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Misssseessss Jisssseeeeeeeeth~

I apologize for what must sseem to be an arbitrary invassion of perssonal sspace, but I had to wait until your... faculties, hmm... were otherwisse occupied. A mossst formidable mind, admittedly, however... in your sssleep I can see everything. You've been quite bussy sssince we lassst met. Perhapss now is a good time for a heart to heart.

There once wass a time you cared nothing for thessse people. You remember don't you, hmm? When a Romulan child's only touch of humanity was in the form of a fist striking acrosssss their face. A great opportunity hass been given to you and I am not one to fritter away my invesstmentsss. When I plucked you from that exploding transsport, I acted in the face of disssapproval: other Q ssaw no practical use for you, a mere child.

In a way, I would like to collect some small repayment owed for your continued sssssurvival. Objectionss regarding your... exssssiisssstence... have grown tiring and I would like to ssssilence these naysayers as ssssimply culling them is out of the question. It will sssuffice... for now.

Sssso lisssten well, my dear... when you awaken, you will be as you were when we first me. Don't worry, I'll provide you with a companion for the ordeal. Prove you are indeed capable of continuing your servicesss. The alternative, hmm... leaves you to relive that Romulan child's life while those you seem fond of continue on. I have confidence you will make the right choicesss. Sssso wake up, little missss Jisssseth. Wake up, because this is what you wanted, is it not?

[USS Chintoka - XO's Quarters]

The Lieutenant had been asleep on the couch, a blanket half covering her uniformed body. Only her boots were off, which sat at the side of the furniture piece. The shuttle flight had been long for the visit with her soon to be married friend. A quite groan was followed by a soft yawn, but she found her arm hindered as she tried to wipe her face.

Slowly, her eyes opened as for a brief instance there was the memory of a familiar voice in her head. Looking down the length of the couch, Jiseth found herself in what seemed to be an enlarged uniform. Perhaps Gabriel had slipped her into the holodeck while she was asleep as a practical joke. With effort she slipped her fingers around the zipper and brought it down. The undershirt draped over her small body like an over-sized night gown.

Crawling out of her cocoon, she crawled over the uniform and blanket, resting her chin on the far arm rest as she looked sleepily into the body mirror on the wall. Her hair was blonde, it hadn't been since puberty. Her face was that of when she was a small child. A few more blinks passed and then her eyes slid closed again. Suddenly they shot open and she got off the couch, approaching the mirror. She was quiet at first, perhaps in shock. Then came the screaming, "What happened to me?!"

I promised a few people I wouldn't laugh at you and the things you say.

Promise broken... 

[Quarters]

Hearing Jiseth's voice from the bedroom, Zero followed the sound and smiled slightly, sitting on the edge of the bed.  "Sickbay will require work before I consider it ready to accommodate patients, but it will eventually reach a point wherein I can work there."

She tilted her head to one side as she considered her lover, her pale eyebrows furrowing slightly in a frown.  "All is not well with you, Jiseth," she said softly, reaching out to tuck a strand of her dark hair behind her pointed ear.  "What is wrong?"

[Quarters]

Closing her eyes, Jiseth turned her head towards Zero, "Irvine is gone, but there are still four others somewhere. I suppose they'll be dealt with. I just seems out of my hands now. I suppose that's the way it's should be, let law take care of it." Rolling over, her eyes opened and she gave a hard look at Zero, "You're a citizen now. We didn't have to kill or make them fear us to get it."

With a sigh, she sat up and leaned forward, placing a warm kiss on Zero's lips, "They may have proven us both wrong about Starfleet after all. Maybe." Her smile emerged again, "I want to leave all the ill will of this ship here and take none of it with us." Jiseth moved her hand over the Augment's lower stomach gently.

Arriving at the quarters she shared with the love of her life, Zero keyed the access code into the pad next to the door, stepping through as it slid open and then closed behind her.  Now sure that she was in safe hands, Ghost trotted off to his basket, thirstily lapping at the bowl of water kept next to it.  Zero shrugged off her uniform jacket, looking around the lounge area.

"Jiseth?" she called out.  "Are you home?"

[Quarters]

"I'm in here!" Her voice was not quite loud enough to be a shout which required too much effort in her relaxed state. While her body was at ease, her mind was not fully. It became more and more difficult to pinpoint what exactly was bothering her. Perhaps it was always being secretive and distant from others, save Zero. When was the last time she actually sat down with Henriks?

The names passed by in her mind, names of the updated crew for the ship they were transferring to. Booth would be joining them as would McConnell. The registry showed Grix as a Captain and Larson a commander. At least she could find loving homes for some of the bottles of Romulan ale she had.

Tilting her head towards the bedroom doorway, she smiled in anticipation of Zero's entrance, "We have to get packing soon. What do you think of the new place?"

[Quarters]

Jiseth entered and went straight to the end of her bed and sat there, leaning the bat'leth against the mattress. One elbow went to her knee with her balled fist under her chin. Her eyes went scanning around the room. There was an awkwardness about it. She and the ship had never quite come to terms with each other. It was still the Patton to her.

She did like the design out of the outer hull, but beauty is only skin deep as they say. The inside of the ship was immensely bothersome. Swarming plague of technical issues aside, it was the crew she resided with. While she was relieved of duty, there was plenty of time to work on the Daedalus project, but also to think. Perhaps the worst individual on board for her to deal with was not Brown or Grix, or Larson, or even Irvine. It was herself.

Leaning back onto the bed she sprawled her arms out, the wings of a flying warbird. Staring at the ceiling, her comforter felt cool which was a relief. The collar around her neck felt like it was getting a bit warm, too tight maybe. Pulling her zipper down a bit, there was a quiet sigh. Four hours was plenty of time since she never seemed to have everything quite unpacked. After the loss of the last Churchill, it became habit to keep things ready to be taken in a moment's notice.

"I wonder where you are right now, Zero..."

"I need water-No. No..." Scooting herself toward the rock formation, she leaned back against it, looking out to the runabout that was now a dot near the horizon. The most frustrating part was she knew too well how large these explosions could get. They were a relatively safe distance away, at least from the fireball. From where they were, the shock wave would hit almost half a minute from the first light, she estimated.

Jiseth felt miserable, looked pitifully so and it was only going to get worse. "You need water. You actually have a chance in the long run. That tricorder could probably be used to send a short-range signal when they notice our ship's transponder cut out. In the mean time, get hydrated, that's an order."

While you're at it, get as far away from here as you can and leave me...

Dibs on helm! 

[Grix to all Churchill Crew, we have all been reassigned to the Intrepid class currently docked at bay 37, We need to be ready to depart in 24 hours, Commanders Larson and McConnell meet me in the lounge in 10 minutes]

Grix to all Churchill Crew, we have all been reassigned to the Intrepid class currently docked at bay 37, We need to be ready to depart in 24 hours, Commanders Larson and McConnell meet me in the lounge in 10 minutes

Grix to Lieutenant Jiseth, Lieutenant I hope you heard the news please transfer your belongings to the new ship and I look forward to seeing you flying us out of spacedock tomorrow

The Romulan paused and glanced toward the ceiling as the room began to hum with murmuring. Snapping her fingers twice, the room fell silent before she hit her commbadge.

Understood, sir. Preparations are being made.

Jiseth rubbed the bridge of her nose with her eyes clamped shut as she began to plan the next twenty-four hours in her head. It was a tremendous amount of work on such short notice, but still within possibility. Looking to the display on the podium, she selected from the registry the ship at Gate 37 and a moment later the holographic image of an Intrepid-class ship appeared in front of the Sternbach.

"Ship we're getting is two decades old, well-traveled. USS Bellerophon. Some of you had relatives on it, but for all of us, we're going home."

She allowed a few seconds of cheering and clapping to boost their morale while she finished planning. The Romulan snapping once again brought the room to hush. "First priority will be moving personal belongings, you have four hours to pack up everything. Alpha and Charlie flights will assemble in Cargo Bay One, while Bravo and Delta flights assemble in Cargo Bay Three. After transport of baggage, take to your assigned shuttles for mass transit, get your things to your quarters and return to the shuttles for quick turnarounds. Otto, sort yourself for transfer and man the tower of our new ship."

"Gladly, my lady." With a bow, the hologram disappeared.

Jiseth continued, "Second priority is the movement of specialized equipment and project resources. If it's not classified, put it on the transporter. If it is, get it on a shuttle and over to the respective cargo hold. Remember to hydrate and take breaks. After that is completed, we'll head to the closest station mess. By then we'll have roughly six hours left, so get some sleep. Ninety minutes prior to departure, Bravo flight will report in for a shortened shift and duty rotations will go from there."

Cutting off the projections, the lights in the room brightened slowly as Meru called the room to attention. It took barely a second to pass for them all to be standing as the Lieutenant took hold of the bat'leth, "Don't trample anyone, dismissed!"

With that the flight personnel filed out and began to briskly jog down the corridor back to the ship.

[Starbase Corridor]

Perhaps it was the sound of many boots marching together that drew people to stop and look around, both docking and starship personnel. Perhaps it was the two columns of red shirts being lead by a trio comprising of a Bajoran woman, a mammoth of a human and a balding man following a Romulan carrying a bat'leth in one hand. Their eyes focused straight ahead, their movements crisp and in unison. They snaked out of the docking arm and down the long, windowed corridor as onlookers moved to the wall to give them space.

[Conference Room]

By the time Jiseth had spotted a door with a green vacancy light, they were parallel to the ends of the Churchill's nacelles. It was large enough for both columns to fit through without issue and they split off to opposite ends of the room before filling in the rows of seats. The entry door shut and soon after the room fell silent as the flight control personnel stood at attention. The EPH, Meru and Fornell lined up along the wall to Jiseth's side as she rested the bat'leth against the podium. "Be seated," she said as the lights dimmed and a holographic projection appeared, between her and her audience, of their ship.

"Looks like mom and dad are having us move again. We're taking all of our assets, including sensitive materials."

So something that hit a little close to home, well literally, for me this evening. Two planes went down with all four people (two in each) killed with an hour or so between them, barely a hundred kilometers away from each other. One was out of Daytona International where my first university, Embry-Riddle, is. Aircraft belongs to a different flight school. The other was near Merritt Island Airport where I was taking my siblings flying this past Christmas; it's like 15 min from where my parents live in Cape Canaveral.

KCOI

KDAB

The cat woman's tail was the least of the warbird woman's concerns, though it did provide some distraction, amusement even. Jiseth watched how far each foot step was and counted how many were being taken. For ease of calculation she waited every ten to get an idea of their progress. She was however, getting quite nauseous again. With controlled breaths, she focused her mind on the growing number of steps and enlarging rocks as they neared.

When they reached their destination, there was a moment's relief that she had held up this long. When the Ensign sat her down, Jiseth was able to smile slightly, but turned suddenly before she could say anything, vomiting what looked like a watery clam chowder, but smelled nothing of shellfish. A tear came down the Romulan's face after she finished, "I don't want to go... Not like this."

Tucking her hair behind her ears, Jiseth bit her lips as she took several deep breaths. "The warp core scrammed automatically when the nacelle separated, but a buffer circuit was torn out. There's nothing I can do. It's only a matter of time till that secondary reactor over... overloads..." A rush of heat hit her as she bent over, bracing her hands on her knees, "My dosage was fatal. I can maybe go four days without treatment, but by the end of the second day... Well, I doubt that will matter much if we can't get clear of the blast."

[Bridge]

The EPH was at the helm, quietly performing all the ship maneuvers as ordered. He had taken over many of his superior's functions while she was relieved of duty. He had also watched over her and Zero since then, the whole department had. If Fornell was a shield, then the holographic man was javelin, able to dispose of things beyond ordinary reach. However, as he watched each increment window pass by on the flight display and come to a stop as the docking arms extended, his thoughts focused on an audio link to his memory from the hangar where the gathering was taking place.

[Shuttle Bay Two]

It was quiet aside from the foot steps of Jiseth along with Fornell and Meru who flanked her. The entirety of the USS Churchill Flight Control had been assembled, all in a circle formation, facing inward and with a small missing segment which was filled when the three stood there. All eyes were on them. Then attention turned to Jiseth as she reached over her shoulder and grabbed the end of the bat'leth sticking out. SWOOO-CLING! Sparks scattered from the impact of the tip of the blade and the hard flooring.

The Lieutenant had their attention. None jumped, or even flinched, from the strike as the echo faded and she rested both hands upon the back of the curved metal near the other tip. Her eyes went to those of each scarlet clad figure there, inspecting them. This had become her home.

"I know what some of you, perhaps all of you, have been planning. Intercepting a prisoner transfer with these shuttles is a bold ploy... but a foolish one. The burden I carry is mine and mine alone. None of you are to interfere. If there are any who wish to object to my orders, my will, then step forward and be cut down to be blown out into space with the rest of the detritus."

The circle widened as everyone stepped back, including Meru and Fornell, leaving Jiseth the only one standing out for her own threat. It gave her pause. So profound and simply wordless. Her message was clear, but so was theirs. "I see..."

Lifting blade, she held it in by the center handle before turning toward the door. "Listen well. Never go to war. Especially with yourself..." Fornell and Meru turned about and filed out with each half of the circle following behind them.

I'm usually only pleased when I see Zero, but for different reasons 

"That's good to hear, Ensign..." Between the radiation dosage being most likely fatal and the runabout that had now become a time bomb, Jiseth found it difficult to entirely concentrate, especially as she was still in shock from the crash. Her training told her to remove all metal objects that would conduct radioactivity and so she stopped suddenly, and removed her gloves. Then began unfastening the chest and back plates. The more she progressed, the more she seemed frantic to get her equipment off. Unzipping the flight suit, she undid the upper portion from the waist and discarded it before pulling off the patches that fed her health status to the chest box, "I will not have the entire Alpha Quadrant knowing when my bladder is full or not..." Lastly, her belt and buckle were removed. What remained was her grey torso undergarment and the black fatigues along with her black boots. She even removed all the braids from her hair letting it drape down over her shoulders, "I at least want to be comfortable when..." she muttered to herself.