SubAccount: Ardyn Jaeger

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

Hey yourself, Alex couldn't help but smile as he felt Ardyn's warmth spread through his mind. "Well, just give me a few minutes warning before you set off the auto-destruct, I've got a few things on the list to do first." Scanning the secondary navigation terminal's relays, he quickly narrowed down the issue, something that was recently becoming all too common. "Those bloody Landsers..." Alex muttered, pulling out a half dozen isolinear chips. For a reason they still couldn't explain, the temporal pulse which 'tripped' every chip on Challenger had also caused lasting damage to a minority of them, with batches slowly failing over the past few weeks. The only commonality thus far was their age, with older chips seemingly more susceptible to corruption or short-circuits. Challenger wasn't exactly the newest ship in the fleet, which meant many of the damaged modules were in areas least accessible and thus not previously modernized. The faults weren't enough to stop them in their tracks, but were still annoyingly noticeable, especially next to a skippy little corvette like Horizon.

"If we hadn't wasted all that time on 185 with the investigation, alot of this could've been done then." Alex complained, re-scanning the open circuitry to ensure he didn't miss anything. The maintenance techs had spent their entire trip to Solaere troubleshooting why many of Challenger's upgrades installed on the Starbase weren't interacting with or enhancing their systems as designed. More often than not, it came down to a faulty isolinear chip, the tiniest wrench in the workings which required laborious and exhaustive attention to diagnose.  He was more than willing to bet that Sunik's point zero five whatever difference in performance would be found in one out of hundreds of isolinear chips installed within the starboard power distribution system.

"I'll have a technician reprogram some new chips and reinstall them. You'll just have to rely on the primary system till then. Maybe astrometrics can help with correlating our position and course if you'd like a backup." Alex got back on his feet, brushing some specks of dust off his pants. "Captain, between the unexpected maintenance and what we left on Solaere, we've already hit our annual allotment limit on some critical components. The next supply requisition will need your signature and notarized justification. I was going to bring it up in the next briefing, but if you wouldn't mind signing it early, I can send it off to Starbase 153 before we arrive. Hopefully the supplies will be ready and waiting when we dock to save some time."

Oh, and did you ask him yet? Alex glanced over to Ardyn, a quizzed expression crossing his face as he picked his coffee mug up.

[Bridge]

" You said that right. If it's not one thing it's another, unfortunately," she said, with a shrug as Alex worked on the console. Those chips had proven to be more than trouble since they got hit by the Landsers. "I'll send over  a request to them to see if they could do the calculations. I'd rather the ship be ready in case we encounter pirates or any other anomalies." she shrugged. One of the dull, but necessary things of flying the ship.

At Alex's mental mention of asking him, it took her a moment to figure out what he was talking about, when it hit her; She hadn't gotten around to asking the Captain to see if he'd be open to officiating the big day. Oh #*@&, I hadn't yet. We probably should get to that sooner rather than later. Think now's a good a time as any?

[Bridge]

Ardy got that feeling of wanting to be in the middle of the action. She more than anything wanted to be in the middle of the action, especially when a bar fight over dubious reasons was brewing, but the ship wouldn't fly herself, and Maddy had already proven that she was a lot more observant and troublesome and didn't need to pick up more unwarranted bad habits just yet. "You're probably right, Zhuk.  Gotta have someone be the adult in the room. There may yet be some barfight next shore leave. That'll spice things up," she said, with a smirk as Zhuk headed down the turbolift.

Ardy could smell the bitter Raktaijino blend Alex had in his mug before she noticed him come up. Klingon coffee blends always seemed to have a sharp aroma that was  heavily pronounced when brewed.

"Heya handsome." she said, noticing the tired look on his face. Another busy day making sure things didn't inexplicably break around them at any given notice. She did give a wry grin at the mention of her breaking the ship. " Oh, you know, the usual, Barrel rolls, MVA separation, the works. Might even have ejected the warp core."

She laughed at her own joke in comparison to the mundane issue she'd been dealing with for the past few hours. "It's really the secondary navigation computers. I'm receiving some off readings on it, in comparison to the system scans. I think it was only partially fixed when we had to leave the base and nobody really got around to it."

[Cetacean labs]

Maddy wasn't sure what Miriam the dolphin was talking about, but she was definitely interested in swimming with the dolphins! She was really good at it too, even, as she had learned to swim in the lake when she was really little. "Ooh! I can! I can!" she said, already jumping ahead of the other kids and leaving the teacher behind.  Looking at Mo,  she grinned. " Can you swim, Mo?"

Welcome back!

[Bridge]

Ardy shook herself out of her daze. "Sorry 'bout that boss. Been a bit preoccupied lately. Wedding stuff and all that drama, if you get my drift Heading to those coordinates now."

She plotted a course to the station, keeping an eye on the various systems. One of her navigations screens seemed to be off. Still a holdover from the hurried launch they had. It was slow enough now, so she figured it might be worth getting it fixed.  And she knew just the guy. She tapped her comms to Alex.   Hey there. If you have a moment, could you look at the nav systems? They're still off since the last update. Thanks." She had to keep things professional while on the job. at least, outside speaking. They were both the chiefs of their departments

With plots coordinated, and calls made, she set the ship on autopilot for now. Listening to the background gossip, it looked like there was a fight going on that had to be broken up.  "Seems like we're missing all the fun." joked Ardy to Zhuk as the Cap went down to break it up.

[Cetacean Labs]

[As Maddy]

Maddy giggled as she and Mo got splashed by the dolphin. Being so close to the tank, she got pretty solidly soggy, and she absolutely loved it. And hearing the dolphins talk about their jobs, she grinned. She had read books about dolphins with her dad and they were just as cool as she had thought.  "You really help the ship to find where to go My mommy helps fly the ship!" she asked, genuinely excited as she talked with the dolphins. "I'm Maddy! I love spaceships and Dinosaurs!" she blurted, as the other kids in the class gave their answers.

["Captain's Log, Stardate 78373.8. We are just about ta leave space station Solaere, havin' completed our escort of the USS Horizon ta the station where it will take on the role of guard ship. The station had been abandoned for a long time and while it was vacant a powerful criminal element had taken over the facility. When Starfleet showed up, bein' all about profits, they scattered like rats rather than defend what they saw as their territory.]

[Captain's Ready Room - USS Challenger]

Ian sat at his desk without seeing. His mind's eye was on the damage he'd noted on space station Solaere. His jaw was clenched as he was angry. He would have loved to have stayed to hunt down those responsible, but he couldn't. He had new orders and the Challenger had to go. Sighing, he began to speak.

"Captain's Log, Stardate 78373.8. We are just about ta leave space station Solaere, havin' completed our escort of the USS Horizon ta the station where it will take on the role of guard ship. The station had been abandoned for a long time and while it was vacant a powerful criminal element had taken over the facility. When Starfleet showed up, bein' all about profits, they scattered like rats rather than defend what they saw as their territory.

"However, it was obvious they harbored resentment about this eviction and after assemblin' a surprisingly powerful force, returned with a vengeance and inflicted significant damage ta the station. Starfleet responded and a squadron of six ships were either on guard or patrollin' the area as they helped repair the damage.

"Our orders are ta return ta the coreward border of Romulan space ta assist the Romulan Free State deal with smugglin' which we had subdued, but has flared back ta life after the Frontier Day fiasco. We are ta be reassigned ta Starbase 153 again and in addition ta anti-smugglin' operations, we're ta keep an eye on the remnant of the Romulan Empire. This all most certainly means runnin' into our old friend Thelal and the Khranu again. On the positive side, we've picked up a small leavenin' of full Lieutenants ta supplement the cadets and first year ensigns we had ta take on when Challenger was looted for the senior officers we didn't lose ta the Borg plot.

"It is roughly ten days ta Starbase 185 as we have permission from the Free State ta transit their territory. We will have an escort, but that's a trivial price ta pay in the interest of time saved. Because time is the critical element here, throughout the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, piracy, smugglin', and as repugnant as this is ta say in the 25th Century, slavin' has increased due ta the staggerin' losses Starfleet has suffered. The Otorin Sector seems ta be a hotbed of this criminal activity and I aim ta shut it down again. End log."

Ian exited the ready room and found Kyan in the Command chair. When he entered the bridge, Kyan hopped down to yield command of the ship back to Ian.

"Lieutenant Jaeger. Plot a direct course for Starbase 153, warp 8 if you please. We will be enterin' Romulan Free State space for part of our journey and will be met by a RFS escort when we reach the border.

"Evan, full sensor scans. I nae wish ta be surprised by anything, but keep them passive, I don't want our Romulan friends ta think we are snoopin'.

"Execute."

[Bridge]

Ardy was somewhat distracted as she plotted in the coordinates.  She and Alex had finally come up with a date for the wedding, but with that, came the litany of things they had to plan for for said wedding.  Neither she nor Alex had much in the way of family, but she was pretty sure that the friends they had made would insist. If only to see Maddy as a flower girl. (Which Maddy had insisted on in no uncertain terms when she had heard about it.)

Ardy  was perfectly fine with something fairly simple, but even an event as low-key as that had its' own  things to plan for.

She  was so lost in thought, she almost didn't hear the Captain talking about the escort.  No signs of anyone nearby from what she saw on the scanners, pirates or escorts aside.

"Could you say those coordinates  again, Boss?" she asked, getting back to the present.

[As Maddy]

[ Classroom → Cetacean labs]

Field Trip Day! Maddy jumped in excitement as she stood in line with the other kids of the Junior Class. Learning about all the different animals out there was really fun, and even though there weren't any more dinosaurs around (Something which Miss Byrnes didn't believe when she said she once had a pet dinosaur)  Animals were really cool, and they were gonna see some animals! Dolphins to be precise! "Woahhh! We really gonna see some dolphins on a spaceship? Don't they live in an ocean?"

"Yes they do, but these dolphins live in a special aquarium," said Miss Byrnes as she herded the gaggle of small kids down the halls to the labs. Maddy had never been down here before.  Almost immediately after going into the room, she ran to the floor-to ceiling windows  to look closer.

Congrats guys!

[As Maddy]

[Interrogation rooms]

Maddy nodded. She wasn't sure what they were going to do now. At least Mommy and Daddy weren't gonna lose their jobs.  That was something.  She knew she was in big trouble, and probably going to be grounded,  but knowing she could still see spaceships with them was worth it.

The Bad Man was talking to her dad now.  But he was certainly being weird about it. She couldn't quite tell, but maybe her daddy was at least believing them just a bit?  She wasn't sure what Kyan was going on. He wasn't like the ordinary big kids, however. Maybe he knew of something she didn't?

Either way, they had to go back on the spaceship. "C'mon Mo. Let's go back to the ship and find your big sis. Maybe she's there?"

["And the little git was the only one who could live long enough ta do the whole hull."]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

As the department heads or acting department heads checked in, Ian knew the Challenger was not ready for her full range of operations. The thing that was most concerning was nearly 150 members of the crew were disabled due to the spiking of the punch at the party. By stripping Bravo, and Gamma shift, he could put together a full Alpha shift, but there were just be skeleton crews for the later shifts or he could run light on all three shifts for more balance, but with reduced capacity. Neither option was particularly good, but he ended up choosing the latter with as many crew as possible concentrating on bringing the systems to full capacity. Everything depended on time, because if wherever they were needed took a week or more to get there, then they would be ready, less time meant less readiness. On the up side, the last three missing members of ship's complement, two children and Kyan had been located, in the starbase's brig no less. Kyan had some explaining to do about that, but at the very least, it would be an interesting story. It better be or the Onlie would find himself in a space suit scrubbing the hull just like any other problem child.

"And the little git was the only one who could live long enough ta do the whole hull." Ian grumbled. To Evan at Science One, he added.

"Let us know when the Landser ship folds, we will need ta brace for impact."

"Aye Sir."

"Ops, raise the Horizon and let them know we are capable of limited operations."

"Aye Sir."

[Bridge]

Ardyn nodded, It looked like she wasn't the only one in the dark. Who knew what the Brass were thinking at  any given moment? It wasn't like, y'know, they had things to do before getting back onto a ship that wasn't even finished with upgrades just yet. " she  mentally grumbled.

"You might want to ask  Neva and Tora about that. I had to get checked out, but last I looked, they might have found something on that end." she said to the captain and Zhuk as she prepared her pre-flight check. Or, perhaps, more accurately, checking what was actually working. The basic systems were up, thank goodness, but everything else beyond navigation was either not responding or needed some major calibration. "Looks like she can move at least. Maybe even navigate."

[Function room → Medbay → bridge]

Ardy was just as fine to avoid the medbay and get back to business, but whether he realized it or not, (Tbh, he probably did)  Alex had managed to ensure she got to taking care of herself before she had gotten back to work. She probably wouldn't have otherwise. Medical wasn't exactly her favorite place to be on the ship. "Let's get this over with. I hope you didn't get it. I will admit, medical folks and I don't get on well together.," she said, grumbling and feeling a bit embarrassed as she revealed that little unintentional detail to Neva  as she made it to the medbay on the Challenger to get scanned. It seemed like several other folks had the same idea. The medbay was pretty busy right now.

She was just about to get checked out when she heard the general call from the Captain to report in. "This is Lt. Jaeger. Just getting checked up in medbay before I get back on duty. Shouldn't be long though,  and I can get her flying again. "=/\=  Her stomach flopped as the nurse took a look at her, scanned her, and gave her a shot of some anti-nauseants and something to clear her system. A somewhat unpleasant medicine, but after a good couple minutes, she was at least on her feet. "Thanks. "

[Bridge]

Coming back onto the bridge, she sat next to Killian, one of the other flight crew and began her usual pre-flight checklist.  "Hey Captain,  what's the plan? Why did we get recalled on such short notice?"

[As Maddy]

Maddy couldn't believe it. The man was lying and saying she was making stuff up!  She wasn't!  She could hear him lying with her mind! Didn't his mommy teach him to not lie?   She gave an indignant look toward the bad man. She didn't know what her daddy was going to do with what she was going to say. If she said anything now, it would just look like she was tattling, so frustrated, she looked to her dad to try to convince him. " I'm not lying, dad.  Pinky promise!"

[Starbase 185 - Function Romm Mayflower]

"I had the same thought." Alex replied, thinking about how they could make Maddy wear a commbadge necklace or bracelet. Or maybe sew something into all her clothes. "Right, well you need to go get checked over in sickbay before anything else. Hey Neva!" Catching sight of Ardyn's fellow betazoid nearby, he waved her over. "Our daughter decided to pull one of her escaping acts, I need to go get her. Would you mind making sure Ardy gets back to Challenger and gets seen in sickbay? And you have to tell the CMO about what you found, they'll need to come up with something to counter the serum, most of the crew's probably had at least a sip of that punch tonight."

"Thanks, I owe you!" He called over his shoulder while going towards the exit, heading towards the nearest turboshafts.

[Starbase 185 - Interrogation Complex]

Arriving back at the same nondescript offices which he'd been earlier questioned in, Alex was nearly run over by a harried looking commander heading in the opposite direction. "Pardon me, sir." He stepped aside to let him out first before going inside the lobby, glancing about for someone who looked like they worked there. It turned out there was no need however, as he caught sight of a familiar face peeking out from behind a planter. "Maddison Petra Jaeger-Wu, what are you doing here?" Alex walked closer, realizing she wasn't alone, a young ferengi crouched next to her. "I see you've made a friend." He said dryly, with a strong suspicion that this was the other missing Challenger child the principal had mentioned.

Kneeling down to her level, Alex sighed, trying to hold back his frustration while speaking firmly, but calmly. "Maddison, you know you're not supposed to leave school on your own. It's not safe. You need to ask your mommy or me first, and be with an adult that we know and have said you can go with. We've had this talk before, haven't we?"

[As Maddy]

It was kind of  fun, being like a spy and all.  The bad man who wanted to take the Cap'n's job didn't even notice her or Mo following him.  She'd have to let Kyan know about what she found so they could make a plan. If the bad man got to the ship... who knew what would happen?!

Maddy was just about to tell Mo to get back before the other , when suddenly she saw her dad come up into the office. She was pretty much caught. Why was he here?

At the mention of he friend, she nodded. "This is Mo! We were gonna see if we could find his big sister. She knows a lotta stuff!"

Maddy wilted as she heard Daddy use her full name, the one he used when she was in trouble. She guessed she was, since this wasn't the first time she did this, after all. But this was important! Mommy and Daddy's jobs were on the line, as well as the Cap'n and First Officer's now!

"Yeah... But it's really important!"

She pulled on her shirt nervously, before stomping her foot in determination. They had to catch the Bad Man.  "I was worried you and Mommy would lose your jobs and then we wouldn't be on a spaceship anymore and we were gonna ask his big Sis if she knew, but then we got here and I heard this bad man say he was gonna steal the cap'n's job! We both heard it, right Mo? Kyan too!" she said, looking to Mo to back her up.

[Function room]

"Better than I was. I think most of it's out of my system when I lost my lunch, but I would rather not do that combo again. " She shook her head, really trying to stay focused and not about to give a flirty comment at Alex which was pretty unwarranted at the moment. "Most people didn't have tequila like I did, but it acts pretty fast.  Either way, It's something to warn the medical folks about in case there's side effects we don't know about. Someone's gotta do it. "

At the message from the Principal, Ardyn swore.

"We forgot to mention that little detail to the teachers, didn't we?" She said, facepalming. "He said the Interrogation rooms? What did she get into now?!"

She dodged a partygoer who was heading back to the Challenger. " At least thety've found her. We might need to get her a tracking device to wear if she keeps up this." she said, unsure if she was making a joke or just saying the thoughts going through her mind. "Can you get Maddy? I'll meet you on the ship once we've gotten stuff sorted." she said, giving him a squeeze on the hand and mental

She moved to one of the medical people in the room. She hadn't really met him before, but she might as well. "Um, Hey... we have good reason to  think someone spiked the punchbowl with Cardassian Truth Serum.  Just giving you a heads up about the matter

[As Maddy]

Maddy kept quiet as she watched and followed the man. She nodded to Mo. "You heard that, right?" she whispered, trying to be really quiet.

[Function Room]

Ardy nodded. It seemed like Neva caught her drift, taking the faint mental impression she had gotten, and running with it. It would be hard to explain in words. She was still not all that good at mental reading, and probably would never be, but, it was definitely a lead. She looked at the camera feeds, scanning the face of the man who did the dosing of the punch. "That.... That kind of  looks like one of the reporters, don'tcha think?" she asked the other two.  She could feel the leftover drugs in her system. all filters were off.

Suddenly , she heard the call for all hands to get back on board. They'd have to get Maddy soon. She moved to Alex. "They'll need us to start the ship soon. We should get the kiddo. "

[Interrogation rooms]

[As Maddy]

A grave look crossed the little girl's face. That was good. She knew what to do on the ship during a red alert, but whatever that was, it was kinda scary. "C'mon. We gotta follow that man!" she said to Mo, getting off the seat and into the hallway, looking for the Security Man.

She closed her eyes, trying  to hear that man's thoughts so she could follow him. It wasn't too hard to find. She wasn't sure what he was doing, but she could feel like he was being sneaky.

She noticed the man in red who was giving her those feelings and ducked behind a chair. He seemed to be receiving a call.

Challenger is returning from docking?! Right away, Then. I can't miss this. Thank you"   %&@$! The ship leaving early is not going to help my case at all!  Maybe I can be the First Officer, however... They're still missing one of those, I can wait my time...

['Nobody]

[Starbase 185 - Mayflower Function Room]

Genuinely concerned now that Ardyn confirmed she hadn't tried to empty the bar by herself, Alex grabbed a chair and placed it behind her, urging her to sit. "I had a sip of it, didn't really taste too off, just kind of...rummy. Now that you mention it though..." Before he could go further, Neva appeared by his elbow, looking equally annoyed and angry. "Cardassian truth serum? Why would anyone put that in the punch?" Alex pushed the question aside as less important, focusing on the second part of what she said. "Right. You keep an eye on Ardyn, I'll go ask Lahr to make an announcement."

Moving through the crowd felt almost like swimming, and Alex had his feet stepped on more than once while trying to navigate the mass of gyrating bodies. He was thoroughly sprinkled with hair sweat and other better-not-identified bodily fluids by the time he reached the stage, at which point Alex realized the stairs up were off to the side, past a solid wall of party rockers. Bracing himself for the task at hand, he stumbled as the deck suddenly lurched, somehow managing to stay upright as everyone around him jostled together. "Tabernak, what was that?" Alex spoke aloud to absolutely noone listening. The panic was infectious, and almost as soon as the ground stopped moving, he felt, more than saw, the wave of bodies surging towards him in the direction of the far doors.

Eschewing the stairs, Alex unceremoniously clambered up onto the stage, both to get out of the quieter but still a hairsbreadth away from stampeding crowd, and to get a better grasp of the situation. Lahr's announcement and directions were working well, though he could already see one problem which they were both a part of. "Hey Chief, can I borrow your microphone for a second?" He asked, scanning the floor until he spotted Zhuk's furry ears rising above the other heads. "Challengers, listen up! Move to the edge of the room out of the way, and stay put for further instruction!" The issue was, their crew didn't have a ship or stations to go to, with Challenger sequestered for the refit and investigation. They needed to account for everyone, a task which would be made all the harder if they were allowed to scatter throughout the station. "Commander Mrekrerhas, to the stage please."

[Ensign Tora Zalos|Function Room Mayflower|Starbase 185]

Right up till a few minutes ago, Tora had been convinced that nothing could go wrong on this amazing night. Like, really, was one peaceful night to relax too much to ask? Then the entire starbase shuddered, and it didn't take a genius to realize immediately that something was wrong. Starbases were built to last. For one to shudder so heavily, something had to have gone very, very wrong.

The panicked silence that momentarily descended upon the room was deafening. Tora looked around at the crowd, who had begun to surge towards the doors in a frenzied panic. "Everyone, remain calm, please!" She called out to all present. She didn't want to end the party, of course, and she knew most people here didn't either - but there was nothing else for it. "Zhuk, help me with-" Tora never finished her sentence. The crowd stampeded past her in a panicked fit, drowning out her words in a cacophony of footsteps and screaming.

[ACEO Lt.JG Neva Cordon|Starbase 185|Mayflower Function Room]

Neva sipped her scotch, eyes dancing over the room. She'd felt something wasn't "right." People were "popping drunk" quicker than any should. She could feel their shock and surprise at an admission of something they didn't usually say. What would cause that?

Neva grabbed her glass & took the final sip. Grimacing slightly from the burn, she put the glass down and headed for the refreshment table. As she gathered the food, Neva kept scanning the room in her Betazoid fashion. No one seemed to be feeling "proud" or "happy" from what they'd done, but she wasn't surprised. How many people actually watched their handiwork so overtly? She gave a little snort of laughter and shook her head to dismiss the thought.

She took a small amount of punch, then returned to her table. Setting everything in front of her, she hit her comm badge and murmured, "Computer, scan this plate and cup for any..." She stopped a moment, considering how to phrase her request. Her lips thinning into a line and pulling in a deep breath through her nose, the young engineer continued."Computer, scan this food and drink for any contaminants that could affect those in this room."

"Scan results show the punch has an 80% concentration of Cardassian Truth  Serum. All other edibles are not contaminated."

Neva's eyes widened in surprise. She almost jumped out of her chair & looked for someone who either was or had been Medical trained. Not seeing someone off the bat, she made her way to Alex's side. Tapping his right shoulder from behind, she leaned in and whispered loud enough for only him to hear.

"Alex, someone spiked the punch. Get everyone to stop drinking it. I'm not sure of what someone's after, but a scan I did showed it had been contaminated with Cardassian Truth Serum." Before he could answer, Neva tore away and knocked a crewman's hand away from the punch bowl's ladle. "Don't drink that! Get something from the bar or the replicator. Trust me!" She hissed. She got an annoyed look and a muttered curse as the crewman left the table. Neva rolled her eyes and surreptitiously grabbed the punch bowl and headed to a replicator to dispose of it.

'Nobody messes with my crew!' She thought angrily 'They may not be on my Iron Lady, but they're with my Iron Lady!'

[Function room]

Ardy sat down, glad for the opportunity to try and settle her stomach, as confusing as it was, when she saw Neva come up to her, waves of ticked off terminating from her.  Ardy was more than willing to agree with that. "Someone spiked the punch? That would explain a lot of things, but why Cardassian Truth Ser-?" The station jolted her, instantly  sending her already- delicate stomach into knots. People were already starting to panic. What just happened? Was Maddy okay?

Ardy could feel the mental impressions of someone nearby, almost conspiratorally. Clearly the jolt had interrupted their plans.

"Hey Neva, Tora, Now might be the best time to figure out what the heck's gone on with whoever drugged the punch and the station quake." she said, motioning to the camera systems up ahead. "I caught a glimpse of someone's thoughts. It was definitely spiked, why, I'm not sure."

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

[As Maddy]

The lurch sent Maddy tumbling off her chair, rather dramatically, given that she was so small.  "Mo, Kyan, what was that?"  she asked, really trying to not look like she was scared.  She tried getting a better mental glimpse at the man, but he was walking further away. "That man, He's thinking getting rid of the cap'n. I heard it."

[Starbase 185 - Mayflower Function Room]

"Don't worry about it tonight, that's a tomorrow problem." Alex reassured the Caitian as the 'Zhuk' chants faded into generalized partying. Lahr seemed to have his finger on the pulse, playing just the right amount of energy for the group. His enjoyment was short-lived though, as he saw Ardyn go pale and sway out of the corner of his eye. "Ardyn?" Alex managed to grab the glass before it fell from her hand, setting both on the table. "Hey, you okay?" He followed her to the garbage can, making it just in time to sweep most of Ardy's hair out of her face while she upchucked.

Picking a few bits of soggy pretzel out of the strands which didn't escape the deluge, Alex forced himself not to grimace at the not-unfamiliar smell of partially digested food intermixed with alcohol. There was something to be said for synthehol, which the tequila certainly was not. "Did you sneak shots with Neva while I was in the washroom?"

[Party]

Ardyn shook her head as she wiped off her mouth after the sudden scene that just happened, face somewhat flushed from embarrassment, given that all eyes were now on her.  "No. I just had the two shots. Was actually trying to avoid a hangover today so I could pick up Mads later," she said, really confused as to why she lost her lunch. If she wanted to, normally she could hold her liquor pretty well. Several years on the circuits would do that.  She wasn't even really drunk right now, at least, she didn't feel that way." Everything seemed just fine before she had that glass of punch.

"That punch had a weird aftertaste, did you guys notice it? she asked the others standing around their table.

[[Lieutenant Commander Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Function Room Mayflower | Starbase 185]]

[Starbase 185 - Mayflower Function Room]

Watching the receding backs of the reporters being escorted out, Alex felt mildly irritated by their intrusion, but also curious how much they knew already, and from whom. "Thank you, I think we will." He replied to Mrekrerhas' invitation, following him back to his table after glancing around to see if Ardyn had any other plans. "And please, feel free to call me Alex."

Captain Galloway making an appearance wasn't unexpected, but his annoucement certainly was. Mrekrerhas' unmistakable delight was infectious, and as the skipper left, Alex clapped the caitian heartily on his back. "Congratulations, Commander! Well, I guess we know at least one person who won't be getting fired for this Land fiasco."

Alex didn't bother trying to say anything else over the crew's raucous chants, stepping aside so 'Zhuk' would be unobstructed from view. Grinning, he raised his glass along with Ardyn's toast as the speakers started playing DJ Lahr's first song of his set. "We'll have to find you a mess bell to ring, put that pay raise to good use."

[Lieutenant Commander Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Function Room Mayflower | Starbase 185]

"Ah, uh... I greatly appreciate your congratulations, Lieutenant Jaeger," Zhuk stated, his tone wavering slightly from the emotion. He then turned towards Lieutenant Wu, and offered him a nod, "I am grateful for your words too, Lieu- Alex. But... pardon, what is this about getting sacked?" He asked, doing his best to pay attention to the response, though his mind unfortunately began to go elsewhere.

Lieutenant Commander, he thought, the rest of the crowd slowly disappearing from his mind as he basked in his achievement. Having gone so far, from being a mere Ensign, in two years certainly made him incredibly accomplished and proud of himself. He wished, for a moment, that his family was there to see him. To celebrate with him.

The happiness he felt became soon tainted with a significant amount of sadness that caused him to slump lightly, his figure a momentary shell of his usual self.

His ears flicked as he heard a commotion around the stage. To his surprise, he heard his name being chanted. Almost instinctively, he straightened back up, a smile returning to his face. He gazed over at Lahr as he played a rather catchy, animated song, and offered him a nod. A surge of positive feelings once more washed over him, though accompanied by a certain shyness. Caitians couldn't blush, or at least, not in a way like humans could. Instead of having their cheeks flush with color, Caitian's ears acquired a noticeable reddish pink color, instead of the usual pale pink that Zhuk sported. He hoped that no one would notice, considering that they were most likely not familiar with his species' anatomy.

His fellow crew and friends were too kind. It made him glad to serve alongside them.

"Ah... yes, Captain. Thank you kindly. Hope you have a good rest. _{I... I am not certain I possess enough Latinum... drat..."} Ian's words caught the attention of Zhukdra'shar, and he offered a salute of sorts before his superior left. He supposed that he would be able to ask about the interrogations later. For now, he guessed that the best he could do was to enjoy the party, which seemingly had become a celebration catered towards him. Not bad at all.

[Little Mo | Interrogation Rooms | Starbase 185]

The Efrosian gazed at them with no small amount of suspicious, while Mo tried to smile as best as he could to throw off the Security officer. After a moment, and Maddy's attempt at convincing him, he gave up. Sighing, he glanced over at the children, "Alright... I will let you through. But you need to come with me, and you will wait if your sister is still being questioned, are we clear?"

He spoke, firmly but not aggressively, hoping to indeed be able to convince the children that they should not wander alone. He opened up the gate to allow them in, before following them. Mo, on one hand, was glad that the good Security guard had let them through, jumping from excitement at the little adventure they were having,

"Yeah, okay! Thank you, sith!" Came the words of the Ferengi, as he motioned for Maddy to follow. Fortunately for the Efrosian, he had not wandered very far. And at least, they were only two. It would be easy to keep an eye on them, he thought.

[Kyan Mackenzie | Function Room Mayflower, Starbase 185]

With his commission deactivated for the past few weeks and not being in his own quarters, or even on the Challenger, it had been relatively easy to put the things that had happened to him on Land-Ta out of mind. Most of the time anyway. During waking hours, Kyan was almost always with Max and Leran, or Jalen and Lorian, or all of them. He'd had a few dreams about it, but Jalen had given him something for that after a few restless nights. In the next few days he and the other kids from Challenger would be going to the Station's school, which would provide more of a distraction.

But the reporter's question and Jettis' mentioning an "ongoing investigation" brought the whole thing back to the forefront. He wasn't scared or depressed by the ordeal. He was angry that it had had happened and still more angry that he wouldn't have a chance to get back at the Landser that had almost killed him. Not thinking about it had helped, but now it was front and center and there was no distraction. What's more, the brass were apparently coming down on Galloway for it and he was left entirely out of the loop, which did nothing to make him feel better. Kyan knew that there would be questions, a debriefing at least. There always was, but an investigation? That was something else entirely. He was working out how he'd ask Jalen about it later when the side pocket on his shorts vibrated. He fished out his padd and swiped it open.

There were more than a dozen messages he hadn't read, most from a Commander Burnham, whoever that was. The newest one was from some unexpected, Admiral James Carter. Kyan didn't remember much about him, except that they hadn't gotten along when the Admiral came to Katra. And now here he was, summoning him to the conference room. So either he didn't know that he wasn't summon-able right now, or he did and just didn't care. If not for Jettis and the reporter, Kyan would have pocketed the padd and ignored the message. But now that he knew something was going on, the Onlie's curiosity was piqued, along with the anger that still needed somewhere to go. He decided to pay Carter a visit after all and see what he could find out.

~10 minutes later, Interrogation room, Security complex.

Sneaking out of the party had been easy enough. What Kyan hadn't counted on was a diligent member of station security wondering why he was roaming the administration area unaccompanied. After an exchange of words wherein the Efrosian security officer was loudly compared to an old Earth cartoon character from the Yosemite who chased around a rabbit Kyan found himself being hauled off to the security office. Once there, he was unceremoniously shoved into an interrogation room.

Turning around as soon as he was pushed past the door, Kyan yelled "Stick it up yer arse ye ditzy rocket!" he shouted as the door closed. When he turned back around, the Onlie found a wide eyed pair of children looking back at him.

"Maddie? Mo? What are you two doing in here?"

[Party]
"No need for the formalities, either. Ardyn or Ardy works just fine." Ardyn said, encouraging the Caitian to relax.

Ardyn took a  bit of a swig of the punch.  Her face scrunched a little as she noticed a strange aftertaste of a sort.  Weird. Somebody must have added some prune juice or something.    Either way, she was here to celebrate! "You know, guys for a glorified interrogation and another trial that might give us the boot, this ain't  a bad way to spend it." she said out loud to the partygoers.

What the? A look of confusion hit her as soon as the words left her mouth.  She didn't mean to say it like that. It was honest and blunt, but given that it was the truth... Was it the tequila? She had tried to keep herself NOT to the point of drunkenness. Was she losing her touch? Her head was starting to spin, sending her stomach into loops. "Um, something's not right," she said,  suddenly heading to the nearby trash can and relieving her stomach. "I was feeling just fine two seconds ago. Wasn't even drunk. What the #%&#?"

[As Maddy]

[Interrogation Rooms]

"Okay." said Maddy, also smiling. She knew that if she was extra nice to the Security man it would really help in convincing him. It usually worked that way with grownups.  Maybe it was because she could tell what some people were feeling? She wasn't sure why, but it worked. The Security man'd watch them, but that was okay with her for now. As they followed him into the offices and rooms of the Interrogation room, she hoped Zala was OK after being asked a lot of questions.

The Efrosian  man with the long mustache escorted the two kids to an interrogation room to wait until he could find Zala. This was where she was... Right?

Hopping onto a chair, her legs dangling slightly as she fidgeted. Zala would probably be coming out there really soon. she thought as they watched the general bustle of security officers went about their businesses through the frosted window, albeit with some surprised looks  as to why two little kids were out here alone. Suddenly, She saw Kyan, one of the big kids, coming into that same room.  He was one of the big kids who came over to play with the junior-level classes sometimes.  Why was he here? This was a place for grownups.  "We're here to find his big sis, Zala." she said, pointing to Mo. "She might know if  my mommy and daddy might lose their jobs, 'cause they won't tell me what's wrong."

Suddenly, they heard a man pass by, talking loud enough to be heard through the door.  " -Someday I'm gonna get the Big Chair, Just you wait. Once we convince the Federation that Galloway's  messed up big time, They'll have to have me at the head of the Challenger...

Maddy stood up, very worried. She could feel that Man's thoughts. And it wasn't good.  He was looking to fire the Cap'n! And Maybe everyone else! "