S:5 E:16 - A Doomsday Like Any Other

[Aarwendil Cheizex]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

O'Flaherty continued on, explaining that one of his engines was damaged and while they were outdistancing the Machine, if he didn't shut his engines down, the whole system would seize up. All of this confirmed what sensors had detected as the Challenger approached. However, one piece of the puzzle didn't fit and Ian's excellent three dimensional situational awareness from being a pilot gave him an idea. He signaled for Catalan to mute the channel to O'Flaherty.

"Evan, what is the course of the Machine?"

"130 mark 25."

"Anything on that course aside from our friend O'Flaherty?"

Randall bent over the sensors for a moment and gasped.

"Sir! The Doomsday Machine is on a direct course for the Angdarr system!"

Ian sighed as all the pieces dropped into place and he nodded to Catalan to reopen the channel.

"O'Flaherty. I can see where you might get the idea that boggit is chasin' you, but have you tried changin' course? That Machine has a specific engagement range, you stay out of that and it will find bigger fish ta fry."

O'Flaherty was clearly stunned and he shouted orders to change course at his helmsman. The Pride O'Rigel sheered off and accelerated. The Machine briefly pursued, but once the smaller ship passed beyond 50,000 kilometers, it resumed course for Angdarr.

The Pride O'Rigel maneuvered next to the Challenger and O'Flaherty spoke sheepishly.

"Sure'n I'm a pillock for not thinkin' o' that me own self. Thanks to ye Captain. If tis possible, I'd trouble you fer one more favor."

"And what might that be?"

"Our replicators are nae up ta makin' the parts we need ta fix our engines. Could you be so kind as ta replicate a series 12K Sienar impulse manifold and send over one of your brilliant engineers ta help us?"

"Would ye like fries with that?"

O'Flaherty burst out laughing as he replied.

"A Starfleet Captain with a sense of humor. Now I've seen it all. Will you be helpin' us Captain?"

"You ken full well I will. I'll have a team over shortly. Galloway out."

Ian turned to Randall and asked.

"How long before the Machine reaches Angdarr?"

"Thirty-six hours Sir."

Ian winced, evacuation was not an option and that put a severe limit on his courses of action. He tapped his combadge.

"Dashlish, I'm goin' ta need you ta replicate some parts and send a repair team ta the trader."

"Blockade Runner is more likely."

"Aye it is, but we're still obligated to help. Get that team over as quick as you can, we don't have much time."

"On it Captain. Tharn out."

Ian turned to the bridge crew and asked.

"Ideas people. I really need some ideas right now."

[Commander Nira Said | Bridge | Deck One | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

When Randall mentioned the course the Doomsday Weapon was headed, Nira gasped in horror. Andgarr?!?

"No!" she said. When the channels came back on, discussing the idea that the behemoth was chasing the trader, Nira inwardly hoped that the thing was following them instead of heading to Andgarr. If it was heading for Andgarr, and the trader was in its path...

Nira's expression turned from horror to suspicion. This surely had to be more than a coincidence if it was heading for Andgarr so soon after the so-called New Romulan Empire, under the three Praetors, had declared war on the Federation, or what they termed as the last of the Federation, and particularly so soon after Andgarr had just destroyed a good portion of their fleet. The thing was, if this Doomsday Machine was sent out by the Tal Shiar...but how could they?

Nira forced herself to move from the suspiciousness and determining suspects. The priority now was to shut down this machine. But she was open to ideas...

[USS-Challenger/ Bridge]

Aarwendil's face became pale when the severity of the situation hit him. A doomsday machine was traveling toward the Andgarr System. In less than 36 hours, what could be the most powerful weapon in the quadrant would arrive at the forested world and wipe out all life that existed here.

"œMy mother is living here." Nekab's voice made the young Betazoid turn to look at him. "œDid the Tal Shiar do that? Did he know about it?" the Romulan said to himself, but loud enough for some of the crew to hear. He didn't made any sense to the Telepath.

The Romulan approached the console, as if wanting to see with his own eyes the destruction that was going to strike the planet where his family and friends lived. The Ensign saw how the man had bailed his fist and that he was taking deep breaths in the same way that he had taught Aarwendil some hours ago.

Nekab was struggling with his feelings about the situation.

Aarwendil was even feeling a bit of panic flowing from him.

No one on the bridge seemed to know what to do to stop it. There were the stories about what Captain Kirk did to stop one many years, but would they be capable of mimicking his actions? "œIt must be a way of stopping it! Maybe we could make it collide with something else? Maybe use the tractor beam to throw an asteroid at it? Try to ask the Pride O'Rigel to help?" without any doubt he was saying stupid things.

[Kyan Mackenzie]

"œAre we sure that Machine is all machines? Like how  USS Enterprise had encountered the Star Jellyfish as a threat at Farpoint? On the other hand, now I think about it, can that destruction planet eating is a living space whale? All we know is that Enterprise sensors are not as powerful as ours.

At a certain point, the brain switches from being able to process words and sentences to... not being able to. Listening to the Science Officer speak, Kyan wondered if he'd crossed that point and hadn't realized it. He'd only been awake for twenty hours or so, and he'd stayed up longer than that before. Then again, there was the battle to consider. But he HAD gotten a nap though.

No. He decided that the new guy was just rambling. That had to be it. Or maybe he didn't understand it. After all, he wasn't a scientist. Scientists did tend to use a lot of words when just a few would do. Maybe that was it.

Commander you ever attempt to reach an empath.

Huh? "Is he talking to me?" Kyan wondered as he sat wide eyed listening. That one sentence stuck. Jamil continued speaking, but all the Onlie could think about was reaching an Empath... and what that had to do with anything. He wasn't telepathic. Did Jamil think he was?

Then he wondered what it might be like to be telepathic. He could read people's minds. But one didn't need to be a Betazoid to know what people were thinking most of the time. Their faces and their body language did that. But if we were a telepath, then he'd have to hear everyone's inner thoughts. Of course they'd probably be perverted... or boring. "I wish I could get naked with so and so... or I wonder if the warp field flux capacitor relays are misaligned. I'll do a diagnostic to see!"

Bleh. No thanks. Kyan decided he was just fine not knowing what people were really thinking in their heads.

.....There could be a pattern, like the sun itself, and the the space has nutrients that it wants,"[/color] he said.

He barely caught Jamil's last sentence. How long had he gone on? Kyan shook his head to clear the fog. He found himself walking over to the where the blue shirted Human was sitting. Once there he found that they were at about eye level, which was nice. He never got to be eye level with grups. Kyan made a note to have more conversations where they were seated and he wasn't. It was also tactically advantageous. People couldn't fight when they were seated, and it took time to get up. That was a great idea. But he shook off that tangent and focused on Jamil, seated a few feet in front of him.

"Hey!" Kyan spoke up. "It's a machine. It uses planets for fuel so it does. It's not a great space creature. So how did that wanker Kirk shut down the last one?"

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Deck 2 - Observation Lounge >>>> Transporter Room]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

"Our replicators are nae up ta makin' the parts we need ta fix our engines. Could you be so kind as ta replicate a series 12K Sienar impulse manifold and send over one of your brilliant engineers ta help us?"

"Would ye like fries with that?"

O'Flaherty burst out laughing as he replied.

"A Starfleet Captain with a sense of humor. Now I've seen it all. Will you be helpin' us Captain?"

"You ken full well I will. I'll have a team over shortly. Galloway out."

Ian turned to Randall and asked.

"How long before the Machine reaches Angdarr?"

"Thirty-six hours Sir."

Ian winced, evacuation was not an option and that put a severe limit on his courses of action. He tapped his combadge.

"Dashlish, I'm goin' ta need you ta replicate some parts and send a repair team ta the trader."

"Blockade Runner is more likely."

"Aye it is, but we're still obligated to help. Get that team over as quick as you can, we don't have much time."

"On it Captain. Tharn out."

Ian turned to the bridge crew and asked.

"Ideas people. I really need some ideas right now."

While he waited for orders from his Chief, outside the lounge window with its automatic zoom-in feature, Lahr could see the cone-shaped object in the distance travelling away, as well as another ship limping away from it.  He wondered what was going on.   Which was the threat that necessitated the Red Alert, he wondered.

Lahr knew he'd been selected for a crap task when Tharn ordered him to the transporter room a moment later.  Nothing good ever came from Away missions.  But orders were orders, "Yes ma'am" and Lahr left the Observation Lounge and made his way as quick as he could to the nearest transporter.  He could feel a headache beginning.

There he waited, several minutes until another yellow shirt arrived, pushing a hovercart.  Lahr recognized the ensign as an Ops officer.  He was handed a series 12K Sienar impulse manifold on a hovercart and told to install it.  Lahr looked to the ensign that had handed him the manifold, and wanted to ask if the man had any clue how long such a task would take alone... but it was clear the officer was merely just doing his job passing on replicated parts.   Roozh!  His headache did not need this today.

"Thanks." was his reply as he rubbed at his temple.

The Andorian stepped up onto the transporter pad with hovercart and nodded to the Chief there.  "Energize."

[Tora Zalos]

[Tora's Quarters | USS Challenger]

What Tora had wanted to do was take a nap. Try flying in a shuttle with an unpleasantly disinterested and unconversational Tellarite at the helm (Brelov glasch Brin, 19 years old and he was a helmsman because it was an interest of his was all she'd managed to get out of him) for eight hours as an extrovert and see if by the end of it you feel as awake as you did when you first met. Her legs felt like jelly by the time Brelov docked them at the Challenger's shuttlebay and kicked her off his craft, and all she'd wanted to do then was lay down in her quarters and close her eyes for a bit. Her next shift, according to her posting orders, would not start till the next day after all. So she'd found her quarters, tossed her bags aside, dressed down, set an alarm and plopped into the soft, warm sheets. She was out like a light in seconds, lulled into peaceful slumber by the soft embrace of her bedding...

Until the red alert klaxon woke her up, that is, blaring deafeningly loud in her ears, rousing her rather rudely. Bleary-eyed and half awake, Tora had managed to pull her uniform back on, splash water on her face and bolt out the door while smoothing down her uniform. Encountering danger was par of the course for Starfleet service, of course, but what was wrong with the universe giving her a break? She certainly wasn't asking for sunshine and rainbows for her first assignment, of course, but a red alert within hours of her arriving? Really? The hallway was in disarray, with personnel shouting and running to get to their posts, which made navigating them a nightmare. And to think Tora had foolishly thought that navigating a crowded Ferengi bar at peak hours would prepare her for this...

[Bridge | USS Challenger]
Don't waste time. Run double time to your post if you need to. The lives of your colleagues might depend on it, her instructors had said. Tora could've sworn she'd run triple time instead; by the time she'd nearly crashed into the far wall of the turbolift and asked for the bridge she was nearly out of breath. "Ensign Tora Zalos, reporting for duty, I'm new here-" She blurted out as the turbolift doors opened and she took her first steps onto the bridge - and then she saw it on the viewscreen. The cone-shaped object far too large and far too familiar. "Oh, my goodness." The words came out under her breath as her hands shot to her mouth in a dizzying mix of terror and shock.

[Ian Galloway]

[USS-Challenger/ Bridge]

No one on the bridge seemed to know what to do to stop it. There were the stories about what Captain Kirk did to stop one many years, but would they be capable of mimicking his actions? "œIt must be a way of stopping it! Maybe we could make it collide with something else? Maybe use the tractor beam to throw an asteroid at it? Try to ask the Pride O'Rigel to help?" without any doubt he was saying stupid things.

"Hey!" Kyan spoke up. "It's a machine. It uses planets for fuel so it does. It's not a great space creature. So how did that wanker Kirk shut down the last one?"

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

As the chatter picked up, Ian began to wonder if he'd made a mistake opening the floor to commentary as he was started to feel like that harried father on a family trip again. He eyed the Machine on its relentless course to its next refueling stop and knew had to provide answers as he knew them.

"From what is known of the Doomsday Machine, it moves from solar system ta solar system, carvin' up planets ta convert ta fuel. If'n it detects an active power source within 50,000 kilometers, it will divert course ta eliminate that power source. It is unlikely the thing will respond ta an asteroid or anything we could move with our tractor beam. The original device was disabled when a crippled Constitution-Class was driven into it's maw and starship's impulse engine was overloaded inside the machine."

"We have one advantage over the Machine and that is speed, we can get ta Angdarr ahead of the thing, but the problem we face is findin' a starship ta cram down the thing's gullet that's got a powerful enough impulse engine ta kill the thing. As soon as the Pride O'Rigel is repaired, we can make a dash for Angdarr and try to come up with summat."

[Bridge | USS Challenger]
Don't waste time. Run double time to your post if you need to. The lives of your colleagues might depend on it, her instructors had said. Tora could've sworn she'd run triple time instead; by the time she'd nearly crashed into the far wall of the turbolift and asked for the bridge she was nearly out of breath. "Ensign Tora Zalos, reporting for duty, I'm new here-" She blurted out as the turbolift doors opened and she took her first steps onto the bridge - and then she saw it on the viewscreen. The cone-shaped object far too large and far too familiar. "Oh, my goodness." The words came out under her breath as her hands shot to her mouth in a dizzying mix of terror and shock.

At this point the turbolift doors opened and a young Cardassian woman stepped onto the bridge. Ian knew she was one of several new people that had recently come aboard.

"Ensign Zalos, take your place a Science Three. Welcome ta Challenger."

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

[Transporter Room - Pride O'Rigel]

When the transporter cycle finished, Lahr found himself facing two human males wearing coveralls with rolled up sleeves.

"Joseph Gibbs, Chief Engineer and this guy is Fast Eddie, Machinist Mate. You're a sight for sore eyes. Now, hopefully you know which end of a spanner is which because we need to get this installed double quick, you up for that Starfleet?"

[Nira Said]

USS Challenger | Bridge

What kind of cargo does the O'Rigel have in its cargo bay? What was the profit? Hmm, Only he could find a way to do that business stuff on the side.

Angdarr system. It was hungry. Were there bigger things in space? Hold on. Those jellyfish things Farpoint and Enteprise encountered.

They gonna die. There was always that chance. Stepping out of bed was one. Sleeping was the other. He had wanted to be assigned to a science ship. Not Challenger. It was what it was. He was a Scientist who wanted to learn and enjoy life. Not be eaten by a "œDoomsday machine."

The thing had gone around eating and devouring planets. Afraid that it had for dessert. Anyway, there was a possibility that DOOMSDAY machine, truly need a new name it. Like Wormwood"¦oh"¦was that mention in Revelation of that high holy book called the Bible?

Could the world effect this Warmachine-like with a virus was possible because way back in early Earth with AI running with digital viruses and worms making mayhem on Earth as things were going crazy. Amazing how we, the humans seem to adapt things and move onward. Like it was a virus itself to the universe. Yeah. The thinking process of Jamil's.

But still, he feels they are going to die unless they can disarm that big machine.

"œAre we sure that Machine is all machines? Like how  USS Enterprise had encountered the Star Jellyfish as a threat at Farpoint? On the other hand, now I think about it, can that destruction planet eating is a living space whale? All we know is that Enterprise sensors are not as powerful as ours. Commander you ever attempt to reach an empath. And you know, let me look up all the history of these Doomsday eating habits. There could be a pattern, like the sun itself, and the the space has nutrients that it wants," he said. What was he doing here they sure gonna regret having him on the Challenger. He was not supposed to be here. He was not Starfleet enough.

At a certain point, the brain switches from being able to process words and sentences to... not being able to. Listening to the Science Officer speak, Kyan wondered if he'd crossed that point and hadn't realized it. He'd only been awake for twenty hours or so, and he'd stayed up longer than that before. Then again, there was the battle to consider. But he HAD gotten a nap though.

No. He decided that the new guy was just rambling. That had to be it. Or maybe he didn't understand it. After all, he wasn't a scientist. Scientists did tend to use a lot of words when just a few would do. Maybe that was it.

Huh? "Is he talking to me?" Kyan wondered as he sat wide eyed listening. That one sentence stuck. Jamil continued speaking, but all the Onlie could think about was reaching an Empath... and what that had to do with anything. He wasn't telepathic. Did Jamil think he was?

Then he wondered what it might be like to be telepathic. He could read people's minds. But one didn't need to be a Betazoid to know what people were thinking most of the time. Their faces and their body language did that. But if we were a telepath, then he'd have to hear everyone's inner thoughts. Of course they'd probably be perverted... or boring. "I wish I could get naked with so and so... or I wonder if the warp field flux capacitor relays are misaligned. I'll do a diagnostic to see!"

Bleh. No thanks. Kyan decided he was just fine not knowing what people were really thinking in their heads.

He barely caught Jamil's last sentence. How long had he gone on? Kyan shook his head to clear the fog. He found himself walking over to the where the blue shirted Human was sitting. Once there he found that they were at about eye level, which was nice. He never got to be eye level with grups. Kyan made a note to have more conversations where they were seated and he wasn't. It was also tactically advantageous. People couldn't fight when they were seated, and it took time to get up. That was a great idea. But he shook off that tangent and focused on Jamil, seated a few feet in front of him.

"Hey!" Kyan spoke up. "It's a machine. It uses planets for fuel so it does. It's not a great space creature. So how did that wanker Kirk shut down the last one?"

[Tora's Quarters | USS Challenger]

What Tora had wanted to do was take a nap. Try flying in a shuttle with an unpleasantly disinterested and unconversational Tellarite at the helm (Brelov glasch Brin, 19 years old and he was a helmsman because it was an interest of his was all she'd managed to get out of him) for eight hours as an extrovert and see if by the end of it you feel as awake as you did when you first met. Her legs felt like jelly by the time Brelov docked them at the Challenger's shuttlebay and kicked her off his craft, and all she'd wanted to do then was lay down in her quarters and close her eyes for a bit. Her next shift, according to her posting orders, would not start till the next day after all. So she'd found her quarters, tossed her bags aside, dressed down, set an alarm and plopped into the soft, warm sheets. She was out like a light in seconds, lulled into peaceful slumber by the soft embrace of her bedding...

Until the red alert klaxon woke her up, that is, blaring deafeningly loud in her ears, rousing her rather rudely. Bleary-eyed and half awake, Tora had managed to pull her uniform back on, splash water on her face and bolt out the door while smoothing down her uniform. Encountering danger was par of the course for Starfleet service, of course, but what was wrong with the universe giving her a break? She certainly wasn't asking for sunshine and rainbows for her first assignment, of course, but a red alert within hours of her arriving? Really? The hallway was in disarray, with personnel shouting and running to get to their posts, which made navigating them a nightmare. And to think Tora had foolishly thought that navigating a crowded Ferengi bar at peak hours would prepare her for this...

[Bridge | USS Challenger]
Don't waste time. Run double time to your post if you need to. The lives of your colleagues might depend on it, her instructors had said. Tora could've sworn she'd run triple time instead; by the time she'd nearly crashed into the far wall of the turbolift and asked for the bridge she was nearly out of breath. "Ensign Tora Zalos, reporting for duty, I'm new here-" She blurted out as the turbolift doors opened and she took her first steps onto the bridge - and then she saw it on the viewscreen. The cone-shaped object far too large and far too familiar. "Oh, my goodness." The words came out under her breath as her hands shot to her mouth in a dizzying mix of terror and shock.

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

As the chatter picked up, Ian began to wonder if he'd made a mistake opening the floor to commentary as he was started to feel like that harried father on a family trip again. He eyed the Machine on its relentless course to its next refueling stop and knew had to provide answers as he knew them.

"From what is known of the Doomsday Machine, it moves from solar system ta solar system, carvin' up planets ta convert ta fuel. If'n it detects an active power source within 50,000 kilometers, it will divert course ta eliminate that power source. It is unlikely the thing will respond ta an asteroid or anything we could move with our tractor beam. The original device was disabled when a crippled Constitution-Class was driven into it's maw and starship's impulse engine was overloaded inside the machine."

"We have one advantage over the Machine and that is speed, we can get ta Angdarr ahead of the thing, but the problem we face is findin' a starship ta cram down the thing's gullet that's got a powerful enough impulse engine ta kill the thing. As soon as the Pride O'Rigel is repaired, we can make a dash for Angdarr and try to come up with summat."

At this point the turbolift doors opened and a young Cardassian woman stepped onto the bridge. Ian knew she was one of several new people that had recently come aboard.

"Ensign Zalos, take your place a Science Three. Welcome ta Challenger."

[Commander Nira Said | Bridge | Deck One | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

Nira noticed the new ensign come in. Holy Allah, she really needed to get back to looking at the crew roster. But her attention was now rooted on the Doomsday Machine, now in visual range.

CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Deck 2 - Observation Lounge >>>> Transporter Room]

While he waited for orders from his Chief, outside the lounge window with its automatic zoom-in feature, Lahr could see the cone-shaped object in the distance travelling away, as well as another ship limping away from it.  He wondered what was going on.   Which was the threat that necessitated the Red Alert, he wondered.

It was craggy, can't be determinable if it was a really uneven cylinder or a very long cone. If its sides had been smoother, a ship of its size, Nira would've figured it to be a Borg ship.

She listened to Captain Galloway give what was done to bring down that ship. Ah. So that was how Kirk did it, but would it work the same way twice?

"It may or may not work the same way twice," she said to the Captain. "Remember the Polywater Virus? Kirk encountered the same thing we did all those years ago. Thing was, it came about from gravimetric shear from a destabilized planet; when Picard and the Enterprise-D encountered it, the virus was amplified because the gravimetric shear came from a star about to go supernova. So it was a case of 'it didn't work the same way twice.' However, one would be foolish not to try it..."

But then, she remembered something.

"Actually, there could be something," she said, before she looked at Zhuk. "Zhuk, Lieutenant, do you remember that junkyard back at Andgarr? And, also, we've seen some ships downed by Andgarr's trees..."

Looking back at Captain Galloway, she said, "You're right, we can get ahead of that machine; regardless, we have to get back to Andgarr anyway."

[Zhukdrashar Mrekrerhas]

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

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

O'Flaherty continued on, explaining that one of his engines was damaged and while they were outdistancing the Machine, if he didn't shut his engines down, the whole system would seize up. All of this confirmed what sensors had detected as the Challenger approached. However, one piece of the puzzle didn't fit and Ian's excellent three dimensional situational awareness from being a pilot gave him an idea. He signaled for Catalan to mute the channel to O'Flaherty.

"Evan, what is the course of the Machine?"

"130 mark 25."

"Anything on that course aside from our friend O'Flaherty?"

Randall bent over the sensors for a moment and gasped.

"Sir! The Doomsday Machine is on a direct course for the Angdarr system!"

Ian sighed as all the pieces dropped into place and he nodded to Catalan to reopen the channel.

"O'Flaherty. I can see where you might get the idea that boggit is chasin' you, but have you tried changin' course? That Machine has a specific engagement range, you stay out of that and it will find bigger fish ta fry."

O'Flaherty was clearly stunned and he shouted orders to change course at his helmsman. The Pride O'Rigel sheered off and accelerated. The Machine briefly pursued, but once the smaller ship passed beyond 50,000 kilometers, it resumed course for Angdarr.

The Pride O'Rigel maneuvered next to the Challenger and O'Flaherty spoke sheepishly.

"Sure'n I'm a pillock for not thinkin' o' that me own self. Thanks to ye Captain. If tis possible, I'd trouble you fer one more favor."

"And what might that be?"

"Our replicators are nae up ta makin' the parts we need ta fix our engines. Could you be so kind as ta replicate a series 12K Sienar impulse manifold and send over one of your brilliant engineers ta help us?"

"Would ye like fries with that?"

O'Flaherty burst out laughing as he replied.

"A Starfleet Captain with a sense of humor. Now I've seen it all. Will you be helpin' us Captain?"

"You ken full well I will. I'll have a team over shortly. Galloway out."

Ian turned to Randall and asked.

"How long before the Machine reaches Angdarr?"

"Thirty-six hours Sir."

Ian winced, evacuation was not an option and that put a severe limit on his courses of action. He tapped his combadge.

"Dashlish, I'm goin' ta need you ta replicate some parts and send a repair team ta the trader."

"Blockade Runner is more likely."

"Aye it is, but we're still obligated to help. Get that team over as quick as you can, we don't have much time."

"On it Captain. Tharn out."

Ian turned to the bridge crew and asked.

"Ideas people. I really need some ideas right now."

Zhuk sighed in annoyance as the ship was easily saved by just a quick change in course. A hand was placed over the bridge of his nose, shaking his head as he couldn't believe the Captain of the Pride O' Rigel had not thought about that before. People could be quite dumb sometimes, but at least the people in the ship were out of danger. For now.

His annoyance turned into surprise, however, as the machine was revealed to be heading towards the Angdarr system. They had just flown away from it, and now it was in dire danger. Far worse than anything the Romulans had in store for it, at least. Heh. It was funny. He had truly thought that they were doomed as the fleet rose from the ground, back on the junkyard. And now, they were threatened by something on the planetary scale. There would not be a miracle this time, he supposed.

As the Captain asked for opinions and ideas of how this insurmountable mountain could be climbed, Zhuk began to think, long and hard. How could you defeat a monstrous machination that could potentially destroy a planet? He was not certain that the phaser fire or the photon torpedoes could damage it, even if they were fired all at once at a certain spot. He used the sensors to try and pierce through the neutronium hull. However, his attempts proved ineffective.

Zhuk was no engineer, but he realized soon enough that the material was impossible to scan. Thus, there were no options for finding vulnerabilities or damage on its surface that the crew could exploit. Then again, the huge gaping 'maw' had seemed to him like a vulnerable point. Perhaps, with enough firepower, they could indeed destroy the ship from the inside. But he was unsure they possessed enough to even dent it.

Argh... this was harder than he expected.

Slowly, Zhuk began to grow more and more inward, the itch bothering him again and forcing him to scratch furiously, while a certain buzz began to grow in intensity in his mind. He was tired. He wanted to sleep.

But there was no time for that.

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

As the chatter picked up, Ian began to wonder if he'd made a mistake opening the floor to commentary as he was started to feel like that harried father on a family trip again. He eyed the Machine on its relentless course to its next refueling stop and knew had to provide answers as he knew them.

"From what is known of the Doomsday Machine, it moves from solar system ta solar system, carvin' up planets ta convert ta fuel. If'n it detects an active power source within 50,000 kilometers, it will divert course ta eliminate that power source. It is unlikely the thing will respond ta an asteroid or anything we could move with our tractor beam. The original device was disabled when a crippled Constitution-Class was driven into it's maw and starship's impulse engine was overloaded inside the machine."

"We have one advantage over the Machine and that is speed, we can get ta Angdarr ahead of the thing, but the problem we face is findin' a starship ta cram down the thing's gullet that's got a powerful enough impulse engine ta kill the thing. As soon as the Pride O'Rigel is repaired, we can make a dash for Angdarr and try to come up with summat."

At this point the turbolift doors opened and a young Cardassian woman stepped onto the bridge. Ian knew she was one of several new people that had recently come aboard.

"Ensign Zalos, take your place a Science Three. Welcome ta Challenger."

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

[Transporter Room - Pride O'Rigel]

When the transporter cycle finished, Lahr found himself facing two human males wearing coveralls with rolled up sleeves.

"Joseph Gibbs, Chief Engineer and this guy is Fast Eddie, Machinist Mate. You're a sight for sore eyes. Now, hopefully you know which end of a spanner is which because we need to get this installed double quick, you up for that Starfleet?"

[Commander Nira Said | Bridge | Deck One | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

Nira noticed the new ensign come in. Holy Allah, she really needed to get back to looking at the crew roster. But her attention was now rooted on the Doomsday Machine, now in visual range.It was craggy, can't be determinable if it was a really uneven cylinder or a very long cone. If its sides had been smoother, a ship of its size, Nira would've figured it to be a Borg ship.

She listened to Captain Galloway give what was done to bring down that ship. Ah. So that was how Kirk did it, but would it work the same way twice?

"It may or may not work the same way twice," she said to the Captain. "Remember the Polywater Virus? Kirk encountered the same thing we did all those years ago. Thing was, it came about from gravimetric shear from a destabilized planet; when Picard and the Enterprise-D encountered it, the virus was amplified because the gravimetric shear came from a star about to go supernova. So it was a case of 'it didn't work the same way twice.' However, one would be foolish not to try it..."

But then, she remembered something.

"Actually, there could be something," she said, before she looked at Zhuk. "Zhuk, Lieutenant, do you remember that junkyard back at Andgarr? And, also, we've seen some ships downed by Andgarr's trees..."

Looking back at Captain Galloway, she said, "You're right, we can get ahead of that machine; regardless, we have to get back to Andgarr anyway."

The Captain's information certainly aided in elaborating upon Zhuk's plan. His idea of employing a great amount of firepower was proven correct as he was told of the Constitution-Class being used to explode it. However, as Commander Nira noted, the same plan was unlikely to function twice. Thus, perhaps another option was required. Nira soon brought his attention towards the ship cemetery once again,

"Certainly Commander Said. I remember the presence of many vessels within such a junkyard. I also distinctly recall that many of such Romulan Birds of Prey were destroyed by the application of blunt and gravimetric force due to the trap set up by the Andgarr. I suspect that our intent now is to return to Angdarr and recover the impulse engines to create an... explosive device of sorts?"

Well, that might just as well work, Zhuk thought.

[Tora's Quarters | USS Challenger]

What Tora had wanted to do was take a nap. Try flying in a shuttle with an unpleasantly disinterested and unconversational Tellarite at the helm (Brelov glasch Brin, 19 years old and he was a helmsman because it was an interest of his was all she'd managed to get out of him) for eight hours as an extrovert and see if by the end of it you feel as awake as you did when you first met. Her legs felt like jelly by the time Brelov docked them at the Challenger's shuttlebay and kicked her off his craft, and all she'd wanted to do then was lay down in her quarters and close her eyes for a bit. Her next shift, according to her posting orders, would not start till the next day after all. So she'd found her quarters, tossed her bags aside, dressed down, set an alarm and plopped into the soft, warm sheets. She was out like a light in seconds, lulled into peaceful slumber by the soft embrace of her bedding...

Until the red alert klaxon woke her up, that is, blaring deafeningly loud in her ears, rousing her rather rudely. Bleary-eyed and half awake, Tora had managed to pull her uniform back on, splash water on her face and bolt out the door while smoothing down her uniform. Encountering danger was par of the course for Starfleet service, of course, but what was wrong with the universe giving her a break? She certainly wasn't asking for sunshine and rainbows for her first assignment, of course, but a red alert within hours of her arriving? Really? The hallway was in disarray, with personnel shouting and running to get to their posts, which made navigating them a nightmare. And to think Tora had foolishly thought that navigating a crowded Ferengi bar at peak hours would prepare her for this...

[Bridge | USS Challenger]
Don't waste time. Run double time to your post if you need to. The lives of your colleagues might depend on it, her instructors had said. Tora could've sworn she'd run triple time instead; by the time she'd nearly crashed into the far wall of the turbolift and asked for the bridge she was nearly out of breath. "Ensign Tora Zalos, reporting for duty, I'm new here-" She blurted out as the turbolift doors opened and she took her first steps onto the bridge - and then she saw it on the viewscreen. The cone-shaped object far too large and far too familiar. "Oh, my goodness." The words came out under her breath as her hands shot to her mouth in a dizzying mix of terror and shock.

He noticed the arrival of Tora on the bridge. A Cardassian. How marvelous. He had been wanting to speak to one of her species for a while now. Well, truly after being pointedly ignored by his equivalent on the USS Discovery, the Lieutenant Junior Grade. At least, then. Now with his new commission, he couldn't help but feel a small degree of satisfaction at being a rank up than her. Perhaps. He had no way of ascertaining this.

Still, it was a nice distraction from his problem. He could not find an answer, not yet.

"Welcome to the Bridge, Ensign Zalos. Wish it would have been under less distressing circumstances."

[Tora Zalos]

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

Zhuk sighed in annoyance as the ship was easily saved by just a quick change in course. A hand was placed over the bridge of his nose, shaking his head as he couldn't believe the Captain of the Pride O' Rigel had not thought about that before. People could be quite dumb sometimes, but at least the people in the ship were out of danger. For now.

His annoyance turned into surprise, however, as the machine was revealed to be heading towards the Angdarr system. They had just flown away from it, and now it was in dire danger. Far worse than anything the Romulans had in store for it, at least. Heh. It was funny. He had truly thought that they were doomed as the fleet rose from the ground, back on the junkyard. And now, they were threatened by something on the planetary scale. There would not be a miracle this time, he supposed.

As the Captain asked for opinions and ideas of how this insurmountable mountain could be climbed, Zhuk began to think, long and hard. How could you defeat a monstrous machination that could potentially destroy a planet? He was not certain that the phaser fire or the photon torpedoes could damage it, even if they were fired all at once at a certain spot. He used the sensors to try and pierce through the neutronium hull. However, his attempts proved ineffective.

Zhuk was no engineer, but he realized soon enough that the material was impossible to scan. Thus, there were no options for finding vulnerabilities or damage on its surface that the crew could exploit. Then again, the huge gaping 'maw' had seemed to him like a vulnerable point. Perhaps, with enough firepower, they could indeed destroy the ship from the inside. But he was unsure they possessed enough to even dent it.

Argh... this was harder than he expected.

Slowly, Zhuk began to grow more and more inward, the itch bothering him again and forcing him to scratch furiously, while a certain buzz began to grow in intensity in his mind. He was tired. He wanted to sleep.

But there was no time for that.

The Captain's information certainly aided in elaborating upon Zhuk's plan. His idea of employing a great amount of firepower was proven correct as he was told of the Constitution-Class being used to explode it. However, as Commander Nira noted, the same plan was unlikely to function twice. Thus, perhaps another option was required. Nira soon brought his attention towards the ship cemetery once again,

"Certainly Commander Said. I remember the presence of many vessels within such a junkyard. I also distinctly recall that many of such Romulan Birds of Prey were destroyed by the application of blunt and gravimetric force due to the trap set up by the Andgarr. I suspect that our intent now is to return to Angdarr and recover the impulse engines to create an... explosive device of sorts?"

Well, that might just as well work, Zhuk thought.

He noticed the arrival of Tora on the bridge. A Cardassian. How marvelous. He had been wanting to speak to one of her species for a while now. Well, truly after being pointedly ignored by his equivalent on the USS Discovery, the Lieutenant Junior Grade. At least, then. Now with his new commission, he couldn't help but feel a small degree of satisfaction at being a rank up than her. Perhaps. He had no way of ascertaining this.

Still, it was a nice distraction from his problem. He could not find an answer, not yet.

"Welcome to the Bridge, Ensign Zalos. Wish it would have been under less distressing circumstances."

[Ensign Tora Zalos | Bridge | Deck 1 | USS Challenger 40117-A]

"It's- It's okay, sir. I'm just glad to be here." Tora seemed slightly shaken up as she made her way to an empty bridge station and sat. A Doomsday Machine. Until now she'd only seen it in textbooks. She'd always thought that there was no way something so large and so comical-looking could possibly be viable - but her instructors had always talked about it with the utmost seriousness, which was what had stayed her disbelief.

Seeing it in front of her here and now, though, in all its nearly supposedly one kilometer of neutronium-hulled planetary death, she felt a little bit faint. It wasn't like she was asking for a sunshine, rainbows and cute fluffy puppies assignment for her very first foray out of Starfleet Academy as a commissioned officer, but this was a little bit much, honestly. According to her textbooks the last time Starfleet had encountered another of its kind the solution had been to fly a nearly nonfunctional Constitution-class vessel into its maw - and even that failed to destroy the monstrosity, leaving it merely a husk with no working internals. How they were going to deal with this one, in the absence of heavily damaged starships with highly unstable internals, was honestly beyond her.

[Jamil]

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

Ensign Tora Zalos  the Cardassian, came in a loud announcement on the Bridge. Wow. Nice. The world knows you're here now. Don't go on missions with her when stealth is needed. There was a good chance she yelled, we are here. Yes! We are trying to hide. Hey, you hear me? Yep. That's us. Knowing Captain, he then blow the enemy away and cuss them away in his funny accent.

Oh the short fellow of Security came walking to his station. Shit. The head of Security gonna chew his ass off.

Oh, he was asking him how Kirk did it. He had to admit it was a big relief seeing someone Kyan's height. Growing up Ferengar was something he grew accustomed. Yeah, it had to be a killer to be that short and throw your little Onlie.

Not sure he had wanted to be Onlie. Being that young looking can be a pain in the Ferengi ear infection. However, size can fool anyone. Imagine what a Klingon think of this Onlie. Possible a laugh, a belly shaking taunt and possible a Klingon down on the ground with an Onlie riding him after beating the big guy or gal down, and the Klingon would have high respect.

That would be a great show too. Little Onlie fights fierce warriors. What would people pay for that? The audience will go paying all lot for that.

Okay. Way off track there. Stupid Ferengi habit from growing up. There was always that "˜profit' habit in everything thing! Like they can profit off that planet-eating machine, you got to pay a tax to keep it from eating your planet.

"œWell, lemme see, gimme a moment, Commander Mac""MacKenzie," he replied.

While he was doing that, he was sharing an exciting idea that popped in his head.  But the Captain came to answer that.

"œYou know, any genius ever thought replicating the fuel. Get the proper pattern of the fuel it feeds off. Find the structure of the breakage of the nucleus barriers of the cells get the numeric and lettering code for engineers and medical can entwine. The data-process stomach of that device. The mainframe, like a brain, will think it's full. It's like a blocker to the brain so the brain does not want to eat more than it has to. Has anyone ever come up with that? And find a way to get in the dang thing, plant it. Transport in it. Plant possibly a few of those devices in it. Use the replicator device a hybrid to get its energy. Then track where it goes. . Then it is one less worry for everyone. See?" He shared with the Starfleet Onlie, then his eyes looked over at the Captain and the Commander.

[Ian Galloway]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian allowed the discussion to continue. It was chaotic, but there were kernels of merit in some of the suggestions. He would have to have an actual staff meeting to formalize those kernels into something they could turn into a plan of action. He tapped his combadge.

"Department heads meetin' in the deck one briefin' room in five minutes."

"Captain, the Pride O'Rigel is hailing us again."

Commander Catalan reported.

"On screen."

The image resolved to Captain O'Flaherty looking decidedly more cocky as he spoke.

"Many thanks Starfleet. Your man Lahr got the job done much faster than I would have thought possible. Sure'n his talents are wasted on a ship like yours, but he refused me job offer he did. Be that as it may, we're goin' ta warp ourselves ta Angdarr. We need a few more repairs that we can get done there and seein' as how the people there are in a right fine panic they are. There's latinum ta be had for them as can pay for a ride away from the impendin' doom headin' their way. Merry met. Merry part. May we merry meet again Captain Galloway."

With that, the viewscreen returned to the starscape which included the relentless Doomsday Machine still on course for Angdarr, but also showed the Pride O'Rigel going to warp.

Ian watched the small ship go and wondered if they would ever 'merry meet' O'Flaherty again.

"Helm, take us to warp eight. We're goin' ta need ta talk to the Anax."

The Challenger flickered with pseudo-motion and went to warp. Leaving the Doomsday Machine to follow on its pre-programmed path of destruction.

[Abas Th'vyrrol]

[Deck One, Bridge]

Taja simply offered a polite nod in reply, having no idea who this person was. Come to think of it, the only person she knew on this whole bridge by name was Nira. She felt comforted by the commander's presence.

Taja stood to one side of the bridge not wanting to get in anyone's way. The Risan tapped her commbadge and spoke softly in response.

"Acknowledged. How is CPO ch'Verret doing? The last bio-scans I looked at showed some cause for concern. He should definitely be monitored for any intracerebral haemorrhaging. That was a nasty concussion he took..."

Whilst awaiting the update, Taja listened with growing concern to the events unfolding out in space. The giant ice cream cone looking ship was apparently something called a 'Doomsday Machine'. 'How dramatic', she thought. 'Whoever gave it that name was obviously male'. As for input, Taja had none at present. Her and sickbay would be at the ready should this cream-cone decide to hurt people, plus she didn't' feel confident yet voicing an opinion or conjecture without any prior knowledge of this thing.

[Sickbay]

Abas frowned as the question came back, before tapping a console near him quickly to pull up the information requested. Running his hands over the information displayed, he returned the message. The Chief isn't in sickbay anymore, it appears he left when the alert was triggered to return to his duty post. I'll follow up with him if you wish, but his last bio-scans came back clear enough for the moment.

While the Chief may not have been in ideal health, he was at least well-off enough to return to post until the crisis scenario was passed. After all, even operating at only 80% the Chief was far more valuable on the line than taking up space in the medical ward. There were after all only so many bio-beds to go around. Abas tapped the console a few more times, entering a note to have the Chief report back to the medical bay for a follow-up in a few days, if not sooner.

[Briefly Later]

It seemed the Chief's departure from Sickbay had been the right move - not that Abas or anyone else in Sickbay would have known that. The Chief had been able to repair the ailing ship in record time. A testament to the man's skill and professionalism. But, now that they had a few moments, Abas wanted to check in on his crewmate from the ice moon.

Crewman Th'vyrrol to Chief ch'Verret, apologies for the interruption Chief, what's your current location? Want to follow up on your treatment from earlier, he said, staging by the door. An outpatient call was much more likely to be met with less consternation, especially with as hard as Starfleet crew often pushed themselves. He heard the chime of the main circuit as the Captain summoned department heads to the bridge, but that wasn't a concern of his. Hopefully, they'd get answers soon as to what was happening.

[Kyan Mackenzie]

"œYou know, any genius ever thought replicating the fuel. Get the proper pattern of the fuel it feeds off. Find the structure of the breakage of the nucleus barriers of the cells get the numeric and lettering code for engineers and medical can entwine. The data-process stomach of that device. The mainframe, like a brain, will think it's full. It's like a blocker to the brain so the brain does not want to eat more than it has to. Has anyone ever come up with that? And find a way to get in the dang thing, plant it. Transport in it. Plant possibly a few of those devices in it. Use the replicator device a hybrid to get its energy. Then track where it goes. . Then it is one less worry for everyone. See?"

The stream... no, the massive roaring river of consciousness that poured out from the Human was stunning. Kyan was stunned. He was speechless; a rare feat that scores of grups over the decades had given their all to accomplish. Each had failed in their own way. Jamil had accomplished it in under two minutes.

"Umm..." the boy began, his tired brain working to come up with something to say. What could he say? He honestly didn't understand ninety percent of what Jamil had said. He wondered if it was just him. After all, he wasn't a sciency type. Nor had he ever been inclined to be one. If it didn't have tactical uses, then to Kyan it just wasn't that important. He did catch something about a device... and going inside the machine. That was interesting. He'd have asked Jamil to expand on that part.... but he wasn't in a space where he could really listen. Finally he decided to leave it alone.

And where the hell was whatisname with the Go Juice anyway?

Leaning to the side to look around Jamil at the Cardassian Ensign who'd taken the station beside him... Tora? Yeah... that was it. ...he called over. "Hey.. Tora... Can you work with Mister Jamil here on his plan. It sounds good so it does." Unsaid was "Even though I have no idea what the dude was talking about."

With that, Kyan turned back to Jamil and offered a wan smile. "Ok Mister Jamil. Good plan that. Yup."

Then he quickly turned and retreated to the tactical station where Zhuk still was. In a whisper, as not to be overheard by the new ensigns.."Sure and these eggheads are getting weirder and weirder."

[Nira Said]

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

Zhuk sighed in annoyance as the ship was easily saved by just a quick change in course. A hand was placed over the bridge of his nose, shaking his head as he couldn't believe the Captain of the Pride O' Rigel had not thought about that before. People could be quite dumb sometimes, but at least the people in the ship were out of danger. For now.

His annoyance turned into surprise, however, as the machine was revealed to be heading towards the Angdarr system. They had just flown away from it, and now it was in dire danger. Far worse than anything the Romulans had in store for it, at least. Heh. It was funny. He had truly thought that they were doomed as the fleet rose from the ground, back on the junkyard. And now, they were threatened by something on the planetary scale. There would not be a miracle this time, he supposed.

As the Captain asked for opinions and ideas of how this insurmountable mountain could be climbed, Zhuk began to think, long and hard. How could you defeat a monstrous machination that could potentially destroy a planet? He was not certain that the phaser fire or the photon torpedoes could damage it, even if they were fired all at once at a certain spot. He used the sensors to try and pierce through the neutronium hull. However, his attempts proved ineffective.

Zhuk was no engineer, but he realized soon enough that the material was impossible to scan. Thus, there were no options for finding vulnerabilities or damage on its surface that the crew could exploit. Then again, the huge gaping 'maw' had seemed to him like a vulnerable point. Perhaps, with enough firepower, they could indeed destroy the ship from the inside. But he was unsure they possessed enough to even dent it.

Argh... this was harder than he expected.

Slowly, Zhuk began to grow more and more inward, the itch bothering him again and forcing him to scratch furiously, while a certain buzz began to grow in intensity in his mind. He was tired. He wanted to sleep.

But there was no time for that.

The Captain's information certainly aided in elaborating upon Zhuk's plan. His idea of employing a great amount of firepower was proven correct as he was told of the Constitution-Class being used to explode it. However, as Commander Nira noted, the same plan was unlikely to function twice. Thus, perhaps another option was required. Nira soon brought his attention towards the ship cemetery once again,

"Certainly Commander Said. I remember the presence of many vessels within such a junkyard. I also distinctly recall that many of such Romulan Birds of Prey were destroyed by the application of blunt and gravimetric force due to the trap set up by the Andgarr. I suspect that our intent now is to return to Angdarr and recover the impulse engines to create an... explosive device of sorts?"

Well, that might just as well work, Zhuk thought.

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

Oh the short fellow of Security came walking to his station. Shit. The head of Security gonna chew his ass off.

Oh, he was asking him how Kirk did it. He had to admit it was a big relief seeing someone Kyan's height. Growing up Ferengar was something he grew accustomed. Yeah, it had to be a killer to be that short and throw your little Onlie.

Not sure he had wanted to be Onlie. Being that young looking can be a pain in the Ferengi ear infection. However, size can fool anyone. Imagine what a Klingon think of this Onlie. Possible a laugh, a belly shaking taunt and possible a Klingon down on the ground with an Onlie riding him after beating the big guy or gal down, and the Klingon would have high respect.

That would be a great show too. Little Onlie fights fierce warriors. What would people pay for that? The audience will go paying all lot for that.

Okay. Way off track there. Stupid Ferengi habit from growing up. There was always that "˜profit' habit in everything thing! Like they can profit off that planet-eating machine, you got to pay a tax to keep it from eating your planet.

"œWell, lemme see, gimme a moment, Commander Mac""MacKenzie," he replied.

While he was doing that, he was sharing an exciting idea that popped in his head.  But the Captain came to answer that.

"œYou know, any genius ever thought replicating the fuel. Get the proper pattern of the fuel it feeds off. Find the structure of the breakage of the nucleus barriers of the cells get the numeric and lettering code for engineers and medical can entwine. The data-process stomach of that device. The mainframe, like a brain, will think it's full. It's like a blocker to the brain so the brain does not want to eat more than it has to. Has anyone ever come up with that? And find a way to get in the dang thing, plant it. Transport in it. Plant possibly a few of those devices in it. Use the replicator device a hybrid to get its energy. Then track where it goes. . Then it is one less worry for everyone. See?" He shared with the Starfleet Onlie, then his eyes looked over at the Captain and the Commander.

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian allowed the discussion to continue. It was chaotic, but there were kernels of merit in some of the suggestions. He would have to have an actual staff meeting to formalize those kernels into something they could turn into a plan of action. He tapped his combadge.

"Department heads meetin' in the deck one briefin' room in five minutes."

"Captain, the Pride O'Rigel is hailing us again."

Commander Catalan reported.

"On screen."

The image resolved to Captain O'Flaherty looking decidedly more cocky as he spoke.

"Many thanks Starfleet. Your man Lahr got the job done much faster than I would have thought possible. Sure'n his talents are wasted on a ship like yours, but he refused me job offer he did. Be that as it may, we're goin' ta warp ourselves ta Angdarr. We need a few more repairs that we can get done there and seein' as how the people there are in a right fine panic they are. There's latinum ta be had for them as can pay for a ride away from the impendin' doom headin' their way. Merry met. Merry part. May we merry meet again Captain Galloway."

With that, the viewscreen returned to the starscape which included the relentless Doomsday Machine still on course for Angdarr, but also showed the Pride O'Rigel going to warp.

Ian watched the small ship go and wondered if they would ever 'merry meet' O'Flaherty again.

"Helm, take us to warp eight. We're goin' ta need ta talk to the Anax."

The Challenger flickered with pseudo-motion and went to warp. Leaving the Doomsday Machine to follow on its pre-programmed path of destruction.

The stream... no, the massive roaring river of consciousness that poured out from the Human was stunning. Kyan was stunned. He was speechless; a rare feat that scores of grups over the decades had given their all to accomplish. Each had failed in their own way. Jamil had accomplished it in under two minutes.

"Umm..." the boy began, his tired brain working to come up with something to say. What could he say? He honestly didn't understand ninety percent of what Jamil had said. He wondered if it was just him. After all, he wasn't a sciency type. Nor had he ever been inclined to be one. If it didn't have tactical uses, then to Kyan it just wasn't that important. He did catch something about a device... and going inside the machine. That was interesting. He'd have asked Jamil to expand on that part.... but he wasn't in a space where he could really listen. Finally he decided to leave it alone.

And where the hell was whatisname with the Go Juice anyway?

Leaning to the side to look around Jamil at the Cardassian Ensign who'd taken the station beside him... Tora? Yeah... that was it. ...he called over. "Hey.. Tora... Can you work with Mister Jamil here on his plan. It sounds good so it does." Unsaid was "Even though I have no idea what the dude was talking about."

With that, Kyan turned back to Jamil and offered a wan smile. "Ok Mister Jamil. Good plan that. Yup."

Then he quickly turned and retreated to the tactical station where Zhuk still was. In a whisper, as not to be overheard by the new ensigns.."Sure and these eggheads are getting weirder and weirder."

[Commander Nira Said | Bridge | Deck One | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

Nira raised an eyebrow and nodded at Zhuk. "You were most exceedingly warm there," she said, skirting Zhuk's Shakespearean English a tad. "I was rather thinking of a bit more oomph: A warp core. I'm no engineer, but I know that warp cores can pack a lot of potential explosive power."

She looked at Captain Galloway as he called the Department Heads for a briefing, then perked up at hearing Jamil's idea as he discussed with Kyan. "That's actually a good idea, Ensign," she said with approval. "It's going to take a lot of replicating time, but we could do something like that. If there's one thing we certainly have that Kirk in his day didn't, it's replicators. I'll see what Commander Tharn thinks about it."

She looked up to see the trader captain O'Flaherty looking more confident in his cocky demeanor, acknowledging his thanks, and then warping away. Unfortunately, the Doomsday Weapon didn't change course. Its course, it's invincibility on the outside...A Borg vessel suddenly looked appealing, size and power notwithstanding.

"Oh, we definitely have to talk to the Anax, Captain," she said when he mentioned the Anax. "I'll mention the ideas of taking that machine down at the briefing; one of them is going to need the Anax's permission in regards to the planet's junkyard."

She noticed Commander Tharn had arrived and Lieutenant Randall was giving his seat to Savar, while Commander Catalan was handing over Ops to Aarwendil. She looked over at Kyan and said, "I think it's almost time, Commander. Briefing Room," she added with a nod in the direction of the briefing room.

[Nira Said]

[Commander Nira Said | Conference Room | Deck One | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

At the briefing, the department heads gathered. Nira took a seat at one of Captain Galloway's sides. She looked around at the rest of the senior officers.

"Okay, are we all here?" asked Nira.

Once Captain Galloway gave his opening words, Nira proceeded. "Okay, you all know what we've encountered. An impossibility from Kirk's day. We're looking for options of how to take it down. And we have to take it down from the inside, like how Kirk did it.

"We're looking into ideas," continued Nira, "and we have two so far. We can take it down the same way Kirk did, but we need more omph: A warp core. And we're on our way back to Andgarr...and at Andgarr is a junkyard of downed Romulan ships. Some had been downed...extremely recently. We're going to need to speak to Anax Jindak as well as to find a usable warp core that we can send down the Machine's throat.

"One of our new science officers had another idea to bring it down," she said, nodding at Lieutenant Randall, and then she explained what Jamil had in mind. She looked at Dashlish and asked, "Assuming we can replicate the fuel and whatnot, how long would it take?"

[Tora Zalos]

The stream... no, the massive roaring river of consciousness that poured out from the Human was stunning. Kyan was stunned. He was speechless; a rare feat that scores of grups over the decades had given their all to accomplish. Each had failed in their own way. Jamil had accomplished it in under two minutes.

"Umm..." the boy began, his tired brain working to come up with something to say. What could he say? He honestly didn't understand ninety percent of what Jamil had said. He wondered if it was just him. After all, he wasn't a sciency type. Nor had he ever been inclined to be one. If it didn't have tactical uses, then to Kyan it just wasn't that important. He did catch something about a device... and going inside the machine. That was interesting. He'd have asked Jamil to expand on that part.... but he wasn't in a space where he could really listen. Finally he decided to leave it alone.

And where the hell was whatisname with the Go Juice anyway?

Leaning to the side to look around Jamil at the Cardassian Ensign who'd taken the station beside him... Tora? Yeah... that was it. ...he called over. "Hey.. Tora... Can you work with Mister Jamil here on his plan. It sounds good so it does." Unsaid was "Even though I have no idea what the dude was talking about."

With that, Kyan turned back to Jamil and offered a wan smile. "Ok Mister Jamil. Good plan that. Yup."

Then he quickly turned and retreated to the tactical station where Zhuk still was. In a whisper, as not to be overheard by the new ensigns.."Sure and these eggheads are getting weirder and weirder."

[Ensign Tora Zalos | Bridge | Deck One | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

For a brief few seconds Tora found it odd that a redheaded boy who looked no older than ten (generously estimating) was giving her orders and in a way that certainly befitted his physical age - but then she reminded herself that there were several species with ridiculously long lifespans, and with that usually also came ridiculously slow aging. For example, she would've never guessed that that hot Vulcan girl she'd dated in year two was in fact sixty-five - not that that had ever gotten in the way of their relationship - had she not asked offhandedly that one day. She'd looked twenty-five at most. This child could've been anywhere from eighty to about eight hundred with the service experience to back it up and she would've never known. In short: put aside the face and body, and listen to the rank instead.

The Cardassian stood and waddled her way over to the human the Commander had identified as Jamil. He looked a bit scruffy and just a little bit surly with those smile lines and beard of his, like he'd snap into a sales pitch for off-brand Saurian brandy at any moment, in a sort of comical way - which she thought was cute, all things considered. "So... hello! I'm Tora. You must be Jamil. It's nice to meet you." She said, offering her hand for him to shake. "Replicate the energy a Doomsday Machine craves? I'd like to see what you've got in mind..."