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[[Lt. Commander Kyan Mackenzie | Main Engineering, USS Challenger]]

[Lt. Commander Kyan Mackenzie | Main Engineering, USS Challenger]

Mulligatawny to security, we need you in the mess hall... there's a fight.

Kyan raised an eyebrow. That was interesting. He didn't answer but did head in that direction. After all, it wasn't every day that people threw down in the mess hall.

~A few minutes earlier... in the mess hall.

Rala Vass burst through the doors, anger etched across his face. After scanning the room for a moment the Bajoran Crewman found the object of his frustration. It was a fellow Crewman, Jeyshon, the Tamarian engineer who'd come aboard at Starbase 185. Rala stomped over to where Jeyshon and another new arrival were sitting.

"Jeyshon!" he nearly shouted. "You stole my earring!"

Jeyshon looked up from his meal, surprised. "Zinda, his face black, his eyes red?"

"Give it back to me!" Rala demanded. "You were the only one in there when I was on shift and now my earring is gone."

"I took nothing." Jeyshon replied in standard. "Zinrok, tilling his field in the spring... err.. stop shouting. Sit.. speak with me."

Rala shook his head. "I don't sit with thieves. Now give it back."

Jeyshon turned to his companion for help, but he only stared back and forth between them, shocked. "I do not take things." the Tamarian replied. "Zima at Anzo, Zima and Bakor."

"Speak standard!" Rala spat. "I know you can. Now where is my earring!?"

"Maybe you misplaced it." the Crewman across from Jeyshon spoke up. "We can..."

"That earring is three hundred years old. It's been in my family for generations. Give. It. Back."

"Kiteo, his eyes closed." Jeyshon muttered.

Apparently Rala took that as an insult because no sooner than Jeyshon had uttered the words that he found himself being dragged to his feet. Not one to allow himself to be bullied, the Tamarian threw a punch, staggering the Bajaoran, who replied in kind when he'd regained his footing. After that, the fight was on.

CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Mess Hall

Shouting from the next table over drew his attention and made the Andorian wince, his antennae leaned far back almost touching the top of his head, and he looked over sourly as the argument progressed.

At one point in time, Lahr would have been in there trying to break up the fight, now Lahr wanted nothing to do with it.  The most he would bother to do now, is call up to his friends in security to come an deal with the situation themselves.

Lahr tapped his comm.  "ch'Verret to Blackfeather. You might wanna send some of your team down to the Mess... a fight has broken out over some stolen property."

[Ensign Tora Zalos|Mess Hall|USS Challenger]

Tora would've loved to go on about how yes, she'd met Shran before and the Chief's mad deejaying skills and how he killed it (figuratively, of course!) at the party she and Zhuk had organised and how cool he'd looked doing it. Like, really, not too old, not too bad looking and talented? Too bad enlisted and officers weren't supposed to fraternize, or she'd have been happy to chat him up and see where things went.

Or she might have deflated a bit hearing that goodwill and warm and fuzzy good relations with the Romulans were likely not on the menu. Like, okay, maybe she should've expected that might be the more realistic outcome, but still. Ouch. Way to crush a girl's mood, right?

But nooooooo. Before she could properly come up with sensible and witty replies to either of those topics the sound of arguing, and then fisticuffs, rent the air, and her hopes were tragically dashed. Again, way to crush a girl's mood. Ouch. A quick glance across the mess hall told her immediately who it was, and a sigh escaped her lips. "Oh, god. Jeyshon! Stop!" Tora was on her feet and walking towards the two in a heartbeat. She'd just met the Tamarian the other day and hit it off quite well with him and honestly, didn't really want to see him get trashed like that. You know, as a friend does. "Hey hey hey, why don't we take a moment-" was all she managed before Rala's fist connected with her nose at more or less full force, and she crumpled to the floor with a strangled groan.

"Beat it, spoonie, or you're next when I'm done with your friend here!" Rala snarled. He kicked her limp body once and aimed a haymaker punch straight at his actual opponent.

[Bridge --> Mess Hall - USS Challenger]

When Blackfeather made his report to Zhuk, he had done so discretely enough that despite Tactical only being a few meters from his command chair, Ian had not heard what he had said. Given its method of delivery, it was clearly meant to be a security issue and thus he did not pry. However, the calls from Mulligatawny and Lahr came in all too loud and clear to ignore. He thought.

"A fight? On my ship? Security issue or not, I will not allow that sort of behavior. The Challenger was a Starfleet starship not a Hankow junk. This may not be my business, but it is my prerogative as Captain ta be wherever I choose."

Out loud he said.

"Senior Chief, I think the mess hall is due for a snap inspection. I will accompany you. Mister Mrekrerhas, you have the bridge."

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

As the Challenger approached the old Neutral Zone border, they received a hail from their escort which was waiting and uncloaked for their arrival. Challenger dropped out of warp and after a short exchange of pleasantries, the RFS Harkma took up station on Challenger's port beam and both ships accelerated back to warp eight for the eight day trip to the closest point of the Free State border to Starbase 153.

As Zhuk stood at Tactical, he noticed Senior Chief Petty Officer Ryan Blackfeather enter the bridge, which was unusual. The Senior Chief usually avoided the bridge whenever he could. He moved next to his Security Chief and spoke softly, relying on the Caitian's acute hearing to keep his report quiet.

"Sir, there is a situation that has come to my attention. As embarrassing as this is, I believe we have a thief. Several crew members have reported small items missing. Nothing of extreme value, a silver hairbrush, a Tholian silk scarf, an Academy ring, among other things. These thefts have occurred only in crew quarters. Nothing from the ship's components, thing is, neither internal sensors or security scanners have detected anything. It is still small items, but there have been nine thefts since we left Starbase 185 and I figured you needed to know."

[[Little Mo | Deck Eight | Cetacean Lab | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]]

[Little Mo | Deck Eight | Cetacean Lab | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

The young Ferengi was teeming with excitement. He did not know what a doll-pheen was, but it sounded cool! Field Trip Days were always incredible, and he gladly reminisced how much he had enjoyed himself that time they had gone to the Holodeck. It was not too long until they arrived to the Cetacean Lab, and he saw Maddy almost immediately running towards the tank. He jumped back in surprise at seeing a peculiar, hairless creature, with a long, funny-looking snout, and a grayish color. His eyes went wide as the creature responded, however.

After a moment of hesitation, he too approached, waving at the being, "A-Ah, hello Mirr-iam! Are you a doll-pheen?"

[Cetacean Lab - Deck 8 - USS Challenger]

As the other children closed around and Mo worked up the courage to speak, Mirriam tossed her head and slapped the water with her fins. Not enough to splash the children, but enough to get their attention and to draw her companions to surface.

"Yes indeed I am Lobling. I am specifically a Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin from the planet Earth. These are my sisters Sarah and Ruth."

"Welcome Little Swimmers we are happy to have you here and to explain our important role aboard the ship. Even though as little as 400 years ago we were considered to be nothing more than especially clever animals by the rather dense humans of that time, it only took a little modification of our DNA and a cybernetic implant that allowed us to prove which species was the smarter." Said Ruth.

At this point Sarah splashed the water hard enough to get Maddy and Mo wet as she whispered conspiratorially. "It's not the humans." She then laughed at her own joke.

Mirriam gave Sarah a dirty look and continued.

"Our function on the ship is navigation specialists. Because we evolved in a 3D environment we are far superior to humans in maintaining spatial away in space because it also involves three dimensions. We each hold the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade. Now that's who we are, how about you tell us about yourselves and what you like to do. Impress use and we'll allow you to link with us in the navigation net and you get to see what it is like to swim through space like we do."

["I'm sorry Lieutenant, I didna mean ta wake you. I didna give coordinates. I gave you a destination. Direct course ta Starbase 153."]

[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.

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian arched an eyebrow, but he moderated the tone his response despite their content. He knew everyone was slightly off their game from the time at Starbase 185.

"I'm sorry Lieutenant, I didna mean ta wake you. I didna give coordinates. I gave you a destination. Direct course ta Starbase 153." He looked at the display on command chair. "I make that out ta be 141 Mark 14 Chief of Flight Operations."

[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.

[Cetacean Lab - Deck 8 - USS Challenger]

As Maddy reached the tank, one of the sleek forms swam up and surfaced.

"Hello Little Swimmer. I am Mirriam how may I assist you this fine day?"

Hello everyone,

I want to make the following announcements:

Lieutenant Ardy Jaeger is now Flight Department head.

Lieutenant Alexander Wu is now Operations Chief.

And Petty Officer 3rd Class Ch'e N'ok Savyn has been promoted to Petty Officer 2nd Class.

EXCELSIOR!!

Okay everyone, we will be on board ship for an extended period of time this mission. I again implore you to take this time to develop your character. Explore hobbies, relationships, personal projects, the first part of the mission will have a mystery subplot, but it is a back drop to the otherwise full sandbox opportunity. Be creative, don't wait for directions from me, you want to try something, as long as it doesn't break Canon or disrupt the space/time continuum it will probably be okay. But most of all have fun!

["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."

[Captain's Ready Room - USS Challenger]

The Challenger was en route to the newly reactivated space station Solaere. They were cruising at warp 8, which made it a two week journey. As the ship was freshly out of the yard and had launched early, it fell to the crew to complete several of the upgrades Starbase 185 had not finished. Along side the Challenger was the USS Horizon the new ship Admiral Gillespie had shown Ian while the trial was ongoing. The Horizon was going to be assigned to Solaere as a guard ship and scouting platform for the station. After dropping off the Horizon, the Challenger was to return to operating out of Starbase 153 again.

Ian was busy writing or giving final approval to the 549 other members of the crew's fitness reports. It was a tedious task, but it was an essential part of everyone who served in Starfleet career. What his own fitness report would say he didn't know, but he had no interest in the admiralty, and after the verdict in his own tribunal had come out in his favor, he wasn't going to be asking too many questions.

Gillespie had started the ball rolling by finding him not guilty of violating the Prime Directive and the visit by the Landsers to Starbase 185 had removed all doubt that they were a starfaring species even if they didn't use warp drive. First Carter and finally even Jellico couldn't deny the evidence of the Landser Travelers. It was also possible that the Federation Council might have had a hand in the verdict. Regardless of why, Ian had been found not guilty and that's all that mattered. He was still captain of the Challenger and he was happy despite being mired in datawork. What the next mission would hold was unknown, but that was the most fascinating part of being in Starfleet, the unrelenting unknowables of pushing the boundaries of what the Federation did and didn't know.

["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."

[[Lieutenant Commander Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Bridge | Deck 1 | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]]

[Lieutenant Commander Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Bridge | Deck 1 | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

Though he would have much preferred getting a sonic shower at least, Zhukdra'shar let go of his vanity for an instant, so that he may arrive at the Bridge in a timely fashion. Much to his chagrin, however, it seemed he had been fashionably late anyway. He did not regret giving his fur a brushing, however. Still, seeing the rest of the crew assembled at their stations did give him a twinge of guilt.

Seeing that Captain Galloway had not yet arrived, he proceeded to sit upon the Captain's chair. He inspected his P.A.D.D., to see how Security was doing, and, as he was about to call for a report of all departments, Lahr's voice was heard through the commbadge. He let out a soft, barely perceptible sigh, before pushing on his device and answering,

"Lieutenant Commander Mrekerhas speaking. The Captain has not yet arrived, thus, as the temporary First Officer, I am taking command of this vessel. Mine apologies to hear about the current state of Engineering. Fortunately, there is no cause for alarm. The likely source of the sickness is some contaminated punch back at the party being officiated at the Starbase. Not any disease, fortunately. Nonetheless, I shalt let you know if anything transpires that would point to a need for quarantine."

He then proceeded to tap on his commbadge again,

"All departments. This Lieutenant Commander Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas, just to inform you that the reason we have so many individuals in Sickbay at this current moment is due to a spiked punch. An unknown party contaminated it with Cardassian Truth Serum. Please, all Medical Staff, consider this information if there is a need to treat your patients. Security, assemble. We shalt bring the culprits to justice as soon as possible-"

Not a moment too late, the Captain transported himself into the Bridge. Deferring to him, Zhukdra'shar nodded as he moved to the Executive Officer's chair with grace. After Galloway asked for a report, Zhuk spoke up, "Ah, if I may provide a preliminary observation, sir,"

Zhuk spoke up, clearing his throat, before stating, "Chief Petty Officer ShranLahr ch'Verret reported that the Engineering department is currently understaffed. Most of Engineering seems to be in Sickbay. The culprit? Tampered punch, apparently imbued with Cardassian truth serum. It caused what I assume is a severe reaction in those who consumed it. I will make sure the responsible individuals are found, however. But I am afraid I am also short on Security staff..."

[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?"

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian took in the reports and his jaw clenched to know someone had doctored the punch at the party leaving a sizable portion of the crew in sickbay. He knew that his officers were only the messengers and he would not take his anger out on them. Instead, he began to issue orders.

"Zhuk, coordinate with station security. See if'n they have any sensors logs of the party that might show who mucked with the punch. Evan, standby ta generate chronitons and tetryons in case the station is unable ta do so. There's goin' ta be a temporal pulse and we're ta be ready ta deflect it."

Ian turned to Ardy and said.

"I'll be buggered if'n I ken Lieutenant, Admiral Gillespie gave the order ta report back ta the ship and I wasn't about ta ask questions."

Ian then turned to Lieutenant Booker at Ops.

"Adelle have you confirmed all crew are aboard?"

["Admiral, since you have called for Challenger ta launch and no decision has been made regardin' my status. I am goin' ta go ta my ship. I do however, need ta warn Station Operations of a pendin' temporal pulse."]

[{NPC} Admiral Hamish Gillespie | Ops >- Conference Room | Deck One | Starbase 185]

Things shifted to the council room and as they waited for some members of the Federation Council to make contact, they discussed technical things - even Gillespie took part, interested as he is to discuss.

And then members of the council came on. Gillespie recognized Gronik from Denobula, and he discussed with the Landsers. He was still gobsmacked by the brief discussion, he thought it was going to take longer... they came all the way to Federation space for this? he thought in surprise.

Remos, the spokesman of the Landsers, gave the admirals thanks and Gillespie gave thanks in return. "Well met, Mister Remos. It was good to meet yeh."

[Conference Room --> Station Ops - Starbase 185]

Ian stood silent as the Landsers spoke with the Federation Council and bid them goodbye when they were done. As much as he wanted to escort them to the shuttlebay personally, he hoped he had a ship to run. Once station personnel led the Landser crew back to their probe, he finally spoke up.

"Admiral, since you have called for Challenger ta launch and no decision has been made regardin' my status. I am goin' ta go ta my ship. I do however, need ta warn Station Operations of a pendin' temporal pulse."

Ian walked the short distance to Station Ops and was met by the station commander.

"Captain, the Landsers are about ta leave and that will mean another temporal pulse. It is time ta implement the Wu Defense ta protect the station."

"Indeed."

"As my crew has been ordered ta report back aboard the Challenger, I will have them beam me back. Thank you for your hospitality."

He tapped his combadge

"Galloway ta Challenger, beam me directly ta the bridge."

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian re-materialized on the bridge and felt the familiar vibrations in the deck plates. He sighed, he was home. He moved to the command chair, sat, and activated the comm system.

"All departments. Report."

[{NPC} Admiral Hamish Gillespie | Ops | Deck One | Starbase 185]

Gillespie nodded in understanding. He could understand what Galloway meant: Somebody who traversed space without warp the same way the Iconians had, and yet still have twenty-first century capabilities. He was nonetheless gobsmacked.

He was even more so when the Landsers wanted to meet people from the Federation Council. Then he said, "We...could get in touch with some members of the Federation Council. I dinnae ken about the whole council...Carter, what do you think?"

[Starbase 185 | Ops]

Carter sighed and shook his head. Slowly he began to pace weighing the options in his mind. After thinking a moment he returned to the conversation. "Yeah, technically possible. I can call in favors with a few of them, get them on short notice. Even calling in favors I don't know what portion I can get though. They've not exactly just been sitting around since Frontier Day." The admiral continued pacing, still thinking about the situation. He didn't like involving the counsel when he didn't have to. "I'll send a few messages, see who we can pull together."

[Conference Room - Starbase 185]

Ian sighed in relief as the admirals agreed to contact the Council. He knew this was a big deal and not something one did lightly. The two Landsers seemed to understand this was important too and were clearly moved by the support.

"This is most acceptable Admiral Carter and Admiral Gillespie." Marek Gar said.

As the favors were called in and the connection established, the pilot in Ian was curious about the Fold Space experience for the crew and they talked technical things until the Starbase's Operations Officer contacted the conference room.

"Sirs, I have the Council."

The screen shifted to that of three people an Andoran, a Denobulan, and a Human at the large bench of the Federation Council. The Denobulan spoke.

"I am Grolik. I speak for the Council this day."

"Great Leaders of the Federation Moot. I am Marek Garr and this is my colleague Neediki Remos we bring word from our home of Land and our people, the Land-Ta. Our words are directly given by Inti, the Moot Master with the full consensus of the entire Land Moot. We were recently visited by one of your ships, the USS Challenger and Captain Ian Galloway. We understand this was against your rules, but very dire circumstances made this event necessary. He warned us that our Great Work, what you call Fold Space would have eventually destroyed us and we wanted you to know we are grateful for that warning. Although he told of nothing of how your Federation travels the stars, the very fact that you do is enough to know that it can be done a different way. We will now bend our efforts to mastering that means. One day, we hope to meet you as friends among the stars. So is the word of us all."

Grolik canted his head at this information and replied.

"We will take this information under advisement and look forward to that day. Be safe Marek Garr and Neediki Remos. Council out."

The screen went back to that of the Federation emblem as the channel closed. Ian stood silent and waited to see what the admirals had to say.

"We thank you Admiral Carter and Admiral Gillespie. Our duty is complete. We would return to our ship so that we can make the trip back to Land. And know that you have our deepest gratitude." Said Neediki Remos.

Hello everyone, please give a warm welcome to Ensign Fabuki Honda in the security department.

Excelsior!

["Sir, I have a theory on why they didn't announce themselves prior ta their arrival. Aside from pullin' off what was thought ta be impossible by inventin' a functionin' Fold Space drive, the rest of their technology is mid-21st Century. They dinna have subspace communications, so their radio frequency communications would travel like a snail through mud at merely the speed of light. They can't send a message that would arrive before they do. Regardless, their probe is aboard. I would be honored if'n you'd join me in the conference room ta talk ta our guests."]

[{NPC} Admiral Hamish Gillespie | Ops | Deck One | Starbase 185]

Gillespie double-taked and blinked in surprise. "Oh," he said. "My apologies, then, laddie, I tend to think in terms of what's best for protection, along with the rest of Starfleet Security..."

The people who are more zealous for protection and defense of the Federation than us at Starfleet Security are, by a bloody longshot, Section Bloody Thirty-One, Gillespie added to himself mentally.

"And yeh do have a point; I never forgot the warp five speed limit until the lads at the Corps of Engineers worked aroond it. If a temporal pulse is an indication of their aboot to come to call, they really ought to give advanced bloody notice before they show up, because most people would be inclined to assume an attack is hitting them, like how I did..."

[Statio

[Starbase 185 | Ops]

Carter laughed slightly and folded his arms. "Glad I'm not the only one that thought of the comparison to the damage warp does to subspace. A good point Cap." The admiral said before turning to Gillespie. "Earlier you mentioned the attack on Risa, but there's a lesson I learned in my time dealing with the T'Kori. Sometimes something looks like an attack but it's not intended that way. Awhile after that experience on Risa we met them again. They'd erected a giant electronic dampening tower. The T'Sari thought it was an attack but since both of the sister species are very integrated with their technology they had erected that tower to establish a DMZ and prevent both sides from using weapons for peace talks."

[Station Operations --> Conference Room - Star Base 185]

Ian listened to the two admirals, but the bulk of his attention was tracking the tractoring of the Landser probe into one of the starbase's many shuttlebays. Once the probe was secure, he answered Gillespie's probably rhetorical question.

"Sir, I have a theory on why they didn't announce themselves prior ta their arrival. Aside from pullin' off what was thought ta be impossible by inventin' a functionin' Fold Space drive, the rest of their technology is mid-21st Century. They dinna have subspace communications, so their radio frequency communications would travel like a snail through mud at merely the speed of light. They can't send a message that would arrive before they do. Regardless, their probe is aboard. I would be honored if'n you'd join me in the conference room ta talk ta our guests."

It was a short trip to the conference room and the two Landser 'Explorers' rose when Ian and the others entered the room.

"We greet you Captain Ian Galloway." Said Marek Garr.

"Your...installation is most impressive." Added Neediki Remos.

"I greet you as well Explorers. Allow me to introduce Admiral Gillespie and Admiral Carter. They are my superiors within Starfleet. However, I must make it clear, this is nae 'my installation'. This is a Federation starbase. I do not command here. I am the commander of the USS Challenger here for some repairs and upgrades only, the Federation Council runs and speaks for the Federation as a whole."

"Is it possible to speak to this Council?"

Ian turned to face the two admirals and asked.

"Is it Sirs?"

[Fleet Applications - Join Here!]

Welcome Lady Sara, your application is here:

https://shadowfleet.org/forum/fleet-applications/lady-sara-checking-in-28-april-2024/new/#new