Season 16: Episode 2: A Night at the Opera

[Lorut Vila]

All was going well with the Simulation, and the two other Ops officers were quickly figuring out her codes. I they knew much about Ops history, they could think on it for a second, figure out what someone like Lieutenant Commander Data, a former but still storied Ops officer would have done, and probably gotten a hint or two. She hoped they would work together to figure that out. She would offer it as a hint shortly.

She was interrupted in her thoughts, though, by the Captain's words.

Miss Lorut... is weakening the radiation shields part of your simulation?  The computer is reading heightened levels in main engineering.

Just as he asked, her own console buzzed. She raised her head. "No, sir, I'll check it out," she said.

Crap.

She pressed some buttons. "Sir...this is not great. Sending to your view screen," she said, pressing "send". She tapped her Comms.

=/\=Continue your efforts, please, Lieutenant, Cadet. But stand by.  she said.

She tuned her brain over to "battle mode" then. 

[Malik Grippen]

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell

Candy smiled as the Risan appreciated her work.  "You are most welcome, Malik." she acknowledged his thank you before moving close to his side to hold his arm lightly with one of her own.  She gazed up at him with bright attentive eyes.  "There's not much to tell of myself - I'm a Erewhon holographic server.  This is where I am from.  Serving here is my purpose." Candy answered his question before posing one of her own.  "Would you like to see the entertainment district or perhaps enjoy the beach?  The weather is always perfect for any outdoor activity."

[Erewhon]

"Oh, I thought you were real for a moment. Are there any non-holographic staff or visitors?"

He hung around next to the rest as they needed to decide what they were going to do, before each heading off in different directions.

"Commander, I agree with Lieutenant Lachlyn. We also should at least stick in pairs. Without comms badges places us at higher risk."

[Dem Broadshire]

[Erewhon]
"Oh, I thought you were real for a moment. Are there any non-holographic staff or visitors?"
He hung around next to the rest as they needed to decide what they were going to do, before each heading off in different directions.
"Commander, I agree with Lieutenant Lachlyn. We also should at least stick in pairs. Without comms badges places us at higher risk."

[Erewhon]

"Understood. That is a reasonable precaution to take." He offered, intending to make sure that the commander's faith in him wasn't completely misplaced.  "I will just walk around here. Talk to whoever I find." He walked toward a group of people with Hansen behind. He eyed their wrists, several of them containing the bands and more without. "Dem Broadshire, nice to meet you" He outstretched his hand toward the apparent nexus of the group. An old man with balding hair, deeply engaged in conversations with a few holographic servers.

[Rayek trLhoell]

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[Erewhon - City Centre]

[Pleasure Planet]

Lek was already skeptical at the entire premise of this facility and the need to masquerade as humans only added to his suspicions. He was glad he had a phaser because it was only a matter of time before this went sideways.

"I hate away missions."

[Pleasure Planet]

Tanner arrived and did a soft twirl in her cute pink summer dress. The space was beautiful, and for a brief moment, she wished Jettis could see it. Glancing to her team, she eyed Broadshire after his request directed towards Hansen.

"Hold up." She said quietly, offering an apologetic glance to him before addressing the Commander, "Sir, we just materialized without our combadges. If we separate, there's no way of knowing where we'll be. So, perhaps we should set a meeting point? Agree to rendezvous after so many hours?"

[Erewhon]

"Oh, I thought you were real for a moment. Are there any non-holographic staff or visitors?"

He hung around next to the rest as they needed to decide what they were going to do, before each heading off in different directions.

"Commander, I agree with Lieutenant Lachlyn. We also should at least stick in pairs. Without comms badges places us at higher risk."

Rayek stopped short at hearing Lachlyn's statement.  No comm badges!?  How had he possibly missed that?
The Romulan did a cursor check, running a hand over his 21st century attire - and found that she was correct his badge hadn't just been hidden, which had been his first impression, it was completely gone.  He pressed behind his ear to activate his subdermal jaw mic and deep ear comm.  The triple beep indicated a lack of connection.

Nor did he have his Type 3 phaser.

"What's the meaning of having our communication devices and weapons confiscated?" He demanded to know, looking towards the hologram T'Sana.

"Items that are not in keeping with the era aesthetic have been removed and will be returned at the end of your stay" she assured him with a pleasant smile.

Both his Chief of Security and Flight Chief seemed to suggest that accepting their predicament and using a 'buddy system' was the viable course of action, so despite his strong misgivings, the Romulan First Officer nodded his acceptance of their suggestions.  "It would seem we have little choice in the matter.  Very well.  We will breakout into teams of three, three and two.  One security per team.  I'll take the cadet with me.  Grippen, Hansen and Broadshire will be a team of three.  Lachlyn, Lek and Ramort will be the other."

The Romulan had been tempted to break up the 'drinking team' but figured the others would be more effective with their investigation of the place if they weren't having to babysit those preferring to drink.

While their guests made plans to team up, the holographic servers after having provided their initial greetings and drinks, the excess numbers stepped away and disappeared.  Only three remained.  T'Sana,  Candy and a third server who had introduced herself to initially to Commander Lek as Pem.

"We meet back here in an hour." Rayek ordered before looking toward the sec/tac cadet to indicate they were heading out.  He then nodded to T'Sana to continue.

The hologram smiled.  "Of course, Rayek, Miraj... please follow me."
.
.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NPC PO2 Elena Forscher
[USS Discovery-B - Deck One - Bridge]

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

The Captain sat silent, watching the orbiting station while listening in to the simulated exercise. Oh the joys of being in command, the Captain not able to see what was going on.  Not everyone could skirt the regulations on the Command structure... but he was curious about this station.  And curious why there had been no report from the away team yet.  But if they went down to the surface, it was likely their signal would not have gotten out.

His thoughts were interrupted by a beep, and he looked down at the Captain's readout.  Raising an eyebrow, he spoke.

"Miss Lorut... is weakening the radiation shields part of your simulation?  The computer is reading heightened levels in main engineering."

Elena, on the bridge with Lorut and McNair, glanced to the latter with a slight look of concern.  What was going on?
.
.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NPC Cadet M'Lenda-ii
[USS Discovery -  Deck 10 - Engineering]

All was going well with the Simulation, and the two other Ops officers were quickly figuring out her codes. If they knew much about Ops history, they could think on it for a second, figure out what someone like Lieutenant Commander Data, a former but still storied Ops officer would have done, and probably gotten a hint or two. She hoped they would work together to figure that out. She would offer it as a hint shortly.

She was interrupted in her thoughts, though, by the Captain's words.

Just as he asked, her own console buzzed. She raised her head. "No, sir, I'll check it out," she said.

Crap.

She pressed some buttons. "Sir...this is not great. Sending to your view screen," she said, pressing "send". She tapped her Comms.

=/\=Continue your efforts, please, Lieutenant, Cadet. But stand by.   she said.

She tuned her brain over to "battle mode" then.

Cadet M'Lenda-ii, down in Engineering working from one other their spare consoles, was unaware of things happening on the Bridge.  She did however hear it when several beeping alarms sounded.  Moments later the engineer beside her called out to the Caitian she met earlier.

"Lieutenant M'Nia, we have a problem.  The strength of the radiation shields around the ship are falling."

[Buck McNair]

NPC Cadet M'Lenda-ii
[USS Discovery -  Deck 10 - Auxiliary Cargo Bay]

Hearing the Lieutenant's praise of her efforts, the Caitian cadet smiled happily at the recognition - not that those on the Bridge could see that or take note of the excited lashing of her tail.  However, her purr of contentment was heavy in her voice when she answered back.  "Prrr... Thank you, Lieutenant! Though... I would ask that you add the - ii to my name.  M'Lenda was my mother."

After the 15 seconds and another failed attempt, both systems reset.  Thinking outside the box, M'Lenda-ii, decided that rather than working in competition against the others in her department.. that maybe this was one of those situations where they needed to work together.

"McNair, your senior... can give us some tips?"

NPC PO2 Elena Forscher
[USS Discovery-B - Deck One - Bridge]

Petty Officer (second grade) Forscher was up on the Bridge with Lieutenants McNair and Lorut, using the auxiliary Science console to attempt her hack as ordered for this simulation, but it was pretty clear early on that she was no where as skilled as the others, nor was she driven by motivation to improve.  That would take hard work and Elena wasn't interested in hard work.  She did the bare minimum required to get a task done.

She glanced over towards McNair when Lorut praised both him and the cadet down in Engineering.  Favoritism much?  she groused with a grimace, but continuing her slow and ineffective attempts at gaining control of the Life Support systems.  Not everyone could be hacking geniuses, she consoled herself.

When Buck asked who was handling main life support, Elena thought this might be her chance to get noticed.
"I am."  She nodded readily at his suggestion to work together.  She worked steadily like always, but the timer ran out and the system reset after the fifteen seconds.  How could anyone be expected to hack a system in 15 seconds?

[USS Discovery | Bridge]

Buck looked over at the Petty Officer with a nod, knowing that Forscher was someone who stuck below the radar, her work ethic towing the line that showed she was keen but not so keen. "Good, keep at it. I'll double up on your-"

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

The Captain sat silent, watching the orbiting station while listening in to the simulated exercise. Oh the joys of being in command, the Captain not able to see what was going on.  Not everyone could skirt the regulations on the Command structure... but he was curious about this station.  And curious why there had been no report from the away team yet.  But if they went down to the surface, it was likely their signal would not have gotten out.

His thoughts were interrupted by a beep, and he looked down at the Captain's readout.  Raising an eyebrow, he spoke.

"Miss Lorut... is weakening the radiation shields part of your simulation?  The computer is reading heightened levels in main engineering."

Buck's attention had been grabbed by the mention of the radiation shield being weakened. He hadn't remembered anything within the simulation that indicated their exercise was anywhere near touching the systems, but it seemed serious enough to draw pause from the junior lieutenant as his eyes flickered over to Forscher checking her progress. "Petty Officer, continue as you are, standby for further instruction."

He brought up his own readings of the ship, his access to the computer systems to run tests and ensure that what they were seeing wasn't part of the simulation training Vila had been running.

Ops to engineering, how long do we have of radiation shielding? 

He looked over at Vila, wondering if the simulation training they were running would take a back seat in the precedence of a bigger issue.

Buck turned his attention to the captain, knowing that the assistant chief science officer was down on the planet and as precedence, the captain was the one in charge. "Permission to hail the away team, Captain?"

[James Ramort]

[Erewhon | City Centre]

Having received his orders to split of into groups he turned away from the Holoprojection that had greeted him on the Planet, his mind focusing on the mission.

He hadn't noticed his Combadge had gone, to great his focus on his Tricorder. If their technology really was able to draw from their logs, protocols and maybe even his personal logs, it made sense why the inferred he would want to keep his Tricorder above everything else. It only heightened his suspicion thought that the device might have somehow been tempered with in the Transport Process.

Focusing on the most urgent next steps to take, he turned to the Lieutenant and Commander that had been made part of his team.

"Commander, Lieutenant, may I suggest we try to search for a library of sorts in this town first. We could use its information to determine how accurate this simulation is to earth history and maybe even find information about this place in particular."

[Lek]

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[Erewhon - City Centre]

Rayek stopped short at hearing Lachlyn's statement.  No comm badges!?  How had he possibly missed that?
The Romulan did a cursor check, running a hand over his 21st century attire - and found that she was correct his badge hadn't just been hidden, which had been his first impression, it was completely gone.  He pressed behind his ear to activate his subdermal jaw mic and deep ear comm.  The triple beep indicated a lack of connection.

Nor did he have his Type 3 phaser.

"What's the meaning of having our communication devices and weapons confiscated?" He demanded to know, looking towards the hologram T'Sana.

"Items that are not in keeping with the era aesthetic have been removed and will be returned at the end of your stay" she assured him with a pleasant smile.

Both his Chief of Security and Flight Chief seemed to suggest that accepting their predicament and using a 'buddy system' was the viable course of action, so despite his strong misgivings, the Romulan First Officer nodded his acceptance of their suggestions.  "It would seem we have little choice in the matter.  Very well.  We will breakout into teams of three, three and two.  One security per team.  I'll take the cadet with me.  Grippen, Hansen and Broadshire will be a team of three.  Lachlyn, Lek and Ramort will be the other."

[Erewon - City Center]

Lek confirmed that his phaser, combadge, and tool kit were missing, which caused him to grind his teeth in anger. Funny was funny, but this had never been funny and now it felt more like a cage than a place to relax.

"What if access to our ship is critical due to our role aboard? I will accept seizing weapons, but I want my combadge back immediately if this place is as hospitable as you claim it is."

Lek growled at the hologram and waiting to hear whatever excuse it would make.

[M'Nia]

NPC Cadet M'Lenda-ii
[USS Discovery -  Deck 10 - Auxiliary Cargo Bay]

The cadet nodded at the question and answered in a quiet tone. "Yes, Lieutenant, I came aboard at the last starbase. I'm on my last cadet cruise.  Cadet M'Lenda-ii."  The double ii sound at the end of her name, representing that she'd taken on her mother's name in memory of her.

"I'm usually up in the Auxiliary Cargo Bay. I'm good with organizing." she added with a slight smile.

Then very aware that her superior was waiting on her to call in once she got to her 'battle station', M'Lenda-ii prompted about the computer console once more.  "So may I borrow a spare station?"

"Well welcome aboard M'lenda-ii. I look forward to getting to know you better. By all means grab an empty station. You are quite welcome to it." M'nia purred. This one was very cute. She hadn't really dated much since she graduated. Not a whole lot of time but maybe, this cadet would be interested. Quite possibly!

[Tekin Nevir]

All was going well with the Simulation, and the two other Ops officers were quickly figuring out her codes. I they knew much about Ops history, they could think on it for a second, figure out what someone like Lieutenant Commander Data, a former but still storied Ops officer would have done, and probably gotten a hint or two. She hoped they would work together to figure that out. She would offer it as a hint shortly.

She was interrupted in her thoughts, though, by the Captain's words.

Just as he asked, her own console buzzed. She raised her head. "No, sir, I'll check it out," she said.

Crap.

She pressed some buttons. "Sir...this is not great. Sending to your view screen," she said, pressing "send". She tapped her Comms.

=/\=Continue your efforts, please, Lieutenant, Cadet. But stand by.   she said.

She tuned her brain over to "battle mode" then.

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[Erewhon - City Centre]

Rayek stopped short at hearing Lachlyn's statement.  No comm badges!?  How had he possibly missed that?
The Romulan did a cursor check, running a hand over his 21st century attire - and found that she was correct his badge hadn't just been hidden, which had been his first impression, it was completely gone.  He pressed behind his ear to activate his subdermal jaw mic and deep ear comm.  The triple beep indicated a lack of connection.

Nor did he have his Type 3 phaser.

"What's the meaning of having our communication devices and weapons confiscated?" He demanded to know, looking towards the hologram T'Sana.

"Items that are not in keeping with the era aesthetic have been removed and will be returned at the end of your stay" she assured him with a pleasant smile.

Both his Chief of Security and Flight Chief seemed to suggest that accepting their predicament and using a 'buddy system' was the viable course of action, so despite his strong misgivings, the Romulan First Officer nodded his acceptance of their suggestions.  "It would seem we have little choice in the matter.  Very well.  We will breakout into teams of three, three and two.  One security per team.  I'll take the cadet with me.  Grippen, Hansen and Broadshire will be a team of three.  Lachlyn, Lek and Ramort will be the other."

The Romulan had been tempted to break up the 'drinking team' but figured the others would be more effective with their investigation of the place if they weren't having to babysit those preferring to drink.

While their guests made plans to team up, the holographic servers after having provided their initial greetings and drinks, the excess numbers stepped away and disappeared.  Only three remained.  T'Sana,  Candy and a third server who had introduced herself to initially to Commander Lek as Pem.

"We meet back here in an hour." Rayek ordered before looking toward the sec/tac cadet to indicate they were heading out.  He then nodded to T'Sana to continue.

The hologram smiled.  "Of course, Rayek, Miraj... please follow me."
.
.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NPC PO2 Elena Forscher
[USS Discovery-B - Deck One - Bridge]

Elena, on the bridge with Lorut and McNair, glanced to the latter with a slight look of concern.  What was going on?
.
.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NPC Cadet M'Lenda-ii
[USS Discovery -  Deck 10 - Auxiliary Cargo Bay]

Cadet M'Lenda-ii, down in Engineering working from one other their spare consoles, was unaware of things happening on the Bridge.  She did however recognize hear it when several beeping alarms sounded.  Moments later the engineer beside her called out to the Caitian she met earlier.

"Lieutenant M'Nia, we have a problem.  The strength of the radiation shields around the ship are falling."

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

As soon as Lorut send him what she saw, he ordered it on the main viewer.  A 3D image of Discovery was displayed, with growing radiation spots on the side of the ship facing the system's star, but the largest zone of radiation was around the primary warp core.  A display of the shielding power showed it was already down 13% and falling.  Slowly but steady.

"You're right.. its not just Engineering, its the whole damn ship." he muttered, tapping his badge.

"Bridge to Engineering.  We are reading a drop in our radiation shielding, and levels are already climbing in there.  You have 3 minutes to either restore power or shut down the core before you have to evacuate that section."

"Red alert.  Evacuate the hull-side sections on the port side."

[USS Discovery | Bridge]

Buck looked over at the Petty Officer with a nod, knowing that Forscher was someone who stuck below the radar, her work ethic towing the line that showed she was keen but not so keen. "Good, keep at it. I'll double up on your-"

Buck's attention had been grabbed by the mention of the radiation shield being weakened. He hadn't remembered anything within the simulation that indicated their exercise was anywhere near touching the systems, but it seemed serious enough to draw pause from the junior lieutenant as his eyes flickered over to Forscher checking her progress. "Petty Officer, continue as you are, standby for further instruction."

He brought up his own readings of the ship, his access to the computer systems to run tests and ensure that what they were seeing wasn't part of the simulation training Vila had been running.

Ops to engineering, how long do we have of radiation shielding? 

He looked over at Vila, wondering if the simulation training they were running would take a back seat in the precedence of a bigger issue.

Buck turned his attention to the captain, knowing that the assistant chief science officer was down on the planet and as precedence, the captain was the one in charge. "Permission to hail the away team, Captain?"

"Do it.  If things so sour, we might have to bring the ship in anyways.  I'm sure Commander Lek would love to hear that."

[Rayek trLhoell]

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[Erewhon - City Centre]

[Erewon - City Center]

Lek confirmed that his phaser, combadge, and tool kit were missing, which caused him to grind his teeth in anger. Funny was funny, but this had never been funny and now it felt more like a cage than a place to relax.

"What if access to our ship is critical due to our role aboard? I will accept seizing weapons, but I want my combadge back immediately if this place is as hospitable as you claim it is."

Lek growled at the hologram and waiting to hear whatever excuse it would make.

Pem quickly tried to soothe the unhappy Ferengi.  "Please forgive this oversight. Our guests pay premium for us to make their visit here as authentic as possible.  Would perhaps this work for you?" The hologram extended her hand palm up and a device materialized.  It appeared to look like a early 21st century flip-phone.  "This device has been programmed with all your 'combadges' frequency coding - yet still has the aesthetic we require for our guests."

In apparent anticipation of their approval, several more 'flip-phones' reminiscent of the old Kirk style of communicator materialized on a platter that Candy now held.  "They come in a variety of models and colors; please take your pick" she encouraged in a sultry voice, eyeing up Malik.

[meanwhile...]

[Erewhon]

"Understood. That is a reasonable precaution to take." He offered, intending to make sure that the commander's faith in him wasn't completely misplaced.  "I will just walk around here. Talk to whoever I find." He walked toward a group of people with Hansen behind. He eyed their wrists, several of them containing the bands and more without. "Dem Broadshire, nice to meet you" He outstretched his hand toward the apparent nexus of the group. An old man with balding hair, deeply engaged in conversations with a few holographic servers.

The balding man, who sported a decorative wrist band like each member of the Away Team, looked away from the market stall owner he had been haggling with.  He stared uncomprehendingly at the outstretched hand for a long moment before two of his 'drop-dead gorgeous' guides demonstrated a handshake for him.

"Well, hello Dem Broadshire. My name is... "  the man paused a second while he attempted to recall the piece of information. "Sean Connery.  Pleasure to make your acquaintance."  The man spoke with a Scottish accent.

He took hold of Dem's hand a bit awkwardly at first before shaking it as shown.  "Amazing place is this not?  Is this your first time too?"
.
.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NPC PO2 Elena Forscher
[USS Discovery-B - Deck One - Bridge]

[USS Discovery | Bridge]

Buck looked over at the Petty Officer with a nod, knowing that Forscher was someone who stuck below the radar, her work ethic towing the line that showed she was keen but not so keen. "Good, keep at it. I'll double up on your-"

Buck's attention had been grabbed by the mention of the radiation shield being weakened. He hadn't remembered anything within the simulation that indicated their exercise was anywhere near touching the systems, but it seemed serious enough to draw pause from the junior lieutenant as his eyes flickered over to Forscher checking her progress. "Petty Officer, continue as you are, standby for further instruction."

He brought up his own readings of the ship, his access to the computer systems to run tests and ensure that what they were seeing wasn't part of the simulation training Vila had been running.

Ops to engineering, how long do we have of radiation shielding? 

He looked over at Vila, wondering if the simulation training they were running would take a back seat in the precedence of a bigger issue.

Buck turned his attention to the captain, knowing that the assistant chief science officer was down on the planet and as precedence, the captain was the one in charge. "Permission to hail the away team, Captain?"

Elena had noticed the Lieutenant's encouraging nod and was already nodding her agreement to 'keep at it' when his attention wavered and instead of working with her as he had originally proposed he too seemed caught up in checking the radiation shielding issue.  Yet like Lieutenant Lorut, his orders to her were to continue with the simulation and stand-by for further instructions.

'Oh well, orders were orders,' she reasoned, and continued to try hacking the comm system with no success.
.
.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NPC Cadet M'Lenda-ii
[USS Discovery -  Deck 10 - Engineering]

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

As soon as Lorut send him what she saw, he ordered it on the main viewer.  A 3D image of Discovery was displayed, with growing radiation spots on the side of the ship facing the system's star, but the largest zone of radiation was around the primary warp core.  A display of the shielding power showed it was already down 13% and falling.  Slowly but steady.

"You're right.. its not just Engineering, its the whole damn ship." he muttered, tapping his badge.

"Bridge to Engineering.  We are reading a drop in our radiation shielding, and levels are already climbing in there.  You have 3 minutes to either restore power or shut down the core before you have to evacuate that section."

"Red alert.  Evacuate the hull-side sections on the port side."

"Do it.  If things so sour, we might have to bring the ship in anyways.  I'm sure Commander Lek would love to hear that."

The Captain's announcement over the intercom in Engineering, was rather alarming to the Caitian cadet and M'Lenda-ii despite the Lieutenant's orders to continue working on the simulation, realized this situation took precedence.  She  glanced over her shoulder towards the most senior officer, the Caitian she'd met earlier - Lieutenant M'Nia.

The bespeckled Caitian cadet, pushed her eyeglasses further up her pink nose and peered over the shoulder of the engineer beside her who had first issued the alert.  "May I take a look?" M'Lenda-ii asked.

[Malik Grippen]

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[Erewhon - City Centre]

Rayek stopped short at hearing Lachlyn's statement.  No comm badges!?  How had he possibly missed that?
The Romulan did a cursor check, running a hand over his 21st century attire - and found that she was correct his badge hadn't just been hidden, which had been his first impression, it was completely gone.  He pressed behind his ear to activate his subdermal jaw mic and deep ear comm.  The triple beep indicated a lack of connection.

Nor did he have his Type 3 phaser.

"What's the meaning of having our communication devices and weapons confiscated?" He demanded to know, looking towards the hologram T'Sana.

"Items that are not in keeping with the era aesthetic have been removed and will be returned at the end of your stay" she assured him with a pleasant smile.

Both his Chief of Security and Flight Chief seemed to suggest that accepting their predicament and using a 'buddy system' was the viable course of action, so despite his strong misgivings, the Romulan First Officer nodded his acceptance of their suggestions.  "It would seem we have little choice in the matter.  Very well.  We will breakout into teams of three, three and two.  One security per team.  I'll take the cadet with me.  Grippen, Hansen and Broadshire will be a team of three.  Lachlyn, Lek and Ramort will be the other."

The Romulan had been tempted to break up the 'drinking team' but figured the others would be more effective with their investigation of the place if they weren't having to babysit those preferring to drink.

While their guests made plans to team up, the holographic servers after having provided their initial greetings and drinks, the excess numbers stepped away and disappeared.  Only three remained.  T'Sana,  Candy and a third server who had introduced herself to initially to Commander Lek as Pem.

"We meet back here in an hour." Rayek ordered before looking toward the sec/tac cadet to indicate they were heading out.  He then nodded to T'Sana to continue.

The hologram smiled.  "Of course, Rayek, Miraj... please follow me."

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[Erewhon - City Centre]

Pem quickly tried to soothe the unhappy Ferengi.  "Please forgive this oversight. Our guests pay premium for us to make their visit here as authentic as possible.  Would perhaps this work for you?" The hologram extended her hand palm up and a device materialized.  It appeared to look like a early 21st century flip-phone.  "This device has been programmed with all your 'combadges' frequency coding - yet still has the aesthetic we require for our guests."

In apparent anticipation of their approval, several more 'flip-phones' reminiscent of the old Kirk style of communicator materialized on a platter that Candy now held.  "They come in a variety of models and colors; please take your pick" she encouraged in a sultry voice, eyeing up Malik.

[meanwhile...]

The balding man, who sported a decorative wrist band like each member of the Away Team, looked away from the market stall owner he had been haggling with.  He stared uncomprehendingly at the outstretched hand for a long moment before two of his 'drop-dead gorgeous' guides demonstrated a handshake for him.

"Well, hello Dem Broadshire. My name is... "  the man paused a second while he attempted to recall the piece of information. "Sean Connery.  Pleasure to make your acquaintance."  The man spoke with a Scottish accent.

He took hold of Dem's hand a bit awkwardly at first before shaking it as shown.  "Amazing place is this not?  Is this your first time too?"

[Erewhon]

Malik took one of the retro style communicator devices from Candy's tray. It was good they acquiesced to their request, but still rude to take their equipment without permission.

"Aye, commander. We'll be back here in an hour."

Their trio, himself, Dem and Hansen made their way over to another apparent guest of this place. An old man by the name of 'Sean Connery'. Sounded like an Earthling name.

Malik waited for Dem to respond to the old codger as he surveyed their surroundings for anything out of the ordinary. Candy was still there, apparently she wanted a piece of Risan. Shame she wasn't real.

[Lek]

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[Erewhon - City Centre]

Pem quickly tried to soothe the unhappy Ferengi.  "Please forgive this oversight. Our guests pay premium for us to make their visit here as authentic as possible.  Would perhaps this work for you?" The hologram extended her hand palm up and a device materialized.  It appeared to look like a early 21st century flip-phone.  "This device has been programmed with all your 'combadges' frequency coding - yet still has the aesthetic we require for our guests."

In apparent anticipation of their approval, several more 'flip-phones' reminiscent of the old Kirk style of communicator materialized on a platter that Candy now held.  "They come in a variety of models and colors; please take your pick" she encouraged in a sultry voice, eyeing up Malik.

[Erewhon - City Center]

Lek gave the hologram a blistering look as if she had just offered him a live vole, but he relented and took one of the antiques. He clipped it to his belt and waited to see if anyone in his group would lead them somewhere.

"Next thing they will come up with is a lava lamp

He thought.

[M'Nia]

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[Erewhon - City Centre]

Pem quickly tried to soothe the unhappy Ferengi.  "Please forgive this oversight. Our guests pay premium for us to make their visit here as authentic as possible.  Would perhaps this work for you?" The hologram extended her hand palm up and a device materialized.  It appeared to look like a early 21st century flip-phone.  "This device has been programmed with all your 'combadges' frequency coding - yet still has the aesthetic we require for our guests."

In apparent anticipation of their approval, several more 'flip-phones' reminiscent of the old Kirk style of communicator materialized on a platter that Candy now held.  "They come in a variety of models and colors; please take your pick" she encouraged in a sultry voice, eyeing up Malik.

[meanwhile...]

The balding man, who sported a decorative wrist band like each member of the Away Team, looked away from the market stall owner he had been haggling with.  He stared uncomprehendingly at the outstretched hand for a long moment before two of his 'drop-dead gorgeous' guides demonstrated a handshake for him.

"Well, hello Dem Broadshire. My name is... "  the man paused a second while he attempted to recall the piece of information. "Sean Connery.  Pleasure to make your acquaintance."  The man spoke with a Scottish accent.

He took hold of Dem's hand a bit awkwardly at first before shaking it as shown.  "Amazing place is this not?  Is this your first time too?"
.
.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NPC PO2 Elena Forscher
[USS Discovery-B - Deck One - Bridge]

Elena had noticed the Lieutenant's encouraging nod and was already nodding her agreement to 'keep at it' when his attention wavered and instead of working with her as he had originally proposed he too seemed caught up in checking the radiation shielding issue.  Yet like Lieutenant Lorut, his orders to her were to continue with the simulation and stand-by for further instructions.

'Oh well, orders were orders,' she reasoned, and continued to try hacking the comm system with no success.
.
.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NPC Cadet M'Lenda-ii
[USS Discovery -  Deck 10 - Auxiliary Cargo Bay]

The Captain's announcement over the intercom in Engineering, was rather alarming to the Caitian cadet and M'Lenda-ii despite the Lieutenant's orders to continue working on the simulation, realized this situation took precedence.  She  glanced over her shoulder towards the most senior officer, the Caitian she'd met earlier - Lieutenant M'Nia.

The bespeckled Caitian cadet, pushed her eyeglasses further up her pink nose and peered over the shoulder of the engineer beside her who had first issued the alert.  "May I take a look?" M'Lenda-ii asked.

As the alarms went off, M'nia went into crisis mode. Checking her console, "ktals claws! Losing radiation sheilding in several section. Not good!" when the cadet offered to take a look, m'nia hesitated but decided to give her a shot. "Ok M'lenda-ii. go ahead." Maybe it was the glasses but she seemed to give off an air of intelligence.

[Dem Broadshire]

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[Erewhon - City Centre]

Pem quickly tried to soothe the unhappy Ferengi.  "Please forgive this oversight. Our guests pay premium for us to make their visit here as authentic as possible.  Would perhaps this work for you?" The hologram extended her hand palm up and a device materialized.  It appeared to look like a early 21st century flip-phone.  "This device has been programmed with all your 'combadges' frequency coding - yet still has the aesthetic we require for our guests."

In apparent anticipation of their approval, several more 'flip-phones' reminiscent of the old Kirk style of communicator materialized on a platter that Candy now held.  "They come in a variety of models and colors; please take your pick" she encouraged in a sultry voice, eyeing up Malik.

[meanwhile...]

The balding man, who sported a decorative wrist band like each member of the Away Team, looked away from the market stall owner he had been haggling with.  He stared uncomprehendingly at the outstretched hand for a long moment before two of his 'drop-dead gorgeous' guides demonstrated a handshake for him.

"Well, hello Dem Broadshire. My name is... "  the man paused a second while he attempted to recall the piece of information. "Sean Connery.  Pleasure to make your acquaintance."  The man spoke with a Scottish accent.

He took hold of Dem's hand a bit awkwardly at first before shaking it as shown.  "Amazing place is this not?  Is this your first time too?"
.
.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NPC PO2 Elena Forscher
[USS Discovery-B - Deck One - Bridge]

Elena had noticed the Lieutenant's encouraging nod and was already nodding her agreement to 'keep at it' when his attention wavered and instead of working with her as he had originally proposed he too seemed caught up in checking the radiation shielding issue.  Yet like Lieutenant Lorut, his orders to her were to continue with the simulation and stand-by for further instructions.

'Oh well, orders were orders,' she reasoned, and continued to try hacking the comm system with no success.
.
.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NPC Cadet M'Lenda-ii
[USS Discovery -  Deck 10 - Auxiliary Cargo Bay]

The Captain's announcement over the intercom in Engineering, was rather alarming to the Caitian cadet and M'Lenda-ii despite the Lieutenant's orders to continue working on the simulation, realized this situation took precedence.  She  glanced over her shoulder towards the most senior officer, the Caitian she'd met earlier - Lieutenant M'Nia.

The bespeckled Caitian cadet, pushed her eyeglasses further up her pink nose and peered over the shoulder of the engineer beside her who had first issued the alert.  "May I take a look?" M'Lenda-ii asked.

[Erewhon]

"Yes, it for sure is." He said with slight bewilderment. Sean Connery. Where had he heard that name before? "So, how did you end up on this planet? Were you just passing by like us?" He asked, curious at the large population in relatively remote space. He looked toward Malik with a puzzled expression on his face. Something was a bit off, but he couldn't quite place it.

[Lorut Vila]

{USS Discovery|Bridge|OPs}

Vila's transition to fight mode was instantaneous-truthfully, living outside of that zone was uncomfortable for her, even though she was making efforts. The Captain's mood shift didn't help, either.

You're right.. its not just Engineering, its the whole damn ship...

She nodded. "McNair, move to my side. Abandon the Simulation for the time being," she said, opening a second console for the man to assist her. "Begin running diagnostics for the entirety of the affected sections, please. Forscher, please head down to Main Ops, and collect as much data from the diagnostics as you can. Send them to me ASAP, please." She

She tapped her Comms badge.
=/\=Cadet M'Lenda-ii, abandon the Simulations for now. They will remain in the Holo-catalog for review later. Excellent work. You will return to the command of..whoever is in charge of Engineering currently. The cat person, I believe.

After she clicked off, she quickly rerouted the systems from the affected areas to "critical support only" to save power and hopefully not start a fire or something. She sent a ping to the away team's COMMs, just in case they were receiving them.

"Captain, further orders?" She asked, fingers flying but brown eyes looking concernedly at the view screen. "How did they fall so fast?" She muttered. Oh well. Not her circus, not her monkeys.