Season 11: Episode 4 - Warped Reality

[Kali Reyes]

He tapped his commbadge. Computer, revoke computer access for Lieutenant Commander Kali Reyes, and remove her from active duty rosters. Authorization Cottle-7-08-Epsilon-Chi=/\= he said. He essentially put her under arrest, but only the Captain had the final authority to send in security.

"Captain, I must formally request that Commander Reyes is detained. She has broken at least five Starfleet and Federation regulations right off the top of my head." he said, walking down to stand on the same level of the Bridge as the Captain.

Oops. An ominous beeping sound emerged from her lap. She held up a finger to her lips for the Ensign and flipped the PADD over to find that her user ID was now restricted and compromised.

It was a novice's mistake. She should have bypassed security through another proxy, but her gleaming Second Officer credentials made things so much easier and tempting. But that also meant that someone knew who had done it. Kali grimaced and slapped the PADD to her forehead. See, this was why she wasn't fit for Section 31. Or Tactical. Boy, was she in trouble.

Her PADD beeped again. This time it was an info dump of whatever she could pull from twelve hours ago before she was cut off. Numbers and percentages encompassed all of her vision as her fingers went lightning fast over every report that happened during the anomaly.

She almost missed something flickering in one of the video attachments from the Bridge. It clocked in at 0234 and well during the skeleton crew's shift. They were supposed to be on the clock, but they were all sleeping. Even the acting captain was draped over Brigg's chair and snoring. Frowning, she played back a few minutes but everything prior to 0233 showed them all visibly active. One minute later they were all conked out.

Except for one. As she swished through every department, she saw something move near the warp core down in Engineering. The feed was really grainy, but she could have sworn she saw a kid walking past a pair of sleeping maintenance workers before it went out of shot near the warp core.

0234. Weren't they at the heart of the anomaly during that time? She couldn't double-check with her now offline PADD, but the numbers should be crunched together.

"You know what, I'm feeling a hell of a lot better now!" Kali said hurriedly and slid off the biobed. "I'm just gonna... you know where to bill my insurance-"

Ah, screw it. Kali almost high-tailed it out of there before a squadron of officers came to incarcerate her. Oh god, what was the next plan? Hide in the Jefferies tubes?! What she needed to make sure is that the engines stopped. She was thwarted sure, but she did a lot of tweaking that should warrant Engineering to at least have second thoughts about the warp speed problem.

Levinia Black blocked the way out. Damn.

The sickbay was exactly how she had left it a few moments ago.  Levinia could not help smile at Kyle as she entered, but it was Kali she had gone down there to see.  She looked around nervously then proceeded to address her former chief now person of interest.  "Ma'am."  Levinia began finding her voice sounded tinny to her own ears.  "How are you doing?"

"Well," she said distractedly. "That remains to be seen." This could be an arrest, but she could bank on Levinia's trust in her superior if her dossier meant anything. She Á¢â,¬Ëœkind of' owed her after this version of Kali pulled her out of a mosh pit of angry Gorn gladiators.

That was when her combadge beeped.

"Wu to Reyes. Kali, I'm sorry, but something's come up and I'll probably be working late tonight. I know it took you weeks to book that holodeck time, and I'd hate to have to cancel...would you mind waiting a little bit? Shouldn't be more than an hour, tops."=/\=

Kali colored a bit but furiously shook her head. XO! Her fingers twitched a bit when she pressed her combadge. "Ah... Reyes here. Are you still in-" She checked the roster on her PADD. "-Engineering?" Of course he was, the man was Chief of Engineering. It was jarring that just yesterday she had to drag him off the paperwork to shoot pool and now today he was accommodating her for holodeck time of all things.

A light went off above her head. This might be the leverage she needed to stop all of this. Stealing a crewman's credentials instead, she dropped 0200's video onto the laps of Cottle and holy hell, now she knew where Pardek went! Hopefully those two would bang their heads together and find out why everyone was conked last shift.

[Subject: This doesn't look weird to you? - Reyes]

The video of the little kid, well - she kept that to herself for now - and Engineering was exactly where she needed to be.

"Don't move," she told him with renewed confidence. "I'm bringing the party to you." Then she readdressed Levinia. "I know why you're here and it's either to arrest me or get answers. Pick one because you're not getting both. If it's the latter, follow me." With a cheeky wink, she made for the turbolift whether her lieutenant followed her or not.

[Tekin Nevir]

[First Officer Commander Tekin Nevir - VIP guest quarters]

"I have absolutely no faith in you, your Captain, or your Federation!"

The first offer was stuck desperately trying to calm the delegation.. finally at least getting them back in the VIP quarters, but they were all pretty much in an uproar.  It was enough that already one member was feeling pressured to step away from the negotiations due to... personal matters.  And worst of all.. Federation information also was leaked.  When you open the pipe, it can flow two ways.

"We are getting to the bottom of this, I assure you-"

"Your assurance means nothing!  At this point I don't see a reason to keep on course.  It is clear that our faith in the Federation to remain objective in these matters was grossly misplaced."

"No, it was just a glitch in our system, nothing has left-"

"Oh but it has, Commander.  It has." said the head delegate, showing a PADD.  There was a transmission to the meeting site.  The other two parties got a taste of information.  It could have been accidental, intentional, or a present left by the other two delegation, but the information was clear.  The 3rd planet in these talks was compromised.

"You have put us in a very bad position... and I'm not sure there is a way to salvage this.  Tell your Captain that we may be cancelling the talks.  Now leave us." 

Nevir had absolutely no choice but to back away and leave.  Just as the doors closed, he turned, and took a couple of steps, before throwing the PADD down the hall in anger.  Somehow something got released.  On his ship... under his watch.  Shaking his head and stopping himself from damaging consoles, he took a breath and went over to a terminal.

"Computer, display results of recent security sweep." he said, as the computer gave a quick readout of what happened, what may have been compromised.... and where it originated.

"Kali... you didn't...." he muttered, clenching his fists.

"Computer.  Locate Lieutenant Commander Kali Reyes."

Lieutenant Commander Kali Reyes is in turbolift 4.

"Destination?"

Main Engineering

"Dammit." he said, going for his closest turbolift, and calling for main engineering.  As it moved, he took a controlled breath and tapped his badge.

"Tekin to Bridge.  Captain, the delegation leak is serious.  They are considering pulling out of the talks.  Whatever Reyes did.. vital information was sent from this ship to the meeting location for the other two delegations."

[Kyle Briggs]

[Sickbay]

"Cap- Ensign Briggs, You look a bit jumpy. Don't worry, I'm not contagious. Bitey, maybe. But not rabid."

Kyle tried to suppress his smile but it was no use. He had thought Commander Reyes to very beautiful from the moment he had joined the Discovery. But as his superior officer, she was way out of league. He was just about to approach her when her PADD beeped and she was suddenly out of bed and headed for the doors.

"Commander. Wait." he called as the doors parted. Luckily, she was stopped by Vinnie. He couldn't hear their exchange but he walked toward them with the intend of getting Reyes back into bed. "Commander. I need you in bed." he quickly realized his words and spoke again. "The biobed, Ma'am." he said with a gulp. It was too late. She walked past Vinnie and was headed for the lift. "Where does she think she's going?" he asked Vinnie.

[Sassa]

[Bridge]

Sassa hummed a Vulcan lullaby under her breath trying to make sense of why Commander Reyes would want to attack the ship and stop the engines.

'Not your place to wonder, Sassa... your job is to fly the ship...' she thought to herself.

"How's the recalibrating going?  Are the atmospheric sensors back online yet?" she asked of Ops.

[Kachina Filitov]

[Bridge]

Sassa hummed a Vulcan lullaby under her breath trying to make sense of why Commander Reyes would want to attack the ship and stop the engines.

'Not your place to wonder, Sassa... your job is to fly the ship...' she thought to herself.

"How's the recalibrating going?  Are the atmospheric sensors back online yet?" she asked of Ops.

Bridge

Katcha had been engrossed in debugging the lines of code when Sassa's question filtered through.

"Wha..? Oh, right. I think I've found ll the problems. I'll just re-initalise the navigation system." She tapped her PADD a few times.  "There you go. That should be it. Let me know if it's working properly." She said, waiting for the helm to let her know.

[Sassa]

Bridge

Katcha had been engrossed in debugging the lines of code when Sassa's question filtered through.

"Wha..? Oh, right. I think I've found ll the problems. I'll just re-initalise the navigation system." She tapped her PADD a few times.  "There you go. That should be it. Let me know if it's working properly." She said, waiting for the helm to let her know.

Bridge

Sassa pressed a few buttons on her console.... "Affirmative, seems to be working now.  Thank you Ms Filitov."

Things were starting to work but she was still only getting 7.0 Warp.  She wondered given the fact that they had been pushing the engines pretty hard lately that wasn't a good thing ultimately.  The Captain wanted rid of the visitors they had on board but they'd be there soon enough.

[Kachina Filitov]

Bridge

Sassa pressed a few buttons on her console.... "Affirmative, seems to be working now.  Thank you Ms Filitov."

Things were starting to work but she was still only getting 7.0 Warp.  She wondered given the fact that they had been pushing the engines pretty hard lately that wasn't a good thing ultimately.  The Captain wanted rid of the visitors they had on board but they'd be there soon enough.

Bridge

Katcha nodded.

"Good. I'll be here if there are any problems." She replied, sitting back at Ops.

[Levinia Black]

Levinia Black blocked the way out. Damn.

"Well," she said distractedly. "That remains to be seen." This could be an arrest, but she could bank on Levinia's trust in her superior if her dossier meant anything. She Á¢â,¬Ëœkind of' owed her after this version of Kali pulled her out of a mosh pit of angry Gorn gladiators.

That was when her combadge beeped.

[Sickbay]

Kyle tried to suppress his smile but it was no use. He had thought Commander Reyes to very beautiful from the moment he had joined the Discovery. But as his superior officer, she was way out of league. He was just about to approach her when her PADD beeped and she was suddenly out of bed and headed for the doors.

"Commander. Wait." he called as the doors parted. Luckily, she was stopped by Vinnie. He couldn't hear their exchange but he walked toward them with the intend of getting Reyes back into bed. "Commander. I need you in bed." he quickly realized his words and spoke again. "The biobed, Ma'am." he said with a gulp. It was too late. She walked past Vinnie and was headed for the lift. "Where does she think she's going?" he asked Vinnie.

[Sickbay....as Security Officer Lt (JG) Black]

Levinia was too shocked to react right away.  "Wait, Kali..."  She managed to squeak out before Kyle joined her.  They both seemed shocked by Reyes' odd behavior.   She shook her head and took out her phaser which was set to stun and aimed it at her boss' retreating back.  "I'm not sure...I could stun her?"  Vinnie was a good shot and could hit Reyes easily from where she was standing and thought better.

She sighed and put the phaser away, it wouldn't be nice to shoot a friend in the back, no matter how much they deserved it.  Instead, Levinia looked at Kyle and frowned, "I guess I better go find out?"  With that she took off after Kali, who fortunately for Levinia, had short legs as well and was easy to catch up too.

"Now hold on one minute, ma'am."  Levinia used her best annoyed tone, "I'm here to arrest you, you're in deep trouble, the CO, XO and all the high rankers are out for your blood!  Give me a good reason why I shouldn't drop you right now?"  She placed a hand on her phaser and waited for a response.  Vinnie only hoped it would be a good one...

[Kyan Mackenzie]

Meanwhile.... on the bridge....

Beep beep.... whir.... chirp...chirp....

Kyan stood on his tip toes to see over the oppressively tall tactical station - And just why wasn't there a step stool... or a chair.. or something? - to see the rest of the bridge. He was just tall enough to operate the console, but not tall enough to see the view screen or the rest of the people on the bridge without craning his neck, which was not a sustainable working condition, or stepping around the console. Finally he settled back onto his feet and looked at the console in front of him. It had nothing new to report.

Literally nothing was going on up here except that the grups were all going on about the warp engines and how the engineers couldn't let the ship go faster than warp seven, which was inconvenient because the helmsgrup wanted to go to warp seven point five. Apparently so did the skipper, who was stewing about something else entirely in the center seat. Bored as he was, Kyan recalled his days aboard ole Glork's freighter, the Latinum Lady. When it got boring on that ship, which was rare given their line of work, the crew sang songs to pass the time. Mostly the Klingons did it, but eventually they learned some old Earth songs, and even some Ferengi songs too, which almost always seemed to be about making profits and business stuff. Kyan's favorite was the one that the old human grup sang.

"Come with me mates up into the black!" he started, almost as a whisper. "We're out of the world and we ain't coming back - yo ho blow the man down!" Kyan's singing got a little louder as he recalled the words.

"On an old rusty freighter we'll work for our pay.... five slips it is and three hots every day.... yo ho and blow the man down!"

Realizing now that he was belting out the words and he'd drawn the attention of the bridge crew, the Only stopped.

"What? Don't you sing space shanties on this boat?" he asked with a grin.

[Kachina Filitov]

Meanwhile.... on the bridge....

Beep beep.... whir.... chirp...chirp....

Kyan stood on his tip toes to see over the oppressively tall tactical station - And just why wasn't there a step stool... or a chair.. or something? - to see the rest of the bridge. He was just tall enough to operate the console, but not tall enough to see the view screen or the rest of the people on the bridge without craning his neck, which was not a sustainable working condition, or stepping around the console. Finally he settled back onto his feet and looked at the console in front of him. It had nothing new to report.

Literally nothing was going on up here except that the grups were all going on about the warp engines and how the engineers couldn't let the ship go faster than warp seven, which was inconvenient because the helmsgrup wanted to go to warp seven point five. Apparently so did the skipper, who was stewing about something else entirely in the center seat. Bored as he was, Kyan recalled his days aboard ole Glork's freighter, the Latinum Lady. When it got boring on that ship, which was rare given their line of work, the crew sang songs to pass the time. Mostly the Klingons did it, but eventually they learned some old Earth songs, and even some Ferengi songs too, which almost always seemed to be about making profits and business stuff. Kyan's favorite was the one that the old human grup sang.

"Come with me mates up into the black!" he started, almost as a whisper. "We're out of the world and we ain't coming back - yo ho blow the man down!" Kyan's singing got a little louder as he recalled the words.

"On an old rusty freighter we'll work for our pay.... five slips it is and three hots every day.... yo ho and blow the man down!"

Realizing now that he was belting out the words and he'd drawn the attention of the bridge crew, the Only stopped.

"What? Don't you sing space shanties on this boat?" he asked with a grin.

Bridge

Katcha looked at Mackenzie with one raised eyebrow.

"Erm, not really. Are those from earth? I seem to remember them being sung in bars or something!" She commented, not sure as to what was going on.

[Kali Reyes]

"Commander. Wait." he called as the doors parted. Luckily, she was stopped by Vinnie. He couldn't hear their exchange but he walked toward them with the intend of getting Reyes back into bed. "Commander. I need you in bed." he quickly realized his words and spoke again. "The biobed, Ma'am." he said with a gulp. It was too late. She walked past Vinnie and was headed for the lift. "Where does she think she's going?" he asked Vinnie.

Kali shot an eyebrow over her shoulder at her Captain and tried to look like a confident officer on a mission than a snickering teenager. It held and she gave herself a mental pat on the back.

Levinia was too shocked to react right away.  "Wait, Kali..."  She managed to squeak out before Kyle joined her.  They both seemed shocked by Reyes' odd behavior.   She shook her head and took out her phaser which was set to stun and aimed it at her boss' retreating back.  "I'm not sure...I could stun her?"  Vinnie was a good shot and could hit Reyes easily from where she was standing and thought better.

"I can hear you, you know," she said dryly by the turbolift. Wasn't against Levinia's oath to shoot someone? She almost forgot given the circumstances. "The only thing you should wield on me is a hypo, but I'm fixing that real good, just you watch."

"Now hold on one minute, ma'am."  Levinia used her best annoyed tone, "I'm here to arrest you, you're in deep trouble, the CO, XO and all the high rankers are out for your blood!  Give me a good reason why I shouldn't drop you right now?"  She placed a hand on her phaser and waited for a response.  Vinnie only hoped it would be a good one...

"Alrighty," Kali took a deep dramatic breath and gestured to Kyle. "Are you out for my blood? No? Then there it is." She gave Levinia a serious look. "That's my Captain right there. You're not a security officer, and I'm damned as hell not your Security Chief." She punched up the video and sent it to Levinia's PADD. "Something happened last shift with the anomaly and I think that's what caused the role swap. I don't know why I was singled out, but I'm gonna find out. Something was in Engineering when it happened."

The turbolift finally arrived. "A couple things are gonna go down. We can either get this sorted out before we throw out the swapped diplomats on an already stressed negotiation table and screw up this star system, or we can just let it happen and deal with why the Federation's databases clearly don't match the ship's and get not just 'Captain Kaz' but our real Captain here in trouble."

"Or, third option," she grinned stupidly at Kyle. "You buy me dinner before strapping me back into bed." She almost held it in. Damn. "The biobed."

[Kyan Mackenzie]

Bridge

Katcha looked at Mackenzie with one raised eyebrow.

"Erm, not really. Are those from earth? I seem to remember them being sung in bars or something!" She commented, not sure as to what was going on.

"No no no...well.. yes I reckon but they were sung on ships you see, to inspire the crew and kep them occupied and not bored, which I definitely am the now." Kyan looked around. "Aren't you? We're just sitting about here aren't we? Heading toward the starbase with just our thumbs to twiddle in the interim?"

[Kachina Filitov]

"No no no...well.. yes I reckon but they were sung on ships you see, to inspire the crew and kep them occupied and not bored, which I definitely am the now." Kyan looked around. "Aren't you? We're just sitting about here aren't we? Heading toward the starbase with just our thumbs to twiddle in the interim?"

Bridge

We're just keeping things ticking over until this taxi ride is over." Katcha gave the other officer a smile and tried not to yawn. Then an alert went off on her board. She turned to the Security console.

"There appears to be an altercation going on in the mess hall. I'm showing power fluctuations and there is an issue with the replicators. I recommend we send security down there. " She said, her previous boredom having vanished.

[Kyan Mackenzie]

Bridge

We're just keeping things ticking over until this taxi ride is over." Katcha gave the other officer a smile and tried not to yawn. Then an alert went off on her board. She turned to the Security console.

"There appears to be an altercation going on in the mess hall. I'm showing power fluctuations and there is an issue with the replicators. I recommend we send security down there. " She said, her previous boredom having vanished.

Kyan's eyes lit up at the prospect of something interesting to do.

"Say no more grup lady! I shall make haste to the mess hall and resolve the situation!"

And with that, the diminutive Security Officer was on the turbolift. "Give the shanties a shot if you get bored." he shouted as the doors whisked shut behind him.

[Kachina Filitov]

Kyan's eyes lit up at the prospect of something interesting to do.

"Say no more grup lady! I shall make haste to the mess hall and resolve the situation!"

And with that, the diminutive Security Officer was on the turbolift. "Give the shanties a shot if you get bored." he shouted as the doors whisked shut behind him.

Bridge

Katcha laughed at Mackenzie's remark. Soon however, have re-routed the power and de-activated the replicators, she was bored again. Soon a tune began going through her her mind. She then began to say the words out loud.

"Ey, ukhnem!
Ey, ukhnem!
Yeshcho razik, yeshcho da raz!
Ey, ukhnem!
Ey, ukhnem!
Yeshcho razik, yeshcho da raz!
Razovyom my beryozu,
Razovyom my kudryavu!
Ai-da, da ai-da,
Ai-da, da ai-da,
Razovyom my kudryavu.
Razovyom my kudryavu.
Ey, ukhnem!
Ey, ukhnem!
Yeshcho razik, yeshcho da raz!
My po berezhku idyom,
Pesnyu solnyshku poyom.
Ai-da, da ai-da,
Ai-da, da ai-da,
Pesnyu solnyshku poyom.
Ey, Ey, tyani kanat silney!
Pesnyu solnyshku poyom.
Ey, ukhnem!
Ey, ukhnem!
Yeshcho razik, yeshcho da raz!
Ekh, ty, Volga, mat'-reka,
Shiroka i gluboka,
Ai-da, da ai-da,
Ai-da, da ai-da,
Volga, Volga, mat'-reka
Ey, ukhnem!
Ey, ukhnem!
Yeshcho razik, yeshcho da raz!
Ey, ukhnem!
Ey, ukhnem!"

(Translation -
Yo, heave ho!
Yo, heave ho!
Once more, once again, still once more
Yo, heave ho!
Yo, heave ho!
Once more, once again, still once more
Now we fell the stout birch tree,
Now we pull hard: one, two, three.
Ay-da, da, ay-da!
Ay-da, da, ay-da!
Now we pull hard: one, two, three.
Now we pull hard: one, two, three.
Yo, heave ho!
Yo, heave ho!
Once more, once again, still once more
As we walk along the shore,
To the sun we sing our song.
Ay-da, da, ay-da!
Ay-da, da, ay-da!
To the sun we sing our song.
Hey, hey, let's heave a-long the way
to the sun we sing our song
Yo, heave ho!
Yo, heave ho!
Once more, once again, still once more
Oh, you, Volga, mother river,
Mighty stream so deep and wide.
Ay-da, da, ay-da!
Ay-da, da, ay-da!
Volga, Volga, mother river.
Yo, heave ho!
Yo, heave ho!
Once more, once again, still once more
Yo, heave ho!
Yo, heave ho!)

She didn't know where she had heard it before. But she continued to hum the tune.