S5: E1 - Honor Against Glory

[Rhymus Cleroux]

[Galgan Conference Facility]

With the entire landing party in dress whites, with the exception of the President who wore a stunning full length evening dress, the Federation delegation entered the the main dining area, to find a sumptuous dinner that far out shown what the Challenger presented to the President and Martok. The Galgans had clearly pulled out all the stops, serving cuisine from all the cultures present...except the Tholians, because, despite nearly two centuries of contact, no had yet to learn what they ate.

The room was full of delegates and ambassadors from the invited powers, thus in addition to the Federation, there were, Klingon, Breen, Naussicans, Romulans, Gorn, Ferengi, Orions, Suliban, and a scattering of other races within the crowd, to include the Tholian Ambassador, still in the bulky encounter suit seen earlier.

The room nearly sparkled with jewelry, decorations, and ribbons of the varies dignitaries all obviously putting their best foot forward for the reception. President Blackwell, floated around the room clearly comfortable within the crowd and made it a point to meet with each of the delegates regardless that faction's relative strength within the Quadrant.

As she circulated, the landing party from the Challenger, plus the President's aides had little to do except sample the hors d'oeuvres and be pleasant with those members of the conference that chose to speak to them. The air seemed full of an electricity that was hard to define as some of the most powerful people in the Alpha Quadrants danced an intricate dance of state, liberally sprinkled with a healthy dose of intrigue.

[Galgan Conference Facility]

The security team prowled like sharks in water, easing their way between delegations in order to keep a respectable, if ever-present, distance from the President. As the Federation Delegation stopped to talk with each representative in turn, security would spread out to cover every angle. And when she moved on, security once again reformed and followed after. A shadow behind the Madam President.

[Galga VI | Conference Room]

"Much appreciated, please, no, thank you."

T'Vas licked her lips slightly but abstained. Dressed in her Starfleet Dress Uniform, she carried herself with grace and dignity. She didn't stand rigidly or robotically at attention, she sort of... Glided. Although security was liberally about the room, she ensured her orbit coincided with the Federation President's at a rather discrete distance. She had once again declined some more hors d'oevres and drinks from passing waiters. Although there was some mingling, everyone was playing it cool. Comfortably (or uncomfortably) aware that the aides were security or intelligence of each nation's respective powers, the volume was much lower than expected.

With her orbit passing the Tholians', she heard the metallic clicking and chirping, although the translator declined to translate most of it. A little further, the Ferengi were whispering excitedly about some future trade treaty and earning more latinum. Were she human, T'Vas would have rolled her eyes. As it was, her sensitive hearing and memory techniques started cataloguing everything she was overhearing, even if most of it was inane chatter.

As the Madam President's rotation stopped to speak to yet another Quadrant Representative, Rhymus shifted to stand next to Ensign T'vas.

"Seen or heard anything of interest, Ensign?" He asked, his voice low to not attract attention.

[Lagar]

NPC Chancellor Martok
[Galgan Conference Facility]

Typically, during a formal dinner, an attendee who wishes to speak gains the attention of the audience in a polite and reserved fashion. They might gently strike a utensil against a glass, or repeat a quiet phrase into an audio system until silence falls, or they might even engender silence by ascending a stage dramatically. Sadly, such cultural practices were either absent from, or actively discouraged in, the Klingon upbringing. Chancellor Martok, in his own proud and thundering voice, a voice honed in years of service aboard cramped and noisy Klingon ships, and then later in cramped and noisy Klingon political offices, shouted above the crowd.

"Now Hear This!!

A few nearby guests jumped, wondering if a fight was about to break out. A wine glass was dropped with a start, shattering to the floor. Two Galgan workers swiftly went about gathering up the shards. A confused silence fell over most of those assembled, as eyes turned to the Chancellor of the Klingon Empire, one of his dour attendees nearby holding a black leather sack in his hands. Martok did not introduce himself for this speech; they knew who he was, and the power he represented.

"The Klingon Empire attends this conference"¦ Not alone, as a single great power in our Galaxy, but in partnership with another. The Federation-Klingon Alliance..." He moved through the crowd, shoulders leading, drawing nearer to President Blackwell. "In honor... of our glorious Alliance, I will present a gift"¦ to the President of the Federation, from the Klingon Empire."

Suddenly, viciously, he thrust his hand into the leather sack, and a Breen and a Suliban nearby stepped back in fear of what terrible weapon they expected to come out of that dark bag. With a breath of relief, they saw that it was a metallic bottle, ornately carved with images of hunting beasts split open by blades or pierced by double-headed arrows. The mouth of the bottle was fashioned into the fanged jaws of a Kolar Beast of Qo'noS, as though it was the beast itself vomiting up the bloodwine from its throat. He held the thing with reference, looking down on it like a proud father might look down upon a child. "Bloodwine"¦ of the year twenty-three zero nine."

After a brief moment, he looked back up at the crowd around him, his head still low. "...There is no finer vintage..." he said then, with such sincerity, and with such threat, that one might wonder that he was daring someone to disagree so that he might fight them to the death! He handed the bottle, reverently, to the President, passing it to her, and the moment allowed for her to then speak in reply.

[Ian Galloway]

NPC Chancellor Martok
[Galgan Conference Facility]

Typically, during a formal dinner, an attendee who wishes to speak gains the attention of the audience in a polite and reserved fashion. They might gently strike a utensil against a glass, or repeat a quiet phrase into an audio system until silence falls, or they might even engender silence by ascending a stage dramatically. Sadly, such cultural practices were either absent from, or actively discouraged in, the Klingon upbringing. Chancellor Martok, in his own proud and thundering voice, a voice honed in years of service aboard cramped and noisy Klingon ships, and then later in cramped and noisy Klingon political offices, shouted above the crowd.

"Now Hear This!!

A few nearby guests jumped, wondering if a fight was about to break out. A wine glass was dropped with a start, shattering to the floor. Two Galgan workers swiftly went about gathering up the shards. A confused silence fell over most of those assembled, as eyes turned to the Chancellor of the Klingon Empire, one of his dour attendees nearby holding a black leather sack in his hands. Martok did not introduce himself for this speech; they knew who he was, and the power he represented.

"The Klingon Empire attends this conference"¦ Not alone, as a single great power in our Galaxy, but in partnership with another. The Federation-Klingon Alliance..." He moved through the crowd, shoulders leading, drawing nearer to President Blackwell. "In honor... of our glorious Alliance, I will present a gift"¦ to the President of the Federation, from the Klingon Empire."

Suddenly, viciously, he thrust his hand into the leather sack, and a Breen and a Suliban nearby stepped back in fear of what terrible weapon they expected to come out of that dark bag. With a breath of relief, they saw that it was a metallic bottle, ornately carved with images of hunting beasts split open by blades or pierced by double-headed arrows. The mouth of the bottle was fashioned into the fanged jaws of a Kolar Beast of Qo'noS, as though it was the beast itself vomiting up the bloodwine from its throat. He held the thing with reference, looking down on it like a proud father might look down upon a child. "Bloodwine"¦ of the year twenty-three zero nine."

After a brief moment, he looked back up at the crowd around him, his head still low. "...There is no finer vintage..." he said then, with such sincerity, and with such threat, that one might wonder that he was daring someone to disagree so that he might fight them to the death! He handed the bottle, reverently, to the President, passing it to her, and the moment allowed for her to then speak in reply.

[Galgan Conference Facility]

President Blackwell turned as Martok called for attention in his own special way and that brought a small smile to her lips. Although she was clearly surprised at the gift, she took it readily, and with obvious practice, skillfully removed the cork before raising the bottle high and speaking in her former admiral's voice that carried across the huge ballroom.

"To the Empire!"

And without bothering to use a glass, she took a deep swallow of the wine and smiled.

"That is magnificent! Chancellor?"

She added as she handed the bottle to Martok who took the bottle and likewise took a huge gulp directly from the bottle.

"There's a lot to be said for a woman that knows how to drink bloodwine properly."

"I've loved blood... I.. uh... d-don't f-feel..."

Blackwell didn't finish as she crumpled to the floor, Martok too stunned to catch her. There was a second of complete silence, before utter chaos ensued. A woman's scream. Several voices shouting orders, most of them contradictory. And above all the wail of an alarm as the security doors swung closed.

"Oh sweet buggerin' hell!"

Ian shouted and bounded to the president's side. He felt for a pulse and relaxed a millimeter and slapped his combadge.

"Galloway ta Challenger! Medical emergency! The President is down! I say again, the President is down! Lock onto my combadge for transport directly ta sickbay!"

Ian then removed his combadge and placed on Blackwell's shoulder, as he did one of the Galgan security officers spoke up.

"Sir, you can't beam out, the transporter inhibitors are in place."

Ian jerked to his feet, wheeled on the man, and gave him a stare that would have melted tritanium.

"Then I suggest you bloody well drop the bleedin' inhibitors or I'll have Challenger blast them out of existence!"

He thundered in a tone that brooked no delay. The man took a step back and stammered.

"Y-y-you w-wouldn't."

"Watch me. Drop the soddin' inhibitors or I'll burn this planet ta cinders!"

"Control. This is Gorvaks. Drop the inhibitors."

As soon as the field dropped, there was the familiar whine of a Federation transporter and President Blackwell was whisked away.

"Maker of All Things let it be in time."

[Lagar]

[Galgan Conference Facility]

President Blackwell turned as Martok called for attention in his own special way and that brought a small smile to her lips. Although she was clearly surprised at the gift, she took it readily, and with obvious practice, skillfully removed the cork before raising the bottle high and speaking in her former admiral's voice that carried across the huge ballroom.

"To the Empire!"

And without bothering to use a glass, she took a deep swallow of the wine and smiled.

"That is magnificent! Chancellor?"

She added as she handed the bottle to Martok who took the bottle and likewise took a huge gulp directly from the bottle.

"There's a lot to be said for a woman that knows how to drink bloodwine properly."

"I've loved blood... I.. uh... d-don't f-feel..."

Blackwell didn't finish as she crumpled to the floor, Martok too stunned to catch her. There was a second of complete silence, before utter chaos ensued. A woman's scream. Several voices shouting orders, most of them contradictory. And above all the wail of an alarm as the security doors swung closed.

"Oh sweet buggerin' hell!"

Ian shouted and bounded to the president's side. He felt for a pulse and relaxed a millimeter and slapped his combadge.

"Galloway ta Challenger! Medical emergency! The President is down! I say again, the President is down! Lock onto my combadge for transport directly ta sickbay!"

Ian then removed his combadge and placed on Blackwell's shoulder, as he did one of the Galgan security officers spoke up.

"Sir, you can't beam out, the transporter inhibitors are in place."

Ian jerked to his feet, wheeled on the man, and gave him a stare that would have melted tritanium.

"Then I suggest you bloody well drop the bleedin' inhibitors or I'll have Challenger blast them out of existence!"

He thundered in a tone that brooked no delay. The man took a step back and stammered.

"Y-y-you w-wouldn't."

"Watch me. Drop the soddin' inhibitors or I'll burn this planet ta cinders!"

"Control. This is Gorvaks. Drop the inhibitors."

As soon as the field dropped, there was the familiar whine of a Federation transporter and President Blackwell was whisked away.

"Maker of All Things let it be in time."

NPC Chancellor Martok
[Galgan Conference Facility]

Martok stood aghast as she fell, only barely beginning to work his mouth and voice as the alarms began to shriek. "Margaret?" he managed, his voice uncharacteristically quiet. There she lay, that warrior-woman he knew, crumpled to the floor in her beautiful dress. The pieces moved too slowly in his mind, too glacially... She had fallen to... a poison? From the bloodwine. From his gift! Martok stepped back, lifting the still-open bottle in his hand to stare at it. His gift had delivered a deathblow to Margert, to the President of the Federation, to an Ally!

"Poison!" he growled, and he lifted the bottle, making to hurl the treacherous thing to the ground!

[Rhymus Cleroux]

[Galgan Conference Facility]

President Blackwell turned as Martok called for attention in his own special way and that brought a small smile to her lips. Although she was clearly surprised at the gift, she took it readily, and with obvious practice, skillfully removed the cork before raising the bottle high and speaking in her former admiral's voice that carried across the huge ballroom.

"To the Empire!"

And without bothering to use a glass, she took a deep swallow of the wine and smiled.

"That is magnificent! Chancellor?"

She added as she handed the bottle to Martok who took the bottle and likewise took a huge gulp directly from the bottle.

"There's a lot to be said for a woman that knows how to drink bloodwine properly."

"I've loved blood... I.. uh... d-don't f-feel..."

Blackwell didn't finish as she crumpled to the floor, Martok too stunned to catch her. There was a second of complete silence, before utter chaos ensued. A woman's scream. Several voices shouting orders, most of them contradictory. And above all the wail of an alarm as the security doors swung closed.

"Oh sweet buggerin' hell!"

Ian shouted and bounded to the president's side. He felt for a pulse and relaxed a millimeter and slapped his combadge.

"Galloway ta Challenger! Medical emergency! The President is down! I say again, the President is down! Lock onto my combadge for transport directly ta sickbay!"

Ian then removed his combadge and placed on Blackwell's shoulder, as he did one of the Galgan security officers spoke up.

"Sir, you can't beam out, the transporter inhibitors are in place."

Ian jerked to his feet, wheeled on the man, and gave him a stare that would have melted tritanium.

"Then I suggest you bloody well drop the bleedin' inhibitors or I'll have Challenger blast them out of existence!"

He thundered in a tone that brooked no delay. The man took a step back and stammered.

"Y-y-you w-wouldn't."

"Watch me. Drop the soddin' inhibitors or I'll burn this planet ta cinders!"

"Control. This is Gorvaks. Drop the inhibitors."

As soon as the field dropped, there was the familiar whine of a Federation transporter and President Blackwell was whisked away.

"Maker of All Things let it be in time."

NPC Chancellor Martok
[Galgan Conference Facility]

Martok stood aghast as she fell, only barely beginning to work his mouth and voice as the alarms began to shriek. "Margaret?" he managed, his voice uncharacteristically quiet. There she lay, that warrior-woman he knew, crumpled to the floor in her beautiful dress. The pieces moved too slowly in his mind, too glacially... She had fallen to... a poison? From the bloodwine. From his gift! Martok stepped back, lifting the still-open bottle in his hand to stare at it. His gift had delivered a deathblow to Margert, to the President of the Federation, to an Ally!

"Poison!" he growled, and he lifted the bottle, making to hurl the treacherous thing to the ground!

[Galgan Conference Facility]

From the moment Madam President Blackwell began falling, the security team leapt into action. A coiled spring, tensioned by endless drill and procedure, released its energies into the men and women of the Tactical Department allowing for swift and sure action. By the time the President hit the floor they had converged around the body, phasers drawn, to protect her from secondary strikes. They remained so while the Captain assessed her condition, and while she was transported out.

[Galga VI | Conference Facility]

"Halt please, Chancellor, that is evidence!"

T'Vas was the next person to react. The President had sloshed a fair amount when she dropped it and now Martok was holding onto it.

Aware that she was the minnow in the room, she spoke to him, holding her hands up and in an unthreatening manner. "We must investigate this carefully. Any attack on a delegate is... An attack on us all here and now. Every piece of the puzzle will help us. I suggest holding everyone in place. We need answers and facts to our questions." T'Vas had turned slightly more green in her Vulcan complexion as she addressed the room.

Chief Petty Officer Blackfeather and Petty Officer Shurile separated to secure the entrances, while Rhymus joined Ensign T'Vas with the Klingons. He kept his phaser drawn, at a high ready, and eyed the various delegation members closely.

"Whatever your feelings on the matter, Chancellor, you and your delegation are now prime suspects in this investigation. Put the bottle down slowly, and step away from it. I must insist you cooperate."

Inwardly, deep down, Rhymus felt a vague smugness at this ability to predict the Klingon treachery. Mixed with regret at failing to stop them despite his prediction. Poison was quite the surprising choice of weapon. A d'k tahg had been expected, or another concealable weapon of war. It was what he had expected. A grandiose display to show the Klingons' warrior spirit to as many as possible. Poison was a political weapon, not a warrior's. The look on Martok was one of great surprise. Perhaps his inexperience with the toxins had caused the President to collapse so suddenly, a slow acting virus meant to direct the blame elsewhere, delivered in such quantities that it's effects were immediate.

Either way, Rhymus would get to the bottom of this, and deliver justice to these Klingons once and for all.

[Jettis Jyur]

[ USS Challenger - Bridge ]

The slow monotony of scanning, rescanning, and recalibrating sensors droned on, as every station on the bridge worked to puzzle out the mystery of the ion particles. It didn't make sense, there had to be a piece missing. But before anyone at conns had the chance to decipher it, Lowe barked out, loud enough for the entire bridge to hear:

"Sir, the Captain is requesting an emergency beam-up, with Madam President!" Jettis sat straight up in his seat, blinking in surprise for a moment. "Beam them up! Stand by to go to yellow alert." He barked, though he command was surely unnecessary. He then swiveled to Lagar and Belmont, standing at the Science stations. "You're both relieved from Bridge duty, you're more needed in sickbay right now. Beam directly there."

With that, he turned back to the front, tapping his commbadge, to contact T'Vas. "Ensign, what's the situation?"

[Don Damien Addams]

[Galga - Conference ]
Shazham was surprised as well. He was about to move to the President but he halted to do so.

The President was not feeling so well right after the Bloodwine. The weird part was it was too quick. So Shazham had wondered if there was a medical situation that nobody knew of the President. She could be sick. Or have a chronic disease which she was hiding. She had every right to do so.

Now if the Bloodwine was poisoned then it had to be a set up. From what he can sense from Martok he was in total shock. There could be proper training for reaction if Martok had been planning to assassinate the President of the Federation.

Which means a third party was dirty. Now they will need to find where the Bottle came from. Who handled it before Martok?

Galloway was threatening with force. There was a better way to handle that.

He turned his attention to see if there was any sense of pride in a job well done in the crowd? The thing was the person or people might not be here at present.

He had turned to Security. "œI recommend to note and record that everyone here is a witness and will be needed to stay and not return to their ships," he suggested.

And then there were the angry emotions to the Klingons as they automatically felt they were assassinated. In his book of theory, maybe Martok was marked as a pawn by someone. And there was someone who wanted the President to be dead. And again the best way to break an alliance of two powerful allies was to put a wedge between them. The question was this"¦.It was too obvious. Like a B rated movie with poor actors doing a poor performance. Unless Martok was going to quit being where he was and play the role of a human bomb. No. That was not Martok and not a Klingon way. This was another"¦.but who... and his thoughts went feeling for a pride and arrogant thought of someone pleased of the President being ill or poisoned.

[Ian Galloway]

NPC Chancellor Martok
[Galgan Conference Facility]

Martok stood aghast as she fell, only barely beginning to work his mouth and voice as the alarms began to shriek. "Margaret?" he managed, his voice uncharacteristically quiet. There she lay, that warrior-woman he knew, crumpled to the floor in her beautiful dress. The pieces moved too slowly in his mind, too glacially... She had fallen to... a poison? From the bloodwine. From his gift! Martok stepped back, lifting the still-open bottle in his hand to stare at it. His gift had delivered a deathblow to Margert, to the President of the Federation, to an Ally!

"Poison!" he growled, and he lifted the bottle, making to hurl the treacherous thing to the ground!

[Galga VI | Conference Facility]

"Halt please, Chancellor, that is evidence!"

T'Vas was the next person to react. The President had sloshed a fair amount when she dropped it and now Martok was holding onto it.

Aware that she was the minnow in the room, she spoke to him, holding her hands up and in an unthreatening manner. "We must investigate this carefully. Any attack on a delegate is... An attack on us all here and now. Every piece of the puzzle will help us. I suggest holding everyone in place. We need answers and facts to our questions." T'Vas had turned slightly more green in her Vulcan complexion as she addressed the room.

[Galgan Conference Facility]

From the moment Madam President Blackwell began falling, the security team leapt into action. A coiled spring, tensioned by endless drill and procedure, released its energies into the men and women of the Tactical Department allowing for swift and sure action. By the time the President hit the floor they had converged around the body, phasers drawn, to protect her from secondary strikes. They remained so while the Captain assessed her condition, and while she was transported out.

Chief Petty Officer Blackfeather and Petty Officer Shurile separated to secure the entrances, while Rhymus joined Ensign T'Vas with the Klingons. He kept his phaser drawn, at a high ready, and eyed the various delegation members closely.

"Whatever your feelings on the matter, Chancellor, you and your delegation are now prime suspects in this investigation. Put the bottle down slowly, and step away from it. I must insist you cooperate."

Inwardly, deep down, Rhymus felt a vague smugness at this ability to predict the Klingon treachery. Mixed with regret at failing to stop them despite his prediction. Poison was quite the surprising choice of weapon. A d'k tahg had been expected, or another concealable weapon of war. It was what he had expected. A grandiose display to show the Klingons' warrior spirit to as many as possible. Poison was a political weapon, not a warrior's. The look on Martok was one of great surprise. Perhaps his inexperience with the toxins had caused the President to collapse so suddenly, a slow acting virus meant to direct the blame elsewhere, delivered in such quantities that it's effects were immediate.

Either way, Rhymus would get to the bottom of this, and deliver justice to these Klingons once and for all.

[Galga - Conference ]
Shazham was surprised as well. He was about to move to the President but he halted to do so.

The President was not feeling so well right after the Bloodwine. The weird part was it was too quick. So Shazham had wondered if there was a medical situation that nobody knew of the President. She could be sick. Or have a chronic disease which she was hiding. She had every right to do so.

Now if the Bloodwine was poisoned then it had to be a set up. From what he can sense from Martok he was in total shock. There could be proper training for reaction if Martok had been planning to assassinate the President of the Federation.

Which means a third party was dirty. Now they will need to find where the Bottle came from. Who handled it before Martok?

Galloway was threatening with force. There was a better way to handle that.

He turned his attention to see if there was any sense of pride in a job well done in the crowd? The thing was the person or people might not be here at present.

He had turned to Security. "œI recommend to note and record that everyone here is a witness and will be needed to stay and not return to their ships," he suggested.

And then there were the angry emotions to the Klingons as they automatically felt they were assassinated. In his book of theory, maybe Martok was marked as a pawn by someone. And there was someone who wanted the President to be dead. And again the best way to break an alliance of two powerful allies was to put a wedge between them. The question was this"¦.It was too obvious. Like a B rated movie with poor actors doing a poor performance. Unless Martok was going to quit being where he was and play the role of a human bomb. No. That was not Martok and not a Klingon way. This was another"¦.but who... and his thoughts went feeling for a pride and arrogant thought of someone pleased of the President being ill or poisoned.

[Galga VI | Conference]

"Chief, We do have due process, still, stand down."

T'Vas' nostrils flared. Shazam... was helping in his own way. She was concerned primarily at a fight breaking out. She was aware the Captain was still observing silently, as was T'Kel. Combined with Shazam, they were all collectively senior to a recent Academy graduate. As if that wasn't enough, Challenger was also adding to the mix.

"Challenger, we have a situation. Will update accordingly, T'Vas out."

The Vulcan Science Officer threw what she hoped was a stern glare at the Chief and nodded subtly then walked over to Martok.

"I have read the full qe'S'a', Chancellor. tova'dok: reveal your true self in combat. A true warrior would not use poison. A Klingon's word is a badge of honour. I give you my word we cooperate." She held her hand for the bottle, managing to somehow control her hand from shaking and to show no weakness.

[Galgan Conference Facility]

When T'Vas spoke, Martok looked at her with his lone eye and for a moment was confused. It was as if he couldn't process what she was saying or why it was important. Confusion became anger when Rhymus spoke as his Klingon pride asserted itself.

"You would dare speak to me this way?"

At Martok's words lashed at Rhymus, his bodyguards, keyed to their Chancellor's tone, stepped to block the Starfleet noncom from getting any closer. The confrontation might have escalated, but it was T'Vas' feminine voice that cut through the tension of the moment. Martok regarded her again, but this time, actually seeing her and the coiled fury left his shoulders as he handed over the bottle, adding.

"Stand down. They are only doing their duty. As would you if the situation were reversed. I completely deny any part of knowledge of this cowardly act. How can the Klingon Empire assist?"

Ian found he could breathe again when Martok relaxed and he turned to T'Kel.

"I want you ta return ta the ship Lieutenant, I need an update on the President and whatever evidence Doctor Belmont has. Oh, and have a combadge beamed down for me."

"Aye Sir."

T'Kel tapped her combadge and within seconds she was gone. A short time later, on the table next to Ian a combadge appeared. As he pinned on the combadge, the Galgan security officer Gorvaks approached Ian and asked.

"Can I raise the inhibitors?"

"What? Oh, right. Aye, by all means do."

Ian then moved to stand next to Rhymus and faced Martok.

"Chancellor, thank you for your cooperation. I must ask you, where did you get the bloodwine?"

Martok snarled, not so much at Ian, but at the source of his response.

"It was that little PetaQ Ferengi, who calls himself "Ambassador" Glerk. Poison is an honorless attack and just the sort of thing his sort would try. There are too many threats to the Quadrant for me to want to destroy our Alliance, but there are many here would like to see that Alliance fail!"

"Thank you Chancellor, we will look into this. Chief Cleroux, with T'Kel back on the ship, you're in charge of the investigation. I trust you will figure this out."

Ian then noticed Shazham intently scanning the crowd and moved to stand next to him.

"Are you sensing anything useful?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[ USS Challenger - Bridge ]

The slow monotony of scanning, rescanning, and recalibrating sensors droned on, as every station on the bridge worked to puzzle out the mystery of the ion particles. It didn't make sense, there had to be a piece missing. But before anyone at conns had the chance to decipher it, Lowe barked out, loud enough for the entire bridge to hear:

"Sir, the Captain is requesting an emergency beam-up, with Madam President!" Jettis sat straight up in his seat, blinking in surprise for a moment. "Beam them up! Stand by to go to yellow alert." He barked, though he command was surely unnecessary. He then swiveled to Lagar and Belmont, standing at the Science stations. "You're both relieved from Bridge duty, you're more needed in sickbay right now. Beam directly there."

With that, he turned back to the front, tapping his commbadge, to contact T'Vas. "Ensign, what's the situation?"

[Sickbay - USS Challenger]

When Lagar and Lisa reached sickbay, they found a flurry of activity and Jess working feverishly on President Blackwell. Jess looked up briefly at the sound of the arrivals and gave a short report.

"Obvious signs of poisoning. I've given her Cortolin and Cordrazine, she's got a pulse, but it's weak and thready. Her BP is 80/40 and falling. Whatever this was, it's fast. If either of you have some genius idea, now would the time to tell me!"

[Derek Rodwell]

[Engineering]

Derek released another sigh before his final approach triggered the doors to Engineering.

"Rodwell reporting as order, Ma'am." he said after entering and walking over to Tharn.

"The bridge is running a lot of scans at maximum. We need to make sure all the systems stay up and running and give them the power they need. I'm gonna return to the bridge. Handle things here." With that, she just turned and walked out.

[Ruth Sigurdsdottir]

[ USS Challenger - Bridge ]

Jettis was unsurprised when nothing seemed to appear on scans. If this truly were of Romulan origin, they would be careful. Sly. Five steps ahead. He nodded as Lagar reported no activity, but they would keep their eyes open just the same. As Ruth leaned over towards him, he smiled, mouthing back a thank you.

He didn't expect Arya, however to pipe up. Raising his brows, he nodded in unison with Ruth, listening to what she had to say. She proposed an interesting idea, Jettis brought his hand up to rub his chin, brows knitting. "That's a good idea, thank you. If you want to join Belmont and Lagar at Science three," He made a vague motion towards the area. "And tie in tactical as well. You can execute on your plan."

He nodded toward Ruth, sparing a glance - almost a plea for validation, before turning his eyes back to his default - the viewscreen as usual. "Sounds like a plan," he echoed back.

[ USS Challenger - Bridge ]

The slow monotony of scanning, rescanning, and recalibrating sensors droned on, as every station on the bridge worked to puzzle out the mystery of the ion particles. It didn't make sense, there had to be a piece missing. But before anyone at conns had the chance to decipher it, Lowe barked out, loud enough for the entire bridge to hear:

"Sir, the Captain is requesting an emergency beam-up, with Madam President!" Jettis sat straight up in his seat, blinking in surprise for a moment. "Beam them up! Stand by to go to yellow alert." He barked, though he command was surely unnecessary. He then swiveled to Lagar and Belmont, standing at the Science stations. "You're both relieved from Bridge duty, you're more needed in sickbay right now. Beam directly there."

With that, he turned back to the front, tapping his commbadge, to contact T'Vas. "Ensign, what's the situation?"

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ruth was about to answer Jettis when the call came in for an immediate beam up for the Captain.

"GO to Yellow Alert, don't worry about standing by... just do it! Kill the klaxxon tho." Ruth barked.  She didn't bother with deferring to Jyur as the man in the seat right then, it was an emergency and as XO anyhow she had the right to do so even if the Captain himself was sitting there.

"Arya, take Sciences 2..." she said slipping into Sciences 1 as Lagar vacated the seat.  "Stay there unless you'd rather swap Mr. Jyur, either way, find out what's going on and in the meantime, we'll try to find out what our missing link is here."

Hands flying over the keys she looked sideways at Arya.

"Right you... time for you to show me what you've learned in 4 years... let's find what's out there that's trying to stay hidden.  Lowe, do you have a list of all delegates?  I'm not so much bothered in who attended as much as who might not like those who attended... you know trying to pin something serious like an assassination on them."

[Don Damien Addams]

[Galgan Conference Facility]

When T'Vas spoke, Martok looked at her with his lone eye and for a moment was confused. It was as if he couldn't process what she was saying or why it was important. Confusion became anger when Rhymus spoke as his Klingon pride asserted itself.

"You would dare speak to me this way?"

At Martok's words lashed at Rhymus, his bodyguards, keyed to their Chancellor's tone, stepped to block the Starfleet noncom from getting any closer. The confrontation might have escalated, but it was T'Vas' feminine voice that cut through the tension of the moment. Martok regarded her again, but this time, actually seeing her and the coiled fury left his shoulders as he handed over the bottle, adding.

"Stand down. They are only doing their duty. As would you if the situation were reversed. I completely deny any part of knowledge of this cowardly act. How can the Klingon Empire assist?"

Ian found he could breathe again when Martok relaxed and he turned to T'Kel.

"I want you ta return ta the ship Lieutenant, I need an update on the President and whatever evidence Doctor Belmont has. Oh, and have a combadge beamed down for me."

"Aye Sir."

T'Kel tapped her combadge and within seconds she was gone. A short time later, on the table next to Ian a combadge appeared. As he pinned on the combadge, the Galgan security officer Gorvaks approached Ian and asked.

"Can I raise the inhibitors?"

"What? Oh, right. Aye, by all means do."

Ian then moved to stand next to Rhymus and faced Martok.

"Chancellor, thank you for your cooperation. I must ask you, where did you get the bloodwine?"

Martok snarled, not so much at Ian, but at the source of his response.

"It was that little PetaQ Ferengi, who calls himself "Ambassador" Glerk. Poison is an honorless attack and just the sort of thing his sort would try. There are too many threats to the Quadrant for me to want to destroy our Alliance, but there are many here would like to see that Alliance fail!"

"Thank you Chancellor, we will look into this. Chief Cleroux, with T'Kel back on the ship, you're in charge of the investigation. I trust you will figure this out."

Ian then noticed Shazham intently scanning the crowd and moved to stand next to him.

"Are you sensing anything useful?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Sickbay - USS Challenger]

When Lagar and Lisa reached sickbay, they found a flurry of activity and Jess working feverishly on President Blackwell. Jess looked up briefly at the sound of the arrivals and gave a short report.

"Obvious signs of poisoning. I've given her Cortolin and Cordrazine, she's got a pulse, but it's weak and thready. Her BP is 80/40 and falling. Whatever this was, it's fast. If either of you have some genius idea, now would the time to tell me!"

[Galga Conference building]

Bless T'Vas calming words to calm the Ambassador Klingon Martok. He had stepped back to get away from an opening confrontation fight.

As the Captain came up near Shazham as things had calmed down to a par. "Sir, there was the shock wave of disbelief from the witness and crowd before us. And there was small crowd of no surprise like they could expect something would happen," he shared.

Then it dawned on him. He then turned his head to the Captain. "If they going to question the Ferengi on poison the bottle. They might want to see if the Ferengi will answer the question if the Martok stated why he was buying the bottle. It could be for Martok then the President." Then Shazham was wondering if the Ferengi knew that Klingons would want to buy the bloodwine. Or was the Ferengi bragging about having bloodwine to one of the Klingons.

[Ian Galloway]

[Galga Conference building]

Bless T'Vas calming words to calm the Ambassador Klingon Martok. He had stepped back to get away from an opening confrontation fight.

As the Captain came up near Shazham as things had calmed down to a par. "Sir, there was the shock wave of disbelief from the witness and crowd before us. And there was small crowd of no surprise like they could expect something would happen," he shared.

Then it dawned on him. He then turned his head to the Captain. "If they going to question the Ferengi on poison the bottle. They might want to see if the Ferengi will answer the question if the Martok stated why he was buying the bottle. It could be for Martok then the President." Then Shazham was wondering if the Ferengi knew that Klingons would want to buy the bloodwine. Or was the Ferengi bragging about having bloodwine to one of the Klingons.

[Galga Conference building]

Ian nodded as Shazham gave his report as it really wasn't a surprise that some of those present would not be upset to see the Federation in disorder or at odds with the Klingon Empire.

"Aye Lad, we need ta speak ta this Ferengi."

Ian turned to Rhymus.

"Findin' this Ambassador Glerk is your first order of business. I'm headin' back ta our quarters and gettin' out of these bloody dress whites. I'm fair certain the party is over."

[Ian Galloway]

[Galga VI | Conference Facility]

T'Vas accepted the bottle gingerly, gratefully. Grabbing a napkin she wrapped it up to prevent more contamination. She also had enough prescience of mind to grab another napkin and the discarded cork. She walked over to the Captain and lowered her voice once Shazam moved off. For once, she dropped her usual speaking cadence to get more information out: "Captain, there is a tricorder in my guest quarters. I will be scanning the readings back to Challenger. However I worry about Martok. qeS'a' is a book they call the Klingon Art of War. Not everyone reads it, but I should have impressed him or at least shown him enough honour. Excuse me, Captain, Challenger needs these readings." she paused to scoop up a wine glass on her way.

[Galga VI | Guest Quarters]

T'Vas entered her room and made sure the doors were locked. Carefully she laid out everything, tapping her commbadge, again foregoing her speaking cadence.  "œChallenger, T'Vas urgent. Transmitting tricorder reading scans of the wine, the bottle and the cork. Urgent analysis to Medical and forensics. Expect biosign trace readings from myself, President and Martok on the bottle. Wine readings first.

She poured a healthy (unhealthy?) amount of wine into the glass and started scanning it urgently, remembering to set the scan filters correctly and making sure the glass wasn't in the way. She then repeated the process for the bottle, carefully also scanning down the neck of the bottle and the cork. "œThat is all, Challenger. T'Vas out."

[Sickbay - USS Challenger]

With all of the more senior medical personal struggling to save the President, Ensign Rashar was the one to receive the tricorder data from T'Vas. Scans of the bottle quickly revealed that the poison used was Kitali, a poison harmless to Klingons, but lethal to humans. At this point, Rasher stopped in his analysis and rushed to the critical care unit to inform Jess.

"Doctor Fellows! The poison is Kitali!"

"Oh thank God!"

Jess replied and dialed her hypospray to the type specific antidote to Kitali.

"Come on Madam President. Please breathe, please breathe."

For a close to a minute, the entire sickbay held a collective breath, until Blackwell's eyes fluttered open.

"Wha...w-what h-happened?" Blackwell croaked.

"Thank all that's ever been holy. You were poisoned Madam President, they are still trying to figure out who did it."

"O-okay... l-let m-me know."

"I promise Madam President."

Once Rasher was certain the President was stable, he returned to the scans and found that the cork had a tiny hole, likely made by a micro-needle to inject the poison into the wine. He ran the tests three times before he relayed the information to the bridge.

"Sickbay to Bridge. The President is stable. The poison was kitali and was injected into the bottle by a micro-needle."

[Vasilisa Belmont]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

"Arya's got it in hand thanks, just a cramp... I tried to compensate and it went into cramp the other way...." Ruth sighed as if to say 'isn't it always the way...?!' Leaning closer to Jettis she whispered "I'm your safety blanket!" and winked.

When he assessed the situation in hand and adequately demonstrated that Ruth's confidence in him wasn't unfounded she let a small smile cross her features.

Ruth smiled as Lisa entered the Bridge.

"A CMO with twiddling thumbs, and that my left calf has a tendency to cramp then re-cramp when I try to get it uncramped.  Oh you mean... Lagar fill the good doctor in please!" she said with a chuckle.

"Not just me then... my gut is telling me there might be gatecrashers. But all we can do is sit and wait for some more activity... although I can't help feeling if it's the species that I'm inclined to think it is, that they're doing this to try and gauge our reaction... most of them out there are probably requiring fresh underpants and running around like headless chickens in panic so we have to keep our wits about us and be ready... may I suggest being ready to go to or going to Yellow Alert, but without the klaxxon... send out a ship wide message to be ready.  I'd rather be too ready than not ready enough!"

At this point Ruth didn't think it was overkill... and without the klaxxon it wouldn't seem too much of an immediate danger but everyone would be on their toes more for if or when it happened and the niggling gut feeling was getting stronger.

Arya smiled.  "May I?" she said to Ruth and Jettis as if asking permission to speak.  Ruth nodded.  "Many of you won't know I'm a double first... sciences being my other I opted to go for medical since more medics are currently needed... but I digress.  That sounds like someone is just trying to get our attention, and they did, but because it's in one area with no trail they were trying to create a diversion.  Are there any warp trails from the area of the ions, any... and a Tachyon search to see if there's a cloaked vessel out there, potentially track wind currents if they move around an object... for all a cloaked vessel is invisible to the eye, a solid object is still a solid object and thus things have to move around them."

Ruth smiled encouragingly and raised an eyebrow at Jettis to see what he would say.

"Bravo... wondered if you were thinking the same thing about Thelal, if he does show then I'm willing to let you take him on or to swap seats as you feel most comfortable.  I think what Arya said has some merit so now that my leg is ok Arya if you want to go reconfigure the duty officer console for Sciences and check for what she was talking about for air currents and cloaked vessels, and if Lisa wants to do something she could take Sciences 2 and work on that with Lagar and Lowe... seem like a plan?!" she queried.

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Lisa gave Ruth a concerned look when she complained about her leg cramps, something she was aware of but had not paid too much attention to. She felt inclined to have the XO visit Sickbay once she had some time, but then she remembered that she was supposed to be doing science stuff and her thoughts snapped back to what was going on in front of her. Truthfully, not much had developed.

[Quote by Lagar]

Lieutenant jg Lagar
[Bridge "" USS Challenger]

Lagar, with Lieutenant Belmont's assistance and the extra eyes of any others nearby, reported this disappointing state of affairs. "We can confirm now, Sir, that without any other points of reference..." he was saying, "...we're unable to trace any path of approach. We'll keep our eyes open, just the same." He then worked to share the task of observing the surrounding space with the fellow officers nearby, splitting the space according to their mutual agreement about who might choose what sector to observe. Unless there was preference given, Lagar took on the task of watching the planet, with a focus on the landmass where the meeting was taking place.

There really was not much going on. Luckily Lagar was able to say it more eloquently than Lisa, so she stuck to the area she'd been assigned to and kept coming up with nothing. She sighed, but tried not to make it too loud so her discouragement wouldn't show.

[ USS Challenger - Bridge ]

The slow monotony of scanning, rescanning, and recalibrating sensors droned on, as every station on the bridge worked to puzzle out the mystery of the ion particles. It didn't make sense, there had to be a piece missing. But before anyone at conns had the chance to decipher it, Lowe barked out, loud enough for the entire bridge to hear:

"Sir, the Captain is requesting an emergency beam-up, with Madam President!" Jettis sat straight up in his seat, blinking in surprise for a moment. "Beam them up! Stand by to go to yellow alert." He barked, though he command was surely unnecessary. He then swiveled to Lagar and Belmont, standing at the Science stations. "You're both relieved from Bridge duty, you're more needed in sickbay right now. Beam directly there."

With that, he turned back to the front, tapping his commbadge, to contact T'Vas. "Ensign, what's the situation?"

Suddenly, the tables had completely turned and she was back in her element. At the message, her head looked up from where she'd bent it slightly to look at some data.

"Oh my God," was all she could think as she shot up out of her chair and waited to be beamed to Sickbay.

[Sickbay - USS Challenger]

When Lagar and Lisa reached sickbay, they found a flurry of activity and Jess working feverishly on President Blackwell. Jess looked up briefly at the sound of the arrivals and gave a short report.

"Obvious signs of poisoning. I've given her Cortolin and Cordrazine, she's got a pulse, but it's weak and thready. Her BP is 80/40 and falling. Whatever this was, it's fast. If either of you have some genius idea, now would the time to tell me!"

[Sickbay - USS Challenger]

As expected, Lisa found her "right hand woman" already working to solve the puzzle of what had happened to the President. With Jess' report, Lisa rushed over to stand beside her and read the charts in their entirety.

"You've done great so far..." she trailed off as she made sure a crash cart was already in place. Not knowing the nature of this poison, they had to be prepared for anything. As she got a better picture of how she was poisoned from the shorthand on the charts, Lisa looked to Jess.

"Well we can't do anything substantial until someone has an analysis from that bloodwine!" she exclaimed exasperatedly.

[Galga VI | Conference Facility]

T'Vas accepted the bottle gingerly, gratefully. Grabbing a napkin she wrapped it up to prevent more contamination. She also had enough prescience of mind to grab another napkin and the discarded cork. She walked over to the Captain and lowered her voice once Shazam moved off. For once, she dropped her usual speaking cadence to get more information out: "Captain, there is a tricorder in my guest quarters. I will be scanning the readings back to Challenger. However I worry about Martok. qeS'a' is a book they call the Klingon Art of War. Not everyone reads it, but I should have impressed him or at least shown him enough honour. Excuse me, Captain, Challenger needs these readings." she paused to scoop up a wine glass on her way.

[Galga VI | Guest Quarters]

T'Vas entered her room and made sure the doors were locked. Carefully she laid out everything, tapping her commbadge, again foregoing her speaking cadence.  "œChallenger, T'Vas urgent. Transmitting tricorder reading scans of the wine, the bottle and the cork. Urgent analysis to Medical and forensics. Expect biosign trace readings from myself, President and Martok on the bottle. Wine readings first.

She poured a healthy (unhealthy?) amount of wine into the glass and started scanning it urgently, remembering to set the scan filters correctly and making sure the glass wasn't in the way. She then repeated the process for the bottle, carefully also scanning down the neck of the bottle and the cork. "œThat is all, Challenger. T'Vas out."

[Sickbay - USS Challenger]

With all of the more senior medical personal struggling to save the President, Ensign Rashar was the one to receive the tricorder data from T'Vas. Scans of the bottle quickly revealed that the poison used was Kitali, a poison harmless to Klingons, but lethal to humans. At this point, Rasher stopped in his analysis and rushed to the critical care unit to inform Jess.

"Doctor Fellows! The poison is Kitali!"

"Oh thank God!"

Jess replied and dialed her hypospray to the type specific antidote to Kitali.

"Come on Madam President. Please breathe, please breathe."

For a close to a minute, the entire sickbay held a collective breath, until Blackwell's eyes fluttered open.

"Wha...w-what h-happened?" Blackwell croaked.

"Thank all that's ever been holy. You were poisoned Madam President, they are still trying to figure out who did it."

"O-okay... l-let m-me know."

"I promise Madam President."

Once Rasher was certain the President was stable, he returned to the scans and found that the cork had a tiny hole, likely made by a micro-needle to inject the poison into the wine. He ran the tests three times before he relayed the information to the bridge.

"Sickbay to Bridge. The President is stable. The poison was kitali and was injected into the bottle by a micro-needle."

Only a few minutes after she'd said it, the comm had come in from T'Vas, Rashar had the analysis, and Jess had the hypo injected.

She gave a grateful look to all involved and then turned to Lagar with a stronger one as if to say,

"This is not over yet."

[Don Damien Addams]

[Galga Conference building]

Ian nodded as Shazham gave his report as it really wasn't a surprise that some of those present would not be upset to see the Federation in disorder or at odds with the Klingon Empire.

"Aye Lad, we need ta speak ta this Ferengi."

Ian turned to Rhymus.

"Findin' this Ambassador Glerk is your first order of business. I'm headin' back ta our quarters and gettin' out of these bloody dress whites. I'm fair certain the party is over."

[Galga Conference Hall]

The Betazoid male nodded his head to the Captain and walked toward the crowd. He was scanning for the group of Ferengi which was not to hard. What had helped Shazham was the area where he could not read emotion or thoughts and open space in the crowd because the Ferengi were small.

The Starfleet officer spotted the small group of Ferengi with a security guard in tail. Then he paused to the Security, "Don't stand to close," he told them. Then he moved a pace to them because he would not want to be close enough for their ears to hear him telling that to the security officer.

"Excuse me, Ambassador Glerk may I speak to you?" the Flight officer asked.