USS Malinche NCC-38997-A

OFF: Hmm...first off, don't forget to put your headings on...after we play off this person following us, I'm most likely going to jump time ahead. Also, we should be getting Fenton Kroll, Mikaela Breland, Jason Barrett, Adam (NPC), and Amanda Darkhelm from the Hale... I was under the impression that we were waiting to transfer them til after this mission though.. *looks at Matt for clarification* Just be sure that someone lets me know...I'm willing to bring them on now or later. Mikaela was my character on the Hale, so she'd be a PNPC for me. Fenton was Mau's (Grayson) character, so he'd switch and have Grayson as a PNPC. Jason was Matt's (Jadan's) character who he'd switch to. And any of you that knew Adam Baxter from the Soulwolf/Malinche would know Jess, who played Amanda on the Hale.

Sorry that got so long, just wanted to clarify..

ON:

<<Ready Room, 1325, Day 13>>

Isabel had been impressed with P'ayanna earlier in the day. Granted, she would much rather not have a saboteur on the Malinche or, at the very least, tampering with the Malinche, but since she did, Isabel was glad to have P'ayanna around. The Klingon seemed to have good ideas and seemed quite efficient as well.

She never had gotten to that game with Mason, but unfortunately other issues arose that called for her attention. Perhaps there would be time later, or at the very least, during shoreleave for Isabel to take her executive officer up on his offer.

Currently what was worrying her was the fact that she had not heard from Garshon Trelin(NPC), the Celtronian High Council member. He was supposed to contact her, but thus far she had still heard nothing. Perhaps he was busy dealing with the situation on Celtron V, but Isabel felt that he would have contacted her regardless so that she would be aware of the situation when she arrived. The absence of contact left her rather worried.

Frowning, she looked at her console, drumming her fingers on the desk. "Computer, begin encrypted subspace message to Garshon Trelin, 'Councilor Trelin, This is Captain Isabel Kersare of the USS Malinche. Please send me the most current information regarding the situation on Celtron V. We will be arriving in 8 Earth days' time. I await your response' End message."

"Voice verifcation code required."

"Verification 85456 Alpha Chi Sigma."

"Message sent."

Standing, Isabel walked towards the door to her ready room, headed for the bridge. As soon as she walked onto the bridge, Mason came over to her.

"Captain, Lieutenant Jadan believes someone is following us. They picked up a sleeper signal in the communications array," Mason told her quickly.

Her mind raced, "I have a few theories. Either it's our saboteur trying to make sure we don't make it to Celtron V, it's a Federation vessel that simply hasn't alerted us as to why it's trying to catch up with us, or it's just plain trouble."

"I don't like the sound of any of those."

"Me either. I want to know who it is following us, and I want to know soon. Get an investigation started immediately," she ordered.

Mason nodded as Isabel tapped her comm badge, "Kersare to Jadan, can you give me any other information? How close are they?"

OFF: Tag crew!

<Day 13, 1330>

P'ayanna walked into the Malinche's mess decks on the late side of lunch. In fact, she was even later than the off-going 0600-1200 watch. There were two reasons for her tardiness. The first was that she was slowly adjusting to the ship's time, while the second was that she'd been busy looking at everything she could think of in the hopes of finding a lead.

After standing inside the entryway for a few moments, she disabled the padd that she was carrying and walked to the replicator. With a sigh, she settled on a very rare twenty-four ounce steak with some potatoes for carb intake. Klingons were far less dependent on vegetable intake than other species. In fact, a cup of salad gave her sufficient fiber intake for a month. As a result, she got most of what she needed in the form of nearly raw meats and carbohydrate sources.

Taking her tray, she obtained a large tankard of water and found a seat in the corner. Meals were a time for eating, not socializing, although she wouldn't turn away anybody who happened by.

P'ayanna lifted her knife and, before she began the cut, realized that replicator sabotage could incapacitate the crew. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at her meal, seeming innocuous. That was the problem, she realized. Everything seemed innocuous on Malinche. In fact, the sabotage was only found because another Cadet, a loD by the name of Ragna, was studying for his warfare qualifications.

Dropping the knife, she booted her padd and wrote a note to herself: check seldom-used systems first. It wasn't much to start with but it would have to do for now. The Klingon in her railed at the fact that she honestly had very little to go on. It didn't matter. Perseverance and vigilance were important tools to an investigating officer. She would need both to unwrap this mystery.

P'ayanna picked up her knife and cut off a healthy piece of her steak. Terran steak was something she'd grown to like very much at the Academy and it caused less revulsion by the DIvI' in her presence than most of the other things she ate. As a result, she'd taken to eating it often in the presence of otherworlders.

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

Gotta get on with the mission, so I'm moving everything closer to magical day 21. Feel free to backpost, but I think we should get to the meat of the mission before it drags out too long.

ON:

== Tactical Astrometrics ==
== 1200 Hours, Day 18 ==

Five days. It had been 5 days since the incident, whatever it had been, and Jonathan was still working on rebuilding the tactical and navigational maneuvers database. Fortunately, because of ship's safety, he'd gotten Dr. Walker to lift the stipulation on his working habits, but he still had decided to not work more than 10 or 12 in a day. Even at that rate, he was just now finishing the database after 5 days, or 50 to 60 hours of work. His staff had taken everything in stride and stepped up in his abscence; there wasn't a noticeable difference since he'd started the project. That fact alone made him proud of his staff, especially given that they were fresh out of the Academy.

Joe Ragna and Cheetara had put in more than their fair share of work on this project. He'd spent the last 2 days working with Joe and the the previous 2 days working with Cheetara. They were very different people, but at least he got along with the tactical officer; his work with Joe had been ... rocky ... and each of them had blown up at the other once or twice. It was the nature of who they were: they were too similar. Starbase 52 had their hand in getting the Malinche back up and running, sending as many of the basic maneuvers as they had, however, Prometheus-class starships were still very secretive and their tactical maneuvers were hardly open to anyone. Even after contacting Starfleet Command, they had refused to send the files over subspace for fear that someone could intercept them. It had been frustrating, but it was almost over now.

Jonathan had holed himself up in the cavernous room since this all started, but kept his ear close to the ground and heard rumblings of a carrier wave originating from outside the ship. Apparently, the first time it appeared, it had been fairly close, but after a few hours, the carrier wave had dissipated, only to return hours later in a different position and at a different distance. This had been the pattern, but that wasn't his concern right now. Both Cheetara and Ragna had offered their own hypotheses about what the carrier wave was, but it didn't interest Marcus; he had one job right now, get the Malinche ready for whatever they might face at Celtron V.

Isabel had been down to visit him daily since he started working on this. She wouldn't say it, but she was worried; worried about finding out who would sabotage her ship, worried that things wouldn't be put back together in time, but she never showed it. Despite all her fears, she knew
that her crew would come through, still, even Marcus had to admit being skeptical. Someone didn't want them at Celtron V, which only made their arrival that much more important. They were 3 days out and the command crew was starting to get anxious.

Captain Kersare had ordered a full senior staff briefing for later that evening over dinner where they would all submit departmental readiness reports. Ensign Rachel Lyran (NPC) was in the process of completing the report for Jonathan while he put the finishing touches on the database. He was sure that everyone else was busying prepping their departments for the report and their imminent arrival at Celtron V.

Jonathan slid his chair from one console to one farther down the station, checking one last thing before logging the changes and downloading the temporary database into the real thing. It was done, or at least he hoped it was done. There was only one way to find out.

Marcus: +tap+ Marcus to Ragna.

Ragna: Ragna here.

Marcus: Can you meet me in holodeck 1? I've finished the database and need someone to help me test it.

<< tag Ragna >>

Marcus: Marcus out. Marcus to Cheetara.

Thundera: Go ahead, Lieutenant.

Marcus: Can I get your help testing these tactical maneuvers on holodeck 1?

Thundera: I'm just about to go on duty, so I'll have to look over them when I'm done, but I believe that Cadet P'ayanna is available.

Marcus: I'll contact her. Thank you. Marcus to Cadet P'ayanna, I need your assistance in holodeck 1 for tactical maneuvers testing. +tap+

<< tag P'ayanna >>


OFF

Tag: crew
_________________
Lieutenant J.G. Jonathan James Marcus
Chief Strategic Operations Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-B

OFF: For future reference Marcus, PM me or something before you release yourself from your work ban..lol. I dont' mind you guys getting hurt but at least heed my advice:-) Or humor:-)

<<USS Malinche>>
<Sickbay, 1215, Day 18>

Brad was not happy about lifing the ban on Marcus's condition, although he would have been a lot less happy if they had been blown to bits. He was in his office, reading up on a nasty form of the Vulcan flu when Jadan entered.

"Shouldn't you be out looking for our mysterious shadow?"

Jadan shrugged. "Maybe, I think that Cheetara can handle it....I have a few theroies...all of which we are running through at the moment."

"Thats something...looking forward to this rather relaxing and peaceful mission?"

"Yes, might give me some more time to consider my options...I was never really one for an engineer."

"I understand, is there something that I can do for you?"

"No," Jadan shook his head. "Just thought that I would stop by and say hi. I should get back to engineering now, dont' want Nash thinking that he can run the whole department."

OFF:
_________________
Lieutenant Commander Brad Walker
Chief Medical Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-B

<< Main Bridge >>
<< 1208, Day 18 >>

Joe hadn't realized just how useful the comprehensive list of patterns and their uses, and explainations would be. It was a far cry from being able to instantly create a new list of the patterns, but it was a wonderful place to start. With a considerable amount of effort the first 4 days recreatnig what he could using the holodeck to create simulations and try to fit the patterns to their uses. After four days, occasionally calling upon the other CONN staff and their experiences piloting the Malinche, and the simulations they went through as well. Ragna even spent time going through the training simulations again himself, ones he'd completed, and ones he'd yet to get to, since some bits and pieces of a few patterns were even in there as examples for study.

After his few days of reconstructing what he could of the patterns from the navigational standpoint, he spent the following couple days with Marcus, basically arguing the patterns from both the navigational and tactical views of each pattern.

Ragna spent the lul at the helm station partaking in the tedious re-entry of the patterns.

//Marcus: +tap+ Marcus to Ragna.
//
//Ragna: Ragna here.
//
//Marcus: Can you meet me in holodeck 1? I've finished the database and need someone to help me test it.

Ragna turns in his chair, almost taking off then turning to Hunt, who currently had the bridge.

Ragna: Sir, request permission to leave the bridge.

Kersare: What for cadet.

Ragna: For a simulation on the holodeck, sir.

Kersare: *quizically* You want to be relieved of duty to visit the holodeck?

Ragna: Yes... err, Sir. It's not what you think sir. I need to meet with lt. Marcus to test the new patterns we have created.

Kersare: Permission granted.

Ragna left his post and stepped into the turbolift. Joe entered holodeck 1 looking directly at Lt. Marcus, clearing his throat slightly.

Ragna: Cadet Ragna reporting for duty sir.

OFF:
Tag: Marcus
_________________
Cadet Fourth Year Joseph Ragna
Assistant Flight Control Officer
USS Malinche-B
NCC 38997-B

OLD:

Marcus: I'll contact her. Thank you. Marcus to Cadet P'ayanna, I need your assistance in holodeck 1 for tactical maneuvers testing. +tap+

NEW:

<Cargo Bay Three, Mission Day 18, 1210>

P'ayanna stared into the corner of the bay for a few moments to gather her wits before replying. She was not interesting in playing games on the ship's holodeck right now, especially since her security teams had found some discrepancies in the ships stores, specifically that some items were either misplaced or not loaded. While it could simply be an error with the manifest, P'ayanna was tracking everything down, just to be sure. "Stand by," she stated, closing the channel as Ensign Stone approached. "What did you find?"

If Ensign Anthony Stone (NPC) happened to be bothered about the fact that a mere cadet was in charge of him and a long line of other ensigns, it certainly didn't show on his face. "I think it all checks out," he told her. "These three containers should have been in Cargo Bay Four. When we looked through Bay Four, we found the missing items from Bay One. How many man hours are we going to throw at this?"

P'ayanna folded her arms and continued to play the role of the taskmistress of a Klingon, as it would justify the ridiculous attention to detail she had to require without giving away any hints as to the true reason behind the change in policy. Thus far, the suspicions of sabotage hadn't leaked from the Department Head level and, when it did, the lack of discretion would not be hers. "As many as it takes, or is this duty too difficult? Are standards on USS Malinche too high?"

"No, they're not," Stone sighed, combing through his short hair with his fingers. "We'll lock down the bay, grab lunch and then get a detail from Operations to help shift the equipment back where it belongs."

P'ayanna nodded, glad that he saw things her way. Tapping her commbadge, she stated, "on my way." She hoped that Lieutenant Marcus heard the subliminal message, embedded in the delay: P'ayanna was not at his beck and call. Still, combat training was always valuable and she was glad to get a chance to take part in some.

It took only four minutes to reach the holodeck. Stepping in, she told Lieutenant Marcus, "I was taking care of an issue." Looking around, she wondered what, precisely, she'd be doing.

OFF: <tags; if you need input from P'ayanna, I'm an email away >
_________________
Cadet P'ayanna
Assistant Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Malinche
NCC-38897-B

<<<USS Malinche>>
<<<Bridge, 1230, day 18>>

Mark wondered how things were that way. Celtron V was dangerous place to barge in. Navdante had made her psych avaluation of both factions mindsets. Captain Kersare would have a difficult job ahead. Negotiate peace was never easy. Too much to hatred, bloody acts and foul words had to be put aside to start the healing process.

Aside the mission itself, the sabotage on the database had put Mark on maximum alert. He considered suggest to Captain Kersare to increase security in the main systems, like engineering, computer core and other critical areas.

But, his main worry was not finding how was the saboteur. He decided to talk with Commander Hunt and ask him to help interview some of the crew who had acess to that particulary database. It was an extense list, but it was a necessary action.

Mark entered the bridge and approached Hunt.

Grayson: *lowering his voice* Commander, could I have a minute of your time? I need to talk to you in private.

OFF: Tag Hunt.

ON:

== Holodeck 1 ==
== 1220 Hours, Day 18 ==

<< old >>

Stepping in, she told Lieutenant Marcus, "I was taking care of an issue." Looking around, she wondered what, precisely, she'd be doing.

<< new >>

Jonathan was not impressed with the Klingon's attitude, but chose to ignore it. He'd had a long few days as he was sure everyone had. He looked her over quickly, having yet to work with her onboard, which was surprising since she'd been onboard for several days now. Already, Marcus had heard crew members talking about the Klingon cadet and how intimidating she was; there was nothing to worry about with Klingons, only to get past their overly negative view of anyone who wasn't a Klingon. If he could deal with fighting off a Jem'Hadar attack, he could deal with a lone Klingon.

Marcus: You'll be working with our other resident cadet to test the new navigational and tactical maneuvers database. It shouldn't take very long.

P'ayanna nodded, knowing that the compromise of Malinche's systems had been in the tactical database. The damage had been extensive, yet fortune had favored the prepared: the other cadet, a man she had not yet gotten to know because of her very busy schedule, had been working on them.

P'ayanna: I do not understand.

Marcus: We are verifying the reconstructed database.

P'ayanna: *nodding* A wise precaution.

She hadn't meant for that to sound condescending. Her people did not beat around the bush, so to speak, when it came to assigning blame.

Marcus: You can either pass along your report to me or have Cadet Ragna submit it with his report. I want those in my hands before the senior staff meeting at 1800.

P'ayanna looked at the man for a second or two. While his intentions were honorable, she did not truly work for him... or did she? The unique design of Malinche led for some cloudiness in terms of the responsibilities she shouldered. It could be argued, probably successfully, that the "tactical" in her position fell under his authority.

P'ayanna: You shall have it.

Marcus didn't even give either cadet time to react, turning on his heel and marching out of the holodeck. He strode the corridors, a long yawn escaping from his mouth as he approached Tactical Astrometrics. The doors slid open to reveal Ensign Rachel Lyran (NPC) working hard on the readiness report. She turned her head to see him come in and shot him a small smile before returning to her work.

Marcus: What was that all about?

Lyran: How'd the meeting with *her* go?

Marcus: *playfully* Next time, I'm sending you. How's that report coming.

Lyran: I'm just finishing it up, though you might wanna take a look at the incident report that K'vhell (NPC) submitted. There's some interesting things about the sabotage in there.

Marcus: Sabotage? What are you talking about?

Lyran: C'mon, Lieutenant, more people know about it than you realize.

Jonathan rolled his eyes as he sat down at one of the wall consoles and started reading through the report. He was engrossed in it and impressed with how thorough his staff had been with it, especially considering that he hadn't asked for it. The last few lines caught his attention.

Marcus: +tap+ Marcus to Hunt.

Hunt: Hunt here.

Marcus: Sir, I've got something you're gonna wanna see. +tap+


OFF

Tag: Hunt, Ragna, P'ayanna


A JP by:

Cadet 4th Year P'ayanna
Assistant Chief Security/Tactical Officer

&
_________________
Lieutenant J.G. Jonathan James Marcus
Chief Strategic Operations Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-B

<< Holodeck 1 >>
<< 1224, Day 18 >>

// Marcus didn't even give either cadet time to react, turning on his heel and marching out of the holodeck.

Ragna was tapping at his simulated helm console not even acknowledging the the other cadet for nearly a minute then picking up his data pad he began tapping away at it for another minute. Eventually Joe was getting up from the console, then walking to where P'ayanna stood.

It was taking eternity for those few steps. Joe hadn't heard much good from other staff about P'ayanna, but if he spoke too callously it could make any future work nigh impossible, but being too kind, a klingon would think him weak as well. Joe just wanted to finish his training, and at the moment didn't care to find out how true the stories about P'ayanna were.

Ragna: *casually* Look, it's been a long few days, and from what I see you've been pushed from place to place to place till you got here. I've already completed my report, and if you want any type of help understanding any of the patterns that's fine, I'm more than willing to help. From what I hear, you probably aren't the type to... wan... need help. So since my report is done I'm going to be in holodeck 2 continuing my studies of manual remote piloting in multi vector assault mode, since there's no need for me to keep testing patterns I have gone over for a couple days now.

Ragna started out the door.

Off:
_________________
Cadet Fourth Year Joseph Ragna
Assistant Flight Control Officer
USS Malinche-B
NCC 38997-B

OLD:

Ragna: *casually* Look, it's been a long few days, and from what I see you've been pushed from place to place to place till you got here. I've already completed my report, and if you want any type of help understanding any of the patterns that's fine, I'm more than willing to help. From what I hear, you probably aren't the type to... wan... need help. So since my report is done I'm going to be in holodeck 2 continuing my studies of manual remote piloting in multi vector assault mode, since there's no need for me to keep testing patterns I have gone over for a couple days now.

Ragna started out the door.

NEW:

"petaQ," P'ayanna growled as the door hissed shut. She had no compunction about letting people know what she thought of them or the situations they put her in and he needed (in her estimation) a broken nose at the very least.

She thought for a few moments and quickly realized that coming here was a complete waste of time. She was no expert in MVAM and never would be, but she could analyze the attack vectors and compare them to small craft tactics. Starfleet, for the most part, focused on capital ship combat and hadn't gone much past that, even with the maneuverable Defiant- and Sabre-class designs. On the contrary, the Klingon fleet utilized light craft as its backbone and, therefore, gave such tactics far more credit.

"Computer, end program." The holodeck shimmered and faded to the dark gray and amber grid pattern of the holoemitter lines and replicator junctions. She would simply send the graphical approach vector information to her small office and analyze them from there.

She would remember this affront the next time she was called to cooperate with this Ragna toDSaH. As for the analysis, she would make that a priority, with or without any useful cooperation from Ragna. She hoped to be able to add something valuable to the tactics the ship would need in battle, for a glorious victory was always better than an honorable death.
_________________
Cadet P'ayanna
Assistant Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Malinche
NCC-38897-B

OFF: Okay, all the new characters are either going to be brought aboard, or it'll be assumed they were already here. I'll be sending out an e-mail once I've written this. Welcome aboard!

ON:

<<Bridge, 1332, Day 18>>

Isabel had been on the bridge for a few hours now, growing more and more restless. She was anxious about getting to Celtron V, especially considering the lack of response from the High Councilor, and also the saboteur and ship that was apparently following them didn't help matters.

Thus far it seemed that the saboteur was still remaining hidden, which wasn't suprisingly but led to a great deal of frustration. P'ayanna had been vigilant in trying to seek out whoever it was that had sabotaged the Malinche, but still nothing. Hopefully they would find the person before arriving at their destination.

Jadan and his engineering staff had been trying to discover who was following them, but it seemed whoever it was was rather clever. Thus far they hadn't been able to identify the ship, nor where exactly it was coming from. Granted, the ship kept playing with them..getting closer, then dropping back, and so forth. Isabel didn't like it, but knew that her staff was well-trained and could handle it if the mysterious ship proved to be dangerous.

Cheetara and Jonathan were supposed to go over more of the tactical plans for the mission, and Jonathan had already asked Joe and P'ayanna to test some of them out, to Isabel's understanding. Mark had been working with T'serra on trying to get a profile of the two Celtronian factions. It was apparently taking the counselor a little longer due to the lack of information on the Celtronian people, but would be completed by the time they arrived at Celtron V.

On a happier note, Ensign Sharon Kai was going to take on the position of Chief Communications Officer. The young woman had been on board and showed great skill with languages. Isabel had informed her earlier and she was due to go on duty as Chief the next day.

For now, Ryan(NPC) was sitting at the Communications console. Isabel was about to talk to Mason, who was standing next to her, when the communications station beeped. Curious, Isabel turned to Ryan, "Mr. Tamlin?"

His hands flew over the console, trying to find out what was going on. "One moment captain... It seems there are some new orders coming through, regarding crew transfers.."

"Crew transfers? They'd do that now?" Mason looked over at Isabel, apparently just as confused as she was.

"It seems so, sir," Ryan answered. "According to this, Lieutenant Jadan will be leaving. We'll be gaining Lieutenant Commander Darkhelm as Co-Chief Medical Officer, Lieutenant Barrett as Chief Operations Officer, Lieutenant JG Breland(NPC) as an Engineering Officer, Lieutenant JG Summers(NPC) as an Operations Officer, Lieutenant JG Tolara(NPC) as an Operations Officer, and Ensign Townsen(NPC) as a Medical Officer as transfers from the USS Hale. We'll also be gaining Ensign Petra Mavose as Chief Science Officer and Ensign Paul Riker as Astrometrics Specialist."

Isabel blinked. "Are you telling me that I'm losing my Chief Engineer and getting EIGHT new crewmembers?"

Clearing his throat, Ryan looked back at her, "Yes ma'am, I am. The USS Thales is supposed to rendezvous with us at 1415 hours for the transfer."

"Is that the ship that's been following us?" Isabel truly hoped that this would solve at least one of their mysteries....

"I'm afraid not, captain. The Thales' present coordinates rule it out as a possibility, and we're stilling getting that other signal," Jasen(NPC) reported from the Operations console.

"Ah well, one can always hope. Very well, let's lay in a course for the rendezvous point." Isabel paused and waited for Joshua(NPC) to nod. "Engage. Mason, I'll want you with me when the transfer takes place. I want Ensign Harrison to be the new Chief Engineering Officer, since we'll be losing Lieutenant Jadan, I'll go write up the order now, if you'd go and inform her."

Mason nodded and headed off the bridge. Isabel sighed inwardly...all these transfers, right before arriving at the destination for their mission. Although she was certain that StarFleet wouldn't do something like this lightly, it was still upsetting. The loss of Jadan would be a big blow, especially to Brad and Mason, as they had worked with him the longest. Isabel was also sad to see him go, he had done well on the Malinche. It was good to see that she'd finally have a more complete Science department, and the transfers from the Hale were a pleasant surprise...the Hale's reputation was quite good and she was sure the officers would be as well.

As she headed to her ready room to start filling out some of the new orders, she nodded to Ensign Silman, indicating that he had the bridge until she or another senior staff member came back on the bridge.

OFF: Tag crew! Once again, welcome aboard to all our new members!

<Day 18, 1345>

OLD:

She would remember this affront the next time she was called to cooperate with this Ragna toDSaH. As for the analysis, she would make that a priority, with or without any useful cooperation from Ragna. She hoped to be able to add something valuable to the tactics the ship would need in battle, for a glorious victory was always better than an honorable death.

NEW:

P'ayanna was too irate to deal with those in her office, so she decided to look at the tactical database in her quarters. She really had no objections to working in her quarters, provided that the other occupants were not a distraction. Since they were rarely there, it had not yet been a problem. In fact, she'd never actually met either of them.

She reached the opening doors and stepped through, hoping that neither were in the room and sleeping. Late night shifts and other irregularities made it likely that she would need to work quietly as a fellow warrior rested.

Two was in her quarters, trying to finish making her new quarters home. She had her regenerative chamber but she had other things that needed to be put up. It wasn't much but she had been really busy doing other things since the start of the mission. She took care to pick up things as they fell to the floor. As she normally did. She was really a neat and clean person. Her attention was drawn to the door as it opened and closed again; her roommate had entered. "Good afternoon," she told P'ayanna.

"mreh, she replied, seeing nothing good in it. She had an as-yet unidentified saboteur, who was possibly on the ship at this moment, planning another cowardly attack. She also had a report to produce, to say nothing of her evening training ritual, all of which left her very little time.

Looking at her roommate, she felt the same discomfort that she always felt around Borg technology. To put it simply, she didn't trust anything that had been tainted by them, living or no. In her mind, there was always the possibility that it could turn back to the collective and become a dangerous enemy. At least she had a good opportunity to watch this one, though that didn't make her feel much better about it. "You are not busy?"

Two looked at her roommate. "At this time, I am trying to finish up what I needed to get done when I got interrupted to deal with the imbalance in the dilithum crystals. Then, it's been busy. Today is as good a day as any to put up my few things."

"paH," she growled. "I, too, have been interrupted." At times, it seemed that the higher-ups went out of their way to interfere with work.

"It's been busy since I arrived. I have a few hours off today. I'm going to take advantage of it."

P'ayanna nodded and then turned to walk to the main console. "It seems our days have been similar," she stated. In all honesty, P'ayanna was not very good at making small talk and her roommate, Rebekah-also-known-as-Two, was not much better.

"Have you seen her?" she asked, referring to Sharon Kai. "I mean our roommate; I haven't met her."

P'ayanna shrugged. "She is small and weak," she stated, as the girl was tiny, even by normal DIvI' standards. There were even some verengan who were larger.

"Small and weak? That does not sound good," Two informed P'ayanna. But then again, both Two and P'ayanna were big women.

"HIja'," P'ayanna agreed. "She does not appear to be a warrior." Her eyes narrowed. "Tell me," she said, straightforward as she usually was. "Do these gagny implants speak to you?"

"You mean do I still hear the collective?" It would not be the first time people had asked her that.

"What else would I mean?" Her answer sounded evasive and P'ayanna did not appreciate such speech.

"I have not heard anything from the collective since Admiral Farrel brought me back from the discussion with them. That has been several years ago," Two responded honestly.

P'ayanna wasn't sure she believed the woman, but accepted her statement, anyway. "If they do speak to you, you will tell me," she flatly announced. Otherwise, P'ayanna knew she would probably have to kill the woman.

"I doubt if I will ever hear them again."

Taking a deep breath, P'ayanna held her tongue. The Borg were known for their adaptive tendencies and, therefore, she wouldn't put anything past them. "Your doubts are irrelevant," P'ayanna told her. "If they do speak to you, you will tell me." Her tone made it clear that she wasn't asking and didn't care about their disparity in rank.

"If I hear them, I will tell you first." P'ayanna was a weird woman, moody, Two thought.

Satisfied, P'ayanna nodded. "Then, perhaps I will see to my duties."

Two put the last of the clothes in her drawers. Not the uniform clothes she wore every day but the ones she wore from time to time. She had no use for civilian clothes, but had some anyway. One of the people at the Academy had felt sorry for her and dragged her around San Fransisco until she got some.

The clothes reminded her, somehow, that she was no longer borg. She didn't like being so different from the others. She preferred uniforms because everyone looked alike. In civilian clothes, she stood out like a sore thumb and she could feel all the eyes staring at her; that she didn't like.

She put the clothes under her uniforms, hiding them from prying eyes. She should get rid of them but something was holding her back. She really wasn't sure why she kept them, she just did.

Ignoring her roommate's actions to clean up her veQ, P'ayanna activated her console and began uploading the ship's tactical database for analysis. She had little time to make sense of everything for the report to Lieutenant Marcus.

OFF:
Primer:
toDSaH - an unkind term
mreh, paH - noncommittal utterances
DIvI' - all of you non-Klingon types
verengan - Ferengi
veQ - junk

Joint Post
Rebekah Harrison, Engineer and (you guessed it):
_________________
Cadet P'ayanna
Assistant Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Malinche
NCC-38897-B

I know the cappy wanted to post the transfers coming aboard but I got sorta anxious, this way she can backpost our arrival... Oh if you guys want to use Zero (NPC) in any posts please do PM me and ask. He's sorta particular droid...lol. Joey and Tolara are free game, Tolara is the typical Vulcan Joey is sorta like a frat boy, except he knows what he's doing.


<<USS Malinche>>
<Astrometerics, 1515, Day 18>

Jason, Joey (NPC), and Zero (NPC) were all in astrometerics. Coming onboard, Jason and his department were quickly brought up to speed on all that was going on, including this msyterious carrier signal that there previous chief engineer had found.

So far, they weren't getting the results that Jason would have liked. Every time they almost had a lock on the signal, the computer was too slow to actually pin-point it. This was bothersome to the trio.

"I don't get it," Joey (NPC) stated. "We should have had a lock several times by now, whats the big deal?"

"Statement: I believe that more advanced measures are in order."

"Thank you captain obvious," Jason retorted.

"Query: Should I assume that is sarcasm or I have actually been promoted to the rank of captain?"

"Sarcasm," Jason and Joey responded at the same time.

"There has got to be some way to lock down this signal...wait a second, Joey how much data is currently being sent through that carrier wave?"

Joey checked a display. "Nothing other then our position...are you thinking what I am thinking."

"Maybe, if we can jam a few hundre kiloquads of data through the link they may not be able to disengage. We could wire in the primary sensor array and then we'd have our lock."

"Statement: By doing this you will have to take several other databases and subsystems offline."

"Not for more then a minute or two...the tactical database should be ok, but we'd have to take the MVAM offline. Besides, the Malinche can fight just as well as whole ship."

"I'll start working on the sensors," Joey said.

"Barrett to Captain Kersare."

"Kersare here."

"We think we may have a way to pin down whoever is following us. Using the ships database I think we can overload the wave with information, nothing would really be transmitted keep in mind. We'd have to take several databases offline to do it though, including MVAM. I should point out the shields and weapons won't be affected and it would only last for less then 3 minutes."

OFF: Tag Kersare!

<<USS Malinche>>
<Sickbay, 1515, Day 18>

Amadan walked into sickbay, Brad was already there, supervising the chanigng of his one office into two. They exchanged a quick hug before Amanda saw the pips on his collar.

"Lt. Commander now, well thats certainly a feat. Pretty soon they'll be asking you if you want your own ship."

"I doubt that," Brad responded. "You must be Adam, welcome aboard."

Adam shook his hand. "It's good to be here sir, where is the rest of your staff?"

"Probably hiding under a rock somewhere," Brad sighed. "I take you looked over most of thier h and p's on the way over."

Amanda nodded. "This Marcus concerns me some, to be back on active duty so quickly after a major operation....though my guess is you couldn't make him stand still much longer?"

"Not really, they're pretty much like the Hale crew...they don't like being told to stay put."

"No crew does," Amanda smiled. "But we have our ways...so why don't you fill me in on whats being going on around here."

OFF:

ON:

== Tactical Astrometrics ==
== 1600 Hours, Day 18 ==

Jonathan stepped out of Tactical Astrometrics, having been called by the security guards posted outside. As soon as the doors had slid open, he saw a face he didn't recognize, a superior officer, but in a medical uniform. He knew there had been a series of transfers, and he had to assume this woman was one of them. When he stepped out of the room, she was still arguing vehemently to get past them, but they wouldn't budge.

Darkhelm: Lieutenant, I need to get in there.

Marcus: *shaking his head* I'm afraid you can't, ma'am.

Darkhelm: Excuse me?

Marcus: Tactical Astrometrics is off limits to everyone except the CO, XO, Chief Tactical officer and any member of the Strategic Operations department, ship regulation 21C paragraph 12.

Darkhelm: Who do I need to talk to get access?

Marcus: Fleet Admiral Nance.

Darkhelm: What about Captain Kersare? It's her ship after all.

Marcus: Ship regulation 21C paragraph 15 states that only the sitting Fleet Operations admiral can grant access to tactically sensitive areas of the ship; this would be one of those areas. Can I help you with something, Commander?

Darkhelm: I need to see Marcus.

Marcus: You're looking at him.

Darkhelm: Ah, Mr. Marcus, I need you to come with me for an examination.

Marcus: You mean the same examination that Dr. Walker gave me this morning? Let me make something very clear, doc, my surgery was almost thirty days ago and for the last two and a half weeks, I've been seeing Dr. Walker every morning. On top of that, I've spent the last twelve days working less than seven or eight hours a day. I'm rested, I've been approved for active duty by Dr. Walker. I'm touched by your concern, but I assure you, it's misplaced. Now if you don't mind, I would appreciate it if you people would stop getting in the way of my job. *nodding* Have a good afternoon, doc.

Jonathan turned and walked back into Tactical Astrometrics, leaving Dr. Darkhelm standing with the security guards.


OFF
_________________
Lieutenant J.G. Jonathan James Marcus
Chief Strategic Operations Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-B