USS Malinche NCC-38997-A

ON

OLD

After a quick walk from the Science Lab to her quarters, she was soon walking into her quarters to find two of her roommates already there. A Klingon and a Human... with Borg Implants! 'This is going to be FUN!' She thought to herself as the door swished close behind her.

She put on her biggest smile and giggled. "Hiya! I'm Petra! Guess we'll be sharing the same quarters! I can't wait to get to know you both!"

NEW

<Quarters, Day 18, 2315>

P'ayanna stopped, mid-motion, to stare at the be' who'd just barged in. She found herself hoping that "Two" would talk to her to allow P'ayanna to gather her nerves. Perhaps "Two" wasn't so bad, after all.

"Petra? I'm Two of Nine. You can call me either Two or Rebekah. This is P'ayanna," Two introduced herself and P'ayanna to Petra.

"mreh," P'ayanna growled, not looking forward to getting to know this Petra taHqeq. Her concentration shot, she gave up on the moqbara and crossed the room to the refresher.

Petra grinned wider. "Ooo! 'Two' sounds so very plain... I think Rebekah is more suiting for you! We're gonna be such great friends! We'll have to get together sometime!" She looked over at the grunting Klingon. "And P'ayanna. I think you and I are gonna get along just as well! I've never ever had a Klingon friend before so this friendship will open up so many doors!" She looked at both of them at the same time. "So, where do the two of you work?"

P'ayanna didn't answer, choosing, instead, to step into the head and wash her hands and face. This was going to be a very trying discussion, indeed. She tried to remember just what she'd done wrong to deserve this and came up short. What was worse, she could feel the beginnings of a severe headache just between the temples.

"I work in engineering." Her name "Two" was plain? She never considered herself to be "Rebekah."

"Ahh! Engineering! You guys did such a wonderful job getting our database back! We just got it before my shift ended. Thank you so very, very much!" She walked over to the Klingon, P'ayanna. "I appoligize, but I never caught which department you worked in, Ms. P'ayanna." She noted in a sweet, quirky voice.

P'ayanna looked away from the sink to catch the girl's eye. "If I answer, will you leave me be?"

"P'ayanna, just tell her where you work. I'm sure that she will have another question or two to ask," Two chided.

"Well..." Petra began, stretching the word, "I'm sure since we're going to be roommates, we should get to know each other better. I think we'll be great friends." She ended, smiling sweetly at the Klingon.

"batlh bIHeghjaj," she retorted to Two, before asking Petra, "what do you know of friends, gagny?"

"I think she got hergagh dead today instead of living and crawling by mistake. She's normally not this grumpy. Too many strange things going on right now," Two apologized to Petra for P'ayanna.

"Awwww! Yea the ship does appear to be having some strange things going on." She looked between the two of them. "But! I know what'll fix that." She paused for a moment, giggling. "GROUP HUG!" She announced, throwing her arms around P'ayanna and waiting for Rebekah to join in.

"Group hug?" Two was not sure about this. She looked to P'ayanna for clues as to what to do.

Bringing her hands together, P'ayanna forced them between herself and Petra and then slapped them outward, breaking the girl's grasp. A hand to the shoulder spun the girl away from P'ayanna and a nudge started her out of the head. "Do not do that again," P'ayanna growled, barely able to keep from hitting her.

"I'm sorry. Hugs are futile."

Petra lost her footing and fell to the deck, hard. "Ouch! What was that for?" She looked up at P'ayanna, her smile gone as she rubbed her sore bottom. She slowly began standing up again, keeping her eyes on the Klingon, but shying off towards Rebekah.

P'ayanna wished that the weakling of a girl had taken the hint, but decided it was probably for the best. Oblivious to hints, and clearly clueless about Klingons, she figured this would be a lesson that the girl would need. Since there was no honor in attacking the weak, she truly hoped this would be the only such lesson that the girl required.

Two extended her hand to Petra. "I'm sorry, but you must remember that Klingons are not the huggy-feely types."

P'ayanna gave a derisive snort and then walked back into the main room. Since she was already barefoot, she hopped onto her bunk and watched the ceiling. She was too riled to sleep right away, but would probably drift off soon enough.

Petra continued to look at P'ayanna. "You still didn't answer me. That was very, very mean." Her hand grasped Rebekah's.

"She works in Security," Two told Petra.

"Why does it concern you?" Payanna shouted.

"I just wanted to be your friend, but if you don't want to...then there's nothing I can do about that..." Petra sighed as she sat down on her bunk, pulling her dress shoes off.

OFF

P'ayanna
assistant chief Security Officer/tactical Officer

and

Ensign Petra Mavose
Chief Science Officer

and

OFF: don't know why the HTML tags didn't work in the previous one

ON:

<Quarters, Day 18, ~2330>

OLD:

"I just wanted to be your friend, but if you don't want to...then there's nothing I can do about that..." Petra sighed as she sat down on her bunk, pulling her dress shoes off.

NEW:

P'ayanna sighed and said nothing. She'd need to be extra careful around her newest roommate. The alternative would be to end up in trouble for seriously injuring the pujwI', which would not be ideal for anybody involved. The nerve of that woman!

It was regrettable that the girl wanted to be P'ayanna's friend. Simply wanting to be a friend was not enough and never was. To make a friend required at least some level of respect for the other entity; attempting to browbeat P'ayanna with girlish silliness in the hope that it would somehow endear her to the girl was absolutely foolish. Clearly, this Petra knew nothing of Klingons, which was surprising...

Either that or she wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, so to speak...

Based on her few minutes of interaction with the girl, P'ayanna decided the latter to be the case. It was regrettable, but the stupid couldn't be helped...

OFF:
_________________
Cadet P'ayanna
Assistant Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Malinche
NCC-38897-B

<<USS Malinche>>
<Holodeck 2145, Day 18>

With the sunlight fading behind them Amanda and Adam (NPC) made the journey to the summit. They had made it to the top in near record time, although Amanda was lagging behind due to the fact that she had just taken on some Klingons earlier. Adam was moving with the grace and speed of all his gymnastics training, deftly scaling the rock face.

Now they stood looking over the articfically created lake, taking in the gentle breeze that wafted through the air.

"Always seems more peaceful from up here," Adam said, looking out on the horizon.

"Life always did seem simpler when you had a planet underneath you and not deck plating...this business with the Klingons is starting un-nerve me some."

"I'm sure Captain Kersare and Commander Hunt will do a fine job of getting this under control."

"I have no doubt that they will....but this doesn't strike me as being Klingon....they're more direct, even in thier intelligence work."

"You think something else is going on?"

"I wish I knew," Amanda sighed. "But this just doesn't fit...I don't know Adam...something very wrong is going on around here. I just hope that we figure it out before something awful happens."

"You and me both...ready to climb back down now?"

"Sure."

OFF: Just some character stuff.

ON: Day 18. 2300. Bridge.

Ensign Kai rubbed her face and blinked gritty eyes, sighing, she picked up her fresh steaming cup of coffee. Taking a few sips of the boiling liquid, she drummed her hand on the side of her console in frustration.

'Monitor Communications' she repeated to herself. Others might think it strange that she was still up doing just that, but not those who knew her best, oh no. Sharon was a very compulsive and obsessive woman, once she had set her mind to something then that was it, she wouldn't stop. This was a prime example, until someone ordered her off the bridge, something came up or she collapsed at her post, she was likely to sit there.

She re-calibrated the communications equipment to pick up transmissions on a higher-band frequency with her one free hand, it was a minor adjustment and the other hand was busy keeping the earpiece in place. Although not entirely necessary, the earpiece served a purpose, and served it well, instead of distracting the rest of the bridge crew with fluctuating background noise, she could keep the noise to herself.

She picked up her coffee again, the cup neared her lips, suddenly her whole body winced as a burst of static screamed down her earpiece, she dropped the cup of hot liquid onto her lap and grabbed her earpiece in pain. Several other crewmembers looked at her, puzzled. Sharon quickly turned the volume right down on the earpiece.

",,,,*static*...confict...*static* help...!" She heard over her earpiece.

Sharon slammed her fist down as the transmission ended, she tried re-calibrating again but to no avail. If her training had taught her anything, it was to call for help in situations like this. She pressed a small button on her panel, a soft beep came and Kai spoke, "Captain Kersare to the bridge please".

Suddenly, the moment was over, she slowed down and realized that she was in pain from the burn, and that she had just called the Captain to the bridge. "Oh...crap..." she said aloud.

She disabled her earpiece and played the brief transmission back on the bridge speaker, listening carefuly as she did so. She thought that the voice, male, sounded desperate, almost as if he, whoever he was, was in pain.

Sharon looked over her shoulder as the Captain walked quickly onto the bridge, just finishing adjusting her duty uniform. "Captain, we just recieved a burst of transmission from Celtron" she reported.

<tag bridge and Captain>

OFF:

OOC: Sorry it's taken a little while to post, Captain. With Adam being home I've been a little busy. Won't happen again.
_________________

Ensign Sharon Kai
Chief Communications Officer
USS Malinche
NCC-38897-B

ON:

<<Bridge, 2314, Day 18>>

Isabel hurried onto the bridge; she'd been waiting for a transmission from Celtron V for days now. Apparently Garshon Trelin(NPC) had finally gotten her message and responded. Hopefully they would now have an update.

Looking around, she saw Sharon at the Communications console. Isabel walked over to her, pausing in front of the console.

Sharon looked up, seeing Isabel, "Captain, we just recieved a burst of transmission from Celtron" she reported.

Nodding, Isabel replied, "What have they said?"

"Actually ma'am, the transmission was rather jumbled. I was only able to make out a few words..."conflict" and "help"...the rest was all static," Sharon told her.

"I don't like the sounds of that...something else must have happened. They already know we're coming, they wouldn't need to request help again unless something else went wrong." Isabel's mind raced.. "Ensign, see if you can..." Pausing, she noticed Sharon squirming in her chair, "Is something wrong?"

Sharon's cheeks turned red, "I was startled when I first heard the transmission and spilled coffee on myself."

"Are you alright? Why don't you go down to sickbay and get yourself looked over. Having a burned Communications officer is not exactly good."

The communications chief looked up at the captain, "I'd really rather stay here and try to decipher more of the transmission, ma'am."

Isabel grinned slightly at the determination of her Communications Chief, "I'm sure you would, but I'd rather you got checked out. Ensign Tamlin(NPC) can start working on the transmission and you can help him after you've been checked out. You may want to talk to Lieutenant Barrett in Operations about possibly boosting the transmission signal, or help in deciphering it."

Still a little reluctant, Sharon stood, "Aye Captain." Turning, she headed off the bridge and to the turbolift on her way to sickbay.

Sighing, Isabel looked over at Mason, who was also on the bridge. "Commander, in my ready room, please."

He nodded, following her to her ready room. As far as Isabel was concerned, she'd spent way too much time in here as it was. Not surprising, of course, but she'd already been swamped with work and they hadn't even arrived at Celtron V.

Stopping in front of her desk, Isabel leaned against it and turned to Mason. "I assume you heard about the transmission from Celtron?"

"Yes, I did. I'm not quite sure what to make of it, but I doubt it can be anything good."

"I agree. If they're requesting help once again, something else must have happened. We need to get there ASAP. I'm going to have Flight Control increase our speed to Warp 9.94, that should get us there sooner," Isabel stated. She tapped her comm badge, "Kersare to Ensign Sychorski(NPC), increase our speed to Warp 9.94, effective immediately."

A few moments later, he responded, "Aye captain, speed increased to maximum warp. We should arrive at 1300 hours day after tomorrow. Sychorski out."

"Day after tomorrow isn't too bad. We didn't expect to get there for another 3 days," Mason commented.

"I only hope it's in time. Perhaps the communications department can decipher more of the message. I'd really like to know what's going on there."

Isabel moved around her desk and tapped at the console, bringing up the message from Ensign Harrison, and a reminder from Lieutenant JG Grayson. "Mason, could you go see Mr. Grayson? He seems to have acquired some information that might be useful."

"Of course, I'll head over there right away." Nodding to Isabel, Mason headed for the door.

Isabel sent a response to Harrison, okaying her suggestions. Sighing, she eased back into her chair. If it wasn't one thing, it was another. Losing Jonathan didn't make her overly happy, and Security/Tactical might not be overly thrilled about the added tactical responsibilities they'd have now that the strategic operations department was disbanded, but that couldn't be helped. The Malinche would continue on regardless. Hopefully the next day and a half would remain fairly quiet until they reached Celtron V....

OFF: Tag Crew! Okay, we're about to Celtron, so once those of you with things to do get them wrapped up, I'll move time ahead and we can arrive at Celtron V.

ON:

<<<USS Malinche-B>>>
<<Day 18,2300 hours>>

T'serra woke up with a slight yawn and found herself in her office haven fallen asleep while she was working on the Psych-report that she needed to do. Careful not to miss any mistakes she might have made she looks over her report wondering why she fell asleep while she was working, normally she wouldn't do that.

T'serra: *Yawn* Well the report is done I guess I should send a copy of it to Lt. Grayson and maybe get out of this office and give the report to Isabel as well
Im sure she would like to look it over too.

With that thought in mind and a need to get out of her office T'serra exits her office and heads to the nearest turbolift, but before she steps inside she requests of the computer where Captain Kersare is.

T'serra: Computer what is the current location of Captain Kersare?

Computer(NPC): Captain Kersare is located at Bridge, Ready room.

Now that she knows where Isabel is she steps inside the turbolift and tells the computer to send it to the Bridge. After a short ride She steps out of the turbolift and walks to the door of Isabel's Ready room.

*Door Chime*

Captain Kersare: Come in...Oh hello T'serra is there something I can do for you?

T'serra: I have a Psych Report on the Celtron V polictical factions that I thought You might like to look over before I give it to Lt. Grayson.
_______________________________________________________________________
(PADD)
Psychological Assessment on the polictical factions of Celtron V

The So'kra Faction is the more traditional, religious, conservative faction. they want Celtron V to be left alone and remain more isolated, which is why they don't want to explore the Wormhole near Celtron V. They would rather resolve the matter peacefully, but they will fight and/or defend themselves if the need arises.

Councelor's note: I would suggest caution when dealing with the So'kra as to not offend them in anyway that might make us seem a threat to them.

The To'ma want the wormhole to be used and this would suggest that they are the more liberal of the two factions. They want to explore and learn new things and they wouldn't mind resolving the issue without fighting, but of the two factions, they're the more aggressive and more willing to fight.

Councelor's Note: When dealing with the To'ma I'd suggest that we be cautious as well. This faction seems to me to be Unstable and could be a problem if we unintentionally provoke them.
_______________________________________________________________________

OFF: Tags Kersare and whom ever would like to be tagged?

ON: Sickbay 2320 Day 18

Ensign Kai walked into Sickbay crouched over and pinching her wet uniform away from her burnt skin. "Crap crap crap..." she said quietly to herself.

A doctor came walking quickly over to her, "Ensign? What's wrong?" the female doctor asked with concern.

Sharon winced slightly as her uniform fell away from her fingers and stuck to her delicate skin. "Something happened on the bridge, I spilt a full mug of really hot coffee all onto my lap."

"Ouch... let's get you up here" the friendly doctor replied as she helped Sharon up onto a biobed and pulled a privacy screen across. She flipped out a tricorder and took out the smaller handheld scanner. "Doesn't look too bad, painful though." she diagnosed.

"Ya ha" Sharon replied as the doctor carefuly peeled away her wet uniform from her red skin. "Thank god you're a woman doctor" Sharon said with genuine gratitude. Although the EMH didn't technicaly have a sex, just a gender appearence, she still preferred to be seen by a woman doctor always.

The doctor smiled "Oh it's alright, I understand completely. I'm Chelsie by the way"

'That's a pretty name' the Ensign thought. "Sharon" Kai responded. Although there was a good chance the doctor would already know that.

Chelsie ran a dermal regenerator over the burn a few times before standing back with that smile on her face again "all done. But you might want to change your uniform. Kinda looks like you peed yourself" Chelsie playfuly laughed.

Sharon looked down at her uniform as she pulled it back up and grinned "Yeah I guess so" Sharom affectionately touched Chelsie's arm, "Thanks Chelsie, see you around"

"Sure. Maybe we could grab a drink in the lounge some time?" Chelise asked as Sharon turned to leave.

"Cool. I'll drop by and arrange a time" Sharon told her with a smile from ear to ear and cheeks so red they matched her department jacket.

"Absolutely" Chelsie replied.

Sharon nodded and left sickbay, heading towards the nearest turbolift. 'New friend. Yay!' thought Sharon.

A few minutes later Sharon was pressing the door release on her shared quarters, she nearly jumped as she saw two of her roomies in there already. "Hi" she said nervously as she made her way inside and towards her still unpacked bag.

<Tag Roomies!!!">

OFF:
_________________

Ensign Sharon Kai
Chief Communications Officer
USS Malinche
NCC-38897-B

OOC: Pardon...moving and real life getting in the way...

<<USS Malinche>>
<Bridge, 2325, Day 18>

Jason was on the bridge, looking over the last parts of the rebuilt database. Part of him was glad that they would be nearing Celtron V soon...might make some of the strangness around here stop. Then again that was assuming that they weren't connected to those things on Celtron V.

There was a beeping as Jason's sensors picked up something from the surface of the planet. Though they were still closing at maxium warp, the sensors could still get a good read on anything out of the ordinary.

"Oh great," Jason mumbled. "This is all we need right now."

Seeing as how he was the senior officer on the bridge at the moment, he alerted both Kersare and Hunt, both of whom arrived several minutes later.

"Have something for us?" Kersare asked.

"Maybe. Sensors just picked up a 75% increase in EM readings through the northern continent..." Jason eyed his readouts as the readings began to increase all over the planet. "Looks like someone was taking an interest in thier handy work."

"What does that mean?" Hunt asked.

"With readings like that it would suggest that ships and stations are powering up all over the place; I'd say they are launching most of thier sub orbital and space faring vessels....maybe a welcoming committee of sorts."

"On both sides," Kersare responded. "Anything else?"

"Not at the moment," Jason admitted. "I don't like this sir...with that many ships in orbit and with that many weapons, two sides that are likely to start shooting at each other...something is giving me a very bad feeling about this."

"Just keep us appraised of the situation," Kersare smiled. "Don't worry Lt. Barrett I'm sure that things will work out just fine in the end."

"Uh oh," Joey (NPC) responded, from one of the upper auxillary stations.

"Uh oh?" Mason asked.

Now it was Jason's turn to smile. "Last time our CO said that we ended up finding our droid friend and nearly being incerated by a group of fanatical rebels."

"Oh don't worry about that," Kersare responded. "I'm sure they won't do that this time....more likely just blow us out of hte atmosphere."

OFF: Tag all!

OLD:

Sharon nodded and left sickbay, heading towards the nearest turbolift. 'New friend. Yay!' thought Sharon.

A few minutes later Sharon was pressing the door release on her shared quarters, she nearly jumped as she saw two of her roomies in there already. "Hi" she said nervously as she made her way inside and towards her still unpacked bag.

NEW:

<Quarters, Day 18, ~2330>

Annoyed at yet another chatterling-called-roommate invading her existence, P'ayanna stared at the ceiling and ignored the newcomer. Perhaps Petra could share her gagny hugs with this new be', but P'ayanna intended to have no part in it. She would meet this roommate on her own terms and not any sooner.

Folding her arms, P'ayanna focused, instead, on the things she needed to verify were ready for their arrival in-system, Celtron. Not knowing what to expect meant that she had to be ready for the entire range of missions. The possibilities were truly endless, ranging from peacekeeping to overt combat.

OFF: <so social, she is! LOL>
_________________
Cadet P'ayanna
Assistant Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Malinche
NCC-38897-B

<<Bridge, 2330, Day 18>>

Although she tried to play down the concern Jason brought up, Isabel was worried. Having both factions powering things up and seemingly preparing for combat was exactly what they wanted to avoid. At this point there was little anyone on the Malinche could do. It seemed that something was disrupting or scrambling the transmissions from Celtron V, as evidenced by their last attempt at communication.

Confident that Jason would keep on top of things, Isabel moved past his console to let him work. Heading over to the center of the bridge, Isabel took a look at the PADD in her hand - it was the information that T'serra had sent her about the To'Ma and So'Kra. "Commander Hunt, you may want to have a look at this."

Taking the PADD from Isabel, Mason read through the report. "Nothing too overly surprising, but good to know."

"I agree." Isabel tapped her comm badge, "Kersare to Navdante."

"Navdante here, what do you need Captain?"

"I'd like you to brief Mr. Grayson on your findings tomorrow. Don't worry about it now, you can go ahead and ge some sleep. Also, if you could send the information to Lieutenant Thundera, I'd appreciate it."

"No problem, I can take care of it."

Isabel was beginning to get rather tired; she'd need to get some sleep somewhat soon.. Unfortunately there were still some things she needed to take care of. Looking over at Mason, she motioned him closer, "Mason, why don't you go ahead and talk to Mr. Grayson tonight, then go get some sleep? It's been a long day and I have a feeling that this may be one of the last nights we get decent sleep for awhile."

Nodding, he replied, "Good idea. I'll go talk to him now."

Isabel smiled and watched him head for the turbolift. Thus far Mason's tasks had been fairly routine, but she had a feeling that would change once they got to Celtron V. She turned to Jason, "Lieutenant Barrett, you have the bridge. Send the information you just found to the Security/Tactical department. I'll be in my quarters."

That said, Isabel headed for the turbolift, only to be stopped by Ryan(NPC). "Excuse me, captain? Some new orders came in that you should see," he informed her.'

Sighing, Isabel headed back to the communications console. "Alright, what is it Ensign?"

"It seems that Ensign Naeli Xio will be transferred aboard from the USS Chiron tomorrow at 1100 hours."

"Ensign Xio? Very well. And what position is she transferring to, Mr. Tamlin?"

"Chief Flight Control Officer, ma'am."

"Thank you Ensign. Any progress with the message from Celtron V?"

"Not as of yet. I've been running it through several filters and descramblers, but no luck so far. I was going to have Ensign Kai look at it in the morning," Ryan said.

"Have Ensign Kai keep me informed of any new developments." Pausing to make sure Ryan didn't have anything else to add, she turned and headed back towards the turbolift.

<<Isabel's quarters, 2347>>

Once she returned to her quarters, Isabel had slipped out of her uniform. It was nice to be able to slip into some more comfortable clothes, but she still had a few things to take care of before she could get any sleep. Heading over to her desk, Isabel tapped at the console, preparing to write out a few orders.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: Lieutenant Thundera
From: Captain Kersare
Regarding: Mission preparations

Lieutenant Thundera,

I have been informed by Lieutenant Barrett that the Celtronians seem to be powering up their systems and mobilizing for combat. I want you to work with your department and come up with some tactical options for the Malinche in case of land or space battle. Also, I want to see some various options for rescue of hostages, should it become necessary. Send the report to Commander Hunt and myself as soon as it is ready.

-Captain Kersare
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Honestly Isabel didn't like the thought of having to rescue hostages, nor a land nor a space battle. However, she also believed in being prepared for whatever might arise. If they were lucky, there would be no need for any of the options Cheetara and her department would be generating, but Isabel had the feeling they would.

"One down, two to go," Isabel remarked to herself.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: Ensign Mavose
From: Captain Kersare
Regarding: Mission preparations

Ensign Mavose,

Since we are nearing our destination, you should be able to get some more readings regarding the anomalies around Celtron V. Work with Ensign Riker and determine whether any special precautions will need to be made should a space battle occur. Also, see if anything out of the ordinary is at work in or around the wormhole. Ensign Riker mentioned looking into some of the solar patterns as well, which could prove useful. Send your report to Commander Hunt and I as soon as possible.

-Captain Kersare
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rubbing her eyes gently, Isabel turned from the screen to look out the window. One more set of orders to send, and she'd be done for the evening. She turned back towards her desk and began working on the last message.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: Lieutenant Commander Darkhelm, Lieutenant Commader Walker
From: Captain Kersare
Regarding: Mission preparations

Lieutenant Commanders Darkhelm and Walker,

For the mission, I'd like Lieutenant Commader Darkhelm to go with the away team to help treat any injuries sustained in case of situations that arise there and need immediate attention and Lieutenant Commander Walker to remain on the ship to treat those that can be treated after being beamed aboard. Please inform Commander Hunt of any special supplies that you will need so it can be gathered beforehand. If you have any concerns you'd like to bring up, please let me know.

-Captain Kersare
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Finally, I can get some sleep," she remarked. Her eyes were half closing as it was, and she certainly couldn't stay awake much longer. As she moved over to her bed, she addressed the computer, "Computer, turn the lights off in thirty seconds."

"Command confirmed."

Slipping into bed, Isabel closed her eyes, just as the lights turned off. It was then that she realized she had neglected to send a reminder to Rebekah... That, however, could wait til morning. Mainly it was routine items, so she wasn't overly worried at the moment. Isabel finally slipped off towards sleep, trying to put her concerns about the mission out of her mind for a few hours.

OFF: Alrighty, that should pretty much give everyone some direction until we get to Celtron V. If you have any questions, let me know. I'll be sending out an e-mail shortly. Also, I'd like to welcome Ensign Naeli Xio as our Chief Flight Control Officer!

ON: <<USS Malinche>>
<Tactical Office, Day 19, 0000>

Cheetara sat in the tactical office going over many reports and thing that needed to be done before arriving at Celtron V. Now that Strategic Ops was gone, her workload had more than doubled. She felt as if these days, she never got to step foot out of the office. Getting aggravated with everything going on and with what she needed to get done, she decided to make her newest assistant come join her. After all, what good is an assistant if they don't help.

*taps* "Cheetara to Cadet P'ayanna, report to the tactical office immediately." she said fiercely cutting the comm channel before giving the cadet a chance to speak.

Cheetara sat there tapping her fingers on the desk waiting impatiently for P'ayanna to arrive. After about ten minutes, P'ayanna walked through the office doors.

"You wanted to see me?" P'ayanna said with a tone of anger in her voice.

Cheetara paid no attention to her tone. "Yes. We have alot of work that needs to be done. So pull up a chair."

P'ayanna sat down quite noisely showing that she really didn't want to be there at this moment.

"Now, let's start with these" Cheetara said handing a padd with new attack patterns on them. "You'll need to learn those quickly. We may need to split up into MVAM when we arrive there, and you'll be in section Beta when that happens."

"All these?" P'ayanna grunted.

"We only have about a day left. Plus, we have to make sure that all tactical systems are working properly. Now, I want you to go to the bridge and start a full diagnostic scan while I go down to engineering and see about some reconfigurations." Cheetara continued paying her no mind to such a foolish question. "Dismissed"

With that Cheetara watched an unhappy Klingon leave her office grunting things she couldn't quite hear. But Cheetara thought what else is new. After all, she's never seen a happy Klingon. Cheetara finished going over a few charts and then started making her way to engineering.

OFF: tag P'ayana or anyone else!

OLD:

With that Cheetara watched an unhappy Klingon leave her office grunting things she couldn't quite hear. But Cheetara thought what else is new. After all, she's never seen a happy Klingon. Cheetara finished going over a few charts and then started making her way to engineering.

NEW:

<Day 19, 0030-ish>

"tlhIbwI' petaQ," P'ayanna growled on the way out of the office. The woman had clearly misunderstood P'ayanna's question about the assignment, thinking that P'ayanna thought it was too much. That was not what she meant at all. It was hardly difficult for a warrior to learn these maneuvers, especially when given an entire day or more to do so. Similarly, calling her from her quarters served no purpose.

Stopping as the door to her own diminutive office hissed open, P'ayanna hurled the padd that her boss had given her against the back wall. She might have shattered the thing, yet didn't much care at this point. It was better that than wounding a fellow member of the crew because she was forbidden to advance her position in a Klingon manner - by eliminating the one who held the position she desired.

Turning on her heel, she stormed out of security and back to her quarters. With luck, her roommates would either be sleeping or else they would give her a wide berth. She had one nerve left at this point and did not desire an ally to get onto it.

OFF: Small reminder - I'm always available to JP via email and/or chat. Please see my OOC note (just re-sent) if there are questions - bri
_________________
Cadet P'ayanna
Assistant Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Malinche
NCC-38897-B

<<USS Malinche>>
<<Mess Hall, 0030, day 19>>

Mark sighed for the tenth time. He had already informed Commander Hunt of the information regarding the Klingon High Council. It was good to know the Empire was not looking for war. Still A rogue ship never was a good news.

But, Mark was sure the Malinche could deal with that easily. The MVAM system was created to overhelm enemy ships.

He looked around the Mess Hall. "Not many people from alpha shift are still awake", thought him, finally off duty. He was drinking some Saurian Brandy, it was very strong stuff.

He smiled to himself. Marcus was the only friend he had made aboard the ship and the man had already got a promotion and transfered out. He was sure Marcus would be a good XO aboard the Hale. That meant, though, that no one, except the inteligence crew, knew Mark for sure.

Inteligence people were always looked differently by the rest of the officers. Mark couldn't blame them. Intelligence officer were not exactly forthcoming about the information they had.

"Sometimes too much information can make a mission worse", Mark thought, sipping his drink.

It was not like to feel selfpity, but it was difficult to be aboard in a ship where everyone was suspect of being a saboteur. That kept Mark at bay. More and more, he had a feeling that the saboteur wouldn't going to expose himself anymore. "If I was him, I wouldn't", thought Mark.

He had checked the new crew members files and he had found Rebekah Harrision, or two of nine, a fascinating person. The Klingon female also looked an interesting type. Although Mark hadn't approched her yet, he could guess that she was feeling difficulty to fit in aboard the ship. "The cultural differences must be bothering her a lot".

Counselor Navdante finally had finished her report about the Celtronian factions. Mark had already read the report. (Hacking into the Counselor files wasn't nice, but Mark wasn't known for being a patient man). But, Mark was satisfied. Navdante had done an excellent work. The Captain was aware of that by now. He had seen Navdante going to the bridge.

Obviously, Mark was not considered trustworthy, which, in his opinion, was an unfair judgement. He contacted one of the most important sources inside the Klingon Empire to make sure that Klingon ship shadowing the Malinche wasn't part of a bigger plan by the Empire. He could be expelled from Starfleet if someone in Intel HQ knew about. The worst thing was that he couldn't tell anyone about that. He couldn't risk it.

"I should go to bed", he thought."Tomorrow it will be a longer day than today".

But, he didn't feel sleepy. He didn't want to use the Holodeck either. He didn't like Holodecks. He always preferred to live the reality. Holodeck were only shadows of light and dreams. Mark prefered the here and now.

He sipped his drink again. The time to negotiate was coming and Kersare was looking eager for that. Her job was to avoid a war. A lot things could go wrong there. Mark was sure the Klingon ship would appear sooner or later to interfere in the Malinche mission. The question was why. Mark had promised to himself to find out.

He looked outside, to the space. "Nothing like the silence of the vacuum to make a man relax."

That, and the three Saurian Brandy he already drunk. But that old familiar feeling was still there. That feeling mark felt when he was in mortal danger.

"Why's that?", wondered him.

OFF: Tag crew. Anyone.

ON: <<USS Malinche>>
<In Corridors on route to Main Engineering, Day 19, 0030>

Cheetara had left her office and starting making her way towards a turbolift that would take her to main engineering.

*taps*
"Ensign Harrison, meet me in main engineering ASAP. That means your 'Two". "

Cheetara coudn't stand that fact that Rebekah kept having people call her by her borg destination. She had read up on the Ensign's files and learned that she wanted to change the way she acts and start acting more 'human' with lack for a better word. Cheetara entered the turbolift and said "Main Engineering" as she started remembering back when she had just been seperated from the collective. Cheetara never could figure out how the Queen could have ever let her escape. Especially after how close they were in the collective. She was to the Queen what the executive officer is to the commanding officer on a starfleet ship. The more Cheetara had thought about it over the years, she came to the conclusion that it just goes to show that there still is no perfect race; natural or otherwise. She had just finished up her thoughts as the turbolift came to a halt and the doors opened. She stepped out and went into Main Engineering.

<Main Engineering, 0035>

Cheetara went to the main console and began downloading the data from her padd that she had brought with her while she waited for Ensign harrison to arrive. After about 5 minutes, Rebekah arrived and walked up to Cheetara. Before Rebekah could even speak, Cheetara began one of her long 'speeches'.

"Harrison, so glad you could finally make it. Now, I want you to take a look at this." *pointing to the data displayed on the control panel* "These are some battle maneuvers that I have worked up along with attack patterns. Take a look at the specifications that will be required to run them. I want you to make sure that this ship will be running at top efficiency and will be able to perform these manuevers at the drop of a dime. We won't have any time for 'screw ups' by the looks of what's been going on and the information we've received. I'll be in holodeck 2 working on some plans for the Captain. Let me know when you've finished."

Cheetara felt as if she didn't have time to waste. She turned right around and proceeded out of Main Engineering as she sent a message to all security personal.

*taps*
"Lt. Thundera to all Security and Tactical Personnel. Meet me in Holodeck 2 for some emergency research training."

<Holodeck 2, 0100>
Cheetara arrived and went inside waited for the rest to arrive. She had the holodeck set up as a big meeting room so she could explain why they where all there. Slowly they all filed in one after another and sat at their respective places. Security at the tables on the left side, and Tactical at the tables on the right. Cheetara stood up and began to speak.

"I know many of you are probably confused as to why I have asked you all to come, but we have things that must be done now. The Captain has ordered for some exercises for some tactical manuevers in case of land or space battle as well as some training excercises for rescuing hostages."

Cheetara looked around the room and noticed the many confused faces. She knew that they all knew some basics of what was going on. But noone had known the full story. Hell, not even the Captain knows the wholes story at this point. Cheetara looked at P'ayanna who was standing across the holodeck induced meeting room.

"P'ayanna, I want you to take the Security Officers across the hall to holodeck 1 and try out some of the rescue similations I have already programmed into the main frame while I work with the Tactical Officers on some of manuevers here."

Cheetara watched the facial expressions of P'ayanna trying to study them and learn about how she reacts to things that are going on. Still, not knowing her but a short time, it is hard to understand the way a Klingon thinks and acts. Maybe in time they will be able to understand each other more. Atleast she hopes.

"WELL? Don't just sit there. Let's get to work. Move out!" Cheetara exclaimed.

P'ayanna and the Security Officers headed out of holodeck 2.

OFF: {tag P'ayanna/Rebekah/crew}. Y'all can add whatever thoughts and feelings you wish....I didn't want to post y'alls character reactions in case I would post something wrong.

OFF: This is bit of a backpost. :: Bit of closing for the ship I will be leaving to join the Malinche

::USS Chiron::
<<Ensign Xio?s Quarters, 00:30, 18 aboard the USS Malinche>>

Jada sat on her bed staring at the wall about 8 meters in front of her. Her last duty shift of this ship ended nearly 8 hours ago. Not many people aboard to talk to... Since everyone on board was going to be stationed somewhere else of going on leave for a while. The ship going into Utopia Planetia Fleet yards to be decommissioned. Jada just sat there with her belongings already packed up and her cat rubbing up against her as she petted her dark midnight blue fur. She sighed inwardly and stood up and went over her table and picked up her new orders as she sat down in the chair next to the window. She was going to be one of the first of the crew to be relocated since the ship was so far away from the sol system. She didn?t think anyone was eager to go to their new posts.. Neither was she. She stood up again and went over to the replicator and ordered a steaming hot cup of black coffee. Something she had grown accustomed to, since when she was aboard the USS Essex.

She took her cup of coffee and went back over to her chair and turned it slightly around to face the window as she sipped from the cup. She leaned back a bit and propped her feet up on the edge of the window plating ledge. Her eyes not even gazing out, yet they remained focused upon the PADD in her hand. ~another Prometheus Class ship.~ she thought to her self, her very first ship was a Prometheus. Nodding silently, cup in hand she tapped the PADD a few times to advance the section she was reading. ~crew complement, Captain.. XO.. Intel.. Ops, hrm.. helm.. seems I have an assistant.. That?s something new.~ She took another sip of her coffee. She didn?t have an assistant here on the Chiron. Not that she was here long enough to get one but this would be interesting. Seems like the ship has a hand full going on.

She inwardly wondered if she would be able to adjust to the new surroundings and people aboard her new posting. Biting her lower lip a bit she tapped the PADD a couple times more, something she noticed was that there were a couple of acting ensigns.. She remembered when she was first posted for active combat and ship training as a cadet.. She didn?t know how she did it.. how she was able to do anything with out having to go though her superior first .. then her superior going to the next up in the chain in command.. then up to who ever was able to recommend to the captain what ever her report showed or whether or not she needed to do some procedure. But it worked. Fortunately her first ship. The Essex was a Prometheus class starship back before she joined the Chiron. When everyone had been transferred to a different part of Starfleet. She tapped the PADD a few times more ~ship spec?s, Nav and helm information.~ she tapped again and expanded on this section and took another sip of her coffee. Kit jumped up onto her lap and laid down and started purring.

She sat the PADD back down and petted Kit as she watched the starfield go by at warp on her way to her new destination.
_________________
Ensign Naeli Jada Xio
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Malinche
NCC-38997-B