S13 - M5: Best Laid Plans

[Don Damien Addams]

PO3 Danjar-Torra
[USS Discovery - Deck 6 - Forward Lounge - day after leaving DS9]

At the suggestion that she join in some other fashion, such as playing the part of a nurse, Torra dipped her head thoughtfully.  She was certain that's not what Don had in mind originally.. but it would at least allow her to be there to watch Don doing something he very much enjoyed and thus sharing it with him.

She nodded firmly after her moments consideration (she really had become quite adept at making up her mind quickly in comparison to most Grazerites).  "Thank you sir.  I would like that." she remarked with a warm smile towards the man.  He didn't have to suggest the nurse option to her.  The fact that he did was very much appreciated.

~~~~~~~~~

Torra looked up from her work with the virus at Jureen's arrival.  She smiled at his greeting.  "Hello Dr. Jureen." she greeted back as he moved to take a seat beside her.

She answered his query about the virus, with a slight frown.  "Nothing positive yet. But I'm not giving up!"

[Sick bay]

The doors of sick bay opened up. Don came in wearing the red crimson Starfleet uniform. The guy looked like his left hand was holding his left eye in.

His right eye caught Donjar and Juraan talking about medical stuff. A small sigh escaped him. Torra was here. He blushed in embarrassment.

"Hey I decided to visit," he joked.

[Kirok]

As EQ approached, and spoke to Evandav, he couldn't help but grin at his comment.
"Must've upset an Admiral somewhere." He said with a smile on his face. He hadn't seen him before really; quickly he decided that he might as well get to know him better if he was going to serve with him.
"You been here a while he said?" He asked, slowing down a little

[Corridor]

EQ tilted his head.   "An admiral?  What could you have done to deserve such punishment?" he asked curiously.

He was one to listen to a good story.  And if Evandav was trouble he was sure to have a story.  Or seven.

"I've been back with the fleet for about 2 years.  This is my second go round on the Discovery.  I just got here last month though" he said.

[Susan Venator]

6 days later, ETA 1.5 days to Katra Station...

[Deck 2 - Captain's Quarters]

A Captain never really had a shift.  Sure, he was technically Alpha shift, if one could put him on a shift, but like all command officers, he was always on call.  Luckily, calm trips like this one left him with the free time to actually relax, and after spending some time with others, he was laying on the couch, looking over the latest astrometrics data.  So many interesting systems.

"Computer, current ETA to Katra Station?"

Approximately 37 hours and 20 minutes to Katra Station.

"Thank you." he stated, acknowledging the response.  So far... so good....

Bridge

Suzie was technically Officer of the Watch. That meant, that although Commander Jones was on the Bridge, she had the Command Chair and was responsible for the ships operations until either the Captain or the XO arrived. In reality it was often a long period of nothing happening.

The Discovery was on course for Katra station. It was just under 37 1/2 hours away and there was nothing on sensors. They were too far away to detect the station, they had a lock on the system, but nothing inside it. As always when she had the Watch, she kept one eye on the viewscreen and one eye on the master systems display. She also knew that if there was trouble, the Discovery cold do more than just take care of herself.

Sitting back in the chair, she flicked the screen over to some signal traffic that she had been looking at. It helped pass the time until either something happened or she got off shift.

[Danjar-Torra Addams]

PO3 Danjar-Torra
[USS Discovery - Deck 10 - Sickbay Lab - 6 days into the Gamma quadrant]

[Sick bay]

The doors of sick bay opened up. Don came in wearing the red crimson Starfleet uniform. The guy looked like his left hand was holding his left eye in.

His right eye caught Donjar and Juraan talking about medical stuff. A small sigh escaped him. Torra was here. He blushed in embarrassment.

"Hey I decided to visit," he joked.

One of the good things about Sickbay's lab was that it had large viewing windows with which to see into the main treatment area and vice versa.  As such, Torra who was facing the window while talking to Jureen, spotted the flight officers entrance into sickbay.  The fact that he was covering one eye was not a good sign.

"Excuse me doctor," she apologized to Jureen for cutting their conversation short.  She quickly stepped away from the electron microscope she'd been using, taking a quick look about to ensure she wasn't leaving anything hazardous out where it could possibly endanger someone else and then hurried into the other room to assist the nurse who was already approaching Don to inquire what had happened.

"Mr. Addams, back again, I see.  What have you got for us today?" the nurse questioned as she grabbed up a scanner to run an initial scan.

Torra moved to Don's 'injured' left side and guided him to a biobed.  She, of course, wanted to ask  what happened but held off knowing the doctor's questions took precedence.

[Evandav Bervarn]

[Corridor]

EQ tilted his head.   "An admiral?  What could you have done to deserve such punishment?" he asked curiously.

He was one to listen to a good story.  And if Evandav was trouble he was sure to have a story.  Or seven.

"I've been back with the fleet for about 2 years.  This is my second go round on the Discovery.  I just got here last month though" he said.

[Corridor]

When EQ asked which Admiral he had offended, he stopped
"Oh no, I meant it as a joke, I haven't. I hope" he said before pausing to think for a bit
"Though I wasn't the best behaved person ever known in the world during my time in training. I may have offended someone then."
Then he listened to EQ's account of his time in Starfleet.
"What was your favourite ship to serve on?"

[Don Damien Addams]

PO3 Danjar-Torra
[USS Discovery - Deck 10 - Sickbay Lab - 6 days into the Gamma quadrant]

One of the good things about Sickbay's lab was that it had large viewing windows with which to see into the main treatment area and vice versa.  As such, Torra who was facing the window while talking to Jureen, spotted the flight officers entrance into sickbay.  The fact that he was covering one eye was not a good sign.

"Excuse me doctor," she apologized to Jureen for cutting their conversation short.  She quickly stepped away from the electron microscope she'd been using, taking a quick look about to ensure she wasn't leaving anything hazardous out where it could possibly endanger someone else and then hurried into the other room to assist the nurse who was already approaching Don to inquire what had happened.

"Mr. Addams, back again, I see.  What have you got for us today?" the nurse questioned as she grabbed up a scanner to run an initial scan.

A man's pride can be easily bruised by one liner. "Injured eye. A sore sight, eh." He replied with a chuckle.

Torra moved to Don's 'injured' left side and guided him to a biobed.  She, of course, wanted to ask  what happened but held off knowing the doctor's questions took precedence.

The flight officer had to remind himself not get injured when Torra was in sickbay. It was quite embarrassing for him. "Hey, Torra doors seem to dislike me,"  he joked. "I was getting some time in for combat fight training. Things was doing good. Then after taking few punches, I decided to walk into the door." He slowly pulled his hand away. There was a cut from the side of his eye. He had hit the door hard enough to make it tear.

[Kirok]

[Corridor]

When EQ asked which Admiral he had offended, he stopped
"Oh no, I meant it as a joke, I haven't. I hope" he said before pausing to think for a bit
"Though I wasn't the best behaved person ever known in the world during my time in training. I may have offended someone then."
Then he listened to EQ's account of his time in Starfleet.
"What was your favourite ship to serve on?"

[Corridor]

"Ah.  It was a good one" EQ replied in response to the joke.  "Ain't none of us angles.  That's for sure" he added with a bit of a smirk.

He put fingers to chin as he considered his reponse to the man's questions.  "If I had to pick just one, it would be the Sharn A.  It was an Odyssey class ship.  The biggest the fleet had to offer.  Man was it a beast" he replied candidly.

"What about you?  Just arriving.  Maybe that is why you got the worst job on the ship" he added.

[Solluk]

Dosi Cruiser 'Rage' - Cloaked - 2.8 Light Years from Katra Station

"Contact, Captain.  Bearing 270 Mark 12.  It's... a bright one."

Valla turned to regard her signals officer, "A bright one?"

Tolar nodded, "It must be a science vessel.  It's constantly scanning all frequencies at high power.  Vessel is reading... about four-hundred meters in length.  It's coming directly towards the Trialus system from the Bajoran wormhole."

At four-hundred meters, the ship was smaller than the Rage, and rated midsize for Starfleet vessels.  The Dosi intelligence on Starfleet was more scant than Tolar would have liked.  She knew to watch out for the big battleships.  The ones which, for propaganda purposes, Starfleet refused to name battleships.   The Galaxy, Nebula, and Sovereign classes.  They were dangerous, and could potentially best even these uprated Dosi cruisers.

She also knew that Starfleet had a small ship they called an 'escort' vessel, Defiant class, but which was armed as heavily as a battleship.  It was much smaller than the contact they had on sensors.

So what was this, then?  Probably a science ship, as Tolar surmised.  Nothing that would pose a combat challenge.  But science ships held a different kind of danger.

"Prepare to decloak," she ordered.

Dinagi, her Sub-Captain, stood up from his seat.  "And lose the element of surprise?!"

Valla gave him a hard look, "Watch your tone, Dinagi.  We have no element of surprise that we can count on.  You forget that the cloaking device we are using is decades old, salvaged from a Klingon wreck, and sold to us by untrustworthy Ferengi merchants.  Do you think I am prepared to pit that against a Federation Science vessel, with the most sophisticated sensors in the quadrant?  Especially one that is actively scanning on so many frequencies?  It is bad enough trying to fool their ordinary cruisers and frigates."

Dinagi took a step back, declining to challenge her authority.  "But if we could surprise them, we could destroy them without a fight."

"And if they surprise us?  With the cloaking device on, we can not raise shields.  If they should detect us and fire, even a weak Science ship might somehow gain the upper hand.  There is no reason to risk untimely detection.  Our strength exceeds theirs.  We can meet them with confidence."

Dinagi considered this, and nodded, returning to his seat.

"Disengage cloak on my mark.  All hands to battlestations.   Notify the Engine Room that I will be making good use of our new warp core."

Acknowledgements came from around the bridge, and Valla turned her mailed head to the panoramic tech-screens which made up the front of the ship's control deck.

"If our approach is firm enough, we will most likely frighten them off," she declared confidently.

She raised her hand, choosing the moment.

The distance to target indicator shrank very gradually.

Not yet...

Almost...

[Ian Galloway]

NPC Ensign Syrim

[Bridge]

Syrim sat at tactical station and internally questioned the logic of the order to maintain continuous scans. When the First Officer originally ordered them, checking to make sure the local area was free of threat, but the fact that order turned into frequent full spectrum scans was a waste of time in Syrim's opinion. The sensors could have been put to better use in gathering data on the Gamma Quadrant, which was still largely unexplored by the Federation. If it had been up to him he'd-

"Artificial object detected matching search parameters."

The computer interrupted Syrim's musings.

"Specify."

"Cloaked vessel of unknown configuration."

Syrim for all his vaunted Vulcan control blinked, blinked again, and then immediately re-gathered his focus to report.

"Sir. Vessel uncloaking eight million kilometers bearing 247 mark 29."

He reported dispassionately as was only proper for a Vulcan.

[Solen Cenn]

[Turbolift 2 - Deck 1, Bridge]

Collision in the corridor was one thing, collision on the Bridge was quite another.  A young officer's biggest fear, even more so when its the Captain.  Nevir did it himself a time or too, but this... this was the first time the roles were reversed.

"Careful there, Ensign." Nevir stated, as the younger officer almost plowed into him.  He didn't initially recognize him, which meant he was one of the newer crewmen on the ship.  Either a pick up from Earth or Bajor.

"You don't want to bump into the wrong person.  As you were." he stated, turning and going back into the turbolift.

[Bridge]

"Yes sir! Sorry sir!"Solen said, the moment saw the four pips on the captain collar.  He back up and straighten his back so fast, he thought he might been an inch taller.  "Great way to start a new job.  Idiot. he thought.

"No, you are still the same height." Solas said, in that same mocking monotone.  "And yes,  that was a great way to start."

Solen stood there and waited for the lift doors to close around the captain before daring to answer solas.

"One, shut up. And two, how was 'that' a great way to start?" Solen thought as he walked to his station.  Lt Quin, who had been watching the whole time move from the seat to let Solen sit.  The both man nodded in way of acknowledgment.  Though annoyingly, he notice and small smirk on the man's face as he moved passed.  Resigned now to, ship wide humiliation over the discovery's gossip channels, Solen logged into the station.

"He did not make you leave the ship or put you in the brig.  In fact, he told a joke to lighten the moment to defuse the moment. In essence, you made an small impression on the captain.  It's true he may not know your name.  But but now he know your face now.  All you need to do is capture his attention." Solas said.

"I see, take a negative and make it in to a positive. If I do something so incredible, he'll promotes me to full Lieutenant, it's the logical move." Solen said, in his best vulcan voice.  Solas ignore him and continue.

"If you do something to catch his attention, if you do something note worthy.  At the very least, when the next round of promotion come you could be at the top of the list." Solas finished.

Solen stopped in the middle of his system check, his hands hovering over his console.  And tried to make his eyebrows join in the middle.

"You seemed confused Solen, what is the problem?" Solas asked.  Solen didn't answer right way.  He let it hang in the air gaining weight until it finally fell.

"Why are you so caught up on getting us a promotion?" He asked.

"To separate us." he said simply.  "The higher your authority, the more resource and autonomy you have.  I believe when your promoted to full lieutenant, we will have the Minimum of both to find a right solution.".  Solen nodded inwardly,
That was just like solas.  Waiving he short term plans it to long ones.  And backing.  But it was these small reminders the always brought Solen to heel.

There main reasons for joining Starfleet was to find a cure, a solution, to their Situation.  Solen did have his little brother trapped in his head.   Solas was trap I'm inside Solen head.

"Sorry Solas, thanks for the reminder."

"Thank me when I have my body back." Solas said.

Bridge, 6 days later

[Bridge]

T'Ra had spent the last few days conducting both short and long range scans as had been ordered by the first officer. There was nothing that jumped out as an immediate threat, but there were a few spatial anomalies that she flagged for further review. Long range scanners detected accelerated interstellar gases, which could mean any number of things, but T'Ra was hoping for a cosmic string, a particularly interesting phenomenon that she hadn't yet had the chance to study in person.

"Talk to her." Solas said.

"We're working.  I'll talk to her later."  Solen said, trying to concentrate on the dilithium core syncing matrix.

"I am sure the engines will continue run, even if you take five minutes  introduce us to the commander." Solas said.

"Fine.  We'll go talk to her." Solen answered.  Starting to get up from his seat.

[Bridge]

"Sir. Vessel uncloaking eight million kilometers bearing 247 mark 29."

He reported dispassionately as was only proper for a Vulcan.

"Duty calls." Solen said sitting back down.

"You enjoyed that." Solas said.

"Yeah." Solen reply, as he check the scan of the ship as they came in.  Solen a shock of cold made sir straight in his seat.

"Sir there warp core signature  appears to be federation. Solen said.

[Juraan Ren]

PO3 Danjar-Torra
[USS Discovery - Deck 10 - Sickbay Lab - 6 days into the Gamma quadrant]

One of the good things about Sickbay's lab was that it had large viewing windows with which to see into the main treatment area and vice versa.  As such, Torra who was facing the window while talking to Jureen, spotted the flight officers entrance into sickbay.  The fact that he was covering one eye was not a good sign.

"Excuse me doctor," she apologized to Jureen for cutting their conversation short.  She quickly stepped away from the electron microscope she'd been using, taking a quick look about to ensure she wasn't leaving anything hazardous out where it could possibly endanger someone else and then hurried into the other room to assist the nurse who was already approaching Don to inquire what had happened.

"Mr. Addams, back again, I see.  What have you got for us today?" the nurse questioned as she grabbed up a scanner to run an initial scan.

Torra moved to Don's 'injured' left side and guided him to a biobed.  She, of course, wanted to ask  what happened but held off knowing the doctor's questions took precedence.

[USS Discovery - Sickbay lab]

Juraan who hadn't noticed the arrival of Mr. Addams, looked over to Torra when she excused herself. "Sure", she said as his eyes then followed her as she went into the treatment room where he saw a nurse and Mr. Addams, who held a hand to his eye.

The Bajoran faltered in his work as he observed the situation. But given the injury that Don revealed when he lowered his hand and the fact that there were a nurse present and also Torra, Juraan would be attentive for any need of assitance on his side form a doctor but for now would remain in the lab to continue with his work.

[Danjar-Torra Addams]

PO3 Danjar-Torra
[USS Discovery - Deck 10 - Sickbay]

Torra looked at Don, as she fought a smile at his rather terrible pun.  Even injured, he had to keep up the humor - it was one of his endearing qualities.

The nurse finished her scan. "A single 2 cm laceration just to the left of the left ocular socket." The nurse announced and noted the injury to Don's ever growing medical file.  "Nothing a dermal regenerator can't fix.  I'll be back in just a moment."

Torra bit at her lip a second before piping up.  "Could I perform the procedure?"

The nurse frowned and shook her head as she retrieved the necessary equipment.  "For you to do the task, you'd have to be overseen by a doctor, not just a nurse.  The doctor on duty is on break at the moment, I'd rather not disturb him for something this minor.  Another time, Torra. Sorry."  The nurse explained in a kind a voice.

Torra was disappointed but understood.  She nodded and gave a smile towards Don.

[Juraan Ren]

PO3 Danjar-Torra
[USS Discovery - Deck 10 - Sickbay]

Torra looked at Don, as she fought a smile at his rather terrible pun.  Even injured, he had to keep up the humor - it was one of his endearing qualities.

The nurse finished her scan. "A single 2 cm laceration just to the left of the left ocular socket." The nurse announced and noted the injury to Don's ever growing medical file.  "Nothing a dermal regenerator can't fix.  I'll be back in just a moment."

Torra bit at her lip a second before piping up.  "Could I perform the procedure?"

The nurse frowned and shook her head as she retrieved the necessary equipment.  "For you to do the task, you'd have to be overseen by a doctor, not just a nurse.  The doctor on duty is on break at the moment, I'd rather not disturb him for something this minor.  Another time, Torra. Sorry."  The nurse explained in a kind a voice.

Torra was disappointed but understood.  She nodded and gave a smile towards Don.

[USS Discovery - Deck 10 - Sickbay]

Juraan overheard the conversation and while the nurse of course was correct he thought that she could have made an exception. But the good thing was he was a doctor and he wasn't doing very urgent lab work at the moment.

Putting everything away to leave it safely he emerged from the lab and entered the treatment room. "It's alright, nurse", Juraan said as he approached. "I would be glad to oversee Miss Danjar doing the treatment. I've seen for myself that she is quite skilled." He nodded encouraging to her and then looked at Don, whom he had seen quite often here since he was on this ship. "Hello, Mr. Addams", he greeted him and then quickly looked over the scans the nurse had made to have an idea of what needed to be done so he could support Torra if needed.

[Susan Venator]

NPC Ensign Syrim

[Bridge]

Syrim sat at tactical station and internally questioned the logic of the order to maintain continuous scans. When the First Officer originally ordered them, checking to make sure the local area was free of threat, but the fact that order turned into frequent full spectrum scans was a waste of time in Syrim's opinion. The sensors could have been put to better use in gathering data on the Gamma Quadrant, which was still largely unexplored by the Federation. If it had been up to him he'd-

"Artificial object detected matching search parameters."

The computer interrupted Syrim's musings.

"Specify."

"Cloaked vessel of unknown configuration."

Syrim for all his vaunted Vulcan control blinked, blinked again, and then immediately re-gathered his focus to report.

"Sir. Vessel uncloaking eight million kilometers bearing 247 mark 29."

He reported dispassionately as was only proper for a Vulcan.

[Bridge]

"Yeah." Solen reply, as he check the scan of the ship as they came in.  Solen a shock of cold made sir straight in his seat.

"Sir there warp core signature  appears to be federation. Solen said.

Bridge

Suzie reacted to the report of a vessel decloaking nearby. She was about to request more information when the Warp signature was identified as Federation.

"Unlikely." She replied. "Starfleet does not use cloaking devices. Yellow Alert. Raise shields, call the Captain to the Bridge and open a channel, lets hope they want to talk." She ordered.

The Bridge lighting immediately turned yellow.

"Shields up, channel open and the Captain has been called." The tactical officer replied.

This is Lieutenant Venator of the Federation Starship Discovery hailing unidentified vessel. Please respond.

[Tekin Nevir]

Bridge

Suzie reacted to the report of a vessel decloaking nearby. She was about to request more information when the Warp signature was identified as Federation.

"Unlikely." She replied. "Starfleet does not use cloaking devices. Yellow Alert. Raise shields, call the Captain to the Bridge and open a channel, lets hope they want to talk." She ordered.

The Bridge lighting immediately turned yellow.

"Shields up, channel open and the Captain has been called." The tactical officer replied.

This is Lieutenant Venator of the Federation Starship Discovery hailing unidentified vessel. Please respond.

[Captain's Quarters - Deck 2]

The system they were headed to was very intriquing, and it was something he was looking forward to.  He would have to try and convince Hrafn to head down there.  He glanced out the window at the streaking stars... both anxious and pleased to have pulled this surprise off.  The perfect gift for the one who had been literally on the other side of the galaxy.

Captain Tekin to the Bridge! 

The call from one of his bridge officers was serious... very serious.  Something must have been up.  With a sigh he stood up, walking to his door where the comm panel was.

"Bridge this the Captai-" he started, when his screen flashed with the ambient light by the door.  A yellow alert.

"Never mind, I'm on my way." he said, letting go of the button and leaving his room, straightening his uniform.

[Bridge - Deck 1]

He was barely out of the turbolift when he spoke.

"Report!" he called, the jovinity he held now abscent.  He crossed over to the big chair, where Susan had just given a hail.

"Sir, unknown vessel detected.  It was cloaked and is on an intercept course.  It... it was trying to give off a Federation signal." stated Ensign Syrim, mostly due to the urgency and being the one with the most access to the information.

"Lieutenant, I appreciate your caution, but be mindful of how we look.  We are guests in their quadrant.  However, good call.  I'll take it from here.  Helm, drop us out of warp.  Tactical, I want a readout on that ship.  Let's get an idea of what we're dealing with." he said, even though he knew Susan had just hailed.

"This is Captain Tekin Nevir, please respond." 

"Captain... now that we dropped out of warp, there is a faint signal coming through.  To jarbled to make out."

"From the ship?"

"No, sir.  Farther away.  Too regular to be natural."

"Venator, Jones, clean up that signal... in silence please.  See what you can make of it."

"In the meantime... now we wait."