an appetite for when they were here. He still didn't like what was going on; nor was he amused by all the singing but then again he wasn't supposed to be amused.

They were here to find the crew and thats exactly what Jason intended on focusing his energy on.