S1 M5: Trial by Fire

[William Waring]

First Officer's Log:
After spending just over a week in Dry Dock, due to damage incurred during our previous mission, we are once again on active duty. This time we are requested at Starbase 621 where they have a suspected Tzenkehti Leader in their custody. At this time however, my information is limited on this topic although I don't think this small victory will last.
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[Bridge - 0800 Hours]

Will was running 'late' to the Bridge as he was unable to locate his mug minutes earlier. Nevertheless he managed to make his way to the Bridge just at shift change, slightly irritated at not being early to his shift.

He took his seat just to the right of the Command Chair and read over Gamma Shift's Logs as the rest of the crew reported for duty.

[James H. Hawk]

[Sickbay]

James had purposely avoided his past couple of physicals, always managing to find some way out of them but he decided to get the Doctors and Nurses off his back and finally drag himself down to Sickbay. That and he had painful burns all over his left hand as one of James' crewman recruits had incorrectly calibrated a phaser that James was testing and it exploded. That kid was now temporarily assigned to Operations Waste Management.

He walked into Sickbay and found a nurse, "Is Doctor Belmont in? I'm here for my physical," he asked.

[Julia Rellek]

Captains log,

We are enroute to starbase 621. Our orders are to assist in the interrogation of a Tzenketh rebel that has been captured in a skirmish. I'm looking forward to helping Captain Tucker gather some more detailed information regarding this threat. I will update the log once I have more details. It's strange, I never imagined myself at the lead of such a deep high level tactical situation.

End log.

[Bridge]

Julia stepped onto the bridge from her ready room and took a seat next to Will. "You better take us to yellow alert. Whats our eta to 621?" Julia asked as she took a seat in the center chair.

[Naga Rylu]

[Holodeck 2]

Beautiful.  A hot, tropical sun, a contained pool with worn stone blocks surrounding it, at a comfortable temperature so she could swim without her muscles locking up or cramping.

Of course, it was a bit awkward that there were so many humans gathered around and observing...  How exactly this became a match against the Lieutenant she could not quite fathom, but she did enjoy swimming, so didn't complain.

She had removed her uniform entirely and set it aside earlier, and now was standing in all her Gornish glory.  Not that it was that shocking; Gorn genitalia was all internal and seamless until it came time to mate, so largely she just looked like an upright reptile.  She dropped to all fours at the pool's edge before sliding in smoothly, hardly creating a splash, and smoothly glided through the water to the bottom of the pool, a long green shape wavering under the surface.  When she did surface, it was just the top of her head; her nostrils, the top of her muzzle, eyes and spike ridge, nictating membranes across her eyes horizontally.

[James A. Hawke]

[Holodeck 2]

James observed the weather in the holodeck.  It was a perfect weather, the holodeck found a way to replicate great weather, although sometimes too perfect.

In the last couple of days, Hawke had heard rumors that Naga could beat him in a swim.  Little did anyone know that he was a world class athlete when he was younger.  Although, it was in tennis rather than swimming people should not have underestimate him and his ability to perform physically.

He entered the room with some glasses and a confident smile.  He expected to win easily.

He entered the room with his swimming trucks and shirtless as he entered the pool area.  He was ready to do some friendly talking.  He approached the gorn female with a smile and said "By the way, when we are competing it's not Sir, or Lt. Commander....it just James...that's an order Ms. Rylu".

He began stretching his muscles and bending his back slyly "Don't' take it easy on me...how long and what style you want to lose to me?" James asked

[William Waring]

Captains log,

We are enroute to starbase 621. Our orders are to assist in the interrogation of a Tzenketh rebel that has been captured in a skirmish. I'm looking forward to helping Captain Tucker gather some more detailed information regarding this threat. I will update the log once I have more details. It's strange, I never imagined myself at the lead of such a deep high level tactical situation.

End log.

[Bridge]

Julia stepped onto the bridge from her ready room and took a seat next to Will. "You better take us to yellow alert. Whats our eta to 621?" Julia asked as she took a seat in the center chair.

[Bridge]

"Aye Captain" he said as the ship turned a shade of yellow at his command. "It's good to see you back Skipper. Sorry about scratching the paint." He half-joked. He didn't like damaging the ship when the Captain had entrusted him with it. Not the best way to return a ship to its rightful Captain.

"Officer of the Watch increased our speed to Warp 7. That should put us just about ten minutes out. Skipper, what are our orders once we arrive at 621? I understand that a skirmish happened there. Prisoner transfer is my guess. Can't exactly keep him in one place for all that long"

[Naga Rylu]

[Holodeck 2]

James observed the weather in the holodeck.  It was a perfect weather, the holodeck found a way to replicate great weather, although sometimes too perfect.

In the last couple of days, Hawke had heard rumors that Naga could beat him in a swim.  Little did anyone know that he was a world class athlete when he was younger.  Although, it was in tennis rather than swimming people should not have underestimate him and his ability to perform physically.

He entered the room with some glasses and a confident smile.  He expected to win easily.

He entered the room with his swimming trucks and shirtless as he entered the pool area.  He was ready to do some friendly talking.  He approached the gorn female with a smile and said "By the way, when we are competing it's not Sir, or Lt. Commander....it just James...that's an order Ms. Rylu".

He began stretching his muscles and bending his back slyly "Don't' take it easy on me...how long and what style you want to lose to me?" James asked

Why he insisted on her calling him James she just didn't understand.  She blinked at him again as he mentioned swimming styles.  "... Style?"  She repeated, not quite comprehending.  "... I doubt that our physiology will correspond well enough to conform to styles... James."  She said after a moment, tail swishing under the water, slowly enough that it didn't make her move.  "How many laps is considered sufficient for humans?"  Gorn had very high endurance and stamina, and females were perfectly happy spending days at a time in a swamp or lagoon in comfort. 

[Klizh]

Bridge

K'lizh had shown up for his duty shift five minutes early, as had become habit. Though Caitians did not whistle, they had a fondness for woodwind instruments. He had been sampling flute music from several worlds, from a special recording of the Ressikan flute to ancient Earth's Jethro Tull. He currently had one of Mister Tull's songs stuck in his head, humming the tune and occassionally mumbling lyrics under his breath about a more tumultuous period of human history as he took his seat in the ops station. Try was he might, he couldn't excise the song from his head, and he wasn't even fully aware of his musical performance.

"Good morning Captain... Commander," he greeted each of his commanding officers as they stepped onto the bridge. He was finally starting to feel more relaxed around both of them. It wasn't a personal relationship per se, but they had served through enough crises by this point that he knew he could trust them, and they him.

[Lizzie Vaughan]

Deck 12 - Gymnasium

Lizzie had forgone her usual martial arts workout in one of the holodecks to brush up on her rather rusty gymnastic skills. She had never been competition material, but she enjoyed it. She had just finished a session on the asymmetric bars followed by the balance beam and was moderately pleased with herself. She was just drying herself down when she felt the increase in speed and noticed the that the ship was now at yellow alert. She quickly showered and dressed in her uniform. She knew they were heading for Starbase, but what for she had no idea. If she had to guess, it was connected to the recent skirmish that had taken place in the area. She decided to head to Sickbay, to make sure everything was ready.

Sickbay

Lizzie entered and saw Lieutenant Hawk standing waiting for someone. She went over to him.

"Can I help you Mr Hawk?" She asked, wondering if he needed his hand looking at or if it was something else.

[Ian Galloway]

[Ten Forward]

Ian was just finishing his second drink in celebration of his pending promotion to ensign with a crewman named S'Murr when he saw the lights behind the bar indicate yellow alert.

"Bollocks! There goes the celebration, looks like duty calls. My regular station is on the battle bridge. Ta fer drinkin' with me S'Murr and best of luck ta ya crewman!"

Ian then raced out of Ten Forward for the nearest turbolift.

[Battle Bridge]

Ian slowed from a full run, to a more dignified rapid walk just as he reached the sensor that opened the door and moved quickly to his station at the auxiliary conn's backup station. He sighed as he sat down.

"Back ta the arse end of the queue fer you lad. Things have ta have gone beyond hell in a hand basket fer me ta be pilot in command again from here."

He sighed again.

"But tell me if'n it wasn't glorious while it lasted eh lad?"

Ian then began looking surreptitiously at the ops station to see if he could figure out what was going on.

[James A. Hawke]

Why he insisted on her calling him James she just didn't understand.  She blinked at him again as he mentioned swimming styles.  "... Style?"  She repeated, not quite comprehending.  "... I doubt that our physiology will correspond well enough to conform to styles... James."  She said after a moment, tail swishing under the water, slowly enough that it didn't make her move.  "How many laps is considered sufficient for humans?"  Gorn had very high endurance and stamina, and females were perfectly happy spending days at a time in a swamp or lagoon in comfort.

James began bending his back and moving side to side as he was stretching.  As he turned slightly sideways he could hear a feint crack coming from his back.  It felt that it was forever since he had a decent swim or race.  As he mentioned style it occurred to him that he was swimming against a Gorn and maybe the swimming styles did not translate into culture.
"Yeah, just race me with your quickest swim style"  James commented

He looked at the  Olympic Style pool in the replicated resort with the perfect weather.

He gave  small cocky smile as he thought to himself She is going bite the dust on this race .

He approached the edge of the pool and stretching his arms.  He looked at the pool and said "How about 100 metters, just there and back...don't worry with that distance I can't humiliate you...too bad"  James said

He then began using the old human tradition of trash talking before a competition "If I were you, I would be thinking of your excuse when I own you in the race"  He commented with a big smile and in jest.  It was a friendly competition but little did she know how competitive he was.

[Naga Rylu]

James began bending his back and moving side to side as he was stretching.  As he turned slightly sideways he could hear a feint crack coming from his back.  It felt that it was forever since he had a decent swim or race.  As he mentioned style it occurred to him that he was swimming against a Gorn and maybe the swimming styles did not translate into culture.
"Yeah, just race me with your quickest swim style"  James commented

He looked at the  Olympic Style pool in the replicated resort with the perfect weather.

He gave  small cocky smile as he thought to himself She is going bite the dust on this race .

He approached the edge of the pool and stretching his arms.  He looked at the pool and said "How about 100 metters, just there and back...don't worry with that distance I can't humiliate you...too bad"  James said

He then began using the old human tradition of trash talking before a competition "If I were you, I would be thinking of your excuse when I own you in the race"  He commented with a big smile and in jest.  It was a friendly competition but little did she know how competitive he was.

'when I own you in the race'

'When I own you.'

'I own you'

That... was a very unfortunate choice in words for the Lieutenant Commander.  The Gorn's growl was too low a frequency to be heard well, but the water vibrated around her a little.  The second he jumped into the water and the race began, she was off.  Her powerful tail propelled her through the water like a torpedo, using more minor movements of her arms and legs to assist.  She reached the other end before you could say Turnip, and she spun around elegantly, pushing off the opposite end with her legs, and shooting past him before he reached the other end, launching out of the water to land on the pool side in a crouch, fins and spines flared out and erect, blood flushing them brighter colors in a display of pique.  "No one owns me, human."  She said, hissing accent a bit thick as she turned on her heels, sickle claws tapping against the stone floor in irritation as she approached the towels, snatching one from the ground as her tail lashed.  How dare he say such a thing??!  She got rid of the worst of the water before going to grab her uniform. ((Naga is not very familiar with human trash talking.))

[S'Murr]

[Engineering]
S'murr exited the tubo-lift and stepped into Tempest's Engineering section for the first time. Forcing his gaze away form the pulsating Warp Core, he scanned the personnel around him. He located the nearest officer and bounded in that direction.
"Sir," he said, "Crewman S'Murr, assigned to Engineering. I just came aboard. How can I help?"

[Kirok]

Bridge

K'lizh had shown up for his duty shift five minutes early, as had become habit. Though Caitians did not whistle, they had a fondness for woodwind instruments. He had been sampling flute music from several worlds, from a special recording of the Ressikan flute to ancient Earth's Jethro Tull. He currently had one of Mister Tull's songs stuck in his head, humming the tune and occassionally mumbling lyrics under his breath about a more tumultuous period of human history as he took his seat in the ops station. Try was he might, he couldn't excise the song from his head, and he wasn't even fully aware of his musical performance.

"Good morning Captain... Commander," he greeted each of his commanding officers as they stepped onto the bridge. He was finally starting to feel more relaxed around both of them. It wasn't a personal relationship per se, but they had served through enough crises by this point that he knew he could trust them, and they him.

[Turbo -> Bridge]

A new month, a new ship.  Or so it was for Zex, the traveling medical officer.  But her current assignment was to be ship counselor.

That was something she had not tried yet.  She did have the training, but had not practiced for a long while.  There was good reason for that - one that made her feel hollow.

But she forced down those feeling.  And she smoothed down some of the wrinkles in her uniform.   Just before the turbo doors opened onto the Bridge.

'I can do this" Zex said to herself.  Then she stepped out onto the Bridge.  "Zex, Ship Counselor reporting in for duty" she said to Captain.

[Julia Rellek]

[Bridge]

"Aye Captain" he said as the ship turned a shade of yellow at his command. "It's good to see you back Skipper. Sorry about scratching the paint." He half-joked. He didn't like damaging the ship when the Captain had entrusted him with it. Not the best way to return a ship to its rightful Captain.

"Officer of the Watch increased our speed to Warp 7. That should put us just about ten minutes out. Skipper, what are our orders once we arrive at 621? I understand that a skirmish happened there. Prisoner transfer is my guess. Can't exactly keep him in one place for all that long"

[Bridge]

"I'm not sure exactly." Julia leaned in and spoke softly. "I need to speak with Commander Tucker and see who they have on their hands. All I know is that they have captured someone that they need our help questioning, and yes, likely moving him as well."

She looked down the bridge. "Lieutenant K'Lizh. Please hail 621. I want to speak with Commander Tucker before we arrive."

[Turbo -> Bridge]

A new month, a new ship.  Or so it was for Zex, the traveling medical officer.  But her current assignment was to be ship counselor.

That was something she had not tried yet.  She did have the training, but had not practiced for a long while.  There was good reason for that - one that made her feel hollow.

But she forced down those feeling.  And she smoothed down some of the wrinkles in her uniform.   Just before the turbo doors opened onto the Bridge.

'I can do this" Zex said to herself.  Then she stepped out onto the Bridge.  "Zex, Ship Counselor reporting in for duty" she said to Captain.

"Welcome aboard Ensign. We're happy to have you. I recommend you report to Commander Vaughan and start to find out what our needs may be. She can probably provide you some more detailed information." Julia said with a warm smile.